Show PRELUDE to CHRISTMAS DERN W STORY SO Sargent iv W three 16 at with an Idea that is nut when her car eJ and badly Injures young Scott ii J cancels her plans for a m win and stays home to give the be had planned for the children of at father's She en- help of Jennie and Sara nd Is busy with Preparations w the party when Jim oj explains sue cannot C on but consents when he asks her to j-lie DC she learns Ha S Kelvin Is also In love with arranges to run a day f CONTINUE WITH THE STORY gi INSTALLMENT IV turned her roadster towards Jennie Harwell's ful looking Jennie came to meet her as she entered the small dark and when they reached the glassed in she saw that Jennie had been I'm Your ft she but Jennie shook her tares he's as well as could be ex- I aj It's his He's over exerted himself and his heart's Jy but if he has quiet and and all he'll be all all the doctor answered W them two poor kids Susie May little That mother of theirs has l out on Deserted them said W Chloe looked down at the improvised crib in which the small Tim-r my lay sound one tiny fist flung the other one curled on his tiny She looked Jennie suddenly take them both home with The two children were stowed into car anc Chloe drove home with t She reached the stately old V house in Her grandly mother's car was parked in the drive as Chloe got out of her road-ster with Timmy in her Susie May clinging to her went Ml the- She came face to I lace with dressed for the I I drive and in the Melissa stared at as if she had seen her on earth have you while Jane was still trying to find breath to ask the said Chloe very nice And a cute little said Melissa me have She scooped him out f Chloe's arms with the deft ture of a woman who adored chil-Oll iren and had had to content her- self with a healthy T young Melissa nodded to Chloe intends to keep these children I suppose I may as well stay a while and look after fia The following morning Melissa in-j sis ted on being taken to call on w Scott Chloe knocked at the door hearing a voice from the other pushed it open and stood aside for Melissa to walk into the room ahead remember your father and said Melissa as she herself in the chair beside I remember you you were about so She her gloved hands a few inches nd grinned cheerfully at M was delighted with They were so thought If that they didn't even remember that she was in the studied Scott as he lay with his turned toward his eyes his ready laughter paying to Melissa's pungent turned his head to look at broker as if his eyes had been drawn toner by her own Intense regard of For a moment they looked at each was a breathless moment that to Chloe to stretch But it could not have lasted than a for the next Melissa said something amus-HB Chloe forced eyes away from Scott's startled regard rose to her saying a trifle y must I've million things to do this morn- P evening when Chloe and returned to the big old red house on the Chloe found J fat letter waiting for Even Before she saw the the bulk the letter as well as the flashing handwriting across its face her that it was from The stationery bore the yacht's jarne and its insignia at the page bId She got up at last and went over the Switched on the shaded drew before her the thick Paper with her monogram upper left hand Dipped ner pen In ink and wrote with S i nJ Your letter has just tI a lot about L i and I've decided that our l'- was a i Jim bul 1 yu- 1 C you with me that J re both It's best J I euI it I know that I lf i th to leave I'll send I you by ard hope you won't be angry with Good-by and good She stood squared her shoulders and went In the living room Chloe found her Jane and Melissa chatting comfortably before the They looked up as she came In and her father said dressed What have you been taking a said Chloe with a new serenity that they all been writing to To tell him that our engagement was a you asked her said Chloe though her voice rang with a little note of they could not I have discovered that I want to stay here in Oakton with you and Aunt Jane and I want to be with the business and the town you helped to The people here know you and respect I want to be their and not just Little Crown It was late the following afternoon when she found time in a day that had been breathlessly to pay daily visit to He was sitting up in a wheel chair beside the window and the delight of finding him so well along toward recovery filled the first moment of She told him about the Day Nursery which had opened formally that morning with a matron in with Margaret and Ellen as excited and thrilled with their new Suddenly while she Scott's eyes fell upon her hands and he looked star- people here know you and respect he said not wearing it any Chloe met his eyes She was a little she her voice not quite not wearing it any For the space of a moment they were both The thing that saw clear and shining in Scott's eyes brought a little mist of tears to her It was Scott who spoke first and all he said was the one sent it Chloe told him I realized that I that he that we had made a Scott only said anything I said caused Chloe's head went up and her eyes flashed blue She had lowered her She had made it quite plain that she had broken her engagement to Jim Pearsall because she had discovered that she was in love with Scott Kelvin And if Scott didn't want her she drew a long hard breath and stood up drawing her coat about her face pale and don't give it another she said have discovered that Oakton is a very nice after And since the Sargent Mills will some day be my I think it is as well that I should stay here and learn more about don't I'm so glad to see you Perhaps you may even be well enough to be wheeled over to the Community House on Christmas I think you might like the said his face as as composed as sure I'd enjoy it The following day Chloe and a committee of six went to Atlanta for the final Such things as Oakton was unable to and which Chloe felt the parly needed to be Jane chaperoned the group and they stayed over-night at a hotel where Jane entertained them at dinner and later at a such Jane told them as they started for home at noon the following hope you wild young will be able to settle down to a orderly life Chloe dropped the other girls at their homes before she turned toward As she and Jane came within sight of the big old red brick house set in the midst of its spacious Chloe saw a wom an loitering about the She looked quickly to the right and to the left to Chloe's the woman darted inside the A tall shrub offered her As the car turned In at the the woman started and whirled For a moment Chloe saw her full In the white light from the A shabby looking woman scarcely more than a with wide dark eyes and a pallid And with a little sobbing the woman turned to Instantly Chloe brought the car to a halt with a sharp grinding of brakes and jumped from the Chloe easily overtook the me she haven't done anything I please Chloe ordered swift- going to hurt What do you want 1 I thought perhaps I might get A job of some I j need work so stammered the and would not quite meet Chloe's you should have gone to the administration Office at the There's an employment office said and released her arm now that the woman seemed less likely to how long since you've had anything to i I I don't Maybe she you're coming to the house to have a good hot and perhaps Dad can find something for you to said Chloe Chloe led the way down the hall to the small sitting There was a cheerful open fire and Chloe smiled at the sit down and get will be here soon with some she was when there came the sound of a childish treble voice on the Little pattering footsteps came along the the door burst open and Susie dainty and fresh in an exquisite handmade her tow-colored curls brushed and stood in the Chloe's name on her childish eager But whatever Susie May had been going to say to Chloe died unspoken as her eyes fell upon the For a moment Susie May stood a rigid little And then she screamed wildly in a tone of incredulous The woman fell to her tears streaming down her white Susie May flung her small ecstatic i body into outstretched arms that closed hard about should have known Susie May's and Timmy's said and Chloe tears sliding down her cheeks as Susie May and her mother clung who had followed Susie May but at a necessarily slower appeared in the doorway and took in the scene with startled said are Susie May's The woman lifted her face still wet with her I know I shouldn't have she said I was so hungry to see I didn't mean to be any Melissa asked did you desert I had lost my job and I had no way of taking care of I knew that if I left them at Bar-well's they would be taken to the But the home is only open to the children whose parents are both I couldn't see them starve and it seemed the only she answered with a sort of dreadful Melissa had an idea it was something like she said The three went out and left Susie May clinging to her while the woman ate the food set before her with a pitiful effort to curb her hunger and to eat daintily what her starving body When Melissa came back to the library Howell had and had heard the story from Chloe and As Melissa came hi Howell was frowning a of course I will have to find out first why she was fired before I can decide whether we can give her another but she needs work protested Chloe and we always try to give it to people who need her father pointed after she wasn't fired without some we've got to find her a so she can take care of Timmy and Susie funny to said not one of you three very smart people has decided that there is a grand job made to order for by the happens to be her job made to order for asked course matron of the Day We can give her the salary that the nurse Is getting That will give her a home for herself and the babies and a job by which she can be Jane Chloe and Howell exchanged glances and Chloe you're a Melissa I do occasionally have an she agreed UK |