Evening star., 1931-06-27
lNHaEA THE LUCKY LAWRENcEs T7A>
| ~(EM D. KATHLEEN MORRIS Nw-<N III
D. KATHLEEN NoRR


everyday air, and she felt ashamed
and confused. Dick Stebbins Is one's
dreams, indeed! It was . desecration of
their filmy fabric even to think of him
in such q connection.
He glanced at her with q quiet grin
as she came in. He was unloading va
rious cans and packages from his
pockets.
Gail felt as remote from him az II
before. He was nothing, NOBODY; she
disliked him because she had made her.
self q fool over him in her own soul. -
"Oh, are we picnicking?" she asked
blankly.
Aren't we?" he demanded. stopping
short. well, we can," Gail conceded
graciously.
Whats the big idea2" Dick asked
with an astonished look.
Her blood rose at once. OF course,
they would picnicl She began to put
peeled tomatoes, lettuce, fish. into q
deep glass jar. Dick Stebbins! Why,
he was the same country boy he had
always been. Nice enough. The salt Of
the earth
What in heavens name was that"
she exclaimed, taken unaware.
A microscopic Airedale puppy, looking
as small and forlorn as only q little
AlICu6lC Cd1 1OOk, was Walking WdVCI-
ingly on the sink board, and had emit
ted an acid cry.
"Oh. found him in the road" Dick
explained, "and brought him along.
I thought you might like him.
AS the sound Of his voice, just his
amused, kindly, quiet voice, the magic
began again, unwelcome and confusing.
"He locks about half starved" Dick
said.
Gail trembled; she could not raise
her eyes or find her voice as she put q
saucer full of milk before the new
conner. The faltering little furry legs
staggered toward it, the baby smelled
1t feebly, turned away.
Here, old pal-try it," Dick said,
pressing the little soft head down.
"Ah, he's darlingI" Gail said, COM
pletely shaken. The world was SWIM
ming in strange prismatic lights. She
loved-loved-loved this big, clumsy
man IN the tweeds! Something hap
pened TO her heart when Dicks big
hand gently guided the stupid little
eager puppy nose toward the saucer.
do you really want him?"
why, of course, I want hm!" She
felt stiff and awkward now. IN nx
him q boxi"
To her tremendous relief, Edith came
downstairs at this moment and Phil
came in. The conversation became
general and the puppy had a warm well
come.
They went up to the old dam in the
sweetness of the Autumn afternoon and
built their picnic supper fire on the
sunshiny shingle, where Cabin River
widened to stream in and join the broad
expanse Of tranquil water above the old
wooden bulkhead
Gnats spun deliriously in thick shafts
of light. trout plopped in the deep water
of the dam; Phil sat silent, utterly con-
tent, watching a flshline; Ariel and Van
Murchison were on the shingle. Ariel
was half sitting against great log that
was rooted deep in fine sand. Van was
lying on his side, looking up at her as
he talked. =,
Sam not being at home when the pic
mic expedition had started. a note had
been left for him, pinned to the kitchen
door. Van, arriving before Sam, had
calmly read the note and had sat down
on the Lawrences' kitchen doorstep to
await Sans return. After which they
had followed the others in Vans car, a
circumstance that added the last touch
Of felicity to the occasion for Gail. She
remembered her old efforts to attract
Van a few months ago. the sallies Of
wit. the constant attempt to amuse
him.
Ariel made no such efforts, not she
She simply was, and Van trailed her
helplessly, irTesistibly.
This was the night that Phil actually
got a trout, quite a big one, and the
night they saw rattler, and the night
they picked the blackberries.
"Oh, we do have fun!" Edith COM
mented luxuriously, lying on the nat hot
stones as the meal was finished.
Z 1Il Ill s1kw
commented lighting his old pipe, It
shall remember the broiled fsh."
Gee. here's a pip!" Sam said with
out preamble. He took book of poems
from his pocket. " Member Lindsay.
that Ede'S 50 crazy about?" he asked
them. Member the one about Gen.
Booth she read us? Say, this is another
Of his. about Legree."
He read It, Phil took the book to
turn the pages further and find the
Kongo.
That's my idea Of poetry" Dick said.
Still read Shakespeare every night,
Dick?" This was Gail, very casually.
It seemed odd to her that for years she
had known Dick intimately, to get her
first real sense Of talking to him, of ap-
preciating him only now.
"Oh, q good deal. want words, you
know, the use of words" he answered.
AS Jney walked singing down the
steep rutty half mile to the cars the
moon rose and spotted the trail with sill
YER and black. Gail needed q hand
now: the hand that gripped her own
was Dicks. She marveled that he could
not feel the electric current that ran
through the tips of her fingers.
Afterward she always remembered the
night they went up to the dam and saw
the rattleSnake and caught the fish A
hot night of moonshine and laughter
and talk on the shingle above the dam
For the next day the weather changed
and Autumn came in, with October, In
earnest.
CTo Be Continued.)