The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-03-15
The EDening Story
Mr.. sneed's Gray Eyes.
(By Jane Osborn.)

you ana. OIL COURSE you anu MI oilCNN
won't ever run away to parties ike
real mothers and fathers, will you?
Isn't it going to be perfectly dandy q
"You mustn't say things are dandy,
interrupted Hildegarde, two years old
er. Must she, Miss Peckham? You're
her teacher and you ought not to let
her talk like that l am sure Mr..
Sneed wouldn't let Billy and me say
words like that. Mr.. Sneed is very
particular" added Hildegarde with a
toss of her curls.
"I wouldn't have your Mr.. Sneed for
a teacher, so there, smarty! He's got
horrid gray eyes and my teacher has
pretty blue eyes. You are pretty
aren't you, Miss Peckham %
Madge Peckham laughed and told
her admiring young charge that gray
eyes were as nice as blue ones an'
that she was sure that Mr.. Sneed was
a very good teacher and ought not I
be criticised. Madge was a teacher
at the most fashionable school in the
suburban community where the home
of the newly rich Stoneworths was
located, and incidentally, she was the
favorite and best-beloved teacher of
twelve-year- Vivian, who had been
sent to school because of her inability
to keep peace with the gray eyed Mr..
Sneed resident tutor of the Stone
worth Enlistment.
Easter holidays had come and be-
cause Madge had no family to return
to during the school vacation she h.
been glad to accept the task of re-
turning home with Vivian to share
with Mr.. Sneed the duty of taking care
of the young Stoneworths. Mr.. and
Mrs Stoneworth had departed the day
before for southern chimes to be gone
a week, and with seven automobiles
and half a dozen horses and a score of
servants at her beck and call Madge
was about to assume the task of play
ing mamma to the young Stoneworths.
Knowing the perVersity of the Stone
worth disposition as displayed in the
admiring Vivian, she might have re-
fused the proposition had it not been
for the hundred-dollar check that had
been offered as an offset for the ten
days of responsibility.
Maybe you think that our father
gave you too much Vivian had re-
marked to the young teacher conf
dentally, but you'll earn every cent
of it. That Mr.. Sneed man says that
he has grown ten years older since he
came here to teach Hildegarde and
Billy"
Madge had dined alone with the
little girls, and after intrusting them
to the care of their maid to be put to
bed she had retraced her way to the
library, of which she had caught a
glimpse before dinner. This was part
ly in order to get a book with which
to while away the hours in her own
room and partly to get a possible
glimpse of the gray-eyed Mr.. Sneed.
No doubt, thought Madge, he might
have strolled into the library after
having disposed of Billy, whom as yet
Madge had not seen.
From Vivian's few comments
Madge had formed a distinct mental
image of the tutor She fancied him
lean, precise, pedantic and immacu-
49,
She was standing looking with mild
establishment into the glass
bookcases of extensively bound vol
umes which obviously were seldom
opened when she heard a muffled step
on the heavy rug behind her.
so you are Miss Peckham," said
a voice so melodious and magnetic, 50
unlike anything Madge had asso-
ciated with the probable Mr.. Sneed,
that she gave a perceptible start.
May introduce myself? We shall
have to see more or less of each other
for ten days. I hope we shall get on
famously."
'I am very glad to meet you, Mr..
Sneed," said Madge, making a rapid
visual survey of the athletic young
man before her, and before many min
utes had passed she found herself
talking easily with the young tutor.
Isn't it really quite a lark to be
been in such a wonderful house be-
fore. 1t is quite like a fairy tale,
though no doubt we shall have our
hands full 1 am sure Vivian will be
docile enough. but Hildegarde does not
know me. 1 suppose Billy is quite a
terror. Did you see that he had been
put to bed before you came DOWN."
The next morning, when Madge de-
scended to the. breakfast room at
eight, she found her charges already
at breakfast. The young tutor, seated
at the head of the table, had waited
till she arrived and on her appearance
rose and remained standing till the
teacher took her seat. This amid
muffled giggles from the little girls,
who cast sidelong glances at each 9TH
er through breakfast
Billy is the limit" put in Vivian,
with knowing glance at Hildegarde.
1T is just dreadful when he is at
meals. I'm glad Mr. Sneed made him
have breakfast upstairs
Il am quite sure L shall be great
friends with that bad Billy brother of
yours" said Madge, although secretly
the first morning had not been in
creased by the addition of Billy.
That first OF the Easter holidays was
one of those days that seem like the
longest and the shortest of a lifetime.
1t was long in the richness of the ex-
rapidity with which it slipped by. At
Mr. Sneed's suggestion. there was a
morning horseback ride in the mild
spring air, lunch in the sun parlor and
an afternoon spent first at music in
the music room, when Madge and her
little charges played for the enter
ta1nment of the tutor, and, later,
hours spent in the library when Madge
quite surprised herself with her temer-
ity in reading selections from her ia
vorite writers.
After the girls had gone to bed,
Madge made her way down to the Ii
brary, this time because the tutor had
made her promise to meet him there
when they parted at dinner.
Haven't the children been wonder
Iul p she said, as soon as they had
taken their places Before the ennbers
of the low-burning fire on the hearth
Madge had changed her simple navy
blue day dress for an equally simple
evening frock of white that added a
u n n fol- 30 .,