Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1921-12-22
PART II-Continue&

"Oh, nothln, she replied, a1r1ly.
Herbert began to be mistrustful of
the solid earth. Somewhere there was
a fearful threat to his equipoise.
"What you talkin' about?" he said,
with an effort to speak scornfully !;
but his sensitive voice almost failed
him.
"Oh, nothin'," said Florence "Just
about what pretty eyes you know you
have. and Patty's being anyway as
pretty as yours-and so you're glad
maybe she thinks yours are pretty,
the way you do-and everything!"
Herbert visibly gulped. So Patty
had betrayed him; had betrayed the
sworn confidence of Truth p
"That's all / was talkin' about"
Florence added Just about how you
knew you had such pretty eyes. Say
not so. Herbert! Say not SOP
Look here /" he said. "When'd you
see Patty again between this after
noon and when you came over here"
"What makes you think saw her?"
did you telephone her?"
"What makes you think so?"
Once more Herbert gulped. "Wen,
l guess you're ready to believe any
thing anybody tells you," he said, with
a palsied bravado "You don't believe
everything Patty Fairchild says do
you?"
"lYhy, Herbert! Doesn't she always
tell the Trnth?"
"Her? Why, half the time poor
Herbert babbled, "you can't tell
whether she just maxim up what she
says or not. If you've gone and be-
lieved everything that ole girl told
you, you haven't got even what little
sense I used TO think you hadl" So
base we are under strain, sometimes
so base when our good name is threat
ened with the truth of us 81 wouldn't
believe anything she said" he finished,
in siclSish voice. ''if she told me fifty
times and crossed her hearth
Wouldn't you j. she said you wrote
down how pretty you knew your eyes
were, Herbert?"
whats this about Herbert having
pretty eyes'?" Mr.. Joseph Atwater in
qulred; anti Herbert shuddered. Un-
Gle Joseph had an unpleasant reputa-
ton as q joker.
The nephew desperately fell back
upon the hopeless device Of attempt-
ing to drown out his opponents voice
as she began to reply. He became
vociferous with scornful laughter bad
ly cracked in the scorn. Florence
got mad" he shouted, mingling the
purported information with LOUD cack-
lings. "She got mad because l and
Henry played games with Pattyi She's
tryin' to make up somep'm to get even.
She made it up! It's all made I'D
She"
mo, no." Mr.. Atwater interrupted.
LET Florence tell US. Florence, what
was 1t about Herbert knowing he had
pretty eyes?"
Herbert attempted to continue the
drowning out. He bawled, "She made
It upl It's somep'm she made up
herself! She"
Herbert" said Uncle Joseph-"if
you don't keep quiet, I'll take back
the printing press"
Herbert substituted another gulp
for continuation of his noise.
'Now, Florence" said Uncle Joseph.
"tell us what you were saying about
how Herbert knows he had such pref
ty eyes"
Then it seemed a miracle befell.
Florence looked up, smiling modestly.
"Oh. it wasn't anything. Uncle Jo-
seph," she said 81 was Just irving
to tease Herbert any way I could
think up"
"Oh, was that all? A hopeful light
faded out of Uncle Joseph's large
and inexpensive face. 81 thought
perhaps you'd detected him in some
indiscretion."
Florence laughed. "I was lust
teasin' him. 1t wasn't anything, Uncle
Joseph"
Hereupon. Herbert resumed con-
fused breathing. Dazed, he remained
uneasy. profoundly SO; and gratitude
was no part Of his emotion. He well
understood that Florence was never
susceptible TO impulses of compassion
In conflicts such as these; in fact, IL
there was warfare between them. ex-
perience had taught him to be wariest
when she seemed llindest He moved
away from her and went into another
room where his condition was one of
increasing mental discomfort, though
he looked for a while at the pictures
IN his great-uncle's copy of paradise
Lost" These illustrations by NJ Gus
tnve Dore. fniled to aid in reassuring
his troubled mind.
When Florence left. he impulsively
accompanied her maintaining merry
Ous silence MS they cOmpassed the
short distance between Uncle Joseph's