The Tupelo journal., 1903-03-27
when Pauline met Johanna's daugh-
ter under somewhat unusual circum-

anlcycle. 30, Toe, was nef brother,
Gordon; but Gordon would have re-
joiced much more heartily if Mrs.
Winthrop had not insisted that he
should take a daily ride with his sis
ter, who, of course could not be per-
mitted to ramble about the country
alone. AS Gordon expressed it, he
hated to go poking about with a
girl that had not wind enough to ride
uphill, and was scared to ride down.
Still, under her brothers somewhat
unwilling tutorship, Pauline was daily
becoming more and more proficient.
Before the summer was over she
could follow Gordon over the winding,
thread-like paths at the edge of the
roadside, and she had learned to
scramble to her feet without brother
ly assistance after the most humiliat-
ing tumbles.
Within the city limits Gordon al
ways ignored his sister, and pretend
ed that she did not belong to him.
With his head up and his arms folded,
and with a most exasperating eX-
preston of lofty superiority on his
boyish face, he would ride for miles
along a smooth road without touch
ing his handle-bars, and without a
backward glance at his charge.
Pauline, short of breath, pedaling
with might and main, and c~lutching
her handle-bars with a vise-like grip,
would follow meekly along, a block
behind her lordly companion. Some
times Pauline could not help wishing
that Gordon would run over some of
the objects that seemed to have such
an irresistible attraction for her own
wheel, but he never did.
However, since they departed and
returned together, Mrs. Winthrop was
satisfied, if the children were not,
and Gordon and Pauline continued to
take their daily ride after this I'M
~congenial fashion.
One day they determined to ex-
plore a hitherto untried route. At
five O'Clock Gordon's cyclometer said
that they were IL miles from town,
while Pauline's stated with equal
positiveness that the distance was 81
miles. AS neither cyclometer ever
told the exact truth, however, the
young people knew only that they
were far from home and that the
wind had suddenly turned cold.
AS usual, Gordon kept ungallantly
far in advance of his plodding sister.
Pauline IA so occupied with follow
ing the deviations of a steep, tortuous
path hat she failed to notice which
turn her brother had taken where the
roads forked.
D~ismounting, Pauline found faint
traces of wheel tracks along both
roads, but one seemed more travelled
than the other, and Pauline naturally
selected it.
At first she found it all uphill and
very sandy. Pushing her wheel be-
fore her, she laboriously climbed the
hill. AT the top she mounted, sailed
down a steep incline, flashed round
a sharp curve, and plunged head first
into a stagnant pool, which fortunate
ly was not deep.
Drenched to the skin, and covered
with unpleasant green slime, Pauline
oIdSSSd oSli al-d hSI lIS up liz
muddy bank and looked up and down
the road for her brother.
"Gordon!" she called. 80, Gordon,
Gordon!"
There was no reply, for Gordon had
taken the other road, and finding it
smooth and level, was sailing round
its pleasant curves, happy in the sup
noeitiNn thnt htc 1cn~ 81, ~ ~ r efcfar
was following at a respectful dis
lance.
Pauline wrung the water from her
dripping skirts as she stood shivering
by the roadside. She felt that there
was little use in making plans. She
could neither walk nor ride, for the
front tire of her bicycle showed an
ugly cash, and something was wrong
with one of her knees.
At first there was no sign of life in
either direction. Pauline was begin
ming to wonder if she was to be left
to starve by the roadside when she
saw a cloud of dust at the top of the
hill. From it there emerged presently
a black-and-white object. that, as it
approached. seemed strangely famil-
lar, although for a moment the girl
could not place it. Then, with a cry
of joy, she recognized Johanna Han
sens unmistakable horse.
so Mrs. Hansen" cried Pauline,
"have you seen my brother?"
"Vell, / tank / don't know heem,"
said Johanna, with her kindly Swed-
ish voice, that seemed sweeter than
music to the girl at that moment.
80 yes, you do. Gordon Winthrop,
you know. I'm Pauline. You've seen
us lots of times"
"My gracious! l not know you at
all, Mees Pauline. Have you yust
been tax a sveem in the mud? You
get on my wagon, l tax you on my
farm, an max you all dry on your
clothes. It's only two-tree miles"
No invitation was yer accepted
with greater alacrity. Pauline lift
ed her wheel into the rickety wagon
and climbed in beside Johanna, who
pulled the straw, on which she was
sitting, up about the girls shoulders,
for the air was sharp and Pauline's
teeth were chattering.
When, half an hour later, they
reached the miserable little farm,
Johanna gave shivering Pauline some
of the girls own cast-off garments
to replace the wet and Shiny ones
that chung so persistently to her
body. When she emerged, comfort