Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-10-10

Nell won't know they are here. VIII
YOU help me?" s
Mrs. Howard looked at him serious
i II. Tom, I do not wish you to do
anything to humiliare Nellie, at least
unnecessarily. Still, I think you are
right. 1t hurts me to think of caus-
ing her pain, but / do think it will be
the best thing for her. / have tried to
speak with her gently, but I know she
merely thought 1 was carping and I'M
kind and that we do not quite under
stand her. She does not realize how
careless she has grown. Now be care
full, Toni"
All right said Tom, cheerfully.
and he was off like a whirlwind.
Nellie was not quite so late as us
ual to breakfast on Saturday morn
ing perhaps because she wa expect
ing Jean Fairfax, and had awakened
with a more lively interest in her
everyday life. Her hair was a trife
reckless and she wore the short, pink
dressing-sack as she came into the
dining-room. Al the door she started
guiltily, and a wave of warmer pink
swept over her face and neck and
tingled in the very edges of her hair.
Two strange young men sat at the
table, laughing and chatting with her
father and mother aud Tom. They
were tall-Nellie particularly admired
tall men-one of them slim, with
glasses and shrewd, %twinkling eyes
behind them, and the other broad
and heavy. with a head of hair which
proclaimed him to be none nther than
Billy Ellis, Toms football hero.
Tom looked up innocently as Nell,
of cruel necessity, came forward and
took her place, giving an apprehen-
sive twitch to her spreading draperies
and wishing fervently that she were
at the north pole, with that wretched
Tom and his friends at the south pole,
Tom apparently was utterly obivious
that anything was wrong, and cheer
fully introduced his friends with an
explanatory, 'They came last night,
you know
Nellie sat through her breakfast
in a far from happy frame of mind.
rom was hOrrid not to tell her, and
she hated that dressing-sackI The
Ellis boys were nice, though. and she
u IN IiCu w III Jul III
some way Tom kept the conversation
going so rapidly, only including his
parents, that she found it difficult to
say anything. Billy Ellis thought
Toms sister Jolly pretty" only he
didn't care for that loose thing she
wore, and ne wondered why she was
so quiet. His brother Preston watched
her re1ectively from behind his
glasses, and concluded hat there was
some electricity in the domestic at
mosphere, and hat Tom was prob
ably the cause of it.
Breakfast had never been so long
to Nell, and as soon afterward as
she could find her brother alone, she
cornered him Indignantly.
tom Howard, l think it was per-
fectly horrid of you! Why didn't you
tell me, instead of letting me come
Town to breakfast looking like this?"
There were volumes of scorn in the
tone in which she designated her gen.
eral appearance. Tom looked at her
in injured surprise.
"That? Why, | thought you liked
it. although | must say I don't think
much of it myself. Of course I could
have let you know, if I'd known you
felt that way. They just came late
last night. Besides, if that rig is
good enough for us, 1 guess it's good
enough for other people"
Brothers can sometimes be brutally
frank. Nell colored, feeling that the
conversation was taking an unfortun-
ate turn, but she had another, and
TO her a very real, grievance.
"And you were actually rude, tool
You never give me a chance to say a
word, and L had to sit there like a
wooden doll. L know they thought
me queer and stupid. You never used
to act this way"
"Well, L can't seem to suit you,"
said Tom, resignedly, and his sigh
was eloquent of injured virtue. 81
thought you were so worn out and
everything from school, and you've
been 50 mopy all along, hat L just
exerted myself to take your share of
the conversation off your shoulders.
You haven't talked much to us dur
ing breakfasts, you know
"Oh, you needn't bother explain
ing NSlI lhOSi pOSSU, anu IldIClIGQ
away with all the dignity. she could
command under such trying circum-
~nce But there was a choking
feeling in her throat, and once out
of her brothers sight she fled swift
iy to her room and wept.
"Oh, OH" she walled in the depths
of a pillow. Wasn't it just too hor-
rid of him? And / saw the f-football
one looking at this d-dreadful thing!
L know he thought it wasn't nice,
and l looked just like n ballooni'
A flushed and te~ar-stained face rose
suddenly from the pillow, the objec-
tionable garment was whisked off,
rolled into an ignominious ball, and
viciously stuffed behind the bureau.
"Oh, L just hate you, and I'll new
wear you again outside this room,
never, never, never!"
The recollection that Jean Fairfax
would be with her that noon was a
faint comfort. Nell bathed her face
and began to prepare for her friends
coming.
At lunch Tom obligingly let the
conversation go where it would, and
Nelfs spirits rose until Billy Ellis
concluded that Toms sister was a
Jolly little thing" and turned his
head in her direction so frequently
that her brothers eyes cleaned with
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