Show tr fcc L if a I 1 y TT tir iyall u u 15 D t t I 1 by ZONA GALE copyright by D appleton A company d SENORA ALLOW MEI general factotum in the th I 1 aulse of her sister lia ina wife of herbert des decon on in the small town warbleton bleton ol of war lulu bett lead a dult dull cramped existence with which she eh la is constantly at enmity though apparently satisfied with her lot to mr deacon comes bobby larkin I 1 recently graduated high school youth secretly enamored of deacons elder alder daug daughter liter diana ao an applicant for or a job around the deacon house H he Is engaged the family Is excited over the hews of a an n approaching visit from deacons con a brother fintan whom he had not seen tor for many years deacon jokes wath lulu with subtle meaning concerning tile the coming meeting lulu Is interested and speculative meanwhile watching with something like envy the boy and girl love making of baby and dlana diana unexpectedly finlan arrives thus he becomes acquainted with lulu first and in a measure understands her p position 0 in the house to lulu ninian Is a much traveled nian man of the world find and even tile slight interest which he takes in her Is a appreciated ap pp recia ted because it Is cometh something I 1 nir new in her life and ninian appears to like lulu 11 II continued 5 the words give no conception of amelr effect spoken thus for there in Wor bleton these words anre not commonplace mon place in warbleton War bleton europe Is never so casually spoken of take a trip abroad Is the phrase or go to europe at the very least and both with alth empress em nt dwight had somewhere noted anti and picked up that other side effect and ills his ina knew this and was proud iler her covert glance about pensively covered her soft triumph mrs dett belt ler her arni arm still circling the child monona now made tier her first observation rity not to have went while tile going was good she said and said no more nobody knew quite what she meant and everybody hoped for the best but ina frowned mamma did these things occasionally when there was company and she dared she never sauced dwight in private and it fair it fair abruptly rose and left the room 0 the dishes were washed lulu had bad washed them liera at breakneck speed she coald coland not or would not have told why but no sooner were they finished and set away than lulu had bad been attacked by an unconquerable inhibition and instead of going to the parlor she sat drimby down by the kitchen w aindow she was in her chally gown with her cameo pin and her string of coral laughter from the parlor mingled with the laughter of et dl DI and jenny upstairs lulu was now dow outlier shy of dl DI A night or two before coming home with extra cream she had gone round to the side door and had come full upon dt dl and bobby seated on the steps and dl DI was well it if I 1 marry you youve simply got to be a great man I 1 could never marry just anybody id smother lulu lula had heard stricken she passed them by responding only faintly to their greeting dl was far less taken aback than lulu lula later dl DI had said to lulu 1 I spose you heard what we were saying lulu much shaken had withdrawn from the whole matter by a flat no and instead of going to the parlor she sat down by the kitchen window because she said to herself 1 I have heard right but since then lien slie she had bad looked at dl as M it if dl di were some one else had not lulu 1 aught her to make buttonholes tave abu nd tp hem bem oh no lulu could not ave heard properly L ever blodys got somebody to be nice to them she thought now sitting by the kitchen window adult yet cinderella she thought that some one would come lor for her ber her mother or even ina perhaps they would send monona she waited at first hopefully then resentfully the pray gray rain wrapped the air nobody cares what becomes of me after fed she thought and derived an obscure satisfaction from her phrasing and thought it again finlan deacon came into the kitchen her first impression was that he had come to see whether the dog had been fed 1 I fed him she said and wished that she had been busy when kanlan finlan entered who me he be asked you did that all right say why in time dont you come in the other room oli oil I 1 dont know well neither do I 1 ive kept thinking why dont she come along then I 1 remembered the dishes ile he glanced about 1 I come to help wipe dishes ohl she laughed so delicately so delightfully one wondered where slie she got it washed she caught herself at long ago go well then what are you doing here resting post in there lie ile bowed crooked ills his arm senora lie he said lils his spanish matched its his other of travel senora allow me lulu rose on oil ills his arm she entered the parlor dwight was narrating and did not observe that entrance to the plows it was sufficiently normal but ina looked up and said well in two notes descending curving lulu did not look at her lulu sat in a low rocker iler her starched white skirt throwing her ber chally in ugly lines revealed a peeping rim of white embroidery her lace front wrinkled when slie she sat and perpetually slie she adjusted it slie she curled tier her feet sidewise beneath her chair tier her long wrists and veined hands lay along her lapin lap in no relation to tier her slie she was tense slie she rocked when dwight had finished ills narration there was a pause broken at last by mrs mm bett you tell that better than you used to when you started in telling it she observed you got in some things I 1 guess you used to clean forget about monona get oft off my rocker monona made a little whimpering s sound 0 ull 1 in pretense to tears inn ina said Darll darling ng quiet chin a little lifted lower lip revealing lower teeth tor for the words completion and she held it the plows were asking something about mexico dwight was wondering it if it would let up raining at all dl DI and jenny came whispering into the room but all these distractions ninian deacon swept aside miss lulu he said 1 I wanted you to hear bear about my trip up the amazon because I 1 knew how interested inter ested you are in travels ile he talked according to his bis lights about the amazon but the person who most enjoyed UK tile recital could not afterward have told two words that he said lulu kept the position which site she had taken at first and she dare not change she saw the blood in the veins eins of 0 tier her hands and wanted to hide bide them she wondered it if she might fold tier her arms or have one land hand to support tier her chin gave it ill all up and sat motionless save for the rocking then she forgot everything for the first time in years some one was wag talking and looking not only at ina and DwIght and their guests but tit at her ill III june on a june morning dwight herbert deacon looked at the sky find and said with his manner of originating it how about a picnic this afternoon ina with tier her blank upward look exclaimed today first class day it looks like to me come to think of it ina know that there was anything to prevent but mercy herbert was so BO sudden lulu began to recite tile lie resources of the house for a lunch meanwhile since the first mention of picnic the child monona had been dancing stiffly about the room knees stiff elbows stiff shoulders shou immovable tier her straight hair flapping about tier her face the sad dance of file lie child who cannot dance because fhe bhe never lias has danced dl DI gave a conservative assent she was at that age and then took advantage of tile the family softness incident to a guest and demanded that hobby bobby go too ina hesitated partly because she always besita hesitated ted partly because she was tribal in the extreme just our little family and uncle finlan would have been so nice the sighed with tier lier consent when atsie at six ina and dwight and ninion assembled on the porch and lulu came out with the basket it was seen that she was in a blue cotton house gown look here said finlan arent you going me met said lulu oil oh no why not oh I 1 been to a picnic since I 1 can remember but bihy not oh I 1 never think of such a thing ninian waited for the family to speak they did speak dwight said lulus a regular home body and ina advanced kindly with come with us lulu it if you like no said lulu and flushed thank you she added formally mrs betts voice shrilled from within the house startlingly close just beyond the window blind in fact go on lulle aulle do you good you mind roe me and go on well said NIn finlan lan what I 1 say you hustle for your hat and you come along for the first time tills this course presented itself to lulu as a possibility she stared up at ninean kanlan you can slip on my linen duster over ina said graciously your new one incredulously wished to know oh no ina laughed at the idea the old one I 1 they were J having to wait for dl DI in any case they always had to watt wall tor for dl DI and nt at last hardly believing IP 41 11 0 look here said finlan arent you going me said lulu oh no na her own motions lulu was running to make ready mrs delta hurried to help her but she took down the wrong things and they were both irritated lulu reappeared pared in the linen duster and a wide hat There had been been no time to tighten up her hair she was flushed at the adventure she had neer looked so well they started lulu falling in with monona heard for the first time in her life the step of the pursuing male choosing to walk beside her and the little girl oh would ina like that and what did lulu care what ina liked monona making a silly senit articulate artl eulate observation was enchanted to have lulu burst into laughter and squeeze her hand dl contributed her bright presence and bobby larkin appeared from nowhere running with a gigantic bag of fruit Bulli lujah lie shouted and lulu could have shouted with him ailin she sought for some utterance she wanted to talk with ninian finlan 1 I do hope weve brought sandwiches enough was all that she could get to say they chose a spot that Is to say devoght herbert chose a spot across the river and up iiii the shore where there was at that season a strip of warm arm beach dwight herbert declared himself the builder of incomparable ires fires and made a bad smudge ninian who was a camper neither nelt lier by birth nor by adoption kept offering brightly to help could think of nothing to do and presently be thinking ine himself of skipping went and tried to skip them on the flowing river ina cut her hand opening tile the condensed milk and mus obliged to sit under a tree and burbe the wound monona spilled all the sat sait and sought diligently to recover it so lulu did all the work As for dl DI and bobby they aliey had bad taken the pall and gone for water unter discouraging cou raging her to the pont point of tears but the two were gone for so long that on their return dight was hungry and cross and majestic while im here im going to take you and ina and dwight up to the city TO BE BB |