| Show ady laay blanche IBSan clie farm A romance of the tha commonplace by frances Air inson kinson ecoyes service copyright by frances parkinson keye SYNOPSIS motoring through vermont philip starr young boston architect meets in unconventional fashion blanche manning girl ol 01 seventeen with whom be he Is immediately ena enamored in con atlon be he learns something 0 of f her amily history it being a long Il 11 stance to burlington starr s destination blanche suggests the village of ham stead not boasting a hotel that he lie be come for the night a guest of her cousin mary manning mary receives philip with true vermont hospitality and he makes the acquaintance of her cousin paul recognized as her dance fiance starr finds mary Is acquainted with gale gals hamlin noted boston architect in whose office philip is employed he lie informs her of his desire to win blanche for his wife she Is and tells mm of an old family superstition concerning the blanches of the manning family paul manning is inclined to be dissipated not really ng mary s true worth mary s reproaches tor for his undue convivial ty are badly received by paul and the girl begins tc have misgivings as to the wisdom of the alliance starr starrs s disclosure of th the e tact fact that he is the son of a con gregat lonal ional rr inister and of h his s fl nandlal standing establish him in the manning family s regard CHAPTER V continued 5 it was unfortunately moses who answered the rap at the knocker his ills mouth was full of stolen sweets he had eaten up almost the entire con tents of mary marys s box of candy and he had no eye for style he was not im pressed by the appearance of the strange man moreover his own ap bearance pe arance could hardly have warranted the hope that he might create a favor able impress on rn himself the day be ing warm and mary otherwise mccu pled he had surreptitiously removed most of his clothing in fact every thing except a pair of ankle ties which had no connection with modesty and were retained simply because the hemp carpet in the front hall was rough hello be he said er hello helio said the stranger his face twitching slightly does miss mary manning live here mary tes yes she s out in the back garden killing potato bugs that way said moses with a wave of the hand indicating the direction which the stranger should take thank you tou very much said the man his mouth still twitching walk ing off in the direction indicated mary hearing footsteps straightened up quickly from the task over which she was bent and turned a deep crim eon son mr hamlin I 1 she exclaimed in great confusion oh you must ex cuse mel when did you come just now from boston he said laughing and shaking hands I 1 un der stand you are more cordial to guests from that locality than you once gave me to understand you were likely to be I 1 have had the pleasure of er meeting one of your small brothers and he told me I 1 should probably find you here arent you glad to see me moses I 1 oh what dreadful thing was he doing this time yes of course I 1 am but her flush growing deeper every minute this time I 1 came because philip starr st arr asked me to naturally I 1 dida t tell him how glad I 1 was of an excuse he ile thinks I 1 in doing it entire ly out of friendship to him only it its s great luck for me that he happened to fall in love with your cousin it 11 get hannah and me into touch with you again philip Is a young man of unusual thoroughness promptness and decision as you may have gathered in your glimpse of him qualities which unfortunately are not often found in one who Is also an artist and an ideal moreover he possesses a very fine sense of honor he seems to be in a tremendous hurry but didn t think it right to press his suit until he had been more thoroughly introduced I 1 was instructed that as soon as this for malaty through me had been accod I 1 was to telegraph him at burlington and he would return here unless of course tt it seemed absolute ly hopeless for him to do so Is there any reason why it should be hopeless none in the world then it n come over and meet cousin violet all right replied gale hamlin with twinkling eyes but remember that afterwards im I 1 m coming back here to see you I 1 all 41 two days later philip stood in the white paneled north parlor of violet mannings manning s house waiting for blanche to come down to him the room was unlighted and it was beginning to grow dark the door opened and blanche came in philip took a step towards her and held out his arms she walked straight into them lady blanche you little white flower oh my darling 1 was all he said and covered her lifted face with his k oses I 1 CHAPTER VI philip starr would never have dreamed of considering his comfort able income a fortune but it loomed large in the eyes of lady blanche arm and soon in those of all the country side for in th the general re at the good luck which had be alien BlaD blanche che it was augmented consciously or unconsciously by many persons violet herself was largely responsible for thia this she went about among her neighbors scattering her good news as she went of course blanche Is very young and it breaks my heart to think of parting with her she said sighing and wiping away a few tears gut but I 1 couldn coulden t bring myself to stand in the way of the true happiness of one of my children for selfish reasons that a never been my way of course blanche Is too Inno innocent ent about worldly things and too much in love to think of the mater al side at all but we older ones know that can cant t be over looked altogether phil p can an do everything for her tes yes her ring Is lovely isn t it you seldom see such pure white diamonds and he s given her a pendant too a diamond start starl wasn gasn t that a pretty thought and so clever I 1 philip Is clever unusually so he says the name she s going to have blanche starr Is a poem just in itself no philip won wont t hear of a long en ga gement so I 1 in going to take blanche to boston right bight away to buy her trousseau and see caterers and sta and so on I 1 guess I 1 can show his fashionable friends that I 1 know how things should be done even if I 1 do live in the coun country tryl I 1 they re go ing to california on their wedding trip of course philip would have taken blanche to etrope E drope if this tiresome war hadn t been going on blanche Is going to keep a maid mald and q 4 I 1 lady blanche you little white flower have a motor right from the begin ning of course all philip s friends and he has thousands of them will entertain for her and give her a beau ticul time philip Is charming and that s so rare in a man I 1 he Is so thoughtful and pleasant always I 1 simply adore him myself there was not a single flaw in the crystal violet could purr on for hours in fact hamstead grew a little tired of so much perfection and so much purring nevertheless everth eless in spite of some ex pres of disparagement mrs el llott ilott and all hamstead with her flocked to see the trousseau and then the presents and in early augurt to the wedding during the two months and a half that had elapsed since his first appearance there philip had spent every sunday and holiday at lady blanche farm and as mrs elliott said had been so pleasant spoken that he had become cordially I 1 ked in the village and in turn he had come to have a very warm and real affection for many of his new friends and relatives only twice wice had his dream of perfect happiness been shaken and he tried to dismiss both of these episodes from his mind as trivial left alone for a time one rainy morning he had decided to explore the little abandoned law office he had been thinking what fun it would be to restore it and put it in order for blanche and himself to occupy when they came to hamstead to visit it contained a cellar and two large semicircular rooms one above the other and a small one with a little attic over it in the rear he sat in one of the dilapidated chairs pulled up a shaky table and drew plans and sketches under his swift pencil the tiny place became transformed there was the living room bright with white paint and a landscape paper and shin ing brasses with lady blanche blanches s por trait over the mantel her desk in one corner her harpsichord in another and her gate legged mahogany table in the center of the room there was the chamber with her four posted bed one of her hand woven linen sheets serving for a counterpane her bu reau with its crystal lusters for blanche her low boy for his own dressing table her long gilt framed mirror and the simpler she had stitched on the flowered walls instead of pictures he spent a long time over his pleas ant task then find ng that blanche who had promised to join him there was still nowhere in sight he picked up some of the musty books lying on the table and be began an to look through them they were mostly law books with a few interesting marginal notes that the second moses manning alarming had made but philip knew little or nothing about law and did not understand them the third volume that he be opened less bulky than the others proved to be a county history written by a local clergyman early in the nineteenth century the connecticut valley had been een settled by men of no slight cau call her bry and their subsequent revolution ary record was noteworthy philip read on with increasing interest which grew greater still when he reached that portion ot of the history devoted mainly to the manning family here were moses mannin mannings ms fine war service the trip to france and here too was the countess blanche blanchel 1 the story of the great chests that came over the sea and at last came the date of the twins birth and a few pages farther on that of lady blanche blanches s dea h but between these dates was something that phil p had not yet heard and the lady blanche being very weak after her long travail was sorely spent for she was a female elegantly formed but not sturdy or of sound health she lay in great pain and ever and anon she sank into a stupor from which none could rouse her nor did she regard my exhorts tion or the lamentations lamentations of her af at flirted husband but suddenly she did speak in a loud voice saying since I 1 must d e neither shall any other woman in this village who bearett twins survive her cruel labor and though I 1 perish there shall be in every generation a blanche manning on this farm who shall have hane not only my name but in whom my person shall also be seen again and she shall wed for love being hotly wooed even as I 1 was wooed by a stranger but because I 1 have suffered for all my love in this unfriendly cold coun try and because he who swore to love me best has not saved me from an golsh but hath shown his love to be but selfishness since he hath failed me when I 1 most did need him therefore I 1 say she shall not love for long W within it thin five years of her marriage either she or her husband shall die dle and die dle with the bitter knowledge that neither riches nor passion nor high romance nay not even all three to gether suffice to make that great thing called love unless there be other things which my lover ioner hath not given me added unto them and in the hour of their death I 1 will appear unto those who w 0 die dle and comfort them for the manner of their passing shall be lonely and grievous altogether and thereat went on the chron icier she lay back upon her bed in peace and did not speak again and we marveled greatly that one so gen tie tle should seek in her last moments to lay a curse upon her innocent de ants philip closed the book shivering and angry and ashamed because he was shivering that silly old super what did it amount to I 1 dut but had it amounted to anything he ile began involuntarily to recall the his tortes of other members of the man ning family the countess girl twin the second blanche had married a virginian a classmate of her br th ers at harvard who was shot after they had had only a few radiant months together in a d iel ie with the man who had once been his best friend the lawyer moses had a daughter named blaache wh went west in a prairie schooner on her honeymoon and was never heard of again after she passed the alleghenies and the lawyers lawyer s eldest son had a daughter who but that story was too dreadful and contained shame as well as tragedy feeling as if his throat were being clutched and as if he could not shake himself free of the hand that choked him philip sprang to his feet to see an apparition stand ing in the doorway blanche also had been spending her time that rainy morning by making an excursion into the past her moth er had felt it a good pod opportunity for them to go through through some of the chests carefully stowed away in the attic in search of treasures to add to her trousseau and they had found a tiny iron bound trunk thrust far un der the eaves and forgotten full of the countess clothes blanche had parried carried them down to her bedroom and tried them on they fitted her as it if they had bad been made for her t I 1 keep one of them on and surprise philip 1 1 I think it would be lovely I 1 and yon you can do your hair like hers in the portrait and wear that white brocade dress that she had it painted in you d be the living image of her I 1 accordingly after a careful study of the famous picture blanche did her hair with violets violet s help high on her head powdered it laced herself into the stiff magnificent gown that had been the countess wedding dress and went out to join philip the startled almost terrified cry that escaped him when he saw her frightened her almost out of her senses she ran to him and put her arms around him trembling too nhat hat Is it she exclaimed oh philip 1 the matter nothing nothing how lovely you look I 1 are those some of the f first r S t blanches clothes yes dont don t you think they re pretty beautiful darling you you re very like her arent aren t you like her picture of course I 1 mean yes but I 1 don t see why you seem so upset even if I 1 am I 1 thought it would please you to see me dressed up like this I 1 philip forced a laugh I 1 im in not up set he said pleasantly you startled me a little that s all you youre re you youre re enough to startle any man you re so lovely I 1 want a kiss and I 1 want to consult you about something and then he told her of his scheme for fixing up the little office to his surprise she did not bric to him with enthusiasm at first she looked a little bored then she in him with a petulance which shocked him tto BB |
