The record. [volume] (St. Maries, Idaho) 1913-1918, 1914-01-30
a Spell
Broken
1t Enthralled a Nan
to His Discomfort
Ry r1ARJORIE cLOUGH

mother took me- away from our nome
with her to live elsewhere. did not
know what it meant at the time, but
as 1 grew older ! learned that my
parents had had q misunderstanding |
and had separated. When ] was six
teen my mother drew me down beside /
Ler and, with her arms about me and /
her cheek against mine, said to me:
Frank. dear. / am going to make q
great sacrifice for you. Your father. |
who is very rich. has made me prop |
osition that If ! viii give you up to
him he will make you his heir. But
our family misfortune-our separation
has made him very bitter against
women. 1 shall not enter into the
cause Of our living apart. since don't
wish to prejudice you against him.
/ would rather have you think that
the fault was all mine.
However this may be. your fathers
repugnamce for my sex has taken
singular form. / sometimes think that
In this respect his brain has been af-
fected. If you go to him and he
makes will i'm your favor your in
heritance will depend upon your hv-
ing a single life"
my dear mother" l replied. cling
ing to her 81 prefer to remain with
you and let father leave his money to
some one else. AS for marrying, 1
only ask to be with you as long as
you live. After that / care not wheth-
er 1 marry or remain single"
But my mother, who knew better
than 1 the value Of money. persuaded
me to go. though 1 consented only on
condition that / be permitted to visit
her whenever 1 chose
My father said to me never word
about our family trouble or the condl-
lions under which I came TO him, but
he sent me to a lawyer. who showed
me a copy of the will he had just
/ made In this I was made his sole
/ heir on condition of my not being mar
ried mt the time of his death. but In
the event of my being afterward mar
ried I was required to turn over the
property to a charitable institution
which he had already endowed and
which bore his name
My father did not mention my moth
er EXCEPT when 1t became necessary to
refer to her in the ordinary course of
conversation and then not in the least
disrespectfulIy. Indeed, he said to me
one day. .Your mother is one of the
best of her sex"
SO long as 1 lived with my mother /
associated with girls as other boys did,
but while with my father 1 was not
thrown in with them. and, knowing
his prejudice against them. 1 naturally
chose my associates from my own sex.
But while during my stay with my
mother I cared very little about girls
had not been long deprived Of their
society before I began to look upon
the forbidden fruit as sweet
we lived I'm a city, and my room
which was i'm the rear of the house
looked out upon the rear of the dwell
ings facing on another street Fate
who is always interfering In our at
fairs, must needs place at window Of
the house directly back Of ours a verl
pretty girl, just budding When frs
went TO live with my father she sa
there with her doll. But that was Onl.
for brief period, and it was not Ions
before one day when she caught sigh
Of me looking at her she appeared
/ thoroughly conscious of my admira
/ ton.
1t did not occur to me that my look
- ing at a girl through a back windoy
j. was fraught with danger. The fac
e that 1 expected never to marry was n
D reason why I should not look at CIR
;. and this girl was especially fair to see
d Besides. 1 sometimes saw her wit
b others on a rear porch or in the littl
q yard below. and all her motions wer
o singularly graceful. AS she chased he
, friends about or was chased by then
a playing tag or some other game, sh
seemed to me veritable fairy, and
p spent much time looking at he
y through the stats of the shutters OF m
3. window.
d But one. day there came a break i
d the situation. While my charmer wa
e playing with another little girl in tn
y back yard. was concealed behind tn
/ blinds. looking at them. The frien
It made motion or gave look {
e. something toward my window thi
{ called forth a reproOf from her pla.
D mate. Alas. the fatal knowledge thu
u my little lady had something to col
De ddc and that something pertained
"a me had been impaired TO me! Tit
which my father doubtless considers
an infection had entered my system
e Then followed a bOyish way
scraping an acquaintance. really
o making love. though 1 had no ids
S that 1 was doing anything Of the kin
De- I procured n bow and one day. whs
d I saw my charmer i'm the back var
Is sent an arrow thrust through a scrs
e Of paper on which ! had EXPRESS
% desire TO make her acquuintanc
g She saw the arrow fall. glanced up
my window and. seeing whence Il
missive had come. without touching
went into the house. This was I'm Il
Is evening. just before dark. Early
u the morning ] looked for my missiy
De- and there was no sign OF It. felt q
re sured that she had taken it when
ID was too dark for me to see her.
~ What use To fell what every how al
every girl has been through? I wa