Bab:A SubDeb ...................................................................................................................................................1

Mary Roberts Rinehart .............................................................................................................................1

A theme is a piece of writing, either true or made up by the author, and consisting of Introduction, Body and

Conclusion. It should contain Unity, Coherence, Emphasis, Perspecuity, Vivacity, and Presision. It may be

I HAVE decided to relate with Presision what occurred during my recent Christmas holaday. Although I was

away from this school only four days, returning unexpectedly the day after Christmas, a number of Incidents

It is only just and fair that the Upper House, at least, should know of the injustice of my exile, and that it is all

For I make this apeal, and with good reason. Is it any fault of mine that my sister Leila is 20 months older

Is it fair also, I ask, that in the best society, a girl is a SubDeb the year before she comes out, and although

mature in mind, and even maturer in many ways than her older sister, the latter is treated as a young lady,

enjoying many privileges, while the former is treated as a mere child, in spite, as I have observed, of only 20

I shall go back, for a short time, to the way things were at home when I was small. I was very strictly raised.

With the exception of Tommy Gray, who lives next door and only is about my age, I was never permitted to

Looking back, I am sure that the present way society is organized is really to blame for everything. I am

being frank, and that is the way I feel. I was too strictly raised. I always had a Governess taging along. Until I

came here to school I had never walked to the corner of the next street unattended. If it wasn't Mademoiselle

it was mother's maid, and if it wasn't either of them, it was mother herself, telling me to hold my toes out and

my shoulder blades in. As I have said, I never knew any of the Other Sex, except the miserable little beasts at

dancing school. I used to make faces at them when Mademoiselle was putting on my slippers and pulling out

my hair bow. They were totaly uninteresting, and I used to put pins in my sash, so that they would get

Their pumps mostly squeaked, and nobody noticed it, although I have known my parents to dismiss a Butler

When I was sent away to school, I expected to learn something of life. But I was disapointed. I do not desire

to criticize this Institution of Learning. It is an excellent one, as is shown by the fact that the best Families

send their daughters here. But to learn life one must know something of both sides of it, Male and Female. It

was, therefore, a matter of deep regret to me to find that, with the exception of the Dancing Master, who has

three children, and the Gardner, there were no members of the sterner sex to be seen.

The Athletic Coach was a girl! As she has left now to be married, I venture to say that she was not what Lord

When we go out to walk we are taken to the country, and the three matinees a year we see in the city are

mostly Shakspeare, aranged for the young. We are allowed only certain magazines, the Atlantic Monthly and

one or two others, and Barbara Armstrong was penalized for having a framed photograph of her brother in

At the school dances we are compeled to dance with each other, and the result is that when at home at

Notwithstanding all this it is an excellent school. We learn a great deal, and our dear Principle is a most

charming and erudite person. But we see very little of Life. And if school is a preparation for Life, where are

Being here alone since the day after Christmas, I have had time to think everything out. I am naturally a

thinking person. And now I am no longer indignant. I realize that I was wrong, and that I am only paying the

penalty that I deserve although I consider it most unfair to be given French translation to do. I do not object to

going to bed at nine o'clock, although ten is the hour in the Upper House, because I have time then to look

I now approach the narative of what happened during the first four days of my Christmas Holiday.

For a period before the fifteenth of December, I was rather worried. All the girls in the school were getting

new clothes for Christmas parties, and their Families were sending on invitations in great numbers, to various

Nothing, however, had come for me, and I was worried. But on the 16th mother's visiting Secretary sent on

four that I was to accept, with tiped acceptances for me to copy and send. She also sent me the good news

that I was to have two party dresses, and I was to send on my measurements for them.

One of the parties was a dinner and theater party, to be given by Carter Brooks on New Year's Day. Carter

Brooks is the wellknown Yale Center, although now no longer such but selling advertizing, etcetera.

It is tradgic to think that, after having so long anticapated that party, I am now here in sackcloth and ashes,

which is a figure of speech for the Peter Thompson uniform of the school, with plain white for evenings and

It was with anticapatory joy, therefore, that I sent the acceptances and the desired measurements, and sat

down to cheerfully while away the time in studies and the various duties of school life, until the Holadays.

However, I was not long to rest in piece, for in a few days I received a letter from Carter Brooks, as follows:

DEAR BARBARA: It was sweet of you to write me so promptly, although I confess to being rather

astonished as well as delighted at being called "Dearest." The signature too was charming, "Ever thine." But,

dear child, won't you write at once and tell me why the waist, bust and hip measurements? And the request to

I was very unhappy about it. It was not an auspisious way to begin the Holadays, especially the low neck.

Also I disliked very much having told him my waist measure which is large owing to Basket Ball.

As I have stated before, I have known very few of the Other Sex, but some of the girls had had more

experience, and in the days before we went home, we talked a great deal about things. Especially Love. I felt

that it was rather overdone, particularly in fiction. Also I felt and observed at divers times that I would never

marry. It was my intention to go upon the stage, although modafied since by what I am about to relate.

Some of the girls had boys who wrote to them, and one of themI refrain from giving her name hada

Code. You read every third word. He called her "Couzin" and he would write like this:

Dear Couzin: I am well. Am just about crazy this week to go home. See notice enclosed you football game.

(In giving this Code I am betraying no secrets, as they have quarreled and everything is now over between

As I had nobody, at that time, and as I had visions of a Career, I was a manhater. I acknowledge that this

"Stupid things!" I always said. "Nothing in their heads but football and tobacco smoke. Women," I said, "are

only their playthings. And when they do grow up and get a little intellagence they use it in making money."

There has been a story in the schoolI got it from one of the little girlsthat I was disapointed in love in

early youth, the object of my atachment having been the Tener in our Church choir at home. I daresay I

should have denied the soft impeachment, but I did not. It was, although not appearing so at the time, my first

I come now to the momentous day of my return to my dear home for Christmas. Father and my sister Leila,

who from now on I will term "Sis," met me at the station. Sis was very elegantly dressed, and she said:

She is, as I have stated, but 2O months older than I, and depends altogether on her clothes for her beauty. In

the morning she is plain, although having a good skin. She was trimmed up with a bouquet of violets as large

She was waved and powdered, and she had on a perfectly new Outfit. And I was shabby. That is the exact

word. Shabby. If you have to hang your entire Wardrobe in a closet ten inches deep, and put it over you on

cold nights, with the steam heat shut off at ten o'clock, it does not make it look any better.

My father has always been my favorite member of the family, and he was very glad to see me. He has a great

deal of tact, also, and later on he slipped ten dollars in my purse in the motor. I needed it very much, as after I

had paid the porter and bought luncheon, I had only three dollars left and an I. O. U. from one of the girls for

seventyfive cents, which this may remind her, if it is read in class, she has forgoten.

"Good heavens, Barbara," Sis said, while I hugged father, "you certainly need to be pressed."

"I daresay I'll be the better for a hot iron," I retorted, "but at least I shan't need it on my hair." My hair is curly

Mother was in the car and glad to see me, but as usual she managed to restrain her enthusiasm. She put her

hands over some Orkids she was wearing when I kissed her. She and Sis were on their way to something or

"School has not changed you, I fear, Barbara," mother observed. "I hope you are studying hard."

"Exactly as hard as I have to. No more, no less," I regret to confess that I replied. And I saw Sis and mother

We dropped them at the Reception and father went to his office and I went on home alone. And all at once I

began to be embittered. Sis had everything, and what had I? And when I got home, and saw that Sis had had

her room done over, and ivory toilet things on her dressing table, and two perfectly huge boxes of candy on a

My own room was just as I had left it. It had been the night nursery, and there was still the dent in the mantel

where I had thrown a hair brush at Sis, and the ink spot on the carpet at the foot of the bed, and everything.

Mademoiselle had gone, and Hannah, mother's maid, came to help me off with my things. I slammed the door

They still thought I was a little girl. They PATRONIZED me. I would hardly have been surprised If they had

sent up a bread and milk supper on a tray. It was then and there that I made up my mind to show them that I

was no longer a mere child. That the time was gone when they could shut me up in the nursery and forget me.

I was seventeen years and eleven days old, and Juliet, in Shakspeare, was only sixteen when she had her

I had no plan then. It was not until the next afternoon that the thing sprung (sprang?) fullpannoplied from

The evening was rather dreary. The family was going out, but not until nine thirty, and mother and Leila went

over my clothes. They sat, Sis in pink chiffon and mother in black and silver, and Hannah took out my things

and held them up. I was obliged to silently sit by, while my rags and misery were exposed.

"Why this open humiliation?" I demanded at last. "I am the family Cinderella, I admit it. But it isn't necessary

"Don't be sarcastic, Barbara," said mother. "You are still only a Child, and a very untidy Child at that. What

do you do with your elbows to rub them through so? It must have taken patience and aplication."

"I shouldn't have to wear tulle around my shoulders to hide the bones!" I retorted. "Sis is rather thin."

"You are a very sharptongued little girl," mother said, looking up at me. I am two inches taller than she is.

"Unless you learn to curb yourself, there will be no parties for you, and no party dresses."

Need I explain that I had no serious intention of taking the fatal step? But it was not deliberate mendasity. It

"I think you heard me, mother" I said, very politely. I was however thinking hard.

"She's trying to frighten you, mother" Sis said. "There isn't anybody. Don't let her fool you."

Mother gave me a long look, and went out. I heard her go into father's dressingroom. But Sis sat on my bed

"Who is it, Bab?" she asked. "The dancing teacher? Or your riding master? Or the school plumber?"

"You're just enough of a little Simpleton to get tied up to some wreched creature and disgrace us all."

I wish to state here that until that moment I had no intention of going any further with the miserable business.

I am naturaly truthful, and Deception is hateful to me. But when my sister uttered the above dispariging

remark I saw that, to preserve my own dignaty, which I value above precious stones, I would be compelled to

"I'd like very much to know," Sis said, as she stood up and stared at me, "how much you are making up and

None the less, I saw that she was terrafied. The family Kitten, to speak in allegory, had become a Lion and

When she had gone out I tried to think of some one to hang a love affair to. But there seemed to be nobody.

They knew perfectly well that the dancing master had one eye and three children, and that the clergyman at

I searched my Past, but it was blameless. It was empty and bare, and as I looked back and saw how little there

had been in it but imbibing wisdom and playing basketball and tennis, and typhoid fever when I was

fourteen and almost having to have my head shaved, a great wave of bitterness agatated me.

"Never again," I observed to myself with firmness. "Never again, If I have to invent a member of the Other

At that time, however, owing to the appearance of Hannah with a mending basket, I got no further than his

It was Harold. I decided to have him dark, with a very small black mustache, and Passionate eyes. I felt, too,

that he would be jealous. The eyes would be of the smouldering type, showing the greeneyed monster

I was very much cheered up. At least they could not ignore me any more, and I felt that they would see the

point. If I was old enough to have a loverespecialy a jealous one with the aformentioned eyesI was old

While they were getting their wraps on in the lower hall, I counted my money. I had thirteen dollars. It was

"I daresay you will write it, whether I consent or not. Leave it on the hall table, and it will go out with the

She made an excuse to see Hannah before she left, and I knew THAT I WAS BEING WATCHED. I was

greatly excited, and happier than I had been for weeks. But when I had settled myself in the Library, with the

paper in front of me, I could not think of anything to say in a letter. So I wrote a poem instead.

"To H "Dear love: you seem so far away, I would that you were near. I do so long to hear you say

"Here all is cold and drear and strange With none who with me tarry, I hope that soon we can arrange To run

The last verse did not scan, exactly, but I wished to use the word "marry" if possible. It would show, I felt,

that things were really serious and impending. A love affair is only a love affair, but Marriage is Marriage,

It was at that moment, 10 o'clock, that the Strange Thing occurred which did not seem strange at all at the

time, but which developed into so great a mystery later on. Which was to actualy threaten my reason and

which, flying on winged feet, was to send me back here to school the day after Christmas and put my seed

pearl necklace in the safe deposit vault. Which was very unfair, for what had my necklace to do with it? And

Hannah brought me in a cup of hot milk, with a Valentine's malted milk tablet dissolved in it.

As I stirred it around, it occurred to me that Valentine would be a good name for Harold. On the spot I named

him Harold Valentine, and I wrote the name on the envelope that had the poem inside, and addressed it to the

It looked well written out. "Valentine," also, is a word that naturaly connects itself with AFFAIRS DE

COUR. And I felt that I was safe, for as there was no Harold Valentine, he could not call for the letter at the

post office, and would therefore not be able to cause me any trouble, under any circumstances. And,

furthermore. I knew that Hannah would not mail the letter anyhow, but would give it to mother. So, even if

Comforted by these reflections, I drank my malted milk, ignorant of the fact that Destiny, "which never

Between sips, as the expression goes, I addressed the envelope to Harold Valentine, and gave it to Hannah.

She went out the front door with it, as I had expected, but I watched from a window, and she turned right

It had worked like a Charm. I could tear my hair now when I think how well it worked. I ought to have been

suspicious for that very reason. When things go very well with me at the start, it is a sure sign that they are

Mother and Sis slept late the next morning, and I went out stealthily and did some shopping. First I bought

myself a bunch of violets, with a white rose in the center, and I printed on the card:

It was deception, I acknowledge, but having put my hand to the Plow, I did not intend to steer a crooked

course. I would go straight to the end. I am like that in everything I do. But, on delibarating things over, I felt

that Violets, alone and unsuported, were not enough. I felt that If I had a photograph, it would make

everything more real. After all, what is a love affair without a picture of the Beloved Object?

So I bought a photograph. It was hard to find what I wanted, but I got it at last in a stationer's shop, a young

man in a checked suit with a small mustachethe young man, of course, not the suit. Unluckaly, he was

rather blonde, and had a dimple in his chin. But he looked exactly as though his name ought to be Harold.

I may say here that I chose "Harold," not because it is a favorite name of mine, but because it is romantic in

sound. Also because I had never known any one named Harold and it seemed only discrete.

I took it home in my muff and put it under my pillow where Hannah would find it and probably take it to

mother. I wanted to buy a ring too, to hang on a ribbon around my neck. But the violets had made a fearful

I borrowed a stub pen at the stationer's and I wrote on the photograph, in large, sprawling letters, "To YOU

"There," I said to myself, when I put it under the pillow. "You look like a photograph, but you are really a

Mother sent for me when I came in. She was sitting in front of her mirror, having the vibrater used on her

hair, and her manner was changed. I guessed that there had been a family Counsel over the poem, and that

"But it is so difficult. Things come up andand it's hard to know what to do. The only way, I suppose, is to

"Take that thing off my head and go out, Hannah," mother snapped. "Now then, Barbara, what in the world

"I am no longer a child, mother. I am seventeen. And at seventeen there are problems. After all, one's life is

"Now, Barbara, I am not going to have any nonsense. You must put that man out of your head."

"You think you are in love with some drivelling young Fool. I'm not blind, or an idot. And I won't have it."

"I have not said that there is anyone, have I?" I said in a gentle voice. "But if there was, just what would you

"If you were three years younger I'd propose to spank you." Then I think she saw that she was taking the

wrong method, for she changed her Tactics. "It's the fault of that Silly School," she said. (Note: These are my

And just then the violets came, addressed to me. Mother opened them herself, her mouth set. "My love is like

I am indeed sorry to record that here my mother lost her temper, and there was no end of a fuss. It ended by

mother offering me a string of seed pearls for Christmas, and my party dresses cut V front and back, if I

"I shall have to write one letter, mother," I said, "toto break things off. I cannot tear myself out of another's

I come now to the next day. How true it is, that "Man's life is but a jest, a dream, a shadow, bubble, air, a

I spent the morning with mother at the dressmakers and she chose two perfectly spiffing things, one of white

chiffon over silk, made modafied Empire, with little bunches of roses here and there on it, and when she and

the dressmaker were hagling over the roses, I took the scizzors and cut the neck of the lining two inches

lower in front. The effect was posatively impressive. The other was blue over orkid, a perfectly passionate

When we got home some of the girls had dropped in, and Carter Brooks and Sis were having tea in the den. I

am perfectly sure that Sis threw a cigarette in the fire when I went in. When I think of my sitting here alone,

when I have done NOTHING, and Sis playing around and smoking cigarettes, and nothing said, all for a

"Let's go in and play with the children, Leila," he said. "I'm feeling young today."

Which was perfectly silly. He is not Methuzala. Although thinking himself so, or almost.

Well, they went into the drawing room. Elaine Adams was there waiting for me, and Betty Anderson and

Jane Raleigh. And I hadn't been in the room five minutes before I knew that they all knew. It turned out later

that Hannah was engaged to the Adams's butler, and she had told him, and he had told Elaine's governess,

who is still there and does the ordering, and Elaine sends her stockings home for her to darn.

Sis had told Carter, too, I saw that, and among them they had rather a good time. Carter sat down at the piano

"Only you know" he said, turning to me, "that's wrong. It ought to be a `red, red rose.'"

"Oh, is it?" he said, with his head on one side. "Strange that both you and Harold should have got it wrong."

"I do so love to pour!" he said. "Really, after a long day's shopping, tea is the only thing that keeps me going

"Both," Sis said in an absent manner, with her eyes on me. "Barbara, come into the den a moment. I want to

She stocked in ahead of me, and lifted a book from the table. Under it was the photograph.

"Oh," she said slowly. "So you met him at school! What was he doing there? Teaching elocution?"

"Certainly." Well, he WAS Harold, if I chose to call him that, wasn't he? Sis gave a little sigh.

"You're quite hopeless, Bab. And, although I'm perfectly sure you want me to take the thing to mother, I'll do

SHE FLUNG IT INTO THE FIRE. I was raging. It had cost me a dollar. It was quite brown when I got it out,

"I'll thank you to burn your own things," I said with dignaty. And I went back to the drawing room.

The girls and Carter Brooks were talking in an undertone when I got there. I knew it was about me. And Jane

"I'm so helpless, Jane." I put all the despair I could into my voice. For after all, if they were going to talk

about my private Affairs behind my back, I felt that they might as well have something to talk about. As

Jane's second couzin once removed is in this school and as Jane will probably write her all about it, I hope

this Theme is read aloud in class, so she will get it all straight. Jane is imaginative and may have a wrong idea

"Don't give in. Let them bully you. They can't really do anything. And they're scared. Leila is positively

"If he really loves you," said Jane, "the letter won't matter." There was a thrill in her voice. Had I not been

Some fresh muffins came in just then and I was starveing. But I waved them away, and stood staring at the

I am writing all of this as truthfully as I can. I am not defending myself. What I did I was driven to, as any

one can see. It takes a real shock to make the average Familey wake up to the fact that the youngest daughter

is not the Familey baby at seventeen. All I was doing was furnishing the shock. If things turned out badly, as

they did, it was because I rather overdid the thing. That is all. My motives were perfectly ireproachible.

Well, they fell on the muffins like pigs, and I could hardly stand it. So I wandered into the den, and it

occurred to me to write the letter then. I felt that they all expected me to do something anyhow.

If I had never written the wretched letter things would be better now. As I say, I overdid. But everything had

gone so smoothly all day that I was decieved. But the real reason was a new set of furs. I had secured the

dresses and the promise of the necklace on a Poem and a Photograph, and I thought that a good love letter

But I wrote it and if I do say it, it was a LETTER. I commenced it "Darling," and I said I was mad to see him,

and that I would always love him. But I told him that the Familey objected to him, and that this was to end

everything between us. They had started the phonograph in the library, and were playing "The Rosary." So I

ended with a verse from that. It was really a most affecting letter. I almost wept over it myself, because, if

Of course I meant to give it to Hannah to mail, and she would give it to mother. Then, after the family had

read it and it had got in its work, including the set of furs, they were welcome to mail it. It would go to the

Dead Letter Office, since there was no Harold. It could not come back to me, for I had only signed it

"Barbara." I had it all figured out carefully. It looked as if I had everything to gain, including the furs, and

Carter Brooks ambled into the room just as I sealed it and stood gazing down at me.

"You're quite a Person these days, Bab," he said. "I suppose all the customary Xmas kisses are being saved

"For Harold. You know, Bab, I think I could bear up better if his name wasn't Harold."

"Don't you? With me crazy about you for lo, these many years! First as a baby, then as a subsubdeb, and

"It's been eating me inside. A green and yellow melanchollyhello! A letter to him!"

"Old Hal!" he muttered. "Well, who would have thought it! And not a word to me about it, the secretive old

duffer!" He held out his hand to me. "Congratulations, Barbara," he said heartily. "Since you absolutely

refuse me, you couldn't do better. He's the finest chap I know. If it's Valentine the Familey is kicking up such

I was stunned. Would anybody have beleived it? To pick a name out of the air, so to speak, and off a malted

"It may not be the one you know" I said desperately. "Itit's a common name. There must be plenty of

"Sure there are, lace paper and Cupidslots of that sort. But there's only one Harold Valentine, and now

you've got him pinned to the wall! I'll tell you what I'll do, Barbara. I'm a real friend of yours. Always have

been. Always will be. The chances are against the Familey letting him get this letter. I'll give it to him."

"Sorry," he said. "Probably meant it as a surprize to you. Yes, he's here, with bells on."

He then put the letter in his pocket before my very eyes, and sat down on the corner of the writing table!

"You don't know how all this has releived my mind," he said. "The poor chap's been looking down. Not

interested in anything. Of course this explains it. He' s the sort to take Love hard. At college he took

He picked up a book, and the charred picture was underneath. He pounced on it. "Pounced" is exactly the

"Hello!" he said. "Familey again, I suppose. Yes, it's Hal, all right. Well, who would have thought it!"

My last hope died. Then and there I had a nervous chill. I was compelled to prop my chin on my hand to keep

"Tell you what I'll do," he said, in a perfectly cheerfull tone that made me cold all over. "I'll be the Cupid for

your Valentine. See? Far be it from me to see Love's young dream wiped out by a hardhearted Familey. I'm

going to see this thing through. You count on me, Barbara. I'll arrange that you get a chance to see each other,

Familey or no Familey. Old Hal has been looking down his nose long enough. When's your first party?"

I could only nod. I was beyond speaking. I saw it all clearly. I had been wicked in decieving my dear Familey

and now I was to pay the Penalty. He would know at once that I had made him up, or rather he did not know

"But look here," he said, "if I take him there as Valentine, the Familey will be on, you know. We'd better call

"How about calling him Grosvenor?". he babbled on. "Grosvenor's a good name. Ted Grosvenorthat ought

And of course just then mother came in, and the Brooks idiot went in and poured her a cup of tea, with his

little finger stuck out at a right angel, and every time he had a chance he winked at me.

When they had all gone home it seemed like a bad dream, the whole thing. It could not be true. I went

upstairs and manacured my nails, which usually comforts me, and put my hair up like Leila's.

But nothing could calm me. I had made my own Fate, and must lie in it. And just then Hannah slipped in with

I dropped my manacure scizzors, I was so alarmed. But I opened the box, and clutched the envelope inside. It

Hannah was rolling her hands in her apron and her eyes were poping out of her head.

"I just happened to see the boy at the door," she said, with her silly teeth chattering. "Oh, Miss Barbara, if

"You take them right down the back stairs," I said. "As if it was an empty box. And put it outside with the

She gathered the thing up, but of course mother had to come in just then and they met in the doorway. She

"From H!" she read. "Take them out, Hannah, and throw them away. No, don't do that. Put them on the

Servant's table." Then, when the door had closed, she turned to me. "Just one more ridiculous Episode of this

I will say this. If she had shown the faintest softness, I'd have told her the whole thing. But she did not. She

looked exactly as gentle as a macadam pavment. I am one who has to be handled with Gentleness. A kind

word will do anything with me, but harsh treatment only makes me determined. I then become inflexable as

That is what happened then. Mother took the wrong course and threatened, which as I have stated is fatal, as

far as I am concerned. I refused to yeild an inch, and it ended in my having my dinner in my room, and

mother threatening to keep me home from the Party the next night. It was not a threat, if she had only known

But when the next day went by, with no more flowers, and nothing aparently wrong except that mother was

very dignafied with me, I began to feel better. Sis was out all day, and in the afternoon Jane called me up.

"You poor thing, no wonder you are bitter," she said. "Somebody's coming. I'll have to ring off. But don't you

Well, you can see how it was. Even then I could have told father and mother, and got out of it somehow. But

All that day every time I thought of the Party my heart missed a beat. But as I would not lie and say that I was

illI am naturaly truthful, as far as possibleI was compelled to go, although my heart was breaking.

I am not going to write much about the party, except a slight discription, which properly belongs in every

All Parties for the school set are alike. The boys range from knickerbockers to college men in their Freshmen

year, and one is likely to dance half the evening with youngsters that one saw last in their perambulaters. It is

rather startling to have about six feet of black trouser legs and white shirt front come and ask one to dance

and then to get one's eyes raised as far as the top of what looks like a particularly thin pair of tree trunks and

As this Theme is to contain discription I shall discribe the ball room of the club where the eventful party

The ball room is white, with red hangings, and looks like a Charlotte Russe with maraschino cherries. Over

the fireplace they had put "Merry Christmas," in electric lights, and the chandaliers were made into Christmas

trees and hung with colored balls. One of the balls fell off during the Cotillion, and went down the back of

one of the girl's dresses, and they were compelled to upend her and shake her out in the dressing room.

The favors were insignifacant, as usual. It is not considered good taste to have elaberate things for the school

crowd. But when I think of the silver things Sis always brought home, and remember that I took away about

six Christmas Stockings, a toy Baloon, four Whistles, a wooden Canary in a cage and a box of Talcum

"Don't be a silly," I said. "And if the Familey is half as upset as I am, it is throwing a fit at this minute."

We were early, of course. My mother beleives in being on time, and besides, she and Sis wanted the motor

later. And while Hannah was on her knees taking off my carriage boots, I suddenly decided that I could not

"What'll your mother say?" she said." And you with your new dress and all! It's as much as my life is worth

Well, that was true enough. There would be a Riot if I went home, and I knew it.

"I'll see the Stuard and get you a cup of tea," Hannah said. "Tea sets me up like anything when I'm nervous.

Now please be a good girl, Miss Barbara, and don't run off, or do anything foolish."

She wanted me to promise, but I would not, although I could not have run anywhere. My legs were entirely

In a half hour at the utmost I knew all would be known, and very likely I would be a homless wanderer on the

earth. For I felt that never, never could I return to my Dear Ones, when my terrable actions became known.

Jane came in while I was sipping the tea and she stood off and eyed me with sympathy.

"I don't wonder, Bab!" she said. "The idea of your Familey acting so outragously! And look here" She bent

over me and whispered it. "Don't trust Carter too much. He is perfectly in fatuated with Leila, and he will

"Loathesome creature!" was my response. "As for trusting him, I trust no one, these days."

"I don't wonder your Faith is gone," she observed. But she was talking with one eye on a mirror.

"Pink makes me pale," she said. "I'll bet the maid has a drawer full of rouge. I'm going to see. How about a

"I don't care how I look," I said, recklessly. "I think I'll sprain my ankle and go home. Anyhow I am not

"Not allowed!" she observed. "What has that got to do with it? I don't understand you, Bab; you are totaly

Just then the maid brought me a folded note. Hannah was hanging up my wraps, and did not see it. Jane's

"Good gracious," Jane said breathlessly."Don't tell me he is here, and that that's from him!"

"He is here, Jane. He has followed me. I am going to dance the Cotillion with him although I shall probably

I have no recollection whatever of going down the staircase and into the ballroom. Although I am considered

rather brave, and once saved one of the smaller girls from drowning, as I need not remind the school, when

she was skating on thin ice, I was frightened. I remember that, inside the door, Jane said "Courage!" in a low

tence voice, and that I stepped on somebody's foot and said "Certainly" instead of apologizing. The shock of

that brought me around somewhat, and I managed to find Mrs. Adams and Elaine, and not disgrace myself.

"He's waiting in the corner over there," he said. "We'd better go through the formalaty of an introduction.

"Carter" I said desparately. "I want to tell you somthing first. I've got myself in an awful mess. I"

"Sure you have," he said. "That's why I'm here, to help you out. Now you be calm, and there's no reason why

you two can't have the evening of your young lives. I wish ~I~ could fall in Love. It must be bully."

"Here we are," said Carter. "Miss Archibald, I would like to present Mr. Grosvenor."

Somebody bowed in front of me, and then straightened up and looked down at me. IT WAS THE MAN OF

It is all very well to talk about Romance and Love, and all that sort of thing. But I have concluded that

amorus experiences are not always agreeable. And I have discovered something else. The moment anybody is

crazy about me I begin to hate him. It is curious, but I am like that. I only care as long as they, or he, is far

"Now go to it, you to," Carter said in cautious tone. "Don't be conspicuous. That's all."

"Suppose we dance this. Shall we?" said H. And the next moment we were gliding off. He danced very well.

I will say that. But at the time I was too much occupied with hateing him to care about dancing, or anything.

But I was compelled by my pride to see things through. We are a very proud Familey and never show our

"Think," he said, when we had got away from the band, "think of our being together like this!"

"Not that. Do you know, I never knew so long a day as this has been. The thought of meeting

"You needn't rave for my benefit," I said freesingly. "You know perfectly well that you never saw me

"Oh well, have it your own way. I'm too happy to quarrel," he said. "How well you danceonly, let me lead,

won't you? How strange it is to think that we have never danced together before!"

"We must have a talk," I said desparately. "Can't we go somwhere, away from the noise?"

"That would be conspicuous, wouldn't it, under the circumstances? If we are to overcome the Familey

"Don't call me Barbara," I snapped. "I know perfectly well what you think of me, and I"

"I think you are wonderful," he said. "Words fail me when I try to tell you what I am thinking. You've saved

the Cotillion for me, haven't you? If not, I'm going to claim it anyhow. IT IS MY RIGHT."

He said it in the most determined manner, as if everything was settled. I felt like a rat in a trap, and Carter,

watching from a corner, looked exactly like a cat. If he had taken his hand in its white glove and washed his

The music stopped, and somebody claimed me for the next. Jane came up, too, and cluched my arm.

"You lucky thing!" she said. "He's perfectly handsome. And oh, Bab, he's wild about you. I can see it in his

It was too silly, after everything that had happened, to dance the next dance with Willie Graham, who is still

in knickerbockers, and a full head shorter than I am. But that's the way with a Party for the school crowd, as

I've said before. They ask all ages, from perambulaters up, and of course the little boys all want to dance with

But H seemed to be having a good time. He danced a lot with Jane, who is a wreched dancer, with no sense

of time whatever. Jane is not pretty, but she has nice eyes, and I am not afraid, second couzin once removed

Altogether, it was a terrible evening. I danced three dances out of four with knickerbockers, and one with old

Mr. Adams, who is fat and rotates his partner at the corners by swinging her on his waistcoat. Carter did not

dance at all, and every time I tried to speak to him he was taking a crowd of the little girls to the fruitpunch

I determined to have things out with H during the Cotillion, and tell him that I would never marry him, that I

would Die first. But I was favored a great deal, and when we did have a chance the music was making such a

But at last we had a minute, and I went out to the verandah, which was closed in with awnings. He had to

"Oh," he said slowly. "I see. I've been dancing too much with the little girl with the eyes! Honestly, Bab, I

"I mean," I said, as firmly as I could, "that this whole thing has got to stop. I can't stand it."

"After that Letter!" he went on. "After that sweet Letter! You said, you know, that you were mad to see me,

and thatit is almost too sacred to repeat, even to YOUthat you would always love me. After that

"I daresay I am losing my mind," I said. "It all sounds perfectly natural. But it doesn't mean anything. There

CAN'T be any Harold Valentine; because I made him up. But there is, so there must be. And I am going

"Look here," he stormed, suddenly quite raving, and throwing out his right hand. It would have been terrably

dramatic, only he had a glass of punch in it. "I am not going to be played with. And you are not going to jilt

me without a reason. Do you mean to deny everything? Are you going to say, for instance, that I never sent

you any violets? Or gave you my Photograph, with anertouching inscription on it?" Then, appealingly,

And then that lanky wretch of an Eddie Perkins brought me a toy Baloon, and I had to dance, with my heart

Nevertheless, I ate a fair supper. I felt that I needed Strength. It was quite a grownup supper, with boullion

and creamed chicken and baked ham and sandwitches, among other things. But of course they had to show it

Milk! When I was going through a tradgedy. For if it is not a tradgedy to be engaged to a man one never saw

All through the refreshments I could feel that his eyes were on me. And I hated him. It was all well enough

for Jane to say he was handsome. She wasn't going to have to marry him. I detest dimples in chins. I always

have. And anybody could see that it was his first mustache, and soft, and that he took it round like a mother

I left just after supper. He did not see me when I went upstairs, but he had missed me, for when Hannah and I

came down, he was at the door, waiting. Hannah was loaded down with silly favors, and lagged behind,

which gave him a chance to speak to me. I eyed him coldly and tried to pass him, but I had no chance.

"Not if I can help it," I said, looking straight ahead. Hannah had dropped a stockingnot her own. One of

"You are tired and unerved tonight, Bab. When I have seen your father tomorrow, and talked to him"

"and when he has agreed to what I propose," he went on, without paying any atention to what I had

Hannah came puffing up then, and he helped us into the motor. He was very careful to see that we were

covered with the robes, and he tucked Hannah's feet in. She was awfully flattered. Old Fool! And she babbled

"He's a nice young man. Miss Bab," she said. "That is, if he's the One. And he has nice manners. So

She sulked after that, and helped me out of my things at home without a word. When I was in bed, however,

"I don't know what's got into you, Miss Barbara. You are that cross that there's no living with you."

"And what's more," she added, "I don't know but what your mother ought to know about these goingson.

You're only a little girl, with all your high and mightiness, and there's going to be no scandal in this Familey

But of course I could not sleep. Sis was not home yet, or mother, and I went into Sis's room and got a novel

from her table. It was the story of a woman who had married a man in a hurry, and without really loving him,

and when she had been married a year, and hated the very way her husband drank his coffee and cut the ends

off his cigars, she found some one she really loved with her Whole Heart. And it was too late. But she wrote

him one Letter, the other man, you know, and it caused a lot of trouble. So she saidI remember the very

"Half the troubles in the world are caused by Letters. Emotions are changable things"this was after she had

found that she really loved her husband after all, but he had had to shoot himself before she found it out,

although not fataly"but the written word does not change. It remains always, embodying a dead truth and

She got the Letter back, but she had to steal it. And it turned out that the other man had really only wanted her

That story was a real ilumination to me. I shall have a great deal of money when I am of age, from my

grandmother. I saw it all. It was a trap sure enough. And if I was to get out I would have to have the letter.

The next day was Xmas. I got a lot of things, including the necklace, and a mending basket from Sis, with the

hope that it would make me tidey, and father had bought me a set of Silver Fox, which mother did not

approve of, it being too expencive for a young girl to wear, according to her. I must say that for an hour or

But the afternoon was terrable. We keep open house on Xmas afternoon, and father makes a champagne

punch, and somebody pours tea, although nobody drinks it, and there are little cakes from the Club, and the

house is decorated with poin(Memo: Not in the Dictionery and I cannot spell it, although not usualy

At eleven o'clock the mail came in, and mother sorted it over, while father took a gold piece out to the

There were about a million cards, and mother glanced at the addresses and passed them round. But suddenly

My heart skipped two beats, and then hamered. Mother's mouth was set as she tore off the paper and opened

the box. There was a card, which she glanced at, and underneath, was a book of poems.

"A child of mine recieving such a book from a man!" she went on. "Barbara, I am speachless."

But she was not speachless. If she was speachless for the next half hour, I would hate to hear her really

converse. And all that I could do was to bear it. For I had made a Frankensteinsee the book read last term

by the Literary Societynot out of graveyard fragments, but from malted milk tablets, so to speak, and now

it was pursuing me to an early grave. For I felt that I simply could not continue to live.

"You are shameless," mother said, and threw the thing into the fire. A good many of my things seemed to be

going into the fire at that time. I cannot help wondering what they would have done if it had all happened in

the summer, and no fires burning. They would have felt quite helpless, I imagine.

Father came back just then, but he did not see the Book, which was then blazing with a very hot red flame. I

expected mother to tell him, and I daresay I should not have been surprised to see my furs follow the book. I

had got into the way of expecting to see things burning that do not belong in a fireplace. But mother did not

I have thought over this a great deal, and I beleive that now I understand. Mother was unjustly putting the

blame for everything on this School, and mother had chosen the School. My father had not been much

impressed by the catalogue. "Too much dancing room and not enough tennis courts," he had said. This, of

The real reason, then, for mother's silence was that she disliked confessing that she made a mistake in her

I ate very little Luncheon and my only comfort was my seed pearls. I was wearing them, for fear the

doorbell would ring, and a Letter or flowers would arrive from H. In that case I felt quite sure that someone,

The afternoon was terrable. It rained solid sheets, and Patrick, the butler, gave notice three hours after he had

But my father's punch is famous, and people came, and stood around and buzzed, and told me I had grown

and was almost a young lady. And Tommy Gray got out of his cradle and came to call on me, and coughed

all the time, with a whoop. He developed the whooping cough later. He had on his first long trousers, and a

pair of lavender Socks and a Tie to match. He said they were not exactly the same shade, but he did not think

At half past five, when the place was jamed, I happened to look up. Carter Brooks was in the hall, and behind

him was H. He had seen me before I saw him, and he had a sort of sickley grin, meant to denote joy. I was

talking to our Bishop at the time, and he was asking me what sort of services we had in the school chapel.

I meant to say "nonsectarian," but in my surprize and horror I regret to say that I said, "vegetarian." Carter

Brooks came over to me like a cat to a saucer of milk, and pulled me off into a corner.

"It's all right," he said. "I 'phoned mama, and she said to bring him. He's known as Grosvenor here, of course.

"Now look here, Bab," he protested, "you two have got to make this thing up You are a pair of Idiots,

quarreling over nothing. Poor old Hal is all broken up. He's sensative. You've got to remember how sensative

"Not until he had spoken to your Father," he observed, setting his jaw. "He's here for that, and you know it.

"That's between you to, of course," he said. "It's not up to me. Tell him yourself, if you've changed your

mind. I don't intend," he went on, impressively, "to have any share in ruining his life."

"Oh piffle," I said. I am aware that this is slang, and does not belong in a Theme. But I was driven to saying

I got through the crowd by using my elbows. I am afraid I gave the Bishop quite a prod, and I caught Mr.

The caterer's man, who had taken Patrick's place in a hurry, was at the punch bowl, and father was gone. I

Here words fail me. I knew perfectly well that beyond that door H, whom I had invented and who therefore

simply did not exist, was asking for my Hand. I made up my mind at once to run away and go on the stage,

and I had even got part way up the stairs, when I remembered that, with a dollar for the picture and five

dollars for the violets and three dollars for the hat pin I had given Sis, and two dollars and a quarter for

mother's handkercheif case, I had exactly a dollar and seventyfive cents in the world.

I went up to my room, and sat and waited. Would father be violent, and throw H. out and then come upstairs,

pale with fury and disinherit me? Or would the whole Familey conspire together, when the people had gone,

and send me to a convent? I made up my mind, if it was the convent, to take the veil and be a nun. I would go

to nurse lepers, or something, and then, when it was too late, they would be sorry.

I left the door open, but there was only the sound of revelry below. I felt then that it was to be the convent. I

pinned a towel around my face, the way the nuns wear whatever they call them, and from the side it was very

becoming. I really did look like Julia Marlowe, especialy as my face was very sad and tradgic.

At something before seven every one had gone, and I heard Sis and mother come upstairs to dress for dinner.

I sat and waited, and when I heard father I got cold all over. But he went on by, and I heard him go into

mother's room and close the door. Well, I knew I had to go through with it, although my life was blasted. So I

"Well, Bab," he said, exactly as if nothing had happened, "have you had a nice day?"

There is a mirror over the drawing room mantle, and he turned me around until we both faced it.

"Up to my ears," he said, referring to my heighth." And Lovers already! Well, I daresay we must make up our

"I won't be lost," I declared, almost violently. "Of course, if you intend to shove me off your hands, to the

"My dear child!" said father, looking surprised. "Such an outburst! All I was trying to say, before your

mother comes down, is that Iwell, that I understand and that I shall not make my little girl unhappy

"It's like this, Barbara," he said. "If you want to marry this young manand you have made it very clear that

you doI am going to see that you do it. You are young, of course, but after all your dear mother was not

"I have noticed that you are not happy, Barbara," he said. "And I shall not thwart you, or allow you to be

"Tut, tut," said Father. "Who is casting you off? I tell you that I like the young man, and give you my

blessing, or what is the presentday equivelent for it, and you look like a figure of Tradgedy!"

But I could endure no more. My own father had turned on me and was rending me, so to speak. With a

Never, I determined, would I marry H. Better death, by far. He was a scheming Fortunehunter, but to tell the

family that was to confess all. And I would never confess. I would run away before I gave Sis such a chance

Yes, I was driven to thoughts of murder. It shows how the first false step leads down and down, to crime and

even to death. Oh never, never, gentle reader, take that first False Step. Who knows to what it may lead!

I reflected also on how the woman in the book had ruined her life with a letter. "The written word does not

change," she had said. "It remains always, embodying a dead truth and giving it apparent life."

"Apparent life" was exactly what my letter had given to H. Frankenstein. That was what I called him, in my

agony. I felt that if only I had never written the Letter there would have been no trouble. And another awful

Once the French teacher had taken us to the theater in New York, and a woman sitting on a chair and covered

with a sheet, had brought a man out of a perfectly empty Cabinet, by simply willing to do it. The Cabinet was

empty, for four respectible looking men went up and examined it, and one even measured it with a

And while I had had no Cabinet, there are many things in this world "that we do not dream of in our

Philosophy." Was H. a real person, or a creature of my disordered brain? In plain and simple language,

There was a ball at the Club that night, and the Familey all went. No one came to say goodnight to me, and

by half past ten I was alone with my misery. I knew Carter Brooks would be at the ball, and H also, very

likely, dancing around as agreably as if he really existed, and I had not made him up.

I got the book from Sis's room again, and reread it. The woman in it had been in great trouble, too, with her

husband cleaning his revolver and making his will. And at last she had gone to the apartments of the man

who had her letters, in a taxicab covered with a heavy veil, and had got them back. He had shot himself when

she returnedthe husbandbut she burned the letters and then called a Doctor, and he was saved. Not the

The villain's only hold on her had been the letters, so he went to South Africa and was gored by an elephant,

Then and there I knew that I would have to get my letter back from H. Without it he was powerless. The

trouble was that I did not know where he was staying. Even if he came out of a Cabinet, the Cabinet would

I felt that I would have to meet gile with gile. And to steal one's own letter is not really stealing. Of course if

he was visiting any one and pretending to be a real person, I had no chance in the world. But if he was

stopping at a hotel I thought I could manage. The man in the book had had an apartment, with a Japanese

servant, who went away and drew plans of American Forts in the kitchen and left the woman alone with the

desk containing the Letter. But I daresay that was unusualy lucky and not the sort of thing to look forward to.

With me, to think is to act. Hannah was out, it being Xmas and her brotherinlaw having a wake, being

"And is it all alone you are, on Xmas Night!" he burbled. (This is a word from Alice in WonderLand, and

"Yes," I replied, bitterly. "I am old enough to be married off without my consent, but I am not old enough for

"Smuggle!" I said, with scorn. "There is no need to smuggle him. The Familey is crazy about him. They are

"Well, that's nice," he said. "Who'd have thought it! Shall I bring him to the 'phone?"

"Look here," he observed, "if you keep that up, he'll begin to beleive you. Don't take these little quarrels too

Well, it seemed he had an apartment at the Arcade, and I rang off. It was after eleven by that time, and by the

time I had got into my school mackintosh and found a heavy veil of mother's and put it on, it was almost half

The house was quiet, and as Patrick had gone, there was no one around in the lower Hall. I slipped out and

closed the door behind me, and looked for a taxicab, but the veil was so heavy that I hailed our own

"Where to, lady?" he said. "This is a private car, but I'll take you anywhere in the city for a dollar."

A flush of just indignation rose to my cheek, at the knowledge that Smith was using our car for a taxicab!

And just as I was about to speak to him severely, and threaten to tell father, I remembered, and walked away.

"Make it seventyfive cents," he called after me. But I went on. It was terrable to think that Smith could go

on renting our car to all sorts of people, covered with germs and everything, and that I could never report it to

I got a real taxi at last, and got out at the Arcade, giving the man a quarter, although ten cents would have

"If any one asks if you have driven me here, YOU HAVE NOT" I explained, in an impressive manner.

He examined the quarter, even striking a match to look at it. Then he replied: "I have not!" and drove away.

Concealing my nervousness as best I could, I entered the doomed Building. There was only a hall boy there,

asleep in the elevator, and I looked at the thing with the names on it. "Mr. Grosvenor" was on the fourth floor.

I wakened the boy, and he yawned and took me to the fourth floor. My hands were stiff with nervousness by

that time, but the boy was half asleep, and evadently he took me for some one who belonged there, for he said

"Goodnight" to me, and went on down. There was a square landing with two doors, and "Grosvenor" was on

I am not defending myself. What I did was the result of desparation. But I cannot even write of my sensations

as I stepped through that fatal portal, without a sinking of the heart. I had, however, had suficient forsight to

prepare an alabi. In case there was some one present in the apartment I intended to tell a falshood, I regret to

There was a sort of hall, with a clock and a table, and a shaded electric lamp, and beyond that the door was

There was a small light burning there, and the remains of a wood fire in the fireplace. There was no Cabinet

Everything was perfectly quiet, and I went over to the fire and warmed my hands. My nails were quite blue,

but I was strangly calm. I took off mother's veil, and my mackintosh, so I would be free to work, and I then

looked around the room. There were a number of photographs of rather smart looking girls, and I curled my

lip scornfully. He might have fooled them but he could not decieve me. And it added to my bitterness to think

that at that moment the villain was dancingand flirting probablywhile I was driven to actual theft to

When I had stopped shivering I went to his desk. There were a lot of letters on the top, all addressed to him as

Grosvenor. It struck me suddenly as strange that if he was only visiting, under an assumed name, in order to

see me, that so many people should be writing to him as Mr. Grosvenor. And it did not look like the room of

My letter was not on the desk, so I opened the top drawer. It seemed to be full of bills, and so was the one

below it. I had just started on the third drawer, when a terrable thing happened.

"Just sit still, please," he said, in a perfectly cold voice. And he turned and locked the door into the hall. I was

absolutely unable to speak. I tried once, but my tongue hit the roof of my mouth like the clapper of a bell.

"Now," he said, when he had turned around. "I wish you would tell me some good reason why I should not

"That's eloquent. But not a reason. I'll sit down and give you a little time. I take it, you did not expect to find

"I'm in the wrong apartment. That's all," I said. "Maybe you'll think that's an excuse and not a reason. I can't

"Well," he said, "that explains some things. It's pretty well known, I fancy, that I have little worth stealing,

"I beg your pardon," he said. "It IS an ugly word. We will strike it from the record. Would you mind telling

me whose apartment you intended toerinvestigate? If this is the wrong one, you know."

"Letters, letters!" he said. "When will you women learn not to write letters. Although"he looked at me

closely"you look rather young for that sort of thing." He sighed. "It's born in you, I daresay," he said.

"Of course," he said, "if you are telling the truthand it sounds fishy, I must sayit's hardly a Police matter,

"My word should be suficient," I replied stiffly. "How do I know that YOU belong here?"

"Well, you don't, as a matter of fact. Suppose you take my word for that, and I agree to beleive what you say

about the wrong apartment, Even then it's rather unusual. I find a pale and determined looking young lady

going through my desk in a businesslike manner. She says she has come for a Letter. Now the question is, is

"Don't blush over such a confession," he said. "If it is true, be proud of it. Love is a wonderful thing. Never

"Oh, stop talking," I cried, in a hunted tone. "I can't bear it. If you are going to arrest me, get it over."

"I'd rather NOT arrest you, if we can find a way out. You look so young, so new to Crime! Even your excuse

for being here is so naive, that Iwon't you tell me why you wrote a love letter, if you are not in love? And

whom you sent it to? That's important, you see, as it bears on the case. I intend," he said, "to be judgdicial,

"I wrote a love letter" I explained, feeling rather cheered, "but it was not intended for any one, Do you see? It

"Well, it had to go somewhere. At least I felt that way about it. So I made up a name from some malted milk

"Just as I was thinking up a name to send it to," I explained, "Hannahthat's mother's maid, you

knowbrought in some hot milk and some malted milk tablets, and I took the name from them."

"Look here," he said, "I'm unpredjudiced and quite calm, but isn't the `mother's maid' rather piling it on?"

"Hannah is mother's maid, and she brought in the milk and the tablets, I should think," I said, growing

"Go on," he said, leaning back and closing his eyes. "You named the letter for your mother's maidI mean

for the malted milk. Although you have not yet stated the name you chose; I never heard of any one named

Milk, and as to the other, while I have known some rather thoroughly malted peoplehowever, let that go."

"Valentine's tablets," I said. "Of Course, you understand," I said, bending forward, "there was no such Person.

"But, after all, there was such a person. That's clear, isn't it? And now he considers that we are engaged,

"That," he said, "is realy easy to understand. I don't blame him at all. He is clearly a person of diszernment."

"But the point is this," he went on. "If you made him up out of the whole cloth, as it were, and there was no

such Person, how can there be such a Person? I am merely asking to get it all clear in my head. It sounds so

"I don't know how he can be, but he is," I said, hopelessly. "And he is exactly like his picture."

"It is in this case. Because I bought the picture in a shop, and just pretended it was him. (He?) And it WAS."

"It's a very strange case," he said. "Do you mind if I light a cigarette? It helps to clear my brain. What was the

"Harold Valentine. But he is here under another name, because of my Familey. They think I am a mere child,

"There's another Grosvenor in the building, That's where the trouble came in, I suppose, Now let me get this

straight. You wrote a letter, and somehow or other he got it, and now you want it back. Stripped of the things

"Then, if he lives in the building, the letter is probably here. Why can't you go and get it for me?"

I saw that he was still uncertain that I was telling him the truth. It was maddening. And only the Letter itself

"Oh, please try to get it," I cried, almost weeping. "You can lock me in here, if you are afraid I will run away.

"Naturaly," he said "the fact that you are asking me to compound a felony, commit larceny, and be an

accessery after the fact does not trouble you. As I told you before, all I have left is my good name, and

"Certainly," he said. "Asked in that tone, Murder would be one of the easiest things I do. But I shall lock you

"Very well," I said meekly. And after I had described itthe Letterto him he went out.

I had won, but my triumph was but sackcloth and ashes in my mouth. I had won, but at what a cost! Ah, how

I wished that I might live again the past few days! That I might never have started on my Path of Deception!

Or that, since my intentions at the start had been so inocent, I had taken another photograph at the shop,

which I had fancied considerably but had heartlessly rejected because of no mustache.

He was gone for a long time, and I sat and palpatated. For what if H. had returned early and found him and

But the latter had not occurred, for at ten minutes after one he came back, eutering by the window from a

"Narrow escape, dear child!" he observed, locking the window and drawing the shade. "Just as I got it,

yourergentleman friend returned and fitted his key in the lock. I am not at all sure," he said, wiping his

hands with his handkerchief, "that he will not regard the open window as a suspicious circumstance. He may

be of a low turn of mind. However, all's well that ends here in this room. Here it is."

"Now," he said, "we'll order a taxicab and get you home. And while it is coming suppose you tell me the

So then I told himabout not being out yet, and Sis having flowers sent her, and her room done over, and

never getting to bed until dawn. And that they treated me like a mere Child, which was the reason for

everything, and about the Poem, which he considered quite good. And then about the Letter.

"I get the whole thing a bit clearer now," he said. "Of course, it is still cloudy in places. The making up

somebody to write to is understandable, under the circumstances. But it is odd to have had the very Person

materialise, so to speak. It makes me wonderwell, how about burning the Letter, now we've got it? It

would be better, I think. The way things have been going with you, if we don't destroy it, it is likely to walk

"I'll get my coat and be ready in a jiffey," he said, "and maybe we can smuggle you into the house and no one

He went into the other room and I sat by the fire and thought. You remember that when I was planning

Harold Valentine, I had imagined him with a small, dark mustache, and deep, passionate eyes? Well, this Mr.

Grosvenor had both, or rather, all three. And he had the loveliest smile, with no dimple. He was, I felt,

It was too tradgic that, with all the world to choose from, I had not taken him instead of H.

We walked downstairs, so as not to give the elevator boy a chance to talk, he said. But he was asleep again,

Oh, I was very cheerful. When I think of itbut I might have known, all along. Nothing went right with me

"Goodnight and goodbye, little Barbara. I'll never forget you and this evening. And save me a dance at your

I held out my hand, and he took it and kissed it. It was all perfectly thrilling. And then we drew up in front of

the house and he helped me out, and my entire Familey had just got out of the motor and was lined up on the

"All right, are you?" he said, as coolly as if they had not been anywhere in sight. "Well, good night and good

luck!" And he got into the taxicab and drove away, leaving me in the hands of the Enemy.

The next morning I was sent back to school. They never gave me a chance to explain, for mother went into

hysterics, after accusing me of having men dangling around waiting at every corner. They had to have a

The only person who said anything was Sis. She came to my room that night when I was in bed, and stood

looking down at me. She was very angry, but there was a sort of awe in her eyes.

"My hat's off to you, Barbara," she said. "Where in the world do you pick them all up? Things must have

"I'm sick to death of the Other Sex," I replied languidley. "It's no punishment to send me away. I need a little

All this holaday week, while the girls are away, I have been writing this Theme, for Literature class. Today

is New Years and I am putting in the finishing touches. I intend to have it tiped in the village and to send a

copy to father, who I think will understand, and another copy, but with a few lines cut, to Mr. Grosvenor. The

nice one. There were some things he did not quite understand, and this will explain.

I shall also send a copy to Carter Brooks, who came out handsomly with an apoligy this morning in a letter

His letter explains everything. H. is a real person and did not come out of a Cabinet. Carter recognized the

photograph as being one of a Mr. Grosvenor he went to college with, who had gone on the stage and was

playing in a stock company at home. Only they were not playing Xmas week, as business, he says, is rotten

then. When he saw me writing the letter he felt that it was all a bluff, especialy as he had seen me sending

So he got Mr. Grosvenor, the blonde one, to pretend he was Harold Valentine. Only things slipped up. I quote

"He's a bully chap, Bab, and he went into it for a lark, roses and poems and all. But when he saw that you

took it rather hard, he felt it wasn't square. He went to your father to explain and apologized, but your father

seemed to think you needed a lesson. He's a pretty good Sport, your father. And he said to let it go on for a

However, I do not call it being a good sport to see one's daughter perfectly wreched and do nothing to help.

But it was father, after all, who got the Jolt, I think, when he saw me get out of the taxicab.

Therefore I will not explain, for a time. A little worry will not hurt him either.

Perhaps, after all, I will give him somthing to worry about eventually. For I have recieved a box of roses,

with no card, but a pen and ink drawing of a Gentleman in evening clothes crawling onto a fireescape

My narative has now come to a conclusion, and I will close with a few reflections drawin from my own sad

and tradgic Experience. I trust the Girls of this School will ponder and reflect.

Deception is a very sad thing. It starts very easy, and without Warning, and everything seems to be going all

right, and No Rocks ahead. When suddenly the Breakers loom up, and your frail Vessel sinks, with you on

Oh, what a tangeled Web we wieve, When first we practice to decieve. Sir Walter Scott.

WE have been requested to write, during this vacation, a true and varacious account of a meeting with any

Celebrity we happened to meet during the summer. If no Celebrity, any interesting character would do,

But as one's own Familey is neither celebrated nor interesting, there is no temptation to write about it.

Brief history of the Subject: He was born in 1890 at Woodbury, N. J. Attended public and High Schools, and

Following year produced first Play in New York, called Her Soul. Followed this by the Soul Mate, and this

Description of Subject. Mr. Beecher is tall and slender, and wears a very small dark Mustache. Although but

twentysix years of age, his hair on close inspection reveals here and there a Silver Thread. His teeth are

good, and his eyes amber, with small flecks of brown in them. He has been vacinated twice.

It has alwavs been one of my chief ambitions to meet a Celebrity. On one or two occasions we have had them

at school, but they never sit at the Junior's table. Also, they are seldom connected with either the Drama or

It was my intention, on being given this subject for my midsummer theme, to seek out Mrs. Bainbridge, a

lady Author who has a cottage across the bay from ours, and to ask the privelege of sitting at her feet for a

few hours, basking in the sunshine of her presence, and learning from her own lips her favorite Flower, her

Of all those arts in which the wise excel, Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well. Duke of Buckingham

I had meant to write my Theme on her, but I learned in time that she was forty years of age. Her work is

therefore done. She has passed her active years, and I consider that it is not the past of American Letters

which is at stake, but the future. Besides, I was more interested in the Drama than in Literature.

Posibly it is owing to the fact that the girls think I resemhle Julia Marlowe, that from my earliest years my

mind has been turned toward the Stage. I am very determined and fixed in my ways, and with me to decide to

do a thing is to decide to do it. I am not of a romantic Nature, however, and as I learned of the dangers of the

theater, I drew back. Even a strong nature, such as mine is, on occassions, can be influenced. I therefore

At first I meant to write Comedies, but as I realized the graveity of life, and its bitterness and disapointments,

This explains my sinsere interest in Mr. Beecher. His Works were all realistic and sad. I remember that I saw

the first one three years ago, when a mere Child, and became violently ill from crying and had to be taken

The school will recall that last year I wrote a Play, patterned on The Divorce, and that only a certain

narowness of view on the part of the faculty prevented it being the Class Play. If I may be permited to express

an opinion, we of the class of 1917 are not children, and should not be treated as such.

Encouraged by the Aplause of my classmates, and feeling that I was of a more serious turn of mind than

most of them, who seem to think of pleasure only, I decided to write a play during the summer. I would thus

be improving my Vacation hours, and, I considered, keeping out of mischeif. It was pure idleness which had

caused my Trouble during the last Christmas holidays. How true it is that the Devil finds work for idle

With a Play and this Theme I beleived that the Devil would give me up as a totle loss, and go elsewhere.

I now proceed to an account of my meeting and acquaintence with Mr. Beecher. It is my intention to conceal

nothing. I can only comfort myself with the thought that my Motives were inocent, and that I was obeying

orders and secureing material for a theme. I consider that the atitude of my Familey is wrong and cruel, and

that my sister Leila, being only 2O months older, although out in Society, has no need to write me the sort of

letters she has been writing. Twenty months is twenty months, and not two years, although she seems to think

I returned home full of happy plans for my vacation. When I look back it seems strange that the gay and

inocent young girl of the train can have heen I. So much that is tradgic has since happened. If I had not had a

cinder in my eye things would have been diferent. But why repine? Fate frequently hangs thus on a single

Father met me at the train. I had got the aformentioned cinder in my eye, and a very nice young man had

taken it out for me. I still cannot see what harm there was in our chating together after that, especialy as we

said nothing to object to. But father looked very disagreeable about it, and the young man went away in a

hurry. But it started us off wrong, although I got himfatherto promise not to tell mother.

"Careful!" I said. "Then it's not doing Things, but being found out, that matters!"

"Now look here, father" I said. "If it was mother who was interested in him it might be troublesome. But it is

only me. And I warn you, here and now, that I expect to be thrilled at the sight of a Nice Young Man right

Well, my father is a real Person, so he told me to talk sense, and gave me twenty dollars, and agreed to say

nothing about the young man to mother, if I would root for Canada against the Adirondacks for the summer,

"Not until you have bathed and changed your clothing, Barbara," she said. "I have never had it."

She meant the whooping cough. The school will recall the epademic which ravaged us last June, and changed

Well, I got the same old room, not much fixed up, but they had put up diferent curtains anyhow, thank

goodness. I had been hinting all spring for new Furnature, but my Familey does not take a hint unless it is

They beleive in waiting until a girl makes her Debut before giving her anything but the necessarys of life.

Sis was off for a weekend, but Hannah was there, and I kissed her. Not that I'm so fond of her, but I had to

That made me rather sore, because I am not a child any longer, but they all talk to me as if I were but six

"I've stopped growing, Hannah," I said, with dignaty." At least, almost. But I see I still draw the nursery."

Hannah was opening my suitcase, and she looked up and said: "I tried to get you the Blue room, Miss Bab.

"Never mind," I said. "I don't care anything about Furnature. I have other things to think about, Hannah; I

"I am writing now," I said. "I need a lot of ink, and paper, and a good Lamp. Let them keep the Blue room,

Hannah, for their selfish purposes. I shall be happy in my work. I need nothing more."

"Listen, Hannah," I said. "It is not what is outside of us that matters. It is what is inside. It is what we are, not

what we eat, or look like, or wear. I have given up everything, Hannah, to my Career."

Hannah has been with us for years, so she gets rather talkey at times, and has to be sat upon.

She was opening my suitcase at the time, and I was surveying the chamber which was to be the seen of my

"Now and then," I said to Hannah, "I shall read you parts of it. Only you mustn't run and tell mother."

"Because I intend to deal with Life," I said. "I shall deal with real Things, and not the way we think them. I

"Look here, Miss Barbara," Hannah said, all at once, "what are you doing with this whiskey Flask? And these

socks? Andyou come right here, and tell me where you got the things in this Suitcase." I stocked over to

Words cannot fully express how I felt. While fully convinsed that there had been a mistake, I knew not when

"You're a very young Lady, Miss Barbara," she said, with her eyes full of Suspicion, "to be carrying a Flask

about with you." I was as puzzled as she was, but I remained calm and to all apearances Spartan.

Now I meant nothing by this at the time. But it was getting on my nerves to be put in the infant class all the

time. The Xmas before they had done it, and I had had my revenge. Although it had hurt me more than it hurt

them, and if I gave them a fright I gave myself a worse one. As I said at that time:

Oh, what a tangeled web we weive, When first we practice to decieve. Sir Walter Scott.

Hannah gave me a horrafied Glare, and dipped into the Suitcase again. She brought up a tin box of Cigarettes,

Well, at first I thought the girls at school had played a Trick on me, and a low down mean Trick at that. There

are always those who think it is funny to do that sort of thing, but they are the first to squeel when anything is

done to them. Once I put a small garter Snake in a girl's muff, and it went up her sleave, which is nothing to

some of the things she had done to me. And you would have thought the School was on fire.

Anyhow, I said to myself that some Smarty was trying to get me into trouble, and Hannah would run to the

Familey, and they'd never beleive me. All at once I saw all my cherished plans for the summer gone, and me

in the Country somewhere with Mademoiselle, and walking through the pasture with a botany in one hand

and a folding Cup in the other, in case we found a spring a cow had not stepped in. Mademoiselle was once

I am naturaly very quick in mind. The Archibalds are all like that, and when once we decide on a Course we

stick to it through thick and thin. But we do not lie. It is rediculous for Hannah to say I said the cigarettes

"I suppose you are going to tell the Familey. You'd better run, or you'll burst."

This was unjust, and I am one to resent injustice. I had returned home with my mind fixed on serious Things,

"If I tell your mother she'll have a fit," Hannah said, evadently drawn hither and thither by emotion. "Now see

here, Miss Bab, you've just come Home, and there was trouble at your last vacation that I'm like to remember

to my dieing day. You tell me how those things got there, like a good girl, and I'll say nothing about them."

I am naturaly sweet in disposition, but to call me a good girl and remind me of last Xmas holadays was too

"You needn't stick your lip out at me, Miss Bab, that was only giving you a chance, and forgetting my Duty

to help you, not to mention probably losing my place when the Familey finds out."

"What you've been up to, the stage, and writing plays, and now liquor and tobacco!"

Now I may be at fault in the Narative that follows. But I ask the school if this was fair treatment. I had

returned to my home full of high Ideals, only to see them crushed beneath the heal of domestic tyranny.

It was with a firm countenance but a sinking heart that I saw Hannah leave the room. I had come home

inspired with lofty Ambition, and it had ended thus. Heartbroken, I wandered to the bedside, and let my

Well, I was surprised, all right. It was not and never had been mine. Instead of my blue serge sailor suit and

my ROBE DE NUIT and kimona etc., it contained a checked gentleman's suit, a mussed shirt and a cap. At

first I was merely astonished. Then a sense of loss overpowered me. I suffered. I was prostrated with grief.

Not that I cared a Rap for the clothes I'd lost, being most of them to small and patched here and there. But I

It may be asked what has this Recitle to do with the account of meeting a Celebrity. I reply that it has a great

When I was at last revived enough to think I knew what had happened. The young man who took the Cinder

out of my eye had come to sit beside me, which I consider was merely kindness on his part and nothing like

Flirting, and he had brought his Suitcase over, and they had got mixed up. But I knew the Familey would call

A madness siezed me. Now that everything is over, I realize that it was madness. But "there is a divinity that

shapes our ends etc." It was to be. It was Karma, or Kismet, or whatever the word is. It was written in the

Book of Fate that I was to go ahead, and wreck my life, and generaly ruin everything.

I locked the door behind Hannah, and stood with tradgic feet, "where the brook and river meet." What was I

to do? How hide this evadence of my (presumed) duplicaty? I was inocent, but I looked gilty. This, as

I unpacked the Suitcase as fast as I could, therfore, and being just about destracted, I bundled the things up

and put them all together in the toy Closet, where all Sis's dolls and mine are, mine being mostly pretty badly

Well, I knew Hannah pretty well, and therfore was not surprised when, having hidden the trowsers under a

So I let her in, and pretended I expected her to kiss me, which she had not yet, on account of the whooping

Now I must pause to explain this. Had mother aproached me in a sweet and maternal manner, I would have

been softened, and would have told the Whole Story. But she did not. She was, as you might say, steeming

with Rage. And seeing that I was misunderstood, I hardened. I can be as hard as adamant when necessary.

"Youa mere Child!" she raved. "And I can hardly bring myself to mention itthe idea of your owning a

Well, I was growing cold and more hauty every moment, so I said: "I don't see why the mere mention of a

Flask upsets you so. It isn't because you aren't used to one, especialy when traveling. And since I was a mere

"I mean, in the Familey," I said. "I have seen wine on our table ever since I can remember. I knew to put salt

Well, you know how it is to see an Enemy on the run, and although I regret to refer to my dear mother as an

Enemy, still at that moment she was such and no less. And she was beating it. It was the referance to my

youth that had aroused me, and I was like a wounded lion. Besides, I knew well enough that if they refused to

see that I was practicaly grown up, if not entirely, I would get a lot of Sis's clothes, fixed up with new

"However, mother," I finished, "if it is any comfort to you, I did not buy that Flask. And I am not a confirmed

"This settles it," she said, in a melancoly tone. "When I think of the comfort Leila has been to me, and the

anxiety you have caused, I wonder where you get youryour DEVILTRY from. I am posatively faint."

I was alarmed, for she did look queer, with her face all white around the Rouge. So I reached for the Flask.

"Never!" she said. "Never again. I shall emty the wine cellar. There will be nothing to drink in this house

She walked into the bathroom, and I heard her emptying the Flask down the drain pipe. It was a very

handsome Flask, silver with gold stripes, and all at once I knew the young man would want it back. So I said:

"You can't TELL me! Barbara, I am utterly bewildered. I sent you away a simple child, and you return to

Well, we had about an hour's fight over it, and we ended in a compromise. I gave up the Flask, and promised

not to smoke and so forth, and I was to have some new dresses and a silk Sweater, and to be allowed to stay

"Work!" mother said. "Career! What next? Why can't you be like Leila, and settle down to haveing a good

"Leila and I are diferent," I said loftily, for I resented her tone. "Leila is a child of the moment. Life for her is

one grand, sweet Song. For me it is a serious matter. `Life is real, life is earnest, and the Grave is not its

(Because that is the way I feel. How can the Grave be its goal? THERE MUST BE SOMETHING BEYOND.

I have thought it all out, and I beleive in a world beyond, but not in a hell. Hell, I beleive, is the state of mind

one gets into in this world as a result of one's wicked Acts or one's wicked Thoughts, and is in one's self.)

As I have said, the other side of the Compromise was that I was not to carry Flasks with me, or drink any

punch at parties if it had a stick in it, and you can generally find out by the taste. For if it is what Carter

Brooks calls "loaded" it stings your tongue. Or if it tastes like cider it's probably Champane. And I was not to

Mother was holding out on the Sweater at that time, saying that Sis had a perfectly good one from Miami,

and why not wear that? So I put up a strong protest about the cigarettes, although I have never smoked but

once as I think the School knows, and that only half through, owing to getting dizzy. I said that Sis smoked

now and then, because she thought it looked smart; but that, if I was to have a Career, I felt that the sootheing

So I got the new Sweater, and everything looked smooth again, and mother kissed me on the way out, and

said she had not meant to be harsch, but that my great uncle Putnam had been a notorious drunkard, and I

There was a dreadful row that night, however, when father came home. We were all dressed for dinner, and

"She looks older than I do now, mother," she said. "If she goes to the seashore with us I'll have her always

taging at my heals. I don't see why I can't have my first summer in peace." Oh, yes, we were going to the

shore, after all. Sis wanted it, and everybody does what she wants, regardless of what they prefer, even

"I was speaking to mother, Barbara. Everyone knows that a Debutante only has one year nowadays, and if

she doesn't go off in that year she's swept away by the flood of new Girls the next fall. We might as well be

frank. And while Barbara's not a beauty, as soon as the bones in her neck get a little flesh on them she won't

"I intend to keep Barbara under my eyes this summer," mother said firmly. "After last Xmas's happenings,

and our Discovery today, I shall keep her with me. She need not, however, interfere with you, Leila. Her

Hours are mostly diferent, and I will see that her friends are the younger boys."

I said nothing, but I knew perfectly well she had in mind Eddie Perkins and Willie Graham, and a lot of other

little kids that hang around the fruit Punch at parties, and throw the peas from the Croquettes at each other

when the footmen are not near, and pretend they are allowed to smoke, but have sworn off for the summer.

I was naturaly indignant at Sis's words, which were not filial, to my mind, but I replied as sweetly as

"I shall not be in your way, Leila. I ask nothing but Food and Shelter, and that perhaps not for long."

"I intend to work," I said. "It's more interesting than dieing, and will be a novelty in this House."

"I'll not wait to dress, Clara. Hello, children. I'll just change my coller while you ring for the Cocktails."

"I have had some fruit juice prepared with a dash of bitters. It is quite nice. And I'll ask you, James, not to

Father has a very nice disposition but I could see that mother's manner got on his Nerves, as it got on mine.

Anyhow there was a terific fuss, with Sis playing the Piano so that the servants would not hear, and in the end

father had a Cocktail. Mother waited until he had had it, and was quieter, and then she told him about me, and

my having a Flask in my Suitcase. Of course I could have explained, but if they persisted in

"It's a very strange thing, Bab," he said, looking at me, "that everything in this House is quiet until you come

home, and then we get as lively as kittens in a frying pan. We'll have to marry you off pretty soon, to save our

There was no Claret or anything with dinner, and father ordered mineral water, and criticised the food, and

fussed about Sis's dressmaker's bill. And the second man gave notice immediately after we left the dining

room. When mother reported that, as we were having coffee in the drawing room, father said:

"Humph! Well, what can you expect? Those fellows have been getting the best half of a bottle of Claret every

night since they've been here, and now it's cut off. Damed if I wouldn't like to leave myself."

From that time on I knew that I was watched. It made little or no diference to me. I had my Work, and it filled

my life. There were times when my Soul was so filled with joy that I could hardly bare it. I had one act done

in two days. I wrote out the Love seens in full, because I wanted to be sure of what they would say to each

other. How I thrilled as each marvelous burst of Fantacy flowed from my pen! But the dialogue of less

interesting parts I left for the actors to fill in themselves. I consider this the best way, as it gives them a

Jane Raleigh came over to see me the day after I came home, and I read her some of the Love seens. She

"Bab," she said, "if any man, no matter who, ever said those things to me, I'd go straight into his arms. I

"Honest he is. Why don't you get some of these moveing picture actors? They never have a chance in the

Well, that sounded logicle. And then I read her the place where the cruel first husband comes back and finds

her married again and happy, and takes the Children out to drown them, only he can't because they can swim,

and they pull him in instead. The curtain goes down on nothing but a few bubbles rising to mark his watery

"It is too touching for words, Bab!" she said. "It has broken my heart. I can just close my eyes aud see the

Theater dark, and the stage almost dark, and just those bubbles coming up and breaking. Would you have to

"I darsay," I replied dreamily. "Let the other people worry about that. I can only give them the material, and

I think Sis must have told Carter Brooks something about the trouble I was in, for he brought me a box of

So I was forced to controll my impatience, though passionately fond of Candy. And when I got to my room

later, the box was full of cigarettes. I could have screamed. It just gave me one more thing to hide, as if a

But Carter paid more attention to me than he ever had before, and at a tea dance sombody had at the Country

"Well, not bad, buternaughty. Now see here, Bab, I'm fond of you, and you're growing into a mightey

pretty girl. But your whole Social Life is at stake. For heaven's sake, at least until you're married, cut out the

Well, July came, and we had rented a house at Little Hampton and everywhere one went one fell over an

Mother went around with her lips moving as if in prayer, but she was realy repeating lists, such as sowing

basket, table candles, headache tablets, black silk stockings and tennis rackets.

Sis got some lovely Clothes, mostly imported, but they had a woman come in and sow for me. Hannah and

she used to interupt my most precious Moments at my desk by running a tape measure around me, or pinning

a paper pattern to me. The sowing woman always had her mouth full of Pins, and once, owing to my

remarking that I wished I had been illagitimate, so I could go away and live my own life, she swallowed one.

It caused a grate deal of excitement, with Hannah blaming me and giving her vinigar to swallow to soften the

pin. Well, it turned out all right, for she kept on living, but she pretended to have sharp pains all over her here

and there, and if the pin had been as lively as a tadpole and wriggled from spot to spot, it could not have hurt

Of course they blamed me, and I shut myself up more and more in my Sanctuery. There I lived with the

creatures of my dreams, and forgot for a while that I was only a SubDeb, and that Leila's last year's tennis

dreams, Which are the children of an idle brain. Begot of nothing but vain fantasy.

I loved my dreams, but alas, they were not enough. After a tortured hour or two at my desk, living in myself

the agonies of my characters, suffering the pangs of the wife with two husbands and both living, struggling in

the water with the children, fruit of the first union, dying with number two and blowing my last Bubbles

Jane came in one day and found me prostrate on my couch, with a light of sufering in my eyes.

At first she thought I meant a member of my Familey. But when she understood she looked serious.

"You are too intence, Bab," she said solemly. "You suffer too much. You are wearing yourself out."

"I must work out my own Salvation, Jane," I observed firmly. But she had roused me from my apathy, and I

went into Sis's room, returning with a box of candy some one had sent her. "I must feel, Jane, or I cannot

"Your FORTE, of course, is Love," she said. "Probably that's because you've had so much experience."

Owing to certain reasons it is generaly supposed that I have experienced the gentle Passion. But not so, alas!

"Bab," Jane said, suddenly, "I have been your friend for a long time. I have never betrayed you. You can trust

"Somthing has happened. I see it in your eyes. No girl who is happy and has not a tradgic story stays at home

shut up at a messy desk when everyone is out at the Club playing tennis. Don't talk to me about a Career. A

girl's Career is a man and nothing else. And especialy after last winter, Bab. Isis it the same one?"

Here I made my fatal error. I should have said at once that there was no one, just as there had been no one last

Winter. But she looked so intence, sitting there, and after all, why should I not have an amorus experience? I

am not ugly, and can dance well, although inclined to lead because of dansing with other girls all winter at

Now I intended to let it go at that, and should have, had not Jane kept on asking Questions. Because I had had

a good lesson the winter before, and did not intend to decieve again. And this I will sayI realy told Jane

Raleigh nothing. She jumped to her own conclusions. And as for her people saying she cannot chum with me

any more, I will only say this: If Jane Raleigh smokes she did not learn it from me.

Well, I had gone as far as I meant to. I was not realy in love with anyone, although I liked Carter Brooks, and

would posibly have loved him with all the depth of my Nature if Sis had not kept an eye on me most of the

Jane seemed to be expecting somthing, and I tried to think of some way to satisfy her and not make any

trouble. And then I thought of the Suitcase. So I locked the door and made her promise not to tell, and got the

I said nothing, but opened it all up. The Flask was gone, but the rest was there, and Carter's box too. Jane

leaned down and lifted the trowsers. and poked around somewhat. Then she straitened and said:

"Don't lie to me," she said accusingly. "Or else what are you doing with a man's whole Outfit, including his

Well, I saw that I had gone to far, and was about to tell Jane the truth when I heard the sowing Woman in the

hall. I had all I could do to get the things put away, and with Jane looking like death I had to stand there and

be fitted for one of Sis's chiffon frocks, with the low neck filled in with net.

"You must remember, Miss Bab," said the human Pin cushon, "that you are still a very young girl, and not

As she went out she stopped in the Doorway and crossed her Heart, meaning that she would die before she

would tell anything. But I was not comfortable. It is not a pleasant thought that your best friend considers you

married and gone beyond recall, when in truth you are not, or even thinking about it, except in idle moments.

The seen now changes. Life is nothing but such changes. No sooner do we alight on one Branch, and begin to

sip the honey from it, but we are taken up and carried elsewhere, perhaps to the Mountains or to the

The flightor journeywas in itself an anxious time. For on my otherwise clear conscience rested the

weight of that strange Suitcase. Fortunately Hannah was so busy that I was left to pack my belongings

myself, and thus for a time my gilty secret was safe. I put my things in on top of the masculine articles, not

daring to leave any of them in the closet, owing to housecleaning, which is always done before our return in

On the train I had a very unpleasant experience, due to Sis opening my Suitcase to look for a magazine, and

drawing out a soiled gentleman's coller. She gave me a very peircing Glance, but said nothing and at the next

We now approach the Catastrofe. My book on playwriting divides plays into Introduction, Development,

Crisis, Denouement and Catastrofe. And so one may devide life. In my case the Cinder proved the

Introduction, as there was none other. I consider that the Suitcase was the Development, my showing it to

Jane Raleigh came to see me off at the train. Her Familey was coming the next day. And instead of Flowers,

she put a small bundel into my hands. "Keep it hiden, Bab," she said, "and tear up the card."

I looked when I got a chance, and she had crocheted me a wash cloth, with a pink edge. "For your linen

I tore up the Card, but I put the wash cloth with the other things I was trying to hide, because it is bad luck to

throw a Gift away. But I hoped, as I seemed to be getting more things to conceal all the time, that she would

Father went with us to get us settled, and we had a long talk while mother and Sis made out lists for Dinners

"Look here, Bab," he said, "somthing's wrong with you. I seem to have lost my only boy, and have got

"I'm growing up, father" I said. I did not mean to rebuke him, but ye gods! Was I the only one to see that I

He took a spell of coughing then, and when it was over he put his arms around me and was quite afectionate.

I only repeat this to show how even my father, with all his afection and good qualities, did not understand and

never would understand. My Heart was full of a longing to be understood. I wanted to tell him my yearnings

for better things, my aspirations to make my life a great and glorious thing. AND HE DID NOT

As we went along, and he pulled my ear and finaly went asleep with a hand on my shoulder, the bareness of

my Life came to me. I shook with sobs. And outside somewhere Sis and mother made Dinner lists. Then and

there I made up my mind to work hard and acheive, to become great and powerful, to write things that would

ring the Hearts of menand women, to, of courseand to come back to them some day, famous and

beautiful, and when they sued for my love, to be kind and hauty, but cold. I felt that I would always be cold,

I decided then to be a writer of plays first, and then later on to act in them. I would thus be able to say what

came into my head, as it was my own play. Also to arrange the seens so as to wear a variety of gowns,

including evening things. I spent the rest of the afternoon manacuring my nails in our state room.

Well, we got there at last. It was a large house, but everything was to thin about it. The School will

understand this, the same being the condition of the new Freshman dormitory. The walls were to thin, and so

were the floors. The Doors shivered in the wind, and palpatated if you slamed them. Also you could hear

I looked around me in dispair. Where, oh where, was I to find my cherished solatude? Where?

On account of Hannah hating a new place, and considering the house an insult to the Servants, especialy only

one bathroom for the lot of them, she let me unpack alone, and so far I was safe. But where was I to work?

Previously, however, mother and I had had a talk. She sailed into my room one evening, dressed for dinner,

and found me in my ROBE DE NUIT, curled up in the window seat admiring the view of the ocean.

"I do not care for any dinner," I replied. Then, seeing she did not understand, I said coldly. "How can I care

"Dying pussycat!" mother said, in a very nasty way. "I don't know what has come over you, Barbara. You

used to be a normle Child, and there was some accounting for what you were going to do. But now! Take off

"Oh, I wouldn't? Well, suppose I try," she said, and sat down. "I am not very intellagent, but if you put it

So, sitting there in my room, while the sea throbed in tireless beats against the shore, while the light faded

and the stars issued, one by one, like a rash on the Face of the sky, I told mother of my dreams. I intended, I

"It may in places be, ugly" I said, "but Truth is my banner. The Truth is never ugly, because it is real. It is, for

instance, not ugly if a man is in love with the wife of another, if it is real love, and not the passing fansy of a

"There was a time," I said, "when I longed for things that now have no value whatever to me. I cared for

clothes and even for the attentions of the Other Sex. But that has passed away, mother. I have now no thought

I watched her face, and soon the dreadfull understanding came to me. She, to, did not understand. My literary

Oh, the bitterness of that moment. My mother, who had cared for me as a child, and obeyed my slightest

wish, no longer understood me. And sadest of all, there was no way out. None. Once, in my Youth, I had

beleived that I was not the child of my parents at all, but an adopted oneperhaps of rank and kept out of my

inheritance by those who had selfish motives. But now I knew that I had no rank or Inheritance, save what I

"I am absolutely sure," she said, "that you are on the edge of somthing. It may be tiphoid, or it may be an

With this she left me to my Thoughts. But she did not neglect me. Sis came up after Dinner, and I saw

mother's fine hand in that. Although not hungry in the usual sense of the word, I had begun to grow rather

She got very little out of me. To one with softness and tenderness I would have told all, but Sis is not that

"Don't fool yourself for a minute," she said. "This literary pose has not fooled anybody. Either you're doing it

to apear Interesting, or you've done somthing you're scared about. Which is it?"

"Because if it's the first, and you're trying to look literary, you are going about it wrong," she said. "Real

"They look and act like other people," said Leila, going to the bureau and spilling Powder all over the place.

"Beecher!" I cried, with a thrill that started inside my elbows. (I have read this to one or two of the girls, and

they say there is no such thrill. But not all people act alike under the influence of emotion, and mine is in my

"The playwright," Sis said. "He's staying next door. And if he does any languishing it is not by himself."

There may be some who have for a long time had an Ideal, but without hoping ever to meet him, and then

suddenly learning that he is nearby, with indeed but a wall or two between, can be calm and cool. But I am

not like that. Although long supression has taught me to disemble at times, where my Heart is concerned I am

For it was at last my heart that was touched. I, who had scorned the Other Sex and felt that I was born cold

and always would be cold, that day I discovered the truth. Reginald Beecher was my ideal. I had never

spoken to him, nor indeed seen him, except for his pictures. But the very mention of his name brought a lump

Feeling better imediately, I got Sis out of the room and coaxed Hannah to bring me some dinner. While she

was sneaking it out of the Pantrey I was dressing, and soon, as a new being, I was out on the stone bench at

But Fate was against me. Eddie Perkins saw me there and came over. He had but recently been put in long

trowsers, and those not his best ones but only white flannels. He was never sure of his garters, and was

always looking to see if his socks were coming down. Well, he came over just as I was sure I saw Reginald

Beecher next door on the veranda, and made himself a nusance right away, trying all sorts of kid tricks, such

"Why not both," he said, hiching the rubber band onto one of his front teeth and playing on it. "Niether ought

He played a while, struming with one finger until the hand sliped off and stung him on the lip.

"Once," I said, "I dreamed of a Career. But I beleive love's the most important."

Well, I shall pass lightly over what followed. Why is it that a girl cannot speak of Love without every

member of the Other Sex present, no matter how young, thinking it is he? And as for mother maintaining that

I kissed that wreched Child, and they saw me from the drawingroom, it is not true and never was true. It was

but one more Misunderstanding which convinced the Familey that I was carrying on all manner of afairs.

Carter Brooks had arrived that day, and was staying at the Perkins' cottage. I got rid of the Perkins' baby, as

his Nose was bleedingbut I had not slaped him hard at all, and felt little or no compunctionwhen I heard

Carter coming down the walk. He had called to see Leila, but she had gone to a beech dance and left him

alone. He never paid any attention to me when she was around, and I recieved him cooly.

"It's the way I would greet most any Leftover," I said. "I eat hash at school, but I don't have to pretend to

"What's got into you lately?" he said. "Just as you're geting to be the prettiest girl around, and I'm strong for

The kindness of his tone upset me considerably, to who so few kind Words had come recently. I am

compeled to confess that I wept, although I had not expected to, and indeed shed few tears, although bitter

How could I posibly know that the chaste Salute of Eddie Perkins and my head on Carter Brooks' shoulder

were both plainly visable against the rising moon? But this was the Case, especialy from the house next door.

"Sit up here and tell me about it," he said. "I'm geting more scared every minute. You are such an impulsive

little Beast, and you turn the fellows' heads solook here, is Jane Raleigh lying, or did you run away and get

I am aware that I should have said, then and there, No. But it seemed a shame to spoil Things just as they

"Bless you, Bab!" he said. And I might as well say that he kissed me, because he did, although unexpectedly.

Sombody just then moved a Chair on the porch next door and coughed rather loudly, so Carter drew a long

"There's somthing about you lately, Bab, that I don't understand," he said. "Youyou're mysterious. That's

So I sat on my Bench and looked at the sea and dreamed. It seemed to me that Centuries must have passed

since I was a lighthearted girl, running up and down that beech, paddling, and so forth, with no thought of

Once I lived to eat. Now I merely ate to live, and hardly that. The fires of Genius must be fed, but no more.

Sitting there, I suddenly made a discovery. The boat house was near me, and I realize that upstairs, above the

Bathhouses, et cetera, there must be a room or two. The very thought intriged me (a new word for interest,

Solatudehow I craved it for my work. And here it was, or would be when I had got the Place fixed up.

True, the next door boathouse was close, but a boathouse is a quiet place, generaly, and I knew that

I investagated at once, but found the place locked and the boatman gone. However, there was a latice, and I

climbed up that and got in. I had a Fright there, as it seemed to be full of people, but I soon saw it was only

the Familey bathing suits hung up to dry. Aside from the odor of drying things it was a fine study, and I

Climbing down, however, I had a surprise. For a man was just below, and I nearly put my foot on his

I was quite speachless. It was Mr. Beecher himself, in his dinner clothes and bareheaded.

"In a moment," he said. "I have an idea that the instant I do you'll vanish. And I have somthing to tell you."

"You seem to be so very popular," he Said." And of course I'm only a transient and don't matter. But some

evening one of the admirers may be on the Patten's porch, while another is with you on the bench. Andthe

I was silent with horor. So that was what he thought of me. Like all the others, he, to, did not understand. He

considered me a Flirt, when my only Thoughts were serious ones, of imortality and so on.

"You'd better come down now," he said. "I was afraid to warn you until I saw you climbing the latice. Then I

I got down then and stood before him. He was magnifacent. Is there anything more beautiful than a tall man

"Look here," he said. "I'm afraid I've made a mistake after all. I thought you were a little girl."

"That needn't worry you. Everybody does," I replied. "I'm seventeen, but I shall be a mere Child until I come

"One day I am a Child in the nursery," I said. "And the next I'm grown up and ready to be sold to the highest

"But I am as grown up now as I will ever be," I said. "And indeed more so. I think a great deal now, because I

"Suppose we sit on the Bench. The moon is to high to be a menace, and besides, I am not dangerous. Now,

"About Life, mostly. But of course there is Death, which is beautiful but cold. Andone always thinks of

"Does one?" he asked. I could see he was much interested. As for me, I dared not consider whom it was who

"Don't you ever," he said, "reflect on just ordinary things, like Clothes and so forth?"

"No. A Tradgedy. How can I write a Comedy when a play must always end in a catastrofe? The book says all

"I can't beleive it," he said. "But, to tell you a Secret, I never read any books about Plays."

"We are not all gifted from berth, as you are," I observed, not to merely please him, but because I considered

"All this reminds me," he said, "that I have promised to go to work tonight. But this is soerthrilling that

Oh, the Joy of that night! How can I describe it? To be at last in the company of one who understood,

whoas he himself had said in "Her Soul"spoke my own languidge! Except for the occasional mosquitoe,

Often since that time I have sat and listened to conversation. How flat it sounds to listen to father prozing

about Gold, or Sis about Clothes, or even to the young men who come to call, and always talk about

We were at last interupted in a strange manner. Mr. Patten came down their walk and crossed to us, walking

"You gave me your word of Honor" said the Patten man. "I can only remind you of that. Also of the expence

I'm incuring, and all the rest of it. I've shown all sorts of patience, but this is the limit."

"Now see here," he said, "we have everything fixed the way you said You wanted it. And I'll give you ten

"Ten minutes of Heaven," he said, "and then perdetion with that bunch. Look here," he said, "II'm awfully

Our talk was strictly business. He asked me my Plot, and although I had been warned not to do so, even to

David Belasco, I gave it to him fully. And even now, when all is over, I am not sorry. Let him use it if he

The real tradgedy is that we met father. He had been ordered to give up smoking, and I considered had done

so, mother feeling that I should be encouraged in leaving off cigarettes. So when I saw the cigar I was sure it

was not father. It proved to be, however, and although he passed with nothing worse than a Glare, I knew I

At last we reached the Bench again, and I said good night. Our relations continued businesslike to the last.

The Familey acted perfectly absurd about it. Seeing that they were going to make a fuss, I refused to say with

"It has come to this, Barbara," mother said, pacing the floor. "You cannot be trusted out of our sight. Where

do you meet all these men? If this is how things are now, what will it be when given your Liberty?"

Well, it is to painful to record. I was told not to leave the place for three days, although allowed the

boathouse. And of course Sis had to chime in that she'd heard a roomer I had run away and got married, and

although of course she knew it wasn't true, owing to no time to do so, still where there was Smoke there was

But I felt that their confidence in me was going, and that night, after all were in the Land of Dreams, I took

that wreched suit of clothes and so on to the boathouse, and hid them in the rafters upstairs.

The Patten place and ours are close together, and no other house near. Mother had been very cool about the

Pattens, owing to nobody knowing them that we knew. Although I must say they had the most interesting

"Come and have a ride," she said. "I've got the Runabout, and after that we'll bathe and have a real time."

"Somthing else, Jane," I said. "I can tell you nothing more. I am simply in trouble, as usual."

"He has claimed you!" she said. "He is here, somwhere about this Place, and now, having had time to think it

over, you do not Want to go to him. Don't deny it. I see it in your face. Oh, Bab, my heart aches for you."

"You can refuse, if you do not love him. Oh Bab, I did not say it before, thinking you loved him. But no man

who wears clothes like those could ever win my heart. At least, not permanently."

Well, she did most of the talking. She had finished the bath towle, which was a large size, after all, and

monogramed, and she made me promise never to let my husband use it. When she went away she left it with

me, and I carried it out and put it on the rafters, with the other thingsI seemed to be getting more to hide

Things went all wrong the next day. Sis was in a bad temper, and as much as said I was flirting with Carter

Brooks, although she never intends to marry him herself, owing to his not having money and never having

I spent the morning in fixing up a Studio in the boathouse, and felt better by noon. I took two boards on

trestles and made a desk, and brought a Dictionery and some pens and ink out. I use a Dictionery because

Events now moved swiftly and terrably. I did not do much work, being exhausted by my efforts to fix up the

studio, and besides, feeling that nothing much was worth while when one's Familey did not and never would

understand. At eleven o'clock Sis and Carter and Jane and some others went in bathing from our dock. Jane

called up to me, but I pretended not to hear. They had a good time judging by the noise, although I should

think Jane would cover her arms and neck in the water, being very thin. Legs one can do nothing with,

although I should think stripes going around would help. But arms can have sleaves.

Howeverthe people next door went in to, and I thrilled to the core when Mr. Beecher left the bathhouse

and went down to the beech. What a physic! What shoulders, all brown and muscular! And to think that,

strong as they were, they wrote the tender Love seens of his plays. Strong and tenderwhat descriptive

To resume. All the Pattens went in, and a new girl with them, in a Onepeace Suit. I do not deny that she was

pretty. I only say that she was not modest, and that the way she stood on the Patten's dock and pozed for Mr.

She was nothing to me, nor I to her. But I watched her closely. I confess that I was interested in Mr. Beecher.

Why not? He was a Public Character, and entitled to respect. Nay, even to love. But I maintain and will to my

dying day, that such love is diferent from that ordinaraly born to the Other Sex, and a thing to be proud of.

Well, I was seeing a drama and did not even know it. After the rest had gone, Mr. Patten came to the door

into Mr. Beecher's room in the bathhousethey are all in a row, with doors opening on the sandand he

had a box in his hand. He looked around, and no one was looking except me, and he did not see me. He

looked very Feirce and Glum, and shortly after he carried in a chair and a folding card table. I thought this

was very strange, but imagine how I felt when he came out carrying Mr. Beecher's clothes! He brought them

However, I considered that it was a practicle Joke, and I am no spoil sport. So I sat still and waited. They

staid in the water a long time, and the girl with the Figure was always crawling out on the dock and then

diving in to show off. Leila and the rest got sick of her actions and came in to Lunch. They called up to me,

"I don't know what's come over Bab," I heard Sis say to Carter Brooks. "She's crazy, I think."

"She's seventeen," he said. "That's all. They get over it mostly, but she has it hard."

Pretty soon the other crowd came up, and I could see every one knew the joke but Mr. Beecher. They all

scuttled into their doorways, and Mr. Patten waited till Mr. Beecher was inside and had thrown out the shirt

"Now listen, Reg," Mr. Patten said, in a soothing voice. "I've tried everything but Force, and now I'm driven

to that. I've got to have that third Act. The company's got the first two acts well under way, and I'm getting

"You go to Hell!" said Mr. Beecher. You could hear him plainly through the window, high up in the wall.

And although I do not approve of an oath, there are times when it eases the tortured Soul.

"Now be reasonable, Reg," Mr. Patten pleaded. "I've put a fortune in this thing, and you're lying down on the

"I'll send out food or anything. But nothing to drink. There's Champane on the ice for you when you've

The anser to this was Mr. Beecher's full weight against the door. But it held, even against the full force of his

"Even if you do break it open," Mr. Patten said, "you can't go very far the way you are. Now be a good

fellow, and let's get this thing done. It's for your good as well as mine. You'll make a Fortune out of it."

Then he went into his own door, and soon came out, looking like a gentleman, unless one knew, as I did, that

How long I sat there, paralized with emotion, I do not know. Hannah came out and roused me from my

Trance of grief. She is a kindly soul, although to afraid of mother to be helpful.

"Come in like a good girl, Miss Bab," she said. "There's that fruit salad that cook prides herself on, and I'll

"Hannah," I said in a low voice, "there is a Crime being committed in this neighborhood, and you talk to me

"I cannot tell you any more than that, Hannah," I said gently, "because it is only being done now, and I

As I say, I was perfectly gentle with her, and I do not understand why she burst into tears and went away.

I sat and thought it all over. I could not leave, under the circumstances. But yet, what was I to do? It was

hardly a Police matter, being between friends, as one may say, and yet I simply could not bare to leave my

Ideal there in that damp bathhouse without either food or, as one may say, raiment.

About the middle of the afternoon it occurred to me to try to find a key for the lock of the bathhouse. I

therfore left my Studio and proceded to the house. I passed close by the fatal building, but there was no sound

I found a number of trunkkeys in a drawer in the library, and was about to escape with them, when father

I had hoped for some understanding from him, but my Spirits fell at this speach.

"I am still working, father," I said, in a firm if nervous tone. "I am not doing as good work as I would if

"That's all right," he said. "Now see here, Chicken, get into your riding togs and we'll order the horses. I don't

But I refused. "Unless, of course, you insist," I finished. He only shook his head, however, and left the room.

I did not try the keys myself, but instead stood off a short distance and through them through the window. I

learned later that they struck Mr. Beecher on the head. Not knowing, of course, that I had flung them, and that

my reason was pure Friendliness and Idealizm, he through them out again with a violent exclamation. They

"May I try the keys?" I asked. Be still, my Heart! For the scraching had ceased.

"Who's that?" asked the beloved voice. I say `beloved' because an Ideal is always beloved. The voice was

"Look here," he said. "Go away. Do you understand? I want to work. And don't come near here again until

"And if anyone comes around making a noise, before that, you shoot them for me, will you?"

"Drive them off, or use a Beanshooter. Anything. But don't yell at them. It distracts me."

It was a Sacred trust. I, and only I, stood between him and his MAGNUM OPUM. I sat down on the steps of

It was about five o'clock when I heard Jane approaching. I knew it was Jane, because she always wears tight

shoes, and limps when unobserved. Although having the reputation of the smallest foot of any girl in our set

in the city, I prefer Comfort and Ease, unhampered by healsFrench or otherwise. No man will ever marry a

girl because she wears a small shoe, and catches her heals in holes in the Boardwalk, and has to soak her feet

Jane came on, and found me croutched on the doorstep, in a lowly attatude, and holding my finger to my lips.

"Hush, Jane," I said, in a low tone. "I can only ask you to be quiet and speak in Whispers. I cannot give the

"Jane," I whispered, ernestly, "you have known me a long time and I have always been Trustworthy, have I

She nodded. She is never exactly pretty, and now she had opened her mouth and forgot to close it.

"Then ask No Questions. Trust me, as I am trusting you." It seemed to me that Mr. Beecher through his pen at

the door, and began to pace the bathhouse. Owing of course to his being in his bare feet, I was not certain.

"Bab," she said, in intence tones, "if you don't explain I shall lose my mind. I feel now that I am going to

It was the truth, was it not? And was there any reasons for Jane Raleigh to jump to conclusions as she did,

and even to repeat later in Public that I had told her that my lover had come for me, and that father had locked

him up to prevent my running away with him, imuring him in the Patten's bathhouse? Certainly not.

Just then I saw the boatman coming who looks after our motor boat, and I tiptoed to him and asked him to go

away, and not to come back unless he had quieter boats and would not whistel. He acted very ugly about it, I

"Because he is writing," I explained. "Although his clothing has been taken away, he is writing. I don't think I

told you, Jane, but that is his business. He is a Writer. And if I tell you his name you will faint with surprise."

"Locked upand writing, and his clothing gone! What's he writing, Bab? His Will?"

"He is doing his duty to the end, Jane," I said softly. "He is writing the last Act of a Play. The Company is

rehearsing the first two Acts, and he has to get this one ready, though the Heavens fall."

"Either you are crazy, Barbara Archibald, or you think I am. You've been stuffing me for about a week, and I

don't beleive a Word of it. And you'll apologize to me or I'll never speak to you again."

She said this loudly, and then went away, And Mr. Beecher said, through the door.

Perhaps my nerves were going, or possably it was no luncheon and probably no dinner. But I said, just as if

"It's MY face. And you can't see it anyhow," I replied, venting in femanine fashion, my anger at Jane on the

"Look here," he said, through the door, "you've been my good Angel. I'm doing more work than I've done in

two months, although it was a dirty, lowdown way to make me do it. You're not going back on me now, are

"You might throw those Keys back again," he said. "Let me know first, however. You're the most acurate

So I through them through the window and I beleive hit the ink bottle. But no matter. And he tried them, but

So he gave up, and went back to Work, having saved enough ink to finish with. But a few minutes later he

called to me again, and I moved to the Doorstep, where I sat listening, while aparently admiring the sea. He

explained that having been thus forced, he had almost finished the last Act, and it was a corker. And he said if

he had his clothes and some money, and a key to get out, he'd go right back to Town with it and put it in

rehearsle. And at the same time he would give the Pattens something to worry about over night. Because,

play or no play, it was a Rotten thing to lock a man in a bathhouse and take his clothes away.

"But of course I can't get my clothes," he said. "They'll take cussed good care of that. And there's the Key too.

"Thanks awfully," he said. "But from the slight acquaintance we have had, I don't beleive they would fit me."

"In my Studio," I said. "I can bring them, if you like. They look quite good, although Creased."

"You know" he said, after a moment's silence, "I can't quite beleive this is realy happening to me! Go and

"It is true," I heard him say through the door. "It is all true. I am here, locked in. The Play is almost done.

And a very young lady on the doorstep is offering me a suit of Clothes and Tobaco. I pinch myself. I am

Alas! Mingled with my joy at serving my Ideal there was also greif. My idle had feet of clay. He was a slave,

like the rest of us, to his body. He required clothes and tobaco. I felt that, before long, he might even ask for

an apple, or something to stay the pangs of hunger. This I felt I could not bare.

Perhaps I would better pass over quickly the events of the next hour. I got the suit and the cigarettes, and even

Jane's bath towle, and through them in to him. Also I beleive he took a shower, as I heard the water running,

At about seven o'clock he said he had finished the play. He put on the Clothes which he observed almost

fitted him, although gayer than he usually wore, and said that if I would give him a hair pin he thought he

Being now dressed, however, he drew a chair to the window and we talked together. It seemed like a dream

that I should be there, on such intimate terms with a great Playwright, who had just, even if under

compulsion, finished a last Act, I bared my very soul to him, such as about resembling Julia Marlowe, and no

one understanding my craveing to acheive a Place in the World of Art. We were once interupted by Hannah

"It's rather unusual, isn't it, your having a suit of clothes and everything in yourerstudio?"

At half past seven I saw mother on the veranda looking for me, and I ducked out of sight, I was by this time

very hungry, although I did not like to mention the fact, But Mr. Beecher made a suggestion, which was this:

that the Pattens were evadently going to let him starve until he got through work, and that he would see them

in perdetion before he would be the Butt for their funny remarks when they freed him. He therfore tried to

"Look here, you're a curious child, but a nervy one. How'd you like to see if you can get the Key? If you do

Although quivering with Terror, I consented. How could I do otherwise, with such a prospect? For now I

began to see that all other Emotions previously felt were as nothing to this one. I confess, without shame, that

I felt the stiring of the Tender Passion in my breast. Ah me, that it should have died ere it had hardly lived!

"Generaly," he said, "it hangs on a nail at the back entry. But the chances are that Patten took it up to his

room this time, for safety, You'd know it if you saw it. It has some buttons off sombody's batheing suit tied to

Here it was necessary to hide again, as father came stocking out, calling me in an angry tone. But shortly

afterwards I was on my way to the Patten's house, on shaking Knees. It was by now twilight, that beautiful

period of Romanse, although the dinner hour also. Through the dusk I sped, toward what? I knew not.

The Pattens and the onepeace lady were at dinner, and having a very good time, in spite of having locked a

Guest in the bathhouse. Being used to servants and prowling around, since at one time when younger I had a

habit of taking things from the pantrey, I was quickly able to see that the Key was not in the entry. I therfore

went around to the front Door and went in, being prepared, if discovered, to say that somone was in their

bathhouse and they ought to know it. But I was not heard among their sounds of revelry, and was able to

But not having asked which was Mr. Patten's room, I was at a loss and almost discovered by a maid who was

turning down the bedsmuch to early, also, and not allowed in the best houses until ninethirty, since

I will explain. No sooner had the maid gone than a Woman came into the room and closed the door. I heard

her moving around and I suddenly felt that she was going to bed, and might get her ROBE DE NUIT out of

the closet. I was petrafied. But it seems, while she really WAS undressing at that early hour, the maid had

Very soon a knock came to the door, and somhody came in, like Mrs. Patten's voice and said: "You're not

"I'm going to pretend to have a sick headache," said the other Person, and I knew it was the Onepeace Lady.

"He's going to come back in a frenzey, and he'll take it out on me, unless I'm prepared."

"Poor Reggie!" said Mrs. Patten, "To think of him locked in there alone, and no Clothes or anything. It's too

My heart stopped beating. Was SHE married to him? She was indeed. My dream was over. And the worst

part of it was that for a married man I had done without Food or exercise and now stood in a hot closet in

"No, thank Heaven!" said Mrs. Patten. "But it was the only way to make him work. He is a lazy dog. But

don't worry. We'll feed him before he sees you. He's always rather tractible after he's fed."

Were ALL my dreams to go? Would they leave nothing to my shattered ilusions? Alas, no.

"Jolly him a little, to," saidcan I write it?Mrs. Beecher. "Tell him he's the greatest thing in the World.

That will help some. He's vain, you know, awfully vain. I expect he's written a lot of piffle."

Had they listened they would have heard a low, dry sob, wrung from my tortured heart. But Mrs. Beecher had

"Well," said Mrs. Patten, "Will has gone down to let him out, I expect he'll attack him. He's got a vile

Temper. I'll sit with you till he comes back, if you don't mind. I'm feeling nervous."

It was indeed painful to recall the next half hour. I must tell the truth however. They discussed us, especialy

mother, who had not called. They said that we thought we were the whole summer Colony, although every

one was afraid of mother's tongue, and nobody would marry Leila, except Carter Brooks, and he was poor

and no prospects. And that I was an incorrigable, and carried on somthing gastly, and was going to be put in a

convent. I became justly furious and was about to step out and tell them a few plain Facts, when sombody

"Are you in ernest, Will?" she said. "Do you mean that he has gone without a Stich of clothes, and can't be

"You don't thinkoh Will, he's so tempermental. You don't think he's drowned himself?"

"No such luck," said Mrs. Beecher, in a cold tone. I hated her for it. True, he had decieved me. He was not as

I had thought him. In our to conversations he had not mentioned his wife, leaveing me to beleive him free to

"There are a few clues," said Mr. Patten. "He got out by means of a wire hairpin, for one thing. And he took

the manuscript with him, which he'd hardly have done if he meant to drown himself. Or even if, as we fear,

he had no Pockets. He has smoked a lot of cigarettes out of a candy box, which I did not supply him, and he

"Here's the bath towle," Mr. Patten went on. "You may recognize the initials. I don't."

"B. P. A.," said Mrs. Beecher. "Look here, don't they call thatthat flibertygibbet next door `Barbara'?"

"The little devil!" said Mr. Patten, in a raging tone. "She let him out, and of course he's done no work on the

Nobody spoke then, and my heart beat fast and hard. I leave it to anybody, how they'd like to be shut in a

closet and threatened with a violent Death from without. Would or would they not ever be the same person

"I'll tell you what I'd do," said the Beecher woman. "I'd climb up the back of father, next door, and tell him

what his little Daughter has done, Because I know she's mixed up in it, towle or no towle. Reg is always

Well, the Pattens went away, and Mrs. Beecher manacured her Nails, I could hear her fileing themand

sang around and was not much concerned, although for all she knew he was in the briney deep, a corpse.

I got very tired and much hoter, and I sat down on the floor. After what seemed like hours, Mrs. Patten came

"Next door. If you want Excitement, they've got it. The mother is in hysterics and there's a party searching the

"That Reg has run away with her, of course," said Mrs. Beecher, in a resined tone. "I wish he would grow up

and learn somthing. He's becoming a nusance. And when there are so many Interesting People to run away

Yes, she said that, And in my retreat I could but sit and listen, and of course perspire, which I did freely. Mrs.

Patten went away, after talking about the "scandle" for some time. And I sat and thought of the beech being

searched for my Body, a thought which filled my Eyes with tears of pity for what might have been, I still

hoped Mrs. Beecher would go to bed, but she did not. Through the key hole I could see her with a Book,

reading, and not caring at all that Mr. Beecher's body, and mine to, might be washing about in the cruel Sea,

At last I must have slept, for a bell rang, and there I was still in the closet, and she was ansering it.

"Arrested?" she said, "Well, I should think he'd better be, If what you say about clothing is true.... Well,

thenwhat's he arrested for?... Oh, kidnaping! Well, if I'm any judge, they ought to arrest the Archibald girl

for kidnaping HIM. No, don't bother me with it tonight. I'll try to read myself to sleep."

So this was Marriage! Did she flee to her unjustly acused husband's side and comfort him? Not she. She went

At daylight, being about smotherd, I opened the closet door and drew a breath of fresh air. Also I looked at

The wife of Reginald Beecher thus to distort her looks at night! I could not bare it.

My sufferings were over. In a short time I had slid down and was making my way through the dewey morn

toward my home. Before the sun was up, or more than starting, I had climbed to my casement by means of a

wire trellis, and put on my ROBE DE NUIT. But before I settled to sleep I went to the pantrey and there

satisfied the pangs of nothing since Breakfast the day before. All the lights seemed to be on, on the lower

floor, which I considered wastful of Tanney, the butler. But being sleepy, gave it no further thought. And so

It seemed but a few moments later that I heard a scream, and opening my eyes, saw Leila in the doorway. She

screamed again, and mother came and stood beside her. Although very drowsy, I saw that they still wore their

And Sis said: "Jane Raleigh is crazy. That's all." Then they looked at me, and mother burst into tears. But Sis

"You little imp! Don't tell me you've been in that bed all night. I KNOW BETTER."

Well, I saw then that a part of the Truth must be disclosed, especialy since she has for some time considered

sending me to a convent, although without cause, and has not done so for fear of my taking the veil. So I told

"I spent the night shut in a clothes closet, but where is not my secret. I cannot tell you."

"Who was shut with you in that closet?" she demanded in a shaking voice. "Barbara, there is another wreched

Man in all this. It could not have been Mr. Beecher, because he has been in the Station House all night."

"Mother" I said, "you have done enough damage, interfering with Careersnot only mine, but another's

imperiled now by not haveing a last Act. I can tell you no More, except"here my voice took on a deep and

intence fiber"that I have done nothing to be ashamed of, although unconventional."

"Come," Leila said to her, as to a troubled child. "Come, and Hannah can use the vibrater on your spine."

"Barbara, if you will only promise to be a good girl, and give us a chance to live this Scandle down, I will

"What can I do, Leila?" mother said. "The girl is atractive, and probably men will always be following her

and making trouble. Think of last Winter. I know it is Bribery, but it is better than Scandle."

"I want nothing, mother," I said, in a low, heartstricken tone, "save to be allowed to live my own life and to

"Well!" she said. "What's happened anyhow? Of course you've been up to some Mischeif, but I don't suppose

anybody will ever know the Truth of it. I was hopeing you'd make it this time and get married, and stop

"Go away, please, and let me Sleep," I said. "As to getting married, under no circumstances did I expect to

marry him. He has a Wife already. Personally, I think she's a totle loss. She wears patent wavers at night, and

sleeps with her Mouth open. But who am I to interfere with the marriage bond? I never have and never will."

This, dear readers and schoolmates, is the true story of my meeting with and parting from Reginald Beecher,

the playwright. Whatever the papers may say, it is not true, except the Fact that he was recognized by Jane

Raleigh, who knew the suit he wore, when in the act of pawning his ring to get money to escape from his

captors (I. E., The Pattens) with. It was the necktie which struck her first, and also his gilty expression. As I

Sometimes I sit and think things over, my fingers wandering "over the ivory keys" of the typewriter they gave

me to promise not to elope with anybodyalthough such a thing is far from my mindand the World seems

For Reginald Beecher is no longer my ideal, my Night of the pen. I will tell about that in a few words.

Jane Raleigh and I went to a matinee late in September before returning to our institutions of learning. Jane

"Ah," my heart seemed to say, "now again you will hear his dear words, although spoken by alien mouths.

I could not finish. Although married and forever beyond me, I could still hear his manly tones as issueing

from the door of the Bathhouse. I thrilled with excitement. As the curtain rose I closed my eyes in ecstacy.

I looked. What did I see? The bathhouse itself, the very one. And as I stared I saw a girl, wearing her hair as

I wear mine, cross the stage with a Bunch of Keys in her hand, and say to the bathhouse door.

I could bare no more. Heedless of Jane's Protests and Anguish, I got up and went out, into the light of day.

My body was bent with misry. Because at last I knew that, like mother and all the rest, HE TO DID NOT

UNDERSTAND ME, AND NEVER WOULD. To him I was but material, the stuff that plays are made of!

Ignoring Jane's observation that the tickets had cost two dollars each, I gathered up the scattered Skeins of my

JANUARY 1st. I have today recieved this dairy from home, having come back a few days early to make up a

New Year's dinner. Roast chicken (Turkey being very expencive), mashed Turnips, sweet Potatos and minse

It is my intention to record in this book the details of my Daily Life, my thoughts which are to sacred for

utterence, and my ambitions. Because who is there to whom I can speak them? I am surounded by those who

exist for the mere Pleasures of the day, or whose lives are bound up in Resitations.

For instance, at dinner today, being mostly faculty and a few girls who live in the Far West, the conversation

was entirely on buying a Phonograph for dancing because the music teacher has the meazles and is

quarentined in the infirmery. And on Miss Everett's couzin, who has written a play.

When one looks at Miss Everett, one recognises that no couzin of hers could write a play.

New Year's resolutionto help some one every day. Today helped Mademoiselle to put on her rubers.

JANUARY 2ND. Today I wrote my French theme, beginning, "Les hommes songent moins a leur AME QU

A leur CORPS. Mademoiselle sent for me and objected, saying that it was not a theme for a young girl, and

that I must write a new one, on the subject of pears. How is one to develope in this atmosphere?

Some of the girls are coming back. They stragle in, and put the favers they got at Cotillions on the dresser,

and their holaday gifts, and each one relates some amorus experience while at home. Dear dairy, is there

somthing wrong with me, that Love has passed me by? I have had offers of Devotion but none that apealed to

me, being mostly either to young or not atracting me by physicle charm. I am not cold, although frequently

acused of it, Beneath my fridgid Exterior beats a warm heart. I intend to be honest in this dairy, and so I

admit it. But, except for passing Fansiesone being, alas, for a married manI remain without the Divine

What must it be to thrill at the aproach of the loved Form? To harken to each ring of the telephone bell, in the

hope that, if it is not the Idolised Voice, it is at least a message from it? To waken in the morning and,

looking around the familiar room, to muze: "Today I may see himon the way to the Post Office, or rushing

past in his racing car." And to know that at the same moment HE to is muzing: "Today I may see her, as she

Although I have no horse. The school does not care for them, considering walking the best exercise.

Have flunked the French again, Mademoiselle not feeling well, and marking off for the smallest Thing.

JANUARY 4TH. Miss Everett's couzin's play is coming here. The school is to have free tickets, as they are

"trying it on the dog." Which means seeing if it is good enough for the large cities.

We have desided, if Everett marks us well in English from now on, to aplaud it, but if she is unpleasent, to sit

JANUARY 5TH, 6TH, 7TH, 8TH. Bad weather, which is depressing to one of my Temperment. Also boil on

Helpfull Deedsent Mademoiselle some fudge, but this school does not encourage kindness. Reprimanded

for cooking in room. School sympathises with me. We will go to Miss Everett's couzin's play, but we will

JANUARY 10TH. I have written this Date, and now I sit back and regard it. As it is impressed on this white

paper, so, Dear Dairy, is it written on my Soul. To others it may be but the tenth of January. To me it is the

It is now late at night, and around me my schoolmates are sleeping the sleep of the young and Heart free.

Lights being off, I am writing by the faint luminocity of a candle. Propped up in bed, my mackinaw coat over

my ROBE DE NUIT for warmth, I sit and dream. And as I dream I still hear in my ears his final words: "My

How wonderfull to have them said to one Night after Night, the while being in his embrase, his tender arms

around one! I refer to the heroine in the play, to whom he says the above raptureous words.

Coming home from the theater tonight, still dazed with the revelation of what I am capable of, once aroused,

I asked Miss Everett if her couzin had said anything about Mr. Egleston being in love with the Leading

"Possably," I remarked. "But I should like to see her in the morning, when she gets up."

All the girls were perfectly mad about Mr. Egleston, although pretending merely to admire his Art. But I am

being honest, as I agreed at the start, and now I know, as I sit here with the soft, although chilly breeses of the

night blowing on my hot brow, now I know that this thing that has come to me is Love. Morover, it is the

Love of my Life. He will never know it, but I am his. He is exactly my Ideal, strong and tall and passionate.

I beleive that he saw me. He looked in my direction. But what does it matter? I am small, insignifacant. He

What matters, oh Dairy, is that I am at last in Love. It is hopeless. Just now, when I had written that word, I

buried my face in my hands. There is no hope. None. I shall never see him again. He passed out of my life on

JANUARY 13TH. The Familey managed to restrain its ecstacy on seeing me today. The house is full of

people, as they are having a DinnerDance tonight. Sis had moved into my room, to let one of the visitors

have hers, and she acted in a very unfilial manner when she came home and found me in it.

"Not at all," I replied in a lofty manner. "I am here through no fault of my own. And I'd thank you to have

"I never knew it to fail!" she said. "Just as everything is fixed, and we're recovering from you're being here

for the Holadays, you come back and stir up a lot of trouble. What brought you, anyhow?"

"Very well," she said. "I'll see that you're quarentined, Miss Barbara, all right. And If you think you're going

to slip downstairs tonight after dinner and WORM yourself into this party, I'll show you."

She flounsed out, and shortly afterwards mother took a minute from the Florest, and came upstairs.

"I do hope you are not going to be troublesome, Barbara," she said. "You are too young to understand, but I

"You can sit on the stairs and watch." She looked fidgity. "II'll send up a nice dinner, and you can put on

your dark blue, with a fresh collar, andit ought to satisfy you, Barbara, that you are at home and posibly

have brought the meazles with you, without making a lot of fuss. When you come out"

"Oh, very well," I murmured, in a resined tone. "I don't care enough about it to want to dance with a lot of

"I suppose you have some one on the String for her," I said, with the ABANDON of my thwarted Hopes.

"Well, I hope she gets him. Because if not I darsay I shall be kept in the Cradle for years to come."

"You will come out when vou reach a proper Age," she said, "if your Impertanence does not kill me off

So I became more agreable, although feeling all the time that she does not and never will understand my

"I don't care about Society, and you know it, mother. If you'll keep Leila out of this room, which isn't much

"I have, of course, mother. But I am fonder of her while at school than at home. And I should be a better

Sister if not condemed to her old things, including hats which do not suit my Tipe."

Mother moved over magestically to the door and shut it. Then she came and stood over me.

"I've come to the conclusion, Barbara," she said, "to appeal to your better Nature. Do you wish Leila to be

"Because a very interesting thing is happening," said mother, trying to look playfull. "Ia chance any girl

So here I sit, Dear Dairy, while there are sounds of revelery below, and Sis jumps at her chance, which is the

Honorable Page Beres ford, who is an Englishman visiting here because he has a weak heart and can't fight.

Ah me, how the strains of the orkestra recall that magic night in the theater when Adrian Egleston looked

down into my eyes and although ostensably to an actress, said to my beating heart: "My Darling! My

In mother's room across the hall I can hear furious Voices, and I know that Leila is begging to have me sent

to Switzerland. Let her beg. Switzerland is not far from England, and in England

Here I pause to reflect a moment. How is this thing possible? Can I love to members of the Other Sex? And if

such is the Case, how can I go on with my Life? Better far to end it now, than to perchance marry one, and

find the other still in my heart. The terrable thought has come to me that I am fickel.

Dear Dairy, I have not been a good girl. My New Year's Resolutions have gone to airey nothing.

The way they went was this: I had settled down to a quiet evening, spent with his beloved picture which I had

clipped from a newspaper. (Adrian's. I had not as yet met the other.) And, as I sat in my chamber, I grew

more and more desolate. I love Life, although pessamistic at times. And it seemed hard that I should be there,

in exile, while my Sister, only 2O months older, was jumping at her chance below.

At last I decided to try on one of Sis's frocks and see how I looked in it. I though, if it looked all right, I might

hang over the stairs and see what I then scornfully termed "His Nibs." Never again shall I so call him.

I got an evening gown from Sis's closet, and it fitted me quite well, although tight at the waste for me, owing

to Basket Ball. It was also to low, so that when I had got it all hooked about four inches of my LINGERIE

showed. As it had been hard as anything to hook, I was obliged to take the scizzors and cut off the said

LINGERIE. The result was good, although very DECOLLTE. I have no bones in my neck, or practicaly so.

And now came my moment of temptation. How easy to put my hair up on my head, and then, by the servant's

I, however, considered that I looked pale, although Mature. I looked at least nineteen. So I went into Sis's

room, which was full of evening wraps but emty, and put on a touch of rouge. With that and my eyebrows

blackend, I would not have known myself, had I not been certain it was I and no other.

Ah me, Dear Dairy, was that but a few hours ago? Is it but a short time since Mr. Beresford was sitting at my

feet, thinking me a DEBUTANTE, and staring soulfully into my very heart? Is it but a matter of minutes

since Leila found us there, and in a manner which revealed the true feeling she has for me, ordered me to go

(Yes, it was not Leila's after all. I had forgotten that Maidie had taken her room. And except for pulling it

I shall now go to bed and dream. Of which one I know not. My heart is full. Romanse has come at last into

my dull and dreary life. Below, the revelers have gone. The flowers hang their herbacious heads. The music

JANUARY 14TH. How complacated my Life grows, Dear Dairy! How full and yet how incomplete! How

I discovered it at breakfast. I knew I was in for it, and I got down early, counting on mother breakfasting in

bed. I would have felt better if father had been at home, because he understands somwhat the way They keep

me down. But he was away about an order for shells (not sea; war), and I was to bear my chiding alone. I had

eaten my fruit and serial, and was about to begin on sausage, when mother came in, having risen early from

"So here you are, wreched child!" she said, giving me one of her coldest looks. "Barbara, I wonder if you

"To disobey!" she went on. "To force yourself on the atention of Mr. Beresford, in a borowed dress, with

"I should think, mother," I observed, "that if he wants to marry into this family, and is not merely being

dragged into it, that he ought to see the worst at the start." She glired, without speaking. "You know," I

continued, "it would be a dreadfull thing to have the Ceramony performed and everything to late to back out,

"Barbara!" she said in a terrable tone. "First disobedience, and now sarcasm. If your father was only here! I

Her tone cut me to the Heart. After all she was my own mother, or at least maintained so, in spite of

numerous questions enjendered by our lack of resemblence, moral as well as physicle. But I did not offer to

embrase her, as she was at that moment poring out her tea. I hid my misery behind the morning paper, and

there I beheld the fated vision. Had I felt any doubt as to the state of my afections it was settled then. My

Heart leaped in my bosom. My face sufused. My hands trembled so that a piece of sausage slipped from my

Here in the same city as I, looking out over perchance the same newspaper to perchance the same sun,

I was not even then, in that first Rapture, foolish about him. I knew that to him I was probably but a tender

memory. I knew, to, that he was but human and probably very concieted. On the other hand, I pride myself on

being a good judge of character, and he carried Nobility in every linament. Even the obliteration of one eye

"Pardon me, mother," I said in my gentlest tones. "I was but dreaming." And as she made no reply, but rang

the bell visciously, I went on, pursuing my line of thought. "Mother, were you ever in Love?"

"There is a very silly, schoolgirl Love," she said, eyeing me, "that people outgrow and blush to look back on."

"I wash my hands of you!" she said. "You are impertanent and indelacate. At your age I was an inocent child,

not troubleing with things that did not concern me. As for Love, I had never heard of it until I came out."

"Life must have burst on you like an explosion," I observed. "I suppose you thought that babies"

"Silense!" mother shreiked. And seeing that she persisted in ignoring the real things of Life while in my

JANUARY 15TH. I am alone in my BOUDOIR (which is realy the old schoolroom, and used now for a

My very soul is sick, oh Dairy. How can I face the truth? How write it out for my eyes to see? But I must. For

The way I discovered it was this. Yesterday, being short of money, I sold my amethist pin to Jane, one of the

housemaids, for two dollars, throwing in a lace coller when she seemed doubtful, as I had a special purpose

for useing funds. Had father been at home I could have touched him, but mother is diferent.

I then went out to buy a frame for his picture, which I had repaired by drawing in the other eye, although

licking the Fire and passionate look of the originle. At the shop I was compeled to show it, to buy a frame to

"Don't you love the Play?" she said. "I'm crazy about it. I've been back three times. Parts of it I know off by

I gave her a searching glanse. Was it posible that, without any acquaintance with him whatever, she had

fallen in love with him? It was indeed. She showed it in every line of her silly face.

I drew myself up hautily. "I should think it would be very expencive, going so often," I said, in a cool tone.

"Not so very. You see, the play is a failure, and they give us girls tickets to dress the house. Fill it up, you

My world shuddered about me. Whatfail! That beautiful play, ending "My darling, my woman"? It could

not be. Fate would not be cruel. Was there no apreciation of the best in Art? Was it indeed true, as Miss

Everett has complained, although not in these exact words, that the Theater was only supported now by

With an expression of despair on my features, I left the store, carrying the Frame under my arm.

One thing is certain. I must see the play again, and judge it with a criticle eye. IF IT IS WORTH SAVING, IT

JANUARY 16TH. Is it only a day since I saw you, Dear Dairy? Can so much have happened in the single

lapse of a few hours? I look in my mirror, and I look much as before, only with perhaps a touch of paller.

I have seen HIM again, and there is no longer any doubt in my heart. Page Beresford is atractive, and if it

were not for circumstances as they are I would not anser for the consequences. But things ARE as they are.

I have put his Picture under my mattress, and have given Jane my gold cuff pins to say nothing when she

makes my bed. And now, with the house full of People downstairs acting in a flippent and noisy maner, I

My finantial condition was not improved this morning, father having not returned. But I knew that I must see

the Play, as mentioned above, even if it became necesary to borow from Hannah. At last, seeing no other

"You'd ought to get it from your mother, then, Miss Barbara. The last time I gave you some you paid it back

in postage stamps, and I haven't written a letter since. They're all stuck together now, and a totle loss."

I took a quick look at her, and I saw at once that she had desided to lend it to me and then run and tell mother,

"Nothing doing, Hannah," I said, in a most dignafied manner. "But I think you are an old Clam, and I don't

I was now thrown on my own resourses, and very bitter. I seemed to have no Friends, at a time when I needed

them most, when I was, as one may say, "standing with reluctent feet, where the brook and river meet."

Tonight I am no longer sick of Life, as I was then. My throws of anguish have departed. But I was then uterly

I have long desired a Career for mvself, anyhow. I have a good mind, and learn easily, and I am not a

Paracite. The idea of being such has always been repugnent to me, while the idea of a few dollars at a time

doaled out to one of independant mind is galling. And how is one to remember what one has done with one's

Allowence, when it is mostly eaten up by Small Lones, Carfare, Stamps, Church Collection, Rose Water and

Glicerine, and other Mild Cosmetics, and the aditional Food necesary when one is still growing?

To resume, Dear Dairy; having uterly failed with Hannah, and having shortly after met Sis on the stairs, I said

"Oh, very well," I said breifly. But I could not refrain from making a grimase at her back, and she saw me in

"When I think," she said heartlessly, "that that wreched school may be closed for weeks, I could scream."

"Well, scream!" I replied. "You'll scream harder if I've brought the meazles home on me. And if you're laid

up, you can say goodbye to the Dishonorable. You've got him tide, maybe," I remarked, "but not thrown as

(A remark I had learned from one of the girls, Trudie Mills, who comes from Montana.)

I was therfore compeled to dispose of my silver napkin ring from school. Jane was bought up, she said, and I

sold it to the cook for fifty cents and half a minse pie although baked with our own materials.

I was torn with anxiety. Was it enough? Could I, for fifty cents, steel away from the sordid cares of life, and

lose myself in obliviousness, gazing only it his dear Face, listening to his dear and softly modulited Voice,

and wondering if, as his eyes swept the audiance, they might perchance light on me and brighten with a

momentary gleam in their unfathomable Depths? Only this and nothing more, was my expectation.

Having ascertained that there was a matinee, I departed at an early hour after luncheon, wearing my blue

velvet with my fox furs. White gloves and white topped shoes completed my outfit, and, my own CHAPEAU

showing the effect of a rainstorm on the way home from church while away at school, I took a chance on one

of Sis's, a perfectly madening one of rosecolored velvet. As the pink made me look pale, I added a touch of

I looked fully out, and indeed almost Second Season. I have a way of assuming a serious and Mature manner,

so that I am frequently taken for older than I realy am. Then, taking a few roses left from the decorations, and

thrusting them carelessly into the belt of my coat, I went out the back door, as Sis was getting ready for some

Had I felt any greif at decieving my Familey, the bridge party would have knocked them. For, as usual, I had

not been asked, although playing a good game myself, and having on more than one occasion won most of

I was early at the theater. No one was there, and women were going around taking covers off the seats. My

fifty cents gave me a good seat, from which I opined, alas, that the shop girl had been right and busness was

rotten. But at last, after hours of waiting, the faint tuning of musicle instruments was heard.

From that time I lived in a daze. I have never before felt so strange. I have known and respected the Other

Sex, and indeed once or twise been kissed by it. But I had remained Cold. My Pulses had never flutered. I

was always conserned only with the fear that others had overseen and would perhaps tell. But nowI did not

care who would see, if only Adrian would put his arms about me. Divine shamlessness! Brave Rapture! For if

one who he could not possably love, being so close to her in her makeup, if one who was indeed employed

to be made Love to, could submit in public to his embrases, why should not I, who would have died for him?

These were my thoughts as the Play went on. The hours flew on joyous feet. When Adrian came to the

footlights and looking aparently square at me, declaimed: "The World owes me a living. I will have it," I

almost swooned. His clothes were worn. He looked hungry and ghaunt. But how true that

(I shall stop here and go down to the Pantrey. I could eat no dinner, being filled with emotion. But I must

keep strong if I am to help Adrian in his Trouble. The minse pie was excelent, but after all pastrey does not

LATER: I shall now go on with my recitle. As the theater was almost emty, at the end of Act One I put on the

pink hat and left it on as though absentminded. There was no one behind me. And, although during Act One

I had thought that he perhaps felt my presense, he had not once looked directly at me.

But the hat captured his erant gaze, as one may say. And, after capture, it remained on my face, so much so

that I flushed and a woman. sitting near with a very plain girl in a Skunk Coller, observed:

Now came a moment which I thrill even to recolect. For Adrian plucked a pink rose from a vasehe was in

the Milionaire' s house, and was starving in the midst of luxuryand held it to his lips.

LATER: It is midnight. I cannot sleep. Perchanse he to is lieing awake. I am sitting at the window in my

ROBE DE NUIT. Below, mother and Sis have just come in, and Smith has slamed the door of the car and

gone back to the GARAGE. How puney is the life my Familey leads! Nothing but eating and playing, with

A man has just gone by. For a moment I thought I recognised the footstep. But no, it was but the night

JANUARY 17TH. Father still away. No money, as mother absolutely refuses on account of Maidie

JANUARY 18TH. Father still away. The Hon. sent Sis a huge bunch of orkids today. She refused me even

JANUARY 19TH. The paper says that Adrian's Play is going to close the end of next week. No busness. How

can I endure to know that he is sufering, and that I cannot help, even to the extent of buying one ticket?

I have tried to do a kind Deed today, feeling that perhaps it would soften mother's heart and she would

advance my Allowence. I offered to manacure her nails for her, but she refused, saying that as Hannah had

It is Sunday. I went to Church, and thought things over. What a wonderfull thing it would be if I could save

The recter preached on "The Opportunaties of Women." The Sermon gave me courage to go on. When he

said, "Women today step in where men are afraid to tred, and bring success out of failure," I felt that it was

Had no money for the Plate, and mother atempted to smugle a half dollar to me. I refused, however, as if I

cannot give my own money to the Heathen, I will give none. Mother turned pale, and the man with the plate

Beresford lunched with us, and as I discouraged him entirely, he was very atentive to Sis. Mother is planing a

big Wedding, and I found Sis in the store room yesterday looking up mother's wedding veil.

I guess Beresford is trying to forget that he kissed my hand the other night, for he called me "Little Miss

Barbara" today, meaning little in the sense of young. I gave him a stern glanse.

"If you don't mind," I said coldly, "you might do as you have hertoforereserve vour afectionate advances

"Barbara!" mother said. And began quickly to talk about a Lady Somthing or other we'd met on a train in

Switzerland. Becausethey can talk until they are black in the face, dear Dairy, but it is true we do not know

any of the British Nobilaty, except the aforementioned and the man who comes once a year with flavering

Every one being out this afternoon, I suddenly had an inspiration, and sent for Carter Brooks. I then put my

hair up and put on my blue silk, because while I do not beleive in Woman using her femanine charm when

talking busness, I do beleive that she should look her best under any and all circumstances.

He was rather surprized not to find Sis in, as I had used her name in telephoning.

"I did it," I explained, "because I knew that you felt no interest in me, and I had to see you."

He came very close, dear Dairy, and sudenly I saw in his eyes the horible truth. He thought me in Love with

Words cannot paint my agony of Soul. I stepped back, but he siezed my hand, in a caresing gesture.

Had my afections not been otherwise engaged, I should have thriled at his accents. But, although handsome

"We must have an understanding, Carter" I Said. "I have sent for you, but not for the reason you seem to

"If you don't mind," I put in, rather petishly, because of not being little, "I wish you would treat me like

I have puzled over this, since, dear Dairy. Because there must be some reason why men fall in Love with me.

I am not ugly, but I am not beautifull, my noze being too short. And as for clothes, I get none except Leila's

old things. But Jane Raleigh says there are women like that. She has a couzin who has had four Husbands and

is beginning on a fifth, although not pretty and very slovenly, but with a mass of red hair.

"Carter," I said earnestly, "I must tell you now that I do not care for youin that way."

"Good gracious!" I exclaimed, losing my temper somwhat. "I can send for the ice man without his thinking

"The truth is," I said, sitting down and motioning him to a seat in my maturest manner, "II want some

"Well," he said at last, "of courseI suppose you know you've come to a Bank that's gone into the hands of a

reciever. But aside from that, Bab, it's a pretty mean trick to send for me and let me thinkwell, no matter

"I can pay it back as soon as father comes home," I said, to releive his mind. It is against my principals to

borow money, especialy from one who has little or none. But since I was doing it, I felt I might as well ask

"Well, I guess yes," he observed. "I thought you were going to touch me for a hundred, anyhow. II suppose

I considered. Because after all, a kiss is not much, and ten dollars is a good deal. But at last my better nature

"Certainly not," I said coldly. "And if there is a String to it I do not want it."

So he apologised, and came and sat beside me, without being a nusance, and asked me what my other

"Carter" I said, in a grave voice, "I know that you beleive me young and incapable of Afection. But you are

"Now see here, Bab," he said. "Be fair. If I am not to hold your hand, oror be what you call a nusance,

don't talk like this. I am but human," he said, "and there is somthing about you lately that well, go on with

"It's like this," I explained. "Girls think they are cold and distant, and indeed, frequently are"

"Until they meet the Right One. Then they learn that their hearts are, as you say, but human."

"Bab," he said, sudenly turning and facing me, "an awfull thought has come to me. You are in Loveand not

I had not thought he would feel it deeplybecause of having been interested in Leila since they went out in

their Perambulaters together. But I could see it was a shock to him. He got up and stood looking in the fire,

"So I have lost you," he said in a smothered voice. And then"Who is the sneaking schoundrel?"

I forgave him this, because of his being upset, and in a rapt attatude I told him the whole story. He listened, as

"But I gather," he said, when at last the recitle was over, "that you have never met themet him."

"Not in the ordinery use of the word," I remarked. "But then it is not an ordinery situation. We have met and

we have not. Our eyes have spoken, if not our vocal chords." Seeing his eyes on me I added, "if you do not

"Oh!" he exclaimed. "There is more, is there? I trust it is not painfull, because I have stood as much as I can

"Nothing of which I am ashamed," I said, rising to my full height. "I have come to you for help, Carter.

"It is a beautiful Play. Oh, Carter, when at the end he takes his Sweetheart in his armsthe leading lady, and

not at all atractive. Jane Raleigh says that the star generaly HATES his leading ladythere is not a dry eye in

"Must be a jolly little thing. Well, of course I'm no theatricle manager, but if it's any good there's only one

way to save it. Advertize. I didn't know the piece was in town, which shows that the publicaty has been

He began to walk the floor. I don't think I have mentioned it, but that is Carter's busness. Not walking the

So I told him that Adrian was a mill worker, and the villain makes him lose his position, by means of forjery.

And Adrian goes to jail, and comes out, and no one will give him work. So he prepares to blow up a

Milionaire's house, and his sweetheart is in it. He has been to the Milionaire for work and been refused and

thrown out, saying, just before the butler and three footmen push him through a window, in dramatic tones,

"Socialism!" said Carter. "Hard stuff to handle for the two dollar seats. The world owes him a living. Humph!

Still, that's a good line to work on. Look here, Bab, give me a little time on this, eh what? I may be able to

"Look here," he said. "Where do we come in on this anyhow? Suppose I do think of somthingwhat then?

How are we to know that your beloved and his manager will thank us for buting in, or do what we sugest?"

"I am a person of iron will when my mind is made up," I said. "You think of somthing, Carter, and I'll see

It is now late at night. Beresford has gone. The house is still. I take the dear Picture out from under my

JANUARY 21ST. I have a bad cold, Dear Dairy, and feel rotten. But only my physicle condition is such. I

am happy beyond words. This morning, while mother and Sis were out I called up the theater and inquired

the price of a box. The man asked me to hold the line, and then came back and said it would be ten dollars. I

I am both terrafied and happy, dear Dairy, as I lie here in bed with a hot water bottle at my feet. I have helped

the Play by buying a box, and tonight I shall sit in it alone, and he will percieve me there, and consider that I

must be at least twenty, or I would not be there at the theater alone. Hannah has just come in and offered to

lend me three dollars. I refused hautily, but at last rang for her and took two. I might as well have a taxi

1 A. M. THE FAMILEY WAS THERE. I might have known it. Never do I have any luck. I am a broken

I had my dinner in bed, on account of my cold, and was let severly alone by the Familey. At seven I rose and

with palpatating fingers dressed myself in my best evening Frock, which is a pale yellow. I put my hair up,

I had to duck back into bed and crush everything. But she only looked in and said to try and behave for the

At a quarter to eight I left the house in a clandestine manner by means of the cellar and the area steps, and on

Act One went well, and no disturbence. Although Adrian started when he saw me. The yellow looked very

I had expected to sit back, sheltered by the curtains, and only visable from the stage. I have often read of this

method. But there were no curtains. I therfore sat, turning a stoney profile to the Audiance, and ignoreing it,

He saw me. More than that, he hardly took his eyes from the box wherein I sat. I am sure to that he had

mentioned me to the Company, for one and all they stared at me until I think they will know me the next time

I still think I would not have been recognized by the Familey had I not, in a very quiet seen, commenced to

sneaze. I did this several times, and a lot of people looked anoyed, as though I sneazed because I liked to

sneaze. And I looked back at them defiantly, and in so doing, encountered the gaze of my Maternal Parent.

Oh, Dear Dairy, that I could have died at that moment, and thus, when streched out a pathetic figure, with

tubroses and other flowers, have compeled their pity. But alas, no. I sneazed again!

Mother was weged in, and I saw that my only hope was flight. I had not had more than between three and

four dollars worth of the evening, but I glansed again and Sis was boring holes into me with her eyes. Only

Beresford knew nothing, and was trying to hold Sis's hand under her opera cloak. Any fool could tell that.

But, as I was about to rise and stand poized, as one may say, for departure, I caught Adrian's eyes, with a

gleam in their deep depths. He was, at the moment, toying with the bowl of roses. He took one out, and while

the Leading Lady was talking, he eged his way toward my box. There, standing very close, aparently by

I am now in bed and rather chilley. Mother banged at the door some time ago, and at last went away,

JANUARY 22ND. Father came home this morning, and things are looking up. Mother of course tackeled him

first thing, and when he came upstairs I expected an awful time. But my father is a reel Person, so he only sat

"You'd better turn me out and forget me," I said. "I was born for Trouble. My advice to the Familey is to get

"Oh, I don't know," he said. "It's pretty conveniant to have a Familey to drop on when the slump comes." He

thumped himself on the chest. "A hundred and eighty pounds," he observed, "just intended for little daughters

"Father," I inquired, putting my hand in his, because I had been bearing my burdens alone, and my strength

"But I mean, not the ordinery atachment between two married people. I mean Lovethe reel thing."

"Then you know what he says: `Curse on all laws but those which Love has made.'"

"Look here," he said, sudenly laying a hand on my brow. "I beleive you are feverish."

"Not feverish, but in trouble," I explained. And so I told him the story, not saying much of my deep Passion

for Adrian, but merely that I had formed an atachment for him which would persist during Life. Although I

Father listened and said it was indeed a sad story, and that he knew my deep nature, and that I would be true

to the End. But he refused to give me any money, except enough to pay back Hannah and Carter Brooks,

"Your mother does not wish you to go to the Theater again, and who are we to go against her wishes? And

anyhow, maybe if you met this fellow and talked to him, you would find him a disapointment. Many a pretty

girl I have seen in my time, who didn't pan out acording to specifications when I finaly met her."

At this revalation of my beloved father's true self, I was almost stuned. It is evadent that I do not inherit my

being true as steal from him. Nor from my mother, who is like steal in hardness but not in being true to

As I record this awfull day, dear Dairy, there comes again into my mind the thought that I DO NOT

BELONG HERE. I am not like them. I do not even resemble them in features. And, if I belonged to them,

would they not treat me with more consideration and less disipline? Who, in the Familey, has my noze?

It is all well enough for Hannah to observe that I was a pretty baby with fat cheaks. May not Hannah herself,

for some hiden reason, have brought me here, taking away the real I to perhaps languish unseen and "waste

my sweetness on the dessert air"? But that way lies madness. Life must be made the best of as it is, and not as

Father promised before he left that I was not to be scolded, as I felt far from well, and was drinking water

"I just want to lie here and think about things," I said, when he was going. "I seem to have so many thoughts.

"If I need any help to carry out a plan I have, will you give it to me, or will I have to go to totle strangers?"

He looked out into the hall to see if mother was near. Then, dear Dairy, he turned to me and said:

JANUARY 23RD. Much better today. Out and around. Familey (mother and Sis) very dignafied and nothing

much to say. Evadently have promised father to restrain themselves. Father rushed and not coming home to

LATER: Jane Raleigh is home for her couzin's wedding! Is coming over. We shall take a walk, as I have

6 P. M. What an afternoon! How shall I write it? This is a Milestone in my Life.

I have met him at last. Nay, more. I have been in his dressing room, conversing as though acustomed to such

things all my life. I have conceled under the mattress a real photograph of him, beneath which he has written

I am writing in bed, as the room is chilleyor I amand by putting out my hand I can touch His pictured

Jane came around for me this afternoon, and mother consented to a walk. I did not have a chance to take Sis's

pink hat, as she keeps her door locked now when not in her room. Which is rediculous, because I am not her

tipe, and her things do not suit me very well anyhow. And I have never borowed anything but gloves and

She had, however, not locked her bathroom, and finding a bunch of violets in the washbowl I put them on. It

does not hurt violets to wear them, and anyhow I knew Carter Brooks had sent them and she ought to wear

I became very stiff and distant at that. For Jane, although my best friend, had no right to be suspicous of me.

"You don't need to pretend to me," she went on, looking into my very soul. "I have eyes. You're not decked

I had meant to tell her nothing, but spying just then a man ahead who walked like Adrian, I was startled. I

The man turned, and I saw it was not he. I breathed again. But Jane was watching me, and I spoke out of an

"Tradgedy indeed," I was compeled to admit. "Jane, my Heart is breaking. I am not alowed to see him. It is

"Darling!" said Jane. "You are trembling all over. Hold on to me. Do they disaprove?"

But I told her, in broken accents, of my determination to stick to him, no matter what. I might never be Mrs.

So, finding her fuller of simpathy than usual, I violated my Vow of Silence and told her all.

And, to prove the truth of what I said, I showed her the sachet over my heart containing his rose.

"It's perfectly wonderfull," Jane said, in an awed tone. "You beat anything I've ever known for Adventures.

You are the tipe men like, for one thing. But there is one thing I could not stand, in your placehaving to

know that he is making love to the heroine every evening and twice on Wednesdays andBab, this is

I glansed at my wrist watch. It was but to o'clock. Instantly, dear Dairy, I became conscious of a dual going

on within me, between love and duty. Should I do as instructed and see him no more, thus crushing my

inclination under the iron heal of Resolution? Or should I cast my Parents to the winds, and go?

At last I desided to leave it to Jane. I observed: "I'm forbiden to try to see him. But I darsay, if you bought

some theater tickets and did not say what the play was, and we went and it happened to be his, it would not be

I cannot recall her reply, or much more, except that I waited in a Pharmasy, and Jane went out, and came

"We're going to the matinee, Bab," she said. "I'll not tell you which one, because it's to be a surprize." She

I shall draw a Veil over my feelings. Jane bought some chocolates to take along, but I could eat none. I was

So we went in, and the curtain went up. When Adrian saw me, in the front row, he smiled although in the

midst of a serious speach about the world oweing him a living. And Jane was terrably excited.

"Isn't he the handsomest Thing!" she said. "And oh, Bab, I can see that he adores you. He is acting for you.

Well, I had not told her that we had not yet met, and she said I could do nothing less than send him a note.

If I had not decieved Jane things would be better. But she was set on my sending the note. So at last I wrote

one on my visiting card, holding it so she could not read it. Jane is my best friend and I am devoted to her,

"Dear Mr. Egleston: I think the Play is perfectly wonderfull. And you are perfectly splendid in it. It is

I know that this seems bold. But I did not feel bold, dear Dairy. It was such a letter as any one might read,

and contained nothing compromizing. Still, I darsay I should not have written it. But "out of the fulness of the

I was shaking so much that I could not give it to the usher. But Jane did. However, I had sealed it up in an

Now comes the real surprize, dear Dairy. For the usher came down and said Mr. Egleston hoped I would go

back and see him after the act was over. I think a paller must have come over me, and Jane said:

I said yes, I dared, but that I would like a glass of water. I seemed to be thirsty all the time. So she got it, and

I suppose Jane expected to go along, but I refrained from asking her. She then said:

Ah, dear Dairy, how can I write how I felt when being led to him. The entire seen is engraved on my Soul. I,

with my very heart in my eyes, in spite of my eforts to seem cool and collected. He, in front of his mirror,

drawing in the lines of starvation around his mouth for the next seen, while on his poor feet a valet put the

He did not seem to mind the VALET, whom he treated like a chair or table. And he held my hand and looked

Ah, dear Dairy, Men may come and Men may go in my life, but never again will I know such ecstacy as at

"Sit down," he said. "Little Lady of the rosebut it's violets today, isn't it? And so you like the Play?"

I was by that time somwhat calmer, but glad to sit down, owing to my knees feeling queer.

"I wish there were more like you," he observed. "Just a moment, I have to make a change here. No need to go

He went behind the screan, and the man handed him a raged shirt over the top of it, while I sat in a chair and

dreamed. What I reflected, would the School say if it but knew! I felt no remorce. I was there, and beyond the

screan, changing into the garments of penury, was the only member of the Other Sex I had ever felt I could

Dear Dairy, I am tired and my head aches. I cannot write it all. He was perfectly respectfull, and only his eyes

showed his true feelings. The woman who is the Adventuress in the play came to the Door, but he motioned

her away with a waive of the hand. And at last it was over, and he was asking me to come again soon, and if I

Not hearing from Carter Brooks I telephoned him just now. He is sore about Beresford and said he would not

come to the house. So I have asked him to meet me in the Park, and said that there were only to more days,

He says the Theme is that the world owes Adrian a living, and that the way to do is to put that strongly before

"Suppose," he said, "that this fellow would go to some big factery, and demand work. Not ask for it. Demand

it. He could pretend to be starving and say: `The world owes me a living, and I intend to have it.'"

"Tut, child," he said. "That would have to be all fixed up first. It ought to be aranged that he not only be

refused, but what's more, that he'll be thrown out. He'll have to cut up a lot, d'you see, so they'll throw him

out. And we'll have Reporters there, so the story can get around. You get it, don't you? Your friend, in order

to prove that the idea of the Play is right, goes out for a job, and proves that he cannot demand Laber and get

it." He stopped and spoke with excitement: "Is he a real sport? Would he stand being arested? Because that

But here I drew a line. I would not subject him to such humiliation. I would not have him arested. And at last

"But you get the Idea," he said. "There'll be the deuce of a Row, and it's good for a half collumn on the first

page of the evening papers. Result, a jamb that night at the performence, and a new lease of life for the Play.

Egleston comes on, bruized and battered, and perhaps with a limp. The Labor Unions take up the matterit's

"Now see here, Bab," he said. "I'm doing this for you. You've got to play up. And if your young man won't

stand a bang in the eye, for instanse, to earn his Bread and Butter, he's not worth saving."

"I like that!" he said. "It's not my Play that's failing, is it? Go and tell him the Skeme, and then let his

manager work it out. And tell him who I am, and that I have a lot of Ideas, but this is the only one I'm giving

We had arived at the house by that time and I invited him to come in. But he only glansed bitterly at the

Windows and observed that they had taken in the mat with Welcome on it, as far as he was concerned. And

Dear Dairy, I wonder if father would do it? He is gentle and kindhearted, and it would be painfull to him.

I have but one hope. My father is like me. He can be coaxed and if kindly treated will do anything. But if

aproached in the wrong way, or asked to do somthing against his principals, he becomes a Roaring Lion.

He would never be bullyed into giving a Man work, even so touching a Personallity as Adrian's.

LATER: I meant to ask father tonight, but he has just heard of Beresford and is in a terrable temper. He says

Sis can't marry him, because he is sure there are plenty of things he could be doing in England, if not actualy

"He could probably run a bus, and releace some one who can fight," he shouted. "Or he could at least do an

"Just keep him out of my sight," father snaped. "I supose I can't keep him from swilling tea while I am away

"Oh, rot!" said Sis, in a scornfull maner. "While you help your bank account, you mean. I don't object to that,

She went upstairs then and banged her door, and mother merely set her lips and said nothing. But when

Were it not for our afections, and the necessity for getting married, so there would be an increase in the

It was a painfull evening, with Sis shut away in her room, and father cuting the ends off cigars in a viscious

maner. Mother was NON EST, and had I not had my memories, it would have been a Sickning Time.

I sat very still and waited until father softened, which he usualy does, like ice cream, all at once and all over. I

sat perfectly still in a large chair, and except for an ocasional sneaze, was quiet.

I was cut to the heart, dear Dairy. One of my dearest dreams has always been a delicate noze, slightly arched

and long enough to be truly aristocratic. Not realy acqualine but on the verge. I HATE my little nozehate

"Father" I said, rising and on the point of tears. "How can you! To taunt me with what is not my own fault,

but partly heredatary and partly carelessness. For if you had pinched it in infansy it would have been a good

"Good gracious!" he exclaimed. "Why, Bab, I never meant to insult your noze. As a matter of fact, it's a good

noze. It's exactly the sort of noze you ought to have. Why, what in the world would YOU do with a Roman

"Why, chicken!" said my father. And made me sit down on his knee. "Don't tell me that my bit of sunshine is

So he said he liked my noze, even although somwhat swolen, and he kissed it, and told me I was a little fool,

"Sure," he said. "How much do you need? Busness is pretty good now, and I've about landed the new order

for shells for the English War Department. Isupose we make it fifty! Although, we'd better keep it a Secret

I drew myself up, although tempted. But what was fifty dollars to doing somthing for Adrian? A mere

"Her couzin has written a play. She is very fond of her couzin, and anxious to have him suceed. And it is a

"So THAT is what you were doing in that box alone!" he exclaimed. "You incomprehensable child! Why

"Mother does not always understand," I said, in a low voice. "I thought, by buying a Box, I would do my part

to help Miss Everett's couzin's play suceed. And as a result I was draged home, and shamefully treated in the

"Oh, come now," he said. "I wouldn't go as far as that, chicken. Well, I won't finanse the play, but short of

However he was not so agreable when I told him Carter Brooks' plan. He delivered a firm no.

"Although," he said, "sombody ought to do it, and show the falasy of the Play. In the first place, the world

doesn't owe the fellow a living, unless he will hustel around and make it. In the second place an employer has

a right to turn away a man he doesn't want. No one can force Capitle to employ Labor."

"Well," I said, "as long as Labor talks and makes a lot of noise, and Capitle is to dignafied to say anything,

"Then why won't you throw out this man when he comes to you for Work? He intends to force you to employ

"Oh, he does, does he?" said father, in a feirce voice. "Well, let him come. I can stand up for my Principals,

Dear Dairy, the battle is over and I have won. I am very happy. How true it is that strategy will do more than

We have aranged it all. Adrian is to go to the mill, dressed like a decayed Gentleman, and father will refuse to

give him work. I have said nothing about violance, leaving that to arange itself.

I must see Adrian and his manager. Carter has promised to tell some reporters that there may be a story at the

JANUARY 25TH. Beresford was here to lunch and he and mother and Sis had a long talk. He says he has

kept it a secret because he did not want his Busness known. But he is here to place a shell order for the

"No, no," said Beresford, hastily. "Realy you must allow me I must inform him myself. I am sure you can see

why. This is a thing for men to settle. Besides, it is a delacate matter. Mr. Archibald is trying to get the Order,

"Well!" said Leila, in a thunderstruck tone. "If you British don't beat anything for keeping your own

Jane came to see me after lunch. The wedding was that night, and I had to sit through silver vegatable dishes,

and afterdinner coffee sets and plates and a grand piano and a set of gold vazes and a cabushon saphire and

the bridesmaid's clothes and the wedding supper and heaven knows what. But at last she said:

"Look at me!" I said, in imperious tones. "Do I look like one who would give him up, because of Familey

"How brave you are!" she observed. "Bab, I am green with envy. When I think of the way he looked at you,

and the tones of his voice when he made love to thatthat creature, I am posatively SHAKEN."

"In the park. He was with the woman that plays the Adventuress. Ugly old thing."

I drew a long breath of relief. For I knew that the Adventuress was at least thirty and perhaps more. Besides

Hannah brought the icewater and then came in the most madening way and put her hand on my Forehead.

"I've done nothing but bring you icewater for to days," she said. "Your head's hot. I think you need a

"Hannah," Jane said, in her loftyest fashion, "Miss Barbara is woried, not ill. And please close the door when

"If you take my advice, Miss Jane," she said. "You'll keep away from Miss Barbara."

"Well!" gasped Jane. "Such impertanence. Old servant or not, she ought to have her mouth slaped."

Well, I told Jane the plan and she was perfectly crazy about it. I had a headache, but she helped me into my

street things, and got Sis's rose hat for me while Sis was at the telephone. Then we went out.

First we telephoned Carter Brooks, and he said tomorrow morning would do, and he'd give a couple of

reporters the word to hang around father's office at the mill. He said to have Adrian there at ten o'clock.

"Are you sure your father will do it?" he asked. "We don't want a flivver, you know."

"He's making a principal of it," I said. "When he makes a principal of a thing, he does it."

"Good for father!" Carter said. "Tell him not to be to gentle. And tell your Actorfriend to make a lot of fuss.

The more the better. I'll see the Policeman at the mill, and he'll probably take him up. But we'll get him out

It was then that a terrable thought struck me. What if Adrian considered it beneath his profession to advertize,

even if indirectly? What if he prefered the failure of Miss Everett's couzin's play to a bruize on the eye?

Dear Dairy, I was stupafied. I knew not which way to turn. For Men are not like Women, who are dependible

and anxious to get along, and will sacrifise anything for Success. No, men are likely to turn on the ones they

love best, if the smallest Things do not suit them, such as cold soup, or sleaves to long from the shirtmaker,

"My head aches," I said, with a weary gesture toward my forehead. It did ache, for that matter. It is acheing

However, I had begun my task and must go through with it. Abandoning Jane at a corner, in spite of her

calling me cruel and even sneeking, I went to Adrian's hotel, which I had learned of during my SEANCE in

his room while he was changing his garments behind a screan, as it was marked on a dressing case.

How nervous I felt as I sent up my name to his chamber. Oh, dear Dairy, to think that it was but five hours

ago that I sat and waited, while people who guessed not the inner trepadation of my heart past and repast, and

At last he came. My heart beat thunderously, as he aproached, strideing along in that familiar walk, swinging

his strong and tender arms. And I! I beheld him coming and could think of not a word to say.

"Well!" he said, pausing in front of me. "I knew I was going to be lucky today. Friday is my best day."

"Didn't I say it was my lucky day? But you mustn't sit here. What do you say to a cup of tea in the restarant?"

How grown up and like a DEBUTANTE I felt, dear Dairy, going to have tea as if I had it every day at

School, with a handsome actor across! Although somwhat uneasy also, owing to the posibility of the Familey

coming in. But it did not and I had a truly happy hour, not at all spoiled by looking out the window and

seeing Jane going by, with her eyes popping out, and walking very slowly so I would invite her to come in.

Dear Dairy, HE WILL DO IT. At first he did not understand, and looked astounded. But when I told him of

Carter being in the advertizing busness, and father owning a large mill, and that there would be reporters and

"It's realy incredably clever," he said. "And if it's pulled off right it ought to be a Stampede. But I'd like to see

Mr. Brooks. We can't have it fail, you know." He leaned over the table. "It's straight goods, is it, Miss

And just then I looked up, and the Adventuress was staring in the door at me with the MEANEST look on her

I draw a Veil over the remainder of our happy hour. Suffice it to say that he considers me exactly the tipe he

finds most atractive, and that he does not consider my noze to short. We had a long dispute about this. He

thinks I am wrong and says I am not an acquiline tipe. He says I am romantic and of a loving disposition.

Also somwhat reckless, and he gave me good advice about doing what my Familey consider for my good, at

But our talk was all to short, for a fat man with three rings on came in, and sat down with us, and ordered a

whiskey and soda. My blood turned cold, for fear some one I knew would come in and see me sitting there in

And my blood was right to turn cold. For, just as he had told the manager about the arangement I had made,

and the manager said "Bully" and raised his glass to drink to me I looked across and there was mother's aunt,

Dear Dairy, I only remember saying, "Well, remember, ten o'clock. And dress up like a Gentleman in hard

luck," and his saying: "Well, I hope I'm a Gentleman, and the hard luck's no joke," and then I went away.

And now, dear Dairy, I am in bed, and every time the telephone rings I have a chill. And in between times I

LATER: I can hardly write. Switzerland is a settled thing. Father is not home tonight and I cannot apeal to

him. Susan Paget said I was drinking to, and mother is having the vibrater used on her spine. If I felt better I

Beresford went at ten o'clock to ask for Leila, and did not send in his card for fear father would refuse to see

him. And father thought, from his saying that he had come to ask for somthing, and so on, that it was Adrian,

and threw him out. He ordered him out first, and Beresford refused to go, and they had words, and then there

was a fight. The Reporters got it, and it is in all the papers. Hannah has just brought one in. It is headed

LATER: Adrian has disapeared. The manager has just called up, and with shaking knees I went to the

telephone. Adrian went to the mill a little after ten, and has not been seen since.

It is in vain I protest that he has not eloped with me. It is almost time now for the Matinee and no Adrian.

SATURDAY, 11 P.M. Dear Dairy, I have the meazles. I am all broken out, and look horible. But what is a

sickness of the Body compared to the agony of my Mind? Oh, dear Dairy, to think of what has happened

What is a sickness to a broken heart? And to a heart broken while trying to help another who did not deserve

to be helped. But if he decieved me, he has paid for it, and did until he was rescued at ten o'clock tonight.

I have been given a sleeping medacine, and until it takes affect I shall write out the tradgedy of this day,

omiting nothing. The trained nurse is asleep on a cot, and her cap is hanging on the foot of the bed.

I have tried it on, dear Dairy, and it is very becoming. If they insist on Switzerland I think I shall run away

and be a trained nurse. It is easy work, although sleeping on a cot is not always comfortible. But at least a

trained nurse leads her own Life and is not bullyed by her Familey. And more, she does good constantly.

I feel tonight that I should like to do good, and help the sick, and perhaps go to the Front. I know a lot of

I shall never go on the stage, dear Dairy. I know now its decietfullness and visisitudes. My heart has bled

until it can bleed no more, as a result of a theatricle Adonis. I am through with the theater forever.

Although feeling very strange, and looking a queer red color in my mirror, I rose and dressed myself. I felt

that somthing had slipped, and I must find Adrian. (It is strange with what coldness I write that once beloved

While dressing I percieved that my chest and arms were covered with small red dots, but I had no time to

think of myself. I sliped downstairs and outside the drawing room I heard mother conversing in a loud and

"But I MUST see her," she was saying. "Time is flying. In a half hour the performance begins, andhe

"I can't understand," mother said, in a stiff maner. "What can my daughter Barbara know about him?"

The Adventuress snifed. "Humph!" she said. "She knows, all right. And I'd like to see her in a hurry, if she is

"ARE YOU SURE OF THAT? Because I have every reason to beleive she has run away with him. She has

been hanging around him all week, and only yesterday afternoon I found them together. She had some sort of

a Skeme, he said afterwards, and he wrinkled a coat under his mattress last night. He said it was to look as if

he had slept in it. I know nothing further of your daughter's Skeme. But I know he went out to meet her. He

"Just a moment," said mother, in a fridgid tone. "Am I to understand that thisthis Mr. Egleston is"

Ah, dear Dairy, that I might then and there have passed away. But I did not. I stood there, with my heart

crushed, until I felt strong enough to escape. Then I fled, like a Gilty Soul. It was gastly.

On the doorstep I met Jane. She gazed at me strangely when she saw my face, and then cluched me by the

"Let me go!" I said. "Only lend me two dollars for a taxi and let me go. Somthing horible has happened."

She gave me ninety cents, which was all she had, and I rushed down the street, followed by her peircing gaze.

Although realizing that my Life, at least the part of it pertaining to sentament, was over, I knew that, single or

married, I must find him. I could not bare to think that I, in my desire to help, had ruined Miss Everett's

couzin's play. Luckaly I got a taxi at the corner, and I ordered it to drive to the mill. I sank back, bathed in hot

persparation, and on consulting my bracelet watch found I had but twenty five minutes until the curtain went

I must find him, but where and how! I confess for a moment that I doubted my own father, who can be very

feirce on ocasion. What if, madened by his mistake about Beresford, he had, on being aproached by Adrian,

been driven to violance? What if, in my endeaver to help one who was unworthy, I had led my poor paternal

On driving madly into the mill yard, I sudenly remembered that it was Saturday and a half holaday. The mill

was going, but the offices were closed. Father, then, was imured in the safety of his Club, and could not be

I got out, and paid the man. I felt very dizzy and queer, and was very thirsty, so I went to the hydrent in the

yard and got a drink of water. I did not as yet suspect meazles, but laid it all to my agony of mind.

Haveing thus refreshed myself, I looked about, and saw the yard Policeman, a new one who did not know me,

as I am away at school most of the time, and the Familey is not expected to visit the mill, because of dirt and

"Officer" I said, in my most dignafied tones. "I am looking for afor a Gentleman who came here this

"There was about two hundred lined up here this morning, Miss," he said. "Which one would it be, now?"

"About what time would he be coming?" he said. "Things have been kind of mixedup around here today,

But, although Adrian is of an unusual tipe, I felt that I could not describe him, besides having a terrable

headache. So I asked if he would lend me carfare, which he did with a strange look.

"You're not feeling sick, Miss, are you?" he said. But I could not stay to converce, as it was then time for the

I had but one refuge in mind, Carter Brooks, and to him I fled on the wings of misery in the street car. I burst

"Who? Beresford?" he asked in a placid maner. "He is at his hotel, I beleive, putting beefstake on a bad eye.

"Beresford!" I cried, in scorn and wrechedness. "What is he to me? Or his eye either? I refer to Mr. Egleston.

It is time for the curtain to go up now, and unless he has by this time returned, there can be no performence."

"What does my face matter?" I demanded. "I no longer care for him, but I have ruined Miss Everett's couzin's

"Switzerland!" he said slowly. "Why, Bab, they're not going to do that, are they? II don't want you so far

Dear Dairy, I am unsuspisious by nature, beleiving all mankind to be my friends until proven otherwise. But

"Carter!" I said, "you know where he is and you will not tell me. You WISH to ruin him."

"Look here," he said. "I'll tell you somthing, but please keep back. Because you look like smallpox to me. I

was at the mill this morning. I do not know anything about your Actorfriend. He's probably only been run

over or somthing. But I saw Beresford going in, and Iwell, I sugested that he'd better walk in on your

father or he wouldn't get in. It worked, Bab. HOW IT DID WORK! He went in and said he had come to ask

your father for somthing, and your father blew up by saying that he knew about it, but that the world only

owed a living to the man who would hustle for it, and that he would not be forced to take any one he did not

"And in to minutes Beresford hit him, and got a responce. It was a Million dollars worth."

Dear Dairy, I gave no thought to the smallpox he had mentioned, although fatle to the complexion. Or to the

fight at the mill. I heard only Adrian's possable tradgic fate. Sudenly I colapsed, and asked for a drink of

And the next thing I remember is father taking me home, and Adrian's fate still a deep mystery, and

remaining such, while I had a warm sponge to bring out the rest of the rash, folowed by a sleepit being

Oh, dear Dairy, what a story I learned when haveing wakened and feeling better, my father came tonight and

Adrian had gone to the mill, and father, haveing thrown Beresford out and asserted his principals, had not

thrown him out, BUT HAD GIVEN HIM A JOB IN THE MILL. And the Policeman had given him no

chance to escape, which he atempted. He was dragged to the shell plant and there locked in, because of spies.

Even when Carter found him he could not be releaced, as father was in hiding from Reporters, and would not

HE LABORED UNTIL TEN P. M., while the theater remained dark, and people got their money back.

The nurse is still asleep. I think I will enter a hospitle. My career is ended, my Life is blasted.

I reach under the mattress and draw out the picture of him who today I have ruined, compeling him to do

manual labor for hours, although unacustomed to it. He is a great actor, and I beleive has a future. But my

love for him is dead. Dear Dairy, he decieved me, and that is one thing I cannot forgive.

So now I sit here among my pillows, while the nurse sleeps, and I reflect about many Things. But one speach

Carter Brooks, on learning about Switzerland, said it in a strange maner, looking at me with inscrutible eyes.

Dear Dairy, you will have to be burned, I darsay. Perhaps it is as well. I have p o r e d out my

I do not know who said the above famous words, but they are true. I know it but to well. For had I never gone

on an Allowence, and been in debt and always worried about the way silk stockings wear out, et cetera, I

would be having a much better time. For who can realy enjoy a dress when it is not paid for or only partialy

I have decided to write out this story, which is true in every particuler, except here and there the exact words

of conversation, and then sell it to a Magazine. I intend to do this for to reasons. First, because I am in Debt,

especialy for to tires, and second, because parents will then read it, and learn that it is not possable to make a

good appearence, including furs, theater tickets and underwear, for a Thousand Dollars a year, even if one

wears plain uncouth things beneath. I think this, too. My mother does not know how much clothes and other

things, such as manacuring, cost these days. She merely charges things and my father gets the bills. Nor do I

consider it fair to expect me to atend Social Functions and present a good appearence on a small Allowence,

when I would often prefer a simple game of tennis or to lie in a hammick, or to converce with some one I am

It was mother who said a Thousand dollars a year and no extras. But I must confess that to me, after ten

dollars a month at school, it seemed a large sum. I had but just returned for the summer holadays, and the

Familey was having a counsel about me. They always have a counsel when I come home, and mother makes

"I should make it a Thousand," she said to father. "The chiid is in shameful condition. She is never still, and

"Very well," said father, and got his Check Book. "That is $83.33 1/3 cents a month. Make it thirty four

"All included," said father. "And Church collection also, and ice cream and taxicabs and Xmas gifts."

Although pretending to consider it small, I realy felt that it was a large amount, and I was filled with joy

when father ordered a Check Book for me with my name on each Check. Ah, me! How happy I was!

I was two months younger then and possably childish in some ways. For I remember that in my exhiliration I

called up Jane Raleigh the moment she got home. She came over, and I showed her the book.

We then went out and took a walk, and I treated her to a Facial Masage, having one myself at the same time,

"It's Heavenley, Bab," Jane observed to me, through a hot towle. "If I were you I should have one daily.

We also had manacures, and as the young person was very nice, I gave her a dollar. As I remarked to Jane, it

had taken all the lines out of my face, due to the Spring Term and examinations. And as I put on my hat, I

could see that it had done somthing else. For the first time my face showed Character. I looked mature, if not,

I paid by a Check, although they did not care about taking it, prefering cash. But on calling up the Bank

I had, as I have stated, just returned from my Institution of Learning, and now, as Jane and I proceded to a tea

place I had often viewed with hungry eyes but no money to spend, it being expencive, I suddenly said:

"Jane, do you ever think how ungrateful we are to those who cherish us through the school year and who,

"Cherish us!" said Jane. "I haven't noticed any cherishing. They tolarate me, and hardly that."

"I fear you are pessamistic," I said, reproving her but mildly, for Jane's school is well known to be harsh and

uncompromizing. "However, my own feelings to my Instructers are diferent and quite friendly, especialy at a

It was rather awful, however, after I had got inside the shop, to find that violets, which I had set my heart on

as being the school flour, were five dollars a hundred. Also there were more teachers than I had considered,

"Jane!" I said, in desparation. "Eight without the housekeeper! And she must be remembered because if not

she will be most unpleasant next fall, and swipe my chaffing dish. Forty five dollars is a lot of Money."

"You only have to do it once," said Jane, who could aford to be calm, as it was costing her nothing.

However, I sent the violets aud paid with a check. I felt better by subtracting the amount from one thousand. I

This is not a finantial story, although turning on Money. I do not wish to be considered as thinking only of

Wealth. Indeed, I have always considered that where my heart was in question I would always decide for

Love and penury rather than a Castle and greed. In this I differ from my sister Leila, who says that under no

circumstanses would she ever inspect a refrigerater to see if the cook was wasting anything.

I was not worried about the violets, as I consider Money spent as but water over a damn, and no use worrying

I can read Jane's inmost thoughts, and I read them then. She considered that I had cold feet financially,

However, I need not have worried, for we met Tommy Gray in the tea shop, and he paid for everything.

I pause here to reflect. How strange to look back, and think of all that has since hapened, and that I then

considered that Tommy Gray was interested in Jane and never gave me a thought. Also that I considered that

the look he gave me now and then was but a friendly glanse! Is it not strange that Romanse comes thus into

our lives, through the medium of a teacup, or an eclair, unheralded and unsung, yet leaving us never the

Even when Tommy bought us candy and carried mine under his arm while leaving Jane to get her own from

the counter, I suspected nothing. But when he said to me, "Gee, Bab, you're geting to be a regular Person,"

Also, on walking up the Avenue, he certainly walked nearer me than Jane. I beleive she felt it, to, for she

made a sharp speach or to about his Youth, and what he meant to do when he got big. And he replied by

saying that she was big enough allready, which hurt because Jane is plump and will eat starches anyhow.

Tommy Gray had improved a great deal since Xmas. He had at that time apeared to long for his head. I said

"Well, his head is big enough now," she said in a snapish maner. "It isn't very long, Bab, since you

"He is twenty," I asserted, being one to stand up for my friends under any and all circumstanses.

Our discourse was interupted by the object of it, who requested an opinion on the ties. He ignored Jane

We went in, and I purchaced a handsome tie for father, considering it but right thus to show my apreciation of

It was seventy five cents, and I made out a check for the amount and took the tie with me. We left Jane soon

after, as she insisted on adressing Tommy as dear child, or "MON ENFANT," and strolled on together,

oblivious to the World, by the World forgot. Our conversation was largely about ourselves, Tommv

maintaining that I gave an impression of fridgidity, and that all the College men considered me so.

"Better fridgidity," I retorted, "than softness. But I am sincere. I stick to my friends through thick and thin."

Here he observed that my Chin was romantic, but that my Ears were stingy, being small and close to my

head. This irratated me, although glad they are small. So I bought him a gardenia to wear from a flourseller,

"You know what that means, don't you, Bab?" he said, in a low and thriling tone. "It means, if you wear it,

"Not exclusively, Tom," I said, in a firm tone. "We are both young, and know little of Life. Some time, but

"I'll bet you have a couple of dozen Frat pins lying around, Bab," he said savigely. "You're that sort. All the

"Perhaps," I observed, in my most dignafied maner. "But no one has ever tried to bully me before. I may be

I then walked up the steps and into my home, leaving him on the pavment. It was cruel, but I felt that it was

But I was troubled and DISTRAIT during dinner, which consisted of mutton and custard, which have no

appeal for me owing to having them to often at school. For I had, although not telling an untruth, allowed

Still, I reflected, why not? Is it not the only way a woman can do when in conflict with the Other Sex, to meet

Wile with Gile? In other words, to use her intellagence against brute force? I fear so.

"I hope you bought some stockings and underclothes," she observed. "Hannah cannot mend your chemises

"Mother!" I said, turning scarlet, for Georgewho was the Butler, as Tanney had been found kissing

"I am not going to interfere with your Allowence," she went on. "But I recall very distinctly that during

Leila's first year she came home with three evening wraps and one nightgown, having to borrow from one of

her schoolmates, while that was being washed. I feel that you should at least be warned."

How could I then state that instead of bying nightgowns, et cetera, I had been sending violets? I could not. If

Life to my Familey was a matter of petticoats, and to me was a matter of fragrant flours, why cause them to

That evening, while mother and Leila were out at a Festivaty, I gave father his necktie. He was overcome

I explained my reasons for buying it for him, and also Tom Gray's objecting to it as to juvenile.

"Young impudense!" said father, refering to Tom. "I darsay I am quite an old fellow to him. Tie it for me,

"Though old of body, you are young in mentalaty," I said. But he only laughed, and then asked about the pin,

I told him, but not quite all. It was the first time I had concealed an AMOUR from my parents, having indeed

had but few, and I felt wicked and clandestine. But, alas, it is the way of the heart to conceal its deepest

"What has come at last?" I asked, but feeling that he meant Love. For although fortytwo and not what he

But he refused to anser, and inquired politely if I felt to much grownup, with the Allowence and so on, to be

That night I stood at the window of my Chamber and gazed with a heaving heart at the Gray residense, which

is next door. Often before I had gazed at its walls, and considered them but brick and morter, and needing

paint. Now my emotions were diferent. I realized that a House is but a shell, covering and protecting its

As I stood there, I percieved a light in an upper window, where the nursery had once been in which Tomin

those days when a child, Tommyand I had played as children, he frequently pulling my hair and never

thinking of what was to be. As I gazed, I saw a figure come to the window and gaze fixedly at me. IT WAS

Hannah was in my room, making a list of six of everything which I needed, so I dared not call out. But we

exchanged gestures of afection and trust across the void, and with a beating heart I retired to bed.

Before I slept, however, I put to myself this question, but found no anser to it. How can it be that two people

of Diferent Sexes can know each other well, such as calling by first names and dancing together at dancing

school, and going to the same dentist, and so on, and have no interest in each other except to have a partner at

parties or make up a set at tennis? And then nothing happens, but there is a diference, and they are always

hoping to meet on the street or elsewhere, and although quareling sometimes when together, are not happy

Hannah staid in my room that evening, fussing about my not hanging up my garments when undressing. As

she has lived with us for a long time, and used to take me for walks when Mademoiselle had the toothache,

which was often, because she hated to walk, she knows most of the Familey affairs, and is sometimes a

So, while I said my prayers, she looked in my Check Book. I was furious, and snached it from her, but she

"Humph!" she said. "Well, all I've got to say is this, Miss Bab. You'll last just twenty days at the rate you are

At this indelacate speach I ordered her out of the room, but she only tucked the covers in and asked me if I

"You know," she said, "that you'll be coming to me for money when you run out, Miss Bab, as you've always

done, and expecting me to patch and mend and make over your old things, when I've got my hands full

"Now you're going to be a good girl this Summer and not give any trouble, aren't you?" she asked. "Because

we're upset enough as it is, and your poor mother most distracted, without you're cutting loose as usual and

I sat up in bed, forgetful that the window was now open for the night, and that I was visable from the Gray's

Alas, Hannah was right. There was something wrong in the house. Coming home as I had done, full of the

joy of no rising bell or French grammar, or meat pie on Mondays from Sunday's roast, I had noticed nothing.

I fear I am one who lives for the Day only, and as such I beleive that when people smile they are happy,

forgetfull that to often a smile conceals an aching and tempestuous Void within.

Now I was to learn that the demon Strife had entered my domacile, there to make hisor herhome. I do

There was Strife in the house. The first way I noticed it, aside from Hannah's anonamous remark, was by

observing that Leila was mopeing. She acted very strangely, giving me a pair of pink hoze without more than

a hint on my part, and not sending me out of the room when Carter Brooks came in to tea the next day.

I had staid at home, fearing that if I went out I should purchace some CREPE DE CHENE combinations I had

been craving in a window, and besides thinking it possable that Tom would drop in to renew our relations of

Mother having gone out to the Country Club, I put my hair on top of my head, thus looking as adult as

possable. Taking a new detective story of Jane's under my arm, I descended the staircase to the library.

Sis was there, curled up in a chair, knitting for the soldiers. Having forgoten the Ball Game, as I have stated, I

asked her, in case I had a caller, to go away, which, considering she has the house to herself all winter, I

"I am young," I observed, "and still in the school room, Leila. I admit it, so don't argue. But as I have not

taken the veil, and as this is not a Penitentary, I darsav I can see my friends now and anon, especialy when

This remark being purely spiteful, I ignored it and sat down to my book, which concerned the stealing of

some famous Emerelds, the heroine being a girl detective who could shoot the cork out of a bottle at a great

I had reached the place where the Duchess wore the Emerelds to a ball, above white satin and lillies, the girl

detective being dressed as a man and driving her there, because the Duchess had been warned and hautily

I do not mind being picked on by my parents or teachers, knowing it is for my own good. But I draw the line

"Knit! If that's the scarf you were on at Christmas, and it looks like it, because there's the crooked place you

wouldn't fix, let me tell you that since then I have made three socks, heals and all, and they are probably now

I would fane have returned to my book, dreaming between lines, as it were, of the Romanse which had come

into my life the day before. It is, I have learned, much more interesting to read a book when one has, or is,

experiencing the Tender Passion at the time. For during the love seens one can then fancy that the impasioned

speaches are being made to oneself, by the object of one's afection. In short, one becomes, even if but a time,

"Bab," Sis said, in a more mild and fraternal tone, "I want you to do somthing for me."

"I don't want you to get anything. I want you to go to father and mother for somthing."

Although not suspicous by nature, I now looked at her and saw why I had recieved the pink hoze. It was not

"It's this," she explained. "The house we had last year at the seashore is emty and we can have it. But mother

won't go. Shewell, she won't go. They're going to open the country house and stay there."

A few days previously this would have been sad news for me, owing to not being allowed to go to the

Country Club except in the mornings, and no chance to meet any new people, and no bathing save in the

usual tub. But now I thriled at the information, because the Grays have a place near the Club also.

For a moment I closed my eyes and saw myself, all in white and decked with flours, wandering through the

meadows and on the links with a certain Person whose name I need not write, having allready related my

I am older now by some weeks, older and sader and wiser. For Tradgedy has crept into my life, so that

somtimes I wonder if it is worth while to live on and suffer, especialy without an Allowence, and being again

But I am being brave. And, as Carter Brooks wrote me in a recent letter, acompanying a box of candy:

"After all, Bab, you did your durndest. And if they do not understand, I do, and I'm proud of you. As for

being `blited,' as per your note to me, remember that I am, also. Why not be blited together?"

This latter, of course, is not serious, as he is eight years older than I, and even fills in at middleaged Dinners,

Sis's remarks were interupted by the clamor of the door bell. I placed a shaking hand over the Frat pin,

Now there had been a time when to have Carter Brooks sit beside me, as now, and treat me as fully out in

Society, would have thriled me to the core. But that day had gone. I realized that he was not only to old, but

to flirtatous. He was one who would not look on a woman's Love as precious, but as a plaything.

"Tell me, Barbara," he said to me beseachingly, "am I as hard to look at as all that?"

He said we were not as agreable as we might be, so he picked up a magazine and looked at the Automobile

"I can't aford a car," he said. "Don't listen to me, either of you. I'm only talking to myself. But I like to read

the ads. Hello, here's a snappy one for five hundred and fifty. Let me see. If I gave up a couple of Clubs, and

smokeing, and flours to DEBUTANTESexcept Barbara, because I intend to buy every pozy in town when

Now the reason I had asked for it was this: in the book the Girl Detective had a small but powerful car, and

she could do anything with it, even going up the Court House steps once in it and interupting a trial at the

But I did not, at that time, expect to more than wish for such a vehical. How pleasant, my heart said, to have a

car holding to, and since there was to be no bathing, et cetera, and I was not allowed a horse in the country,

except my old pony and the basket faeton, to ramble through the lanes with a choice Spirit, and talk about

Five hundred and fifty from nine hundred and fortyfive leaves three hundred and fortyfive. But I need few

garments at school, wearing mostly unaforms of blue serge with one party frock for Friday nights and

receptions to Lecturers and Members of the Board. And besides, to own a machine would mean less carfare

"Jane," I said, "I want your advise. And be honest, because it's a serious matter."

How could I know, as revealed later, that Jane had gone on a Diet since yesterday, owing to a certain remark,

and had had nothing but an apple all day? I could not. I therfore stared at her steadily and observed:

However, she had seen some caromels on my table, and suddenly burst into emotion. I was worried, not

knowing the trouble and fearing that Jane was in love with Tom. It was a terrable thought, for which should I

do? Hold on to him and let her suffer, or remember our long years of intimacy and give him up to her?

However, I was not called upon to renunciate anything. In the midst of my dispair Jane asked for a Sandwitch

and thus releived my mind. I got her some cake and a bottle of cream from the pantrey and she became more

normle. She swore she had never cared for Tom, he being not her style, as she had never loved any one who

"Nothing else matters, Bab," she said, holding out the Sandwitch in a dramatic way. "I see but his eyes. If

"There is somthing feirce about black eyes," she said, finishing the cream. "I feel this way. One cannot tell

what black eyes are thinking. They are a mystery, and as such they atract me. Almost all murderers have

"They mean passion," she muzed. "They are STRONG eyes. Did you ever see a blackeyed man with

I saw that she wished details, but I am not that sort. I am not the kind to repeat what has been said to me in

the emotion of Love. I am one to bury sentament deep in my heart, and have therfore the reputation of being

cold and indiferent. But better that than having the Male Sex afraid to tell me how I effect them for fear of it

"Of course it cannot be soon, if at all," I said. "He has three more years of College, and as you know, here

That reminded me of the reason for my having sought the privasy of my Chamber. I said:

"Jane, I am thinking of buying an automobile. Not a Limousine, but somthing styleish and fast. I must have

"They know but little, although what they suspectJane," I said, my bitterness bursting out, "what am I

now? Nothing. A prisoner, or the equivalent of such, forbiden everything because I am to young! My Soul

hampered by being taken to the country where there is nothing to do, given a pony cart, although but 2O

months younger than Leila, and not going to come out until she is married, or permanently engaged."

"How do I know? They keep me away at School all year. I am but a stranger here, although I try hard to be

"Because we might help along, if there is anyone. To get her married is your only hope, Bab. They're afraid

of you. That's all. You're the tipe to atract Men, except your noze, and you could help that by pulling it. My

I looked in my mirror and sighed. I have always desired an aristocratic noze, but a noze cannot be altered like

"I have tried a shell hair pin at night, but it falls off when I go to sleep," I said, in a despondant manner.

We sat for some time, eating caromels and thinking about Leila, because there was nothing to do with my

"Although," Jane said, "you will never be able to live your own Life until she is gone, Bab."

"There is Carter Brooks," I suggested. "But he is poor. And anyhow she is not in Love with him."

We thought and thought, but of course it was hard, for we knew none of those who filled my sister's life, or

"There must be a way, Jane. THERE MUST BE. And if not, I shall make one. For I am desparate. The mere

thought of going back to school, when I am as old as at present and engaged also, is madening."

"Go slow, dearie," she said, in a solemn tone. "Do nothing rash. Remember this, that she is your sister, and

should be hapily married if at all. Also she needs one with a strong hand to control her. And such are not easy

Considering the fatal truth of that, is it any wonder that, on contemplateing the events that folowed, I am

ready to cry, with the great poet Hood: 18351874: whose numerous works we studied during the spring

Alas, I have walked through life To heedless where I trod; Nay, helping to trampel my fellow worm, And fill

If I were to write down all the surging thoughts that filled my brain this would have to be a Novel instead of a

Short Story. And I am not one who beleives in beginning the life of Letters with a long work. I think one

should start with breif Romanse. For is not Romanse itself but breif, the thing of an hour, at least to the Other

Women and girls, having no interest outside their hearts, such as baseball and hockey and earning saleries,

are more likely to hug Romanse to their breasts, until it is finaly drowned in their tears.

I pass over the next few days, therfore, mearly stating that my AFFAIRE DE COUER went on rapidly, and

that Leila was sulkey AND HAD NO MALE VISITORS. On the day after the Ball Game Tom took me for a

walk, and in a corner of the park, he took my hand and held it for quite a while. He said he had never been a

handholder, but he guessed it was time to begin. Also he remarked that my noze need not worry me, as it

"I do not care about being cute, Tom," I said ernestly. "It is a word I despize."

But a nurse with a baby in a perambulater came along just then and nothing happened worth recording. As

soon as she had passed, however, I mentioned that kissing was all right if one was engaged, but not

Although understood before, it had now come in full force. I, who had been but Barbara Archibald before,

was now engaged. Could it be I who heard my voice saying, in a low tone, the "yes" of Destiny? It was!

We then went to the corner drugstore and had some soda, although forbiden by my Familey because of city

water being used. How strange to me to recall that I had once thought the Clerk nicelooking, and had even

purchaced things there, such as soap and chocolate, in order to speak a few words to him!

I was engaged, dear Reader, but not yet kissed. Tom came into our vestabule with me, and would doubtless

However, what difference, when we had all the rest of our Lives to kiss in? Or so I then considered.

Carter Brooks came to dinner that night because his people were out of town, and I think he noticed that I

"Bab, you're not eating. Is it possable that that boarding school hollow of yours is filling up?"

One's Familey is apt to translate one's finest Emotions into terms of food and drink. Yet could I say that it

During dinner I looked at Leila and wondered how she could be married off. For until so I would continue to

be but a Child, and not allowed to be engaged or anything. I thought if she would eat some starches it would

help, she being pretty but thin. I therfore urged her to eat potatos and so on, because of evening dress and

"Eat your dinner," she said in an unfraternal maner, "and stop watching me. They're MY bones."

"I have no intention of being criticle," I said. "And they are vour bones, although not a matter to brag about.

But I was only thinking, if you were fater and had a permanant wave put in your hair, because one of the girls

"Mother!" she said. "Am I to stand this sort of thing indefinately? Because if I am I shall go to France and

Well, I reflected, that would be almost as good as having her get married. Besides being a good chance to

marry over there, the unaform being becoming to most, especialy of Leila's tipe.

That night, in the drawing room, while Sis sulked and father was out and mother was ofering the cook more

"I'd like to know what's running about in that mad head of yours, Bab," he said. "Of course if you say so I'll

try, but don't count to much on it. I don't beleive she'll have me. But why this unseemly haste?"

So I told him, and he understood perfectly, although I did not say that I had already plited my troth.

"Of course," he said. "If that fails there is another method of aranging things, although you may not care to

have the Funeral Baked Meats set fourth to grace the Marriage Table. If she refuses me, we might become

I was obliged therfore to tell him I was already engaged, and he looked very queer, especialy when I told him

"Pup!" he said, in a manner which I excused because of his natural feelings at being preceded. "And of course

"I am not one to change easily, Carter" I said. "When I give I give freely. A thing like this, with me, is to

He went away soon after, and left Sis and me to sit alone, not speaking, because when she is angry she will

not speak to me for days at a time. But I found a Magazine picture of a Duchess in a nurse's dress and

"There's a sail on down town, Bab," she said. "Don't you want to begin laying away underclothes for your

I have no wish to reflect on Jane in this story. She meant well. But she knew I had decided to buy an

automobile, saying nothing to the Familey until to late, when I had learned to drive it and it could not be

Now, if I have a weakness, it is for fine under things, with ribbon of a pale pink and everything maching.

Although I spent but fiftyeight dollars and sixtyfive cents on the TROUSEAU that day, I felt uneasy,

especialy as, just afterwards, I saw in a window a costume for a woman CHAUFFEUR, belted lether coat and

I gave a check for it also, and on going home hid my Check Book, as Hannah was always snooping around

and watching how much I spent. But luckaly we were packing for the country, and she did not find it.

During that evening I reflected about marrying Leila off, as the Familey was having a dinner and I was sent a

tray to my Chamber, consisting of scrambeled eggs, baked potatos and junket, which considering that I was

I decided this: that Leila was my sister and therfore bound to me by ties of Blood and Relationship. She must

not be married to anyone, therfore, whom she did not love or at least respect. I would not doom her to be

Now I have a qualaty which is well known at school, and frequently used to obtain holadays and so on. It

may be Magnatism, it may be Will. I have a very strong Will, having as a child had a way of lying on the

floor and kicking my feet if thwarted. In school, by fixing my eyes ridgidly on the teacher, I have been able to

I now made up my mind to use this Will, or Magnatism, on Leila, she being unsuspicious at the time and

Being still awake when the Familey came upstairs, I went into her room and experamented while she was

"Well?" she said at last. "You needn't stare like that. I can't do my hair this way without a Swich."

"It doesn't greatly concern me," she replied, wraping her hair around a kid curler, "but I darsay I know what it

was. It's written all over you in letters a foot high. You'd like me to get married and out of the way."

I was exultent yet terrafied at this result of my Experament. Already! I said to my wildly beating heart. And if

On returning to my Chamber I spent a pleasant hour planing my maidofhonor gown, which I considered

"In case of festivaty in the Familey, such as a Wedding, is my Allowence to cover clothes and so on for it?"

He put down his paper and searched me with a peircing glanse. Although pleasant after ten A. M. he is not

realy paternal in the early morning, and when Mademoiselle was still with us was quite hateful to her at

times, asking her to be good enough not to jabber French at him untill evening when he felt stronger.

"I intend to have to Daughters," he said, "for some time to come. And while we're on the subject, Bab, I've

got somthing to say to you. Don't let that romantic head of yours get filled up with Sweethearts, because you

are still a little girl, with all your airs. If I find any boys mooning around here, I'llI'll shoot them."

Ye gods! How intracate my life was becoming! I engaged and my masculine parent convercing in this

homacidal manner! I withdrew to my room and there, when Jane Raleigh came later, told her the terrable

"Only one thing is to be done, Jane," I said, my voice shaking. "Tom must be warned."

"Who knows, Jane," I observed, in a forlorn manner, "but that the telephone is watched? They must suspect.

Jane was indeed a FIDUS A CHATES. She went out to the drug store and telephoned to Tom, being careful

not to mention my name, because of the clerk at the soda fountain listening, saying merely to keep away from

a Certain Person for a time as it was dangerous. She then merely mentioned the word "revolver" as meaning

nothing to the clerk but a great deal to Tom. She also aranged a meeting in the Park at 3 P. M. as being the

hour when father signed his mail before going to his Club to play bridge untill dinner.

Our meeting was a sad one. How could it be otherwise, when to loving Hearts are forbiden to beat as one, or

"There's the Peters's nurse, and she's the worst talker you ever heard of." And so on.

At one time Tom would have been allowed to take out their Roadster, but unfortunately he had been forbiden

to do so, owing to having upset it while taking his Grandmother Gray for an airing, and was not to drive

"Won't your people let you take out a car?" he asked. "Every girl ought to know how to drive, in case of war

"or taking a Grandmother for an airing!" I said coldly. Because I did not care to be criticized when

However, after we had parted with mutual Protestations, I felt the desire that every engaged person of the

Femanine Sex always feels, to apear perfect to the one she is engaged to. I therfore considered whether to ask

Smith to teach me to drive one of our cars or to purchace one of my own, and be responsable to no one if

On the next day Jane and I looked at automobiles, starting with ones I could not aford so as to clear the air, as

Jane said. At last we found one I could aford. Also its lining matched my costume, being tan. It was but six

hundred dollars, having been more but turned in by a lady after three hundred miles because she was of the

kind that never learns to drive but loses its head during an emergency and forgets how to stop, even though a

The Salesman said that he could tell at a glanse that I was not that sort, being calm in danger and not likly to

Jane and I consulted, for buying a car is a serious matter and not to be done lightly, especialy when one has

not consulted one's Familey and knows not where to keep the car when purchaced. It is not like a dog, which

I have once or twice kept in a clandestine manner in the Garage, because of flees in the house.

"The trouble is," Jane said, "that if you don't take it some one will, and you will have to get one that costs

Ah, would that some power had whispered in my ear "No. By purchacing the above car you are endangering

But no sign came. No warning hand was outstretched to put my Check Book back in my pocket book. I wrote

How weak is human nature! It is terrable to remember the rapture of that moment, and compare it with my

condition now, with no Allowence, with my faith gone and my heart in fragments. And with, alas, another

As we were going to the country in but a few days, I aranged to leave my new Possesion, merely learning to

"Dearest," Jane said as we left. "I am thriled to the depths. The way you do things is wonderfull. You have no

fear, none whatever. With your father's Revenge hanging over you, and to secrets, you are calm. Perfectly

"I fear I am reckless, Jane," I said, wistfully. "I am not brave. I am reckless, and also desparate."

"You poor darling!" she said, in a broken voice. "When I think of all you are suffering, and then see your

We then went in and had some ice cream soda, which I paid for, Jane having nothing but a dollar, which she

needed for a manacure. I also bought a key ring for Tom, feeling that he should have somthing of mine, a

I shall pass over lightly the following week, during which the Familey was packing for the country and all the

servants were in a bad humer. In the mornings I took lessons driving the car, which I called the Arab, from

The instructer had not heard the song, but he said it was a good name, because very likly no one else would

"It is," I replied, and gave him a steady glanse. Because, if one realy loves, it is silly to deny it.

"A Dessert may be a place, or it may be a thirsty and emty place in the Soul," I replied. "In my case it is Soul,

How few there are who realy understand! How many of us, as I, stand thirsty in the market place, holding out

a cup for a kind word or for some one who sees below the surface, and recieve nothing but indiference!

On Tuesday the Grays went to their country house, and Tom came over to say goodbye. Jane had told him

The thought of the coming seperation, although but for four days, caused me deep greif. Although engaged

for only a short time, already I felt how it feels to know that in the vicinaty is some one dearer than Life itself.

I felt I must speak to some one, so I observed to Hannah that I was most unhappy, but not to ask me why. I

"Unhappy!" she said, "with a thousand dollars a year, and naturaly curly hair! You ought to be ashamed, Miss

"I guess it's your stomache and not your Heart," she said. "With all the candy you eat. If you'd take a dose of

magnezia tonight, Miss Bab, with some orange juice to take the taste away, you'd feel better right off."

I have frequently wondered how it would feel to be going down a staircase, dressed in one's best frock, low

neck and no sleaves, to some loved one lurking below, preferably in evening clothes, although not necesarily

so. To move statuesqly and yet tenderly, apearing indiferent but inwardly seathing, while below pasionate

However, Tom had not put on evening dress, his clothes being all packed. He was taking one of father's

cigars as I entered the library, and he looked very tall and adolesent, although thin. He turned and seeing me,

When Jane Raleigh was first kissed by a member of the Other Sex, while in a hammick, she said she hated to

be kissed until he did it, and then she liked it. I at the time had considered Jane as flirtatous and as probably

not hating it at all. But now I knew she was right, for as I saw Tom coming toward me after laying fatther's

And this I must say, here and now. I do not like kissing. Even then, in that first embrase of to, I was worried

because I could smell the varnish burning on the Piano. I therfore permited but one salute on the cheek and no

"Look here," he said, in a stern manner, "are we engaged or aren't we? Because I'd like to know."

"It sounded like one," I said. "I suppose you know more than I do what is a kiss and what is not. But I'll tell

you thisthere is no use keeping our amatory affairs to ourselves and then kissing so the Butler thinks the

We then sat down, and I gave him the key ring, which he said was a dandy. I then told him about getting Sis

"You'll never have a chance as long as she's around," he observed, smoking father's cigar at intervals.

"They're afraid of you, and that's flat. It's your Eyes. That's what got me, anyhow." He blue a smoke ring and

sat back with his legs crossed. "Funny, isn't it?" he said. "Here we are, snug as weavils in a cotton

thingunagig, and only a week ago there was nothing between us but to brick walls. Hot in here, don't you

"Only a week!" I said. "Tom, I've somthing to tell you. That is the nice part of being engagedto tell things

that one would otherwise bury in one's own Bosom. I shall have no secrets from you from henceforward."

So I told him about the car and how we could drive together in it, and no one would know it was mine,

although I would tell the Familey later on, when to late to return it. He said little, but looked at me and kept

I then perceived that he was pale and hagard. I rose to my feet, and thinking it might be the cigar, I asked him

if he would care for a peice of chocolate cake to take the taste away. But to my greif he refused very

snappishly and without a Farewell slamed out of the house, leaving his hat and so forth in the hall.

A bitter night ensued. For I shall admit that terrable thoughts filled my mind, although how perpetrated I

knew not. Would those who loved me stoop to such depths as to poizon my afianced? And if so, whom?

I told Jane the next morning, but she pretended to beleive that the cigar had been to strong for him, and that I

should remember that, although very goodhearted, he was a mere child. But, if poizon, she suggested

That day, although unerved from anxiety, I took the Arab out alone, having only Jane with me. Except that

once I got into reverce instead of low geer, and broke a lamp on a Gentleman behind, I had little or no

trouble, although having one or to narrow escapes owing to putting my foot on the gas throttle instead of the

It was when being backed off the pavment by to Policemen and a man from a milk wagon, after one of the

Jane had got out to see how much milk we had spiltwe had struck the milk wagonand I was getting out

my check book, because the man was very nasty and insisted on having my name, when I first saw him. He

had stopped and was looking at the gutter, which was full of milk. Then he looked at me.

"Twenty dollars," I replied, not considering it flirting to merely reply in this manner.

"A very little spilt milk goes a long way. Five dollars is plenty for that and you know it."

I beleive I have not said that the milk man was cut in the chin by a piece of a bottle.

When it was all over, and I had given two dollars to the old woman who had been in the milk wagon and was

knocked out although only bruized, I went on, thinking no more about the Stranger, and almost running into

That afternoon I realized that I must face the state of afairs, and I added up the Checks I had made out. Ye

gods! Of all my Money there now remaind for the ensuing year but two hundred and twenty nine dollars and

I now realized that I had been extravagant, having spent so much in six days. Although I did not regard the

Arab as such, because of saving car fare and half soleing shoes. Nor the TROUSEAU, as one must have

clothing. But facial masage and manacures and candy et cetera I felt had been wastefull.

"Bab, you must get yourself some thin frocks. You have absolutely nothing. And Hannah says you have

bought nothing. After all a thousand dollars is a thousand dollars. You can have what you ought to have.

"I have not the interest in clothes I once had, mother" I replied. "If Leila will give me her old things I will use

"Bab!" mother said, with a peircing glanse, "go upstairs and bring down your Check Book."

"No, my dear. Suppose we let this thing work itself out. It is Barbara's money, and she must learn."

That night, when I was in bed and trying to divide $229.45 by 12 months, father came in and sat down on the

"There doesn't happen to be anything you want to say to me, I suppose, Bab?" he inquired in a gentle tone.

Although not a weeping person, shedding but few tears even when punished in early years, his kind tone

touched my Heart, and made me lachrymoze. Such must always be the feelings of those who decieve.

But, although bent, I was not yet broken. I therfore wept on in silence while father patted my back.

"Because," he said, "while I am willing to wait until you are ready, when things begin to get to thick I want

He kissed the back of my neck, which was all that was visable, and went to the door. From there he said, in a

"And by the way, Bab, I think, since you bought me the Tie, it would be rather nice to get your mother

Ye gods! Violets at five dollars a hundred. But I agreed. I then sat up in bed and said:

"Well," he said, "I am an old Bird and hard to decieve. A good many people think they can do it, however,

I felt softened and repentent. Had he but patted me once more, I would have told all. But he was looking for a

"Well," he said, "close up that active brain of yours for the night, Bab, and here are to `don'ts' to sleep on.

Don't break your neck inin any way. You're a reckless young Lady. And don't elope with the first moony

Others! How heartless! How cynical! Were even those I love best to worldly to understand a monogamous

When he had gone out, I rose to hide my Check Book in the crown of an old hat, away from Hannah. Then I

went to the window and glansed out. There was no moon, but the stars were there as usual, over the roof of

that emty domacile next door, whence all life had fled to the neighborhood of the Country Club.

But a strange thing caught my eye and transfixed it. There on the street, looking up at our house, now in the

first throes of sleep, was the Stranger I had seen that afternoon when I had upset the milk wagon against the

I shall now remove the Familey to the country, which is easier on paper than in the flesh, owing to having to

Sis acted very queer while we were preparing. She sat in her room and knited, and was not at home to

Callers, although there were not many owing to summer and every one away. When she would let me in,

which was not often, as she said I made her head ache, I tried to turn her thoughts to marriage or to nursing at

the War, which was for her own good, since she is of the kind who would never be happy leading a simple

But alas for all my hopes. She said, on the day before we left, while packing her jewel box:

"You might just as well give up trying to get rid of me, Barbara. Because I do not intend to marry any one."

"Very well, Leila," I said, in a cold tone. "Of course it matters not to me, because I can be kept in school

untill I am thirty, and never come out or have a good time, and no one will care. But when you are an old

woman and have not employed your natural function of having children to suport you in Age, don't say I did

"Oh, you'll come out all right," she said, in a brutal manner. "You'll come out like a sky rocket. You'd be as

Carter Brooks came around that afternoon and we played marbels in the drawing room with moth balls, as the

rug was up. It was while sitting on the floor eating some candy he had brought that I told him that there was

no use hanging around, as Leila was not going to marry. He took it bravely, and said that he saw nothing to

do but to wait for some of the younger crowd to grow up, as the older ones had all refused him.

"By the way," he said. "I thought I saw you running a car the other day. You were chasing a fox terier when I

I looked at him and I saw that, although smiling, he was one who could be trusted, even to the Grave.

"Carter," I said. "It was I, although when you saw me I know not, as dogs are always getting in the way."

I then told him about the pony cart, and the Allowence, and saving car fare. Also that I felt that I should have

some pleasure, even if SUB ROSA, as the expression is. But I told him also that I disliked decieving my dear

parents, who had raised me from infancy and through meazles, whooping cough and shingles.

"Do you mean to say," he said in an astounded voice, "that you have BOUGHT that car?"

"Well," he said, "you'll have to tell them. You can't hide it in a closet, you know, or under the bed."

My tone was firm, and he saw that I meant it, especialy when I explained that there would be nothing to do in

the country, as mother and Sis would play golf all day, and I was not allowed at the Club, and that the Devil

"But where in the name of good sense are you going to keep it?" he inquired, in a wild tone.

"I have been thinking about that," I said. "I may have to buy a portible Garage and have it set up somwhere."

"Look here," he said, "you give me a little time on this, will you? I'm not naturaly a quick thinker, and

somhow my brain won't take it all in just yet. I suppose there's no use telling you not to worry, because you

Just before he left he said: "Bab, just a word of advise for you. Pick your Husband, when the time comes,

with care. He ought to have the solidaty of an elephant and the mental agilaty of a flee. But no imagination,

The next day he telephoned and said that he had found a place for the car in the country, a shed on the

Adams' place, which was emty, as the Adams's were at Lakewood. So that was fixed.

Now my plan about the car was this: Not to go on indefanitely decieving my parents, but to learn to drive the

car as an expert. Then, when they were about to say that I could not have one as I would kill myself in the

"You wrong me. I have bought a car, and driven it fordays, and have killed no one, or injured any one

I would then disapear down the drive, returning shortly in the Arab, which, having been useddays,

Owing to having run over some broken milk bottles on the ocasion I have spoken of, I was obliged to buy a

new tire at thirtyfive dollars. I also had a bill of eleven dollars for gasoline, and a fine of ten dollars for

This took fiftysix dollars more, and left me but $183.45 for the rest of the year, $15.28 a month to dress on

and pay all expences. To add to my troubles mother suddenly became very fussy about my clothing and

insisted that I purchace a new suit, hat and so on, which cost one hundred dollars and left me on the verge of

Is it surprizing that, becoming desparate, I seized at any straw, however intangable?

I paid a man five dollars to take the Arab to the country and put it in the aforsaid shed, afterwards hiding the

key under a stone outside. But, although needing relaxation and pleasure during those sad days, I did not at

Besides, they had the Pony Cart brought every day, and I had to take it out, pretending enjoyment I could not

I at first invited Tom to drive with me in the Cart, thinking that merely to be together would be pleasure

enough. But at last I was compeled to face the truth. Although protesting devotion until death, Tom did not

care for the Cart, considering it juvenile for a college man, and also to small for his legs.

But at last he aranged a plan, which was to take the Cart as far as the shed, leave it there, and take out the car.

I am not one to cry over spilt milk. But I am one to confess when I have made a mistake. I do not beleive in

It was on going down to the shed one morning and finding a lamp gone and another tire hanging in tatters

that I learned the Truth. He who should have guarded my interests with his very Life, including finances, had

been taking the Arab out in the evenings when I was confined to the bosom of my Familey, and using up

Eightythree dollars and 45 cents less thirtyfive dollars for a tire and a bill for gasoline in the village of

eight dollars left me, for the balance of the year, but $40.45 or $3.37 a month! And still a lamp missing.

It was while sitting thus, and deciding to return the Frat pin as costing to much in gasoline and patients, that I

percieved Tom coming down the road. His hand was tied up in a bandige, and his whole apearance was of

He stood in the doorway so I could see the bandige and would be sorry for him. But I apeared not to notice

"Now look here," he went on, "I'm darned lucky to be here and not dead, young lady. And if you are going to

"They'd better not let you drive a car if they care anything about it," I said, coldly.

"That's it! Go to it! Give me the Devil, of course. Why should you care that I have a broken arm, or almost?"

"Well," I said, in a cutting manner, "broken bones mend themselves and do not have to be taken to a Garage,

where they charge by the hour and loaf most of the time. May I ask, if not to much trouble to inform me,

whom you took out in my car last night? Because I'd like to send her your pin. I'd go on wearing it, but it's to

"Oh, very well," he said. He then brought out my key ring, although unable to take the keys off because of

having but one hand. "If you're as touchy as all that, and don't care for the real story, I'm through. That's all."

I then began to feel remorceful. I am of a forgiving Nature naturaly and could not forget that but yesterday he

had been tender and loving, and had let me drive almost half the time. I therfore said:

Well, the long and short of it was that I was wrong, and should not have jumped to conclusions. Because the

Gray's house had been robbed the night before, taking all the silver and Mr. Gray's dress suit, as well as shirts

and so on, and as their CHAUFFEUR had taken one of the maids out INCOGNITO and gone over a bank,

returning at seven A. M. in a hired hack, there was no way to follow the theif. So Tom had taken my car and

would have caught him, having found Mr. Gray's trowsers on a fense, although torn, but that he ran into a tree

I was by that time mollafied and sorry I had been so angry, especialy as Tom said:

"Father ofered a hundred dollars reward for his capture, and as you have been adviseing me to save money, I

At this thought, that my FIANCEE had endangered his hand and the rest of his person in order to acquire

I therfore submitted to an embrase, and washed the car, which was covered with mud. as Tom had but one

Now and then, Dear Reader, when not to much worried with finances, I look back and recall those halycon

days when Love had its place in my life, filling it to the exclusion of even suficient food, and rendering me

Oh, magic eyes of afection, which see the beloved object as containing all the virtues, including strong

features and intellagence! Oh, dear dead Dreams, when I saw myself going down the church isle in white

What would have happened, I wonder, if father had not discharged Smith that night for carrying passengers to

the Club from the railway station in our car, charging them fifty cents each and scraching the varnish with

But it gave me the idea that ultamately ruined my dearest hopes. This was it. If Smith could get fifty cents

each for carrying passengers, why not I? I was unknown to most, having been expatriated at School for

several years. But also there were to stations, one which the summer people used, and one which was used by

I was desparate. Money I must have, whether honestly or not, for mother had bought me some more things

"Because you will not do it yourself," she said. "And I cannot have it said that we neglect you, Barbara."

With me to think is to act. I am always like that. I always, alas, feel that the thing I have thought of is right,

and there is no use arguing about it. This is well known in my Institution of Learning, where I am called

That night, my Familey being sunk in sweet slumber and untroubled by finances, I made a large card which

said: "For Hire." I had at first made it "For Higher," but saw that this was wrong and corected it. Although a

I did not, the next day, confide in my betrothed, knowing that he would object to my earning Money in any

way, unless perhaps in large amounts, such as the stock market, or, as at present, in Literature. But being one

to do as I make up my mind to, I took the car to the station, and in three hours made one dollar and a fifteen

I was now embarked on a Commercial Enterprize, and happier than for days. Although having one or to

narrow escapes, such as father getting off the train at my station instead of the other, but luckily getting a

cinder in his eye and unable to see until I drove away quickly. And one day Carter Brooks got off and found

me changing a tire and very dusty and worried, because a new tube cost five dollars and so far I had made but

He was all dressed, but very firm. So I let him and he looked terrible when finished.

"Now" he said at last, "jump in and take me somewhere near the Club. And tell me how this happened."

"I am a bankrupt, Carter," I responded in a broken tone. "I have sold my birthright for a mess of porridge."

I then got my Check Book from the tool chest, and held it out to him. Also the unpaid bills. I had but $40.45

"Everything has gone wrong," I admitted. "I love this car, but it is as much expence as a large familey and

does not get better with age, as a familey does, which grows up and works or gets married. And Leila is

"Here! Stop that, Or I" He stopped and then said: "How about the engagement, Bab? Is it a failure to?"

"We are still plited," I said. "Of course we do not agree about some things, but the time to fuss is now, I

darsay, and not when to late, with perhaps a large familey and unable to seperate."

"Well," I said, "he thinks that he ought to play around with other girls so no one will suspect, but he does not

"Bab," he said in an ernest tone, "that, in twenty words, is the whole story of all the troubles between what

you call the Sexes. The only diference between Tommy Gray and me is that I would not want to play around

with any one else ifwell, if engaged to anyone like you. And I feel a lot like looking him up and giving him

He paid me fifty cents and a quarter tip, and offered, although poor, to lend me some Money. But I refused.

"I have made my bed," I said, "and I shall occupy it, Carter. I can have no companion in misfortune."

It was that night that another house near the Club was robed, and everything taken, including groceries and a

case of champane. The Summer People got together the next day at the Club and offered a reward of two

hundred dollars, and engaged a night watchman with a motorcycle, which I considered silly, as one could

hear him coming when to miles off, and any how he spent most of the time taking the maids for rides, and

Jane spent the night with me, and being unable to sleep, owing to dieting again and having an emty stomache,

wakened me at 2 A. M. and we went to the pantrey together. When going back upstairs with some cake and

canned pairs, we heard a door close below. We both shreiked, and the Familey got up, but found no one

except Leila, who could not sleep and was out getting some air. They were very unpleasant, but as Jane

On the next afternoon, while engaged in a few words with the station hackman, who said I was taking his

trade although not needing the Moneywhich was a thing he could not possably knowwhile he had a

familey and a horse to feed, I saw the Stranger of the milk wagon, et cetera, emerge from the onethirty five.

Did I know the Place? Had I not, as a child, rolled and even turned summersalts down that hill? Was it not on

Although suspicous at once, because of no address but a pine tree, I said nothing, except merely:

"Suppose we fix it like this," he suggested. "Fifty cents for the trip and another fifty for going away at once

I had until then worn my gogles, but removing them to wipe my face, he stared, and then said:

I hesatated. To dollars was to dollars, but I have always been honest, and above reproach. But what if he was

the Theif, and now about to survey my own Home with a view to entering it clandestinely? Was I one to

However, at that moment I remembered the Reward. With that amount I could pay everything and start life

over again, and even purchace a few things I needed. For I was allready wearing my TROUSEAU, having

been unable to get any plain everyday garments, and thus frequently obliged to change a tire in a CREPE

I yeilded to the temptation. How could I know that I was sewing my own destruction?

Let us, dear reader, pass with brevaty over the next few days. Even to write them is a repugnent task, for

having set my hand to the Plow, I am not one to do things half way and then stop.

Every day the Stranger came and gave me to dollars and I took him to the back road on our place and left him

there. And every night, although weary unto death with washing the car, carrying people, changeing tires and

picking nails out of the road which the hackman put there to make trouble, I but pretended to slumber, and

instead sat up in the library and kept my terrable Vigil. For now I knew that he had dishonest designs on the

The house having been closed for a long time, there were mice everywhere, so that I sat on a table with my

I got so that I fell asleep almost anywhere but particularly at meals, and mother called in a doctor. He said I

Now I think this: if I were going to rob a house, or comit any sort of Crime, I should do it and get it over, and

not hang around for days making up my mind. Besides keeping every one tence with anxiety. It is like diving

off a diving board for the first time. The longer you stand there, the more afraid you get, and the farther

At last, feeling I could stand no more, I said this to the Stranger as he was paying me. He was so surprized

that he dropped a quarter in the road, and did not pick it up. I went back for it later but some one else had

"Oh!" he said. "And all this time I've been beleiving that youwell, no matter. So you think it's a mistake to

"I think when one has somthing Right or Wrong to do, and that's for your conscience to decide, it's easier to

"I see," he said, in a thoughtfull manner. "Well, perhaps you are right. Although I'm afraid you've been

"It doesn't matter who I am," I said, and got into the car and went away very fast, because I saw I had made a

dreadfull Slip and probably spoiled everything. It was not untill I was putting the car up for the night that I

saw I had gone off with his overcoat I hung it on a nail and getting my revolver from under a board, I went

home, feeling that I had lost two hundred dollars, and all because of Familey pride.

I have not yet explained about the revolver. I had bought it from the gardner, having promised him ten dollars

for it, although not as yet paid for. And I had meant to learn to be an expert, so that I could capture the

But owing to nervousness the first day I had, while practicing in the chicken yard, hit the Gardner in the

pocket and would have injured him severely had he not had his garden scizzors in his pocket.

He was very angry, and said he had a bruize the exact shape of the scizzors on him, so I had had to give him

I went to my domacile that evening in low spirits, which were not improved by a conversation I had with

"I like femanine girls," he said. "A fellow wants to be the Oak and feel the Vine clinging to him."

"Just what do you mean by afectionate?" he asked, in a stern voice. "Is it afectionate for you to sit over there

Alas, it was but to true. When away from me I thought of him tenderly, and of whether he was thinking of

me. But when with me I was diferent. I could not account for this, and it troubled me. Because I felt this way.

Romanse had come into my life, but suppose I was incapable of loving, although loved?

"It's come to a Showdown, Bab," he said, ernestly. "Either you love me or you don't. I'm darned if I know

"Alas, I do not know" I said in a low and pitious voice. I then buried my face in my hands, and tried to

decide. But when I looked up he was gone, and only the sad breese wailed around me.

I had expected that the Theif would take my hint and act that night, if not scared off by learning that I

belonged to the object of his nefarius designs. But he did not come, and I was wakened on the library table at

I was by that time looking pale and thin, and my father said to me that morning, ere departing for the office:

"Well," he observed, "those who have a great deal of mind do not always know it all. Just as you think you

know it some new corner comes up that you didn't suspect and upsets everything."

I then inquired if he prefered the clinging Vine or the independant tipe, which follows its head and not its

instincts. He said a man liked to be engaged to a clinging Vine, but that after marriage a Vine got to be a

darned nusance and took everything while giving nothing, being the sort to prefer chicken croquets to steak

"Just a word of advise, Bab, from a parent who is, of course, extremely old but has not forgoten his Youth

entirely. Don't try to make yourself over for each new Admirer who comes along. Be yourself. If you want to

That morning, after changing another tire and breaking three finger nails, I remembered the overcoat and,

putting aside my scruples, went through the pockets. Although containing no Burglar's tools, I found a

I was for a time greatly excited, but calmed myself, since there was work to do. I felt that, as I was to capture

him unaided, I must make a Plan, which I did and which I shall tell of later on.

Alas, while thinking only of securing the Reward and of getting Sis married, so that I would be able to be

engaged and enjoy it without worry as to Money, coming out and so on, my Ship of Love was in the hands of

the wicked, and about to be utterly destroyed, or almost, the complete finish not coming untill later. But

This is the tradgic story. Tom had gone to the station, feeling repentant probably, or perhaps wishing to drive

the Arab, and finding me not yet there, had conversed with the hackman. And that person, for whom I have

nothing but contempt and scorn, had observed to him that every day I met a young gentleman at the

Could Mendasity do more? Is it right that such a Creature, with his pockets full of nails and scandle, should

When, therefore, I waved my hand to my FIANCEE, thus showing a forgiving disposition, I was met but with

a cold bow. I was heartbroken, but it is but to true that in our state of society the female must not make

advanses, but must remain still, although suffering. I therfore sat still and stared hautily at the water cap of

The Stranger came. I shrink in retrospect from calling him the Theif, although correct in one sense. I saw

Tom stareing at him banefully, but I took no notice, merely getting out and kicking the tires to see if air

The Stranger looked excited, and did not mention the weather as customery. But at last he said:

"Somehow I gather, Little Sister, that you know a lot of things you do not talk about."

"I do not care to be adressed as `Little Sister,'" I said in an icy tone. "As for talking, I do not interfere with

"Good," he observed." And I take it that, when you find an overcoat or any such garment, you do not exhibit

"Then don't talk," I said, feeling still anguished by Tom's conduct and not caring much just then about the

"But I MUST talk," he replied. "I have a little plan, which I darsay you have guest. As a matter of fact, I have

Ye gods! Was I thus being asked to compound a felony? Or did he not think I belonged to my own Familey,

"Here's what I want," he went on in a smooth manner. "And there's Twentyfive dollars in it for you. I want

Here I almost ran into a cow, but was luckaly saved, as a Jersey cow costs seventyfive dollars and even

more, depending on how much milk given daily. When back on the road again, having but bent a mud guard

"Oh, now see here," he said, straightening his necktie, "I may be a Theif, but I am not that kind of a Theif. I

I then remembered that there was a large dinner that night and that mother would have her jewelery out from

the safe deposit, and father's pearl studs et cetera. I turned pale, but he did not notice it, being busy counting

"I do drive, dear LittleI beg your pardon. And I think, with a lesson now, I could get along. Now see here,

Twentyfive dollars while you are asleep and therfore not gilty if I take your car from wherever you keep it.

Is it surprizing that I agreed and that I took the filthy lucre? No. For I knew then that he would never get to

the station, and the reward of two hundred, plus the Twentyfive, was already mine mentaly.

He learned to drive the Arab in but a short time, and I took him to the shed and showed him where I hid the

key. He said he had never heard before of a girl owning a Motor and her parents not knowing, and while we

were talking there Tom Gray went by in the station hack and droped somthing in the road.

I knew then that all was over and that I was doomed to a single life, growing more and more meloncholy until

Death releived my sufferings. For I am of a proud nature, to proud to go to him and explain. If he was one to

The Theif did not go further that day, but returned to the station. And I? I was not idle, beleive me. During

the remainder of the day, although a broken thing, I experamented to find exactly how much gas it took to

take the car from the station to our house. As I could not go to the house I had to guess partly, but I have a

So he could come to the house or nearby, but he could not get away with his illgotten gains. I therfore

"I'm about out of my mind, Miss Bab. There's trouble coming to this Familey, and it keeps on going to

"What sort of trouble?". I asked, in a flutering voice. For if she knew and told I would not recieve the reward,

"I think you know," she rejoined, in a suspicous tone." And that you should assist in such a thing, Miss Bab,

She then slapped a cup custard down in front of me and went away, leaving me very nervous. Did she know

of the Theif, or was she merely refering to the car, which she might have guest from grease on my clothes,

Well, I have now come to the horrable events of that night, at writing which my pen almost refuses. To have

dreamed and hoped for a certain thing, and then by my own actions to frustrate it was to be my fate.

As I felt that, when everything was over, the people would come in from the Club and the other country

places to see the captured Crimenal, I put on one of the frocks which mother had ordered and charged to me

on that Allowence which was by that time NON EST. (Latin for dissapated. I use dissapated in the sense of

spent, and not debauchery.) By that time it was nine o'clock, and Tom had not come, nor even telephoned.

But I felt this way. If he was going to be jealous it was better to know it now, rather than when to late and

I sat on the Terrace and waited, knowing full well that it was to soon, but nervous anyhow. I had before that

locked all the library windows but the one with the X on the sketch, also putting a nail at the top so he could

not open them and escape. And I had the key of the library door and my trusty weapon under a cushion,

At eleven P. M. I saw a sureptitious Figure coming across the lawn, and was for a moment alarmed, as he

might be coming while the Familey and the jewels, and so on, were still at the Club.

But it was only Carter Brooks, who said he had invited himself to stay all night, and the Club was sickning,

as all the old people were playing cards and the young ones were paired and he was an odd man.

"It might be a Revolver," I said, in a calm voice. "There was one lying around somwhere."

So he got up and observed: "I have conscientous scruples against sitting on a poor, unprotected gun, Bab." He

then picked it up and it went off, but did no harm except to put a hole in his hat which was on the floor.

"Now see here, Bab," he observed, looking angry, because it was a new onethe hat. "I know you, and I

strongly suspect you put that Gun there. And no blue eyes and white frock will make me think otherwise.

"I am alone a good deal, Carter," I said, in a wistfull manner, "as my natural protecters are usualy enjoying

the flesh pots of Egypt. So it is natural that I should wish to be at least fortified against trouble."

HE THEN PUT THE REVOLVER IN HIS POCKET, and remarked that he was all the protecter I needed,

and that the flesh pots only seemed desirable because I was not yet out. But that once out I would find them

"This being grownup is a sort of Promised Land," he said, "and it is always just over the edge of the World.

You'll never be as nice again, Bab, as you are just now. And because you are still a little girl, although

`plited,' I am going to kiss the tip of your ear, which even the lady who ansers letters in the newspapers could

So he bent over and kissed the tip of my ear, which I considered not a sentamental spot and therfore not to be

I was in a state of great trepidation as I entered my Residense, because how was I to capture my prey unless

armed to the teeth? Little did Carter Brooks think that he carried in his pocket, not a Revolver or at least not

However, I am not one to give up, and beyond a few tears of weakness, I did not give way. In a half hour or

so I heard Carter Brooks asking George for a whisky and soda and a suit of father's pajamas, and I knew that,

Would or would he not bolt his door? On this hung, in the Biblical phraze, all the law and the profits.

He did not. Crouching in my Chamber I saw the light over his transom become blackness, and soon after, on

opening his door and speaking his name softly, there was no response. I therfore went in and took my

Revolver from his bureau, but there was somthing wrong with the spring and it went off. It broke nothing,

and as for Hannah saying it nearly killed her, this is not true. It went into her mattress and wakened her, but

"I have taken my Revolver, which belongs to me anyhow. And don't dare to come out, because you are not

I then went into my chamber and closed the door firmly, because the servants were coming down screaming

and Hannah was yelling that she was shot. I explained through the door that nothing was wrong, and that I

would give them a dollar each to go back to bed and not alarm my dear parents. Which they promised.

It was then midnight, and soon after my Familey returned and went to bed. I then went downstairs and put on

a dark coat because of not wishing to be seen, and a cap of father's, wishing to apear as masculine as

possable, and went outside, carrying my weapon, and being careful not to shoot it, as the spring seemed very

loose. I felt lonely, but not terrafied, as I would have been had I not known the Theif personaly and felt that

It was a dark night, and I sat down on the verandah outside the fatal window, which is a French one to the

floor, and waited. But suddenly my heart almost stopped. Some one was moving about INSIDE!

I had not thought of an acomplice, yet such there must be. For I could hear, on the hill, the noise of my

automobile, which is not good on grades and has to climb in a low geer. How terrable, to, to think of us as

However, by getting in through a pantrey window, which I had done since a child for cake and so on, I

entered the hall and was able, without a sound, to close and lock the library door. In this way, owing to nails

in the windows, I thus had the Gilty Member of our MENAGE so that only the one window remained, and I

What was my horror to see a bag thrust out through this window and set down by the unknown within!

Dear reader, have you ever stood by and seen a home you loved looted, despoiled and deprived of even the

egg spoons, silver afterdinner coffee cups, jewels and toilet articals? If not, you cannot comprehand my

Need I say here that I meant to kill no one? Have I not, in every page, shown that I am one for peace and have

no desire for bloodshed? I think I have. Yet, when the Theif apeared on the verandah and turned a pocket

flash on the leather bag, which I percieved was one belonging to the Familey, I felt indeed like shooting him,

I but slipped to the window and closed it from the outside, at the same time putting in a nail as mentioned

before, so that it could not be raised, and then, raising my revolver in the air, I fired the remaining four

Can I go on? Have I the strength to finish? Can I tell how the Theif cursed and tried to raise the window, and

how every one came downstairs in their night clothes and broke in the library door, while carrying pokers,

and knives, et cetera. And how, when they had met with no violence but only sulkey silence, and turned on

the lights, there was Leila dressed ready to elope, and the Theif had his arms around her, and she was

weeping? Because he was poor, although of good familey, and lived in another city, where he was a broker,

my familey had objected to him. Had I but been taken into Leila's confidence, which he considered I had, or

at least that I understood, how I would have helped, instead of thwarting! If any parents or older sisters read

this, let them see how wrong it is to leave any member of the familey in the dark, especialy in AFFAIRES

Having seen from the verandah window that I had comitted an enor, and unable to bear any more, I crawled

in the pantrey window again and went up stairs to my Chamber. There I undressed and having hid my

"I suppose you've been asleep all night," he said, looking at me with a searching glanse.

"There was," he said. "Quite a racket. You're a sound sleeper. Well, turn over and settle down. I don't want

"By the way, Bab, I don't mind you're sleeping in my golf cap, but put it back in the morning because I hate

Ah, well, it was all over, although he said nothing more, and went out. But the next morning, after a terrable

night, when I realized that Leila had been about to get married and I had ruined everything, I found a note

DEAR BAB: After thinking things over, I think you and I would better say nothing about last night's mystery.

But suppose you bring your car to meet me tonight at the station, and we will take a ride, avoiding milk

wagons if possible. You might bring your check book, too, and the revolver, which we had better bury in

P. S. I have mentioned to your mother that I am thinking of buying you a small car. VERBUM SAP.

The next day my mother took me calling, because if the Servants were talking it was best to put up a bold

front, and pretend that nothing had happened except a Burglar alarm and no Burglar. We went to Gray's and

During the evening I dressed in a pink frock, with roses, and listened for a car, because I knew Tom was now

allowed to drive again. I felt very kind and forgiving, because father had said I was to bring the car to our

garage and he would buy gasoline and so on, although paying no old bills, because I would have to work out

But Tom did not come. This I could not beleive at first, because such conduct is very young and imature, and

At last, Dear Reader, I heard a machine coming, and I went to the entrance to our drive, sliding in the

shrubery to surprize him. I did not tremble as previously, because I had learned that he was but human,

How happy is the blameless Vestal's lot! The World forgeting, by the World forgot. Pope.

However, the car did not turn into our drive, but went on. And in it were Tom, and that one who I had

SANS fiancee, SANS friend, SANS reward and SANS Allowence, I turned and went back to my father, who

was on the verandah and was now, with my mother and sister, all that I had left in the World.

And my father said: "Well, here I am, around as usual. Do you feel to grownup to sit on my knee?"

APRIL 9TH. As I am leaving this School tomorrow for the Easter Holadays, I revert to this Dairy, which

has not been written in for some months, owing to being a Senior now and carrying a heavy schedule.

My trunk has now gone, and I have but just returned from Chapel, where Miss Everett made a Speach, as the

Head has quinzy. She raised a large Emblem that we have purchaced at fifty cents each, and said in a thrilling

voice that our beloved Country was now at war, and expected each and all to do his duty.

"I shall not," she said, "point out to any the Fields of their Usefulness. That they must determine for

themselves. But I know that the Girls of this school will do what they find to do, and return to the school at

the end of two weeks, school opening with evening Chapel as usual and no tardiness permitted, better off for

We then sang the StarSpangled Banner, all standing and facing the piano, but watching to see if Fraulein

sang, which she did. Because there are those who consider that she is a German Spy.

I am now sitting in the Upper House, wondering what I can do. For I am like this and always have been. I am

an American through and through, having been told that I look like a tipical American girl. And I do not

No. I am one who beleives in doing things, even though necesarily small. What if I can be but one of the little

drops of Water or little grains of Sand? I am ready to rise like a lioness to my country's call and would, if

permitted and not considered imodest by my Familey, put on the clothing of the Other Sex and go into the

It is strange to be going home in this manner, thinking of Duty and not of boys and young men. Usualy when

about to return to my Familey I think of Clothes and AFFAIRS DE COUER, because at school there is

nothing much of either except on Friday evenings. But now all is changed. All my friends of the Other Sex

APRIL 10TH. I am writing this in the Train, which accounts for poor writing, etcetera. But I cannot wait for I

I had been sitting in deep thought, and although returning to my Familey was feeling sad at the idea of my

Country at war and I not helping. Because what could I do, alone and unarmed? What was my strength

It was at this point in my pain and feeling of being utterly useless, that a young man in the next seat asked if

he might close the Window, owing to Soot and having no other coller with him. I assented.

How little did I realize that although resembling any other Male of twenty years, he was realy Providence?

The way it happened was in this manner. Although not supposed to talk on trains, owing to once getting the

wrong suitcase, etcetera, one cannot very well refuse to anser if one is merely asked about a Window. And

also I pride myself on knowing Human Nature, being seldom decieved as to whether a gentleman or not. I

I then merely said to him that I hoped he intended to enlist, because I felt that I could at least do this much for

"I have already done so," he said, and sat down beside me. He was very interesting and I think will make a

good soldier, although not handsome. He said he had been to Plattsburg the summer before, drilling, and had

not been the same since, feeling now very ernest and only smoking three times a day. And he was two inches

"If some of you girls with nothing to do would only try it you would have a new outlook on Life."

"Nothing to do!" I retorted, in an angry manner. "I am sick and tired of the way my Sex is always reproached

as having nothing to do. If you consider French and music and Algebra and History and English composition

nothing, as well as keeping house and having children and atending to social duties, I DO not."

"Sorry," he said, stiffly. "Of course I had no ideado you mean that you have a Familey of your own?"

He then said that there were Camps for girls, like Plattsburg only more Femanine, and that they were bully.

"You see," he said, "they take a lot of overindulged society girls and make them over into real People."

"Well, I wouldn't go as far as that. But there isn't much left of the way God made a girl, by the time she's

been curled and dressed and governessed for years, is there? They can't even walk, but they talk about

I now saw that I had made a mistake, and began reading a Magazine, so he went back to his seat and we were

as strangers again. As I was very angry I again opened my window, and he got a cinder in his eye and had to

"I hate to disapoint you, but I find I have a clean coller in my bag after all." He then smiled at me, although I

gave him no encouragment whatever, and said: "You're sitting up much better, you know. And if you would

I detested him with feirceness at that time. But since then I have pondered over what he said. For it is my

Nature to be fair and to consider things from every angel. I therfore said this to myself.

"If members of the Male Sex can reduce their wastes and increase their usefulness to their Native Land by

camping, exercising and drilling, why not get up a camp of my own, since I knew that I would not be alowed

I am always one to decide quickly. So I have now made a sketch of a Unaform and written out the names of

ten girls who will be home when I am. I here write out the Purpose of our organisation:

To defend the Country and put ourselves into good Physical Condition.Memo: Look up "physical" as it

UNAFORM: Kakhi, with orangecolored necktie. In times of danger the orange color to be changed to

NAME: Girls' Aviation Corps. But to be known generally as the G. A. C. as because of Spies and so on we

I have done everything thus in advance, because we will have but a short time, and besides I know that if

everything is not settled Jane will want to run things, and probably insist on a set of ByLaws, etcetera,

I have also decided to be Captain, as having organised the Camp and having a right to be.

10 P. M. I am now in my familiar Chamber, and Hannah says they intended to get new furnature but feel they

Father met me at the station as usual, and asked me if I cared to stop and buy some candy on the way home.

"I think not, father," I replied, in a dignafied way. "Our dear Country is now at war, and it is no time for

"Good for you!" he said. "Evadently that school of yours is worth something after all. But we might have a

bit of candy, anyhow, don't you think? Because we want to keep our Industries going and money in

Alas, war has already made changes in my Familey. George, the butler, has felt the call of Duty and has

enlisted, and we now have a William who chips the best china, and looks like a German although he says not,

and willing to put out the Natioual Emblem every morning from a window in father's dressing room. Which

I said nothing about the G. A. C. during dinner, as I was waiting to see if father would give me ten dollars

before I organized it. But I am a person of strong feelings, and I was sad and depressed, thinking of my dear

Country at War and our beginning with soup and going on through as though nothing was happening. I

therfore observed that I considered it unpatriotic, with the Enemy at our gatez, to have Sauterne on the table

and a Cocktail beforehand, as well as expencive tobacco and so on, even although economising in other

"Let her alone, father," Leila said. "She's just dramatising herself as usual. We're probably in for a dose of

I would perhaps have made a sharp anser, but a street piano outside began to play The StarSpangled Banner.

I then stood up, of course, and mother said: "Sit down, for heaven's sake, Barbara."

"Not until our National Anthem is finished, mother," I said in a tone of gentle reproof. "I may not vote or pay

Well, father got up to, and drank his coffee standing. But he gave William a dollar for the man outside, and

said to tell him to keep away at meal times as even patriotism requires nourishment.

After dinner in the drawing room, mother said that she was going to let me give a Luncheon.

"There are about a dosen girls coming out when you do, Bab," she said. "And you might as well begin to get

acquainted. We can have it at the Country Club, and have some boys, and tennis afterwards, if the courts are

"Mother!" I cried, stupafied. "How can you think of Social pleasures when the enemy is at our gates?"

"Oh nonsense, Barbara," she replied in a cold tone. "We intend to do our part, of course. But what has that to

"I do not feel like festivaty," I said. "And I shall be very busy this holaday, because although young there are

Now I have always loved my mother, although feeling sometimes that she had forgoten about having been a

girl herself once, and also not being much given to Familey embrases because of her hair being marceled and

But she was not. She got up very sudenly and came around the table while William was breaking a plate in

"Dear little Bab!" she said. "You are right and I am wrong, and we will just turn in and do what we can, all of

I was greatly agatated, but managed to ask for the ten dollars for my share of the Tent, etcetera, although not

saying exactly what for, and father passed it over to me. War certainly has changed my Familey, for even

Leila came over a few moments ago with a hat that she had bought and did not like.

I must now stop and learn the StarSpangled Banner by heart, having never known but the first verse, and

I was learning the second verse by singing it, when father came over in his ROBE DE NUIT, although really

pagamas, and said that he enjoyed it very much, and of course I was right to learn it as aforsaid. but that if the

Familey did not sleep it could not be very usefull to the Country the next day such as making shells and other

APRIL 11TH: I have had my breakfast and called up Jane Raleigh. She was greatly excited and said:

This is like Jane, who puts clothes before everything. But I told her what I had in mind, and she said it

"We each of us ought to learn some one thing," she said, "so we can do it right. It's an age of Specialties.

Suppose you take up signaling, or sharpshooting if you prefer it, and I can learn wireless telegraphy. And

maybe Betty will take the flying course, because we ought to have an Aviator and she is afraid of nothing,

"What else would you sugest?" I said freezingly. Because to hear her one would have considered the entire G.

"Well," she said, "I don't know, unless we have a Secret Service and guard your father's mill. Because every

I made no reply to this, as William was dusting the Drawing Room, but said, "Come over. We can discuss

I am terrably worried, because my father is my best friend, having always understood me. I cannot endure to

NOON: Jane came over as soon as she had had her breakfast, and it was a good thing I had everything written

out, because she started in right away to run things. She wanted a Constitution and ByLaws as I had

"We have a Constitution, Jane," I said, solemnly. "The Constitution of the United States, and if it is good

enough for a whole Country I darsay it is good enough for us. As for Bylaws, we can make them as we need

We then made a list, Jane calling up as I got the numbers in the telephone book. Everybody accepted,

although Betty Anderson objected to the orange tie because she has red hair, and one of the Robinson twins

could not get ten dollars because she was on probation at School and her Familey very cold with her. But she

had loned a girl at school five dollars and was going to write for it at once, and thought she could sell a last

year's sweater for three dollars to their laundress's daughter. We therfore admited her.

All is going well, unless our Parents refuse, which is not likely, as we intend to purchace the Tent and

Unaforms before consulting them. It is the way of Parents not to care to see money wasted.

Our motto we have decided on. It is but three letters, W. I. H., and is a secret.

LATER: Sis has just informed me that Carter Brooks has not enlisted, but is playing around as usual! I feel

7 P. M.: The G. A. C. is a fact. It is also ready for duty. How wonderful it is to feel that one is about to be of

We held a meeting early this P. M. in our library, all doors being closed and Sentries posted. I had made some

fudge also, although the cook, who is a new one, was not pleasant about the butter and so on.

We had intended to read the Constitution of the U. S. out loud, but as it is long we did not, but signed our

names to it in my father's copy of the American Common Wealth. We then went out and bought the Tent and

Before disbanding for the day I made a short speach in the shop, which was almost emty. I said that it was

our intention to show the members of the Other Sex that we were ready to spring to the Country's call, and

also to assist in recruiting by visiting the different Milatary Stations and there encouraging those who looked

"Each day," I said, in conclusion, "one of us will be selected by the Captain, myself, to visit these places and

as soon as a man has signed up, to pin a flower in his buttonhole. As we have but little money, the tent having

The man who had sold us the tent thought this was a fine idea, and said he thought he would enlist the next

We then went went to a book shop and bought the Plattsburg Manual, and I read to the members of the Corps

1. Carry yourself at all times as though you were proud of Yourself, your Unaform, and your Country.

11. Camp life has a tendency to make one careless as to personal cleanliness. Bear this in mind.

We then gave the Milatary Salute and disbanded, as it was time to go home and dress for dinner.

On returning to my domacile I discovered that, although the sun had set and the hour of twilight had arived,

the Emblem of my Country still floated in the breese. This made me very angry, and ringing the doorbell I

"The Emblem of my Country, and I trust of yours, for I understand you are naturalized, although if not you'd

Did I or did I not see his face set into the lines of one who had little or no respect for the Flag?

"I'll take it down when I get time, miss," he said, in a tone of resignation. "But what with making the salid

and laying the table for dinner and mixing cocktails, and the cook so ugly that if I as much as ask for the

"Beware, William," I said. "Remember that, although probably not a Spy or at least not dangerous, as we in

this country now have our eyes open and will stand no nonsense, you must at all times show proper respect to

"Very well, miss," he said. "But perhaps you will allow me to say this, miss. There are to many houses in this

country where the Patriotic Feeling of the inhabatants are shown only by having a paid employee hang out

But I am not one to be angry on hearing the truth, although painfull. I therfore ran in after him and said:

"William, you are right and I am wrong. Go back to your Pantrey, and leave the Flag to me. From now on it

I therfore went upstairs to my father's dressing room, where he was shaveing for dinner, and opened the

"I am sorry, father," I said. "But as between you and my Country I have no choice."

"What the dickens has the Country got to do with giving me influensa?" he exclaimed, glaring at me. "Shut

"Father," I said, in a low and gentle tone, "need I remind you that it is at present almost seven P. M. and that

the Stars and Stripes, although supposed to be lowered at sunset, are still hanging out this window?"

"Oh, that's it, is it?" he said in a releived tone. "You're nothing if you're not thorough, Bab! Well, as they have

hung an hour and fifteen minutes to long as it is, I guess the Country won't go to the dogs if you shut that

"Well," he said, "I'm not the shouting tipe, but I guess I'll be around if I'm needed. Unless I die of the chill I'm

"Oh, come now," he said, "we can divide it, William and I. There's enough for both. I'm not selfish."

It is always thus in my Familey. They joke about the most serious things, and then get terrably serious about

nothing at all, such as overshoes on wet days, or not passing in French grammer, or having a friend of the

"There are to many houses in this country, father," I said, folding my arms, "where the Patriotism of the

Inhabatants is shown by having a paid employee hang out and take in the Emblem between Cocktails and

"Oh damm!" said my father, in a feirce voice. "Here, get away and let me take it in. And as I'm in my

He then sneazed twice and drew in the Emblem, while I stood at the Salute. How far, how very far from the

Plattsburg Manual, which decrees that our flag be lowered to the inspiring music of the StarSpangled

"Low spirits on a holaday!" he exclaimed. "Well, we'll have to fix that. How about a motor Picnic?"

It is always like that in our house. They regard a Party or a Picnic as a cure for everything, even a heartache,

"No, thank you," I said. "I am worried about those of my friends who have enlisted." I then gave him a

scornful glance and left the room. He said "Bab!" in a strange voice and I heard him coming after me. So I

We are now in Camp, although not in Unaform, owing to the delivery waggon not coming yet with our

clothes. I am writing on a pad on my knee, while my Orderley, Betty Anderson, holds the ink bottle.

Would one not think that, in these terrable times, it would be a simple matter to obtain a spot wherein to

prepare for the defence of the Country? Should not the Young be encouraged to spring to the call, "To arms,

to arms, ye braves!" instead of being reproved for buying a Tent with no place as yet to put it, and the

She is now sitting on one of the camp stools and embroidering a centerpeice. She brought her own lunch and

Elaine's, refusing to allow her to eat the regular Milatary rations of bacon and boiled potatoes, etcetera, and

not ofering a thing to us, although having brought chicken sandwitches, cake and fruit.

I shall now put down the events of the day, as although the Manual says nothing of keeping a record, I am

sure it is always done. Have I not read, again and again, of the Captain's log, which is not wood, as it sounds,

This morning the man at the tent store called up and asked where to send the tent. I then called a meeting in

my Chamber, only to meet with bitter disapointment, as one Parent after another had refused to allow their

grounds to be used. I felt sadhelpless, as our house has no grounds, except for hanging out washing,

I was very angry and tired to, having had to get up at sunrise to put out the Emblem, and father having

"It is clear that our Families are Patriots in name only, and not in deed. Since they have abandoned us, The G.

A. C. must abandon them and do as it thinks best. Between Familey and Country, I am for the Country."

Here they all cheered, and Hannah came in and said mother had a headache and to keep quiet.

"You see, Members of the Corps," I said in a tence voice, "that things at present are intollerable. We must

They all said it and I then sugested that we take my car and as many as possable of the officers and go out to

find a suitable spot. I then got my car and crowded into it the First and Second Lieutenants, the Sergeant and

the Quartermaster, which was Jane. She had asked to be Veterinarian, being fond of dogs, but as we had no

animals, I had made her Quartermaster, giving her charge of the Quarters, or Tent, etcetera. The others

followed in the Adams's limousine, taking also cooking utensils and food, although Mademoiselle was very

We went first to the tent store. The man in the shop then instructed me as to how to put up the Tent, and was

"One must learn to do things oneself if one is to be usefull," I said. "It is our intention to call on no member

"Quite right," he said. "I'm sure you can get along without us, miss, much better than we could get along

Mademoiselle considered this a flirtatious speach and walked out of the shop. But I consider that it was a

General Remark and not personal, and anyhow he was thirty at least, and had a married apearance.

As there was not room for the Tent and camp chairs in my car, the delivery waggon followed us, making

We tried several farm houses, but one and all had no Patriotism whatever and refused to let us use their

terratory. It was heartrending, for where we not there to help to protect that very terratory from the enemy?

But no, they cared not at all, and said they did not want papers all over the place, and so on. One woman

observed that she did not object to us, but that we would probably have a lot of boys hanging around and

setting fire to things with cigarettes, and anyhow if we were going to shoot it would keep the hens from

"Madame, we intend to have no Members of the Other Sex. And if you put eggs above the Stars and Stripes

We then went on, and at last found a place where no one was living, and decided to claim it in the name of

the government. We then put up the tent, although not as tight as it should have been, owing to the Adams's

chauffeur not letting us have his wrench to drive the pins in with, and were ready for the day's work.

We have now had luncheon and the Quartermaster, Jane, is burning the papers and so on.

After I have finished this Log we will take up the signaling. We have decided in this way: Lining up in a row,

and counting one to ten, and even numbers will study flag signals, and the odds will take up telagraphy,

After that we will have exercises to make us strong and elastic, and then target practise.

We have as yet no guns, but father has one he uses for duck shooting in the fall, and Betty's uncle was in

Africa last year and has three, which she thinks she can secure without being noticed. We have passed this

Resolution: To have nothing to do with those of the other Sex who are not prepared to do their Duty.

EVENING, APRIL 12TH. I returned to my domacile in time to take in Old Glory, and also to dress for

dinner, being muddy and needing a bath, as we had tried bathing in the creek at the camp while Mademoiselle

was asleep in the tent, but found that there was an oil well near and the water was full of oil, which stuck to

Carter Brooks came to dinner, and I played the National Anthem on the phonograph as we went in to the

Dining Room. Mother did not like it, as the soup was getting cold, but we all stood until it was finished. I

"What's the matter with you, Bab?" he said. "You were rather rude to me last night and now you've been

looking through me and not at me ever since I came, and I'll bet you're feverish."

"Not at all." I said, in a cold tone. "I may be excited, because of war and my Country's Peril. But for goodness

sake don't act like the Familey, which always considers that I am sick when I am merely intence."

But can one say when one's friends are a disapointment to one? No, or at least not at the table.

The others were not listening, as father was fussing about my waking him at daylight to put out the Emblem.

"Just slide your hand this way, under the table cloth," Carter Brooks said in a low tone. "It may be only

"It's a blister," I said. And as the others were now complaining about the soup, I told him of the Corps,

etcetera, thinking that perhaps it would rouse him to some patriotic feelings. But no, it did not.

"Now look here," he said, turning and frowning at me, "Aviation Corps means flying. Just remember

this,if I hear of your trying any of that nonsense I'll make it my business to see that you're locked up,

"I shall do exactly as I like, Carter" I said in a, friggid manner. "I shall fly if I so desire, and you have nothing

"We shall probably not fly, as we have no machine. There are Cavalry Regiments that have no horses, aren't

there? But we are but at the beginning of our Milatary existence, and no one can tell what the next day may

"Not with you, anyhow," he said in an angry tone, and was very cold to me the rest of the dinner hour.

They talked about the war, but what a disapointment was mine! I had returned from my Institution of

Learning full of ferver, and it was a bitter moment when I heard my father observe that he felt he could be of

more use to his Native Land by making shells than by marching and carrying a gun, as he had once had

"Of course," said my father, "Bab thinks I am a slacker. But a shell is more valuable against the Germans than

I at that moment looked up and saw William looking at my father in a strange manner. To those who were not

on the alert it might have apeared that he was trying not to smile, my father having a way of indulging in

"quips and cranks and wanton wiles" at the table which mother does not like, as our Butlers are apt to listen

But if my Familey slept mentaly I did not. AT ONCE I suspected William. Being still not out, and therfore

not listened to with much atention, I kept my piece and said nothing. And I saw this. WILLIAM WAS NOT

As soon as dinner was over I went into my father's den, where he brings home drawings and estamates, and

taking his Leather Dispach case, I locked it in my closet, tying the key around my neck with a blue ribben. I

"I want to talk to you," he said. "Have you young TurksI mean young Patriots any guns at this camp of

"When you have put on the Unaform of your Country" I said, "or at least of Plattsburg, I shall tell you my

I then told him, and he listened, but in a very disagreeable way. And at last he said:

"The plain truth, Bab, is that some goodlooking chap has filled you up with a lot of dope which is meant for

men, not romantic girls. I'll bet to cents that if a fellow with a broken noze or a squint had told you, you'd

I was exasparated. Because I am tired of being told that the defence of our Dear Country is a masculine

"The double standard," I said with dignaty. "It was all well and good when war meant wearing a kitchin stove

I did not mean to be boastfull, such not being my nature. But I did not feel that one who had not yet enlisted,

remarking that there was time enough when the Enemy came over, etcetera, had any right to criticise me.

12 MIDNIGHT. How can I set down what I have discovered? And having recorded it, how be sure that

It is midnight. Leila is still out, bent on frivolaty. The rest of the Familey sleeps quietly, except father, who

has taken cold and is breathing through his mouth, and I sit here alone, with my secret.

William is a Spy. I have the proofs. How my hand trembles as I set down the terrable words.

Feeling somewhat emty at bed time and never sleeping well when hollow inside, I went down to the pantrey

at eleven P. M. to see if any of the dinner puding had been left, although not hopeful, owing to the servants

"Please go away, William. Because I want to come in, unless all the puding is gone."

"There is no puding, miss," he said. "And no fruit except for breakfast. Your mother is very particuler that no

"William," I said sternly, "go out by the kitchen door. Because I am hungry, and I am coming in for

He was opening and closing the pantrey drawers, and although young, and not a housekeeper, I knew that he

"If you'll go up to your room, Miss Bab," he said, "I'll mix you an Eggnogg, without alkohol, of course, and

bring it up. An Eggnogg is a good thing to stay the stomache with at night. I frequently resort to one myself."

I saw that he would not let me in, so I agreed to the Eggnogg, but without nutmeg, and went away. My knees

tremble to think that into our peacefull home had come "Grimvizaged War," but I felt keen and capable of

William brought up the Eggnogg, with a dash of sherry in it, and I could hear him going up the stairs to his

chamber. I drank the Eggnogg, feeling that I would need all my strength for what was to come, and then went

down to the pantrey. It was in perfect order, except that one of the tea towles had had a pen wiped on it.

I then went through the drawers one by one, although not hopeful, because he probably had the incrimanating

document in the heal of his shoe, which Spies usually have made hollow for the purpose, or sowed in the

At least, so I feared. But it was not so. Under one of the best table cloths I found it.

I copy it here in my journal, although knowing nothing of what it means. Is it a scheme to blow up my

father's mill, where he is making shells for the defence of his Native Land? I do not know. With shaking

48 D. K. 48 D. F. 36 S. F. 34 F. F. 36 T. S. 36 S. S. 36 C. S. 24 I. H. K. 36 F. K.

But in one way its meaning is clear. Treachery is abroad and Treason has but just stocked up the stairs to its

APRIL 13TH. It is now noon and snowing, although supposed to be spring. I am writing this Log in the tent,

where we have built a fire. Mademoiselle is sitting in the Adams's limousine, wrapped in rugs. She is very

There are but nine of us, as I telephoned the Quartermaster early this morning and summoned her to come

Her Unaform had come and so had mine. What a thrill I felt as she entered Headquarters (my chamber) in

kakhi and saluted. She was about to sit down, but I reminded her that war knows no intimacies, and that I was

her Captain. She therfore stood, and I handed her William's code. She read it and said:

"It looks like it," said Jane in a flutering tone. "Oh, Bab, what are we to do?"

"Our first duty," I went on, "is to watch William. He must be followed and his every movement recorded. I

need not tell you that our mill is making shells, and that the fate of the Country may hang on you today."

"On you. I have selected you for this first day. Tomorrow it will be another. I have not yet decided which.

I was again obliged to remind her of my rank and so on, as she sat down and began to object at once.

"The Familey," I said, "will be out all day at First Aid classes. You will be safe from discovery."

"Not at all," I said. "It is a part of the Plattsburg idea that a good soldier must have nourishment, as his

I then rang for Hannah, and ofered her to dollars to bring Jane a tray at noon and to sneak it from the kitchin,

"From the kitchin?" she said. "Miss Bab, it's as much as my life is worth to go to the kitchin. The cook and

"Hannah," I said, in a low tone, "I can only say this. If you but do your part you may avert a great calamaty."

"My God, Miss Bab!" she cried. "That cook's a German. I said so from the beginning."

We were all silent. It was a terrable moment. I shortly afterwards left the house, leaving Jane to study flag

We were trying to load one of Betty's uncle's guns when my Orderley reported a car coming at a furious gate.

On going to the opening of the tent I saw that it was our car with father and Jane inside. They did not stop in

"Upon my word, Bab!" he said. "You might at least take your Familey into your confidence. If Jane had not

happened to be at the house I'd never have found you. But never mind about that now. Have you or have you

"I thought so," he said, in an angry voice. "Do you know that you have kept a Board of Directors sitting for

How great was my humiliation, although done with the Highest Motives, to have my Corps standing around

He then turned on his heal and stocked away, only stopping to stare at Mademoiselle in the car, and then

As he had forgotten Jane, she was obliged to stay. It was by now raining, and the Corps wanted to go home.

But I made a speach, saying that if we weakened now what would we do in times of Real Danger?

"What are a few drops of rain?" I inquired, "to the falling of bullets and perhaps shells? We will now have the

The Corps drew lots as to who would be bandaged, there being no volunteers, as it was cold and necesary to

remove Unaform etcetera. Elaine got number seven. The others then practiced on her, having a book to go by.

I here add to this log Jane's report on William. He had cleaned silver until 1 P. M., when he had gone back to

the kitchin and moved off the soup kettle to boil some dish towles. The cook had then set his dish towles out

in the yard and upset the pan, pretending that a dog had done so. Hannah had told Jane about it.

At 1:45 William had gone out, remarking that he was going to the drug store to get some poizon for the cook.

APRIL 14TH. I have taken a heavy cold and am, alas, HORS DE COMBAT. The Familey has issued orders

that I am to stay in bed this A. M. and if stopped sneazing by 2 P. M. am to be allowed up but not to go to

Elaine is in bed to, and her mother called up and asked my Parents if they would not send me back to school,

as I had upset everything and they could not even get Elaine to the Dentist's, as she kept talking about teeth

As I lie here and reflect, it seems to me that everywhere around me I see nothing but Sloth and Indiference.

One would beleive that nothing worse could happen than a Cook giving notice. Will nothing rouze us to our

Peril? Are we to sit here, talking about housecleaning and sowing women and how wide are skirts, when the

LATER: Carter Brooks has sent me a book on First Aid. Ye gods, what chance have I at a wounded Soldier

when every person of the Femanine Sex in this Country is learning First Aid, and even hoping for small

accidents so they can practice on them. No, there are some who can use their hands (i. e. at bandageing and

cutting small boils, etcetera. Leila has just cut one for Henry, the chauffeur, although not yellow on top and

therfore not ready) and there are others who do not care for Nursing, as they turn sick at the sight of blood,

"Not yet, miss," he said. "Your father left sharp orders as to being disturbed before 8 A. M."

"As it is now 9:30," I observed coldly, "there has been time enough lost. I am HORS DE COMBAT, or I

He had drawn a stand beside the bed, and I now sat up and looked at my Tray. The orange was cut through

Had I needed proof, dear log or journal, I had it there. For any BUTLER knows how to cut a breakfast

Perhaps this was a foolish remark as being calculated to put him on his guard. But "out of the fullness of the

"Me, miss?" he said in a far to inocent tone. "Why, I don't know exactly. " He then smiled and said: "There

"Just a word of advise, William," I said in a signifacant tone. "A real Butler cuts an orange the other way. I

am telling you, because although having grape fruit mostly, some morning some one may order an orange,

Shall I ever forget his face as he went out? No, never. He knew that I knew, and was one to stand no

nonsense. But I had put him on his guard. It was to be a battle of Intellagence, his brains against mine.

Although regretful at first of having warned him, I feel now that it is as well. I am one who likes to fight in

the open, not as a serpent coiled in the grass and pretending, like the one in the Bible, to be a friend.

3 P. M. No new developments. Although forbidden to go out nothing was said about the roof. I have therfore

been up on it exchanging Signals with Lucy Gray next door by means of flags. As their roof slants and it is

still raining, she sliped once and slid to the gutter. She then sat there and screamed like a silly, although they

But Mrs. Gray was very unpleasant from one of their windows and said I was a Murderer at heart.

This is a fine day, being warm and bright and all here but Elaine and Mademoisellethe latter not greatly

missed, as although French and an Ally she thinks we should be knitting etcetera, and ordered the car to be

A quorum being present, it was moved and seconded that we express wherever possable our disaproval in

We also pleged ourselves to try and make our Families rise early, and to insist on Members of our Families

hoisting and taking down the Stars and Stripes, instead of having it done by those who may not respect it, or

The class in Telegraphy reported that it could do little or nothing, as it is easy to rap out a dot but not

possable to rap a dash. We therfore gave it up for The Study of the Rifle and Its Care.

I am still trembling. At one moment I think that I must go again to Father and demand consideration, as more

mature than he seems to think, and absolutely certain I was not walking in my sleep. But the next moment I

think not, but that if I can discover William's plot myself, my Familey will no longer ignore me and talk

To return to William, dear Log or journal. I had been asleep for some time, but wakened up to find myself

standing in the dining room with a napkin in each hand. I was standing in the Flag Signal position for A,

I then knew that I had been walking in my sleep, having done so several times at School, and before

Examinations being usualy tied by my Roommate with a string from my ankle to the door knob, so as in

I was rather scared, as I do not like the dark, feeling when in it that Something is behind me and about to

I therfore stood still and felt like screaming, when suddenly the door of the Butler's pantrey squeaked. Could I

Somebody came into the room and felt for the table, passing close by me and stepping by accident on the

table bell, which is under the rug. It rang and scared me more than ever. We then both stood still, and I hoped

After a time the footsteps moved on around the table and out into the hall. I was still standing in position A,

However, seeing that it was something human and not otherwise, as its shoes creaked, I now became angry at

the thought that Treason was under the roof of my home. I therfore followed the Traitor out into the hall and

looked in through the door at him. He had a flash light, and was opening the drawers of my father's desk. It

I then concealed myself behind my father's overcoat in the hack hall, and considered what to do. Should I

scream and be probably killed, thus dying a noble Death? Or should I remain still? I decided on the latter.

And now, dear Log or Journal, I must record what followed, which I shall do as acurately as I can, in case of

There is a safe built in my resadence under the stairs, in which the silver service, plates, etcetera, are stored,

as to big for the Safe Deposit, besides being a nusance to send for every time there is a dinner.

This safe only my father can unlock, or rather, this I fondly believed until tonight. But how diferent are the

facts! For William walked to it, after listening at the foot of the stairs, and opened it as if he had done so

before quite often. He then took from it my father's Dispach Case, locked the safe again, and went back

It is a terrable thing to see a crime thus comitted and to know not what to do. Had William repaired again to

At last I crept upstairs to my father's room, which was locked. I could not waken him by gently taping, and I

feared that if I made a noise I would warn the lurking Criminal in his den. I therfore went to my bathroom

and filled my bath sponge with water, and threw it threw the transom in the direction of my father's bed.

As it happened it struck on his face, and I heard him getting up and talking dreadfully to himself. Also

Had he but been quiet, all would have been well. But he opened the door and began roaring at me in a loud

"Spoil what?" he said, glareing at me. "There's nothing left to spoil, is there? Look at that bed! Look at me!"

"Father," I said, "while you are raging about over such a thing as a wet Sponge, which I was driven to in

"You are growing up, Bab, although it is early for the burglar obsession. Go on, though. Who is robbing us

Such a speach discouraged me, for I can bear anything except to be laughed at. I therfore said:

"You stay here," he observed. "Personally I think you've had a bad dream, because William can't possably

know the combination of that safe. It's as much as I can do to remember it myself."

"He's a Spy, is he?" he then said. "Well, I might have known that all this war preparation of yours would lead

He then swiched on the hall lights from the top of the stairs and desended. I could but wait at the top, fearing

at each moment a shot would ring out, as a Spy's business is such as not to stop at Murder.

My father unlocked the safe and looked in it. Then he closed it again and disapeared into the back of the

house. How agonising were the moments that ensued! He did not return, and at last, feeling that he had met a

I went through the fatal dining room to the pantrey and there found him not only alive, but putting on a plate

"I thought we'd have a bite to eat," he said. "I need a little nourishment before getting back into that puddle to

"Get some salt and pepper," he said, "and see if there is any mustard mixed. You've had a dream, Bab. That's

all. The Case is in the safe, and William is in his bed, and in about two minutes a cold repast is going to be in

I, and I alone, know that there is a Criminal in this house, serving our meals and quareling with the cook as if

a regular Butler, but really a Spy. And although I cry aloud in my anguish, those who hear me but maintain

APRIL 15TH: 9 A. M. William is going about as usual, but looks as though he had not had enough sleep.

Father has told mother about last night, and I am not to have coffee in the evenings. This is not surprizing, as

6 P. M. This being Sunday, camp did not convene until 3 P. M. and then but for a short time. We

flagsignaled mostly and are now to the letter E. Also got the gun loaded at last and fired it several times, I

(1) "Hold the rifle on the mark." (2) "Aim properly." (3) "Squeeze the Triger properly." (4) "Call the shot."

We had but just started, and Mademoiselle had taken the car and gone back to the Adams's residence to bring

out Mr. Adams, as she considers gunshooting as dangerous, when a farmer with to dogs came over a fense

and objected, saying that it was Sunday and that his cows were getting excited anyhow and would probahly

"These are War times," I said, in a dignafied manner. "And if you are doing nothing for the country yourself

He was a not unreasonable tipe and this seemed to effect him. For he sat down on one of our stools and said:

"Captain, of course!" he said. "You'll have to excuze me. This thing of Women in War is new to me. But now

don't you think that you'll be doing the country a service not to interfere with the food supply and so on?" He

then looked at me and remarked: "If I was you, miss or Captain, I would not come any to clost to my place.

IT WAS INDEED HE! But he was not unpleasant about it, although remarking that if he had a daughter and a

machine, although he had niether, and expected niether, the one would never be allowed to have the other

"Humph!" he observed. "I used to know something about that myself, in the Spanish war. Now let's see what

I remember. Watch this. And somebody keep an eye on that hill and report if a blue calico dress is charging

It was very strange to see one who apeared to be but an ordinary Farmer, Or Milkman, pick up our flags and

wave them faster than we could read them. It was indeed thrilling, although discouraging, because if that was

the regular rate of Speed we felt that we could never acheive it. I remarked this, and he then said:

"Work hard at it, and I reckon I can slip over now and then and give you a lesson. Any girl that can drive an

automobile hellbent" (these are his words, not mine) "can do most anything she sets her mind on. You leave

that gun alone, and work at the signaling, and I guess I can make out to come every afternoon. I start out

"Name's Schmidt, but don't worry about that. Got some German blood way back, but who hasn't?"

He then departed with his to dogs, and we held a meeting, and voted to give up everything but signaling.

8 P. M. I am now at home. Dinner is over, being early on Sundays because of Servants' days out and so on.

Leila had a Doctor to dinner. She met him at the Red Cross, and he would, I think, be a good husband. He sat

beside me, and I talked mostly about her, as I wished him to know that, although having her faults as all have,

"She can sow very well," I told him, "and she would probably like to keep House, but of course has no

"Indeed!" he said, looking at me. "But of course she will probably have a house of her own before long."

"Very likely," I said. "Although she has had a number of chances and always refuses."

"Perhaps," I said, in a signifacant tone. "Or perhaps he does not know he is the right Person."

William, of whom more anon, was passing the ice cream just then. I refused it, saying:

During dinner Leila made an observation which has somewhat changed my opinion of Carter Brooks. She

said his mother did not want him to enlist which was why he had not. She has no other sons and probably

Lucy Gray had been on Secret Service that day, but did the observing from the windows of their house, as my

William had made it up with the cook, Lucy said, and had showed her a game of Solitaire in the morning by

the kitchin window. He had then fallen asleep in the pantrey, the window being up. In the afternoon,

luncheon being over and the Familey out in the car for a ride, he had gone out into the yard behind the house

and pretended to look to see if the crocuses were all gone. But soon he went into the Garage and was there a

Now it is one of the rules of this Familey that no house servants go to the Garage, owing to taking up the

Chauffeur's time when he should be oiling up, etcetera. Also owing to one Butler stealing the Chauffeur's fur

But alas, what am I to do? For although I reported this being in the Garage to mother, she but said:

"Don't worry me about him, Bab. He is hopelessly inefficient. But there are no Men Servants to be had and

APRIL 16TH. In camp. Luncheon of sardines, pickels, and eclairs as no one likes to cook, owing to smoke in

Camp convened at 12 noon, as we spent the morning helping to get members of the Other Sex to enlist. We

pinned a pink Carnation on each Enlister, and had to send for more several times. We had quite a Crowd

there and it was very polite except one, who said he would enlist twice for one kiss. The Officer however

took him by the ear and said the Army did not wish such as he. He then through (threw?) him out.

This morning I warned the new Chauffeur, feeling that if he had by chance any Milatary Secrets in the

"William!" he said, looking up from where he was in the Repair Pit at the time. "WILLIAM!"

"I am sorry, Henry," I said, in a quiet voice. "But I fear that William is not what he apears to be."

"I think you must be mistaken, miss." He then hamered for some time. When he was through he climbed out

and said: "There's to much Spy talk going on, to my thinking, miss. And anyhow, what would a Spy be after

"Well," I observed, in an indignant manner, for I am sensative and hate to have my word doubted, "as my

father is in a business which is now War Secrets and nothing else, I can understand, if you can't."

He then turned on the engine and made a terrable noise, to see if hitting on all cylinders. When he shut it off I

told him about William spending a half hour in the Garage the day before. Although calm before he now

"Just let me catch him sneaking around here, and I'llwhat's he after me for anyhow? I haven't got any

I then sugested that we work together, as I felt sure William was after my father's blue prints and so on,

which were in the Dispach Case in the safe at night. He said he was not a Spycatcher, but if I caught

William at any nonsense I might let him know, and if he put a padlock on the outside of his door and mother

10 P. M. Doctor Connor called this evening, to bring Sis a pattern for a Surgicle Dressing. They spent to

hours in the Library looking at it. Mother is rather upset, as she thinks a Doctor makes a poor husband,

having to be out at night and never able to go to Dinners owing to baby cases and so on.

"Mother, is a doctor then to have no Familey life, and only to bring into the world other people's children?"

She would usualy have replied to me, but she merely sighed, as she is not like herself, being worried about

She beleives that my Father's Life is in danger, as although usualy making steel, which does not explode and

is therfore a safe business, he is now making shells, and every time it has thundered this week she has

She refuses to be placated, although knowing that only those known to the foremen can enter, as well as

having a medal with a number on it, and at night a Password which is new every night.

I know this, because we have this evening made up a list of Passwords for the next week, using a magazine to

get them out of, and taking advertisements, such as Cocoa, Razers, Suspenders and so on. Not these actualy

We then learned them off by heart and burned the paper, as one cannot be to carefull with a Spy in the house,

Henry brought me out in the big car, as mine has a broken spring owing to going across the field with it.

He says he has decided to help me, and that I need not watch the safe, etcetera, at night. I therfore gave him a

key to the side door, and now feel much better. He also said not to have any of the Corps detailed to watch

William in the daytime, as he can do so, because the Familey is now spending all day at the Red Cross.

He thinks the Password idea fine, as otherwise almost anybody could steal a medal and get into the mill.

William seems to know that I know something, and this morning, while opening the door for me, he said:

"It is not hard to see," I replied, in a hauty manner. It is not the Butler's business who is driving me, and

"It is," I retorted. "As you will probably be going to the Garage, although against orders, while Henry is out,

I then went out and sat in front in order to converce with Henry, as the back is lonely. I looked up at the door

Luncheon was a great surprize, as at 12:45 a car apeared on the sky line and was reported by our Sentry as

When it came near it was seen to be driven by Carter Brooks, and to contain several baskets, etcetera. He then

"Very good," I returned, in an official manner. "Corps will line up and count. Odd numbers to unpack and

He then carried over the baskets and a freezer of ice cream. He had brought a fruit salid, cold chicken, potatoe

Chips, cake and icecream. It was a delightful Repast, and not soon to be forgotten by the Corps.

Mademoiselle got out of the Adams's car and came over, although she had her own lunch as usual. She then

had the Chauffeur carry over a seat cushion, and to see her one would beleive she was always pleasant. I have

"You see, Bab, although a Slacker myself, I cannot bear that such brave spirits as those of the Girls' Aviation

I then gave him a talkingto, saying that he had been a great disapointment, as I thought one should rise to

"You see, it's like this. I am not sure of myself, Bab. I don't want to enlist because others of the Male Sex, as

you would say, are enlisting and I'm ashamed not to. And I don't want to enlist just to wear a Unaform and

"Have you no Patriotism?" I demanded. "Can you repeat unmoved the celabrated lines:

"Lives there a man with Soul so dead, He (or who) never to himself hath said: This is my own, my Native

I then choked up, although being Captain I felt that tears were a femanine weakness and a bad Example.

Mademoiselle had at that moment felt an ant somewhere and was not looking. Therfore she did not perceive

when he reached over and put his hand on my foot, which happened to be nearest to him. He then pated my

It is strange, now that he and the baskets, etcetera, have gone away, that I continue to think about his pating

my foot. Because I have known him for years, and he is nothing to me but a good friend and not sentamental

I feel this way. Suppose he enlists and goes away to die for his Country, as a result of my Speach. Can I

endure to think of it? No. I did not feel this way about Tom Gray, who has gone to Florida to learn to fly,

EVENING. Doctor Connor is here again. He is taking Sis to a meeting where he is to make a Speach. I ofered

to go along, but they did not apear to hear me, and perhaps it is as well, for I must watch William, as Henry is

taking them in the car. I am therfore writing on the stairs, as I can then hear him washing Silver in the

Mother has been very sweet to me this evening. I cannot record how I feel about the change. I used to feel

that she loved me when she had time to do so, but that she had not much time, being busy with Bridge,

Dinners, taking Leila out and Housekeeping, and so on. But now she has more time. Tonight she said:

"Bab, suppose we have a little talk. I have been thinking all day what I would do if you were a boy, and took

it into that Patriotic head of yours to enlist. I couldn't bear it, that's all."

I was moved to tears by this afection on the part of my dear Parent, but I remembered being Captain of the

Corps, and so did not weep. She then said that she would buy us an Emblem for the Camp, and have a

I cannot but think what changes War can make, bringing people together because of worry and danger, and

causing gifts, such as flags and watches, and ofering to come out and see us in a day or so.

It is now 9 P. M. and the mention of the flag has reminded me that our own Emblem still fluters beneath the

LATER: William is now in the Garage. I am watching from the window of the sowing room.

The terrable thought comeshas he a wireless concealed there, by which he sends out clandestine messages,

APRIL 18TH. Nothing new. Working hard at signaling. Mr. Schmidt says I am doing well and if he was an

APRIL 19TH. Nothing new. But Doctor Connor had told Leila that my father looks sick or at least not well.

When I went to him, being frightened, as he is my only Male Parent and very dear to me, he only laughed and

"Nonsense! We're rushed at the Mill, that's all. You see, Bab, War is more than Unaforms and saluting. It is a

nasty Business. And of course, between your forgetting The Emblem until midnight, when I am in my first

sleep, and putting it out at Dawn, I am not getting all the rest I really need."

"Bab, you haven't by any chance been in my Dispach Case for anything, have you?"

"No. But sometimes I thinkhowever, never mind about that. I think I'll take the Case upstairs and lock my

door hereafter, and if the Emblem is an hour or to late, we will have to stand for it. Eight o'clock is early

"Father" I said, in a tence voice. "I have before this warned you, but you would not listen, considering me

"Well, the only thing that matters is the Password, and that cannot be stolen. As for William, I have had his

record looked up by the Police, and it is fine. Now go to bed, and send in the Spy. I want a Scotch and Soda."

APRIL 20TH. Henry and I have searched the Garage, but there is no Wireless, unless in a Chimney. Henry

says this is often done, by Spies, who raise a Mast out of the chimney by night.

To night I shall watch the Chimney, as there is an ark light near it, so that it is as bright as Day.

The cook has given notice, as she and William cannot get along, and as he can only make to salids and those

APRIL 27TH. After eight days I am at last alowed this Log or Journal, being supported with pillows while

He has just gone, and I am sure kissed Leila in the hall while Hannah and the nurse were getting pen, ink,

etcetera. Perhaps after all Romanse has at last come to my beloved sister, who will now get married. If so, I

can come out in November, which is the best time, as December is busy with Xmas and so on.

How shall I tell the tradgic story of that night? How can I put, by means of a pen, my Experiences on paper?

There are some things which may not be written, but only felt, and that mostly afterwards, as during the time

On April 21st, Saturday, I had a bad cold and was not allowed to go to camp. I therfore slept most of the day,

being one to sleep easily in daytime, except for Hannah coming in to feel if I was feverish.

My father did not come home to dinner, and later on telephoned that he was not to be looked for until he

arived, owing to somthing very important at the Mill and a night shift going on for the first time.

We ate Dinner without him, and mother was very nervous and kept saying that with foremen and so on she

Ye gods! Had we but realised the Signifacance of that remark! But we did not, but went to living in a Fool's

Paradice, and complaining because William had put to much vinigar in the French Dressing.

William locked up the house and we retired to our Chambers. But as I had slept most of the day I could not

compose myself to Slumber, but sat up in my robe de nuit and reflected about Carter Brooks, and that perhaps

it would be better for him not to enlist as there is plenty to be done here at home, where one is safe from

bullets, machine guns and so on. Because, although not Sentamental about him or silly in any way, I felt that

he should not wish to go into danger if his mother objected. And after all one must consider mothers and

I put a dressing gown over my ROBE DE NUIT, and having then remembered about the Wireless, I put out

my light and sat in the window seat. But there was no Mast to be seen, and nothing but the ark light swinging.

I then saw some one come in the drive and go back to the Garage, but as Henry has a friend who has been out

of work and sleeps with him, although not told to the Familey, as probably objecting,although why I could

not see, since he used half of Henry's bed and therfore cost nothingI considered that it was he.

I had perhaps gone to sleep in my place of watching, when I heard a rapping at my Chamber door. "Only this

I at once opened the door, and it was the cook. She said that Henry had returned from the mill with a pain in

his ear, and had telephoned to her by the house 'phone to bring over a hot water bottle, as father was driving

She then said that if I would go over with her to the Garage and drop some laudinum into his ear, she being to

Although not fond of her, owing to her giving notice and also being very fussy about cake taken from the

pantrey, I am one to go always where needed. I also felt that a member of the Corps should not shirk Duty,

even a Chauffeur's ear. I therfore got my hot water bottle and some slippers, etcetera, and we went to the

I went up the stairs to Henry's room, but what was my surprize to find him not there, but only his friend. I

"Now, Miss Bab, there is nothing to be afraid of, unless you make a noise. If you do there will be trouble and

"What we want is simple enough. We want tonight's Password at the Mill. DON'T SCREAM."

I dropped the hot water bottle, because there is no use pretending one is not scared at such a time. One is. But

She did not sound like a cook at all, and she looked diferent, being very white and with to red spots on her

"So am I," I responded, although with shaking teeth. "And just wait until the Police hear of this and see what

"If you scream," said Henry's friend in an awful voice, "you will never scream again."

There was now a loud report from below, which the neighbors afterwards said they heard, but considered gas

in a muffler, which happens often and sounds like a shot. There was then a sort of low growl and somebody

Henry's friend then went downstairs very rapidly, and I ran to the window thinking to jump out. But it was

I had never been so spoken to, especially by a cook, and it made me very angry. I then threw the bottle of

laudinum at her, and broke a front tooth, also cutting her lip, although I did not know this until later, as I then

When I came to I was on the floor and William, whom I had considered a Spy, was on the bed with his hands

"I'm sorry, Miss Bab, because you are all right and have helped me a lot, especially with that on the bed. If it

"Now," he said, "we'll have that Password, because time is going and there are things to be done, quite a few

I could see William then, and I saw his eyes were partly shut, and that he had been shot, because of blood,

etcetera. I was about to faint again, as the sight of blood makes me sick at the stomache, but Henry held a

I then said that I would not tell the Password, although killed for it, and he said if I kept up that attitude I

"There is no use being stubborn," he said, "because we are going to get that Password, and the right one to,

As I was now desperate myself I decided to shriek, happen what may. But I had merely opened my mouth to

when he sprang at me and put his hand over my mouth. He then said he would be obliged to gag me, and that

when I made up my mind to tell the Password, if I would nod my Head he would then remove the gag. As I

He then tied a towel around my mouth and lips, putting part of it between my teeth, and tied it in a hard knot

behind. He also tied my hands behind me, although I kicked as hard as possable, and can do so very well,

How awfull were my sensations as I thus sat facing Death, and remembering that I had often been excused

from Chapel when not necesary, and had been confirmed while pretending to know the Creed while not doing

so. Also not always going to Sunday School as I should, and being inclined to skip my Prayers when very

We sat there for a long time, which seemed Eternities, Henry making dreadful threats, and holding a revolver.

But I would not tell the Password, and at last he went out, locking the door behind him, to consult with the

He did so, but just in time, as Henry returned, looking fierce and saying that I had but fifteen minutes more. I

APRIL 28TH. Leila has just been in. She kissed me in a fraternal manner, and I then saw that she wore an

engagement ring. Well, such is Life. We only get realy acquainted with our Families when they die, or get

Doctor Connor came in a moment later and kissed me to, calling me his brave little Sister.

How pleasant it is to lie thus, having wine jelatine and squab and so on, and wearing a wrist watch with

twentyseven diamonds, and mother using the vibrator on my back to make me sleepy, etcetera. Also, to

I have recorded in this journal up to where I had got my hands loose, and Henry was going to shoot me in

Suddenly Henry swore in an angry manner. This was because my father had brought the machine home and

was but then coming along the drive. Had he come alone it would have been the end of him and the Mill, for

Henry and his friend would have caught him, and my father is like mehe would die before giving the

Password and blowing up all the men and so on in the Mill. But he brought the manager with him, as he lives

"Now mind, any noise up here and we will finish you and your father also. DON'T YOU OVERTURN A

He then went down, and I could hear my dear Parent's voice which I felt I would probably never hear again,

discussing new tires and Henry's earache, which was not a real one, as I now knew.

I looked at William, but he had his eyes shut and I saw he was now realy unconscious. I then however heard a

waggon in our alley, and I went to the window. What was my joy to see that it was Mr. Schmidt's milk

waggon which had stopped under the ark light, with he himself on the seat. He was getting some milk bottles

out, and I suppose he heard the talking in our Garage, for he stopped and then looked up. Then he dropped a

With what anguished eyes, dear Log or Journal, did I look down at him, unable to speak or utter a sound. I

then tried to untie the Towle but could not, owing to feeling weak and sick and the knots being hard.

I at one moment thought of jumping out, but it was to far for our Garage was once a Stable and is high. But I

knew that if the Criminals who surounded my Father and the manager heard such a sound, they would then

I was but a moment thinking all this, as my mind is one to work fast when in Danger. Mr. Schmidt was still

staring, and the horse was moving on to the next house, as Mr. Schmidt says it knows all his Customers and

It was then that I remembered that, although I could not speak, I could signal him, although having no flags. I

It was as well that he did not wait for the last to letters, as I could not remember C, being excited and worried

at the time. But I saw him get into his waggon and drive away very fast, which no one in the Garage noticed,

How strange it was to sit down again as if I had not moved, as per orders, and hear my Father whistling as he

went to the house. I began to feel very sick at my Stomache, although glad he was safe, and wondered what

they would do without me. Because I had now seen that, although insisting that I was still a child, I was as

I had not cried as yet, but at the thought of Henry's friend and the others coming up to kill me before Mr.

They all came back as soon as my Father had slamed the house door, and if they had been feirce before they

were awfull then, the cook with a handkerchief to her mouth, and Henry's friend getting out a watch and

giving me five minutes. He had counted three minutes and was holding his Revolver to just behind my ear,

She dashed to the Window, and looked out, and then turned to the other Spies and said:

I do not know what happened next, as I fainted again, having been under a strain for some time.

APRIL 29TH. All the people in my father's Mill have gone together and brought me a riding horse. I have

just been to the window of my Chamber to look at it. I have always wanted a horse, but I cannot see that I

As I now have a horse, perhaps the Corps should become Cavalry. Memo: Take this up with Jane.

LATER: Carter Brooks has just gone, and I have a terrable headache owing to weeping, which always makes

10 P. M. I can now think better, although still weeping at intervals. I must write down all that has happened,

Always before I have had no Secrets from Jane, even in matters of the Other Sex. But I feel very strange

Also I feel very kind toward everybody, and wish that I had been a better girl in many ways. I have tried to be

good, and have never smoked cigarettes or been decietful except when forced to be by the Familey not

understanding. But I know I am far from being what Carter Brooks thinks me to be.

I have called Hannah and given her my old watch, with money to for a new chrystal. Also stood by at Salute

while my father brought in the Emblem. For William can no longer do it, as he was not really a Butler at all

but a Secret Service Inspector, and also being still in the Hospital, although improving.

He had not told the Familey, as he was afraid they would not then treat him as a real Butler. As for the code

in the pantrey, it was really not such, but the silver list, beginning with 48 D. K. or dinner knives, etcetera.

When taking my Father's Dispach Case from the safe, it was to keep the real Spies from getting it. He did it

every night, and took the important papers out until morning, when he put them back.

"Well, I admit that Fathers are not real Substatutes for young men in Unaform, but in times of Grief they may

be mighty handy to tie to." He then put his arms around me and said: "You see, Bab, the real part of War, for

a womanand you are that now, Bab, in spite of your yearsthe real thing she has to do is not the fighting

part, although you are about as good a soldier as any I know. The thing she has to do is to send some one she

As he saw that I was agatated, he then kissed me and sugested that we learn something more than the first

verse of the National Hymn, as he was tired of making his lips move and thus pretending to sing when not

I shall now record about Carter Brooks coming today. I was in a chair with pilows and so on, when Leila

I said yes, if not the Police, as I had seen a great many and was tired of telling about Henry and Henry's

I then saw a Soldier in the door, and could not beleive that it was Carter Brooks, until he saluted and said:

"Captain, I have come to report. Owing to the end of the Easter Holadays the Girls' Aviation Corps"

Leila had gone out, and all at once I knew that my Patriotism was not what I had thought it, for I could not

bear to see him going to War, especialy as his mother would be lonly without him.

Although I have never considered myself weak, I now felt that I was going to cry. I therfore said in a low

"Why, look here," he said, in an astounded manner, "you aren't crying about ME, are you?"

I said from behind his Handkercheif that I was not, except being sorry for his mother and also for him on

"She is lost to you forever," I replied in a choking tone. "She is betrothed to another."

"Look here, Bab. One minute I think you are the cleverest Girl in the World, and the nextyou little stuped,

At that time I began to feel very queer, being week and at the same time excited and getting red, the more so

as he pulled the Handkercheif from my eyes and commanded me: "Bab, look at me. Do I LOOK as though I

I, however, could not look at him just then. Because I felt that I could not endure to see the Unaform.

"Don't you know why I hang around this House?" he said, in a very savige manner. "Because if you don't

Dear Log or Journal, I could but think of one thing, which was that I was not yet out, but still what is called a

"I know you are not out and all the rest of it. Don't I lie awake at night knowing it? And that's the reason

I" Here he stopped and said: "Damm it" in a feirce voice. "Very well," he went on. "I came to say

Goodbye, and to ask you if you will write to me now and then. Because I'm going to War half because the

Country needs me and the other half because I'm not going to disapoint a certain young Person who has a

"I guess I'd better go. And don't you dare to cry, because if you do there will be Trouble."

But I could not help it, as he was going to War for my Native Land, and might never come back. I therfore

He went out at once, slaming the door, and passed Leila in the lower Hall without speaking to her.

APRIL 30TH. I now intend to close this Log or Journal, and write no more in it. I am not going back to

school, but am to get strong and well again, and to help mother at the Red Cross. I wish to do this, as it makes

After all, I could not realy care for any one who would not rise to the Country's Call.

MAY 3RD. I have just had a letter from Carter. It is mostly about blisters on his feet and so on, and is not

exactly a love letter. But he ends with this, which I shall quote, and so end this Dairy:

"I want to ask you something. Do you remember the time you wrote me that you were BLITED and I

sugested that we be blited together. How about changing that a bit, and being PLITED. Because if I am not

cheered by something of the sort, my Patriotism is going to ooze out of the blisters on my heels."

I have thought about this all day, and I have no right to ruin his Career. I beleive that the Army should be

encouraged as much as possible. I have therefore sent him a small drawing, copied from the Manual, like this

{1" tall figure of a man holding semifore flags his right arm is to the right and his left arm is up}