Show the LU I 1 I 1 C I 1 I 1 lr L AW A RE m S bieard Bi earM S by KATHLEEN NORRIS copyright by Tf kathleen athleen norris SYNOPSIS the luck that had brought the bog ton Law laurences lawrences Lawren ces to california at the beginning gi nning of the sold gold rush has deserted the present generation from a acre ranch their holdings have shrunk to a small farm and the old family home in Clippers ville the death of their poetic father forced the three eldest children to work so BO that sam and little arlel ariel might continue their education phil now twenty five had sono gone into the iron work gall to the public library and edith to the book department ot of Clippers villes largest store seventeen year yea ro old ariel Is becoming a problem and phil Is fascinated by that terrible lily cass casa whose husband has deserted her young van murchison hlson scion of a wealthy family returns from yale he and gail had been close friends before he went to college and gall has visions of the turning of the lawrence luck dick stebbins phils best friend has tho run of the house CHAPTER II 11 continued 4 ile he had brou brought bt a large box with him a florists box dick dont tell me you remembered my bir birthday gall exclaimed as he gave it to her whose birth birthday dayl mine dicks dissatisfied look traversed the circle 1 I know today was your birthday he said resentfully no I 1 just met the boy bringing this in gall was paying no attention to him her fingers had been experiencing the unfamiliar delight of tearing away green stran strings s and cardboard and massed layers of silky green paper roses wet sweet roses two dozen of them I 1 A dozea and a half edith breathed awed two dozen ede gall call had wrenched the card from its wire and torn open the wet envelope the ink on the card was blurred but the words unmistakable twenty three times twenty three more love from van she seemed amused and pleased they were all pleased but galls gails moderately gratified manner gave no hint of the bubbling geyser of ecstasy that arose within her this was almost unbelievable roses and the intimate offhand card from van murchison hlson gall was only confusedly aware of what went on about her of what the others were saying school tonight phil dick asked oh sure they went oft off together and in a happy daze gall began automatically the business of clearing up her thoughts swam in a sea of golden 11 light el hl the kitchen grew hot the gas soared and whistled gall worked on oblivious roses roses roses the world was nothing but pink roses gall had come into arkels room as was her habit the last thing at night to see gee that her little sister was comfortably fort ably in bed she kissed arlel ariel and smoothed the discarded folds of blanket at the foot of the bed when she left the room arlei ariel seemed to be almost asleep edith meanwhile had come into galls room when alls said and done she began and paused which god forbid should ever be 11 1 1 gall interposed well I 1 know but when alls said and done gall who are the eurchl sons nothing but money edith said still morley money gall was laughing at her sister but edith did not resent it of course she answered the uncompleted suggestion with a smile mile s but I 1 mean that money like birth she pursued gall went about the room quickly long adept in the business ot of making it ready for the night she said her prayers in a brisk businesslike way with her eyes on editha face and got into bed her sister came to sit at her feet it would be wonderful it if one of us married well edith offered dreamily on the strength of two dozen down roses gall countered at a time of the year when roses are two dollars a dozen I 1 they have scads edith mused murchisons sons mills I 1 suppose they have millions gall agreed soberly but lles hes not really a murchison hlson ede ue lie was adopted nobody ever calls him kinney was lie legally adopted oil oh yes he was only five when his mother got a divorce and when vans thor ither tied mr air murchison Mure hlson practically opted him howd you happen to know that ede reading a book about old clippers ville you know that crazy book that hardly mentions grandfather well it had bad all about some lawsuit and the chipps and the kidneys kinneys were in it hes awfully nice gall said impulsively pul out of a silence 46 he must be Is he handsome gall oh colle collegiate lat looking 11 E edith adith was for a full minute then she said with conviction you ought to come to and get one of those striped linens 1 I was thinking id get one of those dotted swiss dresses at the sale three alf fifty ty you ought to get both edith said firmly 1 I wish I 1 had a white hat I 1 there was another sa s1 silence lence in the big dim old fashioned bedroom whose heavy brocade wall papers had not been changed or cleaned tor for twenty years and whose windows were still curtained in fringed rep it fun the way unexpected thin things gs hap happen peril I 1 edith said 1 I was thinking we could ask him to sunday supper they were silent staring into space do you know were very romantic edith demanded then 1 I suppose we are you know we are I 1 mean phils so handsome and so smart and everyone likes sam and everyone regards arlel ariel as a sort of genius chos going to inherit papas gift and you yo you certainly can write oh edel ede I 1 I 1 had one article in the challenge and that was only because it was in favor of the bay bridge A abigail bIgall lawrence your compositions always took prizes at school and your mothers day article was published on the front page of the san francisco call well I 1 know gall pondered it a minute and then said with a suddenly flushed face alf if I 1 should marry anyone who had any money ede and have to work so hard bard and worry so in much uch I 1 believe I 1 could write stories I 1 you dont have to tell me that said loyal edith are two of your daughters going to be writers mr lucky lawrence gall whimsically asked the enormous enlarged crayon portrait of her father ban hanging ing on the wall all of us are going to get somewhere and put the lucky lawrences Lawren ces back on the map I 1 edith prophesied left alone under her greenish light gall fell into a happy musing mood that ma maidat her supply of books entirely superfluous she had been getting tired ad discouraged ot of late for months life had seemed to drag with her to lack its accustomed sweetness and Inte interest resL after all papa had it would be wonderful if one of Us married well been dead for almost seven years now and they had been hard puzzled years for the children he had left behind him years barren of results tile the old house had grown shabbier the garden more of a jungle the children themselves had grown only poorer and more bewildered there appeared appear iDd to be no escape there had bad been no miracle just at first there had bad been a decided social movement toward the orphaned lawrences laurences Lawren ces immediately after patterson lawrences laurences Lawren ces heroic death in overcrowded washington all clippers ville had made a gesture of kindliness and concern toward his children during these days gall call and phil had been the center of a happy tun fun loving group these had been days of picnics charades charales cha rades amateur theatricals sundaes sundnes at dobbins movies occasional hilarious gatherings at theaters or dances all that was over now gradually the smart crowd had drifted away taking to motor cars hotel tea rooms roadhouses gall had neither the money nor the gowns to tb hold bold her own phil always something of a puritan had bad frankly abandoned a company and a code with chien he had no sympathy and edith had withdrawn first of all for actual years now gall always winced away in her secret thought from calculating them too exactly there had been no attempt made on oil the part of Clippers villes golden youth to include the lawrences laurences Lawren ces in good timea edith edita had become just a little bit twisted in consequence just a little too prone to explain merrily that the lawrences laurences Lawren ces did not want to have anything to do with modern ways for they anten intended ed to marry men worthy of their name and phil had given up society entirely and admired or had bad admired for gall never admitted it that wretched little social outcast lily cass As for gall for many months she had known herself to be sinkin sinking into utter commo commonplaceness As time went on she was becoming more and more drab little miss bliss lawrence of the library phil more and more the quiet hardworking hard working underpaid iron worker edith more and more bookish old mal dIsh the joyous promise of the romantic lawrence youngsters had long been lost phil had told gall gail with a little patient bitterness that it was to the hunter end the baechl boys that all advancement at the iron works had been given months had gone by without seeing one single eligible man coming to the lawrence house hardest of all for gall to lose had been her falth faith in herself she had been so sure at sixteen seven long years ago that courage self bonfi dence high spirits and honest service were the weapons with which to conquer the world she had been so sure that she knew the secret 1 she had seen herself writing childrens stories oh nothing sensational nothing classical but simple charming boarding school and ranch stories that all girls would love and that would assure gall pleasant fame among her townspeople insure her an income that would mean pleasure and beauty for arkels girlhood and an opportunity port unity to develop the little sisters poetical genius but it seemed that forever forever forever the once lucky lawrences Lawren ces would be poor shabby hardworking and obscure that phil would help to build ships in which luckier men should cruise the waters of the world that edith would sell to more fortunate women the romances she would never realize in her own life and gall taste in her own mind only the rapture of typewritten pages the ecstasy of holding her own book in her own hands the shy delight of being introduced trod in distinguished gatherings as the authoress now on her twenty third birthday unexpectedly van murchison hlson hail had given her back these dreams oh how good she could be how gracious and sweet and fine she could be if van murchison hlson fell in love with lier that was all she needed just a break just on an indication that wonderful things could happen that poor girls were sometimes sought in marriage by rich young men young mrs murchison hlson after all if she was married at say this time next nest year nobody could say that she had been an old maid twenty four that was young to marry and then ede should marry it would be easy elou enough h to find beaux beaus for the other girls with the murchison hlson money and position behind herl the fun of it the beauty of it and why not other girls had had that much luck and much much more drowsing off to sleep in the sweet summer darkness gall heard a door bang downstairs just as the clock struck a drowsy eleven the law fences having little to protect rarely locked doors perhaps this was sam coming in late perhaps it was phil anyway unless it banged again aliel did not propose to get up to bother with it IL As aa it happened it was neither but gall could not know that and so BO she drifted drifke d 6 happily a P p 11 y off into ot of tire tired d the t twenty en tv d three ED laugh alli his vol cy t va 11 krat loleet arti sam 1 11 her had I be been en in 1 bei A fo for r an hour when la t 4 eleven phil hurl had the eloc call k night school with lily S walked h sitting ile on the steps IT at the end of th of the 19 touring incoherent doniat 2 n 8 an ad ties to the little allt ear foolish he heavy avy cheap powder that kroek A n d pw no pr the door had h IN been at arlel or rather it had ahmet and slammed by an be bb ea ar of wind when her ste atel i opened it upon the small summer frail bai had stood there trembling treich tre inh waiting to see if sara gan tv had been or ul roused T ready read to room and scramble into bed sound of an at foot but there had been RO no S datt upstairs and after an int silence arlel ariel ha had d opened erca a C owl 4 he was now sitting on an lii I 1 of the caw shanty 3 again noiselessly this time ft i ih slipped down through the ov it I 1 garden find and into the deep pt Z shadows at the gate in i 1 clear dark blue millions of 0 W tt been twinkling and in the 0 ill deeply rutted fram winter rail MIA had been two other stars stani ge ful lamps of a shining loar lo 10 t arlel ariel knew buddy balad ral slightly but she knew as ill 01 tk ti k knew that he was in an over boy who had been in fIrd three yem yeam 11 sity for about still a sophomore Shel she tae mewl scent or of buddys buddes breath 10 the hid of the couple overcoat eil MID ban lil seat an little bobbed M lapsed nott lii shoulder she had known knowd she had settled in beside th k of aita little with a gasp excitement had whispered buddy att down were only going and come back ways arial id that suits me me unperturbed little ia youre a good vm they her told had toole tv the ll 11 lawrence k ing of he hemn bid faster he could move captai had J and the c of on the gas it W th the projectile into IV a TO TOBB ill CO COWl |