The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-01-18

l |sAaMa~A-A
 ""Your presence there is not laughing l matter"
 i rarely beautiful woman, and that if you wish to marry her you have my very best wishes for your success and happiness"
 ''It struck me that you were pretty well established there," he blurted. 'I confess that I took it for granted you were not there wholly on a professional errand, and I won't deny, Ames, that | was not pleased to see you.'' | tsYOu honor me in assuming that | might aspire to the hand of so splendid i a woman as Cecilia Hollister; but, my i dear Wiggins, I tell you I never laid eyes on her until last night"
 But you had been to the Asolando," ]" he persisted, hacking away doggedly at 1 his stick
 'Of course had I told you had. told you the whole story. But I did not see Cecilia Hollister there. She wasn't there. l fancy that after you saw her there last spring and became infatuated with her and followed her to Europe instead of going to Dakota to harvest your blooming wheat-after that bit of history she never returned 
 ness in all this has pained me. and you i left it for gossiping chap like Jewett to tell me the whole story.'
 He threw the stick at a sparrow whose chirp irritated him from a stone fence beSond us and turned toward me countenance on which dejection, humiliation and chagrin were written large.
 Hang it aIlr' he beloved "I be. lieve Pm losing my mind. I don't know what Pm doing. That old woman up there is responsible for all this. She's as crazy as a March hare-crazier! And she's made a prisoner of that girl. I tell you Cecilia Hollister is the grand est girl in the world"
 "Go it, sonI Those descendants of Caesars legions at work in the road down there are pausing to listen. Try to affect calmness if you don't feel it. I agree to all you say of Miss Cecilia, and please get it into your noddle that have no intention of becoming your rival for her hand. But must beg of you also not to speak in such terms of ] her aunt She is the most delightful woman I ever met-''
 Mad, I tell you quite mad! I tell l you, Ames, that woman is malevolent being. She's perfectly fiendish."
 There is no way of answering a man fin this humoT save by laughter. and l laughed long and loud, to the conster- nation of the Italian road laborers. who were now swallowing their IuncheonS short distance away from us- Wigg1ns sulked awhile and then ad- dressed me seriously.
 'EI didn't tell you was going abroad. because the situation made explana- dons difficult. could hardly tell you that I was about to race over Europe after waitress I had seen in a tea room. You're always so confoundedly suspicious. It would have an odd sound even now if she were-weIl, if she were a waitress instead of what i you know her to be. And my animos- l ity toward Miss Octavfa HoIlister is due to the fact that after I had been as courteous to her all summer long as I could and thought myself toler" ably established in her mind as de cent person and a gentleman, she sud denly shuts Cecilia up in that house l bought it on purpose, fancy-and Ce- ci1ia herself is compelled to take on an air of mystery, warning me to keep away, suggesting the darkest possibili- i ties, but giving me no hint whatever of the reason for her conduct"
 Let us conf1ne ourselves to Miss Oc- tavia for moment. While you were acting as cavalier to her party abroad l she was friendly-then she suddenly | changed. Now there must be some ex- planation of that"
 "Well, for one thing, she flew off at tangent about my ancestors. We were i in Berlin on the Fourth of July and got to talking about the American rev. | oIution. She asked me what my peo- | pie had done for the patriotic cause. l The painful fact is that most of them | were Tories, but my great-grandfather broke with his father and brothers, l joined Wash1ngton's army and fought i through the whole business. But to save the feelings of the rest of them, | who went to England till it was all ! over, he changed his name. There's no mention of him in the war records any | where. I've had experts working on | it, but they can't find any trace of him. l He was greatly embittered by the eS- arrangement from his people, and though | he had a farm in this very neighbor- ] hood somewhere-Pve thought some time I'd look 1t up and try to get hold | of it-he never mentioned his military | experiences even to his own children. l Usually Miss Hollister changes front if 1 you give her time I've heard her say l that we'd have been better off if we'd never broken with England. but she persists in prodding that weak place in my armor."
 From what you say Cecilia has not repeIIed you. On the other hand, she has frankly given you to understand that you must not press your suit at this time for reasons she sees fit to withhold A little more patience. little calm dnHheration and less vio-