Show the lucky lawrences Lawren ces wv A by kathleen norris 0 copyright by kathleen norris V irr SYNOPSIS the lack that bad brought the boston lawrences Lawren ces to california at the be 1 ginning binning ot of the kold gold rush has deserted the th present generation Rener atlon from a acre cre ranch their heir holdings have shrunk to a small mail farm arm and the old family home in the death of 0 their poetic father forced the three eldest children to work so 0 o that sam and little arlet ariel might continue their education phil now twenty ore had gone eon into the tron iron work gall to the public library and edith to the book department of largest tore seven seventeen tee n year old arlel ariel Is becoming ming a problem and phil to Is fasal noted bated by that terrible lily cass whose husband has deserted her young van murchison hlson scion ot of a wealthy family returns from yale he and gall had been close friends before he went to college and gall call has visions of the turning of the lawrence luck dick stebbins phils best friend has the run of the house arlel ariel Is sneaking out of the tb house at night for joy rides CHAPTER ill III 5 the rl neil at day dar to fo all appearances was like all the other oilier friday mornings of 0 the year year sam and phil got away first ot of all leaving a aglitter litter of coffee and old cold toast on the kitchen table gall rushed down next with her rich hair unwontedly wontedly flat and trim and a kitchen apron replacing the ollace offic dress edress she too often wore into the kitchen then ariel looking tired and seem ing ln bergous ber nervous came down in ID a terrible hurry as usual As adon as slie she had departed for school gall call and edith agreed that she had cried herself to sleep the ril night lit before ashes such a baby edith said lovingly gall made no answer tier lier patient level gaze vent nent to far spaces she mentally wrote add fijn d rewrote a suitably casual yet cordial pole note of thanks to the sender of the roses she stopped at on her way downtown and bought a box ot of fine notepaper note paper the note itself was written at the library a few minutes later at the end of the note she added it if you can come and have supper with us very informally oh so very informally on sunday 0 she thought of this all day long come and hare bare supper with us informally oh so informally but at three she had something else ot of which to think for the telephone in the library rang suddenly and the voice on the other end demanded bliss lawrence it was van cheerful and friendly what time was he to come to supper and why put tt it oat until sunday this was friday what the heck are you doing tomorrow tomorrows my Satur saturday flay at the library until nine gall call could hardly bear the happy beating of her own heart as she hung up the receiver she thought she would suf locale with sheer felicity feli rity she went home on winged feet stopping to pick up edith to buy the dotted swiss dress gall hesitated long over colors finally deciding on a deep purple it would be practical and that shade was always lovely with the dull gold bold of the lawrence hair this was one of their happy evenings they strolled horne home through the shabby streets admiring gardens stopping at shop windows A block before they reached their own corner corner the lawrence girls took the footpath through the morrison Morr lson place their hands bands linked their voices murmuring along together with the easiness of lifetime intimacy should you be glad if be was in lovo love with you gall call oh heavens ive only seen him once in five years dearal I 1 no but I 1 mean shourd should you gall considered yes I 1 think I 1 would 1 I dont know that I 1 want you yon to marry and go away from clippers ville als it mean that thal gall gail paused on the fresh grass that w was as thickly set with popple sand buttercups butter cups under the morrisons MorrI sons oaks oaka she broke frito laughter arent we idiots 1 to have it all settled but the wedding day daff ives but it sonje sometimes times comes as suddenly as that gall 1 I suppose it does her sister agreed 1 I was waa thinking she said bald after a pause that we might have dick on sunday stats one more man it we dance to the phonograph or have games tour four men inen to three girls and arlel ariel really count as a girl because ibes lust just a kid 4 edith reminded her approving this plan that night while edith ewid sewed and arlel ariel played idly with pen and paper gall played solitaire it had bad been her custom to do this ever since her fat fathers bers death As A she ah played she kept up a sort of monologue sometimes it was wa in 19 the i torm of an argument i a dissertation otten ohen it was odd bits of poetry or remembered scenes from dickens or flue oe or stevenson recalled word for word most often of all it was improvised to lo the form of a story or of biography just how she glie had begun this she never could remember it was a family institution now phil never went out when gall started to play cards edith was her loyal prompter when gall call tor for pot lot I a ill date lo 10 some dramatic tale late of english history or tried to remember the source from which some fantastic theory had sprung it was all heartening and happy anil especially wonderful to have the evening end with them all wandering upstairs at once lights out below everyone a at t home safe and united gall gad saw the roses still bright and fresh in her room and sit on the edge of her bed with one shoe ou on and the other in her hand fur for a long long time dreaming it was not imagination then van murchison hlson had sent seat her those roses he was coming to supper dight after next 0 a a a saturdays and wednesdays every other month gall call stayed at the library until it closed at nine on these days edith always came down at about six with a big sandwich and an apple find and gall call and she repaired to the dressing room where gall call devoured the collation powdered her rose nose exchanged the news of the day with her sister all in ten minutes time and returned to the desk refreshed alternate months she went home at noon on saturdays and wednesdays but was on duty all day sunday opening the library at ten and remaining at the desk until live gall call hated the sunday duty but the saturday nights were for some mysterious reason eternally exciting there was always a good deal of noise dolse and traffic downtown the theaters were pac packed ked the streets gally gaily lighted and the quiet shadowy library seemed like a coign of vantage from which she watched the world on the particular saturday evening that follo followed Pd his arrival in clippers ville van murchison hlson came in gall was busily stamping and dating opening and shutting the covers of books when a voice in the line asked acx aar bously have you a good book about cockroaches she looked up on a neld rush of delight deight and there he was in dinner clothes with a light overcoat on but bareheaded they laughed soundlessly together and gall sedately disposed of a dozen doen claimants before she was free to murmur with him blin tor for a minute oh hello she sual smiled led ayou want a book yes I 1 seem to need one how about this one she grinned at I Ittle jusys cousin prudy 1 I think that would be about your number ill bet its bacyl ril ill bet theres considerable matter that go through the malls mails in this bockl oh sh sh sh sh for they were both bubbling audibly with suppressed laughter well said van rm going up to the speedwells Spee dwells for dinner who are they well corona baechl married a spence see and one of the spence girls married a speedwell see oh burlingame BurUn same Burlin burlingaine garne and gosh how I 1 hate it I 1 you do oh lord year yes I 1 lie ile regarded her curiously ayou mean to say like it gall composedly stamped a returned book smiled at a faded woman with bare gray hair and a wilted volle voile dress and returned to the conversation 1 I Itu imagine agine I 1 would she said you dont so go to dinners 1 I much chance What ll you take to go to this one I 1 could do that I 1 could do what youre doing go in my place Non nonsense she laughed and shook her bead van went away leaving tier her with a feeling of 0 contentment and completeness a certain thrilled sense of being alive of being pleased with every thing later reading lu in bed she told edith van had come in to see her gall he 1 oh yes he be did oh gall call exclaimed edith significant well she quite ad mit it but she drifted off to sleep on the rosiest roviest sea of hope and joy thai ever a woman knows van came to supper the next night and everything was happy unpretentious and natural the kitchen was just what a kitchen should be when lie he arrived a social place in which three pretty girls were busy and three rather clumsy meo men were ere trying to make themselves u useful eaul gulls galls b biscuits Is were bro browned ned to a turn and the famous lawrence cheese and egg dish turned out perfectly they sat about the table until eight and then phil mill and dick after duty duly carrying handfuls of dishes into the kitchen departed arlel ariel began at the kitchen table her composition and edith generously forced gall and van away no please its nothing ill leave them nil all until morning any anyway protested edith you were going some where go on I 1 we were just going tor for a run we can perfectly well get these out of 0 the way 1 gall argued ar guid but she did not insist somehow the dishes and the kitchen did look greasy and dull tonight a little domestic drudgery was all right but it would not do to disgust van with fill too much of it she caught up a coat anc slie site and van went out lu in the dusk to haij hi roadster and rolled smoothly away from dingy up into the fra grant hills where wllie twilight still lingered with swell smell ol of dew ou dust dum and of 0 meadows wilted under the long lone days sun now ilow about old aunt Ma marys what sort of a place Is it ive never been there oh highly respectable 1 they went accordingly to old aunt marys I a in low wooden shack 11 0 on the peninsula highway with a greasy dance floor in the center and greasy bare tables all about it the air was thick with grease for aunt marys big frying kettles were right in full view aunt mary and her colored assistants were also greasy creasy but the music was good and the floor good and the whole scene so go novel to gall call that she found it delightful she and van talked flippantly and with much laughter as a young persons who are just making each others acquaintance usually do van even laughed when a chance question from jail call brought the conversation about to his own condition but ought you he be up so late you be in bed drinking settle phallus milk or something gall demanded as the clocks hands to half past nine van ran crushed out his cigarette smiled down at his own fingers dinners tin ners smiled up with a glance into her face my isly dear child theres no more the mater with my lungs than with yours theres what demanded blankly 1 I 1 habut got con van reiterated 1 flunked out of college at easter that was alit all I 1 or no he remembered conscientiously 1 I 1 did have a heavy chest cold coughing all that thal that was part of it you see I 1 had to stay home a week at christmas and what not in his incorrigibly ga gay manner he finished the sentence with a shrug you re not sick at alit gall call said ln in so disappointed a tone that they both laughed outright they sat on watching the dancers di incera against the low lov open pine crossbeams cross beams of the roof cigarette smoke was rising blue and opaque the music droned dronek on the saxophone whining above the other instruments the crowd was thinning now some of the tables were empty when the clock struck ten gail said she must go home van made no protest he be seemed tired too loo willing to say good night they were laughing again driving home in the starlight but at the lawrence gate gale gall was vas conscious that somehow their parting was going to be a little stiff and hat flat some minutes before they the arrived she began to dread it it would be stiff it would lay a heavy bar upon the frothy gaiety of the even eren lug but she could not save herself she could not be suddenly flirtatious amorous she did not know how did he be expect her to let him kiss her goodnight did he even want to kiss her she dl did not know suddenly she felt elt like an innocent awkward little girl A sense of helplessness smote tier her this happy evening must end on a high note she must be equal to it she must not say goodnight good gd night like saying goodnight to one of the girls from the store like a nice old lady saying saving goodnight good night to a dear old friend but somehow she could not carry it the wild thought of leaning above him for a second when slie she moved to leave the car and of putting a butterfly kiss on his bared head crossed her flurried mind cut but that would be idiotic that was not the way girls kissed boys nowadays they sank bank against the boys their bodies limp their painted mouths plastered against the boys mouths such a girl at this moment would have her head on vans shoulder while she confusedly considered it they had bad reached the gate and she was out of the car van making no movement to get down gall gal went about to his bis side of the automobile and stood looking up at him for a moment van ive had bad a perfectly delicious time he moved the gas control idly to and fro on the wheel sure it was fun his own voice seemed flat gall tried desperately tor for the hilarity of the earlier evening As for your consumption I 1 shant get over that for a long timer time I 1 my ily what be asked dully your fake consumption it was no use ose perhaps they were both too tired for talk gall thought A pause brief but much too long then gall said well goodnight good night 1 see you soon oh sure he said and goodnight I 1 and he be was gone into the dark the girl made faces at herself as she went up the steps she was con of a shamed sort of feeling 0 of f liati clomax it was as it if she bad sold her birthright somehow so actually she had not compromised there had not been a word ord or a glance all evening that might not have been exchanged by the most decorous of fr friends lends but that was part of the trouble 1 or else she vas tired maybe that was it the front door was open a bead of gas wavering in the hot hoi odorous hallway edith came out from tier her dooray like RD an angel cool and fragrant from a both bath she welcomed gall as if from the wars ware darling did you have a good time it was heavenly we ue drove around for then we went down to old aunt marys gall Lawren lawrencea cei was it wild on sunday night 1 0 o it was its as calm na an a mill pond there lre ere two to einen there and a lot dot of nice los I some oale or the girls lot ked rather well el I 1 or oell 11 nary but it wa liia sery rry quiet vuth lo i ipuh TO Us BB CONTINI INIA |