The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1921-09-08


all the others are Folsoms and Ran
dalls. And / want them to realize
that he is marrying a gentlewoman!
Cherry and Alix went upstairs after
the ceremony, as Alix and Anne had
done a year ago, but there was deep
relief and amusement in their mood
today, and 1t was with real pleasure
in the closer intimacy that the little
group gathered about the fire that
night.
After that, life went on serenely, and
it was only occasionally that the girls
were reminded that Cherry was a
married woman with a husband ex-
pecting her shortly to return to him.
November passed, and Christmas
came, and there was some talk of Mar
tins joining them for Christmas. But
he did not come; he was extremely
busy at the new mine and comfortable
in a village boarding house.
1t was in early March that Alix
spoke to her father about it; spoke
in her casual and vague fashion, but
gave him food for serious thought,
nevertheless.
Dad" said Alix suddenly at the
lunch table one day when Cherry hap
pened to be shopping in the city,
"were you and mother ever separated
when you were married?"
mo" the doctor, remembering,
shook his head. your mother never
was happy away from her home!"
mot even to visit her W family?"
persisted Alix.
mot ever he answered. 1--WE al
ways planned a long visit in the East
but she would go without me
She went to your Uncle V%incent's
house in Palo Alto once, but she came
home the next day-didn't feel com
Portable away from home!"
"How long do you suppose Martin
will let US have Cherry?" Alix asked.
Her father looked quickly at her
and a troubled expression crossed his
face.
1.-The circumstances seem to make it
wise to keep her here until he is sure
that this new position is the right
onei" he said.
eff l know anything about Martin"
Alix said, mo position Is ever going
to be the right one for him. l mean"
she added as her father gave her an
alarmed look. II simply mean that he
is that sort of a man. And it seems
to me-odd the way he and Cherry
take their marriage! She doesn't
seem like other married women And
the thing is, will she ever want to go
back, If she isn't-rather ~coerced?
Martin is odd, you know he has a
kind of stolid, stupid pride. He wrote
her weeks ago and asked her to come,
and she wrote back that If he would
find her a cottage, she would; she
couldn't go to his boarding house, she
hated boarding! Martin answered
that he would, some day, and she said
to me, oh, now he's CROSSE Now,
mind you,'' Alix broke off vehemently,
I'D change the entire institution of
marriage, if 1t was me! I'd end all
this"
swell, WI won't go into that!" her
interrupted her, hastily, for
Alix had aired these views before and
he was not in sympathy with them.
"And / guess you're right: the child
is a woman now, with q woman's re-
sponsibilities," he added. And her
place is with her husband. They'll
have to solve life together, to learn TO
I'll speak to Cherry"
AliI, watching him walk away,
thought that she had never seen Dad
Iook old before She saw the shadow
DID his kind face all the rest of thst
1t was only the next morning when
ne opened the question with Cherry.
1t was a brilliant morning, with
spring already in the air. Cherry, on
he porch steps, was reading a letter
rom Martin. Her father sat down be-
ide her. She had on one of her old
and, bathed in soft sunlight,
ooked eighteen again. The air was
and pungent and damp and
resh, the sky high and blue, and
Icross the granite face of TamalpaiS
last scarf Of mist was floating.
"Well, what has Martin to sayT
.sked the doctor.
"Oh, he doesn't like it much! Cher
y said, making a little face. He de-
the village as perfectly hope
ess. He's moved into the little house |