The Catholic bulletin., 1915-10-30
THE CHILDREN's HOUR.
THE BORROWED UMBRELLA.

ooh, if only had an umbrella for
five minutes!"
The eager girlish voice penetrated
even Phoebe's abstraction. Phoebe
was one of the girls to whom good
book is a sort of magic carpet, trans
porting them to delightful scenes in
the realm of imagination, while they
remain totally oblivious to their ac-
tual surroundings. This was fortunate
in this special instance, for rain
had overtaken Aunt Louise and her
self in the middle of their walk, and
had driven them for refuge to the
porch of a hotel a good mile distant
from where they were staying.
But there was penetrating quality
in the voice of the girl who wanted
an umbrella. Phoebe, who had for
gotten the upsetting of her plans in
her enjoyment of thea book she had
fortunately tucked under her arm,
looked up with interest, and she met
the girls eyes. This was not coin
cidence, exactly, for the girls eyes
were travelling from the damp UNI
brella which leaned against Phoebe's
chair, to the umbrellas owner, and
then back again. Caught in the act,
she dimpled merrily.
I'm dying for an umbrella" she
said. "There is a picture of the Up
per Falls that I've meant to get, and
I've kept forgetting. And now I've
got time before the stage comes and
l haven't ghost of an umbrella"
you're perfectly welcome to mine" :"
Phoebe exclaimed. 1--WE won't go
back to our hotel while it's raining
this way"
She handed over the article in ques-
zion, and the girl seized it with a
hasty THANK you" Then raising it,
she scurried down the steps and along
| the sandy road in the direction of the
unpretentious little building which
called itself the Studio, where all sorts
of representations of the beautiful
valley, from souvenir postcards up to
charming little watercolors, were on
sale.
Some mischance brought PhOebe's s
eyes around to Aunt Louises face, and
she instantly discovered that she had
done the wrong thing. For somehow
Aunt Louise and Phoebe could never
agree as to what was the right thing
to do.
Phoebe Barker! Will you ever
| grow up, | wonder To think of
handling over your umbrella to per-
feet stranger"
But only for five minutes, Aunt
Louise"
Aunt Louise groaned.
"Of course she would say five min
| utes. She would ask you to give
her your umbrella with the rain pour
ing like this. l hope some day you
will learn, Phoebe, that not everybody
is honest"
"But she looked like such a sweet
girl, Aunt Louise"
Aunt Louise smiled in very sophis.
ticated fashion, indeed.
more like an adventures, to my
| way of thinking-a young person who
would be able to provide herself with
an umbrella, on rainy day, without
the least difficulty"
| Phoebe lost pleasure in her read
ing. Aunt Louise's insinuations al
ways made her uncomfortable. She
wished the girl in the gray suit would
hurry back, just to prove that she
was not what Aunt Louise thought
her. But the five minutes passed and
more. The stage rumbled up and took
aboard the passengers who were to
leave the valley that afternoon. Still
no girl in gray.
"There!" Aunt Louise said majes-
tically. Then she added, Goodness
only knows how we are going to get
home"
At some distance down the road the
stage stopped. A girl in gray got
nimbly aboard.
'There!" said Aunt Louise again.
"a perfect young swindler. 1t would
serve her right if we should telephone
to the railway station and have her
arrested just as she boards the train. .
Phoebe stared steadily at the page
which blurred before her eyes. Then
she experienced sudden revolt
81 don't believe it," she cried.
Don't believe that she has disap-
peared with your umbrella?"
NO, | don't believe she meant to
steal it. She looked so kind, she
could not have meant it. Phoebe for
| oof IOfc 0f f;moc
Really, Phoebe" Aunt Louise said
more majestically than ever, "there is
no use discussing the matter if you
are going to adopt that Tone"
And Phoebe glued her eyes on her
book is if she found its contents fas-
cinating, though all time she was
saying to herself, 81 don't believe it.
l just can't believe it. She never
meant to do it,
A boy was coming up the steps-a
dripping boy who singularly enough,
carried blue umbrella under his
i arm. He looked the occupants of the
porch over and then came to Phoebe's
chair.