The Holly chieftain., 1903-07-24
CHAPTER Xxx.

ments.
Il am not sure, Cherub," he said
that l shall not write Eleanor let
ter, telling her that / did not under
stand the real facts"
What facts will you tell her you
did not understand"
THAT she loves that man, of
course"
She will scarcely thank you for
that, my dear Girls do not care to
have it said to them that they are in
love with men whom they have re-
fused"
But you said she admitted it,"
What l said was that any one
could have told she was in love with
him. She never said so, in words, of
course"
Harold squirmed in his chair dis
gustedly, and spreading out with a
jerk the newspaper which he had just
bought, he said:
''If people expect others to give
them good advice, they should speak
out plainly, instead of beating about
the bush. l believe in calling a spade
a spade"
Thereupon he relapsed into dignified
silence behind the expanse of news
paper, which Emma did not see fit to
interrupt until the train stopped for
refreshments, an hour or so later.
The Stages, after visiting Chicago,
went to several other cities, so that
it was over fortnight from the date
of their departure from Clavering be-
fore they reached home, AS Emma
ran her eye over the packet of letters
awaiting them on the hall table, she
exclaimed:
Here's one from Eleanor! | sup
pose the Inauguration must have
taken place"
Harold, who was removing his over
and looking up. perceived that her
eyes We're greedily deyouring the con-
tents of an open letter with an express
sion of horror.
What is it?" he asked.
"All can say is she is perfect
fool"
"Who.is?"
Your precious niece, Eleanor Bald
win.''
What has she done now?" he said
as he approached his wife and looked
over her shoulder. Il say, who autho
rized you to open my letter."
Don't be foolish, Harold. Take
your old letter. l might have known
l couldn't trust her. Why didn't stay
until the ceremony was over?"
The ceremony? Why, is Eleanor
letter from her hand.
The Inauguration ceremony,
goose"
Harold went into the library and
seating himself near the window to
catch the waning afternoon light, read
as follows:
Dear Uncle Harold:-You will
think me regular Reuben, dare say
Unstable as water thou shalt not
excel Well, have no wish to excel
after this in anything but the homely
duties that belong to a purely domes.
tic life. | have told him that | would
marry him, Uncle Harold. Prof.
Struthers mean. | thought when you
We're here that was settled in my
mind that it was best to give him up;
but after you and Aunt Emma We're
gone | felt so miserable that went up
to my room and had a good cry, and
then | knew that had been trying to
deceive myself There is no use in
Disgusting it, dear Uncle Harold |
love William Struthers and he loves
me; and | have written to tell him
that | will marry him as soon as he
wishes. One of us must give up, and
| cannot let him, can II"
At this point in the letter Harold
paused and gave vent to an explosive:
Hooray! OF course she cant let
him!" Whereupon he glanced trium-
phantly at Emma, who. seated. and
rocking herself nervously in a little
gilt rocking chair, was watching him
read. The letter continued:
Il could not bear to have him give
up the position which he holds in
order to crafty my ambition, so the
only way is for me to give up every