The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1914-11-16
THEIR AUNT JENNY
sv FRANK FILsoN.

-
Ns,,her Claude nor Agnes nor Pony
~ = liked Aunt Jenny. Leila nateo
her and Peter, the baby, useG "
make faces to himself and CRY VIII s
aver she came into the room. sne
WAS q Grabbed old thing. ! supposs
:, ""1 w.s because she had never been
able to get married.
But she has her use in the worlu'
nv dear" said father to mo.lo..
"IIaayen knows she has been Alna
enough to me-"
Gust because she lets US OCCUPY
+h,s house rent.free. Arthur! e1'
claimed mother. with her m'i,iol
or 80. she ought to do . great oesA
more for you than that
However, to resume. Leila 70 eight
een. and Lester Blythe has been cfaA!
over her ever since they were At
school together. Lester 10 twenty-five
and clerks for Mr.. Grimes. Some oay
he thinks Mr.. Grimes will take him
into partnership. l asked Mr.. Grimes
about It, and he said Lester had nerve
enough to expect anything.
However, to resume again. Aunt
Jenny, who is sixty-nine, let fall q
bombshell in our humble home tns
other night. It came about in this
wise: We had just finished dinner
when she popped in. Aunt Jenny
lives down the street In the big white
house. A man left her million-I
think they were engaged once; any
way, he died and left her fortune
and she couldn't get another man
even with that, she is 80 grabbed.
But to resume. In pops Aunt Jenny
and in her abrupt way, which mother
says comes from the Truefitts. not
from her side of the family, she says:
Arthur, you have too many chill.
dren for a poor man. How many
have your"
Father counts us. "six," he an
swers.
Then I'm going to take one Of them
and bring her up to inherit my
money" she says. She looked round
the room. and. of course, her eye fell
on Leila, who was trying to make her.
self invisible against the wallpaper.
"I'll take this one" she said. Come
slong!"
Peter, the baby, burst into tears,
and Leila was so scared that she fol-
lowed Aunt Jenny without a word.
And none Of US recovered our wits
to say anything until they were half.
way down the street.
Then father and mother went after
them. and they did not get back till
late. Mother had been crying, and
father looked very serious.
1T has to be, my DEAR" said father.
After all, Jenny can do more for
Leila than we can. 1t will be a splen.
did chance for the child to be taken
to Europe and put in a finishing
school"
And how about Lester?" asked
mother. signing.
"Pooh!" answered father. And that
ended that conversation.
You bet Lester Blythe was raging
mad. He wasn't allowed to go to
Aunt Jenny's house, because she hates
young men, but he did manage to see
Leila on the rare occasions she was
let come home.
Now, to resume. Aunt Jenny and
Leila were to sail on the Saturday,
and the passages were booked, and
our house was mighty glum, can
tell you. Leila had come to spend the
afternoon, and Lester, Of course, came
hard upon her heels.
Girls" says Claude, Its their last
meeting. Let's leave the poor chumps
alone till father comes in"
We hated to do 1t, but we are all
sports, even including Peter. So we
left them. But somehow couldn't
help overhearing what they were saw.
Ing as sat reading quietly on the
hall chair, just outside the room.
oh, l daren't, Lester" heard Leils
say, half crying.
why not, dearT' he was asking
'once we are married we can snar
our fingers at the old cat. It's easy
to get the license. and 1 know a min
lister who'll do the trick. saved M
nve dollars last week on PURPOSE Say
you will, dearest?"
whether Leila would have said sh.
would or not will never be known IN,
at that moment in came father anf
mother, and Aunt Jenny, too. We al
Followed them into the parlor. Leste,
ana Leila were sitting at opposit,
ends OF the lounge, looking at opno
site ends of the room, and il locke,
sort OF suspicious, but nobody minde,
them.
l am absolutely ruined" says Aun
Jenny. Every penny l have. excen
my little hoard of Ave thousand an,
the house, wiped out in that oil van
ture." eN
Leila do you hear thate ar
ruined" says Aunt .Jenny. $50 yo
Will have to 60 back to your famil,
and there will be no Europe for Va,
ana no finishing school, either"