Mexico weekly ledger., 1922-04-27

said. Il had them all settled down,
oncei Nina. where's F~rapcesca7 You
see,' Harriet said, In rapid ~explana.
tor. 10 Richard, 81 gave the girls my
room Dnight, so that they could all
be together. and this IL my reward r.
The girls, entirely pnaiazmed By.
hsr severity. had desarted Richard
NOV. landewereF elinsing to her With
weak 1~AnEAters and AsSAle expiaha.
EcnA- ~ ~ fEs
EsaDsesca unlocked tnas- A0sE And
rushed into Mr. Carterg RON I. Amy
~szDlsined, MiDing her eyes. .AnA
then the beys locked her IN theeeI"
me cc4apesed reappeaspnce Of Fran
ceseAfaty gAis potrt. however, added to
TIE general hilarfty.
@YOa dtd not lock me IN, gnaFsies I.
Francesca drawled, cfildishIy. ~rhey
climbed TO the balcony, and we were
well We were undressing she said
to Richard, "and here, they were ham,
mering and yelling iike--hke : ST.
washesi We grabbed our wrappers.
We wanted to-"
"We wanted to lock them out
therel" Amy explained, laughing un-
comfortably. "But-" :
sand I snapped off the light"
! Nina %interposed, with deep satisfac-
ton.
"And, mind you"
Sand, Father"
sand the wonder was that we didn't
die Of fright"
"Now, look Here" Harriet said, in
the babel, "I1l give you all exactly two
minutes to quiet down. Never in the
course of my life"
Richard thought her maternal lndul-
gence delightful; he thought the
young people who chung about her
charming In their apologize and
laughing promises. Ward and Bruce
Hopper mounted to their W region;
Richard went with the girls and Har-
riet to the rooms that had been at
tackled. Pilgrim, the t~lreless, was al
ready there, replacing pillows, straight.
ening beds, untwisting curtains. The
girls, with reminiscent bubbles OF
laughter, began to help her. -.Eyg
After the last g~ood-nights, Richard
and Harriet had no choice but to cross
the han again, and they stood there
for a moment. laughing at the recent
excitement.
after twelve" Harriet said, with.
a smiling shake Of her head. "Aren't
they young demons! However, she
added in an undertone, "it's the best
thing in the world for Nina! This
sort Of nonsense will blow cobwebs
awayw
, Richard was only conscious of a
desire to prolong this intimate little
moment of parental consultation.
"She doesn't speak of BlondinT he
asked. III
"Not at all. The birthday came and
went placidly enough" Harriet an.
swered. suddenly intent after her
laughing. And as he did not speak, for
o second, she looked up at him, limo
Gently. you don't think she's hiding
a~nything?" she asked, ~anxiously.
Tho, / hardly think So" Richard
answered, confusedly. Their eyes met,
and he smiled vaguely. Then Harriet
slowly crossed the hall to the door Of
the guest room, where she was spend
ing the night, and gave him an only
ihalf-audible goodnight. Richard stood
watching the door for a moment or two
after it had closed upon the slender,
dimly seen figure. Then he went to
his own room, and began briskly
enough to nov about between the mir
rors and dressing room, windows and
bed. But two or three times he
stopped short, and found himself
staring .yacantly into space, all move
ment arrested, even thought arrested
for whole long minutes lat a time.
Harriet entering her room, closed
the door noiselessly, and remained for
q long time standing with her hands
resting against 1t behind her, her eyes
alert, her breath coming as II she had
been! running. There was only a night
light In the bedroom the covers were
still tumbled back from her sudden
flight. toward the. rioting youngsters in
the hall She got back into her bed
and opened her book. But for a long
time she neither slept nor read; her
eyes widened at the faintest' sound Of
the summer night; her heart thumped
madly when the curtains whispered at
the window, or the wicker chairs gave
the faintest creak. II had not been
only for Richard that the midnight
hour Of responsibility and informally
shared had had its thrill.
One o'clock. Harriet closed her book
and snapped or her light. But first
she went to the window and leaned out
into the sweet darkness There was
shadow unbroken everywhere; no light
in all the big house was burning as
late as her own.