The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1919-05-29
The SOLUTION
BY MARGUERITE hAGGERTY

. BY MARGUERITE HAeeERTY{E
tibllillIilIlllIlfiIliiiHtullII iIllIllIilllii
(Copyright, 1918 by Mcclure Newspaper
Syndicata)
Hazel ran upstairs to her psrdcu.
lar little nook. and fairly threw herself
into q large loungtng chair. Il guess
II / stay up here and read fos q while
+ win be left undisturbed for IN hour
at least" thought this dainty little
miss. After q few minutes had
elapsed, the book was thrown idly to
one side. and resting her head comfor-
tally on the back Of the chair, slle
closed her eyes, intending to solve the
meaning Of q letter that she had re-
eeived that morning. Then, on second
thought, she snatched the engrossing
missive from q nearby table and set
tied back once again to peruse its con-
tents.
"Oh, how perple1ing 1t all seems.
What can he possibly mean? Oh, well,
I suppose am too silly and nonsensi-
cal for words. The idea of worrying
myself over his fitful moods" Thus
she argued with herself. One minute
pitying her hero, and the next instant
ready to pounce upon herself for
wasting valuable. time pondering over
his puzzling letter.
A half hour later, Edith. the peace
maker Of the family, was passing to
her room, and happening to glance
into her younger sisters den. saw that
she was enjoying serene little nap.
Edith was kindergarten teacher, and
had just returned home feeling rather
weary. Instantly it dawned upon her
that light luncheon served upstairs
near the cozy fireside would be both
inviting and soothing after tedious
days teaching Soon the shades were
drawn, and the electric lamp lit, cast
ing a soft green glow over the room,
while a tempting table set for two
sent such a delicious aroma through
out the room that none could possibly
escape its lure. A merry ripple Of
laughter rang out, echoing down the
hallway to the rest Of the family
household. who were already partly
through with the evening meal. Ha-,
Eel, blinking and smiling, jumped up
and kissed her sister affectionately,
at the same time silently uttering
prayer of thanksgiving to heaven for
such thoughtful and generous-heart-
ed sister.
During the course Of the meal, all
the petty trials and grievances Of the
day were talked over. Naturally, Ha-
Eel, still feeling quite upset, brought
into the discussion the arrival of the
mysterious letter from her afianced
sailor boy.
Edith, dear, I have felt blue all
day, but now that you are home 1t
seems that a rainbow has flashed over
my landscape, and frightened my
hopes"
"Well, Hazel, the only possible solu-
ton is that you must curb your pride.
and write him a very courteous letter.
In the meantime, younger sister,
the mischievous Miss Anna, who had
gained knowledge of the letter earlier
tn the day, was patching up stray
thoughts, and was positive that she
must be the innocent troublemaker,
who had prompted all this misunder-
standing. Anna was certainly nervous
that evening. First, knife fell, then
a plate went crashing to the floor.
Bang! down went butter dish, and
oh, what daub that butter did make
on the carpet. For PHYS sake" re-
monstrated her mother, "can't You
hold a plate in your hands for FIVE
minutes?
The next day Anna. after contem-
plating on the unhappy incident that
had occurred, resolved to waylay the
peacemaker. That same afternoon
quite an interview took place.
mo, Edith. please do not inform
Hazel that wore her green silk dress,
because after she refused to loan 1t
to me, why, I promised to be content
with her rose crepe de chine. Then,
when I went to look over her ward
robe, the green dress looked so per.
fectly wonderful that I could not re-
sist the temptation to wear 1t. OF
course" she went on, 'Hazel was lying
down, and I stealthily slipped up
stairs and tried 1t on. The color suit.
I'd me 30 well, together with the fact
that am such a terribly selfish and
vain girl, made 1t impossible for me
% refrain from wearing the gown.
That night, with George Parker at
the social, I saw Jack Turner coming
towards me. felt pretty guilty and
decided the best thing to do was to
shade my face with my hat. Probably
endeavored not to hold Georges
attention, and fairly succeeded. Do
you understand now why Jack wrote
tn such q melancholy strain? Poor
Jack. He thought Hazel was deceiv-
lng him. He might have known, how.
~ $hof uoxol wonld mt refuso fo