The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1921-09-21
CHAPTER !.

Cherry Strickland came in the door
Of the Strickland house, and shut it
behind her, and stood so, with her
hands behind her on the knob. and her
slender body leaning foru ard, and her
bosom rising and falling on deep,
ecstatic breaths. II was May in Cali
fornia, she was just eighteen, and for
twenty-one minutes she lad been en-
gagged TO be married.
She hardly knew why. after that
last farewell TO Martin. she had run
SO swiftly up the path. and why she
had flashed into the house. and closed
the door with such n0i:aeless haste.
There was nothing TO run for! But it
was ms IL she feared that the joy with
In her might escape into the moonlight
night that was SO perfumed with
Hlacs and the scent of wet woods. She
was afraid that 1t was III too won
derful TO be true, that she would
awaken I'm the morning 10 find IL only
a dream, that she would somehow fall
short of Martins Ideal mehow fail
him--somehow turn all tits magic of
moonshine and kisses into ashes and
heartbreak.
She was a miser with her treasure,
already; she wanted to fly with it.
and to hide 1t away, and TO test it's
reality In secret, alone She had
come running in from the wonderland
down by the gate, just for this, just
TO prove to herself that it would not
vanish in the commonplaceness of the
shabby hall, would not disappear be-
fore the everyday contact of everyday
things
Dad was in the sitting room, with
the girls. The doctors house was full
Of girls. Anne, his niece was twenty
four; Alix, Cherry's sister three years
younger-how staid and unmarried
and Indesired they seemed tonight to
painting and glowing and glerified
eighteen! Anne, with Axis erratic
help, kept house for her uncle, and
was supposed to keep sharp eye on
Cherry, too. But she admit been
sharp enough to keep Martin Lloyd
from asking her to marry him, exulted
Cherry, as she stood GREATNESS and
laughing in the dark hallway.
An older woman might have gone
upstairs, to dream alone of her new
Joy, but Cherry thought THAT it would
be "fun" to join the family, and "act
as IL nothing had happenedT She
was only a child, after all
Consciously or unconsciously. they
had NIL tried to keep her a child, these
three. who looked up to smile at her
as she came in. One of them, rosy,
gray-headed, magnificent at sixty, was
her father, whose favorite she knew
she was. He held out his hand TO her
without closing the book that was in
the other hand, and drew her TO the
wide arm of his chair, where she set
tied herself with her soft young body
resting against him, her slim ankles
crossed, and her cheek dropped
against his thick silver hair.
Altx was reading, and dreamily
scratching her ankle as she read; she
was a tall, awkward girl, younger far
at twenty-one than Cherry was at
eighteen, pretty in a gipsyish way, I'M
tidy as to hair, with round black eyes,
high thin cheek-bones marked with
scarlet, and wide, humorous mouth
that was somehow droll in its express
sion even when she was angry or seri-
Gus.
Anne, smiling demurely over her
white sewing, was a small, prettily
made little woman, with silky hair
trinity braided, and rather pale,
small face with charming and regular
features Anne had admirers" too,
Cherry reflected, looking at her to-
night, but neither she nor AIix had
ever been engaged engaged-en-
gagged
aren't you home early?'' said DR.
Strickland, rubbing his cheek against
his youngest daughters cheek in
sleepy content. He was never quite
happy unless all three girls were in
his sight, but for this girl he had al
ways felt an especial protecting fond
ness. He had followed her exquisite
childhood, with more than a fathers
usual devotion, perhaps because she
EGd11I Ahu Bccu Oil 0AICplIOudEAS Ell
dearing child, perhaps because she had
been given him, tiny crying thing in
basket, to fill the great gap her
mothers going had left in his heart
MIR. Lloyd had to take the nine
o'clock train" Cherry answered her
father dreamily. ''and he and Peter
walked home with me - She did not
add chat Peter had left them at his
own turning. a quarter of mile away.
st thought he wasn't going to he at
Mrs. North's for dinner" Anne OBJ
served quietly. in the silence. She
had been informally asked to the
Norths for dinner that evening her
self. and had declined for no other
reason than that attractive Martin
Lloyd was presumably not to be there
He wasn't" Cherry said "Hp
thought he had to go to town al six. !
just stopped in TO give them Dads
message. and they leased me to stay.