A Rebellious Heroine

l, ho, already? W

a hoop of gold,

ant of

ting presses, even with a willing and helpful cast of characters-so I resolved not to intrude upon him until he himself should summon me. I knew myself, from bitter experience, how unwelcome the most welcome of one's friends can be at

o discover her whereabouts, until one evening a very weird thing happened-a thing so weird that I have been pinching myself with great assiduity ever since in order to reassure myself of my own existence. I had come home from a hard day's editorial work, had dined alone and comfortably, and was stretched out at full length upon the low divan that stands at the end of my workshop-the delight of my weary bones and the envy of my friends, who hav

he, pleasantly, as I ma

fusion, "who suddenly finds himself two hundred and fifty miles away

. "You see how it is

t is myself?

of a person who-wr

become tha

smiled. "That's

s there or not. The result was not altogether reassuring. I never

ting a moment from the matter i

brooch, if that will serve your

nto my arm for a mo

y. "I must have a word with you; all the hat-pins in t

puppet in the hands of some author. Whose? I've a reputation to sustain, and shall not giv

ou are now-you are in mine. Surely if you had the right to send me tearing down Bellevue Avenue at Newport behind a runaway

ncing. She certainly had as much right to trifl

ured, meekly. "Pray command me as you

ould make you dreadfully uncomfortable, for when I take my pen in hand my imagination in the direction of the horrible is something awful. I shall be merciful, however,

not here?

think?" she a

emembered fortunately that it would never do for me to flirt with Stuart Harley's

aching out her hand, took mine, pressed it, and reli

ing acknowledgment of my forbearance, and it made me somewhat more comfortabl

ld cease to rebel, whatsoever Mr. Harley asked me to do, un

ave stuck by your agreement. Stuart, I doubt not, ha

f danger; but peril is peril just the same, and to that extent distracting to the nerves. I have been upset in a canoe at Bar Harbor, and lost on a mountain in Vermont. I have sprained my ankle at Saratoga, and fainted at a dance at Lenox; but no complaint have I uttered-not even the suggestion of a rebellion have I given. Once, I admit, I was disposed to resent his desire that I should wear a certain costume, which he, man as he is, could not see would be wofully unbecoming. Authors have no business to touch on such things. But I overcame the temptation to rebel, and to please him wore a blue and pink shirt-waist with a floral silk skirt at a garden-party-I suppose he thought floral silk was appropriate to the garden; nor did I even show my mortification to those about me. Nothing was

him," I said, softly. "That

his wishes in all things save in marriage to a man I didn't love. Getting engaged is not getting married, and as he wished me to get engaged, so I

ter of your agreement, and nobly," I added, with enthusiasm, for I now saw wha

as satisfactory to a woman of taste as that floral silk costume of the garden-party; he engaged the organist, chose my bridesmaids-girls I detested-and finally assembled the guests. The groom was there at the chancel rail; Mr. Willard

utterly unable to co

I have summoned you to explain my action before you hear of it from him. I do not wish to be misjudged. Stuart Harley had his warning, but he chose to ignore it, and he can get

e for it all. I had not told Harley of my interview and her promise, fe

-were prompted by my desire to keep him true to his creed; and I will tell you what I have never told to another: I regarded Stuart Harley almost as an ideal man, but this has changed i

't know,

the ceremony, after hearing what I had promised

your promise!" I shouted, desperately

y hand. Her manner left no doubt in my mind as to who the hero of

stand here," I said

ged her s

aid, excitedly. "Wherever I do stand,

kward, but it ful

you tell him

t of notion that if you married anybody in one of Harley's books, if

my rooms in town once more. The little mountain house near Lake George, with its interesting and beau

" I cried. "W

came Stuart's v

d. The brown of Barnegat had gone

is appearance, which really shocke

o a chair w

wick to-morrow and call the thing off," he said. "She wo

said; "not a

a fellow do if his heroine disappears as complete

difficulty repressin

r her-no earthly use," he answered.

at a little mountain house near Lake George, and she has fled there to escape your booby of a hero, whom you should have known better than to force upon a girl like Marguerite Andrews. You're getting inartistic, my dear boy.

ith a puzzled express

you know anything

ry circumstance-even my suspicion as to the h

op it with the engagement?" I

not publish it. If it was all so distastefu

he heroine's name, and nobody but

ought of th

ou've no imaginat

; it won't be the truest realism, but I think I

as such a man. You might change that garden-party costume too. If you can't think of a better combination

your offer; but, I say, what was the name of

an infernal row battering down my door tha

d have liked to go up there for a while-she

in to hope to gracious that Harley had not deceived himself and me, and that

, for the following Monday night he packed his case and s