, 1918-08-08

give come to ask advice" he began
You see Tn pretty Ignorant about a
good many things. 1t didn't occur to
me at first that 1 oughtn't to keep those
girls. They want to stay and they have
worked like t~rojans all morning, and
they cooked the dinner and are wash
ing up the dishes TO- They are a
great help. j a do the heavy work
n I'll give them short hours and I'll
put away something from the proceeds
of the garden for them every week
They are nice girls-stupid rather and
perhaps a little dull-but splendid out
door workers. They take to 1t like
peasants. 1t occurred to me, however,
that one conventional doesn't do
hat sort of thing. That is, wouldn't
there be something out of the way
about my keeping these girls there,
without some one to chaperone themf
That's the idea, isn't It? 1t occurred
to me that maybe you could help us
out. It's all wal work and 1 know
you are just cultivating your garden
for patriotism. Couldn't you come
over to my place and live? I'd do all
tAC btaNS man . "oih ~ Sou Noaiu
sort of keep your eye on the girls"
Barbara laughed at the professor
and suggested that so far as conven-
ton ven there would be no advantage
In the way he had outlined.
Several other plans were suggested.
There wasn't room In Barbara's cot
tage for the orphans, and Barbara
didn't like the Idea of staying in Pro-
fessor Osgood's houss with the orphans
while he stayed in her shack. So it
was decided that for the time being he
would sleep in the hayloft, while the
orphans stayed alone in the house.
Perhaps within a week or so the or
phans would be tired of the experiment
or would have proved themselves poor
farmers
But as a matter of fact just the OPP
posite thing took place. They became
expert agrieulturists, and when Bar
bara, at Professor Osgood's suggestion,
asked them whether they weren't
ready to go back, they both burst into
tears, the only sign of vivid emotion
that they had expressed since their ar
rival. So the professor continued to
sleep in the hayloft without any seri-
GUS discomfort. After all there was
no one in the neighborhood to criticize
the arrangement and the plan might
have worked out all summer were it
not for the expected visit of the in
spector.
did the people at the asylum know"
said Professor Osgood feeling carefully
n day as the girls were about to go
forth to hoe the first showing of beans,
did they know 1 was living here alone
when they sent your"
mo, SIR" said one emphatically.
'They said there was a MIR. and Mrs.
osgood, they did, and the matron said:
Mind you do what Mrs. Osgood says"
The professor suddenly became PEN
sive. 1t was not the first time he had
thought In a rather concrete way of
late of the possibility of a Mrs. Osgood.
After all 1t was not such an entirely
preposterous idea. Other men, rea-
soned the professor, had managed to
win the love of women completely and
entirely their superiors in every way.
How foolish 1t would be not to take the
chance. Not to ISL Barbara to marry
hAh Wodio hoI hiuh tlc lultI5lly VI
his love any less poignant. And per-
haps-. The professor left his
orphans abruptly and sauntered over
to Barbara's shack. He had planned
several ways of beginning the conver-
sation, but Barbara was busy planting
corn and he felt that quick action was
most suitable.
Barbara will you marry met" he
said, looking very hard at the corn in
her curved palm.
"Bless your heart" said Barbara,
dropping the grain and laughing a
little. II was almost afraid you
wouldn't ask me in time. I thought
maybe you would sometime, but I
wanted to have it all fixed and settled
before that orphan inspector got
around. It's part of our war duty,
isn't it?"