The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-03-02
fCopyr1ght, 1910. by Associated Lite
rns-v PreSSl

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When Aunt Pardon arrived at the
home OF her sister in a New Eng
land village on certain date she was
met at the depot by her niece, Miss
Jean Travers, who had tears La her
eyes When she reached the house
she was kissed by her sister. who
had tears In her eyes. A little later
she was welcomed by Mr.. Travers,
who looked gium and determined.
1t did mot take the little old woman
more than half an hour to discover
that something In that family was
out OF Joint, and to demand an ex-
PLANTATION. She was told to get ready
to hear something awful.
Miss Jean had been away TO school
In Boston. She knew that. because.
being rich, and because Miss Jean
was her favorite. she was paying the
bills, What had the girl done, on
her third term of schooling. and just
as she had arrived at that point
where she could almost ask for gum
drops at the store in French. but fall
In love2
She had not only fallen In love
with a young man, but she had failed
to notify her parents by special de-
livery letter. Further, she had
broken a rule of the school. On her
arrival there, she had been told in
the plainest of plain English that
under ne s4#esHsssafsees must she fall
In love with man. either old or
young. while to write or receive a
note was an offense so heinous that II
couid not possibly be overlooked. All
this was as nothing to what was to
come Aunt Pardon must square her
ben in her chair and keep from faint
Ing away IL she could.
Miss Jean had written notes--iittle
pink notes. She had received notes
little robins egg notes. And some OF
those notes had got into the hands
OF Miss Boncset, the president OF
the school, and by her had been sent
to Miss Jeans parents. And now the
tarth was about to trembie. Aunt
Pardon would tremble with the earth.
Miss Jean had been caught when
on the verge OF clipping with the young
man aforesaid. She had her window
up, and was about to Descend q rope
ladder when she was seized and
hauled back. She was talked to for
the rest of the night and sent home
the next morning. 1t was the most
dagrant case Miss Boneset had en-
countered in her fifty years OF
maidenhood. and she must make q
shining example of the guilty party.
There 1t was, and what had Aunt
Pardon 10 say about IL? Had. she
ever. In her whole Life. heard of such
q thing? She replied that she had
just one case. and she knew exactly
the remedy for it. Then, In turn, she
asked what was the matter with the
young man. Neither father nor
mother could exactly tell. and Miss
Jean had locked herself in her room.
The fact of the matter was that
Mr. Traeers had been specializing and
made lot of money, and was going
10 Keep on hpecuIatinE and making
more. and for the honor of the family
ne wanted the daughter to make a
good match. There was no reason
! -gfly she shouldn't marry a lord in
stead ~ an adventurer. Other girls
had done 1t. and why shouldn't Jean ?
The girls story, told amid tears
and In the privacy OF her room, diff
fered somewhat. Yes: she had writ
ten and received notes. but he was
such lovely young mani There
was rope ladder, but one of the
fifls- had dared her to descend II.
Perhaps she might have met the
young man and told him to 20 away,
: hat %hs certainly had ae- thought OF
eioping.
do you know what I'm going to
do?" asked Aunt Pardon of the heads
OF the family after a day or two. I'm
going TO take Jean and go down to
Atlantic City fer month. / need
the sea air, and she needs TO forget
this young man. I've read that there
are always from ten to fifteen lords
hanging around there. and I'll bet
my old shoes she captures one oi
them. There't1 be your money and
my money behind her, and she'll go
off like hot cakes. The biggest rela.
tive we've got is only a member OF
the Legislature. and / believe they
are investing him for grating. I'd
kind of like to be aunt or something
To a lord to see how II seems
Miss Jean was ordered to make
ready for the trip. She demurrcd n
little and shed few tears. She
wasn't told in so many words that II
was an excuse to further separate her
from her young man. but she figured
out things pretty well for herself
She might have jumped off the barn
or down the we'll and made her
parents lots of trouble. but when the
time came she went along as humble
as Mary's little lamb
Aunt Pardon was a hustler. II her
sex had had the right to vote she
would have been governor of the
reaching Atlantic City she was prone
nadtng the boardwalk looking for a
aord- Miss Jean wasn't. She was
still demureiy unpacking. She had
been chastened. and IT was not for
her to go gaiioping around like a
young colt,
For three days Aunt Pardon looked
for her lord. She got all the papers
and scanned the hotel arrivals. She
didn't find one. but she was not dis
couraged.
On the fourth day. after consider
able argument, She persuaded Miss
jean into d promenade. 1t was for
the girls health. 1t was also TO
show her off to the sight OF any stray
lord. AT one point OF the walk the
railing had been carried away by the
waves kicked up by heavy storm.
The drop down WAS twelve feet. and
pedestrians Rugged the far side In
passing. Aunt Pardon can't remem-
Der to this day just how the thing
came about OF a sudden, Miss Jean
was seized with vertigo and went
Z staggering toward the gap. Several
persons screamed. The aunt was pet
rified. An old man waved his cane.
She must have taken the drop but
for the young man who rushed for
ward and caught her and swung her
10 safety. He didn't wait for thanks.
He thrust his card into Aunt Par
5on's hand and modestiy disappeared.
The vertigo disappeared at the same
] time, and Miss Jean did not require
the ambulance TO get back 10 the