The Washington times., 1936-06-13

ment, as just an hour before Nell
herself had done, was shabby,
wistful creature-pitifully young.
The girls eyes were brown and
frightened.
She glanced at Nell with timid
smile. "Is this the maternity
clinic?"
Nell nodded.
"I've been told they say terri
BILE things" suggested the girl,
looking away from NelIs face.
do they ask many questions?"
"They don't ask a single thing.
They're really wonderful to you"
The lovely frightened eyes held
Nell like a OBTAINING hand. Are
you going to keep your baby?"
Keep it?" Nell gasped. why
Of courSe!"
IT am, too," said the girl, Grim
son stain spotting her white throat
and whittier cheeks. She was not
more than II. She wore an old,
tattered, leopard-skin jacket. She
had a touching, defenSeless air.
Nell could have wept as the girl
smiled and walked into, the clinic.
She guessed her story. The COM
ing of her child was tragedy.
Nell walked along Amsterdam
Avenue. How desolate not to
want your child; to go through
this weary thing alone, no strong
helpmate fighting and hoping at
your side.
She leaned against the hedge
and gazed at the pink marble
shrine, cleaning softly in the
Cathedral Park. 1t was not a
shrine she saw, but that little
cottage Ricky had found where
they would soon be together and
happy again. For the first time
in weeks Nell looked to the future
unafraid.
She took from her purse the
card the young nurse had given
her. Things she would need for
the baby. Things she must buy
for herself.
Deep down in her mind the ever
lasting worry gnawed and gnaWed.
"You can't spend the money. You
have to save for food"
She felt defiant. Ricky had sent
$50. OF this, SO went to pay off
their debt to Emily, 40 remained.
Ricky had ached and struggled to
send this money. 1t was for their
child. The child should not be
brought into the world without a
stitch Of clothes awaiting it.
She recalled suddenly her STEP
father and the golden-haired girl
with whom he had walked so
blithely down Sixty-second Street.
Should she rob from her child to
keep a roof over Henry Mason's
head and food in his stomach?
It was robbing from Ricky, too.
She couldn't think of Ricky these
days without feeling her very
heart leap from her body and
cross the world to him.
He wrote desperate, pleading,
wildly passionate letters which
made Nell afraid of the loneliness
which so tormented him. Their
separation was wrong. Sometimes
she feared it might be suicidal to
their love.
All, no! Love doesn't die no
matter what test and pain it has
to take. She would bring his little
son so proudly to his arms. They
would be engulfed in tenderness
and joy-they three together.
On a day of wild young spring
time with a tang in the breeze
and the bluffs across the Hudson
turned to gold, Nell started out on
her shopping tour. She called for
Mamie. Mamie would sew lace on
fine lawn dresses. She would hem
and feather-Stitch and embroider.
1t was baby day in a big depart
ment store. Tiny flannel wrap
pers in gay pink and blue for 19
cents; blankets, two for a dollar;
cotton shirts, Is cents each.
please buy a baSSinet and let
me trim it for you," Mamie
begged.
II don't dare. They cost too
much"
But you can't let it sleep in a
potato box!"
So they found a wicker cradle
on a stand. It was crude but sub
Stant!al. It cost So. Mamie got
remnant Of silk and padding.
She would quilt it all so beauti-
fully, with airy ribbons here and
there.
Ito Be COntinued)
(COpyright. 1885. BY King Features
Syndicate. Ino.S