Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1909-04-23
CHAPTER VII.-Continued.


he shrugged his shoulders, rather rue
fully. Something in his tone attracted
Mrs. Gerrard's attention.
Have you vexed herr" she asked
quickly.
'Not wilfully," he said, 'but unless
have fallen from grace somehow or
other, she would not refuse me point
blank like that"
Mrs. Gerard stared thoughtfully over
the rail at the seething wake of white
foam they were leaving behind.
Mona is a little difficult" she said.
Sometimes I find her rather unreason-
able. But her moods, especially her will
full moods, do not last. The next time
you ask her"
81 shall not ask her again. he said.
ooh, if you are going TO give your
sense for childs-"
Mona is not child. Mona is more
woman of the world than you are"
so much the better for Mona" she
said seriously. "The less she is like me
the happier she is likely to be-"
"Why do you say that?" he asked,
but without looking at her. "Are you
not as happy as the generality Of
women?"
"Of my age? Perhaps so. But hope
Mona will be happier, even when she is
my age. l shall trust to you to make
her So" she added, with a smile You
have promised"
81 said l could make her happy if she
loved me. But Mona does not love me-"
Does she not %
"You said seventeen could never love
two-and forty, Don't you remember"
81 remember quite well what l said.
! said haste in such a case might mean
too late repentance, but, as l said then,
Mona is an odd girl. l never could an
swer for her conduct in any given cir
cumstances. And I think"
what do you think ?" he asked quick
ly
81 think it might not be so impossi-
BILE" she said slowly.
"You think l could make her carer"
81 think you have made her care-a
little"
"a little will not satisfy-me."
Nevertheless smiled-'it is a
good beginning"
"The more l see you together" he
said slowly, his eyes still following hers,
"the less / find you resemble each other,
Mona is as cold as ice"
"You are mistaken she said quickly.
Mona has the warmest heart in the
world"
"And you," he went on, not needing
the interruption, were a passionate
creature-all fire and fame. You don't
think | remember"
81 think you remember a good deal
laE o -
laughing. Gone is apt to see former
friends and old familiar faces through a
kind of halo; it is the effect of distance,
trailing clouds of glory and you will
find that lie past looks very common
place indeed
You will never be commonplace" he
said, his eyes still on Mona.
mo, Pm afraid not, but don't let us
talk about ourselvesl" she exclaimed a
little impatiently. Don't you think the
wind is freshening2 The yacht seems to
be jumping the waves bit, and that
big cloud out THERE'S it coming this
way?"
Your friend Sandy Monro is in
charge" he said lazily, "and you're not
afraid of a capful of wind"
She was right Even as she spoke
Sandy Munro was shouting out orders
in his broadcast Scotch, and ten minutes
later the Minnehaha was careering over
before a breeze that darkened all the
sea to windward, her topsail handed"
and her big jib changed for a smaller
one. There was no danger, but if it
should come on to blow there was good
anchorage at the head of Loeb Ness,
Sandy Munro said. 1t might be as well
to make for it, since they were going to
the Ness in any case, and the weather
in these kyles and frths was not to be
trusted. 1t would be a dead beat to
windward, but they had put reef in
the foresail, and the vessel never behaved
so well as when her lee deck was awash.
All the boys and girls on board were de
Ilghted-their spirits seemed to rise with
the gale.
You ladies had better remain below, "
Lord Trefoil said, as he left the cabin
to go on deck. THAT is, unless you
don't mind wetting"
oh, we don't!" the girls declared, but
Mrs. Gerard looked doubtfully at Mona.
Mona, however, would not remain below.
Then you must put on your oilskin
coat, and you, too, Jean"
Mona proceeded to pull on her coat,
but so awkwardly that her mother put
out her hand to help her. To her sur
prise she turned rather sharply to Jean
instead, and she saw an odd glance of in
teliigence pass between them.
1t gave her shock. The girls tied
handkerchiefs over their yachting caps
and went on deck, surprising her to be
following, but she remained standing
where they left her, leaning one hand
on the cabin table to steady herself
What was this shadow that had come
between her and her daughter? There
was certainly something secret
that ranked, some grievance, some
trouble that for the first time in any of
Mona's troubles she did not call upon
her mother to share.
She did wonder little why Lord Ire
foil had not put his fate to the touch
before now, since she had tacitly given
him permission to do So Certainly she
had refused at first, but latterly he must
Las 4 L. a