The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1933-01-06
CHAPTER Iv-Continued


she faced this fact resolutely. Paul
did not love her as much as she loved
him. Why-why? She almost cried
it aloud. He was constantly failing
her, not only by his whole idle, selfish
life, but by follies such as he had
committed the night before. Follies!
There is little compromise of Ian
guage in the speech of the average
New Highlander; he does not, as one
writer has wittily put It, call q spade
q silver trowel The real name for
such follies was sin, and Mary said it.
even though she flinched in doing So
Sin! and how had she ever failed him
--or anyone else In thought or word
or deed?
Mary could not help knowing that
there were other men in the village
who had been attracted to her. who
would have been glad to make 1t plain
that they were more than attracted, IL
slla hadn't made it plain that no one
in the world mattered to her except
Paul. There was Thomas Gray. for
instance. slow and plodding. but hard
working, kind and wholesome. And
them there had been Gale Ham
lin, the great architect, whose name
Philip pronounced with an awe amounts
ing almost to veneration. She had
never told her family much about
Hannah Adams uncle. Her casual
remarks about him had Included little
mention of bis frequent calls at the
Adams house when she visited there,
none at all Of that last call, paid at
the school when the news Of her
mothers death had come. ~.
The sharp note Of phoebe bird.
singing beside her, brought Mary to-
the consciousness that she must have
been dreaming long time, and sent
her hurrying down the hill, still unde-
cided what she ought to do, but i'm
measurably, If vaguely. comforted and
refreshed Reaching the house, she
slipped out of her wet garments. took
hot bath, dressed again In crisp,
clean clothes, and began, little
breathlessly, to get dinner.
She need not have hurried. for
everyone else was late. but as she had
no means of knowing that they would
be, she was both tired and ruffled
when, at half-past one, she had a
meal ready to serve. which would have
done credit to an older and more ex-
perltlfced cook Violet was the first to
appear. and Violet was nervous"
Mary knew it the instant she looked
at her..
@Paul isn't coming to dinner" she
said tartly. "You hurt his feelings
very much this morning. / can't think
how you can act SO, especially when
the poor boy is Ill. should have
asked nothing better than to sit be-
side him the whole morning, bathing
his poor aching head, If I'd only been
equal to 1t. But then, Of course,
there's no love as devoted and self
sacrificing as a mothers! Though
felt the same way towards Martin. I
didn't feel towards him at all the way
you do to Paul. I couldn't have"
ANo, don't believe you could" said
Mary. trying to control the grief and
anger that seemed to be struggling for
mastery In her voice. sT'm sorry he
won't come-I'll take off his plate.
Won't you come into the parlor now
and meet Mr.. Starr?"
While this meeting was taking place,
very satisfactorily to both persons
concerned in 1t, Seth Manning was sit
ting patiently in the family carryall
outside the village church, waiting for
his cousin, Jane. and his small son,
Moses, to come out Of Sunday school.
Miss Manning. in common with her
neighbors, saw nothing irreverent in
using aisles and porch for little In
formal visiting after the services were
over. And as just at this time Chill
. dren's Sunday was looming large
head Of them, there was a good deal
consider.
IN just as nervous as | kin be
Al5ut them new-fangled exercises Mis-
Weston has chosen" Mrs. Elliott was
confiding to Miss Manning. 'Of course,
seem she's chairman Of the committee
on entertainment. none of the rest OF
us could say word, but 1t looks to
me as If she'd bit off more'n she can
chew. If Sylvia Gray was SOS she
could be around, l shouldn't worry
none, but Land have you heard
Sylvia's expectin' again, and she's real
poorly. She ain't strong enough to
have children SO fast. went and told
her so the other day and what do you
think she said2 That she was real
pleased. that she only hoped it would