Montgomery County sentinel., 1939-02-02
THE
STEPMOTHER
g
BY SARAH E. McCAHEY
G Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate.
WNU Service.
>HE pretentious looking house
owned and occupied by John
Brenton and his sixteen-year-

"HE pretentious looking house
owned and occupied by John
Brenton and his sixteen-year-
old daughter, Marion, was
one of the finest on Mendon road.
A good expanse of lawn in front,
outlined by low curbing, ended al
most flush with the granolithic street
walk, which was bordered with a
strip of lawn that extended like a
bright green ribbon from one end
of the street to the other.
Although John Brenton was any
thing but purse-proud man, the
possession of their beautiful home
had made his pretty young daughter
a trifle arrogant. Her mother hav-
ing died two years previously, Mar
ion had never dreamed but that
her father and she would always
live there together and enjoy their
peaceful surroundings.
But one evening, after they had
sat by the fireplace until quite late,
John Brenton informed his daughter
that she was to have new mother.
After the sudden surprise and
shock, Marion wrote to her Aunt
Ray, her mothers sister, to ask if
she might live with her, as she
could not possibly bear the thought
of anyone's taking her mothers
place.
Two days later the answer came.
Yes, she was welcome any time
she chose to come, but was advised
to wait until she finished high
school, year hence.
"Of course, you could not expect
your father to 60 on having house
keepers forever" Aunt Ray wrote
practically. "There have been IL,
so far, / believe, and it will be sew
eral years before you can learn to
manage such large house. How
ever, if worse comes to the worst,
you can depend upon me-"
''Not very sympathetic, thought
Marion, little resentfully, but it
was just like Aunt Ray.
She put the letter away and await
ed developments.
Marion had hoped that the new
mother might be something like her
own, and it proved that there was
slight resemblance in her bright,
quick way of talking that caused
Marion to look keenly at her father
when he introduced them. He met
the glance with smile at his daugh-
ter. How could she know it was
this characteristic which had first
attracted him to Mother Anne, as
she had decided to call her STEP
mother?
AS time went on there was no.
breaking up of the restraint that,
had fallen upon Marion since the
advent of her new mother. Little
intimacies, confidential talks, walks
and drives in the park with her fa-
ther, which, hitherto, had been of
such keen pleasure, somehow lost
their zest because of the ever-pres-
ent thought that she was sharing
him with another.
So she held herself aloof.
To be sure, her home was organ
lied and systematized as it had
never been before. Moreover, new
order of things began in other ways
At night when her father came
home late with his briefs, she could
hear Mother Anne's typewriter GO
ing, Gckity-split, way into the night,
and her father rapidly debating.
No more cozy night chats. Every
body was working and everybody
was busy, but life for Marion went
on monotonously. 4
You have your lesson, dear, and
/ fear the noise of my machine
might distract you," said Mother
Anne on one occasion, and Marion
construed that as a hint to study in
her own room, which she did.
No more studying before the fire.
place with her father reading his
paper beside her.
I'm busy these days, daughter"
he had said to her one night affec-
tionately, and she thought he had
never looked so tired.
They were to stay in the city all
summer.
That was another thing that had
never happened before.
II can't stand it," she cried to
herself one hot night in August,
when all she could hear was the
noisy typewriter and her fathers
voice debating.
Leaving her room, she ran down
to the high stone wall that sepa-
rated them from the none-too-af1u-
ent neighbors of the back street.
Anybody wanting me?" and a
STOPPING form Strengthened up from
a potato patch on the other side of
the wall.
mo, Murtha, nobody wants you-
and nobody wants me, either" said
Marion. "I'm going to Aunt Ray"
$50 that's it, is it?" said the big
stout woman, leaning on the hoe
with which she had been loosening
the earth around some potato plants
That's it, is it? Well, if I'm kill
for 1t, I'm going to tell you thing |
or two. Going to your Aunt Rav's
&c 40 Ch,,va L. - |