The Washington herald., 1918-12-16
CHAPTER III-continued.

~AA<hA En- AAAT>Sh~s@ae~~'
He had lost no time in searching
out his friend whose time was not
overcrowded.' and in pouring his
grievances into his most willing ears.
DR.. Ewing was a plump, dimpled
blond. He also was a good boy, and
had settled in Huddlesford in the
hope that the town would grow.
Just you wait until Marjorie Sibley
and Ernestine Manfred are back" he
consoled. Talk about your peaches
and cream and gypsy queens! Wow!
You won't remember that Miss V. is
on earth!"
However. that did not help Tom.
Rather 1t aggravated his distress,
since he would be gone by that time.
So he amused himself with fishing.
and in making a tennis court back Of
his fathers barn. Usually he was
able to manage a few games a day
with Bige-the physicians name was
Abijah. to his perpetual chagrin, and
he could never drop the nickname of
Bige. He was Bige to all the village
/ folk, and always would be, while
Tom. out OF difference to his hardly
earned Ph.D., was call>S Doc
Bige and Doc fought out their long
ing for das ewig Weibliche on the
newly rolled court before the wonder
ing admiration of the small fry, for
not even the hotel boasted such an at
traction. 1t had risen above croquet,
though there, were sundry whisperings
as to what might be in the near fu-
ture, since Toms court had given the
| hotel proprietor a bad quarter Of an
| hour.
CHAPTER ". .
Rebecca. clad in white linen and
| wearing an unbecoming lingerie hat.
stepped into the old-fashioned COW
cred carriage and started for the sta
ton. She was on her way to meet
Mr.. Lewis.
Rebecca loved white and she adored
lingerie hats. This one was the first
| that she had ever been courageous
enough to wear, since they were ex-
ceptionally trying. She knew perfect
ly well that, had there been any fluffy
young girls, similarly sttired, within
| comparing distance. she woud have
appeared in conspicuous bad taste;
| but there were no girls anywhere
around. Ernestine Manfred was away
visiting, and Marjorie Sibley Was
babroad with her father and mother
/ eat all events. up here where the
/ country folk were used to her, and
loved her and always spoke of her as
the homely Miss 'Vanderpoor' (al-
though there was no other Miss Van
perpool from whom to distinguish
| herr. no one would notice. That was
| one comfort about Huddlcsford. The
only people whom she dreaded to
meet were DR.. Ewing and Tom Far
mum.
Sorry for Blind Man.
Today. however, Rebecca felt a
sense of forgetfulness that was new
to her. She was to meet a blind man.
She was infinitely sorry for him, and
she was rehearsing, mentally, en-
| couraging little speeches, while under
all lay the comforting assurance that
he could not see her.
Il must call his attention to every
thing that smells sweet she thought.
We will stop bit by the pine grove.
and where the shrubs grow. And he
must always have his luncheon on
the porch where the roses are thickest
Then-sounds. l will drive home by
the waterfall. and that leads by the
pasture where the cows are browsing.
l wonder whether he has ever heard a
cowbell. 1t will bring all sorts OF pic
lures to him-of diary maids and fresh
butter and sweet cream"
These were her musings
Before her miad there arose the
picture of middle-aged. gray-haired
man with closed or pathetically wide
staring eyes. and that attitude of
cropping uncertainty which we always
associate with the blind She felt her
throat tighten as she thought of him
. q nd nf all that ~ 70
of Disappointing hopes.
As soon as the little train crept into
the station. Rebecca made her way to
the end of the car Gt was a branch
line and only one car ran up to the
tiny mountain village from South
Huddlesford. five miles farther DOWN,
and stood close to the steps.
There were a number of passengers,
mostly guests bound for the small
hotel just without the town.
/ First there alighted an old man, one
of the church dignitaries, who had
known Rebecca ever since she was a
baby. He shook hands with her. She
was not afraid of old men.
So Exceedingly Handsome.
Next came a short. thin. close
shaven man in gray, and after him a
tall. broad-shouldered, soldierly man,
so exceedingly handsome and so COM
pelling of glance that Rebecca turned
abruptly from him, and so missed
/ seeing the solicitous fashion in which
the little man held up both hands to
steady him as he stepped to the
platform.
| Following close behind the big, hand
some man toddled a timid. bent old
woman, and after her came a mother
and father with their four children
and a nurse.
Meanwhile down the platform a bit,
stood the two strangers. 1t looked
as though the little man were hang