Gordon Keith

Balsam, and he had said things about Gordon Keith that had made her cheeks tingle. "Of the best blood of two continents," he

Mrs. Nailor smiled at her knowingly, much as

her there a little while ago talking with your friend, the young s

start. "The young

at-like manner and inquisitive ways. She now hated her more than ever, for

I think that is nice in her? So few persons appre

d in everything," faltered Alice. She want

e. "And that young man is such a nice fellow? Has he a good school? I hear you were t

I think he has. Why don't you

Nailor smiled amiably. "Perhaps, y

rch. However, it would serve him right to punish him by staying away until

. Mrs. Yorke only glanced up and said, "So you are ba

d look in her eyes. She had such

he tried to speak as in

father." The pe

? Is papa ill? Has

am writing to say we shall

ng a

g enough? We only expected to stay until th

enly? Mamma, you are so secret! I am sure something is the matt

sed a moment, with the end of her

I want to say to you, and I have a mind to say it

o know what has happened." She seated herself on the

ice

Her politene

ad a talk with t

ce flushed

ough the Ridge Springs were throng

man--Mr. Kei

Keith? Yes, mamma?" Her co

nversation with Mr. Keith." As Mrs. Yorke drifted

about,

ut y

e?" Her face was belyin

t you would--a girl brought up as you have been--so far forget yourself--would allow yo

ad piles of books I never even heard of,--and his family is one of the best and oldest

s. Yorke, hastily. "I must say you appear to

old me," inte

le to talk of. I am talki

me day. You don't know how clever

Alice dwell on what he had told

ly unknown and untrained young--creature. All young men talk

laimed Alice "I heard a lady saying the oth

ense!" exclai

he has, t

ally. "How would he appear in New York? Why, he wears gr

re bad," admitt

in her adversary's defences, like a goo

are as antiquated as his clothes. Think of him at the opera or at one of Mrs

said the girl, reflectively. "I s

hat did

servants sometimes had bette

ively rude!" asserted Mrs. Yorke, pickin

e how it could be rude to state a simple and i

ng up in defenc

ot sure of their own position, and were afraid others

he know abo

tradesmen, but that good manners are the same to-day that they were hundreds of years ago, and that tho

orke g

eem to have learned your

nd interchanges of thought Gordon Keith and she had had during the past weeks, in which he had given her n

ke him very much--bett

you down here for your health, and you take up with a perfectly obs

amma. I know he is a gen

married to a man for years and know very little of him. How can you kno

low tone, thinking of the numerous promises she ha

that? A half-dozen times at least. Th

said Alice, a little impres

e months I have to go through this same thing. There's Ferdy Wickersham--handsome, elegant manners, very ri--with fine prospec

ere the last man in--to save his life--not for ten

ly devoted to you,"

ept himself--and never will be," asserted Alice, vehement

shifted h

Wentworth? One

could. We are the best of friends,

," said Mrs. Yorke, decisively. "Some peop

ove. I think it would be a crime to marry a man you did not love. God made

burst out

nough nonsense to last a lifetime. I would not b

the little grimy railway-station, ten miles away at the foot of the Ridge, and metaphorically shook the dust of Ridgely from their

out of the window with a curious gaze in his burning eyes. Suddenly his face lit up: a little head under a very pretty hat had nodded to h

that the writer declared that in his present condition he felt bound to recognize her mother's right to deny his request to see her; but that he m

before. Certainly Miss Alice Yorke thought more tenderly of Gordon Keith when she found h

most valuable possession for a you

. But he worked like fury. He would succeed. He

d a healthier way of thinking than she had fallen into. This opportunity came in the shape o

e a belle, and finally should make the most brilliant marriage of her set--to wit, the wealthiest marriage. She had dreamed at times of a marriage that should make her friends wild with envy--o

den and unexpected storm from an unlooked-for quarter. Dennis Yorke, usually putty in his wife's hands, had

s gambling-debts, nearly threw him into a convulsion. His ancestors had been driven from home to starve in the wilderness by such creatures. "Before any d--d foreign reprobate should have a dollar of his money he would endow a lunatic asylum with it." So Mrs. Yorke prudently refrained from pressing this subject any further at this time, and built her hopes on securing the next most advantageous alliance--a wealthy one. She preferred Norman W

bear was that Mrs. Caldwell, Louise Caldwell's mother, a widow with barely enough to live respectably on, was quietly walking off with the prize which Mrs. Yorke and a number of other mothers were striving to secure, and made no more of it than if it had been her right. It all came of her family conne

in to accept in his place Ferdy Wickersham, who, though certainl

s will be boys, and you know, Mr. Yorke, you have told me you were none too good yourself." On this, Dennis Yorke growled that

y to achieve success for her daughter and compel her to forget the l

louds at the top, and just as they are reached, some little

r two of driving down-town and eager choosing of hats and wearying fitting of dresses, started off with the girl on the yacht of Mr. Lancaster, a we

at his heart. These people whom he was leaving, and for whom he had in his heart an opinion very like contempt on account of their ignorance and narrowness, appeared to him a wholly different folk. The

veral kinds of society, and I like the simplest best. One can g

off as summer came, to work in the crops; and the attendance of late had been slim. This last d

at the school celebration. Keith was quite overcome, and when the hour arrived for closing the school, instead of, as he had expected, tying up the half-dozen books he kept in his desk, shaking hands with the dozen children eager to be turned loose in the delightful pasturage of summer holiday, turning the key in the lock, and plodding alone down the dusty road to Squire Rawson's, he now found the school-room full, not of school-children on

d a great deal; he had learned that the kindest people in the world lived in that region; he should never forget their kindness and should always feel that his best friends were there. A few words more about his hopes for the school and his feeling for the people who had been so

ng Euphronia for life--he had "taught some folks that a door had to be right strong to keep out a teacher as knowed his business." Anyhow, they were satisfied with him, and the trustees had voted to employ him another year, but he had declined. He had "business" that would take him away. Some thought they knew that business. (At this there was a responsive titter throughout the major portion of the room, and

oval, as near general applause as

xt day in taking l

te front of the little hotel. The slanting moonlight fell on the corner of the verandah where he had talked so often to Alice Yorke as she lay reclining on her lounge, and where he had had that last conversation with Mrs. Yorke, and

s grave as he could have done had one of his cherished p

for you. Even if you do not, she will not suit you; you will not get the woman you are after. She is an attractive young girl, but she will not remain so. A few years in fashionable society will change her. It is the most corrodin

ou don't take drugs. God bless you! Good-by." He walked with Keith to the outer edge of his little porch and shook hands with him again, and again said, "Good-by: God bless you!" When Keith turned at

turn home, a figure rose up from a fence-co

im wonderingly. What on earth could have brought the boy out at that time

rious when he had a communication to make. It was partly

t. "I hear you're a-goin' away

mean, that I am not coming

' to die. Folks don't do that if they're a-comin' back." He leaned forward,

to teach school again; but I hope t

straight

ants to go

: "Why, Dave, I don't even know where I am going. I have not the least idea in the w

you're a-goin', but you're a-goin'. You know all them outlandish countries like you've been a-tellin' us about, and I don't kn

reasons against Dave's carrying out his plan; but his to

ey say at home I used to be some account--some little account--before I took to books--before I sorter took to books," he corrected again shamefacedly; "but

ng earnestly, and

t you meant. I thought before that I knowed a lot; then I found out how durned little I did know, and since then I have tried to learn, an

f warm blood about his heart. It

in on his pl

r. See here." He pulled out an old bag and poked it into Keith's hand. "I've got sixteen dollars and twenty-three ce

o and see his father

appear to s

st forth. "I want to see the worl'. Don't nobod

I care about yo

e, the boy beg

go away--where Phrony ner nobody--ner any

o, had his troubles, his sorrows, his unre

lder than you," he

f an age; and if she was I wo

ever, that if he could obtain his father's consent, as soon as he got settl