Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1916-04-27
For the moment sibyl gave no sign

of having heard him, but seemed inter
ested in the clasp Of a long rope Of
pearls, loop Of which she was allow
ing to swing from her fingers, rest
ing her elbow upon the table and fol-
lowing with her eyes the twinkle Of
! diamonds and platinum in the clasp at
the end of the loop She wore many
jewels. She was pretty, but hers was
not the kind of prettiness to be loaded
with too s1mptuous accessories, and
jeweled head-dresses are dangerous
! they may emphasize the wrongness Of
the wrong wearer.
Il said Miss Vertrees seems to be
starting pretty strong with jim" re-
peated Mr.. Lamhorn.
Il heard you" There was a latent
discomfort always somewhere in her
eyes, no matter what she threw upon
the surface to cover it, and just now
she did not care to cover it; she looked
sullen. Starting any stronger than
you did with Edith" she inquired.
ooh, keep the peacer' he said, cross
~. 'That's off, of course"
You haven't been making her see it
this evening precisely" said Sibyl,
looking at him steadily. you've talked
to her for"
For heavens sake" he began,
keep the peace"'
well, what have you just been do
ing?"
Shv' he said. "Listen to your ia
ther-in-law."
Sheridan was booming and braying
louder than ever, the orchestra having
begun to play 'The Rosary" to his
vast content.
Il count them over, la-la-tum-tee-
dum," he roared, beating the measures
with his fork. Each hour a pearl,
each pearl tee-dum-tum-dum- What's
the matter of all you folks? Why'n't
you sing? Miss Vertrees, 1 bet thou
sand dollars you sing! Why'n't-'
'AIr. Sheridan" she said, turning
cheerfully from the ardent Jim, you
don't know what you interrupted!
Your son isn't used to my rough ways,
and my soldiers wooing frightens him,
but l think he was about to say some
thing important"
cpl say something important to him
if he doesn't!' the father threatened,
more delighted with her than ever. "By
gosh! if I was his age-or a widower
right now"
ooh, waltz cried Mary. IF they'd
only make less noise! 1 want Mrs.
Sheridan to hear"
"She'd say the same" he shouted.
"She'd tell me l was mighty slow if l
couldn't get ahead O. Jim. Why, when
was his age"
You must listen to your father
Mary interrupted, turning to Jim, who
had grown red again. He's going to
tell us how, when he was your age, he
made those two blades Of grass grow
out of a teacup-and you could see for
yourself he didn't get them out of his
sIeevev'
At that Sheridan pounded the table
he roared. "Some O. these days I'm
either gOln to slap yOu-Or I'm gOln'
to kiss your
Edith looked aghast; she was afraid
this was indeed too awful" but Mary
Vertrees burst into ringing laughter.
"Bothv' she cried. Both! The one
to make me forget the otherv'
But which," he began, and then
suddenly gave forth such stentorian
trumpetings of mirth that for once the
whole table stopped to listen. Jim"
he roared, 'if you don't propose to that
girl tonight I'll send you back to the
machine shop with Bibbsv'
And Bibbs-down among the retain
ers by the sugar pump works, and
watching Mary Vertrees as a ragged
boy in the street might watch a rich
little girl in a garden-Bibbs heard.
He heard-and he knew what his IA
theirs plans were now.