Show ee ee 6 esc es se e s gsg aea w g vt stagg I 1 1 ip i copyright 1890 and 1891 by bobert bonner s song N j VII an hour later she and eleanor were sitting on the piazza I 1 think your uncle really enjoys his visit I 1 am sure be did every minute of it he seems very fond of you oh he Is and I 1 am so glad to think that he is going to be in new york he was telling me about his quarters he has taken three rooms in a boarding hoase and I 1 m sure from the description that he can t be very comfortable ie promised to pay him a visit and put him to rights he says his socks all need darning add ed eleanor with a laugh she had looked up from the morning news paper to answer mrs stagg s remark and she now resumed her reading A moment later she said I 1 see here that mr page s yacht barbara started aiom new york day before yesterday on a cruise northward ah then he will soon be here said emma blithely eleanor sat silent for a few mo ments looking it over the sea has mr page no regular occupy tion aunt emmaa abe asked sud denly he Is not in business if you mean that replied mrs stagg after a brief contemplative survey of her fancy work you 1 now she added there would be no use in bis going into business for he has all the money he needs and in these times it is much easier to lose money than to make it I 1 thinking of business especially well ou know he isn t a law yer or a doctor that is he doean doesn t practice law he may have studied I 1 and been admitted to the bar for all I 1 know I 1 wonder it he tad its a very good thing for a young man to do ive understood if you mein by a regular occupation a profession or anything of that sort he has none I 1 thought possibly he might have some strong interest I 1 did not know of I 1 atas aware he was not in any active profession interests 9 echoed emma I 1 should say he had a great many in teresta and then as eleanor seem ed to be waiting for her to continue she said firmly but with a little warmth he is excessively fond of horses and his yacht I 1 believe he tad something to do with designing the model of his own he is a splendid shot he has traveled a great deal and speaks several lan grages he has a small stock farm and ive heard him say that when he settled down he expected to enlarge it and live in the country most of the year yes I 1 should say on the whole that he had a very strong interest in farming in farming and in animals naturally at present he spends a good deal of bis time in society one thing is certain though my dear and that Is he will be ready to do any thing in reason that you want him to A sudden impulse had seized emma to make this sally and she looked up at her niece as she spoke with a meaning smile eleanor started and flushed violently then she bent over ber work and there was an awkward stillness presently emma interrupt ed it by saying I 1 have known a great many in stances where women have exercised a vast amount of influence over men that were in love with them Is tilly mcvane tor instance her husband draak like a fish before she married him but he promised it she would have him never to touch an other drop and he never has to this day and they are happy as turtle doves what woman has done women can do again eleanor dear though to tell the truth I 1 don t think one would desire any serious change in mr page I 1 have never heard a word breathed against him on the score of habits I 1 know he Is charitable and Is always doing kind things and though he may not have your taste books and study I 1 have no doubt that he would be only too ready to lake an interest in everything that in te rested you look at me I 1 scarce ay ever opened a book before I 1 was married and now what with select leg them for harold I 1 consider my elf quite a literary person it isn t tolse for people to be too much alike at first do you mean to say aunt emma eald eleanor when these remarks were concluded that you think mr page Is in love with her cheeks were glowing vividly as she spoke and she clasped her hands in front of her you ought to be the best judge of that yourself my dear said emma suavely but rather alarmed withal by the young girl s serious demeanor I 1 should never have thought of such a thing if you had not implied it well well ahat harm if he Is a little enamored 7 replied her aunt smoothing out her work again but let me say he has not made a con fidance of me I 1 am merely judging by appearances perhaps I 1 am entire ay mistaken it would alter everything elea nor was answering the query what makes you think so aunt emmaa he has been very kind very but it never occurred to me that it could be possible that he she broke off without finishing looking at her aunt with a distressed air and twisting her fingers nervously you are very young eleanor amma was provoked with herself for having spoken what she had feared and yet believed impossible was the case the child had not realized the situation however it was too late to draw back now she might gloss the matter over if it came to the worst but she had better open the child s eyes a little what did you suppose was the meaning of all mr pages attention his flowers his con slant preference for your society I 1 knew he liked me of course liked you that Is rather a vague term my dear dian didn t it ever occur to you that he liked you very much better than any one else im afield that I 1 dian didn t think much about what he meant she answered desolately I 1 ve been acting wrongly aunt emma it was pleasant going on and on and I 1 dian didn t realize oh yes ive been very wrong li orense what is there wrong about ita you may have been a little obtuse perhaps but you 11 1 now an other time or rather henceforth for maybe there won t be another time you austn t mind me dear she add ed noticing that eleanor writhed at the innuendo I 1 m only teasing it is very likely his own fault 1 you dian didn t know men are often so tear fully common pla e in their speech een when their actions seem devoted eleanor aid with fervor after a moment s silence I 1 am very much obliged to you aunt emma for opening your you are entirely welcome it occurred to me that it just possible ou might i ot be realia ng the full s of what such intentions ordinarily im ply it is apt to be a shock to a girl a man offers himself without hav ing made his intentions pretty clear clear beforehand and in such cases she sometimes says things she would not say if she had been more or less prepared though no girl is ever quite prepared emma spoke calmly she was dis by eleanor s manner and yet she judged that her shrinking from the idea of being seriously sought in marriage proceeded from the novelty 0 it and that time would effect a change it was advisable to give her an accurate glimpse of the truth and yet veil it sufficiently not to offend or disgust her maidenly instincts she hoped she had sned this and accordingly she was little cre oared the reply she now received I 1 think aunt emma the sooner 1 get to work the better I 1 ought to have done so before she continued as mrs stagg gazed at her in blank bewilderment but I 1 was having such a pleasant time I 1 let myself drift ag work Eleanor 9 I 1 don t under stand you you know I 1 have always meant to be a teacher uncle harold per me to come east with him on account of the boys but now that they are established at school and I 1 have had all the rest I 1 need I 1 biourd like to try to get some pupils 01 a situation in a college eleanor what do you meana I 1 have my own living to make aunt emma mrs stagg broke into a nervous laugh are you tired of us so soon my deara I 1 feared that we should not be able long to compete with the attractions of the wild and woolly west if I 1 can do equally well here I 1 should prefer to remain rather than go west but I 1 imagine that there are more opportunities in some of the smaller new western colleges or demies tor the kind of position I 1 would rather have eleanor are you crazym do you realize what you are sayings pup Is A position in a college and all be cause I 1 suggested that a young man might be in love with you I 1 gave ou credit for more sense emma rocked her chair with offend ed dignity that found vent for its pent up annoyance in another scornful laugh could tre child possibly be in earnest 7 it was too ridiculous and yet there she sat with her hands clasped before her and an intense expression which might betoken any thing aunt emma mr page had nothing to do with it except that it it had not been for him I 1 should very 1 kely have begun to make some in quines before we came to beverly as to my chances of finding employment I 1 ought to have done so but as I 1 have already said I 1 was weak enough to put it off a little longer I 1 am pro posing merely to carry out the plan I 1 have had in mind all along my life work emma looked at her curiously you are talking gibberish do you not consider it part of a woman s life work to be well married 7 it it so happens certainly so hagens one would think I 1 were referring to the bite of a mad dog I 1 am older than you eleanor and I 1 have seen the world there is no more tool sh not to say unnatural attitude for a woman to assume than to set her face against marriage A self chosen old maid is a pitiable per aon I 1 have no wish to be an old maid said eleanor with a smile indeed I 1 hope to be married some day then why this rigmaroles 9 I 1 do not see what my being mar ned or not being married has to do with the question of supporting my self supporting yourself 9 do you not know that in bringing you to live with him your harold took upon himself your 9 that is no longer an open question lie in tends to provide you with a home until you are married or if you persist in opma nag single ou need have no fear that he will turn out of doors or leave your future for your uncle is a just man 1 know he is and that both of you are tar under to me than I 1 deseive but do you not understand aunt em ma that I 1 would rather mal e my own way that I 1 prefer to be independent and not a burden on 7 I 1 am grateful to you and I 1 shall never tor get all you have done for me but I 1 t be happy to go on in this way any longer I 1 want to do some abing the eager words and demeanor startled emma she bent her brows on her work and rocked restlessly she could see nothing but ridiculous folly and misguided waywardness in the proposition harold would never consent to such a scheme it was almost foolish to think or argue about it still the child seemed alarmingly tn earnest and it could not be what she not b capable ol 01 presently mis stagg re pi ed via del beia tion there is no object on that I 1 can see to your doing something as you call it eleanor you may do you wish you think it necessary ta your peace of to earn a money by your own exertions which strikes me I 1 must say as slightly quixotic considering how well oft your uncle is but aa I 1 say it it would make you er there is no possible reason why you should not utilize any you hae I 1 know of several g r s wl have dressed themselves or added materially to their incomes through what they have made by pa on china or ng to the magazines or by giving whist lessons whist is so n uch the fashion now that I 1 dare say if you insist upon it I 1 could get you a class easily enough in that vay you would be able to satisfy your corse ence and till at the same time avo d any radical change in your sur soundings roun dings I 1 am afraid ald eleanor shaking her head sadly that my conscience could not be so easily satisfied or rather aunt emna that it isn t a question of conscience only but of preference for a particular mode of life I 1 am interested in and in books and and in the atmosphere which belong to alem and I 1 should never be happy among people she stopped short embarrassed how to p why dont you I 1 I 1 now quite what you wished to say among people who don t go in especially for anything of the sort well we don t pretend to be more literary than the average person but there are other things in the world filly as important a books eleanor and one of them is common sense some women in my place would say go and be a teacher in a western college it you wish to and wash their hands of you but I 1 cannot bring myself to bel eve that you are really serious when you talk so to be continued |