The Jasper news., 1922-09-21
MARY
MARLE
-
by Eleanor H. Porter
BY Eleanor H. Porter
Copyrigh ht by Eleanor II. Porter
CHAPTER VlII-Continued.

ting love storyl
"She was, my dear. She was very
lovely. But 1t wasn't just that-it was
a joyous something that i could not
describe. 1t was as If she were a
bird, poised for flight. l know It now
for what 1t wns-the very incarnation
of the spirit of youth. And she was
young. Why, Mary, she was not SO
many years older than you yourselr,
now. You aren't sixteen yet. AND
your mother-I suspect she was too
young. II she hadn't been quite SO
young"
He stopped. and stared again
straight ahead at the dancers-with-
out seeing one of them, knew. Then
he drew a great deep sigh that seemed
TO come from the very bottom OF his
boots.
but II was my fault, my fault,
every bit Of It," he muttered, still star
ing straight ahead. ''If hadn't been
81 thoughtless- AS If l could I'm
prison that bright spirit of youth In
great dull cage of conventionality. and
not expect it to bruise its wings by
fCttering against the bars!
And right there and then It came to
me that Mother said 1t was her fault,
too; and that II only she could live 1t
over again, she'd do differently. And
here was Father saying the same thing.
And all of sudden l thought, well,
why can't they try 1t over again, II
they both want to, and If each says
!: was their-no, his, no, hers-well.
his and her fault. (How does the
thing go? l hate grammar y But !
mean, If she says it's her fault, and he
says It's his. That's what l thought.
anyway. And i determined right then
and there TO give them the chance to
try again. II speaking would do 1t.
looked up at Father. He was still
talking half under his breath. his eyes
looking straight ahead. he had for
gotten all about me. That was plain
TO be seen. If I'd been a cup of coffee
without any coffee in II, he'd have
been stirring me. l know he would.
He was like that.
Father Father!" had TO speak
twice, before he heard me. do you
really mean that you would like to try
again?" / asked.
"Eh2 What7" And just the way he
turned and looked at me showed how
many miles he'd been away from me.
"Try 1t again, you knOw-what you
said" / reminded him.
"Oh, that" Such funny look came
to his face, half ashamed, half vexed
I'm afraid have been-talking, my
dear"
"Yes, but would you?" persisted.
He shook his head; then, with such
an oh-that-it-could-bel smile, he said
"Of course-we all wish that we
could 90 back and do IL over again
differently. But we never can"
"Yes, but, Father, you can go back
IN this case, and so can Mother, cause
you both want to-" hurried on, al
most choking In my anxiety to get Il
all out quickly. "And Mother said Il
was her fault. l heard her."
"Her faultr" / could see that Fa
ther did not quite understand, ever
yet.
ayes, yes. just as you said 1t wa'
first, you know, when-when she wal
a spirit of youth beating against th'
bars"
Father turned square around ant
faced me.
MARY, what are you talking about2 2
he asked then. And I'd have beel
scared of his voice If it hadn't beel
for the great light that was shining
in his eyes.
But looked into his eyes, AM
wasn't scared; and told him every
thing, every single thing-all abou
how Mother had cried over the llttl
blue dress that day in the trunk-rOOm
and how she had shown the tarnlshe,
lace and said that she had tarnishe,
the happiness of him and OF hersel
and of me; and that 1t was all he
fault; that she was thOughtless an
willful and exacting and a spOile
child; and, oh, II she could only try
over again, how differently she wOul
dol And there was lot more.
told erything-everything coul
remember. Some way, l didn't M
Iieve that Mother would mind nov
after what Father had said. And
lust knew she wouldn't mind II sh
could see the look in Fathers eyes a
] talked.
He didn't interrupt me-not Ion
interruptions. He did speak out
quick little word now and then. q
some of the parts; and once | know