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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1921-08-26, Page 7roxn ay ,Frances Hodgson Burnett Toronto.—William Briggs. (Continued from last week.) "She must be a very—very n girl," she ventured at length, "I afraid I have never been into old M Hutohinson's cottage. She is qu comfortably off hi her way, and do not need parish care. I wish I Ii seen ,Miss- Hutchinson." "I wish she had seen you," was Teanbarom's answer. • Miss Alicia reflected. "She must be very e'lever to the euch-sensible views," she remartk If he had remained in New Yo and there had been no question of 'h in heriting Temple Barholm, the ma nage would have. been most suitable. But however ',superior" she might be a vision of old Mrs, H;utchinson's granddaughter' as the wife of Mr. Temple Barholm, and of noisy old Mr. Hutchinson as his father-in-law was a staggering thing. "You think they were sensible? asked Tembarom. "Well, she new did anything that wasn't. So I gues they were. And what she says goe 1'd add�aather$_i ,O • moi} gatliSr ai�6 lAti 1lare aAd•iamds and drink. $e'. Ma it would no leo "at all proper" not to .go to church. Fearsou faced a special cut of costume fo this cerempuyy,and Tens haremwet with 'Miss Ali across the ;park to the square -towered Nor- man church.. Di a position of dignity the Temple Barholm 'pews overlooked the cou- ga an. ere was great square pew for the family, with two others for servants. Footmen and housemaids gazed reverentially at � i e'i it o �emp�, �( Rei he'ie� re E iep - Alalilo , colrY9, R,POP aka of veto ataifih may !I 0gr to Catak ,. p to ewdll }• cl,S. *Raft 14r 'iN�' _l�0_. an 4;totaea y add Ada s h the Stood on a Mucous Surfacer, of the a4 to , time roditalnc the inflammation and roe k1,) normal conditlone. rub stet Clr.f4ltra ire . 1 . J: Cheesy do Co., Toledo, 4)hio, gra ti Th the' prayer -books. Pearson making every ice preparation respectfully to declare am Himself • a "miserable sinner" when rs the proper moment arrived, could ite scarcely •restrain- a rapid side glance es as the correctly cut and fitted and ad entirely "suitable" work of bis hands opened the pew -door for Miss Alicia followed her in,,and took his place. Let not the fact that he had never been to church before becounted ye against him, There was nothing very edI extraordinary in the fhct. He had rk felt no antipathy to church -going, but is I he had not by chance fallen under proselyting influence, and it had cer- tainly never occurred to him that he had any place among the well-dress- ed, comfortable -looking people he had seen flocking into places of wor- ship in New York. As far as reli- gious observances were concerned, he was an unadulterated heathen, and was all the more to be congratulated er on being a heathen of genial ten- dencies. s The very large pew, under the stone I wanted you to know, anyhow. I wouldn't like you not to know. I'nr too fond of you, Miss Alicia." And be put his hand round her neat.,glove and squeezed it. The tears of course came into her tender eyes. Emotion of any sort always expressed itself in her in this early -Victorian manner. "This Lady Joan girl," he said suddenly not long afterward, "isn't she the kind that Fin to get used to --the kind in the pictorial magazine Ann talked about? I bought one at the news-stand at the depot before we started. I wanted to get on to the pictures and see what they did to me." He found the paper among his be- longing and regarded it with the ex- pression of a serious explorer. It opened at a page of illustrations of slim goddesses in court dresses. By actual measurement, if regarded ac- cording to scale, each was about ten feet high; but their long lines, com- bining themselves with court trains, waving plumes, and falling veils, produced an awe-inspiring effect. Tembarom gazed at them in absorb- ed silence. "Is she something like any .rf these?" he inquired finally. Miss Alicia looked through her glasses. "Far more beautiful, I believe," she answered. ".lose are only fashion - plates, and I have heard that she is a most striki girl." "A beaut' from Beautsville!" he said. "So that's what I'm up against! I wonder how much use that kind of a girl would have for me." . He gave a good deal of attention to the paper before he laid it aside. As she watched him, Miss Alicia be- came gradually aware of the exist- ence of a oertain hint of determined squareness in his boyish jaw. It was perhaps not much more than a hint, but it really was there, though she had not noticed it before. In fact, it usually hid itself behind .his slangy youthfulness and his readiness for any good cheer. One may as well admit that it sus- tained him during his novitiate and aided him to passthrough it without ignominy or disaster. He was strengthened also by a private resolve to bear himself in such a manner as would at least do decent credit to Little Ann and her superior knowl- edge. With the curious eyes of serv- ants, villagers, and secretly outraged neighborhood,. upon him, he was shrewd enough to know that he might easily become a perennial fount of grotesque anecdote, to be used as a legitimate source of entertainment in cottages over the consumption of beans and bacon, as well as at great houses when dinner -table talk threat- ened to' become dull if not enlivened by some. spice. He would not 'have thought of this or been disturbed by it but for Ann. She knew, and he was not going to let her be met on her return from America with what he called "a lot of funny dope" about him. "No girl would like it," he said to himself. "And the way she said she `eared too much' just put it up to me to see that the fellow she cares for doesn't let himself get laughed at." Though 'he still continued to be jocular on subjects which to his valet seemed almost sacred, Pearson was relieved to find that his employer gradually gave himself i.nto'his hands in a manner quite amenable. In the touching way in which nine out of ten nice domesticated American males obey the behests of the women they are fond of, -he had followed Ann's directions to the letter. Guided by the adept Pearson, . he had gone to the best places in Landon and pur- chased the correct things, returning to Temple Barholm with a wardrobe to which any gentleman might turn at any moment without a question. "He's got good shoulders, though be does slouch a bit," Pearson said to Rose. "And a gentleman's shoul- ders are more than half the battle." — What Tembarom himself felt cheer- ed by was the certainty that if Ann saw him walking about the park or the village, or driving out with Miss Alicia in the big landau, or taking her in to dinner every evening, or even going to church with her, the world not have occasion to flush at sight of him. The going to church wasne of the duties of his position he fund out. Miss Alicia "put him on" to that. It seemed that he had to present him- self/ to the villagers "as an example." If the Temple Barhblrn pews were empty, the villagersy.not being Wait - floor of which his ancestors had slept undistwrbedly for centuries, interest- ed 'him greatly. A recumbent marble crusader in armor, with feet, crossed in- the customary manner, fitted into a sort of niche in one side of the wall. There were carvel tablets and many inscriptions in Latin whereso- ever one glanced. The place was like a room. A heavy, round table, on which lay prayer -books, Bibles, and hymn -books, occupied the middle. About it were arranged beautiful old chairs, with hassocks to kneel on. To- ward a specially imposing chair with arms Miss Alicia directed him with a glance. It was apparently his place. He was going to sit down when he saw Miss Alicia gently push forward a hassock with her foot, and kneel on it, covering her face with her hands as she bent her head. He hastily drew forth his„hassock and followed her example. That was it, was it? It wasn't only a matter of listening to a ser- mon; you had to do things. IIe had letter watch out and see thathe didn't miss anything. She didn't know it was his first time, and it telght worry her to the limit if he didn't put it over all tight. One of the things he had noticed in her was her fear of attracting attention by failing to do exactly the "proper thing.” If he made a fool of him- self by kneeling down when he ought to stand up, or lying down when he ought to sit, she'd get hot all over, thinking wht the . villagers or the other people would say. Well, Ann hadn't wanted him to look different from other fellows or to make breaks. He'd look out from start to fir.ish. He directed a watchful eye at Miss Alicia through his fingers. hi•r remained kneeling a few mom- ents, and then very quietly got up. Ile rose with her, and took his big big chair when she sat down. Hee breathed mere freely when they had got that far. That was the first round. It was not a large church, but a gray and solemn impression of dignity brooded over it. It was dim with light, which fell through stained-glass memorial windows set deep in the thick stone walls. The silence which reigned throughout its spaces seemed to Tembarom of a new kind, differ- ent from the silence of the big house. The occasional subdued rustle of turned prayer -book leaves seemed to accentuate it; the most careful move- ment could not conceal itself; a slight cough was a startling thing. The way, Tembarom thought, they could get things dead -still in English places! The chimes, which had been ring- ing their last summons to the tardy, slackened their final warning notes, became still slower, stopped. There was a slight stir in the benches oc- cupied by the infant school. It sug- gested that something new was 'go- ing to happen. From some unseen place came the sound of singing voices—boyish voices and the voices of men. Tembarom involuntarily turned his head. Out of the unseen place came a procession in white robes. Great Scott! every one was standingu P t He must stand up, too. The boys and men in white garments filed into their seats. An elderly man, also in white robes, separated himself from them, and, going into his special place, kneeled down. Then he rose and began to read: "When the winked man turneth away from his wickedness—" Tembarom took the open book which Miss Alicia had very delicately push- ed toward him. He read the first words,—that was plain sailing,—'then he seemed to lose his place. Miss Alicia turned a leaf. He turned one also. "Dearly beloved brethren—" There you were. This was once more plain sailing. He could follow it. What was the matter with Miss Alicia? She Was kneeling again, everybody was kneeling. Where was the hassock? He went down upon his knees, hoping Miss Alicia had not seen that he wasn't going to kneel at all. Then when the minister said "Amen," .the congregation said it, /RINE Yon Cannot Ely New Eyes But you can Promote a 4\,i�` �" n•tlealthyCondition YOUR Unglean. 1 ee Remedy "Night and Morning." tgcep your EyesCleam, Clear and L'ceaathy. Write for Pree Ere Care Rome, Merles tie aeatcdvCo..1tCasteleasei :,:�:.� t}ie vl few'ppSsolAlf "�` " .semi hitlA Varying: �e T x)"aFfox T YY had not' �e anything ikg •til species,, and thpv', nut kkaa wit to do with hitn, ' 'also di'd not know what to els pull!!/ them, A, certain in0leaticit)r res ro d him at the o t, - eet. When: im "tiftedieoce to ' u„ :p1 Alicia's 4hatruetfontlhe had returned the visits, he .fel't, she had not gone far, too, and he came in too late, so his voice sounded out alone. Ile mu watch that. Then the minister and all the people prayed aloud Serious applibahion enabled him to that find his way through the church ser- st vice, and he accompanied Miss Alicia knelt to hurch with great regularity. He him, With the book before him managed to get in after thetfirst words; but he was not ready with responses, and In the middle of everybody stood up again, And the organ played, and every one ea He couldn't sing, anyhow, and knew he couldn't catch on to the of thing they were doing. He h I Miss Alicia wouldn't mind his st ing up and holding his book and do- ing nothing. He could not help seeing that eyes continually turned toward him. They'd notice every darned break he made, and Miss' Alicia would know they did. He felt quite hot more than once. He watch- ed Miss Alicia• like a hawk; he sat down and listened to readng, he stood up and listened to singing; he kneeled, he tried to chime in with "Amens;' and to keep up with Miss Alicia's bending of head and knee. But the creed, with its sudden turn toward the altar, caught him un- awares, he lost himself wholly in the psalms, the collects left hint in deep water, hopeless of ever finding his place again, and the litany baffled him, when he was beginning to feel safe, by changing from "miserable sinners" to "Spare us Good Lord" and "We beseech thee to hear us." If he could just have found the place 'he would have been all right, but an honest anxiety to be right excited him, and the fear of embarrassing Miss Alicia by going wrong made the morning a strenuous thing, He was so relieved to fled he might sit still when, the sermon began that he gave the minister an attention which might have marked him, to the chance beholder, as a religious en- thusiast. By the time the service had come to an end the stately peace of t place had seemed to sink into h being and become part of himsel The voice of the minister bestowin his blessing, the voices of the whit clothed choir floating up into t vaulted roof, stirred him to a remo pleasure. He liked it, or he knew he would like it when he knew what to do. The filing out of the choristers, the silent final prayer, the soft rustle of people rising gently from their knees, somehow actually moved him by its suggestion of something before unkown. He. was a heathen still, hut a heathen vaguely stirred. He was very quiet as he walked home across the park with Miss Alicia. "How did you enjoy the sermon?" sfie asked with much sweetness. "I'm not used to sermons, but it seemed all right to me," he answer- ed. "What I've got to get on to is knowing when to stand up and when to sit down. I wasn't much of a winner at it this morning. I guess you noticed that." Bet his outward bearing had been much more composed than his inward anxiety had allowed him to believe. His hesitations had not produced the noticeable effect he had feared. "Do you mean you are not quite fetniliar with the service?" she said. Poor dear boy! he had.perhaps not been able to go to church regularly at all. "I'm not fgmiliar with any service," he answered without prejpdice. ' I never went to church before," She slightly started and then smil- ed. "Oh, you- mean you .have never been to the Church of England," she said. Then he saw that, if he told her the exact truth, she would be fright- ened and shocked. She would not know what to say or what to think. To her unsophisticated mind only murderers and thieves and criminals never went to church. She just didn't know. Why should she? So he smiled also. - "No, I've never been to the Church of England," he said. with began to take down the books from he the library shelves' and look them fewie over gravely. The' days gradually ceased to Ones" so long, but he had thhemuea a great deal oY time on his 'hands, and he tried to find ways of filling it. He wondered if Ann would be he pleased if he learned things -out of kihe d books, ed When he tentatively appnoched the subject of literature with Miss Alicia, she -glowed at the delightful prospect of his reading aloud to her in the evenings—/'reading improving things like history and the poets." "Let's take a back at it some night," he said pleasantly. The more a fellow knew, the better U was for -him, he supposed; but he wondered, if anything happened- and he went back to New York, how much "improving things" and poetry would help a man in doing business. The first evening they began with Gray's "Elegy," and Miss Alicia felt that it did not exhilarate him; she was also obliged to admit that he did not read it very well. But she felt sure he would improve. Personally she was Itoughingly happy. The sweetly domestic picture of the situa- tion, she sitting by the lire with her knitting and he reading aloud, moved and delighted her. Phi' next evening she suggested Tennyson's "Maud." He was not as much stirred by it as she had hoped. He took a somewhat humorous view of it. "He had it pretty bad, hadn't he?" he said of the desperate lover. "Oh, if only you could once have heard Sims Reeves sing 'Come into the Garden, Maud'!" she sighed. "A kind friend once took me to hear him and I have never, never forgotten it." he 'But Mr. Temple Barholm notably did not belong to the atmosphere of is impassioned tenors. f• On still another evening they tried g Shakspere. Miss Alicia felt that a e -foundation of Shakspere would be he "improving" indeed. They began to with "Hamlet" tie found play -reading difficult and Shaksperian language baffling, but he made his way with determination un- til he reached a point where lie sud- denly grew quite red and stopped. "Say, have you read this?" he in- quired after his hesitation. "The plays of Shalespere are a part of every young lady's education," she answered; 'but I am afraid I am :yet at all a_Shaksperi.w scholar." "A young lady's education?" he repeated. "Gee whizz!" lie added softly after a pause. lie glanced over a page or so hastily, and then Land the book ,lawn. "Say," he suggested, with an evasive air, "let's go over that 'Maud' once again. It's—wed, it's easier to read aloud," The crude awkwardness of his m:;n_ ner suddenly made Miss Alicia iter - elf Push and drop a stitch in her knitting. Huw dreadful of her net to have thought of ;hat! "The Elizabethan age was, I fear, s rather coarse cne in some respects. Even history acknowledges that Queen Elizabeth herself used pro- fane language." She faltered and coughed a little apologetic cough as she picked up her stitch again. - CHAPTER XIX Tho country was discreetly con- servative in its social attitgde. The gulf between it and the new owner of ar Temple p Barholm was too wide and deep to be crossed without effort combined with immense mental agil- ity. It was on the whole, much easier not to begin a thing at all than to begin it and find one must hastily search about for not too no- ticeable methods of ending it. A. few unimportant, tentative calls were made,, and several ladies who had re- mained unaware of Miss Alicia dur- ing her first benefactor's time drove over to sec what she was like and perhaps by chance hear something of interest. One or two of them who saw Tembarom went away puzzled and amazed. He did not drop his h's, which they had of course expect- ed, and he was well dressed, and not bad -looking; but it was frequently impossible to understand what he was talking about, he used such odd phrases. He seemed good natured enough, and his way with little old Miss Temple Barholm was really quite nice, queer as it was. It was queer because he was attentive to SLEEP Can you do it well P Just one or two doses of DR. MILES' NERVINE—$I.S0 will soothe the irritated and over -strain - 3d nerves. Guaranteed Safe and Sure. Sold in Seafortb by E. UMBACH, Phm., B. "I bet Ann's never seen inside Shakspere," said T:'rnbarom. Be- fore reading aloud i:: the future he gave some previowi personal atten- tion to the poem or subject decided upon. It may be at ,mce frankly ad- mitted that when h,• read aloud it was .more for Miss AI•icia's delecta- tion than for his own_ He saw how much she enjoyed the situation. His effect of frankness and const- ant boyish talk was so inseparable front her idea 'of him that she found it a puzzling thing to realize that she gradually began to f.'el aware of a 'certain remote reserve in him, or what might perhaps be better describ- ed as a habit of silence upon certain subjects. She felt i' marked in the case of Strangewmiy . She surmised that he saw Strangeways often and spent a good deal of time with him, but he spoke of him rarely, and she never knew exactlyvl hours ,tat were given to him. Sometimes she im- agined he found him a greater re- spohsibility than he had expected. Several times when she believed that he had spent _part of a morning or afternoon in his remit, he was more silent than usual and looked puzzled and thoughtful. She observed; as Mr. Palford had, that the picture gal- lery, with its portraits of his ances- tors, had an attraction.. A certain rainy day he asked her to go with him and look them over. It was in- evitable that she should soon wander to the portrait of Miles Hugo and remain standing before it. Tembar- om followed, and stood by her sire in silence until her satinet)? broke its bounds with a pathetic sigh. "Was he very like him?" he asked. Shemade an unconscious, startled movement For the moment she had forgotten his presence, and she had not really expected him to remember. "I mean Jem," he answered her surprised look. "How was he like him? Was there—" he hesitated and lookekd really interested—"was he like him in any particular thing?" "Yes," she said, turning to the por- trait of Miles Hugo again. "They both had those handsome, drooping eyes, with the lashes coming together at the corners. There is something very fascinating about them, isn't there? I used to notice It so much in dear little Jem. You see how marked they are in Miles Hugo." said del -g 'i to i ixtk 4� Vit.diit d;,. .if any one did leekat t1)ter. t .r, llfaidetdq abStalis c1rociaa her. "Poor Indy Juan'," she s , " Theie's a sari al, aloft rp 'itis A,,. tbougdi it'e a geed, square chin ' he sus'ggested. "And that smile o his —Were ,Team'&--?" "Yes, lady were. The likeness wad quite odd sometimes:. -quite." "Those, are things that -wouldn't be likely to change .much when lie grew up,". TeinIbarom said, drawing a little closer to the picture. "Poor Jan! He was up against it hard' and plenty. He had it hardest. This chap only died." (Continued next week.) betokens Famous for varies the e*C IIIIII111111II 11111111 II AC•l h :4•• xN PRINCE of WALES CHEWING TOBACCO Canadaas standard since 1858 111111111111111111111111 c f( CITIZENS of Ontario—The only salvation for Ontario's revenue-producing forests is the preven- tion of forest fires. Your support and co-opera- tion is absolutely essential. Forest fires are rapidly diminishing our re- sources of timber and pulpwood. Over 90 per cent. of Ontario's forest fires are caused by human carelessness. If everybody was careful to prevent the start of fire, Ontario's Forest would be safe. Save Ontario's forests They're ours BUSINESS MEN of Ontario — (,end us a hand. The various busi- ness associations — of bankers, boards of trade, manufacturers, merchants, lumbermen; engineers, educationalists, tourists, and sports- men, and all other bodies of weight and influ- ence, can do a great work for this province and for their own interests as well by actively pro- moting educatilffnal propaganda to reduce forest fires. RAILWAY OFFICIALS can help. Railways cause 40% of Ontario's Forest fires. The Forestry Branch is being well supported by improved co-operatit,n on the part of railway officials and by the Dominion Railway Board. Let us reduce the number of railway fires one- half this summer. (The' train passenger in Northern Ontario who nonchalantly throws his cigarette or cigar out of the window during the forest fire season is deserving of a jail sen- tence!) CAMPERS, tourists, fishermen, picknickers, berry pickers, prospectors and hunters should Ontario Forestry Branch feel their responsibility even though out of sight of the policeman. 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