The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1917-09-21

4
son can even want to live in per
petual ecstasy. What makes noun
tain peak is the fall away into tn
surrounding valleys.
In their valleys of commonplace
| everyday existence-and these oc
Cured even in their first days togethel
they were stiff, shy, self-conscioul
with each other. And their attempt tt
ignore this fact only made the self
| consciousness the worse. 1t troubled
and bewildered both of them.
The arrival of the twins, in the con
voy of badly flustered-and, to tel
the truth, somewhat scandalized-
Miss French, simplified the situation
somewhat-by complicating It'll They
absolutely enforced routine. Ani
they gave Rose and Rodney so many
occupations that the contemplation OF
their complicated states of mind was
much abridged.
But even her babies brought Rose a
disappointment along with them. From
the time of the receipt of Miss
French's telegram, telling them what
train she and the twins would take,
Rose had been telling off the hours
in mounting excitement. The two ut
terly adorable little creatures, as the
pictures of them in Rodney's pocket
book showed them to be, who were
miraculously, incredibly hers, were
coming to bring motherhood to her
She didn't go to Boston with Rod
ney to meet them; stayed behind
in the cottage, ostensibly to see to it,
up to the very last minute, that the
fires were right (June had come in
cold and rainy and, in general, to be
ready, on the moment, to produce any,
thing that their rather unforeseeable
needs might call for. Her real rea-
son was a shrinking from having her
first meeting with them in the confu-
sion of arrival on q station platform.
under the eyes of the world. Rodney
understood this well enough, and, ar
irving at the cottage, he clambered
out of the wagon with them and car
ried them both straight in to Rose,
leaving the nurse and the bewildering
of travel for a second
trip.
Rose, in the passionate surge of
gratified desire that came with the
sight of them, caught them from him,
them up against her breast
and frightened them half to death. So
that, without discrimination, they
howled and brought Miss French fly
ing to the rescue.
Rose didn't make a tragedy of it;
smile at herself, though she
she'd cry when she got the
chance, and subjected her ideas to an
instantaneous revision. They were
persons, those two funnily indignant
little mites, with their own ideas, their
OWN preferences, and the perfectly ade
luate conviction of being entitled to
hem. How would she herself have
liked it, to have total stranger, fif-
cen feet high or so, snatch her like
hat?
She was rather apologize all day,
ind got her reward, especially from |
he boy, who was an adventurous and |
ather truculent baby, much, she fan |
led, as his father must once have |
'een, and who took to her more quick
y than the girl did. Indeed, the sec
nd Rodney fell in love with her al
most as promptly as his father had
lone before him. But little Portia
wasn't very far behind. Two days suf-
ced for the conquest of the pair Of
hem.
The really disquieting discovery
waited the time when the wire edge
novelty about this adventure in
had worn off when she
Ould battle them, dress them, feed
lem their very strictly regimented
leals, without being spurred to the
ighest pitch of alertness by the fear
making misunderstanding some
hing like the juice Of a half-orange
ten o'clock in the morning, the
mission of which might have-who
new what disastrous consequences
That attitude can't last any woman
ng, and Rose, with her wonderfully
ever hands, her wits trained not to ,
e told the same thing twice, her
ride keeping in sharp focus the de-
that Rodney should see
lat she could be as good nurse as
ISIS French-Rose wore off that nerv- !.
is tenseness over her new Job very :
lickly. Within a week she had
utine established that was noiseless
But, do you remember how aghast
e was over the forty weeks John !
llbraith had talked about as the
obable run of "The Girl Upstairs ;" !,
r CONSERVATION over the idea of just :,
ing on doing the same thing over :,
d over again, around and around,
,e a horse at the end Of a pole?"
Well, it was with something the e
me feeling of CONSERVATION that,
wing thrown herself heart and soul 9,
% the task of planning and setting 2,
motion a routine for two year-and- =
lalf-old babies, she should find her h,
f Strengthening up and saying: II
hat next?" and realizing that, so =,
: as this job was concerned, there hi
IS no next" The. supreme merit -
her care from now on would be
ring emergencieS-the placid con- a.