Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-10-03

hospital to become a member of the
Steele household.
To Dick Vandne fell the duty OF
conducting me to my new home
Dressed in some cast-off clothes Of the
lyoung Steeles, which the doctor had
brought to me, and in which my bony
little figure had a painfully fantastic
out f-place look, l went down to the
reception-room of the hospital to wait
for Vandine. The kind nurse who had
attired me in my second hand finery
and done her utmost to make me look
less grotesque and ridiculous in it.
kissed me good-by, and put in my
hand banknote and a pocket Testa-
ment
God bless you, POLLY" she said
gently; 'be a good girl, and when you
master your alphabet, as you will
among the young Steeles read this
little book for my sake"
Il will. ma'am," 1 answered, and
flung my thin arms around her neck
and wept bitterly.
In pranced Vandine.
| "Halloo!" he cried, suppressing with
difficulty a grin at the figure cut, 'is
this-can this be Polly? What a guy
they've made of you, to be sure! All
ready? Then here we go! Wipe your
eyes, my dear. You'll get on with the
| Steeles fast enough. There's a bakers
| Of NJ 1ttrnl IAf
they are! Nothing dull in that house!
Come oni"
| It was late in the afternoon Of a
stormy day, and a dreary blur Of mist
my back on the hospital and set forth
with Dick Vandine to find the Steeles.
| The young fellow hailed a street car,
placed me within, and took a seat by
my side. If he was ashamed of my
| odd appearance he did not show it, and
there was no merriment in his face
now, only grave doubt.
You're such a frail little creature,
Polly" he said, that 1 feel dubious
regarding your physical ability to
| cope with the doctors robust brood.
However, you're in for 1t now, my
dear; it was the best I could do for
you. You see I've neither money nor
| influence, nor any other desirable pos
session. 1 live with my widowed
mother, and pursue my studies under
such difficulties as naturally arise
from short purse and a multiplicity
of wants. Heaven above! the Steeles
must be an improvement on Harmony
Alley and Granny Scrag!"
Yes, oh, yes!" said I. cheerfully.
1t was fairly dark when the car
stopped at the corner Of a street, and
Vandine tucked me under his arm and
ascended the steps of the Steele resi-
dence. We were admitted by a slip
shod, greasy maid, whom repeated
pulls at the bell finally summoned from
the shades below.
"The mistress is in the nursery" she
said to Vandine, and plunged again
down the kitchen stair, up which was
waited the odor Of a dinner, burning
to crisp.
"Come on, Polly" said-Vandine, and
he boldly led the way up a staircase
strewn with dolls and broken toys and
pieces Of rejected bread and butter,
and opened the door Of the Steele nur-
sery.
The room was comfortable enough.
but it's general confusion was some
thing appalling. The chairs were ev-
erywhere but on their legs; the cover
had been dragged from the table, and
that article Of furniture appropriated
as a seat of observation for part Of the
noisy crowd. Books, toys, discarded
shoes and pinafores, and two or three
mischievous puppies who were chew
ing up the rugs, made disorder from
one end of the place to the other.
Some half-doZen boys and girls, all
younger than myself romped up and
down the room like juvenile Conan
ches, believing at the top of their
healthy lungs, to the distraction of the
doctors wife-a faded, irritable wo-
man, who sat in the midst of the
racket, holding a baby still in long
clothes-a growing kicking baby, who
seemed nightly amused at the antics
of his elders.
Good evening, bedlamites!" cried
Vandine, from the doorway. Good
evening, Aunt Emily? How do you
manage to keep your head in this
pande o1onium? I've brought this little
girl from the hospital-your new SER
want, you know. But, pom my SOUL"
with a significant glance around the
room, Il suspect it would have been
kinder in me to have taken her straight
back to Harmony Alley"
The little Steeles, diverted from
their frolic, charged upon Dick in
body, and the puppies followed after.
While he was defending himself from
both children and quarhupeds, Mrs.
Steele turned and looked at me. Her
eyes were faded and hard; critical,
too, and disappearing.
"Of what was the doctor thinking"
she cried, sharply, when he sent this
pigmy here? Why, she is too small by
half Dick, to be of any service to me-
Lord love you, aunt" roared Dick,
over the noise of the children and the
barking of the dogs, the choicest
goods are done up in small parcels.
Try her-shes a treasure, and we may
naturally hope that she'll be larger and
stronger by-and-by."
Mrs. Steele dropped the growing
baby into my arms so suddenly that
1 staggered and nearly lost my bal
ance.
Take him." she said, land let us see
what you can do with him. Generally
speaking, he dislikes strangers BY
some happy chance the rosy little
fellow looked in my poor, pinched
face, and, as. if reassured by what he
saw there, he nestled his downy cheek
against my neck and cooed like
| wood pigeon. The hard eyes of the
tired mother softened. The children