Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1898-04-21
No !

pose. The silllest part OF the wnoie per:
formance was their giving their con!
sent to keep this marriage secret un:
til Adrien took the helm at home. +
fancy he underrated his grandfather's
constitution. Bah! But that poor little
simpleton, nodding vigorously toward
the sleeping apartment, "cared for moth
ing in life so long as Adrien Strong
came to see her tolerably regularly and
was decent to her and the boy. Now,
however, that this rumpus has separat-
ed them things have come to an awful
pass, and I just forced Annabel to as
sert herself and claim her rights.
"You know she only has her mothers
business for SUPPORT, and now the
bonnet business don't amount to much.
Her brother, little Fred Welsh, is in
the army. Only 16 years old Think of
it! Father is in it, too, fighting in Vir!
ginia." This with proud uplifting Of
her head. Dear me, hope he isn't
faring any worse than we are at home
no -four, no coffee, no sugar, lots Of
patriotism, sweetened with glorious an
ticipation. Dry diet though. And, as I
tell Annabel, when she has got to q
pass when she can't even keep her boy
properly shod, it is time she was putt
ting him where he belonged, in the af-
fections Of his grandmother and his
great-grandfather. am going to leave
them in that grand house we passed
this afternoon. 1 really did not have
the courage to stop with Annabel look
ing SO frouzy and the boy acting like a
young Comanche.
She SUNNI ariZed the situation crisply
with practical acceptance of the inevi-
table.
"Of course we must expect scene;
but prefer daylight for a pitched bat
tie always
1t was then that Seth suggested Liza.
Liza was the saving claus i'll the Mar
tin family. No affair involving tact 6r
sensibility could be carried to an effect
i've climax without her supervision.
Both of the men regarded the resolute
face of Annabel's little champion anx-
iously. She looked supremely self reli-
ant and adequate, but would she prove
adequate to 1.-The madam
81 think I'll fetch our Liza. She's
got headpiece-worth havin, and if
there is anybody on this green football
that can stand up to the madam when
she mounts her high horse it is our girl
Liza
"In union there is strength. Fetch
our Liza, by all means,' Mamie had
said, with tragic eagerness, and Seth
had gone away, promising faithfully to
be back promptly i'll the morning with
that potent damsel.
It was with sense of infinite graft
tude to destiny, which SO rarely played
him a kind trick, that Strong had mend
ed the fire, surreptitiously blown the
dust off the wooden mantelpiece with
one blast from his powerful lungs and
essayed general l>;ter1Eent of his
shabby sitting room while Mamie "took
a peep" at her sl,epiug charges in the
still shabbier bedroom
What Identification the world had
magically undergone for him! Even the
dismal pattering CT the rain on the
grassless dooryarI had suddenly grown
musical. The III, IotOnous thud OF the
locust branches ugainit the closed wood
ell shutters Lad lost their over to irri-
tate. The sparks danced upward i'll the
black throated chimney with fascinat-
ing scintillations. Neck or Nothing had
been gloritied by the unexpected coming
of a girl.
He scared in temporary superiority
to all that was rasping and inconeruous
in his daily life The silver lining to
his cloud was beginning to show. Rose
tinted possibilities began to float in daz-
cling multiplicity before his eyes. From
this precarious exaltation of spirit he
was suddenly hurled by that challeng~
ing question, "And you?'
She looked at him with cool inflex-'
ibility, settled herself so far back in the
big splint bottomed rocking chair that
only the small pointed toes of her we'll
worn boots touched the sunkcn bricks Of
the hearth, folded her plump hands
with the air Of one prepared to listen
long and attentively and said, "Well?"
III cOaxlng, encouraging tone.
But it is not easy to relax shame
locked lips. She beat an inpatient tat
too with one boot.
II have told you all about myself,
Strong, all about darling old daddy,
fighting like a hot headed boy, and he
SO years old, all about the closed col
lege, every professor in the army, all
about Annabel's troubles, and now
think am entitled to some return con-
fdences."
"I have nothing to tell you"
Nothing to tell?''
Nothing"
Nothing to tell in these stormy
times, when just to be man is an ex-
ira privilege9'
Nothing
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