Evening star., 1933-02-09
q N!dh1Q QuBDAu6uTtR H
S o> Katharine HaMIand-HIT IN

I y
! What do you Say?"
Carron's feeling Of safety had grown
/ from her sallies to hunt threads, pat
| terms, snap fasteners, binding tape al
| over town, and with Mr.. TODD she felt
there was no danger, so she said, "Oh.
Mr. Todd. I'd love it! Thank you so,
much!" and her voice shook a tribe.
do you think you could make the
o'clock show?" he asked.
| And after a second of estimating re-
| fiection Carroll said she thought she
| could, adding the cheerful fact that
they were going to have some more re-
! heated sausage for dinner and that she
| guessed there wouldn't be many dishes.
! "Of course We can 60 later; It doesn't
really matter" said Mr.. Todd comfort
| ingly. II only mentioned the o'clock
show because I thought II we could go
/ then, the crowd might not be so bad.
! and maybe it won't be anyway; I'd
( think folks with homes would stay In
/ 'em on a day like this"
! Carroll thought so, too. Then Mr..
| Todd said he'd heard that there was
something pretty good running at the
Capital and they parted. mutually
| cheered.
When Miss Mems returned Carroll
told her OF the afternoons plan. Miss
Meens listened with pursed lips. She
had reason as she put it. to know he
was married man and, being maid
en- lady, she knew why men and women
are drawn close
The seed OF suspicion had already
been planted IN her ready soil, and now
| her WEAKNESS made suspicion q cer-
talnty. But she would wait, she de-
cided, until she had proof and reason
for her SAY" And thus hardened that
which was to send Carroll, branded by
disgrace. from Miss Meens' virtuous
house at the moment when Michael
had almost caught up with her.
With Mr.. Todd, Carroll found herself
quite free Of fear, and the show, they
agreed, was unusually good. Micky,
the mouse. was cast on desert island,
and Carroll had always liked Micky and
/ so had Mr. Todd. And the news reel
held some Paris-backed happenings,
which drew Carroll some warmer,
easier days. and the feature picture"
was romantic and satisfying and not
TOO great a tax upon credulity.
Then when they stepped from the
warm air of the picture house they
found snow falling In quite the proper
Christmas manner and they decided to
take a little stroll 80
Il thought" said Mr.. Todd, after an
apologize cough that grew Of en-
barrassment, that we might walk
around some of the residence districts.
and that some of the window shades
might be up. and that We could see
some Christmas trees. It's getting dark
up; I suppose that sounds funny, but
thought 1t might be kind of nice"
Carroll.
| Mary. that's my wife, she's putting
up a tree for the boy" said Mr.. Todd
as they turned west on Philadelphia
street, "and III bet my last dollar that
he's enjoying himself todayl"
He must be-" said Carroll.
"Yeh, he must be. Mary wrote me
that she didn't know whether she ought
to have tree for him. what with hard
times and everything, but wrote back
that same night to have It for him.
told her you're only young once"
That's true" Carroll put in feeling
ly; she would never be young again, she
knew.
"And he's an awfu1ly good little chap,
MISS Jones, and smartl I don't be-
lieve YOU'D find q smarter kddy any
where, and, as wrote Mary, shes my
wife, both Of us, with all trying, wen
never be able to do all we should for
him" -
He touched Carroll's sleeve then: they
had rounded a corner, which took them
to street marked Beaver and here,
beyond an unshaded window, they saw
tree.
There's onel" said Mr.. Todd. IA a
hush. They slowed their steps: the
tree blared with tiny electric lights and
upon the top bough was the gentle little
Christ Child Of brightly pink paper
cheeks. silver robe and big hlueS eyes.
erT T,tt tter ,d M1sd Icy tny Caal pause
Mr.. Todd spoke at length, Just Elitt1e
heavily. ITO my thinking" he said,
sit helps man to know seme ene else
has the good things Of life."
"Yes," said Carroll, Tive thought of
that myself lately" She had hurt
Michael; she could not undo that. hut
anyway, she reflected that often
Michael's muscles didn't ache and he
wasn't hungry after meals. This realiza-
ton helped her. ed1
at isn't that I'm prejudiced about
my boy" said Mr.. Todd as they moved
up Beaver street and toward Market,
because see him as clearly as i see
you. or Miss Meens"-they u both
"or myself, or Mary, but I'll tell you,
you never saw so smart q kid. Smart
as whip and crazy about me. Why,
my wife can't hold him when he hears
me come In. have that way OF yell
ing, Hello, boy and he knows. Knows
just who it is. Can't fool that boyi
And just to illustrate what mean
about his being smart, when he was
just 8, he saw the postman one
morning, and he said, Letters Now
can you beat that?"
"It was wonderful" said Carroll
softly. Was 1t better never to have had
love than to miss 1t as she and Mr..
Todd now missed it? mo, it was better
to have had it and to suffer anything
everything!
went to take the car east, there was
community singing of Christmas hymns
and as they waited they heard, through
snowhakes that now hurried, 20 Come,
All Ye Faithful" and the beginning of
Little Town Of Bethlehem"
They didn't speak. riding east.
THANK you, Mr.. Todd" said Carroll
as they entered Miss Mems hall
"Why, my dear child" he said, "it's
all the other way; thank you"
Miss Mems heard it, His dear child
echoed. And Miss Mems was not zone
TO have such goings on" In her house.
His dear child indeedl
When she joined Miss Meens, Car
roll knew something was very wrong,
but decency of mind kept her from
knowing what the something was. Miss
Cort. Miss Sands and Miss Howell also
criticized the duet excursion as they
slipped their tea. "They Just ssuldnt
understand anything like thaA being
so nice"
QTo Be Continued Tomorrow)
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