The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1905-06-01
CHAPTER III.

Win me, MISS Wlcklyg i want you 10
see just what we are doing, and what
We are going to do in the way of digging
up your park, before we go too far with
it. Prof. Huntley mentioned the matter
twice last week. And after considering
it, We concluded that you ought to see
for yourself. and fully understand the
situation. We have concluded that our
researches must be much more extensive
than we at first contemplated. And per-
haps Prof. Huntley thought that an addi-
tional compensation ought to be given
you under the circumstances: and has
made such statement to the-to the
Board" said Mr.. Mason. on a Saturday
afternoon some two weeks after the oc-
currences detailed in the first chapter.
Il wish you would take her away
somewhere, Mason" exclaimed John
Wickly in mock despair. "She's in one
of her teasing moods, and has been tor
menting the life out of me for the last
hour. Don't take her, though, unless
you are fully satisfied that you can en-
dure unutterable things. For / think
she takes about as much delight in teas
ing you as me-"
Teasing! Now, Mr.. Mason, you shall
judge between US. Here are the Chicago
papers with accounts of the meeting of
the Wicklif heirs, illustrated with life
like portraits of a great many of them
pa included. Now don't you think that
family ought to get an estate of fifty
millions-simply upon their personal good
looks?'
There was a very merry twinkle in the
mischievous brown eyes of Lizzy Wickly,
as she skillfully avoided the sudden
grasp with which her father attempted
10 get possession of the papers.
Now, remember. Mr.. Mason. that this
is the way the Wicklif, or Wickly, heirs
appeared, to fair and impartial artists
who delineated them to the life. Aren't
they ugly? There ought t. be some pen
atty attached to such unnitigated ugli-
ness as these pages display"
"Ch, bless you; there is. A very harsh
penalty. too; since the victims never live
long enough to serve out the sentence
retorted Mr.. Wickly, with laugh that
had something artificial in it to Mr..
Mason's ear. Therefore he FASTENED to
say:
IF you are ready, Miss Lizzy, and
don't mind the walk"
"Oh, shall be delighted, I assure
yOu, So1u LiZLgs putting Ou hcA hdt NC
fore the little mirror over the dressing
case.
They went along the sandy street
hedged with an enormous growth of wild
hemp and jimson weeds, wherever the
absence of a dwelling made it unneces-
sary to clear away the rapid growth OF
the hot June days. People stared at
them out of windows, and came to the
81. &c <I<x- 4. Il
passed.
Little squads of men ceased talking as
they came up. and preserved a critical
and vigilant silence until they were well
past these spots on their way to the
woods. Everywhere Shutdown had its
three hundred pairs of eyes upon the Pc
destrians, and did not attempt to conceal
that fact. Lizzy blushed a little indig.
nantly.
IT haven't got accustomed to the vii
lage Argus yet" she said with a light
laugh, as they turned out of the road
leading eastward and took their way ur
n little straight lane crowded with the
staple jimson and wild hemp, the dead
white stalks of both plants glistening like
bleached skeletons with knotted joints
among the dark lustrous green of the lux
uriantly growing young plants.
"Nor has the village Argus come tc
know ySu thoroughly" answered llr
Mason, smiling. when it does come tc
make your acquaintance thoroughly, yor
will find it the most docile of animals
even winking at the largest of your pee
misunderstanding that these are OF
any magnitude at all"
(Which is an unwarranted assumption
sir Haven't been perfect, even in the
critical eyes of the village Argus?
There was the light and bantering ali
of the merry young woman out to b.
entertained, and entertaining, certainly
But there was also a quick and search
ing after-glance that might mean some
thing more, something deeper.
do you mean to ask me a conven
tional question which should have a con
ventional answer, Miss Lizzy? You know
lam so used to the bare and abstract so
luton of plain arithmetical and alge
braic propositions and problems, that
He hesitated and glanced at her doubt
fully.
LET me be solved by the very sternes
rules of your science, Mr.. Mason" sh,
said. with her brows drawn just a trifie
and the short upper lip now so com
pressed as to hide the CLEAN of her yer,
pretty white teeth Il suppose that il
very truth young woman is seldom fav
ored with a calm and impartial judg
ment upon herself from a competen
source. And really, l think that all o.
us have a secret craving to measure our
selves with those who have already Mt
tanned eminence in some laudable di
rection."
And have you, too, that distrust Of
the hasty and formal conventional yer
dict. that leads us to desire to have tn,
verdict reviewed againY he laughed
"Come this way, Miss Wickly. You vii
be foundering between Scylla of wal
nut stump and a Charybdis of jimsor
weeds in q moment. And that cells M,
back to what / had intended to say Of
the village Argus 1 became acquainted
with It late enough in life to hate ani
condemn it at first, and afterward t.
yield it tardy but ever growing respec
and esteem. The espionage of the vii
lage and the country is, after all, no mer'
vulgar and despicaple curiosity
what else can 1t be, Mr.. Mason
What else but the evidence of tota
lack Of good breeding? The rudenes.
of an ignorant and uncul.-vated people 2
she asked, her upper lip curling in SCOTT
at the very contemplation. For in
stance, the gauntlet of bold and unblush
ing starings through which even you
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