The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1932-12-16
A. "A Romance of the
Commonplace
By Frances
Parkinson Reyes
wEtU Service
cbpyrisAs M Frances Parkinson Ksyes
CHAPTER /
=.

I've SWALLOWED" said Pnillp SCarr
to himself, ''about two bushels of dust.
Don't they ever oil their roads In Yer
mont, wonder? I'm sure can't make
Burlington tonight anyway--lt must
be somewhere over on the other side
Of the map"
He interrupted his own train Of
thought BY laughing aloud, and
brought his motor to stop beside the
powdery highway which he had been
mentally condemning.
Irish, cropping out as usual" he
said. grinning, as he locked the car.
@or maybe I'm still dippy-typhoid
bugs die hard. Anyway. I'm going to
see If this brook doesn't wind far.
enough from the road somewhere soon
for me to get into 1t, without being
arrested in the process"
He rolled under the barbed-wire
fence. and Scrambled into the under
brush of the woods that skirted the
road.
He was right; the little brook, twist
ing and turning, wound farther and
farther into the woods; it foamed into
a tiny waterfall, widened to small
pool, ideal for a swiml But, pulling
off his coat and jerking at his collar,
the man stopped short and stared
ahead Of him, wondering If he were
suddenly, losing his senses.
On the edge Of the pool. just be-
.yond the waterfall, was girl. her
face turned from him, her white feet
and ankles cleaning through the clear
water Of the brook. She had on a
soft. short. se-fitting white garment,
and her bare arms were raised above
her head. half-covered with the masses
of shining hair that fell about her like
a golden cloud.
Philip had been whistling. He
stopped abruptly. The girl shook her
hair, dropped her arms, and turned
around. Then after one startled Sec
.ond, In which Philip saw that her eyes
were as blue as the shining sky which
dappled the woods with it's light, she
smiled with entire friendliness.
"How do you do?" she asked pleas
antly.
"I'm very well-that is, I'm not well
at all I've just had typhoid fever"
Philip stammered Then, thinking
what an asinine thing that was to say,
he went on, realizing all the time that
he was not becoming less asinine,
THAT'S why I'm here-trying to get
better, you know"
81 see." said the girl, with the same
serene pleasantness. "I'm sorry. Did
you walk all the way from wherever
you Gamer"
Philip laughed. "No, motored. l
left Boston early this morning. but
got SO tired and so dirty and so hot
that T."
LEFT your motor by the side of the
road, and followed the brook to take
swim. And now I'm here first, spoil
ing 1t all. What pity! I'll GO"
"Oh. please don'tl l don't think
you're spelling anything particularly"
Philip stammered again. "In fact you
You rather add-to the place-and
l thought it was the prettiest place
had ever seen, anyway"
The girl put up her hands, and be-
gan drying her hair again. "Wont
you sit DOWN." she asked. "You must
be pretty tired"
Philip complied with this sugges-
ton, feeling 1t to be an agreeable one.
and, utterly at loss as to what to say
or do next, waited for the girl to make
the next move. At last. as she con.
tinued to dry her hair in silence, he
burst out, "Is one apt to run across
persons-like you-beside Vermont
brooks? Perhaps you're not person
at all? Perhaps you're dryad-or
nymph-or something like that?"
II wish were," she said, and the
least shadow of discomfort seemed to
have crept into her voice. Il don't re-
member much about dryads and
nymphs. My cousin Mary knows all
about them. Shed have her nose in
book half the time, If she didn't have
so much else to do. She and mother
and Cousin Jane are all housekeeping
today-that's why ran away. I'd
have had to help If I'd stayed at home.
You'd never believe there was SO
much in a house. until you got 1t all
out in the front yard! And Paul Is so
lazy he never helps half as much as
ne might, and Mary has to stop right
In the middle of everything and chase
up the children. and Cousin Jane goes
of to prayer meeting-and oh, it's all
plenty bad enough to make anyone
want to be nymph and live in
brook, where life Is just one perpetual
bath. and there can't possibly be any
thing to houseclean r.
"Well, If you're not nymph, and
you don't live In brook. would you
think ! were awfully rude If I asked
what your name is and where you
diver"
MY name is Blanche Manning. l
live on Lady Blanche farm"
Lady Blanche farml" echoed Philip.
What a pretty namel"
"Yes-there's quite a pretty story
about 1t, too. Would you like to
hear it'll"
GsNT-