The Desired Woman

books and written exercises under her arm, was returni

pany, and you are both as black as the pot. If I were you I'd certa

ht the struggling Ann by the arm and began to drag her toward

likes me-as-as much as he seems to. It has been three years since he first hinted at it, and, oh, my! I must have been as gawky and silly as Ann. Still, you never can tell; the heart must have a lot to do with it. I wasn't thinking of looks, or clothes, or the rich man they all said he was, and I guess he wasn't thinking of anything but-" She checked herself; the blood had mounted to her face, and she felt it wildly throbbing in the veins. "Anyway, he seems to like to be with me n

she said, eagerly. "Miss Stella Munson is in my room waiting f

sked, putting her books down

t is by all odds the prettiest thing you ever laid eyes on, an' she says she is willi

lly inquire

ut, the poor girl's mother bein' dead, the dress come back on Miss Stella's hands. She could force Mary to stick to her agreement, but she hates to do it when the girl has to

er mother's room on the right of the hall, where a tall, angular, middle-age

out the cloth and trimmings, and she said you would make it the sweetest thing in the valley. Pink is my color. Where is-oh!" She had descried

ck to admire it, uttering little ejaculations of delight. "I know it will fit. I wore one of Mary's dresses to a party o

and he'd have to talk about it. Town men are close observers of what girls put on-more so, by a long shot, th

n another, in order to view the dress from every possible point of vantage. She even went out

chided her. "You are a regular circus clown

he time I was at work on it I kept thinking how nice it would look on you. Mary

die dead on a dingy complexion like Mary's, or any of the Cobb women, for that matter. They look for the world

other occasion, and began at once to divest her slender form of her waist and skirt, dropping the latter at her feet

," she said, laughingly. "You are ligh

Dolly kept up a running fire of amusing comments, arching her be

t see no sign o' rain. It will make Ann awful jealous; she is just at the age to think she is as big as anybody, an' don't seem to remember tha

o plain that it turned the old scamp's head. He actually called to see me one night. Oh, it was exciting! Father took down his shotgun from the rack over the fireplace and ordered him off the place. Then he spanked me-father spanked me good and sound and made me go to bed. You may say what you please, but that sort o' medicine will certainly cure a certain br

ding right and left, stepping back and then forward, fluffing out

n't know what to compare you to. Where you got your good looks I can't imagine. But mother used to say that her mother in V

s say they took their little ones to school just to get a chance to set a

-that is, nothing to brag about-but, Miss Stella, this dress would make a scarecrow look like an angel,

e urged her. "An' let us look at you from the w

go down the porch steps with the majestic grace of a young queen and move along the graveled walk toward the gate. At this point an unexpected thing happened. John Web

please!" Mos

self erect, she stood and waited for him quite as i

ourself?" he cried, his glance

ong lashes betraying a tendency to droop, and her rich round voice quivering. "Those two

olly, do you know that dress is simply marvelous. I have always thought you were-" Mosty

all," she added. "I've got enough saved up to pay for it as it is, but if it were not a bargain

n approaching, and at once her face became grave. "It is

d and woeful glance of Barnett as he neared her. "Why, Tobe, w

e's plumb lost heart, an' I'm not any better. The doctor come this morning. He said it was a very serious

for? Haven't I got a right to know about that child? I love it. If anything was

avoided her eyes and gulped, his half-bare,

then?" Dolly dema

of the world. I've lost the respect and confidence of all men. The doctor left a prescription for several kinds of medicine and a rubber hot-water bag and syringe. I went to the d

ardless of the fact that the sleeves of the new dress we

y yoke on your sweet young neck I-I will kill myself-that's what I'll do. I tell you I've had enough, an' Annie has, too; but we ain't goin' to let y

baby. You are not a cold-blooded murderer, are you? Well, you will make yourself out one if you let silly false pride stand between you and that sweet young life. Why, I would never get over it. It would haunt me night and day. Turn ri

I can't. I

ol contraption," she answered, with determination. "You don't want to make me d

Miss D

the dress at the neck, that no time should be lost in changing her clothes. "Hurry up, and I'll go straight to Annie. I'l

rcy!" Tobe Ba

Dolly. I'll go. God

ill trying in vain to unfasten the hook at the back of her ne

the porch steps, having put do

t thing," he said, admiration showing its

her brows reflectiv

hings gaping like goggle-eyed perch at the window. One would think that the revolutions of the earth on its

d. "It fairly transforms you-makes you l

dging along the dusty road. She looked down at her breast and daintily

to have some sense. I'm in no position to try to make a show. School-teachers here in the backwoods have no right to excite comment by the gaudy finery they wear. I'm paid by people's taxes. Did you know that? I might find myself out

argued, warmly. He was about to add more, but Tom Drake sauntered round the corner, chew

lowed you would. The water is too low and clear. I've ketche

ent into the house, where she

thought it was nice,"

nswered. "They say Atlanta men in his set

ror and stood looking at her reflectio

e got to run over to Barnett's cabin. Robby isn't any

e to her, one on either side. "Dolly, what is the matter?

e. "It is very sweet and pretty, Miss Stell

lips simultaneously. "Not take it!" The miracle

n frigid tones. "I only stopped by. To tell you the truth, I am on th

s held a light, half of anger, h

ly. "There is no time to lose. Ann

ms. "Nobody under high heavens can ever tell what you will do or what you won't do," she wailed. "I never wan

of lace. "Huh, huh!" she kept sniffing, as she filled her mouth with pins. "I might as well not have stopped, bu

on her skirt and waist, noting as she did so that her father was seated behind her on

ing. "An' about nothin' more important than a flimsy ra

hed buttoning her waist, and, throwing on

se on your face. You know an' I know she was tickled to death with it till she met Mr. Mostyn in the yard just now. Mark my

As if a man of his stripe an' character would be a judge. I have heard a few items about him if you all haven't. Folks talk about 'im scand'lous in Atlanta. They say he leads a fast

ife away one minute an' hug it back into 'im the next. Now, I kin prove what I say, an' you both ought to be ashamed. Most

ke rose slowly to her feet. She went to the dressmaker and touched her tragicall

" Miss Munson asked, a w

urry over there. Miss Stella, she is my own daughter, an' maybe I oughtn't to say it, bein' 'er mother, but she's got the biggest, tenderest heart in her little

r, two years, or ten-it don't make no odds to me. She needn't pay for it at all if she doesn't

fell into each other's

then a bar-room knock-down-and-drag-out fight, an' now it is a weepi