Elder Conklin | Page 3

stopped again in front of Miss Conklin with the word
"reconciliation." She withstood the test triumphantly. Annoyed

apparently with the pains she took, Mr. Stevens, on his next entrance,
turned to a pretty, quiet girl named Miss Black, and gave her
"stranger," with a glance at Bancroft, which spread a laugh among the
boys. Miss Black began with "strai," and was not allowed to go on, for
Mr. Stevens at once offered his arm, and led her into the passage.
"What takes place outside?" asked Bancroft confidentially of the girl
sitting nearest to him, who happened to be Miss Jessie Stevens. She
replied with surprise:
"I guess they kiss each other!"
"Ah!--Now I understand," he said to himself, and from that moment
followed the proceedings with more interest. He soon found that
successive pairs called each other out in turn, and he had begun to tire
of the game, when Miss Jessie Stevens stopped before him and pertly
gave the word "friendship." Of course he spelt it wrongly, and
accompanied her outside the door. As he kissed her cheek, she drew
away her head quickly:
"I only called you out to give you a chance of kissin' Loo Conklin."
He thought it wiser not to reply to this, and contented himself with
thanking her as they entered the room. He paused before Miss Conklin,
and gave her "bumpkin," adding, by way of explanation, "a rude
country fellow." She spelt it cheerfully, without the "p." When the
mistake was made plain to her, which took some little time, she
accepted his arm, and went with him into the passage. He kissed her
more than once, murmuring, "At last, Miss Loo!" She replied seriously:
"See here! You're goin' to get into a fuss with Seth Stevens if you call
me out often. And he's the strongest of them all. You ain't afraid? O.K.
then. I guess we'll pay him out for lyin'."
On returning to the room, Bancroft became conscious of a thinly veiled
antagonism on the part of the young men. But he had hardly time to
notice it, when Miss Loo came in and said to him demurely, "Loo." He
spelt "You." Much laughter from the girls greeted the simple

pleasantry.
So the game, punctuated by kisses, went on, until Miss Loo came in for
the fourth time, and stopped again before Bancroft, whereupon Seth
Stevens pushed through the crowd of young men, and said:
"Miss Loo Conklin! You know the rule is to change after three times."
At once she moved in front of the stout youth, Richards, who had come
forward to support his friend, and said "liar!" flashing at the same time
an angry glance at Stevens. "Lire," spelt Richards painfully, and the
pair withdrew.
Bancroft went over to the men's corner; the critical moment had come;
he measured his rival with a glance. Stevens was tall, fully six feet in
height, and though rather lank, had the bow legs and round shoulders
which often go with strength.
As he took up his new position, Stevens remarked to a companion, in a
contemptuous drawl:
"Schoolmasters kin talk an' teach, but kin they fight?"
Bancroft took it upon himself to answer, "Sometimes."
"Kin you?" asked Stevens sharply, turning to him.
"Well enough."
"We kin try that to-morrow. I'll he in the lot behind Richards' mill at
four o'clock."
"I'll be there," replied the schoolmaster, making his way again towards
the group of girls.
Nothing further happened until the old folk came in, and the party
broke up. Driving homewards with Miss Conklin, Bancroft began:
"How can I thank you enough for being so kind to me? You called me

out often, almost as often as I called you."
"I did that to rile Seth Stevens."
"And not at all to please me?"
"Perhaps a little," she said, and silence fell upon them.
His caution led him to restrain himself. He was disturbed by vague
doubts, and felt the importance of a decisive word. Presently Miss
Conklin spoke, in a lower voice than usual, but with an accent of
coquettish triumph in the question:
"So you like me after all? Like me really?"
"Do you doubt it?" His accent was reproachful. "But why do you say
'after all'?"
"You never kissed me comin' back from church last Sunday, and I
showed you the school and everythin'!"
"Might I have kissed you then? I was afraid of offending you."
"Offendin' me? Well, I guess not! Every girl expects to be kissed when
she goes out with a man."
"Let's make up for it now, Loo. May I call you Loo?" While speaking
he slipped his arm round her waist, and kissed her again and again.
"That's my name. But there! I guess you've made up enough already."
And Miss Conklin disengaged herself. On