The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-09-18
SYNOPSIS

RUTH wOODsON, pretty, high-spirited girl of 1s, in search Of work. seeks refuge from . storm in nm old stone house with . blue door. The queer old care- talzer, BERTHA GIBBS, also known as PENNY, mistakes her for ELAINE CHALMERS, whose grandfather built the house.
 Ruth, needing shelter and fall. ing in love with the young man next door, JOHN McNEILL, de-
 cides to stay on . While at the old house, pretending to be Elaine. Elaine, meanwhile, at school at GraycastIc College, vows in sorority meeting to win
 the love of John McNeilI, her
 childhood hero, and plans to go
 to his home town to renew their
 acquaintance.
 A man known as JOHN SMITH
 escapes from an asylum, buys
 used-car and starts for "the
 house with the blue door,"
 Penny seems happy to have
 Ruth in the lonely old house un.
 til one night when she Is sum-
 mOned to the front door by a
 knock. After a half hours ab-
 scnce, she returns to the room a
 changed person, furtiye and
 queer in her actions and conceal
 ing some mysterious news. Ruth
 goes to bed, frightened.
 John McNeiIl has fallen in love with Ruth and worries about her
 being alone fin the old house with
 Bertha Gibbs.
 CHAPTER XVI
 The clouds and wind spent them selves during the night. The next day came in clear and serene. When Ruth opened her eyes in re- sponse to bird song in the hedge outside, her room was full of sun light. The world seemed so en- tirely normal that she laughed at her fears of the night before. She had been foolish, she felt, to let the moods of simple old woman frighten her.
 She thought, stretching her arms above her head and blinking in the sunshine, Any sort of telegram would upset Penny, naturally, be- cause she's not used to getting them. Maybe 1t said her brother had broken his hip. That's some- thing she could be expecting and Or maybe her sis- ter's being put out of her house because she can't pay her rent. In that case Penny can borrow money from Miss Gwen to help her out. I shan't worry. I offered to talk it over with her and she almost bit my head off. I'll mind my own business"
 She got out of bed, took a let surely bath, dressed and went downstairs.
 'Mornin', Miss Elaine,' re- sponded a matter-of- Penny. "I'll have your breakfast on the table in jiffy. Just sit down."
 "Well!" exclaimed Ruth with There's the morning pa per! I'd forgotten all about news papers in the last week."
 "I bought one" explained Ber- tha Gibbs, ito see about the weath- CT. A body never knows what to expect in the fall of the year."
 "No," replied Ruth, lone does not" The paper was in complete disorder, as if Penny in her perus- al of the weather forecasts had be- come lost. Ruth assembled the scattered sheets and as she slipped her coffee and munched her toast she read it avidly. It seemed good to have news of the outside world again, to know what was happen ing in Washington and Europe, to se ewho of importance had married and divorced and had babies and died, even to see what new entice- ments the stores were advertising In the way of pocketbooks and van- Ities and fall shoes and fur coats.
 Presently Ruth uttered another We'll! having, to her surprise found continued story which she had begun to read in Brooklyn and thought never to encounter again. She quickly read the synopsis and was soon following the fate of the very ukeable heroine with as much as if she'd stumbled on an old friend.
 She said to Bertha, refilling her coffee cup, Its small world, Isn't 1t, Penny? And the newspa- pers bind us all together. They're the greatest power of all = greater than airships and armies and na- vies. Nothing's hid from the