The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1920-08-12

$ 4=4z = =
/ II hope IT is to ask M to take JED
In hand" said.
| No; 1t is to ask you to permit me
to announce the engagement of my
daughter Isobel to you Don't be
alarmed. It shall not make any diff
ference in your life Ii is a desperate
expedient / am using out of a diff
Guilty
| felt as IL were in a spiritual fog.
Is that the only way can help you
out?' I asked.
THE only one" she said. ST have
thought of everything"
Has it to do with Jed agai1g' ]
asked.
with things 1 cannot possibly ex-
plain. Is there any one who would be
distressed by such an announcement p
Not SOUL" said, except Miss
Sidney"
81 would not cause PAIN" said Mrs.
Sidney. "Are you sure there is no
one?''
Mrs. Sidney" I said, "you are the
only lady who ever has given me a
thought since I knew my mother.
am merely wondering what Miss Sid
ney will think of me in such q role.
Will she understand why take it? I
am not hesitatfng. I hope do not
seem to be, but I know suspect
that your decision is sudden"
"Isobel's affection for us is greater
than her demand for independence =
said Mrs. Sidney. IF she knows that
asked you to consent to this an
nouncement, she will think Of you as
proved friend"
had suggested all the precautions
that were reasonable. "You certainly
may make any use of me you want
to-" said. She thanked me and said
good night.
1sobers view Of our engagement was
purely comic. She may have had a
second of spiritual revolt, but comedy
AID consideration for her mother as
serted themselves. Mrs. Sidney, when
she told IsObel of the engagement, had
me present. The mother was really
embarrassed, almost flustered, but she
was determined. Isobel was greatly
amused.
1t may be imagined that I was not
heroic. I might better have been a
wax figure taken from display win
dow. I felt like one, thing with a
wax smile and no animation.
''It is merely precautionary" said
Mrs. Sidney uneasily. 'It is quite i'm
possible to explain. You will have to
accept my Judgment, Isobel. DR.. john
an odd halfway house toward init
macy she reached and stopped at
CDR. John has been kind enough to
do as / asked him. need and want
the support of my children in what
am doing"
felt a touch of emotion at that.
Unconsciously, intent upon her main
side and had spoken of her children"
Anything you do or have done is
all right, mother said Isobel, recov-
ering from her sense of humor. "Dr.-
John-will not be unhappy am sure
will you, doctor? And mother
I'll get an advantage OF you il this
see if I don't"
"YOu mustn't try to, IsobeI," said
Mrs. Sidney anxiously. 81 am doing
the best can"
Later in the evening / saw IsObel,
finding her alone in the library, where
she was reading. went in to get
book before going to bed. She was
by a lamp near the fireplace, ald she
looked very beautiful.
81 want to talk to -you," she said
when she saw me. do you know the
Of this?"
NO. said.
"You are not quite honest" she said. |
"a man engaged to a girl he never |
asked to marry him might suspect that |
something was out of the ordinary"
"Of course, something is extraOrdi- |
nary" I said. "Do you know what |
t is?'
mo, DON'T" she said. "Why don't I
you sit DOWN.
With a soft witchery Of femini1ity
she pervaded and glorified the room,
>ut she was peremptory. l was not
cullen, but felt defiant.
Because / don't want to sit down."
said.
Isobel smiled intlulgently at me-.
ooh, sit down, DR.. john" she said,
I want to talk to you. We are en-
aged, you know, and engaged people
ught to have a talk after the event,
E not before"
"You understand how this hap
'ened," suggested.
II do" she said. my mother is
Jed has been trying to
marry me-"
"What can give him the privilege of
UGH insOlence I" I exclaimed.
81 imagine he is enamored," she said
ut may seem impossible to
Ou."
'Has this man approached you di-
ectly?' / asked.
"He has been gallant, amorOus, sug-
estive. tender, soulful. aggressive,
leading, threatening, subservient and
L think that Is all-but only in man
or"