The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1906-11-16
BY RIGHT
OF LOVE

grass along the drive You'll hay
a runaway If you're not careful"
The doctor laughed as she had In
tended and springing down the step.
In exaggerated alarm. threw a vocif
} erous ''Whoa." before his quick strld,
: along the drive.
Molly Beauty, nankeen steed with
blurred white star on her forehead
made as though shaking Off the sound
like fly, and placidly resumed her
munching Of the dried tufts of grass
fringing the pike.
The doctor felt the wet sponge on
the mares head and readjusted the
fiy-net tickling her left ear, Molly B,
making a playful grab at a button ON
his coat.
Settled In the creaklng buggy Nor
ton gave a gentle chirrup, and the
mare, pricking up her ears and her
pride, began a jog trot, puffs OF dust
curling up about her hoofs like smoke
from the hot pike that stretched be-
fore them, white seam between the
dingy yellow of the treeless, sun-scor-
ched fields in a country spread out
wide and fiat without the ripple of a
hill.
The doctor held the lines listlessly.
The Smith baby was teething-he
might have to lance her gums. Tom
my Peterson, who had personally in
vestigated the mystery of the forbid
den fruit in the form OF green apples,
was on the road to recovery and new
mischief. Even the judge no longer
needed the ministrations Of a doctor
as much as those Of a nurse. There
were no critical cases to scatter his !
thoughts that swarmed about the an
xiety Of his own home.
His little mother, was breaking
down. 1t was all his fault, accused
mis- morbid thoughts In their last
talk together he had promised his
father to take care of her. And it had
come to only this! Like all sensitive
natures he measured his actions by
heir result, not their motive-blamed
himself for the renunciation Of per-
'onal opportunity and ambition for the
sake Of the same little mother with
Ter pleading cry that her boy would
lot leave her in her lonliness. Had he
'nly dared selffishness then,-insisted
hat she should tear loose the cljnging
owe for the old home for his new one
n the strange, dreaded city, by now
le could have kept her in ease and
luxury.
Gusts Of air hot as the breath of
Iesert swirled the dust about the
reaking buggy. Across a field of
tubble crow cawed, and In a ragged
'atch Of shade, in nearby pasture
cow moved thirstily.
Norton's forehead puckered in. a cal
ulating twist. Although the drought
ad made money tight" among mis-
lrming clientele he could manage to
orrow hundred or two to send her
} the Shore" for the complete rest
nd change that would alone be nerI
llvation,-but there was his mother's
ldomitable will to be reckoned with.
.er alert knowledge of his affairs pre-
ented kindly deception and he knew ,
lat no power on earth could persuade {
er to spend a borrowed penny on her
If.
The pucker deepened,- he was ,,
'archlng for hidden possibilities a.
ong his uncollectable, uncollected
lis. Then, even in that worried mo-
ent the doctor smiled. He had re-
Joe Riley's three hundred i
)llars. =
AS the months had piled themselves
''t1O JColo dlltl JOe ODEFdLlDH,I v
is promised bonanza had been the 9
It dream castle built by the doctor /
Id his mother in their twilight talks; n
e family joke Of the saner break n
st hour And yet only last week i
1en the doctor had broached the sub v
1t to Joe anew there had seemed a :,
finite purpose in the latter's eve as n
begged Norton to wait u~til the Fl
st Of the coming month. The first et
September-why that was today! n
course nothing would come of It ~
t his despair clutched at even X
'aw Of hope, and fiicking Molly B.
tn his whip he hastened toward the co r11
l-gate, passing under it's lifted white sf s9
n into Centerville, one Of the little PS