The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-04-18
CHAPTER Mi.
MiS-Mated,

CHAPTER XII.
Mis-Mated.
"As the husband is the wife is: thou
art mated with a clown,
And the grossness of his nature will
have weight to drag thee down."
-Tennyson.
Jem was still absent at Yeomins-
ter, so there was no bar to the free
dom and delight with which Vernon
poured out to Mrs. Baradsley the
story of her going to service at the
Mission Chapel and making friends
with Evelyn Morrison.
She did not dwell upon the twins,
nor mention their doubtful paternity.
She merely said that Miss Morrison
had asked her to help with the ba-
bies, and that she should like to do
so. 1t would give her definite oc-
cupation. Mrs. Bardsley was on the
whole quite pleased. Her one over
whelming anxiety was lest Vernon
should tire Of the simple countryside,
and want to spread her wings and
fly Anything that might keep her
in the neighborhood was welcome.
She wanted to foster the intimacy
between her and Miles Umfraville;
but had noticed of late that Vernon
seemed shy of going to Ponthewel,
and inclined to hold back from MAX
ing friends with Selma. She Won
dered whether Miles had been inju-
dicious and shown his hand too plain.
ly.
If this were SO, it would be wise
not to see very much of him for a
few weeks, and the new interest in
the Mission District would be an ex-
cellent diversion. She very willingly
promised to accompany her niece to
afternoon.
Somebody was speaking of her the
other day." she said, 81 cannot re-
member who it was-somebody
lunching at Lady Bunbury's, I think.
They were saying how beautiful she
was, and that there was a tragic love-
story connected with her, but I do
not think / heard any details.
'"She looks as if she might be the
heroine of a tragic love-story," said
Vernon. "Oh dear, think most love-
stories are tragic!"
This was said with a so deep a
sigh that Aunt Emma looked keenly
at the vivid changeful face.
II do hope and pray that yours is
in the future, my dear, and not in
the past she gravely remarked.
Vernon colored up in a way for
which her aunt mad not been prepar-
ed. 81 suppose" she said hurriedly,
scraping the remains of her dinner
roll into little pile beside her plate,
that many girls have fancies, don't
they? Little ballons d'essai, before
they send up the big one?"
Certainly" said Mrs. Bardsley.
1.-The trouble is lest we should think
the first time our senses are moved,
that our destiny is fixed"
What is it the Germans call it?"
said Vernon dreamily. "The Probepfeil
that's it! The trial-arrow THE
difficulty seems to be lest the other
person should really be shot by the
Probefeil, so that what is just practice
for one might be grim earnest for the
other"
"Our modern fashion of allowing
young people complete liberty to fix
up their own affairs, opens the door
to many such complications" replied
| the elder woman. "They are risks
which one has to take. Z But it is
better to make a man unhappy for
a few weeks or months, than to make
him unhappy for the rest of his life,
which Is what you would very likely
do if you married him when the main
part of you was still untouched"
| II expect that is true" said Ver-
non: and when dinner was over, she
went upstairs to the cosey sitting
room which her aunt had given her,
and to which Jem had helped to car
ry the piano. There, upon the man
telpiece, stood the silver frame con-
tanning the photo of Lionel
His soft, kind brown eyes looked
wistfully at her. Did he know how
fast she was forgetting him? Or