South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-10-29
WHY THE PERSISTENT IN
KNOWN THOUGHT MADGE
WAS DICKY'S SISTER.

WAS DICKY'S SISTER
I'm sure your brother and You
will enjoy Cosgrove's very much"
Had it not been for Dicky's pinch
ing my arm i think / would have
stopped short upon the rustic bridge
over which we were making our
way 10 Cosgrove's farmhouse. and
stared in blank amazement at the
slender, dark woman who had just
assumed that Dicky was my brother.
She had been a fellow passenger
with us on the little mountain train
climbing from Kingston 20 Cold
Spring -in-the- Catskills. where Dicky
and I had planned weeks fishing
She had vaguely annoyed me with
her approving looks at Dicky when
she had accosted me on the train.
After we had alighted from the
station she had been "a spectator of
/ the dilemma in which the quaran-
tine on the farmhouse we had ex-
pected 10 visit had placed US.
She had heard the ridiculous little
nickname Of Sister Sue" which
/ Dicky had called me. and the re-
quest for two rooms which he had
made TO the evident surprise of the
| Cosgrove boy. Her assumption that
Dicky was my brother instead Of
my husband was, of course. a nat
uraI one. but it annoyed me intense
| ly.
I was about 10 correct the mis-
/ take when the pressure on my arm
from Dicky's fingers grew stronger.
and in a tone which I recognized as
full Of the mischief in which he 50
often delights, he said:
Yes, we expect 10 have a great
time up here, don't we. Sister Sue ?'
1 knew that Diclly's love of a jest
was such that he would greatly re-
sent any attempt Of mine TO spoil it.
so 1 contented myself with de-
/ mure:
Yes, indeed"
/ But the vague annoyance which I
| had felt when the woman first ac-
] costed me deepened at this mistake
I in our relationship which she had
made and Dicky had sanctioned.
was sure that the woman had no
marital ties-either she was a widow
or had never married.
'Ah, You Are English
To my imagination the light in
her eve as she looked at Dicky was
speculative. With an adroitness
which 7 could not help but admire
she had dropped back with us as if
it were the most natural thing in
/ the world that we should walk to-
| gether. while the boy from Cos
| groves. trudged on ahead.
You know, I'm not particularly
keen on trying this new place"
Dicky said to me in a low voice. first
making sure that the boy was out
/ of earshot.
Our new acquaintance cooked her
head TO one side. and looked up at
him with a birdlike gesture. AS she
did so she flashed a provocative
glance at him, and said quickly;
'Ah. you are English, I see"
II was Dicky's turn TO stare at her
now. Then he threw back his head
| and laughed
That's a good one. Sister Sue. e
he said TO me. and I inwardly re-
scented his mischievous emphasis on
the ultkndIQe.
What makes YOU think were
| English 20 he asked the woman. with
the debOnair little air that makes
Dicky so attra active TO women.
ooh. because you said keen -
she returned. with another alluring
hutter Of her wonderfully long. dark
eyelashes The English all say
keen. I never heard an American
say it before. so thought you
might be English and I know you
are. aren't you?"
I suppose her playful persistence
was pretty, at least Dicky appeared
TO find il so. but 10 me the woman
seemed bold, pushing.
1 felt that I should dislike her
cordially by the end OF the week If
I were thrown into the enforced in
timacv of a summer boarding house.
tt was not alone that T disuked
her manner toward Dicky. There was
something about the personality OF
the woman that I distrusted some
thing that repealed me- From my
earliest recollection I have always
formed quick. instructive likes and
dislikes, snap judgments Of people.