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Show '-I " J g"'T Rt'conciiaion .V66a!5 Waterman MARY and John had quarreled quar-reled just before Christmas, Christ-mas, too. The Christmai candy had burned, and then,- in th excitement, each had blamed the other, making cruel retorts, until Mary fled to her bedroom in tears I and John stalked off in the snowy I night. j The Christmas candle beamed a welcome from the window as John started around the block again. He was cold, and sorry, but he mustn't go in too soon. The tree, the holly, their little . girl asleep in her crib and dreaming dream-ing of Santa Claus all were a mockery. mock-ery. Mary went into the living room i and snapped on the radio, looking ' for a jazz band and forgetfulness. Instead there came the strains of i "Silent Night" "peace on earth, good will to men," "God bless us, every one" "may nothing you dismay." dis-may." Wasn't there anything on except ex-cept Christmas programs? A click brought back the silence, j She opened the front door. Next I time she would ask John to come in. Tell him she was sorry. Now that she stopped to think, she knew j that he was sorry, too. Why let a j few excited words that neither of j them meant spoil their Christmas? But John did not come. It was i too cold to stand at the door any longer, but she sat at the window, with the curtain drawn aside, watching watch-ing for him. An hour went by. When at last she saw him coming com-ing the relief almost choked her. He was striding rapidly, carrying tome- 1 r I thing in his arms. She opened the door for him and he handed hit burden to her. "Here, Mary, hold him. Careful, now. His leg's hurt. I'll get box and we'll fix a bed." Mary looked down at the warm bundle. It was a furry puppy; One leg was in splints. The puppy whimpered whim-pered a little and licked her hand. "But, John, where did you get him?" "Accident. Over on Linden. Fell out of a passing car. I took him to a vet and had him fixed up. Thought he'd make a cute pet for Alice " He stopped his work and straightened straight-ened up. "I'm awfully sorry, Mary. I was a fool." "It was my fault, John." Their eyes met in perfect understanding. How silly to quarrel. The silence was a more impressive reconciliation reconcilia-tion than words. Mary broke It nervously, for fear she would cry again. "There are some clean rags in that drawer. And we ought to get him something to eat. He can have this old bowl for his dish." She worked with one hand, cuddling the puppy. "Won't Alice be surprised? And what shall we name him?" "Ought to have some connection with Christmas eve, don't you i think? How about Scrooge, or Mar-low?" Mar-low?" "Oh, no!" "Good King Wenceslaus?" "Such names for a poor innocent puppy! Maybe we had better tee what Alice wants to call him In the morning." She put the puppy down with a saucer of warm milk. John came and put his arm around her, and they stood close together watching watch-ing their pet lap greedily. "We ought to call him Peacemaker, Peacemak-er, honey," said John. "If it hadn't been for him, I might have still been out there in the snow." "Oh, John!" She held him close. "Weren't we silly? I wat so worried when you didn't come. If anything had happened to you I could never have forgiven myself." "Felt pretty rotten myself. Not my Idea of the best way to spend Christmas eve." I "Of course! I forgot! We have so much left to do! The tree, and Alice's doll must be unpacked, and her stocking filled. What time it It?" He looked at his watch. "Almoit midnight." "Not really I" He nodded, and put hit watch on the table. "Here, pooch," he laid, "lt't bedtime for you." He lifted the puppy into itt bed, and turned back to hit wife. "And as for you, milady," he said, "in about tea seconds sec-onds I want a klst for Chrlttmat, and then we're going to pitch in together to-gether and clean up thlt mets, and trim the tree, and maybe even chance another batch of candy. OK? Then, It's time, darling, to tar Marry, Mar-ry, Merry Christmai." 1 WUra Nwtppr UbIobu |