The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 8, 1903, Page 7

T ALWAYS was easy for Mias De- borak to make & choice, and she bad shossn Cowsllp with bardly & mo- Therefors it was l found with ber leoks on her face in ich Luey feit in- very trying to Leti- seem of sufcient panime: & happy Cowslip Alderneys wants to borrow m 7 Miss Macauley re isly. Bhe had never ts with Miss De- make a sketch s favorite. “Who paints red ¥ repeated ~f e “She 1d be a n umbrella over her, biggest in town.” Deborah send you so we came for it ey’s sense of humor was but the pleture of tt, who had always of wasted time that a represented, being borrow it for her to her. She threw back “The cow My dear ch @o for that umbrel “We thought we would surprise you."” “I was only joking. never dreamed of rsally borrowing brella. Let! oT! Letitla was amused wh out t to take a to be ordere As the result, with a glass of lemonade ge cake just let me fan Cow- es.” she coaxed, as accepted the prof- slip for & few min her sister gratefully tered luneh. “My dear, you shall not allow it on any account.” get a sunstroke. I Then gome in With me. When It gets cooler you can fan her again.” “I am going to fan Cowslip as long as I like® When John came home a little later he was taken imto Miss Lefitia’s confidence. “Your Aunt Deborah has one of her obstinate fits,” she Informed him. *“She ay and fan that cow 11 she = ~Aunt Deborah or the cow?” “It is no joking matter. It is preposter- ous; a middie-aged lady, sitting under a sketching umbrella, fanning a cow and declaring that she will not be dictated to by anybody. Try If you can't make her listen to reason, John."” John obediently went out to the inclos- ure. “It's & pleasant day, Zunt Debo- rah,” he began blandly. “Very.” “A trifis warm?” he suggested “A trifie.” “Give me that fan. I want to try tan- ning Cowslip a minute.” She rose from her camp stool and Jet him take her place. B “How long have you been out here?” he inquired. as he swung the fan briskly back and forth. , “Sixteen years, judging by my feelings.” “I thought so. It is six months since I came out.” “Do you think Cowslip i going to die?” Miss Deborah inquired arxiously. Come, you never Let me “I am pretty sure, if you and I both eacrifice our lives for her sake, she won't.” “You ridiculous boy! did ltke to do anything useful. take my place again.” “Aunt Deborah, I am going to sit on this camp stool and fan the cow until You promise to go into the house.” “John, don't be obstinate.” “If 1 am I inherited the trait from & collateral.” “Give me that fan" “Don’t you wish you could get it?" x.ighn, you are behaving like & boy o] s “‘Aunt Deborah, you are behaving like & girl of 6. ““Well, perhaps you are right. I don‘t know what has got into me to-day, but when Letitia came out in her white morn- Ing gown, looking so cool and superior, and laughed at me in my short skirt, and told me to go in, I vowéd I wouldn't stir a step.” “I haven't on & white gown, and I am not eool and superior.” “There are days when Letitia sets my nerves on edge,” Miss Deborah confessed. “I know it is wrong of me, for she is al- Ways 50 reasonable and sweet tempered.” THE FUNDAY CALL. ~ *l am seldom reasonable and only sweet tempered by accident,” John ob- served tranquilly. “Aunt Deborah, how long do you mean to keep me out here?” “T advise you to go in at once.” 1 shan't until you do.” *“How can I allow myself to be routed by Letitia?” “You are only being routed by me. I am not patient, and I shall begin to swear presently; you know you wouldn't like that.” “I am not so sure. It would be a rellef to have somebody swear.” They walked amicably back to the heuse, John promising to come out again before dinner to give Cowslip another fanning. “1 was sure John would make you listen to reason,” Miss Letitia sald serenely, looking up from the book she was read- in the shaded library. Deborah pressed her lips firmily together and gave her sister in panto- mime behind her back, for John's benefit, the good shaking she longed to admin- ister. Cowslip improved. By the end of the day there seemed to be a fair probabllity of her recovery, but when Patrick cams at night he thought it best not to try to mové her for the present. “I hope, Deborah, you won't think it necessary to fan her all the evening,” Mies Letitla observed. In the middle of the night Miss De- borah was dimly consclous of gusts of wind and a storm of rain beating against the house. She remembered that the entry window was wide open, and that the carpet would get soaked, but she was too tired to care. A blinding flash of lightning and an almost instantaneous peal of thunder recalled her sharply to this world. “Cowslip!” s will dle of cold! Forgetting her fatigue she hastily flung on her gray-and-white flannel wrapper, and slipping her bare feet into her rubbers, she seized a couple of old blankets and started for the front door. In the entry she paused and gave a hur- ried glance at the umbrella stand. Laura cried. “The poor dear Macauley’s sketching -umbrella was thrust like an unwiiling guest in among the Wyatts' trim silk ones. “It will spoil the looks of it,” she said; “but no matter, it is in a good cause. I shall have to get-her another. I suppose they are expensive; never mind. I hope she hasn’'t any tender as- sociations with it, but If she has they must go." Hastily taking the umbrella, she un- locked the door and started for the in- closure. The blinding flashes of light- ning enabled her to find her way. In the intervals of darkness she paused occa- slonally to rest. When Debdrah reached Cowslip at last she draped the blankets over her and planted the sketching um- brella firmly in the ground. It was large enough to keep off most of the rain. “There, poor dear, I have done my lev- el best for you,” she said “If you dle it will not be my responsibility.” Meanwhile one member after another of the Wyatt household was awakened by the peals of thunder. Lucy in her pale blue wrapper tame softly downstairs. “I am afraid to be up in the third story all alone in this awful storm,” she confessed as she sought the safe harbor of Deborah’s room. “Come in to me, dear,” said Letitia. Lucy was standing on the threshold of Deborah’s door. “Deborah isn’t there,” she exclaim “Nonsense. Of course she is th is asleep.” “Come and ses for yourself.” The two sisters looked at the crumpled bedclothes and at the pillow, with its re- cent indentations, and then at each oher. “I believe she has gone out to the cow,” said Letitio. “She will take her death of cold. Run down, Lucy, énd see if Laura Macauley’s umbrella is in the stand.” “I don’t dare go. I am afraid of the lightning.” Miss Letitia went down & fow steps and looked over the balusters.* It fsn’t there,” she said. Esther opened her door at that moment. “I want & Iittle soclety,” she remarked. “John is asleep. Fancy sleeping through such a thunderstorm.” ““Where do you suppose your Aunt De- borah 187" asked Miss Letitia “In bed, I hope.” “Out on the hiliside with Cowslip. I don’t belleve she would care if she were struck and killed If only that miserable cow escaped. I wish she had as much consideration for her family as she has for animals. Now, of course, somebody will have to go out and get her In" “I will wake John,” sald Esther. Her voice made a gentle accompaniment to the storm. They could not hear what she sald, although the door was ajar, but above the sound of the tempest came an exclamation in Jobn's deep bass that sounded suspiciously like “Damn the cow."” Presently he came out, still grumbling, equipped in his oldest clothes. “You had better take the lantern,” ad- shadowy form rose at her side. Miss Deborah had & stout heart, but the nig! apparition of & man at garden gave her a fright. She her voice, however, and inquired ly. *“What are you doing here at this time of night, when all respectable peopie are in their beds?” ea. SHE SAT ol HEE CATIFOFOOL THAT HOT AFTER NOON NAViNG HER LAKGE LPALIT-IEAF FAY vised Miss Letitia from her room. “The lantern is in the china closet cupboard, the right-hand cupboard on the middle shelf.” A terrific peal of thunder drowned the close of her remarks, and John plunged downstairs and out into the storm, trust- ing to the lightning to guide his steps. ““How terrible it would be if one of them should be struck,” Lucy suggested with a little shiver, as she crouched down on her sister’'s bed. Esther went In to ses how the children and the baby were fmnfi. They wers peacefully sleeping. It more than a little thing like a thun storm to wake them. Meanwhile Miss Deborah, having ful- filled her duty in the station in life to which she had been called, was slowly making her way homeward. Her india- rubbers were filled with water, which gurgled out In cold streams on her bare feet with every step she took. She was drenched to- the skin, but it was such a warm night that she enjoyed it. In fact the whole adventure was one that ap- pealed to her daring spirit. After two or three brilliant flashes of lghtning thers was a period of Ethiopian darkness, through which she struggled toward the beacon lights of the house. Presently a how are you getting on? It is an awful night for you to be out. You cught to have rheumatic fever or pneumdnia as a sequel to this escapade.” “1 have never done what was expected of me my whole life, John, snd I am not likely to begin at my age." Miss Deborah proved a true prophet. She did not even have a cold as a conse- quence of her adventurs. Miss Let watched her carefully for two or. thres days for symptoms of chills and fever or &Tippe. “I know you are dreadfully digappoint- ed, Letitia™ Miss Deborah observed briskly. “It is hard you can’t have the comfort of saying ‘I told you so, and “When will you ever learn not to do such ade your- s Letitia, g for you “Well, I a korse and should not do crazy tht don’t care. I am as strong as there is no reason why I s. I mean to do crasier and g Letitia I think It is y fling. And I sccomplt wslip 18 get- ting well.” “I have no doubt she would have got wall tn any event,” sald Miss Letitla,