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#4 THE OSHAWA DAILY TIMES, SATURDAY, MAY 21, 1932 a OR A PENNY sy Sophie Kerr INSTALMENT 1 The house seethed and buzzed : male and female cousins, second cousins, third cousins, cousins by blood, by marriage and by courtesy, per- haps by wish. There were uncles and aunts, too, of various gener- " ations. The whole Kantfer fam- ily with all its ramifications and connections - had gathered for Emily's wedding to a Northerner. It was to be a very simple home affair. Mrs. Harbeson Crayn, the mother of the groom, Malcolm Crayn wondered with inward irony what would have happened had Emily chosen to be married in church with high formality. "Probably the whole state of Maryland would have attended" she thought, She was confused and dismayed by the restless coming and going, the babble of voices which were soft yet high, the easy quick laughter 'at noth- ing at all, and the lack of ord- ered set hours for rising, for go- ing to bed, for eating, for every- thing! It was not so in the prim old New England city where she lived and when she had journey- ed to see her only child married. with cousins, know, and Emily's worth your suffering, isn't she?" "Yes, Malcolm, she is, she is indeed. Emily is remarkable.' H's mother said. it sincerely. However trying she might find Emily's family and surroundings, she did not discount Emily, She could nbdt imagine, to tell the truth how so lovely a girl had ever been born into such a mil- feu; she suspected that Emily was a throw-back to some ob- scure Northern forebear. In all the minors and discords of this household, Emily invariably, to Mrs. Crayn, struck the right note, Mrs. Crayn felt that Emily her- self might have come from Massa chusetts, She had been greatly dismayed when Malcolm had written to her barely three months before that he was going to marry a South- ern girl. He had gone down to the old Chalybeate Springs for a week in March, following an at- tack of flu. There he had met Emily, and they had wasted no time in falling in love. His moth- er had read his letters with ex- asperation which she was well aware it would be useless to show. Southern girls, Mrs. Crayn don't fret," pinching her lips. on time down here." And then Emily came in, put- ting on her hat, She stooped and put a soft kiss on the older woman's cheek, "Why don't you come with us? That would be nice." 5 Gracious, endearing little things like that that made Emily so different from all the other members of the younger genera- tion known to Mrs. Crayn, She looked up gratefully at the slen- der, smiling girl. "You're just the sort of daughter I'd have picked out fcr myself, Emily. Mac is fortunate, and so am I,' she said, in a rare burst of frank affection. She went with them to the open front door and watched them go down the path under the high maple trees. The Rallifers "Nothing is -had no real lawn, no proper land- scaped arrangement of shrubs and flowers and evergreens. An old wistaria vine fought with ap upstart honeysuckle for the priv- ilege of shading the porch, and the thick, untrimmed ivy trailed over the front of the brick house At the back there was a garden INSTALMENT 1: "Don't let anything happen, will you?" .' be together." ¥ "I'l never let anything happen. We'll always ° Mrs, Crayn didn't understand , how Mrs. Rallifer managed to keep any servants. 5 Yet she couldn't see that Mrs. , Rallifer's maid or the two women * who came by the day to help-- all negroes--minded the irregu- lar schedule in the least. In fact, ./ they seemed' to like i* would leave the sweeping to run it. 'I'ney an errand, or delay the dinner for an hour or two with pericel [© good nature. They were too good .! * mer. matured, Mrs. Crayn thought, and they were certainly far too famil- far in their speech and their man- They always listened to the conversation at table, and some- | times actually joined in it, and © when they saw her in the morn- "ing they were just as apt as not to remark, "That shu' is a pret- ty dress you got on, Mis' Crayn, an' setg you off mighty well," in a warm admiring way which was strangely agreeable, Moreover, Mrs. Crayn admitted that the house was clean--though * shabby--and the delayed meals were delicious, though personal- 'ly she comsidered so mich hot ! bread very unhealthy. The + cakes and pastries too--tearful '| one of the rare moments when , they were alone. * ly rich! She would be glad when "the ceremony was over and she could get on the train for home, ' unbuttered toast, plain stewed i fruit, and her one well-trained personal silent servant. She ' jntimated' as much to Malcolm in "Well, darling, bear up for my sake," he urged her, "I'll never ed but this once, you knew, were all empty-headed, giggling flirts, crazy to get mar- 'ried, mocking the dignity of the intellectual professions when combined with spinsterhood, ex- travagant with money, careless, lazy housekeepers, mere light- weightg as citizens, and (whisper ingly) too often over-sexed! In spite of this catalog of short: comings and delinquencies, Mrs Crayn recognized that if Malcolm took it into his head to marry a Southern girl she might as well accept it as she had accepted the other things in her life which she did not choose. In this spirit she had written to Emily, but from Emily's first letter, and from the sight of Emily's photo- graph she began to wonder if perhaps she might have been too sweeping in her condemnation of Southern girls. She also began to be fond of Emily, and at the end of her journey from Massa. chusetts to tide-water, Maryland for the June wedding, with her first glimpse of the girl, she was completely won. Not, it must be confessed, entirely to another idea of Southern girlhood. There was Lucy Coleman, for example --the cousin who was to be the sole bridesmaid--Lucy was ali that Mrs. Crayn considered Southern, and more,-- put Emily was an exception. Emily was quite another type. . "I wonder where she 1s," sald Malcolm impatiently. "We've got to go to the train to meet old Tory Birch, and it's high time to start." ' "The train will not be on time, without order or plan, just flow: ers and vegetables growling lav- ishly together, and a tottering grape abor down at the far end along with lilac and snowball and mock-orange bushes. Ever since her arrival Mrs, Crayn had con- sidered mournfully what possibil- itieg the place had, what it might be if put into the hands of a trained Massachusetts landscape artist. But at this moment she did not think about the house or the trees or the garden, only of Emily and Malcolm, young and hanpy and so much in love, as they walked away from her. "They're simply beautiful," she murmured. And they were beautiful. They were both tall, they were both straight and alertly poised, there was an almost classic proportion. of their bodies with their heads: Malcolm's color was clear and dark, his eyes blue-grey, a cleft cut the determination of his chin: Emily was white-skinned, the thick wave of her hair a fair brown, and her very long lashes gave her brown eyes a delightful naive shadow; she had small cap- able hands with pointed. fingers, her wrists and ankles were round and slim, and there was about her the distinction of good blood not yet pinched out in thinness and sterility, Emily was all alive, a creature of infinite possi- bilities. Mrs. Crayn watched them out of sight, then turned back to the hall warily. She meant to get off to her room without being netted in one of the endless tPifl- sald his mother, ing 'eonversations that went on among the Rallifer kin. The reason the house was so empty of them at this, moment was that they were all out through the countryside, gathering flowers to trim the house for the wedding, but Mrs, Crayn feared that two or three might have been left behind, and she knew that Em- ily's mother and father, if they saw her alone, would with mis- taken but genuine kindness press their company upon her. She did not understand them, Mr. Ralli- fer's easy-going assurance that everything would be done and done well in plenty of time-- though she didn't exert herseif to aid--exasperated the lady from New England. When she reached the haven of her room she sat down and did some hard and heavy think- ing on the problem which had been knotted in her mind ever since she arrived and even ve- fore that. Mrs. Crayn lived on a small, fixed income, an insured annuity which her husband had taken out for her a short time before his death. It was her custom to save from {it each month a small sum which in time rolled up into sufficient to pay for something special, a short trip abroad, the doing over of a room, a fountain for her garden, a fur coat--Iluxuries which other- wise she would have found too extravagant. When Malcolm wrote her of his coming marriage she was just about ready to treat herself to a summer holiday on the Brittany coast, in company with her best friend, Edna Shil- ton, principal of the local high school, who therefore, had a long vacation. At Malcolm's news Mrs. Crayn had at once told Edna that she couldn't go to Brittany this year, for the money she had saved must be her gift to her sop and his wife. After buying a new gown for the wedding and pay- ing for the trip to Maryland there had remained a thousand dollars and a check for this amount was in Mrs, Crayn's handbag, still unpresented. That was what troubled her. She want- ed to give it to Emily, and she wanted to tell Emilv to take care of it and not let Malcolm have the spending of it.--and how te ro about such a delicate matter she simply couldn't decide, It seemed so disloyal to Malcolm, and yet, her conscience remind- ed her that it was her plain duty to put Emily on her guard against that cheerful irresponsi- biliy of Malcolm's in regard to money. It would save so much trouble for the girl later. On the other hand since Malcolm had been down in New York in business- -and such a good posi- tion with the Union Title and Mortgage Company,---he might have grown far more steady and sensible financially, He might. but then again, he might not. If only, thought Mrs, Crayn, if only she could he sure' But when Was she ever sure of Malcolm! He had always been quicksilver, and she feared that he had not changed. Malcolm and Emily had mean- while continued on their way to the station, to meet the hest man, Malcolm's friends and room-mate at Harvard, Tory, otherwise To- land Ramsay Birch, 3rd. "You'll like old Tory. he'! be erazy about you." "I'nn like that anyway." "Yes, vou little villain, I know There are too many of 'em who like you. I've been afraid for my life ever since I came, all your rejected suitors giving me dirty looks as I passed by." "Nobody really minds but Johnny Keller." "Oh, don't they! What about that Stimson lad, and the tall red-headed one and that big ruf- fian you call Bobby something! And others too numerous to men- tion." Emily pretended to sigh. "It's my fatal charm," she said sol- emnly. They looked into each other's éyes, thrilled. "Darling girl, when I think of tomorrow!" said Mal- colm. "Don't let anything hap- pen, will you?' "I'll never let anything hap- pen, We'll always be. together." "And you'll always love me?" "I'l always love you." "I think the train is coming." said Emily as they stood in the waiting-room. "We'll ride back in the hotel hus. I suppose this Tory person will have some bag- gage." Tory Birch, large and gannt and cheerful, was on the plat- form, leaped at them. "The con- demned man in person, and the coming manacle! I'm honored. I'm darned near overwhelmed. I say, Mac, is the lovely lady a real honest-to-goodness girl, or did she stray out of a movie? Whv didn't yon warn me?" "If he uses this line with the cousins he'll be popular beyond words" said Emily. "Cousins! Are there cousins. voung and fair cousins?" "Thousands of them, all over the lot," declared Malcolm, "and you'll be the only out-of-town man." "It sounds like the Mormon elder's dream of paradise. Lead on, do not delay." "You and Tory can ston at the hotel and get him a room and leave his bag. and then come along up home for lunch." said Emily. "Any time after half past twalve." : The flivver hus banged along the street. "Tt's clever looking town." declare Torr. gazing from tide to sid "What d'you mean, clever? and it. "I mean it looks as #f it still had homes in it with people liv- ing in them. Any town is clever to have a few homes these days." Emily looked out of the bus window and thought about the town. She had lived here all her life, now she was to leave it. The sense of her environment was strong on her. "It's mostly homes, and very few of them are new," she said. "We're old-fash- foned people, we live rather slow- ly and we don't like to change. We keep on with our homes and our ideas and our ways pretty much the same from one genera- tion to another, But--'" she roused herself, "we don't wholly stagnate, you know. Down that street there's a shirt factory and over across the river there's a canning house, a big and im- portant and very whiffy canning house. So you see we have some activities. "Yes, just humming with in- dustry," said Tory. "It is a clever town, And I like those old brick herring-bone sidewalks, and the shade trees all along. And yards to the houses, and nice high front porches. No wonder you're a lovely lady. I'd have been handsome myself if 1'd Leen horn in such an atmosphere." "Easy, Tory, remember Emily and I are going to be married tomorrow." "Well, if after seeing me she'd like to change her mind, something 1 could quite under- stand,--I'm more than recep- tive." . "I'll let you know tomorrow morning in time to get another license, if I do," said Emily. "Where are you going now, Emily?' asked Malcolm, as the bus stopped. "Home, along." "You bet. Come on, Tory." They went into the little hotel end Emily went slowly up the street. She could not quite make herself believe that she was to be married tomorrow, that this was the end of her girlhood, that she would go away with Malcolm, forever and ever to be his wife and live in a great city. It seem- ed a fantastic dream, fmpossible that it would come true so soon As she turned up Jefferson Street, and so home across the square, a voung man hurried out from a nearby house and spoke to her, He was thin and sallow I'l walk, Hurry and his eyes were unhappy, and | his voice was too cheerful to be | Johnny Keller are vou doing town all by think this was what natural. 1 "Emily strolling around vourself? 1 showldn't Northern fellow who's taking away from us wonld let von ran around loose like this. You might be kidnapped." All the time he at her with a hungry, and Emily felt so sorry that she conld have cried had been in love with since she conld for the last three vears he asked her to marry him average of once a week til her engagement.to Crayn wag announced give up hope. He went on talking in the same forced way. "You're - going to vou was looking hurt gaze for him Tohnny her ever remember, hnd on an Not Malcolm did he have a fine day tomorrow,--or- dered it from the weather bur- eau myself 'Happy is the bride the sun shines on' and so forth. I hope--I do hope you'rt going to be happy, Emily." She could not be cruel enough to tell him that she knew she was going to be happy, whether the sun shone or not. 'Johnny, you're a dear. You're the kind- est man who ever lived. I'm aw- fully fond of you, Johnny." "But not quite fond enough to suit me," he went on, his lips drawn back in a hard set smile, "and that's the sad truth, Good- bye, Emily,--I'm glad we had this little talk together. Don't forget all your old friends. Don't forget--" They shook hands, Johnny's was cold, trembling. He hurried away and Emily hurried, too, pitying him, wishing that she had not seen him. She was glad when she reached the porch of the Rallifer houses which was full of cousins, male and tem- ale, and the green stuff they had garnered in the morning. Some half had | m-! dozen were engaged in making ropes of crowfoot evergreen, others were untangling long withes of wild clematic, and others were putting branches of wild apple and moun- tain laurel and sweet gum and i black oak into pails of water, the idea being, as Mary-Sue Drayton loudly proclaimed, that the Crayn parlor was to be transformed into a bower, a regular bower. Mary- Suz had won the place as leader in the decorative plans, not only be- cause her disposition was naturally assertive, and her height and weizht impressive, but she had an opulent | background, -- a wealthy husband from Richmond and a big limousine | With a chauffeur. Also was rar eas- |ier to yield to Mary-Sue than tc oppose her, "We'll have a high solid wall oi green leaves right behind the mine ister," she was saving as Emily came up the steps, "and big jars of laurel on each side of him. That'll make the wedding party seem to be standing in a green woodsy glade, far away, sort of, and roman- tic. We can bank the mantelpiece with the roses--we won't cut them till to-morrow morning, The ban- isters can be wound with crowfeet rope this afternoon, then that'll be {done, and the chandeliers, and | wherever else we decided to put it, | And flowers everywhere, on the | tables and chests and on the stair- ase landing, and in the corners of she asked Emily lovely, ( Roney?" sounds usin » has such perfect taste," da Dennis. Cousin r and she did not l to be ousn $s Very po to lose v chance » Mary-Sue. her ¢ shout table for lunch. [ can't make up my mind whether to put twenty places and be com- fortable or squezze in twenty-two," said Mrs. Rallifer. "There are some more presents in the back parlour t vou ought to open and write down." She came close to Emily, whispered: "Has his mother said vet what she's zoinZ to give?" "No, not a word, I'll do the table Malcolin's friend, Tory Birch, 1s here, the one's who's to be best iman. He's awfully nice," i the rooms--do you like the idea, | dreamy small smile. | thing to be nervous abot. "I hope to high heaven he'll take a shine to Lucy Coleman, you know, serivusly, She'd make a good wife for somebody, and stuck away down here who is there for her to get " Mrs, Rallifer at once stopped pré- tending that she meant to set the table and sat down to watch Emily do it. "I simply can't realize that my baby's going to leave me so soon. How will your father and I ever get along without you, I know I'm going to cry my cycs out tomorrow and look a perfect fright." Emily laughed. "You you're only too pleased to have all this party and fuss and you're just panting for the moment when you can come up to New York and visit me and vou know it." "Isn't it fine so many of the fam- ily cculd come to your wedding!" said Mrs. Rallifer. "I only wish the Jameses could have céme, too. It seems funny for you not to meet them till you go up North to live, Louisa was a sweet girl and had a very congenial nature, but my-me, I haven't seen her for over twenty just about your aze. Well, there'll be somebody of your own to have when you get away off there," "I'll have Malcolm. And don't talk as if I was going to Labrador! New York's two hours from Phila- delphia and Philadelphia's five and one-half hours from here, on a poky old accommodation train at that. It's not a full day's trip." "Emily, 1 don't know where you get your mathematical head, | don't indeed. one ever figured out the distance so plainly. Not a full day's trip! That does make me feel more cheerful." "There's the table. Now I'll open the presents, Suppose Cousin Ma,- Sue would mind if I called in Lucy and asked her to help me?" I'd just call her in and not say why. Ma'Sue's so managing, she'd think she ought to be the one to open the presents," Lucy was more than delighted to help in opening presents. You'd think it was Ma'Sue getting mar- ried ana not you, the wav she goes on," she complained. "Emily, has mv beau come yet?' "He'll he here for lunch. You can sit bv him. Write down 'China fruit dish, Mrs. Frazer, Lucy." "Looks just like her, too, heavy and all covered with dewdads. Oh, Emily, I don't see how you manage tp be so calm and cool, and make I..ts and everything, when you'll be wrried tomorrow." imily smiled, a wise, tender, "There's no- Write lown 'Antique silver cream pitcher, fa'- {d | Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Waite. Copy off the address, Lucy, they're friends of Malcolm's mother, I vuess, for I don't know them, and they live up where she does. That's 1 beautiful piece of old silver." "You're going to have your moth- cr's tea-set, too, aren't you?" "Yes, mother insisted that I take t. She and father couldn't afford to buy me anything but my clothes, vou know, and mother said she was zlad to get rid of the tea-set, it's so hard to keep bright. I'm the sixth generation in direct line to have it. Write down 'Painted tin tray, Miss Elvira Marshall! Lucy. Now, think of her giving" me that! It's one that belonged in her fam- ily, and she treasures her things, so. You open those other packages, Lucy." . fraud Your father nor I neither ; DODDS KIDNEY The gong rang for lunch, "In a few moments [ll sec Malcolm," Emily thought, and nothing else mattered. 'Lhe workers from the porch streamed in and the house filled with their voices, Mrs. Crayn appeared staidly on the stairs, A smell of hot savory food drifted from the diningroom, and the tinkle of ice in pouring water was audible. Emily went out alone to the porch and stood where she could not be seen by those inside, Down the street toward her Mal- colm and Tory Birch were walking but she did not look at Tory Birch except to note dimly how plain and awkvard he appeared beside her lover. Her heart and her tender- ness ran out from her body and called to Malcolm, summoned hin, Now he saw her, waved his hands, quickened his step. "I couldn't love anybody in the world but him," thought Emily. "I'd rather be dead than have him stop loving me." Her father came to the door, Emily," he said, "the phone cen- tral called up to see if Malcolm's here, seems he'd left the hotel. It's a long distance call, from New York. Oh there he 1s--you "bring him right along in, I'll tell them he's here." Emily went with Malcoim to the back parlor and closed the doors for quict. She stood outside with sory and waited, and though they could not hear all that he said, a phrase now and then was audible. "You can't do that!" And then, "What --thirty-two? But: I thought--" Later, "It can't go lower, it can't" and "I've not zot another--" and. scll me out--" Tory had been stand- ing silent, disturbed, frowning. He didn't look at Emily and his expres- sion made her uneasy. "What d'you imagine "" she began, when they heard the click of the return- ed receiver and Malcolm joined them. His face repeated Tory's. "It was Hale" said 'Malcolm, "The market's flivved and he's yell- ing for more margin on that Jexley 0:1 I bought." "Say--" began Tory, and then let his glance stray to Emily meaning- ly. Malcolm's eves followed, With an effort he pulled himself together, "No use bothering you about it, angel," he said. "Let's get some lunch, I'm starving. Don't look so serious, it's nothing to. worry about." But behind her back he made a qui¢k significant gesture toward his pocket for the benefit of Tory, and his lips soundlessly said, "Cleaned! (To be continued) NN \ N \ rattled and 4 Ld \ Purr-raor { MEL: > 1 USING GASOLINE KNOCKLESS at the regular price. It's Knockless AT THE REGULAR PRICE