o gossip, and
more ready to give one the benefit of a doubt. It's a great
responsibility, this raising a family, Miss Allen--and especially
twins!"

CHAPTER VI

AN ADMIRER

It must be remembered that Prudence did not live in a sheltered and
exclusive city home, where girls are rigidly withheld from all
unchaperoned intercourse with young men and old. We know how things
are managed in the "best homes" of the big cities,--girls are sheltered
from innocent open things, and, too often, indulge in really serious
amusements on the quiet. But this was the Middle West, where girls are
to be trusted. Not all girls, of course, but as a matter of fact, the
girls who need watching, seldom get enough of it to keep them out of
mischief. Out in Iowa, girls and boys are allowed to like each other,
and revel in each other's company. And it is good for both.

Prudence was not a sentimental girl. Perhaps this was partly due to
the fact that at the age when most girls are head-full of boy, Prudence
was hands-full of younger sisters! And when hands are full to
overflowing, there is small likelihood of heads being full of nonsense.
Prudence liked boys as she liked girls,--that was the end of it.
Romance was to her a closed book, and she felt no inclination to peep
between the covers. Soul-stirring had not come to her yet.

But Prudence was attractive. She had that indescribable charm that
carries a deep appeal to the eyes, and the lips, and the hearts of men.
Happily Prudence herself did not realize this. The first young man of
Mount Mark to yield to the charms of Prudence was a serious-minded
lawyer, nearly ten years her senior. This was just the type of man to
become enraptured with Prudence. He gazed across at her solemnly
during the church service. He waited patiently after the benediction
until she finished her Methodist practise of hand-shaking, and then
walked joyously home with her. He said little, but he gazed in frank
enchantment at the small womanly girl beside him.

"He's not half bad, Fairy," Prudence would confide to her sister when
they were snug in their bed. "He's not half bad at all. But at heart,
he doesn't approve of me. He doesn't know that himself, and I
certainly can't believe it is my duty to tell him. But I am convinced
that it is true. For instance, he thinks every one, especially women,
should have a mission in life, a serious, earnest mission. I told him
I didn't believe anything