The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-11-27

tives and friends, they took care to
LET her know it, and that is where her
grievance came in. To be the subject
of general disapproval did not so much
trouble her. but she did resent being
called upon to Justify herself, for she
invariably came out second best IN any
argument. Quite clear, in her own
mind, Of her perfect right to do as she
liked with her life, she. was OF too
sweet and yielding a nature to enforce
her point of view on an 1mpertlnent
world, and, with very strong deter
mination to go her own way, she yet
lacked the decision necessary TO snap
her fingers in the face of society and
take it. She would agree that 1T was
unfortunate, and even out or the Or
binary. to be left a widow at the age
of nineteen, but she could not see that
she did her neighbors wrong when,
on the expiration of her two years
mourning, she still refused to embark
on a second matrimonial venture. She
did not pretend to inconsolable grief,
though she had unfeignedly regretted
the death of Mr.. Nevern within SIX
months Of their marriage.
But it was surely an exaggeration
on the part of a peculiarly aggressive
aunt, who would have 1t that Patrlcia
threw a positive slight on her nrst
to give him a successor. Mr.. Nevern.
young, rich and healthy, lord OF broad
acres. none the less fair because. they
had been bought and paid for out OF
cotton, had been most deslrapie
match for Lady Patricia Eard1slano'
who, on her side, had chosen him Ifee-
ly and had had no cause (nof, perhaps,
time) to repent of her choice. he naa
been kindness itself to her, reiterated
tot 4 II
stupid, fate to have evertaken SO
mighty hunter and such good
sportsman generally.
horse that had stumbled as he and
his master, alike tired out, were re-
turning home at the close or a fons
day with the hounds; fall, In the SUD
den surprise of the moment, ana the
straightest rider across country IN the
shire lay silent in the November DUSK
with his neck broken.
And Patricia did not as much so ad-
init to herself that Reggie NeVern had
not been the brightest of companions
even when he did manage to keep
awake after dinner. which could not
in reason, be often expected OF MN,
what with hunting and shooting and
golf to make UP with. though he would
on occasion, dear man, be content Win
golf ball near him to look at, Just for
AAAANS
the links through stress OF weather.
But at all this his widow, in her<loy-
atty, never limited. No; he had been
the best of husbands, the very, very
best-only, please, she did not want
another. decision that reused her
indignant family to make common
cause with the host aof~ su1tors VINO
| would have it that the Lady Patricia
clear duty lay in making q selection OIL
one from among their number 10 serve
as the protector of herself and her. for
! tunSe. az
1t was in vain for Patricia to insist
that she did not feel the need for pro-
lection, for it is clear that, in these
hard times, If, an unmarried woman
| with rent roll of 6 10000 a year does
| not want a husband to look after her,
she ought to. And this woman further
complicated matters by her inability
| to say no." even with practice.
| On the least show Of fsreal feeling
| from one of her ewould-be lovers, she
| invariably strove to soften the blow
of dismissal to him by promising to
| think it over. But while, as frequently
occurred, half a dozen eligible young
| gentlemen found themselves all waiting
| together what time the Lady Patricia
should have thought Them over, she
was earning for herself most unen-
| viable and quite undeserVed reputa-
| ton as f1irt, and laying herself open
| to the severest censuregfrom her broth
| er's wife, the Lady Allestree, most
aggravating young matron, who, strong
| in the conscious sense of superiority
! that nurseryful of babies bestows on
| a woman, would not hesitate to quail
| ify her sister -in-law's. conduct as SIM
ply indecent.
For, though she fondly hoped that
she kept them to herself, it was more
than suspected by her surroundings
that the Lady Patricia had aspira-
tons and views of almost reprehen-
sible order. She did snot care for So
| ciety, and it is certain that she dabbleG
! in painting. Some of her friends went
| so far as to believe that she wrote fol
the papers, and even to magazines. An6
! she was, at all events, never so happy
! as when left to herself in the peaceful
quiet of her Suffolk some, between the
chaperonage of her grandmother, the
| Dowager Countess of Allestree. who
adored her and had brought her up
and the friendship of her neighbor and
| particular chum and confidant, ole
Lord Harley.
In fact, as Celia Allestree, represent
ing public opinion, would sum up with
awful finality, the Lady Patricia New
ern was inclined to be eccentric
| grave charge, over which, however
Milford Harley made light, for he
| thought he knew of certain cure, safe
| to come along some day, for these
| little feminine vagaries. Indeed, he
thought he knew most things did this
understanding peer And, upon dis
covery that his nephew and heir, Mr.
| Arthur Soames, following the fashion
| had lost his heart to the irresistible
Patricia, Here" said Lord Harley tt
himself, .fs the very thing. He is &
| good looking boy, much what I was
at his age, and she is the very niece
to soothe and comfort my declining
years"
Wear the willow all her life, would
! she, for a fellow she never even cared
for? Bah!' scoffed the old gentleman
continuing his soliloquy. I'VE mus
teach her better than that, and leave
| me alone to do it., he chuckled, Sc
cure in the belief that he had nothing
left to learn of woman.
| For, If bachelor dating from the
| far-away times when Patricia's OWL
| grandmother was a girl, Rumor, the
| scandalous jade, had 1t that no churlisl
lack of appreciation fer-the sex-quitt
| the contrary, In fact-had restrained
his lordship from making an invidious
| distinction among them.
Mr.. SOameS, who was not, perhaps
so frequent visitor at his uncle's as
he might have been, had met Patricia
quite by chance, some two and a hall
years following on Mr. NeyeFn's death
| at a hunt ball in another part of the
| country And thara koinp No dappe,