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It Contained a Secret.
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By ESTHER VANUEVEER.
W h f i Miihel Drew was sixteen she
whs loo old to receive at Christmas
such g ilts as toys. dolls and other in
expensive knirkkmn ks. The ipiestiou
canie n;i hetween her father and moth
er that year what more substantial nr
tid e should he provided for her.
It
was tinally derided that an escritoire.
vv hi< h is tin- I'reiidi name, I take it.
for one o f those curved legged, d a w
footed desks with fancy linish on
width ladies write their notes and
keep their accounts that is. when they
keep accounts would he the thing.
Mabel was my cousin and had dur
iug iny childhood been my playmate.
When we were passing into youth,
alter being away from her for a season
and returning. I found that another
had stepped Into my place,
lie was
twenty tw o years o f age. while 1 was
bill eighteen
I ! is entrance into the
held suddenly made me aware o f the
fact that the brotherly sisterly eondi
tioti which had existed, or I had sup
posed existed, between us was sim
ply a mask for a far different eondi
lion on in\ part.
Mabel's new friend
being four or live years older than l.
patronized me. and. as for Mabel, it
■•coined to me that she regarded me, as
before, in a sisP :• 1 y way.
When that Christmas came o f w hich
I have been speaking my parents were
abroad, and I spent the holidays at
my aunt's
W e made a merry Christ
mas of it, and I have since remember
ed It as the pleasantest o f my life. It
was certainly the most important, as
will appear from my story.
Mabel's desk was delivered at tlie
back door after dark and was carried
to my own bedroom.
I look oft the
crate and it stood forth as pretty a
piece o f furniture as I ever saw.
I
admired it immensely and was delight
ed at tile pleasure it would g ive Ma
he I when she saw it. and for that mat
ter probably foi many years after.
I
pulled oat e v e n sandalwood drawer
wondering what secrets they would
contain. One of the e drawers was tit
fed with a In k and a tiny brass key
I'lie drawers v ere Inside the desk
and only expo
I w I eu the front was
et down. There was a lock for this
also.
A fter all e\ia pt myselt vvere in bed
nix nude and I < irritai thè desk down
talrs and dopo« ted t 'x 11 li tilt1 otlier
ifts io he dlstnbut.nl in thè muruing
Il vv as so tight t a t i ■ otild bave ear
rled il alene, la t so frali th.it I dare
nt attempi to d ■ se feariug I niight
strilo' it agallisi somethlng and break
t
My linde v rote oli a card. "K or
Mat«e l'rnm I'
i and .Mainimi." and
■id It oli ilio d <k vv bere l coutil t*c
la Inly e, n
Itut I picked it up. put
.I in the drawer with the lock, tinned
die key. put up the front part o f the
'os' and >. kcil It too
In the morning when we vvere as
entitled for the distribution o f gifts
: I ’d cangili sig'il o f the desk at once,
mi her eyes danced with excitement.
Is it mine':" she asked
••open it and see.” >a d her father.
She opened it, looked in every pigeon
ole. pulled out every d ra w e r till she
ame to the one that was looked and
ailing the key. found the curd I hail
ced there
She immediately tluug
e ■ arms nronml Imr father's neck thou
her mot tier's, and I wished she would
do the same with me
Had she been
a few years younger she would have
done so. But Unit time had passed.
The next lay the desk was carried
to Mabel's room, and I did not see It
again for a h ng while.
One night a lot of us young folk
vvere dan dug. Mabel w ore a dress cut
low about the throat, and her contin
ued bobbing threw up and down some
thing she wore on a chain suspended
around her neck.
I’ lie article was so
small that I could not set* what it was
at first, but on drawing nearer recog
nized the little key to the drawer w ith
in her desk.
••Why do you wear that key on your
neck?” I asked.
“ Oh. it's the Key to a drawer in my
desk where I keep my secrets.” she re
plied. with a blush.
“ Secrets! What business has n girl
1 to have secrets that must not only be
locked, but the key to w hich she must
keep
on her own person V”
;
“ Everybody tuts secrets.
Haven't
I
you any o f your ow n?”
"N o n e that are so Important that 1
,
must keep them locked
What is your
secret?”
“ W ell. 1 like that. What right have
you to my secrets?"
It seemed to me that I had a right to
her secrets, tint I didn’ t rare to as
sort It.
“ Oh, never mind.'* I replied. “ I'll tind
it out in time "
“ Oh. you will? IIow are yon going
to do that?"
“ I'M steal that key and unlock the
ili ! contains the secret.”
She in v.• at :l ily put her hand on
the key to protect it.
I “ You vvoucln't do any such tiling
You know very w e " that such an act
would
be dish.aim aide."
I
| “ I d ire you to giv e me permission."
! There D a l w ' v s » onething faseinat
lug in taking a id !<
Mabel thought
for aw Idle, ilien s.i ,i;
! "Suppose 1 r iv e von the permission,
what will von give me if you fall?"
“ Your choice between half a dozen
palrs o f gloves
and
r
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“It Bon i Huri a Faci io j
Hammer ii.
?»
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store gives more quality, service and satisfaction than any other
store
in Tillamook county.
Our Pheneminal Success Demonstates that Fact.
Remember Alex McNair it Co. for Builders’ Hardware,
Have Troughing, Farm Tools, Shelf Goods, Cutlery, and every
thing kept in a fully stocked hardware store.
Alex McNair & Co., Tillamook, Ore.
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Bods 50c* and up,
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Your Patronage Solicited *
i
teu pounds of
cttndy."
“ llo w long a time do you want?”
" T ill next Christ mas.”
“ No force used?"
"None whatever."
“ Very well. I'll g ive you till next
Christinas. But you'll lose."
" I f I do you'll win
“ I ’ ll choosg the gloves. I wear
sixes."
" i f I lose it won't make any differ
erne
I expert to g ive you a Christ
mas present a n y w a y ."
"till, pshaw! I didn't think o f that.
You're very cute, aren't yon?"
"I Matter myself I'm a match for a
girl."
Her response to this was a "fa c e ."
and the subject was dropped.
Tills bargain was made in .lime, and
I had Mx months in which to get Into
that drawer, w itc h was kept locked,
tile key on Mabel's |*ersou and the
desk in Mattel's room, where I was not
supposed to enter.
I had no idea of
m.;king a sin-ei ss o f it. I had proposed
it only for a lark.
H aving learned by the stepping in
between me and Mabel o f another per
son that I wanted her for myself. I
was in constant dread that he or some
other fellow would take her away
from me
At the same time I shrank
from speaking to her o f love. 1 feared
to break up tlie brotherly and sisterly
relationship to which I had been ae
cusiomed from my earliest rtvolle.
m
True, too, Mattel didn't give me the
slightest encouragement to make the
eh ¡miro
\\ lien any until vv as attenti
lo her and 1 silowexi that 1 was il
griuntied «he sci'liied snrj»rise I. lo< >ki
of «Mit» \\
a I me with 1 In' expl ♦
dir1 not under*! and my diícsaiM'iU'tb
!
I
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Ili.n» .Irn'tiv <■ nlliLrittiil. HANDBOOK **n l ’atent»
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I'm .e « t.ikeu tiircuirh MXinn \ O x r t . e l v »
j|, .,il n .fn , w ith ou t c tmrve». In tl.t«
Scientific American.
\ ii‘in«1sc-mt»lr llln«trsit*»1 weeklr. T «•nrfot rir-
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M »«n*
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h olRc*. T» F t*t • Waahtnaum. l> i-
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information gladly given.
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Real Estate and Fire insurance
Tillamook.
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Oregon