The Holbrook news., 1922-05-05

them. But they don't run away from him. Listen.
 Quite lot of them call here to see Aunt Jane. and they come lots of times evenings and late afternoons, and know now why they do it. They come then because they think Father'H be at home at that time ;and they want to see him.
 know it now, but I never thought of it till the other day when I heard our hired girl, Susie. talking about it with Bridget, the Smalls' hired girl, over the fence when I was wedding the garden one day. Then knew. It was like this:
 Mrs. Darling had been over the night before as usual, and had stayed an awfully long time talking to Aunt Jane on the front piazza. Father had been there, too, awhile. She stopped him on his way into the house. I was there and I heard her. She said:
 "Oh, NIT. Anderson, I'm so glad l saw you! wanted to ask your ad- vice about selling poor dear Mir. Darling's law library"
 And then she went on to tell him how shed had an offer, but she wasn't sure whether 1t was a good one or not. And she told him how highly she priZed his opinion, and he was a man of such splendid Judgment, and she felt so alone now with no strong mans shoulder to lean upon, and she would be so much obliged if he only would tell her whether he considered that offer a good one or not.
 Father hitched and ahemmed and moy ed nearer the door all the time she was talking, and he didn't seem to hear her when she pushed a chair toward him and asked him to please sit down and tell her what to do; that she was so alone in the world since poor dear MT. Darling had gone. (She always calls him poor dear MT. Dar- ling now, but Susie says she didn't when he was alive; she called him something quite different. wonder what it was.)
 Well, as l said, Father hitched and fidgeted, and said he didn't know,-he was sure; that she'd better take wiser counsel than his, and that he was very sorry, but she really must excuse him. And he got through the door while he was talking just as fast as he could himself, so that she couldn't get in a single word to keep him. Then he was gone.
 Mrs. Darling stayed on the piazza two whole hours longer, but Father never came out at all again.
 It was the next morning that Susie said this over the backyard fence to Bridget:
 Tt does beat all how popular this house Is with the ladies-after college hours!"
 Ard Bridget chuckled and answered back:
 "Sure 1t is! An do be thinkin' the Widder Darlin' Is a heap fOnder of Miss Jane now than she would have been had poor dear Mir. Darlin' lived!"
 And she chuckled again, and so did Susie. And then, all of sudden, knew. It was Father Mrs. Darling wanted. They came here to see him. They wanted to marry him. As If l didn't know what Susie and Bridget meant I'm no child!
 But all this doesn't make Father like them. I'm not sure but it makes him dislike them. Anyhow, he won't have anything to do with them. He always runs away over to the observa- tory, or somewhere, and won't see them; and I've heard him say things about them to Aunt Jane, tOO-wOrds that sound all right, but that don't mean what they say, and everybody knows they don't. So, as said before, l don't see any chance of Fathers hay ing love story to help out this book not right away, anyhow.
 As for my love story-I don't see any chance of that's beginning, either. Yet, seems as if there ought to be the beginning of it by this time-I'm going on fifteen Oh, there have been be- ginnings, lots of them-Only Aunt Jane wouldn't let them go on and be endings, though l told her good and plain that l thought it perfectly all right; and 1 reminded her about the brook and river meeting where stood. and all that.
 But I couldn't make her see it at all. She said, "Stuff and nonsense"- and when Aunt Jane says both stuff and nonsense 1 know there's nothing doing. (Oh, dear, that's slang! Aunt Jane says she does wish I would eliminate the slang from my vOcabu- lary. We'll, wish shed eliminate some of the long words from hers. Marie said that-not Mary.)
 Well, Aunt Jane said stuff and non sense, and that I was much too young to. run around with silly boys. You see, Charlie Smith had walked home from school with me twice, but I had to stop that. And Fred Small was get ting so he was over here lot. Aunt Jane stopped him. Paul Mayhew- yes, Paul Mayhew, Stella's brother .- came home with me, too, and asked me to go with him autO-riding. My, how l did want to go! 1 wanted the ride, of course, but especially l wanted to go because he was Mrs. Mayhew's son. l just wanted to show Mrs. May hew But Aunt JHne wouldn't let me. That's the time she talked specially about running around with silly boys. But she needn't have. Paul is no silly boy. He's old enough to get a license to drive his own car.
 But it wasn't just because he was young that Aunt Jane refused, l