Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 July 1908 — NANNIE’S PICTURE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

NANNIE’S PICTURE.

By BAYARD TRUSTON.

Copyrighted. 1908, by Associated Literary Press.

“She’s coming tomorrow,” announced Billy Singleton. Tom Harvard smiled. “She” could be none other than his “picture girl,” as he had learned to call her, and ever since he had arrived at Glenoak, Harvard had been lost in day dreams, in which “the picture girl” was ever the central figure. It was Harvard's first visit to the Singleton place, named Glenoak, and for the first time he had seen the results of Mrs. Singleton’s artistic skill vylth a camera. 'iaut hospitable matron had more than a passing fad for photography and in a well equipped studio in the back yard had turned out many prise winning pictures. The most successful had been of “the picture girl,” otherwise Nannie Prescott, Mrs. Singleton’s niece. It had been taken some years before and showed a child with a soul that shone through the thick lashed eyes. The small, sensitive mouth, delicate molding of the chin, the perfect oval of the face and the high white brow all combined to make a picture almost perfect, yet Harvard seemed to see only the eyes, with their Inscrutable questioning of the life just beginning to unfold.

Singleton bad surprised Harvard before the picture half a dozen times, and Harvard winced at the jests his chum made about his Infatuation for the photograph, but even Mrs. Singleton’s assurance that the original now looked vastly different from the big eyed girl of the picture did not abate his interest in the handsome carbon print “Nan has a scandalous fondness for pickled pig’s feet” went on Singleton, lest Harvard’s joy should grow too great “You never saw an ideal with an appetite, did you, Tom?" He dodged the book Harvard threw at his head and stepped out through the,i French windows on to the porch, still chuckling over the fun he anticipated having. It was Singleton who drove to the station to meet Miss Prescott and who basely betrayed Harvard’s passion to the girl who shared his seat in the dogcart “It's not you,” explained Singleton, with brutal frankness; “It’s the picture that he’s in love with. I’ll bet when he sees what a plump and husky person you’ve gd>wn to be he’ll decide to stick to the picture.” There was much more to the same jffoct, and so .lt came to pass that

When the Introduction was accomplished on the Singleton porch and Harvard guarded his expression from any betraying glance of gratification Miss Prescott decided that this man who loved her picture and was disappointed in the original was a very unpleasant person whose presence at Glenoak would make her vacation a miserable one indeed. Mrs. Singleton endeavored tactfully to counteract the effect of her son’s disclosures, but Nannie resented even this well meant effort. It was intolerable to her that they should suppose she cared in the .least what Mr. Harvard thought of her. If he was disappointed that the angles of fourteen had rounded into the curves of nineteen it was no concern of hers, and to show how little she cared she devoted herself industriously to snubbing poor Harvard at every possible opportunity. And Harvard, manlike, suffered keenly from the treatment and went about saying "Savage things to and of Billy, and be looked no more than he could help either at the picture or Miso Prescott herself. So matters continued for nearly a month, when a business letter gave Harvard a welcome excuse for quitting the field of defeat He had longed to retire, but he would not retreat Ignominiously and without excuse. He managed to slip away from the house without being detected by Mi watchful chum and made hlo way toward a glen from which Glenoak took Ito name. He would haye_* terr "

quiet hour. It was a favorite resort o? his. and be climbed up the cool shades towaru ttte falls at the bead of the glen. He was nearly at the falls when a flutter of white caught his eye. He half turned to retrace his steps, for he had recognized Nannie, and he was not minded to have his last day of vacation made more bitter by the girl's sharp speeches. But as he turned she called his name, and he hurried forward. , “I’m sorry to bother you,” she said, half defiantly, half in appeal. “I slipped on the wet rocks and I have sprained my ankle.” “How leng have you beea here?” he demanded. “You were not at lunch.” “It was hours ago,” she said, with a wan little smile. “I came about 11, 1 guess, and it was not long after that I slipped.” With a word of sympathy Harvard knelt to examine the injured member. Already the swelling was great, and the girl had felt too faint to remove the stout shoe she wore. With tender hands Harvard cut the laces, and Nannie gave a sigh of relief as the phoe was slipped off. “I’ll have it easier in a jiffy,” declared Harvard, slipping off his coat and with his knife cutting out the sleeve of his shirt for a bandage. “A little cold water will help the fever until we can get back to the house.” “I suppose you’ll have to go for help,” she said faintly. The idea of being left alone again terrified her. “Help! Not a bit of It," declared Harvard. “It’s a short mile to the house. I can carry you easily with an occasional rest. Even with the rest it will not be as long an though I were to go back to the house for assistance.” “But you said I was so fat,” reminded Nannie. Harvard looked up with sudden Interest “And may I ask who told you that?" he asked. “It was Btlly, he added as he saw the girl’s confusion. *T dare say that Billy has been crediting me with all sorts of nonsensical and uncomplimentary remarks.” “He only said you—you were disappointed,” she declared, “and some little things like that” “I don’t call that a ‘little thing* at all,” insisted Harvard, “and, moreover, I never said it” “But you frowned the moment you saw me,” reminded Nannie. “You did, because I was watching you.” “Then it was a matter of interest to you what my opinion might be?” he asked. “I thought you had said that you did not care.” “Billy told you that?” she asked meaningly. Harvard nodded. “You see,” she went on. “that miserable picture has been my Nemesis. I was a little slip of a girl, and just after Aunt Bess made that picture I began to grow—‘to stretch up and out’

as Billy expressed it For the last four years people have been commenting upon my changed appearance until 1 have grown to loathe the very sight of the dreadful photograph.” “Do you know,” said Harvard reflectively. “I never noticed whether you were plump or slender in the picture.” “You must have,” insisted Nannie. “Don’t be afraid to confess. It’s all right I guess I’m getting hardened to comment” “But I really didn’t” insisted Harvard. “I saw only the eyes, with their glorious promise of womanhood. In them I am not disappointed. For the rest I made no comparisons, and—you are perfect as you are.” The girl’s eyes glowed with pleasure, but her voice was cool and even as she spoke. “Billy says that they are pop eyes,” she said reminiscently. “Do you think they are?” “They are the most beautiful eyes in the world.” declared Harvard fervently. “They are more beautiful than in the picture. Nannie, dear, can’t we stop playing at cross purposes? 1 loved you before I even saw you. 1 loved the woman those eyes told me you would be. but they did not tell half the truth. I don’t care about the picture now but may I have the original, dear?” And so “the picture girl” was won.

"I’LL HAVE IT EASIER IN A JIFFY," DECLARED HARVARD.