Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1908-11-19
A CHARITY PERFORMANCE

II am going to the Rocking Stone in
the boat" the girl in the pink frock
said coldly, "and I wish to be alone
| don't see what right you have to fol
low me everywhere"
ut isn't safe for you to take the boat
out alone" the young man in the
| flannel suit who walked beside her
returned bitterly. you never used to
question my right to look after you.
You know quite we'll that our people
always expected us to make up to one
another. But I've had enough of your
| nonsense. | shall go back to town on
the next train, SO you'll not be worried
| by me again. But you needn't think I
don't know what's wrong with you.
| You've been putting On these silly airs
ever since that actor-fellow came to
town for week in the spring-that
Harvey Richardson"
On hearing his own name the man
who was lazily stretched on the warm
sand sat up suddenly and looked after
| the two young people who were dis
cussing him so holly. They had not
noticed him as they passed-he was
| half-hidden by the big red sunshade
which his wife had left behind when
| she went down to play with the baby
at the waters edge and he could not
help hearing their excitedly loud
voices,
| He watched the couple as they went.
still arguing fiercely, down to where
a little white boat rocked at it's moor
ings. He saw the girl, who was blue
eyed and golden~haired, put forth in
the boat alone and defant-saw the
! young man stride back, his whole.
some, good-looking face full of rage
and disappointment.
Harvey Richardson, ''the rising
young tragedian" Che was 45), shut
his fine mouth very firmly and gazed
in stern meditation on the calm sea
"F' m," he at length soliloquized "a
very decen fellow, should guess, and
desperately fond of the girl, or he
| wouldn't be SO rude to her. If l Of
fered to let him punch my head it
might relieve his feelings little, but
really don't see that I'm responsible
for his woes. That child in pink
would have lost her head over the next
fiddler that came along even if she
hadn't seen me-"
But the rising young tragedian
could not settle back into his COM
Portable Goze, and with his eyes on
the little white boat as he rose and
walked down to where his wife and
broWn-legged baby were accomplish
ing marvels in sand architecture.
The baby hailed him with shrieks of
delight, and urged him to join in these
excitements, but Richardson only look
ed solemnly at his child
She, too, was blue-eyed and golden
haired; in seventeen years or so she
would probably be very like the girl
who was making herself SO miserable
out in the white boat there. And as
he realized these facts Harvey Rich
ardson made a resolution,
There's a rocking stone, or some
thing of the kind, round that point"
he said to his wife. 1--we notion I'd
like to go round and see it, Do you
mind, Mary, If do?"
Walk away" said Mary, cheerfully
IF you don't take more exercise you'll
soon be too fat for anything but Fal-
staff
And if l shouldn't be back before
tea time you and the family could find
To ha
Mary was sure of it, so her husband,
glancing every now and again at the
little white boat as he went, was soon
out of sight round the point.
"Am I right for the Rocking Stone,
please?'
The deep, soft voice set the heart OF
the girl in the pink frock fiuttering
wildly. Surely she knew that voice.
She looked up at the handsome face
and found her speculation verified.
This was the man, this was the meet
ing she had dreamed of so often.
YES" she stammered, wishing that
she hadn't been crying, and wondering
what her hair looked like, "but-but"
laughing nervously-"are you not
Romeo and a ,Montague?"
Neither, fair maid" the actor quot
ed back gaily. 'Tm on a holiday. But
how nice of you to know me. I was
just feeling lonely" and straightway
he settled himself gracefully on the
turf beside her.
The girl In the pink frock felt the
least CULVER of horrid doubt as to the
reality OF her enthusiasm for actors.
1t had never seemed to occur to her
hero that she might object to his sit
ting SO close to her. This was not like
the department of the young man in
the flannel suit-but then, of course,
actors and heroes were different.
When she had looked at Richardson
again she decided that they were even
more different than she had imagined.
In her heart she had fondly cher
ished an idea that Harvey Richardson
was just two years older than herself
(the perfect age for a man, Now she
became possessed of an uncomfortable
conviction that he was about the age
of her Uncle William. He didn't look
so clear, either, as the men she was
used to Richardson had acrius for