Her Father's Daughter

ed in return until the train bore her away. Then she sat down wearily and stared unseeingly from a window. Life did such very dreadful things to people. Her girlhood had been so happy

that it was for her that he struggled daily to gain a footing in his chosen profession. When success came, when there was no reason that Marian could see why they might not have begun life together, there had come

Her valuation of him had been taught her by her father and mother and by Doctor and Mrs. Strong and by John Gilman himself. Dating from the time that Doctor Strong had purchased the property and built a home in Lilac Valley besi

ll part of it. She never had been able to see the inner workings of Eileen's heart. She was not capable of understanding that when John Gilman was poor and struggling Eileen had ignored him. It had not occurred to Marian that when the success for which he struggled began

tely set herself to make the most of every defect or idiosyncrasy in Marian, at the same time offering herself

ent to her own selfish desires. She was prepared to use any man with whom she came in contact for the furtherance of a

ing, but she had always been interested in and loved to plan houses and help her friends with buildings they were erecting. When the silence and the loneliness of her empty home enveloped her, she had begun, at first as a distraction, to work on the drawings for a home that an architect had made for one of her neighbors. She had been able to suggest so many comforts and conveniences, and so to revise these plans that, at first in a desultory

ion with her. The more John Gilman neglected her, the more she concentrated upon her plans, and when the hour came in which she realized what she had lost and wh

e the best in life, one must be content with the next best, and for her the next best would be homes for other people, since she might not materialize the home she had dreamed for John Gilman and herself. She had not wanted to leave the valley. She had not wanted to lose John Gilman. She

onable time for fifteen thousand dollars. She meant to offer her plans in this competition. Through friends she had secured a comfortable place in which to live

the girl a proper sense of her position and her rights. The experience of the previous night taught Marian that Linda had arrived. She would no longer be the compliant little sister who would run Eileen's errands, wait upon her guests and wear disreputable clothing. When Linda reached a point where she was capable of the performanc

t study she had caught the stare of frank amazement with which the girl regarded her and in that surprised, almost grieved look she had realized that very probably a daughter of Alexander Strong, who resembled him as Linda resembled him, would not be compelled to overwork to master the prescribed course of any city high school. What Linda was doing during those midnight hours Marian did not know, but she did know that she was not wrestling with mathematics and languages-at least not all of the time. So Marian knowing Linda's gift with a

ympathy upon the cook, and her guardian, also administrator of the Strong estate, John Gilman. So long as he was Marian's friend Linda had admired John Gilman. She had gone to him for some measure of the companionship she had missed in losing her father. Since Gilman had allowed himself to be captivated by

y manage to be clothed so that she was not a matter of comment even among the boys of her school, and she could see no reason why the absolute personal liberty she

ay, possibly things to do, when they met that evening, for Eileen was capable of disconcerting hysteria. Previously Linda had remained stubbornly silent during any tirade in which Eileen chose to indulge. She had allowed herself to be nagged into doing many things that she despised, because she would not assert herself against app

ving Eileen never had entered Linda's thoughts. To Linda, Eileen was not lovable. That she should be expected to love her because they had t

h us this evening? she asked as she

d Katy. "Have ye had it o

sking about her. I want to clear the atmos

such an awful serious business of life these days. In your scramble to wring

siness for us young things, and it seems to me that if we don't get the right start and have a proper foundation life Is going to be spoiled for

opped to

face of the woman before her, "Katy, I have been thinking an awful lot

id Katy, "why I shouldn't answer y

wild garden that was her dearest possession, and then her eyes strayed higher to where the blue walls that shut in Li

the pie she was carrying. She closed the door with more force than was necessary and then turne

she said

and Daddy managed always to make me so happy that I never realized until he was gone

y were, and used the extra money for Miss Eileen and herself-things like that. I'm thinkin' he never knew it. I'm thinking he loved her deeply and trusted her complete. I know what ye're getting at. She was not enough like Eileen to make him unhappy with her. He m

ever see sisters as diffe

hink I ever di

erstand why, if we are sisters, we would not accidentally resemble each other a ti

ent as ye are now when I came to this ho

war breaks out the minute Eileen comes home. I haven't a notion what she will say to me for what I did last n

o easy, lambie,"

liantine off her hair, and a million mean little subterfuges out of her soul. You know Eileen is lovely when she is natural, and if she

crazy," said Katy. "What kind of not

front stairs. I did mean to short-cut up the back, but, come to think of it, I have served my apprent

her tight, and dropped a kiss

be long till ye're eighteen. But mind your old Katy about going too far. If ye lose your temper and

"and that is good advic