The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1906-09-21

den stare with rather unhappy eyes
"Phoebe! Do you mean
Il don t mean anything except that it
is going to rain, declared Miss Raymond,
rising. ''Isu't your foot enough rested
for you to put on your shoe and start
again?'
''It WASH mere question of tiredness;
it was laceration, answered Mrs How
land ''Oh, know | was an imbecile,
dear 1t was crime-crime-to buy bar
gain walking boots But, Phoebe. angel,
I'm expiating it. If you knew how my
| heels
''You poor darling T. Phoebe's face
and voice were all sympathy. But you
have some other shoes in your bag, and
| Spedwell's 5 only four miles away. Don
| YOU think you can manage to hobble along
slowly that far? Oh, Maude, we must
make this trip without miShap; we mustr'
To teach that young man the lesson of
our complete ability to manage our own
affairs /! Well, we will I'll not fail you.
| Blistered heel or no blistered heel. We Il
| finish this tramp Wen walk to Green
River, my dear, if it takes a lee
She put on her boot again. wincing a
little with pain as the leather struck her
tender foot.
Talk about the Inquisition Z she
said This shoe has shrunk three sizes
since I took it off
"Do you think it would do any good to
slit it here and there ? Phoebe suggested
Il shouldn't wonder 1t couldn't do
any harm. anyway, except to my appear
.,ance. and If look At all ike YOU, Phoebe,
my appearance is beyond harming. Lend
me your pocket knife and we Il try it.
Three minutes later, with an air of
comical pride, she contemplated her boots,
slit in ribbons.
dts the finishing touch, think. she
observed No one could possibly believe
that was ever a lady. If the Bluebell
Inn admits uS-well, they re an easy-so-
lng lot. that's all | can say Phoebe
have as many freckle> on my nose as
As you
You have more wild raspberry stains
on your shirt waist aud more dust and less
curl in your hair, know that But come
on. It's getting darker. aud heard
rumble uf thunder Think Of bath and
clean clothes and suPper-and hmp along
lively, my dear
They emerged from their shelter and
began again their descent Of the sloPins
rad They had no eyes, at the moment,
for the beauty Of the broad green valley
before them, the CLEAN Of the distant river,
the bluentgSs Of the hills on the other side
climbing into the stormy splendor Of the
cloads Naude thoughts were eonoen-
trased upon her feet, aud Phoebe were
far aheli By and by she summoned home
her wandering faculties and beheld her
companion expression Of keen pain.
Maude caught her look Of sympathy and
laughed
Don pity me, | deserve it. In the
German army they would discipline me
frishtfally tor allowing my fee, TO be in
capaci,ated on a march. They d court
martial me OF something
Listen to me, said Phoebe imperi-
ously. Stop talking about the German
array. Sit down there by the roadside.
| am going to hurry ahead to that fArm-
house on the left-yes, the one with the
red roof-And ges a rig aud driver, and
vel oome back for you and drive into
Spcdsen IIo, COMPRISES and alum and
new boots viii make sou forget that you
ever had sore heel in your life. Now,
yoa Just sit here and wait
No. my dear, D 20 with you You
NAV not have noticed il, but the rain has
begun. and don't seem 70 see myself sit
ting under the hedge in drenching shower.
u hobble along with you.
We'll coue a. fast As you can, Ii
can be more than quarter Of a mile.
As they imped otF-Phoebes elastic
tread subiued to the speed Of her CON-
paniun-the rain began to descend in
sharp, hurting earnest.
Mr. Adam Doolittle, reputed to be the
meanest, the most obstinate, and the most
meddlesome man in the whole Spedwell
territory, was driven in from the fields
By the sudden dowupour He was
gloomily engaged in computing the loss
he would incur by the probable hours
idleness of his hands, when the telephone
rang, and he creaked across the kitchen
aad into the shuttered diningroom 10 an
swer it. When he returned he was in a
good humor.
"It's Just wha, I We always told you,
Luelly, he said dropping into a chair by
the table, where Mrs Doolitile, with
practieed wrist, trimmed ribbons Of dough
from her pies. The telephone certainly
does beat ALL
Mr. Doohttle, as instigator and chief
stakeholder of the Spedwell Circuit Tele-
phone Company, never lost an opportunity
10 sound the praises of the system.
What it done now? asked Mrs,
DColittle, without much interest, As she
punctured her upper crusts with a fork.
1t 5 the Home for Incorrigible Girls,
announced MIR Doolittle, impressively.
Mercy me What do they want of
YOU ?"
The superintendent is sending out an
alarm for two ruuaways. They got off
this morning, but WASH missed till dinner.
Two of the worst of the bunch, he says,
and as smart as you make them If they
stop anywhere for supper or nights
lodging, he wants them detained, and he
wants to be notified They'll have to do
it, he says, for they amt got any money
he knows Of How old Nineteen and
twenty, he says Now, before | started
that telephone movement, what would he
have had to do to warn us about runa-
ways? He d have"
Land sakes!' interrupted Mrs. Doc
little, rising from before the oven.
There some one at the front door Who
ever can it be? No one ain t used that
door since the fghtenin' rod man, back in
March
She hurried forward, closely followed by
Adam. Two dripping young women stood
on the threshold, shaking pools of water
from their duck hats They were soiled
and battered specimens of youthful femin
unity. A broad smile lighted up the face Of
Mr. Doolttle as he saw them.
II beg your pardon, said one, 'but