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Show '7 - PRUDENCE SAYS SO By ETHEL HUESTON The Story of a Houseful of Loveablc Girls Copyright Bobbi-Mcrrill Co. LiMK MMM WMWWMBII , B II i ' " !! Wl II I I Willi IMWJLF ' Ilnnrfl Just for a moment, yon spniled j it all by" "Yen talk English, Ciirrip. What I wns It you tried to do for meV" "Well, If you wiint plain F.ngllfh you c;in have It," snld Carol. "You knovr wlint professor is, a swell position lika hla, and such prospects, uud Now York c'ly, and four thousand a year with a raise for next year, anil we tried to Kive you a pond fair chance to land him squarely, and " "To land him " "To get him, then! fie hasn't any girl. You could have been engagcf! to him this inonient Prof. David Arnold Duke If you had wanted to." "Oh, Is that H?" "Yes, that's It." Fairy smiled. ."Thank you, dear, It was sweet of you, but you're too lute. I am engaged." Carol's lips parted, closed, parted again. "You you?" "Exactly so." Hope Hashed into Carol's eyes. Fairy saw it, and answered swiftly. "Certainly not. I'm not crazy about your little professor. I am engaged to Eugene Babler." She said it with pride, not unmixed with defiance, knowing as she did that the twins Considered Con-sidered Gene too undignified for a parsonage par-sonage son-in-law. The twins were strong for parsonage dignity! "You are?" "I am." A long instant Carol stared at her Then she turned toward the door. "Where are you going?" "I'm going to tell papa." Fairy laughed. "Papa knows it." Carol came slowly back and stood by I I 11 CIRCUMSTANCES INDUCE FAIRY TO REVEAL HER LIFE'S ROMANCE THE TWINS FOR A SHORT PERIOD ENJOY THEMSELVES HUGELY Synopsis. The story opens in the bouse of Rev. Mr. Slarr, where rrudence, his eldest daughter and feminine head of the house, consisting con-sisting of her father, herself, her sisters. Fairy, the twins Carol and Lark and Connie, the youngest, are awaiting the arrival of their aunt Grace. Liveliness of the smaller members of the family results disastrously dis-astrously for their appearance. Carol and Lark investigate Christian Science. Prudence postpones her wedding when Carol catches measles. Then Carol tries to convert the town roughnecks. The twins score a triumph at the church entertainment. "I guess be is," she said confusedly. "Let's cut and run, will you?" he suggested hopefully. "We can be out of sight befoie Come on, Fairy, be good to ie. I Haven't, had a glimpse or a touch of you the whole week. What do you reckon I came down here for? Come on. Let's beat it." He looked around with a worried air. "Hurry, or the fwins'll get us." Fairy hesitated, and was lost. Gene grabbed her hand, and the next instant, in-stant, laughing, they were crawling under un-der the fence at the south corner of the parsonage lawn just as the twins appeared at the barn door. They stopped. They gasped. They stared at each other in dismay. "It was a put-up job," declared Carol. ".Now what'Il we do? But Babbie's got more sense than I thought he lnu!, I must confess. Do you suppose he was kidnaping her?" Carol snorted derisively. "Kidnaping nothing! She was ahead when I saw 'em. What'Il we tell the professor?" Two humbled gentle twins greeted the professor some fifteen minutes later. "We're so sorry," Carol explained f 'ntly. "Babbie came and he and Fairy I guess they had an errand somewhere. We think they'll be hack very soon. Fairy will be so sorry." The professor smiled and looked quite bright. "Are they gone?" "Y"es, but we're sure they'll be back that is, we're almost sure." Carol, remembering the mode of their departure, depar-ture, felt far less assurance on that point than she could have wished. "Well, that's too'bad," he said cheerfully. cheer-fully. "But my loss is Babler's gain. I suppose we ought in Christian decency de-cency to give him the afternoon. Let's the dresser again. After a short silence she moved away once more. "Where now?" "To tell Aunt Grace, then." "Aunt Grace knows it, too." "Does Prudence know it?" "Yes." Carol swallowed this bitter pill in silence. "How long?" she inquired at last. "About a year. Look here, Carol, I'll show you something. Really I'm glad you know about it. We're pretty young, and papa thought we ought to kep it dark a while, to make sure. That's why we didn't tell you. Look at this." From her cedar chest a Christmas gift from Gene she drew out a small velvet jeweler's box, and displayed before the admiring eyes of Carol a plain gold ring with a modest diamond. Carol kissed it. Then she kissed Fairy twice. "I know you'll be awfully happy, Fairy," she said soberly. "And I'm glad of it. But I can't honestly believe be-lieve there's any man good enough for our girls. Babbie's nice, and dear, and all that, and he's so crazy about you, and do you love him?" Her eyes were wide, rather wondering, as she put this question softly. Fairy put her arm about her sister's shoulders, and her fine steady eyes met Carol's clearly. "Yes," she said frankly, "I love him with all my heart." "Is that what makes you so so shiny, and smiley, and starry all the time?" "I guess it is. It is the most wonderful won-derful thing in the world, Carol. You can't imagine it beforehand. It is magical ; it is heavenly." "Yes, I suppose it is. Prudence says so, too. I can't imagine it, I kind of wish I could. Can't I go and tell Connie Con-nie and Lark? I want to tell somebody some-body !" "Yes, tell them. We decided not tc let you know just yet, but since yes tell them, and bring them up to see it.' Carol kissed her again, and wem out, gently closing the door behind her. In the hallway she stopped and stared at the wall for an unseeing moment. Then she clenched and shook a stern white fist at the door. "I don't care," she muttered, "they're not good enough for Prudence ant Fairy ! They're not ! I just believe j despise men, all of 'em, unless iff daddy and Duck!" She smiled a littb and then looked grim once more. "En gene Babler, and a little queen like Fairy ! I think that must be heaven's notion of a joke." She sighed again. "Oh, well, it's something to have something some-thing to tell ! I'm glad I found it out ahead of Lark !" ' Lark for a time takes up a "literary career," the dream of her life. She finds newspaper work too arduous and abandons it. (TO BE CONTINUED.) 1 CHAPTER VI. 6 Making Matches. , Aunt Grace sat in a low rocker with rt bit of embroidery in her hands. And Fairy sat at the table, a formidable array ar-ray of books before her. Aunt Grace was gazing idly at her sewing basket, a soft smile on her lips. And Fairy was staring thoughtfully into the twilight, twi-light, a soft glow in her eyes. Aunt Grace was thinking of the jolly parsonage parson-age family, and how pleasant it was to live with them. And Fairy was thinking ah, Fairy was twenty, and twenty-year-olds always stare into the twilight, with dreamy far-seeing eyes. In upon this peaceful scene burst the twins, flushed, tempestuous, in spite of their seventeen years. Their hurry to speak had rendered them incapable of speech, so they stood in the doorway panting breathlessly for a moment, while Fairy and her aunt, withdrawn thus rudely from dreamland, looked at them interrogatively. "Yes, I think so, too," began Fairy, and the twins endeavored to crush her with their lofty scorn. But it is not easy to express lofty scorn when one is red in the face, perspirey and short of breath. So th'i twins decided of , necessity to overlook the offense just this once. Finally, recovering their vocal powers pow-ers simultaneously, they cried in unison uni-son : "Duckie !" "Duck ! In the yard ! Do you mean a live one? Where did It come from?" ejaculated their aunt. "They mean Professor Duck of their freshman year," explained Fairy complacently. com-placently. "It's nothing. The twins always make a fuss over him. They feel grateful to him for showing them through freshman science that's all." "That's all," gasped Carol. "Why, Fairy Starr, do you know he's employed em-ployed by the Society of a a scientific scien-tific research organization or something some-thing in New York city, and gets four thousand dollars a year and has prospects pros-pects all kinds of prospects!". "Yes, I know it. You haven't seen him, auntie. He's tall, and has wrinkles around his eyes, and a dictatorial nose, and steel gray eyes. He calls the twins song-birds, and they're so flattered they adore him. He sends them candy for Christmas. You know that Duckie they rave so much about. It's the very man. Is he here?" "He's in town," said Lark. "Going to stay a week," added Carol. "And he said he wanted to have lots of good times with us, and so we why, of course it was very sudden, and we didn't have time to ask " "But parsonage doors are always open " "And I don't know how he ever wormed it out of us, but one of Uf3 " "I can't remember which one 1" "Invited him to come for dinner tonight, to-night, and he's coming.1' "Goodness," said Aunt Grace. "We are going to have potato soup and toast." . "It'll keep,v said Carol. "Of course we're sorry to inconvenience you at this late hour, but Larkle and I will tell Connie what to do, so you won't have much bother. Let's see, now, we ' must think up a pretty fair meal. Four thousand a year and prospects !" Aunt Grace turned questioning eyes toward the older sister. "All right," said Fairy, smiling. "It's evidently settled. Think up your menu, twins, and put Connie to work." "Is he nice?" Amit Grace queried. "Yes, I think he is. He used to go with our college bunch some. I know him pretty well. He brought me home from things a time or two." Carol leaned forward and looked at her handsome sister with sudden in-tentness. in-tentness. "He asked about you," she said, keen eyes on Fairy's. "Ho asked particularly about you." "Did he? Thanks. Yes, he's not bad. He's pretty good in a crowd." Hf .he. force of her magnetic gaze, Carol drew Lark, out of the room, and the door closed behind them. A few minutes later they returned. There was about them an Jiir of subdued excitement, ex-citement, suggestive of intrigue, that Fairy found disturbing. "Y'ou needn't plan any nonsense, twins," she cautioned. "He's no beau of mine." "Of course not," they assured her pleasantly. "We're too old for mischief. mis-chief. Seventeen, and sensible for our years'. Say, Fairy, you'll be nice to Duckie, won't you? Can't you try to make It, pleasnnt for him this week? He'll only be here a few days. Will you do that much for us?" "Why, I would, twins, of course, to oblige you, but you know Gene's in town this week, and I've got to " "Oh, you leave Babbie Gene, I mean to us," said Carol airi'v. Fairy being a junior in college, an. I Fugene Babler a student of pharmacy in ChiJ cago, she felt obliged to restore him to his Christian name, shortened to Gene. But the twins refused to accede to this propriety, except when they particularly particu-larly wished, to placate Fairy. "Y'ou leave Gene to us," repeated Carol. "We'll amuse him. Is he coming com-ing tonight?" "Yes, at seven-thirty." "Let's call him up and invite him for dinner, too," suggested Lark. "And you'll do us a favor and be nice to Duckie, won't you ? We'll keep Babb cr, Gene out of the roa'1. You phone to Gene, Carol, and " "I'll do my own phoning, thanks," said Fairy, rising quickly. "Yes, we'll have them both. And just as a favor to you, twins, I will help amuse your professor. pro-fessor. You'll be good, and help, won't you?" The twins glowed at Fairy with a warmth that seemed almost triumphant. triumph-ant. She stopped and looked at them doubtfully. When sha returned nfter telephoning, they were gone, and she said to her aunt : "I'm not superstitions, but when the twins act like that, there's usually a cloud in the parsonage skylight. Prudence Pru-dence says so." But the twins comported themselves most decorously. AH during the week they worked like kitchen slaveys, doing chores, running errands. And they treated Fairy with a gentle consideration considera-tion which almost drew tears to her eyes, though she still remembered Prudence's Pru-dence's cloud in the parsonage skylight sky-light ! They certainly interfered with her own plans. They engineered her off on to their beloved professor at every conceivable con-ceivable turn. And Gene, who nearly haunted the house, had a savage gleam in his eyes quite out of accord with his usual chatty good humor. Fairy knew she was being adroitly managed, but she had promised to help the twins with "Duckie." At first she tried artistically ar-tistically and unobtrusively to free herself her-self from the complication in which her sisters had involved her. But the twins were both persistent and clever, and Fairy found herself no match for them when it came right down to business. She had no idea of their purpose she only knew that she and Gene were always al-ways on opposite sides of the room, the young man grinning savagely at the twins' merry prattle, and she and the professor trying to keep, quiet enough to hear every word from the other corner. cor-ner. And if they walked, Gene was dragged off by the firm slender fingers of the friendly twins, and Fairy and the professor walked drearily along in tiie rear, talking inanely about the weather and wondering what the twins were talking about. And the week passed. Gene finally fell' off in his attendance, and the twins took a much-needed rest. On Friday afternoon they flattered themselves that all was welL Gene was not coming, com-ing, Fairy was in the hammock waiting for the professor. So the twins hugged each other gleefully and went to the haymow to discuss the strain and struggle of the week. And then "Why, the big mutt !" cried Carol, in her annoyance ignoring the Methodist grammatical boundaries, "here comes that bubbling Babler this minute. And lie said he was going to New London for the day. Now we'll have to chase down there and shoo him off before Duckie comes." The twins, growling and grumbling, gathered themselves up and started. But they starter" o reluctantly, re-luctantly, too leisurely. They were not In time. Fairy sat up in the hammock v ith a cry of surprise, but not vexation when Gene's angry countenance appe? ced before be-fore her. "Look here, Fairy," ho began, "what's the joke? Are your fingers itching to get hold of that four thousand thou-sand n year the t-vins are eternally bragging about? Are you trying to thrown yourself into the old school teacher's pocketbook, or what?" "Don't be silly, Gene," she said, "come and sit down and " "Sit down, your grandmother!" he snapped, still angrily. "Old Double D. r. will be bobbing up in a minute, and the twins'll drag me off to hear about a sick rooster, or something. He is corn-ins;, corn-ins;, isn't he?" "Come On, Let's Beat It!" go out to the creek for a stroll ourselves, our-selves, shall we? That'll leave him a clear field when they return. You think they'll be back soon, do you?" He looked down the road hopeful'y, but whether hopeful they would return, re-turn, or wouldn't, the twins could not have told. At any rate, he seemed quite impatient until they were ready-to ready-to start, and then, very gayly, the three wended their way out the pretty country road toward the creek and Blackbird lane. They had a good time; the twins always did insist that no one on earth was quite so entertaining as dear old Duckie, but in her heart Carol registered a solemn vow to have it out with Fairy when she got back. She had no opportunity that night. Fairy and Gene telephoned that they w-ould not be home for dinner, and the professor pro-fessor bad gone, and the twins were sleeping soundly, when Fairy crept softly up the stair3. But Carol did not forget her vow. Early the next morning she stalked grimly into Fairy's room, where Fairy was conscientiously bringing order out of the chaos in her bureau drawers, a thing Fairy always did after a perfectly perfect-ly happy day. Carol knew that, and it v.-as with genuine reproach in her voice that she spke at last, after standing for some t minutes watching Fairy as she deftly twirled long ribbons about her fingers and then laid them in methodical piles ia separate corners of the drawers. "Fairy," she said sadly, "you don't seem very appreciative, some way. .Here Larkie and I have tried so hard to give you a geuuine opportunity we've worked and schemed and kept, ourselves in the background, and that's the way you serve us! It's disappointing. disappoint-ing. It's downright disheartening." Fairy t'olded a bue veil and laid it on top of a white one. Then she turned. 'Tcs. What?" She inquired coolly. "There are so few real chances for a woman in Mount Mark, and we felt that this was once in a lifetime. And you know how hard we worked. And then, when we relaxed our our vig- |