A Rebellious Heroine

ade a soft and

d, relent, and s

ant of

s of her nature, and he found out, at a moment when it was too late to correct his error, that she was not a woman to be slighted in respect to the conventionalities of polite life, however trifling to a man of Harley's stamp these might seem to be. She was a stickler for form; and when she was summoned to go on board of an ocean steamship there to take part in a romance for the m

e of her departure. "Am I a mere marionette, to obey his slightest behest, a

Am I holding out for the proprieties? And yet what is my situation? I'm simply dragged in by the hair; and my poor children, instead of having a nice, noisy Fourth of July at the sea-shore, must needs be put upon a great floating caravansary, to suffer seasickness and the other discomforts of ocea

his story? Will you permit your children to make impertinent remarks to every one aboard ship; to pick up sailors' slang and use it at the dining-table-in short, to make themselves obnoxiously clever at all time

myself. As for the children, Tommie would not repeat sailors' lingo at the table under any circumstances, and Jennie will not make herself obnoxiously clever at any time, because she has been brought up too carefully to fail to respect her elders. Both she and Tommie understand themselves thoroughly; and when Mr. Harley understands them, which he ca

," retorted Miss Andrews, gazing out of the

asked Mrs. Co

ok at Lord Barncastle, in his study of English manners! Barncastle, as he drew him, was nothing but a New York society man with a ti

weak imitation of an English peer-and no one has ever denied that such is the case-why

s out of curl, my face is the color of an unripe peach, and if I do go up on deck it is because I am so thoroughly miserable that I do not care who sees me or what the world thinks of me. I think it is very inconsiderate of Mr. Harley to open his story on an ocean steamer; and, what is more, I don't like the American l

enice that the trouble with Balderstone is to come, and that Osborne topple

not go to Venice in August. It's bad enough in April-damp and hot-the home of malaria-an asylum for artistic temperaments; and insecty. No, my dear aunt, even if I overlook everything else to please Mr. Harley, he'll have to modify the Venetian pa

e had been an omnivorous reader of Baedeker since she had learned the par

ush Balderstone down the side of an Alp and

o have Balderstone killed," cried Mrs. Corwin, aghast. "If Osbor

If he lives, it pleases the omnipotent Mr. Harley that I sha

ilence for

while; "and Mr. Harley will be forced to get some one else; and I-I shall be depriv

tle as she spoke. She had antici

s making any effort to get me there? Not I! You and the children and Osborne and Balderstone may go down any way you please. You may go on the elevated railroad or on foot. You may go on the horse-cars, or you may go on the luggage-van. It is immaterial to me what you do; but when it comes to myself, Stuart Harley must provide a carriage, or I miss the boat. I don't wish to involve you in this. You want to go, and are willing to go in his way, which simply means turning up at the right moment, with no trouble t

arriage is that that part of your life doesn'

he pier unless he wants to, but the fact remains that it's his duty to see me safely on board from my home, and that he shall

provide copy for the person who is narrating her story; and to be impressed with the idea that the moment s

him long to reach the conclusion that a cab was necessary for Miss Andrews; and that Mrs. Corwin and the twins, with Osborne and Balderstone, might get aboard in their own way. He also decided that it would be an excellent plan to have Marguerite's old school friend Mrs. Willard accompany her to the steamer. By an equally rapid bit of thought he concluded that if the cab started from the Andrews apartment at Fifty-ninth Street and Central Park at 9.30 A.M., the trip to the pier could easily be made in an hour, which would be in ample time, since the sailing hour of the New York was eleven. Unfortunately Harley, in his hurry, forgot two or three incidents of departures generally, especially departures of women, which he should not have overlooked. It was careless of him to forget that a woman about to travel abroad wants to make herself as stunning as she possibly can on the day of departure, so that the impression she will make at the start shall be strong enough to

b was

rguerite, looking out of the cab windo

lied Mrs. Willard. "I shall have ju

ere likely to have more than that of it; for we are in an apparently inextricable, immovable mixture of trucks, horse

illard, looking at her watch anxiously. "

fate," laughed

will upset his whole st

ire a baleful influence over me; and, finally, I never should marry Robert Osborne under any circumstances. He's not at all the style of man I admire. I'm willing to go along and let Mr. Harley try

aboard by this time. They will be worried

s Andrews, calmly; and here Stuart Harley's heroine actually chuckled. "And maybe Mr. Harley can make a match between Aunt Emm

s heroine were just in time to see Mrs. Corwin wildly waving her parasol at the captain on the bridge, beseeching him in agonized tones to go back just for a moment, while two separate and distinct

one, lighting his ciga

She's too snippy for me, and I'm afraid I should have quarrel

ttle brunette from Chicago up on deck, and Marguerite Andrews would have got little attention fr

and Marguerite Andrews watched her from

he sat in his study, wringing his

ew York back into port, with my hero, villain, chaperon, and twins; but whenever or wherever the new story m

h a bang, Harley lit a cigarette, p