Show g STAGG copyright 1800 ana ly couert bonner s sonn bass sasa CHAPTER twenty four ho rs late emma and her husband ere in the tram on the way to chicago carolu though still by no means enlightened to his own satisfaction as to the exact meaning of the dialogue which had taken place in his niece s parlor was nevertie ne less very w pleased at her deter meation to t the presidency nevertie Ne ss he had not been able to explain to himself how he or amma had been of assistance to eleanor in making up her mind or why it had been necessary for them to visit her there was obviously some mystery which emma appeared to understand the solution of which was for some reason withheld from him moreover his wife contrary to expectation had seemed eager to avoid further discus sion of the matter when they were aline al ine together so much so that she hid neglected to call his attention to the tact that she had that there was a man at the bottoni of it the only further reference made to it by eleanor had been a promise made by her on the way to the station whither she accompanied them to write full particulars of the inauguration ceremonies the date tor which would be fixed as soon as her letter of acceptance of the office had been sent to the trustees five minutes after the train was under way hoover who had been sitting lost in contemplation sighed and with a sympathizing shake of the head said poor child I 1 am sorry tor her As she spoke she cast an inter roga alve glance at harold who answered somewhat doggedly what is the mat ter now cherubs nothing is the matter but when a girl is in love with a man it is always hard to give him up for once in her life eleanor however seems to have acted with discretion do you mean that she was in love with that man she mentioned prof Struthers 7 why certainly dear why dian didn t she say so thena she did as plainly as it was pos sible for her to do considering that she was not going to marry him I 1 suppose that she decided not to accept him because she did not love him harold said to tell the truth though I 1 was pretty well in the dark all through I 1 saw that you were dear and I 1 was rather thankful tor a word of the wrong sort from your lips might have spoiled everything 7 how do you meana if you had given her any enczur argement I 1 am afraid she would have married him I 1 thought you were anxious to have her married so I 1 was to the right man but this would never do why nota this prof struthers is a very decent and a very able one from all accounts his invention Is already very successful and he is sure to be rich and I 1 understand that he has taken out patents for the introduction of electricity as a motive power in moving railroad trains he is a rising man I 1 should say and it eleanor is in love with him I 1 think she had better have married him even if she were obliged to give up her presidency in order to do so it is a little late now said emma majestically you should have said so at the time but I 1 tell you I 1 had no idea she was in love with him that was not my fault pshaw its an outrage cherub you t to have let her do it emma coughed uneasily I 1 dont mean that she was desper abely in love with him of course it she had been she would have accepted him very likely without asking us any thing about it what I 1 mean is that she liked him just well enough so that others things being equal she would have married him but they t equal and she knew it he wanted her to give up her position of course he did any man would and it he had given up his own in order to marry her he would have been a fool well as I 1 said at the time women are beyond me alpar antly I 1 am in the position of having advised her to accept the presidency at the cost of her affections emma pursed her lips disdainfully As I 1 said before if she were to marry him and they were to live out here it might not have been such a very bad idea it eleanor had been seriously bent on it out if she had come to live in new lork he would have been a white elephant on our hands he knows nobody in tact they neither of them know anybody now what would they have donea died from sheer lack of companion ship in a city of over a million inhabit tants cherub vou are superb laugh if you e harold I 1 am right she Is very much better off as she Is people have got used to thinking of her as a blue stocking and it will be rather a feather in her cap to be known as president of a college even it she is described in the news papers as lady president but to marry a man who is wrapped up in batteries and whom no one ever heard of before he invented this machine or whatever it is would be neither one thing or another unless I 1 were to take them in hand and push them hard they would have no chance of getting on aad I 1 doubt very much if everything I 1 could do would be suf focient though it is possible that the great interest which is in elec triciti at the moment might save them from falling flat but I 1 am thankful that I 1 have not got to try CHAPTER harold was silent for some moments I 1 am not sure cherub he said that I 1 shall not write elanor a let ter telling her that I 1 dl not under stand the real facts what facts will you tell her you did not understand 7 that she loes that man ot course she will thank you for that my dear do not care to have it said to that they are in love with men whom they have re fused but you said she admitted it what I 1 said was that any one could have told she was in love with him she never aid so in words of course harold squirmed in his chair dis gust edly and spreading out with a jerk the newspaper which he had just bought he said if people expect others to give them good advice they should speak out plainly instead of beating about the bush I 1 believe in calling a spade a spade thereupon he relapsed into dignified silence behind the expanse of news paper which emma did not see fit to interrupt until the tram stopped tor refreshments an hour or so later the after visiting chicago went to several other cities so that it was over a fortnight from the date of their departure from clavenna Claven ng be tore they reached home As emma ran her eye over the packet of letters awaiting them on the hall table she exclaimed here s one from eleanor I 1 sup pose the inauguration must have taken place harold who was removing his over coat heard her gasp a moment after and looking up perceived that her eyes were greedily devouring the con tents of an open letter with an espres sion of horror what is if he asked all I 1 can say Is she Is a perfect fool who isa your precious niece eleanor bald win what has she done nowa he said as he approached his wife and looked over her shoulder I 1 say who autho prized you to open my lettera don t be foolish harold take your old letter I 1 might have known I 1 coulden couldn t trust her why dian didn 11 stay until the ceremony was overa the ceremony 7 why Is eleanor married 7 he asked as he received the letter from her hand the inauguration ceremony goose harold went into the library and seating himself near the window to catch the waning afternoon light read as follows dear uncle harold you will think me a regular reuben I 1 dare say unstable as water thou not excel well I 1 have no wish to excel after this in anything but the homely duties that belong to a purely domes tic life I 1 have told him that I 1 would marry him uncle harold prof struthers I 1 mean I 1 thought when you were here that I 1 was settled in my mind that it was best to give him up but after you and aunt emma were gone I 1 felt so miserable that I 1 went up to my room and had a good cry and then I 1 knew that I 1 had been trying to deceive myself there is no use in disguising it dear uncle harold I 1 love william struthers and he loves me and I 1 have written to tell him that I 1 will marry him as soon as he wishes one of us must give up and I 1 cannot let him can ia at this point in the letter harold paused and gave vent to an explosive hooray of course she can t let him whereupon he glanced atrium chantly at emma who seated and rocking herself nervously in a little gilt rocking chair was watching him read the letter continued I 1 could not bear to have him give up the position which he holds in order to gratify my ambition so the only way is for me to give up every thing for his sake I 1 did not believe that I 1 could ever do it tor any man but love is a wonderful persuader dear uncle harold I 1 do hope that you and dear aunt emma will not feel very badly I 1 am sure that you will love my husband when you know him and I 1 am con aident that when you think the matter oer you will agree that great as was the honor I 1 am renouncing here true love ought not to be gainsaid for any honor in the world again harold paused and hooray that girl is a trump have you finished 7 emma asked icily not quite cherub listen to the last page I 1 have written to the trustees to tell them why I 1 have decided to de dine the presidency of the college and it seems best to me to william also that the wedding should take place as soon as possible I 1 have de aided too that I 1 should like to be married here from the college where the last five years of my life have been passa in asking your bermis sion for this 1 am not unmindful that you will be sure to wish to have me married from your own house and such would have been my wish too except that by being married here I 1 can give pleasure to a large number of the students who are dear to me and who could not possibly come to new york moreover it I 1 were mar ried from your house a simple wed ding would be almost out of the ques tion and neither wil lam nor I 1 would like a fashionable ceremony but it you would prefer it otherwise we shall give up our own preferences and now dear uncle harold let me thank ou from the bottom of my heart and thank aunt bornma too for all the love and kindness you have lavished on me love and kindness greater than which you could not have shown to any child indeed I 1 feel myself to be your child and it is with the assur ance that you feel similarly toward me that I 1 sign your loving ELEANOR harold folded up the letter with a beaming expression but tears in his voice restrained him from speaking for a few moments then he said hap ally what do you think of that 1 j I 1 am not trying to think of tt em ma replied in a sepulchral tone I 1 suppose you will aid and abet her as usual to the extent of telegraphing her m congratulations and high approval of everything she has decided upon if that Is aiding and abetting he an seating himself at his desk and searching for a blank she will probably be married be fore a justice of the peace groaned emma nonsense what it she Is no proper ceremony no suitable dress no invitations no wedding cal e I 1 dare say she murmured as she rocked herself to and fro you can send her a wedding cake you know hazarded harold some women would be thankful to be tree from the bother of it all she continued without regard to his remark but there Is a right way and a wrong way of doing everything and she added with a dreary sigh if there Is a wrong way eleanor always chooses it of course she can do as she sees fit and of course when aby comes to new york I 1 shall have to I 1 can tor her harold because she Is your niece but it Is perfectly certain that she and I 1 are fated never to agree on any possible subject never never never poor cherub her husband an with genuine commiseration looking up from the telegram he was composing for he was touched by the melancholy in her voice and yet I 1 know he continued that as soon as she comes here there Is nothing you will not do to make her comfort able and happy I 1 suppose I 1 shall be just tool enough she answered with mourn tul emphasis for some minutes she rocked her self with folded arms while harold wrote and rewrote his telegram harold she said finally well dear I 1 have been thinking what we shall give them for a wedding present they will probably get very little silver and I 1 think we had better give them spoons and forks it may take some time to have them marked properly so the sooner I 1 order them the bet ter just the thing I 1 should say he replied as he rose from the table and he stooped to kiss her exclaiming with proud fondness there Is no equal to you cherub in the whole world emma received his embrace with pleased complacency then she look ed up at him and said before reading the telegram he had dropped in her lap do you know harold I 1 sometimes think that if I 1 had not married you might have done something very foolish the end |