The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-12-29
By Donahey

then unmarried, and unacquainted, as 1t happened, with the lovely Miss Sally Ford. had been engaged to beautiful young widow, C. Mrs. Stud afford, who had been left with large fortune and a tiny boy some two years before. This was in Hon. olulu, where people did a great deal of riding in those days, and it pre- sently befell that the doctor, two weeks before the day that had been set for the wedding, found himself kneeling beside his lovely fiancee on a rocky headland, as she lay broken and gasping where her horse had flung her, and straining to catch the last few agonized words she would
 "You'1i-keep Jim-with you, Rob- ert?
 How Doctor To1and brought the small boy to San Francisco. how he Sally, and how she came at last to console him for his loss. was another story, enc that Mrs. Poland never tired of telling. Litsle Jim had his place in their hearts from their we'd ding day. Barbara was eleven years old when, with passionate grief, she learned that he was not her half l brother, and many casual friends did
 not know it to this day. Jim, to the | doctors delight, chosedo follow the | profession of his foster father, and | had stumbled, with not too much ap- | plication, through medical college. Now he was to go to New York for hospital work, and then to Berlin for
 a years real gpipd, and until the
 was back in his old enormous third | foor bedroom upstairs, enjoying a
 brief season of idleness and betting,
 the handsome. unaffected, sunshiny dreams.
 And he can hardly keep his eyes
 off Babbfe," the mother confided 70
 her sister-in-1aw.
 nd Shr 1rd glance.
 For heavens sake don't get that
 notion in your head. Sally! Babbie may be ready to make a little fool of
 herself, but if ever saw man who
 isn't in love, it's Jim!'' said Miss Tol- and. who was a lhin, gray-haired,
 well-dressed woman of forty, with a
 curious magnetism quite her own.
 Miss Poland had lived in France for the ten years before thirty, and had
 a Frenchwoman's reposefu1 yet alert
 manner, and a Frenchwoman's art in
 dressing. After many idle. years, she
 had suddenly become deeply inter
 ested in settlement work had built
 a little settlement house, "The Alex
 ander Poland Nefghborhood House. D
 in one Of the factory districts south } of San Francisco, and was in a con- tinual state of agi iatfon and upset because worthy settlement workers known quantity in California. Jus
 at present she was availing herself o1 her brothers hospitality because she ) had no assistant at all at the Alex ander,'' and was afraid to stay in it: very unsavory environment alone She loved Barbara dearly. but she 3 was usually perverse with her sister = in-law.
 You may say what you like about t notions in my head" Mrs. Poland an , swered with a wise little nod. "Bu f the dear girl is radiant every time . she looks at him. and both Dad ant g I think We notice new protective 2 quality in Jim"
 s Did Robert say so?" Miss Tolant o answered With a merry daugh and @ little squeeze of her sister-in-law g arm.
 i "Oh. you old Sanna!" she chided t You won't believe that there's '' blessed time when Nature just take e the young thing by the hand an' d pushes them right into happiness ', whether or noi'
 ,. This lit.le talk had taken plac i, just before breakfast. and now Mrs II Tolnd was reassuring herself of he V Barbara and at Jim. Barbar q seemed serious almost to ungracious ness-that might be a sign. Jim wa . teasing Sally, who laughed deeply an VI orange juice on her fresh gown. Per y haps he was trying 10 pique Barbar V by assuming an indifferent manner T. "Jim!" It was Barbara speakin. ,,. Jim did not hear. "Jim.'' said Bal 'r bara again. patient and cold. "I beg your pardon!" Jim sai s: with swift contri ton. His s'lanc st flashed to Barbara for a secon' m flashed back to Sally. 'Now. yo e throw that-you throw that" said | ]. to the later young woman, in ferel er ence to glass of water with whic T. she was carelessly toying, "and you In be sorrier than you ever were in you T. life!"
 ot Sally what are you thinking of! d her mother said.
 Look outlook out!" Sally sail st swinging the glass up and dow al Suddenly she set 1t back on the tab to firmly. You deserve that straigl Id in your face, Jim, but Mother'd l e. madr'
 Ie (Continued Tomorrow y,
 n- The High School Girls Reserves n the Golden Hill House of the r. W.