The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1914-01-15
Daisy Archibald's
Intention
By RUTH GRAHAM

bosom friend. papa is going away for
a month on business. Fills friend Mr..
Molynoux Is going to stay at the house
to protect us. | heard papa ask him
last night while | was studying my
lessons and they were smoking to-
gether. Did you ever see Mr.. Molly
noux? He's awfully handsome. Papa
told him that he needn't trouble him
self to stay at home evenings. He
could come in at any hour"
How old Is Mr.. MolynouxT
''He is thirty-four; but, you know,
I'll be sixteen next month. Besides.
I've always intended to marry man
much older than myself. don't care
bit for boys. It's all fixed"
What's fixedr'
"Why, about Mr.. Molynoux's coming,
3, be sure"
"0h, | thought you meant that II
was all fixed about your marrying
him."
And SO 1t was. Nothing was further
from the mind of Mr.. Archibald, who
had seen his daughter grow up from
a baby and did not realize the change
the last two or three years had made
m her Indeed. the last Christmas he
had given her doll. She had receiv
ed it affably but as soon as her ia
ther's back was turned had taken it
up to the garret, where she left it. AS
for Mr.. Molynoux, he had no use for
schoolgirls. and his associates were
chiefly men. He was to take his
breakfast at the Archibald home and
his dinner at his club
After having brea kfasted for the first
time with Grandma Archibald and
Daisy. the latter said. with a smile:
"Mr. Molynoux. which way do you
go when you leave the houseW
Fright down the avenue. Can ] do
anything for your"
"Why. no, | go down the avenue to
school"
"Oh. you do"
1t didn't occur to Ned MOlynoux to
walk to school with a little girl, but
when he came to leave the house the
little girl left it at the same time. She
chirped at him like a bird, as they
talking. incoherently, herself and look
ing up at him occasionally with pair
of soft childish eyes. but with an ex-
preston In them that surprised him.
Now, If there is that In certain girls
which attracts them to men much old
er than themselves there is that in old
er men which renders them apprecia-
tive of very young girls. A man ap-
preaching forty is conscious that he is
passing beyond the sphere of young
ladies', even those who have passed
well beyond the teens, and he is be-
ginning to be highly appreciative OF
any notice whatever or attention
from them 1t was not what Miss
Daisy said to him; 1t was the fact that
she looked very proud of having him
for companion,
"Grandma told me to ask you to
dine, with us this evening" she said
when their ways parted. This was
true but Daisy had suggested the in
vitation.
"Grandma is very kind. You may
tell her that III dine with her with
pleasure"
Molynoux dined at the Archibald
home that evening and number of
other evenings. After dinner he sat
chatting with the grandmother, some
times smoking and reading the even
ing paper till Daisy had studied her
lessons-she didn't give them much at
tention-then he would play checkers
or dominos or some other game with
rI,o hn flyn m
the while, he falling under an intlu-
ence that he found very refreshing.
Occasionally when Miss Daisy, who
was lowering the while between child
and woman, would give flashes of the
latter MolynouX would be frightened.
for he had been asked to afford pro
lection to child. and anything like
complication would be terrible. At
such times he would contemplate leav-
ing the Archibald home for good, but
he didn't see how he could desert his
post, and yet if he stayed he feared
trouble. But he stayed.
What his friend Archibald learned
on his return of the proceedings at
home during his absence Molynoux did
not know. 1t may be that grandma
had been more observant than she ap-
peared: 1t may be that Daisy herself,
proud of having captured grown
man, made no secret of what had been
going on. Archibald thanked his
friend for having accommodated him
during his absence, but said nothing
further. But Molynoux received a
note from. Daisy stating that her ia
ther had decided to send her to board
ing school and she would go immedi-
ately. She said she was broken heart
ed, whatever that meant.
For the next few years Molynoux
was in condition of mental unrest.
His club. his men friends were be-
coming uninterestlng to him. He loved
to think of the evenings he had spent
with "that little mink" Daisy Archi-
bald. still thinking of her as little
mink. Her father kept her at school,