New Britain herald., 1928-03-26
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waiting just outside the little cub lclc
 The cold Nater-thcre vas no hot
 water for bathing from April first | to October first made hcr, skin glow and jingle. As she dried her s'lt on q ragged Nisp of eraylsh white Turkish toWcling. sally sur SeNed her slim, white body with shy prlde. Shorn of the orphanagc uni form she might have heen Any pretty young girl budding into Nomanhood. so slim and rounded and pinhy-whito she Mas.
 T guess I'm kinda prettN." Sally whispered 10 herself, as she tll1Ist her face close to the small, Nuvery hlrror that could not quite succeed Ill destroying llor virsinal loveli- ness. Sweet sixteen and-neycr been kissod,' she smiled to herself, then bent forward and sravely laid her pink. dehciously curved lips against the lnirrored ones.
 Then, in q panic lest she be loo late to see kind Miss Pond, she jerked on the rest of her clothing.
 Dear Sally. how sweet you looh,' Miss Pond clasped her hands in ad- nliration as Sally slipped, breath- less, into the lockcr-roou1 that con- tained the clothes of all the girls of her dormitory.
 Did you bring the card that tells all about me - and my mother?' Sally brushed the compliment aside and demanded in an eager whisper.
 No, dearie. l was afraid Mrs. Stone might want 1t to make an entry about Mir. Carson's taking you for the summer, but I copied the data. You go ahead with sour packing while ] tell you what l found out Miss Pond answered nervously. but her pale gray eyes were sparkling with pleasure in her mild little escapade.
 Sally unlocked her own particu- lar locker with the key that always hung on 3. string about her neck. but almost immediately she Whlrled upon Miss Pond. her eyes inlploriue. It won't take me q minute to pack. Miss Pond. Please go right on and tell mel
 Well. Sally. I'm afraid thcrc, isn't much to tell" Miss Pond smoothed a folded bit of paper pologetically "The record says you were brought here May g, 1912, Just l2 years ago, by a woman who said you were her daughter. She gave your birthday as June 9, 19US, and her name as Mrs. Nora Ford. a widow, aged 2S~-'
 "Oh, shes young" sally breathod ccstaticalIy. Then her face cloudod, as her nimble brain did q quick sum in mental arithmetic. "But sllo q pc 4o now. wouldn't she? Forty seems aNtully old---''
 "Forty is parativcly yomg, Sally Miss Pond, who Was looking regretfully back upon '4o herself. said rather tartly, But let me hurry on She gave poverty and ill- ness as her reasons for asking the state to take care of you. She said your father was dead"
 'Oh poor mothor!' \ shadow fitted across Sally's delicate face; quick tears for the dead father and the ill. poverty stricken mother filmed her blue eyes.
 'The state accepted you provl- >lonally and shortly afterward sent an Investigator to check up on her atory,' Miss Pond went on. "Tha found that tn. woman, Mrs. Ford, had left the cjty-lt Was stanton. 50 miles from hnrc-anl that no one knew where she had gone. From that day to this We have had no word from the woman who brought you here. She vas q mystery in Stanton. and has rc- nained q mystery until now. I'm sorry. Sally, that cant tell you more.'
 Oh sally's sharp cry was with such pain and 1isap- pointmcnt that Miss Pond took one of the little clonched fists between her own thin hands. not noticing that the slip of paper fluttcred to