New Britain herald., 1927-01-04
Broken !], (4B &EBL Lareads
 
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WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE

Martha Dalton, nurse, bearing a woman who had tainted on a train.
 Elwell is an artist. He has a son, Jim, aged 5. Late that night the woman bears twin girls and dies without revealing Ter name.
 The story then moves forward IS years. The twins, now growing to beautiful womanhood, have been adopted and named Margaret and Elizabeth. They have been nick named Rusty and Betty.
 Jim Elwell enlists in the World War. He then discovers that one of the twins loves him. Put in charge of a machine gun unit at Sedan, he is shell-shocked and, through a miXup, is regis tered as John Powell, buddy of his. He is removed to an American hospital and reported dead. The family gets the news and is heart broken.
 One day an attorney calls at the house, with proof that the father of the twins is dead and they are the nieces of a wealthy resident Of Indianapolis. Mollie and Prof accompany the girls to their uncle's.
 NOW BEGIN THE STORY
 CHAPTER XXI
 John Clayton, the new-fopd uncle of the twins, found a never-ending source of enjoyment in Molie El- well. Her wholesome unaffectedness, her natural ways and freedom from all the mannerisms and posings of some of the social set to which he belonged made a strong appeal to his finely developed mentality.
 Not only was John Clayton stu dent of his kind but he was master student. To find a new and pleasing personality was to him a treat as rich in value as the finding of new species of moth is to the naturalist. In MolIie ElWell, he kept telling himself, he had discovered some thing he had seldom encountered in the ranks of the thing that is called Society-a woman with a brain that functioned along the lines of com mon sense and with nature that radiated unselfishness and sweet ness. A rare female of the species" to John Clayton.
 The girls and Prof also proved ob jects of interest and pleasure to him. And so at the end of their first weeks visit, when Mollie began to talk about returning to Camdenville, he simply wouldn't hear of it.
 Not for another week at the very earliest, he told them with much emphasis one morning at the break fast table when she had again ln- troduced the subject. Tn the mean time I want you to meet a few Of our society buds and blossoms, as well as a sprout or two and couple of whitening twigs.'
 It would be worth their while, he could assure them, if they were in terested in observing new phenom- enon.
 I'm arranging a little party in honor of the girls, and we'll have in quite lot of young people to meet them. You wouldn't want to be ab- sent from your adopted daughters coming out party, you know"
 And so Mollie and Prof Elwell, thus urged and, in addition, virtual ly smothered by the protestations and wheedlings of the twins, as- sented.
 Alone one day with Mollie-they were in the library looking over some books which he had urged her to read-he asked, quite suddenly: Your boy Jim. Did I understand that he was in love with one of the girls?"
 Mollie's hand flew to her throat. T don't understand how you came to-''she began but he cut her off.
 ''You may say l just guessed" he said. Tell me about it, please. It will go no farther
 Jim, NIollic told him, had admit ted his love for one of the girls but had eXacted a promise of her not to
  because he thought ! he might not come back, and in the | event he wanted to be sure that ! both girls would be just the same to me as before.'
 John Clayton noticed that her lips ! were trembling, and was quick to | say that such thoughtfulness on | the part of a young man was some thing rare in this day and age"
 And Jim, he continued. had been | reported killed at Sedan? Forgive | me for making you talk about it, | Mrs. Elwell, but it is something ! more than mere curiosity on my !. part"
 Mollie smiled It was feeble lit- tie smile and John Clayton's heart . went out to her. Tt was not until | several months after the armistice | that we got word from the War De- partment that Jim had been killed. ' We had thought him still in hospi- tai recovering from the flu.'
 What a shame," he breathed in 
 He would try, he said, to locate Jim's grave over in France. and | some day they all would go over to | visit it. If you'd like to- he added.
 Mollie wasn't certain about this. 'If it wouldn't be too hard to bear,' she said, finally.
 The "buds" and "sprouts' de- scribed by John Clayton eventually i made their appearance. The buds he had explained, were the young ladies, and sprouts" was his desig- nation for the wealthy and shiftless youths, for whom he entertained a hearty contempt.
 One of the sprouts present at the twins party answered to the name of Freddie Lawrence, and Freddie's !. bent was amateur theatricals. Nor . was he long in informing Betty that . he had written and directed the pro-