Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1917-11-14
Won At Last

She moved the bed covers cautious
ly, and the first move sent a wave of
pain over her. After all, she was such
a very little girl, and pain had been a
stranger to her until now. A little
whimper came up to her lips, but she
stified it and looked around the room
curiously. It was her own room, and
yet somehow it looked different. Ev-
erything was so completely in order.
A little table had been moved up to
the bed, and on it stood glass and
medicine bottle. A pot of mignonette
sat on the window sill, and there in
the low rocking chair sat mother.
Just for the first moment did Kath-
crime say mother, and then she re-
membered. It was not mother. Hadn't
she vowed never to say that word?
I This was the strange woman Rather
inc had resolved not to know. What
was she doing sitting in the low rock
ing chair? What was she doing in
this room? She had never been here
when Katherine was well.
| Katherine tried to move again, and
this time a little moan escaped her.
| Instantly the figure in the window
started up and came over to the bed.
''What is it, dear? Are you in
| pain? You must try to lie still if you
cam And soft, cool fingers gently
stroked Katherines forehead. Grad
JoI1y 9th 10
member. She had fallen downstairs.
She had been running away from
Janet, who had been chasing her along
the upper hall, and she had tripped
on the rug.
"My back" she said pitifully-'it
feels SO stiff"
The stepmOther knelt down by the
side of the bed and cuddled one Of
Katherines wasted little hands against
her warm throat.
81 know, dear-you've had q hard
time; but you're going to get we'll.
1t will take time, that's all. Don't
you think you can bear it?"
Glow long have been here" Kath-
NA1LtC St'iACNi W. CitouL IClJi y LIS.
give days"
'NVhere's father?" she Queried, stiff
fleming suddenly. She realized that
she had been talking too feely with
this outsider. Once more her resoIu-
ton swept over her; she deliberately
turned her face away.
The slender figure beside the bed
remained there for a moment then
she sighed gently but her words came
soOthingly as before.
I'll get father" she said softly.
"You have been too i'll to see any
one, dear, until today. Would you like
to see Janet for q few moments?"
Katherine nodded eagerly, and
turned her face toward the front of
the room again. Mrs. Rankin left the
room and there were tears in her eyes
as she went. She had tried so hard
to win this little daughter, and when
the accident occurred, she had been so
hopeful that after the child recovered,
her bitterness would have left her.
Once more she heard her husbands
words before she had met the two chill
dren of his first wife. "Janet will
love you from the first, but Katherine
will be hard to VIM And she had
tried so hard but had never been able
to reach Katherine.
Janet tip-toed into the sickroOm, a
look of awe on her face, and behind /
J,N,. TI, TDnr lii IptI lNJsty1
very weak, but she held quite little !
court about her bedside. It wasn't !
until two bright fever spots appeared |
on the child's white cheeks that Mrs. !
Rankin hurried the visitors away, and |
brought her little stepdaughter some
thing in q glass that tasted very bitter.
"Try to sleep, DEAR" she said soft
ly, and Katherine, in spite Of herself,
felt her eyelids dropping and before
she knew it, she was fast asleep.
When she woke again, it was late af-
ternoon and there was a whispering 60
ing on in the room. Just for a
moment Katherine's mind was blank.
then suddenly she remembered. AS
ilcI DIdlII DSCGL1c tlSStISL, SIiC hCdlu
her mothers voice talking to someone.
''I can't make her realize how much
I love her. were the words. "She
still hates me. Bert, think we ought
to have a nurse, perhaps she hates to
see me here"
Katherine turned uneasily on the
pillow, and the voices stopped instant
~. Mrs Rankin hurried over to the
bed. Katherine lay there for mo-
nent studying the flushed face above
her, with it's girlish blue eyes, and it's
haunting smile. No wonder father +
owed her, even Katherine herself
hadn't found it easy to stay unrecon-