HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Times, 1913-08-07, Page 7'r Ali W'I'CjYfIA.M. TIMES, AUGUST 7 1:0
i
The Siege
of the
Seven Suitors
By
MEREDITH NICHOLSON
Gupyrigbt. tale by Meredith elicbolsno
massmiracemesismasseassezarseasadstese
In leaflet form in the jobbing district."
1 bowed and had turned away when
she arrested me with the line—
My good blade carves the casques of
men.
' 1 turned toward her. "Permit me to
inquire," she asked, "whether the lady
(who joined you here expressed any
interest in the life beautiful as it is
•exewplifled In the Asolando?"
"1 am constrained to say that she did
scot, She spoke of the Asolando in the
wost contumelious terms."
: The golden head bowed slightly, and
•a smile hovered about her lips. But
ter amusement at my answer was
more eloquently stated in her eyes.
"I must explain that my sole excuse
for addressing you is that we are re-
quired xo learn, where possible, just
,why strangers seek the Asolando."
"In the case of the lady to whom
Sou refer it was a [natter of this be-
ing the seventh shop from the corner,
,and my own appearance was due to
the idlest curiosity, inspired by enthu-
siastic descriptions of the Asolando's
ntmosphere and rumors of the cheap-
ness of its food."
1 "The reasons are quite ample," was
her only comment, and her manner did
not encourage further conversation.
i "May I ask," I persisted, "whether
the Asolando's staff is permanent and
;whether, if I return another day"—
"I take it that you do not mean to
.pe impertinent, so I will answer that
try service here is limited to Tuesdays,
Mhursdays and Saturdays. On the oth-
ler daS's Pippa is in the cash booth.
!My name at the Asolando is Frances-
tea. Kindly 'write your name in the
'visitors' book at the door as you pass
Out."
There was no ignoring this hint: I
thought she smiled as I left her.
CHAPTER III.
At Hopefield Manor.
ISS HOLLISTER'S summons
lay en my desk the next
morning and was of the
briefest. I was requested to
ica11 at Hopefield Manor at 4 o'clock
be following afternoon, being Thurs-
ay. A trap would meet me at Kato-
Inah, and ft was suggested that I come
Prepared to spend the night, so that
Ithe condition of the fines might be dis-
cussed and any necessary changes
Manned during the evening. The note.
'signed Octavio. Hollister, was written
lin a flowing band on a wholly impec-
'eabie note sheet stamped Hopefield
tilfanor, Katonah.
I Before taking the train I sought Wig-
gins by telephone at his office and at
the Hare and Tortoise. where •he lodg-
,ted, but without learning anything as
to his whereabouts. His office did not
'answer, but Wiggins' office bad never
43een responsive to the telephone, so
this was not significant. The more I
considered his conduct during the re-
•dtal of my visit to the Asolando the
more I wondered. and in spite of my
wish to ignore utterly Jewett's revela-
tions as to Wiggins' summer abroad, I
was forced to the conclusion that Jew-
-ett had not lied. I had known Wig-
gins long, and this was the first time
that 1 bad ever been conscious of any
withholding of confidence on his patt,
mild on my own I had not merely cons
Vied all my hopes and alms to bila,
OA I had leaned upon him often in
hily perplexities. There was. indeed, a
IIdnd of boyish compact bettdeen us
:that we should support each other
iirough all difficulties. /its reserve
-I'd, 1 knew, a diffident and';seftsitidd
alattire, and it was wholly possible, that
1t his atfafr with Cedilla Hollister had
eget prospered be had fled to his ranch
there to wrestle in seclusion 'with -hie
disappointment.
with hisdisappointment. My mind was busy
with such speculations as I sped to-
ward•'[*dtonith, where I fotfnd the train
i'ro'n Hopefield Manor awaiting me.
I "It's rather . poor -going over. 'the
Mils; about tit felled: sir," slid the
.driver as we set off.
' This was the firstweek .inO.eteber-
;'[.'here was just zest enough in the air
'to' make a top coat comfortable. The
team of blacks' spoli:e well for -Miss
it#iallister's stable, and the liveried
driver kept them moving •steadily. ;but
•elised the pace as we rose on the tre-
gt[ent., slopes to the shoulders o! the,
pkasant Welateheeter hill.!. Early
frosts had already wrought their mire.-
tie in the foliage, and the battle ban -
tetra of winter's vanguard' il(t,htl+t''
along the 1iirrizona. I rejoit:ed tit lit.'
Irrtsiness,• vexations enough in inan3
firitys. yet afforded me so charming an
fitting as this.
''�Presently we climbed a hill that
siouidered its way well above Its fel-
1eliivs and came ant upon a bread ridge;
'Mere we entered at ones a noble.
Wteway set ,in - axi old stone wall and ,
*tuck oily altilil Monk h `pile'b`it• liit '
atacadam.. The hoose, the driver in
tWoormed me, Was a quarter of a mile
$EZEK A H
a wild �vo'cdlandin which elms an`
maples predominated, and before this
had grown monotonous we came ab-
ruptly upon an Italian garden, beyond
which rose the hoose. I knew It at
once for one of Pepperton's sound per-
formances. Pepperton is easily our
best man in domestic Tudor, and the
whole setting of Hopefield Manor—the
sunken garden, the superb view, the
billowing fields and woodlands beyond
-all testified to a taste which no igno-
rant owner had thwarted. The house
wile Tudor, but in no servile sense. It
seta aho P,pperton. I lifted my eyes
with immediate professional interest
to the c•hituneypots on the roof. It oe-
e"rr,•,I to me on the instant that I had
never before been called to retouch
71 IS nt 1 'eppertnn's work. Pep knew
as touch as 1 about flue construction.
1 had an immense respect for Pep, and
as my specializing in chimneys had
been a subject of frequent chaffing be-
tween us, 1 anticipated with a chuckle
the pleasure 1 should have later in
telling him that at last one of his flues
had required my services. '
My good opinion of Miss Hollister
did not diminish us 1 stepped within
the broad hull. Houses have their
ole n
manner of sl;eeeh. 1111d 1-inpe(ield
\I:tnor spoke to all the senses in ac-
oents of taste and retiitewent. A serv-
ant took my bag and inhered me tutu
u ehnrining library. A lire smoldered
t:vily in the ;:rent fireplace; there was
in tite room the !oiliest scent or burnt
wood. but the sutuke rose in the flue
iu 11 perfectly mannerly fashion, and
on thrw-ting 111 my hand 1 felt a
good draft tit air ! instinctively
knelt on the hearth and peered tip, but
s;aW nothing 11nworktuanl i ke—Pepper
tun was not a fellow to leave obvious
mistakes behind him. But possibly
that was not one of the recalcitrant
fireplaces I had been called to inspect.
and 1 rose and was continuing ivy eu-
She Advanced at Once and Spoke My
Name.
foyuteut of the beautiful room when 1
het•unte con:tcious. by rather rin'ioti'
1111(1 mixed pt•oc•esses out wholly ur he
eye. hot a tt,tb enu - ut utw had drawn
to
t
Intek the light itol'lit•res- they Were
dark brown, with borders or burnt
orange -•and stood gravely gazing at
hie She held the etrrtalus apart—they
made. indeed.a kind °r inline fol' her. -
but as our 4',( 5 tuet she advanced tit
once and spoke toy moue.
"Volt Inc Mr. Antes. My aunt ex•
peeled ;you. t regret to say that she
is not in the house ,fust now, but she
will doubtless return for tea. 1 trot
her niece. %'un't you sit down?"
As she found a seat for herself, 1
made bold to survey her with some
particularity, She carried het' line
height with beautiful dignity. She
was a creature of grace, and it was a
grace of strength, the suppleness and
ease that mark our later outdoor Amer-
ican woman, She eould do her miles
over those hill.. -1 was sure of that.
Her fine olive Lace, crowned with dark
hair, verified the impression 1 had
gathereti_.;frePl. Jewett,_ }_ha „gho ras_a
woman of cultivation. She had -read -the
poets; i)aute and Tetrarch spoke from
her eyes. Cecilia was no had name for
her; she suggested heavenly harmer
' niesi And as for Jewett'astory of Wig-
gins' infatuation, I was content.
She was talking meanwhile of the
day and its buoyant air and of the
tapestries hung in the woodlands in a
voice deep with rare intimations of
viol chords.
"It's very quiet here. It doesn't
seem possible that we are so .tear the
city. My aunt chose the place with
care, and she made no mistake about
it. Yes, the house was built by Mr.
Pepperton, but not for us. My aunt
bought it of tbe estate of the gentle-
man who built it. This will be her
first winter here."
Miss Hollister herself appeared. She
greeted me without surprise and much
as she might have spoken to any guest
in her house, ' I had sometimes been
treated as though 1 were the agent of
a decorator's shop, or a delinquent
plumber, by the people whom I served,
but Miss Hollister and her niece estab-
lished me upon a plane that was wholly
social. 1 was made to feel that it was
the most natural thing in the world for
me to be there, having tea, with no
business ahead of me but to be agree-
able. The fact that 1 had come to cor-
rect the distemper of their flues was
utterly negligible. 1 remembered with
satisfaction that I had journeyed from
town in a new business suit that made
the best of my attenuated figure, and I
will not deny that I felt at ease. Miss
Hollister talked briskly as she made
tea. "It is not necessary for you to
take tea if you don't care for it, Mr.
Ames," she said, as I rose and handed
the first cup to Cecilia. "If you will
touch the bell at your elbow you May
have liquids of quite another sort."
"You are most generous, Miss Hol-
lister. Tea will suffice for the mo-
ment. It is fitting that I should take
it here, it having been a weakness for
tea as well as curiosity and chance that
threw me in your way at the Aso-
lando."
"That absurd—that preposterous hole
n the wall!"
Sbe put down her cup and faced me,
writ -Inning: "Mr. Ames, I will not deny
that if it had not been for General
Glendenning's cordial indorsement of
you, and the further fact that I had
met your late father, I should not have
invited you to my house on the occa-
sion to which you refer. My contempt
for the Asolando and the things it
stands for is beyond such language as
a lady may use before the young. I
fall back upon the privilege of my age
to. beg that you will hereafter give the
Asolando a wide berth."
I laughed at her earnestness, but on
turning toward Miss Cecilia I saw that
she was placidly stirring her cup. It
might be that one was not expected to
manifest amusement in Miss Holiis-
'ter's utterances, and I was anxious to
adjust myself to the proper key in my
intercourse, no matter how brief is
might be, with this remarkable old
lady.
In my embarrassment I rose and of-
fered the bread and butter to Cecilia,
who declined it. The austerity of her
rejection rather unnerved me.
"I assure you, Miss Hollister, that I
have no wish to become a habitue of
tbe place," I said. "And yet you will
pardon me if I repeat that, but for it,
I should not now be enjoying the hos-
pitality of Hopefield Manor."
She lifted her head from ber c and
�P
bowed, but I was immediately interest-
ed in the fact that her niece was
speaking..
"I think Aunt Octavia is hard on the
Asolando," she was saying. "Aunt
Octavia is interested in the revival of
romance, and romance without poetry
seems to me wholly impossible:"
I "The age is decadent, and I know no
better way of restoring the race to its
ancient vim and energy than by send-
ing men back to the camp and field or
to sail the high seas in new armadas.
The men of this age have become a lot
Of sordid shopkeepers, and to my moral
tense the looting of cities is far more
honorable than the creation of trusts
and the manipulation of prices, though
I cannot deny that but for my late
father's zeal In destroying his competi-
tors In the baby buggy business we
Wight not now be enjoying the dell -
rate fragrance of caravan tea,"
1 "I assure you, Mr. Ames," said Ce-
cilia, "that the Asolando is a very
harmless place, and that as a matter
Of fact Its alms are wholly consonant
With those of Aunt Octavia, I myself
served there for a time, and those
were among the most delightful days
of my life. There aro times when I
Miss the Asolando."
"Mr. Ames," began Miss Octavla
presently in her crisp, direct fashion,
which had the etleet.of leading me in
My anxiety to appear ready with an -
:rivet to take a Battering viesv of my
own courage and resourcefulness, "Mr.
Ames, are you equal to the feat of
Swimming a moat tinder a shattering
'fire from tbe castie?'
"I have every reason to think 1 am,
Miss Hollister," I replied modestly.
1 "And if a white hand waved to yon
' from the grilled window of the lonely
tovver, would yeti ride on indifferently,
or pause and thunder at the gate' '
White hands have never wltt"d to
me, save occasionally wiled •;1', liSe-
gone ,s -riding in the Sitth av'enlie:esti:
'rated, but it is my honest belilif ';that
my swell would ptutnptly..leitve ° its
scabbard -hi the hand ever? wa'v'ed frlidi
the ivied toter."
MY friends at the Hare and Tortoise
would have heard title avowal with
some surprise, for no man's life had
O'er beefs tamer than mine. I em by
it>3ttere timid, and fall but a little Short
of being afraid of the dark. Prayers
for deliverance` from battle, murder
and sudden death cannot be too Strong-,
it expressed forme o_answ__e „had.
oWever, pieased`Miss Ocfa'olu,'and she
clapped ber bands with pleasure.
"Cecilia," She cried, "something told
me that afternoon at the Asolando that
my belief in the potential seven was
not III placed, and now you see that in
introducing myself to Mr. Ames at the
Seventh table from the door, in the
seventh shop from !Fifth avenue, 1 was
led to a meeting with a gentleman I
had been, predestined to know."
As we talked further a servant ap-
peared and laid fresh logs across the
still smoldering tire. '.L'his 1 thought
would re ::gest to Miss Hollister the
professional character of my visit, but
the Bre kindled readily, the smoke rose
freely in the flue, and Miss Hollister
paid no attention to it. The merits of
chain armor, I think it was, that held
us for half an hour, Cecilia and 1lis-
tening with respect to what, its my ig-
norance, seemed a remarkable fund et
knowledge on this recondite subject.
"We dine at 7, Mr. Acnes, and you
may amuse yourself as you like until
that hour, Cecilia, you may order din-
ner In the gun roout tonight."
"Certainly, Aunt Octavia."
Once more 1 glanced at the girl, hop-
ing that some glimmer in her eyes
would set me right and establish a com-
mon understanding and sympathy be-
tween us, but she was moving out of
the room at her aunt's side. The man
who had tended the Bre met me in the
hall and, conducting me to my room,
suggested various offices that be was
rendy to perfurtn for my comfort. The
house faced south, and my windows,
1 midway of the east wing, afforded a
tine view' of the hills. The room was
large enough for n chamber of state,
and its furniture was massive. A four
poster invited to luxurious repose; half
la dozen etchings by famous artists—
Parrish and Pan Elten among them—
hung upon the walls.
My bag had been opened and my
things put out, so that, there being
more than an hour to pass before 1
need dress for dinner, 1 went below
and explored the garden and wandered
off along a winding path that stole
with charming furtiveness toward a
venerable orchard of gnarled apple
trees. [from the height thus gained 1
looked down upon the house, and
'•aught a glimpse beyond it of one of
the chain of lakes, on which the west-
ern sun glinted goldenly. Tbn, c».cine;
the house from a new stress 1 vv. ,
pressed as I had not been 9.t :2ns: tv
its size. It was a huge estatb:islirneut,
and 1 thought with envy of Peppel.ion,
to whom such ample commissions were
not rare. Peppertoo, 1 recalled a little
bitterly, bad arrived, whereas I, mho
had enjoyed exactly i'ia own •seining
for the architect's profenuion, had fail-
ed at it and been obliged to turn my
hand to the doctoring of chir:.neys.
But as I reflected upon the odd cir-
cumstances of my being there my spir-
its rose. Miss Hollister was beyond
question a singular person, but her
whims were amusing. I felt that she
was less cryptic than her twice, and
the thought of Cecilia drove me back
upon Jewett's story of Wiggins' inter-
est in that quarter. I resolved to write
to Wiggins when I got back to town
the next day and abuse him roundly
for running off without so much as
goodby. That, most emphatically, was
not like dear old Wiggins.
•
•
CHAPTER IV.
1 Fall Into a Brier Patch.
HAD been sitting on a stone wall
watching the shadows lengthen.
I rose now and followed the wall
toward a highway aloin which
wagons and an occ'asional motorcar
lmd passed during my reverie. The
sloping pasture was rough and fre-
quently sent hue along at a trot. The
wall that marked the boundary at the
roadside was hidden by a tangle of
raspberry bushes, and my foot, turn-
ing on a stone concealed in the wild
grasses, 1 fell clumsily and rolled a
dozen yards into a tangle of the berry
bushes. As 1 picked myself up 1 heard
voices in the rnud, but should have
thought nothing of it had 1 not seen
through a break in the vines and al-
most within reach of my band Cecilia
Hollister talking earnestly to some one
not yet disclosed, She was hatless,
but had Ming a golf cape over her
shoulders. The scarlet lining of the
hood turned. 1111 about her neck made
un efleetive setting for her•noble head.
"Oh, 1 can't tell fou! 1 can't help
you! 1 entsln't eveu appear to give
you any advantage. 1 went into it
with sty eyes open. turd I'm in honor
bound not to tell you anything. You
have said nothing nothing, remember
that. There is absolutely nothing be-
tween us:"
-Hut I :must say everything. 1 re -
rose to be blinded by these absurd re-
strictiotIS. whatever they fire. It's not
flair. It's inviting me into a game
where the c'ardr etre not all on the ta-
ble. t
arble.. t've route to make an end of it!"
My heeds had suffered by contact
with the bridr:t. 511(1 1 had been minis-
teritre to them with guy handkerchief,
bet 1 fell luta ahem tan elope in my
11stonisimieut at this colloquy. Cecilia
Hollister I had seen plainly enough,
though the man's back had been to -
Ward cue. but anywhere on earth I
should have known 1Viggins' voice. I
protest that it Is not my way to be-
ciaue an eavesdropper voluntarily, but
to diselu$e myself now was impossible.
1f it had nut been Wiggins—but Wig-
gins
iggins would never have understood or
forgiven, nor could 1 have explained
plausibly to Cecilia Hollister that I
had nut followed her from the house
to spy upon ber. 1•sbould have made
the noise of an iavading army if 1 bad
attempted to effect an exit by creeping
out through the windrow of crisp
leaves In which 1 lay, and to torn back
and ascend the slope the way I had
come would have been to advertise my,
presence to the dgurea in the road.
"You must go—please!"
There seemed nothing for me but to
keep still andhope that this discus-
sion between Cecilia Hollister and
Hartley Wiggins would not be contin-
ued within earshot- To my relief they
moved a trifle farther on, but 1 still
!heard their voices.
"I cannot listen to you. Now that
I'm committed I cannot honorably
countenance you at all, and I can ex-
plain nothing. 1 came here to meet.
you only to tell you this. You must go
—please! And do not attempt to see
me in this way again."
1 was grateful that Wiggins' voice
sank so low in his reply that 1 did not
hear it, but I knew that be was plead-
ing hard. Then a motor flashed by,
and when the whir or its passing bad
ceased the voices were inaudible. But
a moment later I heard a light, quick
step beyond the wall, and Cecilia past .
ed hurriedly, her face turned toward
the nuuse. The cape was drawu tight-
ly about her shoulders, au„ she mik-
e& with .lieu . ea3 bo,va:.
ii breathed .5 sign of retie:, ri„4'. w' asA
Zel): safe from detection, climbed the
slcpe.
I'au ij *' on ,h. ".res¢ to survey the
Ir.ndscapt . 's rbt•ttw a :cau, wearing a der-
by hat saw a '.igat topcoat, leaning
against a .,..rice that inclosed a pasture.
As 1 ghtnezd in his direction he moved
away hastily toward the road below.
The feeling of being watched is not
agreeable, and I could not account for
him. As he passed out of sight still
another man appeared. emerging from
a strip of woodland farther on. Even
through the evening haze 1 should have
said that he was a gentleman. The
two men apparently bore no relation to
each other, though they were walking
itt the same direction, bound, 1 judged,
for the highway below. 1 had an un-
comfortable feeling that they had both
been observing me, though for what
purpose I could not imagine. Theo
once more, just as 1 was about to en-
ter the Italian garden from a fallow
field that hung slightly above it, a
third roan appeared as mysteriously
as though he had sprung from the
ground, and ran at a sharp P dog trot
along the fence, headed, like the oth-
ers, for the road. In the Wird instance
the stranger undoubtedly took pains to
hide his Lace, but he, too, was welt
dressed and wore a topcoat and a fe-
dora hat of current style.
1 did not know why these gentlemen
were ranging the neighborhood or what
object they had in view, but their sev-
eral appearances had interested me,
and I went on into the house well sat-
isfied that events of an unusual char-
acter were likely to mark my visit to
the home of Miss Octavia Hollister.
Cecilia sat reading alone when I en-
tered the library shortly before the din-
ner hour. She put down ber book and
we fell into fitful talk.
"I took a walk after tea. I always
feel that sunsets are best seen from
the fields. You can't quite do them
justice from windows,” she began.
She seemed preoccupied. Wiggins
was in her recollection of the glowing
landscape=l was confident of this, and
poor Wiggins was even now wander-
ing these hills, no doubt, brooding upon
his troubles under clear October stars.
Dinner was anuounced the moment
Miss Hollister entered, and I walked
out between them. Miss Octavia Hol-
lister was a surprising person, but in
nothing was she so delightfully way-
ward as iu the gowus she wore. My
ignorance of such matters is immeas-
urable, but I fancy that she designed
her own raiment and had her ideas
were thereupon carried out by a tailor
of skill. At the Asolando, and when we
had met at tea in her own house, she
had worn ' the severest of tailored
gowns, with short skirt and a coat
into whose pockets she was fond of
thrusting her bands. Tonight the ma-
terial was lavender silk trimmed in
white, hut the skirt had not lengthened,
mei over a white silk waist she wore
n kind of cutaway cut that matched
the skirt. An nigret in her lovely
white bait contributed a'piquant note
to the whole impressioa. As we pass-
ed down the hall she talked with great
animation of The Hague tribunal, just
then holding a prominent place in the
newspapers for some reason that has
escaped inc.
"The whole thing is absurd, perfect-
ly absurd. I know of nothing that
would contribute more to helium enjoy-
ment than a real war between Ger-
many and ttngland,r The Hague idea
n;.. pure centro,Ient:tlisus-iteefntimental-
Children Cry for Fletcher's
The Hind You Have Always Bought, and which has been
in use for over 30 years, has borne the signature of
.o..d and has been made under his per-
sonal supervision since its infancy.
Allow no one to deceive you in this.
All Counterfeits, Imitations and "Just -as -good" are but
Experiments that trifle with and endanger the health of
Infants and Children—Experience against Experiment.
What is CASTORIA
Castoria is a harmless substitute for Castor Oil, Parer
Boric, Drops and Soothing Syrups. It is pleasant. It
contains neither Opium, Morphine nor other Narcotic
substance. Its age is its guarantee. It destroys Worms
and allays Feverishness. For more than thirty years it
has been in constant use for the relief of Constipation,
Flatulency, Wind Colic, all Teething Troubles and
Diarrhoea. It regulates the Stomach and Bowels,
assimilates the Food, giving healthy and natural sleep„
The Children's Panacea—The Mother's Friend.
GENUINE CASTO R IA ALWAYS
Bears the Signature of
The Kind You ilave BoughtAlva Y s
in Use For Over 30 Years
THE CENTAUR COMPANY. 77 MURRAY STREET, NEW YORK CITY.
s
iatireau iter lie said to he pure. 1`"wffl
go further and say that 1 consider it
positively immoral."
She had ordered dinner in the gun
room, but I thought this merely a turn
of her humor, and I was taken aback
when she led the way intoe low, heavi-
ly raftered room, where electric sconces
of an odd type were thrust at irregular
intervals along the walls, which were
otherwise huug with arms of many
sorts in orderly combinations. They
were not the litter of antique shops, I
saw in a hasty glance, but rifles and
guns of the latest patterns, and beside
the sideboard stood a guu rack and a
cabinet whieh 1 assumed contained still
other and perhaps deadlier weapons.
But for the presenc'e of Miss Cecilia,
who was essentially typical of our
twentieth century American woman, 1
think 1 alight readily have yielded to
the illusion that I was the guest of
some eccentric chatelaine who had in-
vited me to dine with her in a bastion.
of het' fortress before ordering nue to
some chamber of horrors for execu-
tion.
No reference was glade to the char-
acter of the room. 1 felt, in fact, that
Cecilia rather pleaded with her eyes
that 1 should make no reference to it.
And Miss Hollister remarked quite
casually as though in comment upon
my thoughts:
"Consistency has buried its thou-
sands and habit its tens of thousands.
We should live, Mr. Ames, for the
changes and chances of this troubled
life. Between an opera box and a
villa at Newport many of my best
friends have perished."
Then with startling abruptness she
put down her fork and, bending her
wonderfully direct gaze upon me, ask-
ed a question that caused me to stran-
gle on a bit of asparagus.
"I imagine, Mr. Ames, that you are
a member of some of the better clubs
1 in town. If by any chance you belong
I to the Hare and Tortoise—the name of
which has always pleased me—do you
by any chance happen to enjoy the ac-
quaintance of Hartley Wiggins?"
Cecilia lifted her head. 1 saw that
she had been as startled as 1. It
crossed my mind that a denial of any
acquaintance with Wiggins might best
serve him in the circumstances. But
1 am not. I hope, without a sense of
eb:.me, and I responded promptly:
"Yes, 1 know him sell. We are old
always see a good deal of
swims during the winter. His summers
are spent usually on his ranch in the
west We dined together two days
ago at the Hare and Tortoise, just be-
fore he left for the west,"
"You will pardon me if I say that It
is wholly to his credit that he has for-
sworn the professions and identified
himself with the honorable calling of
the husbandman."
"We met Mr. Wiggins while travel-
ing abroad last summer." interposed
Cecilia, meeting my eyes quite frankly.
"Met him! Did you say met him,
Cecilia? On the cottl1ary, we found
him waiting for us at the dock the
morning we sailed," corrected Miss
Hollister, "and we never lost him a
day in three months of rapid travel.
I had never met him before, but 1 can-
not deny that he made himself exceed-
ingly agreeable. 11, as 1 suspected, be
hadideliberately planned to travel on
the same steamer With my two nieces,
1 have only praise for his conduct,
for in these days, Mr..Amea, It warms
my heart to tind young leen showing
Something of the old chivalric ardor to
their affairs of the heart."
"I'm sure Mr. Wiggins made himself
'eery, agreeable," remarked Cecilia col.
orieiisly.'
"For myself," retorted Miss Hollis.
ter, "1 should speak even more strong•
ly, l6le repeatedly served Vs with tact
id delfcaey..j bad formed so high
an 'bpi on of Mr.—Wiggins hat1`iearns
ed with sincerest regret that his au
eestors were 'Tories and took no part
in the struggle for American independs
ence. There are times when 1 serious-
ly question the wisdom of the colonists
in breaking with the mother country,
but certainly no man of cbaracter in
that day could have hesitated as to hill
proper course."
Then, as though by intention, Misul
Hollister dropped upon the smooth cur-
rent of our talk a sentence that drove
the color from Cec'ilia's face.
".Hezekiah and Mr. Wiggins were the
best of friends," was Miss Hollister'6
remark.
Cec•ilia's eyes were on her plate, but
ber aunt went on in her blithest fash-
ion:
"You may not know that Hezekiah IS
another niece, Cecilia's sister. She
was named, at my suggestion, for wy
father, there being no son in the fam.
fly, and I trust that so unusual a name
in a young girl does not strike you ad
indefensible."
"On the contrary, it seems to me
wholly refreshing and delightful. Ali
I recall the Sunday sebool of my youth,
Hezekiah w:ts a monarch of great au-
thority, whose animosity toward Sea-
nacherib was justified in the fullest
degree. The very name bristles with
spears and is musical with the trum-
pets of Israel. Nothing would make
me happier than to meet the young
laxly who bears this illustrious name."
"As to the your knowledge of ancient
history, Mr. Ames," began Miss Hol-
lister as she helped herself to the
cheese—sweets, 1 noted, were not in-
cluded 111 the very ample meal 1 bad
enjoyed—"it is clear that you were
well taught in your youth. 1 am not
surprised, however, for I should have
expected nothing less of a sun of the
late General Ames of Hartford. As to
meeting my niece Hezekiah, 1 fear that
that is at present impossible. While
Ceeilia remains with me Hezekiah's
duty is to her father. :tad 1 must say
in all kindness that Hezekiah's ways,
like those of Providence and the ens -
torn house, are beyond my feeble un-
derstanding. In a word, Mr. Ames,
Hezekiah is different,"
"Hezekiah," added Cecilia, with
feeling, "is a dear."
"Please don't bring sentimentalism
to the table!" cried Miss Hollister.
"Mr. Wiggins once informed me in a
moment of forgetfulness—it was at
Fontainebleau, 1 remember, when
Hezejtia1persIsted in reminding a °tie
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