Quill's Window

usy housewives were making soap and apple butter in great iron kettles suspended over blazing logs; wagons laden with wheat and corn rumbled through country roads and up to the W

its owner might peer quizzically over the upper rims of spectacles as they strolled past the postoffice and other public porches; convicting feminine smiles pursued the young man up the lane leading to Alix's home.

. His jovial attempts to plague the young man about his intentions met with the frostiest reception. Indee

nce. Cut it out, will you? You are not half as funny as you thin

the rebuke was uttered on the porch of Dowd's Tavern and in the presence of Flora

oward the Dowd sisters and Mr. and Mrs. Pollock. For some reason known only to himself,-(but doubtless plain to the reader of this narrative),-he devoted most of his attentio

a "stuck up smart-Aleck," and sooner or later he'd get a piece of her mind that would "take him down a couple o

and more thoughtful unde

garettes and joshing like a good feller. But I've got it all figgered out, boys. He was simply workin' me. He always led the conversation round to Alix Crown, and then, like a dern' fool, I'd let him pump me dry. Why, there's nothing he don't know about that girl,-and all through me. Now he's got in with her,-just as he wanted

assertion. Hatch removed the corn-cob pipe f

w of one lie

u d

mer he was coming home on with a lot of other sick and wounded? Well, a couple of nights ago he forgot himself a

's right," cri

I'd like to know is this: why would England be sending her wounded soldiers o

lance and the first thing he knew he was away behind the German lines. I may be wrong, but I've always thought both sides had trenches. Wha

I know my Uncle George lied so much about what he did in the Civil War that he ought to have had twenty pensions instead of one. Still, there's a big

e's a slick one. I-I'd hat

n in the world lose their heads over a feller

ct health," ex

walking with a cane, does it? That's what gets 'em, Charlie. The quickest w

u're as fat as I am,"

his wooing. He congratulated himself that he was in Alix's good graces. If at times she was perplexingly cool,-or "upstage,"

e was desperately in love with her goes without saying. If at the outset of his campaign he was inspired by the unworthy motive o

t experiences. Despite her sprightly, thoroughly up-to-the-moment ease of manner, and an air of complete sophistication, she was singularly old-fashioned in a great many respects. While she was bright, amusing, gay, t

haste to seize the treasure. It was inconceivable that one so lovely, so desirable, so utterly feminine should fail to inspire in all men that which she inspired in him. The obvious, therefore, was gratifying. Granted that she had had proposals, he

powerless to resist the passion that possessed him. These were the times when he reali

after all, omens of good fortune? Were they not indications of the mysterious changes that were taking place in

on the surface of a sea called civilization. He possessed that ineffable quality known as "manner." The spice of the Metropolis clung to him. He could talk of the things she loved,-not as she loved the farm and village and the home of her fathers, but of the things she l

in His wisdom had peopled the earth with saints and sinners,-and she was tolerant of both! In a word, she was broad-minded

ers she excused much that she could not have excused in herself,-for the heritag

from Chicago, Indianapolis and other places,-girls she had met at school, or in her travels, or in the canteen. Early in the war her house was headquarters for the local Red Cross workers, the knit

ntly taking one or two of the village people with her. Once, as she was lea

mother were murdered years ago and buried in a well or something. I wish she'd tu

r forgot the cold, unwavering stare that caused her to lower

nusual interest to people, that she was the subject of whispered comment, that she was a "character" to be pointed out to strangers. Even now, with the sting of inj

s devoted to an intelligent and comprehensive interest in the management of the farms. She was never out of touch with conditions. Her tenants respected and ad

with her obligations as a landlord, a citizen and a taxpayer. A certain part of each day was set aside for the business of the farms. She repaired bright and early to the little office at the back of the house where her grandfather had worked before her, and there sh

any rate, he had put it out of his mind. He sometimes wondered, however, if she would ever invite him to accompany her to the top of that forbidden hill. In their rambles they had passed the closed gate on mor

ot accompany her on any of her trips to the city. Once she had invited him to motor in with her to a tea, and another time she offered to drive him about the city and out to the college on a sight-seeing tour. It was then that he said he was d

usal. She went to the city less frequently than before, and only when it was

geant, did n