The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1921-08-18

ner IaIHer, whose 1aVOrlte she kneN
she was. He held out his hand to he
without closing the book that was i
the other hand, and drew her TO tn
wide arm of his chair, where she sci
tied herself with her soft young bod
resting against him, her slim ankle
crossed, and her cheek droppe'
against his thick silver hair.
Alix was reading, and dreamil,
scratching her ankle as she read; sh,
was a tall, awkward girl, younger ia.
at twenty-one than Cherry was a
eighteen, pretty in a gipsyish way, I'm
tidy as to hair, with round black eyes
high, thin cheek-bOnes marked will
scarlet, and a wide, humorous mouth
that was somehow droll in it's express
sion ever when she was angry or seri,
ous.
Anne, smiling demurely over her
white sewing, was a small, prettily
made little woman, with silky hair
trinity braided, and a rather pale,
small face with charming and regular
features. Anne had Admirers" too,
SiiCA1g 1SoSNtSN, tOOhihS at liz W
night, but neither she nor Alix 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 we're In
his sight, but for this girl he had al
ways felt All especial protecting fond
ness. He had followed her exquisite
childhood with more than a fathers
usual devotion, perhaps because she
really had been an exceptionally en-
dearing child, perhaps because she had
been given him, a tiny crying thing in
a basket, to fill the great gap her
mothers going had left in his heart.
"Mr. Lloyd had to take the nine
O'Clock train" Cherry answered her
father dreamily, land he and Peter
walked home with me ~ She did not
add that Peter had left them at his
own turning, a quarter of a mile away.
81 thought he wasn't going to be 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. "He.
thought he had to go to town at six. /
just stopped in to give them Dads
message, and they leased me to stay.
You knew where | was, didn't you
she murmured.
Mrs. North telephoned about six,
and said you were there, but she didn't
say that Mr.. Lloyd was" Anne said,
with a faint hint of discomfort in her
tone.
Alix fixed her bright, mischievous
eyes upon the two, and suspended her
reading for a moment. Alix's attitude
the opposite sex was one of
calm contempt, outwardly. But she
had made rather an exception of Mar
tin Lloyd, and had recently had a
conversation with him on the subject
of sensible, platonic friendships be-
.ween men and women At the men,
ion of his name she looked up, re-
nembering this talk with a little
brill.
His name had thrilled Anne, too, al
hough she betrayed no sign of it as
she sat quietly matching silks. In
act, all three of the girls were quite
eady to fall in love with young Lloyd,
f two of them had not actually done
o..
Cherry had not been at home when
dartin first appeared In Mill Valley,
nd the older girls had written her,
isiting friends in Napa, that she must
ONE and meet the new man. !,
Martin was a mining engineer; he :
been employed in a Nevada mine,
ut was visiting his cousin in the val
~ now before going to a new position 2
! June. In its informal fashion, Mill
alley had entertained him; he had
-amped to the big forest five miles
with the Stricklands, and there n
ad been a picnic to the mountain-top, =
verybody making the hard climb ex- :
Peter Joyce, who was a trif1e
me, and perhaps a little lazy as well,
nd who usually rode an old horse,
18th the lunch In saddle-bags at each
Alix formulated her theories of
Iatonic friendships on these walks;
nne dreamed a foolish, happy dream.
iris did marry, men did take wives
themselves, dreamed Anne; 1t
ould be unspeakably sweet, but it
ould be no miraclel
1t was just after that mountain pic
c that Cherry had come home; on a
1nday, as it CHANGED, that was her
.hteenth birthday, and on which
artin and his aunt were coming to
nner. Alix had marked the occasion
wearing a loose velvet gown in
lich she fancied herself; Anne had
nscientiously decorated the table,
ID seer to 1t that there was ice
cam, and chicken, and all the Access
ries that make a Sunday dinner in
e country a national Institution.