Show 4 if custard cup b HOW by H DOMAN COMPANY LETTIE SYNOPSIS laving in a barn converted into a dwelling mrs penfield la Is manager of an apart ment building known as the cus tard cup originally cluster court her income Is derived from laundry work her chief pa tron being a mrs Horat horatius Ho lus erstone whom she has never seen living with her are crink and thad homeless small boys whom she has td opted they call her benzle thad tella tells penzie a strange rawn was inquiring tor for her under her maiden name I 1 CHAPTER 11 II continued 2 above these rooms was a loft once used for hay but pow entirely cut off from the ground floor it could however be approached by a ladder on the outside and was so approached pro ached by crink during winter rains when it was the last resort tor for drying clothes it was september the california summer was in its glory the days were warm and bright not yet edged with the crispness of fall crink being in school mrs penfield N was as man aging alone she had taken up her basket of clothes and started for the yard when the bell rang this was strictly tn in accordance with the usual routine because mrs penfield rarely finished anything without interruption she put down her basket and went to the door good morning mrs bosley come right in A young woman stood outside she was carefully groomed smartly dressed striking in appearance with out being exactly pretty she and her husband lived in the custard cup but no one could understand why they were apparently free of all responsibilities and devoted them dehes to good times in short they were everything that the other mem bers of the community were not I 1 can cant t stop mrs penfield I 1 im in going downtown and I 1 wondered if you t let me leave this package with you it its s got a few trinkets in it and fd rd feel safer mrs penfield hesitated 1 I 1 faint t got any safe place bhe she said slowly and I 1 im in in and out bussle bosley broke in eagerly you t feel any care about it nobody d take it but I 1 ve got a feel ing id rather leave it here I 1 put a newspaper round it so look of any value whatever she passed over a small package mrs penfield took it with some reluctance luc tance W and carried it into her bed room she was accustomed to all sorts of strange requests but it was the first time she had been asked to glaid valuables 1 I expect she thinks nobody d look here mrs penfield reflected ano with that she dismissed the matter altogether and v went ent on out to the yard with her basket As she wiped the lines she sang under ber breath in sheer blitheness of spirit this was the happiest part of her work she loved the air the sunshine momin mornin called a rasping voice why mr bopple good morn morning 1 she returned briski ain t it a grand day well pretty fair conceded mr bopple grudgingly he neer neier so far encouraged anything ev even en the weather neather as to glie ghe it unqualified ap mr bopple was a night watchman atchman vi in some vague building near the water front and no one in the cus tard cup his being emi bently adapted to exactly that work watchfulness was the keynote of his personality he sacrificed many hours of possible daytime sleep by bringing his professional activities into the home field 1 leg es it its s a grand day repeated mrs penfield quite as if she had received more encouragement how liow are you feeling mr me coppler jest he replied in a die dle away olce his small beady eyes were filmed tor for a moment out of def arence to this sentiment sentiment he gazed at mrs penfield with a new shrewd ness which she x would I 1 lave ave sensed at once if she had been leas less occupied I 1 see thad s got a new rig con linued mr air IN bopple opple in the manner of one who delivers a preamble yes bless the baby 1 laughed mrs penfield I 1 finished that up last night im sorry it its s pink cause it dont don t go with his hair the best ever eer but that nice gingham f go to waste expect thad n lucky to get as much s that mr bopple now began on the main argument sure he was a little dis bout the color cause he aint struck with pink but that s good for him I 1 alg ei a child ought to be dis disappoint ed at least once a week in order ta get used to life she discarded a broken clothespin and reached into her pocket for another I 1 guess likely you aimed to have folks think he h was your own lid kid insinuated mr bopple testing the strength of his old pruning shears land no I 1 never claimed he was he s mine cause I 1 adopted him and love him and cause he loves me that s all ta biere ere Is to it mr bopple thought otherwise herRise ot it its s easy said mis nils penfield but bet there s a lot more to it where d you get thad mis penfield with a quick movement she lifted the sheet and pinned it into place the records are for thad when he grows up you got some records then debbe she returned on guard I 1 don t see what dif diff france it makes well I 1 should say it made a lot course you d want to know what kind 0 folks he had might be things that d 3 crop out you d be the one to be dis appointed it if he was nas to turn out a robber or murderer or mrs I 1 enfield shook out a watt e skirt and smiled all you got to do mr bopple Is to look at thad once and you won wont t talk that way ile lies s as sweet a baby as ever was and there aint nothing in his face that ain t good and dear if he ever turns out bad it wont be his fault itil it 11 be cause I 1 failed him 1 shaw I 1 more like it d be somei n in his ils birth mrs penfield jammed down a clothespin with nith a violence that snapped it in two but her voice was still pleasant thad s got past his birth by most tour four years and he vj n I 1 f f her dark eyes blazed wont never get mixed up with mith it again he ile inherit nothing that I 1 im in afraid of and one of the main reasons I 1 im in living Is to see that he develops just the way he hes s started its a good way nay I 1 like it and if the lord spares me he hell U be ready to meet the world face to fice pice when hes be s gro i ed up her neighbors thin lips twisted all Is he said slowly digging his broken shears into a post I 1 thought debbe you d like to know there theres s talk started you see len simmons come in t other day and he saw thad he ile said he couldn t get over it tt TI ad looks so much like a kid he knew about a year ago perfect image ben mrs penfield made no reply A flush rose in her cheeks but she placed her pins carefully in the last garment well ben says this kid didn dian t have no family he could be proud of seems his mother run off somewhere and died of it and I 1 Is father was A as i treated for bomel n and mr me bopple was yas bazing at the post and therefore did not see mrs pen fields field s reception of his speech stop I 1 she cried he looked up in injured bew bewilder ilder ment mrs I 1 enfield N as standing in front of him the color was inas high in her cl el beeks her dark eyes blazed dangerously you stop I 1 she repeated in a low voice you lou look so small to me that I 1 can cant t scarcely see you t all but if youre you re still there you d better lay hold of one thing you let thad alone aint ain t nobody s business where he came from nor who his folks vi R ere and if you cant find nothing better 0 do it atan an to tear little cn ildren to pieces you d better sleep twenty four hours a aty diy steady mr dopple dropped his shears and assumed a reproachful attitude I 1 jest thought want to know chats bein said well I 1 dont don t she ginterr apted and if you ve got a grain of sen aull put dour mind on other things lives in his own genera tion he aint ain t just jus reflection in ln what s been lived before him I 1 know where thad came from and it s all right do ou think you ou can remember hat that mr bopple mr opple with some hesitation admitted that perhaps he could mrs penfield having hitherto been a satis factory neighbor and she edged his courtesy by a smile halt half concila atory half abstracted hut but when she had bad taken up the empty clothes basket and gone bick into ane house she sat for several minutes looking into space her busy hands idle a mist of compassion in her dark eyes once her lips moved why why hy cant I 1 wipe out the ban dicapi entirely she breathed dont don t seem right for any child she was still sitting there when thad came in mrs penfield gathered the boy into her arms and kissed hissed him I 1 enzie he gasped squeeze me softer please I 1 most can t breathe what iou do it bo eo haid for she laughed bless bour our baby heart I 1 I 1 expect I 1 was was keeping ev evry ry thing away avay jav why hy renzle aln aint t anything here ju juit jut t you and me sure enough she said more lightly and we t sit here doing nothing I 1 ive ve got to get to work ork and you trot along and play A few minutes later he came run ning to her in great glee see penzie I 1 found somei u 2 he held up a small package it was flat oblong tied with cord where did you get that thad in your room all done up up in paper lou dut have touched it she took the package to carry it back to her room then paused in astonishment the cords were fastened with wax the seals had not been broken she turned it over it was soft to the touch on one side was simply the name bosley never the family jewels she thought as she went into the bedroom next time III let her keep it to home III bet it ain aint t nothing I 1 want nant in this house CHAPTER III the invasion of lettle having delivered the final order of groceries for the day crink penfield varied monotony by taking a new route home and was rewarded by a sight that made him stop suddenly and catch his breath with joy in a large lot where he distinctly kemem bared a tenement house there wea was only an enormous heap of debris I 1 1 murmured crink want wa n t that a grand fire here s where I 1 get busy he ile hid his basket behind a mass of shattered masonry and plunged into exploration of the highest mound of ashes crink lived the life of sal vage A bit of human wreckage him self he had an unfailing attraction for all the material wreckage that came within range young as he be was the boy was an expert with a bent piece of iron flicking filching scrap heaps tor for thase se fragments which have been t thrown hr orvn out not because their useful ness Is exhausted but because their owners lave 1 ave been lacking in ingene ity even as mrs penfield had res cued him so had he in turn rescued countless bits of wood and cloth iron and tin and pulled them back into the field of service squirming to the top of the mass crink discovered an incredible piece of luck the wheel of a dismembered sewing machine he ile grabbed it but at tl e same moment another ban I 1 also alco grabbed a emall thin hand A pair of bright black eyes confronted crink the eyes of a girl about his own age who had been conducting a series of investigations of her own from the rear of the lot hey leggo there cried crink ago yourself retorted the girt girl shan t I 1 abt here first you neither if you haj you cl ha taken it wouldn t 3 sou ou for a moment the boy was vas s stag tog he ile had been prepared prep ired for ac tion but not for reason reasoning ln and me latter had driven him int into 0 a corner ghere speech would merely weaken neah n his cause by a quick movement crink lifted the w m heel but tl e girl s counter poll pull flopped it back again with a smart whack hack that sent a cloud of ashes aitto it to the air the contestants gulps coughed sneezed glared at each other with reddened red denea deDeo eves but with no diminution pf will vill now look here began crink in a voice noice intended to be terrible 3 vuu vu aint aln t gaining nothing this here wheel s mine prove pron e it why don dont t you arumn y dummy 1 goshi he writhed quit calling names you little fighting devil now you got my number she re just you make mahe me one bh bil madder and III show vou how ilon 11 II you show me pu punch you into 3 sol huh I 1 you coulden couldn t coi cot I 1 11 I 1 too couldn coulden t neither would you I 1 I 1 ke tp to stay aid and live w th us lett e TO tn PE BE contant MI t |