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Show f BLESS THAT STOVE jf j m tj t By JUNE L. JOHNSON. jj (Copyright, I'Jl'J, by Ihn McClure Newspaper Newspa-per Syndicate.) "Now, rnumsoy, don't worry! We'll get along all right. Give my love to Cousin Sue and tell her I hope she'll soon be better. And don't tire yourself out caring fur her. Yes, I'll remember remem-ber to feed the cat, and that Bob is fond of pudding, and that the Iceman comes on Thursday, .and mumsey, do hurry or you'll miss your train !" With a gay wave of her hand, Margery Mar-gery S watched her mother out of sight, and then went Into the house. A whole week of housekeeping by herself! Margery actually hugged herself as she thought. Wouldn't she prepare the greatest feasts for fa' ther and Bob? She'd make their mouths water ! "Let's see, what time Is It now?" mused Margery, slipping Into a gingham ging-ham apron that enveloped her from head to foot. "Quarter to five. Time to get supper ready. I guess I'll have potatoes and salmon and oh! isn't it glorious to be a housekeeper!" And Margery whirled around the room to get rid of some of her bottled-up delight. de-light. It was the second day of Radford H 's furlough. As he disconsolately wandered about the town he wondered gloomily what to do with the time on his hands. Suddenly something happened hap-pened ! He was starting up a new street, when out of the corner house a vision In blue and white, with flying brown curls, came dashing into his arms, so it seemed. " "Oh, Tom!" breathed the vision, who by this time had taken the shape of a , very pretty, very excited young girl, "do come in and see If you can fix our kitchen range! The old thing won't oh ! I beg your pardon !" And the girl backed away in great confusion and astonishment. "I say, what's the matter?" ex-claimed ex-claimed Radford, regaining his breath and finding out that he liked this rather extraordinary proceeding than otherwise. "Oh, please excuse me." stammered Margery; "I thought you were Tom R , one of our neighbors! He's a sailor, too, and you look exactly like him." "I'm sorry I disappointed you," returned re-turned Radford with an amused smile. "You seem to be in trouble. Pardon me, but can't I assist you?" "If you don't mind," dimpled Margery. Mar-gery. "I would like you to see if you could fix the old thing." Ten minutes later a flushed Radford with a smudgy face straightened up from over the stove and announced , cheerily to Margery : "It's all right now ; it was only clogged up. You can use it." With a relieved sigh Margery dropped drop-ped into a chair. "How can I ever thank you?" she said. "I never could have fixed it myself, and I should have had to wait until father came home, or Bob. Oh, don't you want to wash your face?" jumping up "it's rather dirty." "I think you said when- you came in that you had no particular place to go," began Margery. "Would you " she gasped at her own boldness, but bravely finished "care to stay for supper with father, Bob and me?" Egg beaters, spoons, cake tins, sifters sift-ers and such were very much in evidence evi-dence during the next half-hour, while a very pink-cheeked Margery and Radford, Rad-ford, with an apron on, too, hurried back and forth, both chatting merrily as they worked. Imagine Mr. S.'s and Bob's surprise sur-prise when they came home that evening eve-ning to be met at the door by a radiant radi-ant Margery flourishing an egg beater, beat-er, while behind her loomed a tall, good-looking sailor, with a broad grin on his ruddy face. "Folks," began Margery excitedly, "please meet " But she never finished, for with one leap Pjob S. reached the side of Radford, Rad-ford, and exclamations such as these issued from the eager lips of the two young men : "Great Scott! You here? Why, I thought I'd lost track of you forever! How the world " "Why didn't you tell me you lived In this district?' I'd been up here yesterday, first thing! Boy, but it's good to see a familiar face!" With eyes wide open, Margery stared at the excited two, who were shaking hands vigorously, and punimeling each : other on the back. Had they gone . . crazy? But Radford settled her doubts . by explaining to her with twinkling eyes: "It's my turn to Introduce, Miss R. Your brother Bob and I are old friends; we roomed together in college, , and we haven't seen each other since graduation."' . That night the little party gathered around the supper table. After a merry evening. Radford dc parted, but not until he bad left behind be-hind him promises to return anil talk over again the college days with Bob. True to bis promises, Radford did come often and was cordially greeted by the S. family. Maybe I'm a little suspicious but It seemed as if college was not the only topic of conversation and that Bob was not the only one who conversed with Radford, most of the time. Anyway, when Radford's furlough was ended he left behind him a very precious promise and a sparkling solitaire soli-taire on a certain somebody's left hand. And many times on board ship Radford's fellow sailors often heard him murmur: "Bless that kitchen stove !" |