The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1906-03-29
THE GHOST OF
A CHANCE
BY Martha McCu!soch- Williams
Copyright, 1906. by p. C. Eastment


Everybody else is going" Selma
said, with q sigh ooh. dear! won
der why we have to skip all the good
times
cit is in Punishment for our uncom-
united sins. Bcss answered, with
Essss of the head. "All our sins must
E'ss urcommitted. I'm sure we've been
Brought Up more strictly than ever
r:2ns N,ere. Sometimes when think
s. cr il IL Get fairly afraid for us two
S\e've ,'een - proper from our cradles
we nll;ss break out after awhile
;frS,!, aunt Wilton would have a
e i She heard YOU" Selma said. DO
y1u tank size was ever young. Bess?
: can'y fancy her less than sixty and
severe. yct 30 believe she means only
~ lie kind and really wants us to be
aiappy.''
Yes. in her way. which isn't mine
NOR anybody else's." Bess broke out
passionately. "Her way is to have
everything just so 365 days in the year
we have all sorts of material good
enings-we eat well. sleep well. dress
well-but no liberty to get the good of
them. How many times did we wear
our best frocks last summer? Not
once! And it's going to be the same
this season. People never ask us to
things any more because they know we
won't come"
II don't mind that so much as the
flowers. Shouldn't you like. just once,
TO run riot in the garden. pulling what
ever you liked"
'You hereto! Aunt Wilton would
nave serious doubts as to your sanity
flowers, not because they are flowers
and beautiful but because they are her
OWN
1.-THE same as her nieces," deeper
voice said from an ambush of lilac
hedge. Next minute the hedge shook
violently. 1t was old and gnarly, be-
ing party hedge and therefore beyond
Wilton control. The end Of the shak-
1ngs was a young man. slim and mer-
" eyed. who bowed very low to the
two young women. then said deprecat-
sngly: Don't freeze me because
saavesdropped l know how bad it Is,
but really this time the end justifies
It. I'm a committee OF one, self ap-
pointed, to find out just why the incest
girls In town stay outiof everything"
"Will you listenT Bess adjured Sc
lima, whose eyes were dancing. though
kaer face was preternaturaily grave as
she answered. Everybody overlooks
Zoe Hartwelrs fibs because he Abs so
nicely
Hartwell laughed His father being
Aunt Wilton's lawyer. he knew the
Ford girls, Aunt Wilton's nieces, better
than anybody in Caswell town. It was
a knowledge that ran back to the mud
pie period, although the Fords know
no more OF mud pies and their making
than could be gathered from watching
him enviously through crannies of the
hedge.
Now. for two years he had been won
Iering how they had escaped their
bringing up. Selma. he was sure, was
full Of mad longings for life and free
e.
She sang and laughed like a human
sunbeam-sang and laughed herself
into the deepest depths of his heart
Therefore he resented bitterly her iso-
aation. The sisters would some day
anherit Aunt Wilton's more than COM
Portable fortune 1t CALLED him to think
that people would say Bess had mar
x'ied him through lack of other lovers;
maybe also that his father had encour-
aged his client to keep her heiresses
$50 secluded out Of regard for the inter
easts Of his son. Beyond all that,
though, was the rebellion against thus
winning by default How could Bess
zoe sure she really loved him when she
had had no chance of measuring him
against other lovers?
1T was with hope of giving her that
chance he had asked his chum, DENIM
son, for months visit. Dennison was
handsome, witty and winning. His
coming, duly advertised. had set social
Caswell all a-futter. There were al
ready things planned for all the first
fortnight. Selma and Bess had been
discussing the most spectacular Of
chem, the lawn party at the old Yer
NON place. It was to come off by moon
light aided and abetted by Japanese
lanterns. There would be dancing, of
course, and supper In the big hall of
the deserted mansion. Everybody was
80 go IL costume and masked. Except
FOR that, Selma and Bess might have
mad faint hopes. But Aunt Wilton's
face was flint toward masking 1t
Savored to her so much Of acting and
che theater
If Hartwell had known that = but
speculation is idle. He looked blank
andeed when Selma let him see how
the land lay. And got it up mostly
so you might dance your fill" he said
sorrowfully. "How / wish | could
wash the slate clean and begin all
overt Such great lark hoped we
might have, and now to think
"Such great lark we will have!"
cried BeSs, springing up and Whirling