Temple Bailey

“ Again the echo of youthful passion stirred the older man, and he turned to his wife.
"Well, mother?"
"I think it's ridiculous!" she flared. "I sha'n't let Evie get married for ten years."
"Oh, mother—I shall be twenty-seven!"
"You'll be old enough to know your own mind," her mother said.
"I do know it!"
"You run up-stairs," her mother directed.
With a despairing glance at her lover, Evie obeyed. Then the mother turned to Richard.
"I haven't anything against you," she said; "only you mustn't come courting Evie."
"I might have taken her," was Richard's answer. ”

“ Up-stairs on her bed lay the white dress and the white hat. In a closet was the suit-case with her dainty belongings, packed for the first time without her mother's supervision. Now and then she ran up and tried on the hat, laughing at herself in the mirror, picturing Richard's face when he should see her.
"If you are going up-stairs again," her mother called from the kitchen, "you might close the windows. There's a cloud in the west that means wind." ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1953, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 69 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”