New-York tribune., 1920-09-26

I ter staring @$ her YoP O moment
he allowed bis own expression to
become one Of pain. Then he slow
ly swung about, as II to return into
that side yard obscurity whence he
had come; making clear by this
pantomime that he reciprocally
found the sight Of her Insult
In truth, he did; for he was not
only her neighbor but her first
cousin as well, and o short month
older, though taller than she--tall
beyond his years, taller than need
be, in fact, and still in knicker-
bockers. However, his parents may
not have been mistaken In the mat
ter, for it was plain that he looked
as well in knickerbockers as he
could have looked in anything. He
had no visible beauty. though of
course IL was possible to hope for
him that by the time he reached
manhood he would be more tightly
put together than he seemed at
present; and indeed he himself ap-
peared to have some consciousness
Of insecurity in the fastenings Of
his members, for it was his habit
| observable even now es he turned
to avoid Miss Atwater) to haul at
himself, to sag and hitch about in
side his clothes, and to corkscrew
his neck against the swathing Of
his collar. And yet there were times,
as the most afYectionate of his
aunts had remarked, when, for q
moment or so, he appeared to be
almost knowing; and, seeing him
walking before her, she had almost
taken him for q young man; and
sometimes he said something in q
settled kind Of way that was al
most adult. This fondest aunt went
on to add, however, that Of course
the next minute after one of these
fleeting spells he was sure to be
overtaken by his more accustomed
moods, and his eye would again
glow with the fundamental aimless-
ness natural to his years. In brief,
he was at the age when he spent
most Of his time changing his mind
about things, or, rather, when his
mind spent most Of it's time chang
ing him about things-and this was
what happened now.
o .
4 'FTER turning his back on the
IN hateful sight we'll known to
him as his cousin Florence
at her freshest, he turned again,
came forth from his place Of resi-
dence, and, joining her upon the
pavement, walked beside her, accom-
panying her without greeting or in
quiry. His expression of pain, indi.
eating her insufferableness, had not
abated; neither had her air Of being
duchess looking at bugs.
"You are pretty onel" he said
but his intention was perceived to be
far indeed from his words.
"Oh, am I, Mister Atwater?''
Florence responded. 'T'm awf1y
glad you think sol"
II mean about what Henry Rooter
said" her cousin explained. "Henry
Rooter told me he made you believe
you were goin' to have a. grapevine
climbin' up inside of you because
you ate some grapes with the seeds
IN 'em. He says he scared you into
fits, and you thought you'd have tc
get a carpenter to build a little
arbor SO you could swallow it for the
grapevine to grow on. He says"--
Florence had become an angry
pink. "That little Henry Rooter is
the worst falsehooder in this town
and I never believed word he sale
in his life! Anyway, what affairs il
it Of yours, I'd like you to please
be so kind and obligihg for to tel
me, Mister Herbert Illingswortf
Atwater, Ecksquire?"
"What affairs?" Herbert echoed
in plaintive satire. "What affairs is
it of mine? That's just the trouble
It's got to be my affairs just be,
cause you got to be my first cousin
My goodness, I didn't have anything
to do with you being my cousin
did II"
"Well, I didn't" Florence inter.
posed hotly.
~Fhat's neither here nor there,
said Herbert. "What I want tt
know is, how long you goin' to kee1
this up?"
"Keep what up?"
II mean, how do you think I like
havin' somebody like Henry Roote,
comm round tellin' what they made
a cousin of mine believe, and owe,
thirteen years old, goin' on fourteen
ever since about a month ago al
most"--