Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1926-02-03
With His Sabine
Bride
By MARTHA M. WILLIAMS
tCopyright.)
tCopyright)
NELL. danced down the garden
~ walk chanting raucously:


One foot two foot. bare foot, shoe
foot,
Shine down de grapevine. Billy
Emm rLou!
"Ellenw Vinegar was in her step
mothers voice wherever did you
learn such stuff"
Granny sung it to me when
wasn't knee-high to grasshopper,"
Nell returned innocently.
ut strikes me as very underbred
yet l heard before coming here that
you Bakers ranked yourselves real
quality" stepmamma answered cold
ly. Songs of that sort would be very
offensive to some of your most worth
while neighbors."
"Unh-huhnl With some of 'em.
Glad I amt that sort" Nell flung
back her eyes blazing
Mrs. Baker grew scarlet. your
grammar would make many people
glad not to be your sort" she returned
still more Jelly
Nell shrugged 81 amt denyin' it.
The sort that say i taken and
/ haven't saw and seen. ="
Mrs. Baker rose furious Of
| if had seen-had heard you-your
impertinence. I should never have
been in this horrible position" she
gasped.
"Oh! Oh! Why didn't you!" Nell
cried, pretending to sob; then sud
| denly in a clear level voice: "Since !
was nOt-since you are herein my
mothers stead"-a little choke there
II offer you fair bargain. Let me
| alone-don't try to humiliate me. You
| can't make me over-nO more than |
| can make you Show me decent
| courtesy-but, most Of all, don't inter
| fere with me-my likings nor despis-
| ings"
You mean become a cipher In my
| own house." was the answer.
Nell got white for breath, then
| laughed softly Joke is on YOU she
| said. "Happens the house is mine.
| Granny left it that way. She loved
my mother better than her own son.
Mrs. Baker later accepted the of
| fered bargain, tacitly, and raging deep
| down. Love constrained her Not
love of the good looking elderly gen
tleman who had seemed special
providence when she had in reckless
greed risked and lost her comfort
| able competence Rising thirty, singu-
larly handsome, dominant, used to
careful luxury, work had seemed to
her worse than death. The daughter
was, of course, a drawback, but one
she could put aside. An unframed
| girl, with sweethearts a-plenty, could
be easily sent away from the home
nest then (she had assured herself
on this point) there would be money
enough for living as she chose. The
big handsome old house set fair amid
it's fields, orchards, untouched wood
lands, and clear running waters,
pleased her so we'll she was eager to
| have her own friends come, see, and
enjoy it with her, but only after
! she had made herself supreme. There
lay, unacknowledged 1.-The seed of
hostility to her husbands daughter.
| But before it had grown rank came
something stronger-discovery that
| Nell was her rival for the only man
she felt she could truly love. 1t had
come like lightning stroke-taking
| her breath, almost her reason after the
first encounter Pleading Illness she
had lain alone all night staring wide
eyed out into the starlit darkness, all
her consciousness a flaming memory
of John Harrison. To Mrs. Baker
herself he had been most courteous,
vet so causal she doubted If he had
given her a second thought. There
Law the sting of it. She knew she had
made no appeal to him. Her utmost
hope was somehow to come between
| him and that atrocious Ellen. Be
! sides she was too wise to risk sub
stance for shadow. SO the long night
| through she wrestled nightly with
| the uncanny feeling, and came out
| victor at morning, something wan
| and hollow-eyed also, to write invit-
! ing Hugh Lenox, the most fascinat-
| ing Of her friends, to come to her
( new home for long visit
| He came, saw, and coveted-the
land and its NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. baby
stare and infantine smiles made her
appear uncommonly covetable. Mrs.
! Baker made a feint Of disappearing
which Nell knew instantly for the
! gesture it was. "Sit tight, Mandolin Y
| she admonished Harrison. 1.-The Lady
Of Culture will get you If you don't
| watch out"
"Meaning-if you don't watch out
Man-Johnny smiled. my strength Is
as the strength Of ten when l know
you're doing that"
"Over-confidence Is dangerous" Nell
said oracularly "She's maxim medi-
| cine to make mischief"
How, what, and where7' asked
Man-Johnny. "JealOusly-a quarrel
right here betwixt us two" said Nell.
cd softly Nell