Evening star., 1925-07-05

half-incredulous eyes.
l. He said huskily, ITO think
that you really love me! In
about two minutes IN going to wake
up and find myself home in bed, with
the alarm going off,"
She said: You're never going to
wake up. Charlie. Yos know 1 love
you. I've loved you-why. you 43s
goose, I've been in love with you since
the first minute I ever laid eyes on
you"
He grh1ned. well, you had me
fooled, all right. Yes, you little fraud,
you had me fooled to standstill. ]
never knew 1 had a chance-not till
PAST. now. Honest, didn't"
The girl smiled softly. Maybe that
was because l cared so much" she
told him simply.
The seat of Priscilla's roadster
again suddenly became too wide ds
the boy drew her toward him and
kissed her reverently.
They had parked under the big elm
at the top of Red-Coat Hill-the very
same elm that had stood guard over
the making and the baking of the
choicest mud pies of Priscilla's baby
hood, the very elm--so legend had it
under which the Hessians had made
their last stand, or at least one of
their celebrated last stands, against
Washington's theoretically undiscip-
lined Colonials. OF course it couldn't
have been the same tree, for even
elms are mortal, but still it looked as
if it might have been.
x x x x
THE elm was a thing of towering,
living green beauty, worthy of
any amount of rapture. Charlie Hale
and Priscilla Chalders, however, were
not thinking about it. They We're
thinking strictly about Charlie Hale
and Priscilla Chalders. The business
of rapture was, for the moment, an
entirely personal affair.
After a little time he sighed. "Oh,
gosh" he whispered mournfully, IF
we could only get married right away!
Prilla? Would you really be game
TO try ton so a week."
Game" she scoffed. You know
I'm game, Charlie"
He shook his head dubiously.
Il wonder what your father will
say. 1 know he likes me, all right
enough, but gee. Prilla-three thou
sand a year after everything you've
been accustomed to! That's had me
figuring, forward and backward and
upside down, for the last three
months"
Said the girl: Lots of people get
married on 90 a week, don't they?
And lots of people get married on
less. If they can, 1 know darned well
we can. l can learn to cook, Charlie. -
She giggled suddenly at the thought.
Probably I'll be terrible at first, but
everybody has to learn some time
and, anyway, I've cooked some in
camp. Simple things, you know, like
eggs and potatoes and steak"
Gosh, you're good sport" he
marveled with bodylike candor.
mo, I'm not" she retorted. I'm
only-I'm just happy, Charlie, that's S
all. It's the kind of thing I've always
dreamed of doing, way back in the
dark of my heart-falling in love
with man who wanted to cut his own
way in the world, and who cared
enough about me to carry me with
him as his partner. Being rich, dear,
isn't all the fun people think it Is.
You miss SO much that's real"
Neither is being poor" he said, and
smiled.
She smiled and said: Being poor
with you, Charlie, comes pretty close
to my idea of Heaven"
They stared at each other again, the
big, fair-haired boy and the tiny slip
of girl sitting beside him, she as dark
as he was light, her brown eyes and
his gray ones glowing with the light
of that ineffable moment of discovery
which comes only once in the life of
any two.
The boy laughed happily
Lets CO." he said. do you think
your fathers homer"
Priscilla's father was home. They
found him after due inquiry of Harri-
son, the butler. in his vaulted attic
study, that lofty chamber of oak
rafters and gaunt perspectives which
the millionaire master of the Chalders
acres had designed for himself as a
sanctuary from the insistence of the
many, male and female, whom he had
christened wanters.
x x
SILAS CHALDERS was rich enough
to wear a beard-albeit a neatly
trimmed, businesslike beard-without
being laughed at behind his back: and
that, in these days, is being rich in
deed. He was also rich enough to
know that he preferred his own COM
pany to that Of most other persons;
TO own outright some 1000 acres of
land in a community where acreage
generally was sold in 50-foot lots; to
possess some wisely assorted thous-
ands of stocks and bonds, which he
had earned and paid for out of his
earnings as chemical engineer: and,
lastly, he was wealthy enough to have
reared a daughter like Priscilla.
From his great leather chair be-
meath the north window he looked up
at his daughter as she opened the
door and walked into the room with
Charlie Hale behind her. The boy
smiled ingratiatingly, for after the
manner of man-folk he was a trife
embarrassed at asking one of his tribe
to relinquish all claim in a newcom-
er's favor, in the most desirable crea-
ture on earth. Charlie Hale would
have approached the matter diplomat
ically. Men are accustomed to arrive
in this manner at a discussion of
weighty affairs. But Priscilla was not
a man.
She said: Hello, dad, Don't tell us
you're busy, because l know you're
not" She futtered down upon the
arm of his chair. Dad, Charlie and
I are going to be married. How do
YOU like the idea?''
Her father smiled. When a man
can smile through a grizzled beard his
smile means something.
You scarcely astonish me-" he said.
IF I may say Solve been ex-
pecting an outburst of this sort for
some months past. Charlie hasn't
been exactly secretive in his atten-
tions toward you, / should say.
What's the idea, Prilla-did you ex-
pect to surprise me? Do you want me
10 stand up and strike an attitude and
shout, WHAT Because shan't."
The tall boy gulped.
"Then-then you approve, sir?" he
managed to say.
II didn't say that" the elder OBJ
served.
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