Owingsville outlook., 1922-09-21
CHAPTER Ix-Continued.

] MI Inc evening ! WIS Ndl'HluS anu
listening with her eyes and her ears
everything he did. everything he said.
:" wanted Mother Ia like him | So
wanted Mother 20 see how really fine
Ind splendid ana noble hc was. But
that evening Why couldn't he stop
talking about the prizes he'd won,
and the biz racing ear he'd lust or
drrrd for next summer? There wns
nothing fine and splendid and noble
about that. And were his finger nails
always So dirty?
Why. Mother would think
Mother did not stay In the room all
the time: hut she was In more or less
often 10 watch the game: and at half
past nine she brought I'm some little
cakes and lemonade as Il surprise
thought il was lovely: hut could
have shaken Paul when he pretended
To he afraid Of #. and asked Mother
/ If there was n stick in it,
The Mother, \ stick,
Just knew Mother wouldn't like
that. But If she didn't. she never
showed thing in her face She Just
smiled, and said no. there wasn't any
stick In it; and passed the cakes.
When he had gone | remember |
didn't like to meet Mothers eyes. and
I didn't ask her how she liked Paul
Mayhem. | kept right on talking fast
about something else. Some way,
didn't want Mother To talk then, for
fear Of what she would say.
And Mother didn't say anything
about Paul Mayhew-t then. But only Il
few days later she told me to in
vite him again 10 the house Uhis time
to chafing-tlish supper). and to ask
Carrie Haywood and Fred Small, too.
We had beautiful time, only again
Paul Mayhem didn't 'show off, AT all
In the way I wanted him to-though
he most emphatically showed off, in
his way, II seemed to me that he
Dragged even more about himself and
his belongings than he had before
And I didn't like at all the way he
ate his food. Why. Father didn't eat
like that-with such noisy mouth,
and such a rattling of the silverware,
And so il went-wise mother that
she was, Far from prohibiting me to
have anything to do with Paul May
hew, she let me see all | wanted to
of him. particularly i'm my own home.
She let me go out with him. properly
chaperoned. and she never, by word
or manner hinted that she didn't ad-
mire his conceit and braggadocio.
And il all came out exactly as |
suspect she had planned from the be-
ginning. When Paul Mayhem asked to
he my escort to the class reception i'm
June. | declined with thanks, and i'm
mediately afterward told Fred Small
l would 90 with him. But even when
1 told Mother nonchalantly. and with
carefully ayerted eyes, that | was 60
ing to the reception with Fred Small
even then her pleasant "Well, that's
good! conveyed only CHEEKY mother
interest; nor did a hasty glance into
her face discover so much as n lifted
eyebrow to hint, Il thought you'd
come to your senses sOmetime"
Wise little mother that she was!
In the days and weeks that followed
(though nothing was said) ] detected
a subtle change I'm certain ma tiers,
however. And as l look back at il
now, am sure | can trace its origin To
my affair with Paul Mayhem. Evi-
IDENTIFY Mother had no intention of run
ming the risk of any more courtships;
also evidently she intended to know
-ha f,;A
the old Anderson mansion soon be-
came the rendezvous of all the boys
and girls of my acquaintance. And
such good times as we had, with
Mother always one of us. and ever pro-
posing something new and interesting!
And because boys-not a boy. but
boys-were as free to come to the
house as were girls. they soon seemed
to me as commonplace and matter-Of-
course and free from sentimental In
terest as were the girls.
Again, wise little mother!
But, Of course. even this did not |
prevent my falling i'm love with some |
one older than myself. some one quite |
outside Of my own circle of intimates.
My especial attack of this kind |
came to me when | was barely eigh- |
teen, the spring l was being gradu-
school. And the visible embodiment |
of my alteration was the head master.
Mr.. Harold HartshOrn, a handsome,
clean-shsvei,, well-set-up man of U |
should iudge) thirty-five years of age.
rather grave, little stern, and very
dignificd.
But how / adOred him. How hung
upon his every word, his every glance
How / maneuvered to win from him n |
few minutes conversation on a Latin
verb or French translation! How | |
thrilled if he bestowed upon me one
of his infrequent smiles! How l
grieved over his stern aloOfness.
BY the end of a month had evolved
this: his stern alOOfness meant that |
he had been disappointed i'm lOvel his
was loneliness-his heart
was breaking. How / longed to help,
to heal, to cure! How thrilled at the
thought of the love and cOmpanionship
I could give him somewhere in a rose
cottage far from the mad
ding crowd! (He boarded at the An
hotel alone now) If only
he could see il as l saw 1t. If only by
some sign or token he could know of
the warm love that was his but for
the asking! Could he not see that no
longer need he pine alone and unap-
preciatod in the AndersOnville hotel?
Why, in just few weeks l was to
he through school. And then