Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1922-11-08

NAAAtu 10 1oTUlSn inaI InlS Was flulc-
ulous. 'You know, I'm really study
ing law" he said, shyly and proudly.
Law How very interesting, from Ina.
On, but won't he bring up some songs
some evening, for them to Try over =?
Her and Di? At this Di laughed and
said that she was out of practice and
lifted her glass of water In the
presence of adults Di made one weep,
she was so slender, so young, so with
out defenses, so intolerably sensitive
TO every contact, so In agony lest she
be found wanting Ii was amazing
how unlike was this Di to the hi who
had ensnared Bobby Larlxin. What
was one to think?
Cornish paid very little attention to
her. To Lulu he said kindly, Don't
you play, Miss-?p He had not caught
her name-no stranger ever did catch
1t. But Dwight now supplied it, Miss
Lulu Bett," he explained, with loud
emphasis, and Lulu burned her slow
red This question Lulu had usually
answered by telling how felon had
interrupted her lessons and she had
stopped taking participle sacred
to music, in Warbleton. This vignette
had been kind of epitome of Lulu's
biography. But now Lulu was heard
to say, serenely:
mo, but Pm quite fond of it. I
went to lovely eoncert--two weeks
ago"
They all listened. Strange. indeed,
to think of Lulu as having had expert
ences of which they did not know.
''Yes," she said "It was in Savan-
nah. Georgia." She flushed, and lifted
her eyes in a manner of faint defiance.
'Of course" she said, Il don't know
the names of all the different instru-
ments they played, but there were a
good many" She laughed pleasantly
as part of her sentence. "They had
some lovely tunes she said. She knew
that the subject was not exhausted
and she hurried on. 1.-THE hall was
real large" she superadded, land
there were quite good many people
there. And it was too warm"
Il see," said Cornish, and said what
he had been waiting to say That he.
too, had been in Savannah, Georgia.
Lulu lit with pleasure "Wel p she
said And her mind worked aud she
caught at the moment before it had
escaped. isn't it pretty city?"
she asked. And Cornish assented with
the intense heartiness of the provincial.
He, too, it seemed, had conversa-
tional appearance to maintain by its
own effort. He said that he had en-
joyed being in that town and that he
was there for two hours.
81 was there for a week" Lulu's
superiority was really pretty.
"Have good weather." Cornish Sc
lected next.
"oh. yes. And tiey saw all ne dif.
ferent bui, l.ngs- hui II her "we" she
flushed and was silenced. she was
coloring and breathing quickly. This
was the first bit Of conversation of
this sort in Lulu's life.
After supper Ina inevitably pro-
posed croquet, Dwight pretended to
try to escape and, with his irrepressi-
Bile mien, talked about Ina, elaborate
In his inslstence on the third person
"She loves ii, we have to humOr her,
you know how 1t is. Or MOI You don't
knowl But you willard more of
the same sort, everybody laughing
heartily, save Lulu, who looked I'M
comfortable and wished that Dwight
wouldn't, and Mrs. Bett, who paid no
attention to anybody chat night, not
because she had not been introduced,
an omission which she had not even
noticed, but merely as another form
of ''tantrim"-a self-indulgence.
They emerged for croquet. And
there on the porch sat Jenny Pillow
and Bobby, waiting for Di to keep an
old engagement, which Di pretended
to have forgotten, and to be fright
fully annoyed to have to keep. She
met the objections of her parents with
all the batteries Of her coquetry, set
for both Bobby and Cornish and. bold
in the presence of company" at last
went laughing away. And in the mi
mute areas of her consciousness she
said to herself that Bobby would be
more in love with her than ever be-
cause she had risked all to go with
him; and that Cornish ought to be
distinctly attracted to her because
she had not stayed She was as primi-
tive as pollen.
Ina was vexed. She said so, pout-
Ing in a fashion which she should
have outgrown with white muslin and
blue ribbons, and she had outgrown
none of these things.
''That just spoils croquet," she said.
I'm vexed. Now we can't have a
real game"
From the side door. where she must
have been lingering among the water
proofs, Lulu stepped forth.
"I'n play a game" she said.
When Cornish actually proposed to
bring some music to the Deacons'. Ina
turned toward Dwight Herbert all the
facets of her responsibility. And Ina 5
sense of responsibility toward Di
was enormous. oppressive. primitive.
amounting, in fact, toward this daugh-
ter Of Dwight Herbert's late wife. to
an ability to compress the Offices OF
stepmotherhood into the functions of
the lecture platform. Ina vas q foun-
tain of admonition Her idea Of a
daughter, step or not was that of a
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