The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1922-04-26
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ELEANOR H,PORTER
ILLUSTRATIONS BY
R.H.UVINCSTONE.
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ILLUSTRATIONS BY
RH.LVINGSTONE.


Nurse said they wondered and won
dered what kind Of a woman it could
be that had captured him. q told
her l wished she wouldn't speak Of
my mother as IL she was some kind OF
a hunter out after game; but she only
chuckled and said that's about what
1t amounted TO in some cases) The
very idea!
The whole town was excited over
the affair, and Nurse Sarah heard a
lot Of their talk Some thought she
was an astronomer like him. Some
thought she was very rich, and may
be famous. Everybody declared she
must know a lot. anyway. and be
wonderfully wise and Intellectual; and
they said she was probably tall and
wore glasses, and would be thirty
years old, at least. But nobody guessed
anywhere near what she really was.
Nurse Sarah said she should never
forget the night she came, and how
she looked. and how utterly f1abber-
gasted everybody was to see her
little slim eighteen-year- old girl with
yellow, curly hair and the merriest
laughing eyes they had ever seen
Don't I know? Don't l just love
Mothers eyes when they sparkle and
twinkle when we're off together some
times in the woods) And Nurse said
Mother was so excited the day she
came, and went laughing and dane
Ing all over the house, exclaiming over
everything. Il can't imagine that so
well. Mother moves so quietly now,
everywhere, and is so tired, most all
the time.) But she wasn't tired then,
Nurse says-not a mite.
But how did Father act?" | de-
manded. wasn't he displeased and
scandalized and shocked, and every
thing7"
Nurse shrugged her shoulders and
raised her eyebrows-the way she does
when she feels particularly superior.
Then she said:
"Do1 What does any old fool
begin your pardon an no offense
meant, Miss Mary Marie-but what
does any man do what's got bejuggled
with pretty face, an his senses com
pletely took away from him by a chit
OF girl? Well, that's what he did
He acted as If he was bewitched. He
followed her around the house like
| a dog-when he wasn't leadin' her to
something new; an he never took his
eyes off her face except tc !ook at us
as much as to say: Now amt she the
| adorable creaturer"
MY father did that?" l gasped
And, really, you know, l just couldn't
believe my ears. And you wouldn't
either, If you knew Father. why
| never saw him act like that"
mo, 1 guess you didn't" laughed
! Nurse Sarah with a shrug. "AnG
neither did anybody else-for long.
But how long did it last?' I asked
"Oh, a month, or maybe six weeks,
shrugged Nurse Sarah. Then 1t CAM
! September and college began, and you
father had to 60 back to his teach
ing. Things began to change then
Right then, so you could see them?'
l wanted to know.
Nurse Sarah shrugged her shoulder
again.
"Oh, la child, what a little Ques
tion-box you are, an no mistake" sh'
sighed. But she didn't look mad-no
like the way she does when l ask VIII.
she can take her teeth out and mos
Of her hair Off and can't; and thing
like that. CAS- If didn't know VIVA
does she take me fora childO Sh
didn't even look leased-Nurs
Sarah loves to talk. CAS- If / didn'
know that, tooD She just threw tina
quick look Of hers over her shoulde
and settled back contentedly in he
chair. knew then l should get tn
whole story. And l did. And I'm &C
ing to tell 1t here In her own words
Just as we'll as I can remember it
bad grammar and all. So please re
member that am not making all thos
mistakes. It's Nurse Sarah.
I guess, though. that I'd better pu
II into a new chapter. This one
yards long already. How do they tel
when to begin and end chapters? II
thinking it's going to be some jot
writing this book-diary, mean. Blu
I shall love 1t, / know. And this
q real story-not like those madeu
things I've always written for the girl