The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1899-02-15

struggle of strenuous life; to watch IL
from the safe haven OF the little life, the
quiet. ordered, placid life of the farm.
This was her vocation-her fate was
high school teaching.
When Robert Fry CAME home-the
only son of his mother, the farmers
wife, Ma bel shared in the hustle of
glad preparation that heralded his
coming. He was in business In Lon
don, but he was coming home for his
holiday. his mother said.
But he hates the business" she went
on. He got scholarship to go TO Ok
ford, for he's very clever. my dear; but
it was not enough TO keep him there,
anu 1t was the year we did so badly
with the wheat, so father couldn't spare
enough TO let him go; so then Bob gave
in and said: All right, III go into
business, for ! don't want to stay a.
farming So his uncle took him into
the mantles. where he might be doing
we'll; but | wish he'd never gone to
school, do. then he'd a-been conten,
TO stay and help his father about the
old place that's belonged TO the Frys
no one knows how long You can see
their names in the churchyard."
1t was in the churcbyard, amid the
moss'grown headstones that Miss
Roscommon not only saw the names OF
many dead and gone Frys, but made
the acquaintance of the newcomer. He
came to her across the field that lay be-
tween the house and the church, aud
she could see his fair hair shining in the
sun. He was tail and handsome, she
thought.
my mother sent me to tell you that
tea is ready. It's half an hour earlier
than usual. Yes, I've just come down.
1t all seems very beautiful. after Lon
don. doesn't it?"
ITS so beautiful" said Mabel. "that
am beginning TO wonder how shall
| ever be able 10 leave it."
He walked beside her for awhile in
silence, then he said:
You were at Girton. my mother tells
me. Don't you find this sort Of thing
strange after the stirring intellectual
life there?"
She laughed little.
81 don't think we were very intel
lectual-" she began.
Il feel SO much all have missed" he
said. If only my father had not sown
wheat that year"
Yes" she said. II know; it was very
| hard"
he inf IN ha
though he was of her own age, be
seemed 10 her infinitely young His
naive. blundering anxiety TO let her see
that he, too, knew all about the intel
lectual life" his respect for her as
Gir,on girl, and, above ALL certain
wistful sadness about his blue eyes,
stirred her haf-amused sympathy. His
presence seemed to promise a new in
lerest 10 life al the farm.
The promise was fulfilled. He at
tached himself frankly to Miss Ros-
commons apron strings-walked with
her. drove her in the market cart. sat
with ner under the gray apple boughs,
and talked without ceasing. He was
well-read, was acquainted with modern
as well as classic literature-he quoted
almost incessantly. When he was not
quoting he talked of authors, OF edi-
tons, of style and of form. How should
she know that he had his own dreams
which he managed TO disguise under
these quotations from the dreams of
others? Miss Roscommon was the first
educated woman he had ever met, and
he seemed angonizedly anxious TO lose
no chance Of showing her that he, too,
had been educated, that he was not
merely the foolish boy she might have
expected to find in the "son OF the
house" at farm. At FIRST this sensitive,
insistent egotism amused Miss Roscom-
mon, then it irritated her, and at the |
end OF three days she was as near hat
ing Robert Fry as she had ever been |
to hating anyone-even the least-loved |
professor al Cambridge. Yet, after all, |
1t was not possible TO Mabel quite to |
hate anyone, nor was il possible that
Robert Fry should ever be by anyone |
quite hated. She had very manly vein |
of tolerance-and he a timid, appealing |
manner, which, il not feminine. was at |
least childlike. But his quotations 60:
on her nerves, and the quiet charm OF |
her holiday was shattered. 1t was on
the fourth evening that she spoke. He
had been standing beside her, looking
at the sea, and suddenly broke the calm
of the great silence to quote Mathew
Arnold's lines:
The sea OF faith
Was thus once at the full. and round earths |