Connecticut western news., 1920-09-16

creations none, perhaps, is more be loved than Is Doctor Lavendar. Wise benign, humorous; yet just at al times-a man who is never to be turned aside from a principle by idle sentimentality. Doctor King is not un. like him in this unflinching fealty tC duty and to honor.
 These two persons put their heads together to decide that since Mrs Richie leads such solitary life and is abundantly able, she is the one to take the homeless. David. The conspirators proceed with extreme caution. The child is brought to Doctor Lavendar's house, and Mrs. Richie is given the op- portunity to see him.
 He is quaint, winsome, appealing little fellow-a decided personality, and one of the most delightful and consistent child portraits in modern fiction. His greatest attraction lies in the fact that one can never be sure what he will say next. Once, when Doctor Lavendar Is telling him a story he keeps his eyes fixed so intently on the mans face that the old gentleman is much fattered.
 "Well, we'll, you are great boy for stories, aren't you?" remarks the de- lighted minister.
 "You've talked seven minutes" said David thoughtfully, "and you haven't moved your upper jaw once."
 As can be imagined the child makes instant conquest of Mrs. Richie. who insists on fitting him out with tiny gar ments, and brings him in triumph to the Stuffed Animal House." /.
 Day by day the tie that binds her to David strengthens until we see this af- fection the dominant motif of her life. It even overshadows her love for Prior, although 1t is some time before she is conscious that 1t does so.
 In the meanwhile, quite by chance, the security of her miniature world is shaken to its foundations. There lives in Old Chester a youth much Mrs. Ricnie's junior, Sam Wright, who has drifted into the habit of ceiling on her, and who falls in love with her. It Is the blind worship of one who has never known passion, and in an at tempt to break up the boys infatua- tion his doting grandfather comes to Mrs. Richie, and half in irritation ac- cuses her of not being good woman. The shot Is a random one, but the in- stant the charge is made the speaker realizes he has hit upon the truth Helena's anger at his gibes and sar- casm Is like the whirlwind
 But the Lord was not in the wind.
 It is Sam Wright's suicide that first brings home to her the gravity of defy ing social responsibility. What she has hitherto regarded as a, scorn for coI- vention she now sees to be crime against humanity. All her being is rocked with self-reproach.
 But the Lord was not In the earth quake. It Is not until Doctor King forces her to confess her guilt, and tells her she must give up David, that we reach the climax of the drama. Then all the wild mother instinct of the woman leaps into being. She Is lioness fight ing for her young. She will give up Prior; in fact she does give him up. But she will not part with David. She begs, bribes, prays; but Willy Kings conscience will not permit him to lis ten to her entreaties. She must send the child back to Doctor Lavendar, or he must acquaint the good minister | with the entire story. . In an effort to forestall this action Mrs. Richie herself goes to the rectory and before she leaves it she looks into the face of her own soul and pro nounces her doom.
 "The whirlwind of anger had died out; the shock of responsibility had subsided; the hiss of those flames of shame had ceased. She was in the centre of all the tumults, where lies the quiet mind of God" >.. | When Dr. Lavendar asks her if she thinks herself worthy to keep the child she humbly whispers: "No." And after the fire, the still Small Voice.
 At last the woman's conscience is aroused, her repentance is sincere, and we have the true Awakening of Helena Rlcn1e.
 How wisely Dr. Lavendar meets this crisis in the shattered life, allowing her to taste to the full the dregs of remorse and suffering; and yet how nercifully and gently he leads her up- ward toward hope and desire for res- titution constitute the remainder of the story.
 The kind old man suggests that she make her future home in a distant city where her past will not follow her and where she may start anew, and he asks that on the morning of her departure she come to hira for a package which he wishes her to take with her on her journey. The reader shares her shock of joyous surprise |