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Show "Don't you cii.uk." queried Adele . Chester mischievously. "fiar I'm nice?" Whereat Ralph grew guiltily red. ! "A gray gown!" gasped Dick. "And and a hat with gray feathers!" "My traveling costume. Don't you," with sparkling eyes, "find this btioom-inc?" btioom-inc?" "This" was a trailing, foamy, beruf-fled beruf-fled robe, all delicately gre n anil white I as the crest of a breakei, a dress that revealed while concealing the snowi- Less of arms and bosom. Becoming! Rosa told her ihen nnd there ho becoming. be-coming. Not in words dear no! But words are so stupid sometimes. Helen Stafford rear.ned home before dinner was over. Her brothers' rapturous rap-turous receptioa amazed her. Nevr j had she known tow they missed her! Nor could she droa-.i that each of three young hypocrites war. saying to Vim-self, Vim-self, "She won't go East in such a hurry hur-ry it she and Helen take to each other." They did take to each other. Ross found it was not necessary to keep bis eugagcment that tvening and permitted permit-ted bU friend to cool his heels alone 1 A COUNTRY COUSIN their appointed rendezvous. Rnlph learned his tenor went wonderfully well with the pure soprano of their guest. And Dick was so anxious to initiate Miss Chester into the mysteries myster-ies of flashlight pictures that he made himself no end of s bore. The country cous-in of the St'iffords did not go Kast that week nor the next When she did so all the mirth and laughter of the Stafford domicile seemed to go with her. One moraine a week af.er her departure Ralph and Dick said, some bitter things when they discovered discov-ered that Ross had found out he must attend to business in New York, and had left for that city on the midnisht Had you ever a cousin. Tom? Did your cousin happen to sing? There are brothers and sisters by dos- , ens. Tom. ! But a cousin's a different thing! Anon. The news and the dessert were served simultaneously. "By George, if I hadn't nearly for-gdtten!" for-gdtten!" quoth Stafford pere. He rummaged rum-maged in an inner pocket "Can't find the letter. Must have left it at the office. Anyhow, it's from .my cousin, Godfrey Chester " "Now, Henry!" interrupted the mild voice of Mrs.. Stafford in amused expostulation. ex-postulation. "Why will you keep up that fiction about the cousinshipT It is mythical, and you know it!'' "It's certainly remote," conceded the beaming paterfamilias at the opposite nd of the table, "but there once wa i r.larlnnchtn a. lone time aKO. I ad- "Yes." "No, sir. Didn't come. Sure? Course I am." Ross wheeled around. "Well! Ill telephone the folks that she wasn't on. Dad can wire her people and find out I beg your pardon!" And he suddenly found himself bowing bow-ing profoundly, hat in hand, before a young woman with whom he had almost al-most collided in his haste, a slender young woman, a graceful young woman, wo-man, a lovely young woman, as his susceptible heart instantly acknowledged. acknowl-edged. She . accepted his apology with a slight bend of the head a vivid blush. Half way up the stairs he glance back, saw her standing where he had left her. He hesitated went back. "You are waiting for some one? Can I be of service?" "Thank you!" Ye gods, what a sweet voice. "I am afraid there has been a train. And when Ross returned, silent, b! smiling and exultant, they were not at all backward about telling him with true fraternal frankness their opinion of his conduct. "You were awfully good to go to meet that little country lassie!" commented com-mented Ralph witheringly. "I believe you knew all the time she was the prettiest kind of a young girl!" "Kindness sheer kindness on my 1 "part, dear boy! But, as I have striven to impress on you, virtue is ever its own reward." "O, come off!" entreated Dick. "You Just got the inside track, and you kept it" "I assure you in taking my late hasty has-ty trip I had only the best interests of my brothers at heart My sole ambition ambi-tion was to secure you the most charm- - mit But Chester and I have taken the world as we found it. He's a good fellow fel-low and I've always been urging him to manage that our young people may become acquainted. He writes that his daughter will pass through Chicago tomorrow to-morrow on the way to New York, and will spend a few days with us. He says he wishes one of my family would meet her. Bless my soul, here's the letter after all!" He put on his spectacles read aloud: "You can't mistake her. She's a curly-headed little lit-tle it-i in a crrav srown and a hat mistake. No one has come to meet m. May I ask you to call a cab?" And when he had done so, when she had thanked him, when he stood bareheaded bare-headed on the curbstone as the ve- hide rolled away, he recolected that he had not listened to the address she had given the driver, and he walked off in a towering rage at his own imbecility. im-becility. Never was there so dreary a day, although al-though the late August sunshine found its way into his office. Never had the ing sister-in-law In the world!" Helen Jumped up. "O Ross! Did you did 6he " He laughed quizzically. "Adele gave me a message for yfti.i, my dear. She said to tell you that you are to be " "What Ross!" "Bridemaid!" Chicago Tribune. with gray feathers. She's a nice child, and I'll be glad to have her meet your youngsters." "There!" "A child!'.' groaned Ralph, who was 12 and! studious. He swallowed his cafe noir at a gulp and rose disgustedly. "Youngsters, indeed!" cried Dick disdainfully. dis-dainfully. "Does he take us for kindergarteners?" kin-dergarteners?" Ross, who was the eldest, smiled in quite a superior and disinterested fashion. fash-ion. He boasted a flourishing mustache. mus-tache. He was studying law. Plainly, the subject had no interest for him. "Eh. but one of you must meet the child!" cried the head, of the house. , "You'll go, Ralph?" "Can't, sir. I'm doing an article on the architecture of the tenth century. It takes a lot of research. I'll be all morning in the Newberry Library." Henry Stafford, huge of girth, roseate rose-ate of visage, and twinkling of eye, turned his harvest moon face imploringly implor-ingly toward his youngest son. "You. Dick?" "Got a golf match on- Can't make It. sir." "Dear, dear! If your sister were only at home " "She'll be back tomorrow afternoon," after-noon," put in Mrs. Stafford. "But the little girl gets here In the morning. She must be met She is from a comparatively small town. She would be quite bewildered were she to find herself alone in Chicago. Besides, I'm under several obligations to Chester Ches-ter in a business way." He sent the good-looking young fellow with the mustache an appealing glance. "I wonder now, Ross, if yofi ' Ross laughed leniently. "lou poor, perplexed old chap! Yes, I'll see that the child gets here all right!" "Good!" said Henry Stafford, with sigh of relief. "Good." But when the Western train dis-.rnrtred dis-.rnrtred its Jostling multitude in the reading of the law seemed such a dull and tiresome drudgery. Never before had the pages blurred into a mass of meaningless black marks. But, then never before had a betwitching young face come between him and his books, a face with reddish-gold ringlets clustering clus-tering around a white forehead, and shy eyes the color of woodland violets! vio-lets! He leaped from his seat as a bright thought struck him. He would hunt up the cabman. That was the thing to do! But, although he hung around the Union Depot for two whole hours, and questioned every Jehu within reach, he could not find the man hs sought. It was evidently that particular particu-lar cabman's busy day. Tired and disgusted. Ross Stafford took a plunge at the Athletic club, got himself home, shrugged himself into his evening clothes, for he was going out after dinner, and went down to the "arlor to find himself face to face with the divinity of the red-gold ringlets and the violet eyes! "Ross, my dear," cooed Mrs. Stafford Staf-ford "let me introduce you to Miss Union Depot the following morning Ross Stafford, standing close by the iron gates, found that he had undertaken under-taken a task of greater magnitude than he had at the time imagined. There was such a crush of people, stout and thin, tall and short, big and little. There were children processions proces-sions of them. But they all seemed to belong to the folks who hurried them along. Never a glimpse could he catch of a curly-headed little girl in a gray gown wearing a hat with gray feathers. feath-ers. Or was the dress brown? By Jove! He wasn't even sure of that The last laggard group trickled away, Ross knew the conductor of the Denver Den-ver train spoke to him as he came hurrying along. "All off your train, Brigham? "Sure!" "There was a little girl coming to Chicago had curly hair a blue dress -a green hat-blest if I remember! "Wasn't she on?" "Alone, was she?" Chester, whom somenow jou muw to miss this morning. Why, you " For they were smiling at each other merrily, spontaneously. "Indeed, no, mother!" Perhaps he held the pretty hand she gave hirna little longer than was necessary. "I met Miss Chester this morning. Did Bhe not tell you I put her in a cab?" Miss Chester laughed. Ross Stafford Staf-ford laughed. And the bewilderment of the head of the house of Stafford, of the golfing son, and the studious son, as they m turn presented, set them laughing again. "Lord bless me!" cried Stafford senior se-nior ruffling his hair, "your father said you were a little girl!" "0, I shall never be grown np to papa!" cried Miss Chester: "He said," stammered the young gentleman who was getting up an article arti-cle on the architecture of the tenth century, "that that you were Bice child!" |