The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-04-27
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BY KATHLEEN NORRIS


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I'm asking you!"
For answer he stood up, and smiled
wistfully down upon her, with a hest
fancy she knew well how to interpret
In his eyes. He had been longing so
thirstily for just that permission, and
she had been yearning so to give it I
Happiness came back into both their
hearts as he turned to 60, and she
gave him just a quick touch of a warm
little hand In farewell.
Other guests had come In, and Miss
Field was extremely busy, and Ward,
helping her officially, was busy, too.
SUN to have you down here !" he said,
In her ear.
Harriet Field had an aside with a
maid regarding hot water. Then she
gave Ward an indulgent, an older-sis-
terly glance. He was in years almost
twenty-five, but at twenty-seven the
young woman felt him ages her junior.
He was a joyous, irresponsible boy,
and he and his mothers secretary had
always been good friends since the
day, four years ago now, when the
silent, somewhat grave Harriet Field
had first made her appearance in the
family. The young people loved her;
Richard Carter occasionally said to
his wife, every clever-very pretty
girl !" which vas perhaps as close as
he eve got to any domestic matter,
and Isabelle confided to her almost all
her duties and cares. Nina, insatiably
curious, had gathered no more than
that Miss Harriet's father had been a
college professor Of languages, and
that her only relative was a married
sister, Linda, much older, who had
four children, and lived in New Jer-
sey.
She was a master of the art of keep
ing silent, this young woman, and but
for her beauty she might have been
as inconspicuous as she sincerely
tried to be. But her simple gowns and
her plainly massed hair only served
to emphasize the extraordinary dis
tinction Of her appearance, and her ut.
most effort to obliterate herself could
not quite keep her from notice. Old
Mrs. Carter, who for reasons perfectly
comprehensive In an old lady who
had once been handsome herself, de-
tested Harriet, and said to her
daughter-in-law that in her opinion
there was something queer about the
girl.
She was of that always-arresting
type that combines a warm dusky skin
with blue eyes and fair hair. The
eyes, In her case, were a soft smoky
blue, set in thick and inky black
lashes, and the hair was brassy gold
banded carelessly but trinity about he
rather broad forehead. Her mouth
was wide, deep crimson, thin-lipped
it was a mouth of secrets and of mys
terry, of character, a mouth that haC
known the trembling Of pain and grief
perhaps, but a firm mouth now, and
a beautiful one.
Looking at her, an artist would
have fancied her a bold and charming
and boyish-looking little girl. ffteer
years ago, with that Greek chin ant
that tawny name; would have seen hel
sexless and splendid in her early teens
with q fiat breast and an untamed eye
And a romancer might have wondered
what paths had led her, In the supert
realization Of her beautiful woman
hood, at twenty-seven, to this subor
dinate position in the home Of a self
made rich man, and this conventional
tea table on q terrace over the Hud
son. -,
"Nearly, half-past five, Nina" she
said, presently. go and change and
brush, that's a darling! You look
rather tumbled."
Nina, reaching for a maroon, obedi'
emily wandered away, and Immediately
the empty chair beside Harriet was
taken by a newcomer, Richard Carter
himself, the owner Of all this smiling
estate, who had come up from the
little launch at the landing, had
changed hastily into white aannels,
Harriet saw at a glance, and had IN.
expectedly Joined them for tea.
"Tea. Mr.. Carter?" Harriet ven
tured. II
He was watching his wife with a
sort Of idle interest. She had to re-
peat her Invitation.
IF you please, Miss Field! Tea
sounded right, somehow, to me today.
It's been a terrible day r,
Il can imagine it" Harriet's voice
was pleasantly commonplace. But the
moment had its thrill for her. This
lean, tall. tired man; with his abstract
nervous, clever hands, doomed In oddly
manner. his perfunctory courtesies, his
heroic proportions in Harriet's life.