Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-09-30
rather rudely Indifferent to her, smil

rather rudely Indifferent to her, smil-
ing at her in. an amused way, as IT,
h were scarcely to be taken seri-
ously, and this Indifference, instead
of angeringNher, seemed to subjugate
her on'y the more. All that 'by-play,
however, IAcould have borne with pa
tience, and might have been merely
amused at it, but what really did
cause me most furious internal anger
was his attitude toward Uncle Ralph.
It was impossible to. say that he
was absolutely d%iscourteous to uncle
or forgetful OF his relation toward
him asaguest to host, but there was
tinshis attitude an air OF. smiling ;toler-,
ance almost or patronage, the air Of
one who OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES bu-,
perior,3 which made me boil inwardly,
with rage. He had Sthe air OF suffer-!
ing q fool gladly with a Christian
resignation which, was unendurable.
, However this, his first visit, passed
without any untoward incident There
was nothing, so far as, Il know, to
which Uncle Ralph could possibly
take offense. So he came again.. 1t
appeared that his regiment .had1Are-
turned for home service or else That.
he had exchanged into a. home bat
talion-I forget which
He came three times, in all, in a
little more than 9 year, and each time.
the same story repeated itself. Aunt
Enid was absorbed by him from the
moment of his coming until his going,
and he seemed always smiling careless
and almost Indifferent. I gathered,
too, that she saw him more than once
in London. and thought that maybe
they met far more often than she,
said. I did not then know, but 7
suspected. that 1t was 80.
The last time that he came to Scot
ney was on a Saturday, the Saturday
the tragedy happened. There were
one or two others here for the week.
end. but by the Tuesday all except
Captain Vibrant Jeff. He stayed on
showed no immediate signs of
going. How long he was to stay had.
been arranged. I presume, : between.
him and Aunt Enid. but neither Uncle
Ralph nor I was told.
When the deuce d'you think the
fellows going?" uncle had said to
ME on the Wednesday, and T could
give him no information.
He had asked in a kind Of humor-
Gus evaporation. We had not said
much to each other about Captain
Wharf. I expect we both felt he was
q subject best left undiscussed. But
i think each Of us understood toler-
ably well what the views of the 9TH
'er about, that gentleman were. and
that they had much in common.
Then something happened on the
day, which changed my uncle's mood
most completely from the humorous
5ly ex~asperated. Aunt Enid and Cap
tain Wharf had been out walking to-
gether as usual, and whether uncle
seen or had overheard something
gwhichStheY had not intended him to
see or hear. LIDO not know. All I do.
know is that he came in at the front
door when ! happened to be in the.
seemed to me; with heavier steps than
Ills face was downcast, frowninR.
and he passed me without word.
which was q most unusual thing for
him to- do. hardy know whether
he as much as noticed Tint I was
there. He went on into the library.
AT dinner that night the atmosphere
seemed very highly charged with cleo
trtcttv. I do not think that Uncle.
Ralph smoke more than twice all.
throughNthe meal. and then 1t was to
Grainger and on each occasion to.
find fault with him for some trivial
or Imaginary misdemeanor. Aunt
Enid. fno.wass a~bnnrmally silent. and,
when she did speak It was In a fever.
ishfv nufrls way. with a laugh higher
pitched than usual. Little though ].
liked her must admit that she had
some ~self-confrol and think II,
needed A considerable exercise Of that,
useful quality to ave her from hy-i
CAPTAIN Wharf hardy noticed these
little sallies though they were gener-
ally addressed Ito him. He hadstlone