Evening star., 1914-02-28

taken her husbands advice. she felt
that she ought to be ashamed Of her
wabbly Christianity and she was careful
not to let the boys hear her complain.
Mrs. Elliot got out of the habit of at
tending Wednesday evening prayer serv-
ices. Their SAVIOR was gone. So one Thurs
day afternoon when she paused in her be-
lated scrubbing OF the front porch and
saw Rita Henlling coming in the front
gate-a rickety front gate, like every
thing else on the sandy Elliot acres-she
was sure that the girl had come to learn
what she could contribute to the social
next Tuesday.
Rita came tinidly up to the front porch
and took the rocking chair that Mrs. FL
hot proffered And as she talked of the
weather, the new church. the last So
ciable. a newborn baby. the death of an
old man, Mrs. Elliot forgot her embar-
rassment and wondered. She didn't re-
member Rita ever calling on her before.
! on anybody without her mother. and she
| didn't seem to have come for anything
| special. She remained an hour. Mrs.
Elliot watched the afternoon go
| down, and wished that she could start
supper for the hunsry boys and husband
while Rita visited"
| Mrs Elliot wished she had finished that
scrubbIng before noon. for she would
| have had on white apron now, and that
dapper young Mr.. Breck was coming
straight up the front walk. 1t was his
second call. Mrs. Elliot miserably remem-
| bered that on his first she had been just
| so arrayed. And If in the furry of meet
ing SO many strangers he had forgotten,
now he would remember her sorry ap-
pearance and class her as a habitual
slattern. and
| 1t was at this point in her reflections
! that Mrs Elliot saw the pink flush that
| had crept over Rita Hernhng's delicate
frightened face. And about half second
later she saw that 4 lesser, but very sim
| liar pink flush had spread over the pleas
ant countenance of the Rev. Mr.. Breck.
Mrs. Elliot stared. She lad never known
! before how very pretty Rita Hemling
| could be- The pink glow seemed to bring
out an unknown delicacy of profile. and
her eyes sparkled.
| And Mrs. Elliot continued to stare.
She had never realized before how very
young the Rev. Mr.. Breck was. Why. he
| was only a boy-and u boy in love. She
smiled to herself Neither of the two
| would ever remember that she wore a
| soiled brown calico dress.
| ~ have been concerned over your alb
| sence from prayer meeting the boy re-
marked. with a very fair assumption of
nsinisterial concern; a. Il asked Miss Hem
| Miss Hemling grew pinker. And the
sun was getting very low. Presently Mrs.
| Elliot's husband and sons would be rush
ing in for supper. Well. there was only
| one thing to do. She asked them to stay.
Rita objected-her mother "Oh,' she
suddenly remembered, with such glad
ness that Mrs. Elliot turned her face to
| hide a smile, mother is spending the day
and evening with grandmother. 1 remem-
ber-she said that she won't be home till
| late"
The Rev. Mr.. Breck was very glad. too.
| Mrs Elliot remembered that rumor had
said that old Mrs. Hemling had decided
to marry her daughter to the slim, scared
young man who managed her bank and
| other business. Mrs. Elliot wickedly Won
dered If a plain poor. big-knuckled wom-
an to whom Mrs. Heming spoke only pa
tronizngly could stick a work-roughened
finger in pie that didn't belong to her.
Any way, the pie was in front of her.
She. of course. had to leave her guests
alone on the porch while she got supper.
She guessed from the elaborate maneu-
| vers that had been necessary for their
meeting that they had found few chances
of being alone.
She had a good supper. and she didar
!.iind Il bit that Rita had soat appe-