Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1901-10-18
you about picnic they're getting Up

upon the fact, proved irresistible. and
so it fell out that, punctually at 930
on the following day Jim's rat-a-tat
sounded upon the Thompson's front
door.
Now May and Lucy were quite ac-
customed to the sound of double
knocks on q Sunday morning. 1t was
! the sound with which certain chums
of Bertie's, the boys from next door
but one, were wont to present them
selves at the Thompson doorstep every
Sabbath with unfailing regularity.
Thus it was that, when Harrison,
admitted by the nimble BERTHE, entered
the Thompsonian domicile neither
| May nor Lucy was prepared for his ar
| rival.
| The two girls, as BERTHE had taken
care to ascertain, were engaged, each
| in her own way, in killing the time be-
tween breakfast and dressing for
| church.
Lucy, who invariably INDUCED in
tea and toast In her bedroom, had
| just emerged from that sanctum in
semi-civilized attire, and when Har-
| rison, at Bertie's instigation, entered
| the drawing room, an unexpected WIS.,
! ion met his gaze.
Lucy was seated at the piano, bang
Ing the keys with one hand, and with
the other maintaining q steady COM
| munication between her mouth and a
! box Of chocolates, placed within con-
venient reach. She was garbed in an
old satin skirt no longer in its prime,
| and a much-befrilled dressing jacket,
| that must have been coquettish in its
| youth, but was now slightly soiled. A
| pair of pink satin shoes, no longer ir-
reproachable, completed the costume.
Her pretty fluffy hair, with it's dis
tracing little poufs and curls, that
| Jim considered the most adorable part
| Of Lucy, had suffered total eclipse
| under mass Of hair-curlers.
Jim, having no sisters of his own,
was unaccustomed to this last phe-
| nomenon. Who that has ever expe-
rienced it will readily forget the shock
produced upon delicate nervous or
| Sanization at the first glimpse Of a
young and beautiful woman under the
influence Oh nalf-cuflerS!
In ten second Jim Harrison suffered
all the tortures Of a terrible disillu-
sionment Lucy, the child of his
dreams, winsome, delicate Lucy, with
her feathery, golden curls and her
Dresden china daintiness, faded from
his vision, and there remained very
| ordinary young person in a soiled
satin skirt and questionable shoes-a
young person with a tip-tilted nose,
who devoured chocolates wholesale,
and owed her chief attraction to ex-
traneous causes commonly called
curling-pins.
Without word and before Lucy
had had time to become conscious of
his presence, Harrison turned and
fled from the room.
Come and see May" whispered
BERTHE.
mo, for heavens sakew cried the
miserable Jim. II can't stand arg
| more OF thisw
Nevertheless, sort of fearful fasci-
nation, wild desire to know the
worst, led him to follow the relentless
BERTHE down the sairs into the regions
devoted to culinary pursuits.
They found May in the kitchen, MAX
ing Yorkshire pudding. Attired in
pink cotton overall, the long sleeves
of which were rolled back well above
the dimpled elbow, she vigorously
stirred the batter, pausing every now
and then to brush away certain rebel
llous tears that threatened to mingle
with the pudding Her heavy black
hair was coiled, as he had always
seen it, in neat braids around the
| shapely head. Jim remembered that
| he had sometimes considered the style
trifle severe, and had even compared
the simple coils unfavorably with
| Lucy's picturesque locks. At this mo-
ment he could not understand how he
| had ever made such n mistake. The
| thought Of the curling pins dispelled
| the charm of the curls.
May, making batter pudding and
in tears! The combination was ire
siStible. To Harrison the girl had
never seemed so beautiful as now.
III glanced round the kitchen. BERTHE,
bright youth! had disappeared Jim
was alone with May and her pudding
and her tears.
|
"Tell me. darling" asked Jim, ten
minutes later, why you were crying
when l came in just now?"
II was thinking you were in love
with Lucy, and, and"
The resi- OF the sentence was whis-
pered to the second button of Jim's
waistcoat.
WHY, you dear little goose, what on
earth could have put such an idea into
your head?"
At this juncture Jim, the shameless,
would most certainly have placed his
arm around the dear little goose's
waist, only it already happened to oc-
cupy that position.
And BERTHE, at the keyhole, chuckled
softly to himself.-Woman's Life.