The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1903-04-01

READ IN THE
FLAMES
-. BY Mary Wood
Copyright, 1909, by McCiure's Newspaper
Syndicate

llny WIS ulIolueu. she never, never
would go off To that eastern college.
She would die of Inconsistencies. Mrs.
Bergen quite melted at the picture but
her husband was firm 1t was best
for her to so. and go she did
But the energy that had made her
childhood a perilous one flowed read
lily into the new channels The first
month found her contented. the second
enthusiastic. The letters which told
Of quizzes, exams and profs grew more
and more unintelligible to the two old
people. She was living In world in
to which they could not enter. Even
rs they thrilled with pride In her at
talnments they felt strange pang, as
il their tirstborn We're being gradually
stolen and changeling left In her
place,
What with the weary length of the
four winters. the brevity of the sum
mer vacations and their inevitable alb
sorption In visits to college chums they
felt that the week after commence
ment brought her back to them almost
a stranger.
She was certainly no longer the little
Katie who had gone away In tears.
Miss Katharyn Bergen was tall, self
possessed young woman who wore eye
glasses and clothes of n masculine cut.
Mr.. Bergen was secretly aggrieved
at sight of the eyeglasses. when she
had the maxim of such a pretty girl"
he said mournfully to himself. AN
mother an | havin' such good sight at
our age" He felt that 1t WAS high
price to pay for learning.
Mrs. Bergen was shocked by her
daughters taste In clothes. Her stiff
collars and hideous vests, the scanti-
ness and brevity of her skirts and her
pronounced fancy for shoes of the
most broad toed and thick soled varie
~ We're all thorns in the motherly
bosom. She was. however. woman
# discretion. She recognized In her
daughter much of certain obstinacy
which long familiarity with Mr.. Ber-
gen had taught her to respect. So she
made no comment on the distressing
changes.
What she did not say Scotville did.
Katharyn was more than nine days
wonder; she was perpetual volcano.
She had lost none of her original ener-
gy; rather II had increased by prac-
tice. The town needed to be upllfted,
and her hand was ready for the work.
So Scotville was introduced to that
new creation, n woman with pur
pose, and was not overpleased Her
old girl friends detected an undercur-
rent OF patrOIiZing In ull her advances
and refused to cnthuse over her.
The men who had been boon compan-
ions in her tomboy days declared that
jolly good fellow had been changed
into prig and voted her schemes for
elevation ms all tommyrot. She scan
dallzed the old minister who had bap-
tized her when baby by her open
avowal of agnostic beliefs.
Jack Selwyn tried In vain to stem
the rising tide of antagonism. but then
every one knew II was only because he
was too loyal to desert his old sweet
heart. Jack had not been able to go to
college. There were the young broth
crs and sisters to whom he had to play
a fathers part So he had turned to
work as an antidote for longing for the
unattainable and was now Mr.. Ber-
gems right hand man. 1t was even
whispered that his employer would
have been glad to welcome nearer re-
lationship.
1t seemed, however, that Katharyn
had no memory Of the promises whis
pered by certain Katie. To be sure,
there had been look In her face when
he greeted her Oh her day Of home
coming that had sent his heart up into
his throat Perhaps 1t was not aE he
had feared: she had not grown beyond
his reach. But tho succeeding days
had brought only establishment. The
girl, smarting under the almost uni
versal rebuffs of her well meant eff
forts. classed him ruthlessly among
the ranks of her opponents.
If she missed their old time conf
dences. their happy talks on men and
books. she gave no sign. Instead she
withdrew more closely into herself.
Her rooms were on the ground floor
of the Bergen homestead. There she
sat and read or unused bitterly long
after she had said Good night" From
her windows the lawn sloped down
gently TO the river. Often when her
head grew weary she would slip out
quietly to breathe the freshness Of the
night.
One evening the moonlight had iured
her from her books. The strains OF a
violin came, softened by distance. All
Scotville was at a dance-all but she.
and she had refused. Her paltry ex'
cuse had been that she and her mother
had promised TO spend the night at an
old aunts In the country during her
fathers absence on n business trip.
but sudden indisposition had kept
them from going. and now Katharyn
hurried down the river path. ne II to
escape the wltchng sound.
She had wandered farther than she
knew when cry broke the stiffness;
Fire, Fire" She turned and ran
back dizzily. Swift intuition told her
that the column Of smoke and flame
rose from her own home. Scotville
thought all the family were away,
There would be no one to waken and
save her mother.
AS she painted up the lawn she saw
confIsedly string of people. They
We're passing buckets. These girls IN
Elmy ball gowns 1.-THE girls she had
pa ,roilzed), these men In immaculate
evening dress (the men she had frown-
ed on, were fighting to save her home.
But there was no sign of her mother.
One wing was ablaze. while smoke
poured from every window of the main
building. Perhaps 1t was too late.
With a cry Of anguish she broke
through the inner circle Of figures and
before they We're aware of her pres
ence had darted up the steps and dis
appeared Into the smoke.
A wave of heat as from a furnace
met her as she dashed up the stairs.
sparks from the burning landing above