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THE BEE: OMAHA. SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25. 1921.
SNOW IN THE PASS By Georgia Wood Pangbom
The Story of, the Bizarre
Christmas That Was Borne
In on the Wings of
Storm and Peril
MARTHA CARTER and her brother
Thomas had stayed lata at th camp,
Martha to (t toms ntudl of late autumn
foliate, Tbonia for th huntlnir. but they had
meant to t back In town for Chrlstma with
th family, because Helen, the married one, wa
to be there, showln oft her husband and two
perfectly good babl" never before exhibited in
the t So Mar. and Thomaa would not
have mined Christmas at home for anything.
The Idea was"that they would leave on the
fifteenth and motor down. You got auch rip
llnr acenery by the way and there wasn't
enough snow to matter; the roads were atlll
good. Anyway, Martha wanted to see the snow
on the mountains as a climax to her autumn's
work. They might even stop for a sketch or
two.
But the valloy folk thought them pretty rash
to put off their going so long. And, as Martha .
dllly-da'icd throuKh the sixteenth and seven
teenth Thomaa himself began to fret. She
wanted to finish something. Martha's way! It
was the twentieth before she woke up, and they ,
did not actually start until the twenty-third.
Martha was three years older than Thomas and
had ruled him from Infancy, even after he shot
np to six feet, leaving her somewhere In the
foothills of stature Ave feet two or three. But
almost almost he threw oft her yoke that
day.
Eh anld unconcernedly, looking up at tha
ominous blank whiteness of the sky. that It
would be all the nicer to get home just on
Christmas eve.
Thomaa said nothing. He merely threw In
his clutch and leaped forth upon the highway
with temper and haste.
"Hiram Harwood said !t would he all right
as soon as we got through the pass," oald Mar
tha, "That's the only place where the drift
are llkelyto be bad."
Thomas said nothing. (
The pair of them were as fuzzy as bears In
their furs, as cozy as If they were about to hlber
nate, and the car was as large as a small house,
glassed in and padded everywhere. What space
was not taken by the hamper for Martha's ex
tensive picnicking and by her cord or so of
canvases and their two valises waa stuffed with
the real Christmas green they were taking back
to the niece and nephew. They even had a
beautiful little spruce tree on top, supposed to
be superior in some way to a tree bought in
the city.
"I'm glad we waited," said Martha equably.
' "It's going to be perfectly ripping. I hope it
does snow."
Thomas said nothing.
"We'll get to the pass after luncheon time,
won't we!" she asked as she curled down,
yawning. She had worked late with her de
layed packing and was sleepy.
"Mhm," said Thomas. He was not In
Christmas spirit at all.
And then, as Martha pleasantly drifted Int
a nap, the snow began to come. Very softlj
tha individual flakes falling with feathery slow
ness, yet the general impression of the whol
was of tremendous swiftness. Thomas set hi.
Jaw and went full speed ahead.
It waa two hours before Martha woke. A'
first she smiled, the thick whiteness waa so
lovely. Then she sat up straight with a hall
guilty frightened smile. Her eye was caught '
by the yellow curvo of Thomas' snowshoet
. where they showed above her massed greenery
Sha had been openly scornful when he had
grimly placed them there instead of leaving
thera at camp as usual Now well he looked
from them to the storm, bit her Hp, and blushed.
Still.i they were entering now between the high
gray walls of the pass. The road must still ba
good. And if Thomas scooted
Thomas was scooting, all right.
Two inches of snow In the open may become
something very different when caught between
two cliffs, marching shoulder to shoulder for a
mile or so with barely room for a road to
squeeze between. And two inches on top of
two inches makes four inches. Thomas stopped.
A beautiful, motionless, curving wave of
white rose -before them. It was already ten
feet high and the wind, pouring between those
gray walls, was still busy with it What it
would become by night, which would begin to
rlose down in. two hours who could predict?
Even as it was it waa enough, quite enough.
Thomas looked at it. Martha looked at it.
Thomaa did a mean and cruel thing. He took
his hands from the wheel, lit a cigar, and, hav- .
Ing pulled a newspaper from his pocket, leaned
back in a carefree attitude and began to read.
"Darn you, Tom!" cried .Martha, twisting
her small hands in his coat collar. Thomaa
read on undisturbed, folding the paper to a
different angle as he continued perusal of the
nrticle he had begun.
"Tom, please! Don't stop to punish me now.
pet back while there's time, please!"
"Huh? O. all" right. Anyway you say "
and the car roared like a giant wasp in a spider
web. But while they had been scooting and
during the valuable minute and a half which
Thomas had utilized in teaching his sister a
Sesson events had been shaping behind them. .
The great car backed ten twenty feet, and the
Wasp found that the spider had been silently
spinning. There was a great deal of web now. I
It took an hour to work up to within a hun-
dred feet of the jaws of the pass an hour of
wrath and patience, of Martha's contrite tears,
of roaring and wheedling. Two hours more of
effort that led nowhere at all. Than night came
the deep night of six o'clock and two flakes
were falling where bi t one fell before. Four
Inches? Twenty at least, and twenty inches
may mean twenty feet when drifted. Easily.
Even as Thomas seized a moment for ex
hausted meditation, the signs of their frantic
retreat out of the pass were quietly Covered
lover as if they had never been. And the car
was not only hub deep, there were no tires vis
ible at all only a black box. motionless like
a waterlogged boat, wearing a ridiculous mob
cap of white where their Christmas tree and an
xtra trunk had proudly ridden a-top.
"Yon take your snowshoes," said Martha,
her face as white as the drifts, "and go back to
tha first farmhouse. It's that gift shop place.
You know. We got some postcards there last
summer. Pretty girl and two awfully nice
babies. I can stay here all night, and you can
coma back with men in the morning and dig
me out. I shall be' perfectly c-comfortable."
Thomas strapped on his snowshocs without
comment, then, opening the door, held out his
big arms with a grin. -'
"Get aboard." he said simply.
Martha settled firmly In her seat, assuming
her customary elderly dignity.
"Don't be silly" she murmured.
"Hurry." aaid Thomas, "before I drag you
out by the scruff of your neck. Shucks. Kitten!
Don't cry. Why. this isn't anything but on
big lark. Hold on Just get out the thermos
bottle, will you? 'Leave the tree and the paints
and the trunks. They'll be all right till spring.
There you are. But can tha tears. . They'll
, freeze In my neck. Gee! what a eell to have It
happen tMs way with nothing but a sister:
Tha babies and Chriigja and Helen,' -
Next. Sunday "Reading Sign" bukemeth b. clarke .-Next
whimpered Martha, "but for nie we'd have been
thera now."
"They'll all keep," ha said comfortably,
swinging off Into the wblta chaos, "except
Christmas, and there'll b another Just aa good
next year."
"Tha car f
"NobodU steal It It'll b right thera when
tha snow goes off In spring. These things hap
pen now and then up here, Hiram waa telling
m yesterday."
"You knew, and yet you let ma"
"O, well! I thought maybe we'd get through
ill right Now don't talk Just keep a lookout
for that gift shop of yours. Wa don't want ta
puss it In this muss. If it's empty we'll break
In, Most of these bungalow things are empty,
But that one was an old farmhouse as I recol
ct It might keep open tha year round."
But after they had been going In silence for
'hat seemed a long time Martha said in a
red tone:
"But how can we be sure we're keeping tha
d road at all?" And then, perhaps because
ha wriggled, perhaps became he was weary,
lis shoes caught and they plunged forward.
Now it is not safe or w:se to go head first
into a deep drift when y have snowshoes on.
But Martha was quick r.. I sensible. She dug
down to his nose and got him air, and then
loosened his shoes so he could right himself.
Then she unscrewed the thermos bottle.
"Ten minutes," gasped Thomas, "for refrteh-
lents."
SkoalJtr to shou'jr in
Statuetqa immo' .ity tkty
Mtted until h wa Jutt $U
tt dittant, thmn taddanly
taij in mmton, " Good mora
ing. Hr. -
Their wallowing had made a deep cut or
nest, in which for the moment they Vf-ere re
lieved from the wind. The character of the
snow was changing. It was becoming fine and
hard, like sand, and the blowing of it was like
a desert dust storm. It was also growing colder.
Thomas remarked equably as ha drank hot
coffee that there seemed to be something like
winter on the way, and he added, quoting from
he deathless scarecrow:
"Cool weather we're having for July."
"Now," said Martha with her old bosslness,
"what we're going to do is this. We're just
going to burrow right down here like the babes
in the woods and hibernate in our furs till
morning. Then you can dig out, put on your
snowshoes and go find that gift shop."
"Right as always," said Thomas, "but we '
won't. Because there's a light."
Not a light exactly, but a difference in color
In one direction the purplish gray of the storm (
taking on a subtly warmer tone toward their
right Thomas whistled through bis teeth as
he hurried on his snowshoes.
"I wish you'd let ma walk," fretted Martha
as he swung her over his shoulder, but he did
not sea mto hear.
No shape of house appeared, but the glow
Increased, haloed and amorphous as in a fog,
then narrowing down to the definite outline of
a window, wreathed round . and about with
white. If there were steps leading up to it
they were now covered in level with the road;
if there was a porch that, too, was one with all
the rest Thomas walked straight up to the
four shining panes. The glass was patterned
lightly with frost, but the interior was dimly
visible. Thomas set Martha down in front of
the door.
"Now you do the kndcklng," said he. "This
rart of it is up to you. I saw a woman in '
there."
So Martha knocked. But, though there wa.'
a sound within, It was not that of steps ap
proaching to undo the door. It sounded more
as if somebody had suddenly started to move
furniture about Thomas glanced in again at
the window. A face looked out for an instant,
indistinct behind the frost then in a curiously
clumsy way a bolt was drawn and a key turned.
Tha door opened Inward and the snow that had
drifted against it rushed In ahead of them,
stretching half way across the room in a carpet
of white, while the wind, coming up behind
threw more over their shoulders. They could
hear it hiss aa it struck the stove at the farther
side of the room.
"Ah!" apologized Thomas. "Now that's too
bad," and ha stooped to struggle with the drift
and close the door In the storm's face, while
Martha conferred with tha girl who stood smil
ing rather stiffly, seeming none too cordial, in
spite of their plight But as to that she had
a plight of her own to worry over. For as she
stood she kept one knee upon the chair, which
sha had pushed in front of her in order to reacb
tha door, this being the explanation of tha de
lay and tha noise of moving furniture.
Her foot was awkwardly bandaged, and as
sha smiled perfunctorily she caught her lower
lip between her teeth as if in pain. Ashes were
scattered about tha stove, and the stove itself
waa a haggard sight sprinkled with bits of
bark, and dusty. Its front door stood open to
admit one end of a four-foot log, the other end
resting in a discouraged way npon the floor, .
and beside the stove a number of rugs were
drawn into a tvlo. with soma pillows at one end,
as if sha bad been lying thera ta ba near tha
log and push it in as it burned without having
to get up for the purpose any more' than was
necessary. In one corner of the room were a
few branches of greenery, a Christmas wreath
was hung over one corner of a chair back, and
some tiny sweaters and red mitens and leggings
were drying on another.
"You must make yourself as comfortable as
you can," said she, when Martha had explained
matters sketchily. "I do wish I could help, but
I hurt my foot yesterday "
There came a small, sleepy sound from thf
next room. She touched her lips with hei
Inger.
"They're hardly asleep yet," she whispered
.varningly. Thomas and Martha froze in atti
:udes of silence.
"Anjy!" said a little voice.
"Well, dear?" '
"Do ycu think Peepsy will lay her egg for
'hristmas?"
"Perhaps, If you go right to sleep and don't
vake sister."
"But, Anjy!"
"Well?" - 1
"Did somebody come?"
"Yes, dear."
. "Was it was it was it "
A word was whispered, but the girl heard
t. She answered gently.
"No, dear, not daddy."
"I thought , , . Christmas . he
light."
"Not this' Christmas, sweetheart"
She turned to look at a framed photograpl
)f a young man In an aviator's helmet hanging
beside a photograph of a happy young woman
in bridal wreath and veil. Over the aviator'f
picture was a flag with a gold star. Not this
Christmas no, nor any Christmau.
Observing this picture and its symbol
Thomas felt humble and young. His growth
had been an affair of such recent date that
while this fellow had been getting his gold star
he had been a Boy Scout merely.
A long silence followed, during which tht
Irl held her head bent attentively in the dlree
ion of the door. Presently she nodded with
i little confidential smile.
"He goes off like a log when he does go
tnd then an earthquake wouldn't wake him
soor mite! He's been such a man since I hurt
ny foot He and sister even got in this lop
between them."
"I'm not a doctor yet," said Thomas, "bu;
I'm going to be. Better let me in on this i'
you haven't had a real one."
"O, thank you," said she, "but it's nothing
-eally. I did a perfectly silly thing. Our
'hlekens are in a crazy old barn, and the door
won't stay shut without being braced by a great
beam. It slipped and fell as I was putting it
up last night and as I drew back to keep from
being hit I stepped square on to a great win
nail in a piece of crating the children had been
playing with."
Martha shuddered. Thomas set his Hps and
bent over the foot with a professional air. The
bandages were clumsy, but tha skill of the
future surgeon was foreshadowed In his big
hands. He looked at the small wound with ar
anxious eye.
"O, it's a clean wound," said the girl calmly
"I used sterile water. But it almost went
through, yoa see. That little bruise on the in
step shows where the point stopped inside. I
was wearing tennis sneakers and tha soles were
worn thin."
Thomas did It up In a mora workmanlike
manner.
"Yes, I guess you've done about all any one
could have done for you," he conceded, "but if
Wa can dig our way to tha car tomorrow I can
get some iodine and put a few more frills on
tha dressing.'
He rose and looked with a quizzically inter1
eyebrow at the log deploying over the floor.
"Mind if I try to improve on it?"
"Isn't it horrible!" said she. "Poor babies
.tow they worked on it and how proud they
were! But all my wood is that length. I've
been sawing it to stove length as I needed it.
But I thought it would burn like this 6afely
enough tonight and I would stay here and shove
It in as it burned until it was the right length.
If you don't mind getting yourself a hand lamp
from the kitchen and finding the woodshed. It
would be glorious to have a log the right size."
As the door closed behind Thomas, Martha,
who had been looking intently from the girl's
face to that of the bride in the photograph,
xnade an exclamation.
"But," she said, with catching breath, "but
-you you're" Marian Applegate's little sister!
Tou're little Jean Applegate. I had a dance
With you at the Bleecker house when she
brought you up for Prom week. And we sat
next each other at senior dramatics!"
"And you," cried the girl, after a startleo
alienee, "you were the class genius, Martha
Carter. I waa so scared and so honored "
In the woodshed Thomas confronted a smal
company of four-foot chunks. One of them
lay across a saw horse, half cut in two, a rough
bit of oak, that pulled smartly at his muscles
before he had finished the job. When it had
fallen sullenly apart and he was gathering its
halves Into his arms, Martha came out, her
'?yes wide and black with excitement, and shut
he door Into the kitchen carefully behind her.
"Tom," said she, "It's Jean Apple-gate, thi
'ister of that Marian Applegate, who married
Ranney Bakerton that was killed in France.
Ranney never saw the boy, and Marian died
when he was a few weeks old, and on top of
that they lost all .their money, and there was
Just this girl to look after Marian's babies.
Think of it! She's nothing but a kid herself.
Why, she isn't even as old as you are. Marian
waa one of the richest girls in college; kept a
saddle horse, had lovely gowns, gave to all the
different funds, helped our poor girls on the
sly that sort. And then Jean found that this
old house up here waa, every blessed thing they
had left Jean had never had any useful sort
of training. She says she was stupid, but, of
course, that's a He. Then she got the idea
of having a gift shop here. It seemed practi
cable enough, right in the route of summei
autoists. ' But Bhe had to look after the chil
dren, too, you see, and she wasn't used to that
or to business. It hasn't panned out very well
I've looked Into the shop. It'sfull of unsoI
stuff.
"Tom! There's hardly a week's ration.
They're positively on the edge of starving Th
flour barrel is so clean it isn't even white inside
She pretends she was expecting supplies tomor
row, but there's a little hand mill with cracked
"orn in it the sort that's used for chickens
tnd I swear to you it's the nearest thing to flou
ir bread that's been in the house for weeks."
"Why aren't the children sick, then?" sain
Thomas, after a moment's grave consideration
"With things as bad as that I should think
hey'd have all sorts of things the matter with
hem."
"Chickens!" said Martha, in an awed tone
'She kills them herself and makes broth for
he children."
They looked at each other soberly.
"I guess," said Thomas, as they turned tO'
ether toward the kitchen, "it's Just as well
e're where we are."
The oak chunk, confidentially snuggling' iti
old, dry cheek to the red one of the now
shortened log, presently caught its neighbor's
enthusiasm, and together they sent up a Joyous
roaring. Martha set about tidying up, while
lean resumed work on the lengths of bright
'olored paper chains that seemed to be her
hief effort at Christmas decoration.
"There are some old things left over from
ast summer's stock that I'm planning to bring
mt" she remarked. "They will help out but
I'm afraid we'll have no tree. I'd meant to
ret one today, but what with my foot and the
mow . However, I'll spread my chains as
'ar as they will go and make the most of what
rreena wa have.
"We'll have a tree, all right" said Thomaa
"ernly. Jean looked up radiantly.
"O. if you could!"
"Jean," broke in Martha, having put the
room and dustpan away and returned to the
Ire, "haven't you any relatives at all? Wasn't
hero anybody?"
"O, why. yes." she said, "relatives, of course.
They made all sorts of offers. They meant to
be kind, but somehow none of them could take
both children. Some wanted little Ranney and
soma Marian. And my older sister would have
been r'ad to rive r a bnme. Kh r1'y nded
me. I suppose, to help her 'out with bet babies;
but I knew Marian would fl so bid to hav
them saparatrd, and I knew sha trusted ma
Buora than aba did any ona else. I told them all
I thought I eould make out this way. and they
1st ma try. They'd lost a good deal, too. They
Were really glad to ba i of tha responsibility
But maybe waa wrong. I waa wondering II
1 ought to write and ay thay could do things
fcr us their own way. Yet It seems a pity, be
eause as tha children grow older, and wa hav
nr garden and chlrkens everything will com
ut all right if w can only hold on But now"
Bhe rose and adjusted her knee again to th
hair, "I'm going to turn In with the babl
nd let you two have all th rest of tha house.
hlrh Isn't so hospitable aa it seems, because
lure's only on upstairs room furnlhd and
( no blanket for that bed. But tf Mr. Car
'.tr can b comfortable In these furs and Mis
Carter can make out here by tha lira. It m
not ba ao bad,"
Martha assured her that it would not ba bad
but very, very good much better than th
snowdrift that they were preparing to Inhabit
when they saw her light and went with hef
to help put tho injured foot ' to bed, while
1 Thomas took a hand lamp and went on a search
for the on furnished room overhead.
H found It to b directly over th room hi
had Just quitted. It was warmed a little by the
Itoveplpe passing through It. and at first it
seemed not greatly unlike other rooms; ob
served carefully, however. It waa but a clever
sham of packing boxes and chlnts. Even the
bed was nothing but a set of springs set upon
boxes Instead of a bedstead, and the pillow
which stood up solidly with a courageous port
vhen punched proved to b full of beach leaves
tind corn husks Instead of feathers, while the
nattress was only a eack of husks, lumpy,
rustly. Nevertheless he was comfortable and
deepy and glad to be alive.
As he dropped off ha was drowsily awart
that the snow was lessening and that the pallor
ef moonlight waa in the room. When next he
opened his eyes the moonlight was coming from
another direction, and the moon itself, a quar
ter section, was sparkling in the frost of th
Window. Looking at his watch, he found It was
Uready ( o'clock, and he was desperately hungry.
It was a moment' before he remembered
Martha's report of the attenuated larder of
his snow beleaguered house. Then Ilk a blow
ame memory of an Inventory she had hastily
and secretly given.
"One pound of salt pork, one bushel of ap
ples, half a bushel of potatoes, cracked corn
Ed lib, but the chicken kind, no coffee, or tea,
or sugar, or flour."
To this he added the chickens and O, yes,
eggs, of course. At least the little voice in the
darkened room had made mention of a certain
Peepsey who had something to do with eggs.
The whole situation was a little funny, but
mostly it was something else. Thomas sat up
!n his furs, the husks beneath him rustling
crisply. The unsympathetic moon looked in
upon him the moon that sees so much trouble
nd never does anything about it
The undulating whiteness lay as clear as
iaylight, sweeping down and then up to the
foot of the mountain, where in the laws of the
pass their car was quietly hibernating. Re
membering the bitter miles of darkness which
he had traversed the night before with Martha,
che gray walls of the mountain seemed start
llngly near, and as he looked upon them tha
contents of Martha's hamper grew vivid and
desirable. Mountains of sandwiches out there
under the snow chicken, ham, roast beef
akes and plea
And Jean Applegate's cheeks were so hol
low, that girl younger than he? Only 19,
then. Why, at 19 a girl should ba dancing and
oollng around going to parties.
He dressed by the simple process of picking
"P his shoes, and stole with burglarious softness
townstairs. Martha did not wake, and there
. was no sound from the other room. In the
woodshed he found his snowshoes, strapped
hem on, and, finding a shovel that he had noted
he evening before, put It over his shoulder and
tarted out.
The mountain rose clear, yet phantomlike,
iefore him. He could even make out s solitary
'Ine leading out from a foothold so slight that
ut little snow found lodgment about its trunk.
Ie thought he remembered such a tree leering
t him out of the storm just at the moment he
tad wrathfully abandoned the car.
But the surface lay blank beneath the tree
.'hen he had reached it. How deep, then, did .
his buried treasure lie, and where then would
ne start digging for it?
Then he spied now a mound by a depression
-a wave mark, like the dimple a brook makes
iver a bowlder or like the dent of a giant
numb. He tightened his mouth and burrowed
nto the calm depths.
The snow turned pink and gold about him
.s he came to the valises and to that Christmas
iree which would never now wear glass balls
in tinsel for the niece and nephew in New
York. From this he worked down along the
mooth black enamel and glass of the door. But
"y the time he had conquered the flying white
nowder sufficiently to get It open the whole
vorld about him had blazed into blinding gold
The hamper was heavier than Martha by
iwenf- five, perhaps fifty, pounds, so, since it
had no feelings to be considered, he hitched a
strap to one end of it and dragged it behind
him. Sut the sunlit snow was now so bright
that he had to keep his eyes shut to a slit and
pull the visor of his cap low. Half blind and
without raising his head, he retraced his own
tracks, and so, before he was aware how far
he had come, he felt the blue shadow of the
hotise cover him, and looked up to see the boy
ind girl awaiting him upon the white mound
which marked the porch steps.
Tweedledee was half a head taller thai
Tweedledum, and her hair curled beyond her
knit bltio cap beautifully. ' Tweedledum had
darker eyes and was squarer of Jaw and snub
bier of nose. Otherwise. In swathed corpulence,
expression and attitude they were the same, and
each held a small fire shovel Shoulder to choul
der In statuesque immobility they waited until
he waa just six feet distant then suddenly said
in unison. "Good morning, Mr. Carter." after
which they hopped a little, to Indicate relief
from tension and duty well done. Thomas was
not thinking of his own manners Just then, and
bis answer cams awkwardly, but they covered
his confusion tactfully by laying hold of the
hamper. They would carry it they said, quit
11 by themselves. So he took it by the middle
and they added their weight to either end and
were borne along.
"Is It Christmas things?" asked Tweedledet
her soft voice broken with happy awe.
"Well," said Thomas thoughtfully, "tha
would be telling. And, anyway, it isn't mine." .
"Is it Martha's?" Acquaintance would seen.
'o have progressed since he left
"I suppose it might be," he said Judicially.
"It's to eat!" said Tweedledum in a shout of
triumph.
To eat to eat!" rejoiced Tweedledee. "Then
we don't have to eat Soggy Sally!"
"Who Is Soggy Sally?"
"She's the oldest She's a Brahma. We
were going to have her for Christmas dinner,
but maybe wa wouldn't have anyway, because
Anjy hurt her foot So maybe ah wouldn't be
able to get down cellar to"
Tweedledum broke off with a solemn look
and kicked the snow frownlngly. Plainly on
did not rare to speak of certain things.
Tweedledee. however, went cn to mak It
plain.
fhe dues it dgn celiac after r uleep.n
said ha a littl sadly, "than wa don't thm
until they're all clean and pinky yellow and
ready for tha ovn. W don't mind. At least,
ot vry much. Of cour, It dpnd om on
ho it U. W aren't very fond of Soggy. tlll
"How about rpyT Ua sh laid that
hrlstmaa t$tV
Tha pair threw off th gloom occalond by
h momentary contemplation of Bogey' pos-
!bl nd, and answered partly In unison, partly
4 swift relays:
' "W'r Just going out to the bam to a.
Vt'va mad ber a neat. And when we've dug
t path to th barn we'll brlns her In. But first
'!! tak th basket In for you."
Martha opened th door upon this rolloquy.
f'h wa wearing a buntalnw apron, and behind
her th room hid already thrown off It look
of troubl. so that on saw what Its character
had bn befor th girl' mishap. I.Ik th
room overhead. It depended largely upon chlnts
for Its expression, and now that th stov was
black and th floor clean of ashes It seemed
) smtla bravely, as th girl herself was smiling.
Sha sat In a wooden rocker, work'ng on
some aJTalr of bright scraps which she hid
under a towel as the children cam In. Th
hollows In her cheeks were even plainer by day
light, but, as to the foot, sh Insisted that It was
almost well, and in spit of Thomas' most pro
fessional manner would let him do nothing
nor for It. Unless, sh promised, It should
1 worse.
"Well," said Martha, "the potatoes are about
on. I knew, of course, you'd bring something
ack from the wreck." .
A table was already set in the kitchen, and
thither Tweedledee and Tweedledum closely
following with their shovels th hamper was
taken, opened, and made to disgorge heaps of
sandwiches, a Jar of marmalade, and th mak
'ngs for hot chocolate.
"I couldn't mash the potatoes without but
er and mil!:." whispered Martha, "and the alt
pork was too precious to us up before I mad
sure you would bring something. Do you know,
fhe's shy about th neighbors! Too proud to
let them know she' up against it, I suppose.
But later on I wish you'd see if you can't get
to that house where there's smoke and see if
vou can't find soma milk for the babies. I
lon't believe they've had any for ages. Look
t them now!"
Tweedledum and Tweedledee had ranged up
side by side in front of the table with a glazed,
hypnotic look, their eyes wholly engaged by
the food. They did not recover consciousness
even when their wraps were peeled off, their
hands washed, and handkerchiefs applied.
"You know," confided Martha, ''they're not
so fast as you'd think. But they haven't ex
actly suffered. It's plain they've been getting;
whatever there 'was . . . still ... I
wonder what she'd have done if we hadn't "
"Don't!" said Tom, turning away to look out
of the frosted window. Then they brought Jean
In, in her chair.
And when she saw the food Just sand
wiches and marmalade and cocoa and her own
potatoes she acted hypnotized, too. She sat
back in the rocking chair and stared and grew
white; took a spoonful of the cocoa which
Martha had poured for her, smiled about at
them weakly, looked at the children, already
silently engaged upon the sandwiches; at Mar
tha, and then, in a frightened way, at Thomas.
Suddenly sha pushed back from the table and
tried to rise.
"Don't let them see me cry," she muttered,
staggering to her feet, but sha wasn't quick
enough. Her weeping had Its way like lea
going out in spring.
Being a cub doctor, Thomas understood. Be
ing a woman, Martha understood perfectly. But
it was terrible, especially when the children,
after a moment of open mouthed horror, joined
in at the top of their voices.
"You see," she said, when the storm had
subsided and the children, smiling but still wet
eyed and sob shaken, were once more busy
with their sandwiches, while sha was being fed
at Judicious intervals with tea and toast which
Thomas had suddenly decided was a safer diet
than chocolate for a person who had apparently
been rationing herself Just as near to nothing
aa was compatible with life "you see. It came
over me suddenly. You people, out of the world
I used to know it was as if somehow you had
come from them." She struggled again for
self-control and won. "I've been a little lonely
here," she said, "and not sure I was doing what
they would hav wanted me to do for the
babies."
"Well, you were," said Martha sharply. .
"Now take this tea, and forget everything but
that it's Christmas tomorrow."
The girl was leaning back now on Martha's
shoulder, but Thomas was still at her side, and
It seemed the most natural thing in the world
that after professionally counting her pulsa
which had leaped to a hundred and forty, then
fallen back to a hesitant eighty as the storm
subsided, he should keep the hand that lay so
unresistingly in his. So thin so marked with
heavy work!
He thought of all the thiners It had been
doing; of the constant care of the children, of
the pitiful paper chains, of the grisly horror of
its conquest of doomed and struggling chicken
"In the callar when we're asleep." Once it
must have been like the hanils of other girla
that he and Martha knew. Now it wa.s like
those of any working woman, chapped, . cal
loused, tho nails broken, marked with old and
recent burns, chafes, cuts. But he thought aa
he looked steadily upon it that there was no
'ault in it at all.
His meditation was interrupted "by an odd '
lock from Martha. Whereupon his face took
on a deep damask, and", defiantly releasing tha
hand, which had not seemed aware in the least
of his worship, he strode to the window, wher
he stood, whistling and drumming on the pan
'or a long time.
It was a window looking out from the sid
f thp house directly upon the barn, which, as
Is the fashion of the region, faced the road,
dioulder to shoulder with the house. The snow
tarted .on a level with the window sill, thn
iwept up In a graceful curve, as tho wind had
nolded it, to the upper window where th hay '
as forked through into the loft.
The wooden shutter of the window had been
ung ajar and twisted askew by the storm, and
row its Mack oblong was crowded with tha
tharp, peering faces of chickens, their yel!ow
weathers and scarlet combs brilliant In the sun
light But even as Thomas looked the foremost
bobbed her head in a sort of salute, unfurled
her wings, squalled and leaped. 8he salted
yelling across the space. landed in the drift
Just outside the window, and, with outspread
wings keeping her afloat upon that hlte sea,
quietly settled down, cocking an expectant yel
low eye up at him. But the children had recog
nized her votes and cam shrieking:
"Peepsey. Peepsey, Peepsey!" they shrilled.
"She flew! She's coming In for Chrirtmas"
So th window was opened and Thomas
pulled her out of the drift and she wa broueht
to th table and finished breakfust wi'h ths
family, being held first under Tweedtedum's
arm and then under Tweedldee's. Not that she
was especially hungry, for her crop, being felt
proved fuller than it should be for so early in
th morning. It was mostly corn, for you could
feel the kernels plainly, and as to her gizzard it
was grinding away like a coffee mill. They car
ried her around and held her up to all the adult
ears that they might be placed in turn against
her silky back and hear her whee's go 'round.
"I suppose now they'll a!l come." aighej
(CMtiirard On Fac Mm B.)
Sunday