The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1907-03-28
The DethrOnement
of Douglas.
BY JANE INGRAnAM.


+
Harriet Winthrop belonged to the
| class of girls who bow to physical
| strength in the opposite sex. Frail. al
most fiowerlke in her beauty, the sort
of girl who had been protected and
served all her life, she yet decorated
her tiny morning room with etchings
and small statuettes of classic heroes
famed for their physical prowess. and
she could sit through vertable biz
zard to watch a football match and
shout herself hoarSe for Ted's college
team.
Ted was her brother, and he said
that somewhere in Harriet'S makeup
was n strain from the blood Of an an
ceStrnl belle who had cheered on her
hero in the old tournament days. for
the Winthrops could trace their lineage
to the tournament days and further,
and even though Mr. Winthrop had
lost large slice of the old family for
tune through i'll advised investments.
they maintained their social standing,
lived in rather severe but elegant fash
ion and held fast Ia every tradition, in
Guiding the firm belief that no lady
1 deS in a street car or other public
conveyance She may walk abroad
for exercise only. but when calling or
shopping the plain. rather old fashion
ed brougham of the depleted Win
throp stables was brought into service.
That was why when many other
girls with more money to spend on
shopping tripped merrily up and down
the great retail thoroughfare Harriet
Winthrop chafed In the Winthrop
brougham. caught in blockade of
snarling motormcn sharp faced chauf-
feurs and obstinate cahbies. The
brougham swung to one side, the
wheels grating the curb and Harriet
leaned forward to see how close they
were to the shop wherein could be
found a certain piece of silvery blue
gauze marked down to post holiday
prices Then, with gasp and shud
der. she leaned back in the carriage
and closed her eyes. She had forgotten
the silvery gauze, the shop, the jam of
vehicles-everything save the tall
square shouldered figure of man,
whose entire attention seemed to be
centered on the tint of pancakes he was
turning in the window of white front
restaurant
The brougham moved forward a few
inches. then several feet Very soon
it would be out of range, so Harriet
took one more glimpse at the win
dow to make sure that her eyes had
not deceived her No, it WAS he, and
this time he was actually handing the
white aproned waitress a plate piled
high with golden brown cakes.
What was Jerry Douglas doing in
that window, and how could he beStow
upon the white aproned girl precisely
the same frank, cordial smile with
which he had greeted Harriet at that
last dance. after Teddy's team had
won through Douglas clever coaching
She bought half yard more garze
than she needed and went home firm
ly convinced that Jerry Douglas had
been cooking cakes to pay n wager.
That night she went TO dance where
many mutual friends gathered, but no
one seemed to have heard Of the esca-
pade. and she was too proud to make
inquiries. The next day she went bnci
to the shop so close to the restaurant
A bit of pale blue velvet ribbon would
set off that silver gauze, but she decid
ed that, after all, she did not care
whether the silver gauze was develop
ed into n creation or not Nothing mat
tered save that her idol had crumbled
at her very feet or, more properly
speaking, within few feet Of the
wheels Of her brougham, for there
again was Jerry Douglas. turning what
she thought must he very fat and indi
gestible flied biscuits
SO 1t was not an election wager or
anything of that sort. All, she knew.
lie had gone in for sociology. He was
studying the condition of the working
classes. Next thing he would be living
In one Of those dreadful settlement
houses, holding club meetings for raga
mullins and poor factory girls and
writing silly things for magazines
this man whom she had watched with /
bnited breath on the football field. |
whom she had pictured as sallying /
forth to pit his magnificent strength. /
physical and mental. against the mag
mates of the commercial and financial /
world
Cooking cakes in a restaurant win
dow!
Harriet Winthrop walked with firm,
deliberate step to her desk and took I
down from the wall above it picture |
showing group Of lusty young men in i
football attire and also Il certain in
eividual picture of young man with |
D finely formed head and broad, square
shoulders. She thrust the two behind |
some boxes on the top shelf of her
and then sat down for a
good cry
OF course she might have found out |
what 1t all meant IL Teddy had been
home, but Teddy, after leaving college.
had gone TO Paris to follow up his
studies in naval architecture Any
how 1t did not matter. OF course ii
mad been only a girlsh fancy, and
.hen Jerry Douglas has acted rather
Srangely since he went back to his