VERNONIA EAGLE, VERNONIA, OREGON transparent gown of orange and black. She greeted her son with a fretful “Van, I suppose you know your father’s furious at you, and making life simply wretched for me?” 2nd gave to Gall only an ab­ WNU Servio* Copyright by Kathleen Norris stracted frown. “I think you were In school with my mother, Edltha Petrie, In San Francisco?” Gall said, trying to “Kind of mussy." But she turned pursued resolutely, “that she Is CHAPTER V—Continued seem at ease. toward the drug store none the running around with that Buddy “I was in school with nobody’a Life, at this accelerated pace, less; the opportunity to be seen Ralscb crowd—of course they may mother, and I won't be Incriminated, fairly burned her up. The new by all the town, having soda at be a perfectly decent crowd un­ and 1 am praying the Lord to grant pleasures enchanted her, but never Dobbins' with Van Murchison, must derneath—” me a long and prosperous thirty- “Why, she’s nothing but a school satisfied, leaving her always strain­ not be overlooked. one I” Mrs. Murchison said, to the All Clippersvllle came In and out child I” Van said In distaste and ing for more; which indeed was company at large rather than to the position of them all—Lenore, of Dobbins' on a hot summer eve displeasure. Gail. "Well, she’s not such a school Mary, Van, Fred, to say nothing of nlng, and she kept wheeling about “She’ll never forgive you that as their elders. They went everywhere, on her high stool to greet library child but what she lets Buddy long as you live, Galli” Van ex­ anywhere, they did anything and acquaintances and neighbors and Ralscb take her out In his road- claimed In the laughter that fol­ ster—” everything that might promise fun. friends. lowed. Gall laughed, too, but she “Oh, 1 love It! I think It's price They all saw that she was with Breakfast on the Macclelshes' felt hot and uncomfortable. less!” Van exclaimed, laughing, as yacht, for example; life on the Mac Van Murchison. In all It was an uncomfortable Ariel came in and put her slim Gall’s troubled voice fell still. clelshes' yacht had nothing to do visit; the least happy she had ever “I don’t know what to do about with sailing or the water. The yacht arms about Gail from behind and had at Far Nlente, even including might as well have been ^moored kissed the bright wave of tawny It,” Gall began again, . “I was won- the first, with Its nervousness and dering," she added timidly, “what ten feet underground In a coal hair over Gall’s ear. shyness. Three men Gall had never mine, for all its gay party ever “Take our places," Gall said, get­ you would think 1 ought to do, seen before were absorbed In the Van?” saw of the sea. Yet there was some ting down. “We’re done!” topic of the golf tournament at Del He was Interested now, but In an CHAPTER VI thing distinguished about being She walked along beside Van si­ Monte, and for a litltle while on asked to spend a week-end on a lently In the street The man kept annoyed, reluctant sort of way. He HE next day she rose unre- Saturday afternoon Gall was excit­ real yacht! up his regular stream of chatter said quickly: “I? For heaven's sake, what freshed and dissatisfied, and ed by the possibility of their all The glory spread far ahead of for a minute; somehow It jarred to­ It, and far behind it. Gall saw her night Gall broke across It sud should 1 know about It? It seems dragged heavily through her prep going down to lonterey to try a to me If she's such a fool she likes aratlons to go to Los Gatos, as If day's preliminary playing. name In the dippersville Challenge denly. But In the end it was decided more than once during this amaz­ “The reason I wanted to come to run ’round with a bounder like the prospect were anything but In that the three men and Van should vitlng. ing cummer, listed among the guests away was—my brother Phil was that, why, let her do it!" It would have filled her with leave before breakfast and go there “But you don’t understand, Van,” at affairs whose distinction a few In Dobbins’ there.” Gall said patiently. “She’s only sev­ ecstasy a year ago; she felt dull alone. “Your brother Pbll was!" months back was beyond her wild “That Is, I would," Van said, “if est dreams. “Yes. 'Way over tn the corner. enteen—she won't be eighteen until and doubtful about it now. Ariel, all helpful sympathy, came 1 didn't feel It would leave Gall next Christmas.” She had a feverish feeling some In one of the twosomes.” "That wasn’t no hindrance to the out to the gate when Van parked tn the lurch!" “Why didn’t we yell at him?” times of having lost Edith, lost Phil “We’ll take care of Gall,” Mrs. and Sam and Ariel, lost touch with Van asked simply. Chlpp said. “We’ll J-jst leave her She had to have sympathy; she her work at the library and her THE STORY FROM THE BEGINNING here to amuse herself, and the boys duties at home—one could not U vp had to test him. With a sudden will be back for dinner, and we'll two lives, after all. and Van’s very letting down of the bars she said, The luck 'that had brought the Boston Lawrences to California Just exactions were a delight, an an­ "Because his girl was with him.” at the beginning ot the gold rush seems to have deserted the present gen­ all go home Monday afternoon." Gall had to protest; her library "And don't you like her?" Van eration. From a 4,000-acre ranch, their holdings have shrunk to a small swer to her wild young ardent pray­ ers of last spring. Nothing mat­ demanded, with his delighted air farm and the old family home In Cllppersvllle. Phil, twenty-five. Is in the job would stand no more trifling. Iron works. Sam and seventeen-year-old Ariel are In school. Gall In the tered but that she should please of discovering something amusing. public library and Edith In the book department of Cllppersvllle's largest She must be back Sunday after­ “I despise her!” Gail answered store Young Van Murchison, scion of a wealthy family, returns from Yale noon, positively. him, should keep close to him. It was arranged. The bridge play­ Dick Stebbins, Phil s best friend, has the run of the Lawrence house. Ariel One night in late August she somberly. “Not really!” he exclaimed ec­ Is sneaking out of the house at night for toy rides. Gall, who would marry ers plunged back gladly into the and Van walked home from a movie Van. feels she Is making no progress In his affections. Phil suggests In­ mysteries of vulnerability and re In Clippersvllle. The night was statically. "What? Phil’s girl?” viting Lily Cass, his sweetheart, to supper. Gall and Edith feel she is not “She’s not a girl, really, and It's "respectable," and are in a quandary. Gall goes with Van to a house party doubling. The young men played insufferably hot, and the audience was glad enough to straggle out very serious,” Gall said, determined at Los Gatos with the Chlpps, his uncle and aunt. She Is received coldly. As tennis and Gail watched and the house party Is about to leave a roadhouse, at midnight. Gall sees a laughed and applauded. Into the black darkness of the Calle, to sober him. “She’s a divorced drunken man helping Ariel Into a roadster. Next day Ariel admits she was Later, going to the cabin to dress, where the air was some degrees woman, and she has three little there, and displays no remorse. Gall Is gloomy as rhe considers the family'» she heard Mrs. Chlpp good-natured­ boys about three and two and tutlook. cooler. ly reproaching somebody for some­ "Whew! That was frightful,” one—” “Oh. I love It I" Van said with late Miss Juliet Capulet 1" Van re­ there, honking wildly, at ten o’clock. thing. The voices came from behind Gall breathed. a screen of shrubs and tall flow­ .‘•This is a snorter!” Van com relish. “Phil 1 Old sober-sides! I minded her Joyously. “Here." he said, leaping out, ‘Til ers, where the hammocks were. mented. “Los Gatos tomorrow, hey? adore It I I’m crazy about It!" take that. ” He stowed Gall's suit ­ Gal) laughed faintly, and was si- “. . . . It was dreadful. ... I "Van, how can you say so!” Gall And into the pool." case In the rumble. The three stood lent The moon had not yet risen, but reproached him, hurt “She’s a ter­ come for you early tomor- smiling and gossiping In the soft mean it was unmistakable. ... I “ IT1 mean It was enough to make him there was an odd light In the world rible girl; she comes from Thomas row,” Van presently said. “How’s foggy morning. Street Hill; she was one of the nine o'clock? That gets us to the “I wish I were going with you I" furious," said Mrs. Chlpp's amused. Indifferent voice. Wlbsers.” Ariel said frankly. ranch at noon, easy.” Another woman’s voice spoke “Oh, I think It’s perfectly The girl felt cold,, unresponsive, “Well, why don’t you come?” Van quickly in answer, laughingly and grand 1” Van said, with his raw, heavy. exclaimed, suddenly fired. Joyous laugh. 'Think of the trouble They were standing close togeth­ "Oh, no, 1 couldn't. I’ve got a indifferently, too, but with more and expense saved—bls family all er at the old fence rail; be might date with the crowd tonight," Ariel vigor. Mrs. Murchison’s voice. ready-made I" Gail could not bear the first doz­ easily have put his arm about her. protested, “and 1 couldn't anyway. But suddenly perceiving that she But he never attempted that sort of I'm not dressed I And I couldn't en words. But the last trailed was not amused, and that a genu thing; Gall wondered sometimes If anyway." througii her consciousness, as she Ine mood of anger and disappoint­ It were some queer lack In her that For an instant the matter hung escaped, scarlet-cheeked, out of ment was keeping her silent he prevented him, or some missing tire, and Gall did not know whether hearing. changed his tone and said rallying, quality In him. “. . . with a Clippersvllle girl!" or not in that Instant Ariel sent lightly: The tone, the emphasis of the Going Into the house she deter her a glance of wild hope. Immedi­ "Why, what do you care who mined that she would not go down ately the younger girl settled the voice, interpreted the whole to her your brother marries! You don’t to Los Gatos at all tomorrow, and matter, and was running back Into perfectly. Van's father would bo have to marry her! It’s bls fu- felt a great relief in the thought the house shouting, “Have a good furious with him for going with neral.” a Clippersvllle girl. It served him If they wanted her they could make time!” “I suppose so,” Gall conceded aft- a special overture next week. Despite her sister’s protests, Gall perfectly right, wasting his time er a moment wearily. She wandered away to her own felt like a murderer as Van's car with a Clippersvllle girl. It did “Want to Jump Into the car room, returned in pajamas, brush shot away across the long bare not matter whose feelings were rush off somewhere and get cool?” Ing her thick mop of tawny-gold road, away from dusty, dull Cllp- hurt or were not hurt; It was only “It would take too long, and I'm hair. persville into the beauty and shade a Clippersvllle girl I too tired, and I promised Edith to “Phil was at Dobbins’ tonight,” and coolness of Far Nlente. The Her face blazed, her throat was be home early. She gets nervous.” she said suddenly, “with Lily." thought of that quick, hopeful thick and dry. Her heart seethed The car was parked a hundred Edith opened her lips to speak, glance of Ariel's—that glance that like a boiling pot, and her thoughts feet from the Lawrence gate, Gall made no sound, They stared at might not ever even have been sent went round and round dizzily. Her went to the fence that had once each other. or been thought of—haunted her. hands felt cold, and she was shak­ been their meadow fence, and Not that Ariel could have come, ing. “He wasn’t!" • Edith whispered leaned on the bars and stared Into after awhile. ", At Dobbins!” no. Obviously that would have been What did It matter what that vul­ the night that was now lighted by “In one of the twosomes—the al­ a mistake. gar. smart, rouged, thin, dark worn- "I Was In School With Nobody's the moon. But Gall kept wishing that she. coves.” *t> said or thought! It did not af­ Mother!” “Phil's marrying would simply “He's crazy,” the younger sister Gall, had urged it, had Impulsive­ fect Gall Lawrence; It did not af­ at nine o'clock; whitewashed sur­ wreck our home," she said, revert­ said darkly. They brooded upon It ly, ridiculously, p.essed It. It would fect Van Murchison. have made no difference In the out faces and the adobe walls of the ing to the topic deliberately, desper­ In silence. It did affect Van, of course. Gall felt tired and blue; discour­ come, for even little Ariel knew oldest buildings wore an odd pale ately. Wandering about the room tn a “Oh, forget It! He won’t marry aged about Phil, about Ariel, about that she mustn't expect to go places thin cotton kimono, she addressed glimmer of white. her own hopes and plana concern­ just because Gal did. She wouldn’t herself aloud. "Maybe we'll go over to the beach her," Van assured her easily. have come. She would know that *T think," she began a Uttle ing Van. Sunday," Van said, “You poor fool I You thought you ■ “1 may be engaged to be married they might snub her. thickly—“I think what worries me “I wish we were there now I" might be engaged tonight! And yet the memory of the little "Take you In a minute!" he of Is Ariel. She's proud, she's so sen­ this time tomorrow night,” she “Well—you may be. sitive—" thought, when she was in bed. read Hying pink figure and the shouted fered eagerly. The girl laughed. “I'd like to be, Just to get even “Shucks I She Isn't any prouder Ing. "There's a moment when one “Have a good time!” In Ariel's odd­ with her! I’d like to be so stun­ "A hundred miles," she said drily. "And we'd get so hot going over, or more sensitive than you are!” isn't, and then suddenly—one Is. ly deep voice would not let her be ning. so smart, so popular that she and be so tired coming back, that Van said unsympathetically. He That's all there Is to it Girls do at peace. She was gnawed by hung was wiped out of sight . . . hated to be serious, Gall knew. He get engaged; almost every girl gets er for Ariel. Incessant and deep. we wouldn’t gain much." "I hate her. . . . No, I don't sup­ __ Van's mother proved to be a thin’. pose I hate her. . . . Yes, I do.” engaged." “Ice cream at Dobbins’!" he sug- was hating it now. She thought of the Fosters and | dark, smart womau U> a beautiful «TO i-OMTIMITWO > gested. “The thing about Ariel Is," Gall Th‘ LUCKY LAWRENCES By KATHLEEN NORRIS the Delahantys. Three, busy, home­ ly unmarried sisters In each fam­ ily. Two In the post office, two teaching school, one In the library, one a stenographer. Gail's heart failed her. It was not fair that some girls should travel, go places, do fas­ cinating things, and that other girls should drudge away at the library, year after year, while hope died and youth faded and enthusiasm was spent—like the Fosters’ and the Delahantys' enthusiasms—