Anna Alice Chapin

“ Theo, with knitted brow, and troubled dark eyes, considered her question.
“Yes,” he said finally, “I think I do--I—— Oh, yes, I'm sure I do—in one way.”
“In what way? There ought to be only one way to love.”
“Oh, how can you say a silly thing like that?” blazed the boy wrathfully. “You know there are a hundred—a million ways of love.” Again he controlled himself. “I love you, in one way—— Are you angry?”
“No,” said Pippa, though her heart was a little sore.
“I love you,” he went plunging on, “only—differently. I love you as I love the wind, and the sky, and the sea, and the big things. ”

“ Of course, such a girl was utterly incapable of understanding this moody young soul sitting there in the sand beside her. And yet—might not just such a gentle, domestic influence be the one thing needed to balance Theo's erratic imagination and supersensitive nerves?
Pippa found her sympathies going out almost equally to both the young people. Yet she could not help them. Mrs. Camberwell had snubbed her too crudely for that. Mrs. Carpenter was no longer of the world that can afford to take umbrage at small slights. ”

“ Pippa obeyed, and stood white and rather drooping beside the chair. Mrs. Merton stared steadfastly into her face for a moment; then the keen eyes shifted to the green-and-white ocean.
“They are all fools,” she said abruptly. “They don't know—but I know. I come from an age in which courage was an everyday matter, not an occurrence, as it is now. I am from the South, and, my dear, Southern women knew something about bravery, take my word for it! ”

“ Mrs. Camberwell had some tearful, maternal sentiments to voice also. Every one seemed disposed to treat Theo as a hero, and, to Pippa's faint disgust, he seemed more and more disposed to accept the homage. The white shrinking that had been on his face at first had passed, giving place to a sort of shamefaced gratitude that any one might readily accept as the attitude of mind appropriate to modest heroism.
Only Mrs. Merton, sitting calmly in a wheel chair, made no comment, and offered no plaudits. She looked often at Mrs. Carpenter. ”

“ She was the “sweet girl” who has figured in a thousand pleasing love stories. Her freshness, her goodness, her sincerity, and her prettiness were facts as clear and true as her own charming complexion.
“Where's Theo?” asked her mother, as the girl sat down in a wicker chair and reached for a palm-leaf fan.
Agnes flushed faintly. Theo was her fiancé.
““He—he's gone in swimming with—Mrs. Carpenter,” she said, with some slight hesitation.
At the name, Lucius, who had been sulking in a corner for ten minutes, burst into a wail. ”

“ At present Theo was huffed.
“I suppose,” he said haltingly, “that you're like all nice women. You don't like a fellow to pay you compliments.”
Pippa could hardly help laughing.
“Well—not as a general thing!” she rejoined. “However, if there was anything particularly nice that you had in mind——” She laughed outright.
But Theo appeared to be in earnest. ”

“ Old people with lined and fretful faces, young people fighting off some ravaging trouble or illness, children romping madly in the midst of it all—it was just such a mixed and restless scene as may be seen on any summer morning at a seaside resort. ”

“ Merton, and it is doubtful if she had ever recovered completely from the shock of bearing anything so gentle and virtuous as her daughter Alicia, now Mrs. Camberwell.
She rarely paid Alicia the compliment of listening to what she said, but in this instance she did glance casually in the direction of her grandson, and remarked:
“Lucius is a male being, even if he is only six. He doesn't like being bored. Doubtless, the lady amused him. You don't amuse him. ”

“ Of deeds which make up life, one deed
Power shall fall short in or exceed!—Pippa Passes.
BUT I want to play with the beautiful lady! She tellth thtorieth 'bout gob-o-linth an' thea therpents!”
The voice of Lucius Merton Camberwell, junior, rose in a crescendo that threatened a climatic yell. His mother, a soft-faced, wide-figured woman, with white, helpless hands, looked at him in dismay and disapproval. ”