Show HARRY PUGH Me CLURE 1 INSTALLMENT ONE The ONE The Story So Far Pugh Push Smiths Smith's stories of Rainbows she tells of a newspaper edl- edl For His Crown So Many Worlds family have endeared her tors tor's family during the depression Oth- Oth Hearts Walking Beau Peter of readers In Handmade cr er books by the same author Jewels Pans Pan's Daughter S S S CHAPTER II i I fg g b bump tey Kath Kath- re fe smothered an eloquent L rear tire had gone flat lacking the pavement Jaber It was no more The family se- se its last legs Nothing 0 any ny good except to jack jackin under it in n a a new v one at chance there is of red Kathleen attempt- attempt s. s her vehicle d been hitting a smart pike was badly worn I es 5 as the sedans sedan's dilapi- dilapi I BRI Bj m With a little wheeze h r n. n the car slid off ofT into the ur Ul t ight and coasted gently rag raj j gt other bank where it poised on two lor tS the thick tangled under- under ree j vines and dog ift Ja to the country for kg ause they were cheaper the e products On the front k lly balanced beside her hern n damaging their tender bucket full of purple thought it a brill bril- bril l t the time Now the theto to upset er era JI she muttered with a aza jle za bought hought for the perversity general eJ Lo ag ag lately had come un- un 1 the least excuse Due Dues Due's an's ans s 's perilous slant she shed id d down in in the farthest I it- it the steering wheel and andI I ith the contents of the J I ere ere were purple irises ina in ind Jd d a spray of fern in her hern 9 n her white sports shoes pleasantly when she igle out from under the 50 0 for the young man manin in the meadow beyond r to snigger Kathleen her red-brown red eyes sparks She had fo 1 1 him before She was ino flo business to b be where he had the ening air of seeming per- per mme A limp leather vol- vol ar his hand But she sheker ker been asleep His nori yes were yere both drowsy jal al l in his sunburned face en had never seen a grin grinA IO A vii considered more exas- exas e you think its it's funny B Led and sat up He had road shoulders 1St admit it is rather ext ex- ex j t to have a maiden in dis- dis iP in on a fellers feller's dreams tal cockeyed with water lilies l s jr JI those things are youre you're or a necklace ace h he e and made a rab- rab rabI I ru I a clump of wan wa- wa n foliage that was bent on onn vh n the neck of her red Sports ports dress irises and they're cold an is d a if you believe in being ell as ornamental she JurI of her red lips you me a hand triumph that he did twitted with the fact decorative He 0 t provokingly indolent mg to her rescue But I did id not seem to exert L L L-J duly uly he proved a sur- sur Efficient fent person person in the I Athleen gathered the imI im- im I fat he ke did we well anything J do Certainly with a af if f effort on his part he heher heher her er from the undignified ul being jammed under her hert herI t I ng g wheel by the simple im m f opening the door and out ut bodily t ked was a hand fleen teen I jj lorry he said grimly and andA andI t I A A fy j on her feet in the short- short ITAH ble space of time Ive p you to my manly ou must know you feel between a damp garter- garter A very clammy frog tJI 1 Thanks said Kathleen and realized she had not after all SUCceeded succeeded succeeded suc suc- in doing anything to his abominable self Being one of these southern damsels damsels damsels dam dam- sels he went on scowling at the sedan I suppose you expect any male in sight to fix that tire Kathleen surveyed him through long curling black lashes They were quite her best feature an and i she could do a number of interesting tricks with them But the tall rangy young man beside her did not notice that You dont don't need to advertise you arrive from north of the biscuit line she told him with what she hoped was a cutting little laugh We dont don't grow them that casual in these parts He shrugged his shoulders I Iwas Iwas Iwas was warned about town small-town Dixie flirts Sorry He grinned at her again poking under the sedans sedan's back seat in search of tools I dont don't suppose you have any idea where Id I'd find a jack to remove that tire have you Kathleen made a grimace The cars car's six years old If there was anything on it where it ought to be Id I'd drop dead I see he said briefly You are touring arent aren't you I she asked eying a small roadster I I I w r 74 A 4 I j. j u-r u i I was warned about small town Dixie flirts drawn up under a tree some distance distance distance dis dis- tance away I thought at first you must be a hitch Im touring And thank the Lord Ive I've got wrenches and things in my old tin can He left her in search of these but returned at once with a case of in in- in Whistling under his breath he set about the delicate task of jacking up the sedans sedan's rear wheel without precipitating it again into the ditch Kathleen found a small spring of water down the road and refilled the bucket There were loads of gorgeous purple blooms still intact She produced her compact and endeavored to repair a little of the damage But the powder was wet through And I was trying to save a three- three dollar florists florist's bill she cried throwing the vanity case as far as she could reach while she morosely surveyed a rent in one of her two best pairs of hose He grinned at her over his der Dont mind me he said Go on and cry if you feel like it Only I cant can't lend you a shoulder to weep on Im I'm sort of hard boiled that way From New York arent aren't you she hazarded after a silence which did not disturb him in the least She had identified the license plate on the roadster By way of more recent stops at Cleveland and St. St Louis he vouch vouch- You dont don't take life very seriously serious serious- ly do you He eyed her with sardonic gray eyes Ive been fired off ofT three newspapers in the past six months for thinking a lot of things are jokes myself included Newspapers Kathleen laughed a short mirthless sound I might have known that youre you're a tramp newspaper man You don dont don't t sound as if il you thought much of me and my kind She her shoulders I Ican can tell you why you were fired You couldn't be bothered to do dull stories that pleased the editor or wouldn't offend the big advertising account You preferred to walk out if things thina s got too tame Or if the fish wel wei c e biting Or if the city desk cut down your pet yarn and made you pa l one about some pill of a leading citizen who was a pal of the owner For the first time she had his acute attention So to you OU know something about men he observed My lathers lather's one she flung at him with bitterness He owns the Covington Clarion A daily in a town of lIf if eit eighteen thousand people Hes He's Hesi OWe V i D years And hes he's never made more than just a living Recently he and it have been one jump ahead of the bloodhounds You know ther theres there's s 's been a depression depression- Or Ordo Ordo Ordo do you Probably you think th that's funny too Dad does Is he downhearted downhearted downhearted down down- hearted because collections have dropped fifty per cent Is he I ask you The young man who was manipulating manipulating la lating ting the jack lever grinned Hes uHe's probably having the time of his life trying to pull through by byan byan byan an eyelash He uHe is Hes He's turned down dozens of brilliant offers in the past fifteen years Offers that stood for big pay and a name for himself Maybe neither of those things means a lot to him broke off They dont But But But- she abruptly Hes aces really He has everything Only Only Only- she looked away then back at him defiantly He could have gone to the top if he had tried What U of it His lips curled I uI suspect you are two wo woof of a kind I suppose you'd rather be your own typesetter on your own news sheet than draw ten thousand a year and take orders Absolutely I dare say if the biggest store in town underpaid its employees you'd insist on writing it up no matter what it cost in advertising Sure to print the truth about a dirty political deal although it offended offended offended of of- fended subscribers right and left and cut your circulation in half Positively Kathleen nodded Yes you and Mike are two of a kind Have you finished UY Yes es He stood up brushed his dusty hands on his soiled trousers and grinned at her If you'll stand standout standout standout out of the way Ill I'll release the brake and see if I can hoist her back to the road The old sedan rocked gently down into the ditch and then under its own momentum and some muscular persuasion from the young man at atthe atthe atthe the rear climbed sedately back onto the highway Gravely he deposited the irises on the front seat Dont get your values mixed he said and his voice was a little griff grill as if he was a trifle embar embar- Im not so hot when it comes to moralizing But a fat salary salary salary sal sal- ary check doesn't compensate for everything Not by a hell of a lot Believe it or not there is such a athing athing athing thing as selling your soul for thirty pieces of silver Or thirty thou thou- sand And living to hate them and yourself He gazed at her silently And abruptly his gray eyes were lazy and mocking again Your perspective perspective perspective tive is distorted and I cant can't say much for your childish tantrums he remarked with his old exasperating ing grin But youre you're a cute young young- ster And I guess you owe me this He stooped suddenly She could never get accustomed to the swiftness swiftness swiftness swift swift- ness of his apparently languid move- move ments rr He cupped her round dimpled dimpled dimpled dim dim- pled chin in his hand and kissed her CHAPTER II Laura Maguire carefully set the flaky timbales which she had just taken from the oven on the window ledge to coo cool The kitchen was hot and it showed signs of a strenuous eng engagement gement But everything was done except of course those things which had to be left to the last min mm- ute Laura fervently hoped that Hulda would not put too much flour in the cream sauce for the gus Hulda did her best As well as anyone could who came into someone someone someone some some- one else's kitchen at six to serve a four-course four dinner at seven Everybody Everybody Every Every- body in Covington who could not afford afford af af- ford a daily maid had Hulda for special occasions Laura who had urgent reasons to want this particular dinner party to togo togo togo go off beautifully had been up since six There had been literally a hundred hundred hundred hun hun- dred things to do She had gone to market herself to select the chicken and the strawberries The house I. I had been cleaned from front to back silver r polished the best china and glass washed the lace and linen tablecloth tablecloth tablecloth ta ta- ta- ta and napkins dug out and Dressed The aspic salad had to be made early to leave time for cooling And Laura had set it in small individual molds which she decorated with tiny rings of red and green peppers It had been tedious work although she I admitted the results were gratifying I when she peeped into the big old ice icebox icebox icebox box on the back porch The Maguires Maguires Maguires Ma- Ma guires had no electric refrigerator They hadn't a lot of things which Lauras Laura's women friends had She was thinking of that as ns she carefully arranged olives in a slender slender slender slen slen- der painted hand dish so as to conceal conceal con con- ceal the crack in the bottom which she had mended with sealing wax A party was trouble if one had trained servants and plenty of everything everything everything ev ev- ev- ev to do with But it assumed the proportions of a major operation in a house which had to be ransacked ransacked ransacked ran ran- sacked to find ten crystal goblets to match to say nothing of salad plates and forks Poor folks have poor ways I Laura grinned to herself hersell quoting old Aunt Julia the black mammy who had presided in the big kitchen on Lauras Laura's fathers father's plantation Like all Negroes Aunt Julia had loathed poor white trash Laura thought probably the old colored woman turned over in her grave every time Miss Lolly patched a year three-year-old dress or dy dyed d a sea sea- son last slip to wear with a model from Blumers Blumer's base base- ment Laura had been a beauty as a girl She was still at three forty-three almost as pretty as either of her daugh daugh- Although she would have strenuously denied the fact There were a few silver threads in the smooth black hair ab above ve her temples temples tem tern ples pies and laughing wrinkles under her clear topaz eyes Nevertheless she had on several occasions been mistaken for her older sons son's sister But not today she thought with witha a glance into the wavy mirror above the sink which she was trying to clear of an accumulation of soiled cooking vessels Do I look like a hag or dont don't I You dont don't You couldn't Laura dropped a stew pan She hadn't heard Kathleen come in Darling you startled me Kathleen eyed her mother somber somber- ly Laura did look tired Sorry I didn't mean to scare you I came in the back way to leave the irises on the porch They spilled and are sort of messy Im I'm afraid Laura surveyed her daughter and giggled You haven't been wrestling wrestling wres wres- with them or anything Kathleen grinned ruefully The Theold Theold Theold old bucket up and socked me in the eye Am I a holy sight You do look a little bedraggled Better run right up and change Nothing doing Im I'm helping you I should have been here an hour ago ago Only I wasn't Kathleen finished finished finished fin fin- lamely She had no intention of confessing to the mishap which had delayed her In the first place Laura would worry It really wasn't safe to risk the old sedan far from town in the state of its tires And there simply wasn't money for new ones Furthermore Furthermore Furthermore Fur Fur- her rescue by the young man in slacks had left Kathleen's pride considerably impaired She had no desire to expose the painful details But it hadn't seemed a laughing matter to Kathleen It still She tackled the overflow of dirty dishes with a vehemence that made her mother glance at her Dont bother with those things darling Let them alone Ill I'll be all washed up in a jiffy Kathleen doggedly wiped a sauce pan You dont don't like kitchen police police police po po- po- po lice a bit better than I do she said in a fierce voice You just do doit doit doit it and dont don't gripe because youre you're the grandest sport on earth Lauras Laura's firm firm- rather wide mouth curved upward Thanks for th the flattery darling It isn't flattery Its It's the frightful fright fright- ful truth Only you oughtn't to have to drudge like a slave It isn't fair Wheres Where's Shirley Upstairs pressing my rny dress And melting into her shoes I daresay Lauras Laura's amber eyes suddenly looked jaded Do try to get her to lie down for an hour when you go up Kathleen She really mustn't look lookas as if shed she'd done the family wash when her future laws in-laws arrive Kathleen sniffed You know very well that Jaird's mother will find something to be catty about no matter matter matter mat mat- ter how Shirley looks Honestly that womans woman's poison ivy to me How did as nice a boy as J Jaird aird ever draw such a a. a wash out for a mother moth moth- er I expect said Laura with a grin if he had had his rathers he would have chosen differently But unfortunately unfortunately unfortunately mothers are arc sort of forced on you arent aren't they And theres there's not nota a lot you can do about it it None of us ever want to do anything anything anything any any- thing about you Laura laughed Are you sure you wouldn't prefer a sweet demure demure demure de de- de- de mure silver haired old lady with all the traditional virtues Isn't it a littie little little |