The spectator., 1921-11-29

said ruefully.
 What's that?"
 Breaking it to her 'admirers.'
 'Oh, she isn't going to do thatF'
 shell have to, now" he said. shell either have 10 write the news to 'em, or else tell 'em, face to face, when she comes home"
 "She won't do either
 "Why, how could she get out of it?"
 His wife smiled pityingly. "She hasn't set a time for coming home, has she? Don't you know enough of Jula's ways to know she'll never in the world stand up to the musief She writes that all the family can he told, because she knows the news will leak tie by little; so by the time she gets home they'll all have been through their first spasms, and after that she hopes they'll just send her some for giving flowers and greet her with manly handclasps-and get ready to usher at the wedding!'
 We'll" said Mir. Atwater, I'm afraid you're right. It does seem rather like Julia to stay away till the first of the worst is over. I'm really sorry for some of her love-lorners. l suppose 1t will get whispered about, and they'll hear IL: and there are some of the poor things that might take it pretty hard"
 Take 1t pretty hard.'" she echoed loudly. There's one of 'en, at least, who will just merely lose his reason."
 Which one:"
 Noble Dill.''
 At this, the slender form of Flor ence underwent n spasmodic seizure, in her chair, but as the fit was short and also noiseless 1t passed without being noticed.
 Yes" said Mir. Atwater, thought fully. "I suppose he will.s
 He certainly will " Mrs. Atwater declared. "Noble's mother told me last week that he'd gotten so he was just as liable to drop fountain pen in his coffee as lump of sugar and when any one speaks to him he either doesn't know 1t, or else jumps. When he says anything, himself, she says they can scarcely ever make out what he's talking about. He was try ing enough before Julia went away but since she's been gone Mrs. Dill says he's like nothing in her experi- ence. She says he doesn't inherit it Mir. Dill wasn't anything like this about her"
 Mir. Atwater smiled faintly. Mrs. Dili wasn't anything like Julia."
 No" said his wife. "She was quite sensible girl. I'd hate to be in her place, now. though, when she tells Noble about this !r
 How can Mrs. Dill tell him, since she doesn't know it herself?"
 'Well-perhaps she ought to know it. so that she could tell him. Some body ought to tell him, and it ought to be done with the greatest tact@ It ought to be broken to him with the the consequences"
 Nobody could foretell the conse- quences," her husband Interrupted mo matter how tactfully it's broken to Noble"
 No she said, "I suppose that's true. 1 think he's likely to lose his reason unless it is done very tactful- iy. though"
 Do you think we really ought te tell Mrs. Din. Molie? mean, seri- ously: Do yon?'
 For some moments she considered his question: then aswered, No. It's possible we'd be following n Christian course in doing 1t but still we're rath- CT bound not to speak of ii outside the family. and when it does get outside the family I think we'd better not be the ones sponsible-especially since it might easily be traced to us. I think it's usually better to keep out of things when there's any doubt"
 Yes" he said, meditating. "I new CT knew any harm to come off peoples sticking to their own affairs"
 But ss he and his wife became s- lent fol a time, musing in the fire light, their daughters special convic- ilfiiS Ntlt iiVit NitN theirs. although she, likewise. was si- lent--a strangeness in her which they should nave observed. ruf so far were they from trre comprehension of her, they were unaware that she had more than q casual, young cou- siniy interest in Julia Atwater's en- gagement and in those possible con sequences to Noble Dill, which they had skctehed with some intentional exaggeration. and decidedly without the staggering seriousness attributed 10 their predictions by their daughter. They dii not even notice her expres- sion when Mir. Atwater snapped on the light. in order to read. and she went quietly out of the library and up to her own room.
 On the floor, near her bed, where Patty Fairchild had left her coat and | hat. Florence made her second dis eovafy Twn small fnldaa slinS af |