Show aaa AiU g I 1 ra URI ELLA by ethel hueston Must rations by irwin myers copyright by bobba merrill co service STORY FROM THE START in the usually quiet home ot alev sir mr tolliver Toll lver of lied fled thrush iowa his motherless daughters helen miriam and ellen ginger ella are busy gro orning their sister marjory tot tor participation in the beauty pageant that evening with eddy jack son prosperous boing former farmer her escort escom marjory leaves for the anticipated triumph over 0 v er work has seriously affected mr air Tol livers eyes Mar marjory lory wins the cauty prize she given elves the money to her father to consult chicago ginger meets alexander murdock Mun lock mr toll I 1 V r returns the doctors giving him little hope ginger gets an idea for a parsonage home for the blind and sol solicits ivits funds fund she gets results at once helen Is married and leaves the parsonage mr tolliver Toll lver goes to eddy jacksons farm for a rest CHAPTER V continued I wish helen were here said marjory why I 1 will time to sort son of be the head of the house myself and I 1 sum am out not used to having ministers minister around except fattier father but you are quite right we must du do what we can and we shall eliola take air buckworth gladly what con can we charge tit him M I 1 we are to rd pay min dollars a week I 1 think en ot that could go for tits his roon and board that would leave him but five dollars a week for laundry and callec tlona nf nry we wd can do his laundry with ours interrupted ginger and I 1 dare say lie tithe as father does it a na fashionable oh as it used to be i and we cant run the house on le less 88 than ain tan a week ll 11 ak ja veta well ten a week then anil and if he objects well come down to 10 eight ile he can have fathers room with the books miss bliss jenkins have to tell him about the money and the laundry and everything I 1 simply do it on friday afternoon stir miriam larn re turned with tier father just in time for rupper clipper a supper that was waa a ban for many of the kindly mem members hers knowing twing of the plan for his enforced vacation and conspired to make hla his lust last dinner of at home oce ene to be kemem herad there were baskets of trull und and lowers flowers tine fine cund bundles les fragrant home baked rolls and pastries rich preserves anti dellean jellies pats of country butter and jars jara of cream chickens all rendy for br broiling they were still at the table merrily recounting the lie ns of the week the doings of the church the letters from helen when westbury come or amther wa delivered dellver pd in per son eon by edda jackson joplin west bury clearl clearing ng his chri threat at in 1 est best treas aurer of the ilie board manner announced that on behal ol of the church he came to tits his beloved minister with a two months vacation on full pay in order to restore his strength for the llie great day or of the formal dedication mr air westbury Wes thury this thit Is most awfully good of you and the lie board and the church said mr air tolliver Toll lver ine meekly eldy it just happens and this may sur burrise rise you the dor doctors tors advised that I 1 gle give up work ond and re for cor a while but I 1 simply did not see how it could be done I 1 should not have asked it I 1 assure you it Is most generous most generous girls I 1 see the heind of the lord bord in this 1 I see the hand of eddy jackson thought ginger ella to herself but bui not inot for the world would she have marred her bar rathers fathers pious gratitude with irith the tha voicing of her irreverent thought but joplin westbury in spits spite of the good gift he had brought seemed ill at ease and awkward chafing clial luK under the united thanks of the innocent family anti and hurriedly took himself off when he had gone eddy extended the invitation for himself and his bis moi lier for or mr tolliver Toll lver and miriam to come to pay dirt they abey spent the evening talking together quietly every seemingly light word overlaying an undercurrent of deep and glad thanksgiving arid and then led her father out to the walting waiting car the other oilier girls trooping iuIs lly with them for I 1 0 last goodby good by now you see my dear little girls and try to remember that things do work together for or good be said smiling tes whispered eddy jackson to ginger but just the same I 1 wish T scout around among the mero here bers oad and see if theres something underhanded der handed going on I 1 dont doni like the looks of old jop ordinarily ardt barlly nar lly he just loyes loves to play tl leaven caien but tonight le ie was VM ull au fassea lwe uj lk between tween you jou and d me I 1 think therez somei something som elliC hing rotten la in red Thru sli 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 after till all miss jenkins was wag merely a temporary companion la in tho the parsonage it was marjory the pretty twin who sineo the llie marriage of helen and in the absence of Mir miriam larn must reign as hostess it was a pleasant experience for marjory and she took it seriously superintending super intending the entire arrangement ran gement of 0 her fathers room for or the young minister and merely permitting bliss jenkins to dust and sweep p and ginger to wash the windows all during the saturday morning as their hands were busy with their pleasant toll they chatted eagerly of this strange and unexpected break in n the even tenor of their lives atoo too bad helen had ro miss it said ginger 1 I shall be ba very dignified I 1 dare say he fie will think I 1 out au twenty one well reme remember raber hes a preacher and dont waste houi good powder on him hila air westbury says tie he Is a very brilliant student very such stich a dumb name hiram complained ginger you just know his parents were methodists fly by one they were dressed for his arrival MIS bliss jenkins thoroughly rehearsed in tier her part seated herself sedately in the living room with the ilia central christian advocate marjory repaired to her fathers room to give a last deft touch to table to curtains to the tall fall of g Ps M r I 1 there there was a sudden crash from be low k a splintering a thud me llie lace face bedspread ginger after meeting the postman half way down the flagstone path started to the attic with her mail six letters each with a small hard fiord roundness in one corner six dimes were added addea to tier hoard board in the dolls trunk ginger shook the trunk two dollars and eighty cents now not so very much yet set but still considering the original outlay of three postage stamps it was wag doing very well and certainly bust ness nesa was growing never a day passed now without at ai least one welcome letter for E tolliver Toll lver one dime for the honie home nut but for all bet immersion sion in her growing fund ginger did not overlook the immediate interest of the arrival of hiram buckworth while she would scorn to betray an undue curiosity about anny male creature slie she did feel that a pro pre knowl edge of hla his general appearance would assist ar tier her greatly in forming an estl esti mate of his character finding that she could not corn mand a view vt of the street roro rom the high dormer window of the tittle not even by standing on the backless chair she turned the key upon lupori her accumulation of dimes and went do down w n stairs in tier her fathers room the only one opening upon the street she found marjory ostensibly draping the curtains to more becoming lines but with a long losben lasber eye upon the approach 1 I 1 dare say lie ho looks like most immature mini ministers stem rt marked ginger coldly and judging by tb he e hiram he will have bae baggy trousers iro users and a wilted willed mustache site she descended the circular stair case with great dignity bliss alias jenkins had abandoned the advocate and crouched behind the port leres turning an anxious RSC gayr to the me corner a block away where the newcomer must most farst appear 1 I hope he sees you yoa said ginger bitterly it will give him such a good impression of our disinterestedness i 1 I just wondered it f ho he was waa corning coin in said miss jenkins fluttering back to the advocate now I 1 am just to say who I 1 am and who you and marjory aro when you come coma down I 1 mean and te tell 11 him ten dollars a week before you come down I 1 menu mean and if he be argues I 1 im to yield with dignity and then I 1 take him tili upstairs stairs after you girls come down I 1 mean and say eay dinner will bo be served at six obviously the windows of the living room were closed to scornful cn get ger ella one vantage spot was left to her the basement and she repaired thither As the narrow window in front was too high for her she rolled an empty apple barrel to the proper position stood mood it upright ano ang laid an old broning board across it then she climbed up with great care for her best summer cummer frock and was reworded rewarded with a clear view of the entire street at exactly two fifteen hiram buck briskly rounded the corner and mode made for the old brown par parsonage S in unaware that from various well shadowed allowed sh recesses three pairs of steady bright eyes bore silent witness to his approach hiram buckworth saw only a pleasantly jun dun burned shingle brown old house se in a well trimmed lawn canopied cano pied with broad branching maples saw an inviting pathway of old flagstones flag stones bordered with pansies the eyes behind the curtained windows saw a tall young man who walked vigorously with a vigorous swing to his arms p v vigor ous ons swing to kits his legs noticed particularly ticul arly how the sunshine into tits dark hair for most un min he be carried his hat bat in one hand what a nice clean christian boy he looks approved miss jenkins in great relief why how very young wondered marjory lit lie look tiny any hiram to me was gingers dingers Gin gers private comment but hiram buckworth unaware of 0 these secret impressions marched briskly up the flagstone path set down tits hla bag and rang the bell A decent interval was permitted to elapse ginger holding her breath on the tha apple barrel counted the approved twenty and at the very number miss bliss jenkins went to the door a flustered and flushed miss bliss jenkins unused to doing the honors of a house bouse I 1 am hiram from buckworth toe he said pleasantly brown hund hand outstretched are you jil indeed deed stammered miss jenkins 1 I 1 am miss bliss jenkens I 1 will introduce the girls when they come down I 1 was just to let you in oh ob goodness me shaia that there was a sudden crash from below to IV a splintering a thud and over all a sharp expletive which in any other than iban a ministerial home would have been considered distinctly profane for ginger aghast at too the stumbling confusion of the embarrassed barr barnis assed sed miss jenkins of v abich she heard every word in impulsive enger eager ness to rush to the rescue of the par reputation had bad stepped too far on the end of the ironing board so that it flew up suddenly and dropped her into the barrel which overturn overturned ei on top of her the silence that followed the first crash was an immense one nothing chattered miss jenkins volubly vol nothing nt at till all you see just a noise lots ints of noises here he house full ot of them rats I 1 suppose rats rata in the wall come right upstairs fu 1111 show you your room marjory holding her bet breath at the window upstairs heard th se horrible i words what was the woman think ing of tier her instructions hod had been positive oft repeated to take him to to the living room brenk break the news ot of ten dollars a week and bold him to la cn until the appearance ot of the two girls for formal introduction I up the stairs and marjory spying upon him from the window I 1 site she ran toward the door but already they were at the curve or of the circular stair case she threw a wild glance about the room no possible escape the tha closet the bath with its single en trance I 1 she marjory presiding hostess of the house to be caught in this humiliating predicament 7 not to be thought oft I 1 As aa quick as thought she dropped to the floor and crawled beneath the bed where the fringe of the lace spread sufficed to curtain her retreat its a nice room rani rambled bled bliss jenkins nervously its mr vers own room I 1 hope you like religious books mr tolliver Toll lver never reads anything s else not that be rends reads anything now cow poor dear what with his eyes I 1 suppose youve beard about that I 1 Yes such a misfortune TO BE CONTINUED |