The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1906-05-16

interfere, but I've known you so long,
and hate to see things twisted by a
very little mistake"
But Monty did mind enormously. He
had no desire to talk about the thing
anyway, and Peggy's anxiety to marry
him off seemed a bit unnecessary. Man
ifestly her own interest in him was Of
the coolest. From out Of the gloom he
looked at her somewhat sullenly. Foc
the moment she was thinking only Of
his pain, and her face said nothing.
Peggy" he exclaimed finally, re-
senting the necessity of answering her,
sycn don't in the least know what you
are talking about. 1t is not fit Of an
ger on Barbara Drew's part. 1t is Sc
rious conviction"
ga conviction which can be changed -
the girl broke in.
"Not at all.'' Brewster took it up.
"She has no faith in me. She thinks
I'm an ass"
Perhaps she's right" she exclaimed,
a little hot. perhaps you have never
discovered that girls say many things
to hide their emotions. Perhaps you
don't realize what feverish, exclamato-
ry, foolish things girls are. They don't
know how to be honest with the men
they love, and they wouldn't if they
did. You are little short Of en- idiot,
Monty Brewster, If you believed the
things she said rather than the things
she looked"
And Peggy, fiery and determined and
defantly unhappy, threw down her
cards and escaped so that she might
not prove herself fearfully feminine.
She left Brewster still heSvily envel-
oped in melancholy, but she left him
puzzled. he began to wonder If Bar
bara Drew did have something in the
back Of her mind. Then he found his
thoughts wandering of toward Peggy
and her defiance He had only twice
before seen her In that mood, and he
liked it. He remembered how she had
lost her temper once when she was ff-
teen and hated girl he admired. Sud-
denly he laughed aloud at the thought
Of the fierce little picture she had made,
and the gloom which had been so sed-
ulously cultivated was dissipated in a
moment. The laugh surprised the man
who brought in some letters. One Of
them was from hopper Harrison and
gave him all the private news. The ball
10 t,oc OF id-1 oh a
rived toward the end Of March, and ne
gotiations were we'll under way for the
chartering Of the Filter, the steam
yacht belonging to Reginald Brown,
late Of Brown & Brown.
The letter made Brewster chafe un-
der the bonds Of inaction. His affairs
were getting into discouraging state.
The illness was certain to entail loss
Of more than $4,000 to his business.
His only consolation came through Har-
rison's synopsis Of the reports from
Gardner, who was managing the brief
American tour of the Viennese orcheS-
ira. Quarrels and dissensions were
becoming everyday embarrassments,
and the venture was an utter failure
from financial point Of view. Bro
ken contracts and lawsuits were turn
Ing the tour into oy:e continuous round
Of losses. and poor Gardner was on
the point Of despair. From the begin
,,ing, apparently, the concerts had been
marked for disaster. Public jndiifer-
ence had aroused the scorn Of the 1ras
chile members Of the orchestra, and
there was imminent danger Of a col
lapse in the organization. Gardner liv-
ed in constant fear that his troop of
euarrelsome Hungarians would finish
their tour suddenly in pitched battle
with daggers and stems. Brewster
smiled at the thought Of the practical
Gardner trying to smooth down the
electric emotions Of these musicians.
A few days later Mrs. Prentiss Drew
and Miss Drew registered at the Ponce