The Press., 1917-11-01

a fat little girl
 Dick gave them some money and watched them scamper away through the hedge.
 So these were Beth's children! He guessed that from their names, al though the name of Miller was com mon enough ill ShrOpton.
 At dinner that night Mrs. Phipps told him that the housekeeping would soon be completed and the entire house ready for occupancy.
 "AII but the lace curtains, MT. Allen. Some of them need mending, and have had great deal of trouble in finding some one who can do the work properly. But there is 8 young woman coming tomorrow to help me. She does very fine sewing for the ladies of the village"
 Every we'll" said Dick, land when everything is ready, Mrs. Phipps, you should take few days off to visit your sister. You have been working very hard" ,''f
 ''Thank you, MT. Allen," said the housekeeper as she withdrew. "You are always so thoughtful and kind"
 ''I wish had more people to be kind to-" smiled Dick wryly as he finished his dinner. "I'm a lonesome beggar, and no mistake"
 The next day he drove his little run about over to the next town to attend to some business matters, and it was late afternoon when he returned home.
 The house was very still when he en- tered it.. He decided that Mrs. Phipps was taking her daily nap, and he had forgotten all about the sewing woman who was to come until he entered the big blue room and saw her sitting there in the sunshine surrounded by pillows of filmy laces, while Mrs. Phipps sewed in another window.
 "Oh, MT. Allen!' Mrs. Phipps hustled forward. Were you looking for mel"
 'sNo. came in to get some matches" he confessed. You are getting along famously, see" He wished that rnd- dy brown head would turn toward him. He wondered what the face be- heath 1t could be like.
 '"This Is Miss Page. the young lady who is mending the curtains" fluttered Mrs. Phipps at last when she found that Dick would not go.
 Now the girl turned and. looked up at him with Beth Pages warm, brown eyes and her frank smile.
 'I was wondering if 1t was the MT. Allen used to know" she said de- murely.
 Dick was wringing her little hand in his with unconscious energy. >- Miss Page?" he repeated amazedly.
 "Why, yeS,' she replied, blushing.
 You'll think me rude, but thought you married Frank Miller," he said E2untly.
 Impossible. He married Ella Mans field"
 Dick checked a sharp exclamation and, turning. on his heel, left the room and went into the garden.
 His mind was in chaos.
 All the beliefs he had harbOred for years Lad proved to be false. But he could trace the falseness back to Ella Mansfield. who on her birthday night
  had told him that Frank and Beth were engaged and he had gone away and had not troubled to come back ex- cept for brief visits to Uncle Jeffrey, who never knew any of She village gOs- sip. And the children who mad played in his orchard were Ella'a children and not Beth's. Beth was stig N1n1arried nd fv4n hoH been in his house mending his NUBtalus fin the house where she should reign as mistress
 Suddenly his pulses leaped. eSJy not now? It was not too late. Iv Is never too late when the girl one loves is unmarried. He couldn't ask her here in his own house. He must go to her home.
 So he went away to the city for week just because 1t was tantalizing with Beth so near him, and he bought a wonderful diamond ring.
 When he came home again the cur tains were all hanging at the windows, and the house looked like home. So he astonished Mrs. Phipps by kissing ucI dlOp AcL gray ASdO dAAO SOL AuIO AAB little mOtorcar and sped away toward Honeysuckle road, where Beth lived with her uncle and aunt.
 Beth, the moon is shining over the river and the whippOOrWills are sing ing. Will you come with me?'' was what he said when he met her at the door.
 Dear me, how abrupt you are, sir!" she laughed. "Yes, if you please, kind sir," she added.
 And she said exactly the same words when an hour later he asked her a cer- tain question and slipped the ring on her slim third finger.