| Show MRS HAROLD STAGG g 1890 19 bobert s CHAPTER XI continued don t disturb yourself boj are to sing she cried to St who started up as though to take his turn at swinging her 11 am enjoying it much he thought a little and began once more with one of moore s short love song and a second and still a third time he made a new choice before the humor seized him to desist or her to speak then they chanced to look up at the same moment and to perceive that the professor s head had fallen forward on his breast and that he was no longer smoking he is asleep said eleanor in a whisper then as she watched the electrician lay the banjo softly beside him she added with enthusiasm it must be an endless delight to be able to sing like that it Is a relaxation to me from my work at any rate your uncle seems to like to hear me and none of the neighbors have complained as yet eleanor shrouded in the hammock was able to peep at him through the network aitho it being observed the moonlight fell upon him in such a way were thrown into re alef they were refined and suggested a sensitive temperament eleanor said to herself that he was fifty fold more interesting to her than owen page and the other young men with whom she had associated during the past year there was moreover something shy and unsophisticated about this one which gave her a sense of composure which it was rather pleasant to feel have you lived here long mr Struthers 9 she asked only about six months in this house but I 1 was born and brought up in the city last summer I 1 was bradu abed from the school of mines so you have begun your life work she replied wistfully I 1 am immensely interested in elec sooner or later I 1 hope to ob tain a position either with some large concern that puts in electrical plants or regular employment as a consulting engineer in such matters he spoke with a direct simplicity that attracted eleanor he seemed so modest and et so self reliant withal then we are somewhat similarly situated she was tempted to reply only you have your work already in a measure provided and mapped out and I 1 am still an idler perforce youa he ejaculated wonderingly she enjoyed his astonishment tor a moment without responding then she said you did not know then that I 1 was looking tor a position he became confused and it was plain that he was nonplussed doubt ful whether she was bantering him or no again she waited finding his cm barr assed silence and almost dis mien delicious by way of con to the veneered audacity of the young men who visited her aunt em ma yes I 1 am going to be a teacher that Is it any one will engage me I 1 have come here to ask my uncle about does not know as yet I 1 should like a position in a college it possible so that I 1 might become a professor in time it I 1 were fit for it but I 1 am ready to begin at the bolcom of the ladder and accept anything that of fers does the idea shock you mr struthers shock me why should it he said simply only he added and then halted whre renewed discomfiture betrayed itself on his cheeks only what mr struthers eleanor asked with a delighted laugh for a moment he hesitated then suddenly raising his eyes he an only I 1 had not supposed you to be that kind of a young lady and what kind of a young lady had you supposed me to be mr struthers he evidently realized that his bold ness had merely drawn him on the thinner ice for he seemed to undergo contortions before her interrogatory and laughing glance she had raised herself in the hammock as she spoke and was 1001 ing full at him but it plainly was not his wont to rescue himself from peril by subterfuge for after a moment of agonized contusion he said with the same directness as before I 1 assumed you were rich and that it would not have occurred to you to do anything ot that sort in other words you took me for a frivolous butterfly of fashion eleanor was sorry the moment she had spoken and realized the flippancy of her remark the more keenly as he answered in a tone that was free from any suggestion that he was punishing als tormentor it does not follow does it because one is rich that one has to be a friol ois butterfly 9 there was a naive searching tor truth in the interrogative form of his reply and the sole evidence of anten satire lay in the fact that he returned her gaze without flinching aven the worm will turn 1 deserve the rebuke mr struth ers but I 1 am neither rich nor a but I 1 hope since I 1 have said so much I 1 should enlighten you exactly as id the truth suppose you meant that because I 1 have a more or less prosperous air it was fair to assume that it was not necessary tor me to ears my ovin livice ell in one ente it io net I 1 have an uncle an oter uncle who Is very rich I 1 be 1 ev nl wl o isulina to have me liv ith L n as longas I 1 like he hasteen has been very 1 ind to me when my latner died a ear ard a halt ago he ancle harol 1 came out west and tact I 1 and my cj other should re urn to ew ork w th to bis home and there I 1 have lived ever since 1 I came on my brothers ac boint they were to be sent to bi col and I 1 told my uncle harold then that it was my wish to be a teacher the boys are well cared for now so that I 1 am at liberty to carry out my intention the only trouble is eleanor paused realizing that it was rather ludicrous that she should her perplexities further yet an inexplicable impulse unsealed her lips again and she continued the only trouble Is that they or arly my aunt do not understand at all why I 1 should rish to leave them she and my uncle have both been exceedingly kind and generous to me they have an exquisite house where I 1 have everything my heart could desire in the way of luxury and nothing would please them more than that I 1 should remain with them until until I 1 am married she said with a little laugh aunt emma is bent upon my marrying and im afraid Jt will break her heart if J don t aut a woman cant afford to throw away her whole future merely in order to be married why should a woman give up her life work more than a man she added eagerly would a man would you mr Struthers 7 struthers blushed I 1 have never been in love he said for the matter of that neither have I 1 she responded gayly it is merely a s case so far as that goes but does it not come to the same thing when aunt emma davs that if I 1 become a teacher I 1 shall cut myself off from the possibility of ever making a brilliant match for of course mr struthers I 1 shall never put up with a match that is not bril biant the fall of the professor s pipe re lieveld the young electrician from the necessity of replying to this last ob tor aroused by the noise uncle phineas opened his eyes and sat upright I 1 verily believe I 1 have been snood ing I 1 verily believe you have uncle phin eleanor answered and she and mr struthers laughed gleefully the professor looked at watch twenty five minutes to eleven he cried here you young people this will adver do roof park closes at halt past ten sharp and what Is more young man you forgot our cot fee so I 1 lid sir stammered struth era I 1 apologize the professor shook his head in credulously again I 1 verily believe that it was done on purpose in order that I 1 might fall asleep the young against the old history repeats itself night after night and worst of all the moon mho used to have the reputation of be ing circumspect in such matters winks half the time at what is going on and leaves us in the dark the rest he rose and after a last of the brilliant heavens led the way to the opening come it Is time for bed I 1 shall petition the trustees of roof park to morrow that in future the gates remain open an hour later said struthers quietly as he his hand to eleanor to assist her over the sill but that will not help us to night she replied with a sigh looking up re gret tully at the glorious moon A woman never thinks of tomorrow CHAPTER XII A fortnight had slipped away before eleanor had realized that time was passing the days were so very much alike what delightful afternoons they passed together when the picture stores and book stores were no longer new they visited the markets and the hospitals and the school houses and the public institutions places where eleanor bad never been and which she had longed to see and while they peregrinated thus she never wearied of her uncle s discourse he had sojourned in many strange places and seen many strange things in the course of the quarter of a cen tury he had devoted to studying the earth s formation and he had facts and anecdotes at his fingers ends so matters went until dinner time then mr struthers descended from his attic and they all set out to dine to gether at some restaurant and twice the electrician was lured from his work in the early afternoon and car ried off to one of the resorts beside the sea but roof park was not neglected almost every evening the moon found them there drinking the coffee prepared by mr struthers in his laboratory and notwithstanding this beverage it invariably happened that uncle phyneas fell asleep before the singing was at an end and over again eleanor was on the point of broaching to her uncle the question of her future b it some bow the words lingered on her lips was it not probable that like her aunt emma he would suggest that she paint on china or give lessons in whist in order to satisfy her yearnings to be usefully employed T the more she pondered the matter the greater was her doubt as to what view he would take and yet her desire for a definite occupation was growing daily on several occasions while she and the professor were sitting together his face had assumed the peculiar con strained expression observable when he was at ease ana he too had seemed or the point of speaking of something on his mind aver since his shrinking from her proffered bonfi dence he had unknown to eleanor been a victim of remorse and had been trying to screw up his arage so tar as to lest her to make a state ment of her perplexities thus it hap bened that there were occasional lapses in their conversation when each at tied in the presence of the ot er et wholly ui aware of tl e cthel s uneasiness remore proved in the end the more potent factor and uncle phineas wa the first to peak it vas just after when he had fortified his flagging resol t on with beer and sad aches my dear he and then halted As this was not his ordinary phrase in addressing her eleanor looked at him inquiringly realizing that what he had to say must be out of the corn mon run my dear he resumed I 1 am afraid you got an impress on the other day the day you arrived you remember from my manner when oj apol e to me dt wishing to ask my advice as te some matter that I 1 waa eh not ex antly encouraging you see J felt some natural diffidence as I 1 toldon at the time in meddling with affairs vt the heart which rather outside the experience of an old bachelor like me he paused and laughed bously then as though he were deter mined now that the plunge w as taken to face the situation squarely he said with an earnest air but my dear if I 1 can really be of service to you in helping you reach a decision abent any matter you must speak and let me know what it is and not mind my for you are the apple of my eye as you ight to know and I 1 am more analo is that you should be happy and make a success of life than I 1 am for anything else in the world come he added more blithe ly gaining eese through his own sin make a clean breast of it let me know the facts in the case and I 1 will do the best I 1 can to solve your difficulties eleanor who had listened to him at first perplexedly was regarding bim now with blushing merriment there Is a matter I 1 wish to speak to you about uncle phin but it lent in the least of the 1 ind you evidently suppose I 1 rather think that I 1 quite agree wibb what you said the other day that in love affairs a woman had better make up her own mind with out asking anybody s advice even ad vice as sensible as yours would surely be and you must once and for all get the idea out of your head I 1 cant imagine how it ever got there that I 1 am in love or engaged or thinking about being engaged or in fact that the notion of marriage is anywhere lurking in my brain now it you will promise me this and say that you believe me on word of honor tell you what I 1 really wish to have your advice about you believe me dont you uncle of course if you say so peach blossom you ought to be the best judge he answered with an equivocal air as be struck a match to light his meerschaum eleanor leaned forward and blew out the flame and snatched up the matchbox from the table you are a perverse obstinate man she cried now you shall not have a single whiff until you tell me you are convinced I 1 am speaking the truth she sat dolln on the arm of his easy chair and bending over looked into his eyes what have I 1 said or done to make you imagine any thing so why absurd he asked restored to equanimity 01 course it would be absurd I 1 dont intend to think of marriage for five years if ever methinks the woman doth protest too emch to be continued |
