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Show PUUDENCL: SMS SO 1 1 THE STARR FAMILY IS SETTING MUCH STORE BY JERRY JUNIOR, TO EE, BUT MOTHER NATURE DOESN'T TELL ALL HER SECRETS Synopsis. The story concerns the household of Rev. Mr. Starr a Methodist minister at Mount Mark. Ia., and the affairs of his five lovable daughters Prudence, the eldest; Fairy, the next; Carol and Lark, twins; and Connie, the "hahy." Prudence marries and goes away. Her place as "mother" in the home is taken by Aunt Grace Fairy is engaged to wed. The twins and the "baby," just coming into womanhood, have the usual boy-and-girl love affairs, and the usual amazing adventures of adolescence. Carol discovers love. CHAPTER IX Continued. 10 "Yes, he wanted to. But Prudence has set her heart on coming home. She says she'll never feel that Jerry Junior got the proper start if it happens any place else. They'll have a trained nurse." "Jerry what?" gasped the twins, after a short silence due to amazement. "Jerry Junior that's what they call it." "But how on earth do they know?" 'They don't know. But they have to call it something, haven't they? And they want a Jerry Junior. So of course they'll get it. For Prudence is good enough to get whatever she wants." "Hum, that's no sign," sniffed Carol. "I don't get everything I want, do I?" The girls laughed, from habit, not from genuine interest, at Carol's subtle Insinuation. "Well, shall we have her come?" "Yes," said Carol, "but you tell Prue she needn't expect me to hold it until It gets too big to wiggle. I call them nasty, treacherous little things. Mrs. Miller made me hold hers, and it squirmed right off my knee. I wanted to spank it." "And tell Prudence to uphold the parsonage and have a white one," added Lark. "These little Indian effects ef-fects don't make a hit with me." "Are you going to tell Connie?" "I don't think so yet. Connie's only f urteen." "You tell her." Carol's voice was emphatic. "There's nothing mysterious mysteri-ous about it. Everybody does It. And Connie may have a few suggestions of ner own iu oner, xou ten i-rue 1 m thinking out a lot of good advice for her, and -" "You must write her yourselves. She wanted us to tell you long before." Fairy picked up the little embroidered dress and kissed it, but her fond eyes were anxious. So, a few weeks later, weeks crowded crowd-ed full of tumult and anxiety, yes, and laughter, too, Prudence and Jerry came to Mount Mark and settled down to quiet life in the parsonage. The girls kissed Prudence very often, leaped quickly to do her errands, and touched her with nervous fingers. But mostly they sat across the room and regarded ber curiously, shyly, quite maternally. "Carol and Lark Starr," Prudence cried crossly one day, when she intercepted inter-cepted one of these surreptitious glances, "you march right upstairs and shut yourselves up for thirty minutes. And if you ever sit around and stare at me like a stranger again, Pll spank you both. I'm no outsider. I belong here just as much as ever I did. And I'm still the head of things around here, too !" The twins obediently marched, and after that Prudence was more like Prudence,, Pru-dence,, and the twins were much more twinnish, so that life was very nearly normal in the old parsonage. Prudence said she couldn't feel quite satisfied because the twins were too old to be' punished, but she often scolded them in ((."uentle, te:"""""",''-,"f""i ..nig way, uid the - twins eiVji'i'it more than anything else that happened during those days of quiet. Then came a night when the four sisters huddled breath), ssly in the kitchen, and Aunt Grace and the trained nurse stayed behind with Prudence Pru-dence behind the closed door of the f-'ont room upstairs. And the doctor went in. too, after he had inflicted a few light-hearted remarks upon the two men in the little library. After that silence, an immense hushing silence settled down over the parsonage. Jerry and Mr. Starr, alone In the library, where a faint odor of drugs, anesthetics, something that smelled like hospitals lingered, stared away from each other with persistent determination. "Where are the girls?" Jerry asked, picking up a roll of cotton which had been left on the library table, and flinging It from him as though it scorched his fingers. I think I'll go and see," said Mr. Starr, turning heavily. Jerry hesitated a vuinvte. "I think I'll go along," he said. For an instant their eyes met, sympathetically, sym-pathetically, and did not smile though " .helr lips curved. Down In the kitchen, meanwhile. Fairy sat somberly beside the table r,-ith a pile of (Wiling which she Jabbed at viciously with the needle. I. ark was perched on the ice chest, but Cr-rol, true to her childish instincts, I huuehed on the floor with her feet curled beneath her. Connie leaned against the table within reach of Fairy's hand. "Theylre awfully slow," she complained com-plained once. Nobody answered. The deadly silence si-lence clutched them. "Oh, talk," Carol blurted out desperately. des-perately. "You make me sick ! It isn't anything to be so awfully scared about. Everybody does it." A little mumble greeted this, and then, silence again. Whenever it grew too painful, Carol said reproachfully, reproach-fully, "Everybody does it." And no one ever answered. They looked up expectantly when the men entered. It seemed cozier somehow when they were all together in the little kitchehn. "Is she all right?" "Sure, she's all right," came the bright response from their father, And then silence. "Oh, you make me sick," cried Carol. "Everybody does it." "Carol Starr, if you say 'everybody does it' again I'li send you to bed," snapped Fairy. "Don't we know everybody every-body does it? But Prudence isn't everybody." ev-erybody." "Maybe we'd better have a lunch," suggested their father hopefully, knowing know-ing the thought of food often aroused his family when all other means had failed. But his suggestion met with dark .reproach. "Father, if you're hungry, take a piece of bread out. into the woodshed," begged Connie. "If anybody eats anything any-thing before me I shall jump up and down and scream " After that the silence was unbroken save once when Carol began encour-i encour-i agingly: ; "Every" "Sure they do," Interrupted Fairy ; uncompromisingly. And then the hush. Long, long after that, when the girls' eyes were heavy, not with want of sleep, but just with unspeakable weariness weari-ness of spirit they heard a step on the stair. "Come on up, Harmer," the doctor called. And then, "Sure, she's all right. She's fine and dandy both of them are." Jerry was gone in an instant, and Mr. Starr looked after him with inscru-I inscru-I table eyes. "Fathers are only fathers," fa-thers," he said enigmatically. "Yes," agreed Carol. "Yes. In a crisis, the other man goes first." His daughters turned to him then, tenderly, sympathetically. "You had your turn, father," Connie consoled him. And felt repaid for the effort when he smiled at her. "Jerry Junior," Lark mused. "Lie's here. "Aunt Lark, may I have a cooky?' " A few minutr-n later the door was carefully shoved open by means of a cautious foot, and Jerry stood before them, holding in his arms a big bundle of delicately tinted flannel. beaming at them, hls faceiTued.uC' eyes bright, embarrassed, but thoroughly thor-oughly satisfied. Of course Prudence was the dearest girl in the world, and he adored her, and but this was different, dif-ferent, this was fatherhood ! "Ladies and gentlemen," he said again in the tender, half-laughing voice that Prudence loved, "let me introduce to you my little daughter, Fairy Harmer." Har-mer." "Not not Fairy !" cried Fairy, Senior, Sen-ior, tearfully. "Oh, Jerry, I don't believe be-lieve it. Not Fairy 1 You are joking." "Of course it is Fairy," he said. "Look out, Connie, do you want to break part of my daughter off the first thing? Oh, I see. It was just the flannel, flan-nel, was it? Well, you must be careful care-ful of the flannel, for when ladies are the size of this one, you can't tell which is flannel and which is foot. Fairy Harmer! Here, grandpa, what do you think of this? And Prudence said to send you right upstairs, and hurry. And the girls must go to bed immediately immedi-ately or they'll be sick tomorrow. Prudence Pru-dence says so." "Oh, that's enough. That's Prudence all over! You needn't tell us any more nere, Fairy narruer, let us loo:, at you. Hold her down, Jerry. Mercy ! Mercy !" "Isn't she a beauty?" boasted the young father proudly. "A beauty? A beauty! That!" Carol rubbed her slender fingers over bee (iwn velvety cheek. "They talk nbii ti matchless skin of a new-born Infant. Thanks. I'd just as lief have my own." "Oh, she Isn't acclimated yet, that's all. Do you think she looks like me?" "No, Jerry, 1 don't," said Lark candidly. can-didly. "I never considered you a dream of loveliness, by any means, but in due honesty I must admit that you don't look like that." "Why, it hasn't any hair!" Connie protested. "Well, give it time," urged the baby's father. "Be reasonable, Connie, What can you expect In fifteen minutes." "But they always have a little hair," she insisted. "No, indeed, they don't, Miss Connie," Con-nie," he said flatly. "For if they always al-ways did, ours would have. "Now don't try to let on there's anything any-thing the matter with her, for there isn't- Look at her nose, if you don't like her hair. What do you think of a nose like that now? Just look at it." "Yes, we're looking at it," was the grim reply. "And and chin look at her chin. See here, do you mean to say you are making fun of Fairy Harmer? Come on, tootsie, we'll go back upstairs. They're crazy about us up there." "Oh, see the cunning, little footies," crowed Connie. "nere, cover 'em up,' said Jerry anxiously. anx-iously. "You mustn't let their feet cf-iol- fin- T....! stick out. Prudence says so. It's considered con-sidered very er, bad form, I believe." "Fairy! Honestly, Jerry, is it Fairy? When did you decide?" "Oh, a long time ago," he said, "years ago, I guess. You see, we always al-ways wanted a girl. Prue didn't think she had enough experience with the stronger sex yet, and of course I'm strong for the ladies. But it seems that what you want is what you don't get. So we decided to call her Fairy when she came, and then we wanted a boy, and talked boy, and got the girl ! Let go, Connie, it is my daughter's bedtime. bed-time. There now, there now, baby, was she her daddy's little girl?" Flushed and laughing, Jerry broke away from the admiring, giggling, nearly tearful girls, and hurried upstairs up-stairs with Jerry Junior. But Fairy stood motionless by the door. '.'Prudence's baby," she whispered. whis-pered. "Little Fairy Harmer 1 Mmmmmmm !" CHAPTER X. The End of Fairy. Now that the twins had attained to the dignity of eighteen years, and were respectable students at the thoroughly thor-oughly respectable Presbyterian college, col-lege, they had dates very frequently. And it was along about this time that Mr. Starr developed a sudden interest in the evening callers at his home. He bobbed up unannounced in most unexpected unex-pected places and at most unexpected hours. He walked about the house with a sharp, sly look in his eyes, in a way that could only be described as Carol said, by "downright noisiness." vJ hi I y?A And the Doctor Went In, Too. The girls discussed this new phase of his character when they were alone, ''"IrTrotoniiTmnon it TO-n-rrS. lor fear of hurting his feelings. "Maybe "May-be he's got a new kind of a sermon up his brain," said Carol. "Maybe he's beginning to realize that his clothes are wearing out again," suggested Lark. ."He's too young for second childhood." Connie thought. So they watched hira curiously. Aunt Grace, too. observed this queer devotion on the part of the minister, and finally her curiosity overcame her habit of keeping silent. "William," she said gently, "what's the matter with you lately? Is there anything on your mind?" Mr. Starr started nervously. "My mind? Of course not. Why?" "You seem to be looking for something. some-thing. You watch the girls so closely, you're always hanging around, and " He smiled broadly. "TLanks for that. 'Hanging around,' in my own parsonage. That is the gratitude of a loving famiiy !" Aunt Grace smiled. "Well, I see there's nothing much the matter with you. I was seriously worried. I thought there was something wrong, and " "Sort or mentally unbalanced, is that it? Oh, no, I'm just watching my family." She looked up quickly. "Watching the family! You mean " "Carol," he said briefly. "Carol ! You're watching " "Oh, only in the most honorable way, of course. You see," he gave his explanation ex-planation with an air of relief, "Pru-1 dence always soys I must keep an eye on Carol. She's so pretty, and he boys get stuck on her, and-that ilt Prudence says. I forgot all about it for a while. But lately I have begun to notice that the boys are older, and we don't want Carol falling la loe with the wrong man. I got; untasy. I decided to watch out. I'm the head of this family, you know." "Such an idea!" scoffed Aunt Grace, who was not at all of a scofhng ua-true. ua-true. , . "Carol was born for lovers, Prudence savs so. And these men's girls have to be watched, or the wroug fellow will get ahead, and " "Carol doesn't need watching not-anv not-anv more at least." "I'm not really watching her, you know. I'm iust keeping my eyes open. "But Carol's all right. That's one time Prudence was away off." She smiled as she recognized a bit of Carol's Car-ol's slang upon his lips. Don't worry about her. You needn't keep an- eye on ber any more. She's coming, all right." "You don't think there's any danger of her falling in love with the wrong man?" "No." "There aren't many worth-having fellows In Mount Mark, you know." "Carol won't fall in love with a Mount Mark fellow." TTou seem very positive. "Yes, I'm positive." He looked thoughtful for a while. "Well, Prudence always told me to watch Carol, so I could help her if she needed it." "Girls always need their fathers," came the quick reply. "But Carol does not need you particularly. There's only one of them who will require especial es-pecial attention." "That's what Prudence says." "Yes, just one not Carol." "Not Carol!" He looked at her In astonishment. "Why, Fairy and Lark are different. They're all right. They don't need attention." "No. It's the other one." "The other one! That's all." "There's Connie." "Connie?" "Yes." "Connie?" "Yes." "You don't mean Connie." Aunt Grace smiled. "Why, Grace, you're you're off. Excuse Ex-cuse me for saying it, but you're crazy. Connie why, Connie has never been any trouble in her life. Connie I" "You've never had any friction with Connie, she's always been right so far. One of these days she's pretty likely to be wrong, and Connie doesn't yield very easily." "But Connie's so sober and straight, and" "That's the kind." "She's so conscientious:" "Yes, conscientious." "She's look here, Grace, there's nothing the matter with Connie." "Of course not, William. That isn't what I mean. But you ought to be getting very, very close to Connie right now, for one of these days she's going to need a lot of that extra companionship companion-ship Prudence told you about. Connie Con-nie wants to know everything. She wants to see everything. None of the other girls ever yearned for city life. Connie does. She says when she is through school she's going to the city." "What city?" "Any city." "What for?" "For experience." Mr. Starr looked about him helplessly. help-lessly. "There's experience right here," he protested feebly. "Lots of it. Entirely too much of it." "Well, that't Connie. She wants to know, to see, to feel. She wants to live. Get close to her, get chummy. She may not need it, and then again she may. She's very young yet." "All right, I will. It is well I have some one to steer me along the proper road." He looked regretfully out of the window. "I ought to be able to see these things for myself, but the girls seem perfectly all right to me. They always have. I suppose it's bo-cause bo-cause they're mine." Aunt Grace looked at him affection ately. "It's because they're the finest girls on earth," she declared. "That's why. But we want to be ready to help them if they need it, just because they are so fine. They will every one be -spiCSikJ, It r-give thTm tfiengh't kind of a chance." ne sat silent a moment. "I've always al-ways wanted one of them to marry a preacher," he said, laughing apologetically. apologeti-cally. "It is very narrow-minded, of course, but a man does make a hobby of his own profession. I always hoped Prudence would. I thought she was born for it. Then I looked to Fairy, and she turned me down. I guess I'll have to give up the notion now." Carol's awakening to life's seriousness reveals the career for whic.i she was destined. (TO BE CUNTLXtJiiD.) |