8 M
The SHMSTER ' GOU
By William Almon Wolf
The; ULK: UJ1AHA, SUNUAl. UClfcMiifcU 4, mi,
A Study in the Inevitable, With
"One Can't Choose One's
Relatives" for Its Cen
tral Theme. .
Mllfl, WORCESTER wu furious. Ann waa
amused; her mother, turning to htr for
support, saw that, and was angrier than
t'r. As fur John AVorcester, he waa puuled.
Me waa prepared to he contrite, but he had net
yet dlni'overeil the exact nature of hi offense.
Still, he waa on the defensive. He waa one of
those men who usually are on the defensive
when a domestic cyclone blows up. Hie etore
nf energy waa not great enough to enable him
to meet opposition at home m he did in hl
office.
"J don't quite understand, my dear," he aald
In a deprecatory tone. "After all, you know, It'a
not my fault that these people are my cousins.
And they're very distant cousin. The aort It
takes you an hour or ao to find out Just how
you're related to them at all, you know."
"They are your cousins." aald Mr. Worces
ter, aiiu wiey rf iinooniui uunuiuioijf imjyuo-
Hible common! I should never have come here
If I lind known .!"
He tried to make something of that. He
felt he was being. stupid. But ho kept on com
ing back to the one point on which, aa he knew,
his position waa sound. A man couldn't aelect
his relatives. The thing wus done for him. And
they were very distant cousins. He hadn't seen
or heard or thouRht of them for years.
Then why did you have to remember them
now?" his wife asked.
"Well I just did," he answered lamely.
"Name of the place reminded me, I suppose.
They always lived here. Had bad luck deaths,
Illness, loat money all that "
Mrs. Worcester looked at Anne, and, for
the tlrst time, met sympathetic eyes. But Anne
looked as though she thought It hopeless to try
to make her father understand.
"Well, we're in for it!" Bald Mrs. Worcester.
"We've bought the place. John, can't you see?
We want to enjoy Renclalr we want to have
nice people for our friends. Suppose they know
theso Frasers are our cousins? This is the most
exclusive place they'd have nothing to do
with us "
John Worcester shook his head doggedly.
' "Lot of snobs," he said decisively. -
"Not at all!" His wife pounced on the state
ment. "People have to be careful in a place like
this. Their young people growing up foolish
ideas. Anne but Anne's different, of course."
She regarded her daughter with a certain pride.
Anne might be annoying at times because of the
perversity of her sense of humor. But she Was
safe arid sound. ' j,, . ' j -
" "Thank you, mother," she said sweetly.
"We can't recognize these people," Mrs. Wor
cester pursued her own theme; gave her words ,
finality. "John, you've forgotten them for years
you can't remember them now. Ihey may
have forgotten tho connection they'may not
identify you. If the thing Is talked about I
shall deny it."
Worcester sighed and looked disturbed. But
he said, "Very well, my dear," as he usually
did when his wife delivered an ultimatum. Ap
parently he was not needed any more, so he
took advantage of the opportunity and slipped '
into the garden. The garden almost reconciled
him to Renclalr, which otherwise he expected to
loathe. He knew what to expect. His wife
was going to try to make him take up golf. And
he was going to refuse. He meant to assert
himself for once.
"It's rotten luck," said Anne when she was
alone with her mother. "But it may work out '
all right Poor Dad can't understand, of course.
Hut think of turning up cousins like that in
Renclalr of all places!"
Anne was a comfort. . Mrs. Worcester felt
better when she looked at her. Sh9 could de
pend upon Anne. When she fell in love, as she
probably would before long, it was certain to
be with a thoroughly eligible young man. She
would attract the young man; numbers of him,
sheep and goats, eligible and otherwise. She
was small and slim, But her slimness was a
rounded one. Her complexion was wonderful;
art may have helped it, but nature had done
much for it. "
You mlsht net have thought Anne beautiful.
But she was certainly pretty. Her nose, a small,
round, impertinent affair, turned up; her mouth
matched it perfectly. Her eyes were lovely,
deep brown, and very big. Her skin was fair!,
save for her brown eyes and hair her coloring
. was light.
" "If only your father will be sensible!" said
Mrs. Worcester.
"He's got to be," said Anne. "And. he is,
about some things. After til -!" ' ,
She looked about the great hall of the new
house. The place was enormous; Interior dec- f
orators had not quite finished with It. Period
furniture was being arranged; the place repre
sented a great deal, of money. " ;
"He's a dear," said Anne. "And he's made an
awful lot of money these last few years, hasn't
,he? Heavens, when I think of how I used to
cry because other little girls always had things
- I couldn't have "
"0. of course," said Mrs. Worcester, ."your
father's a wonderful business man. But he
never seems to worry. I don't think he takes
the Bolshevik! seriously enough, I simply don't
know what we're goins to do about servants out
here." Still, it's the same for every one "
They both went to find the representative
of the interior decorator who had done the
house. Renclalr represented a great change for
the Worcester. "Everything was new and didn't
look it. Things they had bought a week ago
looked like family heirlooms probably were.
Heirlooms of some other family, of course, but '
that needn't be explained.
Anne had dictated the move, of course.. Mrs.
Worcester "wanted her to marry well. A place
like Renclalr offered opportunities; It swarmed
with eligible young men. So did other places;
Mrs. Worcester might have chosen any one of
half a dozen. Ronclair was selected because
Mrs. Worcester" knew Mrs. Martin Foster, who
was of Renclalrs elect no small thing. ' And
some relative of Mrs. Foster's had wanted to
sell this place. So here they were. - .''
Do you know Renclair? You know its
equivalent. If not the place itself; that is cer
tain. A Gothic railway station surrounded by
flower beds. Club cars on the commuting trains.
A few expensive shops near the station. The
customary complement of churches; a school.
Garages. A magnificent country club, with a
championship golf course and turf tennis courts.
There were scarcely a dozen houses north of
the railway tracks that had cost less than thirty
thousand dollars to build. Half a dozen million
aires, perhaps more, since the war, had show
places; there were any number of men who
poke soulfully about income surtaxes and ex
cess profits levies. There were no factories;
perish the thought! Few dwellers In Renclair '
had to struggle along on incomes running to
less than five figures. But there were a few.
Low persons who drove cabs and delivered ice
and otherwise ministered to the elect. And the
Frasers, of course, John Worcester's cousins.
Mrs. Worcester couldn't see why, after for
getting them so long, ha had had to remember
them at all. Tet the thing waa relatively sim
ple. It was the name, Renclalr, that had stimu
lated his memory. When It was first mentioned
"he hadn't really taken it In. He had nothing
-to do with the decision to go there; he left that
sort thing to his wife. She told him, un
doubtedly, and there was a time when he had
to sign papers and checks. But when he actu
ally began living In the place ha learned Its
name; grew used to seeing It on his commuta
tion ttofceC pernors. ... And:
. V got acme cousins here people called
UL ... o &xrdi.iiJi I
L ; -: v,- -- -v " V--. 1 . I
Fraser," he said "one evening. "Mother and her
son. We ought to look them up." 1
His wife was rather awed. That John should .
actually have cousins here struck her as verg
ing on tho miraculous. It was like finding
money in the pockets of an old garment. But
something, some sixth sense, led her to make
inquiries before she said anything. And so the
awful truth came out. These people lived in a
ramshackle old house south of the railway. Even
Renclalr, as has been intimated, had to have its
bit of the proletariat; the institution appears to
be indispensable. But Mrs. Worcester felt it tin
fair that a cousin of her husband's should be
long to it. And the male cousin did; ghastly as
the discovery was, she understood that he drove
one of the station carbs.
Mrs. Worcester was not particularly a snob.
She was simply a realist. She moved to Ren
clair for a definite reason; she had an object.
Kinship with these Frasers, publicly acknowl
edged, woujd lessen her chance to achieve that
object. Renclair, if you please, was snobbish;
could Mrs. Worcester help that?
As for Anne', she stood with her mother. She
wasn't setting out consciously upon a matrimo
nial campaign. But well, is it needful to go
Into detail? Anne had danced with young men,
flirted with them, played with them, thought
about them. She had been kissed upon occa
sion not unwillingly, if the thing . was done
with subtlety and skill. She was normal. - She
had her dreams. Her training pointed to a cer
tain way of making dreams come true.
For a time, as spring wore Into summer, It
looked as though too much had been made of
the Fraser connection. The Frasers did not
approach the Worcesters; made no move toward
claiming kinship. And the Worcesters did well
in Renclair. Mrs. Foster helped. Formalities
at the club were pleasantly out of the way. John
Worcester might' have played as much golf as
he pleased; did, in fact, since he never set foot
upon the links. But Anne developed her game;
took lessons from Sandy Duncan, the club pro
fessional. And she and her mother adorned the"
piazza at tea time.
June saw Mrs. Worcester well pleased. The
male youth of Renclair was as excited about
Anne' as could have been wished. A few mas
culine wings were singed; Anne was in great
demand. It was fairly "- obvious that several
young men were as willing as the late Mr. Bar
kis. Excellent chaps, all of them; sheep, em- ,
phatically, not goats. Wayne Foster,- Jimmy
Wilde, Fred Morgan, Archer " Graham these
seemed to be in the lead.
Anne turned up for her lesson one morning,
and old Sandy limped out from his shop to meet
her. It was rheumatism, he explained. He
attributed his trouble about equally to the ;
dampness and to prohibition. But he begged
Anne not to fash herself, which she had no in
tention of doing in any case, and indicated a
substitute a young man diffident In appearance
,and, seemingly, embarrassed.
"Donald wull gae aroun" wi' ye, miss," said
Sandy, Donald, It appeared, while being young,
still had much to learn about the game, had
sound views. The old Scot was loquacious; most
of his race are, despite current fallacies to the
contrary. So she knew a good deal about Don
ald before she teed her ball; that he had come
under Sandy's eye first as a caddy, had gone to
war, and, having dropped in to see Sandy, was
just by chanqe, available to save a young lady,
herself, from disappointment.
- But It was what she Knew without word or
hint from Sandy that counted. Anne nearly
died. For she knew the rest of Donald's name
Fraser! This was the male cousin. The gor
geous humor of it appealed to her; not for
worlds would she have made an excuse and
escaped. Moreover, to do that would have in
volved hurting Donald, and Anne was not that
sort She regarded him rather furtively; noded
to herself in a surprised fashion. She liked
him; made that decision Instantly. And liked
him, too, by the standards she applied to boys
like Wayne Foster. That was what surprised
her. ' - ' '
Externally, you see, this Fraser owbsin looked
like any other presentable young man. Clothes?
White flannels, soft shirt, good, stoat shoes,
plain tie everything all right there. Face?
Inclined to be square as to jaw and forehead.
She liked his eyes, even if they were blue, and
consequently didn't strain at his blond hair. His
nose waa big. but suited him. He was a big
chap; might have played foot ball or rowed on
a crew if he hadn't been a poor relation unable
to go to college.
She glanced at his hands and frowned. They
were excellent hands and Anne had a way of
judeing people by their hi'.nds. Good, solid, big
angers, but not blunt, Supple wrists of course.
Anne's father blinked when he saw me
His golf implied that Altogether a good look
ing, well built chap. And her mother's habit of
speaking of these Fraser cousins as common -didn't
go with a boy like this. Anne had never
quite liked it anyway. This is rather compli
cated. But these were Ifer father's cousins, and
Anne was related to her father, while her moth
er was only married to him. Things like that
make a difference, you know. , '
The male cousin . didn't play. He watched
Anne's swing; nodded;, had little to say until
she tried her midiron. '. The way she handled it
shocked him; no other word is adequate. ' -
"It's not an Indian club!" he protested. !
"Shorten your swing! Surely Sandy " :
"0, I know," she said. "But I've never seen
why. i want strength." ,
"You've got to sweep under your ball and .
carry through with it. Remember it's not teed
now. Try it again."
He dropped another ball; his tone was per
emptory. It continued to be so. He didn't make
suggestions; he gave commands. Anne found
herself obeying him, too. And she got a four
at the eleventh hole, against the six that had
been eminently satisfactory theretofore.
"You really do know a lot about the game,"
she said. "But you're not a regular profes-
sionai?" : - ' , -
"No," he satdT" "I'm not anything Just now.
I've been driving one of the station cabs, but I
quit. No I just dropped in to "se old Sandy
this morning."
That was the first time she had noticed his
voice at all consciously. It must have had Us
effect, though", in forming that favorable first
impression she had of him. Common? Not
with that voice! And she liked tho way he
talked, too; his choice of words. She was really
grateful when the lesson was over and said so. ,
"You've taught me a lot," she said. "I sup
pose Sandy's tried to tell me the same things,
and I've been stupid. But, anyway, I've learned
them now."
"I'm glad. Miss Worcester," he said
She wondered, Impishly, whether he knew.
Words were on the tip of her tongue; she bit it
to keep them back.
"'Taint; Right,? Complains Veteran Housebreaker;.
Puts Burglar's Curse on Plated Trophy "Mugs"
(From the New York San.)
The elderly burglar, was busy as
sembling the jewelry in the best bed
room when he was startled by an ex
clamation from his junior partner,
whom he had left in the dining room
to pack the table silver. Fearing a
surprise, he drew his revolver and
tiptoed swiftly to "the dining room
door. His junior partner was a
promising and ambitious youth, a son
of his wife's favorite sister, who had
begged the elderly burglar to teach
him the finer points of his calling
and to see that no harm befell him.
Feeling responsible for his safety,
it was an anxious countenance that
the elderly burglar thrust through
the doorway behind his leveled re
volver. "
"Don't shoot, uncle," cried the en
thusiastic boy.. "There's nobody here,
and I'm having a perfectly grand
time. Look at what I've just discov
ered!" And he lugged from a corner
closet, where it had stood on the floor
covered with a tablecloth, a great
ornate silver cup standing on a pedes
tal decorated with sculptural groups
and other trimmings. On the side of
the cup was a graven inscription.
"Why, it's almost as tall as me,"
continued the youth, "and it's awful
heavy, uncle. I guess it must be
worth thousands of dollars. Aren't
you proud of me for finding it?
Won't mother and auntie be pleased?
Don't yon think I'm going to make
a ftst-class burglar, uncle, dear?"
Uncle Is Suspicious.
The elderly burglar sighed as he
looked from the cumbersome mug
to the flushed and eager face of the
boy.
"I $ure likes your spirit, yocng
'un,' he whispered boarsclr. -out you
got a norful lot to learn. Why, that
there mug is a trophy."
"I know it is, uncle. I found that
out already," said the junior
burglar proudly. ' "It was won by
the gentleman of the house in a golf
tournament at his country club and
there must be pounds and pounds of
silver in it, besides the beautiful gold
that the inside of the cup is lined
with."
The elderly burglar smiled tenderly
at his assistant, whose eyes reminded
him of his dear wife's in their court
ing days just after he had served
his first stretch. He shrank from
bringing disillusionment into the lad's
bright face, but he had promised the
young fellow's mother to make a
burglar of him.
"Don't you get discouraged, son
ny," he said with, a smile full of
fatherly tenderness. "Them athletic
mugs has fooled older folks than you,
but the wise burglar gives them the
acid test before he undertakes the
labor of humping 'em off the prem
ises. "There's mugs and mugs, sonny.
Some of 'em are all they pretend to
be, but others are like Dead Sea
fruit wot you read about in the holy
book scrumptious to look at, but
all dust and ashes when you get
your teeth into 'cm. Many a hard
working burglar has been cruelly de
ceived by wot was called a 'silver
cup' ghrea by some club or associa
tion. "Not Fair."
"It ain't right, my son. It ain't
fair to us housebreakers. When we
enter a gentleman's home we have
a right to expect that everything is
on the level. But wot happens? We
find a beautiful shiny, silvery mug
with his name on it, a trophy pre-
tented to him
and looked a if he might try to run away.
i Sandy said she would probably have-to put
; up with Donald for two or three days. As for .
him, he didn't know when he'd be about.. If it
was the week end, now, there were two or three
members still had something in their lockers.
' But until then, between the dampness and the
drouth well, they'd never made him think that
war was a good thing.
Anne was still chuckling to herself when she
went home. In the beginning she meant to tell t
her mother, because it was so funny. But she
; changed her mind. She couldn't depend on her
mother's sense of humor; she would probably
forbid more lessons from the male cousin. And
: Anne wanted them; he put it all over old Sandy
' as a teacher, she thought What her mother
didn't know wouldn't hurt her. - t
That remained to be seen. There were fac- '
tors for which Anns didn't allow. The male
-youth of Renclair, heretofore mentioned, was
stifl about. Anne had a good deal of what
pleasant old ladies call attention. Dances at
the club, you know; rides in chummy roadsters:
moonlight piazzas and others not so lighted;
kisses, once in a while.- This story is not Victorian,-
and it has to recognize some of the
prevalent kisses between young people who
aren't engaged and don't particularly want to ,
be to one another.
- Something had to be settled, Anne knew
that. She didn't intend to become one of those
girls who are Just kissed. . .
There is too much emphasis, it appears,
upon this matter of kisses. Actually there
weren't so many; Just enough to make Anne
- rather thoughtful. After all, kissing. a young
man, or being kissed by him, or both, is or
are a way or ways of discovering the advisa
bility of further proceedings culminating In ar
rangements with florists and organists. You '..
do understand about Anne that she was a per
fectly nice girl and all?. -
Well, then, this was what troubled Anne.
Being kissed by Wayne Foster was so much like
being kissed by Jimmy Wilde or Archer Gra--ham.
Consider the kisses as symbols; Anne
. did. They were symbols of the same thing. And
Ann didn't want to marry a man whose kisses
or somethin', a-settin' up on his
dining room sideboard, or maybe on
a pedestal in" the li'bry, and we wrap
it up carefully so's not to scratch it,
and hook it into the bag with the
rest of the vallyables. But in nins
casesout of 10 when the fence gets
hold of it he finds out it's only plat
ed, and no good for melting 'down.
Maybe a pawnbroker would lend 75
cents or $1 on it! . ...
"It's surprising how. many of them
trophies got pawned by their own
ers, and how surprised the owners
are when they find out from the
pawnbrokers that their 'silver cups'
were base metal all the time. It
makes me smile to think of the roar
we made when we found Out during
the war that the kaiser's cup, which
Wilhelm Hohenzollern presented for
a yachting race, was made of pew
ter. However, it's natural to expect
solid silver from an emperor, even
if you don't from a back lot homing
pigeon club.
"But don't jump to the conclusion,
sonny, that every trophy is shoddy.
Some of them are on the level, and
they are the burglar's delight, be
cause the owners are proud of 'em
for the first few years and keep 'em
on display where it's an easy thing
for us to find 'em. They can be
melted down for the metal, or, if the
inscriptions-are not cut too deep,
they can be turned over ta a clever
engraver to be erased or woven into
a different design."
Acid Test
"Oh, uncle, what a lot you know!"
cried the burglar's junior partner
with an artless sigh. "Are yoa go
ing to give this mug the acid test?
The elderly burglar smiled fondly
into the eager face of his a ";ant
and produced a small bottle of v. ::ich
for hurdling or bocJgfth glass stopper wai held
pleased her no more than those of three or
four other young men. It struck her as tame.
She had an idea that there was a way of kiss
ing and being kissed that was as yet beyond
her experience. ,-, -
Anne, you will observe, was making prog
ress.. She was doing come original thinking
upon matters obscure and profound. She was
using neither the phrases nor the mental pro
cesses of Freud or Bernard Shaw or any of the
other philosophic thinkers about love, but she
was digging, in her own way and In her own
sort of soil, for the same truth.- Her methods
: were strictly empirical. But. the fact that she
thought about thorn afterward makes all the
difference. About the kisses. '
She wondered one day, out of a. clear sky,
as it were, what it would be like to be kissed
.by a male cousin. . . . .
That affair had been going on in the most
casual and Indeterminate fashion. He had,
without discussion or arrangement, supplanted
Sandy as her teacher; the two of them had
some understanding, - she supposed. All she
knew was that she continued to pay Sandy;
rathe, that her father did when he settled his
house account, The male cousirf just continued
to turn up every day after Sandy was perfectly
well. ; . . c:
The lessons were pretty perfunctory now;
what they really did was to play eighteen holes
together. He gave her some advice. But she .
headed the woman's handicap list now and was
quite good enough for tournaments had she
cared to enter them. They talked about golf, of
course, in the main, put there were other top
ics. She asked him about the war. He had
been In aviation. Pressed, he admitted that he
had got across. Yes,, he'd brought ' down a
Boche, he thought Later, having Investigated,
she accused him of having been an ace. ' He
remarked that that sort of thing was all rot
whether you got a lot of Huns or not had been
all luck. And she'd better watch that left shoul
der of hers on her drive. She was getting care
less. He was severe about her form the rest of
that day.
So she wondered, that accidental day, about
a rubber cap. With his jimmy he
made a small scratch on the silvery
surface of the cup. To this he ap
plied a drop of aqua fortis adhering
to the stopper of the little bottle.
The liquid foamed up and turned
green. . . .
"Eighteen carat base meta!,"
sighed the veteran housebreaker.
"But don't you be downhearted, lad.
Run along to the icebox and see if
you can find half a chicken or a ham,
and maybe a bottle of - somethin'
worth while. I don't think this here
family is coming back before night,
and I want you to taste some of the
pleasures of a burglar's life."
Aviators Must Be Able
To Hold Their Breaths
One of the most telling tests for
fitness for aviators is the length of
time that a man can hold his
breath. The average time that a
normal person can keep in the
breath after a deep inspiration varies
from 40 to SO seconds.
Persons suffering from chronic
bronchitis cannot hold their breath
longer than 21 seconds; consumptive;
only 14 seconds. The fact that one
cannot old one's breath for long,
however, doesn't necessarily imply
deficient lung power. Many persons
who can inhale a large volume of air
are quite incapable of holding the
breath for a normal period of time
The Grand Prix, conducted by the
Automobile Club of France, in 1922
will enter only special racing ma
chines. The new rules apply to tour
insr cars of 210 kilos C4fi2 nminrUt
dead weight in the bodies to repre
sent three passengers. The driver
must be alone in his car and may not
firmly by
take on supplies during the race.
' having him klea her and looked at ltlm In
curious, speculative way. And about one min
ute later ceased wondering. Hit knew.
(the knew many things. That, when h had
suspected that tt waa possible to be kUned with
results entirely different from those achieved by
the Measra. Foster, Wilde,- Morgan, llraham,
etc., etc., she had been perfectly rlaht. For
when the mala coualn kissed ones one lost one s
breath and one's hair became disarranged. And
one clung to htm and kissed him back, and
couldn't be kissed enough and knew knew
what It waa to love and be loved.
"Don!" she aald, and sank down on the tur
shaken and aenred. Only to be caught up and
kissed again. Sweetheart, he railed her; silly
things like that. And she loved him and every
thing he aald and did.
"You O, Don you're my cousin sort of
did you know?"
She was awfully frightened wben she had
aid that. And the way he nodded didn't rins
sure her. "You'll hate me. I'm such & beastlji
' little nob."
Hut he didn't hate her at all; wasn't going
to hut her. And he'd always known they were
cousins. He laughed about It. And about the
way she and her mother had felt. She didn't
wonder until later how he knew that.
They didn't really talk, you know; It would
be ridiculous to try to set down what they said.
Neither let tho other finish a sentence, llut
they communicated some things. Her mother
would be dllllcult. He didn't care. Hut her
v father was a dear. Ho wasn't to worry. lie
didn't mean to worry nothing to worry about,
now! Hewas a poor relation, of course many
interruptions just then but in the extremeely
near future he wasn't going to be so darned
poor at that. He thought they might go and
toll her mother tight away.
But then she asserted herself. It was about
time. He had been in control to a dangerous
extent up to then. But she must decide about
telling her mother. Couldn't he see that? Ho
yielded tho point. But he had to see her that
evening. - She said that could be managed;'
she'd get away and meet him. On a corner
she didn't care! He thought she ought to meal
his mother. A wise woman. She could advise
them. Anne wanted to meet his mother, of
course?
So, ultimately, they parted and she wentJ
home to lunch, and her mother took her call
ing that afternoon. Mrs. Worcester had no sus
picions; she Just commented on how patlcu
larly well Anne looked and purred when she
saw the way Wayne Foster's mother looked
at her. , - ,.
Meeting Don in the evening was sbbitrdly
' simple. Young men were always dropping
around when Anne was sitting alone on the
I piazza, and carrying her off. So she Just went,
and he was waiting for her. Her mother, If she
" missed her at all, probably thought she was
motoring or sitting in the garden. And all the
time she was walking down toward the low
quarter of Renclair and being kissed, between
lamp posts. To her complete satisfaction. She
was making further discoveries about being
kissed by the male cousin. It was not only
different from having any other young man
do It; It was different every time ho did it. And
. she hadn't dared to hope lor anything so thrill
ing as that. " .
She loved his mother. Mrs. Fraser knew
all about everything, and took Anne into her
arpis and kissed her and laughed a great deal,
and wouldn't listen to any apoligies.
"My dear of course, I understand," she
said. "X know I'll like your mother. And your
father's a dear. I've always liked him,":
"I suppose he's changed since you knew
him," said Anne. "But he Is sweet."'
"He hasn't changed so very much," said
Mrs. Frasej". , , , ,
; ,: Anne stared. Don laughed,
"Your father's a traitor, sweetheart," said
he. "Do you know what he's been doing? Sneak
ing down here and getting mother to make old
fashioned strawberry shortcake for himj"
"My dad!" Anne collapsed. "The old wretchl
But what you must have thought of raotlter
and me."
"Not a bit of it," said Don. "We're not proud
even if we ' .
"Don!" Mrs. Fraser checked him. She
looked severe. ... .-".,
"What is it? You've got to tell me!" said
: Anne. 5 -
"Of course, I have, mother! You don't
know her yet the way I dp." He did say that;
he really did. "She'll love It."
"I'll kill you if you don't hurry and tell me."
"I can't hurry. It's too complicated. Do
you know how we're related? It's like this. My
mother's grandfather - disappeared after her
father was born. " And after a while her grand
- mother married again married a Johnnv
called Worcester. . ,-He was your great-grandfather
do you see? But? we had the same,
great-grandmother. That's how we're cousins."
"I know. I made dad explain It to me." .
"All right. But the old bird who disap
peared wasn't dead at all! I think our great
grandmother must have been a Tartar. 'Any
way, he didn't die for years and years after she
married again. - No one knew it until Just lately.
But you know how a scandal is It always
.comes out " -.
"So she wasn't really married to my great
, grandfather at all?"' " . .
He nodded, and Anne, became hysterical. '
They were all trying to laugh themselves to
death when her father came In. He blinked
when he saw Anne and looked as if he might
try to run away, but she clung to him very
hard, and somehow the three of them made
him understand the situation.. He seemed to be .
pleased not about the marriage that hadn't
taken place, you understand, but about the ona
that was coming. And he kissed Anne and
wiped his glasses, and tried to say something
, to her and Don, and made a bad Job of It. And
r then he turned oa Don as if he were very
angry- '
"Weil!" q said. "I got the' final renort about
your patents today, young man!"
"Yes?" said Don, as if other .things Inter
ested him more.
"They can't find anything wrong with
them!" said Anne's father, indignantly, "So
I told them to go ahead and Incorporate. I
WinnMA ( f OI1W Mian- .a!h0 , . t. .....
' ' - " .' - VU V. U J i .1 1)1 I Jit? CUIIl-
merciat airplane industry it might as -well be
"O'oh!" said Anne. "Now I know why you
worked around that garage Instead of having
a regular Job!" - .
There were a lot of explanations, of course,
with everyone talking at .once.' W was John
Worcester who pave voice to the thought that
was beginning to hang like a pall in the room.
"Your mother, Anne," he said, jiervously.
iAii s go up ana ten tier now. all of us,"
said Anne.
MoUon carried with Mrs. Fraser's amend
ment She would stay at home.' So they set
off, and Anne, most unfairly, sent her father
ahead to break the news gently. The natural
result was that her mother really was on the
verge of hysteries when she and Don appeared.
"Anne, is your father quite mad?" she de
manded. "He has been talking about a young
man and airplanes and his grandmother.'
She discovered Don Just then and was froien
into silence, like a pointing dog.
"Poor dad!" said Anne. "He never can get
the stmaest thing straight when he tries to ex
plain It, You see. mother, Don and I have the
same great-grandmother, but her first husband
didn't die when he disappeared."
Her mother shrieked.
vn nicB 10 ien me mat again
"0, dad did tell you, then? WeH. can't yoa
see, mother, dear? I think It's nt nf rw,
He's going to marry me so that I can share his
great-grandfather, as long as I haven't one of
my own. He's going to make ao honest woman
of me:" ,
(Copyright, Hll, by William Almon Wolff.)
