Show the tha flirtie FLIr rqn TTE by lida larrimore ca macrae smith company service SYNOPSIS on her eighteenth birt birthday lidaY barbara motherless daughter of 0 chresto pher thorne artist receives a birthday ring from bruce maclain MacL aln young artist friend of the family but more than friend to barbara druce bruce tells her a story of a gypsy boy a little gypsy girl whom he loves and the song of a silver flute she knows it to la her own love tale her father Is killed in an accident relatives relative arrive and take charito charge of things to her dismay barbara barbar a learns that she and her two bro brothers and small sister are to bo be separated desperate the four our children plot to run away to barbaras godfather uncle stephen drake stephen stephe 1 I drake bachelor forty years old still has vivid recollections of barbaras mother whom he had loved eighteen years before lie had made up his mind t to 0 P propose r 0 p 0 s 0 t that h a n blehl 1 g h t t to 0 E emily in 11 Y trent e n t w ber e so 0 t that h a t h his I 1 s well 1 I 1 ordered d e r e d h household 0 u h 0 id might have a permanent head but the children arrive and the proposal Is interrupted stephen feels his heart warm to the small daughter of his early love but he tells her he be must send them all back kit Is taken stephen finds himself unable to resume his lover like feeling for emily the childrens relatives appear highly annoyed and vociferously disapproving stephen pacifies them CHAPTER VIII continued 14 1 I miss father so EO much and I 1 miss you too im dreadfully homesick at night I 1 do get homesick thinking it bf you because home mean province town or ciny any special place but just wherever you are I 1 put myself to sleep every night 7 by telling myself a story do you know what the story is eruce bruce its the one about the sliver silver flute if t I 1 keep very still I 1 imagine I 1 cau can hear it Is that silly and sentimental I 1 suppose it Is but im that way if ever the flute stopped playing I 1 should simply want to die dont stop playing its one lovely song 1 I love you pretty gypsy girl elih with the roses in your hair do you see this blot on the paper a tear 1 I help it I 1 want to see you so much it be wonderful it if uncle stephen would keep the children and I 1 could rome come to new york I 1 know be safe an and happy here iles so lovely and kind but I 1 dont suppose he will nig ills aunt edith like us she wishes we come but its uncle stephens house so she say aDy anything thIng but bit I 1 know shed like to just the same I 1 a nice disposition have I 1 cruce bruce cut but what can you expect of a gypsy girl I 1 dont suppose they ever have any manners theres another blot I 1 do love you so much but I 1 told uncle stephen ue be might think it was ridiculous because I 1 am only eighteen its a beautiful secret and no do one knows it but you and me and the ring with the little gold heart heres all my love except what belongs to the children tied up in paper covered with stars with a huo huge silver bow it makes a very large package keep it bruce from your babble aho ft ho loves you very much P S I 1 asked uncle stephen to call me babble babbie instead of barbara lie does iles hes very accommodating P S no ko 2 ue ile a crusty old bachelor lies hes nice looking but old I 1 guess he must be forty P S no ko 3 heres a kiss for goodnight know something I 1 love you CHAPTER IX nit kit gradually improved the schoolroom became the center of the house there was always a fire in the open grate and cheerful red curtains shut out the dreariness of the late november days jamies electric trains were set up on the floor gay played games with kit or barbara curled on a shabby red sofa with comfortable curves and hollows read aloud to the children aunt edith paid an occasional visit to the room but the children with the exception of gay were somewhat constrained with her they knew aunt edith wished that they come stephen went to the schoolroom first when he be returned home in the evening ne he was always greeted with rapturous cries and lusty embraces ne fie looked forward each day to the hour before dinner which he spent with the four they told him things which had happened during the day kit would have a sketch to show him perhaps jamie would have found a family of kittens in the old sleigh in the stable gay would want to dress dresa up for him in a hoop skirt and flowered bonnet she had bad discovered in the attic barbara would ask his advice about jamies cut finger or kits appetite which what it should be and he think that gny gay should learn to spell ten now new words every day there were arguments for him to settle how can the sun come up like thunder gay asked one evening and stephen knew they had been reading kipling kiplin 1 11 I suppose it means suddenly stephen said when he had thought a little the childrens questions some times embarrassed him they expect fd ed him to know everything because he was a lawyer does it make a noise jamie A loud noise like thunder not actually I 1 suppose rut china right across a liny bay from mandalay nit kit said with the air of nn an experienced traveler who had first hand information about flying fishes and palm trees and temple bells cut but it must be kit barbara joined the discussion it it must be or kipling Is it uncle stephen stephen sent jamie down to the library for no nn atlas and the argument became a geography lesson conducted by kit KIL the four argued about anything modern painting pirates what made seeds grow grov when they were planted why the kangaroo had two short legs in front they had been encouraged stephen tb thought ought whatever the limitations of their training to exercise their minds mind aunt josephine calls arguing talk in ing back barbara said one evening but it is it uncle stephen of course it stephen said every one has a right to his own opinions even children I ot kit said thoughtfully father always liked us to have our own opinions stephen liked it too lle he f found 0 u n the ada and or ne s n as s they h ey been became e re rested s t e and th tot the more 0 e n accustomed c cu s n i d to their ir surround ings increasingly entertaining ne he was pleased and a little flattered as well because they accepted him on intimate terms they were never reserved and polite with him as they were with aunt edith it gave him the feeling of having shed a number of dreary years barbara delighted him especially c she be was such a bewildering bombina alon of 0 rather precocious wisdom and childish simplicity she had no airs or poses it was impossible to judge her ber by ordinary standards sometimes when ben she romped with the children cheeks flushed brown curls tumbling she seemed the youngest of them all and sometimes her manner was quaintly grown up and her eyes were too big for her face but the unhappy times never lasted long barbaras spirits were elastic she was odd and exquisite and unaccountable she had the gift of laughter it was pleasant to do things for her to see her eyes brighten with pleasure to hear bear the singing notes in her ga gay young voice spoil her stephen aunt edith said when he continued to bring her odd little gifts she can stand it I 1 think stephen replied 1 I want her to be happy while she Is here and then he be forgot aunt edith barbara was coming downstairs to meet him looking small and demure and very pretty in a frock the color of a primrose did you have a hard bard day at the office she asked smiling up at him with the disturbing dimple at the corner 0 her mouth come up and put on your slippers and let me light your pipe of course she was only a child aunt edith told herself cut but stephen was certainly bewitched she thought kindly of emily as she watched stephen and barbara walk upstairs tier her gay young laugh drifting back to aunt edith stephen be allowed to make a fool of himself not if she could help it stephen took the girls on a shopping expedition it was natalie who p put t the idea into his head pretty she said having tea with stephen after a visit to the schoolroom it would be fun to dress them properly A arent rent they properly dressed stephen asked smiling with pleasure because natalie natalia thought his guests were attractive natalie thought more than that she thought that the children were good for stephen in spite of the fuss aunt edith made ile he seemed younger and more well human she and bob had agreed that stephen needed to be jolted out of his comfortable rut but she did not put her thoughts into words she stirred her tea with a thin silver spoon and smiled at stephen through the firelight men dont notice such things I 1 suppose but little girls like pretty clothes will you let me take them shopping stephen agreed in an absentminded absent minded fashion and presently changed thi th subject but be did not forget abal natalie had said barbara he said that evening finding her alone in the library after the children had gone to bed you like to go shopping I 1 thought you or gay might need something dresses Dr slippers something like that im afraid we cant uncle stephen why not she flushed III 1 I we ant 11 money modey stephen knew he had bad blundered id like to buy them for you he S said a I 1 d tier iier lashes lifted she looked nt at him gravely oh no she said quickly thank lou on very much but we I 1 I 1 cant let you do that wily why not now flow could we ever pay you back must you stephen asked liking her independence wondering how he could buy her the clothes she needed without hurting her pride of course she said as though there could be no question at all about that but we me are shabby arent we tier her fingers touched the worn frock 1 I dont want you to be ashamed of us im not stephen sald said quickly watching the pucker soft as a brink in silk between her curving browa TO BE CONTINUED |