, 1918-10-31

the Sentinel II you were to do some
thing like that, and there would be
presentation speeches and every one
would turn out and there would be a
big time-and then maybe If you did
something like that they'd put you up
for mayor and-well, you can see
what a lot you might do to keep things
going" Lucy sighed, and somehow
her concern amused Mr.. Pen more
than anything she had done before.
She had already proved immensely
diverting.
= Then n day Mr.. PeIl called at the
Sentinel office to see Lucy, and that
was enough to keep Pellton tongues
wagging for a few days. He told her
he wanted her to tell him exactly what
sort of thing he might do for the old
town. Lucy that afternoon had been
reporting a picnic given by the en-
ployees of n of the local factories.
The place chosen for it was part of
the old Pell estate, and because of a
.bubbling spring of water that flowed
out from the Shale there 1t had proved
a favorite spot for picnics for some
years past; and Mr.. Pell had never OBJ
jected, in spite of his reputation for
miserliness. Children, too, from all
over the neighborhood came with pals
and bottles to get this water, which
seemed to be more quenching than or
binary water, and 1t was a favorite
spot for pedestrians on hot Sundays,
who came there with little folding
cups to quench their thirst at the
miser's spring, as it was sometimes
called.
Lucy had seen the picknickers
drinking at the spring that afternoon,
and she was ready with her sugges-
ton. The thing to do was to give this
tract of land as a picnic ground and
to put up a sort of fountain of rough
hewn rocks from the neighborhood
around the spring so that thirsty folks
might always quench their thirst there.
And there. should be a drain so that
the water when 1t ran Off should not
make a bed of mud around the spring.
Mr.. Pell may have had some questions
concerning this, but he agreed, and
within a few days he and Lucy were
meeting occasionally in a secluded
woodland path to discuss designs for
the fountain and to plan the p~resenta-
ton. And all the time Lucy had visions
of the big writeup it was going to
make for the Sentinel and the surprise
that people would feel when they
learned about 1t. And Francis Pell-
well, he still watched the eager work
ing of Lucy's lips and the color as 1t
came quickly when she became espe-
cially interested in the plans under
way, and sometimes he laughed at her,
too. but she had ceased to be nettled
by that.
The eve of the day when the an
nouncement of the plans was to be
made came at last, and Lucy had the
first big story ready to send t o the lit
tie Sentinel press. There was even to
be a cut showing the design for the
fountain. And 1t had all been kept a
secret between Mr.. Pell and Lucy.
though people were beginning to won
der why there had been surveyors and
workmen or the old picnic grounds Of
late.
The Sentinel was just going to press
and Lucy was putting the last flour
ishes on the great announcement in
the dingy little office long after other
good Pelltonites had retired for the
night. The owner-editor, an errand
boy, the other reporter and a handful
Of c~ompositors and pressmen consti-
tuted the entire staff, and they were
too ~preoccupied with their tasks to no.
tice the figure of Francis Pell as 1t
passed quickly across the floor to
Lucy's desk. He sat down beside her,
laid a nervous hand on the copy she
was still working on. There's a hitch
in u plans. 1 can't tell you now. But
trust me. You mustn't make. the an
nouncement now" Then he went, tell
ing Lucy he would wait for her out
side the little office and tell her more
as he escorted her home as soon as she
had finished her work.
TITS this way" he began. Men
from the water department have been
feeling around lately, and today I got
a notice from headquarters. That
spring isn't a spring at all. It's a leak
from the main. That water is just the
same water every one has piped into
their houses, and now they send me
formal word that in future I'll have to
have 1t metered and pay for it at regu-
lar rates. I don't mind paying the few
hundred dollars 1t would cost a year,
but no n would care about the foun-
tain If it was plain city water, and
they're likely to have the joke on the
old miser. So wen have to think of
something else to do" They walked
along in silence for a few minutes,
Lucy's pretty lips working overtime
trying to hold back the tears of disap-
pointment. Two or three times MI.
PeIl tried to begin his next speech be-
fore he succeeded.
IT was thinking" he said, Sin fact,
I've thought 1t for a long time-ever
since n little while after Won cnme tn