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Show ii What Mrs Vera.I01.1r SairiL Ifc pressed-lobkiug young b man!" remarked Mrs. ' sPVeralour. 3 "Where?" demanded Miss Rich-;! Rich-;! ! ards. "Oh, over there! That's 'only Tom!" J ; "Is that why he's so miserable '!" I Miss Richards wrinkled her .brows inquiringly. Sm "Because he is 'only Tom,' " explained ex-plained Mrs. Veralouv. "I haven't met him. have I?" im "I don't think so," was the careless care-less reply. "He lives around here somewhere his father's the Vicar, I believe " ! "Oh!" commented Mrs. Veralour, gazing at her companion with an amused smile. She smiled reminiscently. "I, loo, knew a vicar's son years ago," she mentioned. . T daresay, Mrs. Veralour. Most people have, haven't they?" "Most girls, I suppose. There's ; 1 something about them" She I paused, lost in thought. "I suppose it's thc reaction from their home life," she decided, rousing herself. "Quite a pretty boy, Isn't he?" Miss Richards shrugged her Bhoulders indifferently. "He's o be tried for the county," she mentioned, however. "Made a century at Lord's, didn't he?" remarked Mrs. Veralour, with an approving nod. "Xinety-eighU I thought you didn't know him, Mrs. Veralour." "Oh," murmured Mrs. Veralour, vaguely, "they mostly make centuries, cen-turies, don't they?" Despite the fact that they were strangers she shot a smile in the young man's direction "I thought you were never going to take pity on us," she exclaimed, ...pleasantly, as the voung man Wlurched up to them. "II was thinking," he muttered, Awkwardly; "I didn't notice." He ri stole a nervous glance af the girl." "What unpleasant thoughts you roust have!" commented Mrs. Veralour Vera-lour "You looked so horribly miserable. mis-erable. You made us quite uncom-Tortable. uncom-Tortable. Didn't he, Cicely?" Miss Richards permitted a cold smile to break through the iciness of her countenance. "Not me," she corrected; "I didn't even see you were there, Mr. Adams." "I didn't see you, either," growled the young man. surlily. Mrs. Veralour gavo a contented sigh. "What a fortunate old woman I am," she observed, brlghlly; "my sight is as good as ever." She responded to Miss Richards's suspicious glance with a cheerful nod. Suddenly she sat up with a start. "I'm losing my memory, though!" she cried. "I promised to walk Into the village with Mr. Blake." "I met Mr. Blake going in that direction ten minutes ago," mentioned men-tioned tho young man. "Merely as a blind," explained Mrs. Veralour, rising. "I can calch him up." "I'll come wiih you, Mrs. Veralour," Vera-lour," said Miss Richards, hastily, following her example. Mrs. Veralour raised her eyebrows. eye-brows. "My dear Cicely!" she protested. "Such tactlessness!" she remarked to the young man in an aside. "Besides, "Be-sides, Mr. Blake is old enough to bo my son." As she hurried ofT Miss Richards resumed her seat and regarded the sky with a protesting eye. The young man watched her apprehensively. ap-prehensively. "She made me come up and speak," he muttered, after a few moments' silence. "Yes," said Miss Richards, un-intorestedly. un-intorestedly. "Well, she's gone now." Mr. Adams moved restlessly in his chair. "I suppose lhat means" Ho paused and kicked viciously at the turf. "Do you want me to go?" "Oh, haven't you gone?" Miss Richards turned a faintly surprised eye in his direction, and then continued con-tinued her contemplation of thc sky. "I know when I'm not wanted, anyhow," observed the young man, drearily. A faint smile curved the girl's Hps. "What wero you saying?" she inquired, in-quired, after another pause. "That I know when I'm not wanted." he said, curtly. "Just so," said the girl. "I thought I must have misunderstood you." And the young man dug up a piece of turf with his heel and scowled darkly at his handiwork. "I don't see why you should be so down on me," he burst out, "I'm not. I'm simply not interested inter-ested in you." "You were interested enough yesterday." Miss Richards regarded him haughtily. "I thought you were at least a gentleman." "I thought you didn't think about mo at all," he retorted. The girl shrugged her shoulders scornfully. Mr. Adams gazed at her with as much soul as an ordinary, healthy young man can contrive to gel into his eyes. "Don't you remember what you said yesterday?" he Inquired, gently. Miss Richards pondered a moment. mo-ment. "Yes," sho half whispered at length. Her head was bent, so that her companion failed to observe the vicious gleam in her eyes. "Tell me," he pleaded, a smile of sickly sentiment devastating his countenance. "I said," said Miss Richards, kindly complying with his request In cold, clear tones, "that you were a despicable lad, and I never wanted want-ed to speak to you again." "Lad!" gasped the young man in broken accents. "Or was it 3'outh?" mused the girl. "I I meant before then," he explained, ex-plained, after an awkward pause; "when we wore on tho lawn. Don't you remember?" "No," she said with decision. "I do not." "All right," he said, sulkily, "don't remember then. "I don't see." he went on, after a moment's Indistinct mumbling, "what there is to make all this fuss about. Most men would have done the same." "There's no reason for you to malign your sex," remarked Miss Richards. "Malign! Well, I do like that, hanged if I don't!" "Is there any need for profanity, oithor?" she inquired. Her companion choked for a while in comparative silence. "But hang I mean, dash it all, you ofton say 'hang yourself." "Do I?" said Miss Richards, '.'I beg your pardon! I'm sorry if I have corrupted you." "Here, I say!" cried Mr. Adams, desperately. . Tho girl, gazing pensively into the dlstanco, ignored his incoher- ' ent murmurs of protest. For a whflo he sat In moody silence, his wrongs working like yeast within him. "I don't know what I've done," he wailed presently, In a volco in which irritation and pathos struggled strug-gled for supremacy. "Just because 1 danced with a pretty girl." Miss Richards raised surprised eyebrows. "Pretty?" she echoed. By F. Harris Deans. . I 'ft she hadn't been pretty.cried the young man, with all the beautiful beauti-ful tactfulness of youth, "you wouldn't be so riled. And I only danced twice with her, after all. Really, I didn't mean to cut your dance. Honestly, I forgot to put your name on my card. 'Pon my honor. You could have seen my card for yourself if you hadn't gone off in such a tearing rage." "It really doesn't interest me," said the girl, frigidly, "whether you rubbed my name out or whother you didn't. I suppose you can please yourself whom you danco with." "I'd tons sooner have danced with you." he murmured, miserably: "especially if I'd known you were going to take it like this." Miss Richards placed her hand in front of what was intended to represent a yawn. "Wouldn't you like a nice walk?" sho suggested, languidly. "Rather!" cried her companion, eagerly, his face lightening. "Well, don't lot me keep you," she said, kindly. Mrs. Veralour, hidden by a clump of laurels, was gazing with great interest at some early roses, when Mr. Adams, melancholy and languid, lan-guid, hove into view. Her discreet and sympathetic inquiries in-quiries quickly drew tho whole story from tho wretched young man. "For two pins I'd chuck myself in thc river," he wound up, moodily. mood-ily. Mrs. Voralour's face lit up. "And can't you swim?" sho inquired, in-quired, interestedly. Somewhat chilled, ho admitted he could. "And, anyhow, I haven't got two pins." murmured Mrs. Veralour, consolingly. "Not that I should have given them to you if I had!" she added, severly. Mr. Adams grunted and shifted his feet uneasily. "Where are you going?" demanded demand-ed his questioner, accepting her dismissal. With an effort the youth refrained re-frained from mentioning the first destination which came to his lips. "Down to the river," he said, passing from one extreme to the other. "Well, mind you don't tumble in," she advised, warnlngly. "Unless," sho added, "Cicely is there to see." As Mr. Adams moved off, she stood for a while lost in thought, roflectlng on the possibilities hinted at in her last remark. Presently a smile, part benevolence benevo-lence and part humor, spread over her countenance. With a little chuckle she turned aud strolled in the direction from which the lovelorn youth had come. As she perceived Miss Richards In her old seat sho forced, the smile from her face and allowed an ex-pression ex-pression of anxiety tinged with horror hor-ror to replace it "Have you quarrelled?" she asked anxiously. "He was going straight for the river when I saw him." On the bank of the river Mr. Adams stood gazing disconsolately at tho sparkling water. Presently, beneath the Influence of a warm sun, his gloomly intention inten-tion evaporated, leaving behind merely the thought that ho could swim. It was a warm day and the water looked refreshingly cool. Half-un-consciously he took off his coat. Then ho paused and pondered. The river, ho reflected, was somowhat too near to the Hall to render afternoon bathing wholly discreet Ho replaced his coat with a sigh. And yet. . . . As he stood, one hand on the lapel of his coat and the other clutching irresolutely at his waist- coat, a gasping cry caused him to swing round hastily. Before he had quite taken in the situation Miss Richards, white- jl faced and breathless, threw herself into his arms. "Oh, Tom," she cried, hysteri-cally. hysteri-cally. "you mustn't" "No," said Mr. Adams, moving one of the girl's arms to a more comfortable position round his neck, "certainly not. I won't" Despite the fact that he was sup-porting sup-porting most of Miss Richards's weight he was feeling entirely happy. "What," he whispered softly, but with pardonable curiosity, "what is it I mustn't do?" Miss Richards abruptly tore her-self her-self away and gazed at him with crimson cheeks. "Oh!" she gasped, "do you mean to say you weren't going to, after "No," said Mr. Adams, sooth-ingly; sooth-ingly; "that's all right. Yes. Do "Why why, what Mrs. Veralour "What Mrs. Veralour said?" he . repeated, wondering blankly what she could have said. "Oh, that! Why, yes, of course." With a tender sigh Miss Richards relapsed into his arms. "To think," she whispered, with a not unnatural feeling of exalta-tion, exalta-tion, "to think that you were going to drown yourself for my sake!" Light came to Mr. Adams, and at the same moment his respect for Mrs. Veralour's veracity faded. ' "Well I won't now, anyhow," he said, earnestly. Miss Richards smiled up at him wanly and gratefully. Then, with . a luxurious sigh, sho allowed her head to sink upon his shoulder. "You dear!" she breathed, her lips parting in an inviting smile. H Mr. Adams accepted the invito tion. IK " (0) 1020, Intcmatlonnl Feature Service. Inc. Great Britain Rights Ueservcd. Il |