Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-02-09
"A conviction which can be chang

| mot at ALL" Brewster took 1t up.
"She has no faith in me. She thinks
I'm an ass"
Perhaps she's right" she exclaimed
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 an idiot,
Monty Brewster, If you believe the
things she said rather than the things
she looked"
And Peggy, fiery and determined and
defiantly unhappy, threw down her
cards and escaped so that she might
not prove herself fearfully feminine.
She left Brewster still heavily 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 off 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 fif-
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 was to be given at mid-Lent, which
arrived toward the end Of March, and
negotiations 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 s50,000 to his business.
His only consolation came through
Harrison'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 a financial point Of view. Bro
ken contracts and lawsuits were turn
ing the tour into one continuous round
Of losses, and poor Gardner was on
the point Of despair. From the begin
ming, apparently, the concerts had been
marked for disaster. Public indiffer-
ence had aroused the scorn Of the iras-
chile members of the orchestra, and
there was imminent danger OF COL
lapse in the organization. Gardner liv-
ed in constant fear that his troop OF
quarrelsome Hungarians would finish
their. tour suddenly in a 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
de Leon, and there was much specula-
ton upon the chances for a reconcilia-
ton. Monty, however, maintained a
strict silence on the subject and refus-
| ed to satisfy the curiosity of his friends.
Mrs. Drew had brought down small
crowd, including two pretty Kentucky
girls and a young Chicago millionaire.
She lived we'll and sensibly and with
none Of the extravaganza that charac-
| terized the cottage. Yet 1t was In
evitable that Brewsters guests should
see hers and join some Of their riding
parties. Monty pleaded that he was
not we'll enough to be in these excur-
sions, but neither he nor Barbara cared
to overemphasize the estrangement.
Peggy Gray was in despair over Mon
tvs attitude. She had become con-
vinced that behind his pride he was
cherishing a secret longing for Bar
bara. Yet she could not see how the
walls were to be broken down If he
maintained this icy reserve. She was
sure that the masterful tone was the
one to win with a girl like that, but
evidently Monty would not accept ad-
vice. That he was mistaken about
Barbara's feeling she did not doubt for
moment, and she saw things going
| hopelessly wrong for want Of a word.
There were times when she let herself
dream of possibilities, but they always
ended by seeming too impossible. She
| cared too much to make the attainment
of her vision seem simple. She cared
too much to be sure Of anything.
| At moments she fancied that she
might say word to Miss Drew which
would straighten things out, but there
was something about her which held
her off. Even now that they were
thrown together more or less she could
not get beyond a certain barrier. 1t
was not until a sunny day when she
had accepted Barbara's invitation to
drive that things seemed to go more
easily. For the first time she felt the
charm Of the girl, and for the first time
Barbara seemed unreservedly friendly.
It was a quiet drive they were taking
through the woods and out along the
beach, and somehow IN the open air
things simplified themselves. Finally
in the softness and the idle warmth
even an allusion to Monty whose name
usually meant an embarrassing change
of subject, began to seem possible. 1t
was inevitable that Peggy should bring
it in, for with her a question Of tact
was never allowed to dominate when
things of moment were at stake. She
covered before the plunge, but she
took 1t unafraid.
THE doctor says Monty may go out
driving tomorrow" she began. isn't
that fine?"
Barbara's only response was to touch
her pony a little too sharply with the
whip. Peggy went on as If uncon-
scious of the challenge.
He has been bored to death, poor
| fellow, in the house all this time,
and
Miss Gray, please do not mention