White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1929-12-20
CHAPTER Iv-continued

CHAPTER V-Continued
s.
II was she who announced the early
arrival Of Horace Langley. hopping
bis brow, she said he was, and cling.
Ing like grim death to the arm Of
Eddy jackson, who laughed at him.
Much later, with the final announce.
ment that the other bridesmaids were
On hand, she dispatched the twins, in
pastel pink and yellow. to Join the
springtime bevy OF orange, green,
mauve and rose In the primary de-
partment.
Then she led her father down the
stairs to the living room, where he
vas to wait for Helen.
"All the who's who are there she
proclaimed blithely, ''and all the hood
tums are parked"
She ran up to her sisters room, and
gave last tender touch to the white
veil. ooh. Helen," she whispered.
Helen took her In her arms and the
swo girls wept together. After all,
Ginger was Helen's baby, had been
Helen's from the moment when, re-
turning from the little cemetery on
the hill where her mother was laid
away in flowers and snow, she ran to
the upstairs room OF that other old
parsonage to answer the pleading wall
Of the orphaned baby.
"YOu--yOu mustn't" said Ginger
sroutly, winking away her tears.
you'll spoil your looks. Helen-I
wish father could see you. Now, don't
cry. I'm going right down.
She smiled bravely, tearfully, at her
sister; unfailing refuge Of sixteen
years, now leaving her, and ran down
the stairs.
"Tell him to wait for me Just
minute, ! am coming at once" Helen
called after herr
Ginger went to her father. sFather,"
she said, II must go now. Helen said
for You to wait here for her Just
minute think she's going to pray,
father, she looks just like praying.
Oh, father, she Is beautiful. She
looks like a picture Of q Madonna
with all kinds OF secret happy
thoughts in her heart that nobody
else knows anything about. Just wait,
darling, she is coming.
And Ginger tripped daintily down
ihe flagstone path like q floating blue
cloud In her airy gown.
In the living room Mr.. Tolliver,
accustomed to patience by weeks Of
blindness, waited quietly. But Helen,
In the room she shared with Ginger,
was not praying. Helen was not
sentimental girl, but one OF deep fine
feeling, much OF which centared
around the baby sister whom she had
30 long held az her especial charge.
Helen was not going away bruskly to
happy marriage without final tender
word and gesture Tor the child who
would come home lonely In her alb
sence. She had written Ginger let.
Rewritten It the night before her
marriage, when girls may well be
excused II their every thought Is for
themselves and their lovers and their
hopes. Helen's were for her young
est sister. It was for that purpose
that she denied herself to Horace, and
to the girls, shutting herself up for
hours behind locked door, to write
to Ginger Ella telling her how much
she loved her, how much she had en-.
joyed the years OF caring for her,
how much she hoped for her future.
Not fiowery letter, no literary work
Of art, but one that came from Helen's
heart.
With this letter. she was going to
teave for Ginger q precious thing, the
little diamond ring thar hnd been
their mothers engagement ring. It
had been given to Helen, at her moth
er's death, had been worn by her in
sacred remembrance for sixteen years,
but now, with the band of her own
betrothal upon her hand, and soon to
be enforced BY the wedding circlet,
she would pass this treasure on to
Ginger. She had Intended 70 leave
ner farewell message on the dressing
table Of the room they had occunied
lUSCL0CAt Uut nVW1 OpOu 0UOOG0 I'M.
pulse, thinking OF Ginger, she knew
In q flash OF revelation what the eiri
would do upon her return. She would
dy straight up the wabbly ladder TO
her private sanctuary In the attic,
where, alone with her loneliness, she
would weep out her heart to exhaus
don, and fall asleep.
Helen smiled to herself with quiv.
ering lipa "The darling" she whis.
pered. and then, mischiev0usiy. but
with determination, she carefully
draped her veil about her shoulders
ran down the corridor, set Ginger's
ladder under the trapdoor. and
climbed round By; round. pushing open
the trapdo0r above her In the attic she
drew herself up, crossed the dusty
beams, and stood beside Gingers tidy
little table desk. Her sympathetic
eyes noted the pads Of paper, the
well -sharpened pencils. the little old
dolls trunk, the pigeon-nole Of letters.
''Oh. Ginger. my darling" she wills
pered. and wept again for leaving her
But she wiped away the tears. laid her
letter In it, sealed envelope. "My