Show the honorable ancl uncle e lanc lancy y by ETHEL HUEST HUESTON ON 0 bowmont BOW bbb mont co amu a CHAPTER XVI continued i 1 I 17 aunt olympia was bac back k in bed first whiling away the tha time tim 0 with i a little work ocher on her under chan but the senator wits was not long behind her im not even going to shave 11 he said cheerfully cheer tully thank god Ws its over i to tell the truth its lf agrest a great relief relict to me dev del the she said bravely your business is your own and tf if you wanted to be senator why it was your say so but personally ive had enough and im glad to be out of it so co we can uvo live our own we lifs for a while awhile wed better have some coffee said the senator hilda answered the ring with sus u niclous sia alacrity crity anthe on the tray with a big pot of coffee was fresh fruit and a small covered plato plate of hot muffins you may need she said grimly she gave the senator a severe look jook mr alien Allen came about two with a dozen more hungry politicians tor for me to feed and with blobs of blood around his nose and a very black eyo eye tor for which I 1 offered 96 I 1 im not even going to shave him a beefsteak and he asked me to fry it ii please and took another of the same A bloody nose gasped the senator A black eyel eye I 1 ejaculated aunt olympia it seems he hit the leg of a bench is as he went down but giving the senator the credit said hilda ahda reprovingly anyhow they ate all the steaks and ad are now working on the ham and digs eggs beneath her arm in direct defiance of orders hilda bore a huge stack of morning papers olympia frowned at sight of them 1 I said coffee and nothing buttof but cot fee anday and by oil all means none of those filthy sheets that are a profanation to the holy sabbath hilda laid the papers on the foot of olympias Olymp las bed and arranged the tray on a 9 small table between them her expression disturbed aunt olympia in anybody else it would have been definitely pleasurable in hilda it wa was I 1 merely sardonic 1 I thought you inight ake a look at the pictures anyhow she said and besides I 1 had to get them out of my way downstairs cluttering things up with politicians all over the place how are the girls asked uncle laney lancy diplomatically they ire are all right what I 1 seen of them she added with dour significance ance you should have been at the rally said aunt olympia with a twinge that would have done justice to a toothache have seen plenty of them hilda moved toward the door 1 I got to go now she said 1 I been giving coffee and doughnuts and boiled eggs to reporters and camera men for tour four hours mr cooper and mr dodd and the boys worked all night and the telephones been steady since six and they sent to town for more stenographers to take the messages aunt olympia swallowed hard bard she looked at the senator ile he was gazi gazing ngat at his coffee obliged to say something she sold said faintly oh yes from the constituents from everybody I 1 ever heard of so far and some I 1 aint we aint opened the telegrams yet no time we put them in the potato basket im boiling the potatoes to make salad for everybody be coming before the days over im boiling another ham too aunt olympia groaned and closed her eyes she waved feebly for hilda to go away au ay hilda paused once more seems as if to me the girls did nil ill right tor for she remarked cryptically and closed the loor floor behind her aunt olympia did not open her eyes until she could hear huja hilda creaking downstairs after election im going to fire that idiot she said bitterly 1 I conf gindher mind her not abeln being able to speak english but she hi might at least make a little sense in some langu language agel 1 try one of these buffins muff ini ins my dear laid the senator piping hotl hot hildas muffins make sense in any language aunt olympia feeling dulled and bruised mechanically sether act her teeth into a muffin it was all right her eyes wandered to td the tha pile of papers on the foot of thy bed purpose fully she fh forced them away and looked at the senator he was looking at the papers too rather sheepishly over the rim of his cup whoever gave a patent to the fool that invented should be strung upeor up for trea treason soul freedom ol of the press huh Its freedom of the press makes cowardly slaves and craven knaves of otherwise good citizens you ought to get up a bill about it the press freedom is taxpayers poison she could have smiled at that she wished the girls had bad been there to hear it purely extemporaneous it was too but her eyes would not be kept away from the pile i of papers she set her cup down with an impatient little crash oh well we may as well have a look at the pictures I 1 suppose she snapped 1111 eyre not bowlegged bow legged one she reached for the papers and passed two or three from tho tha top of the pile across to the senator who was reaching for them they ati b back ia on the pillows sudden ly olympia Y mp a gasped tab teh ten teb clucked the senator and kept on clucking olympia gazed across at him wide eyed speechless he gazed abher at her well Godi bless my think of that bowl be said reverently then they fell desperately on the papers and silence hung between them except for the crinkle of paper occasional hissing sighs from olympia and an almost continuous stream of clucks from the senator the election was as good as won the girls and the senator along with them had bad got a terrific press news paper men oil all over the state had worked on the thel case all night they had bad covered the dastardly autra outrage go in large caps from every possible angle public sentiment was aroused to the highest pitch public indignation was an inferno never had the widely publicized american stan standard daia of moral decency been so flagrantly betrayed the new york herald tribune came out with an editorial denunciation of tacal tactical cal devices so C contrary ont to pure republican princ principle p le and ideal I 1 id like to seelem see len Hardest Harde ya face now said aunt olympia happily len hardesty publicly absolved the governor of all complicity and shouldered the blame forthe debacle Go governor vernoi wilkie pleaded complete ignorance of the entire matter and deplored the incident but the newsmen did not let it rest there they admitted that while the goy goj emor been abden smart enough t to think it up he be had bad certainly been immoral enough cotry to try to rea reap p the advantage of it they cited his prepared speech the use of his chauffeur the arrangement of floodlights flood lights limpas speech was quoted verbatim with helens an anguished shed dont say brats in parenthesis uncle limpas glasses fogged up so over lampys speech that aunt olympia had to re read adit it aloud to him now you see ouie he said reproachfully hilda hada made good sense indeed very good sense seems asif as if they have did all right tor for 1 just as she said in the meantime hilda hada with all she had on hand band that hectic day did not neglect to keep the secluded girls informed Ibe yve rung tor for their coffee now she said take lem cm a good thirty minutes to get becom posed 10 at the end of an hour she ap feared again mr hardesty phoned have you any bad effects afterward and he feels the same and they ought to be composed by now now if ever the girls got up at once a little frightened but determined shall we dress asked adele urn um no I 1 think not said lim pv sagely wed better go as we are dont brush your hair adele dont be too slick we look more votes apperly in our bathrobes and a little tousled but not too tousled not tousled enough to be tough in bathrobes and slip slippers effectively tousled but not tough they slipped down the hall to that suddenly dread door keeping sharp lookout for cameras as they went limpy knocked bravely but her heart was heavy anybody but reporters can come in and welcomed wel comel boomed aunt auni olympia joyously limpy opened the door mint aunt olympia and uncle laney lancy were sitting bolt upright in beds strewn with pages of the morning papers both were flushed with excitement beaming broadly aunt olympia held out her arms to them uncle laney lancy wiped his glasses oh hello said limpy taken back by the surprising cheerfulness cheerful nesa of the scene good morning said ald adelt adele faintly come in you dear precious pre cloux darlings cooed coded aunt olympia ring i lor for coffee coffe my iny dearl said the senator they look pale jale sit down girls girl vice nice legs youve got my dears dean the girls topped stopped short and looked at each other would you think maybe the campaign has gone to their lums alums asked limpy 4 how adorable and rested you do looka said aid aunt olympia you must have had bad a good nights sleep deep did we sleep adele 1 41 4 I 1 dont remember we must be on guard though said Limpy these seemingly simple simpie cases often turp turn violent at a moments moment notice we must be armed to protect ourselves said aid adele we can use chairs if we have to keep close to a chair lampy oh by the way I 1 forgot to tell you said cald lampy jumpy we have bad news tor for you 11 bad oh did yo you catch cold walled aunt olympia la in an immediate pan ic no be calm we catch anything limpas small face puckered with a sudden sadness we lost something we lost 1 tish tish said the senator kindly dont give it a minutes thought ill buy you another wheres my checkbook adly you cant buy Us this said limpy feeling suddenly sad and forlorn and homesick it is something not tor for helel never for its ICs helen 11 the smile faded from the senators face he glanced almost accusingly cu at the shocked olympia youve lost helenl celent she stammered my dear said the senator reproachfully fully fu you i make sure we had them all with us in the car last night do you mean he went on becoming excited that one of our children Is still running around at large among republicans in inin in a wet bathing suit A limpy laughed tearfully oh we brought her home all righta butwell lyou you know this sacred franchise Fran franchise chisel ejaculated aunt olympia shea feverish leverl she W wants ants to buy a bus line not that kind ofa of a franchise I 1 mean the vote helen got ulahla up this morning and took a plane out to iowa to vote aben ische is she going demanded aunt olympia ashes gone she went at ai six aunt olympia turned briskly to the senator del make a note of that call dave tell him to get it in all the monday papers the kind of citizens we arel are after a night like last night we send one of our children by plane out to iowa just justko to cast her sac sacred red vote did she take time to dress ask asked edthe the senator ob yes she dressed we helped her she looked lovely she took the windup wind up costume along to vote in sald said adele helpfully maybe she can get us our groceries at wholesale from this on sal said d aunt olympia philosophically philosophically philosophic all will she ibe be back after the election asked uncle laney lancy the faint familiar nicker flicker flashed bashed between the girls um Urn well weH I 1 rather doubt it said sald adele not for a while at least said limpy I 1 41 ashes not going to send tor for you girls to come out there is 14 she quavered aunt olympia 0 ernwell Urn well I 1 rather doubt it it a said aid adele 4 not for or a while anyhow said limpy lampy til ill have her mall mail stopped declared clar edAun aunt t olympia ill hire a detective loald I 1 said she could go when she liked and she can go 90 if she likes but butia if she tries irles to get you away ill sue her shed she wont try to get us said adele soothingly shell have her lands hands full without us and she may eback beback you know for a while at least added limpy my dear said the senator suddenly ring for hilda tell her to call the highest official of that line and tell him to report to me every hour lour how the plane goes through this is a murky day daitor for flying tears came to limpas eyes she went over and sat down beside him ion on the bed and kissed the rosy bald spot on top of his head uncle laney lancy she said humbly im really just sick about disgracing you the way I 1 did I 1 lost my temper and help it but theres one thing youve got to say about my speech I 1 told the truth and not many campaigners can say as much I 1 said you were a well swell guy and you are a swell guyll guy you disgrace him said aunt aundt olympia jealously sit down adele sit here by me even hilda realizes you seem to have did all right for yourselves you seen the papers the girls covered their eyes with their hands they groaned nol no no please pl easel no anything butila but r pa j oh 0 have 11 6 a heart do dont rub u it int I 1 why you silly little dunces I 1 mean darlings roared aunt clym pla fondly Every things lovelys everything Every things jacelin lakel in fact act hunky bunky doryl they liked it ILI thoy y liked ked what asked ailred adela timidly 1 you said the senator an ali of you j Th tyre outraged Outrage dl furl out aul I 1 IV iti an insult to the he pati ont their sense of decency lj lr cut to the corel 1 I dont blame them faltered limpy no no not youl you the oppositions ont after au all the publics seen een plenty of legs legs are nothing though a godo blessing ahr good legs leg I 1 must say I 1 I 1 its brother wilkie cursing even the white house called up k Is ls 13 it in the papers asked limpy feebly certainly it is in the papers the papers are full of itt oh they are are they did anybody mention my 1 speech they say it was the best speech made in any campaign Us this year they print it in full even to helens reminding you about the brats it was a groat great speech limpy I 1 wish id ro d made it I 1 just wish I 1 could see len Hardest Harde yi face limpy blushing faintly reached fora for a paper oh adele she cried how sweet how proud you bookil look at this one ot of you limpy look where you come out of the truck see what it says ays AMERICAS CAS LITTLEST stateswoman TAKES A BOW that look at this one of brother wll wil we kle standing on the platform with his mouth open said sald the senator look alws at this one oi of len hardes ty standing there like a snake in the grass beside the truck as you pass byll byl did did anybody hear im what he said asked adele nervously I 1 no it lust just says he was muttering angrily what did he say adele oh he lust just said gald oh he say anything he lust just muttered said adele look at this one of the senator wrapping limpy in his coat that the noblest picture you ever al 1 I they liked what asked adele timidly saw of the senator he look like a real napoleon standing there with his arms full wed better save these pictures and send them to helen said limpy she was so embarrassed shell feel eel better when she sees gees th they ey arent so bad we dont show halt half as much leg as girdle and stocking ads ad shell see them said aunt olympia Everybody ll see them she mopped tears from her eyes these pictures have swept the country swept the world ill bet the king of england is looking at these pictures Us this morning look at Ws this one ot of me adele its not very flattering but it just shows how upset andi and mother motherly 17 I 1 am pull the wom an afi vote hilda appeared once more theres an awful lot of people on their way here about one thing and d another and theres plenty downstairs now in my opinion eating us out of house and home and M mr allen alien says bygones is bygones the senator coughed deprecatingly hilda he reproved her gently the young ladies are present we can dispense with the gory details and the camera men are wait log to get a picture of you and him and his bloody nose with your arms around each other and mr parley farley says BAYs you call him as soon as you wake up bp and whatever you need you can have and that ambassador to england says you can have your pick of his nine to get them to in training for future and |