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------- -- -------- TIMES, SATURDAY, -tR ee ™----- A, 5 Helen of the Old House Chapter 1 . THE HUT ON THE CLIFF No well informed resident Millsburg, when referring of, ! industry of tle acturing city, ever says " mills"--it is always "the rif ; The reason for thiy common habit of mind is that one mill so overshadows all others, and Somineten the industrial and civic of this community, that in the people's thought it stands for all, he philosopher who keeps the cigar stand on the corner of Con- gress Street and Ward Avenue ex- plained it very clearly when he an: awered an inquiring stranger, "You common impulse, other, "{kindled in the eyes of the boy as he of met the girl's look of understand- to i his little like a man. show of courage, he went to the stairway and climbed boldly up-- six full steps, looked down, 'I don't dast, don't leh STAT SUE they faced each The. quick fire of adventure ng. 'Let's go up--stump yer," he sald,, with a dare-devil grin. "Huh, yer wouldn't dast." "Womanlike, she was Loplug that he would "dast ' and, with the true instinet of her sex, she chose (unerringly the one way to bring about thie realization of her nope. Her companion met the challenge With a swagsering Then he paused and Just can't think Millsburgh with yon out thinkin' mills; an' you can't Jhing mills without thinkin' the As he turned from the cash re- gister to throw hig customer's change on the scratched top of the glass show case, the philosopher added with a grin that was a curi- ous blend of admiration, contempt and envy, An' you just can't think the Mill without thinkin' Adam Ward," That grin was another his faltering spirit, "Dare dare yer--dare yer," From the lower step she spurred yer---- He came reluctantly down two steps, "Will yer go up it I du?" She nodded, '"Uh-huh--but yor gotter go first." He loo" 4 doubtfully up at the edge of the cliff so far .bove thew, "Shucks," fe said, with conviction, "ain't nobody up there 'cept ! Interpreter, an' that dummy, Billy | dis Rand. I know 'cause Skinny Davis tinguishing mark of the well inr gu' Gpuck, Wilson, they told me, formed resident of Millsbhurgh, At ways, in those days, when the ciir' can't do nothin' "They was up--old Interpreter. He to nobody---he sens mentioned the owner of the int' got no legs." "Mill, their faces took on that cur | ous half-laughing expression 'envy. But it has come to pass that in these 'days when the people speak of Adam Ward they do not smile When they speak of Adam Ward's dau; ater, Helen, they smile, in- deed, but with quite a different meaning, The history of Millsburgh is not essentially different from that of i& thousand other cities of its class, Born of the natural resources of the hills and foregts, the first rude mill was located on that wide sweeping bend of the river, Abvut this industrial beginning a settle- ment gatheved, As the farm lands of the valley were developed, the rallroad came, bringing more mills, And so the town grew up around its smoky heart, It was in those earlier days that Adam Ward, a workman then, patented and Introduced the new Jrosiss. It was the new process, ether with its owner's native genius for "getting om," that, mn time, made Adam the owner of the Mill, And, finally, it was this com- bination of Adam and the new pro- ceps that gave this one mill domi. ion over all others, As the Mill increased in size, Im» yortance and power, and the town grew into the city, Adam Ward's material possession were multiplied many times, Then came the year of this story, It was midsummer, The green, wooded hills that form the soithern boundary of the valley seemed to be painted on shimmering gauze, The grainflelds on the lowlands across the river were shining gold. But the slate-colored dust from the Bharat streets of that section of iligburgh known locally as the "Flats" covered the wretched houses, the dilapidated fences, the hovyels and shanties, and everjthing gnimate or inanimate with a thick costing of dingy gray powder. Shut in as it is between a long curving line of cliffs on the south snd a fow of tall buildings on the river 'bank, the place was untouched by the yetrashing breeze that stirred the trees on the hillside sbove. The bot, dust-filled atmosphere was vibrant with the dull, droning voice of the Mill, From the forest of tall stacks went up in slow, twist- ing columns to stain the clear blue can't talk. neither," of the expedition, maybe he ain't there--we catch him out, What d'yer Will we chance it?" its low, . irregular, boarded and storm-beaten half hidden in a tangle of vines ten, and bughes, the little from a distance, as though it might once have been the strange Labita- tien of some gigantic winged crea- ture of prehistoric ages. may be reached from a seldom-used road that leads along hillside, a quarter of a mile back from the edge of the precipice the prineipal connecting link be- tween the queer habitation and tre world is that flight of rickety wood- en steps, Gravely. she coasidered with of him the possible dangers cf the mingled admiration, contempt and proposed NO lc hpele @ has got legs," Rand 'He can't hear nothin', though-- said the leader "An' ocsides might say? She looked up doubtfully toward the unknown land above, 'I dunno, will we?'! * . "Bkinny an' Chuck, they said the Interpreter give "em cookies--an' told 'em stories too," "Cookies, Gee! Go ahead--I'm a~ comin'. That tiny house high on the cliff at the head of the old, zigzag stair- way, up which the children now climbed with many doubtful stops and questioning fears, 18 » land- ark of interest not only to Milis- urgh but to the country people for miles around, the perilous brink [of patient fortitude, and of sor: Perched on patched The place the steep but Taking advantage of an irregu- larity in the line of cliffs the upper landing of the stairway Is nlaced at the side of the hut, In the rear, a spall garden the uncultivated life of the hillsiGe by a fence of close-set Across structure, well out on the project- ing point of rocks, and reached only through the interior, a wide strong- ly railed sheer wall like a balcony. is protected from pickets, the front of the curious porch overhangs the With fast-beating hearts. the two small adventurers gained the top of the stairway, Cautiously they looked about--Ilistening, conferring in whispers, headlong retreat. ready for instant, The tall grasses and floweriag weeds on the hillside nodded sleep- gky with a heavy cloud of dirty brown. The deep-toned high wall of cliffs, ed them unkept heads munity, One was a sturd nine Hy whistle of the Mill bad barely called the workmen from their dinner pails and bas- kets when two children came along the road that for some distaacc follows close to the base of that By their raz. , nondescript clothing which, "o Fay the least, was scant enough to #fford them comfort and freedom of limb, and by the dirt that coy- from the erowns of their to the bottom bare, unwashed feet, 1: was easy to identify the children belonging to that umtidy com- y boy of eight neglected years. On rather heayy, freckled face and in ®harp blue eyes there was, al- look hardness that is {pile of magazines and papers on the his ily in the sunlight. A bird perched on a pear-by bush watched thew wtih bright eyes for a moment, then fearlessly sought the shade of the vines that screened the side of the hut. Save the distant, droning, moaning voice of the Mill, there was no sound. Calling up the last reserves of their courage, the children crept softly along the board walk that connects the landing of the stair- way with the rude dwelling Once again they paused to look ana listen. Then, timidly, they took the last cautious steps and stood 'n the open doorway. With big, wondering eyes they stared into the room. It was rather large room. with a low-beamed ceiling of unfinished pine boards and gray, rough-plas- tered walls, and wide windows. A greep-shaded student lamp with a table caught their curious eyes. and they gazed in awe at the long shelves of books against the wail. {Opposite the entrance where they stood they saw a strongly made workbench. And beneath this bench and piled in that corner of the room were baskets--dozens of them--of several shapes and sizes: while brackets and shelves above i} ; g i 5 ¥ N : i Lo il : B : l : : were filled with the material: which the baskets were woven. There was very little furniture. The of were bare, the windows with- It was all so differ- that they felt their adventure as- proportions. For what seemed a long time, the boy amd the girl stood there, hesitating. on the threshold, expect- i ing something--anything--to hap- pen. 'Then the lad ventured a bold or two into the room. Hig sis- ter followed timidly. They were facing hungrily to- ward an © door that led. evi- dently, to the kitchen, when = deep woice from somewhere behind them By Harold Bell Wright 0a' of that curving wall of rocks, witn rowful authority, and stantly felt the dominant spiritual weather-beaten roof, and its rough- land mental personality of this man). walls tat all else about him was forgot- hut looks, | CR NR CRE VE A Ye said, "How do you do?" Startled nearly out of their small wits, the adventurers whirled to escape, but the voice halted them with, "Don't go. You came to sed me, didn't you?" The voice, though so deep and strong, was unmistakably kind and gentle--quite the gentlest voice, in fact, that these children had ever heard, Hesitatingly, they went again into the room ,and now, turning their backs upon the culinary end of the apartment, they saw, through the doorway opening on to the bal- cony porch, a man seated in a wheel chair. In his lap he held a hall- finished basket, For a little the man resardea them with grave, smiling eyes as though, understanding their fears, he would give them ime to galn courage. Then he gald, gently, "Won't you come out here on tne porch and visit with me?" ; The boy and the girl exchanged questioning looks, "Come on," sald the man, couragingly, Perhaps the sight of that wheel chair recalled to the boy' smind the reports of his friends, Skinny an Chuck, Perhaps it was something in the man himself that appealed to the unerring instincts of the child, he doubt and hesitation In the urchin"s freckled face suddenly gave way to a look of reckless dar- ing and he marched forward with the waggering air of an Infant bravado, Shyly the little girl fol- lowed, + Invariably one's first Impression of that man in the wheel chair was a thought of the tremendous physi- ical strength and vitality that must {once have been his, But the great trunk, with its mighty shoulders and massive arms, that in the years past had marked him in the multi- tude, was little more than a trame- work now, Hig head with its sil- very white hair and beard--save that in his countenance there was a look of more venerable age--re- minded one of the sculptor Rodin These details of the man's physical appearance held one's thoughts but for a moment, One look into the calm depths of those dark eyes that were filled with such an indescrib- {able mingling of pathetic co.rage, en~ and one go in- Squaring himself before his hos., the boy said, aggressively, "I know who yer are, Yer are the Inter- preter, 1 know 'cause yer aint got no legs." "Yes," returned the old pasket maker, still smiling, "I am toe In- terpreter, At least," he continuea, "that is what the people call me.' Then, as he regarded the general appearance of the children, ana noted particularly the tired fac: and pathetic eyes of the little girl, his smile was lost in a look of ! brooding sorrow and his deep voice was sad and gentle, as he added, "But some things I find very hard to interpret." The girl, with a ghy smile, went a little pearer, The boy, with his eyes fixed upon the covering that in spite of the heat of the day hid the man in the wheel chair from is waist down, said with the cruel insistepcy of childhood, "Ain't yer got no iegs-- honest, now, ain't yer?" The Interpreter laughed under- standingly. Placing the unfinisi- ed basket on a low table that held his tools and the material for his work within reach of his hand, he threw aside the light shawl. "See!" be said. For a moment the children gazed, breathlessly at those shrunken and twisted limbs that res:mbled the limbs of a strong man no more that the empty, flapping sleeves of a scarecrew resemble the arms of a living human body. "They are legs all right," said the Interpreter, still smiling, "but they're not much good, are they? Do you think you could beat me in a race?" "Gee!" exclaimed the boy. Two bright tears rolled down the thin, dirty cheeks of the little girl's tired face, and she turned to look away over the dirty Flats ,the smoke-grimed mills, and the gold the far-away. line of hills, As If struck by a sudden thoughy, the Interpreter asked, "Your father is working now, though, isn't het" "Uh-huh, just now he is." "1 suppose then you are not hum- sy." At this wee Maggie turned quick-' ly from contemplating the distant horizon to consider the possible meaning in the man's remark, | For a moment the children look- ed at each other, Then, as a grin of anticipation spread itself ever hig freckled face, the boy exclaim- ed, "Hungry! Gosh! Mister Inter- preter, we're allug hungry!" For the first time the little girl spoke, in a thin, piping voice, "Skinny an' Chuck, they sald jer give 'em cookies, Didn't they, Bobby?" Uh-huh," agreed Bobby, hope- fully, 1 The man in the wheel chair laugh- ed. "If you go into the house and look in the bottom part of that cup-' board near the kitchen door you will find a big jar and--" But Bobby and Maggie had dla- appeared, The children had found the jar in the cupboard and, with their hands and their mouths filled with cookies, were gazing at each other in unbelieving wonder when the sound of a step on the bare floor of the kitchen startled them, One look through the open doorway and they ed with headlong haste back to the porch, where they = unhesitatingly sought refuge behind their friend in the wheel chair, i The object of their fears appear: ed a short moment behind them, | "Oh," sald the Interpreter, reach- ing out to draw little Maggie with- in the protecting circle of his arm, "it is Billy Rand, You don't neen to fear Billy." | The man who stood looking kindly dewn upon them was fully as tall and heavy as the Interpreter had been in those years before thei accident that condemned him to his chair, But Billy Rand lacked the commanding presence that had onea 80. distinguished his older friend apd guardian, His age was somes where between twenty and thirty, | but his face was still the face of an overgrown and rather slow-witted child, Raising his hands, Billy Rand talked to the Interpreter . In the sign language of the deaf -ani| dumb, The Interpreter replied in the same manner and, with a smiling pod to the children, B.lly returped to the garden in the rear of the house, Tiny Maggle's eyes were big with wonder, "Geel" breathed Bobby, "He gure enough can't talk, can he?" "No," returned the Interpreter, "Poor Billy has never spoken " word," "Gee!" sald Bobby again. "A can't he hear nothin,' neither?" "No, Bobby, he has never hear a sound." Too awe-stricken eyen to repeat his favorite exclamation, the boy munched his cooky in silence, while Maggle, enjoying her share ot the old basket maker's nosgpitality, snuggied a little closer to the wheel of the big chair, "Billy Rand, you see," explained the Int® preter, 'is my legs." Bobby laughed. "Funny legs, I'd n ' agreed the Interpreter, "but very geod legs just the same, Billy runs al! sorts of errands for me--goes to town to sell our bas-| kets and to bring home our grocer- ies, helps about the house and doce many things that I can't do. He ig boeing the garden this afternoon. He comes in every once in a while to ask "if I want anything, He sleeps in a little room pext to mine and sometimes in the night, when | I am not resting well, I bear him' come to my bedside to see if | am all right," "An' yer keep him an' take care of him?" asked Bobby. "Yes," returned the Interpreter. "I take care of Billy and Billy, takes care of me. He hus tine legs but not much of a--but cannot speak or hear, I can talk and hear' and think but have no legs. So] with my reasonably good head and! bis very good legs we make a fairly good man, you see." Bobby laughed aloud and even wee Maggie chuckled at the Inter. preter's guaint explanation of him- self and Billy Rand. "Funpy kind of a man,' said Bobby. "Yes," agreed the Interpreter, "but most of us men are funny ie one way or apother--aren't we, Maggie?" He looked down into the upturned face of that tiny wisp of humanity at his side. Maggie smiled gravely in answer. Very fident now in his super- fields of grain in the supshiey val- ley, to something that she seemed to see in the far distant sky. With a quick movement the In- terpreter again hid his useless limbs. "And now don't you think you might tell me about yourselyes? What is your name, my boy?" "I'm Bobby Whaley," answerea the lad. "She's my sister, Maggie." "Oh, yes," said the Interpreter. "Your father is Sam Whaley. He works in the Mill" "Uh-hub, some of the time he works--when there ain't no strikes mer nothin'." The Interpreter, with his eyes on that dark cloud that hung above the forest of grim stacks, appeared | to attach rather more importance to Bobby's reply than the lad's simple words would justify. Then, looking gravely at Sam Whaley's son, he said, "And you will work im the Mill, too, I sup- pose, when you grow up?" "I dunno," returned the boy. "I ain't much stuck on work. An' dad, he says it dom't git yer nothin', rohow." "I see," mused the Interpreter, and he seemed to see much more than lay on the surface of the child's characteristic expression. The little girl was still gazing at iority over the Interpreter, wl deaf and dumb légs 'were safely out of sight in the garden back of the house, Bobby finished the last ,¢ his cookies, and began to explore. Accompanying his Investigations with a running fire of questions, he fingered the unfinished basket arold Wright Story With nothing but the t houses on the hillsides; still others can see nothing but the farms, It is funny, but that's the way it is with people, Bobby." "Aw--what are yer givin' us?" returned Bobby, and, with an un- mistakably superior air, he again toward the sceme before them, "I can see the whole 'darned thing--1I can," The Interpreter laughed. "Ana that," he sald, 'is exactly what every one says, Bobby, But, after all, they don't see the whole darned thing--they only think they do." "Huh," retorted the boy, scorn- fully, "I guess I can see the Mill, can't 1?7--over there by the river-- with the smoke a-rollin' out of her chimneys? Listen, I can hear her, too, Faintly, on a passing breath of air, came the heavy droning, moan- ing voice of the Mill, "Yes," agreed the Interpreter, with an odd note In his deep, kind- ly voice, "1 can nearly always hear it. I wag sure you would sce tue Mil" "An' look-ee, look-ee," snou(ed the boy, forgetting, in his quics excitement, to maintain this super: ior alr, "look-ee, Mag! Come nere, quick," With energetic gestures he beckoned his sister to hig side, "Look-ee, right over there by that bunch of dust, see? It's our house--- where we live, That there's lony's old place on the corner, An' theres the Jot where us kids plays ball, Gee, yer could almost gee mom fit she d only come outside to tulk to Missus Gratton er somethin!" From hig wheel chair the Inter preter watched the children at the porch railing, "Of course you would see your home,' he said, gravely, "The Militirst, and then the piaca where you live, Nearly every one sees those things tirst, Now tell what else you gee," 4 | see, 1 see " The boy hesitated, There was so much to be seen from the Interpreter"s bal- cony porch, The litte girl's thin voice piped up with shrill eagerness, "Look at the pretty yeller fields an' the green trees away over there across the river, Bobby, Gee, but wouldn't yer just love to be over there an'--an --roll 'round in the grass, an' pick flowers, an' everything?" "Hub," getorted bobby. "Looks ee, that there's Meclver's factory up the river there, It's most ag big as the Mill, An' gee all the sores an' barber shops an' things dowu- town--an' look-ee, theres the courthouse where the jail is bid ded n Maggie chimed in with, An' all the steeples of the churches--an' everythin'," "An tinued the boy, pointing more to ward the east where, at the edge of the Flats, the ground begins to rise toward the higher slope of the hills, "in that there bunch of trees is where Pete Martin lives, an' Mary an' Captain Charlie, Look-ee, Mag, yer can see the little white house a- showin' through the green leayes." "You know the Martins, do you?" asked the Interpreter. "You bet we do," returned Bob- by, without taking his gaze (from the scene before him, while Maggie confirmed her brother's words by turning to look shyly at her new- found friend, "Pete aud Charlie they work in the Mill, Charlie he was a captain in the war. He's one of the head guys in our union now, | Mary she used to give us stuff to eat when dad was a-strikin' the las time," *An' look-ee," continued the boy, "right there next to the Martins' yer can see the house house where Adam Ward used to live before the Mill made him rich an' be moved to his big place up on the hill, know 'cause I heard dad an' an- other man talkin' 'bout it once, Ain't nobody lives in the old houss now. She's all tumbled down with windows broke an' everything. } wonder " He pauged to search the hillside to the east. "Yep," he shouted, pointing, "there she 1s--- there's the castle--there's wher? old Adam an' his folks lives now. Some place to ive I'd say, Gee, but wouldn't I like to put a chupk 0' danermite er somethin' under there! I'd blow the whole darned thing into nothin' at all an' that old devil Adam with it. I'd--" Little Maggie caught her warlike brother's arm. "But, Bobby--Bob- by,. yer wouldn't dast to do thas, yer know yer wouldnt!" "Huh," returned the boy scorp- j, "I'd show yer if I had a net, "But, Bobby, yer'd maybe kill the beautiful princess lady if yer was to blow up the castle ap' every- thin'," "Aw shucks," returned the boy, shaking off his sister's hand «ith manly impatience. "Couldn't I wait 'til she was away somewhere gelse tore I touched it off? Aw', any- way, what if yer wonderful princess lady was to git hurt. I guess she's one of 'em, ain't she?" the tools and material on the y examined the wheel chair, and went from end to end of the balcony porch, Hanging over the railing, he looked down from every possible angle upon -the rocks, the stairway and the dusty road below. Exhaus'- ing, at last, the possibilities of the immediate vicinity, he turned his inquiring gaze upon the more dis- tant landscape. "Gee! Yer can see a lot from here, can't yert" - - gravely, "you can certainly see a lot. And do: you know, Bobby. it ts strange, but what 'you see depends almost wholly on what you are?" The ~~ boy turned bis freckled face toward the Interpreter. "Huh?" different things. Some who come up to wisit me can sol Bathing but the Mill ovet there; 50 seé only the Flats down below; others see the stores and offices; otters Took a Poor Maggie, almost in tears, was considering this doubtful reassur- ance when Bobby suddenly pointed again toward that pretentious estate on the hillside, and cried in quick excitement: "Look-ee, Mag, there's 2 automobile a-comin' out "Yes," returned: the Interpreter,]lad right down there," con-|¢ St timidly back to the side of the wheel chair, the little girl looked wistfully up {oto the Inter ter's "Do yer--do yer know the princess lady what livea in the castle?" she asked. The old basket maker, smiling faced down at her, answered, "Yes, dear, 1 have known your princess lady ever since she was a tiny baby- - much gmaller than you. And dia you know, Maggie, that she was born in the old house down there, next door tu Charlie and Mary Martin?" "An'--an' did she live there when she was--when she was ag big as me?" Bobby interrupted with «n im- poRtant "Huh, I know her brother ohn is a boss in the Mill, He was in the war, too, with Captain Charlie. Did he live in the old house when he was a kid?" "Yes, "An'--an' when the princess lady was little lke me, an' lived in the old house, did yer play with her?" asked Maggie, The laterpreter laughed softly, "Yes, indeed, often, You seé 1 work- ed in the: Mill, too, in those days, Maggies with her father and Peter Martin and " "That'was when yer had yer real, suresnuff legs, wasn't it?" the boy interrupted, '"Yeq; Bobby, And every Sunday, almost, I used to be at the old house where the little princess lady lived, or at the Martin home nex. door, and Helen and John ana Charlie and Mary and I would al- ways have sueh good times to- gether," Little Maggie's face ghone with appreciative interest, 'An' did yer tell them fairy stories sometimes?" Sometimes." The little girl sighed and tried to get still closer to the man in the wheel chair, "1 like fairies, don't I do," and Chuck, they sald yer tol' them stories, too," The Interpreter laughed quietly, "I expect perhaps 1 did." "I don't suppose yer know any fairy stories right now, do yer?" Let me see," said the Interpre- ter, geeming to think very hard "Why, yes, I believe I do know one, It starts out like this: Once upon a time there 'was a most beautiful princess, just like your princess lady, who lived in a most wonder ful palace. Isn't that the way for a fairy story to begin?" "Uh-huh, that's the way, An' then what happened?" With a great show of indiffer- ence the hoy drew near and streteh- ed himself on the floor on the other side of the old basket maker's he answered hair, 'Well, this beautiful princess in the story, perhaps because she was s0 beautiful herself, loved more than anything else in all the world to have lots and lots of jewels. You know what jewels are, don't you?" "Uh-huh, the princess lady she has 'em--heaps of 'em, | seen her once close, when she was a-gettin' into her automobile, in front of one of them big stores," "Well," continued the story-tell- er, "It was strange, but with all her diamonds and pearls and pubies gnd things there was one jewel that the princess did not have. And, of course, she wanted that one parti- cular gem more than all the others. That is the way it almost always is, you know,' Hub," grunted Bobby, "What was that there jewel she wanted?" asked Maggle, "It was called the jewel of hap- piness," answered the Interpreter, "because whoever possessed it was sure to be always as happy as happy could be. And 50, you see, because she did not bave that particular jewel the princess did not have as good times as such a8 beautiful prin- cess, living in such a wonderful palace, with so many lovely things. really ought to have, "But because this princess' heart was kind, a fairy appeared to ber one night, and told her that if she would go down to the shore of the great sea that was not far from the castle, and look carefully among the rocks and in the sand and dirt, she would find the jewel of hap- piness. Then the fairy disappear- ed--poof! just like that." Little Maggie squirmed with thrills of delight. "Some story, I'd say. An' then what happened?" 'Now the beautiful princess did not want to wear that ugly, dirt- colored stone--no princess would you know. But, nevertheless, be- cause her heart was kind and she saw that the poor, crooked old wo- man would feel very bad if her gift was not accepted, she took tha dull, common pebble and pu: it with the bright, saniy j*wels that zine had gathered. "And that very night the fairy appeared to the princess again. " 'Did you do as I told you?' the fairy asked. 'Did you look for the jewel of happiness on the shore of the gea of life?' " 'Oh, yes,' cried the princess. 'And see what a world of lovely ones I found!' "The fairy looked at all the pretty, shiny stones that the prin- cess gathered. 'And what is this?' the fairy asked, pointing to the ugly, dirt-eolored pebble, " 'Oh, that,' replied the princess, hanging her head in embarrass. ment,--'that is nothing but a worthless pebble. A poor old wa- man gave it to me to wear becaus? she thinks it is beautiful.' '* 'But you will not wear the ugly thing, will you? asked the fairy think how every one would point at you, and laugh, and call you strange and foolish,' " '1 know,' answered the prin- cess, sadly, 'but I must wear it be- cause I promised, and because if I did not and the poor old lady should see me without it, she would be very, very unhappy.' "And, would you believe it, no sooner had the beautiful princess sald those words than the fairy disappeared--poof! just like that! And right there, on the identical spot where she had been, was that old ragged and crooked woman, ** 'Oh!' cried the princess, "And the old woman laughed her curious, creepy, crawly, crook- ed laugh, 'Don't be afraid, my dear,' she gaid, 'you shall have your jewel of happiness, But look!' She pointed a long skinny, crooked finger at the shiny jewels on the table and there, right before the princess' eyes, they were all at once nothing but lumps of worthless dirt, " 40h!" gereamed the princess again. 'All my lovely jewels of hap- piness!' ** 'But look,' said the old wo- man again, and once more pointed with her skinny finger,. And would you believe it, the princess saw that ugly, dirt-colored pebble turn into the most wonderfully splendid jewel that ever was--the true jewel of happiness, "And s0,"" concluded. the Inter- preter, 'the beautiful princess whose heart was kind lived happy ever after." Little Maggie clapped her thin bands with delight, Gee," said Bobby, "wish I know- ed where that there place was, I'd get me enough of them there jewel things to swap for a autermobile an' a--an' a flyin' machine." "If you keep your eyes open, Bobby," answered the old basket maker, "yon will find the place ali right. Only," he added, looking away toward the big house on the hill, "you mut she very careful not to make the mistake that the prin- cess lady is making--I mean," he corrected himself with a smile, "'you must be careful not to pick up only the bright and shiny pebbles as the princess in the story did." "Huh--I guess I'd know bet- ter'n that," retorted the boy. "Come on Mag, we gotter go." "You will come to see me again, won't you?" asked the Interpreter, old. "You have legs, you that can easily bring you." "Yet bet we'll come," sald Bobby, "won't we, Mag?" The little girl, looking back at the man in the wheel chair, smiled, For some time after the children had gone the Interpreter sat very still. His dark eyes were fixed up- on the Mill with ite tall, grim gtacks and the columns of smoke that twisted upward to form that over- shadowing cloud, The voices of the children, as they started dows the stairway to the dusty road and to their wretched home in the Flats, came to him muffled and indistines from under the cliff, Perhaps the man in the wheel chair was thinking of the days when Maggie's princess lady was a little girl and lived in the old house next door to Mary and Coarlie Martin, Perhaps his mind stil) dwelt on the fairy story and the princess who found her jewel of happiness. It may have been that he was listening to the droning, moaning voice of the Mill, as one listens to the distant roar of the surf on a dangerous coast, With a weary movement he took the unfinished basket from the table and began to work, But it was not his basket making thas caused the weariness of the Inter- preter--it was not hls work that put the light of sorrow in his dark eyes, As Bobby and Maggie went leisurely down the zigzag steps, proud of the tremendous success of their adventure, the boy paused several times to execute an ine spirational "stunt" that would in some degree express his triumphant emotions, "Gee!" he exulted. *'Walt'tll I see Skinny and Chuck an' the res: of the gang! Gee, won't I tell 'em! Just yer wait, I'll knock 'em dead, Geel" | On the bottom step they de- liberately seated themgelves as if they had suddenly found the duty of leaving the charmed vicinity of that hut on the cliff above im- possible, ! Suddenly, from around the curve in the road followed by a whirling cloud of dust, came an automobile, It was a big car, very imposing with its shiny black body, its gleaming metal, and its liveried chauffeur, The children gazed in open= mouthed wonder, The car drew nearer, and they saw, behind the dignified personality at the wheel, a lady who might well have been the beautiful princess of the Ine terpreter's fairy tale, Little Maggie caught her bro- ther's arm. 'Bobby! It's--it's her --it's the princess lady herself," "Gee!" gasped the boy, "Sh slowin' down--what d'yer----" The automobile stopped mot thirty feet from where the children sat on the lower step of the old stairway. Springing to the ground, the chauffeur, with the dignity of a prime minister, opened the door. But the princess lady sat motion- less in her car, With an expression of questioning disapproval she looked at the Interpreter's friends on that lower step of the Inter preter's stairway, (To be Continued) » Direct fruit service has been opened between Florida and Livers pool, England, Mrs, Clarissa Hickey, one of the founders of Galesburg, Ill, died at the age of 96, Mrs. W. I. Vann was made shere iff of Cameron County, Texas, site as the children stood on the thresh- er her husband's death. Yes, I learned this new Speeduwriting during my holidays WHY DON'T YOU LEARN IT TOO many ty es write 1f with pon oF pone 'Write for Booklet and our money back guarantee. BRIEF ENGLISH SYSTEMS, Ltd, DEPT. ROYAL BANK BLDG. TORONTO, ONTARIO