Her own Way by Eglanton Thorne

THE special services conducted by the Rev. Arthur Mainprice at St. Jude's Church excited considerable interest, and were largely attended. Juliet's mother and sisters went to several of them, and did their best to persuade her to accompany them. But in vain they spoke with enthusiasm of the preacher's eloquence, and repeated many of his earnest, pointed words. Juliet would not betray the least interest in him or his sayings. She had no wish to listen to the preaching of a man who had presumed to say that he was sorry for her.

If the words he spoke in private were so ill-chosen, his pulpit utterances might be still more objectionable. Moreover, Juliet was quick to perceive that her elders were anxious that she should attend the services, thinking that they would "do her good," and this perception was sufficient to drive her into an obstinate determination that to not one of the services would she go.

But, notwithstanding her apparent indifference, Juliet took a keen interest in what was going on. No words which the others let fall concerning Mr. Mainprice escaped her ears. She was quick to see that one evening Salome came back from church with eyelids suspiciously red, and she was aware of a change in her sister during the days that followed. It provoked her that Salome should present an invulnerable front to the darts of her sarcasm, and that her stinging words should meet with no like retort. She could not quarrel alone, and she felt vexed with Salome for declining to play her wonted part. It hurt her sorely when Salome one day took considerable pains in order to render her a service. She did not want Salome to begin to evince tokens of kindliness. She wanted her to continue to be disagreeable, and everything in the house to be as unpleasant as possible, that it might be easier to do that which she was secretly planning.

Much as Juliet had resented Mr. Mainprice's words, at times she could almost have owned that they were not uttered without cause. There were moments when she was sorry for herself, when a horror of what lay before her took possession of her mind, and she was ready to cry out to be delivered from her own way. Often at night, when Mrs. Tracy imagined Juliet to be tranquilly sleeping, the girl was shedding tears and stifling sobs, which threatened to disturb her mother. But with the morning light, glowing visions of the future would visit her again, and self-will urge her forward along the path she had chosen.

"Mother," asked Hannah one day, "have you and Juliet come to any decision with regard to our removing from this house? Here is another quarter more than half gone. It is really time something was definitely settled."

"Nothing is decided, dear, and I do not know what to say about it. Juliet appears to have lost her interest in the matter of late. She does not seem to care whether we go or stay."

"That is like Juliet. A little while ago she was so impatient to move into a larger house that she thought we could make every arrangement and get out of this in six weeks' time. I never knew such a creature of moods and tenses as she is."

"She is just at an age when girls often do not know their own minds," said Mrs. Tracy. "I was the same before I married. For my part, I am quite content to remain here, as long as she is willing to do so. " And she cast a loving glance round the familiar room.

Her secret hope was that Juliet might ere long win a home of her own. Not that there seemed any likelihood of the girl's marrying at present, but Mrs. Tracy was one of those fond, sanguine mothers who easily persuade themselves of the probability of the happiness they desire for their offspring. Nothing seemed to her more unlikely than that Juliet should remain unsought in marriage. It could not be unreasonable to count upon the arrival of a suitor in every way eligible. Thus Juliet was not the only one who dreamed of a happy future for herself. The visions wrought by her mother's imagination of the life of this darling child might be painted in more commonplace hues, but they were none the less entrancing to the dreamer.

"Has Juliet yet made up her mind with regard to her summer holiday? " asked Hannah. "I have heard her make half a hundred different suggestions, but I have no idea which she finds the most alluring."

"I don't think she knows herself," replied Mrs. Tracy. "A little while ago she was wild to go to Norway. Then she proposed that we should go to Switzerland and the Italian lakes, and thence to Milan for a few weeks, that she might have some lessons of Signor Lombardi. But I do not feel equal to so much knocking about, and I think it better she should not go to Milan, so I discouraged it. You know that the Felgates have asked her to join them at Folkestone, and go across to Boulogne for a week or two; but she declares they would bore her dreadfully, and that if she went on to the Continent, she would want to go farther than Boulogne."

"She is a difficult person to please," said Hannah. "A princess could not be more fastidious. I thought she liked Dora Felgate."

"So she does. I do not think she has actually declined the invitation. I must ask her to decide soon, for our plans are dependent on hers."

"Most people are leaving town now," said Hannah. "And the sooner Juliet gets away the better, for I met Flossie Chalcombe yesterday, accompanied by a young man whom, by the likeness between them, I judged to be her brother. Mrs. Hayes said some time ago that she believed he had left the neighbourhood, but he is evidently here again?"

"Oh, my dear, I do not think you need fear that Juliet would have anything to say to him," replied Mrs. Tracy hurriedly. "She is wiser now, and feels her responsibilities more. Her talking to him at the railway station was just a piece of girlish folly."

"I am glad to hear she is wiser," said Hannah drily.