Evening star., 1926-12-04

medium sized and much boosted city
like Roxborough. Besides. the Cru
Saders words would probably have
been some quite irrelevant reference
to chivalry, noblesse oblige and things
like that; not at all practical, you see
But in way the Crusader explained
Joan, for he might have been one of
her ancestors. True, Joan sported no
crested stationery, and if there were
ancestral estates they had now dwin-
died to the compass of one very plain
hat-top desk, Joan'S special field of
operations in the near-mahogany at
mosphere of Billings & Co. Joan was
| the competent directreSs of the filing
system of that commercial anthill
Dorothy Ann, however. considered
! that Joan was much more. Not only.
as now, was Joan the unfailing source
of explanations for all sorts of things
| in a puzzling world-of such informa-
tion as the proper way to make little
pussies take medicine, by mixing the
medicine with butter and smearing
| it on the soft fur, but much more.
For 1t was Joan who had deftly super
vised the whole care of Dorothy Ann
ever since the child and her pain
racked father had come to Manor
Court More, it was Joan who was
never too tired to tell wholly delight
| full stories about wholly invisible
| kingdoms. 1t was Joan who explained
| that the newly adopted kitten was not
really ungrateful. since SHUTS was
actually not suffering from tubercu-
| losis but from hunger. 1t was Joan
who lured the scared kitten back with
! a saucer of milk.
| After Dorothy Ann was peacefully
| sleeping with her more or less pre-
lii of
the scholarly father had been made as
;, comfortable as possible, it was also a
worried and froWning Joan who sat
in a neat room and solemnly surveyed
the Crusader without really seeing
him.
She sat there long after the auto
horn in the street had blared Its I'M
perative summons for Sadie; long
after the smoke clouds grew thick
in the orange and black studio of Mr..
Couvant; long after Mrs. Van Altman
had teetered off to the opera; in fact.
her windows were still lighted when
the old doctor came home-whereat
he sWore softly.
Perhaps the Crusader had some
thing to do with 1t, perhaps Joan
caught q vision of splendid pageantry.
of splintering lances. Perhaps there
were even wild dreams-a sort of &c
static compound of the Happy War
rior. the oriflame of France, the dou-
| BILE barred red cross of Lorraine, the
| flash of steel, the stately courtiers,
| the mystic white SurcOatS with blaZ-
| ing crosses moving forward in serried
ranks, their Wearers urged on by
some wild-eyed hermit. Who knows
what strange visions may haunt a
maiden lady-or what stranger inter-
pretations may be given by learned
psychologists?
At any rate, it was q new Joan who
| tackled the world with vicious energy
on the morrow-a flaming apostle in
, very strange guise. A Joan with a
pretty little flush and a crisply au-
thoritative voice, who ordered. ca
joled, pleaded, but would not be de-
MED Roxborough came to know her
rather we'll in the ensuing weeks as
she dashed frantically about begging,
demanding, organizing with fever
tsh energy and showing an utterly
urfwarranted concern Over-what?
Over O. batch of pretty little stamps
which it seemed were somehow con-
nected with the approaching Christ
mas season-and with the big sana-
torium on the hill. RoXborough was
first amused, then slightly shocked
and at last stirred. Joan was i'm
placable.
Bit by bit she became a figure of
some consequence and echoes filtered
back to Manor Court. Then the Court
itself came in for her attention. II
know you haven't any money. but
you claim to have talent was the
sentence that blasted Mr.. Couvant
Soon it was announced that the intel
ligentsia had united to give a charity
program. "One seal on every package
from your store would mean a lot"
started Sadie Mcneil thinking. What
this town needs-what charity needs
is less talk and more action" was the
verdict that withered Mrs. Van Alt
man. "Dr. Pearson Is too busy to do
much himself-but he's an authority:
he'll give you some interesting statis-
ties set a ferret-eyed reporter gal
| loping after the doctors numbering
! figure.
Long after Dorothy's father was
hurried to the peace of the sanato-
rum and Dorothy herself was in
stalled In Joan's slightly disOrdered
| fiat. Joan continued to lead her cru
sade. Otter her own earnestness be-
| trayed her. "Business?" she puzzled
when old Billings himself condescend-
| ed to recognize her spare-hour activi-
| ties with the wise observation that
such things were good for the trade.
! ''Oh, damn business; can [ you see
want to do it?" Strangely enough,
the old man did not fire her on the
| spot: just grinned and ordered more
seals.
| So presently the Christmas bells
rang out and q very, very tired Joan
sat once more below the picture of
the Crusader. Dorothy Ann. round
| eyed with the wonder Of many mys-
terious packages that poured In from
all over Manor Court, happy in the
knowledge that every one was won
derfully kind, was explaining 1t all
to a sleek and we'll washed kitten.
There. kitty, there's your milk.
That's right. drink it all up. Nice
kitty Haven't got 'berclosis now,
have you, kitty? Daddy's going to
be we'll, too. Dorothy's going to the
'torium tomorrow and you can come
too, kitty. That's where people gets
well again. Aunty Joan says. in tori
ums like daddy's. Nice kitty"
The Crusader, as usual, said moth
! ing. But as the bells rang more and
more jubilantly outside the double
barred red cross on his shield seemed
to glow bit more brightly than usual
as he kept watch over the quiet
household. Or SO 1t seemed To Joan,
| half asleep in her chair.