Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1912-12-04

moon about in the flower-garden. Fool
ish chit! Harm Mr.. Jones? Why?
For what purpose? I have no more
interest in him than if he were one
Of those mummies over in the muse
UNI. And l certainly meant to repay
him. | should have done so if you
hadn't taken the task upon your own
broad shoulders. l am in a hurry.
I've let Celeste off for the day, so
please unlock my waist and do not
bother your head about Mr.. Jones'" She
turned her back upon her daughter,
quite confident that she had for the
time suppressed the incipient rebel
lion She heard Fortune crossing the
room. What are you doing?" petu-
lantly.
II am ringing for the hall-maid."
And Fortune resumed her chair,
picked up her Baedeker, and became
apparently absorbed over the map Of
Assuan.
Again wrath mounted to her moth.
er's head. She could combat anger,
tears, protestations; but this indiffeT.
ence, studied and unfilial, left her
weaponless; and she was too wise to
unbridle her tongue, much as she
longed to do so. She was beaten. Not
an agreeable sensation to one who
counted only her victories.
Fortune, later you will be sorry for
this spirit" she said, when she felt
the tremor of wrath no longer in her
throat.
Fortune turned a page, and jotted
down some notes with pencil. Sad
as she was at heart, tragic as she
knew the result of this outbreak to
be, she could hardly repress a smile
at the thought of her mothers dis
comfture.
And so the chasm widened, and
went on widening till the end of time.
Mrs Chedsoye was glad that the
hall-maid knocked and came in just
then 1t at least saved her the ig-
nominy Of a retreat. She dressed,
however, with the same deliberate
care that she had always used. Moth
ing ever deranged her sense of pro-
portion relative to her toilet, nothing
ever made her forget its Importance.
"Good-by DEAR" she said. Il shall
be in at dinner" If the maid had
any suspicion that there had been a
quarrel, she should at least be i'm
pressed with the fact that she, Mrs.
kN 20
Fortune nibbled the end of her pen
Gil.
The door closed behind her mother
and the maid. She waited for time.
Then she sprang to the window and
stood there. She saw her mother
driven off. She was dressed in pearl
grey, with a Reynolds hat Of grey
velour and sweeping plumes: as hand
some and distinguished a woman as
could be found that day in all Cairo.
The watcher threw her Baedeker, her
notebook, and her pencil violently
into a corner. 1t had come to her at
last, this thing that she had been
striving for since noon. She did not
care what the risks were; the storm
was too high in her heart to listen
to the voice of caution. She would
do 1t; for she judged It the one thing.
in justice to her own blood, she must
accomplish. She straigAtway dressed
for the street; and IL she did not give
the same care as her mother to the
vital function, she produced an effect
that merited comparison.
She loitered before the porter's bu'
reau till she saw him buslly engaged
in answering questions OF some wom'
en- tourists. Then, with slight but
friendly nod, she stepped into the bu-
reau and stopped before the key-rack.
She hung up her key, but took II
down again, as if she had changed
her mind. At least, this was the por-
ter's impression as he bowed to her
in the midst of the verbal lombard
ment. Fortune went upstairs. Ten
or fifteen minutes elapsed, when she
returned, hung up the key, and walked
briskly toward the side-entrance at
the very moment George, in his fruit
less search of her, pushed through
the revolving doors in front. And all
the time she was wondering how 1t
was that her knees did not given I'M
der. It was terrible. She balanced
between laughter and tears, hysteIf
cally
(TO BE CONTINUED)