OCR Text |
Show ffil AIL A DD Iff) II RT I tt , Ijhl M Olirtotlna WliHlli Pnrmontor j. WNTJ Service THE STORY FROM THE BEGINNING Knlncd, financially, by the stnov , . morchnnt, breaks tbo news to his hl?h! 'A TCrash' Jamcs Nels". Bston Is on tbo verge f ner hHrod ,ct lo, f ' w"06' h'3 Shter. nineteen, elderly cousin of Nelson's Col, ,,bin. h h"0"5 V' A 8hort tlme befo". come to her at rine Hldge Colo a, ' I t WrlUe" aeting that Nance regarded as a Joke Jack ' Nanrv's . P . companion. The offer had been to accent Consin Columbine's irZ tV"'ye:0A brother' W her certain financial burden, na E ' thus relieving their father of a feel too lonely. The girl does not I k! h K,, her 30 that she wi" "t to Cousin Columbine. ,d he, I f?' but aerees that Jack write welcome to both of them and L L her answer- Columbine wires the two shall go. At the TaUroi ? .t,?1"" TlsSvln" U 13 Pranged that Columbine. Somewhat dtoa e v i ' 0" th6y 8re wel'd by Cousin nerlsms. they realize she I as character Th nc"ve'nio"al "ire and man-friend man-friend of the old lady, Mark Ad m " 0t thelr car 3 a 'oune to have a crumb left over; and There! there! Don't glare at me, Miss Columbine. Shall I bring forks and plates?" "Fingers were made before forks, Aurora, and It's not a party," replied re-plied Miss Columbine, much to Jack's amusement. "Just bring the cake and a knife to cut it. I promised prom-ised Matthew a piece, and I'll keep my word If we have to bake again tomorrow. Tou make a splendid chocolate cake, Aurora Tubbs, though as a rule I don't compliment people to their faces." As the woman, somewhat mollified at this praise, departed on her unwelcome un-welcome errand, Columbine Nelson chuckled audibly. "Poor Aurora! I've no doubt she expected to make a great Impression Impres-sion by bringing in that layer cake at supper. But those boys are hungry, most likely, and they've still five miles to go. Come in, both of you," she called as steps sounded on the stairs. "No, Matthew Adam, don't try to escape out the front door. I've a slice of cake for you ; though Aurora Tubbs is ready to slay me for suggesting that we cut into her handiwork." "It's not the cutting I mind, Miss Columbine," Aurora corrected, appearing ap-pearing through one door as the boys came In another, "but seeing it disappear so so rapidly. It's a handsome cake, I think you'll all agree. Shall I do the cutting, Miss Columbine? I declare, it seems almost al-most a pity." "What do you think that cake Is for, Aurora?" snapped Miss Columbine. "A parlor ornament?" (Nancy smiled though the phrase sounded unpleasantly familiar). "I'll cut the thing myself, or these young folks will go hungry." "You don't need to cut 'em quite so thick," remonstrated the anxious woman, hovering near. "That's a four-layer cake, Miss Columbine, and a wedge . two inches at the widest part's enough for anyone. 1 ''-. ,pxER III Continued t yiored a Httlo, something : ,j not escape the shrewd r -oll slie snU1 Jack wna i' '""'onaMe. I guess she : ;;rk on a ranch-going with rough men and ,!:;Mvould spoil his man- o;. ; . columbine stiffened. J; -' indeed? And what '"' ,mi cross-questions were , "..jj,g; but the girl said She thought I'd be V - and I dare sf,y slle's 5: as Mother pointed out, didn't be very thrilling at ,."'!; Ton see, I've always t!a in the city; and this I ,' ;.-'prodded the old lady, as .'. Bean," Nance hesitated, ' .."it might sound foolish to ,.' Wnt of Pine Ridge, Colonial Colo-nial f Dad hadn't lost his t r rd have made my debut this r '' . , bis losses saved you from j ':;w," was the brusque re-; re-; ire come the boys at last. iJams, did you can those ,1 yourself? You've been gone !- r;-j'Jgh." ;iiaiy canned, but picked 'em,'' :;ed. "Why didn't you let E: ;rt this stuff, Miss Colli m-: m-: Til have to tie It on the run- : ;ll do no such thing! Put i : id here and I'll set my feet There! I'm comfortable as f it Troth Is, I Intended ask-r. ask-r. tiihew to get this box, but it v. k my mind when I saw he was n a hurry to get away from t Hi you boys have a soda at r . store? You must have I', .mewhere this twenty min- ' ns only polite for me to ; jiijr company a treat, Miss : :''!De," explained Mark as he )': si the engine. "What nest? 1: shead for home?" I Mice; and don't attempt to r everybody else behind, even ; tare the best driver In Pine l i I understand you told r ;a Tubbs that you could drive ie pass with one hand and iMed Into the bargain. I was :;ed, Mark Adam, to find you'd ! boasting to your other i; laughed and answered: ? ow me better, Miss Colum-' Colum-' That was only for Juanlta's ; Since her cousin from ; nifon the motorcycle race up 'fiik last fall, that girl has put ' lfl1 be putting on black most ' ! II he attempts to win an- i tear," sniffed Miss Columbine. ' twes ought to be prohibited 1 . We're headed right into Bnntains now, Nancy. This I "Mown was settled before the i. 'a and the territorial legisla-,. legisla-,. t here in 18G2 with nothing k room for their house of , s there any hotel for the men ... at?" questioned Jack, for ; 1 1 e details of United States . (f held a lure. i: '., tarern made of logs, not , '8 enough to accommodate !. had to sleep on the ' 1,1 e assembly room ; and one .flight his family and set 1 (IpPing In a tent" '; Jiej get here If they came ; put ln Jack. ,.0n ' ;.;lcriem; but they came ln or Q old-fashioned I. , 5Uge coaches drawn by i M,, Z,rm,ber trnmPed "ver , "I eg through the moun-: moun-: "Tived here with a boot .. , - a brogan on the other, ,;'"- old slouch hat he'd the brim half gone." t " Ma , supPS(d to repre-X. repre-X. V (lam asked over his , ' run)mage sale?" i-Clr "Plied Miss . ,,i y, "because he was L tlle h0l,se; nd ',Ut lKy that speech never ; ane orator was George " ne came from Massa- ' i!'Uhrm 6- Tllere was ' ' C g fb0Ut the Btrug-(( Btrug-(( old days which you Ha ?, l Ver t0 the r'8ht. wi h a better 'i. -Khinj across hls knees ' Sir," sii?back WQen I was ( :um f Cousin Columbine. : ?le all th T ot hIm. and lS nd L Was vacnnt h with h ler waa 80 im- aecoslaeredrOCk formatun uereQ preempting It, and then gave up the Idea, thinking think-ing the land worthless." "Imagine owning the Garden of the Gods!" gasped Jack. "Has it always gone by that name, I wonder?" won-der?" "It has as long as I remember; but the early settlers called the place Red Rocks. No need to encourage en-courage a stiff neck, Jack, by trying to see out of the back of your head. We'll all drive down some day and explore the Garden." If the West had seemed wonderful wonder-ful from a car window, it was thrice wonderful from Mark Adam's dilapidated flivver. The young Nelsons Nel-sons were never to forget that ride. Such spectacular beauty was new to both of them. Glimpses of rushing water far below the rocky cliffs and hillsides far above sharp curves appearing with alarming frequency; fre-quency; and over everything a sky of deep azure such as they had not imagined, was, as Nance wrote the family later, too wonderful for any words of hers. "There!" exclaimed Cousin Columbine Co-lumbine when those impressive cliffs were' left behind, "that's over safely. Time was when that pass was really dangerous. It's a boulevard boule-vard now compared with those days. Thanks for blowing the horn so often, Mark. I know you did It for my benefit, though my worst enemy never called me nervous. There's Matthew drawn up beside the road. Do you suppose he's had a breakdown? break-down? That truck of yours Is getting get-ting pretty ancient." "There's plenty o' life in that old truck yet," defended Mark. "All my bashful brother wants, most likely, like-ly, Is for us to get home first so he won't have to describe these er newcomers to Aurora Tubbs. Matt says Aurora takes away bis power of speech when she slings questions ques-tions at him. He says It's no wonder won-der Victor Tubbs went into a decline. de-cline. Hi, there, Matt ! Want us to tow you home?" The older Adam smiled a negative as they passed; and Nancy said: "Doesn't your brother ever wear a hat?" "Not so's you'd notice it. Dad says that's all Matt learned in col-lege col-lege going bare-headed." Mark turned to throw a smile at Nancy and barely escaped colliding with a rock. "Mind your driving," ordered Miss Columbine. "Yes, ma'am," replied the youth with meekness; and turned his head again, this time to wink. The winter day had seemed almost balmy to the New Englanders; but as they reached more open country and the shadows of afternoon began to deepen, Nance was uncomfortably uncomfort-ably conscious of the changed atmosphere at-mosphere and lack of lap robe. Thus It was a relief when Cousin Columbine Colum-bine announced that they were nearly near-ly home. "Stop after you cross the track, Mark, and let them get a good look at the Peak from this side our side, I call It. Xou see, I've lived in the shadow of that mountain since the day I was born, and it seems to belong to me." Mark nodded, crossed the track, turned sharply to the left and stopped the car, while Nancy uttered a cry of genuine delight. Cousin Columbine had not exaggerated. Pike's Peak was beautiful from here, its snow crest lifting above a forest for-est of dark pines. Said Jack, after an awed moment: "That's great, isn't it?" And the old lady responded respond-ed : "I'm glad to see that you appreciate appre-ciate nature, for it's all I have to offer except hospitality. This is Pine Ridge, my dears. I dare say it looks provincial to you; but It's home to me." ' Home ! Nancy's eyes strayed from the mountain, and with difficulty she suppressed another exclamation one of dismay. Pine Ridge! Why It was nothing but a straggling, dusty dus-ty street! Had they traveled two thousand miles in order to spend weeks, months, goodness knows how long, in such a spot? The grandeur of the mountain was forgotten for-gotten in that desperate moment. All the girl saw was a row of forlorn for-lorn frame buildings, their elusive fronts rising deceptively to the height of an imaginary second story, their clapboards bare of paint, their porches sagging. . . . As the car moved forward even Jack was dumb. They passed a filling station a grocery the post office and drug store a ramshackle place marked "Restaurant" at which Nancy shuddered a two-story two-story hotel, its narrow porch hugging hug-ging the dusty road as if land were too scarce in this vicinity to afford a lawn. "Rut there's Cousin Columbine's estate," thought Nancy, grasping at this straw. "It can't be near these awful places. Perhaps there's a side street or " No. Mark was steering the car between two sagging gate posts. Nance stared ahead. Was this the boasted family mansion this hideous hide-ous frame house with peeling mustard-colored paint and a pretentious preten-tious tower at one corner? A wave of rebellion swept through the girl; and something curious seemed to be happening to her ears. She raised her hands to press against them, but heard Cousin Columbine say quickly : "Ears popping? That's only altitude, al-titude, my dear. We're nearly nine thousand feet above the sea, and on almost the very spot where I was born. Father built this house after he struck silver at Leadvllle In '78. As you see, it's In need of a coat of paint ; but it needed something else a great deal more so the paint must wait a year or two. Stop at the side door, Mark, or Matthew's likely to bump into us. Aurora ! Aurora Tubbs, where are you? Come out at once and meet my relatives. Well, Nancy" (she turned, her lined face beaming with happy pride), "what do you think of it? Does the Nelson mansion man-sion come up to jour expectations?" CHAPTER IV ". . . And all that saved me," wrote Nancy in her first letter home, "was the arrival of Aurora Tubbs on the side porch." This was quite true. As the girl cast wildly about in search of an answer that would conceal her state of mind, a woman, so short, and stout, and brightly attired that she made Nance think of the colored "cubes" she used to play with in kindergarten, fairly burst upon them through a doorway which looked too narrow to admit her. She wore a dress of brightest bluebird blue-bird blue, and her squareness was accentuated by a starched white apron, tied snugly ln the spot Intended In-tended by nature for a waist-line. "So you're here?" she asked, as If her eyes deceived her. "The fact is evident, I believe," returned Miss Columbine. "These are my young cousins, Aurora, and I've no doubt they're glad to reach their destination. This is Aurora Tubbs, my dears, whom you've heard me mention. Goodness knows what I'd have done without her all these long years." "Pleased to meet you," said Au-roi-a, and shook hands with Jack, first to alight from the automobile. "And you too, Nancy. Might as well call first names right off, it seems to me, and not be formal. I see you're wearin' a fur coat, but aren't your legs most frozen In silk stockings? stock-ings? I'll take that bag, Miss Columbine. Col-umbine. Mark Adam, you set that box o' canned stuff on my kitchen table. Come right in, Jack and Nancy, and make yourselves at home. Here's Matthew now. I see you brought two trunks." Nancy found herself a liltle breathless, not entirely the effect of altitude. She had expected Aurora Au-rora Tubbs to be a sort of servant, and here she was acting the part of hostess! It was very confusing. Nance didn't know just what to do. Terhaps Mark Adam sensed her dilemma di-lemma for as he shouldered his burden bur-den the corners of his nice mouth twitched with amusement, and his blue eyes, meeting hers, were disconcerting. dis-concerting. "Come in, every one," said Cousin Columbine, stepping down from the car with youthful agility. "Turn to the left, and go into my sitting room. I close the parlor during the cold weather. This carpet came from Chicago in 1SSO the first carpet car-pet In Pine Ridge, I'll have you know. Mark Adam, you and Matthew Mat-thew carry those trunks right up, please. Which is yours, Nancy that queer stand-up one? Put It In the tower room, Mark, and the other In the northeast chamber. Aurora, bring In the chocolate cake." "Not my beautiful fresh cake, Miss Columbine!" protested the woman ln shocked rebellion. "Not my good chocolate cake I made for supper? If those Adam boys once set their teeth Into It we're lucky Pine Ridge! Those Adam boys" (she spoke as if they were not present) "have got fierce appetites when they go places, which is no wonder because their mother's not what you'd call a natural nat-ural cook and owns to it herself, so there's no occasion for hard feelings. feel-ings. If Nancy eats that big wedge, now, Miss Columbine, she won't have any appetite for supper." "Oh, leave us be!" returned the older woman with impatience. "Leave us be ! Here's your piece, Matthew, and don't drop frosting on the carpet. Stand close to the stove, all of. you, and let the crumbs fall Into the coal hod. And be sure to tell Aurora Tubbs how good it Is. That's why she's hanging 'round the door." "It's great!" grinned Jack, at which Aurora beamed. 'it's simply marvelous !" said Nancy. The smile widened; while Mark Adam, an appreciative hand upon his stomach, murmured: "It's superb, su-perb, Aurora. I warn you now, Miss Columbine, when I get married I aim to steal your cook." "Wouldn't It be better to marry the cook herself and keep her in the family?" suggested Matthew solemnly. sol-emnly. This suggestion, coming from a hitherto silent, and obviously bashful bash-ful young man, was not short of amazing. Nance glanced at Matthew Mat-thew with new Interest; but Aurora bristled. (TO BE CONTINUED.) |