The Holly chieftain., 1913-09-12
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THEY DID their BEST
o. JAs1G oe0oRN.

specting girl novoe - her own accord
fell in love TIL ths object Of her
thoughts had oDsa1y declared him
self. Did anybody for an instant be-
lieve that Nrs. 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 Daesen, Mrs. Van
Duesen's only dsaehter, adraitted to
her mother shamslessly that she
would marry Harold Vevin II she
had half . chance ssd on top Of that
unbecoming statsmsat kept bunch
Of violets that Mr.. Eevin sent her
till they were drtsd past recognition.
Mrs. Van Duesen decided that Kate
needed to be sent away. She should
be kept away till she had forgotten.
Il don't see why can't stay and
be . sport like any other girl" pro-
tested Kate. "You might think was
dying of broken heart to freight me
OF like this. Besides. am quite sure
Fred Nevin likes me. If l gave him
half a chance, and half as much en-
couragement A. some @: the other
girls have given him. l 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 II he did ask you to marry
him." Mrs. Van Duesen said, Il could
never reconcile myself to the idea
of having daughter of mine marry
a man whom she left-fond of before
he had proposed. It 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 Kates 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 1t nine they tucked
her into bed like Z ten-year-old.
Kate had been In Rosley 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 u Rosley ar
rived. It was her twenty-f1rst 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 hel
father on his way on q business trip
and left with only little change IL
her purse. She had made up hel
mind, however, that when she was
twenty-one she would walk home Il
necessary. She was willing to do al
most anything to get away from the
discouraging narrow mindness OF hel
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 Kates rea
plan was otherwise. She had taken
in her hand bag the small velvet case
which contained the old cameo pir
given to her as birthday present
that very morning by her well-mean
ing aunts. It 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 shoE
and thereby raise enough money tc
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 dimculty in
securing the money needed and tc
receive full pardon. Anyway
thought Kate, even If they chose moi
to forgive her. she was twenty-one
and had a right to act for herself. Al
the worst, 1t wasn't dishonest to pawn
the pin. It was given to her as q gift
and therefore she had . right to dc
with 1t 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
clasned II closely In her hand. then