The Parisian. (Paris, Tenn.) 1907-1962, 1914-08-07


rescue was concerned He began.
| despite his repugnance, to watch Nora
And all the while Mrs. Harrigan was
| talking and he was replying; and she
thought him charming, whereas he
had not formed any opinion of her at
all, nor later could remember word
of the conversation.
Teal" bawled the colonel. The verb
had It's distinct uses, and one general
| ly applied 1t to the coloneps outbursts
without being depressed by the feel
ing of inelegance.
There is invariably some slight hes
| itation In the selection of chairs
around tea table in the open. Nora
scored the first point Of this singular
battle by selling the padre on one
side and her father on the other and
pulling them down on the bench. It
was adroit in two ways: it put Court
landt at safe distance and in nowise
offended the younger men, who could
find no cause for alarm In the close
proximity of her two fathers, the spir-
itual and the physical A few mo-
ments later Courtlandt saw smile
of malice part her lips, for he found
himself between Celeste and the in
evitable trump
Touched" he murmured, for he
was thorough sportsman and appre-
ciated good point even when taken
by his opponent.
Il never saw anything like IT," whis-
pered Mrs. Harrigan into the coloneIs
| ear.
Saw what?" he asked.
Mr.. Courtlandt can't keep his eyes
| off of Nora"
II say" The colonel adjusted his
| eye-glass, not that he expected to see
more clearly by doing so, but because
! habit had long since turned an affecta-
| ton into movement wholly mechan-
ical We'll, who can blame him?
| Cad! If were only twenty-five or
Whereabouts.
Mrs. Harrigan did not encourage
this regret. The colonel had never
been rich man. On the other hand,
| this Edward Courtlandt was very rich;
| he was young; and he had the entree
| to the best families in Europe, which
was greater in her eyes than either
| youth or riches. Between sips of tea
she builded fine castle In Spain.
Abbott and the Barone carried their
! cups and cakes over to the bench and
sat down on the grass, Turkish-wise.
Both simultaneously offered their
cakes, and Nora took lady finger
from each. Abbott laughed and the
| Barone smiled.
"Oh, daddy mine!" sighed Nora
-arolly.
"Huh?"
Don't let mother see those shoes"
What's the matter with EN-? Ev-
erybody's wearing the same"
Yes But don't see how you man
age to do 1t. One shoe string is vir-
gin white and the other is pagan
brown
I've got nine pairs of shoes, and
yet there's always something the mat
ter" ruefully. Il never noticed when
| put them on. Besides, l wasn't
coming"
That's no defense. But rest easy.
I'll be as secret as the grave"
Now, for one would never have
noticed if you hadn't called my atten-
tion," said the padre, stealing a glance
at his own immaculate patent feathers.
"Ah padre, that wife of mine has
eyes like pilot-fish. I'm In for it."
Borrow one from the colonel before
you go home" suggested Abbott
That's not half bad" gratefully.
Harrigan began to recount the trials
of forgetfulness.
Slyly from the corner of her eye
Nora looked at Courtlandt, who was
at that moment staring thoughtfully
into his tea cup and stirring the con-
tents industriously. His face was
little thinner, but aside from that he
had changed scarcely at all; and then,
because these two years had left so
little mark upon his face, tinge of
unreasonable anger ran over her. Men
have died and worms have eaten
Them" she thought cynically. Perhaps
the air between them was sufficient
ly charged with electricity to convey
the impression across the intervening
space; for his eyes came up quickly.
but not quickly enough to catch her.
She dropped her glance to Abbott,
transferred 1t to the Barone, and final
ly let it rest on her father face. Four
handsomer men she had never seen.
you never told me you knew Court
landt," said Harrigan, speaking to
Abbott.
Just happened that way. We went
to school together. When l was little
they used to make me wear curls and
wide collars. Many's the time Court
landt walloped the school DULLES for
mussing me up. l don't see him much
these days Once in while he walks
in. That's all. Always seems to know
where his friends are, but none ever
knows where he is"
Abbott proceeded to elaborate some
of his friends exploits. Nora heard,
as If from afar. Vaguely she caught
glimmer Of what the contest was
going to be. She could see only lit
tie way; ;still, she was optimistically
confident of the result. She was ready.
Indeed, now that the shock Of the
meeting was past, she found herself