Show INER laj LADY M BLANCHE B N E FARM FAIN M A romance of the commonplace by PRANCES FRANCES PARKINSON KEYES by france parkinson keyes key 9 ios CHAPTER VII continued 7 dont cry darling I 1 its a shame but mary abary will III buy you another lust just like it alwy only prettier maybe the next time she elic goes to WallaCe wallacetown tOWn flush honey let mary halary put you in bed with moses while she gets you try dry pajamas and changes your sheets sheela and wipes up tip all the pieces so 80 you wont cut your dear little feet comfort fresh linen and more wa tor ter all having been provided moses was large urged to continue his devotions 1 I dont see why I 1 should say if I 1 should tile die before I 1 wilke wake ive still said it and said it and I 1 aint never died at all well just say god bless tonight then bless daddy and mary and algy muni murn bled and all my benr friends and make tile me a good boy and bless cousin jane and cousin violet tin and blanche you bother about he stilt snit snatched snitched ched my trop amen now sing me the sugar lm tree lie he commanded c climb tin ing in into to hod bed tin and sett settling 11 ng hian himself e if 0 on n his pillow mary began it bravely enough I 1 till hut the reference to wt ans is t too on for her before she reached file chocolate cat she found she child co lid not go on im afraid I 1 cant finish the su gar plum film tree tonight darling slie she said abruptly ending bending over to kiss him and in spite of her some hot tears fell down on oil h his I 1 s f face lee then she hod fled from the room moses lay for a long time w wide ide eyck tin and pondering le ie loved mary us as tie tic loved no 0 one ne e else ise in the world and mary plainly was very unhappy moses mosea alwoyn slept with a small canton flannel dog named spotty to which he had been devoted from infancy it had gon through numerous rous vicissitudes more than ilion once it had fallen in the brook but bill mary had always fished it out find dried jt it in tile oven and one night ho he had find ripped it open lind devoured most of its lining an experiment which had proved very disastrous to both but spotty still sir survived moses made if a sudden reA resolve olve lie ile hugged spotty all and kissed what remained of tits his nose lie he gulped as ile he did it never since lie ile could remember had he gone to sleep without first laying hit head on tile lie cherished toy then he picked it up tip and putt pattered ered into marya room it wits was as tit he had expected mary aki afla q tic on tier her bed weeping sin moers ses fil feltl rd out his fits hand dont cry any more please mary lie be dald softly ive brought SI spotty otty to sleep with you it ens then that mary hinry realized that clial sit she c hall had ro found und a second source of comfort in moses most of tier her unhappiness tin had been caused by selfishness moses was ns willing to bulke for cot tier her what was wag to him a tremendous sacrifice site she drew the child with his little canton nan nel toy still in tits his hand into bed with her and cried without without re strul tit holding hini him in tier her arms mosos moses lay solemn and silent ask ing no questions bunking no over tures hut till she could eluid reel feel ills his sym cinthy in every curve 0 tits ills warm little body gradually she relaxed related a sense of ponce pence of compensation 0 of f contentment stole over tier her she fell asleep her cheek against her little brothers things never seemed halt half so hard again CHAPTER vill VIII paul instead of M rejoicing in tits his longed for lib ill erty was finding it utterly dull hat flat state stale and unprofitable in the first place living at close quarters with tits his mothers nerves by blanches sunny pres prea ence or the ready escape to marys house which tin had always been open to him was not a plen pleasant sant expert ence as tins has already been hinted hut but tills this was by no means nil hit F fur or it lay day or two after tits ills sisters wed ding lie wits was really ill As soon its as h he w was recovered how flow ev ever r he ninde made tits way feeling very blithe find unshackled to cull call on rosalie llo salle im right in the midst of packing site she announced 1 I 1 much jt to sie si sj e I 1 hack to new nei attoh tai paul strove to express his regret dont Rii lit you go BO fresh with mel said miss king crisply im not that thai kind ant ani you for net got it little one why you tell me you was engaged to 11 thill that good looking cousin or of yours my but sties shea a loo looker kerl 1 im not nol engaged to her said taul ant shortly olt oil sties thrown you over has she slier leered Ro coile Ile well I 1 should think site she would site she can do a tot lot better than you little hoy boy blue even it if you belin believed ved yourself instead tend of hitting it up all ilke ilka youve been doing that sir mr from boston Is sweet on tier her nil all right and hes some swell believe ruel it was nas me that broke the engagement ga said paul stiffly and un Ito flo salle stared at him speechlessly for a moment but only for a moment so tile the ald kind of a bird you are Is it site she inquired immeasurable ima filla me a curable scorn well veil ive heard a lot about ancestors since I 1 struck this burg and I 1 dont deny that you yot ive e got something sop ething to be proud of along that line the men that came up liere to say nothing of the women that came with em cm and lust just got set settled t ed wit when ell the evolutionary war broke out and were willing and glad to strike out again and light fight for their country were sure all wool and a yard wide and then some but I 1 guess if they could look up or town down now as the case muy may be and see their descendants wearing out the seats of their trolls ers era sitting siding on the post billee steps and saying wha what do it if they was president or standing on the curbstone in Wallace wallacetown town thinking having the h 1 of a time because got a couple too many funny drinks inside of them anti and are talking to some soine skirt they introduce to their mother I 1 guess then them old captains and judges and g werners would think tile the good old stock had run down to a pretty poor title line of goods I 1 I 1 got a fellah in new york floor door walker on the eighth who know who his L father wits let alone any great grands I 1 hut but ties hes white clean through for till all that believe met if ile he could out have your chance what hell hed have done with it I 1 A 9 good home find and money for an edu cation and a lady lad for a sweetheart I 1 and youve turned up your ugly nose at all of thern them while hes fies had to climb out of the gutter on his way to to decency willi without out a soul to THE STORY FROM THE BEGINNING motoring through vermont n near 11 the village ot at il amstead philip starr young architect makes the ilia acquaintance of M blanche he manning seventeen ev enteen with whom he Is immediately enamored ne aed from her lie he learn sc of f he her family from revolutionary times starr being a long distance from his destination I 1 JS blanche lanche suggests there being no hotel that he become for the night a aa guest of f her bet CO cairen liin mary manning mary receives him bun with true vermont hospitality and he be makes make the acquaintance of her cousin paul her fiance dance philip informs mary of his bis desire to win blanche for his wife she tells him of an old family superstition the manning blanches paul manning Is inclined to be dissipated iI and does not realize marys mary true ime worth marys mary reproaches for his bis undue conviviality are r badly received by paul gale hamlin famous architect long a suitor nr for marys hand visits but makes no progress in his lovern aking philips philip wedding with blancho blanche Is arranged from old records ards of the manning family philip learns the sorrowful story of the countess blanche and of the peculiar curso curse she he has transmitted to her descendants and thin the women of hamstead his wedding with blanche la Is solemnized that evening paul under the influence of liquor bitterly affronts affront fronts mary when she reproaches him for his condition and tells her their engagement Is ended mary acutely conscious coni n cious of her position as a jilted woman Is greatly comforted gray by her friend sylvia gray help him rut out lies got there till all right ive written steve that it if tie he still wants a girl chos been fool enough to play round all summer with a stupid rube that was adoth er girls beati tie he can have her and bleb I 1 telegraphed ele graphed back bach prepaid that hed be waiting to la the grand cori cen aral right by tile the gate on thursday rosalie having departed without further delay to smooth things out with will steve that hint episode seemed to be closed and paul felt tint lie had reason to hope it would be a long time before anyone made him so thoroughly uncomfortable again hut but tie he wits was mistaken the next nest person to treat him hill harshly was doctor noble meeting tile the boy one day on the road down which paul wits was wandering somewhat aimlessly david brought his motor to a 0 stop find and balled him just the person ive been hoping to see he remarked pleasantly 11 1 1 I 1 wanted to speak to you about your fiancee im worried about tier hor I 1 dont think sheb looking tit at all well if you jou mean my ous ln mary alary manning said caul out with forced dignity she my fl fiancee ancee olt oil said drivie still pleasantly well weil of course hint tant must be a great tit betit to you but bill perhaps its all for the best of c course I 1 arse your tastes be par congenial M mary ary tins has such a tine mind well I 1 must along the he good news newa to thomas gray the next net tittle I 1 see him if he heerd it already I 1 elleve believe lie he thought with consider considerable ahle re grot gret tint thal you had the right of way in that quarter ant glared people seemed bent on reminding him that mary blis not after all in the const e i wo pen all the e war ney very good Is it went on david with tin an ab ru bupt rupt ill change ot of subject liver ilver thought of enlisting in the foreign It glon it the doctor had asked him if lie he find ever tho tight of cutting oft off tits right hand pont could nut not have been more inre surprised tile the var nar was wab still refair led in llanis tend in in spite of tin the sinking ot of the wilh allence whan it wag at all tord lord l ord not no I 1 paul exclaimed now why fly should 11 12 why youre exactly the sort of chap tor for it I 1 no ties of 0 any kind independent income fine constitution fl Par farmers mers cant be spared quoted paul hurriedly rec recalling aliling statistics he had happened to read in some newspaper it takes five men in the field to keep one at the front and ive got heart trouble he went on growing very red and writhing more and more at davids pleasant voice hard luckl but are you sure been examined lately well come up to tile the house some evening and or I but hes white clean through for all that believe mel mall let me took look you over some evening soon im going across myself very shortly as a member of one of the harvard medical units well be connected with the british army elines going to take up some branch or of tied red cross work nursing probably it as if we tind find any children ended david a 0 little wistfully im sure austin gray would have thing long ngo ago it if it been for sylvia naturally any man fortunate enough to get a family like that makes it his first co consideration n sider atlon as long ns as he can well good by paul began to feel very sorry for himself public opinion which lie he had at first thought to be wholly on tits hla side aide seemed to be grad bally but none the less surely swinging the other way if the 0 older ider women still chattered against milry mary the younger ones spoke differently ferent ly and none of them would hove have anything to do with him ue led an unappreciated existence after twenty one petted years As for the men lie he thought they were actually beginning to go out of their way to be disagreeable to him and pleasant to mary ie fie found him hill self virtually ostracized tn in ham elam stead and neither white water nor wallacetown Wallace town though herried he tried them both seemed to furnish either last ing stimulation or testing lasting solace face ile he discovered as aa many another man has discovered the deadly dullness with which dissipation ts Is permeated driven at last to dasper desperation n tion by loneliness and boredom he decided to go to mary alary and ask to 0 be rein stilted stated in her favor T this his seemed easy enough when he first thought of if it but the more lie he reflected the wor more e he saw that it m might ight be rath nth er difficult lie fie had treated mary s somewhat 0 1 shabbily he admitted she ana was having a very good time with out him he was forced to admit that too and there was really no special reason why site she should ever crave hl agg tam fie He beates ates ills fits M te e concill if several times only to turn bac back feeling that his stomach was ca caving v in un on comfortably for some reason re son and a n I 1 I 1 that it might be better to walt wait a few days longer at last having spent a saturday evening at honic when every one else under tinder thirty in town oivi had gone off on a picnic returning in the high hl glist st spirit at midnight mary was with the Grays mys and laughing aw ana when thoy drap ri ripped ped her tit nt the front door lie binok hla his courage cour what there was of it in his bonds handi and sought ner out lie found tier late that thai sun stan day afternoon la in iddinn summer slimmer atit lt ling in the fragrant orchard read ing a book a rattier rather solid looking book site she was paul all thought look ing unusually fresh and contented and attractive Il hullo lullo he said advancing towards tier her firmly though inwardly quaking I Ui lullo illo said mary quietly without looking up isbills heart gave a queer exhibition of acrobatic powars as if it were in turning somersaults all tile the way fr from 0 to hla his t trout throat to his a stomach ton ach and then began to thump to thump so vigorously that he feared it might be audible ue ile was pleased and he was beyond all reasonable measure excited have a good time last night he inquired carelessly yes did you paul choked and fumbled with ill his 8 tie tie ile could not anderst understand it rid why mary should ask such a tactless question when she knew perfectly well lie ile decided to be magnant and ignore it what are you reading he fie asked the life of charles r francis J adams do you like 1011 lt very much you read it another tactless question marys voice expressed only polite surprise yet she was aware that he never read things of that sort the top of pauls collar was rapidly sinking to the level of hla his collar button mary went on rending reading 1 I 1 thought id come over for a little littie while he murmured desper abely mary turned a page nice mice day it lovely warm for the time of t the be year too and likely to grow wa warmer any minute replied mary her eyes still on her book paul could feel even the back of his neck growing red still he persisted blanche Is back in brookline mother had a letter from her I 1 last ast night ashes thinking of leaving me and going down to pay her a little v visit isit I should think it would be a very pleasant change for her something in marys tone made paul took look at her more carefully the painful hush flush at the back of his neck spread all over him lie Ile could feel fee tile the cold perspiration dropping down his spine there was no pos sible doubt of it mary was laugh ing I 1 paul turned his back on her and strode away though he was enfa millar with the quotation he had in |