Show THE marshbanks ARSH BAnKS 0 BY KATHLEEN NORRIS e THE STORY SO FAR charlotte cherry rawlings an orphan oreba since she ho was wai seven even had been at saint Dorot Dorothea boals 1 ach school 00 0 for ot she know owe almost nothing about her early history judge fad ad on marshbanks her guardian co with emma askell a trained nurse nune who had bad taken care ot of her mother arranges or lor her to leave the school and uke take up op a secretarial position with the wealthy mrs mn porteous Porte oui porter porte r in san francisco Francl tco but first she he goes to the marshbanks mansion manlo n she dines alone with the judge as fran fra nil his young wile wife and ids his niece amy are dining out kelly coates an artist drops in and fran and kany amy stop on their way out nodding only casually when ch cherry er ry la Is introduced it li Is evident to cherry that coates and fran are aie interested te I 1 in I 1 e each eh other As al fran and amy leave s she h hears bears laughing laughin f re reference to herself and her convent clothes e lot bes and I 1 bitter mr her surroundings are lucid ou on when ab she goes to work lor for mrs mn porter bu but boon sea a she ehe finds ule life mott most monotonous no kelly horseback riding in the park k with fran stops to talk with her 1 T as she he Is motoring with mrs porter and later sends her a box ol of candy mrs bits porter gives ives a big party for or her niece dorothy doroth pa page smith cherry finds dorothy crying now continue with the story CHAPTER VI the hours went by chill daylight came into the room she got up laded jaded and weary bath bathed d and brushed her thick hair and somehow was at breakfast with emma as asua usua usual at eight emma gave her a sharp look as it if she thought that even last nights activities should not have left such traces but she said nothing both women rustled the morning papers and drank their coffee almost in silence the customary miracle ol of service was going on in the house was accomplished complis hed when cherry walked through the downstairs rooms at noon noo n after a full fire warmed morning in mrs porters spar apartment ament the ordinary procedure of letters and compliments and telephone calls the great house had re assumed its aspect of luxurious mausoleum cherry felt stifled she told emma she did not want any lunch she took a long walk instead tor for mrs porter all cheerful restoration and amazing vitality at breakfast had admitted in midmorning mid morning that she felt sleepy not one bit tired but sleepy so the machinery of the day had been stopped cherry was tree free until late in the afternoon she walked toward the presidio and down its narrow eucalyptus shaded paths to the cliffs and so along by the bay shore right across the bay under the arch of the long red bridge was Sau sausalito and somewhere there was kellys 41 studio Top cote cherry sat down on a wall and stared wistfully at the hills as if her thoughts could cross the miles and somehow find him and somehow let him know how eager she was to make her apologies Top cote could easily be reached on a long afternoons walk it would be but a short halt half dozen miles in all her fancy began to play some day her next allfree all free day B she would start early and walk straight across the bridge and when she reached the great ramps on the merin marln county side she would ask someone where spanish farm road I 1 was and follow it to some gate or fence that said Top cote emma quiet and stern faced and impersonal had to concede e herself sufficiently like the rest ot of humankind to succumb to a heavy chest cold when changeable march weather was vexing the city and tor for a few days the household was seriously alarmed about her her old employer ploy er was ill too end and a nurse who had often cared tor for mrs porter was installed in the rooms of the mistress there was a second nurse as well to relieve the first for the little time that mrs porter needed diversion her nurses read to her or chatted WI with th her and cherry formed the habit ot of spending the early evening hours with emma as emma grew consales con vales cent although the older woman never acknowledged in words that W she liked her companion or missed her or waited tor for her cherry grew to enjoy these evenings and suspected that emma did too emma was about fifty but she might have been any age between thirty and seventy venty te her face was thin narrow and marked by sternness and reserve her gr graying ying hair she wore coronet fashion in tight braids in which never a hair was awry A strange cold repressed woman cherry used to think as emma belted into a gray wrapper sat hack back panting against her pillows and at j tacked the days bills menus re ports cherry brought up a lamp that illumined the ceiling and sent cent a soft ott light down tor for the invalids eyes eye brought up a glass bowl ot of M crocus blossoms and set it on the jy table put a chinese plate of brown bulbs in the sunshiny south window where emma could employ times ol of languor in watching their their almost hourly change and finally shyly she brought emma a tiny kitten a bundle of wet wailing fur that she had bad found by the presidio wall emma laughed a short scornful laugh at this last contribution she never could stand cats she said but cherry noting the confidence with which the small tray stray newly warmed and fed was advancing toward emms emmas languid hana band prom C ia ill t she was some gome blocks away from home when a low slung open disrel mutable car drew up close to her on the curb and a voice said jump la in ased with great confidence that she would remove remove the little creature the minute he became troublesome from that moment the cat was visibly the absorbing consideration ot of emmas life did you go first to the marshbanks as a nurse emma cherry asked idly one night emma looked at her quickly hesitated before speaking yes she answered then id taken the boys fred and judson through tonsil operations and then through scarlet fever at the hospital when I 1 was in training the old lady took a ming liking to me and when come back from abroad a few years later and id been widowed owe d the old madame as we used to call mrs marshbanks though I 1 dont suppose she was more than fifty then sent for me to take care 0 of the colonel hed been struck awn down with sleeping sickness he was on a couch for years then miss louise she was the only daughter and had married an engineer from springfield came home to have the baby the old lady was so EQ pleased about it they both talked so much about the grandchild and then to have both die yes that was a bad time 1 I stayed on as a nurse and housekeeper I 1 had my sister to support and it was a comfortable place I 1 twenty when I 1 graduated and came to them howd you know my mother emma did you meet her at the marshbanks emma looked thoughtfully at her companion no I 1 knew her before that she finally said and then after another pause your mother was my sister charlotte cherry stared at her the words did not seem to make sense my mother she began in a whisper and stopped yes your mother was my sister you were named tor for her but emma cherry said breathlessly confusedly conscious of shock and reluctance you never told met mel well you dont always tell children everything emma said after a moment you but a little tiling thing when your mother died 1 I could have known chati cherry exclaimed A thousand bright dreams vanished with the revelation and she felt hurt and wronged but amazement still had first place in her thoughts maybe I 1 never told you because I 1 think be especially pleased emma said dryly the girls color came up warmly its not thail of course im im glad she stammered ive never had any family and and of course im glad and immediately to own amazement she burst into tears she had often imagined what her connections might be she had bad never dreamed this emma so contained and cold and distant her own aunt cherry pushed the table away blindly and went to the window and stood looking out at the dark night and the far city lights that shot arrows and flashes through her tears mother mother never told met me she ahe stammered 1 I wish she hadt hadl cherry looked down at her cards with blinded eyes and made hersell herself move them here and there as it she were playing she finished her game and said with a shaking voice that she was tired and thought she would go to bed emma still making no comment cherry put away awa y the table and asked emma if there was anything more she could do no emma said nothing the girl came to the bedside looked down good night then she added in a light level tone with altha a resolute smile would you houi I 1 would if you liked shall I 1 call you aunt emma she added hesitatingly emma eyed her steadily far or a lew few long seconds no I 1 dont know that id make any change she said then in the same emotionless voice that cherry had used need more ice no im going to listen to the radio and then im going to sleep deep good night cherry said with a parting second attempt at a pleasant smile ein lie she walked to her own room slipped clipped into bed and lay with narrowed eyes and a bitten lower up lip pondering thought long denied came with a rush and she was drowned in the bitterness of it other girls girla had mothers and f fathers and homes and she had habshe a he had only the drab background of saint dorotheaa Doro theas and this humiliating revelation tonight slow tears began to creep down cherrys chernys Cher rys cheeks presently she began to sob heavily she cried herself to sleep one morning cherry found herself free at noon and determined to take one of the long walks she loved she was some blocks away from home when a low slung open disreputable car drew up close to her on the curb and a voice said jump in the world wheeled about her for a few dizzy seconds for it was kelly coates who bad spoken he was driving the car and beside him sat fran marshbanks smothered in soft fox skins with a daring red hat topped on her dark hair 1 I want mrs marshbanks to come over and have lunch with me the man explained it honestly with his wide flashing smile and she wont come unless you do are you free from those old ogres agres for a while fran asked in her careless fascinating hoarse voice im tree until half past four cherry did not want to go and yet was wild with eagerness to go the thought that he was in love with fran made being in kellys company exquisitely painful to her but she had hungered to see these persons again to be one of them to know what was going on and this golden opportunity would not come twice id love to she said smiling cs she climbed in and wedged herself beside fran the moment she did it she regretted it wondering through what fatuity of complacence she had accepted the invitation to play a third in their affair why had they asked her she wondered mrs marshbanks kelly said once went to a movie in which a girl visited an artist in his studio and everything went wrong tor for fifty years afterward was that it fran something like that said frans exquisite voice bazli lazily so she want to come home and lunch with me kelly went on perhaps I 1 know my own weakness fran contributed idly they crossed the bridge and on the eastern shore moved along a wide smooth highway tor for a few miles turned left and mounted an earth road that wound up the hill scattered cottages hidden among oaks and eucalyptus faced the road here and there kellys place was at the head bead ot of a small tree lined canyon and consisted of a cottage of perhaps three rooms a large white barn various sheds and fences that suggested that the place had once been a small farm there was an arbor covered with young grape vines sheltering a long table and two benches young berry bushes bushel lust just la in leaf a languishing little garden whose neglected rose and ge were choked with last seasons dried grass and some apple and apricot trees getting ready to bloom cherry was under the spell ot of the peace of kelly coates place its simplicity its beauty almost before she had gotten out of the car she had never dreamed of anything so BO informal so comfortable so 50 complete they were au all hungry they fell upon preparations for luncheon together AU ali this went on in the small kitchen for a bleak wind had blown up from the south and it was too chilly and overcast out of doors doon tor for the arbor to be the dining room much to kellys disappointment they were very much in love kelly and fran cherry could see that or at least kelly was perhaps fran was only pretending cherry could not be sure cure but this was evidently a game of which she knew every move TO BE CONTINUED |