The Washington Post from Washington, District of Columbia • Page 3

If JK 3S5 i rBiMimfMWlt Pagrju0il i min uflHHK LIiURA looked up from her embroid I ery waited an in stant shyly then looked down again mildly intent on an Impost ible rose The smile of greeting that was particularly hers had not been forthcoming but she did ot allow the omission to interfere with the precision of her stitches Dr John Brand slid into a chair near the door oblivious to her expectancy and his own neglect He was listening intently to hear how the judge would explain matters to the curious roomful a necessity that the judge had foreseen and prepared for during their silent drive home My friends the tone was judicial calm protective I am happy to inform you that the report was as er usual in such cases exaggerated We found that the house had been entered true but the gang of outlaws and foreigners numbered but two a er woman and an old man And as I found their case to present some ei unusual features I consented to their remaining for a time a short time That is all He glanced obliquely at Dr John as he sat down but the doctor was folding and refolding a wisp of paper outwardly inattentive It was Mrs Chester Severy who broke into high pitched remonstrance that gained courage from the blank disapproval of her neighbors Well all is I hope you wont regret it Judge Pottle You know your own business I suppose an its your house they broke into but like breeds like an their friends relations will pile in here till th village is overrun with em or Ill miss my guess If some of us have our throats cut some fine riWhtf I want itretnembered thst I expected it in th beginning lettin a crowd of outlandish men break into a house an stay in Didnt you hear that there are only two interrupted Doctor John with sudden irritation Theres just a girl and her father and the father will die Die Judge Pottle sat erect blanching under the accusing eyes and his own quick fear Die of what Tpu handle him John you didnt tell me Some foreign fever shrilled Mrs Severy triumphantly An when th village is swept from end to end Natural causes said Doctor John sharply Theres no danger You seem to forget though he stopped frowned and sat back his sentence unfinished The judge breathed deeply in relief Much ado about nothing eh he remarked with heavy pleasantry Mrs my er dearr can you not offer our guests some slight refreshment A er sandwich or so leave it to you Mrs Wendell Pottle fluttered hospitably at the unwonted suggestion Why sech as there is Ill be pleased to offer you she beamed We baked bread today an some cold meat preserves an cake Ill get right about it You come too Lura Allura came from her corner obediently pausing as she reached Dr Johns chair with a quick glance at the suddenly cheerful company I could get mother to give me things tea and food and put up some for you to take to that girl she said hurriedly Youre going there arent you Why yes Dr John started and smiled up at her Thats mighty thoughtful of you Lura Say couldnt you slip it out to me right away I dont want to stay here and eat with all these people I mean Ill come back again though if youll let me after theyre gone Yes you may She colored faintly as she turned And it is so so good of you he said again as he took the basket from her in the hall That poor girl will be mighty grateful Ill tell her who sent it He stood a moment awkwardly The fact is he blurted I am ashamed of myself Lura Think of our traveling out there with the constable and an armed posse to arrest a girl and a sick man She couldnt let him die on the ground everybody hounded them on so when she saw this ramshackle deserted little hut I suppose she knew of no law that would prevent her breaking into it for shelter As far as that went she didnt care He whistled softly at the remembrance She faced the whole blamed lot of us ordered us out by Jove and the posse went She pleaded with your father a bit He was a trifle well rough with her you know but when he didnt budge she smiled at him I cant tell you how but it meant a knife in the ribs for the man that touched her And your father backed away from her at that and took the dollarshe gave him for rent without a murmur But shes only a girl after all Lura When I told her I was a doctor she looked at me I never saw a look beg for so much before So Im going back to show her were not all heathen Your thought of her in this well it ehows methat you and I will be very happy Lura He stooped and brushed her soft cheek with his lips She drew back blushing Its nothing she protested Tin glad to dait Look out for the basket theres a dish When the door closed behind him she ran to the dark parlor arid watched him out of sight Later she watched there again for his coming but he did not return The sick man lay on the floor wrap ped in a blanket and the girl knelt beside him silent and watchful There was nothing to do but watch and wait Dr John saw it at a glance but it was impossible to leave her alone with what was to be He put Alluras basket on thefloor and crouched beside it without speaking At midnight the room grew very cold for the spring was young and he tiptoed out wincing as his cramped limbs rebelled to search for something to burn He felt a queer satisfaction in trampling and breaking the judges weather beaten To Let sign and with this some scatterined twigs and a strip of the hanging wall paper he made a fire in the rusty broken cook stove The girl paid him no attention but when a cover dropped clattering from the improvised lifter the sick man started up gaivanically Instantly the girl had him In her strong arms sobth ingjiim in their own tongue Dr John came close on the other side bending3 oyer him reassuringly for the light that flickered transiently in the dulled eyes was of fear All right its all right the young doctor cried to him patting the groping hands its all rights Slowly as though at some inkling of his meaning the tangle of gray beard moved as the stiff lips formed a ghastly conciliatory smile HqW de do the man achieved in a croaking whisper striving desperately to placate this newcomer How de do he formed again his nerveless hand failing as he strove to touch the girl The movement was a prayer How The girl held him silently a long minute then laid him gently down When it was over she looked at him a moment tearlessly drew the blanket over the still face and stood up Dr John rose watching her She turned to the shapeless bundle of striped ticking that had lain half openedopened all this time on the floor tied the gaping corners dexterously swung it to her hip and stood an instant then she lowered It slowly and looked full at him for the first time her dark handsome face stolid and set 1 mus go now she queried Or maybe I could stay till th night if you ask Till iny father is put away I will pay Dr John swjore hysterically under his breath You you stay here he exploded Td like to see any one turti you out TH take care of you Look here Here are nice things a lady sent you things to eat Youre all but done for You stay here and eat a little if you can and Ill get someone some woman and Til attend to everything But you shall stay Then it occurred to him that his rapid words were confusing her for her face grew dazed So he went to her moved the bundle to a far corner came back and took her limps hands speaking slowly and quietly -Its all right he explained Stay stay Do you understand I Bay She had understood all it appeared for suddenly her stupor of incredulity gave way before a rush of passionate tears With a cry of thankfulness she tore her hands free dropped before him and kissed his hands his knees his boots arid the dusty floor beside his feet i He stammered and crimsoned over it when he told Sylvi Kennedy at daylight Properly he should have gone to the ministers wife to some reliable church worker even to Allura and her mother but Instead he went to faded frivolous Sylvi Kennedy in her rooms behind her millinery shop and she gave him the tearful voluble sympathy he craved Poor young critter Sylvi poured him a cup of coffee with one hand and with the other freed her scant locks from rubber wavers in generoushaste You drink that Johnny yes you can too No woman with her a straner in a strange land Aint it like what you read about And to strike this of all places Not to speak ill of it but I wouldnt see a yaller dog dependent on th charity of some folks not a hundred miles from here an to think of her Yes Ill hurry Johnny I cant remember to call you doctor after seein you under foot ever since you was a tow headed young one Yes Ill go right over an be there when th undertaker gets there Aint I a fool to cry But Id like to know who could helpit She sat on the girls square of ticking in the little front room with the girJL kneeling before her when DfJohn came In with the undertaker The contents of the bundle were scattered about two mugs of brass some cheap cutlery neatly folded clothireg and three battered books and on Sylvis knees and in her hands were strips of needlework which she held up delightedly for Dr JohhsJnspection Though bein a man you cant appreciate it she conceded nevertheless you can take my word for it that theres folks that would give its weight gold for this gejpuine article an I tell Sophia here sne calls it So fee ar did she tell you An her father was sort of out in his head like most of them Russians an was possessed that some one was after him an consequently kep her on th clean jump Well I was sayln I tell her to stay right where she is till she can sort of look about her an Ill buy up all she can turn out of this stuff to sell to th summer folks Maybe I seem heartless to talk business at sech a time but we thats left has got to eat an drink an clothe ourselves I mean well enough An now Sophia you get your things an come along home with me But Sophia was not to be moved She kissed Sylvis hand in a passion of gratitude that swelled that persons romantic heart well nigh to bursting but why since the good God had sent her such powerful protectors must she go from this spot where her father rested It ended in Sylvis departure fired with enthusiasm in a new direction and night found the room made habitable with relics from the Kennedy garret shaky fables splint bottomed chairs worn rugs woven and braided by Kennedys and Barstows who perr change turned in their graves at the desecration a cordedY bedstead with yellowedlavender lald sheets while in the bare front room the father lay so peaceful that it seemed he knew the kindness of these strangers to his child Sylvi Kennedy stayed the night and each night thereafter till the girl grew accustomed in a little to her surroundings --But as Easter millnery never yet give way to mortal need I shant be able to see you after this only offn on she announced 4nally You rilbst likelyll be lonesome but you neednt be scairt Old Wen Pottle If it dont do me good to call him that out loud old Wen Pottle wont molest you so longs he gets his 400 rent for this hole Youll have your work to keep you busy an me an Dr Johnll look after you you know I guess you know you can rely on me an him dont you 5 Yes said Sophia softly I he he iss and suddenly blushed hot red and hid her face lhefiipxce cut agonized through the stillness Tomorrow I Sylvis Kennedy permitted herself gasp wordlessly when she got outside But 1 aint goin to remember Ifi she vowed I shall forget I ever thought it The Lord keep other folkfffrom flndin it out Other folks found out nothingJThey saw the girl at intervals forking In her strip ot garden gathering Sticks in the woods and herbs in the field with old world thrift They bought such wisps and ends of her needlework as were left over by the summer visitors and tried in vain to take off the patterns greatly to the secret joy of Sylvi Kennedy They knew that the outlandish woman as they termed her was an idolater since she turned the minister and the Roman Catholic priest from her door and it was generally understood that she carried a knife in her bosom arid used her herbs in the making of deadly brews At an earlier time she would have been disposed of with cheerful promptitude in the manner prescribed for the abolition of witches and their craft Being the present she was shunned delicioitsly feared and wholesomely respected The grocer and butcher received her weekly orders through Sylvi Kennedy left them at her gate and found payment in the basket on their return trip Dr John Brand stopped outside now and then and spoke with her briefly as she stood in the doorway but it remained for the bad boys of the school to venture near enough in the marauding spirit of vacation time to peer in the shining windows They saw nothing save the stiffly starched white sash curtains but these familiar barriers served to whet their keenness So it happened that one day they wer surprised at their prying by the woman herself who came quietly around the corner of the house a basket of field greens on her arm Five of them got away somehow but Boxer Wood who had advanced to the superior wickedness of trying the door slipped on a stone slipped again as he leaped for the fence and crashed over into the ditch with a scream of pain and fright that paralyzed the runners They saw the woman go to him hold down the fighting hands lift and carry him easily Into the fateful house With one accord they turned again and raced Into the town It took time to find Mrs Wood where she was paying a peaceful call and time to get the constable from his hay field In consequence the rescuing party had not left the Woods front yard when the woman appeared carrying the vanquished Boxer without appar ent effort Boxers right leg protruded the ankle stiffened and bandaged but his head rested contentedly against the womans neck his hair was smooth and sleek his scratched face clean and jsheepish and his mouth circled with cake crumbs The rescuers divided wide eyedi and ilumb to let her through and she passed them her head high entered the house put Boxer on a lounge came outgain andT had jfJone some distance down the street when Mrs Wood recovered her wits and rushed jn pursuit The watchers saw the woman stop answer Mrs Wood hesitatingly then accept the proffered hand And as soon as hes able to walk Ill have his father give him th worst licking he ever got in his life they heard Mrs Wood declare with excited emplxasis This is th second thing weve got to be ashamed of not to mention leavinV you all alone there to -live or die without a Christian word or look I tell you I ask your pardon an if you ever want a friend you send to me The story traveled fast It spread with wonderful additions when the old doctor examined Boxers hurt replaced the bandages and advised the Woods to call in whoever had done it and not to bother hirii neit time It jwas the beginning of a revolution By the opening of the second spring the old doctor had come to demand her at the bedside of his patients Primarily he cared for her because she was an Ideal nurse strong tirelesar and wonderfully skilled and further ft afforded him freedom lrqm the Irritation of the city trained nurses creatures he detested heartily one and all He liked to pause on his leisurely rounds when came to the room where Sophia presided arid watch the quiet handsome face intent on the making of intricate stitches The monotonously moving slender hand aird the glint of silky colors soothed him as it soothed her fractious patients arid when the querulous fretting of one and another that he had knovi all his long life ended in all knowing silence he felt that he could sit by them brooding as an old man broods with hlslapse from the professional safe in the silent understanding of this alien The demurs of the older generation he overruled at first in his autocratic way They did not object a second time The younger generation di riot object at all It was a stimulating novelty to have such a person for nurse Moreover her ability was beyond question and a powerful thougfc unspoken argument her charges were wonderfully small Dr Johif vBrand found her be-fore him in homes where he knew from inevitable experience there couidle no question of payment however small Yet it was in these places that Sophia expended her utmost skill and Dr John forbore from her interfering when he saw the transformation snli service wrought in her Brought yeix near thesev needy ones joy pain iand superior through giving the suUeri enduranceendurance arid suspicious aloofness tbt had Characterized the girl by whom ko hadwatched in that first night offcerJ coming was utterly dispelled In tbctjt CpKTINUBb ONPAGB SEVEN IM MimmjrM ryi.