The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-10-20

oOunoeu IKE q 1earIul 10Ol, cnaJ-
tering of her own affairs at such a
time.
I'm afraid he's in trouble, Mr..
Jupiter. 1 don't know what, but
I'm afraid it's pretty bad" can
amateur bungler!" She must not
think about thatD
We'll" the fiat old voice replied
lifelessly, nothing that few dol
lars won't fix, I guess. He'll come
out all right. Few things in the
world that few dollars won't fix"
"Oh, it isn't that But I asked
him here-and ne hasn't come. I
don't know where he is. I've been
pretty worried" How to tell
him! Here she was going round
and round the subject, and not say
ing what she meant to say at all.
Don't do it," he barked at her.
Don't do i'll It's not a woman's
place to worry about man. Mans
place to worry about a woman. Let
him do that"
Il will. But he's so young. He
isn't 81 yet" She hadn't thought
of it before but now it came to her
that whatever Eddie had been up
to, his punishment would be tenn
pered for him-he was still minor
in the eyes of the law.
I'm sorry to see you go, now
more than ever" Mr.. Jupiter re-
sumed. Eddie did not interest him
much; he was of a different stripe
from his sister, and he never had
cared much about the boy.
I'll tell you, if it wasn't for this
Dirk of yours-we had plans about
you. Mama and l. I don't know
but she'd like them carried out any,
way, now she's gone and can't at
tend to it herself"
Mary had M idea of what was
coming; as he continued, her
amazement grew.
WE always wanted daughter,
w and after Bruce went away,
and you came, Mama used to say
how nice it was to have a young
girl in the house. There's some
thing about girl-you can buy 'em
dresses and things" The Paris
dress How happy she had been
in it, only yesterday. Mary shut
her eyes to squeeze back tears.
"Of course, Bruce will marry
some day; but then we never see
as much of Bruce as we'd like to-"
The shadow of very real bitter
ness crossed his face.
mo, that might not happen any,
way in our lifetime, and like as not
it would be one of those foreign
women he's always writing about.
mo, we thought we wouldn't wait
for that. We had you here, and
liked you, and we thought we'd just
adopt you. Now, what would you
have said to that?"
1t was like fairy-tale come true.
She found herself laughing and cry
ing at once.
1T would have been wonderful!
Perfectly wonderful!"
"Yes-well," he said, pleased as
a child, well have to see about it
when all this is over. Things are
pretty bad right now. But you
mustn't let it worry you, or change
your plans a jot.
"Bruce'll be along any day now.
I dare say therell be an answer to
my cable before the days over, and
when he comes he'll brighten things
up bit"
Mary tried to believe that this
was so, but could only reflect bitter
~ on what she had heard of the
absent Bruce and his ways.
Pull that bell-cord, will you?"
Mr. Jupiter asked, suddenly. But
Spence when he came had nothing
to report. The old man sank back.
Il suppose there's hasn't been
time"
A THOUGH she never had seen
L n him, Mary's heart was hard
ened against him. 1t was plain to
see how much his parents missed
him, how puzzled they were by his
continued absence.
They treasured his infrequent let
tiers, written in patois almost I'M
ineligible to them and sprinkled
with the names of persons and
places they knew nothing at all
about
Now she tried to soften the blow
for the old man.
HE may be out of town.
We'll, he's no business to bel"
he snapped. Instead of soothing
him, the suggestion seemed to anger
him. The place for that young
man is back in this country, and
III mighty soon tell him so when I