m SINNERS IN HEAVEN BY CLIVE ARDEN (Continued) Tht vicar coughed: Mrs. Stockley refused her favorite game hi her etu barrasshient. . . . Mrs Rochdale remarked tactfully: "Dear, dear? Isn’t It all like a novel? If you hud been there, Hugh, it would have been really romantic!” Hugh laughthl “I shouldn't be much good on a desert Island,” he observed modestly. “Must have been beastly uncomfortable." “I bet Bab often wished you were I'ere!" smiled old Mr. Rochdale, In Ida genial way. "Only,she won’t own 1‘. Now. Hugh, make her co n fess!" But Hugh’s glance had fallen upon the girl’s left hand, and he did not reply Ba bara felt like one undergoing slow torture: her n e n e s seemed Ulcer­ ated. it was the constant repetition of little drops of water which sent the condemned man mad. ‘■Bub,” asked Hugh, "whatever are you wearing in the shupe o f a ring? Where is mine?" Everybody craned forward, and she hastily withdrew her hand. It seemed as If curious hostile eyes were peering at something sacred, the only thing of value to her now In life. “I—have lost your ring. Hugh. It was left on the Island with everything else.” “And you are wearing that Instead? F m ust get another at once. What Is It? A key ring?" "Y-yes." "Once," remarked the vicar, rising from his oblivion. “I had the case of n wedding party forgetting the ring ; and I married them with a key ring!” “Really 1” asked Miss Davies. “I suppose It Is quite legal?” “Quite! Provided, of course, that everything else Is In order and a priest performs the ceremony." Barbara’s right hand closed con­ vulsively upon her left, under the table. 4, i » í 5 RURAL ENTERPRISE Get Accurate Travel Information -your local Southern Pacific agent is eager to aid you in all your travel planning. Benefit by his experience and wide knowledge con* ceming all transportation matters. Rely upon him for full in­ formation regarding Fares Schedules Routes Reservations, etc. For wherever you plan to go, S o u th ern Pacific and its connections cantakeyou. pressed her bare arm to his side. “Bab, darling !’• he whispered, "don’t Mrs. Rochdale gave an annual local you think I'm Just longing to be alone dinner party before Christmas every with you, too? I—I counted the hours year, over which she presided like a until I got back, today 1” Barbara sat down at the table, her good-natured hen—clucking, with her Buff Orpington smile, upon the chick­ heart like lead. She felt like a mur­ ens pecking nt the goad things pro­ derer who, about to drop poison Into vided for them. Everybody who was the cup of a trusting friend, talks amt Then Hugh Came Up and Chatted. anybody In the neighborhood received smiles upon him the while. The vicar’s enthusiasm over the mis­ an invitation, so that the parties bore A craving for freedom from stone sionary results of tills providential a singular similarity. walls, for vigorous action, had seized visit to "children of darkness*’ (having Fresh Interest was aroused this year, her. The cold air stinging her face owing to the expected presence of Bar­ a double meaning, thia phrase was con­ the wind buffeting her skirts, dulled sidered witty in Darbury), broke loose bara. So fur, she had been seen by momentarily the agony within. The few. For a week a severe chill had almost in the same breath wherein he lake glistened In the sunshine: here kept her in bed, invisible to the curi­ concluded grace. He was not amoug and there sprigs of ling still showed I those whose importunity had been purple amid the russet of dead heather ous eyes of those who buzzed around Y crowned with success where seeing the and bracken upon tlie common; the Lake cottage. The more persevering, “Wandering sheep" was concerned. white sandy paths were crisp with after her arrival downstairs, spread In­ "I am ao deeply interested in your frost. teresting reports of the extraordinary work among the natives," he began, At the corner where the lane Joined change wrought In her looks and be­ his clear clerical tones arresting every­ the main road, she paused. Here, she havior. body's attention. “I gathered from the nnd that other liad first met. With To the girl, weak In health and tor­ papers that yon obtained a wonderful exquisite pain, memories of those far laughter in hla voice as he made some tured In mind, everybody und every­ Influence over them?" off first encounters seethed Into her tensing remark. . . . IV thing seemed unbearable. Perceiving “Weren’t they awful creatures?” put mind. She saw again the half-mock­ The ringing of a bell brought her the suspicious curiosity around her, in Hugh, with a grimace. “I wonder To Barbara, that evening seemed ing smile upon his lips; remembered she Instinctively cloaked herself with you weren't scared stiff. Babt" never-ending, her false position Intol­ I lls teasing words and her own annoy­ sharply back to reality, the auddih reserve, throwing no Intimate side­ "I was at first,” she owned. "But I erable. She craved yet drended, the ance, atier speaking of her heart's de­ cruel contrast cutting her like a whip. lights upon the vital point causing so grew very fond of them.” morrow when she could talk with sire. . . . She understood, as she With a low moan all« sank upon a couch, throwing herself face down­ much conjecture. News from De Bor- "Capital!” beamed the vicar. 'Y)ur Hugh. turned hurriedly away, how, from the ceau was all she craved, and she felt brothers In spite of difference in color. Once by themselves, the women’s first, those keen eyes had rend Into her ward among the cushions, her ftps pressed to the unresponsive portrait. fresh anxiety concerning the lack of It. Doubtless they responded to your af­ tongues buzzed over their coffee cups heart, penetrating to wliat she was but Despair again clutched her In Ita re­ Had Mrs. Stockley's weak mind not fectionate overtures, poor souls?” concerning the latest local scandal. vaguely conscious of herself. . . been poisoned, making natural talk A vision of Alan’s affectionate over­ Mrs. Rochdale proceeded with a gar­ Her henrt's desire? Ah, how changed morseless daw s. . . . She lay inert in her blind tearless abandonment, upon the Island life Impossible to her, tures with electrified wire. Hashing rulous account of a housemaid treas­ It all was now—how changed. . , oblivious to all things. . . . things might have been vastly different eyes, and fearful rhetoric, until his ure, possessing nil the virtues. In Since trending last these familiar, The opening door and quick foot­ for all. As it was, the topic became brothers became responsive, brought whose room four empty whisky bottles heathery pntlis, a lifetime seemed to increasingly difficult of approach the shadow of a smile Into her white had been found, during her absence on have elapsed. SI10 looked back with steps crossing the room did not dis­ turb her. At the touch of an arm until it assumed the character of some­ face, which old Mr. Rochdale saw and holiday ! As she had been a frequenter wonder upon the Inexperienced girl thing mysteriously tabu. Only the answered. )f temperance meetings nnd had taken dimly yeurnlng after an Intangible about her shoulders she started vlo wreck and possible fate of Aunt Dolly ”1 Imagine Croft got ’em under more the pledge, this was In itself a terrible something beyond the dally horl lently nnd raised a drawn face. Hugh stood beside her, consternation in his were discussed. Croft's name was by bullying than affection ; didn't he?" sin, even though she had never been zon. . . . eyes. never even mentioned between them. he laughed. "That wireless stunt was seen drunk. Whether to allow her to Presently she turned her steps to 'Bab!" he exclaimed, shocked by her Urgent business on Mr. Rochdale’s a brainy notion! I suppose he had to return, or to write and denounce her the house where so many liHppy hours expression. "My dearest I wliat eve Devonshire property summoned Hugli whip up the lazy beggars pretty hard forthwith, exercised her mistress’ sim­ had been spent. The garden looked thither before Barbara came down afterward, to make 'em work?" ple mind to the exclusion of sleep. , . . (Inserted now, the tennis court frost Is the matter?" She sat stuwly upright, the portrait stairs. Still, therefore, the full ex “No." she replied, aware of many After much discussion. It was decided hound and dreary. But the house­ still clasped with both arms, regarding planutlon she Intended to give hlin to ask the vicar. k e e p e r welcomed her warmly; and the hung heavy on her mind, assuming In eye» upon her face at this open allu­ The girl shrank Into her chair, sick fpw school teachers Installed there for him dumbly. 'I managed to get away this morn creating proportions the more she pon sion. "They loved him and obeyed at heart, old talks with Alan in her Christmas holidays looked at her with lng—Martha said yon were here—" he dered over it. His horizon had been him because"—her voice faltered— mind. Whnt key. she wondered, did Ul-concealed curiosity. She hurried "because he had the personality to so contentedly bounded by conven these people use In substitution for away, up to Mrs. Field’s little den. Its stammered. “What Is It, Bab? I—I thought something was wrong—" tlonal, orthodox views, that it might be command obedience. He inspired them It occurred to her that anybody less difficult to make him understand the to work for their own good. They stupidly dense and unimaginative true case. She shrank from hurting learned cleanliness; nnd we taught would have guessed the truth long ago him. from destroying his futth, as she them to talk a little English—” "Capltul I cap ita l!" The vicar beamed Then, swiftly chasing the thought, knew she must do. again at her. through his plnce-net. came the knowledge that It was Ills Mrs. Field's letter, full of the large- genuine simple trust In her nnd all hearted. far-seeing sympathy so vital a "How did they receive the Word?” “Wonderfully quickly," ahe an­ hla follow-crest urea which blinded him part of her nature, brought a grain of Rusplcloe was as foreign to his honest comfort. Full of genuine grief and af­ swered, misunderstanding. “Some of nature as subtle change* were beyond fection for her cousin, which she took them could talk quite fluently In a very I his ken. 8he recognised, with a warm for granted was shared now by the short tlnie—” But the W ordl How did they re­ rush of sympathy, that her affeqtlon girl, there was no discreet avoidance foe thia old companion remained un of the matter. Being his nearest rein ceive the Gospel?" "Oh! We did not attempt to dis­ ch an r e d ; she alone wns to blame for tive. she was kept Informed of all pro­ mistaking It for anything more, with ceedings concerning the recovery of turb their own religion.” The viear gazed at her. aghast, as the Inevitable suffering she was ahonit his body: the lock of Information from "You to cause. She stretched out her hand: the De Borceaus. with their possible did most of those present. and be took It la both of bis. fate, was, she said, causing renewed mean—" he beg-.tn. “you can't mean "Htighl»! Everything 1»—wrong." anxiety. She urged Barbara to use the that you neglected the first oppor­ "Tell me »11 about It,” he urged, sit­ "House on the Moor" and Its library, tunity o f giving ttsam the Truth?” Y en” she said calmly, “If you look ting beside her. "We can probably whenever she wished, as usual. put things right between us.” Mrs. Stockley never encouraged—or upon ft in that l^gjit. We thought it She shook her head, with ■ catch of believed In—Invalidism other than her unwise, for many reasons. For one her breath; then drew her hand gently own. Once downstairs, her daughter thing, we had to ptny upon their super­ free again was expected to renew her old house­ stitions to insure oar own safety and "I'm—I've got to hurt you—horribly. hold duties and seek diligently to re­ obtain any Influence at all. It needed cover parochial ones. That she showed greid wariness." owner being one of those whose ar­ Oh! my dear! I can't bear doing it.” the true one given to the world and But surely,” he remonstrated pe­ tin Inclination for either Increased the rivals ever had the charm of unexpect­ Rlslag tmpuMvely, she walked to the lost again? “Charity auffereth long sense of strain between them. Her dantically, "at the risk of one's life edness, the room had a cheerful fire window and hack, her face working "Can't you—guess, shrinking from company would give on» should carry on tlA Gospel? Mis­ and Is kind." they read glibly; or "He and was fragrant with hothouse flow­ with nmotlaa that Is without sin among you. let him rise, her mother drended, to further sionaries have to risk—z’ ers. As Barbara looked round at the Hugh? Can't you realize that—that— "We were not nilsshm arics!" she cast the first stone.” What did linlfj buff walls and deep-blue velvet cur­ everything Is different, nowT' she cried, “talk." It was, therefore, strongly con­ demned. She found It Impossible, as reminded him sharply. She looked im­ the righteous souls. Judging everybody | tains the soft chairs built for comfort, looking straight into hit bewildered things were, to escape the ordeal of patiently at his aetf-comphrrent. horri­ In their own smug conception of Chris- • and shelves stacked with books, other face. Apprehension was spreading over hit Mrs. Rochdnle's dinner party without fied face and short-sighted dyea. “We tlnnlty, know of temptntlon. sin, the i memories of confidential chats and hurting the kind old couple by actual tried to encourage them in chcanllness. meaning of the word love with all Its ! cozy teas caused her again to realize feuturas His brown eves, with their Isn't manifold sub-keys: consideration, un > the gulf yawning between herself and dawning sense of trouble, resembled rudeness. Having decided that Hugh gentleness, and conslderntk®. that of a faithful dog not understand must be told the truth before anyone that all jmrt of the Gospel's reel mean­ demanding, sympathy. . . . the girl of long ago. “My dear,” broke In old Mr. Roch­ else, she was obliged, though shrinking ing? To have stuffed entirely new She turned to Ute hook shelves, then Ing the meaning of some unexpected In every fiber of her being, to dress doctrines down their throats would dale’s voice, as he seated himself be­ walked restlessly hack to the Are . , . cluistlaewent. The girl could not bear side her, "we must bring back the In one of her old evening frocks and have been ridiculous I” All at once she caught, with a little to see It. She looked Involuntarily Quick startled glances were directed roaes Into your cheeks 1” He took her cry. nt the back of a chair, as her down at what wns »till clasped to her be fetched In the Rochdale's big car. hand and patted It. "You mustn't upon her from all directions; the breast. His glance followed hers, and . . . This had been one of her few glance fell upon the writing table. treats In past years. . . . As she 'Negative»" present flushed uncom­ brood over the past. It was a terrible For the eyes she loved snd had lost the apprehension deepened listlessly finished her toile?, the fortably; Mrs Stockley tried, ineffec­ experience—terrible! But It's all over met her own. with the old straight pen ‘One«»— whatF' he muttered. now. Forget It, Barbara, like a bnd W lu t'i that, Bab? A photograph?" poignant pain of It all struck her tually, to flx her with a stony eye. e t rating look. . . . one ran forward Apparently your success v as not dream, and cheer up again.” She nodded. He suddenly stepped afresh. . . . The reflection of shad­ nnd picket! up the photograph. He The words were, to the girl, like wore the uniform of nn air force officer toward her. "Whose? What—I—oh. owy, sunken eyes nnd aureole of very great,” «H* observed tsrC'y. blades of steel thrust Into sore bleed Old Mr. Rochdale hastily smoothed dark hair mocked at her. In the large and his face was set In the lines of lord! Tall m t atrslghrl" drawing room mirrors. . . . The >9 over possible trouble by Inquiring con­ Ing wounds. “Over. . . . F orget!'' dogged atubbornmws when unpleaannt It was the cry of one upon the bor conscious Irony of the conversation, cerning the persons! character of the They seemed to reverberate In her business was afoot, which she knew dertand of tragic discovery. Feeling mind, snd her very soul turned sick natives. the kindliness of Hugh's parents and well. . . . The vivid likeness was like an old-tlm« executioner who let "They are v