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Show Tf8 I I I I 1 1 I I I ! ilr jCynical Cynthia By Dorothy Blackmore I (Copyright, 191 1, by Associated Literary Press.) "Family ties, love, sentiment and the like count for little nowadays," remarked Cynthia. "Do they teach that ay college?" Cynthia Danvers raised her eyebrows, eye-brows, shrugged her shoulders and answered. "Perhaps they do Who know s ?" Remington Ardsley looked her ! squarely in the eyes before he spoke. "Then my daughters shall not go to college." be said Cynthia laughed "You anticipate the future with flattery to yourself." she retorted "I'll deal in the present, if you prefer. pre-fer. Cynthia Though, to be perfectly frank. I was happier in the past." be said earnestly Cynthia's eyes questioned him. She did not speak "Yes; 'when you were a sweet, unspoiled un-spoiled girl," he said deliberately "Before you went to college," he add ed. "Thanks," replied Cynthia, sharply They walked on in silence The warm sunshine invited a lageine step; it cast over all the world of Glenmore. a lazy step Even Cynthia, Cyn-thia, usually erect and quick of action, ac-tion, strolled "Four years ago when your stepmother step-mother sent you to a fashionable college. col-lege. Cynthia, you were neither hard nor cynical," Ardsley continued "You were gentle and hopeful and womanly" wom-anly" He added the final adjective with some misgivings He was not sure he dared to speak so frankly; and he watched her from the tail of his eye. Cynthia raised her chin a trifle higher and began Indifferently to hum "You Were Gentle and Hopeful." an operatic air. She swung her parasol par-asol to and fro as she strolled. "At least, Mr Remington Ardsley. Jr.," she said, after a while, "they taught us. at college, to be polite " "Politely pessimistic?" he asked She nodded "Perhaps even 'that." she said "But I'm sorry you've taken tak-en the trouble to look me up again If I'm so so different." "It's only on the surface, think I hope" Cynthia turned on him. an angry flash in her eyes. "Add dishonesty, hypocrisy to my list of acquired faults' I'm sure you've heaped compliments com-pliments on my head this afternoon and no mistake." she declared angrily and quickening her step. "Fven the oldest of friends can go too far in frankness." Ardsley bit his lip to keep fr'om uttering ut-tering the wordo of forgiveness be fain would beg. but he felt It his duty to give Cynthia an idea of how her recently re-cently acquired notions affected her f-riends It was hard but he had determined de-termined to do it He believed he understood women and he felt this to be his duty plainly laid down. After that there wa little said between be-tween them and when hp left ber at ber father's gate it was with a distant, dis-tant, curt word of farewell from her as she hastened up the rose-path and disappeared from view. That night he thought only of Cynthia Cyn-thia and the more Le reviewed his own attitude and recalled his own accusations ac-cusations the more he hated himself. What right had he to sit thus In Judgment of her? He had been brutally bru-tally frank cruel even and she had tried at first to take him in jest. He bad accuced her of being not only unwomanly un-womanly but hypocritical. The next day he m..t Cynthia's brother at the cl-.b at lunch The two men had always been friends, but somehov today when Robert Danvers Dan-vers took the seat opposite Ardsley a' the small table, the latter felt Btrangely 111 at east How could he look Into the eyes of a man whose sister he bad treated so badly? Luncheon was well under way when Danvers looked up at Ardsley. "Rem, old man. you've always been a frieud of the family, haven't you?" Ardsley nodded, a pang of shame darting through his whole being "Of course," he said. "We're pretty proud, you know, Rem. as' a family, but sometimes I think it's false pride and well, Cynthia Cyn-thia is suffering from it all." "Cynthia?" repeated Ardsley, In a low lone "How so?" "The pater, as you well know, married mar-ried a woman we did not care for noi that any woman living could have taken the place of our own mother but Sis and I decided that, for Dad's sake, we'd make the best of it. And we have It's harder for Cynthia than for me for she has Mrs. Danvers all day. and now that she's home from college lor rood It's beginnig to tell on her. Last night 1 found the poor girl in tears out in the honeysuckle arbor all by herself. She said she had tried, in the four years that she'd been away at college, to acquire a hard, cynical view of life so that the littie things at home would not jar on her and upset her so much. It seems that it is bard and she is unhappy un-happy in being unable to be her own, old self. Now what shall we do? 1 hate to raise a scandal and break up the family by taking Cynthia away from home and father but, you know, old man, you can't sit back and see your only sister unhappy because of family pride." The young mai. pushed back his chair and wiped his forehead. It had been hard this confiding of a family trouble, even to so old a friend as Remington Ardsley "I I hate to make a fuss, you know. Rem, but 1 had to speak of it today. Our family is so old and so proud," he added, his chin unconsciously uncon-sciously elevated. Ardsley did not speak for a full minute. "I appreciate your situation and I respect your confidence. Bob, but you don't know how it has rna'1-me rna'1-me feel. I would like to disappear off the face of ti'e earth t this minute." "You? But it's not your, family, -Rem," said Danvers in surprise. "No; but you don't know how much I have to do with it," Ardsley remarked, re-marked, meaningly. ' "1 I'll try to tell you more about it some time. Now I must rush off." The two men separated as was their custom after lunch Ardsley sought the Danvers home and Cynthia. Cyn-thia. He could not wait another hour before telling her how he had misjudged mis-judged her, how abjectly sorry be was for his unwonted criticism of the preceding day "Words absolutely fall me, Cynthia, to tell you how woefully I midjudged you. Canyou will ' you try to forgive for-give me?" He spoke earnestly and looked down Into her eyes as she stood with him out on the big veranda, ver-anda, r Cynthia did not answer for a moment. mo-ment. "Why what have you done?" she asked, the old trick ..ack again. "Done? I accused you of being anything but the sweet, womanly girl you are. Cynthia. I .hought in n y great egotism that I was the one to name your faults, to judge you I did not understand what you have to to put up with. I did not know It was all done for a noble purpose.. Oh, Cynthia, I am sorry." "Don't be. Remington," she said, generously. ".I forgive you for thinking think-ing I had put on silly airs just to show that I had been away at college." col-lege." Ardsley smiled gratefully and took her hands. "Do you? And will you prove It by promising to be my wife?' Cynthia drew back not too "ar back. "Am I not too cynical?" 6he asked. "You're Cynthia," he said. "That's enough for me." |
