The Coolidge examiner., 1934-06-01

OF orange street All about them
were shadows and the heavy sweet
fragrance OF the locust blossoms
jamie sighed bllssfuIly.
Sometimes she said. I love
this funny old square"
"Only someiinesT" Hugh glanced
down al jamie seated with one foot
tucked under on the rusty iron
bench. She looked. he thought. like
n solemn brownie strayed IN from
n forest somewhere.
"Well." she confessed. some
times hate IT, of course"
why do you ike II tonlghtT-
jamie was quite unable to FOR.
mulate an answer. She didn't
know why. she knew only that she
Eel, Ike golden bubbles inside. You
eouldnt explain vhy you were hap
py. That was Ike pulling oT but.
ierfy wings You just felt e.;
lump In your throat. n singing
somewhere IN your heart.
Il don't know" She wished she
could take out her emotions and
dress them In pretty words Celia
could jamie couldn't. People
thought. because of that. she didn't
feel things at all. But Father
knew.
Il don't know she repeated.
-of course you don't" be said
gently ITS a mixture Of all sorts
OF things"
Janle's face frightened with her
swift lighted look of pleasure.
Anraculously. this red-halred young
man seemed 20 understand She
looked Up AZ him gratefully from
Under her shadowy lashes lie
wasn't smiling his crlnkly smile:
his eyes were thoughtful and al.
most sad Suddenly she wanted 10
know an about him: what kind %
little boy he had been. where be
had lived and gone 20 school
Tell me about you" she said
1T would mskc n duh story
lie was smiling again. There
aren't any thrilling adventures
Il don't care. Tell me anyway"
She folded her hands in her lap.
lie paused 10 light a cigarette
and began ~Once upon a time
there was red-headed little
boy
jamie. listening intenily. travelled
hack with him 10 the brownstone
house In New York. Ills mother.
she learned. was dead Ills sister
and his brother were ten and twelve
years older than be.
So this little boy was pret-
ty lonesome sometimes. lie would
go through a glass tunnel nlled
with plants"
"A conservatory" JAMIE was be-
coming more and more impressed.
This little boy named Hugh
called Il a glass tunnel with green
things growing up through the
foor. At the end Of the tunnel
was door and behind the door
was his fathers Office. Sometimes.
n there weren't any ladies In white
kid gloves having their nerves re
paired. his father would tell him
about place called Mulberry
Square where everybody was friend
ly and had a lovely time"
That's strange. isn't it?~ jamie
marveled. your knowing about Us
so long ago"
''The audience viii please not IN
terrupt."
Il won't again"
''Promisel"
Gross my heart"
:" And then !"
Tragedy stalked into the story.
His brother had been killed in an
automobile accident. He hurried
over thar part. His sister Louise
had married. She was Mrs. Rod
erick Payson vanHorn. jamie
thought that was a very elegant
name.
:" So this little boy. only he
was larger now and his voice
croaked like a bullfrog's. went
away 10 school. He wore a uni
form and learned 10 ride a horse
and shoot things :"
JAMIE pictured him in a uniform.
She wished she had known him
then. But father said he was twen-
ty-six. Graciousl She'd have been
only ten or eleven. He wouldn't
have noticed her then.
=. One day" he paused and
his eyes were sad. well, anyway.
there wasn't anyone left In the
brownstone house with the tun.
mel :"
His father had died jamie. SYM
pathizing. felt tears on her lashes.
q. So Hugh went to college.
When he was twenty-one, a man
with a nut-cracker face told him
that sometime he would have 10 20
TO Mulberry Square. But he didn't
mind His father had told him
everybody had a lovely time"