The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-02-01
. rs raerrlna and tE1e dag acc Ions!'

tE&a-@-Sa-~-9
q 'Tis morning and the days are Ions!"
miration and that you didn't get your
share. So when her suitors began a
siege of the castle, whose gates were
locked against you, you plugged the
chimney with a trunk tray and played
at being ghost and otherwise sought to
terrify your sisters lovers"
Chats not nice, Chimneys. You
mean that I'm jealous
''No. don't mean that you are jeal-
Gus now. throw it into the remote
and irrevocable past You were jeal-
aus. You don't care SO much now, and
hope you will care less!''
THAT Is being 1mpertinent. II you
ea1k that way shall cali you Mr.. Ames
and go hen1e.I
ssYou can't do thai, Hezekiah."
''I should like tol know why not. If
you say Tn jealous OF Cecilia now or
that I ever was shall be very, very
angry, for it's not true"
mo. You see things very differently
now. You told me only last night that
Cecilia might have Hartley Virgins.
Assuming that she wants him! And
you and he have been good friends,
haven't your You had good times on
the other side. And while Cecilia was
in town assisting Providence In finding
your aunt cook you went walking
with him.
"I did, 1 did!' Knocked Hezekiah.
''And why do you suppose didw
Because Wiggy's the best OF fellows,
a solid, substantial citizen who raises
wheat to make bread out Of"
MI 0ncnI frn% ord o-3v1nro~ o11lysaes
added Hezekiah, feeling absently in
the pockets Of her coat. mo, Chin
neys, you're a nice boy and you don't
yell like a Wild man when a feather
duster hits you in the dark, but there
are some things you don't know YETI
81 am here to grow wise at the feet
of Hezekiah, daughter Of kings. Open
the book of wisdom and teach me the
alphabet, but don't be sad IL balk at
the grammar"
II never knew all the alphabet my
SELF said Hezekiah dolefu1Iy Then
she laughed abruptly. IT was bounc-
ed from two converts and no end Of
Hudson river and Fifth avenue educa-
ton shops"
1.-The brutality OF that, Hezekiah.
wrings my heart. Yet you are the
best teacher 1 ever had, and thought
I had only been to school, which is
different Not until the first time our
eyes met, not until that supreme mo-
ment"-
''Mr. Anes," Hezekiah interrupted
in the happiest possible Imitation Of
Miss Octavia's manner, eff you think
that, because L am a poor lone girl
who knows nothing Of the great, wide
world, am fair mark for your ca
Jolery assure you that you were new
er more mistaken In your life.''
"You oughtn't to mimic your aunt.
It isn't respectful, and, besides, you
have something to tell me. What's all
this rumpus about Cecilia's silver
memorandum book? Suppose we dis
cuss that and get through with it,
'sYou see," she began earnestly, "I'm
going to tell you something. and yet
I'm not going to tell you. So far as
you and have gone you've been toll
erahly satisfactory. If didn't think
you had some wits in your head I
shouldn't have bothered with you at
all. That's frank, isn't it?''
1T certainly is. But I'm terribly
fused for fear may not be equal to
this new ordeal
eff you fail we shall never meet
again; that's all there is to that. Now
listen real hard. You know. something
about it already. but not the main
point. Aunt Octavia got father to con-
sent to let her marry US off-Cecilia
and me. Cecilia, being older, came
first. I was to keep out of the way,
and father and were not to come to
Aunt Octavia's new house up there or
NEEDLE in any way. While we were
abroad was treated as a little girl
and not as grownup at all. But. you
see, I'm really nineteen, and some of
Cecilia's suitors were nice to me when
we were travelling. They were nice to
me on Cecilia's account. you know
''Of course. You're so hard to look
at it must have been painful to them
to be nice to you-almost like taking
poisoni Go on, Hezekiahr'
''You needn't interrupt me like that.
Well, as part OF the understanding. and
Cecilia agreed to it-she thought she
had to for papa's sake-she was to
marry particular man. Do you I'M
derstand me-a particular man? Aunt
Octavia gave her a little notebook
she bought it at a shop in Paris at the
time Cecilia consented to the plan
and she was to keep sort of diary so
that she'd know when the right man
turned up. Now we will drop the note
book for minute, only I'll say that
Cecilia was to keep the book all to
herself and not show it to any one.
not even to Aunt Octavia, you know.
until the right man had asked Cecilia
to marry him. Now who do you sup
pose, Mr.. Ames, that man is?'