Part 3 (2/2)

began Laura, when her mother interposed:

”Indeed? _That_ is why you are so eager always to spend your forenoons with your father on Sat.u.r.day?”

”Oh, Mother! I really _do_ help father in the jewelry-store--don't I, Dad?”

”Couldn't get along without you, daughter,” said Mr. Belding, stoutly.

”And he always takes me for a nice bite in a restaurant,” pursued the girl, ”and then if there's a game, we go to see it.”

”Runaways!” said Mrs. Belding, shaking an admonis.h.i.+ng finger at them.

”So you encourage her in these escapades, do you, Mr. Belding?”

”Quite so, Mother,” he returned. ”You're behind the times. Girls are different nowadays--in open practise, at least--from what they were in our day. Of course, I remember when I first saw you----”

”That will do!” exclaimed Mrs. Belding, flus.h.i.+ng very prettily, while the children laughed. ”We will not rake up old stories, if you please.”

Any reference to the occasion at which her husband hinted, usually brought his wife ”to time,” as Chet slangily expressed it. She agreed to be present at the girls' gymnasium on that last day when the girls used the paraphernalia as they pleased, with Mrs. Case standing by to direct, or admonish, or advise.

Mrs. Belding found in the gallery overlooking the big gymnasium floor many of her neighbors, church friends, or fellow club-members.

”I've been trying to get here for months,” one stout lady confided to the Market Street jeweler's wife; ”but it does seem to me I never have a minute to spare. But Lluella says that I _must_ come now, for the term is ending. That's Lluella over yonder jumping on that mat. Isn't she quick on her feet?”

”Grace is such a reckless child,” complained the lady on Mrs.

Belding's other side. ”She's her father all over again--and he's got the quickest temper of any man I ever saw. Gets over it right away, you know; but it's a trial to have a man get mad because the coffee's muddy of a morning.”

”Oh, I know all about _that_,” sighed the fleshy lady, windily.

”I don't suppose there's really any danger of the children getting hurt here, Mrs. Belding?” proceeded the thin mother.

”I believe not. Laura says there is no danger----”

”Oh, your Laura is a regular athlete!” interrupted the fat woman. ”My Lluella says she is just _wonderful_.”

”So does my Grace,” declared the thin lady on the other side. ”She says there's n.o.body like 'Mother Wit,' as she calls Laura.”

”I think there is no danger,” murmured Mrs. Belding, not sure whether she was glad or sorry that her daughter was so popular.

”Oh, Mrs. Belding! are _you_ here?” broke in rather a shrill voice from the rear. ”I told Lily I would come to-day; but really, I hardly knew whether it was the thing to approve of this gymnasium business----”

Mrs. Pendleton's voice trailed off as it usually did before she completed a sentence. She was a small, extremely vivacious, black-eyed woman, much overdressed, and carrying a lorgnette with which she eyed the crowd of girlish figures on the floor below.

”Of course,” she murmured to Mrs. Belding, ”if _you_ approve----”

”Where is Grace now?” cried the thin lady, suddenly. ”Mercy! See where she has climbed to. Do you suppose they can get her without a ladder?”

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