The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-06-15


haf SeyeFlfy, had deserted Hs
now, and were ciinging to- her
weak Laughter and feeble explain.
lions.
francesca unlocked that door, ana
rushed Into Mr.. Carriers roof1Ir Amy
explained, wipirg her eyes. And
then. the boys, locked her III there
The composed temperance OF Fran
cesca at this point, however, added to
the general hiIarity.
sYou did not lock me III, Srnarties r.
Francesca draWled, childfsh1y. They
climbed to the balcony, and we were
well. we were undressing, = she said
ID Richard, "aad here they were ham
mering and yelling Iike--like 81
washesi We grabbed our wrappers.
we wanted To-
"We wanted to lock them ont
thereT Amy explained, laughing nm
c~ontrollably. But"
"And / snapped off the light"
E1na interposed, with deep satisfac-
Hon. ID, {
@And, mind you
AAnd, Father" "
And the wonder was that we didn't
die OF fright"
snow, look here" Harriet said, In
the babel, '"I'll give you all exactly two
minutes to quiet down. Never in the
course OF my life" e.
Richard thought her maternal indul-
gence delightful: he thought the
young people who chung about her
charming In their apologize and
laughing promises. Ward and Bruce
Hopper mounted to their own region;
Richard went with the girls and Har-
riet to the rooms that had been at
tackled. Pilgrim, the t~ireless, was al
ready there, replacing pillows, straight
ening beds, untwisting curtains. The
girls, with reminiscent bubbles Of
laughter, began to help her.
" After the last good-nights. Richard
and Harriet had no choice but to cross
the hall again, and they stood there
for d moment, laughing at the recent
excitement.
"After twelve" Harriet said. with
a smiling shake Of her head. "Aren't
they young demons! However" she
added In an %undertone, "it's the best
thing In the world for Nina This
sort Of nonsense will blow cobwebs
awayE" .
Richard was only conscious of a
desire to prolong this intimate little
moment Of parental consultation.
"She doesn't speak of Blondin7' he
asked.
mot at all. The birthday came and
went placidly enough" Harriet an
swered, suddenly intent after hel
laughing. And as he did not speak fol
q second, she looked up at him, limo
Gently. "You don't think she's hiding
anything?' she asked, anxiously.
"I-no, I hardly think So" Richart
answered. c~onfusedly. Their eyes met
and he smiled vaguely. Then Harriet
slowly crossed the hall to the door Of
the guest room, where she was spend
ing the night, and gave him an onl,
half-audible goodnight. Richard stool
watching the door for a moment Or tive
after 1t had closed upon the slender
dimly seen figure. Then he went tt
his own room, and began brisk.
enough to move about between the mir
rors and dressing room, windows ant
bed. But two or three times b
stopped short, and found himsel
staring vacant1y into space, all move
ment arrested, even thought arrests
for whole long minutes at a time.
Harriet, entering her room, closet
the door noiselessly, and remained 70
a long time standing with her hand
resting against it behind her, her eye
alert, her breath coming as lie she hat
been running. There was only a nigh
light in the bedroom; the covers wer,
still tumbled back from her suddel
flight toward the rioting youngsters II
the hall. She got back into her be.
and opened her book. But for a loni
time she neither slept nor read; he
eyes widened at the faintest sound O
! the summer night; her heart thumpet
madIy when the curtains whispered a
the window, or the wicker chairs CAV.
the faintest creak. 1t had not beer
only for Richard that the midnigh,
hour Of responsibility and inf0rmalit,
shared had had its thrill.
One O'Clock. Harriet closed her bool
and snapped OF her light. But frs
she went to the window and leaned on
into the sweet darkness. There wa
shadow unbroken everywhere; no ligh1
III all the big house was burning a
late as her own. 49,"