Show the mu sa t ard P by FLORENCE BINGHAM livingston coper by george H doran company SYNOPSIS living li I 1 i a barn bam converted into a s mra penfield Is manager of 01 an apart ment building known as the custard cup originally cluster court her income ie Is derived from laundry work her chief pa tron being a mrs Ho horatius Horat lus weatherstone whom she has never seen living with her are crink and thad homeless small boys whom ehe she has adopted they call her penzie thad tells penzie a strange man was vms inquiring for or her under her maiden name A tenant mrs bussle bosley induces penzie to take charge ot of a package which she does with some misgivings searching a refuse flump dump for things which might be of value crink veteran at the game en counters a small girl lettle who proves a foeman worthy of his steel he takes her to penzie and lettle gets adopted into the family the stranger proves to be mrs afro penfield s uncle jerry he announces he Is going to re main in the vicinity of the cus tard cup uncle jerry mr arranges ranges to occupy the loft above mrs penfield s abode uncle jerry meets prudence hapgood no longer young but attractive and the two appear to hits it off well lorene percy young friend of benzle s tells her of her en ga gement to dick chase also a mutual friend friendship develop ing between uncle jerry and frank bosley husband of bussle worries penzie CHAPTER VI vill 11 continued 8 yes they keep me going so you see what I 1 mean I 1 in all alone all alone yes all alone repeated mrs sanders her voice rising to a shriek oh it s awful I 1 never been alone before I 1 faint told you how but two years agai lost my husband my mother then my brother it left me alone absolutely alone I 1 dont get over it sometimes her words sank sometimes I 1 think I 1 shall go crazy that I 1 may end it mrs penfield regarded her calmly guess most of us feel that way first or lait but its it s only selfishness talk ing to us easiest thing we can do Is to go mrs sanders stopped in her pacing the keenness of her astonishment droe the tension out of her bearing she was suddenly limp from the shift ing of emotion you youl I 1 ehe she exclaimed mrs penfield gave her a smile that had nothing in it of amusement I 1 I 1 she confirmed my dear you didn dian t s pose did you that the lord had singled you out to see if he could break a string in your heart but you youl I 1 I 1 id d never thought as you mrs penfield s face settled into lines that mrs sanders had not seen before into the rigidity of forced control I 1 don dont t speak of it she said jerkily I 1 can t it hurts burts more ain t nobody here knows I 1 had a pretty home once M my husband was vas a contractor he had a fine income we had th three ahll dren the words nords trailed into silence her brown eyes with lengthened focus were vere fixed on the wall beyond her hostess as if she were v ere seeing pie tures out of a past that I 1 ad receded but not grown dim presently she went on her voice lower loxer her breathing uneven speaking more to herself than to another so far was she withdrawn from the pres ent we happy happy until there was A as an epidemic the worst of it I 1 ad passed vi IN e had escaped we thought we were safe the relief from anxiety biety made us more thankful happier than ever one night we we I 1 ad a jolly sup per the five of us at the round table there was green peas and custard pie little david loved to see it tr tremble he ile was three his curls were like twists of sunshine and his eyes were the deepest blue and katherine Kather lne and bobby they were all so well rosy full of laughter I 1 but that very night first one and then another in the morning they were gone think of it before day broke they were all my babies gone I 1 her eyes lifted the lines of her face were twisted in agony she had forgotten her sur roun soundings dings reliving re living those hideous hours oh my dear eald said mrs sanders softly how did you ever stand it stand it mrs penfield took up the words nith ith momentary mence I 1 didn dian t stand it I 1 v w ent mad raving mad ev everything Evry grything thing I 1 id d ever believed in went down her sad eyes came back to I 1 er s face mrs sanders gaze had lifted to mrs pen field fields s heavy hair nearly white strangely out of keeping with the look of youth that lingered in her tea fea tures and expression mrs penfield caught the glance it tu turned rne d that night she said er antly it t matter and your yur effig mrs rt ds s lips worked it killed my husband she replied slow if nol at once but he never got aa tt fcc df daf crt over oner it he ile was demoted devoted to his family he ile hadn t been well he ran down fast we sold trav aled ev r ry thing it didn dian t help in six months oh my dearl repeated mrs san ders pityingly that was when mrs penfield nodded it would have hae been easy so easy to go too the hard thing was to stay in an empty world nothing 1 I 1 I know bow how you felt you you cared cared mrs penfield s tone shook the word to shreds and cast it aside part of me died when he did I 1 hain t never been the same I 1 try but I 1 can cant t her voice broke she wheeled swiftly and vv went ent over to tl e window standing Stin ding with her back to the room she stared into the meshes of the muslin curtain beating the casing with her closed hand those blows the outlet of long suppressed torture pounded into the silence of the room with uncanny contrast as of physical violence upon some sacred stillness mrs sanders scarcely breathed awed into motionlessness by the depth of the anguish which she had unwittingly stirred her on own n grief was swallowed up in the grief of another at last mrs penfield turned and came back she walked firmly her eyes were brimming with tears but there was a smile on her lips I 1 im m sorry I 1 went to pieces so she apologized I 1 aim to keep my will power pressed down on my feelings but if I 1 take it off the least bit they boll boil up as furious as ever you austn t think I 1 in complaining I 1 did for a spell but I 1 learned better sit down begged mrs sanders I 1 want to tell you how I 1 hate myself for being so selfish I 1 would rit have hurt you tor for the world but I 1 never dreamed youre you re always so cheerful cheerfull 1 im cheerful yes acknowledged mrs penfield sadly but once I 1 was happy I 1 tell you what hat mrs san ders you can be suspicious of the 4 IV RV 6 4 mrs sanders scarcely breathed feller that s cheerful he s been through something happiness Is a thing that bubbles up naturally before youve you ve had much experience but cheerfulness Is a thing you ve rea out and stand by cause you believe it s right there s a kind of happiness that never comes back once its gone tl ey sat in silence for a moment in closer communion than words had ener ev er brouil t them I 1 kno v now said mrs sanders gently why you took those chil dren an irradiated expression came into mrs Pen penfield fields s face yes you know now I 1 t do it at first I 1 got a position as housekeeper in a wealthy family but I 1 couldn coulden t be satisfied just supporting myself I 1 had to make a home again and for somebody that didn dian t have one way it Is when you lose them that s dear to you it kind 0 opens your heart wider and you got more ion loie e for more folks stead of less when I 1 had chil dren of my own I 1 thought bout them them but when A hen 1 I 1 I lost em I 1 began to think bout all the children evry N where b ere specially those that was ban han di capped and forlorn and t have a chance to grow up true to the souls that the lord gave em I 1 came to see that I 1 id d got to make a home tor for some of em ein so I 1 gave up my position and hunted up crink and then thad I 1 cant can t earn so much money this way and it costs more to live lle but I 1 alei easier the hysterical frenzy had died out of mrs sanders expression she looked as if sl e had laid hold of peace and poise she took mrs pen fields field 8 hand in both her own you will always be my friend she said simply you youve ve made me see how wrong I 1 been going letting my feelings collect inside of me till thy fermented only way to keep fr em eni s Is to let em out work em off tor for somebody else im I 1 m going to try and whenever er I 1 feel that way again III think bout how much more unhappy you are no interposed mrs penfield quickly boure ou re not to think i im m un happy I 1 in not now debbe I 1 seemed to say I 1 v was as but twain t what I 1 meant I 1 im in happy but it its s a dif front kind lind of happiness that s all I 1 les es breathed mrs sanders that all CHAPTER IX where fil caesar led several weeks had passed td d the pink sweater had not been worn it was sometimes looked at reposing in a paper wrapper in the cleanest apple box monday morning with high hope hop saturday night with black despair once lettle had picked her way gin gerly through five days of behavior that might have been recorded with a gold pen on a pearly page and then presto prestol humanity I 1 imps I 1 cataclysm I 1 once her impetuous feet had trod the narrow way up to and including saturday noon the goal was in sight miss lettle staged a warrance war dance in premature celebration aught caught her ragged sleeve in the handle of a saucepan on the stove dragged it over the edge deluged the kitchen with precious soup stock soaking in into the rough board floor lettle lettie a contrition was always im 1 mediate and sincere but it lacked that element of projection which might have fastened into the future and in better things nevertheless it was a difficult problem to discipline her she had an unfailing perception of right and wrong and knew at any moment which side of the fence she eh was on she never denied she never ran away aay she never excused on th the contrary she stood by in the thickest of the disaster often very thick la in deed and rent the atmosphere with shrill confession I 1 done it I 1 done it it was the purest futility to call her attention to the fact that she hau had sinned lettle forestalled such action by her lightning metamorphosis into the sinner who teth and ie is therefore entitled to the rejoicing of the beholder but to sit down and rejoice over a little girl who has juet just wrecked half of your kitchen ousby carries with it implications which cannot be sponsored and in consequence mrs penfield was often merely a silent and puzzled spectator standing by while lettle put herself through the stages of revulsion an althema and self inflicted penance never did mrs penfield devise pun Ish ments half so drastic as those which were suggested by lettle who delighted in methods of self flag gela tion that should translate the frenzy of wrong wrongdoing doing into a frenzy of tor ture opposed to all rules was mrs pen fields feld s attitude of neutrally neut ralty as of a detached onlooker you re too easy said mrs bopple you 11 be soria sorry when its too late declared mrs cat kerbox but mrs penfield only smiled at them gently with a far away look in her eyes which they resented because it showed that their carefully pointed criticism had failed of its aim I 1 d punish her if shed she d give me a chance she admitted but when she does it herself I 1 can t phout heap ing it up double besides it if a fel lers conscience has stirred up a fight in his own soul anybody that takes a hand from the outside 1 Is only put ting himself on record as a meddler so the fight anas as lettle s and thus far the victory had hovered in sus bus pension occasionally glimpsed but elusive e and inci inel ned to fly high ironically enough the greatest ob stacle in her path of virtue was mr bopple he acted as a reagent drawing drav ving out and precipitating all tie norst in her hatire by a curious instinct they were both conscious of a fundamental an complicated on mr copples i side by the irresistible desire to t start something turned loose in a menagerie he be would have entertained himself by thrusting sticks between the bars of cages that he might gloat over the torture of animals deprived of the power to give ghe him the non he deserved he ile was as naturally a baiter batter of beasts and in lettle he found a most satisfactory subject for his ingenuity I 1 I 1 ate him declared lettle stamping her toot foot I 1 hate him she eased her armful of driftwood down on the accumulation in the COP cor ner and straightened up with a jerk her black eyes flashing mrs penfield salting the stew for lunch smiled at her composedly that s one thing you got to get over lettle I 1 ain aln t goin to have my yard all littered up TO BE CONTI CONTINUED |