Evening star., 1925-06-07
By Phyllis Dl4ganne

all.' he said and chuckled.
Dorcas Ryder stared, the distaste
which any mention Of that unfortu-
nate connection had come TO bring
her choked back by surprise. What
do you mean?' she dema nded.
They had emerged agaiJl upon the
deck and the cool wind was good upon
her cheeks; a smile twisted the lips
of the young doctor.
"Dorcas the first.' he said and
laughed.
Who are you?''
He was watching her in open
amusement THE black sheep of Bay
State Road" he answered, gravely,
Gregory March"
Gregory March, The older, wilder
brother Of Tommy, who had pounded
her finger with a hammer, But
what are you doing in the steerage"
her voice was an almost perfect copy
OF her mothers, disappearing, trifle
superior.
Gregory March continued to grin.
Crossing the Atlantic"
"But-really-'
Don't be silly" he said, impatient
ly "I'1l be out here tomorrow morn
ing and you might come down and
help me look the kid over. There's
no need of calling the ships doctor
away from his wealthy sufferers
probably scare the kid to death"
THE SIX, above and the ocean below
= it were brilliantly blue; they were
two days out of New York. Seasick
passengers had recovered and prom
enaded the decks. New York in two
days; then Boston and all her old
friends. the excitement that would
precede her eighteenth birthday. And
the eighteenth birthday itself! AS
though being Is and coming out form
ally were not enough, there was the
Inheritance of that odd and eccentric
lady. her great-great- grandmother!
And yet
Dorcas leaned back in the steamer
chair and sighed. At her right, her
mother, pallid and uneasy even in the
sunIit calm, was reading novel; at
her left, Dickie Everett leaned toward
her.
"Oh, he's tough nut, all right
Diekie was saying, and involuntarily
they each glanced back toward that
lower deck where Gregory March stood
beside an Italian girl. THAT sort of
thing, for instance. Why should he
travel steerage? Wouldn't you think
he'd be ashamed. right out there in
broad daylight where we can all look
down at him."
Dorcas, shrugged. Perhaps we
ought to be ashamed of looking down"
she murmured, and her mother, whose
attention was never wholly occupied
by her reading. frowned at her. smiled
at Everett, and niurmured, How alb
surd of you, Dorcasr' all in one mo-
ment.
He's going back to take another
course at Harvard Medical Dickie
continued. He's been going to col
lege for about the last l2 years-ever
since he graduated and served his
penance in some hospital, he's been
ducking in and out from all over the
world"
IT occurred TO Dorcas that Dickie.
himself, might have continued at Har-
ward for - consecutive years without
ever attaining the diploma his parents
SO. and he continued, grateful for IA
subject which held her attention.
"A wild egg" he murmured
Tommy gives me some of the gossip
about hfrn--he1l romp off to some
South Sea Island and discover some
disease no one has ever had outside
the place-an' then come back to
school for just long enough to study
about it, Then off he goes while the
profs are getting ready for his next
days lesson
Dorcas smiled family, and by an eff
fort did not permit her gaze to travel
again to the steerage deck. Gregory
March was certainly a strange mani
She had appeared, as she had sworn
to herself she would not, the morning
after her meeting with him. only to
find the clean bandage completed and
that Italian girl with whom he was
now talking holding the boy upon her
lap!
sHThp,,cbf Won uverap,t cay,,inoD he
greeted her, unceremoniously. Rosa
here helped me. She's born nurse
I'm trying to convince her to go to
training school after she gets to the
States. She's going to Boston. by the
way" He made no move of introduc-
Ing the two women, and the open mis-
trust in the immigrant girls eyes was
not much more strong than the mis-
trust half-veiled by Dorcas' poise.
He had said something, in Italian. and
the girls stormy eyes softened. began
to sparkle; her lips barred straight
white teeth and she looked at Dorcas
and laughed. There had been no rea-
son for Dorcas to leap to the con-
cluSion that they were laughing at
her, yet that was what she had done
She had returned to her own place
in the ship, indignant, and furious
with herself for being so. What did
answer that she cared nothing at all
was obvious, and somehow unconvinc-
ing.
nORCAS' consciousness of having
on an exceptionally smart and be-
coming new suit had ebbed. The long
straight lines of the red wooden cloth
clung becomingly to her arrowlike fig
ure, and she had been fully aware
of the fact that the seal of the deep
cuffs and collar was no blacker than
the curves of cleaning hair upon her
brown cheeks. But the spell of a new
suit cannot last indefinitely, and
Dorcas found herself forgetting it and
contemplating the evening with bore
dom. Dickie Everett and her sister,
the Thorndike boys, Lucia Sears
perhaps life would be less duh when
she was really out. 1t began to snow
and she walked more quickly, head n
little down, so that she did not see
Gregory March coming toward her
until they had nearly collided. AS
recognition flashed into her eyes. the
joyous consciousness of the new suit.
of the background of white snow AMI
tall, leafless poplars surged over her
like a wave.
Hello" she said, offering him her
hand. And as he smiled, You're the
most unsociable neighbor I've ever
seen in my life"
He answered something about being
busy, but Dorcas could see that he was
trifie confused by her, and by that
radiance which the new suit and
weather absolutely suited to her cos
tune had shed over her. Unfairly,
almost maliciously, she seized ad.
vantage of his confusion; he must
<r - - Il T. ~
A few people were coming in :.
and since he seemed SO nreoccupied