Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1906-03-14
"I am not" she denied.

own heart there is no reason why you
should continue to make me unhappy,
and you are afraid I might over per-
suade you"
Her eyes-they were the serene eyes
OF cool gray that take on slate blue
tints in stressful moments-met his
defiantly.
eff you think that, l withdraw my
objection" she said coldly. Mother
and Penelope will be delighted, l am
sure"
"And you will be bored, world with
out end" he laughed. Never mind;
I'll be decent about it and keep out of
your way as much as you like"
Again she made the little gesture of
petulent Impotence.
You are continually placing me in
false position. Can't you leave me
out of it entirely?"
1t is one of the prime requisites of
successful mastership to know when
to press the point home, and when to
recede gracefully. Ormsby abruptly
came down to things practical
1T is your every day comfort that
concerns me chiefly. l am going to
take all three of you in charge, giving
the dependable young person a we'll
earned holiday-a little journey in
which she won't have to chatter with
with the transit people. Have you
chosen your route to the western some
where?"
Miss Brentwood had the fair trans
parent skin that tells tales, and the
Eue-Sray eyes were apt to confirm
them. David Kent's letter was hidden
in the folds of her loose wasted morn
ing gown, and she fancied it stirred
like thing alive to remind her of
it's message. Ormsby was looking past
her to the old fashioned ormolu clock
on the high mantel, comparing the
time with his watch, but he was not
oblivious of the telltale flush
There is nothing embarrassing
about the choosing of a. route. is
there?' lie Queried.
ooh, no; being true Americans, we
don't know one route from another
in our own country" she confessed.
"But at the western end of it we want
to go over the Western Pacific
Ormsby knew the west by rail routes
as one who travels much for time kill
ing purposes.
Its a rather roundabout cow path"
he objected. THE Overland Short Line
is good bit more direct; not to
mention the service, which is lot
better"
But Elinor had made her small con-
cession to David Kent's letter, and she
would not withdraw it,
Probably you don't own any West
ern Pacific Stock she suggested eve
do; and We mean to be loyal to our
SALT
Ormsby laughed.
Il see Western Pacific has gone down
few points since the election of Gov.
Bucks. If I had any, I'd wire my
broker to SELL"
eve are not so easily frightened"
she asserted; adding, with a touch of
the austerity which was her Puritan
birthright: Nor quite so conscience
less as you men,"
"All of which goes to prove that you
three lone women need a guardian.
But l mustn't keep you any longer
from Abigail and the trunks. What
time shall 1 send the eXpediters after
your luggage?"
She told him, and went with him to
the door,
please don't think me ungrateful,"
she said, when she had thrown the
night-latch for him. 81 don't mean
to be-
Il don't think anything of you that
| ought not to think; in that l am as
conscientious as even you could wish.
Good-by, until this evening. I'll meet
you all at the station
AS had come to be the regular order
of things, Elinor found herself under
fire whe4 she went above stairs to re-
join her mother and sister.
Mrs. Brentwood was not Indifferent
to the Ormsby millions; neither had
she forgotten certain sentimental
summer at the foot of Old Croydon.
She was thin-lipped little person.
plain spoken to the verge of unfriend-
illness; woman in whom the rugged.
selfreliant, Puritan strain had become
panic acidulouS. And when the Puri-
tan stock degenerateS in that direction.
1t is apt to lack good judgment on the
business side, and also the passivity
which smooths the way for incompe-
fence in less assertive folk.
Kent had stood something in awe.
not especially of her personality. but
of her tongue; and had been forced
to acquiesce silently in Loring's sum-
ming up of Elinor's mother as a woman
who had taken culture and the human
izing amenities of the broader life
much as the granite of her native hills
takes polish-reluctantly, and without
prejudice to its inner granular struc-
ture.
"Elinor, you ought to be ashamed to
keep Brookes Ormsby dangling the way
you do" was the comment when Elinor