Beverly banner. [volume] (Beverly, N.J.) 1877-1964, 1925-11-13

She found herself apologizing for heI
| daughter. "You must really excuse
Jerry If sometimes she seems little
self-willed, almost strong-headed, her
father says. can't imagine where she
got so much backbone. I'm very easy
about everything, and her father is
wax in the hands of anyone who tries
to wheedle him, but Jerry has a ter
rible mind once she gets It made up"
Duane found himself thinking less
Of Jerry than of Prudence, rather,
thinking through Prudence to Jerry
again His impression of that lovely
though willful young woman had to
undergo a swift transformation now
that he saw Prudence. She explained
everything he had not understood be-
fore. He found her rational account
| ing for the moods of a maddening
maiden.
Prudence did not ask questions. She
! just talked, laughing with him, at New
| York, at Jerry, at the Middle West,
and at his curious obedience to the
caprice of her always capricious daugh-
ter.
"And you may have to go to work,
too" she told him. "She seems quite
j to have set her heart on making you
work. She used to scott at the no.
bility of labor as applied TO herself,
but she seems to have no such scruples
in regard to you. Perhaps she is going
to ennoble you in spite of yourself.
But possibly you will not mind. You
do not look at all lazy"
"Pve worked before-as you might
say. Well, never washed cars for a
living, but perhaps L can if l must"
He asked Prudence If it surprised or
disappointed her, when Jerry gave up
her dreams of Art, her hope of becom-
ing painter.
mot a Bit" this amazing woman
told him. at didn't surprise me, and it
certainly didn't disappoint me. l was
glad of it. 1 knew all the time she
couldn't paint"
''Then why did you send her-alone
to study, to-"
II knew it, but she didn't. She had
to find out somehow, didn't she? And
then she talked more of Jerry, of a
Jerry he had felt might be in exist
ence but had not known in person.
"She may not be much of an artist,
she said "but she's a beautiful, won
derful daughter to Jerrold and me. We
don't care whether she can paint or
not, she's ours"
After little, when he felt he could
safely venture to intrude upon the In
timately personal, he asked rather
awkwardly:
would you mind telling mellow
you fell in lover"
Prudence blushed little, laughed
delightedly. "Oh, the silliest thing"
she said apologetically. Didn't Jerry
tell your"
And then she told him of that early
morning on the lovely Iowa country
side, when she went coasting down a
steep grade on borrowed bicycle into
disaster and wreckage at the bottom
When he sympathized, laughing, with
the Prudence lying in the dust by the
roadside, battered and crumpled and
torn, with the ruins Of the borrowed
wheel about her, and on her con-
science
"Oh, don't be sorry" she pleaded
gaily, joining his laughter 'for
opened my eyes and there stood over
me-Jerrold-Jerry's father-and we
looked at each other"
Duane's lips were a rigid line. Love
at first sight - he muttered grimly. II
might have known it."
Prudence nodded Eyes, love at first
sight" she repeated softly. Don't you
let anyone tell you there's no such
thing. There is At least there was
in our day. Oh, well, perhaps 1t is not
technically and scientifically down in
the books as love at first sight. But
there is that little pleased Weakening
up, that warm attraction-and If 1t
stops, it is nothing. But II it goes on
and on, it is love at first sight. Like
ours But perhaps things are different
now, times are changed, and girls are
very different"
Duane was looking past Prudence
now, beyond her, to the heart of Jerry,
her daughter, unchanged with the
changing times In that moment he
knew with undoubting sureness why
he had come to this remote and curl
GUS place in answer to the impulsive
appeal of her letter. His eyes, on Pru-
dences face, saw not hers but Jerry's.
I'm surprised she didn't tell you
about It." Prudence was saying. "From
the time she could talk, she has adored
that bit of the family history. When
she was baby. and a little girl-yes,
and until she was pretty big one,
she would always say she was going
to fall in love like Prudence. She
thought nothing else was really love-!
She used to tell perfect strangers
with the utmost frankness and assur-
ance. that it would come to her like
that-love-a sudden look, and know