Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current, 1918-12-05
Cynthia White
Pest
00
By VINCENT q. PERRY

.
Syndicate.)
With quick jerl, Horace Sangster
pulled his line from the wnter, and
then cried ont with disgust, The fish,
II there had been one. Ind got away.
Three hours without a catch--it was
enough to annoy Z man with normal
nerves, and Horace was far from that.
He drew In his line angrlly and at
tempted to wind 1t UP. but something
had gone wrong with his reel. That
was the fast straw. He sat down ON
q rock and swore.
The sound of the word startled him.
He had not sworn for years. His
nerves were certainly making a wreck
Of him. The solitude of the plnce was
saggravating him, too. They had told
him the simple camp life. with lots Of
fishing. would make new man of him.
Such bosh! Why, there was hardly
thing about 1t that did not make him
feel worse.
This was the second day, md he
was going to make 1t his Inst. To be-
gin with, he had had trouble pitching
his tent. The storm In the night had
kept him up keeping out the rain. Ev-
cry crack Of the bushes or sound of
the birds in the trees caused him to
start uneasily. 1t was nearly as nerve
racking MS an afternoon session with
the fOurth-year class. The thought
of the fourth-year girls irritated him
the more. They had been the cavse
Of his breakdown, he felt confident.
For months he had looked with dread
OH the hour ench afternoon that he
was forced to teach them mathematics.
They We're just silly, thoughtless girls.
and would not have been SO hard to
put up with had 1t not been for their
ringleader. Cynthia White.
Without eXaggeratl0n Cynthia was
the worst girl he had ever had under
his tuition. Her main object in life
seemed to be to torment the professor
Of mathematics. Something always
turned up for her to argue about or
laugh over. There was always some
thing for her to ridicule, and she new
er missed an opportunity to make him
feel mean-perhaps because she was
so large and he was so small.
As he sat there thinking 1t over, Hor-
ace made up his mind he had been
foolish. 1t would have been easy to
have arranged for her dismissal from
the college. Why hadn't he done 1t?
There was something he liked about
Cynthia. in spite Of everything. The
spirit Of fun behind those twinkling
black eyes of hers appealed to him,
and the warmth Of her laugh made him
long for Notwithstanding that
was not in his life.
Suddenly the laugh sounded close be-
side him. He nearly toppled into the
water from the shock it gave him. He
turned quickly to confront Cynthia, a
little way Off. her eyes bullying over
with merrimcnt. After rubbing his
eyes to eln;.Ne sure he was seeing
Alright. Horace smiled forth greet
Ing. Even the pest Of his life was well
come In fiat solitude.
"Oh Mr.. Sangster, you look SO fun
ny there" she laughed. "If the girls
could only see you In your bare feet r.
"Heavens!' Horace tried to hide
his feet behind u log. He had forgot
ten that he had taken off his shoes aud
socks to wade creek.
"D0n't be alarmed" she smiled en-
couragingly, II am going to take OF my
shoes. too. One can't fish well with
shoes on. How do you like my cos
tume?"
She was clad in khaki from head to
foot, and her hair was hanging in curls
over her shoulders. He had never re.
allied how beautiful she was before.
"Jove! You look peachy," he MUIR
INJURED. admiringly, not realizing that
he had used the word "peachy" for the
first time since he had got his degree.
That encouraged Cynthia to take n
seat beside him. Not that she needed
encouragement, for she would have sat
there sooner or later. 1t did not take
Horace long to forget that he was a
college professor and she was q mere
student. Soon they were chatting
gayly.
Her home was near by and she had
spent every summer fishing In that
stream for years. She led him to o
place where he was "sure to catch
something, no matter how poor an an
gler he was" When his luck remain.
ed poor and he still made vain attempts
to land trout, Cynthia did not fall to
laugh at him and assure him that he
Was as funny as he could be.
Somehow 1t did not bother him to
be laughed Mt out there. The air seem
ed to have got into his blood and given
him sense of humor that responded
to her witty ridicule. He was not long
In catching onto the right way to draw
in the line. and before the afternoon
was over he was catching as many
trout ms Cynthia. When they parted
lie had gained her promise to search
him out the next day.
Camping agreed with him after that.
Fishing was the most wonderful sport
In the world when one had compan.
ion like Cynthin, he decided inter t,vr