The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-09-13

I IldQ OCCupLCQ ullCll lew lIlOllUllS
previous. 1t had been a charming
place, not too manniSh for feminine
taste.
Helen had dreamed of keeping
house in it as Brent'S ward until
they sailed for Europe or some land
even more remote.
Brent had let it go as Helen's
graduation neared so that he would
be free to sail Immediately. That
was before his meeting with Charles
Nellin. Now he too regretted having
given it up, as he hated the bother
'of settling again.
The home atmosphere, the sug-
gestion of permanence afforded by
housekeeping, would better suit his
purpose at present than a hotel
He rather feared to introduce
Helen to the excitement and pleas
ures of living in a metropolitan
hotel. 1t might be too great an in
fluence in turning her mind from
settling down with him, he thought.
But there was the chance that
her grandfather might remain firm
against her, and the alternative of
following his original plan of fiji
ing Carmel's place in his affairs
with Helen. In which case they
would soon move on, and there
would be many hotels and few
apartments.
OF Helen's opposition to her
grandfather he took but little count.
She was an emotional, sensitive
girl. Should the old man appeal to
her sympathy and seek her for
giveness for his harshness to her
mother, Brent had no doubt Helen
would grant both in great measure
A ND the best card in his hand,
L n the ace with which he hoped
to take the winning trick, was
Helen'S present bitterness over the
treatment her mother had received.
Nothing better could convince Cum
bingham, Brent reasoned, that
Helen was not seeking his riches.
Brent thought always now of
Helen as Evangeline Cunningham's
daughter. Diamond Page and his
wife were no longer in his memory.
He had discarded them.
And Helen had accepted his story
as truth. 1t all fitted in so we'll
with the past. She had grown up
with the mystery of her identity
a mystery that fired her with desire
to solve it.
Now she was eager to do what
she must to keep faith with her
fathers promise to her mother, and
show Leonard how little she cared
for her grandfather's wealth.
The day following their arrival
in New York Brent drove her up
to Yonkers and to Bramblewood.
1t was less dreary-looking than on
the occasion Brent first had seen
it. To Helen it was the home of
her mother and she looked at it
with reverence.
They had come unannounced.
Brent had not trusted Cyril Cum
bingham to welcome them. Should
they fail of adnittance today, ne
proposed to approach in a different
way.
But Mr.. Cunningham did not re-
fuse to receive them. Their mes
sage, brought to him by the butler,
was simply that they had important
information which they wished to
deliver to him in person.
For many years Cyril Cunning
ham had been hoping to receive Ger
tain important information. His de-
clining years were torn with a
Iyearning that his stubbornneSs could
not obliterate.
Few strangers came to his door
but those who did were welcome
And when Helen and Brent were
shown into his private sitting room
on the second floor he peered at
them from dimming eyes with a
feverish intensity.
Helen heSitated on the threshold
fighting to still the agitation that
was causing her to tremble nervous
| ly. The room seemed to waver
slightly and then her glance settled
upon the aged man in the invalid's
chair that was drawn close to a
window
n
LIS shrunken figure was lost in
l. Il the folds of a loose dressing
gown, but the hands that rested
upon the silver head of a heavy
cane we're evidence. in their frailty,
of the mans feeble condition.
Helen did not, at that moment.
feel pity for him. In spite of the
picture he presented of belonging
already to another world, she
steeled herself to think only of her