Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1898-03-09
A BICYCLE ROMANCE,

1t was a wretchpd-looking old bike, and
for antiquity would have taken first prize
anywhere. My disappointment was in
tense and tears of modification sprang
to my eyes; but I forced them back as l
noticed the look of anxiety on the face
of the old man beside me, who inquired,
with some emotion: Have you got a
cold, Kathie? Your eyes are wet"
summer colds are so hard to get rid of,
but never mind my cold: thank you so
much for buying me the bicycle
''Well, dearie'' he replied. ''it's not
quite new one, but | thought it would
do for you to learn on Oh, how. did.
good cry; but as he hung about l had
to mount and take 4 few turns round the
garden, much to his delight; and he
rubbed his hands, exclaimmg: well
done, little girl! You'll be there before
any of them, you bet..'' At last he went
indoors. and, hiding myself in the sum-
mer house, l wept copiously; What
keep on repeating the collect for rain?
Stay in bed the next day and pretend
the cold was worse? No. neither of
these resources would do: and even if it
rained ali night, which was not in the
least likely, would have to put in an APP
was one spice of comfort left-the roads
were inches deep with fine, white dust.
[ would start early and get good cover
ing of it over poor uncles gift, and then,
perhaps, some of the many deficiencies
might be hid; and then, being naturally
llght-hearted, dried my tears and went in
to prepare tea, that being a duty [ did not
allow our little maid to interfere with.
My mother and | had lived alone for
many years, my father, who had died
when | was 3 years old, being only q
memory to me. He had been captain
and owner of a merchantmen. but had
only been able to leave a very moderate
had always lived very quietly, and it was
quite an event in our lives when a letter
came from Frisco, telling that my moth
erS only relative was coming home after
an absence of forty years. I had never
seen my quiet mother so excited over
anything. He was her mothers only
brother, and she had only a very dim rec
objection of his going away.
L am afraid, Kathie.' she said, chat
uncle IS only poor man; for, although
he has correspondent with me at long in
teryals, he has never mentioned his af-
fairs. Still l am pleased to think he is
coming" Well. Uncle Thomas followed
closely on his letter: and, true enough,
his affairs did not seem to have flour
lshed, for his clothes were quite thread
bare, and his luggage of the scantiest
Like most girls Of the present day, my
great ambition was to own bicycle, but,
unfortunately, the buying of one was
quite cut of the question. although |
could ride well enough, my companion,
tlorrie Floyd, the doctors only daugh-
ter, having let me learn on hers.
SO, after once more discussing the mat
ter over with mother, l had to reluctant
~ give uD all idea Of joining the picnic.
md hal
It was the first time Sir Walters demesne
had ever been accessible. and that in it
self made me more anxious to see the
beautiful grounds that had always been
SO jealousy guarded from intrusion. Sir
Walter had died six months before and
the heir that he had never seen had given
PERMISSION for this special party to hold
their meet in his demesne: and. by the
way, he had not seen the place himself,
but was expected to arrive at an early
date. Perhaps | ought to have said that
his agent had given the doctors party
leave to see the grounds, and not he.
Well, after mother had succeeded in con-
vincing me of her inability to get me even
4 secondhand mount, Uncle Thomas had
unexpectedly cnimed in by saying, ''Well,
hathie, If you don't mind having q very
first-class bike, I'll get you one" I was
both astonished and delighted, and kissed
the old man effusively. and went to bed
day Of the meet, he had brought this
monstrosity! Well [ must not be too
hard on the old man, but / wished he
had bought himself q new coat instead.
The collect for rain was unanswered so
was my desire for sudden sickness I
never felt better in my life, and the sky
was cioudlesS, SO there was nothing for it
but to put bold face on the inevitable:
and, at the time appointed. | started.
watched from the gate by my evidently
admiring uncle. Creak, creak, went the
old ramshackle. 1t was awful! What
should | do when [ joined the others?
every one of whom owned a frst-class
mount: Should [ turn back and pre-
tend that l had a spill? On, there was
no pretense required. for giving an extra
groan, my mount collapsed, and it and |
rolled over into the dust below. When
| picked myself up | found the rim off
and the spOkes all twisted and broken;
there was nothing for it but to drag the
remains back to the cottage, and take
up my daily duties, and which feeling
sorry for uncle's disappointment | could
not but rejoice at my escape from the
criticisms of Florrie and her friends.
Still, there was no use hurTying; the
day vas lovely. SO, dragging my wheel
to a shady bank, / sat down and began
to make daisy chain, and had almost
completed it when a gig drove rapidly
round the corner. l was on the wrong
size OF the ROAD, ana flgnC III IT'S track.
1t took the driver all his time to pull
up to escape driving over me, and,
jumping quickly to my feet, l tried to
get my unfortunate bike out of the way,
but it was useless; its ruin was COM
plete. Quickly descending. the driver
showed great concern at what he called
his stupidity, but l only laughed and
Informed him that he had only COM
pleted the wreck, and, almost before 1
knew what was about, | told the whole
story of uncle's gift and my disappoint-
ment. He seemed quite amused at the
recital, and then told me he himself
was just going to Cliff court, Sir Wal
ter's demense, and would have great
pleasure in driving me there. l was not
hard TO persuade, and after he had
helped me to place the remains of my
bicycle carefully behind the hedge. off
we started, passing on the road the doc
tor and his guests. SO, after all, it was
| who got the first glimpse of the beau
tiful court, and stood on the terrace
among the strutting peacocks when the
others arrived ''for all the world"
Florrie said, as though I ''owned the
place, and was waiting to receive them
as guests l should say my companion
en- route left on OuI vino