Mary Ware in Texas

tes, and laughed several times at her replies till people turned to see who it was that he found so amusing. The handsome officer of the day in sword and s

collections of it. That one little happening, however, marred the whole occasion. She made no record of it in her Good Times book, and she made up her

ay had had a whole string of adventures the morning after the hop, when they went down town together to finish her shopping. There had been some intere

ing their usual excursion towards the village. The spot where they paused was a place which seemed to invite confidences. She wheeled his chair along the ba

very still that the rush of water over the pebbles sounded almost brawling. The constant gurgle and swish seemed to

ly stupid place as this is, after the taste of gay times you've had, and settle down again as cheerfully as you do. It makes me desperate whenever I

h. He had drawn his hat down over his eyes, and was gripping the arms of his c

e beloved face that she recklessly broke her resolution. "I didn't have as good a time at that hop as I

amazement that spread over Jack

ntary; and how happy I was to have my programme filled up so that there was no danger of my being a wall-flower. I was having the loveliest time imaginable, when I went up to Gay to ask if any of the safety-pins showed below my girdle. The polo man I had met at dinner, that Mr. Mills, had been dancing with me, an

or a turn with that kindergarten kid he's got in tow. She's Miss Melville's guest and

me, and gave me a long, searching glance, sort of out of the corner of her eye, and then turned away with a little shrug o

t didn't fit, and that I was the plain little country mouse that they were polite to, merely because I was Gay's guest and Lieutenant Boglin asked them to be. And I couldn't help feeling that every man who danced with me was as bored as Mr. Mills had been; even more so, fo

make such a speech, but he probably said it just to square himself with the other girl. 'All's fair in love and war,' they

isted Mary dismally. "He

bbles and sent them skipping across th

e because it was such a dear, gay, red bubble, fairly entranced with the beauty of it. The next I was looking down in a scared, puzzled way at what was left-just a dull scrap

ion when the balloon burst in her hands. She could not be convinced at first that her beautiful, red bubble ha

who sold them, and now he hurried to lift the gloom that had settled down on her usually cheerful features. Having thrown away all he

empts. "Every time I think about that evening I'm so mortified that I could cry. My mind's made

forgotten that you've no marks outwardly to show that you've grown up to take such a part. You have your own individual charm, but so far it is only the charm of an unsophisticated little school-girl, and naturally grown men find older girls more interesting, just as you would prefer Phil Tremont's company for instance, to t

e and I found a book that a boarder had left behind in his tent. It was called 'The Lady Agatha's Career; A Novel.' We took it out on the desert, a little way, and spelled it out between us, sitting on the

we had ever come across, it made a deeper impression on us than it would have done otherwise. We fairly devoured it. For days we thought and talked of nothing else, and

rtily that Mary was forced to smile again h

such a hit in society. Our ideas of society were so crude and funny then," Mary went on, beginning to relish her own reminiscences. "All we knew about it we gathered from that book. It seemed to be made up principally of haughty earls and dowager duchesses who lived in castles and wore coronet

ecting to create a sensation, you'd have been satisfied to have people nice to you simply because

ce clouding again. "It was nasty of him to say it, and the m

rlessly out on a limb above them, and began to call to its mate. When Mary spoke aga

ry time I'd wake up that last night in the sleeping-car, I'd plan just what I'd say and how I'd act to make my entrance to Warwick Hall imposing. I could actually see myself sweeping in to make a good impression on Madam C

o see some of Mary's

en we met Phil and Elsie Tremont on the tra

nod

ent personage at our next meeting. And when he did come I was sprinting down the road in a cloud of dust, hatless and breathless and purple in the face, crying, and crazy

boulder now, her face dimpling as sh

ay and what she'd say? Me in my rosebud sash and best embroidered white gown. But she caught you and Joyce at the wash-tub, and

red on. "She said that my always thinking of the impression I was making on people, and being so eager to please was what made me miserable when I fell short of my

lled still farther over his eyes, in a revery as deep as hers. Betty's name recalled the picture that was often before him in these long, idle days. He was seeing her as he had seen her the first time, now over a year

r wistful brown eyes, he felt in some strange way that he had come to th

ling noisily down the hill and across the ford. Then a long line of cattle passed down th

itatingly, "did you

not by the road, and

far sea-way, yet c

f all the world-Love'

lieve that

n pain too great to endure, and then burst out vehemently, "Every road is closed to me now! It wouldn't be so hard if there was any prospect of the end coming soon, but I may

without you! You've been so brave-just like Aldebaran in the Jester's Sword. 'So bravely did he bear his lot, it seemed a ki

yfulness of manner, that it was a shock to her to find that his cheerfulness was only assumed. Because he "had met his hurt so bravely and made no sign" she, like the Jester, thought "the st

Norman came in sight around the curve. He was standing up in a flat-bottomed boat, poling down stream towards them, with t

hin speaking distance. "A man who lives up past Klein's crossing rented i

ion that he could not see that he had inter

t. Beats those old rafts you used to pole at Lee

mpany her, would emphasize his crippled condition. To refuse to leave him would on

egins to get chilly," she said with a meaning glance towards Jack, w

ng as fast as I did, and if we get cold waiting for you, it won't be many m

ed out to hold the boat steady for her. "I won't go f

, to put it the way he did-to include Jack with himself as a matter of course, and not to remind him of his helplessness by saying he'd stay and take care of him. Norman has lots o

mechanically, only partly awake to the scenes about her. But the long even strokes, first on one side and then the other, sent her darting forward through the water so rapidly that she soon r

as in mid-summer. In this sheltered spot they were still left untouched by the frost, although it was now December. Everywhere else vegetation was dry and sere, but the green

ainty lichens. One would be nice for Mrs. Rochester, too. She's just the kind that would appreciate such a gift. Well, that solves two of my hardest problems of what to give." That trip up the creek in The Swan was a voyage of discovery in more ways than one, for Mary came upon

hs of Jack's suffering. Now she saw that she had not even begun to fathom it. His bravery had deceived her. All the while that she had been thinking that he was growin

he beads upon a rosary" she had vainly imagined that all this would be balm for him. How many times she had offered him such comfort, feeling with childish

adjusted herself to her new view-point. She was afraid that as soon as she and Jack were left alone again they would find themselves facing the same wall of blank despair, and she dreaded it. So to ga

hain the boat, and that it was time to be doing his evening chores, he slipped the padlock key i

n his watch-fob, as he glanced at the time, recalled the story of the poor Jester who had been born in Mars month, like himself, and for that reason had cause to claim undaunted courage as the "jewel o

th: "I'll keep my oath until t

de. On the way home Norman laughed often, thinking that Jack was in one of his jolliest moods; but Mary walked beside them, the

henever she had any news she fairly tumbled into the house in her haste to tell it. The boys knew that she had discovered the bank of ferns, and that it was as exciting as Norman's discovery of a boat, bec

he was in a hurry to tell things, and she tried to make her description as full of lif

weariness that seemed to lie in the back of her eyes behind the smile. "I wonder," she mused, "if mamma is acting, too, if her gladness is only on the surface, and she smiles to keep up her courage and ours, as th

d to hang in Warwick Hall and at Lone Rock, when she pretended that it was Lloyd's shadow-self, the chum to whom she could carry all her troubles, sure of silent sympathy. But somehow, while the beautiful eyes smiled down into he

just as fond of me as she was before, but I can't help feeling that she's so taken up with other things now,

, but judging by the way she felt she was sure there should be wrinkles. The weight of world-weariness and disillusionment and fore