Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1921-08-31

!, spoke to her father about It; spoke
In her cesual and vague fashion, but
gave him food for serious thought
nevertheless.
Dad" said Alix suddenly at the
lunch table one day when Cherry hap.
Aned to be shopping In the city,
"were you and mother ever separated
when you were marriedr
! "No-" the doctor. remembering
shook his head. "Your mother never
was happy away from her homer
"Not even to visit her own famllyf'
persisted Allx.
''Not ever" he answered. 1--WE al
ways planned long visit In the East
but she never would go without me.
She went to your Uncle Vincent's
| house In Palo Alto once. but she came
home the next day-didn't feel COM
| Portable away from homel"
''How long do you suppose Martin
will let us have Cherry2" Alix asked.
! Her father looked quickly at her
and troubled expression crossed his
| face.
'The circumstances seem to make 1T
| wise to keep her here until he Is sure
that this now position Is the right
one" he said
III / 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. 81 simply mean that he
is that sort of man. And Il seems
to me--odd the way he and Cherry
take their marringel She doesn't
seem like other married women. And
the thing Is, will she ever want to 20
back, If she isn't-rather coerced {?
Martin Is odd, YOU know; he has a
kind Of stolld stupid pride. lie 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 cross Now,
mind you," AllX broke Off vehcmently,
I'D change the entire institution Of
marriage, II 1t was me! I'd end all
this"
"Well, we won't go into that I" her
father interrupted her, hastily, for
Alix had aired these views before and
he was not In sympathy with them.
"Ahd guess you're right: the child
is woman now, with q womnn's re.
sponsibillties," he added. "And her
place Is with her husband. They'll
have to solve life together, to learn to-
gether ri tpeak to Cherryr
Alix. watching him. walk away,
thought that she had n4ver seen Dad
look old before She saw the shadow
on his kind face all the rest of that
day.
It.was only the next morning when
he opened the question with Cherry.
It. was a brilliant morning, with
spring already in the air. Cherry, on
th&porch steps. was reading letter
from Martin. Her father, sat down be-
side her. She had on oHesof her old
gR&ns and, bathed In fH6fa sunlight,
|slStbaeat eighteen gain. air was
sweet and pungent and damp and
fresh. the sky high and blue, and
across the granite face Of TamalpaiB
q last scarf Of mist was floating.
swell, what has Martin to sayr
asked the doctor.
"Oh, he doesn't like 1t much r. Cher.
~ said, making little face. "He de-
scribes the village as perfectly hope
less He's moved into the little house
In street, and gotten two stoves
up"
"And when does he want his girlr'
her father, pursued.
"He doesn't say" Cherry answered,
innocently. II think he is really hap
pier to have me here, where he knows
am well Oft" she said. ~ know
am." she ended after moments
thought.
Her father was conscious Of pang;
he had not even formed the thought
In his own mind that Cherry was un-
happy. The child, he told himself, had
good husband. home and health,
and undeveloped resources within
herself. 1t was puzzllng and painful
to him to realize that there was need
ed something more-and that that
something was lacking. He felt sud-
den anger at Martin; why wasn't Mar
tin managing this AFFAIR."
HA"tl uoesnt mention any tlmeP
he mused.
"Thanks to youl" Cherry said,
dlmpling mischievously. "He wrote
quite firmly, just before Christmas"
she added, 'but told him that Dad
had been such an angel and liked so
much to have me here" And Cher
rvs smile was full Of childish triumph.
MY DEAR" her father said, spurred
10 sudden courage by realization
that the matter might easily become
serious, "yOu mustn't 0h,ca hIs pon-