Show QUESTION OF CASTE t by H M EGBERT caste is not a matter of money in the old residents associate together by force of social graat tablon some are rich some poor but before they take the stranger to their hearts they want to know who he Is that was all that was the matter with laura maynard a affair with will sturges laura a grandfather was a mechanic but his grandfather had shouldered a musket at lexington As tor lauras father he was a struggling insurance agent and will sturges was a man in overalls with greasy hands how it quite came about laura hardly knew she was bookkeeper at the electrical works will black with grease passed through the bookkeeping department and sometimes eald goodday good day to her one afternoon he picked up a package that she had dropped in the street and carried it home tor her love being blind and moreover unclothed cares nothing or silks and gatins satins frock coats or homespun somehow will always happened to be at the gate when laura left and be would valk along the street beside her and laura knew that the people were watching from the porches and then the evening came when they knew they kved each othe laura would always remember thail A rain storm bad driven them for shel ter under the projecting eaves of an old barn they stood there expectantly because each sensed the other a mind then will took lauras hand in his laura deur I 1 love you be said 1 I want you to be my wife some day will you dear and laura could not answer because their faces were so close together and the next moment heir lips met she was so radiantly happy that her face betrayed her secret to all on the next evening her aunt mary but who Is he who kept house tor her father felt moved 0 o speak her mind laura she said I 1 see that young will sturges walks home with you almost every afternoon yea aunt said laura con he lives on this street you know 1 I wouldn t allow him to do so any more my dear people are beginning to notice it well tell them we are engaged blurted out laura mary maynard who had never been engaged clapped her bands together and her face grew as red as a peony engaged she repeated when she had found her breath you the great great granddaughter of saul maynard engaged to a common mechanic I 1 wills a pretty good mechanic I 1 heard mr brown say so said laura feebly but who la he exclaimed her aunt jagt a man from outside amusing himself with you laura left the room indignantly and that was the beginning of the biege everybody opposed her her aunt her girl frienda and her father whose antagonism ws mainly confined to a series of sniffs and ejaculations you 11 never live it down never I 1 declared agatha price who had been buted once and had scorned men ever bance A common mechanic of course ono can be a mechanic and still be looked up to but not an out bide man that day was sunday and laura had no respite aba story had spread through the town and every time the girl went down the street the people rocking upon their porches seemed to have a new interest in her and a battery of eyes followed her movements and on monday morn ing when she went to her task lara was from the strain and in no sen tl mental mood but dearest will remonstrated when he saw her agitation why did you tell them about it I 1 meant to ask you to let it be a secret until the end of the year laura was furious at the suggestion why should t keep my engagement secret she declared it you loved me will you would have wanted to lee father right away on saturday night and saved me all this uon but I 1 had good reason laura will protested 1 I don t ti hold athla position after am expecting something better one then and then something of a quarrel ent sued with tears on lauras part and the interruption of the clock put an end to the noon recess and that evening laura hurried home alone had she done rightly or were not her friends and family right that was the question she put to herself repeatedly she was not ashamed of but will seemed ashamed of himself secrecy was abhorrent to lauras nature the next morning she was too to go to work A bad cold caused by the sudden advent of fall and aggravated by her depressed condition ran into gr p and tor a week she was in bed it was the first morning of her convalescence vales cence when as she sat in the parlor she was astonished to see will ascending the porch steps lie came right in through the open door he was dressed in a neatly fitting suit and he certainly looked every inch a gentleman her love was stronger than her shame it brooked no questioning laura stretched out her arms and as he knelt beside her she drew his head down to her breast dearest he said at last 1 can tell you it was not because I 1 was ashamed that I 1 wanted our engage ment kept secret I 1 was under a promise you see I 1 had been rather wild at college at college yes and my father insisted that I 1 make good as be called it before went into his insurance business he owns a controlling interest in the electrical works here besides many other properties and the conditions were that I 1 was to get a mechanic s job and bold it for a year without telling anyone who I 1 was you see I 1 would nave bad to explain to your father well when I 1 saw how were and I 1 kielp telling you I 1 wrote my father begging to be released lie was away when my letter reached his home and I 1 thought his silence meant a re casal but the letter came this morning and so what insurance company cried laura who womanlike had struck at the beginning why the national fidelity my ta ther owns that and I 1 know said will laughing antt your father Is trying to be appointed superintendent tor this district laura looking over will a shoulder suddenly perceived her father stand ing in the doorway may I 1 ask it this means anything in particular he inquired in a voice dangerously bland it means said laura that fa ther don t say a word till will baa told you or you 11 never get that position aa superintendent copyright 1913 by W 0 chapman |