The Wilmington morning star., 1940-01-12
CHAPTER FOUR

men," or This is our nursery. OIk-
ing mothers, you know, leave their
children here during the day. The
children are in the dormitories now
having their morning nap period.
I'll take you there" Ellen Chapman
chatted animatedly in that soft,
sweet voice of hers and led the way
in and out of rooms that were
spa1sely but clearly furnished.
Not the children's dormitories
please" Fabienne said firmly. For
more than half an hour she had
been listening to statistics, accom-
plishments, programs and plans,
and she had had enough.
Strangely, she felt hat this slim,
small girl who was director Of this
organization had grown in stature.
Actually. for half an hour, Fa-
bicnne had not even considered that
the girls dress was of d kind that
she wouldn't even have given her
maid. Eabienne had beer interested
in those foreign statistics. And she
didn't like it. That was going too
far. The presumption of this other
girl to assume that she, Fabienne
W~iIou"hby Seymour, who had been
ri4htful heir to the very walls that
obviously belonged to "our people"
would DC glad to know what her
great grandfather's money was do
ing. Whereas If she had inherited t
-hersclf -
And now" Miss Chapman was
say ~ as they stood 1T the closed
door Of Il small room on the first
lloor, ! shall show YOU our memo
rial to Mr. Willou2hby's mother.
Opening the door, she said, It's
l1tlIer dark in here. All the better,
because | want you to see l
proper lighting effect"
She touched d wall light and u
golden gov spread out from
lsnoath the lamp above a life-sizeG
u.l portrait that hung at one side
Of the room.
l'abienne looked at it with mild
81, iNNoSHiLlilS llC tdISll vi
the painter rather than the sub
1rt. Then she became aware thai
r had once before seen the same
crave face that looked down upon
her in a kindly way. And the brooch
that pinned a soft fischu across the
throat in the portrait--it could be
no other than the one Gertrude had
had set into a clip for Fabienne's
tWenty-first birthday.
5 this is my great-2reat
grandmother" she found herself
= wing. Il once saw this photo
-iaph. I didn't know there was an
oil Of her"
1T was copied from the photo
graph Miss Chapman told her.
"l;ather good, don't you think? 1t
Was done by Rafclli."
"Rafclli, the portrait man who had
the show a month ago." Fabiennn
asked. unbclievingIy. The great
itafc!Ii.
Ellen held the IGOR Cren for Fa-
bicnne TO pass through. She nodded
an answer to Fabienrc's question
and explained. ale was one Of our
boys only ten years ago. In fact,
he learned to paint, at first, in one
of u classes. That vas before my |
time, but we've lots of other talent
in our boys and girls and [ hope
tina some of them will grow up to
ho pr1af ta,, ,, oh, ,.;l III a1
est pride, as if she were the mother
Of those boys and girls.
I'm sure they will" Fabicnne
said politely.
We've taken children here from
the lowest kinds Of backgrounds and
had them turn out the best. It's
work that's interesting"
Yes, isn't it," murmured Fa-
bienne. Tell me what you know
about her." She turned back
to look at the photograph and no.
ticed for the first time the wild flow.
ers, rather sad little bouquets that
had been placed as tribute on the
table before it.
"i. "AlOdSly lOlu us ABOUT leT.
Only the things you must already
know. That she nursed the sick,
gave drink to the thirsty, fed the
hungry and gave hope to men with
out number. And when her son built
this beautiful mansion for her, she
made it a harbor all her life for the
homeless"
Fabienne had never heard that.
But wasn't the de Ligne home a har-.
Dor most Of the time? Weren't her
mothers drawing rooms always filled
with people who came for food and
drink. The idea amused her.
She looked at her watch. II must
CO. she said. Thank you so much
for showing me around"
She held out her hand. The other
girl took it firmly.
will you come again?' she said.
ITO visit?"
"To visit if that's what you
WiSh.''
And what do you wish?"
You can guess my wish. I'd like
to have you come n work with
us. \ portion of your time would
be useful to us. We have paid and
volunteer workers, but we haven't
enough of either. We have about
four hundred people who come to
us, Miss Seymour, for teaching, for
all the pleasure they have. Some of
them depend on us for their clothes,
for their work: their whole future
depends on what we equip them
with-equipment to meet the prob
lens you and I would never have