Show Li J ELLA ELLAby t tI I by Ethel Hueston 1 Illustrations by Irwin Myers t Copyright by Dobbs Bobba 2 Merrill Co Service CHAPTER VIII VIII-Continued VIII Continued It 15 But ut the sparkle had gone guie from their ry rry plans and aud It was a 8 relief when wilen idy started the motor for tor the ride ick k to town Wont Won't you come corne along Alex In Ind Int t ed d Inger pointedly We uWe an UI take ruke e more Lob Ob no Miriam promised lOb take me In herself bersell along night M My doctor prescribed mor for tor me At it the end of ot the driveway the kd ack mck Miriam sat on the high fe A Alexander Murdock steadying r with one hand while he swung e gate beneath her with the other father smiling waved wH farewell father tather mourned Ginger linger flint would you fOU call it II hut hui preachers preacher's w to lose his hig e eyes es lust theres there's T mist to see duhl upper at ut the UH parsonage e fol fold fred d by hy the usual evening service nt ut ChurCh hurch Sub ru b Andrews hurried up to then them themer I er er toe the service offering himself n as scort home home hurne a mere formality for tor P. P few safe intervening feet teet eel T don't dont think we n 1 ou-ht ou ht to objected You see ee the minister Is Isi i ln with us us us-aud and I think we ought ont think It would look we well for forgo form forto m mOnt to go off ofT and leave him him him- Ginger inger eon cnn take him sug suggested ested generously She can give him inters s on running a church Gln Ginger church Ginger er e pointers on running any any- in ing ag But ut Ginger U so young stam stam- red tred Marjory UI 1 feel that I am amiKer her iKer her the head hend of the house now S airam Buckworth himself appeared red that at moment Girls If It lUU will use ruse me be tie said gru gravely ely 1 will Ii over o with Mr West Westbury bury We Ve some sonic church business foi for Jop chimed Tub Tuh 13 j suits me to a n T. T Weve We've got ot ne church business of 01 our own to oe a moment bit biting In us as though he felt annoyance t nodded at last tast arid and wem away tl t I without reluctance And Mary Mar y yielded her smiles to Tub Tuh An 8 clinging meanwhile to ensure en her accompaniment as OR tIie the slowly homeward On the fa fn a amr liar mr old veranda Tub Tuh started at x I cheerfully in the direction of ofa a L Ton U cant can't stay StIS tonight Tub luh said with a n smile warm enough to ten fen ber bet dismissal 1 I have to send Bright rl rIght ht straight nome name I have been heeti beener ler er the went weather her for a da dav or two 1 Miss Mif Jenkins didn't wnm want me to toto toto to church at al all aIL She has hns ordered JIo to lo bed rub complaining submitted 1 force to this ibis ejection and sauntered ay whistling lugubriously J still clung to her sisters sister's id ici ginger Ginger nger wait walt a minute Sh Dont Don't I him hear hr you Lets Let's sit in the a while rhey sat down huddled together er In silence until Jie he sound Tubs Tub's footsteps an ani l Tubs Tub's whistling sided Into the darkness daftness Ginger Inger iV pant nt to ask you burnet t Will just sit here with me ana and talk UI til Mr Buckworth comes home Ginger If it ae e comes over and sits he n yn he always do does s. s you knowd know know- aid d you mind would mind would you Just as r.- r. t You wouldn't mind would I Go o to bed you ou mean nuana 1 JWell you see Ginger I 1 want to tot t him about something II see Im I'm to talk my ray head hend ofT off gets ets here beret and then Im I'm to go 0 to I III squeezed bei hei arm about her hel herter's t ter's tr's rs r's waist ou ou see see see- Well you fou l see ee inger fluer J 8 like this You remember r runt n. n rbt nt bt when you OU crept downstairs Wong a long Iong ago go It seems seems und and h lit he had bud arm around me Well VeIl Ginger 1 J Int bt nr care a H bit because yo saw It didn't make any difference to me are UI Jl I think It embarrassed him trim or orL L LOG him angry or r hIli for Or he lie hen mt n t so much as os looked at no ne since tsee see sal said Ginger er dully want to tell him hini that y you you you-you you yount Int nt think a thing of ol It u It-u a little ng g like that I think maybe umbe be benks Inks I feel teel bad about It IL You Iou dont don't do you yon No o. o Marjory's voice olce sank sunk to a LISper Iper Not Nol a bit I like him S So the he two girls sau suu and waited 1 presently from the church th the tho two m men n. n coming slowly as they walked Marjory clung Wingers Winger's Gingers Ginger's Inger hand hund and ond held her breath breu h rhe tire the end of the flagstone stone path d tJ for a while h fore they said a q nl hr lad and parted I you jj-you you Y-you talk whispered Marjory Ginger talked I 1 think Its It's su such BUch fer a silly name for tor a farm std Wid Ginger clinger Just like Eddy Jackson Who else would do such a dumb thing Pay Dirt er E Everybody budy knows a farm t d 8 nothing but bitt dirt and If It didn't pay nobody farm arm It Oh hello Mr Buckworth h. h so o soon Its It's lovely ely tonight Wont Won't you OU come and talk to us usI Not tonight tol thanks I am nm tired Pleasant dreams And he passed In In- sl side deThe de The girls sat Int very still for or a m mo mu ment went They heard him bun sa good goad night to Miss Jenkins and ami go JO up ur the tIre stairs Marjory's tense p arm shout about waist eu suddenly Her quiver quivering ing n breath h was more a 8 sob soh than a s sigh Her tier shoulders rose ruse ely sl You You can go now Thanks Gin Oln ger get Ill I'll sh sIt here a n minute and listen to the night Inger went In without a 8 wore word SIre She was a 8 stricken soul She Sire climbed to th the studio iran und and counted her store of fit dimes She hp looked at sit her com corn complicated page paJe of mull multiplication and addition SIre She sat sal for a n long Ions time lime Obviously Oh Marjory and the rich richness richness ness nes of a tI wealthy husband were to In he be denied them as ns succor Marjory was wm forever er 10 lost losi 1 to tn her plans for tor th the rhe future All the years vears of washing dishes for or the hire sake e of Marjory's hands had been In vain All her dreams ot of a n romantic figure breezing mysteriously Into their commonplace circle were dissipated cJ Into thin alt all I I 1111 t 1 Ginger What Do You Mean Is Marjory Engaged or Isn't She linger was practical enough to art act mil mit defeat when str she met it and Marjory was her Waterloo Mil Marjory hea beautiful peach bloom Marjory would marry u a minister and anO her future would be that of or caterin catering to a Meth mUst church and a parsonage mini minimum minimum minimum mum of three In that hour Gln Ginger er 1 Iila lIn rose to great heights of renunciation She SIre relinquished ail her dreams ot of fortune for tune of If tame fame of ot social supremacy for her beautiful sister She would tie satisfied to see her merely happy She smiled She went down the ladder without a moments moment's pause muse for her decision was marl made She knocked at the door of her fa ta a athers tiler fliers 5 oom nom now occupied by Ulrum Buck Ruck wort worth h. h Silence prevailed within Ginger knocked again Who Is la It please lense Just a minute He opened the tIre door with ne hand hann hannas handas as he struggled Into his coat cont with tin till other Ginger all nil uninvited stepped Inside and and closed the be door behind behin i her ber Mr Buckworth she be began un 1 I 1 was Just going to bed he In th Interrupted n rudely You misunderstood what 1 J told you she persisted patiently I 1 didn't say Marjory was en engaged engaged- aed- aed exactly exactly- tl M MNo No You merely said It was understood un But I didn't mean menn a man 1 meant money I Money Joney He Lie was vas entirely puzzled Yes You see we have e always s 's been so very hard up Father did IUd not nOI go to seminary as ns you did dId he he didn't even g go to co college II ee He tie only gets about a ar much macli money now after all ull these years as us you ou will get et at the very start And It takes so su much for hI his e eyes es aw and the furniture It Li simply falling to pieces and you can see yourself we haven't nn any clothes Yes I 1 know Gln Ginger r he said not without sympathy But Dut what has that to do with with tier her She Is so beautiful So we naturally nat ant decided thin thai she had better hetter marry a millionaire Yon You must ad admit I Imil mil mit she's got the looks for it It It Ginger what do you mean I Li II Marjory engaged or Isn't she abe Not engaged not engaged not exactly ly But It was all nil understood understood we we talked It over and we til ill agreed we agreed we girls did that thul thatIs Is is s Lather father just lan laughed hell at us that us-that that Margie should marry money lota hots of money millions And she she's s not nut en engaged ned to that that fat fat young Andrews Andrews or or on ody else else else- Certainly not Theres There's no nn man mixed up In it tt at ill all Just money If It looks could slay the career c. ol of Ellen lIen Tolliver would have ended caned ni nl that rhut moment Why you little devil I 1 I h hi ejaculated ejaculated Irreverently and flung Oung ber her berr r roughly out of ut his hlf way She still In the hammock called muse linger meekly Then she sire went Imru Immediately to bed She wept for tor a while softly for fur It I lb natural that flint youth h should abandon Its lis and Its expectations of great reul riches with reluctance But In the end she smiled and stiffened her slim little shoulders shoulder l hen beneath the while sheets ets Ver Very Vera well then Plainly the future of ot the entire household de de- devolved her ter an and her alone Selah she whispered Into tutu th the darkness CHAPTER IX A great peace pence a sort sorl of subdued grandeur descended upon upun the turbulent tur bulent spirit of ot Ella for tor or she sIte had hud schooled herself to accept life as asIt asIt asIt It Is Is ind md mold It to her own pattern as opportunity came That Thai the op would never come now as concerned Marjory she was well aware hut but without n resentment After all nil perhaps one had fl no nn right to at nt tempi to mold human fr free souls like herself As for or Miriam and the grocery clerk she yet fet had hog izi Alexander Murdock was leaving on this very day duy and Ginger dir did not for tor fora tora or ora a moment believe that thaI the sensible twin was so deeply Interested as to disqualify ber her for or Interest in more intriguing fi figures granted figures granted the appearance appearance appearance ap ap- ap- ap of such figures Get her away that away that was the best method Gln Ginger er was adjusting herself herself her her- self to a new Impression of the hie ble twin So still she had always seemed so subtly Impenetrable that In n contrast with Marjory's radiance she had appeared more of a n liability than an anything else But there was something strange about Miriam linger Ginger lid did not understand It She remembered how rub Tuh Andrews Andres even en evenin evenn In n the gorgeous ur of Marjory for the beauty pageant had bath succumbed to Miriam's stillness She SIte remembered how Alexander Murdock II i mere grocer of course but still no doubt douht possessive of the usual male inclinations had passed over Marjory with a passing cordiality to plant himself Immovably ni ill the un dancing feet of nf Miriam Strange about her hen I Strange about everything Ginger I thought aught ii The world she concluded largely it ft It all gone The grocers rocel's grovel rovel to brains and the preachers pick beauty Its It's s all wrong But Rut perhaps ert when the twins found themselves away from roar the confining familiarities of ted Red Thrush away I among strangers ers at nl the normal t school chool with clothes that became girls of their profession llIn a antI and their looks- looks clothes lothes paid for or from contributions to rhe the home for or the blind blInd- But an nn another another other annoying thought arose to 10 disturb dis dis- rurh the even en tenor III oi her tier plans I At the normal school rhey they would meet only teachers teachers primary primary teachers teach ers ors teachers of geography teachers of if Latin English and nl algebra Ginzer Gin zer er sighed It was unfortunate hut It was the best they could manage e this his shat what with the operation rind and the rhe retirement on pen pension lon Be He sides II It an air Ic teacher cou could If supplant the can grocer rorer In Miriam's heart henrt no doubt a R little later Inter on the new conqueror could also he conquered con conS by uy say an dU embryonic cler cier She must hope for the best hest As for Marjory Marjory Marjory whose beauty and whose married fortune were now forever fore denied them rhem why wh should they from their limited funds provide pro the money to send Marjory to normal to study to r fe be e a teacher when she would he no teacher Why learn pedagogy when all 1111 her future held was the accommodation of her person 10 to missionary societies and ladles Indies aids and the minimum of ot three The tin linger finger er of relentless logic pointed In mother another way Let Marjory prepare herself for keeping H a parsonage by keeping a u parsonage their own Site She could take Miriam's place as servitor to their father thus leaving lea Gln Ginger er free for her own further schooling ant and for the conduct of ot her favorite chu charity rHy TO BE HE CONTINUED |