| Show the lucky lawrences laurences Lawren ces by KATHLEEN NORRIS by kathleen norris service SYNOPSIS the luck that brought the boston lawrences Lawren ces to california at the beginning ot of the gold rush has hag deserted the present generation from it a acre ranch their holdings have shrunk to a small farm arm and the old family home in Clippers ville phil now twenty live five his has gone cone into the iron works gall gail to the public library and edith to the book department of a store sam Is in school and seventeen yea ro old arlel ariel Is becoming a problem pr phil Is fascinated by that terrible lily cass cas whose husband has deserted her youns young van murchison hlson scion of a n wealthy family returns from yale and gall has visions through marriage with him of the the turning of the lawrence luck dick stebbins phils friend has the run of the house artel ariel Is sneaking out of the house at night tor for joy rides phil suggests sup Kesta to hla his sisters consternation that they invite lily cass to the house gil gall 11 goes oes with van tor for a weekend week end with the chipps his uncle and runt aunt she la Is received coldly at a roadhouse gall call see sees ariel ill at midnight next day ariel admits she phe was at the place anil displays nn n remorse gall again accompanies van to los gatos gates tor for a weekend week end visit CHAPTER V continued 12 1 I 1 may be engaged to be married tills this tinie time tomorrow night site she thought when nhen she was in bed reading theres a moment nhon hen one and then suddenly one Is all there Is to it girls do get engaged almost every girl gets engaged she thought of the posters fosters and the Delahan tys three busy homely unmarried sisters in each family two in the post office two teaching school one in the library one a stenographer galls heart failed her it was not fair that some girls should travel go places do fascinating things and that other girls should drudge away at the library year after year while hope died and youth faded and enthusiasms were spent like the fosters I 1 and the Delahan tys enthusiasms upon church fairs and preserving fruit its not right gall said solemnly to the shabby old silent room through whose windows the hot smell of pear trees and burned grass was penetrating from the dark night outside theres nothing in character it if it only gets you what the fosters and the dela hanovs have gitl got im not sure she decided darkly but what arkels in the right 1 ill bet she gets to london before I 1 do I 1 CHAPTER VI the next nest day she rose and dissatisfied and dragged heavily through her preparations to go to los gatos as it if the prospect were anything but inviting it would have filled her with ecstasy a year ago she felt dull and doubtful about it now dow arlel ariel all helpful sympathy came out to the gate when van parked there honking wildly at ten here lie he said leaping out ill take lake that lie he stowed galls calls suitcase in the rumble the three stood smiling and gossiping in the soft foggy morning 1 I wish I 1 were going with you youl I 1 arlel ariel said frankly well why dont you comel come I 1 van exclaimed suddenly fired oh no I 1 ive got a date with the crowd tonight arlel ariel protested and I 1 anyway im not dres dressed 1 and I 1 anyway for an instant the matter hung fire and gall did not know whether or not in that instant arlel ariel sent her a glance of wild hope immediately the younger girl settled the matter and was running back into the house shouting hale a good time I 1 despite her sisters protests gall felt like a murderer as vans car shot away across the long bare road away from dusty dull into the beauty and shade and coolness of lar far niente the thought of that quick hopeful glance of aniels that glance that might not ever even have been sent or been thought of haunted tier her not that arlel ariel could have come no obviously that would have been a mistake hut but gall kept ii wishing shing that she gall had urged lt it had bad impulsively ridiculously pressed it it would have made no difference in the outcome for even little arlel ariel knew that she expect to go places just because gall did she have come she would know that they might snub her and yet the memory of the little flying pink figure and the shouted nave have a good timet time in arkels oddly deep voice would not lot let her be at peace she was gnawed by hunger hanger for ariel incessant and deep vans mother proved to be a thin dark smart woman in a beautiful transparent gown of orange and black she greeted her son with a fretful van I 1 suppose you know your fathers furious at you and making lift life simply wretched ret clied for me and gale gae to gall only an abstracted frown 1 I think you were in school with my mother 11 ditha petrie in san francisco gall said trying to seem at ease 1 I wits in school with ith nob odys mother and I 1 wont be incriminated and I 1 am praying the lord to grant me a lung long and prosperous thirty onel one mra murchison said to the company at large chun to gall gail site shell nover never forche you that as leui n ou u live gall call van exclaimed u tle tie laughter that fol followed loed gall lau laughed alc too but she felt hot and uncomfortable in all it was as an uncomfortable vs visit it the least happy she had ever had at far niente even including the first with its nervousness and shyness three men gall had richer neier seen before we were re absorbed in the topic of the golf tournament at del monte and for a little while on saturday afternoon gall gail was excited by the possibility of their all going down to monterey to try ii a days preliminary playing rut kut in the end it was decided that the three men and van should leave before breakfast and go there alone that Is I 1 would van sat said it if I 1 feel it would leave leae gall in n the lurch well take care of gall mrs chipp said we were going up to lunch with ethel and play bridge mrs eurchl son reminded her in a light droning vo voice I 1 ce not intended for galls ear oh well all right said mrs chipp who ulio liked gall pleasantly well just leave leaie her here to amuse herself lier self and the boys boya will be back for dinner and well all go home monday afternoon gall call had to protest her library job would stand no more trilling trifling she must be back sunday afternoon positively mason was going back with fruit and vegetables gall leaped at the opportunity port unity to go home with him it was arranged the bridge players plunged back gladly into the mysteries of vulnerability and redoubling the young men played tennis tennia and gall watched and laughed and applauded later going to the cabin to dress she heard mrs chapp good reproaching somebody for something the voices came from behind a screen of shrubs and tall flowers where the hammocks were it was dreadful I 1 mean it was unmistakable I 1 mean it was enough to make him furious said mrs chapps amused indifferent voice another womans comans voice spoke quickly in answer laughingly and indifferently too but with more vigor mrs murch voice gall could not hear the first dozen words but the last trailed through her consciousness as she escaped scar let cheeked checked out of hearing with a garil the tone the emphasis ot of the voice interpreted the whole to her perfect perfectly aly pill 1111 vj 1 1 fc li lulf 0 1 I was in school with Nob odys mother Moth tri vans father would be furious with him going with a Clippers ville girl it served him perfectly right wasting ills his time with a girl it did not matter whose feelings were hurt or were ere not hurt it was only a Clipper girl I 1 her face blazed her throat threat was thick and dry slie she walked slowly up to the cabin entered into its peace and shadiness quietly and began her prep for dinner in the brown walled chintz curtained little room that was familiar now all the time her heart seethed like a bolling boiling pot and tier her thoughts went round and round dizzily her hands bands felt cold and she ans shaking ill be home tills this time tomorrow said gall aloud more than once what did 4 11 matter what that vulgar smart rouged gouged thin dark woman said or thought though tl it did not affect gall gail lawrence it did not affect van murchison it did affect van of course wandering about the room in a thin cotton kimono slie she addressed herself aloud you poor fool I 1 you thought you might be engaged tonight 1 well you may be id like to be just to get even with herl id like to be so stunning so 80 smart so popular that she was wiped right out of sight 1 I hate her no iso I 1 dont suppose I 1 hate her yes I 1 do 1 I despise her I 1 id like her to break her leg I 1 would I 1 want her to get a cancer exactly but id like something to happen to her berl the childishness of tier her own monologue made her begin suddenly to laugh and she found tears in tier her eyes tills this do there was nothing to do but go through with the eie ee akings program with what dignity she could muster the boys seemed to her very noisy very much absorbed in their own affairs at dinner and after dinner anere was a halfhearted half hearted game of roulette in hicle lenore and stab whiting won everything while call lost quarters and dimes to a painful degree it then en appeared that the four boys were going over to del monte that night so as to play piny the pebble beach co course u rs e early la in the morning gull gall was careful not to let anyone suspect that it made any difference to her but she felt hurt and sore pore at half past nine dine the roadster with the shouting boys in it departed on its seventy mile run and gall call found herself quietly in bed rending reading again after awhile she let the book boob drop and lay thinking staring into the dim cabin room with faraway far away awny serious eyes and with the bushy lawrence eyebrows drawn together she felt very homesick she wanted sam and ariel and phil above all slie site wanted ardith sensible loving loyal thoughtful she was torn with pangs of anxiety tor for them all A Clippers vIlle girl she said to herself in the night stillness well what I 1 am I 1 dont know why that should make me mad shamed courageous thoughts possessed her she plunged into then them as into a river despite responsibility and precocious cares she had done little philosophical thinking in her twenty three years she deliberately faced the situation now faced her own soul the next morning she slipped away from par far niente before any member of the family was astir an and d with L every v mile of the home trip her heart grew lighter and her mind steadier and her quiet determination greater at two cool and trim an and d sympathetic she was back at her post in the library she felt wearied subdued yet oddly content this was duller than death but it was pence peace no one would hurt here her humiliate her here she belonged she was not dot only in her proper place but she elie was doing a fellow creature a service no animal creeping back into the safety of its lair ever felt a deeper sense of gratitude and then as alwais on library sundays edith was there slipping about the alcoves coming coining up to the desk to beam to whisper to her big sister arlel ariel home no edith explained too cheerfully too naturally dot camp telephoned to the greelegs greeleys Gre Gree cleys leys to say that they might not be back until arter after dinner but why dot or arlel ariel telephone us lou said she said she thought our line was out of order it never answered the sisters exchanged a level expressionless onless look a new one gall call presently murmured well what I 1 thought edith agreed reluctantly where do you suppose they are oh just on one of those sunday runs when uben they eat greasy tried fried chicken off dirty board tables and think having a wonderful aimel edith said impatiently at six dora foster came in find and edith and gall could walk home through the broiling late afternoon lets not have supper until seven and lets get everything ready and then take baths and be beautiful I 1 gall call suggested they fussed bussed away in the shady kitchen together edith straining ten tea into tall glasses gall call assembling sem bling the materials for one of her famous salads olives chives lettuce enormous firm cold tomatoes cucumbers sliced as line fine as tissue paper they set the table out under the big oak in the side yard close to the house so that the smaller furnishings could be passed through the wide open kitchen window dick and phil arrived they all sat about the table while the last of the hot twilight died into a hot dusk talking ing murmuring passing back and forth the old brazilian silver daiv salad bowl that grandfather lawrence had brought to yerba buena on that long ago wedding journey the ninon moon had risen and the strengthening sliver silver light was beginning to drip down through the branches of the great trees that roofed the dooryard where Is that naughty ariel edith had asked drowsily affectionately and gall call listening to the strokes of the cuckoo clock in the hall had answered more reassuringly than she felt only nine not latel when ihen suddenly there was a stranger in the garden A stranger at the first glimpse of ill him galls calls heart stood still and her mouth filled with water horror horror they were all lost the moonlight touched the star on his breast dick was the first to speak in a quick authoritative voice what is it allicer Ol licer theres been a bad accident up near the cement works A little girl has been killed the man began gail was beside him lingers fingers gripping his arm ily aly sister I 1 no maam nii iam it your sister she uns mixed up in it I 1 brought her over here to see your brother she aint hurt he wild said answering the vi wild lid question in galls eyes ashes just run upstairs inside im waiting tor for her I 1 seen you out here so I 1 came over what happened olliger Ol Of licer dicks voice asked the others were stricken dumb she was driving a car sir and another automobile hit her she have a license and booked for that and also on a charge of manslaughter in the a little girl in a third car ans thrown out on tier her head and killed ashes here now my ily sister I 1 mean asked in a dead amiul silence yes she just now run in the house to find you after her iclal she may kill herself 1 gall salt said sharply in it a h lil iper I per edith put tier her hands or oer tier fie fale for a moment pr praying nying before ivey rif nil ran together the lip kitchen dut door TO BE crt |
