The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1920-09-24

" Mise tDlNillNN. Il all OINCI IIlul i VI
like TO be, but that is ALL"
You are Il hidcouS old fool" | said.
but think | can handle you, and l
give YOU warming"
Il am going to be quite friendly"
said Jed.
You tlatter YOURSELF" | said.
"Wcll. anyway" he said, I'm friend
~"
lie proved to be 50. The life of the
house went plHcidly from day TO day.
Isobol, with Il sense of our poSturing
toward each other, made hooking geS-
lures Of affection which shocked hor
mother. She particularly delighted TO
demonstrate Whea Jed was serving
dinner. | thought she would end by
getting me shot in the back, but Jed
had rated me finally as unimportAnt,
which did my cgotism no good. For
such a rascal to discard me, formally
bctrOthed as | was to ISobcl. in his
scandalous pursuits of that beautiful
girl, was prepOStcrOuS.
If Mrs. Sidney had known that | was
idiotically in love with lsObel. she
would not have sought relief from her
distress by the arrangement which
made me her daughters protective
fiance. The only thing | could take
credit for in this absurd situation was
that Mrs. Sidney was not allowed to
know the state Of my feelings.
was as sensible rs q corrupting ro-
,,,N,;s.,n maud ,,,,,,:+ n,o 10 hn
knew that any affection | might place
in this fashion was Il real and serious
emotional vice, which if not controlled
might lead to unhappiaess. That con
sCiousness had steadied me, but it had
not delivered me.
Isobel walked brightly through the
old house Of tragedy-aS surely it was,
however hidden the tragedy. She was
the CLINT of sunshine in the aislcS of
the dark woods, the OdOr of roses
against the wall. She had the charm
Of the hollyhocks, the freshness of the
hepatica in the spring, the beauty Of
the wild rose in June.
If | showed my feeling more tina
Il liver sausage shows Il soul, | hope |
may be punished. What | thought of
Isobel was my own affair, so long as
l kept it strictly my own affair.
| took myself in hand with as much
energy and promptnesS as / could, fol
lowing the announcement of " en-
gagement. / did not want to confess
myself Il fool. ! did not intend to Go
so if l could help it.
l Overdid ii. l became diSagreeable.
| kept as much out of Isobel's presence
as possible. never willingly was
alone with her. l did my best to avoid
meeting her or speaking to her. Isobel
met the situation with her natural
f%rankncSs after l had been giving this
demonstration of myself for some time.
Doctor" she said, this household
necessarily imposes friendships upon
the people in it. l wonder if we could
not be n little more agreeable to each
other"
/ did not know what to say. l hoped
not to be a hypOcrite, and / did not
want to be absurd.
Il shall be glad to be rs agreeable
as | can" | said after some mental
suffering. Il want to be, but / am
SO awkward"
Il want TO be, too" said IsObel "and
If We both want to be, we shall o
nave to glover at each other every
time W. meet. Even mother does not
require ii and father would dctest it."
Without saying anything more. she
made me see that / had used n cheap
device to escape the consequences Of
a foolish affection. The girl in a very
friendly fashion had shown M that
my avoidance of her was marked. cool
and unreasonable. 1t was wholly rea-
sOnable from my poor standpoint, but
from no other.
l saw that was meeting my Difficult
ty by running away from it. and / not
only did not like the timidity Of escape
in this fashion, but Furthermore, l did
not like the opinion IsObel formed of
me because Of it. l had to. face the
music, and after that l did. , 1t ought
not to have astonished me that l felt
better Instantly. knew that a cow
- Oliy fiNiCdSSu IIS tIOuDlCS.
l imagine If l had not seemed such
q professional stick, such a thing alOOf
from human emotions, IsObel would
have been merely friendly and kind.
AS it was. she was tantalizing. She
liked me well enough, but that meant
very little. II she did not drive, ride,
walk or play tennis with me, she had
q choice of the servants. 1t was l or
nothing.
l was with Mr.. Sidney a number OF
hours every day. They varied. some
times seven or eight a day in different
periods, sometimes three or four. Very
little OF this time was occupied in pro-
fessional duty. Life at Hartley house
would have been intolerably lonesome
if | had been there merely as a prac-
|titioner. And therefore / welcomed a
routine that was outside my profess
sion. Mr.. Sidney had q delicacy OF
perception which told him when at
tention upon even SO amiable an in
valid might be drawing upon the phys
ical reserve Of the people waiting upon
him or being with him. He always
managed that they never should feel
tho fafioua IF it