, 1918-11-07

10 IL yOu ~
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.. Pell more
than anything she had done before.
She nau ALREADY proved immensely
diverung.
Then n day Mr.. Pell called at he
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 m
ployees of one of the local factories.
The place chosen for 1t 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 favorfte 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
IVA quShNiiiuS LlIdu 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 1t was sometimes.
called.
Lucy had seen the nIcl,n;ctera
| drinking at the snrinp that ofternoon
and she was ready with her z
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 heighborhood
around the spring so that thirsty folks
might always quench their thirst there.
And there should be a drain so that
the water when it 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
"ithih d Re" Gays ne n Lucy were
iheet.ns occasionally in a secluded
woodland path to discuss designs for
the fountain n to plan the %presenta-
tlon' And all the time Lucy had visions
OF the big writeup 1t was going to
make Tor the Sentinel and the surprise
that people would feel when they
learned about it. And Francis Pell-
well, he still watched the eager work
ing OF Lucy's lips and the color as it
came quickly when she became espe-
cially Interested in the plans under
way, and sometimes he laughed at her,
TOO, but h had ceased to be nettled
by that.
The eve of the day when tbe an
nouncement of the plans was tn no
made came at last. and Lucv had the
first big story ready to send to tbe Iit.
tie Sentinel press. There was even tn
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 on the old picnic grounds of
late.
The Sentinel was lust going 70 press
and Lucy was putting the last flour-
ishes on the great announcement in
the dingy little office long ofter other
good Pelltonites had retired for the
night. The owner-editor. mn errand
boy, the other reporter and n handful,
of c~ompositors n pressmen constL
tuted the entire staff. and they were
too preoccupfed with their tasks to no
tice the figure of Francis Per as IL
passed quickly across the floor 70
Lucy's desk. He sat down beside her.
laid a nervous hand on the copy she
was still working on. 'There,s n hitch
in our 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 DON as she
had finished her work.
TITS this way" he began. aMen
from the water department have been