Show R. R 1 HILLTOP CLEAR 4 By EMILIE LORING LORING mm ti Copyright by Th The Penn Publishing Co r. r SYNOPSIS Prudenco Schuylor comes comas from tram New York to Prosperity In n p Maine Inherited from her uncle to tomake tomake tomake make a new lira life for tor herself and her brother David whoso whose health has been broken by tragedy I I CHAPTER II Z 2 2 stopped settling her possessions the nest next day at jj 9 n long enough to inspect the out- out suto sido of ot her Inheritance TIer Her tour of Inspection ended at the long weather- weather stained barn cut ca With a n frenzied daa kut I a n black hen lien flew fiew down from the topmost loft Prudence watched her switch and cackle and flap through the open doorway before before be be- fore tore her e eyes es returned to tho spot from which she had descended Had she sho been stealing a nest Could she find It What fun I Ii i She tugged a light ladder Into place and with excited agility mounted Past the first mow Up to the h highest hest almost touching the roof She touched warm feathers A sharp peck from a yellow beak dampened her lashes but steeled her determination She flung the squawking fowl to an adjacent mound of ot hay where It mado made th the theIsm It Ism rafters ring with Its outraged cackle Prudence sat back on her heels and counted Eight eggs I 1 ISI SI SIJ I Oh SI SH The cheery call came from be be- low A mans man's voice Not r-ot the Voice In the Fog That had appeared in person early this morning Who could It be Prudence Prudenco co cautiously placed the eggs In her white skirt gathered up the front of ot it and leaned too far over The hay slid sUd Struggling to retard her progress she went with It down down into the arms of a manBoy man Boy noy I That was a narrow squeak squeal I J Prudence had closed her lids tight when she felt herself hersel going She opened them wide looked up into the deepest bluest eyes she ever had seen Her glance traveled on to light hair which had an engaging engaging engaging en- en kink at the temple then back to the face Its expression sent a ripple along her nerves Who was he lie Seems Idiotic to say Just Thank you when you really really- Her lIer smile was tremulous her voice shaken en She shivered Dont think about It IL I was the theman theman man for tho the moment all right What possessed you ou to lean over oer that haymow Prudence freed herself and then stepped back She resented the dIctatorIal dictatorial dic die question f Dont lose your temper That's my usual two three 1 method of descending from haymows Rather Rath Rath- er original orIginal orIginal-If If you get what I mean Now that his color had returned returned returned re re- re- re turned the curve of his sensitive mouth set her on the defensive It was so darn boyish for a man his age he must be about thirty Okay with me Every move a n picture But Is this method of transporting eggs also original with you sou 1 He glanced at her skirt which she still gripped with one hand From the side a stream of egg yolks was dripping My Iy word 1 She looked from her skirt to his perfectly tailored gray grays s sports p po o r t s 5 suit BUt It was liberally splotched with yellow which had hadnot hadnot hadnot not been part of the weavers weaver's de de- sign The sight wiped her e eyes cs and voice clean of assumed ference Im sorry Im I'm terribly sorry I Ive I-I've Ive I've made you look like an His eyes ees deepened as they met hers contritely appealing His Ins lips tightened Was he furiously angry because she had spoiled his clothes Truly Im I'm sorry I haven't ha even thanked you ou for sa saving Ing me from a horrid fall fall Id Id I'd loathe being forgive me for being flippant I Iam Iam I am nm on my ray knees In apology for the damage to your clothes Come Into the house and Jane Mack will take talce takeoff takeoff off oft the spots She's a demon cleanser No thank you my mar man will doIt do It it If you scorn our help you will let me say Thank you OU wont won't you J She held out her hand I am nn Prudence Prudence Prudence Pru Pru- dence Schuyler of Prosperity farm Dont apologize for tor the dama damage e. e which amounts to nothing or the snub which I deserved I am amWell am- am Well Wen Rod Hod here you ou are arc arel 1 S SI Putter Puffer In work blue overalls extended a knob jointed hand What you doln doin here Thought you left High Ledges last week mean Is didn't know you an and 1 Miss i Prue was acquainted So this was the glamorous Rodney Rodney Rodney Rod Rod- ney Gerard 1 The playboy whom she ahie had ba 1 planned to treat with superb superb superb su su- su- su disdain when or If they met Life LICe certainly had a nice sense of or humor to fling her Into his arms Prudence debonairly answered the question In S Si Puffers Puffer's sl tc eyes We Ye arcu that Is Ls s we weren't I I I i but quite suddenly I took the quickest way down from the hn haymow hay hay- mow Mr the Moment caught me and me-and and look I She held out her skirt Well Ill I'll be darned darned and and eggs forty Corty cents a n dozen 1 You'd better chuck the mess an go get that skirt cleaned denned Im going Good morning Mr Mr Rod and thank you again Prudence smiled and nodded to the two men watching her as she sho left the barn Pretty as a movie mo star and smart as a steel trap SI Sl Puffer commented com com- Who Is she What is she doing here Ha ent you heard Austin Schuyler ler left all his holdings here hereto to that slip of a girl Ho lie up an andIed andied andied died just after hed he'd paid a lot of money for an annuity too Can you beat It 1 Miss Mss Prue come to the farm to see sec If f she can get her brother Davids David's health back They say ho had an Income enough to toIe live I on on on-ho ho was a lawyer lawyer besides besides his practice till the crash came Two years ago his wife walked out on him with his sister Julies Julie's husband Schuyler ler 1 Is that the family That rotten scandal staggered even the most hard-boiled hard people I know This Miss Schuyler's sister Julie was charming but too domestic for tor forthe forthe the man sho she married Her husband wanted a woman who would make mak makeI I l r rf f If i t f it n i if f rr r- r G E I Ive I've Ive I've Made You Look Like an other men stop look listen His ills wife's sister-in-law sister was that type so he stepped up and took her He didn't have her long Mrs David Schuyler was d up In an automobile accident I A week after she he ran awa away Gorry Makes MaleJ me think of them words in the J Ible an the wages of sin Is de death Hh Folks FoUts say Bay David Schuyler Schuler put In all his spare time helping the out an at a rescue mission Miss Prue's got grit mean is last night when I brought them In n the road was so thick with fog you ou could cut It Once when I looked round I could see tears glistening In her eyes but she kept her voice like music Ill I'll bet she sings So she Intends to farm I 1 Haven't they any mone money Lost It investments wiped out as quick and as clean as you ou can wipe writing from a slate mean Is they lost their money that's the talk In the tile village She can get their living all right from the If only Jr-It-only If only she will stick sUck it t out In spite of radios an movies I guess ont t seem much like hies the city Thought you'd oud gone Rod Dont Don't you usually go fi flying ng or play- play n nc polo or visiting this timo of year ar Rodney Gerard looked quickly at atI Puffers Puffer's Inscrutable face Youre not crazy about me as a solid cItIzen citizen citi cItI- zen are nrc you SI S1 I was going but butLen butLen butLen Len Calloway held me up He lIe wants my decision on the timber now so that he can cnn make his contracts contracts contracts con con- tracts for the Increase in his cut Putter Puffer rubbed his hand up and down his bs unshaven cheek He drawled Ill donate one piece of advice Rod nod Dont Don't trust Calloway mean Is that old trouble between you two Is s only Lens Len's always been a n queer mixture of or I terrible temper and anel a sense of Jus ins tice tice When he gets mad he sees I blood Dont Don't let him have that timber Rodney Hodney Gerard paused In n the tho act of ot appl applying Ing a lighter to a cigarette the time Idea You told me yourself that a lot of big stuff ou ought ht to come out for the good of the forest I r did Theres There's thousands of feet of standing timber that's thal's no longer growing more than half halt of It de- de an likely to be destroyed b by bythe bythe the first storm I told you yuu something something something some some- thing else too too that that you ou ought to have a forester trester here to mark marle every err tree that was to come out not leave It to the tile Judgment of any man who can swing swInt ati an ax and that you yoc ought to bo be here yourself when hen the tho cutting was done to see It was done right I haven't forgotten but S Si they cut trees when the snow Is on the ground What would I do here bere In winter Folks ha have ye lived here through a winter Rod nod and slept and et like human beings I calculate hurt burt you none With a bo boyish sh shout of laughter Rodney Gerard flung his arm about abou Puffers Puffer's shoulders Dont y you OU go back on me I hank bank on you to stand by me as you OU have ever since you taught me to hold a agun gun As to Len Calloway Ill I'll say nothing doing to him bm now and when I get around to It Ill I'll have a forester give us a report on the trees All right Roddy When you get het the forester here have ha him look over that wood lot of Miss Prue's Theres There's about five hundred acres along tho the rise that Austin Schuyler bought of o Len Calloway's father That stretch called The Hundreds between the highway an tho the sky line Its It's the best stand of spruce and pine in n the county Ought to bring that spunky little girl a nice bunch of ot cash but Im I'm afraid If Len Calloway gets hold of ot Miss Mss Prue before she sho knows Its value hell he'll make a a sharp trade with with her He He held belch me up In the fog last evening to ask when she ahe was wits comin I didn't let on I had her In the back backseat backseat seat that that- very minute Didn't want him to get In a lick till Id I'd warned her to watch her step But he beat bent me to it Hes He's been to see her tills this morning This morning J Gorry Rod what's whal's there In that to get so excited about Every ery unmarried man in the count county county I I I wouldn't put it past some of the married ones ones will will come buzzin round the red brick brick- brickhouse house like bees around a hone honey pot now that girl girlIs Is there Rodney Gerard thoughtfully regarded regarded regarded re re- re- re a fish hawk sailing high above him He was was 1001 looking at a different dIfferent different dif dIf- ferent world from the world he had known as he entered the old barn The sky seemed bluer the air more sparkling his blood raced through his veins He had the sense of ot a n anew anew new beginning as if again as ns in his ardent boyhood he set his compass by a shining star He lie colored as ns his glance glanco came back to the quizzical eyes watching him Look here SI dont don't let Miss Schuyler sign up with Calloway She will listen to you Ill I'll have a n forester here within a month if It I have to buy one I was going to New r York Yore tonight tonIght but but Ill I'll cut out the tho social stuff this autumn stay here and attend to the time timber Puffer strode after him as he left he-left left the barn Do you mean to say Roddy noddy that you'll winter along with us and ana get out the lo logs s Meb- Meb be I kin see you OU doing It The not too thinly veiled taunt sent the blood bloo 1 In a red Ted tide to Gerards Gerard's fair far hair He sprang Into the low long roadster which had hadnot hadnot hadnot not a touch of color to relieve its shining blackness He Ho slammed the thedoor thedoor thedoor door and Jumped the car forward Mr Puffer you dont don't know as much mu h about mo me as ns you think you do he flung over oer his shoulder SI Puffers Puffer's faded eyes were warm with affection as ho watched the roadster skid round the curve Got him mad me gorry-me got him mad Guess I went to work the right way to wake that young oung feller feller feller fel fel- ler up He chuckled prodded thoughtfully with the straw before ho he reflected aloud I wonder though how much I really had to do with his staying Dusk Dust and Mrs Puffer appeared simultaneously at the red brick house Prudence was placing a afresh afresh afresh fresh blotter on her brothers brother's desk deskIn In the tho living room when the massive mas mas- massIo massive sive sI woman waddled In and set a n crisp golden brown loaf on the table for tor luck My ry grandmother mother who was Welsh alwa always s 's carried along a n loaf when she went visiting She claimed It brought good for for- tune It smells amens marvelous 1 Raisins Raisins- hundreds of or them Im I'm going to eat that crusty end this minute Glad you like liko It knew you wouldn't have time to cook today so left some things In n the kitchen for your supper I wanted to come up and help but SI said you 1 0 had everything planned so fine that the moving went ent as If f on greased wheels He thinks youre you're a wonder Dont Don't know but what Ill I'll get jeal jeal- ous Her lIer sm small ll brown eyes flecked with green disappeared In rolls of oC flesh when she laughed Prudence dropped to a floor cushion cushion cush cushy ion beside the chair She swallowed an especially plummy mouthful Jealous A woman who can make male bread like this You dont don't have to worry about keeping your our men folk off the street Ill I'll wager they are arc on time for every mea meal Mrs Puffers Puffer's eyes filled her lips quivered SI S Is all the men In the family now now we we had a boy She touched a tiny gold star pinned on the breast of or her gown This Timis stands for a white cross in France Prudenco Prudence laid lad her hand on the plump fingers Dear Mrs Puffer I wasn't very old when David went across but I remember Mothers Mother's eyes when wIlen the tho doorbell door or the phone rang They seemed to knife through my heart even when sho sha smiled and talked In her beautiful beautIful voice She had such gay courage Gay courage I That's the sort Most folks talk tan of grI grim courage I Iguess Iguess Iguess guess that Idea came from our Puritan Puritan Pur Pur- pur-I pur itan tan ancestors But your brother came back safe dearie They told me In th the tho village that ho we wears rs ten I bars on his Victory medal Yes for tor carrying ammunition to the Front of the Front in ten cam cam- They tell teIl me too that Isn't all you have to be proud of him for Sho She resolutely cleared her voice kind of ot solemn Inthe Were getting In Inthe inthe the firelight You look took real hand hand- that dress Its It's Just jos the color of the shine in your our hair taint red redan redan redan an taint yellow its it's Uk like some of my prize zinnias zinnias and and those wax beads around your neck are awful pretty re Wax Was beads I Julies Julie's pearls I What would Mrs Puffer say If sho knew their value What sort of man Is Mr DIr Calloway Callo Call Calloway 0 way Yay Mrs Puffer Something of an exhibitionist Isn't he The stout womans woman's placidity was slightly shaken Dearie Deane you gave me a start SI told me I must warn you ou about Len and I was thinking how Id I'd best begin when you up and ask the question Dont Don't trust him hm Prudenco Prudence chuckled Mrs Puffers Puffer's portentous voice was so out of ot character character character char char- acter with her personality Has he always lived here He was born In this house Here I ILora Lors Lora Miss Iss Prue before youve you've lived here a month you'll think every c person in the United States had a relative who was born In this house or one who died here Folks Is s everlastingly stopping to ask I |