Show LA LADY X 7 BLANCHE TD LAN JL JLE FARM 11 ee A romance of the commonplace by FRANCES PARKINSON KEYES service copyright by france parkinson key CHAPTER VII 6 T IN lot lu in life of the girl who i has itis been jilted Is probably not very pleasant anywhere but there la Is no place on earth where it la Is quite ns as hard as in a small country village but mary went about her usual occupations after blanches wedding and the storm that followed it with her head held high and rid tier her back straighter than ever she got of course no credit for this it was set down against her that site she had bad never really cared for after all or she would friel feel it more almost in the same breath bile wits accused by some tine one else or even by the same person of having worn tier her heart upon tier her sleeve for nil all to see it if village gossip was hard to bear however the family atti attitude tille was worse cousin jane had find a good deal to say eny about the III rate or of girls who ran after men ajen who want them instead of attend ing their plain christian duty ata an for violet she became so violently ner nervous votis about tile alio whole altner that mary dreaded to see tier her more than all tile others put together she never guessed that will also iso suffering from ilia his mothers nerves it if you had find tile the slightest consideration for me you never would have lot let it happen happell she lamen lamented ledi over and over oer again to tier lier sou son 11 N my ay life la Is so full of grief and brouhle that it inkes ft good dent of fortitude to benr bear it here Is married you w were to tickled to death over alint muttered pault how flow can you bo be so vulgar gart t I 1 tried to ile ho cheerful or of course hut but no one knows how I 1 11 alsa iss her and marys money would lieve come in very handy too 1 I know mary had and tiny any money site she will have as soot soon 1 us iles twenty one and hints ver very soon now lind a little property of her own and she left it all to mary iary I 1 dont know no na mary alary knows it herself hut but of course seth will tell tier lier soon now 11 lint this was not the way violet talked to alary she dwelt on lie file met that the girl lind had out not made ande herself enough to paul pail that lint she alie was always neglecting to chainge clini ign her dress and tin tidy tier her hair chrit she pue join with him in those little pleasures that nil all young mm men like to anre ls with their francees fiancees dnn fian cees hut but paul expect to share them with met flared enry stung beyond endurance ile he even want to tal I 1 and I 1 guess if you did nil the cooking find cleaning and and ironing for four peo pie tin and took care of two children into tile the bargain you at al ways anys look ns as nice ns no you to do I 1 dont you suppose ive longed to be corn com table anti rested and pretty whenever anol shw tile me I 1 guess im just ns as human na as any other girl and I 1 guess I 1 know tile the way to do thili ti lings gs just no as well na as you do well I 1 should ina manage tinge to to do them klicin then und to took look well attha nt alb same timet retorted violet chats every womans comans duty to lier self 11 what about heri her duty to her tam lly ahe two conflict mervy mercy sunry what a temper you havel no wonder stand it I 1 ini ill sure I 1 do my duty ditty ft to my family it if tiny woman ever lid did lint hut I 1 keep myself illy seIr up too it if yon tind had more system uncut about your house hous work you could get it lone done nil right t jill in the way you do it violet felt tilt alint I 1 t she and come out ahead in this tilt nevertheless it nihed er up to have mary so shockingly to her ra as title to june in elling her about it afterwards ji and d she did not nt at trick tack tier in this anne way again instead she brought let lers find rono them in t her anil and lla ila to altig to these recounts accounts or of il N having fiat t nib lipil ip in a raw anund ant ind blanche hilsS ful phillp wn war perfect they were divinely happy no person had ever loved ench other so much before and so on dinces tIn luces ces nn and past lines that lint nl ill anys heen been mere gallues nal lues up fit visions vist ions of delight to he be aure sn hl bul never althin tilt the renan of anyone we me kiiru were n matter of f P to III not flint ant sunry he be grud geil her that she find froni the lie beginning rejoiced edly tn in her cousins rut slie mie deserve a little happiness inn loot mary vas thoroughly human find and site she ans very intelligent she would have known how to squeeze not only enjoyment hut but education out or of every drop of pleasure that she could have had hut but this was not the worst of it the man whom blanche loved wanted to lavish nil all these good things on tier her while the man whom she alary loved had neglected and ignored her silo and finally insulted her and cast tier her from him film alary listened to blanches ninn chea letters lettera in silence or said fine merely rely im glad ashes having such a good time in a low voice but when violet left tier her alone again she always sat for a time clenching and un clenching tier her hands dry little sobs soba of agony rising in her throat theoa t iut but hardest of all harder than facing the village gossip harder than racing facing violets complacence was facing tier her own bruised pride her own accusing conscience long ago she knew it only too toc well twell she should have told paul that unless lie mended his ways their heir engagement must end she had evaded an issue which she should have met site she ila had been a coward Be becallo calls she retire feared losing paul she had c emu promised with right and now she had lost hina him after nil all she felt flint she deserved tier her unhappiness and this was more bitter than anything else except the way in which she had lost him the thought of the lie words orda paul had find spoken to tier her in tile the hall that night flight after blancho s wedding the memory or of tits his heavy breath and violent lils basses ses branded tier lier with shame she was C 4 q 01 0 1 d 1 0 0 01 Sylv sylvia lil youre youre nota not a dit bit well are you cheapened degraded in tier her own yes eyes that any man should have dared to behave so to her and trtat wits infinitely worse than being cheapened and degraded in the eyes of tier her family find slie she after all deserved that too in all those dreadful weeks alary found only two sources of comfort besides the walks slie she took lip countess hill to gain solitude and tile the prayers site she managed with shaleen faith to say the first of these sources was sylvia gray she was waa extremely fond of alary and usually sawa saw a good deal of her but she was not well enough to do that now the neighborly visiting back and forth had bad been to a certain degree interrupted but one afternoon sylvia phoned that slie site was 11 having a pretty good lay day and that she wished mary ilary would bring tier her sewing and come over to sup per it was as usual hard for mary to break away from her family but she spread out an appetizing cold supper on the table covered it carefully left eft tile the kettle boiling tor for beths evening cup of ten tea and took the two little boys boya to the barn for their father to watch while he was rolling liking seth both lid did not altogether ft approve of this arrangement but as usual 11 tto lie little and she bile promised to ile he bock back early she stopped ft minute at the old gray homestead where mrs airs gray cray was wag sitting on nit tier her hack back porch feeling instinctively I 1 thrift that this kindly noman imd spoken of her less harshly h than most of nf tier her neighbors and that she md did not need to shun her then went aften down dawn tile the shady road ton that led to the little brick cottage where sylvia find austin lived she found tier her lying in the hammock hn on her deep nn ant I sheltered looking ns if supremely lovely hut at also very aall frell the express expression lon on sylvias face shook hinry for the first time from the thon thought glit of her own troubles trouble I 1 youre youre not a hit bit well are you im perfectly nil right but im I 1 shall be tempted to pinch the lift twins very gently of course to make up for nil all the tro trouble tible caused rne me just think ho he the first farst twins in since the countess blanches only mine are are going to be both mary alary shivered a little why do you keep talking about having twins site bhe askea asked have just one la another lenother boy you watt wait and seel but I 1 send for you to talk about twins ive got a new scheme and I 1 want to see what you think of it now that david and jacqueline Jacquel lne have built that splendid cottage hospital I 1 think weve gone a long step tor ford ward in Ila instead but after all that only looks out for the people when sick elch or convalescent I 1 want to build something that will I 1 londt 0 nit out for t them hem when well nary mary dropped tier her sewing what dodou mean she asked excitedly the place in the world to live in went on sylvia without apparent connection that Is ia I 1 think so but I 1 can imagine that I 1 have wit when n I 1 was younger especially it if id been a boy there much to do 1 I see said mary beginning to think that slie she did and so as long ns as th there ere most in ost boys try to find something and chrit they find always very good for them how much this kind wise woman saw and understood and for forgave gavel 1 no wonder austin worshiped herl her 1 1 I 1 cant understand myself S sylvia YI went on why more parents dont send their boys away to good really first class schools and colleges they dont seem to realize what a difference it would make just at the age when its perfectly natural and normal for a boy or girl to crave excitement and pleasure and activity and change im a pretty good but I 1 believe just as many boys souls have been saved by gymnasiums gymnasium s aai as by chur churches cheal 1 and I 1 want that nice new cousin of yours to start to in on some plans for one as soon as he gets home from tits his wedding trip I 1 want it ninde made suitable to use for dances and want a billiard room and 0 kitchen and a swimming pool in it too I 1 want 11 oh sylvia no one in the world would havo have thought of this but you 1 did you ever hear went on sylvia again without apparent connection t I 1 on how wild austin was when he was young 1 I yes I 1 have that was before I 1 knew him but he was twenty seven when I 1 came here it id grown up with him loving him film all the time as of course I 1 should have tor for I 1 loved him as much as I 1 possibly could from the first moment I 1 ever set eyes on him and never could help showing lt it antl 1 suppose it would have hurt me dreadfully to have him wild I 1 mean I 1 suppose I 1 would have either mistaken immaturity for viciousness and condemned him film when he had really done nothing to condemn or excused viciousness for immaturity and forgiven him when he should some way have been punished elther either would have been equally bad and equally likely to br happen ippen we dont judge clef clearly irly when were unhappy of course tt it hurts austin and roe me a little now to think that he ever slipped up at at ile ie and I 1 have hate tallied talked this plan over a good deal ile he thinks it ought to help the fellows in ham flam stead some anyway do yon remember i n 1 that hy by coventry put pat more that oilskin cintes 1 intes ah wasteful woman nh h who ho may on her own sweet self set the price knowing man cannot choose but pay how she bho has cheapened paradise tiow how given for naught the priceless gift ift how flow s spoiled the bread and split the w wine ine which walh spent with due respective thrift had made brutes men and men dl di vinel that whitt tyce N ae e all tempted to do when we love a man to walk straight into hla his arms without knowing whether hla his arms are ready for us or worthy it if really ready they will be worthy y just the point 1 I 1 see sniff lary fary very low in deed and rid then continued sylvia austin had ideals always even if he live up to them theres a tremendous difference between THE STORY PROM FROM THE BEGINNING alot motoring ang through vermont near the h village ol of harnessed philip starr young archi tet fleet make he the acquaintance ol of blanche hi manning anning sav vrn enteen leon with wit whom he Is I 1 ledl atel attly enamored from her he h 1 irnen s of hr her family limm from revolutionary times time start being ing long imar dlan dl ilance tn from bit hi destination blanche suggests there being no hotel that he become for or the night a guest ol of her cousin mary manning mary received rece ivec hirn him with true vt V t hospitality and he makes the acquaintance of her cousin paul be her fiance philip informs inform mary of his hi desire to win blanche lot for his wits wife She sh tell tells him ol of an alit PI paul manning 1 I inclined ilind lind to be family sup 11 titi concerning the manning manlo blanche dissipated and rd does doea not realize marys marye true worth marys mary reproached rep roache for or his undue conviviality y re badly received by paul gale cat Il lamlin famous architect long a suitor lor for marya ax banu d asias 11 arnstead but malcer no net par p ar t in his hi lovern akins philips Phili pt wedding with blanche to I 1 arraB fed from old od records record ol of the be manning family philip learn leams the sorrowful orrow ful at atory ot of the ih countess counter blanche and of the peculiar cura cuts the she h baa tr t to h her descendant tend nd the women of 1 ll amstead his hia wedding with blancha ha I 1 11 1 1 L that mat paul under the he amne IM ne or of liquor bitterly alf mary wh when he h rey rt ches him for or his bt condition and atu Us he her thet acair M 1 I ended that and not having any ideals not being able to see them yourself and not having anyone care for you enough to give them to you austinas Aus tins got a wonderful mother mot lier so have your boys said mary sobs rising in her throat there was no more direct allu slon to her trouble than that no one but sylvia in all clain stead would have been clever enough to see that nothing would comfort mary alary so mych much as to be able to think a little more gently of paul indeed no one else conald ered cred that site she deserved comfort or that this would be a legitimate means mean of giving it to her if she had find but tills this comfort great though it was did not last indefinitely after that talk with sylvia filar mary found da that she got through tl the daya very well hut but the nights seemed to grow harder former formerly I 1 y ell she e I 1 had rid gone straight to sleep when she went to bed because slie she was so tired now novi she was so utterly weary mentally and spiritually as well as physically that she could not sleep and when she could not s sleep leep she cried cried so violently that each morning found her more find and more spent tier her overwrought nerves seeking some menns means or of re ilef found only this one ang an they were just then stronger than her W will III power and at last something snapped suddenly and slie she broke brithe down openly in the middle of ta the le bedtime songs that she always sang to her little brothers she had had a long hard day and it seemed as if evening ani and the chance to rest would never come when on top of every everything th I 1 ng else the small boys showed no disposition to settle down promptly for the night silo she began to feel ns as it if her self control were slipping from her like a cast iron garment 1 I want a drink of water announced algy bouncing up and down on fits its mattress silently mary brought the little white china cup painted with bluebirds to the child lie ile trained drained it at a gulp more he announced |