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Show jww h i iBm' i - lit f iif-ri"-1! -r-- i-- ji i I DORIS GOEvS A WHEELIN' I I lly JIf.tK WADi: SIANMhd I CopyrighUd. K07, by Thi Aulhort VubUMng Company jjj) - p in sssi mil i im ii hi . . Early ono morning, when tho crocus-os, crocus-os, tulips and daffodils wcro vicing with one nnothcr In their gaudy raiment, rai-ment, a dollvery wagon stopped beforo the garden gate, at tho Gorham homestead. home-stead. A bright, now bicycle was lifted out nnd taken to tho side entrance. Doris Gorham stood In tho door mixing somo feed for tho chickens. When sho saw what was coming, her heart thumped llko a triphammer. Her older sister, Lorinda, who was sitting on tho stops paring npplcs. started as though she hod received a blow, whon tho wheel was placod beside be-side her on tho stoop. "So, Doris," sho began, sarcastically, without looklug up from her work, "You'vo thrown your money away on this dovlco of tho devil. If you'd only taken It whon other peoplo old, there'll bo somo excuso for it, but from n child you'vo always Bhowcd such pcrvcrse-ness." pcrvcrse-ness." "But then, Lorinda, bicycles were too expensive," began Doris. Her sister sis-ter paid no nttcutlon to tho Intcrrup-I Intcrrup-I tlon, but exclaimed aB sho flounced Into tho house: "Powers of mercy! A woman of your age, with hair ns speckled as tho black nnd whlto spotted hen, ridln' such an Instrument of torturo nnd a real menaco to morality, and " tho slamming of the screen door finished the sentence. A fow years beforo thu opening of this story, Waverly had grown so rap-Idly rap-Idly after tho building of tho great steel plnnt, that the threo maiden sisters, sis-ters, living In tho comfortablo farmhouse farm-house on tho rldgo road nwoke one morning to find their property was within tho city limits. "This is a protty kettle of fish," said Lorinda, tho oluest, reading tho notification. noti-fication. "How are we to pay tho paving pav-ing tax and Improvement?" sho asked sharply with her little, snapping, blnck eyes on tho serious faees of her younger sisters. "Cut the meadow up Into city lots," Fpoko up Eunice, tho second and practical prac-tical sister. This suggestion seemed to meet with tho older woman's npproval. Doris romalned silent, but was as conscious con-scious of what Iorindn would say noxt ns though sho herself was to voice tho thought. "Well, wo'll tako our usual vote on It. All in favor of scllln' tho meadow off In lots say 'yes.'" Eunice- and Lorinda Lo-rinda fairly shouted tho necessary word. "Majority rules," qulrkly said the KLT3HHHHLVMHMMHKBBpHr'HPPwMMi tJJ W ! i The wheel was placed beside her on the stoop. eldest sister, "and," with a satisfied loqk on hor sharp fentures, "votin' Is the only way to keep pence in any family." So parcol aftor parcel of tho Gorham Gor-ham farm had been sold without a negative vnlco. Timid, brown-haired Doris had loved and lost, In her girlhood days; although al-though denied through all tho years, tho tender solicitude of a kind husband hus-band and the glory. of motherhood, tho very fact of having loved and of having hav-ing been loved, had softened the lines In her gentle face, whllo tho faint, roseate dream of "what might have been," had helped smooth the rough fcdgnH of sjngle life a feeling entlro- ly unknown to her older sisters, who had kept up their daily routine year after year, unconsciously heartless, unconsciously un-consciously soulless. They had nover onco asked why Doris had given up Seth Watson. If thoy bellovcd that ho had married Lydia Paiclicrt out of spite, they mndo no sign beforo Doris. Thnt his life had been uncongenial nnd turbulent without tho blessing of little ones, Lorinda Lo-rinda and Eunlco nppcarcd quite insensible. in-sensible. Poor, loving Doris, In her lnhnrmon-lous lnhnrmon-lous ntmospbero, when fearful of J''" .HU W. Jfe.-.-,fa- H..L-. "Some one's cheated us out of years and years of happiness. breaking tho tenth commandment, had prayed hard for fortitude and grnco, hut a phantom Seth had been hor constant con-stant companion, whether sho would or not although, when, as neighbors, they met occasionally, they barely passed the tlmo of day, and since his wlfo's death, tho old lovers had seen nothing of each other. In tho evening of tho eventful day In the Gorham house, Doris In a dress reduced In rank to a hlcyclo skirt, passed stealthily down tho gravel walk and noiselessly up to n quiet, littlo street recently macadnmlzcd, whoro sho determined to learn to rldo the unmanageublo thing sho was leading. Her method was, Indeed, original. With her left foot on tho pedal -and hor right 6nn on tho enrb-stono, sho propelled herself, reversing tho position posi-tion occasionally, or, ns sho put It, "limbering up ono leg nt a time." Tho quaint littlo woman soon gained confidence and wns ablo to wheel down tho stcop hill at tho cud of tho street without any mishaps. Just boforo starting for homo, nu she held tho handlc-hnr llko a vise und rode slowly down tho Incline, sho was suddenly shoved in such a manner man-ner thnt tho wheel scorned to tako tho bit and havo Its way. "Whero'ro you gplng?" yelled n hoarse volco, as someono wheeled by her. "Where you'vo sont me, I reckon," answered Doris not daring to look up and following her lender at a terrific ter-rific speed. Reaching the foot of tho hill, sho overtook and rnn down tho wheelman. As tho rider extricated hlmsolf. and assisted tho little, old maid to her feet, ho exclaimed, overcome with astonishment: as-tonishment: "Doris Gorhnm, I'll be blamed if It ain't." Tho lady, finding sho was still intactstanding in-tactstanding In tho gaslight on tho 1 pavement, aud not riding In a winged chariot looked up Into tho eyes of hor old lover, Seth Watson. For u second Doris was more an- noyed than 'surprised at finding her Idol of n quarter of a century riding a wheel at his tlmo of llfo. Then she blushed, as she remembered thnt thero was only two years' difference In their ages. Conscious of each other's em-barrnssmont', em-barrnssmont', they sat down on a nearby near-by pllo of lumber, whllo Seth apparently apparent-ly looked over tho damnged wheels. "Well, Doris, It's nigh onto flva and twenty years since you and I decided to pedal alone " enmo timidly from tho bowed, gray J' pad, ''Yes, and our meetings at tho crossroads cross-roads havon't been any too pleasant," snapped Doris, who folt uncemforto- hi?, as sho tried to pull her short skirt H over her H "Hut, Doris, It wasn't 'no fault oi H mlno " returned Seth, trying to look IH uto his companion's eyes. 1 "Nor mlno," nuswered tho spinster, H i littlo moro gently, meeting his gaze. HbbbbI "If you'd only answered my note Kl lint day Instead of sending Lorinda Hl .vlth your message, It might havo been BbassssssH llffcrent," Hcth snld In n husky voice. Il "I never got your note, nnd I novor IbH lent Lorinda to you," returned Doris H ndlgnnntly. Then, llko n flash, sho re- fl numborcd tho qunrrol with her eldest ttsH ister on that fatal day, and how Lo- Bbsssssssh "Inda hnd declared sho'd "fix her." ll Seth dropped tho wrench ho wns flH using nnd taking Doris' hand In his HH 'irnwny one, snld tenderly: UH "Some one's cheated us nut of years BIbH tnd years of hnpplncss, littlo woman, WbssssssssI 'nit If you'll say tho word now, woil zfissssssssi vheel to Parson Woods nnd to-morrow jflsssssssH I'll buy a tandem." tlBfl Doris rose, with a pink flush on hor bH "till rotnilcd check, looking nt hor hi- if H cycle, the unconscious menns of hor KbH long deferred happiness, and, then In (BbH her old lover's dark eyes, said archly; Rdssssssh "You can buy tho tandem, Setb " iwH |