| Show PAYCHECK By Rob Eden BEGIN HERE ER TOD TODAY Y I Fleur Bennett loves Tom Dorin Dorm but buthe she he has refused to marry him hun How can cnn she ask him to share the expense of supporting her mother and brother Only a few tew months ago Fleur lived in Sutton place and was courted by men of wealth and social position but none of them won her heart It was after her fathers father's fortune had been swept away and Fleur was clerking in a s store ore that she fell in love with love with witha a poor man John Bennett would have been glad to see Fleur marry Tom Torn if he had been well enough to know how much she loved him and how worthy Tom was of that love But Mr Bennett lay helpless in a 0 sanitarium and could be worried about nothing Even the knowledge that Fleur was working working work work- ing made him worse He resented the fact that her twin brother Paul had allowed it But for far from objecting to Fleurs Fleur's taking a job Paul had only hated the idea of working himself and his mother had sided with him If Fleur wanted to work that was all welland well welland welland and good but if Paul disliked it it there was no reason he should be bel belf f forced into it So spoke Lora Ben Ben- nett who grumbled daily about the tiny apartment Fleur had rented for them and the limited expenditure they could make for food Mrs Bennett Ben nett knew that all their belongings had been sold to meet their obligations obliga lions and yet she made no effort cHort to adjust herself to their poverty Finally Mrs Bennett becomes ill but the family doctor tells her that it is her own fault She needs exercise exer exer- else cise e and a little healthful activity Itis It ItIs Itis Is Fleur about whom Doctor Hanford Hanford Han Han- ford is really worried He orders her to spend a B Sunday away from home and forget her cares This is Toms Tom's opportunity to take Fleur to to the country to meet his mother and aunt Now go 10 on with the story CHAPTER TWENTY NINE When the little coupe reached the farm four miles from Lynden Fleur looked at the two-story two brick house curiously Yes It was just as is Tom described it Red brick with a white trim on the windows and white shutters shutters shut shut- folded back against the thc brick A porch ran across the front screened with morning glory vines Big purple trumpets Tom said they were when they bloomed but hut it was too late for them now The vines looked rather bare and through them she could see a hammock Back of the house were barns painted paint paint- ed cd white each with a weather vane vanc on its peaked roof There was one on the house too a rooster turning In the thc wind Neat flower beds on the front lawn and two elm trees near the thc wide open gate one one of them with a broad platform plat pInt form built bunt on the thc first branch Tom used to play there He had built bunt the platform when he was a boy Tom used to live here He had been born in one of the thc rooms on the second floor His father had been born here too A PLEASANT HOUSE It was a pleasant house not large even for its two stories neatly kept A white fence the yard ard and within the fence some Rhode Island Red chickens were pecking at the grass end and scratching in the thc flower beds Two women were coming out the front door The smaller one must be beTom's beTom's beTom's Toms Tom's mother mother mother-hadn't hadn't he said she was vas little barely coming to his shoulder And that her hair was pure white The Thc other must be his aunt his mothers mother's sister Tom stopped the car rushed ou ou and kissed first his mother then his aunt then thou his bis mother again Fleur went went Vent more more slowly She vias cramped from the long ride ride for for they had started at atC C LI that morning and had made no stops It was noon now When she came up Mrs Dorin Dorm put her arm around her Youre Fleur she said simply to meet Ive been wanting you COME IE UPSTAIRS There was something so genuine so wholesome about the greeting that the girl felt tears spring into her eyes She liked Toms Tom's mother And she liked the interior of the hou house hoase e. e The living room with its old fashioned chairs the hair cloth sofa the thc organ in the thc corner the blue tile stove the prim pictures on the walls made Hand lace curtains hung at the windows and a fern stood near drinking drink drink- big ing the sunlight and trailing Its fine fresh green fronds to the floor Back of the living room was the combination kitchen and dining room a big homey home room with a large black range at one end and a n round table set for four places at the other want to take off your things Fleur Mrs Dorin Dorm said Will you come upstairs with me Fleur followed Toms Tom's mother up the narrow staircase that reached the second floor When they were in a room at the front Mrs Dorin Dorm took Fleurs Fleur's coat and laid it on the candlewick can can- spread SIT DOWN This is Toms Tom's room Fleur knew it was for Tom Torn had told her about it when he be was describIng describing describing ing the house His desk in the corner cor cor- ner ncr still scarred with hieroglyphics from his jackknife the painted chest which had belonged to a seafaring sea Dorin Doria where he kept his tools forming form formIng formIng ing a window seat the shelf he had made filled with his school books A ship model above the drawing board He had made that too from bits of boxwood The Thc room was as ashe ashe ashe he had left it Mrs Dorin Dorm sat down on the bed and smoothed the thc fur collar of Fleurs Fleur's coat with her fingers Short stubby fingers that made no effort to hide the thc toil they had known Sit down child chUd I want to talk to you And they were looking at each other other oth oth- er Toms Tom's mother and the girl he loved Mrs Dorin Doria was seeing a girl who was much prettier than she had Imagined A girl with fine eyes that had been blue downstairs and upstairs upstairs up up- stairs seemed almost black YOU LOVE TOM TO Her hair shining like fresh silver her lips quivering a little Fine lips she had well formed and strong A I strong chin too Too thin though and there was something frightened about her face Fleur was seeing an old woman with bright twinkling brown eyes ees her face pleasantly wrinkled and seamed her hair cotton white parted part part- ed cd quaintly in the middle and winged down over her ears until it was caught in a n small knot at the back of her neck She was like Tom Torn The twinkle in her eyes reminded Fleur of Tom but the eyes were brown instead of ot gray cray The wide widemouth mouth the smile Yes there was a good deal den of Tom in her but there was more she thought of Tom in the thc tintype of his grandfather that hung on the wall beside the ship modeL A lot of Tom in the tintype You love my Tom dont don't you You Youdon Youdon don dont t need to answer Toms Tom's mother added with a girlish laugh I know you do I knew it from the thc first when you got out of the car Im I'm glad glad I I lovo love Tom too but you know that So theres there's two of us loving him now YOURE A DEARl DEAR Because Fleur couldn't help it she l rose and kissed the soft wrinkled cheek and the ha hair where the widows idos ido's I peak parted it And then they both were crying and laughing together Youre a dear Mrs Dorin Dorm reached in the thc pocket of her white starched apron and pulled out a handkerchief And I know my Tom is going to be bethe bethe bethe the happiest boy in the world Her Tom Fleur wanted to hear her say that again The way she said it the sweet proprietary way I was afraid at first when he wrote me all nil about you that well that well that it might be an infatuation on on your part It isn't I 1 can see I know you love him And of course he loves you why I 1 kept urging him to bring you here so I could see for my ray- self sell Im I'm satisfied TM IM SORRY You see Toms Tom's my only child rand and nd its it's different with an only child I had to know that Tom was going to be happy You'll be the same when you have your children There was a little silence before Mrs Dorin Doria spoke again Im sorry to hear your mother is is' ill Tom wrote about it Is she better She will be Do you think shed she'd like to come cometo out to the farm to recuperate Weve We've plenty of room There are only Laura and I 1 in no noth the th house Well We'll ell take good I care of 01 her herr Fleur hated to refuse but she had to to Sh She knew instinctively that her mother wouldn't like the farm and that she might not like Mrs Dorin It was no use suggesting the invitation invite invite- tion to her When they finally went down downstairs downstairs downstairs stairs it was to find Tom peering Inthe in inthe inthe the kettles on the stove and saying he was hungry Fleur never forgot the dinner with Mrs Dorin Dorm and her sister bringing more and more things to eat apologizing all the while that the thc notice Tom had given them was wasso wasso wasso so short that they really hadn't been able to do their best JUST TOO MUCH There were chicken and peas and mashed potatoes swimming in butter butter but but- ter and pineapple pie for Tom and chocolate pie pietor for Fleur because once he had writt written n and said Fleur didn't like pineapple pie And she forgot the trip af around the farm which really really real real- ly wasn't a farm any longer Mrs Dorin Dorm explained ned regretfully to her because they didn't work it them them- selves They rented it on shares It was too much to keep up with Tom gone and no man around They reserved the house for themselves themselves themselves them them- selves a few chickens and a vegetable garden That was all When she had come as a bride to the farm there were b brt ad acres that Toms Tom's father tilled Fleur knew from the thc way she talked that she loved the land and had held on to it il as long as she could I I LOVE IT They left at dusk because they had hada a long ride ahead of them Mrs Dorin Doria clung first to Tom then to Fleur hating to let them go Aunt Lauras Laura's handkerchief fluttered like a bird white in the darkness when Fleur looked back from the main road She wiped her eyes and put her arm about Toms Tom's shoulders Like the thc farm Tom asked kissIng kissIng kiss kiss- Ing her cheek Love it it She snuggled closer r to him Glad you do Different from Sutton Sutton Sut Sut- ton place isn't it Is that still worrying you Some That's one reason Ive I've been urging yo you to make the trI trip to the farm with me so 80 you could see the house where here I lived as a kid and where I was born As if it would make any differ differ- encel Then the other reason was to have you meet mother She likes you dear She told me you'd make mcke me a fine wife Tom grinned in the gathering darkness Will VIll you Ill try try try-to WILL YOU LIKE IT When were we're married well we'll spend all our vl vacations at the farm will farm will you like that Would she like it The farm was peace and quiet and heaven all wrapped together She loved the thc farm It would be nice to spend their vacations there when they were mar mar- ned ried To drowse in the thc hammock on the porch to wander In the old lash barns and smell the new fresh hay When they were married She hadn't followed Doctor Hanford's Hanford's Han Han- fords ford's directions to the letter she thought in the warn warm closed car g go going go- go ing lag back She had gone away today but she hadn't been able to forget everything as be he told her to What are you thinking of on Tom asked her when she had been silent a along alon along lon long time Im wondering how mother how mother Is To be continued |
