Page:By Sanction of Law.pdf/28

 Lida. "Stand there in your pride and protect him. You don't know him and it's a good thing you don't." Her anger rose again and she waved her hand as if to take in the whole sweep of the plantation. "You're all cursed," she shouted. "Your whole house is cursed and I'll live to see the day when ruin will stalk in your midst and you'll regret this day and doings. The whole brood of Lauristons is cursed."

Colonel Lauriston had caught his daughter in his arm protectingly now as they stood listening to the woman's ravings. When she ceased and turned away, Lida began to weep silently, depressed by the maledictions. Colonel Lauriston led her gently back into the house, the girl shuddering and asking between her sobs: "What does she mean, Daddy? What does she mean?"

Some of us reach maturity out of youth so gradually as to make the change unnoticeable; others bridge the gap in a night or a day while others are made men and women in an instant, by some great catastrophe or incident that sees us children one moment and adults the next. We face some great issue in life and the facing it makes over our natures and we become men and women. With the scene through which Lida Lauriston was just living she was leaving her youth and insouciance behind her. Life was gripping her in its whirl. She seemed to sense the change yet could not fathom it.

When her question remained unanswered, between her sobs as she clung to the arms that enfolded her, she asked again: