The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1934-06-29
MOTHER By Arthur strioger

! ing the arrival of young Peter Prawnng:
He sat blinking with a vague air OF
revolt at the cluster Of Jacqueminot
roses which an overofficiols secretary
had placed on his desk. For those
roses, he had been informed, a Or
iginated in Mrs. Prawling's greenhouse.
Annoyance showed on his face hen
he heard the musical voice OF MIS-
Prawling in the anteroom. he even
busted himself with other things, Keep
ing an eye on his clock as he worked.
Three-quarters of an hour later, feeilng
that he had made the wait a sufficient
ly punitive one, he crisply ordered that
the boy from Laurel Manor be ushered
in to him.
It was Mrs. Prawling who entered,
Mrs. Prawling is a polka dotted blue,
wearing a corsage clump OF violets and
leading her son by the hand.
''This is Peter" she said with her
invincible smile, turning to smooth back
a tress of her sons carefully brushed
hair. The severity of Judge T1nsdale's
face did not entirely escape her.
I'm not going to intrude on your
talk with Peter. I'm merely bringing
him to your door and leaving him in
your hands"
Judge Tinsdale bowed his under
standing of the situation.
"Shake hands with the Judge, Peter
she prompted.
! Peter held out his hand. Judge Tins
dale took it without enthusiasm.
"Good-by, darling" said Mrs. Prawl-
ing as she stopped to kiss her son. "And
remember that Judge Tinsdale is your
friend, perhaps the best friend you'll
ever have in all this world"
The man of law WINGED and waited
until he was alone with Peter. Then,
having seated himself, he turned his
pointedly appraising gaze to the wait
ing boy. He saw a STRIPPING, consider
ably taller than might expect, a
trim shouldered youth with the same
azure eyes as his mothers, and with
the same tawny hair, only, in the boys
case, it was brushed straight back from
a smooth and rather rounded forehead.
He saw the sensitively arched eyebrows
and the slightly rebellious underlip that
could be both audacious and demure,
the telltale line of humor at each corn
er Of the mouth, the vague Ire of
sophistication that kept the fair young
face from being too seraphic.
But he was, on the whole, an engag-
ing looking boy. And in Peters eyes,
as he studied them, Judge Tinsdale
could see an animal-like glow OF ex-
element.
"Sit down." he quietly instructed, his
earlier severity slightly relaxed. For
ne remembered, as Peter smiled his
gratitude and seated himself, that he
had occasionally seen that same glow
IN the eyes OF his son, his only
o who had died in the crash of the
shenandoah" the son of whom he
rarely spoke. It wa a light, he recall
ed, that came only to the eyes of the
young, or to the eyes of wild animals,
or to lovers and poets.
But Judge Tinsdale shut the door on
that line of thought. His visitor, he
also remembered, might look delusively
like a young Galahad on a milk-white
palfrey, but the document on the desk
In front of him attested to the fact that
this same young Peter Prawling had in
obliged in a series of nefarious and i'm
putable activities.
you know, Peter, why you are here?"
he prompted, wondering why he was
finding it hard to begin.
Sure" said Peter. But he promptly
amended that to a more respectful
Eyes, SIR"
DO you realize that if you were over
sixteen you'd spend ten years of your
life for the things you've done?"
The glow went from the boys eyes,"
| Tanvo rod hy n 1N@1y ~ ~Il~--
II didn't do so much" he gloomily
commended. And his in~terlocutor al
most welcomed that show of opposition.
Read this" said the judge.
The boy took the typewriter COM
plant and read it slowly, paragraph by
paragraph. It pretty well battered
down the look Of obduracy, which was
replaced in turn by a fleeing look Of
! fear.
"Hully gee!" said Peter under his
breath. did we do all that?"
The judge remained studiously grim.
1T doesn't sound so heroic when you
see 1t in cold type" he suggested. But
he preferred avoiding the stricken eyes
staring back into his own. Who was
the ringleader, you or Mickey?"
The glow returned to the youths
eyes.
"Mickey's a good egg. I guess I'm
a lot worse than he is"
That, oddly enough, sounded more
hopeful to Judge Tinsdale. But the
severity Of his frown was not relaxed.
He had dealt with more than one
mealy-mouthed young hyprocite in his
time.
Are you going ON like this?" he de-
manded.
He caught the eyeflash of hope from
the younger face and realized that he
had conceded too much.
Not on your life," was the prompt
and fervent reply.
"How do you know that?" asked the
judge.
Peter swallowed hard.