The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1905-08-06

and a little French-the French of
'StTatford-atte- Bowe" for French of
Paris was not easy OF attainment at
BufIiand. This language had an especial
charm for her, as it seemed a connect
| ing link with that elysium of fashion
| of which her dreams We're full. She
once went to the library and asked fo-
"a nice French book" They gave her
| LA Petite Fadette." She had read of
George Sand in newspapers. which had
called her u ''corrupter OF youth" She
hurried home with her book eager to
test its corrupting qualities and when,
with locked doors and infinite labor. she
had managed to read 1t, she was greatly
disappointed a finding in it nothing to
admire and nothing 10 shudder at. How
could such smart woman as that waste
her time writing about a lot of peasants.
poor as crows, the whole lot" was her
final indignant comment.
~ !.
BY the time she left the school her
life had become almost as solitary 8
that of the bat in the fable. alien both
to bird and beast. She made no init
mate acquintances there; her sordid and
selfish dreams occupied her too COM
pletely- Girls who admired her beauty
were repealed by her heartlessness.
which they felt, but could not clearly de-
fine. Even Azalea fell away from her,
having found a stout and bald-headed
railway conductor. whose adora ton
made amends for his lack of romance.
Maud knew she was not liked in the
school. and being. Of course. unable tn
attribute it to any fault OF her own.
she ascribed il to the fact that her
father was mechanic and poor. This
>, AZ i
happier. She passed much of her time
in her own bedroom, looking out of her
window on the lake. weaving visions
Of ignoble wealth and fashion out OF
the mists of the morning sky and the
purple and gold that made the northwest
glorious at sunset When she sat with
her parents in the evening. she rarely
spoke. II she was not gazing In the
fire. with hard bright eyes and lips, in
which there was only the softness OF
youth, but no tender tremor of girl
hoods dreams. she was reading her
papers or her novels with rapt atten-
ton Her mother was proud of her
beauty and her supposed learning. and
loved, when she looked up from her
work. 10 let her eyes rest upon her tall
and handsome child, whose cheeks were
flushed with eager interest a she bent
ilEi dtcLul 4iSdQ over neT BOOK. But
Saul MatchIn nourishd a vague anger
and jealousy against her. He felt that
his love was nothing to her; that she
was too pretty and too clever to be at
homo In his poor house; and We. he
dared not either reproach her or appeal |
TO her affections. His heart would fill
with grief and bitterness as he gazed |
at her devouring the brilliant pages of |
some novel of what she imagined high
life, unconscious of his glance, which |
would travel from her neatly shod feet !
up 10 her hair, frizzed and banged down |
TO her eyebrows. making her look" he |
thought. more like a Scotch poodle |
dog than an honest girl He hated |
those books which. he fancied. stole |
away her heart from her home He had |
once picked up one Of them where she
had left It; but the high-fown STYLE
seemed as senseless to him a the words |
Of an incarnation. and he had flung IL |
down more bewildered than ever. He |
thought there must be some strange diff |
ference between their minds when she
could delight in what seemed so I'M
cenny to him. and he gazed at her, read |
ing by the lamp-light. as over a great |
gulf. Even her hands holding the book
made him uneasy; for since she had
grown careful Of them. they were like |
no hands he had ever seen on any of his
kith and kin The fingers were long
and white. and the nails were shaped
like an almond, and though the hands |
lacked delicacy at the articulations. they
almost made Matchin reverence his
daughter d his superior. as he looked
IT his own
y y
One evening. irritated by the silence
and his thoughts. he cried out with a
sudden SUSPICION:
Where do you git all them books. and
what 90 they COST"
She turned her fine eyes slowly upon
him and said
Il get them from the public library,
and they cost nothing"
he felt deeply Inundated that he
should have made a blunder so ridicu-
lous and so unnecessary.
After she had left the sehool-where