Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1902-11-13

former inquiry with Il says" con-
scious that he was making a spec
tacle of himself and that in all
probability the whole neighborhood
heard him.
Still the old gentleman shook his
head despasringly and said: sCome
into the house. by daughter win
make me understand. You talk too
rapidly and loudly"
Just as he said it door opened
softly and girls voice, trembling
with laughter, said: "What is it,
fatker? Does the gentleman want
something's"
81 think he does, Bertha, but !
cannot understand what
After one glance at the girls face
Jack @sized himself up as an ass"
Is he would have expressed it, and
he knew she had soseshsard The
whole interview. He really had not
the courage to tell her outright that
her father was accused of flirting
with his Aunt Sophia or else he was
lunatic and that neither he nor
his aunt approved of his conduct.
The girl let him founder and get
red in the face. for about ten min
utes. cn:oying the situation as only
nischieyous girl can, but he man
aged to convey his meaning.
Then she said: 81 understand
you perfectly and can perhaps ex-
plain it satisfactorily to both you
and your aunt. Father keeps a
weather record, and he has as long
as / can remember. He takes OBJ
seryations three times a day-at Q
In the afternoon, at 2 in he even
ing aa1 early in the iac...,::. :, prob
ably BEIGE your aunt gets up.
Here two irrepressible dimples
broke out and limited that laughter
was not far behind. Jack, who had
recovered his equanimity, admired
them immensely, but he was not to
be diverted from his purpose, SO he
said judicially:
'But why does he use a hand
kerchief?"
'For the very simple reason that
if there is light wind stirring he
cannot tell its direction any other
way"
~Well, why does he stare so at
my aunt as she sits at her window ?"
Il think it is not at her, but
here she paused long enough to
make impressive what should fol-
low-"at the smokestack from the
furnace. The smoke that comes
from it makes a first rate weather
vane."
This explanation was made so de-
murely and with such evident en-
joyment at the righteousness of the
situation that Jack was slightly pro-
voked at her and said rather
sharply:
swell, you must admit that it
looks queer to a fellow not accus-
toned to it."
'1'ye no doubt it does," she re-
piled with a smile, ''but we have al.
ways lived here, and father has al
ways taken observations just in this
way, and everybody knows his pc
culiarities, SO, of course, it awakens
no comment"
AS Jack had no reply ready, she
said:
"Please make my apologies to
your aunt for any annoyance she
may have felt" and as the comical
side came uppermost again she
broke into laugh and said: "Poor
old fatherl The idea of him being
accused of flirtingl" Jack joined
in the laugh, and the innocent
cause of all the trouble and fun sat
staring out of the window as mild
and placid as though no such
charge lay at his door. As yet he
did not even know the reason of
the visit of the erstwhile angry
but now smiling young man.
/ Jack apologized humbly, but he
had no idea of letting the story get
out on him, so he tried in an ele-
CANT manner, which turned out a
flat failure, to intimate to the girl
that it should be d secret between
themselves, as he said:
81 hope you will not-I mean,
ah, er-but you'won't"-
won't tell it on you?" she said
with unfeeling bluntness. "Father
would be avenged rather more than
the case calls for if the students
should get hold of the story"
Jack asked her to call on his
aunt, which she promised to do,
and he took his departure to ex-
plain to Miss Sophia that she had
only made the same blunder that
many another woman had dome
jumped at a conclusion too readily.
Jack visited his aunt with great
regularity, but spent the major por-
tion of his time at the weather
prophets across the way, so that
the neighbors concluded he was
taking a postgraduate course in
meteorology-or something.