Show P va 0 PUGH IS MC CLURE installment TWO the story so far kathleen JIagu lre Is helping her moth kathleen had just returned irom from a trip her fix it like it her er tather father mike hike I 1 1 ar r WWI with a 8 dinner to be given that night for or wild flowers to save cave a florists bill was a happy go lucky newspaper man jor or the New sums whose son jaird Is the rear tire of the old car had bad gone his assurance irritates her he seems in to shirley kathleena Kath leens sister elsler flat and a strange young man helped amused and kisses her a 0 y CHAPTER II 11 continued fil kathleena Kath leens eyes smarted it Q emed to the girl such rank in stice that laura should have to I 1 itch and glue and nail things to ather ither to make them do it R if she had been born to make gifts gifts she had grown up in con li erable luxury but she had had decious little of it since her marage ige especially the last few years it it had never worried worrie cl kathleen un I 1 1 lately all the things her mother d without but somehow in the past jw months it had become a sore spot ot in the girls consciousness she opposed she was growing up if it was a harrowing process one bat was shaking her foundations retty etty badly she said nothing it to criticize her father she had ways been his favorite and he bd ad been her particular shining he 1 j just of late had she begun to bink link he could have flaws she was senti allya fiercely loyal young perin ain it made her feel dreadfully I 1 t down to be considering mike with sentiment sent ment she want to she lost 0 t terribly want to and 1 e et t 1 I saw mrs mays this afternoon ayes yes murmured laura she was arranging the irises in in a laceful low white wedgewood bowl maich would stand on a mirror in ipe center of the table her limousine almost crowded me lito ito the curb outside bensons Jen sons her auff eur was bringing out a box of flowers A box as long as hearse Is she entertain entertaining in toight yes you hear mrs new urn um said have to leave be are nine for quotation marks a ittle attle intimate bridge at mrs f ays 11 arent you invited im not exactly intimate with hat bat crowd any more I 1 because you the money up with lizzie laura shrugged her shoulders cathleen studied her with narrowed yes she wished she knew whether ler ier mother really did not mind miss ng out with old friends mrs mays has never quite forgiven you laura because shed nev ir r have got eugene mays alays if you ladna given him the air it was common knowledge that aura apra maguire could have been vlis is i s eugene mays had she liked ahe ie had indeed had considerable auble eluding the banker in favor if A michael maguire and mays had e een en the catch of the town he till aill was Coving tons richest man elis is big three storied house was a show MW place set in stately grounds lis is wife never had to darn tz table able koths or make over last years hats again rathleen kathleen scrutinized her mothers averted face did laura ever think she had made lade a mistake would she do it the ie same way a second time if she lad iad the choice kathleena Kath leens throat ched ached her mother had rejected sugene eugene mays and real pearls and an in impressive home and servants md and a new car every year and trips to 3 new york because she was in love aye with a charming irishman up to 3 six months ago it had never oc furred to kathleen that laura had paid high for love or that she might regret her bargain somehow kathleen had taken it for granted that her er mother was thrilled to death to be ie poor and shabby and overworked sut but was she or did she feel that love ave and life and michael maguire had ad cheated her kathleen shivered her mother lad had thrown the world over for rolance lance yet it appeared to kathen leen that somewhere on the road laura aura had been defrauded because there lere was nothing very romantic about darning mikes socks and fish ing ng his dirty shirts out from behind the he clothes hamper where he invariably ari ably threw them if you ask me said kathleen maguire outside her sisters door r t his love racket looks more like a skin game than anything else you get a few mad thrills maybe but you pay for them by taking i it t on the chin the rest of your life and aad in her heart she had a panicky feeling that her mother must long ago have reached the same conclusion although she was too game to whine CHAPTER ili III shirley maguire snapped oil off the electric iron as her sister entered oh hullo kath she said becoming coming suddenly very busy wit with h one of the rues on lauras ecru organdy frock but although she averted her face kathleen could see shirleys shirleye Shir leys violet eyes in the mirror over the dressing table and they were blurred 4 let me finish sis you look tired to death i 1 kathleen elaborately pretended that it was merely fatigue and the heat which had drawn shadows on shirleys shirleye Shir leys delicate cheeks the maguires had been brought up to respect each others and so kathleen did not refer to any tears shirley might have been shedding and neither did shirley v ivo ive all finished kath thanks 40 but you can han hang g this in lauras closet if you will surely shirley was employing a subterfuge to be alone and kathleen knew it but she obediently trotted across the hall and she took her time about the errand when she returned shirley had bathed hereace her face and powdered her telltale eyelids and was curled up on the foot of the bed manicuring her finger nails as if she had nothing on her mind but the last development in m liquid polish mother alother thinks you ought to take a cat nap suggested kathleen digging out her red evening sandals P which needed cleaning im not sleepy said shirley kathleen bent over her task she want shirley to think she was tampering with thin things gs which did not concern her but the trouble was shirley been sleeping nights either katl kathleen deen had not told anyone not even laura how often shirley rolled and tossed or slipped out of bed to sit in the window and smoke a cigarette maybe she thought kathleen did not know she always lay perfectly still and said nothing but kathleen knew and it had her a little ragged shirley just did not deserve the break she was getting kathleen was beginning to think that fate takes a special delight in being ma 1 11 i 1 1 1 k JP P shirley was employing a subterfuge and kathleen knew it licious to the wrong people she could think of a number of girls it would be a pleasure to see knocked off their pedestals but shirley was not one of them kathleen admitted she was partial all her life she had secretly thought that shirley was a bit of all right probably because she was four years older perhaps because they were so different in looks and in temperament kathleen was pretty and vivacious she looked slick to quote herself in snappy clothes she could wear extreme haircuts and get by with impudence and a general air of being more hard boiled than she was but shirley was beautiful really beautiful she had wide smoke blue eyes and radiant goldbrown hair and the loveliest cream and rose skin and exquisite hands and feet she looked just as pretty in a bungalow apron as in an evening gown and shirley was quite as beautiful within as without she had high standards and she did not betray them she was never petty nor malicious nor envious nor capricious if shirley had wild ugly impulses she mastered them in secret they never cluttered up the neighborhood kathleen passionately coveted shir shil leys ability to put her soul through its paces without an outward ripple shirley was proud and dis disciplined a and nd reserved and self controlled she kept her emotions firmly under lock and key as if they were dangerous explosives kathleen sitting flat on the floor with cleaning fluid and a rag vigorously massaged the heel of a frivolous red slipper and wished she were as thoroughly the master of her frailties as her sister but watching the dimple come and go in the younger girls vivid mercurial face shirley maguire knew with bitterness that her capacity for silent anguish was the point of her grave peril far better she thought to be able to boil over like kathleen than to keep agonies corked up in your heart to poison and ferment the diamond on shirleys shirleye Shir leys slender white hand winked at her mockingly as she filed her ring finger shirley had a strange feeling that the stone laughed when it caught her eye but she brought herself up sharply she simply must not indulge in morbid fancies it was unhealthy almost indecent it came from solitary brooding if only she could break through the cell of her reserve but shirley could not produce the skeletons from her mental closet for the inspection of others the table looks spiffy observed kathleen from the floor honestly mother a genius at making any old thing do in a rub I 1 dont believe even kitty cat can find a thing to sniff at shirley hushed flushed faintly kathleen eyed her from under lowered lashes she knew quite well that shirley would never have applied such an epithet to the lady in question although shirley had more reason to resent jairis mother than had any other person on earth if ShIr shirleye shirleys leys dreams did not perish of dry rot it would be through no fault of mrs blake biake give mother two hours and a bunch of wild flowers and she cou could id entertain the duke of windsor in a style hed love said shirley sure and shed have time left over to remind mike to wash the printers ink off his paws before he shook hands with the duke chortled or kathleen shirley smiled mike will never grow up not so long as he can get by without it said kathleen frowning shirley glanced at her quickly there had been a note in her sisters voice shirley had never heard kathleen apply to their father in their several ways all his children adored michael maguire but it was no secret that he be had always been kathleena Kath leens special god As a child she had been ready to battle anyone who dared intimate that anything about mike could be improved no longer ago than six months kathleen had threatened to box fatty bonners ears for saying on the stump that maguire deserve to be elected mayor of covington for the tenth time because he was no howling success at handling his private business so why entrust him with running the city it was a bit of a family joke mikes alikes being lord mayor of covington the office paid next to notah g in fact mike never broke even on the deal his salary failed completely to equal what he laid out on entertaining visiting celebrities who invariably yari ably called on his honor when in in town and expected to be wined and dined to say nothing of the parades and the conventions and the charity drives to which mike was supposed to lend his moral and financial support 1 the city budget appropriated all it ca could uld stand for such eventualities but by november of every year the fund was depleted from that point mike was on his own many a time his honor was reduced to the expedient of opening the community fund ball on the proceeds of a pawned watch and chain to be redeemed when city taxes were paid secretly although he made comical remarks about it mike adored being mayor of covington he liked t to 0 preside at banquets and throw out the first ball at the opening of the baseball season he got a great kick out of securing the nea new civic auditorium by a determined drive on the purses of bankers and politicians and the like he was as pleased as a small boy with a little red drum over the modest but complete municipal hospital for which he had schemed for years he admitted it might be a I 1 luxury usury but he have traded jobs with any ruling nabob and although he had determined opposition from the political machine mike went on being elected year after year the people had an indestructible faith in his integrity other mayors had waxed rich by distinctly unscrupulous methods mike lost money mone y ev e ery time he was sworn in his children teased him about being a big in a very insignificant ant puddle but deep down within none of the maguires thought it funny to be lord mayor of covington t they might wisecrack about it among themselves but the they y were quick to defend mike from an outsiders aspersion kathleen had always been especially sensitive to any unflattering criticism of their father and yet today shirley for the first time had detected a bitter note in kathleena Kath leens reference to mike but at her glance kathleen sidestepped the issue she might in her own mind have reached the stage where she was uncertain about values which she had accepted eheart edly all her life but she could not bring herself to bare her slipping loyalties even to shirley so kathleen changed the subject with an evasiveness which reminded shirley of herself did you know the are leaving at nine to bridge at mrs mays again S shirley hirley reddened slightly slight lv yes Y Cs TO BE CONTINUED CONTINUE DJ |