The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1913-09-11
Observation-Disclosures
they DID Their BEST
BY JANE OSBORN.

sens nrm Del1ef tnat really Sel1-r6-
specting girl never of her own accord
fell in love till the object of her
thoughts had openly declared him
self Did anybody for an instant be-
lieve that Mrs. Van Duesen would
have thought of Mr.. Van Duesen that
way" until Mr.. Van Duesen had pro
posed to her? Obviously not! So
when Kate Van Duesen, Mrs. Van
Duesen's only daughter, admitted to
her mother shamelessly that she
would marry Harold Yevin If she
had half a chance and on top of that
unbecoming statement kept bunch
of violets that Mr.. Nevin sent her
till they were dried past recognition,
Mrs. Van Duesen decided that Kate
needed to be sent away. She should
be kept away till she had forgotten
81 don't see why l can't stay and
be a sport like any other girl" pro-
tested Kate You might think | was
dying of a broken heart to freight me
of like this. Besides, am quite sure
Fred Nevin likes me. If | gave him
half a chance, and half as much en-
couragement as some of the other
girls have given him, am sure he
would come to it,"
Mrs. Van Duesen was shocked by
this shameless frankness. 1t was, of
course, the result of Kate's associates
All the more, she should be sent away
from home to her aunts.
Even if he did ask you to marry
him." Mrs. Van Duesen said, Il could
never reconcile myself to the idea
of having a daughter of mine marry
q man whom she left-fond of before
he had proposed. 1t would be very
unsatisfactory arrangement"
SO Kate went to her maiden aunts,
her fathers sisters. in Rosley, eighty
miles from home, the aunts being in
structed by letter to keep Kate's mind
occupied with harmless amusements,
and the aunts did their best They
gave several tea parties for her, they
taught her, or tried to teach her, the
newest stitches in crochet lace, they
spent hours trying to arouse in her
heart some interest in cribbage and
chess; they walked with her and took
her driving in the old family victoria,
and every night at nine they tucked
her into bed like ten-year-old
Kate had been in Ros1ey two weeks.
She had heard nothing directly or In
directly from Harold Nevin, when the
day that she had been anticipating
ever since her arrival in Rosley ar
rived. 1t was her twenty-first birth
day, and Kate felt legally and morally
free to go home. Finally, however,
she was not free. She had been
brought to her aunts house by her
father on his way on business trip,
and left with only a little change in
her purse. She had made up her
mind however, that when she was
twenty-one she would walk home if
necessary. She was willing to do al
most anything to get away from the
discouraging mindness of her
well-meaning aunts.
At five o'clock on this fall afternoon
she left her aunts' house, saying that
she was going to have supper with
neighbor in Rosley. But Kate's real
plan was otherwise. She had taken
in her hand bag the small velvet case
Nhich contained the old cameo pin
given to her as a birthday present
that very morning by her well-mean-
ing aunts. 1t was once the property
of her grandmother, and was much
priced by the aunts in Rosley. Kate
turned pale as she thought of the
length to which she had been driven.
She was going to take this priced
piece of jewelry to the pawn shop
and thereby raise enough money to
buy her ticket back home, to telegraph
TO her aunts to let them know she
was safe, and provide for the other in
cidentals of her trip. She would,
meantime, arrange with the pawn
broker to let her redeem the cameo
unharmed within a few days, for once
she was home again and could ex-
plain to her mother how unbearable
had been her exile to Rosley. she was
sure she would have no difficulty in
securing the money needed and to
receive a full pardon. Anyway,
thought Kate, even If they chose not
to forgive her, she was twenty-one,
and had right to act for herself. At
the worst, 1t wasn't dishonest to pawn
the pin. 1t was given to her as gift,
and therefore she had right to do
with II as she chose.
1t was dusk when Kate made her
way down the street of the small town
Of Rosley to the shop whose impos-
ing gold balls made known to the
public its business in the community
She took the box from her bag and
clasped IT closely in her hand, then,
pausing to make sure that none of her
aunts' friends was In sight, she hur-
ried into the shop
brazenfaced young man lounged
over the counter reading a newspa-
per spread out before him. He looked
up out of the top of his eyes as he
saw the shrinking figure, but waited
for her to begin the transaction.
Il am very anxious to raise some
money on this" said Kate, not know
ing the language proper to the occa-
sion She pushed the velvet box to-