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diff --git a/35077.txt b/35077.txt deleted file mode 100644 index a2c51cd..0000000 --- a/35077.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10449 +0,0 @@ - Girl Alone - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost -no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it -under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this -eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Title: Girl Alone - -Author: Anne Austin - -Release Date: January 25, 2011 [EBook #35077] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: US-ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIRL ALONE *** - - - - -Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net. - - - -By the Same Author - -THE AVENGING PARROT -THE BLACK PIGEON -MURDER BACKSTAIRS -THE PENNY PRINCESS -SAINT AND SINNER -DAUGHTERS OF MIDAS -RIVAL WIVES - - - - -GIRL ALONE - -By ANNE AUSTIN - -THE WHITE HOUSE, PUBLISHERS, CHICAGO - - - - -Copyright, 1930, by ANNE AUSTIN - -PRINTED AND BOUND IN THE UNITED STATES -BY THE WHITE BOOK HOUSE, CHICAGO - - - - -CONTENTS - - - - CHAPTER I - - CHAPTER II - - CHAPTER III - - CHAPTER IV - - CHAPTER V - - CHAPTER VI - - CHAPTER VII - - CHAPTER VIII - - CHAPTER IX - - CHAPTER X - - CHAPTER XI - - CHAPTER XII - - CHAPTER XIII - - CHAPTER XIV - - CHAPTER XV - - CHAPTER XVI - - CHAPTER XVII - - CHAPTER XVIII - - CHAPTER XIX - - - - -CHAPTER I - - -The long, bare room had never been graced by a picture or a curtain. Its -only furniture was twenty narrow iron cots. Four girls were scrubbing -the warped, wide-planked floor, three of them pitifully young for the -hard work, the baby of them being only six, the oldest nine. The fourth, -who directed their labors, rising from her knees sometimes to help one -of her small crew, was just turned sixteen, but she looked in her short, -skimpy dress of faded blue and white checked gingham, not more than -twelve or thirteen. - -"Sal-lee," the six-year-old called out in a coaxing whine, as she -sloshed a dirty rag up and down in a pail of soapy water, "play-act for -us, won't you, Sal-lee? 'Tend like you're a queen and I'm your little -girl. I'd be a princess, wouldn't I, Sal-lee?" - -The child sat back on her thin little haunches, one small hand plucking -at the skimpy skirt of her own faded blue and white gingham, an exact -replica, except for size, of the frocks worn by the three other -scrubbers. "I'll 'tend like I've got on a white satin dress, Sal-lee--" - -Sally Ford lifted a strand of fine black hair that had escaped from the -tight, thick braid that hung down her narrow back, tucked it behind a -well-shaped ear, and smiled fondly upon the tiny pleader. It was a -miracle-working smile. Before the miracle, that small, pale face had -looked like that of a serious little old woman, the brows knotted, the -mouth tight in a frown of concentration. - -But when she smiled she became a pretty girl. Her blue eyes, that had -looked almost as faded as her dress, darkened and gleamed like a pair of -perfectly matched sapphires. Delicate, wing-like eyebrows, even blacker -than her hair, lost their sullenness, assumed a lovely, provocative -arch. Her white cheeks gleamed. Her little pale mouth, unpuckered of its -frown, bloomed suddenly, like a tea rose opening. Even, pointed, narrow -teeth, to fit the narrowness of her delicate, childish jaw, flashed into -that smile, completely destroying the picture of a rather sad little old -woman which she might have posed for before. - -"All right, Betsy!" Sally cried, jumping to her feet. "But all of you -will have to work twice as hard after I've play-acted for you, or -Stone-Face will skin us alive." - -Her smile was reflected in the three oldish little faces of the children -squatting on the floor. The rags with which they had been wiping up -surplus water after Sally's vigorous scrubbing were abandoned, and the -three of them, moving in unison like mindless sheep, clustered close to -Sally, following her with adoring eyes as she switched a sheet off one -of the cots. - -"This is my ermine robe," she declared. "Thelma, run and shut the -door.... Now, this is my royal crown," she added, seizing her long, -thick braid of black hair. Her nimble, thin fingers searched for and -found three crimped wire hairpins which she secreted in the meshes of -the plait. In a trice her small head was crowned with its own -magnificent glory, the braid wound coronet-fashion over her ears and low -upon her broad, white forehead. - -"Say, 'A royal queen am I,'" six-year-old Betsy shrilled, clasping her -hands in ecstasy. "And don't forget to make up a verse about me, -Sal-lee! I'm a princess! I've got on white satin and little red shoes, -ain't I, Sal-lee?" - -Sally was marching grandly up and down the barrack-like dormitory, -holding Betsy's hand, the train of her "ermine robe" upheld by the two -other little girls in faded gingham, and her dramatically deepened voice -was chanting "verses" which she had composed on other such occasions and -to which she was now adding, when the door was thrown open and a booming -voice rang out: - -"Sally Ford! What in the world does this mean? On a _Saturday_ morning!" - -The two little "pages" dropped the "ermine robe"; the little "princess" -shrank closer against the "queen," and all four, Sally's voice leading -the chorus, chanted in a monotonous sing-song: "Good morning, Mrs. -Stone. We hope you are well." It was the good morning salutation which, -at the matron's orders, invariably greeted her as she made her morning -rounds of the state orphanage. - -"Good morning, children," Mrs. Stone, the head matron of the asylum -answered severely but automatically. She never spoke except severely, -unless it happened that a trustee or a visitor was accompanying her. - -"As a punishment for playing at your work you will spend an hour of your -Saturday afternoon playtime in the weaving room. And Betsy, if I find -your weaving all snarled up like it was last Saturday I'll lock you in -the dark room without any supper. You're a great big girl, nearly six -and a half years old, and you have to learn to work to earn your board -and keep. As for you, Sally--well I'm surprised at you! I thought I -could depend on you better than this. Sixteen years old and still acting -like a child and getting the younger children into trouble. Aren't you -ashamed of yourself, Sally Ford?" - -"Yes, Mrs. Stone," Sally answered meekly, her face that of a little old -woman again; but her hands trembled as she gathered up the sheet which -for a magic ten minutes had been an ermine robe. - -"Now, Sally," continued the matron, moving down the long line of iron -cots and inspecting them with a sharp eye, "don't let this happen again. -I depend on you big girls to help me discipline the little ones. And by -the way Sally, there's a new girl. She just came this morning, and I'm -having Miss Pond send her up to you. You have an empty bed in this -dormitory, I believe." - -"Yes, Mrs. Stone," Sally nodded. "Christine's bed." There was nothing in -her voice to indicate that she had loved Christine more than any child -she had ever had charge of. - -"I suppose this new child will be snapped up soon," Mrs. Stone -continued, her severe voice striving to be pleasant and conversational, -for she was fond of Sally, in her own way. "She has yellow curls, though -I suspect her mother, who has just died and who was a stock company -actress, used peroxide on it. But still it's yellow and it's curly, and -we have at least a hundred applications on file for little girls with -golden curly hair. - -"Thelma," she whirled severely upon the eight-year-old child, "what's -this in your bed?" Her broad, heavy palm, sweeping expertly down the -sheet-covered iron cot, had encountered something, a piece of broken -blue bottle. - -"It--it's mine," Thelma quivered, her tongue licking upward to catch the -first salty tear. "I traded my broken doll for it. I look through it and -it makes everything look pretty and blue," she explained desperately, in -the institutional whine. "Oh, please let me keep it, Mrs. Stone!" - -But the matron had tossed the bit of blue glass through the nearest -window. "You'd cut yourself on it, Thelma," she justified herself in her -stern voice. "I'll see if I can find another doll for you in the next -box of presents that comes in. Now, don't cry like a baby. You're a -great big girl. It was just a piece of broken old bottle. Well, Sally, -you take charge of the new little girl. Make her feel at home. Give her -a bath with that insect soap, and make a bundle of her clothes and take -them down to Miss Pond." - -She lifted her long, starched skirt as she stepped over one of the -scrubber's puddles of water, then moved majestically through the door. - -Clara, the nine-year-old orphan, stuck out her tongue as the white skirt -swished through the door, then turned upon Sally, her little face sharp -and ugly with hatred. - -"Mean old thing! Always buttin' in! Can't let us have no fun at all! -Some other kid'll find Thelma's sapphire and keep it offen her--" - -"It isn't a sapphire," Sally said dully, her brush beginning to describe -new semi-circles on the pine floor. "It's like she said--just a piece of -broken old bottle. And she said she'd try to find you a doll, Thelma." - -"You _said_ it was a sapphire, Sally. You said it was worth millions and -millions of dollars. It _was_ a sapphire, long as you said it was, -Sally!" Thelma sobbed, as grieved for the loss of illusion as for the -loss of her treasure. - -"I reckon I'm plumb foolish to go on play-acting all the time," Sally -Ford said dully. - -The three little girls and the 16-year-old "mother" of them scrubbed in -silence for several minutes, doggedly hurrying to make up for lost time. -Then Thelma, who could never nurse grief or anger, spoke cheerfully: - -"Reckon the new kid's gettin' her phys'cal zamination. When _I_ come -into the 'sylum you had to nearly boil me alive. 'N Mrs. Stone cut off -all my hair clean to the skin. 'N 'en nobody wouldn't 'dopt me 'cause I -looked like sich a scarecrow. But I got lotsa hair now, ain't I, -Sal-lee?" - -"Oh, somebody'll be adopting you first thing you know, and then I won't -have any Thelma," Sally smiled at her. - -"Say, Sal-lee" Clara wheedled, "why didn't nobody ever 'dopt you? _I_ -think you're awful pretty. Sometimes it makes me feel all funny and -cry-ey inside, you look so awful pretty. When you're play-actin'," she -amended honestly. Sally Ford moved the big brush with angry vigor, while -her pale face colored a dull red. "I ain't--I mean, I'm not pretty at -all, Clara. But thank you just the same. I used to want to be adopted, -but now I don't. I want to hurry up and get to be eighteen so's I can -leave the asylum and make my own living. I want--" but she stopped -herself in time. Not to these open-mouthed, wide-eared children could -she tell her dream of dreams. - -"But why _wasn't_ you adopted, Sal-lee?" Betsy, the baby of the group, -insisted. "You been here forever and ever, ain't you?" - -"Since I was four years old," Sally admitted from between lips held -tight to keep them from trembling. "When I was little as you, Betsy, one -of the big girls told me I was sickly and awf'ly tiny and scrawny when I -was brought in, so nobody wanted to adopt me. They don't like sickly -babies," she added bitterly. "They just want fat little babies with -curly hair. Seems to me like the Lord oughta made all orphans pretty, -with golden curly hair." - -"I know why Sally wasn't 'dopted," Thelma clamored for attention. "I -heard Miss Pond say it was a sin and a shame the way old Stone-Face has -kept Sally here, year in and year out, jist 'cause she's so good to us -little kids. Miss Pond said Sally is better'n any trained nurse when us -kids get sick and that she does more work than any 'big girl' they ever -had here. That's why you ain't been 'dopted, Sally." - -"I know it," Sally confessed in a low voice. "But I couldn't be mean to -the babies, just so they'd want to get rid of me and let somebody adopt -me. Besides," she added, "I'm scared of people--outside. I'm scared of -all grown-up people, especially of adopters," she blurted miserably. "I -can't sashay up and down before 'em and act cute and laugh and pretend -like I've got a sweet disposition and like I'm crazy about 'em. I don't -look pretty a bit when the adopters send for me. I can't play-act then." - -"You're bashful, Sal-lee," Clara told her shrewdly. "I'm not -bashful--much, except when visitors come and we have to show off our -company manners. I hate visitors! They whisper about us, call us 'poor -little things,' and think they're better'n us." - -The floor of the big room had been completely scrubbed, and was giving -out a moist odor of yellow soap when Miss Pond, who worked in the office -on the first floor of the big main building, arrived leading a reluctant -little girl by the hand. - -To the four orphans in faded blue and white gingham the newcomer looked -unbelievably splendid, more like the "princess" that Betsy had been -impersonating than like a mortal child. Her golden hair hung in -precisely arranged curls to her shoulders. Her dress was of pink crepe -de chine, trimmed with many yards of cream-colored lace. There were pink -silk socks and little white kid slippers. And her pretty face, though it -was streaked with tears, had been artfully coated with white powder and -tinted, on cheeks and lips, with carmine rouge. - -"This is Eloise Durant, girls," said Miss Pond, who was incurably -sentimental and kind to orphans. "She's feeling a little homesick now -and I know you will all try to make her happy. You'll take charge of -her, won't you, Sally dear?" - -"Yes, Miss Pond," Sally answered automatically, but her arms were -already yearning to gather the little bundle of elegance and tears and -homesickness. - -"And Sally," Miss Pond said nervously, lowering her voice in the false -hope that the weeping child might not hear her, "Mrs. Stone says her -hair must be washed and then braided, like the other children's. Eloise -tells us it isn't naturally curly, that her mother did it up on kid -curlers every night. Her aunt's been doing it for her since her -mother--died." - -"I don't want to be an orphan," the newcomer protested passionately, a -white-slippered foot flying out suddenly and kicking Miss Pond on the -shin. - -It was then that Sally took charge. She knelt, regardless of frantic, -kicking little feet, and put her arms about Eloise Durant. She began to -whisper to the terror-stricken child, and Miss Pond scurried away, her -kind eyes brimming with tears, her kind heart swelling with impractical -plans for finding luxurious homes and incredibly kind foster parents for -all the orphans in the asylum--but especially for those with golden -curly hair and blue eyes. For Miss Pond was a born "adopter," with all -the typical adopter's prejudices and preferences. - -When scarcely two minutes after the noon dinner bell had clanged -deafeningly, hundreds of little girls and big girls in faded blue and -white gingham came tumbling from every direction, to halt and form a -decorous procession just outside the dining hall doors, Sally and her -new little charge were among them. But only the sharp eyes of the other -orphans could have detected that the child who clung forlornly to -Sally's hand was a newcomer. The golden curls had disappeared, and in -their place were two short yellow braids, the ends tied with bits of old -shoe-string. The small face, scrubbed clean of its powder and rouge, was -as pale as Sally's. And instead of lace-trimmed pink crepe de chine, -silk socks and white kid slippers, Eloise was clad, like every other -orphan, in a skimpy gingham frock, coarse black stockings and heavy -black shoes. - -And when the marching procession of orphans had distributed itself -before long, backless benches, drawn up to long, narrow pine tables -covered with torn, much-scrubbed white oilcloth, Eloise, coached in that -ritual as well as in many others sacred in the institution, piped up -with all the others, her voice as monotonous as theirs: - -"Our heavenly Father, we thank Thee for this food and for all the other -blessings Thou giveth us." - -Sally Ford, keeping a watchful, pitying eye on her new charge, who was -only nibbling at the unappetizing food, found herself looking upon the -familiar scene with the eyes of the frightened little new orphan. It was -a game that Sally Ford often played--imagining herself someone else, -seeing familiar things through eyes which had never beheld them before. - -Because Eloise was a "new girl," Sally was permitted to keep her at her -side after the noon dinner. It was Sally who showed her all the -buildings of the big orphanage, pointed out the boys' dormitories, -separated from the girls' quarters by the big kitchen garden; showed her -the bare schoolrooms, in which Sally herself had just completed the -third year of high school. It was Sally who pridefully showed her the -meagerly equipped gymnasium, the gift of a miraculously philanthropic -session of the state legislature; it was Sally who conducted her through -the many rooms devoted to hand crafts suited to girls--showing off a bit -as she expertly manipulated a hand loom. - -Eloise's hot little hand clung tightly to Sally's on the long trip of -inspection of her new "home." But her cry, hopeless and monotonous now, -even taking on a little of the institutional whine, was still the same -heartbroken protest she had uttered upon her arrival in the dormitory: -"I don't want to be an orphan! I don't want to be an orphan, Sal-lee!" - -"It ain't--I mean, isn't--so bad," Sally comforted her. "Sometimes we -have lots of fun. And Christmas is awf'ly nice. Every girl gets an -orange and a little sack of candy and a present. And we have turkey for -dinner, and ice cream." - -"My mama gave me candy every day," Eloise whimpered. "Her men friends -brung it to her--boxes and boxes of it, and flowers, too. God was mean -to let her die, and make an orphan outa me!" - -And because Sally herself had frequently been guilty of the same sinful -thought, she hurried Eloise, without rebuking her, to the front lawn -which always made visitors exclaim, "Why, how pretty! And so homelike! -Aren't the poor things fortunate to have such a beautiful home?" - -For the front lawn, upon which no orphan was allowed to set foot except -in company with a lawnmower or a clipping shears, _was_ beautiful. Now, -in early June, it lay in the sun like an immense carpet, studded with -round or star-shaped beds of bright flowers. From the front, the -building looked stately and grand, too, with its clean red bricks and -its big, fluted white pillars. They were the only two orphans in sight, -except a pair of overalled boys, their tow heads bare to the hot sun, -their lean arms, bare to the shoulders in their ragged shirts, pushing -steadily against whirring lawnmowers. - -"Oh, nasturtiums!" Eloise crowed, the first happy sound she had made -since entering the orphanage. - -She broke from Sally's grasp, sped down the cement walk, then plunged -into the lush greenness of that vast velvet carpet, entirely unconscious -that she was committing one of the major crimes of the institution. -Sally, after a stunned moment, sped after her, calling out breathlessly: - -"Don't dast to touch the flowers, Eloise! We ain't allowed to touch the -flowers! They'd skin us alive!" - -But Eloise had already broken the stem of a flaming orange and red -nasturtium and was cuddling it against her cheek. - -"Put it back, honey," Sally begged, herself committing the unpardonable -sin of walking on the grass. "There isn't any place at all you could -hide it, and if you carried it in your hand you'd get a licking sure. -But don't you cry, Eloise. Sally'll tell you a fairy story in play hour -this afternoon." - -The two, Sally's heart already swelling with the sweet pain of having -found a new child to mother, Eloise's tear-reddened eyes sparkling with -anticipation, were hurrying up the path that led around the main -building to the weaving rooms in which Sally was to work an extra hour -as punishment for her morning's "play-acting," when Clara Hodges came -shrieking from behind the building: - -"Sal-lee! Sal-lee Ford! Mrs. Stone wants you. In the office!" she added, -her voice dropping slightly on a note of horror. - -"What for?" Sally pretended grown up unconcern, but her face, which had -been pretty and glowing a moment before, was dull and institutional and -sullen again. - -"They's a man--a farmer man--talking to Stone-Face," Clara whispered, -her eyes furtive and mean as they darted about to see if she were -overheard. "Oh, Sal-lee, don't let 'em 'dopt you! We wouldn't have -nobody to play-act for us and tell us stories! Please, Sal-lee! Make -faces at him when Stone-Face ain't lookin' so's he won't like you!" - -"I'm too big to be adopted," Sally reassured her. "Nobody wants to adopt -a 16-year-old girl. Here, you take Eloise to the weaving room with you." - -Her voice was that of a managing, efficient, albeit loving mother, but -when she turned toward the front steps of the main building her feet -began to drag heavily, weighted with a fear which was reflected in her -darkling blue eyes, and in the deepened pallor of her cheeks. But, oh, -maybe it wasn't that! Why did she always have to worry about that--now -that she was sixteen? Why couldn't she expect something perfectly -lovely--like--like a father coming to claim his long-lost daughter? -Maybe there'd be a mother, too-- - -The vision Sally Ford had conjured up fastened wings to her feet. She -was breathless, glowing, when she arrived at the closed door of the -dread "office." - -When Sally Ford opened the door of the office of the orphan asylum, -radiance was wiped instantly from her delicate face, as if she had been -stricken with sudden illness. For her worst fear was realized--the fear -that had kept her awake many nights on her narrow cot, since her -sixteenth birthday had passed. She cowered against the door, clinging to -the knob as if she were trying to screw up her courage to flee from the -disaster which fate, in bringing about her sixteenth birthday, had -pitilessly planned for her, instead of the boon of long-lost relatives -for which she had never entirely ceased to hope. - -"Sally!" Mrs. Stone, seated at the big roll-top desk, called sharply. -"Say 'How do you do?' to the gentleman.... The girls are taught the -finest of manners here, Mr. Carson, but they are always a little shy -with strangers." - -"Howdy-do, Mr. Carson," Sally gasped in a whisper. - -"I believe this is the girl you asked for, Mr. Carson," Mrs. Stone went -on briskly, in her pleasant "company voice," which every orphan could -imitate with bitter accuracy. - -The man, a tall, gaunt, middle-aged farmer, nodded, struggled to speak, -then hastily bent over a brass cuspidor and spat. That necessary act -performed, he eyed Sally with a keen, speculative gaze. His lean face -was tanned to the color and texture of brown leather, against which a -coating of talcum powder, applied after a close shave of his black -beard, showed ludicrously. - -"Yes, mum, that's the girl, all right. Seen her when I was here last -June. Wouldn't let me have her then, mum, you may recollect." - -Mrs. Stone smiled graciously. "Yes, I remember, Mr. Carson, and I was -very sorry to disappoint you, but we have an unbreakable rule here not -to board out one of our dear little girls until she is sixteen years -old. Sally was sixteen last week, and now that school is out, I see no -reason why she shouldn't make her home with your family for the -summer--or longer if you like. The law doesn't compel us to send the -girls to school after they are sixteen, you know." - -"Yes'm, I've looked into the law," the farmer admitted. Then he turned -his shrewd, screwed-up black eyes upon Sally again. "Strong, healthy -girl, I reckon? No sickness, no bad faults, willing to work for her -board and keep?" - -He rose, lifting his great length in sections, and slouched over to the -girl who still cowered against the door. His big-knuckled brown hands -fastened on her forearms, and when she shrank from his touch he nodded -with satisfaction. "Good big muscles, even if she is a skinny little -runt. I always say these skinny, wiry little women can beat the fat ones -all hollow." - -"Sally is strong and she's marvelous with children. We've never had a -better worker than Sally, and since she's been raised in the Home, she's -used to work, Mr. Carson, although no one could say we are not good to -our girls. I'm sure you'll find her a willing helper on the farm. Did -your wife come into town with you this afternoon?" - -"Her? In berry-picking time?" Mr. Carson was plainly amazed. "No, mum, I -come in alone. My daughter's laid up today with a summer cold, or she'd -be in with me, nagging me for money for her finery. But you know how -girls are, mum. Now, seeing as how my wife's near crazy with work, what -with the field hands to feed and all, and my daughter laid up with a -cold, I'd like to take this girl here along with me. You know me, mum. -Reckon I don't have to wait to be investigated no more." - -Mrs. Stone was already reaching for a pen. "Perfectly all right, Mr. -Carson. Though it does put me in rather a tight place. Sally has been -taking care of a dormitory of nineteen of the small girls, and it is -going to upset things a bit, for tonight anyway. But I understand how it -is with you. You're going to be in town attending to business for an -hour or so, I suppose, Mr. Carson? Sally will have to get her things -together. You could call for her about five, I suppose?" - -"Yes, mum, five it is!" The farmer spat again, rubbed his hand on his -trousers, then offered it to Mrs. Stone. "And thank you, mum, I'll take -good care of the young-un. But I guess she thinks she's a young lady -now, eh, miss?" And he tweaked Sally's ear, his fingers feeling like -sand-paper against her delicate skin. - -"Tell Mr. Carson, Sally, that you'll appreciate having a nice home for -the summer--a nice country home," Mrs. Stone prompted, her eye stern and -commanding. - -And Sally, taught all her life to conceal her feelings from those in -authority and to obey implicitly, gulped against the lump in her throat -so that she could utter the lie in the language which Mrs. Stone had -chosen. - -The matron closed the door upon herself and the farmer, leaving Sally a -quivering, sobbing little thing, huddled against the wall, her nails -digging into the flesh of her palms. If anyone had asked her: "Sally, -why is your heart broken? Why do you cry like that?" she could not have -answered intelligently. She would have groped for words to express that -quality within her that burned a steady flame all these years, -unquenchable, even under the soul-stifling, damp blanket of charity. She -knew dimly that it was pride--a fierce, arrogant pride, that told her -that Sally Ford, by birth, was entitled to the best that life had to -offer. - -And now--her body quivered with an agony which had no name and which was -the more terrible for its namelessness--she was to be thrust out into -the world, or that part of the world represented by Clem Carson and his -family. To eat the bitter bread of charity, to slave for the food she -put into her stomach, which craved delicacies she had never tasted; to -be treated as a servant, to have the shame of being an orphan, a child -nobody wanted, continuously held up before her shrinking, hunted -eyes--that was the fate which being sixteen had brought upon Sally Ford. - -Every June they came--farmers like Clem Carson, seeking "hired girls" -whom they would not have to pay. Carson himself had taken three girls -from the orphanage. - -Rena Cooper, who had gone to the Carson farm when Sally was thirteen, -had come back to the Home in September, a broken, dispirited -thing--Rena, who had been so gay and bright and saucy. Annie Springer -had been his choice the next year, and Annie had never come back. The -story that drifted into the orphanage by some mysterious grapevine had -it that Annie had found a "fellow" on the farm, a hired man, with whom -she had wandered away without the formality of a marriage ceremony. - -The third summer, when he could not have Sally, he had taken Ruby -Presser, pretty, sweet little Ruby, who had been in love with Eddie -Cobb, one of the orphaned boys, since she was thirteen or fourteen years -old. Eddie had run away from the Home, after promising Ruby to come back -for her and marry her when he was grown-up and making enough money for -two to live on. - -Ruby had gotten into mysterious trouble on the Carson farm--the -"grapevine" never supplied concrete details--and Ruby had run away from -the farm, only to be caught by the police and sent to the reformatory, -the particular hell with which every orphan was threatened if she dared -disobey even a minor rule of the Home. Delicate, sweet little Ruby in -the reformatory--that evil place where "incorrigibles" poisoned the -minds of good girls like Ruby Presser, made criminals of them, too. - -Sally, remembering, as she cowered against the door of the orphanage -office, was suddenly fiercely glad that Ruby had thrown herself from a -fifth-floor window of the reformatory. Ruby, dead, was safe now from -charity and evil and from queer, warped, ugly girls who whispered -terrible things as they huddled on the cots of their cells. - -"Oh, Sally, dear, what is the matter?" A soft, sighing voice broke in on -Sally's grief and fear, a bony hand was laid comfortingly on Sally's -dark head. - -"Mr. Carson, that farmer who takes a girl every summer, is going to take -me home with him tonight," Sally gulped. - -"But that will be nice, Sally!" Miss Pond gushed. "You will have a real -home, with plenty to eat and maybe some nice little dresses to wear, and -make new friends--" - -"Yes, Miss Pond," Sally nodded, held thrall by twelve years of enforced -acquiescence. "But, oh, Miss Pond, I'd been hoping it was--my father--or -my mother, or somebody I belong to--" - -"Why, Sally, you haven't a father, dear, and your mother--But, mercy me, -I mustn't be running on like this," Miss Pond caught herself up hastily, -a fearful eye on the closed door. - -"Miss Pond," Sally pleaded, "won't you please, please tell me something -about myself before I go away? I know you're not allowed to, but oh, -Miss Pond, please! It's so cruel not to know anything! Please, Miss -Pond! You've always been so sweet to me--" - -The little touch of flattery did it, or maybe it was the pathos in those -wide, blue eyes. - -"It's against the rules," Miss Pond wavered. "But--I know how you feel, -Sally dear. I was raised in the Home myself, not knowing--. I can't get -your card out of the files now; Mrs. Stone might come and catch me. But -I'll make some excuse to come up to the locker room when you're getting -your things together. Oh--" she broke off. "I was just telling Sally how -nice it will be for her to have a real home, Mrs. Stone." - -Mrs. Stone closed the door firmly, her eyes stern upon Sally. "Of course -it will be nice. And Sally must be properly appreciative. I did not at -all like your manner to Mr. Carson, Sally. But run along now and pack. -You may take your Sunday dress and shoes, and one of your every-day -ginghams. Mr. Carson will provide your clothes. His daughter is about -your age, and he says her last year's dresses will be nicer than -anything you've ever had." - -"Yes, Mrs. Stone," Sally ducked her head and sidled out of the door, but -before it closed she exchanged a fleet, meaningful look with Miss Pond. - -"I'm going to _know_!" Sally whispered to herself, as she ran down the -long, narrow corridor. "I'm going to know! About my mother!" And color -swept over her face, performing the miracle that changed her from a -colorless little orphan into a near-beauty. - -Because she was leaving the orphanage for a temporary new home on the -Carson farm, Sally was permitted to take her regular Saturday night bath -that afternoon. In spite of her terror of the future, the girl who had -never known any home but a state orphan asylum felt a thrill of -adventure as she splashed in a painted tin tub, gloriously alone, -unhurried by clamorous girls waiting just outside. - -The cold water--there was no hot water for bathing from April first to -October first--made her skin glow and tingle. As she dried herself on a -ragged wisp of grayish-white Turkish toweling, Sally surveyed her slim, -white body with shy pride. Shorn of the orphanage uniform she might have -been any pretty young girl budding into womanhood, so slim and rounded -and pinky-white she was. - -"I guess I'm kinda pretty," Sally whispered to herself, as she thrust -her face close to the small, wavery mirror that could not quite succeed -in destroying her virginal loveliness. "Sweet sixteen and--never been -kissed," she smiled to herself, then bent forward and gravely laid her -pink, deliciously curved lips against the mirrored ones. - -Then, in a panic lest she be too late to see kind Miss Pond, she jerked -on the rest of her clothing. - -"Dear Sally, how sweet you look!" Miss Pond clasped her hands in -admiration as Sally slipped, breathless, into the locker-room that -contained the clothes of all the girls of her dormitory. - -"Did you bring the card that tells all about me--and my mother?" Sally -brushed the compliment aside and demanded in an eager whisper. - -"No, dearie, I was afraid Mrs. Stone might want it to make an entry -about Mr. Carson's taking you for the summer, but I copied the data. You -go ahead with your packing while I tell you what I found out," Miss Pond -answered nervously, but her pale gray eyes were sparkling with pleasure -in her mild little escapade. - -Sally unlocked her own particular locker with the key that always hung -on a string about her neck, but almost immediately she whirled upon Miss -Pond, her eyes imploring. "It won't take me a minute to pack, Miss Pond. -Please go right on and tell me!" - -"Well, Sally, I'm afraid there isn't much to tell." Miss Pond smoothed a -folded bit of paper apologetically. "The record says you were brought -here May 9, 1912, just twelve years ago, by a woman who said you were -her daughter. She gave your birthday as June 2, 1908, and her name as -Mrs. Nora Ford, a widow, aged 28--" - -"Oh, she's young!" Sally breathed ecstatically. Then her face clouded, -as her nimble brain did a quick sum in mental arithmetic. "But she'd be -forty now, wouldn't she? Forty seems awfully old--" - -"Forty is comparatively young, Sally!" Miss Pond, who was looking -regretfully back upon forty herself, said rather tartly. "But let me -hurry on. She gave poverty and illness as her reasons for asking the -state to take care of you. She said your father was dead." - -"Oh, poor mother!" A shadow flitted across Sally's delicate face; quick -tears for the dead father and the ill, poverty-stricken mother filmed -her blue eyes. - -"The state accepted you provisionally, and shortly afterward sent an -investigator to check up on her story," Miss Pond went on. "The -investigator found that the woman, Mrs. Ford, had left the city--it was -Stanton, thirty miles from here--and that no one knew where she had -gone. From that day to this we have had no word from the woman who -brought you here. She was a mystery in Stanton, and has remained a -mystery until now. I'm sorry, Sally, that I can't tell you more." - -"Oh!" Sally's sharp cry was charged with such pain and disappointment -that Miss Pond took one of the little clenched fists between her own -thin hands, not noticing that the slip of paper fluttered to the floor. -"She didn't write to know how I was, didn't care whether I lived or -died! I wish I hadn't asked! I thought maybe there was somebody, someone -who loved me--" - -"Remember she was sick and poor, Sally. Maybe she went to a hospital -suddenly and--and died. But there was no report in any papers of the -state of her death," Miss Pond added conscientiously. "You mustn't -grieve, Sally. You're nearly grown up. You'll be leaving us when you're -eighteen, unless you want to stay on as an assistant matron or as a -teacher--" - -"Oh, no, no!" Sally cried. "I--I'll pack now, Miss Pond. And thank you a -million times for telling me, even if it did hurt." - -In her distress Miss Pond trotted out of the locker-room without a -thought for the bit of paper on which she had scribbled the memorandum -of Sally's pitifully meager life history. But Sally had not forgotten -it. She snatched it from the floor and pinned it to her "body waist," a -vague resolution forming in her troubled heart. - -When five o'clock came Sally Ford was waiting in the office for Clem -Carson, her downcast eyes fixed steadily upon the small brown paper -parcel in her lap, color staining her neck and cheeks and brow, for Mrs. -Stone, stiffly, awkwardly but conscientiously, was doing her -institutional best to arm the state's charge for her first foray into -the outside world. - -"And so, Sally, I want you to remember to--to keep your body pure and -your mind clean," Mrs. Stone summed up, her strong, heavy face almost as -red as Sally's own. "You're too young to go out with young men, but -you'll be meeting the hired hands on the farm. You--you mustn't let them -take liberties of any kind with you. We try to give you girls in the -Home a sound religious and moral training, and if--if you're led astray -it will be due to the evils in your own nature and not to lack of proper -Christian training. You understand me, Sally?" she added severely. - -"Yes, Mrs. Stone," Sally answered in a smothered voice. - -Sally's hunted eyes glanced wildly about for a chance of escape and -lighted upon the turning knob of the door. In a moment Clem Carson was -edging in, his face slightly flushed, a tell-tale odor of whisky and -cloves on his breath. - -"Little lady all ready to go?" he inquired with a suspiciously jovial -laugh, which made Sally crouch lower in her chair. "Looking pretty as a -picture, too! With two pretty girls in my house this summer, reckon I'll -have to stand guard with a shotgun to keep the boys away." - -Word had gone round that Sally Ford was leaving the Home for the summer, -and as Clem Carson and his new unpaid hired girl walked together down -the long cement walk to where his car was parked at the curb, nearly -three hundred little girls, packed like a herd of sheep in the -wire-fenced playground adjoining the front lawn, sang out goodbys and -good wishes. - -"Goodby Sal-lee! Hope you have a good time!" - -"Goodby, Sal-lee! Write me a letter, Sal-lee!" "Goodby, goodby!" - -Sally, waving her Sunday handkerchief, craned her neck for a last sight -of those blue-and-white-ginghamed little girls, the only playmates and -friends she had in the world. There were tears in her eyes, and, -queerly, for she thought she hated the Home, a stab of homesickness -shooting through her heart. How safe they were, there in the playground -pen! How simple and sheltered life was in the Home, after all! Suddenly -she knew, somehow, that it was the last time she would ever see it, or -the children. - -Without a thought for the iron-clad "Keep off the grass" rule, Sally -turned and ran, fleetly, her little figure as graceful as a fawn's, over -the thick velvet carpet of the lawn. When she reached the high fence -that separated her from the other orphans, she spread her arms, as if -she would take them all into her embrace. - -"Don't forget me, kids!" she panted, her voice thick with tears. "I--I -want to tell you I love you all, and I'm sorry for every mean thing I -ever did to any of you, and I hope you all get adopted by rich papas and -mamas and have ice cream every day! Goodby, kids! Goodby!" - -"Kiss me goodby, Sal-lee!" a little whining voice pleaded. - -Sally stooped and pressed her lips, through the fence opening, against -the babyish mouth of little Eloise Durant, the newest and most forlorn -orphan of them all. - -"Me, too, Sal-lee! Me, too! We won't have nobody to play-act for us -now!" Betsy wailed, pressing her tear-stained face against the wire. - - - - -CHAPTER II - - -A little later, when Sally was seated primly beside Clem Carson, jolting -rapidly down the road that led past the orphanage toward the business -district of the city, the farmer nudged her in the ribs and chuckled: - -"You're quite a kissing-bug, ain't you, Sally? How about a little kiss -for your new boss?" - -Sally had shrunk as far away from Clem Carson as the seat of the -"flivver" permitted, phrases from Mrs. Stone's embarrassed, vague, -terrifying warnings boiling and churning in her mind: "Keep your body -pure"--"mustn't let men take any liberties with you"--"you're a big girl -now, things you ought to know"--"if you're led astray, it will be due to -evils in your own nature"-- - -She suddenly loathed herself, her budding, curving young body that she -had taken such innocent delight in as she bathed for her journey. She -wanted to shrink and shrink and shrink, until she was a little girl -again, too young to know "the facts of life," as Mrs. Stone, blushing -and embarrassed, had called the half-truths she had told Sally. She -wanted to climb over the door of the car, drop into the hot dust of the -road, and run like a dog-chased rabbit back into the safety of the Home. -There were no men there--no queer, different male beings who would want -to "take liberties"-- - -"My land! Scared of me?" Clem Carson chuckled. "You poor little chicken! -Don't mind me, Sally. I don't mean no harm, teasing you for a kiss. Land -alive! I got a girl of my own, ain't I? Darned proud of her, too, and -I'd cut the heart outa any man that tried to take advantage of her. -Ain't got no call to be scared of me, Sally." - -She smiled waveringly, shyness making her lips stiff, but she relaxed a -little, though she kept as far away from the man as ever. In spite of -her dread of the future and her bitter disappointment over Miss Pond's -disclosures as to her mother, she was finding the trip to the farm an -adventure. In the twelve years of her life in the State Orphans' Asylum -she had never before left the orphanage unaccompanied by droves of other -sheep-like, timid little girls, and unchaperoned by sharp-voiced, -eagle-eyed matrons. - -She felt queer, detached, incomplete, like an arm or a leg dissevered -from a giant body; she even had the panicky feeling that, like such a -dismembered limb, she would wither and die away from that big body of -which she had been a part for so long. But it was pleasant to bump -swiftly along the hot, dusty white road, fringed with odorous, flowering -weeds. Houses became less and less frequent; few children ran barefoot -along the road, scurrying out of the path of the automobile. -Occasionally a woman, with a baby sprawling on her hip, appeared in the -doorway of a roadside shack and shaded her eyes with her hand as she -squinted at the car. - -As the miles sped away Carson seemed to feel the need of impressing upon -her the fact that her summer was not to be one of unalloyed pleasure. He -sketched the life of the farm, her own work upon it, as if to prepare -her for the worst. "My wife's got the reputation of being a hard woman," -he told her confidentially. "But she's a good woman, good clean through. -She works her fingers to the bone, and she can't abide a lazy, trifling -girl around the place. You work hard, Sally, and speak nice and -respectful-like, and you two'll get on, I warrant." - -"Yes, sir," Sally stammered. - -"Well, Sally," he told her at last, "here's your new home. This lane -leads past the orchards--I got ten acres in fruit trees, all of 'em -bearing--and the gardens, then right up to the house. Pretty fine place, -if I do say so myself. I got two hundred acres in all, quite a sizeable -farm for the middle west. Don't them orchards look pretty?" - -Sally came out of her frightened reverie, forced her eyes to focus on -the beautiful picture spread out on a giant canvas before her. Then she -gave an involuntary exclamation of pleasure. Row after row of fruit -trees, evenly spaced and trimmed to perfection, stretched before her on -the right. The child in her wanted to spring from the seat of the car, -run ecstatically from tree to tree, to snatch sun-ripened fruit. - -"You have a good fruit crop," she said primly. - -"There's the house." The farmer pointed to the left. "Six rooms and a -garret. My daughter, Pearl, dogged the life out of me until I had -electric lights put in, and a fancy bathtub. She even made me get a -radio, but it comes in right handy in the evenings, specially in winter. -My daughter, Pearl, can think of more ways for me to spend money than I -can to earn it," he added with a chuckle, so that Sally knew he was -proud of Pearl, proud of her urban tastes. - -The car swept up to the front of the house; Clem Carson's hand on the -horn summoned his women folks. - -The house, which seemed small to Sally, accustomed to the big buildings -of the orphanage, was further dwarfed by the huge red barns that towered -at the rear. The house itself was white, not so recently painted as the -lordly barns, but it was pleasant and homelike, the sort of house which -Sally's chums at the orphanage had pictured as an ideal home, when they -had let their imaginations run away with them. - -Sally herself, born with a different picture of home in her mind, had -romanced about a house which would have made this one look like -servants' quarters, but now that it was before her she felt a thrill of -pleasure. At least it was a home, not an institution. - -A woman, big, heavy-bosomed, sternly corseted beneath her snugly -fitting, starched blue chambray house dress, appeared upon the front -porch and stood shading her eyes against the western sun, which revealed -the thinness of her iron-gray hair and the deep wrinkles in her tanned -face. - -"Why didn't you drive around to the back?" she called harshly. "This -young-up ain't company, to be traipsin' through my front room. Did you -bring them rubber rings for my fruit jars?" - -"You betcha!" Clem Carson refused to be daunted in Sally's presence. -"How's Pearl, Ma? Cold any better? I brought her some salve for her -throat and some candy." - -"She's all right," Mrs. Carson shouted, as if the car were a hundred -yards away. "And why you want to be throwin' your money away on patent -medicine salves is more'n I can see! I can make a better salve any day -outa kerosene and lard and turpentine. Reckon you didn't get any -car'mels for me! Pearl's all you think of." - -"Got you half a pound of car'mels," Carson shouted, laughing. "I'll -drive the new girl around back. - -"Ma's got a sharp tongue, but she don't mean no harm," Carson chuckled, -as he swung the car around the house. - -When it shivered to a stop between the barns and the house, the farmer -lifted out a few bundles which had crowded Sally's feet, then threw up -the cover of the hatch in the rear of the car, revealing more bundles. -Carson was loading her arms with parcels when he saw a miracle wrought -on her pale, timid face. - -"Lord! You look pretty enough to eat!" Clem Carson ejaculated, but he -saw then that she was not even aware that he was speaking to her. - -In one of the few books allowed for Sunday reading in the orphanage--a -beautiful, thick book with color-plate illustrations, its name, "Stories -from the Bible," lettered in glittering gold on a back of heavenly -blue--Sally had found and secretly worshiped the portrait of her ideal -hero. It was a vividly colored picture of David, forever fixed in -strong, beautiful grace, as he was about to hurl the stone from his -slingshot to slay the giant, Goliath. She had dreamed away many hours of -her adolescence and early young girlhood, the big book open on her knee -at the portrait of the Biblical hero, and it had not seemed like -sacrilege to adopt that sun-drenched, strong-limbed but slender boy as -the personification of her hopes for romance. - -And now he was striding toward her--the very David of "Stories from the -Bible." True, the sheepskin raiment of the picture was exchanged for a -blue shirt, open at the throat, and for a pair of cheap, earth-soiled -"jeans" trousers; but the boy-man was the same, the same! As he strode -lightly, with the ease of an athlete or the light-footedness of a god, -the sun flamed in his curling, golden-brown hair. He was tall, but not -so tall as Clem Carson, and there were power and ease and youth in every -motion of his beautiful body. - -"Did you get the plowshare sharpened, Mr. Carson? I've been waiting for -it, but in the meantime I've been tinkering with that little hand cider -press. We ought to do a good business with it if we set up a cider stand -on the state road, at the foot of the lane." - -Joy deepened the sapphire of Sally's eyes, quivered along the curves of -her soft little mouth. For his voice was as she had dreamed it would -be--vibrant, clear, strong, with a thrill of music in it. - -"Sure I got it sharpened, Dave," Carson answered curtly. "You oughta get -in another good hour with the cultivator before dark. You run along in -the back door there, Sally. Mrs. Carson will be needing you to help her -with supper." - -The change in Carson's voice startled her, made her wince. Why was he -angry with her--and with David, whose gold-flecked hazel eyes were -smiling at her, shyly, as if he were a little ashamed of Carson for not -having introduced them? But, oh, his name was David! David! It had had -to be David. - -In the big kitchen, dominated by an immense coal-and-wood cook stove, -Sally found Mrs. Carson busy with supper preparations. Her daughter, -Pearl, drifted about the kitchen, coughing at intervals to remind her -mother that she was ill. - -Pearl Carson, in that first moment after Sally had bumped into her at -the door, had seemed to the orphaned girl to be much older than she, for -her plump body was voluptuously developed and overdecked with finery. -The farmer's daughter wore her light red hair deeply marcelled. The -natural color in her broad, plump cheeks was heightened by rouge, -applied lavishly over a heavy coating of white powder. - -Her lavender silk crepe dress was made very full and short of skirt, so -that her thick-ankled legs were displayed almost to the knee. It was -before the day of knee dresses for women and Sally, standing there -awkwardly with her own bundle and the parcels which Carson had thrust -into her arms, blushed for the extravagant display of unlovely flesh. - -But Pearl Carson, if not exactly pretty, was not homely, Sally was -forced to admit to herself. She looked more like one of her father's -healthy, sorrel-colored heifers than anything else, except that the -heifer's eyes would have been mild and kind and slightly melancholy, -while Pearl Carson's china-blue eyes were wide and cold, in an insolent, -contemptuous stare. - -"I suppose you're the new girl from the Orphans' Home," she said at -last. "What's your name?" - -"Sa-Sally Ford," Sally stammered, institutional shyness blotting out her -radiance, leaving her pale and meek. - -"Pearl, you take Sally up to her room and show her where to put her -things. Did you bring a work dress?" Mrs. Carson turned from inspecting -a great iron kettle of cooking food on the stove. - -"Yes'm," Sally gulped. "But I only brought two dresses--my every-day -dress and this one. Mrs. Stone said you'd--you'd give me some of -P-Pearl's." - -She flushed painfully, in humiliation at having to accept charity and in -doubt as to whether she was to address the daughter of the house by her -Christian name, without a "handle." - -Pearl, switching her short, lavender silk skirts insolently, led the way -up a steep flight of narrow stairs leading directly off the kitchen to -the garret. The roof, shaped to fit the gables of the house, was so low -that Sally's head bumped itself twice on their passage of the dusty, -dark corridor to the room she was to be allowed to call her own. - -"No, not that door!" Pearl halted her sharply. "That's where David Nash, -one of the hired men, sleeps." - -Sally wanted to stop and lay her hand softly against the door which his -hand had touched, but she did not dare. "I--I saw him," she faltered. - -"Oh, you did, did you?" Pearl demanded sharply. "Well, let me tell you, -young lady, you let David Nash alone. He's mine--see? He's not just an -ordinary hired hand. He's working his way through State A. & M. He's a -star, on the football team and everything. But don't you go trying any -funny business on David, or I'll make you wish you hadn't!" - -"I--I didn't even speak to him," Sally hastened to reassure Pearl, then -hated herself for her humbleness. - -"Here's your room. It's small, and it gets pretty hot in here in the -summer, but I guess it's better'n you're used to, at that," Pearl -Carson, a little mollified, swung open a flimsy pine door. - -Sally looked about her timidly, her eyes taking in the low, sagging cot -bed, the upturned pine box that served as washstand, the broken rocking -chair, the rusty nails intended to take the place of a clothes closet; -the faded, dirty rag rug on the warped boards of the floor; the tiny -window, whose single sash swung inward and was fastened by a hook on the -wall. - -"I'll bring you some of my old dresses," Pearl told her. "But you'd -better hurry and change into your orphanage dress, so's you can help -Mama with the supper. She's been putting up raspberries all day and -she's dead tired. I guess Papa told you you'd have to hustle this -summer. This ain't a summer vacation--for you. It is for me. I go to -school in the city in the winter. I'm second year high, and I'm only -sixteen," she added proudly. "What are you?" - -Sally, who had been nervously untying her brown paper parcel, bent her -head lower so that she should not see the flare of hate in those pale -blue eyes which she knew would follow upon her own answer. "I'm--I'm -third year high." She did not have the courage to explain that she had -just finished her third year, that she would graduate from the -orphanage's high school next year. - -"Third year?" Pearl was incredulous. "Oh, of course, the orphanage -school! _My_ school is at least two years higher than yours. We prepare -for college." - -Sally nodded; what use to say that the orphanage school was a regular -public school, too, that it also prepared for college? And that Sally -herself had dreamed of working her way through college, even as David -Nash was doing? - -Eight o'clock was the supper hour on the farm in the summertime, when -every hour of daylight had to be spent in the orchards and fields. When -the long dining table, covered with red-and-brown-checked oilcloth, was -finally set, down to the last iron-handled knife, Sally was faint with -hunger, for supper was at six at the orphanage. - -Sally had peeled a huge dishpan of potatoes, had shredded a giant head -of pale green cabbage for coleslaw, had watched the pots of cooking -string beans, turnips and carrots; had rolled in flour and then fried -great slabs of round steak--all under the critical eye of Mrs. Carson, -who had found herself free to pick over the day's harvest of -blackberries for canning. - -"I suppose we'll have to let Sally eat at the table with us," Pearl -grumbled to her mother, heedless of the fact that Sally overheard. "In -the city a family wouldn't dream of sitting down to table with the -servants. I'm sick of living on a farm and treating the hired help like -members of the family." - -"I thought you liked having David Nash sit at table with us," Mrs. -Carson reminded her. - -"Well, David's different. He's a university student and a football -hero," Pearl defended herself. "But the other hired men and the Orphans' -Home girl--" - -Clem Carson appeared in the kitchen doorway. "Supper ready?" - -"Yes, Papa. Thanks for the candy, but I do wish you'd get it in a box, -not in a paper sack," Pearl pouted. "I'll ring the bell. Hurry up and -wash before the others come in." - -While Clem Carson was pumping water into a tin wash basin, just inside -the kitchen door, Pearl swung the big copper dinner bell, standing on -the narrow back porch, her lavender silk skirt fluttering about her -thick legs. - -Sally fled to the dining room then, ashamed to have David Nash see her -in the betraying uniform of the orphanage. - -She had obediently set nine places at the long table, not knowing who -all of those nine would be, but she found out before many minutes -passed. Clem Carson sat at one end of the table, Mrs. Carson at the -other. And before David and the other hired men appeared, a tiny, bent -little old lady, with kind, vague brown eyes and trembling hands, came -shuffling in from somewhere to seat herself at her farmer son's right -hand. Sally learned later that everyone called her Grandma, and that she -was Clem Carson's widowed mother. Immediately behind the little old lady -came a big, hulking, loose-jointed man of middle age, with a slack, -grinning mouth, a stubble of gray beard on his receding chin, a vacant, -idiotic smile in his pale eyes. - -At sight of Sally, shrinking timidly against the chair which was to be -hers, the half-wit lunged toward her like a playful, overgrown puppy. -One of his clammy hands, pale because they could not be trusted with -farm work, reached out and patted her cheek. - -"Pur-ty girl, pur-ty sister," he articulated slowly, a light of pleasure -gleaming in the pale vacancy of his eyes. - -"Now, now, Benny, be good, or Ma'll send you to bed without your -supper," the little old lady spoke as if he were a naughty child of -three. "You mustn't mind him, Sally. He won't hurt you. I hope you'll -like it here on the farm. It's real pretty in the summertime." - -The two nondescript hired men had taken their places, slipping into -their chairs silently and apologetically. David Nash had changed his -blue work shirt and "jeans" trousers for a white shirt, dark blue -polka-dotted tie, and a well-fitting but inexpensive suit of brown -homespun. Sally, squeezed between the vague little old grandmother and -the vacant-eyed half-wit, beyond whom the two hired men sat, found -herself directly across from David Nash, beside whom Pearl Carson sat, -her chair drawn more closely than necessary. - -"My, you look grand, Davie!" Pearl confided in a low, artificially sweet -voice. "My cold's lots better. Papa'll let us drive in to the city to -the movies if you ask him real nice." - -It was then that Sally Ford, who had experienced so many new emotions -that day, felt a pang that made every other heartache seem mild by -comparison. And two girls, one a girl alone in the world, the other -pampered and adored by her family, held their breath as they awaited -David Nash's reply. - -"Sorry, but I can't tonight," David Nash answered Pearl Carson's -invitation courteously but firmly. "It would be 'way after nine when we -got to town, and we wouldn't get back until nearly midnight--no hours -for a farm hand to be keeping. Besides, I've got to study, long as I can -keep awake." - -"You're always studying when I want you to take me somewhere," Pearl -pouted. "I don't see why you can't forget college during your summer -vacation. Go get some more hot biscuits, Sally," she added sharply. - -Except for Pearl's chatter and David's brief, courteous replies, the -meal was eaten in silence, the hungry farmer and his hired men hunching -over their food, wolfing it, disposing of such vast quantities of fried -steak, vegetables, hot biscuits, home-made pickles, preserves, pie and -coffee that Sally was kept running between kitchen and dining room to -replenish bowls and plates from the food kept warming on the stove. In -spite of her own hunger she ate little, restrained by timidity, but -after her twelve years of orphanage diet the meal seemed like a banquet -to her. - -No one spoke to her, except Mrs. Carson and Pearl, to send her on trips -to the kitchen, but it did not occur to her to feel slighted. It was -less embarrassing to be ignored than to be plied with questions. -Sometimes she raised her fluttering eyelids to steal a quick glance at -David Nash, and every glance deepened her joy that he was there, that he -sat at the same table with her, ate the same food, some of which she had -cooked. His superiority to the others at that table was so strikingly -evident that he seemed god-like to her. His pride, his poise, his -golden, masculine beauty, his strength, his evident breeding, his -ambition, formed such a contrast to the qualities of the orphaned boys -she had known that it did not occur to her to hope that he would notice -her. But once when her blue eyes stole a fleeting glimpse of his face -she was startled to see that his eyes were regarding her soberly, -sympathetically. - -He smiled--a brief flash of light in his eyes, an upward curl to his -well-cut lips. She was so covered with a happy confusion that she did -not hear Mrs. Carson's harsh nasal voice commanding her to bring more -butter from the cellar until the farmer's wife uttered her order a -second time. - -In spite of the prodigious amount of food eaten, the meal was quickly -over. It was not half-past eight when Clem Carson scraped back his -chair, wiping his mouth on his shirtsleeve. - -"Now, Sally, I'll leave you to clear the table and wash up," Mrs. Carson -said briskly. "I've got to measure and sugar my blackberries for -tomorrow's jam-making. A farmer's wife can't take Sunday off this time -o' year, and have fruit spoil on her hands." - -While Sally was stacking the soiled supper plates on the dining table, -the telephone rang three short and one long ring, and Pearl, who had -been almost forcibly holding David Nash in conversation, sprang to -answer it. The instrument was fastened to the dining room wall. Pearl -stood lolling against it, a delighted smile on her face, her fingers -picking at the torn wallpaper. - -"Un-hunh!... Sure!... Oh, that'll be swell, Ross! I was just wishing for -some excitement!... How many's coming? Five?... Oh, you hush! Sure, -we'll dance! We got a grand radio, you know--get Chicago and.... All -right, hurry up! And, oh, say, Ross, you might pick up another girl. -Sadie Pratt, or somebody. I got a sweetie of my own. Un-hunh! David -Nash, a junior from A. & M., is staying with us this summer. Didn't you -know?... Am I? I'll tell the world! You just wait till you see him, and -then _you'll_ want to jump in the river!... Aw, quit your kidding!... -Well, hurry! 'Bye!" - -Before the one-sided conversation was concluded, David Nash had quietly -left the room by way of the kitchen door. When Sally staggered in with -her armload of soiled dishes she found David at the big iron sink, -pouring hot water from a heavy black teakettle into a granite dishpan. - -"Thought I'd help," he said in a low voice, to keep Pearl from -overhearing. "You must be tired and bewildered, and washing up for nine -people is no joke. Give me the glasses first," he added casually as he -reached for the wire soap shaker that hung on a nail above the sink. - -"Oh, please," Sally gasped in consternation. "I can do them. It won't -take me any time. Why, at the Home, six of us girls would wash dishes -for three hundred. They wouldn't like it," she added in a terrified -whisper, her eyes fluttering first toward the dining room door, then -toward the big pantry where Mrs. Carson was picking over her -blackberries. - -"I like to wash dishes," David said firmly, and that settled it, at -least so far as he was concerned. - -Sally was trotting happily between table and cupboard when Pearl came -in, stormy-eyed, sullen-mouthed. - -"Well, I must say, you're a quick worker--and I don't mean on dishes!" -she snapped at Sally. "So this is the way you have to study, Mr. David -Nash! But I suppose she pulled a sob story on you and just roped you in. -You'd better find out right now, Miss Sally Ford, that you can't shirk -your work on his farm. That's not what Papa got you for--" - -"I insisted on helping with the dishes, Pearl," David interrupted the -bitter tirade in his firm, quiet way. "Want to get a dish cloth and help -dry them?" There was a twinkle in his eyes and he winked ever so -slightly at Sally. - -"I've got to dress. Five or six of the bunch are coming over to dance to -the radio music. Did you hear what I said about you?" Pearl answered, -her shallow blue eyes coquetting with David. - -"About me?" David pretended surprise. "Is that all, Sally? Well, I'll go -on up to my room and study awhile, if I can stay awake." - -"You're going to dance with me--with us," Pearl wailed, her flat voice -harsh with disappointment. "I told Ross Willis to bring another partner -for himself, because I was counting on you--" - -"Awfully sorry, but I've got to study. I thought I told you at supper -that I had to study," David reminded her mildly, but there was the steel -of determination in his casual voice. - -Pearl flung out of the room then, her face twisted with the first -grimaces of crying. - -"We'd better wash out and rinse these dish cloths," David said -imperturbably, but his gold-flecked eyes and his strong, characterful -mouth smiled at Sally. "My mother taught me that--and a good many other -things." - -A little later, under cover of the swishing of water in the granite dish -pan, David spoke in a low voice to the girl who worked so happily at his -side: - -"Take it as easy as you can. They'll work you to death if you let them. -And--if you need any help, _day or night_," he emphasized the words -significantly, so that once again a pulse of fear throbbed in Sally's -throat, "just call on me. Remember, I'm an orphan myself. But it's -easier for a boy. The world can be mighty hard on a girl alone." - -"Thank you," Sally trembled, her voice scarcely a whisper, for Mrs. -Carson was moving heavily in the pantry nearby. - -Fifteen minutes later, as Sally was sweeping the big kitchen, shouts of -laughter and loud, gay words told her that the party of farm girls and -boys had arrived. With David gone to his garret room to study, Sally -suddenly felt very small and forlorn, very much what he had called -her--a girl alone. - -The sounds of boisterous gayety penetrated to every corner of the small -house, but they echoed most loudly in Sally's heart. For she was sixteen -with all the desires and dreams of any other girl of sixteen. And she -loved parties, although she had never been to a small, intimate one in a -private home in all her life. - -She leaned on her broom, trembling, desire to have a good time fighting -with her institution-bred timidity. Then she looked down at her -dress--the blue-and-white-checked gingham, faded, dull, that she had -worn for months at the orphanage. If they should come into the -kitchen--any of those laughing, gay girls and boys--and find her in the -uniform of state charity they would despise her, never dream of asking -her to come in, to dance-- - -Her hands suddenly gripped her broom fiercely. Within a minute she had -finished her last task of the evening, had brushed the crumbs and dust -into the black tin dust pan, emptied it into the kitchen range. Then, -breathless with haste, afraid that timidity would overtake her, she ran -up the back stairs to the garret. - -Her cold little hands trembled with eagerness as she jerked her work -dress over her head and arrayed her slight body in the lace-trimmed -white lawn "Sunday dress" which she had worn earlier in the day on her -trip from the orphanage. Excitedly, she slapped her pale, faintly -flushed cheeks to make them more red, then bit her lips hard in lieu of -lipstick. - -When she tiptoed down the dark hall of the garret she found David Nash's -door ajar, caught a glimpse of the university student-farmhand bent over -a pine table crowded with books. - -She crept on to the head of the narrow, steep stairs, and there her -courage failed her. The dance music, coming in full and strong over the -radio, had just begun, and she could hear the shuffle of feet on the -bare floor of the living room. How had she thought for one minute that -she could brave those alien eyes, intrude, uninvited, upon Pearl's -party? Hadn't Pearl made it cruelly clear that she despised her, -resented her, because of David's interest in her? - -"Want to dance?" - -She had been leaning over the narrow pine banister, but she straightened -then, a hand going to her heart, for it was David standing near her in -the dark, and his voice was very kind. - - - - -CHAPTER III - - -At 11 o'clock that Saturday night Sally Ford blew out the flame in the -small kerosene lamp--the electric light wires had not been brought to -the garret--and then knelt beside the low cot bed to pray, as she had -been taught to do in the orphanage. - -After she had raced mechanically through her childish "Now-I-lay-me," -she lifted her small face, that gleamed pearly-white in the faint -moonlight, and, clasping her thin little hands tightly, spoke in a low, -passionate voice directly to God, whom she imagined bending His majestic -head to listen: - -"Oh, thank you, God, for making David like me, and for letting me dance -with him. And if dancing is a sin, please forgive me, God, for I didn't -mean any harm. And please make Pearl not hate me so much just because -David is sweet to me. She has so many friends and a father and mother -and a grandmother and a nice home and so many pretty clothes, while I -haven't anything. Make her feel kinder toward me, dear God, and I'll -work so hard and be so good! And please, God, keep my heart and body -pure, like Mrs. Stone says." - -Lying in bed, covered only with the scant nightgown she had brought from -the orphanage, Sally did not feel the oppressive heat nor the hardness -and lumpiness of her cornshuck mattress. For she was reliving the hour -she had spent in the Carson living room, sponsored by a stern-faced -David who seemed determined to force Pearl and her giggling, chattering -friends to accept the timid little orphan as an equal. - -She felt again the pain in her heart at their veiled insults, their -deliberate snubs, the concentrated fury that gleamed at her from Pearl's -pale blue eyes. But again, as during that hour, the hurt was healed by -the blessed fact of David's championship. She lay very still to -recapture the bliss of David's arm about her waist, as he whirled her -lightly in a fox trot, the music for which came so mysteriously from a -little box with dials and a horn like a phonograph. She heard again his -precious compliment, spoken loudly enough for Pearl to hear: "You're the -best dancer I ever danced with, Sally. I'm going to ask you to the -Junior Prom next year." - -Of course he had danced with Pearl, too, and the other girls, who had -made eyes at him and angled for compliments on their own dancing. When -he danced with Pearl, her husky young body pressed closely against his, -her fingertips audaciously brushed the golden crispness of his hair. She -had even tried to dance cheek-to-cheek with David, but he had held her -back stiffly. - -The other boys--Ross Willis and Purdy Bates--had not asked Sally to -dance with them, after Pearl had whispered half-audible, fierce -commands; but their rudeness had no power to still the little song of -thanksgiving that trilled in her heart, for always David came back to -her, looking glad and relieved, and it was with her that David sat -between dances, talking steadily and entertainingly, to hide her shy -silences. - -She sighed in memory, a quivering sigh of pure pleasure, when she lived -again the minutes in the kitchen when she and David had washed glasses -and plates, while the others danced in the parlor. They had not -returned, but together had slipped up the back stairs to the garret, -David bidding her a cheerful good-night as he turned into his own room -to study for an hour before going to bed. - -She had learned, during those talks with David, that he was twenty years -old, that he had completed two years' work in the State Agricultural and -Mechanical College; that he was working summers on farms as much for the -practical experience as for the money earned, for his ambition was to be -a scientific farmer, so that he might make the most of the farm which he -would some day inherit from his grandfather. His grandfather's place -adjoined the Carson farm, but it was being worked "on shares" by a large -family of brothers, who had no need for David's labor in the summer. She -knew, too, from his modest replies to questions asked by Ross Willis and -Purdy Bates, that David was a star athlete, that he had already won his -letter in football and that he had been boxing champion of the sophomore -class. - -"But he likes _me_," Sally exulted. "He likes me better than Pearl or -Bessie Coates or Sue Mullins. I suppose," she added honestly, "he's -sorry for me because I'm an orphan and Pearl has it 'in' for me, but I -don't care why he's nice to me, just so he is." - -The radio music stopped at half-past eleven. Soon afterward Sally heard -the shouted good-nights of Pearl's guests: "We had a swell time, Pearl!" -"Don't forget, Pearl! Our house tomorrow night!" "See you at Sunday -School, Pearl, and bring David with you! Some sheik! Oh, Mama! But watch -out for that baby-faced orphan, Pearl! She's got her cap set for him and -she'll beat your time, if you don't look out!" - -Sally felt her face flame with shame and anger. Why did girls and boys -have to be so nasty-minded, she asked herself on a sob. Why couldn't -they let her and David be friends without thinking things like that? -Why, David was so--so wonderful! He wouldn't "look" at a frightened -little girl from an orphans' home! No girl was good enough for David -Nash, she told herself fiercely. - -The next morning Pearl failed to entice David into going to church and -Sunday School with her, and Sally was left alone to prepare the big -Sunday dinner--Mrs. Carson having gone to church in spite of her -Saturday determination not to. David came smiling into the kitchen, -immaculate in a white shirt and well-fitting gray flannel trousers, a -book in his hand, a pipe in his mouth. - -"Mind if I study out here on the kitchen-porch?" he asked Sally, his -hazel eyes brimming with friendliness. "I like company and my garret -room's hot as an inferno." - -"I'd love to have you," Sally told him shyly. "I'll try not to make any -noise with the cooking utensils." - -"Oh, I don't mind noise," he laughed. "Fact is, I wish you'd sing. I'll -bet you can sing like a bird. Your voice sings even when you're talking. -And any woman--" a delicate compliment that--"can work better when she's -singing." - -And so Sally sang. She sang Sunday School songs, because it was Sunday. - -It was sweet to be alone in the kitchen, with David so near, his crisp, -golden-brown head bent over his book, smoke spiraling lazily from his -pipe. The old grandmother, looking very tiny and old-fashioned in -rustling black taffeta, had gone to church, too, leading her middle-aged -half-wit son by the hand. Benny had strained at his mother's hand, -trying to get loose so that he could kiss Sally and show her his bright -red necktie, at which the fingers of his free hand plucked excitedly. As -she remembered those vacant, grinning eyes, that slack, grinning mouth, -Sally's song changed to a heart-felt paean of thanksgiving: - - "Count your blessings! - Name them one by one. - Count your many blessings-- - See what God hath done!" - -Oh, she _was_ blessed! She had a good mind; sometimes she was pretty; -she could dance and sing; children liked her--and David, David! Poor -half-wit Benny, whose only blessings were a dim little old mother and a -new red necktie! But wasn't a mother--even an old, old mother, whose own -eyes were vague, such a big blessing that she made up for nearly -everything else that God could give? - -But she resolutely banished the ache in her heart--an ache that -contracted it sharply every time she thought of the mother she had never -known--and began to sing again: - - "I think when I read that sweet story of old, - When Jesus was here among men, - How He called little children as lambs to His fold--" - -The opening and closing of the door startled her. David was there, -smiling at her. - -"Won't you sing 'Always' for me, Sally? It's a new song, just out. It -goes something like this--" And he began to hum, breaking into words now -and then: "I'll be loving you--always! Not for just an hour, not for -just a day, not--" - -"So this is why you wouldn't go to church with me!" a shrill voice, -passionate with anger, broke into the singing lesson. - -They had not heard her, in their absorption in the song and in each -other, but Pearl had come into the house through the front door, and was -confronting them now in the doorway between dining room and kitchen. - -"I thought you two were up to something!" she cried. "It's a good thing -I came home when I did, or I reckon there wouldn't be any Sunday dinner. -Do you know why I came home, Sally Ford?" she demanded, advancing into -the kitchen, her hands on her hips, her fingers digging spasmodically -into the flesh that bulged under the silk. - -"No," Sally gasped, retreating until she was halted by the kitchen -table. "I'm cooking dinner, Pearl. It'll be ready on time--" - -"Don't you 'Pearl' me!" the infuriated girl screamed. "You mealy-mouthed -little hypocrite! I'll tell you why I came home! I couldn't find my -diamond bar-pin that Papa gave me for a Christmas present last year, and -I remembered when I was in Sunday School that I saw you stoop and pick -up something in the parlor last night. You little thief! Give it back to -me or I'll phone for the sheriff!" - -Sally stared at Pearl, color draining out of her cheeks and out of her -sapphire eyes, until she was a pale shadow of the girl who had been -glowing and sparkling under the sun of David's affectionate interest. - -"I haven't seen your diamond bar-pin, Pearl," she said at last. "Honest, -I haven't!" - -"You're lying! I saw you stoop and pick something up in front of the -sofa last night. I was crazy not to think of my bar-pin then, but I -remembered all right this morning, when it was gone off this dress, the -same dress I was wearing last night. See, David!" she appealed shrilly -to the boy, who was looking at her with narrowed eyes. "It was pinned -right here! You can see where it was stuck in! Look!" - -David said nothing, but a slow, odd smile curled his lips without -reaching those level, narrowed eyes of his. - -"What are you looking at me like that for?" Pearl screamed. "I won't -_have_ you looking at me like that! Stop it!" - -Slowly, his eyes not leaving Pearl's face for a moment, David thrust his -right hand into his pocket. When he withdrew it, something lay on his -palm--a narrow bar of filigreed white gold, set with a small, square-cut -diamond. Still without speaking, he extended his hand slowly toward -Pearl, but she drew back, her eyes popping with surprise and--yes, Sally -was sure of it--fear. - -"Where did you get that?" she gasped. - -"Do you really want me to tell you?" David spoke at last, his voice -queer and hard. - -"No!" Pearl shuddered. "No! Does she--does _she_ know?" - -"No, she was telling the truth when she said that she hadn't seen the -pin," David answered, flipping the pin contemptuously to the kitchen -table. "But next time I think you'd better put it away in your own room. -And Pearl, you really must try to overcome this absentmindedness of -yours. It may get you into trouble sometime." - -Pearl shivered, seemed to shrink visibly under her fussy pink georgette -dress. - -"Oh!" she wailed suddenly, her face crumpling up in a spasm of weeping. -"You'll hate me now! And you used to like me, before _she_ came! -You--oh, I hate you! Quit looking at me like that!" - -"Hadn't you better go back to church?" David suggested mildly. "Tell -your mother you found your pin just where you'd left it," that -contemptuous smile deepening on his lips. - -"You won't tell Papa, will you?" Pearl whimpered, as she turned toward -the door. "And you won't tell _her_?" She could not bear to utter -Sally's name. - -"No, I won't tell," David assured her. "But I'm sure you'll make up to -Sally for having been mistaken about the pin." - -"She's all you think of!" Pearl cried, then, sobbing wildly, she ran out -the kitchen door. - -"Guess I'd better not bother you any longer, or they'll be blaming me if -dinner is late," David said casually, but he paused long enough to pat -the little hand that was clenching the table. - -Sally was so puzzled by the strangeness of the scene she had witnessed, -so tormented by brief glimpses of something near the truth, so weak from -reaction, so stirred by gratitude to David, that she was making poor -headway with dinner when Clem Carson, who had not gone to church, came -in from the barns, dressed in overalls in defiance of the day. - -"Got a sick yearlin' out there," he grumbled. "A blue-ribbon heifer calf -that Dave's grandpa persuaded me to buy. I don't believe in this -blue-ribbon stock. Always delicate--got to be nursed like a baby. I give -her a whopping dose of castor oil and she slobbered all over me." - -He took the big black iron teakettle from the stove and filled the -granite wash basin half full of the steaming water. As he lathered his -hands until festoons of soap bubbles hung from them, he cocked an -appraising eye at Sally, who was busily rolling pie crust on a yellow -pine board. - -"Dave been hanging around the kitchen this morning, ain't he?" - -Sally's hands tightened on the rolling pin and her eyes fluttered -guiltily as she answered, "Yes, sir." - -"Better not encourage him, if you know which side your bread's buttered -on," the farmer advised laconically. "I reckon you know by this time -that Pearl's picked him out and that things is just about settled -between 'em. Fine match, too. He'll own his granddad's place some -day--next farm to this one, and the young folks will be mighty well -fixed. I reckon Dave's pretty much like any other young -whippersnapper--ready to cock an eye at any pretty girl that comes -along, before he settles down, but it don't mean anything. Understand?" - -"Yes, sir," Sally murmured. - -"I reckon any fool could see that Pearl's mighty near the apple of my -eye," Carson went on, as he dried his hands vigorously on the -Sunday-fresh roller towel. "And if she took a notion that maybe some -other girl from the orphanage would suit us better, why I don't know as -I could do anything else but take you back. And I'd hate that. You're a -nice, pretty little thing, real handy in the kitchen, but, yes sir, I'd -have to tell the matron that you just didn't suit.... Well, I got to get -back to that yearlin'." - -Somehow Sally managed to finish cooking the big Sunday dinner before the -family returned from church. Out of deference for the day she decided to -change from her faded gingham to her white dress before serving dinner. -Surely she had a right to look decent! Clem Carson couldn't construe her -humble "dressing up" as a bid for David's attention. - -In her little garret room she scrubbed her face and hands, pinned the -heavy braid of soft black hair about her head, and then reached under -her low cot bed for her small bundle of clothes, in which was rolled her -only pair of fine-ribbed white lisle stockings. As she drew out the -bundle she discovered immediately that other hands than her own had -touched it; the stockings had been unrolled and then rerolled clumsily, -not at all in her own neat fashion. Then suddenly full comprehension -came to her. The pieces of the puzzle settled miraculously into shape. -It was here, in this bundle, that David had found the bar-pin. Somehow -he had seen Pearl slip into the room that morning, had guessed that her -secret visit boded no good for Sally; had spied on her, and then later -had retrieved the bar-pin from the bundle in which Pearl had hidden it. - -If David had not seen--But she could not go on with the thought. -Trembling so that her teeth chattered she dressed herself as decently as -her orphanage wardrobe permitted, and then went downstairs to "dish up" -the dinner she had prepared. - -Immediately after dinner David went across fields to call on his -grandfather, a grouchy, sick old man who almost hated the boy because he -would soon own the lands which he himself had loved so passionately. He -did not return for supper, and at breakfast on Monday there was not time -for more than a smile and a cheerful "Good morning," which Sally, with -Clem Carson's eyes upon her, hardly dared return. - -Sally wondered if David had been warned, too, for as the days passed she -seldom saw him alone for as much a minute. Perhaps he was being careful -for her sake, suspecting Carson's antagonism, or perhaps, in spite of -the shameful trick in which he had caught her, he really cared for -Pearl. Evenings he sat for a short time in the living room or on the -front porch, Pearl beside him, chattering animatedly; but he was always -in his room studying by ten o'clock, a blessed fact which made her own -isolation in her little garret room more easy to bear. - -On Thursday morning at ten o'clock David appeared at the kitchen door, -an axe in his hands. - -"Will you turn the grindstone for me while I sharpen this axe blade, -Sally?" he asked casually, but his eyes gave her a deep, significant -look that made her heart flutter. - -Mrs. Carson, standing over her bubbling preserving kettles, grumbled an -assent, and Sally flew out of the kitchen to join him. - -The grindstone, a huge, heavy stone wheel turned by a pedal arrangement, -was set up near the first of the great red barns. While Sally poured -water at intervals upon the stone, David held the blade against it, and -under cover of the whirring, grating noise he talked to her in a low -voice. - -"Everything all right, Sally?" - -"Fine!" she faltered. "I get awful tired, but there's lots to eat--such -good things to eat--and Pearl's given me some dresses that are nicer -than any I ever had before, except they're too big for me--" - -"Isn't she fat?" David grinned at her, and she was reminded again how -young he was, although he seemed so very grown-up to her. "She wouldn't -be so fat if she worked a tenth as hard as you do." - -"I don't mind," Sally protested, her eyes misting with tears at his -thoughtfulness for her. "I've got to earn my board and keep. Besides, -there's such an awful lot to be done, with the preserving and the -canning and the cooking and everything. Mrs. Carson works even harder -than I do." - -David's eyes flashed with indignation and a suspicion of contempt for -the meek little girl opposite him. "You're earning five times as much as -your board and room and a few old clothes that Pearl doesn't want is -worth. It makes me so mad--" - -"Sal-lee! Ain't that axe ground yet? Time to start dinner! I can't leave -this piccalilli I'm making," Mrs. Carson shouted from the kitchen door. - -"Wait, Sally," David commanded. "Wouldn't you like to take a walk with -me after supper tonight? I'll help you with the dishes. You never get -out of the house, except to the garden. You haven't even seen the fields -yet. I'd like to show you around. The moon's full tonight--" - -"Oh, I can't!" Sally gasped with the pain of refusal. "Pearl--Mr. -Carson--" - -"I want you to come," David said steadily, his eyes commanding her. - -"All right," Sally promised recklessly, her cheeks pink with excitement, -her eyes soft and velvety, like dark blue pansies. - -Sally was eager as a child, when she joined David Nash in that part of -the lane that skirted the orchard. Although it was nearly nine o'clock -it was not yet dark; the sweet, throbbing peace of a June twilight, -disturbed only by a faint breeze that whispered through the leaves of -the fruit trees, brooded over the farm. - -"I hurried--as fast--as I could!" she gasped. "Grandma Carson ripped up -this dress for me this afternoon and while you and I were washing dishes -Mrs. Carson stitched up the seams. Wasn't that sweet of her? Do you like -it, David? It was awful dirty and I washed it in gasoline this -afternoon, while I was doing Pearl's things." - -She backed away from him, took the full skirt of the made-over dress -between the thumb and forefinger of each hand, and made him a curtsey. - -"You look like a picture in it," David told her gravely. "When I saw -Pearl busting out of it I had no idea it was such a pretty dress." - -"I couldn't have kept it on tonight if Pearl hadn't already left for the -party at Willis's. Was she terribly mad at you because you wouldn't go?" - -David shrugged his broad shoulders, but there was a twinkle in his eyes. -"Let's talk about something pleasant. Want a peach, Sally?" - -And Sally ate the peach he gave her, though she had peeled so many for -canning those last few days that she had thought she never wanted to see -another peach. But this was a special peach, for David had chosen it for -her, had touched it with his own hands. - -They walked slowly down the fruit-scented lane together, Sally's -shoulder sometimes touching David's coatsleeve, her short legs striving -to keep step with his long ones. - -She listened, or appeared to listen, drugged with content, her fatigue -and the smarting of her gasoline-reddened hands completely forgotten. - -"We got a good stand of winter wheat and oats. There's the wheat. See -how it ripples in the breeze? Look! You can see where it's turning -yellow. Pretty soon its jade-green dress will be as yellow as gold, and -along in August I'll cut it. That's oats, over there"; and he pointed to -a distant field of foot-high grain. - -"It's so pretty--all of it," Sally sighed blissfully. "You wouldn't -think, just to look at a farm, that it makes people mean and cross and -stingy and ugly, would you? Looks like growing things for people to eat -ought to make us happy." - -"Farmers don't see the pretty side; they're too busy. And too worried," -David told her gravely. "I'm different. I live in the city in the winter -and I can hardly wait to get to the farm in the summer. But it's not my -worry if the summer is wet and the wheat rusts. I'll be happy to own a -piece of land some day, though, even if I own all the worries, too. I'm -going to be a scientific farmer, you know." - -"I'd love to live on a farm," Sally agreed, with entire innocence. "But -every evening at twilight I'd go out and look at my growing things and -see how pretty a picture they made, and try to forget all the -back-breaking work I'd put in to make it so pretty." - -They were walking single file now, in the soft, mealy loam of a field, -David leading the way. She loved the way his tall, compact body -moved--as gracefully and surely as a woman's. She had the feeling that -they were two children, who had slipped away from their elders. She had -never known anyone like David, but she felt as if she had known him all -her life, as if she could say anything to him and he would understand. -Oh, it was delicious to have a friend! - -"There's the cornfield where I've been plowing," David called back to -her. "A fine crop. I've given it its last plowing this week. It's what -farmers call 'laid by.' Nothing to do now but to let nature take her -course." - -It was so dark now that the corn looked like glistening black swords, -curved by invisible hands for a phantom combat. And the breeze rustled -through them, bringing to the beauty-drunk little girl a cargo of -mingled odors of earth, ripe fruit and greenness thrusting up from the -moist embrace of the ground to the kiss of the sun. - -"Let's sit here on the ground and watch the moon come up," David -suggested, his voice hushed with the wonder of the night and of the -beauty that lay about them. "The earth is soft, and dry from the sun. It -won't soil your pretty dress." - -Sally obeyed, locking her slender knees with her hands and resting her -chin upon them. - -"Tired, Sally? They work you too hard," David said softly, as he seated -himself at a little distance from her. "I suppose you'll be glad to get -back to the--Home in the fall." - -Sally's dream-filled eyes, barely discernible in the dark, turned toward -him, and her voice, hushed but determined, spoke the words that had been -throbbing in her brain for four days: - -"I'm not going back to the Home--ever. I'm going to run away." - -"Good for you!" David applauded. Then, with sudden seriousness: "But -what will you do? A girl alone, like you? And won't they try to bring -you back? Isn't there a law that will let them hunt you like a -criminal?" - -"Oh, yes. The state's my legal guardian until I'm eighteen, and I'm only -sixteen. In some states it's twenty-one," Sally answered, fright -creeping back into her voice. "But I'm going to do it anyway. I'd rather -die than go back to the orphanage for two more years. You don't know -what it's like," she added with sudden vehemence, and a sob-catch in her -throat. - -"Tell me, Sally," David urged gently. - -And Sally told him--in short, gasping sentences, roughened sometimes by -tears--of the life of orphaned girls. - -"We have enough to eat to keep from starving and they give us four new -dresses a year," Sally went on recklessly, her long-dammed-up emotion -released by his sympathy and understanding, though he said so little. -"And they don't actually beat us, unless we've done something pretty -bad; but oh, it's the knowing that we're orphans and that the state -takes care of us and that nobody cares whether we live or die that makes -it so hard to bear! From the time we enter the orphanage we are made to -feel that everyone else is better than we are, and it's not right for -children, who will be men and women some day, with their livings to -make, to feel that way!" - -"Yes, an inferiority complex is a pretty bad handicap," David -interrupted gently. - -"I know about inferiority complexes," Sally took him up eagerly. "I've -read a lot and studied a lot. We have a branch of the public library in -the orphanage, but we're only allowed to take out one book a week. I'll -graduate from high school next June--if I go back! But I won't go back!" - -"But Sally, Sally, what could you do?" David persisted. "You haven't any -money--" - -"No," Sally acknowledged passionately. "I've never had more than a -nickel at one time to call my own! Think of it, David! A girl of -sixteen, who has never had more than a nickel of her own in her life! -And only a nickel given to me by some soft-hearted, sentimental visitor! -But I can work, and if I can't find anything to do, I'd rather starve -than go back." - -David's hand, concealed by the darkness, was upon hers before she knew -that it was coming. - -"Poor Sally! Brave, high-hearted little Sally!" David said so gently -that his words were like a caress. "Charity hasn't broken your spirit -yet, child. Just try to be patient for a while longer. Promise me you -won't do anything without telling me first. I might be able to help -you--somehow." - -"I--I can't promise, David," she confessed in a strangled voice. "I -might have to go away--suddenly--from here--" - -"What do you mean, Sally?" David's hand closed in a hurting grip over -hers. "Has Pearl--Mr. Carson--? Tell me what you mean!" - -"When I promised to come walking with you tonight I knew that Mr. Carson -would try to take me back to the orphanage, if he found out. But--I--I -wanted to come. And I'm not sorry." - -"Do you mean that he threatened you?" David asked slowly, amazement -dragging at his words. "Because of Pearl--and me?" - -"Yes," she whispered, hanging her head with shame. "I didn't want you to -know, ever, that you'd been in any way responsible. He--he says it's -practically settled between you and--and Pearl, and that--that I--oh, -don't make me say any more!" - -David groaned. She could see the muscles spring out like cords along his -jaw. "Listen, Sally," he said at last, very gently, "I want you to -believe me when I say that I have never had the slightest intention of -marrying Pearl Carson. I have not made love to her. I'm too young to get -married. I've got two years of college ahead of me yet, but even if I -were older and had a farm of my own, I wouldn't marry Pearl--" - - - - -CHAPTER IV - - -"Come out of that corn!" A loud, harsh voice cut across David's -low-spoken speech, made them spring guiltily apart. "I ain't going to -stand for no such goings-on on my farm!" - -Clem Carson had prowled like an angry, frustrated animal, through the -fields until he had spied them out. - -David and Sally had been sitting at the end of the corn field, in plain -sight of anyone who cared to spy upon them. When Clem Carson's harsh -bellow startled them out of their innocent confidences David jumped to -his feet, offering a hand to Sally, who was trembling so that she could -scarcely stand. - -"We're not in the corn, Mr. Carson," David called, his voice vibrating -with indignation. "I'll have to ask you to apologize for what you said, -sir. There's no harm in two young people watching the moon rise at ten -o'clock." - -Carson came striding out of the corn. David, feet planted rather far -apart, looked as if he were braced for attack, and the farmer, after an -involuntary shrinking toward the shelter of the corn, advanced again, an -apologetic smile on his brown face. - -"Reckon I spoke hasty," he conceded, "but Jim said he seen you two -young-uns sneaking off into the corn and it got my dander up. I'm -responsible to the orphanage for Sally, and I don't aim to have her -going back in disgrace. Better get back to the house, Sally, and go to -bed, seeing as how you've got to be up at half-past four in the morning. -You stay back a minute, Dave. I want to have a little talk with you." - -"I'm taking Sally to the house, Mr. Carson," David said grimly. - -On the walk back to the house there was no opportunity for David to -reassure the frightened, trembling girl, for Carson plowed doggedly -along behind them as they walked single file between the rows of corn. -When they reached the kitchen, where Mrs. Carson was setting great pans -of yeast bread to rise on the back of the range, Sally ran to the -stairs, not pausing for a good-night. - -Ten or fifteen minutes later, while she was sitting on the edge of her -cot-bed, she heard David's firm step on the back stairs, and knew that -he had cut short the farmer's "little talk" with him. Reckless of -consequences she slipped out of her door, which she had left ajar, and -crept along the dark hall to David's door. - -He did not see her at first, for she was only a faint blur in the dark, -but at her whispered "David!" he paused, his hands groping for hers. - -"It's all right, honey," he whispered. "I told him point-blank if he -sent you back to the Home I'd leave, too. And that will hold him, -because he can't do without me at this busy season. He couldn't get -another hand right now for love or money, and he knows it. Go to sleep -now, and don't worry." - -The next morning at breakfast it was plainly evident that David had said -one or two other things to Clem Carson, and that he in turn had passed -them on to Pearl. For Pearl's eyes bore traces of tears shed during the -night, and the high color of anger burned in her plump cheeks. Carson's -anger and chagrin at losing all his hopes of David as a son-in-law and -of acquiring, through his marriage to Pearl, the neighboring farm for -his daughter, expressed itself in heavy "joshing," each word tipped with -venom: - -"Well, well, how's our Sally this morning? What do you know about this, -Ma?--our little 'Orphunt Annie' is stepping out! Yes, sir, she ain't -letting no grass grow under her feet! Caught herself a feller, she has!" - -"Eat your breakfast, Clem, and let Sally alone," Mrs. Carson commanded -impatiently. "She's old enough to have a feller if she wants one." - -Tears of gratitude to the woman she had thought so stern gushed into -Sally's eyes, so that she could not see to butter the hot biscuit she -held in her shaking hands. - -"She's cut you out, Pearl, beat your time all hollow! And looking as -meek and mild as a Jersey heifer all the time! I tell you, Ma, it takes -these buttery-mouthed little angels to put over the high-jinks!" - -"I'm sure I wouldn't have looked at a hired man," Pearl cried angrily, -tossing her head. "Sally's welcome to him. But I can't say I admire -_his_ taste." - -Sally's eyes, drowned in tears, fluttered toward David. - -"Don't you think you're going pretty far, Mr. Carson?" David asked -abruptly. - -"No offense, no offense," Carson protested hastily, with a chuckle that -he meant to sound conciliatory. "I'm a man that likes his joke, and it -does strike me as funny that a fine, upstanding college man like you, -due to come into property some day, should cotton to a scared little -rabbit of an orphan like Sally here--" - -"That'll do, Clem!" Mrs. Carson interrupted sharply. "Get ahead with -your breakfast and clear out, all of you! Sally and me have got a big -day's work ahead of us. Pearl, I want you to drive to Capital City for -some more Mason jars for me. I'm all out." - -Later, when Sally was washing dishes, Pearl bounced into the kitchen, -dressed for her trip to the city, her arms full of soiled white shoes, -stockings and silk underwear. - -"Sally," she said, her voice like a whip-lash, "I want you to clean -these shoes for me today and wash out these stockings and underwear. See -that you do a good job, or you'll have to do it over." - -Sally, raking the suds from the dishpan off her arms and hands, accepted -the pile of garments dumbly, but resentment gushed hotly in her throat. - -"I've got enough work laid out for Sally to keep her busy every minute -today," Mrs. Carson rebuked Pearl sharply. "Why can't you do your own -cleaning, Pearl?" - -"Because I've got a luncheon date and a matinee in town today, and I -need these things for tonight. I'm going to a party at the Mullins' -Goodby, Mom. Two dozen jars enough?" - -When Sally was again bent over the dishpan she heard the little old -grandmother's uncertain, quavering voice: - -"It ain't fair, Debbie, the way you let Pearl run over Sally. She's a -nice, polite-spoken little girl, the best worker I ever see." - -"I know, Ma," Mrs. Carson answered in so kind a voice that fresh tears -swam in Sally's eyes. "Pearl's been spoiled. But I'm too busy now to -take it out of her. I wonder, Ma, if you couldn't rip up them other two -dresses that Pearl gave Sally? The child really ain't got a thing to -wear. If you'll just rip the seams, I'll stitch 'em myself at night, if -I ain't too tired." - -Sally whirled from the dishpan, stooped swiftly and laid her lips for an -instant upon Mrs. Carson's hand. Then, flushing vividly, she ran back to -the kitchen sink, seized the big flour-sack dish towel and began to -polish a glass with intense energy. - -Although Mrs. Carson made no comment on Sally's shy caress, the girl -felt that from that moment the farmer's wife was her friend, undeclared -but staunch. - -Knowing that any day might prove to be her last on the farm, for Carson -never let slip an opportunity to threaten her by innuendo with the -disgrace of being sent back to the Home, Sally found a ray of comfort in -the fact that Grandma Carson, probably because she felt sorry for Sally, -constantly hectored as she was by the jealous, vicious-tongued Pearl, -was slowly but surely completing the necessary alterations upon the -other two dresses that Pearl had given her. - -The vague-eyed, kindly little old woman finished the alterations on -Saturday morning, and Sally sped to her garret room with them, there to -try them on and gloat over them. Then, her eyes darting now and then to -the closed door, she hastily made a bundle of the three new dresses and -hid it under the cornshuck mattress of her bed. Maybe it would be -stealing to take the dresses if she had to run away, but she couldn't -hope to escape in the orphanage uniform-- - -Early Saturday afternoon Mrs. Carson announced that she had to go into -the city to do some shopping. The farmer suggested that Pearl drive her -in, since he himself was to be busy setting up the cider mill in a shack -he had built at the foot of the lane, where it ran into the state -highway. - -"And you might as well take the Dodge and let Ma and Benny go in with -you. They haven't seen a picture show for a month," Carson suggested. - -The thought of seeing a movie overcame Sally's timidity. "Would there be -room for me, Mrs. Carson? I could help you with your shopping, help -carry things--" - -"I don't see why not," Mrs. Carson answered. "I got a lot of trotting -around to do and it's mighty hot--" - -"Mama, if she goes, I won't go a step," Pearl burst out shrilly. "I -won't have her tagging after us all afternoon, making eyes at every man -that speaks to me!" - -"Pearl, Pearl, I'm afraid you're spoiled rotten!" Mrs. Carson shook her -head sadly. "I'll bring you a pair of them fiber silk stockings, Sally, -to wear to church tomorrow night with your flowered taffeta," she -offered brusquely, by way of consolation. - -When the car had swept down the lane and Sally was left alone in the -house, she busied herself furiously in an effort to dissipate her -loneliness and disappointment, and a fear that grew upon her with the -realization that Carson had not accompanied his family to town. The two -hired men had left the farm for Capital City, immediately after the noon -meal, wages in their pockets, bent on an afternoon and evening of city -pleasures. On the entire farm there was no one but herself, Carson and -David. And where was David? If she needed him terribly, would he fail -her? - -As the afternoon wore on, and still Carson did not appear, Sally's -gratitude for Mrs. Carson's inarticulate kindness sent her on a flying -trip to the orchard to gather enough hard, sour apples to make pies for -supper. Carson, she began to hope, was so busy setting up the cider mill -that he would have no time to take her back to the orphanage, even if he -wanted to. Maybe she was safe for a while; she would not run away just -yet, for if she ran away she would never see David again-- - -It was fun to have the whole big kitchen to herself. Humming under her -breath, she cut chilled lard into well-sifted flour, using the full -amount that Mrs. Carson's pie crust called for. At the orphanage the pie -crust was tough and leathery, because the matron would not permit the -cook to use enough lard. What joy it was to cook on a prosperous farm, -where there was an abundance of every good thing to eat! If only she -could stay the whole summer through! She could stand the hard work.... - -As she piled the sliced apples thickly into the crimped pie crust, she -thought wistfully of Mrs. Carson, who was kind to her although she was a -hard taskmistress. - -"Maybe," Sally reflected sadly, dusting around nutmeg over the thickly -sugared apples, "if I could stay on here, Mrs. Carson would want to -adopt me. But of course Pearl and Mr. Carson wouldn't let her. They hate -me because David likes me and won't marry Pearl. And I like David better -than anybody in the world," she confessed to herself, as the pink in her -cheeks deepened. "But I would love to have a mother, even if it was only -a ready-made mother. I wonder why some girls have everything, and others -nothing? Why should Pearl have a mother who just spoils her past all -enduring? Pearl isn't good--she isn't even good to her mother." - -When her three big apple pies were in the oven, she washed the bread -bowl in which she had mixed her pie crust; washed and dried vigorously -the big yellow pine board and rolling pin, and restored them to their -proper places. Then, feeling very useful and virtuous, she set the table -for supper, singing little scraps of popular songs which she had heard -over the radio during her week on the farm. - -By that time her pies were baked to a deep, golden brown, with little -glazed blisters across their top crusts. - -"If I do say it myself," she said, in her little old-woman way, her head -cocked sideways as she surveyed her handiwork, "those are real pies. I -hope Mrs. Carson will be surprised and pleased." - -Then, because she was very tired and the late afternoon sun was making -an inferno of the kitchen, Sally climbed the steep back stairs to the -garret, intending to take a cooling sponge bath and a short nap before -the family returned, hungry for supper. She was about to pass David's -door when his voice halted her: - -"That you, Sally? I've been enjoying your singing, even if I did spend -more time listening than studying." - -She went involuntarily toward him. "I didn't know you were up here, -David," she told him. "I'm sorry I interrupted your studying. I wouldn't -have sung if I'd known you were up here." - -The boy was seated at a small pine table, covered with books and papers, -but as she advanced hesitatingly into the room he rose. - -"Come on in," he invited hospitably. "Wouldn't you like to see my books? -Some of them are fascinating--full of pictures of prize stock and model -chicken farms and champion egg-laying hens and things like that. Look," -he commanded snatching up a book as if eager to detain her. "Here's a -picture of a cow that my grandfather owns. She holds the state record -for butter-fat production. Her name's Beauty Bess--look!" - -Sally, without a thought as to the impropriety of being in a man's -bedroom, slipped into the chair he was holding for her and bent her -little braid-crowning head gravely over her book. - -"I'm going to stock the farm with nothing but pedigreed animals when -it's mine," David told her, enthusiastically. "Look, here's the kind--" -And he bent low over her, so that his arm was about her shoulder as he -riffled the pages of the book, seeking the picture he wanted her to see. - -A sudden gust of wind, presaging a summer shower, slammed the door shut, -but the two were so absorbed they did not hear the faint click of the -lock. Nor did they hear, a little later, the sound of the stealthy, -futile turning of the knob, the retreat of carefully muted footsteps. - -David was bending low over Sally, his cheek almost touching hers, -excitedly expounding the merits of crop rotation, and pointing out -text-book confirmation of his theories, when sudden, evil words shocked -their attention from the fascinations of the agricultural text-book: - -"Caught you at last! Thought you was mighty slick, didn't you?--locking -the door! I've a good mind to whip you every step of the way back to the -orphan asylum, you lying, nasty little--" Carson's voice, hoarse with -anger and exultation over his coming revenge upon the girl who had dared -jeopardize his daughter's happiness, stopped with a gasp upon the evil -word he had spat out, for his shoulders, as he tried to wriggle into the -room from the small window, were stuck in the too-narrow frame. - -If the wind had not been roaring about the house, banging branches of -shade trees against the sloping roof upon which David's window looked, -they would necessarily have heard his approach, but as it was they were -totally unprepared for the sight of his head and shoulders and breast, -framed in the window, his glittering black eyes fixed upon them with -evil exultation. - -Sally struggled to her feet as David leaped toward the window. She had a -fleeting glimpse of his rage-distorted young face, his lips snarled back -from his teeth. - -"David! Don't, David!" she cried, her voice a high, thin wail of -terror--terror for David, not for Carson. - -"You're not fit to live, Carson," David's young voice broke in its rage, -but there was no faltering in the power behind the blow which crashed -into the farmer's face. - -Sally, sinking to her knees in her terror, heard the rending sound of -flimsy timber giving way, then the more awful noise of a big body -sliding rapidly down the roof. She half fainted then, so that when David -tried to lift her to her feet she swayed dizzily against him, her eyes -dazed, her ashen lips hanging slackly. - -"Can you hear me, Sally?" David's voice, a little tremulous with awe at -that which he had done, came like a series of loud claps in her ears. - -She clung to him weakly, her eyes glancing fearfully from the window to -his set, pale young face. Then she nodded slowly, like a child awakening -from a nightmare. - -"I think I've killed him, Sally. He hasn't made a sound since he crashed -to the ground." David's hazel eyes were as wide as hers, and almost as -frightened. - -"You did--that--for me?" Sally whispered. "Oh, David, what are we going -to do?" She began to cry then, in little, frightened whimpers, but her -blue eyes, swimming in tears, never left his face. - -The boy squared his shoulders as if to prepare them for a great burden, -and in that instant he seemed to grow older. Color came slowly back to -his bronzed cheeks, but his lips shook a little as he answered: - -"We've got to run away, Sally, before the family comes home. I hate to -leave him--down there--if he's only hurt. But I'll be damned if I stay -here and get us both sent to jail just to ease a pain that that beast, -if he isn't dead, may be having! Oh, God, I hope I didn't kill him! I -just went crazy when he called you that name--Will you come, Sally, or -do you want to stay and face them with me? Whatever's best for you--" - -Sally Ford did not hesitate for a moment. Her blue eyes were full of -trust and adoration as she answered: "I'll go with you, David. I knew -I'd have to run away. I'm all packed." - -"All right." David spoke rapidly. "I'll fix up a small bundle, too. You -get your things and leave the house as quickly as possible. Cut across -the orchard to the cornfield and wait for me where we were sitting the -other night. I'll join you almost by the time you get there. But I want -you to leave first, just in case they come back before I can get away. -Now, run!" - -Sally obeyed, somehow forcing her muscles to carry out David's commands, -but the tears were coming so fast that she bumped unseeingly into apple -and peach trees as she ran through the orchard, the brown paper parcel -of clothes clutched tightly to her bosom. Twice she dashed the tears -from her eyes, glanced fearfully about, and listened, but she saw and -heard nothing. The sun was getting low in the west, slanting in golden, -dust-laden beams through the rows of apple trees. - -When she reached the shelter of the corn stalks she went more slowly, -for her heart was pounding sickeningly. Just before she reached the end -of the field she paused, opened her bundle with shaking hands, drew out -the dark blue linen dress and put it on over the blue-and-white gingham -uniform of the orphanage. She was re-tying her bundle when she caught -the faint sound of footsteps running toward her between rows of corn. - -David was hatless. His eyes were wide, unsmiling, but his lips managed -an upturning of the corners to reassure her. - -"Sorry--to be--so long," he panted. "But I telephoned a doctor that -Carson had been--hurt--and asked him to come over. I didn't answer when -he asked who was calling. Told him Carson had slipped from the roof." - -"I'm awfully glad you did, David. It was like you. Shall we go now?" - -David looked down at her in wonder, and his eyes and lips were very -tender. "What a brave kid you are, Sally! What a darn _nice_ little -thing you are! But I've been thinking hard, honey. We can't run away -together--far, that is. I'll have to take you back to the Home." - -"No, David, no, no! I can't go back to the orphanage! I'd rather die!" -Sally gasped. - -David dropped his bundle, took her hands and held them tightly. "I can't -run away from this thing I've done, Sally. I'm sorry. I thought I could. -I'm going to give myself up, after I've seen you safely back to the -Home. I'll explain to your Mrs. Stone, make her believe--" - -"Oh!" Sally breathed in a gust of despair. Then, stooping swiftly, she -snatched up her bundle and began to run down a corn row. She ran with -the fleetness of a terror-stricken animal, and David watched her for a -long moment, his eyes dark with pity and uncertainty. Then he gave -chase, his long legs clearing the distance between them with miraculous -speed. He caught up with her just as she was at the edge of the -cornfield, recklessly about to plunge into the lane that led to the -Carson house. - -"Wait, Sally!" he panted, grasping her shoulder. "You can't run away -alone like this--Oh Lord!" he groaned suddenly. "There they come! Don't -you hear the car turning in from the road? Come back, Sally!" - -He did not wait for her to obey, but lifted her into his arms, for she -had gone limp with terror, and ran, crouching low so that the cornstalks -would hide them. - -"Lie flat on the ground," David said sternly, as he set her gently upon -her feet. "We can't leave here now. The place will be swarming with -people. But when it's dark we'll slip away, across fields. Thank God, -there'll be no moon." - -He flattened his own body upon the soft earth, close against the thick, -sturdy cornstalks. They did not talk much for they were listening, -listening for faint sounds coming from the farmhouse which would -indicate that the dreadful discovery had been made. - -Long minutes passed and nothing had happened. Then the muffled roar of -another motor, turning into the lane from the state highway, told them -that the doctor to whom David had telephoned was arriving. It seemed -hours before a scream floated from the house to the cornfield. - -"Pearl!" Sally whispered, shivering. "They hadn't found him. The doctor -told them. Oh, David!" - -His hand tightened so hard upon hers that she winced. A little later -they heard Mrs. Carson's harsh voice calling, calling--"Sally! Sal-lee! -Sally Ford!" - -Sally bowed her head upon David's hand then, and wept a little, -shuddering. "She was--good to me. She--she liked me, David. Oh, I hope -she'll know I didn't mean her any harm, ever!" - -The next hour, during which the sun set and twilight settled like a soft -gray dust upon the cornfield, passed somehow. Several cars arrived; -men's voices shouted unintelligible words. Twice Pearl screamed-- - -But no one came down the corn rows looking for them. "They won't dream -we're still so near the house," David assured her in his low, comforting -voice. - -When it was quite dark, David spoke again: "We'll make a break for it -now, Sally. I know this part of the country well. My grandfather's farm -adjoins this one, with only a fence between the two hay meadows. We can -cut across his farm, giving the house and barns a wide berth. Then we'll -strike a bit of timberland that belongs to old man Cosgrove. That will -bring us out on a little-traveled road that leads to Stanton, twenty-two -miles away. Think you can make it, Sally?" - -She hugged her bundle tight to her breast and reached for his hand, -which he had withdrawn as he rose to his feet. "Of course," she answered -simply. "I'm not afraid, David." - -"You're a plucky kid," David said gruffly. "I'll lead the way. Let me -know if I set too fast a pace." - -Buoyed up by his praise, Sally trotted almost happily at his heels. She -refused to let her mind dwell on the horrors of the day, or to reach out -into the future. Indeed, her imagination was incapable of picturing a -future for a Sally Ford whose life was not regulated by orphanage -routine. She held only the present fast in her mind, passionately -grateful for the strong, swiftly striding figure before her, unwilling -for this strange night-time adventure to end. - -"Thirsty, Sally?" David's voice called out of the darkness. - -Suddenly she knew that she was both thirsty and hungry, for she had not -eaten since the twelve o'clock dinner. A cool breeze was rustling the -leaves of the trees, and under that whispering rustle came the cool, -sweet murmur of a brook. She crouched beside David on the bank of the -tiny stream and thirstily drank from his cupped hands. Then he dipped -his handkerchief in the water and gently swabbed her face, his hands as -tender as Sally had fancied a mother's must be. - -The going was more dogged, less mysteriously thrilling when they had at -last reached the dirt road that was eventually to lead them to Stanton, -a town of four or five thousand inhabitants, the town in which the woman -who had brought her twelve years ago to the orphanage had lived. Days -before Sally had memorized the address before destroying the bit of -paper on which Miss Pond, out of the kindness of her heart, had copied -Sally's record from the orphanage files. - -Half a dozen times during the apparently interminable trudge toward -Stanton David abruptly called a halt, drawing Sally off the road and -over reeling, drunken-looking fences into meadows or fields for a -terribly needed rest. Once, with his head in her lap, her fingers -smoothing his crisp chestnut curls from his sweat-moistened brow, he -went to sleep, and she knew that she would not have awakened him even to -save herself from the orphanage. - -Dawn was bedecking the east with tattered pink banners when the boy and -girl, staggering with weariness and faint with hunger, caught their -first glimpse of Stanton, a pretty little town snugly asleep in the hush -that belongs peculiarly to early Sunday morning. Only the dutiful -crowing of backyard roosters and the occasional baying of a hound broke -the stillness. - -"We've got to have food," David said abruptly, as they hesitated -forlornly on the outskirts of the little town. "And yet I suppose the -alarm has been given and the constables are on the lookout for us. We -might stop at a house that has no telephone--they wouldn't be likely to -have heard about Carson--but I don't like to arouse anyone this early on -Sunday morning. There's an eating house next to the station that stays -open all night, to serve train crews and passengers, but more than -likely the station agent has been told to keep a lookout for us." - -As he spoke a train whistled shrilly. The two wayfarers stood not a -hundred yards from the railroad tracks where they crossed the dirt road. -Sally instinctively turned to flee, but David restrained her. - -"We can't hide from everyone, Sally," he said gently. "I think our best -bet is to act as if we had had nothing to hide. Remember, we've done no -wrong. If Carson is dead, he brought his death upon himself. He deserved -what he got." - -Trustingly, Sally gave him her hand, stood very small and erect beside -him as the big engine thundered down the tracks toward them. Her face -was drawn with fatigue but her eyes managed a smile for David. His did -not reflect that brave smile, for they were fixed upon the oncoming -train. - -"By George, Sally, it's a carnival train! Look! 'Bybee's Bigger and -Better Show.' I'd forgotten the carnival was coming. Look over there! -There's one of their signs!" - -An enormous poster, pasted upon a billboard, showed a nine-foot giant -and a 30-inch dwarf, the little man smoking a huge cigar, seated cockily -in the palm of the giant's vast hand. Big red type below the picture -announced: "Bybee's Bigger and Better Show--Stanton, June 9 and 10. One -hundred performers, largest menagerie in any carnival on the road -today." - -"I suppose they're going to spend Sunday here," David remarked. Then he -turned toward Sally, beheld the miracle of her transformed face. "Why, -child, you want to go to the carnival, don't you? Poor little Sally!" - -His voice was so tender, so whimsical, so sympathetic, that tears filmed -over the brilliance of her sapphire eyes. "I went to a circus once," she -said with the eager breathlessness of a child. "The governor--he was -running for office again--sent tickets for all the orphans. And, oh it -was wonderful, David! We all planned to run away from the orphanage and -join the circus. We talked about it for weeks, but--we didn't run away. -The girls didn't, I mean, but one of the big boys at the orphanage did -and Ruby Presser, the girl he was sweet on, got a postcard from him from -New York when the circus was in winter quarters. His name was Eddie Cobb -and--oh, the train's stopping, David! Look!" - -"Yes." David shaded his eyes and squinted down the railroad track. "This -is a spur of the main road, a siding, they call it. I suppose the -carnival cars will stay here today--" - -But for once Sally was not listening to him. She was running toward the -cars, from which the engine had been uncoupled, and as she ran she -called shrilly, joyously, to a young man who had dropped catlike from -the top of a car to the ground: - -"Eddie! Eddie Cobb! Eddie!" - - - - -CHAPTER V - - -To Sally it was all like a dream, a fantastic, lovely dream--except that -in dreams you are never permitted to eat the feast that your hunger -makes so real. And not even in a dream could she have imagined anything -so good as the thick, furry, dark-brown buckwheat cakes, plastered with -golden butter and swimming in maple syrup. - -And Eddie Cobb's voice seemed real enough, although the things he was -telling her and David in the hastily erected cook tent certainly had -dream-like qualities. And David, sighing with satisfaction over his -third plateful of hot cakes, was gloriously real. So was the long, -rough-pine counter at which they ate, and behind which the big negro -cook sang songs as he worked before a huge smoky oil stove. Tables -scattered throughout the tent and covered with worn oilcloth reminded -her of the refectory of the orphanage which now seemed so far away in -the past of her childhood. She drew her wondering eyes from their -exploration of the cook tent, focussed them on Eddie Cobb's freckled, -good-natured face, listened to what he was telling them: - -"This is a pretty good outfit. We carry our own show train, even for the -short jumps, and the star performers and the big boss and the -barkers--when they're flush--eat in the dining car. Got a special cook -for the big bugs, waiters and everything. 'Course sometimes we can't get -show grounds clost enough to the railroad to use the cars much, but in -this burg we're lucky enough to get a lot pretty clost to a siding. The -performers will sleep in their berths, less'n it gets too hot and they -want their tents pitched on the lot." - -"What do you do in the carnival, Eddie?" Sally asked respectfully. - -"Oh, I'm helpin' Lucky Looey on the wheels. Gamblin' concessions, you -know," he enlarged grandly. "Looey's got three kewpie dolls booths and -I'm in charge of one of 'em. Old Bybee--Winfield Bybee--owns the show -and travels with it--not like most owners. He owns the concessions and -lets concessionaires operate 'em on percentage. He owns the freaks and -the girlie show and the high-diver and all the ridin' rackets--ferris -wheels, merry-go-rounds, whips 'n everything. He'll be showin' up any -minute now and I'll give you a knockdown to him." - -"You're so good to us, Eddie," Sally glowed at him. "David and I hadn't -an idea what we should do, and we were so hungry we could have eaten -field corn off the stalks." - -"You looked all in," Eddie grinned at her. "So you run away, too, Sally. -Couldn't stand the racket any longer, eh? Is David here a buddy you -picked up on the road? Gosh! To think of little Sally Ford hoboing?" - -"I'm afraid I've taken advantage of your friendship for Sally, Cobb," -David said. "The truth is, Cobb--" - -"Aw, make it Eddie. We're all buddies, ain't we?" - -"Well, the truth is, Eddie, that I'm afraid I'm a fugitive from justice. -I wanted to take Sally back to the orphanage and give myself up for -murder--" - -"Gawd!" Eddie ejaculated, paling. Then something like admiration -glittered in his little black eyes. "Put the soft pedal on, Dave. Don't -let nobody hear you--" - -"It wasn't murder, Eddie," Sally interrupted eagerly, her hand going out -to close on David's reassuringly. "It was--an accident, in a way. Tell -him, David. Eddie will understand." - -The cook tent was filling up, so David lowered his voice to a murmur as -he told Eddie Cobb, briefly but accurately, the story of his probably -fatal attack upon Clem Carson. - -"Jees!" Eddie breathed, when the recital was finished. "I hope you -finished for him! If the old buzzard ain't dead--and I'll bet he -ain't--I'd like to take a crack at him myself. You two kids stick with -us. I'll tip off Bybee and I'm a son-of-a-gun if he don't give you both -jobs. The concessions are always short of help--" - -"Oh, Eddie, if he only would!" Sally gasped. Then sudden doubt clouded -her bright face. "But Eddie, we'd be so conspicuous with the carnival. -The police would lay hands on us as soon as we showed our faces--" - -"Not if the Big Boss took you under his wing," Eddie reassured her. "In -the carnival the Big Boss is the law. I'll speak to him myself." - -The carnival roustabouts--big, rough-looking, powerful negroes in -undershirts and soiled, nondescript trousers--eyed the trio curiously as -they passed from one tent to another, Eddie gesticulating like a Cook's -Tour conductor. - -"Jees, Sally, I never expected to see any of you kids again," Eddie -interrupted his monologue, which was like Greek to his guests. - -"Have you ever been sorry you ran away, Eddie?" Sally asked, wistfully -desiring reassurance, for it was still impossible for her to picture -life independent of state charity. - -Eddie snorted. "I've been seeing life, I have. New York and Chi and San -Looey and all the big towns. But I reckon it's easier for a boy. I never -did want to go back, but I've thought many a time I'd like to see some -of the kids." He blushed crimson under his big freckles. "How--how's -Ruby, Sally? You know--Ruby Presser? She still there? She must be -seventeen now. She was two years younger'n me. I sorta figger on -marryin' Ruby one of these days--say, what's the matter?" he broke off -abruptly. - -"Ruby--Ruby's dead, Eddie. Didn't you read about it in the papers?" - -"Ruby--dead? You--you ain't kiddin' me, Sally? Ruby--dead!" - -Sally's distressed blue eyes fluttered to David's face as if for help. - -"Ruby--fell--out of a fifth story window, Eddie--last September," Sally -admitted in a choked voice. - -"After she had spent the summer on the Carson farm, Eddie," David broke -in quietly, significantly. - -Sally closed her eyes so as not to see the conflict of rage and grief in -Eddie Cobb's boyish face. - -"I hope to God you did kill him, David!" Eddie burst out at last. "If -you didn't, I'll finish him!" - -"What's all this, Eddie?" a great bellow brought them all to startled -attention. "Old home week? Get to your work! Lucky's howling for you. -Who the hell do you think's going to set out the dolls?" - -Eddie's importance was suddenly shattered. The big man, who seemed to -Sally to be as tall as the giant whom he advertised as a star -attraction, came striding across the stubby, dusty lot. His enormous -head, topped with a wide-brimmed black felt hat in defiance of the -torrid June weather, showed a fringe of long-curling white hair which -reached almost to the shoulders of his Prince Albert coat. - -"I'd like to speak to you a minute, sir," Eddie urged. - -After another frowning, considering up-and-down glance at David and -Sally, but particularly at Sally, the big man strode away with Eddie, -out of earshot. - -"If the big man does take us, you won't be sorry, will you, David?" -Sally whispered, clinging to David's hand. - -"Dear little Sally!" David drew her close against him for a moment. They -stood close to each other, Sally not caring if the interview between -Bybee and Eddie prolonged itself interminably, for David was there, -thinking--she could feel his thoughts--"Dear little Sally"-- - -But after only a few minutes Winfield Bybee and Eddie came across the -stubble toward them. Bybee spoke, gruffly: - -"Eddie here has been telling me that you two kids have got yourselves -into a peck of trouble, and want to hide out a bit. Well, I reckon a -traveling carnival is about the best place in God's world to hide. -Anybody that wants to bother you will have to deal with Winfield Bybee, -and I ain't yet turned any of my family over to a village constable. -Now, Dave--that your name?--if you want to keep out of sight, reckon I'd -better let you help Buck, the cook on the privilege car. - -"Sometimes Buck gets too chummy with a bootlegger and his K. P. has to -rustle the chow alone, but otherwise the boy's all right. And you, -Sally--" His keen eyes narrowed speculatively, took in the little -flushed face, the big eyes sparkling. Then one of his big hands reached -out and lifted the heavy braid of black hair that hung to her waist, -weighed it, studied it thoughtfully. - - ---- - -"Right this way, la-dees and gen-tle-men! Step right up and see Boffo, -the ostrich man, eat glass, nails, toothpicks, lead pipe, or what have -you! He chews 'em up and swallows 'em like a kid eats candy! Boffo -digests anything and everything from horseshoes to jack-knives! Any -gentlemen present got a jack-knife for Boffo's dinner? Come on, folks! -Don't be bashful! Don't let Boffo go hungry!" - -The spieler's voice went on and on, challenging, commanding, exhorting, -bullying the gaping crowd of country people who surged after him like -sheep. Admission to "The Palace of Wonders," a tent which housed a score -of freaks and fakers, was 25 cents. It still seemed wonderful to Sally -that she was there without having paid admission, that she--she, Sally -Ford, runaway ward of the state!--was one of the many attractions which -the farmers and villagers had paid their hard-earned money to see. - -Dimly through the crowd came the voice of the barker and ticket seller -in his tall, red, scarred box outside the tent: "All right, all right! -Here you are! Only a quarter--25 cents--two bits--to see the big show! -Performance just started! Step right up! All right, boys, this way! -Don't let your girls call you a piker! Two bits pays for it all! See the -half-man half-woman! See the girl nobody can lift! Try and lift her, -boys! Little and pretty as a picture, but heavy as lead! All right, step -right in! Don't crowd! Room for everybody! See Princess Lalla, the Harem -Crystal Gazer! Sees all, knows all! See Pitty Sing, the smallest woman -in the world--" - -Incredible! On Saturday, just two days ago, she had been peeling apples -to make pies for the Carson family. Today she was a member of a carnival -troupe, under the protection of Winfield Bybee, owner of all these weird -creatures about whom the spieler was chanting. It was too unreal to be -true. - -There had been twelve solid hours of sleep. Then had come a marvelously -satisfying supper in the dining car, or "privilege" car, with Bybee -himself introducing her to those astonishing people whom the spieler was -now exhibiting to the curious country people. The giant, a Hollander -named Jan something-or-other, had bent from vast heights to take her -hand; the tiny male midget, a Hawaiian billed merely as Noko, had -gravely asked her, in a tiny, piping voice, if she would sew a button on -his miniature coat for him; the bearded "lady" was a man, after all, a -man with a naturally falsetto voice and tiny hands and feet. Boffo, the -human ostrich, had disappointed her by being satisfied with a very -ordinary diet of corned beef and cabbage. The fat girl, who had confided -to Sally that she only weighed 380 pounds, though she was billed as -"tipping the scales" at 620, had patiently drunk glass after glass of -milk, until a gallon had been consumed--all in the interest of keeping -her weight up and adding to it. - -Then Bybee had taken her to his wife, a thin, hatchet-faced shrew of a -woman who seemed to suspect everything in petticoats of having designs -on her husband, and who in turn, seemed to feel equally sure that every -man must envy him the possession of such a wonderful woman as his wife. -His deference toward her touched Sally even as it amused her. - -Mrs. Bybee was too good a business woman, however, to let jealousy -interfere with her judgment where the show was concerned. She had -demurred a little, then had abruptly agreed to Bybee's plans for Sally. -Hours of sharp-tongued instruction from Mrs. Bybee had resulted in -Sally's being on the platform now, nervously awaiting her turn. - -The crowd surged nearer to Sally's platform. The spieler was introducing -the giant now, and Jan was rising slowly from his enormous chair, -unfolding his incredible length, standing erect at last, so that his -head touched and slightly raised the sloping canvas roof of the tent. - -She wondered, as she gazed pityingly and a little fearfully at Jan, how -it felt to be three feet taller than even the tallest of ordinary men, -and as she wondered she gazed upward into Jan's face and caught -something of an answer to her question. For Jan's great, hollow eyes, -set in a skeleton of a face, were the saddest she had ever seen, but -patiently sad, as if the little-boy soul that hid somewhere in that -terribly abnormal body of his had resigned itself to eternal sorrow and -loneliness. - -At the request of the spieler Jan stalked, like a seven-league-boots -creature of a fairy tale, up and down the little platform, then, still -sad-faced, patient, he folded up his amazing legs and relaxed in his -great chair with a sigh. He was silently and indifferently offering -postcard pictures of himself for sale when the barker turned toward -Sally, cajoling the crowd away from the giant: - -"And here, la-dees and gen-tle-men, we have the most beautiful girl that -ever escaped from a Turkish harem--the Princess Lalla. Right here, -folks! Here's a real treat for you! They may come bigger but they don't -come prettier! I've saved the Princess Lalla for the last because she's -the best. I know all you sheiks will agree with me--" Embarrassed snorts -of laughter interrupted him. "That's right, boys. And if the Princess -Lalla don't show up tonight I'll know that some good-looking Stanton boy -has eloped with her. - -"Stand up, Princess Lalla, and let these boys see what a Turkish -princess looks like! Don't crowd now, boys!" - -Sally slipped from her chair and advanced a pace or two toward the edge -of the platform, her knees trembling so she could scarcely walk. - -It did not seem possible to her that the glamorous, beautiful figure to -whom the spieler had made a deep and ironic salaam was Sally Ford. She -wondered if all those people staring at her with wide, curious eyes or -with envy really believed she was the Princess Lalla, an escaped member -of the harem of the Sultan of Turkey. She made herself see herself as -they saw her--a slim, rounded, young-girl figure in fantastic purple -satin trousers, wrapped close about her legs from knee to ankle with -ropes of imitation pearls; a green satin tunic-blouse, sleeveless and -embroidered with sequins and edged with gold fringe, half-revealing and -half-concealing her delicate young curves; a provocative lace veil -dimming and making mysterious the brilliance of her wide, childish eyes. - -She wondered if any of the more skeptical would mutter that the -golden-olive tint of her face, neck and bare arms had come out of a can -of burnt-sienna powder, applied thickly and evenly over a film of cold -cream. The mock-jewel-wrapped ropes of her blue-black hair, however, -were real, and she felt their beauty as they lay against her slowly -rising and falling breast. - -To her gravely expressed doubts of the authenticity of her Turkish -costume Mrs. Bybee had replied curtly, contemptuously: "My Gawd! Who -knows or cares whether Turkish dames dress like this? It's pretty, ain't -it? Them women may wear turbans and what-nots for all I know, but that -black hair of yours ain't going to be covered up with no towel around -your head." - -And so, circling her brow and holding the scrap of black lace nose veil -in place, was a crudely fashioned but gaudily pretty crown studded with -imitation rubies and emeralds and diamonds as big as bird's eggs. Her -feet felt very tiny and strange in red sandals, whose pointed toes -turned sharply upward and ended roguishly in fluffy silk pompoms. - -"I declare, you make a lot better Princess Lalla than Minnie Brooks -did," Mrs. Bybee had commented after out-fitting Sally. "She took down -with appendicitis in Sioux City and we ain't had a crystal gazer -since--one of the big hits of the show, too." - -But the spieler was going on and on, giving her a fearful and wonderful -history, endowing her with weird gifts--"... Yes, sir, folks, the -Princess Lalla sees all, knows all--sees all in this magic crystal of -hers. She sees past, present and future, and will reveal all to anyone -who cares to step up on this platform and be convinced. Just 25 cents, -folks, one lonely little quarter, and you'll have past, present and -future revealed to you by the Turkish seeress, favorite fortune-teller -of the Sultan of Turkey. Who'll be first, boys and girls? Step right -up." - -As he exhorted and harangued, the spieler, whom Sally had heard called -Gus, was busy arranging the little pine table, covered with black velvet -embroidered in gold thread with the signs of the Zodiac. On the table -stood a crystal ball, mounted on a tarnished gilt pedestal, and covered -over with a black square. Gus whisked off the square and revealed the -"magic crystal" to the gaping crowd. Then, with another deep salaam, he -conducted the "Princess Lalla" to her throne-like chair. She seated -herself and cupped her brown-painted hands with their gilded nails over -the large glass bowl. - -A young man vaulted lightly upon the platform, followed by giggles and -slangy words of encouragement. Sally's eyes, mercifully shielded by the -black lace veil, widened with terror. Her hands trembled so as they -hovered over the crystal that she had an almost irresistible impulse to -cover her face with them. Then she remembered that the black lace veil -and the brown powder did that. - -For the first to demand an exhibition of her powers as a seeress was -Ross Willis, Pearl Carson's "boy friend," Ross Willis who had not asked -her to dance because she was the Carsons' "hired girl" from the -orphanage. - -While Ross Willis, awkward and embarrassed, shuffled to the canvas chair -which Gus, the spieler, whisked forward, Sally reflected that there was -no need for her to remember any of the multitudinous instructions which -Mrs. Bybee had primed her for her job of "seeress." - -She curved her small, brown painted, gilded-nailed hands over the -crystal and bent her veiled face low. In a seductive, sing-song voice -she began to chant, bringing some of the words out hesitantly, as if -English had been recently learned and came hard to her "Turkish" lips: - -"I zee ze beeg fields--wheat fields, corn fields--ees it not zo?" She -raised her shaded eyes coyly to the face of the young farmer. The crowd -pressed close, breathing hard, the odors of their perspiration coming up -on hot waves of summer air to the gayly dressed little figure on the -platform. "Yes'm, I mean, sure, Princess," Ross Willis stuttered, and -the crowd laughed, pressed closer still. Two or three women waved -quarters to attract the attention of Gus, the spieler, who stood behind -her, to aid her if necessary. - -"You are--what you call it?--a farmer," Sally went on in her seductively -deepened voice. Oh, it was fun to "play-act" and to be paid for it! "You -va-ry reach young man. Va-ry beeg farm. You have mother, father, li'l -seester." Thank heaven, her ears had been keen that night of Pearl's -party, even if she had been inarticulate with shyness! "You ar-re in -love. I zee a gir-rl, a beeg, pretty gir-rl with red hair an' blue eyes. -Ees it not zo?" Her little low laugh was a gurgle, which started a shout -of laughter in the crowd. - -"Yeah, I reckon so," Ross Willis admitted, blushing more violently than -ever. - -"Oh, you Pearl!" a girl's voice shrilled from the crowd. - -"You mar-ry with thees gir-rl, have three va-ry nize childs," Sally went -on delightedly. After all, why shouldn't Pearl marry Ross Willis, since -she could not have David? "Zo! That ees all I zee," she concluded with -sweet gravity. "Zee creestal she go dark now." - -Ross Willis thanked "Princess Lalla" awkwardly and dropped from the -platform to the grass-stubbled ground, entirely unaware that the -marvelous seeress was little Sally Ford. - -Confidence and mirth welled up in Sally. She began to believe in herself -as "Princess Lalla," just as she had always more than half-believed that -she was the queen or the actress whom she had impersonated in the old -days so recently ended forever, when she had "play-acted" for the other -orphans. - -The next seeker after knowledge of "past, present and future" was not so -easy, but not very hard either, for the applicant was a girl, a pretty, -very urban-looking girl, who wore a tiny solitaire ring on her -engagement finger and who had been clinging to the arm of an obviously -adoring young man. For the pretty girl Sally obligingly foretold a happy -marriage with a "dark, tall young man, va-ry handsome"; a long journey, -and two children. The girl sparkled with pleasure, utterly unconscious -of the fact that "Princess Lalla" had told her nothing of the past and -very little of the present. - -Quarters were thrust upon her thick and fast. Because of the brisk -demand for her services, Sally gave only the briefest of "readings," and -only a few muttered angrily that it was a swindle. To a middle-aged -farmer she gave a bumper wheat crop, a new eight-cylinder car, a -prospective son-in-law for the girl whom Sally had unerringly picked out -as his unmarried daughter, and the promise of many splendid -grandchildren. To a freckled, open-faced, engaging youngster of ten, -thrust upon the platform by his adoring mother, she grandly promised -nothing less than the presidency of the United States, as well as riches -and a beautiful wife. - -Some of her prophecies, such as twin babies for the newly married -couple, brought shouts of laughter from the crowd, and some of her vague -guesses as to the past went very wide of the mark, as the applicants did -not hesitate to tell her--the old maid, for instance, who looked so -motherly that Sally lavishly endowed her with a husband and three -children; but nearly everyone who paid a quarter for what "Princess -Lalla" could see in the magic crystal went away wondering and thrilled -and satisfied. - -During the first lull between performances, Sally slipped out of the -"Palace of Wonders" and daringly mingled with the crowds outside. It was -all beautiful and wonderful to Sally, who had been to a circus only once -in her life and never to a carnival before. - -Before the tent which housed the big glass tank into which "bathing -beauties" dived and in which they ate bananas and drank soda-pop under -water, she encountered Winfield Bybee, enormous, majestic, benign, for -it was a good crowd and a fine day, and money was pouring into his -pockets. - -"Well, well," he grinned down at her, "I hear from Gus that you're -knocking 'em cold. Better run along in now, and you might see how many -of the rubes you can make follow you into the Palace of Wonders. We -don't want to give 'em too much of a free show. And remember, girlie, -for every quarter Princess Lalla earns as a fortune-teller, little Sally -Ford gets a nickel for herself. Don't take many nickels to make a -dollar." - -"Oh, Mr. Bybee, I'm so happy I'm about to burst," Sally confided to him -in a rush of gratitude. "But--do you think it's very wrong of me to -pretend to be a crystal gazer when really I can't see a thing in it to -save my life?" - -Bybee bellowed with laughter, so that the crowd veered suddenly toward -them. He stooped to whisper closer to her little brown-stained ear: -"Don't you worry, sister. As old P. T. Barnum used to say, 'There's a -sucker born every minute,' and old Winfield Bybee knows that they like -to be fooled. You just kid 'em along and send 'em away happy and I -reckon the good Lord ain't going to waste any black ink on your record -tonight. It's worth a quarter to be told a lot of nice things about -yourself, ain't it?" - -As she tripped swiftly across the dusty lot toward the Palace of -Wonders, the crowd following her grew larger and larger. Becoming bolder -because she felt that she was really "Princess Lalla" and not timid -little Sally Ford, she deliberately flirted with the men who pressed -close upon her, even waved a little brown hand invitingly toward the big -tent. - -When she reached the tent door, the barker leaned down from his booth, -behind which was set a small platform, and beckoned her to mount the -narrow steps. Smilingly she did so, and the barker introduced her: - -"Here she is, boys--the Princess Lalla of Con-stan-ti-no-ple, the -prettiest girl that ever escaped from the Sultan's harem! Princess -Lalla, favorite crystal-gazer to the Sultan of Turkey before she escaped -from his harem, will tell your fortunes, la-dees and gen-tle-men! -Princess Lalla sees all, knows all! Just one of the scores of -attractions in the Palace of Wonders! Admission 25 cents, one quarter of -a dollar, two bits!" - -Sally bowed, her little brown hands spreading in an enchanting gesture; -then she skipped down the steps, the great ropes of black hair, wound -with strands of imitation pearls, flapping against the vivid green satin -tunic. - -She was very tired when the supper hour came, but the thought that she -would soon see David again lent wings to her sandaled feet. She was -about to hurry out of the Palace of Wonders, released at last by the -apparently indefatigable spieler, Gus, when a tiny, treble voice called -to her: - -"Princess Lalla! Princess Lalla! Would you mind carrying me to the -cars?" - -Sally, startled, looked everywhere about the tent that was almost -emptied of spectators before it dawned on her that the tiny voice had -come from "Pitty Sing," "the smallest woman in the world," sitting in a -child's little red rocking chair on the platform. - -All of Sally's passionate love for little things--especially small -children--surged up in her heart. She skipped down the steps of her own -particular little platform and ran, with outstretched hands, to the -midget. "Pitty Sing" was indeed a pretty thing, a very doll of a woman, -the flaxen hair on her small head marcelled meticulously, her little -plump cheeks and pouting, babyish lips tinted with rouge. In her -miniature hands she was holding a newspaper, which was so big in -comparison with her midget size that it served as a complete screen. - -"Of course I'll carry you. I'm so glad you'll let me," Sally glowed and -dimpled. "You little darling, you!" - -"Please don't baby me!" Pitty Sing admonished her in a severe little -voice. "I'm old enough to be your mother, even if I'm not big enough." -And the tiny, plump hands began to fold the newspapers with great -definiteness. - -Sally's eyes, abashed, fluttered from the disapproving little face to -the paper. Odd that so tiny a thing could read--but of course she was -grown up, even if she was only 29 inches tall-- - -"Oh, please!" Sally gasped, going very pale under the brown powder. "May -I see your paper for just a minute?" - -For her eyes had caught sight of a name which had been burned into her -memory, forever indelible--the name of Carson. - -When Sally had carefully deposited the dignified little midget, "Pitty -Sing," in the infant-sided high-chair drawn up to a corner table in the -dining car, she hurried to the box of a kitchen which took up the other -end of the car, the newspaper trembling in her hand. She found David -alone in the kitchen, slicing onions into a great pan of frying Swiss -steak. Onion-induced tears streamed down his cheeks, but at the sound of -Sally's urgent voice, he turned. - -"Oh, David, he wasn't killed!" she cried, taking care to keep her voice -low. "It's in the paper--look! But he says the most terrible things -about us, and the police are looking for us--" - -"Hey, there, honey! Steady!" David commanded gently, as he groped for a -handkerchief to wipe his streaming eyes. "Now, let's see the paper. -Thank God I didn't commit murder--what the devil!" he interrupted -himself, as his eyes traveled hurriedly down the front page. "By heaven, -I almost wish I had killed him! The dirty, lying skunk!" - -"FARMER ACCUSES HIRED MAN OF ASSAULT TO KILL" was the streamer head-line -across the entire page. Below, two streamer lines of heavy italic type -informed the reader: "CLEM CARSON SUFFERS BROKEN LEG FOR ATTEMPTING TO -PROTECT ORPHANED GIRL FROM UNIVERSITY STUDENT WORKING ON FARM." - -The "story," in small type, followed: "Clem Carson, prosperous farmer, -living eighteen miles from the capital city, is suffering from a broken -leg, a broken nose and numerous cuts and bruises, sustained late -Saturday afternoon when, Carson alleges, he broke into the garret -bedroom of Miss Sally Ford, sixteen-year-old girl from the state -orphanage, who was working on the Carson farm for her board during the -summer vacation. According to Carson's story, told to reporters Sunday -night after a warrant for the arrest of Sally Ford and David Nash had -been issued by the sheriff's office, the farmer had been suspicious for -several days that one of his hired men, David Nash, A. & M. student -during the school year, was paying too marked attention to the young -girl, for whose safety Carson had pledged himself to the state. - -"On Saturday afternoon early the members of Mr. Carson's family, -including his wife, brother, mother and daughter, had come to town for -shopping, leaving Miss Ford alone in the house. The two other hired men -had also gone to the city, leaving Carson and young Nash at work on the -farm. Carson alleges that he saw Nash enter the house late Saturday -afternoon and that when the young man did not return to his work in the -barn within a reasonable time, Carson left his own work to investigate, -fearing for the safety of the girl under his protection. - -"After unsuccessfully searching the main floor of the house, Carson -alleges, he went to the garret, heard voices coming from Miss Ford's -room, tried the door and found it locked. He knocked, was refused -admittance, according to the story told the sheriff, then, determined to -save the girl from the man, he climbed to the roof of the porch and made -his way to the small window of the great room, from which he saw Miss -Ford and the Nash boy in a compromising position. When he tried to enter -the room through the window Carson alleges that he was brutally -assaulted by young Nash, who, by the way, was boxing champion of the -sophomore class at the A. & M. A smashing blow from young Nash's fist -sent the farmer crashing through the window, and down the sloping roof -to the ground. - -"In the fall, Carson's left leg was broken above the knee. He was still -unconscious when Dr. John E. Salter, a physician living ten miles from -the Carson farm on the road to the capital, arrived at the deserted -farm, summoned by a mysterious male voice by telephone. The sheriff's -theory, as well as the doctor's, is that young Nash, fearful that he had -seriously injured the farmer, summoned medical help before leaving with -the girl. - -"A warrant for the arrest of David Nash has been issued by the sheriff, -charging the young student with assault with intent to kill and with -contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The warrant for Miss Ford's -arrest charges moral delinquency. Since she is a ward of the state until -her eighteenth birthday, she is also liable to arrest on the simple -charge of running away from the farm on which the state orphanage -authorities had placed her for the summer." - -Sally, trembling so that her teeth chattered, watched David as he read -the entire story. His young face became more and more grim as he read. -When he had finished the shameful, hideously untrue account of what had -really been a piece of superb gallantry on his part, he crumpled the -paper slowly between the fingers of his big hand as if that hand were -crushing out the life of the man who had lied so monstrously. Then, -lifting a lid of the big coal range, he thrust the crumpled mass of -paper into the flames. - -"But--what are we going to do, David?" Sally whispered, her eyes -searching his grim face piteously. "They'll send me to the reformatory -if they catch me, and you--you--oh, David! They'll send you to prison -for years and years! I wish you'd never laid eyes on me! I'd rather die -than have you come to harm through me." - -She sagged against the narrow shelf which served as a kitchen table, -weeping forlornly. - -"Don't cry, Sally," David pleaded gently. "It's not your fault. I'd do -it all over again if anyone else dared insult you. Oh, the devil! These -onions are burning up! Skip along now and don't worry. I'm cook tonight. -Buck's on a spree. Keep a stiff upper lip, honey. In all that brown -paint and that rig, you could walk into the sheriff's office and he'd do -nothing worse than ask you to read his palm." - -"But you, David, you!" she protested, trying to choke off her sobs. -"You're not disguised--" - -"I'll stick to the kitchen. Nobody'll think of looking for me here." He -grinned at her cheerfully. "Remember, Pop Bybee's on our side. He took -us in when he thought I'd killed a man. I don't suppose he'll turn on us -now, particularly since you're such a riot as Princess Lalla. I've been -hearing how big you're going over in the Palace of Wonders." - -"Honestly, David?" she brightened. "Do you like me dressed up like -this?" and she made him a little curtsey. - -"You sweet, sweet kid!" he laughed at her tenderly. "Like you like that? -You're adorable! But I like your own wild-rose complexion better. Now -scoot or I'll be put in irons for spoiling the supper." - -Sally fled, but not before she had blown him an audacious kiss from the -tips of her gilded-nailed fingers. - -Winfield Bybee had entered the dining car during her talk with David and -was seated at his own table, his thin, hatchet-faced wife opposite him. -When he saw his new "Princess Lalla" almost skipping down the aisle, her -eyes sparkling with joy at David's unexpected praise and tenderness, he -muttered something to Mrs. Bybee, then beckoned the fantastically clad -little figure to his table. - -"Would her royal highness honor me and Mrs. Bybee with her presence at -dinner this evening?" he boomed, his blue eyes twinkling. - -When she had seated herself, after a little flurry of thanks, Bybee -leaned toward her and spoke in a confidential undertone: "Me and the -wife have seen that piece in the papers about you and Dave, Sally. What -about it? Who's lying? You and the boy--or Carson?" - -Sally had turned the little black lace veil back upon the jeweled-gilt -crown, so that her big eyes showed like two round, polished sapphires -set in bronze. Bybee, searching them with his keen, pale blue eyes, -could find in them no guile, no cloud of guilt. - -"David and I told you the truth, Mr. Bybee," she said steadily, but her -lips trembled childishly. "You believe us, don't you? David is good, -good!" - -"All right," Bybee nodded his acceptance of her truthfulness. "Now what -was that you was telling me and the wife about your mother?" - -Sally's heart leaped with hope. "She--my mother--lived here in Stanton, -Mr. Bybee. I have her address, the one she gave the orphanage twelve -years ago when she put me there. But Miss Pond, who works in the office -at the Home, said they had investigated and found she had moved away -right after she put me in the orphanage. But I thought--I hoped--I could -find out something while I'm here. But I suppose it would be too -dangerous--I might get caught--and they'd send me to the reformatory--" - -"Haven't I told you I'm not going to let 'em bother you?" Bybee chided -her, beetling his brows in a terrific frown. "Now, my idea is this--" - -"_My_ idea, Winfield Bybee!" his wife interrupted tartly. "Always taking -credit! That's you all over! _My_ idea, Sally, is for _me_ to scout -around the neighborhood where your mother used to live and see if I can -pick up any information for you. Land knows a girl alone like you needs -some folks of her own to look after her. Wouldn't do for you to go -around asking questions, but I'll make out like I'm trying to find out -where my long-lost sister, Mrs. Ford, is. What was her first name? Got -that, too?" - -"Her name was Nora," Sally said softly. "Mrs. Nora Ford, aged -twenty-eight then--twelve years ago. Oh, Mrs. Bybee, you're both so good -to me! Why are you so good to me?" she added ingenuously. - -"Maybe," Mrs. Bybee answered brusquely, "it's because you're a sweet -kid, without any dirty nonsense about you. That is," she added severely, -her sharp grey eyes flicking from Sally's eager face to Bybee's, "you'd -better not let me catch you making eyes at this old Tom Cat of mine!" - -"Now, Ma," Bybee flushed and squirmed, "don't tease the poor kid. Can't -you see she's clear gone on this Dave chap of her's? She wouldn't even -know I was a man if I didn't wear pants. Don't mind her, Sally. She's -your friend, too, and she'll try to get on your ma's tracks tomorrow -morning before show time." - - - - -CHAPTER VI - - -Hours more of "crystal-gazing," of giving lavish promises of "long -journeys," success, wealth, sweethearts, husbands, wives, bumper corn -and wheat crops, babies--until eleven o'clock and the merciful dwindling -of the carnival crowds permitted a weary little "Princess Lalla" to slip -out of the "Palace of Wonders" tent, Pitty Sing, the midget woman, -cradled in her arms like a baby. For Pitty Sing had promptly adopted -Sally as her human sedan chair, uncompromisingly dismissing black-eyed -Nita, the "Hula-Hula" dancer, who had previously performed that service -for her. - -"I don't like Nita a bit," the tiny treble voice informed Sally with -great definiteness. "I do like you, and I shall compensate you -generously for your services. Nita has no proper respect for me, though -I command--and I say it without boasting, I hope--twice the salary that -that indecent muscle-dancer does. And she always joggled me." - -"Poor Pitty Sing!" Sally soothed her, as she picked her way carefully -over the grass stubble to the big dress tent which also served as -sleeping quarters for the women performers of the "Palace of Wonders." -"Haven't you anyone to look after you? Anyone belonging to you, I mean?" - -"Why should I have?" the indignant little piping voice demanded from -Sally's shoulder. "I'm a woman grown, as I've reminded you before. I've -been paying Nita five dollars a week to carry me to and from the show -tent for each performance. Of course there are a few other little things -she does for me, but if you'd like to have the position I think we would -get along very nicely." - -"Oh, I'm sure of it!" Sally exalted, laying her cheek for an instant -against the flaxen, marcelled little head. "Thank you, Pitty Sing, thank -you with all my heart!" - -"Please don't call me 'Pitty Sing'," the little voice commanded tartly. -"The name does very well for exhibition purposes, but my name is Miss -Tanner--Elizabeth Matilda Tanner." - -"Oh, I'm sorry!" Sally protested, hurt and abashed. "I didn't mean--I--" - -"But you may call me Betty." The treble was suddenly sweet and sleepy -like a child's. One of the miniature hands fluttered out inadequately to -help Sally part the flaps of the dress tent, which was deserted except -for the fat girl, already asleep and snoring stertorously. - -Sally knelt to enable the midget to stand on the beaten down stubble -which served as the only carpet of Sally's new "dormitory." - -"Thank you, Sally," the midget piped, her eyes lifted toward Sally out -of a network of wrinkles which testified that she was indeed a "woman -grown." "You're a very nice little girl, and your David is one of the -handsomest men I ever saw." - -"_Your David!_" Sally's heart repeated the words, sang them, crooned -over them, but she did not answer, except with one of her rare, sudden, -sweet smiles. - -"Nita evidently thinks so, too," the weak little treble went on, as -"Pitty Sing" trotted toward her cot, looking like an animated doll. "I -might as well warn you right now, Sally, that I don't trust that Nita -person as far as I can throw a bull by the horns." - -She flung her dire pronouncement over a tiny, pink-silk shoulder as she -knelt before a small metal trunk and reached into her bosom for a key -suspended around her neck on a chain. Sally's desire to laugh at the -preposterous picture of the midget throwing a bull by the horns was -throttled by a new and particularly horrid fear. - -"What--do you mean, Betty?" she gasped. "Has Nita--" - -"--been vamping your David?" tiny Miss Elizabeth Matilda Tanner finished -her sentence for her. "It would not be Nita if she overlooked a prospect -like your David. It is entirely obvious that he is a person of breeding -and family, even if he is helping Buck in the 'privilege' car kitchen. -Nita is always so broke that she has to eat her meals in the cook tent, -but she borrowed or stole the money today to eat in the privilege car, -and she found it necessary to confer with your David on a purely -fictitious dietetic problem, and then went boldly into the kitchen to -time the eggs he was boiling for her. That Nita!" the tiny voice snorted -contemptuously. "She's as strong as a horse and has about as much need -for a special diet as an elephant has for galoshes. Oh, she's up to her -tricks, not a doubt about that. I just thought I'd warn you in time. -Nita's a man-eating tigress and once she's smelled blood--" - -"Thank you, Betty," Sally interrupted gently, as she knelt beside the -midget to help her with the lid of the trunk. "But David isn't _my_ -David, you know. He's--he's just a friend who helped me out when I was -in terrible trouble. If Nita likes David, and--he--likes her--" - -"Don't be absurd!" the midget scolded her, seating herself on a tiny -stool to take off her baby-size shoes and stockings. "Of course you're -in love with him, and he's crazy about you--a blind person could see -that. Will you untie this shoe-lace, please? My nightgown is in the tray -of the trunk, and you'll find a nightcap there, too. I wear it," she -explained severely, on the defensive against ridicule, "to protect my -marcel. Heaven knows it's hard enough to get a good curl in these hick -towns, with the rubes gaping at me wherever I go. Then please get my -Ibsen--a little green leather book. I'm reading 'Hedda Gabler' now. Have -you read it?" - -"Oh, yes!" Sally cried, delightedly. "Do you like to read? Could I -borrow it to read between shows? I'll take awfully good care of it--" - -"Certainly I read!" Miss Tanner informed her severely, climbing, with -Sally's help, into her low cot-bed. "My father, who had these little -books made especially for me, was a university professor. I have -completed the college course, under his tutelage. If he had not died I -should not be here," and her little eyes were suddenly bitter with -loneliness and resentment against the whimsy of a Providence that -elected to make her so different from other women. - -Sally found the miniature book, small enough to fit the midget's hand, -and gave it to her, then stooped and kissed the little faded, wrinkled -cheek and set about the difficult and unaccustomed task of removing her -make-up. Beside her cot bed she found a small tin steamer trunk, -stencilled in red paint with the magic name, "Princess Lalla." She -stared at it incredulously for a long minute, then untwisted the wire -holding duplicate keys. - -When she threw back the lid she found a shiny black tin make-up box, -containing the burnt-sienna powder Mrs. Bybee had used in making her up -for the first day's performances; a big can of theatrical cold cream; -squares of soft cheesecloth for removing make-up; two new towels; -mascara, lip rouge, white face powder, a utilitarian black comb and -brush; tooth paste and tooth brush. - -"Oh, these kind people!" she whispered to herself, and bent her head -upon the make-up box and wept grateful tears. Then, smiling at herself -and humming a little tune below her breath, she lifted the tray and -found--not the tell-tale dresses which Pearl Carson had given her and -which had been minutely described by the police in the newspaper account -of the near-tragedy on the Carson farm--but two new dresses, cheap but -pretty, the little paper ticket stitched into the neck of each showing -the size to be correct--fourteen. - -She was still kneeling before her trunk, blinded with tears of -gratitude, when a coarse, nasal voice slashed across the dress tent: - -"Well, strike me dumb, if it ain't the Princess Lalla in person, not a -movie! Don't tell me you're gonna bunk with us, your highness! I thought -you'd be sawing wood in Pop Bybee's stateroom by this time! What's the -matter he ain't rocking you to sleep and giving you your nice little -bottle?" - -Sally rose slowly, the new dresses slithering to the floor in stiff -folds. She batted the tears from her eyes with quick flutters of her -eyelids and then stared at the girl who stood at the tent flap, taunting -her. - -She saw a thin, tall girl, naked to the waist except for breastplates -made of tarnished metal studded with imitation jewels. About her lean -hips and to her knees hung a skirt of dried grass, the regulation "hula -dancer" skirt. - -"You're--Nita, aren't you?" Sally's voice was small, placating. "I'm--" - -"Oh, I know who _you_ are! You're the orphan hussy the police are -lookin' for!" the harsh voice ripped out, as Nita swung into the tent, -her grass skirts swishing like the hiss of snakes. "Furthermore, you're -Pop Bybee's blue-eyed baby girl! And--you're the baby-faced little -she-devil that stole my graft with that little midget! Well, Princess -Lalla, I guess we've been introduced proper now, and we can skip -formalities and get down to business. Hunh?" And she bent menacingly -over Sally, evil black eyes glittering into wide, frightened blue ones, -her mouth an ugly, twisting, red loop of hatred. - -Sally backed away, instinctively, from the snake-tongues of venom in -those black eyes. "I'm sorry I've offended you, Miss--Nita.--" - -"If you're not you will be! Want me to tip off the police? Well, then, -if you don't, listen, because I want you to get this--and get it good, -all of it!" - -Four girls, two of them thin to emaciation, one over-fat, the fourth as -beautifully shaped as a Greek statue, trailed dispiritedly into the -dress tent, their hands groping to unfasten the snaps of their soiled -silk chorus-girl costumes. - -Their heavily rouged and powdered faces were drawn with fatigue; their -eyes like burned holes in once-gay blankets. Sally had watched them -dance, enviously, between her own performances, had heard the barker -ballyhooing them as: "Bybee's Follies Girls, straight from Broadway and -on their way back to join their pals in Ziegfeld's Follies." - -Now, weary unto death after eighteen performances, the "Follies" girls -shuffled on aching feet to their cots and seated themselves with groans -and dispirited curses, paying not the faintest attention to the tense -tableau presented by Nita, the "Hula" dancer, and the girl they knew as -"Princess Lalla." - -Sally's frightened eyes fluttered from one to another of that -bedraggled, pathetic quartet, but she might as well have appealed to the -gaudily painted banners that fluttered over the deserted booths outside. - -"What do you want, Nita?" she whispered, moistening her dry lips and -twisting her little brown-painted hands together. - -"I'll tell you fast enough!" Nita snarled, thrusting her face close to -Sally's. "I want you to give that sheik of yours the gate--get me? Ditch -him, shake him, and I don't mean maybe!" - -For the third time that day Sally was having David Nash, the only friend -she had ever made outside the orphanage, flung into her face as a -sweetheart or worse. Winfield Bybee's casual words to his wife--"Can't -you see she's clear gone on that Dave chap of hers?"--had made her heart -beat fast with a queer, suffocating kind of pleasure, a pleasure she had -never before experienced in her life. Those words had somehow initiated -her into young ladyhood, fraught with strange, lovely, privileges, among -them the right to be "clear gone" on a man--a man like David! The -midget's "your David" and "Of course you're in love with him, and he's -crazy about you--a blind person could see that," had sent her heart -soaring to heaven, like a toy balloon accidentally released from a -child's clutch. - -But Nita's "that sheik of yours," Nita's venomously spat command, "give -him the gate, ditch him, shake him," aroused in her a sudden blind fury, -a fury as intense as Nita's. - -"I'll do no such thing! David's mine, as long as he wants to be! You -have no right to dictate to me!" - -"Is that so?" Nita straightened, hands digging into her hips, a toss of -her ragged, badly curled blond head emphasizing her sarcasm. "Is that -so? Maybe you'll think I had some right when the cops tap you on the -shoulder tomorrow! Too bad you and your David can't share a suite in the -county jail together!" - -"You'd--you'd do that--to David, too?" Sally whispered over cold lips. - -"I thought that'd get under your skin," Nita laughed harshly. Then, as -though the interview was successfully concluded, from her standpoint, -the red-painted nails of her claw-like hands began to pick at the -fastening of her grass skirt. - -Sally was turning away blindly, feeling like a small, trapped animal, -when a tiny, shrill voice came from the midget's cot: - -"I heard every word you said, Nita! I think you must have gone crazy. -The heat affects some like this, but I never saw it strike a carnival -trouper quite so bad--" - -"You shut up, you little double-crossing runt!" Nita whirled toward the -midget's bed. - -"I may be a runt," the midget's voice shrilled, "but I'm in full -possession of my faculties. And when I tell Winfield Bybee the threats -you've made against this poor child, you'll find yourself stranded in -Stanton without even a grass skirt to earn a living with. And if the -carnival grapevine is still working, you'll find that no other show in -the country will take you on. It will be back to the hash joints for -you, Nita, and I for one think the carnival will be a neater, sweeter -place without you. Get your make-up off and get into bed, Sally. And -don't worry. Nita wouldn't have dared try to bluff a real trouper like -that." - -"For Gawd's sake, are you all going to jaw all night?" a weary voice, -with a flat, southern drawl demanded indignantly. "I've got some -important sleeping to do, if I'm going to show tomorrow. Gawd, I'm so -tired my bones are cracking wide open." - -"Shut up yourself!" Nita snarled, slouching down upon the camp stool -beside her trunk, to remove her make-up. "You hoofers don't know what -tired means. If you had to jelly all day like I do! Oh, Gawd! What a -life! What a life! You're right, Midge! It sure gets you--eighteen shows -a day and this hell-fired heat." - -It was Nita's surrender, or at least her pretended surrender, to the law -of the carnival--live and let live; ask no questions and answer none. - -In the thick silence that followed Sally tremblingly seated herself -before her trunk and smeared her neck, face, arms and hands with -theatrical cold cream. She was conscious that other weary girls drifted -in--"the girl nobody can lift," the albino girl, whose pink eyes were -shaded with big blue goggles; the two diving girls, looking as if their -diet of soda pop and bananas eaten under water did not agree with them. -But she was aware of them, rather than saw them. Stray bits of their -conversation forced through her own conflicting thoughts and emotions-- - -"Where's my rabbit foot? Gawd, I've lost my rabbit foot! That means a -run of bad luck, sure--" - -"--'n I says, 'Blow, you crazy rube. Whaddye take me for?'" - -"Good pickings! If this keeps up I'll be able to grab my cakes in the -privilege car--sold fifty-eight postcards today--" - -"Whaddye know? Gus the barker's fell something fierce for the new kid. -'N they say Pop Bybee's got her on percentage, as well as twelve bucks -per and cakes. Some guys has all the luck--" - -"Who's the sheik in the privilege car? Don't look like no K. P. to me. -Boy howdy! Hear you already staked your claim, Nita. Who is he? -Millionaire's son gettin' an eyeful of life in raw?" - -She knew that Nita did not answer, at least not in words. Gradually talk -died down; weary bodies stretched their aching length upon hard, sagging -cots. Someone turned out the sputtering gas jet that had ineffectually -illuminated the dress tent. Groans subsided into snores or whistling, -adenoidal breathing. A sudden breeze tugged at the loose sides of the -tent, slapping the canvas loudly against the wooden stakes that held it -down. - -Although she was so tired that her muscles quivered and jerked -spasmodically, Sally found that she could not sleep. As if her mind were -a motion-picture screen, the events of the day marched past, in very bad -sequence, like an unassembled film. She saw her own small figure -flitting across the screen fantastically clad in purple satin trousers -and green jacket, her face and arms brown as an Indian's, her eyes -shielded by a little black lace veil. Crowds of farmers, their wives, -their children; small-town business men, their wives and giggling -daughters and goggle-eyed sons, avid for a glimpse of the naughtiness -which the barker promised behind the tent flap of the "girlie show," -pressed in upon her, receded, pressed again, thrust out quarters, -demanded magic visions of her-- - -David, his eyes streaming with onion tears, smiling at her. David -reading that dreadful newspaper story--David of yesterday, saying, "Dear -little Sally!" pressing her against him for a blessed minute-- - -And Nita, her eyes rabid with sudden, ugly passion--passion for -David--Nita threatening her, threatening David-- - -David, David! The movie stopped with a jerk, then resolved itself into -an enormous "close-up" of David Nash, his eyes smiling into hers with -infinite gentleness and tenderness. - -"Does he think I'm just a little girl, too young to--to be in love or to -be loved?" she asked herself, audacious in the dark. "If--if he was at -all in love with me--but oh, he couldn't be!--would he be so friendly -and easy with me? Wouldn't he be embarrassed, and blush, and--and things -like that? Oh, I'm just being silly! He doesn't think of me at all -except as a little girl who's in trouble. A girl alone, as he calls me." - -Then a new memory banished even the "close-up" of David on the screen of -her mind--a memory called up by those words--"girl alone." She felt that -she ought to weep with shame and contrition because she had so long -half-forgotten Mrs. Bybee's promise to make inquiries about her -mother--the mother who had given her to the orphanage twelve years -before, leaving behind her only a meager record--"Mrs. Nora Ford, aged -twenty-eight." - -So little in those words with which to conjure up a mother! She would be -forty now, if--if she were still alive! Suddenly all her twelve years of -orphanhood, of longing for a mother, even for a mother who would desert -her child and go away without a word, rushed over Sally like an -avalanche of bruising stones. Every hurt she had sustained during all -those twelve motherless years throbbed with fresh violence; drew hard -tears that dripped upon the lumpy cotton pillow beneath her tossing -head. - -When the paroxysm of weeping had somewhat subsided she crept out of her -cot and knelt beside it and prayed. - -Then she crept back into bed, unconscious that the midget was still -awake and had seen her dimly in the darkness. Strangely free of her -burdens, Sally lay for a long time before sleep claimed her, trying to -remember all the instructions about crystal-gazing that Mrs. Bybee had -heaped upon her. And in her childish conscience there was no twinge or -remorse that she was to go on the next day, deceiving the public, as -"Princess Lalla, favorite crystal-gazer of the Sultan of Turkey." - -The next morning--the carnival's second and last day in Stanton--Sally -overslept. She did not awaken until a tiny hand tugged impatiently at -her hair. Her dark blue eyes flew wide in startled surprise, then -recognition of her surroundings and of "Pitty Sing," the midget, dawned -in them slowly. - -"You looked so pretty asleep that I hated to awaken you," the midget -told her. "But it's getting late, and I want my breakfast. I'm dressed." - -The little woman wore a comically mature-looking dress of blue linen, -made doll-size, by a pattern which would have suited a woman of forty. -Sally impulsively took the tiny face between her hands and laid her lips -for an instant against the softly wrinkled cheek. Then she sprang out of -bed, careful not to "joggle" the midget, who had been so emphatic about -her distaste for being joggled. - -"There's a bucket of water and a tin basin," Miss Tanner told her -brusquely, to hide the pleasure which Sally's caress had given her. "All -the other girls have gone to the cook tent, so you can dress in peace." - -"I didn't thank you properly last night for taking my part against -Nita," Sally said shyly, as she hastily drew on her stockings. "But I do -thank you, Betty, with all my heart. I was so frightened--for David--" - -"What I said to Nita will hold her for a while." Betty Tanner nodded -with satisfaction. "But I don't trust her. She'll do something underhand -if she thinks she can get away with it. But don't worry. Once the -carnival gets out of this state, you and your David will be pretty safe. -I don't think the police will bother about extradition, even if Nita -should tip them off. In the meantime, I'll break the first law of -carnival and try to learn something of Nita's past. I've seen her turn -pale more than once when a detective or a policeman loomed up -unexpectedly and seemed to be giving her the once-over. Oh, dear, I'm -getting to be as slangy as any of the girls," she mourned. - -After Sally had splashed in the tin basin and had combed and braided her -hair, she hesitated for a long minute over the two new dresses that had -mysteriously found their way into the equally mysterious new tin trunk. -She caught herself up at the thought. Of course they were not -mysterious. "Pop" and Mrs. Bybee had provided them, out of the infinite -kindness of their hearts. Were they always so kind to the carnival's new -recruits? Gratitude welled up in her impressionable young heart; -overflowed her lips in song, as she dressed herself in the little white -voile, splashed with tiny blue and yellow wild flowers. - -Last night's breeze had brought with it a light, cooling shower, and -still lingered under the hot caress of the June sun. Sally sang, at -Betty's request, as she sped across vacant lots to the show train -resting engineless on a spur track. At the sound of her fresh, young -voice, caroling an old song of summertime and love, David Nash thrust -his head out of the little high window in the box of a kitchen at the -end of the dining car, and waved an egg-beater at her, lips and teeth -and eyes flashing gay greetings to her. - -"Better tell your David how Nita's been carrying on," the midget piped -from Sally's shoulder. - -Song fled from Sally's throat and heart. "No," she shook her head. She -couldn't be a tattle-tale. If the orphanage had taught her nothing else -it had taught her not to be a tale-bearer. Besides, to talk of Nita and -her threats would make it necessary to tell David all that Nita had -said, and at the thought Sally's cheeks went scarlet. It might kill his -friendship for her to let him know that others--apparently all the -carnival folk--had labeled that friendship "love." Why couldn't they let -her and David alone? Why snatch up this beautiful thing, this precious -friendship, and maul it about, sticking labels all over it until it was -ruined? - -She had placed the midget in her own little high chair at her own -particular table in the privilege car and was hurrying down the car -bound for the cook tent and her own breakfast when Winfield Bybee and -his wife entered. Mrs. Bybee was dressed as if for a journey of -importance. - -Winfield Bybee boomed out a greeting to Sally, tilting his head to peer -into her smiling blue eyes. - -"All dolled up and looking pretty enough to eat," he chuckled. "Ain't -that a new dress?" - -"Oh, yes, and it fits perfectly," Sally glowed. "Thanks so very much for -the trunk and the dresses, Mrs. Bybee," she added, tactfully addressing -the showman's wife. "I--I'll pay you back out of my salary as I make -it--" - -"What are you talking about?" Mrs. Bybee demanded sternly, her eyes -flashing from Sally's flushed face to her husband's. "I never bought you -any dresses or a trunk. Now, you looka here, Winfield Bybee! I'm a woman -of few words, and of a long-suffering disposition, but even a saint -knows when she's got a stomachful! I swallowed your mealy-mouthed -palaverin' about this poor little orphan, but if you're sneaking around -and buying her presents behind my back, I'll turn her right over to the -state and not lose a wink of sleep, and let me tell you this, Winfield -Bybee--" Her words were a rushing torrent, heated to the boiling point -by jealousy and suspicion. - -Sally tried to speak, to interrupt her, but she might as well have tried -to stop the Niagara. Under the force of the torrent Sally at last bowed -her head, shrinking against the wall of the car, the very picture of -detected guilt. The carnival owner gasped and waved his arms helplessly, -tried to pat his wife's hands and had his own slapped viciously for his -pains. When at last Mrs. Bybee paused for breath, and to mop her -perspiring face with her handkerchief, Bybee managed to get in his -defense, doggedly, his bluster wilted under his wife's tongue lashing: - -"You're crazy, Emma! I didn't buy her any presents. I never saw that -dress before in my life. I don't know what you or she's talking about. I -didn't buy her anything! I--oh, good Lord!" He tried to put his arms -about his wife, his face so strutted with blood that Sally felt a faint -wonder, through her misery, that apoplexy did not strike him down. - -"What's the matter, Sally?" David came striding out of the kitchen, a -butcher knife in one hand and a slab of breakfast bacon in the other. - -"I don't know, David," she whispered forlornly. "I--I was just thanking -Mrs. Bybee for this dress and another one and a trunk I found in the -dress tent with my name on it--'Princess Lalla'--" she stammered over -the name--"and Mrs. Bybee says she didn't give them to me." - -"He thought he'd put something over on me, and me all dressed up like a -missionary to go look for her precious mother. I guess her mother wasn't -any better than she should have been and this little soft-soap artist -takes after her," Mrs. Bybee broke in stridingly, but her angry eyes -lost something of their conviction under David's level gaze. - -"I bought the things for Sally, Mrs. Bybee," he said quietly. "I should -have told her, or put my card in. Unfortunately I didn't have one with -me," he added with a boyish grin. - -"Oh!" Anger spurted out of Mrs. Bybee's jealous heart like air let out -of a balloon. "Reckon I'm just an old fool! God knows I don't see why I -should care what this old woman-chaser of a husband of mine does, but--I -do! If you're ever in love, Sally, you'll understand a foolish old woman -a little better. Now, young man, you take that murderous looking knife -and that bacon back into the kitchen and scramble a couple of eggs for -me. And I guess you can give Pop a rasher of that bacon, even if it is -against the doctor's orders." - -And the showman, beaming again and throwing "Good mornings" right and -left, marched down the aisle, his arm triumphantly about his repentant -wife's shoulders. - -Sally watched them for a moment, a lovely light of tenderness and -understanding playing over her sensitive face. Then she turned to David, -who had not yet obeyed Mrs. Bybee's command. They smiled into each -other's eyes, shyly, and the flush that made Sally's face rosy was -reflected in the boy's tanned cheeks. - -"I'm sorry, David, I didn't dream it was--you. Thank you, David." She -could not keep from repeating his name, dropping it like a caress at the -end of almost every sentence she addressed to him, as if her lips kissed -the two slow, sweet syllables. - -"I should have told you," David confessed in a low voice, slightly -shaken with embarrassment and some other emotion which flickered behind -the smile in his gold-flecked hazel eyes. "I--I thought you'd know. You -needed the things and I knew you didn't have any money. I've got to get -back into the kitchen," he added hastily, awkwardly. She had never seen -him awkward in her presence before, and she was daughter of Eve enough -to rejoice. And in her shy joy her face blossomed with sudden rich -beauty that made Nita, the Hula dancer, who appeared in the doorway at -that moment, look old and tawdry and bedraggled, like the last ragged -sunflower withering against a kitchen fence. - -But not even Nita's flash of hatred and veiled warning could blight that -sudden sweet blooming of Sally's beauty. She waved goodby to David, -carrying away with her as she sped to the cook tent the heart-filling -sweetness and tenderness of his answering smile. She took out the memory -of that smile and of his boyish flush and awkwardness a hundred times -during the morning, to look at in fresh wonder, as a child repeatedly -unearths a bit of buried treasure to be sure that it is still there. - -When she bent her little head gravely over the crystal, after the -carnival had opened for the day, she saw in it not other people's -"fortunes" but David's flushed face, David's shy, tender eyes, David's -lips curled upward in a smile. And because she was so happy she lavished -happiness upon all those who thrust quarters upon Gus, the barker, for -"Princess Lalla's" mystic reading of "past, present and future." - -She had almost forgotten, in her preoccupation with the miracle which -had happened to her--for she knew now that she loved David, not as a -child loves, but as a woman loves--that Mrs. Bybee was undoubtedly -keeping her promise to make inquiries about the woman who had given her -name as Mrs. Nora Ford when she had committed Sally Ford to the care of -the state twelve years before. But she was sharply reminded and filled -with remorse for her forgetfulness when Gus, the barker, leaned close -over her at the end of a performance to whisper: - -"The boss' ball-and-chain wants to see you in the boss' private car, -kid. Better beat it over there before you put on the nose bag. Next show -at one-fifteen, if we can bally-hoo a crowd by then. You can tell her -that Gus says you're going great!" - -As Sally ran across lots to the side-tracked carnival train, she buried -her precious new memory of David under layers of anxiety and questions. -It would still be there when her question had been answered by Mrs. -Bybee, to comfort her if the showman's wife had been unsuccessful, to -add to her joy if some trace of her mother had been found. - -"Maybe--maybe I'll have a mother and a sweetheart, too," she marveled, -as she climbed breathless, into the coach which had been pointed out to -her as the showman's private car. - -It was not really a private car, for Bybee and his wife occupied only -one of the drawing rooms of the ancient Pullman car, long since retired -from the official service of that company. The berths were occupied on -long jumps by a number of the stars of the carnival and by some of the -most affluent of the concessionaires and barkers, a few of the latter -being part owners of such attractions as the "girlie show" and the -"diving beauties." When the carnival showed in a town for more than a -day, however, the performers usually preferred to sleep in tents, rather -than in the stuffy, hot berths. - -Since the carnival was in full swing at that hour of the day, Sally -found the sleeping car deserted except for Mrs. Bybee, who called to her -from the open door of drawing room A. - -The carnival owner's wife was seated at a card table, which was covered -with stacks of coins and bills of all denominations. Her lean fingers -pushed the stacks about, counted them, jotted the totals on a sheet of -lined paper. - -"I'm treasurer and paymaster for the outfit," she told Sally, -satisfaction glinting in her keen gray eyes. "Me and Bill," and she -lifted a big, blue-barreled revolver from the faded green plush of the -seat and twirled it unconcernedly on her thumb. - -"Is business good?" Sally asked politely, as she edged fearfully into -the small room. - -"Might be worse," Mrs. Bybee conceded grudgingly. "Sit down, child, I'm -not going to shoot you. Well, I went calling this morning," she added -briskly, as she began to rake the stacks of coins into a large canvas -bag. - -"Oh!" Sally breathed, clasping her hands tightly in her lap. "Did -you--find anything?" - -Mrs. Bybee knotted a stout string around the gathered-up mouth of the -bag, rose from her seat, lifted the green plush cushion, revealing a -small safe beneath the seat. When she had stowed the bag away and -twirled the combination lock, she rearranged the cushion and took her -seat again, all without answering Sally's anxious question. - -"Reckon I'm a fool to let anyone see where I keep the coin," she -ridiculed herself. "But after making a blamed fool of myself this -morning over them dresses your David give you, I guess I'd better try to -do something to show you I trust you. You just keep your mouth shut -about this safe, and there won't be any harm done." - -"Of course I won't tell," Sally assured her earnestly. "But, please, did -you find out anything?" She felt that she could not bear the suspense a -minute longer. - -"You let me tell this my own way, child," Mrs. Bybee reproved her. -"Well, you saw that missionary rig I had on this morning? It turned the -trick all right. Lucky for you, this ain't the fastest growing town in -the state, even if that billboard across from the station does say so. I -found the address you gave me, all right. Same number, same house. -Four-or-five-room dump, that may have been a pretty good imitation of a -California bungalow twelve years ago. All run-down now, with a swarm of -kids tumbling in and out and sticking out their tongues at me when their -ma's back was turned. She said she'd lived there two years; moved here -from Wisconsin. Didn't know a soul in Stanton when she moved here, and -hadn't had time to get acquainted with a new baby every fourteen -months." - -"Poor thing!" Sally murmured, finding pity in her heart for the -bedraggled drudge Mrs. Bybee's words pictured so vividly. But those -too-numerous babies had a mother. What she wanted to know was--did she, -Sally Ford, have a mother? - -Then a memory, so long submerged that she did not realize that it -existed in her subconscious mind, pushed up, spilled out surprisingly: -"There was a big oak tree in the corner of the yard. I used to swing. -Someone pushed the swing--someone--" she fumbled for more, but the -memory failed. - -"It's still there, and there's still a swing," Mrs. Bybee admitted. "One -of those dirty-faced little brats was climbing up and down the ropes -like a monkey. Well, I reckon that's where you used to live, right -enough. I asked this woman--name of Hickson--if any of her neighbors had -lived there many years, and she pointed to the house next door and said -'Old Lady Bangs' owned the house and had lived there for more'n twenty -years. This old Mrs. Bangs--" - -"Bangs!" Sally cried. "Bangs! It was Gramma Bangs who swung me! I -remember now! Gramma Bangs. She made me a rag doll with shoe-button eyes -and I cried every night for a long time after I went to the orphanage -because mama hadn't brought my doll. Did you see Gramma Bangs? Oh, Mrs. -Bybee, if I could go to see her again!" - -Mrs. Bybee's stern, long, hatchet-shaped face had softened marvelously, -but at Sally's eager request she shook her head emphatically. - -"Not with the police looking for you and Dave. Yes, I saw her. She's all -crippled up with rheumatism and was tickled to death to see Nora Ford's -sister. That's who I said I was, you know. But it pretty near got me -into trouble. The old lady took it for granted I knew a lot of things -about you that I didn't know, and wouldn't have told me just what I'd -come to find out if I hadn't used my bean in stringing her along. I had -to go mighty easy asking her about you, since it was my 'sister' I was -supposed to be so het up over finding, but lucky for you she'd been -reading the papers and knew that you were in trouble." - -"Oh!" Sally moaned, covering her hot face with her little brown-painted -hands. "Then Gramma Bangs thinks I'm a bad girl--oh! Did you tell her -I'm not?" - -"What do you take me for--a blamed fool?" Mrs. Bybee demanded heatedly. -"I didn't let on I'd ever seen you in my life. But it was something she -let spill when she was talking about you and this story in the papers -that give me the low-down on the whole thing." - -"Oh, what?" Sally implored, almost frantic with impatience. - -"Well, she said, 'You can't blame Nora for putting Sally in the -orphanage when the money stopped coming, seeing as how she was sick and -needing an operation and everything. But it pret' near broke her -heart'--that's what the old dame said--" - -"But--I don't understand," Sally protested, her sapphire eyes clouding -with bewilderment. "The money? Did she mean my--father?" - -"I thought that at first, too." Mrs. Bybee nodded her bobbed gray head -with satisfaction. "But lucky I didn't say so, or I'd have give the -whole show away. I just 'yes, indeeded' her, and she went on. Reckon she -thought I might be taking exceptions to the way she'd been running on -about how pitiful it was for 'that dear little child' to be put in an -orphans' home, so she tried to show me that my 'sister' had done the -only thing she could do under the circumstances. - -"Pretty soon it all come out. 'Nora,' she said, 'told me not to breathe -a word to a soul, but seeing as how you're her sister and probably know -all about it, I reckon it won't do no harm after all these years.' Then -she told me that Nora Ford had no more idea'n a jack rabbit whose baby -you was--" - -"Then she wasn't my mother!" Sally cried out in such a heartbroken voice -that Mrs. Bybee reached across the card table and patted her hands, -dirty diamonds twinkling on her withered fingers. - -"No, she wasn't your mother," the showman's wife conceded with brusque -sympathy. "But I can't see as how it leaves you any worse off than you -was before. One thing ought to comfort you--you know it wasn't your own -mother that turned you over to an orphanage and then beat it, leaving no -address. Seems like," she went on briskly, "from what old lady Bangs -told me, that Nora Ford had been hired to take you when she was a maid -in a swell home in New York, and she had to beat it--that was part of -the agreement--so there never would be any scandal on your real mother. -She didn't know whose kid you was--so the old lady says--and when the -money orders stopped coming suddenly she didn't have the least idea how -to trace your people. She supposed they was dead--and I do, too. So it -looks like you'd better make up your mind to being an orphan--" - -"But, oh, Mrs. Bybee!" Sally cried piteously, her eyes wide blue pools -of misery and shame. "My real mother must have been--bad, or she -wouldn't have been ashamed of having me! Oh, I wish I hadn't found out!" -And she laid her head down on her arms on the card table and burst into -tears. - -"Don't be a little fool!" Mrs. Bybee admonished her severely. "Reckon it -ain't up to you, Sally Ford, to set yourself up in judgment on your -mother, whoever she was." - -"But she sent me away," Sally sobbed brokenly. "She was ashamed of me, -and then forgot all about me. Oh, I wish I'd never been born!" - -"I reckon every kid's said that a hundred times before she's old enough -to have good sense," Mrs. Bybee scoffed. "Now, dry up and scoot to the -dress tent to put some more make-up on your face. The show goes on. And -take it from me, child, you're better off than a lot of girls that join -up with the carnival. You're young and pretty and you've got a boy -friend that'd commit murder for you and pret' near did it, and you've -got a job that gives you a bed and cakes, and enough loose change to buy -yourself some glad rags by the time we hit the Big Town--" - -"The Big Town?" Sally raised her head, interest dawning unwillingly in -her grieving blue eyes. "You mean--New York?" - -"Sure I mean New York. We go into winter quarters there in November, and -if you stick to the show I may be able to land you a job in the chorus. -God knows you are pretty enough--just the type to make every six-footer -want to fight any other man that looks at you." - -"Oh, you're good to me!" Sally blinked away the last of her tears, which -had streaked her brown make-up. "I'll stick, if the police don't get -me--and David. And," she paused at the door, her eyes shy and sweet, -"thank you so very much for trying to help me find my--my mother." - -As she sped down the aisle of the car in her noiseless little red -sandals she was startled to see what looked like a sheaf of yellow, -dried grass whisked through the closing door of the women's dressing -room. Then comprehension dawned. "I wonder," she took time from the -contemplation of her desolating disappointment to muse, "what Nita is -doing here. I wonder if she followed me--if she heard anything I -wouldn't want Nita to know about my mother. But I'll tell David. Will he -despise me because my mother was--bad?" - - - - -CHAPTER VII - - -It was a sad, listless little "Princess Lalla" who cupped tiny brown -hands about a crystal ball and pretended to read "past, present and -future" in its mysterious depths as the afternoon crowd of the -carnival's last day in Stanton milled about the attractions in the -Palace of Wonders. There was the crack of an unsuspected whip in the -voice of Gus, the barker, as he bent over her after his oft-repeated -spiel: - -"Snap into it, kid! These rubes is lousy with coin and we've got to get -our share. You're crabbin' the act somethin' fierce's afternoon. Step on -it!" - -Sally made a valiant effort to obey, but her crystal-gazing that -afternoon was not a riotous success. She made one or two bad blunders, -the worst of which caused a near-panic. - -For she was so absorbed in her own disappointment and in contemplating -the effect of her news upon David, when she should tell him that she was -an illegitimate child of a woman who had abandoned her, that her eyes -and intuition were not so keen as they had been. - -Although there had been a sharp-faced shrew of a wife clinging to his -arm before he vaulted upon the platform for a "reading," she -mechanically told a meek little middle-aged man that he was in love with -a "zo beau-ti-ful girl wiz golden hair" and that he would "marry wiz -her." - -After the poor husband had been snatched from the platform by his -furiously jealous wife and given a most undignified paddling with her -hastily removed shoe--an "added attraction" which proved vastly -entertaining to the carnival crowd but which caused a good many quarters -to find their hasty way back into handbags and trouser pockets--Sally -felt her failure so keenly that she leaned backward in an effort to be -cautious. - -"For God's sake, kid, snap out of it before the next show!" Gus pleaded, -mopping his dripping brow with a huge purple-bordered white silk -handkerchief. "I'm part owner of this tent, you know, and you're hittin' -me where I live. Come on, 'at's a good girl! Forget it--whatever's -eatin' on you! This ain't a half-bad world--not a-tall! What if that -sheik of yours is trailin' Nita around? Reckon he's just after her -grouch bag--" - -"Her--grouch bag?" Sally seized upon the unfamiliar phrase in order to -put off as long as possible full realization of the heart-stopping news -he was giving her so casually. - -"That's right. You're still a rube, ain't you? A grouch bag is a show -business way of sayin' a performer's got a wad salted down to blow with -or buy a chicken farm or, if it's a hard-on-the-eyes dame like Nita, to -catch a man with. Nita's got a roll big enough to choke a boa -constrictor. I seen her countin' it one night when she thought she was -safe. She was, too. I wouldn't warm up to that Jane if she was the last -broad in the world. Now, listen, kid, you have a good, hard cry in the -dress tent before the next show and you'll feel like a new woman. That's -me all over! Never tell a wren to turn off the faucet! Nothin' like a -good cry. I ain't been married four times for nothin'." - -Sally waited to hear no more. She rushed out of the Palace of Wonders, a -frantic, fantastic little figure in purple satin trousers and -gold-braided green jacket, her red-sandled feet spurning the -grass-stubbled turf that divided the show tent from the dress tent. And -because she was almost blinded with the tears which Gus, the barker, had -sagely recommended, she collided with another figure in the "alley." - -"Look where you're going, you little charity brat, you ----" And Nita's -harsh, metallic voice added a word which Sally Ford had sometimes seen -scrawled in chalk on the high board fence that divided the boys' -playground from the girls' at the orphanage. - -So Nita had listened! She had been eavesdropping when Mrs. Bybee had -told Sally the shameful things she had learned from Gramma Bangs about -Sally's birth. - -"You can't call me that!" Sally gasped, rage flaming over her, -transforming her suddenly from a timid, brow-beaten child of charity -into a wildcat. - -Before Nita, the Hula dancer, could lift a hand to defend herself, a -small purple-and-green clad fury flung itself upon her breast; gilded -nails on brown-painted fingers flashed out, were about to rip down those -painted, sallow cheeks like the claws of the wildcat she had become when -powerful hands seized her by the shoulders and dragged her back. - -"What t'ell's going on here?" Gus, the barker, panted as Sally struggled -furiously, still insane with rage at the insult Nita had flung at her. - -"Better keep this she-devil out of my sight, Gus, or I'll cut her heart -out!" Nita panted, adjusting the grass skirt, which Sally's furious -onslaught had torn from the dancer's hips, exposing the narrow red satin -tights which ended far above her thin, unlovely knees. - -"I'm surprised at you, Sally," Gus said severely, but his small eyes -twinkled at her. "Next time you're having a friendly argument with this -grass-skirt artist, for Gawd's sake settle it by pulling her hair. The -show's gotta go on and some of these rubes like her map. Don't ask me -why. I ain't good at puzzles." - -Sally smiled feebly, the passing of her rage having left her feeling -rather sick and foolish. Gus's arm was still about her shoulders, in a -paternal sort of fondness, as Nita switched away, her grass skirt -hissing angrily. - -"Kinda foolish of you, Sally, to pick a fight with that dame. She -could-a ruint this pretty face of yours. She's a bad mama, honey, and -you'd better make yourself scarce when she's around. And say, kid--take -a tip from old Gus: no sheik ain't worth fightin' for. I been fought -over myself considerable in my time, and believe me, while two frails -was fightin' for me I was lookin' for another one." - -Sally felt shriveled with shame. "I wasn't fighting her because of--of -David," she muttered, digging the toe of one little red sandal into the -dusty grass of the show lot. "Nita called me a--a nasty name. You'd have -fought, too!" - -"Sure! but not with a dame like Nita, if I was you! You ain't no match -for her. Now, you trot along to the dress tent and rest or cry or say -your prayers or anything you want to--except fight!--till show time -again. And for God's sake, don't turn your back when Nita's around!" - -Sally did not see the Hula dancer again that afternoon, for Nita -belonged to the "girlie show," which had a tent all its own. To -encourage her in her confidence as a crystal-gazer, or rather to bolster -up the faith of the skeptical audience, which had somehow become wise to -the fact that "Princess Lalla" had "pulled some bones," Gus, the barker, -arranged for four or five "schillers"--employes of the carnival, both -men and women, dressed to look like members of the audience--to have -their fortunes told. - -Sally, tipped off by a code signal of Gus's, let her imagination run -riot as she read the magic crystal for the "schillers," and to -everything she told them they nodded their heads or slapped their thighs -in high appreciation, loudly proclaiming that "Princess Lalla" was a -wow, a witch, the grandest little fortune-teller in the world. Business -picked up amazingly; quarters were thrust upon Gus with such speed that -he had to form a line of applicants for "past, present and future" upon -Sally's platform. - -She did not see David at supper, while she ate in the cook tent after -having carried "Pitty Sing," the midget, to the privilege car. Buck, the -negro chef of the privilege car grinned at her, but David was nowhere to -be seen. Was he "trailin' Nita," as Gus, the barker, had called it? -Jealousy laid a hand of pain about her heart, such a sort of pain that -she wanted, childishly, to stop and examine it. It claimed instant -fellowship in her heart with that other so-new emotion--love. She wanted -all afternoon, until Gus had stopped her heart for a beat or two with -his casual reference to David and Nita, to fly to David for comfort, to -pour out her news to him. She had heard, in anticipation, his softly -spoken, tender "Dear little Sally! Don't mind too much. We have each -other." So far had her imagination run away with her! - -It was the last evening of the carnival in Stanton, and money rolled -into the pockets of the concessionaires and the showmen. - -"Last chance to see the tallest man on earth and the littlest woman! -Last chance, folks!" - -It was already a little old to Sally--the spieler's ballyhoo. She could -have repeated it herself. Glamor was fading from the carnival. The -dancing girls were not young and beautiful, as they had seemed at first; -they had never danced on Broadway in Ziegfeld's Follies; they never -would. They were oldish-young women who sneered at the "rubes" and had -calluses on the bottoms of their aching feet from dancing on rough board -platforms. - -Just before the last show Sally wandered out into the midway from the -Palace of Wonders, money in her hand which Pop Bybee had advanced to -her. But it was lonely "playing the wheels" all by herself, and although -Eddie Cobb fixed it so that she won a big Kewpie doll with pink maline -skirts and saucy, marcelled red hair, there was little thrill in its -possession. When a forlornly weeping little girl stopped her tears to -gape covetously at the treasure, Sally gave it up without a pang, and -wandered on to the salt water taffy stand, where one of her precious -nickels went for a small bag of the tooth-resisting sweet. - -She no longer minded or noticed the crowd that collected and followed -her--wherever she went; she had become used to it already. The crowd did -not interest her, for it did not hold David, who was forced to hide -ignominiously in the show train, for fear the heavy hand of a local -constable would close menacingly over his shoulder. At the thought Sally -shuddered and flung away her taffy. They would be leaving Stanton -tonight, leaving danger behind them. It had not occurred to her to ask -where the show train was going. But it was going away, away. David could -come out of hiding. Bybee had said the authorities in other states -wouldn't be interested in a couple of minors who had done nothing worse -than "bust a farmer's leg and beat it--" - -"What kinda burg is the capital?" she was startled to hear a hot-dog -concessionaire call to the ticket-seller for the ferris wheel. - -"Pretty good pickin's," the ticket-seller answered. "We run into a spell -of bad weather there last year and it was a Jonah town, but it looks -good this season. The Kidder says he has to plank down half a grand for -the lot--the dirty bums--them city councillors." - -"We're going to the capital next?" Sally leaned over the counter to ask -the hot-dog man. - -"Sure, kid. Didn't you know? I heard you come from that burg. Old home -week for Eddie, too. You and him going out to give the old homestead the -once-over?" - -Sally did not wait to answer. Although it was almost time for the last -show the little red sandals flew toward the side-tracked show train--and -David. Her jealousy, even her just-realized love for him, were -forgotten. There was only fear--fear of iron bars and shameful uniforms, -iron bars which would cage David's superb young body and break his -spirit; fear of the reformatory, in which she would again become a -dull-eyed unit in a hopeless army, but branded now with a shameful -scarlet letter which she did not deserve. - -They couldn't go to the capital city where they were both known; they -would have to run away again, walk all night through the dark, fugitives -from "justice." - - ---- - -"Poor kid!" David consoled her after her first almost hysterical -outburst. "I can't talk to you now, and you shouldn't be here. You've -got to go back for your last performance. The show has to go on. They've -been decent to us, and we can't throw them over without warning." - -"But David, we've got to run away again!" Sally whimpered, clinging to -both his arms, bare to the shoulders in anticipation of his work in -helping to load the carnival for its thirty-mile drag to the capital. -"We can't go back to Capital City! We'll be caught! Listen, David--" - -"Go back to your show tent," David commanded her sternly. "I'll be -working pretty late helping to load up, but I'll whistle a bar from -'Always' under your Pullman window. We all sleep on the train tonight, -and pull out for Capital City some time before morning. We pick up the -engine at three o'clock, I believe. Plenty of time then to decide what -to do." He shook her a little to make her stop shivering and whimpering -with fear. "Buck up, honey! I'm not going to let the police get you; -neither is Pop Bybee. Dear little Sally!" and he stooped from his great -height to brush the tip of her short, brown-powdered nose with his lips. - -During the last performance in the Palace of Wonders a village -constable, his star shining importantly from the lapel of his Palm Beach -suit, sauntered leisurely through the tent, eyeing the freaks with -skeptical amusement and asking all the Smart-Aleck questions which the -more timid members of the carnival crowd longed to ask and did not dare. - -"Bet you wouldn't let me put any of that glass you're eatin' in my -coffee," he guffawed to the ostrich man whom Gus, the barker, was -ballyhooing at the moment. "I'm on to all you guys. Rock candy, ain't -it?" - -"Sure, officer," Gus interrupted his spiel to answer deferentially. -"Won't you have a little snack with the human ostrich? I particularly -recommend these nails. Boffo eats only the choicest sixpenny nails; will -accept no substitutes. And if a nail's rusty, out with it! Sort of an -epicure, Boffo is! Have a handful of glass and nails with Boffo, -officer! Bighearted, that Boffo!" - -The constable refused hastily and the crowd roared with delight. The -discomfited officer of the law ambled over to make his disparaging -inspection of Jan, the giant from Holland. - -"Pull up your pants legs and let me see your stilts," the constable -ordered authoritatively. "I ain't the sucker you guys think I am. I'm on -to your tricks--been going to carnivals man and boy for fifty years." - -With his eyes as remote and sad and patient as if he had not heard or -understood a word of the constable's insult, Jan obeyed, rolling his -trousers to the knees. When the Doubting Thomas representative of the -law had pinched the pale, putty-colored flesh of Jan's pitifully thin -calves and found them to be flesh-and-blood indeed, he passed on, red of -face, furious at the snorts of laughter which filled the tent. - -"What if he takes a notion to wash my face?" Sally shivered, bending -low, in an attitude of mystic concentration, over the crystal which she -was pretending to read for a farmer's wife who had no interest in Boffo, -the human ostrich, but who did have perfect faith in the powers of -"Princess Lalla." "What if he is just pretending to be interested in the -other freaks and is really looking for me? Has Nita dared to tip him off -that Sally Ford is here?" - -But her little sing-song voice droned on, predicting prosperity and -happiness and "a journey by land and sea" for the credulous farmer's -wife. - -"What's your real name, sister?" the constable demanded loudly, -officiously, stamping up the steps that led to the little platform. - -"Please," Sally pleaded prettily, making her eyes wide and cloudy with -mystic visions, "do not een-terr-upt! The veesion she will go away!" - -"You let her alone, Sam Pelton!" the farmer's wife commanded tartly. "Go -on, Princess Lalla. I think you're just wonderful--knowing about my -mother being dead and even her name and all." - -And Sally continued the reading with Constable Pelton breathing audibly -upon her neck as she bent her small head gravely over the crystal. When -she could think of nothing else to tell the highly pleased woman, she -was desperate. It seemed to her that everyone in the tent was looking at -her, reading panic in her trembling fingers, in her fluttering eyelids. - -"Gimme a knockdown to my past, present and future, Sister," the -constable suggested with heavy sarcasm and jocularity. "Reckon an -officer of the law don't have to pay. And you'd better make it a good -one, or I'll run you in for obtaining money under false pretenses. Come -on, now! Miz Holtzman has already give you a good tip-off, and I guess -my star speaks for itself. Knowing my name and my business, you oughta -be able to fake a pretty good line for me, but if you don't tell me my -wife's name, how many kids I got, where I come from, and anything else -I'm a-mind to ask you, I'll make you a present of free board and lodging -at the county's expense." - -Unknown to Sally, whose eyes were fixed, blind with fear, upon the -crystal tightly cupped in her ice-cold palms, Gus, the barker, had drawn -near enough to hear the constable's threats and demands. - -"Sure, officer!" he boomed heartily, to Sally's amazement, "just ask the -little lady anything you like. She sees all, knows all. Step right up, -folks, and hear Princess Lalla, favorite crystal-gazer to the Sultan of -Turkey before she escaped from his harem, tell your fellow-townsman, -Constable Sam Pelton, the truth, the whole truth and something besides -the truth--a few things that are going to happen to him that Officer Sam -don't yet dream of! Step right up, folks! Don't be bashful! Step up and -get an earful about your esteemed fellow-townsman and officer of the -law--" - -Sally felt the ice melting slowly in her veins. Dear Gus! He was -stalling, gaining time, subtly frightening the constable, whose face had -gone redder and redder, whose eyes glanced with furtive unease from the -crystal to the grinning faces of his "fellow-townsmen," who apparently -had no great love for Constable Sam Pelton. - -Then that which Gus had arranged by means of a code signal took place. -Two "schillers," hastily summoned by a carnival employe, suddenly broke -into loud curses and sharp, slapping blows which echoed in the instantly -quiet tent. - -"Pick my pocket, would you?" the raucous voice of a "schiller" demanded -between slaps and punches. "I seen you--sneakin' your hand in my -pocket!" - -Constable Pelton, glad to be able to assert his authority, glad also, -possibly, to escape a too intimate revelation of his past, bounded from -the platform, collared the fighting "schillers," and dragged them -triumphantly away. - -When the last stragglers of the carnival crowd had been ushered rather -unceremoniously from the tent, Sally rose from her chair and pattered -swiftly to where Gus, the barker, stood talking with Pop Bybee, owner -and manager of Bybee's Bigger and Better Carnival. - -"Thank you, Gus! I was scared nearly to death! It was wonderful the way -you stalled along till those two rubes--" she was already becoming -familiar with carnival lingo--"got into a fight. Wasn't it lucky for me -they did?" she added naively. - -"Hell, kid!" Gus grinned at her and tilted his derby more rakishly over -his left eye. "It was a frame-up. Them's our boys. The guy that -pretended to have his pocket picked will swear he made a mistake, and -the worst old Sam can do is to have 'em fined for disorderly conduct. -I'll square it with 'em, and they'll be in Capital City by show-time -tomorrow." - -Pop Bybee chuckled richly, his bright, pale-blue eyes gleaming in the -lobster-red expanse of his old face. "Didn't I tell you, child, that the -law couldn't touch you long as you stuck with the carnival? Dave tells -me you're babbling about running away again because we're hitting the -trail for your home town tonight. You stick, Sally. Pop Bybee and Gus -and the rest of us will take care of you." - -Sally's lips parted to tell him of Nita's threat if she did not -relinquish her claim upon David's love and friendship, but before the -first word tumbled out, the old inhibition against tattling, taught her -in the stern school of life in an orphanage, restrained her. - -"You're all so good to me," she choked, then turned abruptly away to -where "Pitty Sing," the midget, was impatiently awaiting her human -sedan-chair. - -"I don't want to influence you unduly," the midget piped in her prim, -high little voice, "but Mr. Bybee and Gus are right. You are safer with -the carnival than anywhere else in the state, and if you ran away I -should be very sorry. I like you, Sally. I like you very much." - -The dress tent was taken down by the "white hopes" almost before the -women performers had had time to change from show clothes to nightgowns -and kimonos. By twelve o'clock the lot was as bare of tents and booths -and ferris wheels and motordromes and "whips" and merry-go-rounds as if -those mechanical symbols of joy and fun had never existed. - -And Sally lay on the lumpy, smelly mattress of her upper berth in the -ancient Pullman car, waiting for her David's whistled signal--a bar of -"Always." She was fully dressed. - -Her heart sang the words--"I'll be loving you--always! Not for just an -hour, not for just a day, not for just a year, but--always!" - -She could have sent word to David by Gus or Pop Bybee that she had given -up her frantic plan to run away; that he need not meet her in the -darkness of the pulsing, hot June night. But--she had not-- - -It came then--clear and true, the whistled notes of the song which her -heart sang to David--"I'll be loving you--always!" - -She edged over the side of the berth, the toe of her slipper groping -until it found the edge of the lower berth in which the midget was -sleeping. When she was safe in the aisle she cast a fearful glance up -and down the car, and noted with uneasy surprise that Nita's berth, -directly opposite the midget's, was still unoccupied, the green curtains -spread wide so that the grayish-white blur of the sheet and pillow was -plainly discernible in the faint light from the one electric globe over -the door. - -But she had no time now to worry about Nita or Nita's threats. David was -awaiting her--with the song still humming its sweet, extravagant promise -in his heart. Or--was it? Had he chosen the song idly? Had he meant -anything by that teasing kiss on the tip of her nose, by his "Dear -little Sally!" - -"Being in love hurts something terrible," Sally shook her head at her -own turbulent emotions, unconsciously employing the homely language of -the orphanage. "But even if he doesn't love me I'm glad I love him. -David, David!" - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - - -The night was eerie with voices from unseen bodies, or bodies -half-revealed in the flare of gasoline torches, as the business of -loading the carnival proceeded. Soft, rich voices from black men's -throats blended with the velvety softness of the late-June night: - - "Oh, if Ah had wings like an angel, - Over these prison walls Ah would fly! - Ah would fly to the ahms of my poah dahlin', - An' theah Ah'd be willin' to die." - -A lonesome, heart-breaking plaint. Sally shivered. Except for David and -Pop Bybee and Dan, the barker, she and David might have been behind -prison bars tonight, learning the shame and misery that had created that -song. - -A white roustabout said something evil to her out of the corner of his -mouth as she brushed past him on her way to join David. But she scarcely -noticed, for there was David, his shoulders looming immensely broad in -the dark coat he had donned in her honor. Her hands were out to him -before he had reached her, and when he took them both and laid them -softly against his breast, so that her leaping blood caught the rhythm -of his strongly beating heart, she could scarcely restrain herself from -raising her small body on tip-toe and lifting her face for his kiss. - -They were shy at first, as they drifted away from the show train across -the vacant lot where the carnival had so recently vended trickery and -truth, freaks and fakes, color and light and noise and music. They -walked softly, slowly, Sally having the absurd feeling that if the grass -stubble were tender, tiny flowers, her joy-light feet would not have -crushed them. Her fingers were intertwined with David's, and the -electric thrill of that contact seemed to be the motor force which -propelled her body. Without a word as to direction, they drifted, -completely in accord, toward a clump of trees which would some day, when -Stanton had become beauty-conscious, form the nucleus of a park. - -Sally felt that she was in a spell woven of the beauty and -breathlessness of the night and of her inarticulate joy as, still -without speaking, David took off his coat and spread it upon the ground -that sloped gently from the sturdy trunk of an oak tree. As he was -stooping to spread the coat her hand hovered over his head, aching to -touch the dear, waving crispness of his hair, yet not daring--quite. But -when he straightened more suddenly than she had expected, his head -fitted into the cup of her hovering hand before she could snatch it -away. - -He whirled upon her, sweeping her slight body to his breast with such -fierceness and suddenness that her head swam. - -"Sally! Sally!" Just that hoarse cry, muted, exultant. - -Her hands crept slowly up his breast, so loving every inch of the dear -body whose warmth came through the cloth of his shirt that they -abandoned it reluctantly. When her hands were on his shoulders, clinging -there, she threw her head back upon the curve of his right arm, and -smiled up into his face. Her lips parting slowly to let out a little -gasping sigh of joy. - -In the silvery sheen with which the moon joyously and approvingly bathed -them their eyes, wide, dark, luminous, clung for an aeon of time, -reckoned in the history of love. Then David, knowing that his unasked -question had been gloriously answered, bent his head until his lips -touched hers. - -He must have felt the slight stiffening of her body, the ardor in her -small hands as they clung more fiercely to his shoulders. For he flung -up his head, then turned it sharply away for a moment, as if ashamed for -her to see the passion in his eyes. She took a drunken, uncertain step -away from him, and his arms fell laxly from her body. - -"What is it, David?" she asked in a small, quavering voice, scarcely -more than a whisper. - -"I shouldn't have done that!" David reproached himself with boyish -bitterness. - -"But David," Sally pleaded, in that small quaver, "don't you--don't you -love me--at all? I thought--I--" Her hands fluttered toward him, then -dropped hopelessly as he still stood sharply turned away from her. - -"Yes, I love you. That's the devil of it," David groaned from the -shelter of his arm. "I love you so much I can't think of anything else, -not even of our danger." - -She crept closer to him, stroked timidly the clenched fist which hung at -his side. "Then--why, David? I--I love you, too. You--must--have known. -I love you with all my heart." She stooped swiftly and laid her lips -against his knuckles, which shone white as marble in the moonlight. - -"Don't!" he cried sharply. He lowered the arm that had sheltered his -shamed, passionate eyes and looked at her humbly, his whole body -drooping. "Don't you see, darling--no, I mustn't call you that!--don't -you see, Sally, that your--caring--only makes it worse? I wish I were -the only one that has to suffer. But you're so young--oh, God!" he cried -in sudden anguish. "You're so pitifully young! Sixteen! I ought to be -horsewhipped!" - -She laughed shakily. "I'm getting older every day, David. Is it such a -crime to be young? You're young, too, David--darling!" The word was -dropped shyly, on a tremulous whisper. - -"That's it!" David cried wildly, fiercely under his breath. "We're both -young! I'm just half through college, and I haven't a cent to my name -except what I earned those two weeks on Carson's farm. And I won't have -any money except barely enough to live on--I work my way through -college--until I've finished school. And then it will be a long, hard -struggle to get a start, unless my grandfather dies by then and leaves -me his farm. He's a miserly old man, darling. He thinks I'm a fool to -study scientific farming, won't give me a cent. I haven't wanted -it--till now." - -"And now, David?" she prompted softly, her fingers closing caressingly -about the clenched hand which she must not kiss. - -"I want to marry you, of course!" David flung the confession at her -sternly. "I love you so much it's torture to think of your going on to -New York with the carnival. Oh, it's all so hopeless! We're in such a -nasty jam, Sally, darling!" He groaned, snatched up her hands, kissed -them hungrily, passionately, then dropped them as if the soft, sweet -flesh stung his lips. "Don't let me kiss you, Sally! For God's sake! I -can't stand it! And it's not fair to you to learn what love means, -when--when we can't go through with it." - -"But why can't we, David?" she persisted, her love giving her amazing -boldness. "I'll never love anyone else. I'll wait for you, for years and -years. Until I'm eighteen and you're twenty-three. You're almost -twenty-one, aren't you, David?" - -"Yes," he acknowledged. "But I'm just a kid. Why, I'm a minor yet!" he -reminded her with youth's bitter shame. "And so are you. We couldn't -even get married legally. And we're both--wanted--by the police. I can't -even figure out how I'm going to get back into A. & M. and finish my -course. I couldn't let you marry a man wanted for attempted murder, even -if I could support you. Oh, I guess I could make a bare living for us, -but I don't want that! Not for you! I want you to have everything lovely -in the world. You've had so little, so little! I want you to have silk -and velvet to make you forget blue-and-white-checked gingham. I want--" -he was going on passionately when Sally interrupted with her soft -delicious little laugh. - -"I want David," she said simply. - -"All right!" he cried, flinging his arms wide in a gesture of utter -abandonment. "We'll run away tonight. We'll keep going until we get out -of the state. We'll lie about our ages. We'll find someone somewhere to -marry us, and we'll--have each other if we have nothing else in the -world, Sally!" - -His exultant young voice and his arms demanded her, but she held back -strangely, while her face went ghastly white and old in the moonlight. - -"I--I forgot to tell you my news," she said dully, tonelessly, her hands -flattened against her breast. "Mrs. Bybee found out something -about--about my mother, about me." - -Ecstasy was wiped from David's face, leaving it hurt and bewildered. "So -you're going to find her? Go back to her? I--I suppose I'm glad." - -"No," she shook her head drearily. "I can't marry you or--anyone, David. -My mother was not Mrs. Nora Ford. I don't know who she was! I don't even -know what my name really is--if I have a name! Whoever my mother was she -was ashamed I'd been born, she paid Mrs. Ford to take me away when I was -an infant, away from New York, so--so I wouldn't disgrace her. I'm the -ugly name Nita called me today. I'm--I'm--" - -"You're my Sally," David said gently, his arms gathering her in, holding -her comfortingly against his breast, in a passionless embrace of utter -tenderness. "Do you think I would let that make any difference at all? -If anything could, it would make me love you more. But I love you now -with every bit of me. And we'll be married, Sally. What do I care about -being a scientific farmer?" But there was a note of bravado, of regret -in his voice that did not escape her love attuned ears. - -"No, David," she whispered, her hands straying over his face as if -memorizing every dear line of it. "We'll wait. I can wait. I've waited -twelve years to find my mother, and I didn't give up hope until today. I -would wait twice twelve years for you. I'll stick with the carnival if -Pop Bybee will let me, and if the police don't find us. Then when you're -through college--?" - -"But I'm damned if I can see how I'm to get back!" David burst out. "We -are both trapped in this second-rate carnival--and a first rate one -would be bad enough!" - -"We won't have to stay after we get to New York," Sally interrupted -reasonably. "We can start life again. This trouble will blow over. You -might even learn some other profession in the east--" - -"I don't want to learn anything else, live anywhere else but in the -middle west. It's my land. I love it. I want to serve it. But, oh, -Sally, let's not torture ourselves any more. I know I mustn't marry you -under this cloud, but let's be happy for a few minutes before we go back -to the show train. No, don't, darling!" as she lifted her arms. "Just -sit there on my coat and let me look at you. You're the most beautiful -thing in the world. Lovely Sally!" - -They sat side by side, hands not touching but hearts reaching toward -each other, and the minutes slipped silently away as David drank in her -moon-silvered young beauty, and she fed her love-hunger upon his -Viking-like handsomeness and strength. They were silently agreeing to go -when a sharp, metallic voice materialized suddenly out of the hush of -the darkness. - -"No monkey-business now, Steve! I'm warning you! If you double-cross me -I'll cut your heart out! Fifty-fifty and--" - -The rest was lost as the couple passed on, walking swiftly, two shadows -that seemed like one. The voice was Nita's. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - - -When Sally was awakened soon after dawn the next morning--Wednesday--by -the shouts and songs of the "white hopes" unloading the carnival on the -outskirts of the Capital City, the question which had insisted on -worming its way through the heavenly joy of knowing that David loved her -sprang instantly to the foreground of her mind; who was "Steve" with -whom Nita had quarreled and bargained in the dark last night? - -Sally and David had met or had had pointed out to them nearly every -member of the show troupe, and there was no Steve among them. Of course -Steve might be one of the roughneck white roustabouts. But a star -performer, such as Nita considered herself, would hardly consort with -such a man. The two classes--simply did not mix, except in rare -instances. David of course was different. Everyone connected with the -carnival knew that he was a university student, working in the kitchen -with Buck only because he was hiding from the police. - -Then the thought of David dismissed Nita and her threats and her Steve. -She crawled out of her berth, scurried to the women's dressing room and -hastily applied her show make-up. Pop Bybee had summoned her to the -privilege car on her return from her momentous walk with David the night -before to caution her not to appear in Capital City, even in the dress -or cook tent, without her "Princess Lalla" complexion, which she was to -apply with exceeding care so that the disguise might be impenetrable. - -Because the carnival lot selected by "the Kidder," Pop Bybee's advance -man and "fixer," was in the heart of the city, and the railroad spur -allotted to the show train on the outskirts of it, the cars would be -abandoned by the carnival performers and employes, only Pop and Mrs. -Bybee continuing to occupy their drawing room in one of the Pullmans. -Sally, being told the arrangements, suspected that they stayed with the -train to guard the safe under the green plush seat, the existence of -which was known only to Sally. Mrs. Bybee took little interest in the -carnival itself, caring only for the heaviness of the canvas money bags, -which were brought to her at the end of each day's business. - -It was still not seven o'clock when Sally joined the straggling -procession of performers headed for the cook tent and dress tent, a -quarter of a mile from the show train. She knew very little of the city -itself, since the orphanage was situated on its own farm in a thinly -settled suburb. - -There was no glow of pride, no sense of home-coming as she trudged -through the almost deserted streets, but every time she passed a -policeman idly swinging his "billie" on a street corner she thanked Pop -Bybee in her heart that he had cautioned her to don her disguise. For -beyond a casually interested glance at her brown face and hands and her -long swinging braids of fine, lustrous black hair, the law did not seem -to find her worthy of attention. - -If only David could pass that cordon successfully! Probably he had gone -to the carnival grounds. But Pop Bybee, true to his promise to protect -the boy, had decreed that he should become private chef and waiter to -himself and Mrs. Bybee, remaining cooped up all day in the privilege car -of the show train. - -Poor David! Dear David! Her heart ached passionately for his loneliness, -for his magnificent body caged in a hot box of a kitchen, when it had -been so gloriously free in fragrant, sun-kissed fields before she had -met him. - -Why, he might almost as well be in jail! And he had done nothing but -protect a girl alone in the world from the cruel revenge of a man who -had promised the state to treat her as his own daughter. - -But even though her heart throbbed with pain for David she could not be -wholly sad, for he loved her, wanted to marry her, would even now be -married to her if she had let him give up his ambitions for her. - -By the time she had finished breakfast in the cook tent the carnival was -nearly ready for business. Even the Ferris wheel's glittering immensity -was flung toward the sky, the basket seats hanging motionless in the -still, hot air. Banners advertising real and spurious wonders were being -tacked upon scarred booths, endowing them with glamor: "Bybee's Follies -Girls--a dazzlingly beautiful chorus straight from Ziegfeld's Follies in -New York--Six reasons why men leave home"; "Beautiful Babe, the Fattest -Girl in the World! 620 pounds of rosy, cuddly girl flesh"; "The Palace -of Wonders--Greatest Aggregation of Freaks in the World; also Princess -Lalla, from Constantinople, crystal-gazer, escaped member of the -Sultan's Harem; Sees all, knows all--Past, Present and Future!" - -Sally wandered along the midway, waving a small brown hand to Eddie -Cobb, who was setting up his gambling wheel and gaudily dressed Kewpie -dolls; exchanged predictions as to the day's business with two or three -good-natured concessionaires; won a gold-toothed smile from the -henna-haired girl who sold tickets for the tin rabbit races. - -But she soon discovered that she was restless and lonely. The carnival -had no glamor in these early hours. Without the crowds there was no -glamor; the crowds themselves, though they did not suspect it, furnished -the glamor with their naive credulity, their laughter, their free and -easy spending, their susceptibility as a relief from the monotony of -their lives, to the very spirit of carnival for which this draggled old -hoyden of a show was named. - -"The kids would love it," Sally remembered suddenly, seeing in a -painfully bright flash of memory the oldish, wistful little faces of -Betsy and Thelma and Clara and all the other orphans who had until so -recently--though it seemed years ago--been her only friends and -playmates. - -"I wonder if Eloise Durant is terribly unhappy, or if she has found some -other 'big girl' to pet her. I wonder if Betsy and Thelma and Clara miss -my play-acting." - -She smiled at the picture of herself draped in a sheet and crowned with -her own braids:--an ermine cloak and a crown of gold adorning a queen! -"If they could see me now! Play-acting all the time, all dressed up in -purple satin trousers and a green satin jacket all glittery with gold -braid! I wish I had lots of money, so I could send them all tickets to -come to the carnival," her thoughts ran on, as homesickness for the -place she had hoped never to see again rose up, treacherous and -unwelcome, to dim her joy in the glorious miracle of David's love. - -"I suppose," she confessed forlornly, "that Mrs. Stone is the only -mother I'll ever know. I wish I'd always been good, so she wouldn't -believe the awful things Clem Carson said about me. She thinks I'm bad -now--like my mother. I wonder," she was startled, her face flushing -hotly under the brown powder, "if I am bad! They say it's in the blood. -I'm crazy to have David kiss me, and--and he had to ask me not to. Maybe -David is afraid I'm bad, too." - -The thought was unbearable. She wanted to fly to David, to search his -gold-flecked hazel eyes again, to see if he had lost any of his -"respect" for her. But she wouldn't kiss him! She'd bite her tongue out -first! She was going to be good, good, prove to herself and David and -all the world that "it" wasn't in her blood. - -But all day, as the crowds gathered and money clinked merrily as it fell -into cash boxes, she longed for David; lived over every kiss he had -given her, from the brushing of his lips against the tip of her nose to -that dizzying wedding of lips when their love had been confessed in the -moonlight. - -And because she was bemused with romance, thrilling with her own -awakening to love, she made an almost riotous success of her -crystal-gazing that first day of the carnival in Capital City. Girls -laughed shyly and cuddled against their sweethearts provocatively as -they left the Palace of Wonders, determined to make "Princess Lalla's" -enchanting prophecies come true. - -And she was so seductively beautiful herself, asparkle with love as she -was, that three or four unaccompanied young men, seeking knowledge of -the present, past and future, suggested that she fulfil her own -prophecies of a "zo beautiful brunette," until, embarrassed though -flattered, she took refuge in assuming that all gentlemen prefer -blondes. - -She did not see David that night after the carnival had shut up shop, -for he could not leave the show train and only male performers, barkers -and concessionaires were permitted to hang around the train. Sally -understood from the midget, "Pitty Sing," that a nightly poker game -attracted the men to the privilege car and that fist-fighting and even -gun-play was no uncommon break in the monotony. Pop Bybee, genial until -he heard the rattle of poker chips, was the heaviest winner as a rule, -many a performer's salary finding its way back into the stateroom safe -within a few hours after Mrs. Bybee had reluctantly handed it over. - -By Thursday afternoon Sally's confidence in the efficacy of her disguise -had mounted perilously high. The policemen who strolled grandly through -the tents, proud of not having to pay for their fun, accorded her -admiration or good-natured skepticism but no suspicion. - -The city papers had apparently lost interest in the hunt for David Nash, -university student and farm hand, wanted for assault with intent to kill -and for moral delinquency, and in Sally Ford, runaway ward of the state -and juvenile paramour of the youthful would-be murderer, as the papers -had previously described them. - -At least there were no references to the case in either Wednesday's or -Thursday's papers, and Sally's heart was light with gratitude to David -and Pop Bybee for having persuaded her to stick with the carnival. It -was rather fun to be on exhibition, reading the fortunes of the very -policemen who had been given her description and orders to "get" -her--much more fun than fleeing along state roads at night and hiding in -cornfields by day, hungry, exhausted, afraid of her shadow and of the -more menacing shadow of the state reformatory. - -"Hel-lo! Hel-lo! Bless my soul! What have we here? A real live Turkish -harem beauty, as I live!" - -Sally aroused herself from her apparently absorbing gazing into the -"magic crystal" and looked with wide, startled eyes at the man who had -addressed her in an accent which at once marked him as an easterner of -culture. She had seen pictures of men dressed like that, but had never -quite believed in their authenticity. - -But her eyes did not linger long on his slim, elegant, immaculate -figure, leaning lightly on a cane. His laughing, wise, cynical eyes -challenged her and invited her to share his amusement with him. But in -their bold black depths was something else.... - - ---- - -"Quite delicious, really!" the man with the cultured, eastern accent -drawled, leaning more nonchalantly on his cane and twinkling his too -wise, too bold black eyes at "Princess Lalla." - -"But really now, I wouldn't say you're a freak, your highness. In fact, -you're quite the most delicious little morsel I've seen since I left New -York. If I were a Ziegfeld scout I assure you I'd be burbling your -praises in a ruinously verbose telegram, and the devil take the expense. -Would you mind lifting that scrap of black lace that is tantalizing me -most provokingly? I am tormented with the hope that your big eyes are -really the purple pansies they appear to be through your veil. - -"No?" He shook his head with humorous resignation as Sally shook her -head in violent negation. "Well, well! One can't have everything, and -really your arms and your adorable little hands and your Tanagra -figurine body should be quite enough--as an appetizer. You don't happen -to 'spell' the Hula dancer--the ancient but still hopeful lady who has -just been exercising her hips for my benefit--do you? But I suppose that -is too much to ask of Providence. Life is full of these bitter -disappointments, these nagging, unsatisfied desires--" - -"Please!" Sally gasped, forgetting her carefully acquired accent which -had been bequeathed her, by way of Mrs. Bybee, by the erstwhile -"Princess Lalla," now in the hospital, minus her appendix, but still too -weak to jeopardize Sally's job. "I--I'm not permitted to talk to the -audience--" - -"Child, child!" the New Yorker protested, raising a beautifully kept -hand admonishingly. "Spare me! I'm always being met with signs like that -in New York--in elevators, busses, what-nots--But since I am intrigued -with the music of your voice--a very young and un-Turkish voice, if I -may be permitted to say so--I shall be delighted to cross your little -brown palm with silver, provided you will guarantee that your make-up -does not rub off. I'm deplorably finicky." - -Sally, overwhelmed by his gift for monologue, uttered in a teasing, -bantering, intimate voice of beautiful cadences, looked desperately -about her for help. But she was temporarily deserted by both audience -and barker. Gus was at the moment ballyhooing Jan, the Holland giant, -the chief attraction of the Palace of Wonders. His recital of the vast -quantities of food which the nine-foot-nine giant consumed daily never -failed to hold the crowd enthralled. - -"You'll have to wait till Gus, the barker, starts my performance," she -told him nervously, making no effort to deceive the blase New Yorker by -a tardy resumption of her "Turkish" accent. "But--oh, please go away! -Don't tease me! You'll spoil the show if you make Smart-Aleck remarks on -everything I say and do." - -"Smart-Aleck?" The easterner raised his silky black brows, while his -humorous but cruel mouth, beneath a small, exact black mustache, -twitched with a rather rueful smile. "Child, that is the unkindest cut -of all! If I had been reared west of Fifth Avenue or a little farther -downtown I would undoubtedly phrase it as a nasty crack! But we'll let -it pass." - -He walked nonchalantly up the steps leading to her platform and stood -before her, only the small, black-velvet-draped table with the crystal -between them. - -When he spoke again, in his humorous drawl, with his bold black eyes -twinkling and challenging her, his words could not have been heard by -anyone ten feet away: "Will you permit me, your highness, to read the -crystal for you? I'm really rather a wizard at it--a wow, as they say on -Broadway, though I assure you, your highness, that I'm not a man to -succumb to the insidiousness of slang. You must be rather tired of -gazing, gazing, gazing into this intriguing but slightly flawed ball of -glass--" and he touched it with a long, delicate finger, with a humorous -contemptuousness that suggested an intimate bond between the -professional and the amateur--himself and herself. - -"Please go away!" Sally pleaded breathlessly. "Why do you want to make -fun of me? I have to earn my living somehow--" - -"Do you?" he smiled, his brows going higher, while deep laugh wrinkles -appeared suddenly in the clear olive of his lean cheeks. "Now I'm sure -you should let me read the crystal for you, for it is obvious that you -have not looked into the future at all!" - -He cupped his slim, beautiful hands about the crystal, his back bending -in an arch as graceful as the arch of a cat's back. The posture brought -his face very near to hers, so that she saw the fine grain of his skin, -caught a faint, indefinable but enchanting odor from his sleek dark -hair, almost as dark as her own. - -He had dropped his hat upon the edge of the little table, and it too -fascinated and repelled her, for its dove-gray richness insolently -suggested that its owner possessed boundless money and almost wickedly -sure taste. - -But every item of his dress told the same story, so she really should -not have picked on the hat particularly. But she did; she wanted to -brush it off the table, to see his flash of anger at its being soiled -with the dust from "rubes'" feet-- - -"Marvelous!" His voice became mockingly hushed and mysterious, as he -pretended to gaze into the very heart of the crystal. "I see your whole -past boiling away in this magic crystal--slightly flawed, though it is!" - -"My past!" she shivered, forgetting that he was faking just as she did. - -"You've run away from home, from poverty," he went on in that mocking, -too beautiful voice, his black eyes shifting from the crystal to play -their insolent, confident fire upon her wide-eyed face. "And you've run -away from--a man! Of course," he added lightly, "you'll always be -running away from a man--men--every man that looks at you. You're -absolutely irresistible, you know, child! But ah, at last you will find -him--the man from whom you will not run away! Now, shall I read the -future for you?" - -"Please, go away. Gus is coming!" Sally pleaded through childishly -quivering lips that would have showed ashen-pale if they had not been -thickly overlaid with carmine. - -"Dear old Gus! I look forward to being pals with Gus, when I give him -the password. Now, the future--ah, my dear, what a future! Broadway! -Bright lights! Music! And Princess Lalla in the chorus first, the most -adorable little 'pony' of them all! I shall sit in the bald-headed row -and toss roses to you, child, and whisper to the eggs next me that 'I -knew her when'--when she was a delicious little fake Turkish princess, -escaped from the Sultan's harem. And I see a man--let me look closely--a -tall, dark man, rather handsome--" and he laughed insolently into her -eyes. - -"La-dees and gen-tle-men! Right this way, please! I want you all to meet -Princess Lalla, from Con-stan-ti-no-ple--" - -Gus, the barker, was approaching with long, swift strides, the crowd -milling behind him, like sheep following a bellwether. - -"I'll finish your future in our next seance." The New Yorker -straightened, smiled into her eyes unhurriedly, bowed mockingly, lifted -his hat, placed it on his sleek head, retrieved his cane which had been -leaning against the crystal stand, and vaulted lightly to the ground. - -Gus eyed him menacingly, suspiciously, but beamed when the easterner -pressed a bill into his hands and withdrew to the outskirts of the -crowd, where he evidently intended to listen to the spieler's -introduction of Princess Lalla. - -Sally got through her performance somehow, burningly conscious of bold -black eyes regarding her admiringly. When she pattered down the steps -and along the flattened stubble of the earth floor of the tent on her -way to the dress tent to rest between shows, a slim, immaculate figure -detached itself from the crowd that was wandering reluctantly toward the -exit. - -"Cook tent fare must grow rather monotonous," his low, drawling voice -stopped her. "I suggest relief--supper with me after the last -performance tonight. I am stopping at the governor's mansion, and have -the use of one of the official limousines. Credentials enough?" He -raised his eyebrows whimsically but his detaining grasp of her arm was -not nearly so gentle as his voice. - -"No, no!" Sally cried. "I--I'm not that kind of girl! Please let me -go--" - -"Oh, spirit of H. L. Mencken, hear me!" the New Yorker prayed. "Do girls -in the middle west really say that still? I wouldn't have believed it! -'I'm not that kind of girl!'" he repeated, laughing delightedly. "Of -course you aren't, darling! No girl ever is! And heaven forbid that I -should be the sort of man--fellow, you say out here?--that you evidently -believe I am! Now that we understand each other, I again suggest supper, -a long, cooling drive in the governor's choicest limousine--the old boy -does himself rather well in cars, at the expense of the state--and a -continuation of my extremely accurate reading of your future." - -"No!" Sally flared, her timidity submerged in anger. "Let me go this -minute! I don't like you! I hate you! If you don't turn loose my arm, -I'll--I'll scream 'Hey rube'--" - -"What a dire threat!" the New Yorker laughed with genuine amusement. "Am -I the rube? Is that your idea of a taunt so crushing that--" - -"It means," Sally said with cold fury, "that every man connected with -the carnival will rush into this tent and--and simply tear you to -pieces! It's the S O S signal of the circus and carnival, and it always -works! Now--will you let me go? I swear I'll scream 'Hey, rube!' if you -don't--" - -"And I had planned such a delicious supper," the New Yorker mourned -mockingly as he slowly released her arm, as if reluctant to forego the -pleasure that rounded slimness and smoothness gave his highly educated -fingers. - -Sally cried a little in the dress tent, but she was too angry to give -way utterly to tears. The thought which stung her pride most hurtingly -was that the New Yorker had seen something bad in her eyes, something of -the mother of whose shame she was a living witness. - -"But--I guess I showed him!" she told herself fiercely as she dabbed -fresh brown powder on her tear-streaked face. "He won't dare bother me -again." - -But he did dare. He was a nonchalant, smiling, insolent figure, leaning -on his cane, as she went through the next performance. She pretended not -to see him, but never for a moment, as she well knew, did his cold black -eyes waver from their ironic but admiring contemplation of her -enchanting little figure in purple satin trousers and green jacket. - -And at the late afternoon performance--four o'clock--he was there again, -his fine, cruel, humorous mouth smiling at his own folly. She thought of -appealing to Gus, the barker, to forbid him admission to the tent, but -she knew Gus was too good a business man to heed such a wasteful -request. Besides, the barker seemed to like him, or at least to like -immensely the bill which invariably passed hands when the showman and -the glorified "rube" met. - -Then suddenly, at ten minutes after four, the New Yorker ceased to have -any significance at all to her, at least for the moment. He was wiped -out completely in the flood of terror and joy that swept over her brain, -making her so dizzy that she leaned against the crystal stand for -support. - -For tumbling into the tent of the Palace of Wonders came a horde of -children, boys and girls, the girls dressed exactly alike in skimpy -little white lawn dresses trimmed with five-cent lace, the boys in ugly -suits of stiff "jeans." - -Her playmates from the orphanage had come to see "Princess Lalla," -lately Sally Ford, ward of the state and now fugitive from "justice." - - - - -CHAPTER X - - -Sally's first impulse, when she saw the children of the orphanage come -tumbling into the Palace of Wonders tent, was to flee. She was so -conscious of being Sally Ford, whose rightful place was with those -staring, shy little girls in white lawn "Sunday" dresses, that she -completely forgot for one moment of pure terror that to them she would -merely be "Princess Lalla," favorite crystal-gazer to the Sultan of -Turkey before she escaped from his harem. - -Cowering low in her high-backed gilded chair, in an effort to make -herself as small and inconspicuous as possible--a useless effort really, -since she was by far the prettiest and most romantic figure in the tent, -dressed as she was in Oriental trappings--she watched the children, whom -she knew so well, with a pang of homesickness. - -Not that she would want to be back with them! But they were her people, -the only chums she had ever known. How well she knew how they felt, -liberated for one blessed afternoon from the bleak corridors of the -orphanage, catapulted by someone's generosity into fairyland. For to -them the carnival was fairyland. These romance-and-beauty-starved -orphans saw only glamor and wonder, believed with all their hearts every -extravagant word that Gus, the barker, uttered in his stentorian bawl. - -Suddenly love and compassion filled her heart to over-flowing. She -wanted to run down the steps that led to her little platform and gather -Clara and Thelma and Betsy to her breast. She felt so much older and -wiser than she had been two weeks ago, when she had "play-acted" for -them as they scrubbed the floor of the dormitory. How awed and admiring -they would be if, when their thin little bodies were pressed tight in -her arms, she should whisper, "It's me--Sally--play-acting! It's me, -kids!" But of course she couldn't do it; she would be betraying not only -herself but David, and she would rather die than that David should be -caught and punished for defending her against Clem Carson. - -As the children milled excitedly in the tent, huddling together in -groups like sheep, holding each other's hands, giggling and whispering -together as their awed eyes roamed from one "freak" to another, Sally -searched their faces hungrily, jealously. - -Thelma had cut a deep gash in her cheek; it would leave a scar. -Six-year-old Betsy had a summer cold and no handkerchief; her cheeks -were painted poppy-red with fever, or perhaps it was only excitement. - -There was a new little girl whom Sally had never seen before, such a -homely little runt of a girl, with enormous, hunted eyes and big -freckles on her putty-colored cheeks. Her snuff-colored hair had been -clipped close to her scalp, so that her poor little round head looked -like the jaw of a man who has not shaved for three days. - -Clara and Thelma were mothering her, importantly, each holding one of -her little claw-hands, and shrilling explanations and information at -her. - -But where was Mrs. Stone--"old Stone-Face"--herself? Sally knew very -well that the children had not come alone. - -While Gus was discoursing grandiloquently upon the talents of Boffo, the -human ostrich, Sally sat very prim and apparently composed, her watchful -eyes veiled by the scrap of black lace that reached to the tip of her -adorable little nose. Undoubtedly the philanthropist was a man--it was -nearly aways a politician courting favor who won it cheaply and -impressively by "treating" the orphans to a day at the circus or -carnival or to a movie. But if he were present, as the philanthropic -politician invariably was, Sally could not find him. That was odd, too, -for he was usually the most prominent person at such an affair, taking -great pains that no reporters who might happen to be present should -overlook him and his great kindness of heart. - -Then little old-maidish Miss Pond, sentimental little Miss Pond, who had -befriended Sally by telling her all she knew of the child's parentage, -came hurrying nervously into the tent. She had undoubtedly been detained -at the ticket booth and was sure, judging from her anxious, nervous -manner, that the children had gotten into mischief during her brief -absence. - -Three or four of the little girls ran to cling to her hands, abjectly -courting notice as Sally had known they would. But with a few -absent-minded pats she shooed them away and bustled anxiously toward a -woman whom Sally had not noticed before, so complete had been her -absorption in the children. - -The woman stood aloof near the platform of "the girl nobody can lift," -listening to Gus, the barker, with a slight, charming smile of amusement -on her beautiful mouth. When Miss Pond joined her timidly, -deferentially, the "lady," as Sally instinctively thought of her from -the first moment that she become aware of her, turned slightly, so that -"Princess Lalla," whose platform was quite near, got a complete and -breath-taking view of her beauty. - -"Oh!" Sally breathed ecstatically, her little brown-painted hands -clasping each other tightly in her lap. "Oh, you're beautiful! You are -like a real princess, or a queen." But she did not say the words aloud. -Behind the little black lace veil her sapphire eyes widened and glowed; -her breath came quickly over her parted, carmined lips. - -The woman, who seemed scarcely older than a girl but who, by her poise -and a certain maturity in her face, gave Sally the impression that she -was a queen rather than a princess, had taken her hat off, as if the -heat oppressed her. It was a smart, trim little thing of silvery-green -felt, that had cupped her small head like the green cup that holds a -flower. And her face was the flower, a flower bursting into bloom with -the removal of the hat. - -Sally had never in all her life seen hair like that--shimmering waves of -pure gold, slightly rumpled by the removal of the hat, so that single -threads of it caught the light from the gas jet that burned day and -night in the rather dark tent. Her skin, pale with the heat of the day, -was creamy-white, lineless, smooth and rich, so that Sally's fingers -longed to touch it reverently. Surely it could not feel like other -flesh; it was made of something finer and rarer than cells and blood, -dermis and epidermis. - -Her small lovely mouth, soft and full-lipped as a child's, was tender -and amused and proud, the mouth of a woman who has always been adored -for her beauty but whom adoration has not cheated of very human -emotions. Sally wished that she could see the eyes more closely, for -even while they were wide and laughing, sending out little sparkles of -color and light, she thought there was a hint of sadness in them, of -restlessness, as if only a part of her attention was given to the -carnival and to the children. - -She was very small and slight, shorter even than little Miss Pond, who -had to look down as she talked to her. But for all her adorable -smallness she carried herself with a certain arrogance. Every movement -she made as she and Miss Pond talked together and then joined the -children was proud and graceful. - -She was wearing a summer sports suit of silvery-green knitted silk, -which showed to the best advantage the miniature, Venus proportions of -her body. As she swung toward the children, nodding acquiescence to Miss -Pond's eager suggestions, little Eloise Durant, the child who had been -the "new girl" of Sally's last day in the orphanage, catapulted herself -from the huddling mass of children and impulsively seized her hand. The -swift, cordial smile with which she greeted the child and released her -hand as quickly as possible kept Sally from resenting the action. But -Eloise, still hypersensitive, knew that she had been delicately snubbed -and hung back as Gus, the barker, herded the orphans toward Jan the -giant's platform. - -Sally saw the tell-tale tremble of Eloise's babyish mouth, and her heart -ached with desire to comfort the child. Outwardly Eloise had become -exactly like all the other little girls--shy, bleating when the other -little sheep bleated, obediently excited when they were excited, silent -when they were silent--but underneath she was still bewildered and -unreconciled to the death of her mother, the cheap little stock-company -actress who had evidently adored her child and been adored in return. - -But someone else had seen Eloise's hurt, so unconsciously inflicted by -the lovely and arrogant lady. Betsy, the six-year-old, ran from the herd -to take Eloise's hand, with an absurd and touching little gesture of -motherliness. - -"Come on, Eloise," Sally heard Betsy cry in her shrill little voice. -"Let's just you and me look at the funny people. We can see the giant -when the crowd moves on. I want to see 'Princess Lalla' more'n anything. -I want my fortune told. I want to ask her where Sally is--you -remember--Sally Ford. That man says she 'sees all, knows all,' so he -ought to know where Sally is." - -"The big girls say she run away," Eloise answered, her eyes round with -awe. "They say she did something awful bad and run away with a man--" - -"Sally didn't do nothing bad," Betsy retorted indignantly. "She -couldn't. She was the best 'big girl' in the Home. She play-acted for us -little kids and--oh!" She stopped with a gasp, her eyes popping as she -took in the fantastic splendor of "Princess Lalla." "Listen, Princess -Lalla," she mustered up courage to whisper coaxingly, "does it cost a -lot to get your fortune told? I've only got a nickel that the New York -lady gave me--she give every one of us a dime, but I spent a nickel for -some salt water taffy--" - -Sally could hardly restrain herself from crying out: "Oh, Betsy, it's -me! Sally Ford! You don't have to spend your poor little nickel to find -me! I'm here!" But she knotted her little brown hands more tightly and -managed to smile with a princess-like indifference and weariness as she -cooed in her "Turkish" accent: - -"Eeet costs noth-ing to get ze fortune told. Womens and mens must pay 25 -cents to learn past, pres-ent and future, but for you--noth-ing! Come up -here by my side. I weel read the crystal." - -Betsy's eyes grew rounder and rounder; her little mouth fell open in -astonishment. Then with a wild shout of joy she stumbled up the stairs -and flung her arms about Sally crying and laughing: - -"You're not Princess Lalla! You're Sally Ford, play-acting! Oh, Sally, -I'm so glad I found you! Hey, kids! Kids! It's Sally Ford, play-acting!" - -For a terrible moment, long enough for Gus, the barker, to jump from -Jan's platform and come toward her on a run, Sally sat frozen with -terror. She felt that Betsy's keen eyes had stripped her of her brown -make-up, of her fantastic clothes, of the protecting black veil, so that -anyone who looked at her could see that she was indeed "just Sally Ford, -play-acting." - -She wanted to rise from her gilded chair and run for her life--and -David's--but she had lost all control of her muscles. Betsy was still -clinging to her, her babyish hands shaking the slender shoulders under -the green satin jacket, when Gus bounded upon the platform and took the -almost hysterical child into his arms. - -"Hello, Tiddlywinks!" he sang out jovially. "Having a good time at the -carnival? Listen, kiddie! I'm going to give you a real treat! Yessir! -You know what you're going to do? Just guess!" - -Sally felt the blood begin to thaw in her frozen veins. Gus was standing -by. Dear Gus! But Gus was too wise to give the child in his arms a -chance to reply. He hurried on, his voice loud and cajoling: - -"I'm going to let you stand right up on the platform with the little -lady midget--her name's 'Pitty Sing'--and show all the other kids how -much bigger you are than a grown-up lady. Yessir, she's a grown-up lady -and she's not nearly as big as you. Now what do you think of that?" - -Betsy was torn between her love for Sally, whom she was convinced she -had found, and her pride in being chosen to stand beside the midget. She -looked doubtfully from Sally, whose eyes beneath the black lace veil -were lowered to her tightly locked hands, to the platform opposite, -where "Pitty Sing," the midget, was stretching out a tiny hand -invitingly. The midget won, for the moment at least. - -"I'm six, going on seven, and I'm a big girl," she confided to the -barker on whose shoulder she was riding in delightful conspicuousness. - -The children, true to the herd instinct which had been so highly -developed in the orphanage, trooped after Gus and Betsy, even more -easily diverted than she from their pop-eyed inspection of "Princess -Lalla." - -Sally heard Thelma answer another child derisively: "Aw, Betsy's off her -nut! Sure that ain't Sally! That's a Turkish princess from -Con-stan-ti-no-ple. The man said so. 'Sides, Sally's white, and the -princess is brown--" - -"All right, children, right this way!" Gus was ballyhooing loudly. -"Permit me to introduce 'Pitty Sing,' the smallest and prettiest little -woman in the world. Just 29 inches tall, 29 years old and 29 pounds -heavy. Did I say 'heavy'? Excuse me, Pitty Sing! I meant 29 pounds -light! Look at her, little ladies and gents! Ain't she cute? Her parents -were just as big as your papas and mamas--" - -He remembered just too late that he was talking to orphans, and his -jolly face went dark red. But he recovered quickly, glanced about his -audience, saw that Miss Pond was straying nervously toward Sally's -platform, as if halfway convinced that Betsy's childish intuition had -been correct. - -"Oh, Miss Pond!" he sang out ingratiatingly. "I wonder if you'd do me -the favor to step up on the platform. I believe Betsy is scared. Yessir, -I believe she's scared half out of her skin!" He laughed, stooped to -chuck Betsy under the chin, then, with a courtly gesture, offered Miss -Pond his hand. - -Sally looked on, her throat tight with fear and with tears of gratitude -toward Gus, as the barker, with a rapid fire of talk and joking, kept -his audience completely hypnotized. He jollied shy little Betsy into -taking the midget into her arms, like a baby or a big doll, and only -Sally, of all those who looked on, could guess how keenly the -artificially smiling little atom of humanity was resenting this insult -to her dignity. - -He coaxed and flattered and flustered Miss Pond into standing beside -"Pitty Sing," so that the children could see what a vast difference -there was in their height. And somehow he had attracted the attention of -a carnival employe, for before he had exhausted the possibilities of the -midget as a diversion, Winfield Bybee himself came striding into the -Palace of Wonders, mounted the midget's platform and, after a moment's -whispered conference with Gus, made an announcement: - -"Children, I'm old Pop Bybee; Winfield Bybee is the way it's wrote down -in the Bible. I own this carnival and I want to tell you children that -I'm proud to have you as my guests. I love children, always did! Now, -boys and girls, the Ferris wheel and the whip and the merry-go-rounds -are waiting for you." - -He was interrupted by a whoop of joy from the boys, in which the girls -joined more timidly. "It won't cost you a cent. If your chaperon--" and -he turned to Miss Pond with a courtly bow--"will do me the honor to -accept these tickets, you'll all have a ride on the Ferris wheel, the -whip and the merry-go-round absolutely free. Don't crowd now, children, -but gather at the door of the tent. I thank you." - -When he sprang, rather stiffly, from the platform, he offered Miss Pond -his hand, then, with her arm pressed to his side, he escorted her with -pompous courtesy to the door of the tent, where the children were -already milling about, wild with excitement. - -In her terror Sally had forgotten the golden-haired woman in the green -silk sports suit. Now that the danger was passing, miraculously averted -by Gus and Pop Bybee, she started to draw a deep, trembling sigh of -relief, but it was choked in her throat by the discovery that she was -being regarded intently by the beautiful woman, who was standing beside -the midget's platform. - -"Oh!" Sally thought in a new flutter of terror. "She heard Betsy call me -Sally Ford. She's going to question me. I wonder who she is. Maybe she's -a trustee's wife--oh, she's coming! She's going to talk to me--" - -She rose from her high-backed, gilded chair, trying to do so without -haste. Since the performance was ended she had every right to leave the -tent, and she would do so, but she mustn't run. She mustn't give herself -away-- - -"Hel-lo, Enid! I couldn't believe my eyes! What in the world are you -doing so far from Park Avenue?" - -Sally, forcing herself to walk with sedate leisureliness down the little -wooden steps of the platform, saw the New Yorker who had been paying her -half-mocking, half admiring attention all afternoon, stride swiftly and -gracefully across the tent toward the golden-haired woman. So he too had -witnessed Betsy's hysterical identification! She had forgotten that he -was in the tent, watching her, smiling mockingly, biding his chance to -ask her again to go to supper with him after the last show that night. - -The golden-haired woman halted, and Sally, out of the corner of her -veil-protected eyes, saw an expression of startled surprise and then of -annoyance sweep over the beautiful little face. Odd that these two who -had so strangely crossed her path in one hectic day should know each -other, should meet a thousand miles away from home, in the freak show -tent of a third-rate carnival! - -"Oh, hello, Van! I might ask what you're doing so far from Park Avenue, -but I suppose you're visiting your cousin, the governor. Court's here on -business and I'm amusing myself taking the orphans to the carnival. A -new role for me, isn't it--Lady Bountiful! Poor little devils! If only -they didn't want to paw me!" - -Now that she was safe from being questioned Sally wanted to make her -passage to the "alley" door of the tent take as long as possible, so -that not a note of the music of that extraordinary voice should be lost -to her. She had expected the golden-haired lady's voice to be a sweet, -tinkling soprano, to match her in size, but the voice which thrilled her -with its perfection of modulation was a rich, throaty contralto, a -little arrogant, even as the speaker was, but so effortless and so -golden that Sally would have been content to listen to it, no matter -what words it might have said. - -Sally paused at the door of the tent, and cast a swift glance backward -over her green-satin shoulder. "Van" was holding one of "Enid's" hands -in both of his, laughing down at her, mockingly but fondly, as if they -were the best of friends. - -"Well," she said to herself, as she ran toward the dress tent, "now that -he's found _her_, he won't bother me. I wonder who 'Court' is. Her -husband? I hate rich women who play 'Lady Bountiful,'" she thought with -fierce resentment. "But--I can't hate _her_. She's too beautiful. Like a -little gold-and-green bird--a singing bird--a bird that sings -contralto." - -She was resting between shows, lying on her cot in the dress tent, when -Pop Bybee came striding in. - -"It's all right, honey. Don't be scared to go on with the show. That -Pond dame came cackling to me, all het up, half believing what this -Betsy baby said about you being Sally Ford, but I give her a grand song -and dance about you being the same Princess Lalla who joined the show in -New York in April. She wanted to talk to you, but I steered her off, -told her you couldn't hardly speak English and she'd just upset you. -Just stick to your lingo, child, and don't act scared. Ain't a chance in -the world the Pond dame will make another squawk." - -He must have spoken to Gus, also, for the barker cut her late afternoon -and evening performances as short as possible, although by doing so he -lost many a quarter. She smiled upon him gratefully, was pleased to the -point of tears by his whispered: "Good kid! You've sure got sand!" after -the ten o'clock show when she had apparently regained her confidence and -her intuition to know "past, present and future." - -As the evening wore on the heat grew more and more oppressive. The -wilted audience passed languidly from freak to freak, mopping their red -faces and tugging at tight collars. Children cried fretfully, -monotonously; women reproved them with high, heat-maddened voices; Jan, -the giant, fainted while Gus was ballyhooing him, and it took six "white -hopes" to carry him to his tent. At eleven o'clock, when Gus had just -started his last "spiel" of the evening, a terrified black man, with -eyes rolling and sweat pouring down his face, staggered into the tent, -bawling: - -"Awful storm's blowin' up, folks! Look lak a cyclone! Run for yo' lives! -Tents ain't safe! Oh, mah Gawd!" - -The storm broke with such sudden and devastating fury that the -performers in the Palace of Wonders tent had little time to obey the -"white hope's" frantic bellow of warning. - -The terrified audience milled like stampeded cattle, choking up both -exits of the tent, that leading out into the midway, and the flap at the -back of the tent through which performers passed in and out between -shows. At each exit the fear-crazed carnival visitors were assaulted by -a dazing impact of wind and hail and rain, driven back into the tent. - -Sally was fighting her way toward the "alley" exit, her frail, small -body hurling itself futilely against men who had lost all thought of -chivalry, knew only that death threatened. - -The region was notorious for its cyclones, and the horror of such a -calamity was stamped on every pallid face. Children screamed; women -shrilled for help, called frantically for their offspring separated from -them in that mad rush for the exits. - -Sally had almost won to the alley exit when she remembered "Pitty Sing," -the midget, tiny, helpless Miss Tanner, who was paying her to carry her -to and from the tent, who must even now be cowering in her baby-chair, -unable even to reach the ground without assistance. - -It was not quite so hard to push her way back into the center of the -tent; crazed men and women offered little resistance to anyone who was -so foolish as to tempt death under a collapsed tent. - -She had almost reached the midget's platform when she suddenly felt -herself lifted into a pair of strong arms, swung high above the heads of -the last of the crowd that was battling its way to the exits. Her cry -was instinctive, unreasoning, direct from her heart: "David! Oh, David!" - -A mocking laugh answered her and she squirmed in the man's arms so that -she could see his face. It was not David at all, but the man whom "Enid" -had called "Van." His face was laughing, gay, mocking, untouched by the -shameful pallor of fear; exultant, rather, in the excitement of the -storm. His dark eyes were wide, shining even through the fitful darkness -made by the flickering of the crazily swinging gas jets. - -"Isn't it glorious?" he challenged her, above the uproar of wind, rain, -hail and the frightened animal sounds of human beings in fear of death. - -"I've got to find the midget--Pitty Sing!" she shouted, struggling -frantically to release herself. - -"The charming barker has rescued her," Van shouted. "I was afraid some -officious ass had cheated me of the pleasure of rescuing you. I've -waited all day--" - -But his sentence was broken in two by the long-threatened collapse of -the tent. A center-pole struck him a glancing blow, knocking him flat, -and Sally with him. - -For what seemed like hours of nightmare she struggled to release herself -from the steel-like clasp of his arms and the smothering embrace of the -rain-sodden canvas. To add to the horror, rain fell heavily upon the -canvas that held them pinned helplessly to the earth; hail pelted her -flesh bitingly even through the dubious protection of the canvas; and -every moment they were in mortal danger of being trampled to death by -the feet of fleeing carnival visitors, who had been clear of the tent -when it had collapsed. - -"Don't--struggle," came that mocking voice, panting a little with the -effort of speaking under the smothering caul of canvas. "Lie--still. -I'll hold up--the canvas--so you--can breathe. Shield your face--with -your--arms. Sorry--I muffed--the role--of rescuer--of damsels--in -distress." - -"Oh, hush!" Sally cried angrily, but doing her best to obey him. She -crooked an arm over her face, so that the hail no longer punished it. -And she relaxed as much as possible, her head on Van's shoulder, her -feet pushing futilely at the sodden mass of canvas that weighted them -down. - -"Better?" he asked casually, no fear at all in his voice, and only a -mocking sort of anxiety. "We'll be safe enough here until the tent is -raised, unless someone steps on us. And by this time your charming -employer, the redoubtable Pop Bybee, has of course assembled his -roustabouts to raise the tent in the expectation of finding buried -treasure--ostrich men, midgets, and Turkish harem girls who read -crystals." - -"Aren't you ever serious? Aren't you frightened?" Sally gasped. - -"Serious? Well, hardly ever!" the man chuckled. "Frightened? Frequently! -But I am so appreciative of this opportunity to be alone with you that I -could hardly quibble with fate to the extent of being frightened at the -means which accomplished it." - -"Oh, I wonder what's happened to--to everybody!" Sally began to shiver -with sobs. - -"To--David?" Van's mocking voice came strangely out of the darkness. -"Lucky David, wherever he is now, that your first thought should go to -him. David and Sally! How do you like 'play-acting,' Sally Ford?" - - - - -CHAPTER XI - - -The terror which the menace of violent death had held for her now seemed -a pallid, weak thing, beside the heart-stopping emotion which the New -Yorker's mocking, amused voice uttering her real name called into being. -Her head jerked instinctively from the comfort of his arm. Squirming -away from him, under the sodden blanket of canvas, she curled into a -tight little ball of agony, her face cupped in her hands. "So that's why -you bothered me so!" she cried, her voice muffled by her fingers. -"You're a detective! You knew all the time! You were going to take me to -jail! Oh, you--Oh! David, David!" - -"Listen, you little idiot!" Van's voice came sharply, bereft of its -mocking note for once. "I'm not a detective! Good heavens! Do I look -like one? I've always understood that they have enormous feet and wear -derbies and talk out of the corner of their mouths." Mockery was -creeping back. "Did you think that a poor little tyke like you was worth -sending to New York for a detective to bay at your heels like a -bloodhound? I merely overheard the little Betsy's keen penetration of -your disguise. And I took the trouble to inquire casually of the -governor this evening just who--if anybody--Sally Ford might be--" - -"Then you gave me away--David and me!" she accused him, shuddering with -sobs. - -"Not at all. How it does pain me for you to persist in misunderstanding -me! I gave nothing away--absolutely nothing! I merely found out that -David Nash and Sally Ford are fugitives from justice, wanted on rather -serious charges. After making the acquaintance of 'Princess Lalla,' I -might add that I don't believe a word of the silly story. Besides, I -have your own word for it--" and he laughed--"that you are 'not that -kind of a girl.' As a matter-of-fact--oh! We're about to be rescued, -Sally Ford! I hear the 'heave-ho' of stalwart black boys. And the storm -is over except for a gentle, lady-like rain." - -It was not till he mentioned the blessed fact that Sally realized that -the storm was indeed over. The only sound, besides the shouts of the -"white hopes" engaging in raising the collapsed tent, was the patter of -rain upon the canvas which still weighted down her small cold body, as -wet as if she had been swimming. - -Struggling to a sitting position under the already moving mass of -canvas, the New Yorker cupped his hands about his mouth and shouted: -"Ship ahoy! Ship ahoy!" In an aside to Sally he chuckled: "What does one -shout under the circumstances--or rather, under the canvas of a -collapsed tent?" - -Sally managed a weak little laugh. "One shouts, 'Hey, rube!'" she told -him. - -And his stentorian "Hey, rube!" struggled up through layers of dripping -canvas, bringing speedy relief for the submerged "rube" and performer. -When at last the tent was raised, Sally walked out, Van's arm still -about her shivering, soaked body, to find apparently the entire carnival -force huddled in the rain to welcome her, drawn by that fateful cry of -"Hey, rube!" - -Jan, the giant, was there, sad-eyed but smiling, "Pitty Sing" perched on -one of his shoulders, Noko, the male midget, on the other. "The girl -nobody can lift" was there, too, her right arm in splints; a deep gash -down her pale cheek; Eddie Cobb, who, they told her as they chorused -their welcome, had been crying like a baby as he searched for her -through the wreck of the carnival, was clasping a drenched Kewpie doll -to his breast, apparently the sole survivor of his gambling wheel stock. - -Pop and Mrs. Bybee were there, Mrs. Bybee clad only in a black sateen -petticoat and a red sweater. And in spite of his heavy loss from the -fury of the storm Pop was smiling, his bright blue eyes twinkling a -welcome. But--but--Sally's eyes roved from face to face, confidently at -first, grateful for their friendliness, then widening with alarm. For -David was not there. - -"Where's David?" she cried, then, her voice growing shrill and frantic, -she screamed at them: "Where's David? Tell me! He's hurt--dead? Tell -me!" She broke away from Van, ran to Pop Bybee and tugged with her -little blue-white hands washed free of their brown make-up, at his wet -coat. - -"Reckon he's safe and sound in the privilege car," Bybee reassured her, -but his blue eyes avoided hers, pityingly, she thought. - -"Was anyone killed in the storm? Tell me!" she insisted, her bluish lips -twisting into a piteous loop of pain. - -"We can't find Nita nowhere," Babe, the fat girl, blurted out, her eyes -wide with childish love of excitement. "We thought she was buried under -a tent but they've got all the tents up now and she ain't nowhere." - -Nita--and David. Nita--David--missing. For she did not believe for an -instant that Pop Bybee was telling her the truth. - -"It seems to me," Van interrupted nonchalantly, "that dry clothes are -indicated for Princess Lalla. May I escort you to your tent?" and he -bowed with mocking ceremony before her. - -"He saved my life," Sally acknowledged suddenly, half-angrily, for she -resented with childish unreasonableness the fact that it had been this -mocking, insolent stranger, this "rube" from New York, not David, who -had saved her. - -An hour later when she was uneasily asleep in her berth in the show -train, whose sleeping cars had been pressed into service in lieu of the -soaked cots in the dress tent, a sudden uproar--hoarse voices shouting -and cursing--shocked her into consciousness. Broken sentences flung out -by angry men, Pop Bybee's voice easily distinguished among them, told -her what had happened: - -"Every damn cent gone!--Pay roll gone!--Safe cracked!--Told you you was -a fool to take in them two hoboes that was already wanted by the police. -That Dave guy's beat it--made a clean-up--" - -"Everybody tumble out! Pop Bybee wants us all in the privilege car," a -carnival employe shouted, running down the sleeping car and pausing only -to thrust a hand into each berth, like a Pullman porter awakening its -passengers. - -But Sally was already dressing, getting her dress on backward and -sobbing with futile rage at the time lost in reversing it. When she was -scrambling out of her upper berth, a tiny hand reached out of the lower -and tugged at her foot. - -"Don't forget me, Sally," the midget commanded sharply. "And for -heaven's sake, don't take on so! You'll make yourself sick, crying like -that. Of course your David didn't rob the safe. I'm all dressed." - -Sally parted the green curtains and stretched out her arms for the -midget, who was so short that she could stand upright upon her bed -without her head touching the rounded support of the upper berth. Little -Miss Tanner ran into Sally's arms and clambered to her shoulder. - -"It's that Nita." She nodded her miniature head emphatically. "I always -did have my suspicions about her. Always turning white as a sheet when a -policeman hove into sight." - -"But David's missing, too," Sally sobbed, as she hurried down the aisle -which was becoming choked with frowsy-headed women in all stages of -dress and undress. "Of course he didn't do it--" - -"Hurry up, everybody! Don't take time to primp, girls!" a man bawled at -them from the door. - -They found most of the men employes and performers of the carnival -already assembled with the Bybees in the privilege car. Pop Bybee's -usually lobster-colored face was as white as putty, but his arm was -gallantly about his wife's shoulder. Mrs. Bybee still wore the black -sateen petticoat and red sweater in which she had hurried from the show -train to the carnival immediately after the storm. Her reddened eyes -showed that she had been crying bitterly, but as the carnival family -crowded into the privilege car she searched each face with fury and -suspicion. - -"Come here to me, Sally Ford!" she shrilled, when Sally entered the car -with "Pitty Sing" riding on her shoulder. - -"Now, honey, go easy!" Pop Bybee cautioned her futilely. "Better let me -do the talking--" - -"You shut up!" his wife commanded angrily. "Sally, you knew where I kept -the money! You saw the safe! Oh, I was a fool, all right, but I wanted -to show that I trusted you! Huh! Thought I'd wronged you by accusing you -of taking presents from my husband! Tell him you saw the safe! Tell -him!" And she seized Sally's wrist and shook her so that the midget had -to cling tightly to the girl's neck to keep from being catapulted to the -floor. - -"Yes, Mrs. Bybee," Sally answered, her voice almost dying in her throat -with fright. "I saw the safe. But I didn't tell anybody--" - -"You're a liar!" Mrs. Bybee screamed. "You told that David boy that very -night! Sneaked off and went walking with him and cooked up this robbery -so you two could make your get-away. Thought it was a grand way to get -out of the state so the cops couldn't pinch you, didn't you?" she -repeated, beside herself with anger, her fingers clamped like a vise on -Sally's wrist. - -"Oh, please!" Sally moaned, writhing with a pain of which she was -scarcely conscious, so great was her fear and bewilderment at this -unexpected charge. - -"Sally certainly didn't go with him," Pop Bybee interposed reasonably. - -"Sure she didn't!" his wife shrilled with angry triumph. "She couldn't! -She couldn't! She was buried under the tent! If it hadn't been for the -storm she wouldn't be here now, working on your sympathies with them -dying-calf eyes of hers--" - -"Better let me handle this, honey," Pop Bybee interrupted again, this -time more firmly. "Turn the child loose. Ain't a bit of use breaking her -arm. Now, folks, I might as well tell you all just what happened, and -then try to get to the bottom of this matter. When the worst of the -storm was over Mrs. Bybee left the show train to look for me, to see if -I was hurt or if she could do anything for anyone who was. She hadn't -been out of the stateroom all evening till then--not since she'd put -some money into the safe right after supper. She found the boy Dave -starting out to look for Sally, and she ordered him to stay on the train -to keep an eye on it, in case tramps or crooks tried to board it. There -wasn't anybody else on the train. That right, Mother?" - -He turned to Mrs. Bybee, who nodded angrily. - -"She told him she'd look after Sally, but he'd have to stand guard on -the train. She didn't say anything to him about the safe--just told him -to patrol the train while she was gone. The safe is under a seat in our -stateroom, and far as we knew, nobody knew where it was, except Sally -here, who happened to come into the stateroom when my wife was counting -a day's receipts." - -"Please, Mr. Bybee," Sally interrupted, memory struggling with the panic -in her brain. "Someone else did know! Nita knew! When I left the -stateroom that last day in Stanton I saw Nita disappearing into the -women's dressing room, and I thought she'd been listening. She--" - -"Hold on a minute!" Bybee cut in sternly. "How do you know she'd been -listening? Any proof?" - -"Yes, sir!" Sally cried eagerly. "Mrs. Bybee had been telling me that -she'd found out that Ford isn't my real name, that the woman I always -thought was my mother wasn't really my mother at all. She said she -guessed I--that my mother was ashamed I'd ever been born. And that same -day Nita called me a--a bad name that means--" She could not go on. Sobs -began to shake her small body again and her face was scarlet with shame. - -"That's right!" Gus, the barker, edged toward Bybee through the crowd. -"I found Sally lighting into Nita for calling her that name. And Nita -didn't deny she'd done it. Reckon that proves she was eavesdropping, all -right. And if she was listening in, too, she was probably peeping in, -too, or heard Mrs. Bybee talking about the safe. Was the door open, -ma'am?" - -"I don't know," Mrs. Bybee snapped. "Yes, it may have been. It was awful -hot. And I didn't know anybody was on the train." - -"It was open a little way," Sally cried. "I remember distinctly. Because -I worried about whether Nita had overheard what Mrs. Bybee had been -telling me. And there's something else--something that happened that -night, when David and I were walking." Memory of that blessed hour in -the moonlight brought tears to her eyes, but she dashed them away with -the wrist which bore the marks of Mrs. Bybee's rage. - -"What was it, Sally?" Pop Bybee asked gently. "All we want is to get at -the truth of this thing. Don't be afraid to speak up." - -"I hate being a tattle-tale," Sally whimpered. "I never told on anyone -in all my life! But David and I were sitting under a tree, not talking, -when we suddenly heard Nita's voice. She couldn't see us for the tree, -but we peeped around the trunk of it and we saw Nita and a man walking -awfully close together, and Nita was talking. We just heard a few words. -She said: 'No monkey business now, Steve. If you double-cross me I'll -cut your heart out! Fifty-fifty or nothing--'" - -Unconsciously her voice had mimicked Nita's, so that to the startled -carnival family it seemed that Nita, the Hula dancer, had appeared -suddenly in the car. - -"Sounds like Nita, all right." Gus, the barker, nodded with -satisfaction. "'Steve,' huh? Who the devil is this Steve?" - -"What did he look like, Sally?" Bybee asked. - -"I don't know," she answered, her big blue eyes imploring him to believe -her. "We couldn't see their faces. We just recognized Nita's voice and -her yellow hair that looked almost white in the moonlight. He wasn't -tall, not any taller than Nita, and I guess he wasn't very big either, -because they were so close together that they looked almost like one -person. We didn't hear the man say a word. Nita was doing all the -talking--" - -"Nita would!" a voice from the crowd growled. "Reckon I can tell you -something about this, Pop. I was just ready to ballyhoo the last -performance of the 'girlie' show when Nita come slouching up to me, -pulling a long face and a song-and-dance about being knocked out with -the heat. Bessie had fainted at the last show and I thought Nita might -really be all in, so I told her she could cut the last performance and -go to the dress tent. I never seen hair nor hide of her again, and--" he -paused significantly, "I don't reckon I ever will." - -"No, I reckon you won't, not unless the cops nab her," Mrs. Bybee cut in -bitterly. "I always said she was a snake in the grass! And that David, -too! Them goody-goody kind ain't ever worth the powder and lead it'd -take to blow out their brains! I told you, Winfield Bybee, that there -was something phony about that hussy and Dave! 'Tain't like a star -performer like Nita thought she was to trail around after a cook's -helper, like she done with Dave. They didn't pull the wool over my eyes, -even if they did double-cross the kid here--if they _did_ double-cross -her! Mind you, Bybee, I ain't saying I believe a word she's been saying! -She knew where the safe was, and she tipped off the boy. - -"I ain't forgot they was both wanted by the police when they joined up -with us! As I said before, if it hadn't been that she was buried under -the freak tent, she'd have skipped with Nita and Dave. You roped Nita in -on your little scheme, didn't you, because she'd had more experience -cracking safes than you or the boy? That's right, ain't it?" the old -lady demanded fiercely of Sally. - -Sally shrank from her in horror, but the midget, still perched on her -shoulder, patted her cheeks reassuringly. "No, no! I didn't even tell -David where the safe was! I didn't! David didn't do it! He couldn't! -David's good! He's the best man in the world!" - -"Then where is he?" Mrs. Bybee screamed. "Why did he blow? I left him to -guard the train, didn't I? And he ain't here, is he? He wasn't here when -we got back from the carnival lot after the tents was raised. If he's so -damned good, why did he blow with Nita and this Steve you've made up out -of your head?" - -"Now, now, Mother," Pop Bybee soothed her, but his eyes were troubled -and suspicious. "Reckon we'd better notify the police, folks. I hate to -call in the law. I've always said I was the law of this outfit, but I -suppose if I've been harboring thieves I'll have to get the help of the -law to track 'em down. Ben, you and Chuck beat it down the tracks to the -police station and give 'em a description of Nita and Dave and this -Steve person, as much as Sally's been able to tell us anyway--" - -"Please, Mr. Bybee!" Sally ran to the showman and seized both his hands -in hers. "Please don't set the police on David! I know he's innocent! -There's some reason why he isn't here--a good reason! But he didn't have -anything to do with the robbery. I know that! But if you tell the police -he's been with the carnival they'll find him somehow and put him in jail -on those other charges--and me, too! It doesn't matter about me, but I -couldn't live if David was put in jail on my account! Oh, please! You've -been so good to us!" And she went suddenly on her knees to him, her face -upraised in an agony of appeal. - -Pop Bybee looked down upon Sally's agonized face with troubled -indecision in his bright blue eyes. He tried to lift her to her feet, -but her arms were locked about his knees. The midget had scrambled from -Sally's shoulder to the floor of the car and as Bybee hesitated, her -tiny fists beat upon his right leg for attention. - -"You're not going to break your promise to Sally, are you, Mr. Bybee?" -the tiny voice piped shrilly. "You told her and the boy you'd protect -them. She's told you the truth. Don't you know truth when you hear it? I -always knew Nita was a crook. She never saw a policeman or a constable -or a sheriff without turning white as a ghost. She joined up with the -carnival just to learn the lay of the land and tip off her -accomplice--this Steve person--where to find the money. That's why she -was spying on Mrs. Bybee that day in Stanton. Listen to me!" - -"I'm listening, Miss Tanner," Pop Bybee acknowledged wearily. "And I -swear I don't know what to say or do. If they get clear away with that -money the show'll be stranded. Every cent I had in the world was in that -safe. Reckon I was a fool to carry it with me, but I never trusted a -bank, and it was more convenient, having it right with me. Tomorrow's -payday, too, and all of you are in the same boat with me." - -"Listen, boss, let's take a vote on it." Gus, the barker, spoke up -suddenly and loudly. "Now me--I believe the kid here is telling the -truth. No college boy could crack a safe like that. It was a -professional job, or I'm a liar! Of course Nita may have tolled the boy -off with her and this Steve, since she was so crazy about him, but we -ain't got no proof she did, and as Sally says, if you sick the cops on -the boy, the jig will be up with her as well as the boy. Another thing, -Dave may be laying in the bushes somewhere with a bullet--" - -"Oh!" Sally screamed, as the full significance of Gus' words burst upon -her. She fainted then, her little body slumping into a heap at Bybee's -feet, her head striking one of his big shoes and resting there. - -When she regained consciousness she was lying in the lower berth which -had belonged to Nita, and the midget was kneeling on the pillow beside -her head, dabbing her face with a handkerchief soaked in aromatic -spirits of ammonia. Mazie and Sue, two of the dancers in the "girlie" -show, sat on the edge of the berth, their cold-creamed faces almost -beautiful with anxiety and sympathy. - -"What's the matter? Is it time to get up?" Sally asked dazedly. "What -are you doing, Betty?" - -The midget answered in her tiny, brisk voice: "I'm bathing your face -with ammonia which Mrs. Bybee sent. It should be cologne, and this -ammonia will probably dry your skin something dreadful, but it was the -only thing we could get. You fainted, you know." - -"Oh, I remember!" Sally moaned, her head beginning to thresh from side -to side on the pillow. "Have they found David? I know he's been hurt!" - -"They're looking for him," the midget assured her briskly. "Mr. Bybee -took a vote on whether he was to notify the police about David's being -gone, as well as Nita, and the vote was 'No!' That ought to make you -feel happier!" - -"Oh, it does!" Sally began to cry softly. "You have all been so kind, so -kind! You said Mrs. Bybee sent the ammonia?" she asked wistfully. - -"She certainly did, and she's in the kitchen of the privilege car right -now, making you some hot tea. She won't say she's sorry, probably, but -she'll try to make it up to you. She's like that--always flying off the -handle and suspicious of everybody, but she's got a heart as big as -Babe, the fat girl." - -"And so have you!" Sally told her brokenly, taking both of the tiny -hands into one of hers and laying them softly against her lips. - -"Ain't love grand?" Mazie sighed deeply. "If it had been my sweetie, I'd -a-fell for that line of Ma Bybee's about him running off with Nita, but -you sure stuck by him! I was in love like that once, when I was a kid. I -married him, too, and he run off with the albino girl and took my grouch -bag with him. Every damn cent I had! But it sure was sweet before we was -married and he was nuts about me." - -"Aw, let the kid alone!" Sue slipped from the edge of the berth and -yawned widely. "Gawd, I'm sleepy! If the cops don't catch that Hula -hussy I'm going out looking for her myself, and when I get through with -her she'll never shake another grass skirt! C'mon, Mazie. It's three -o'clock in the morning, and we've got eighteen shows ahead of us." - -"Maybe!" Mazie yawned. "If Pop wasn't stringing us, we'll be stranded in -this burg. G'night, Sally. G'night, Midge. And say, Sally, even if this -Dave boy has blowed and left you flat, you won't have no trouble copping -off another sweetie. Gus was telling us about that New York rube that's -trailing you. Hook up with him and you'll wear diamonds. Believe me, -kid, they ain't none of 'em worth losing sleep over when you've got -eighteen shows a day ahead of you. G'night." - -When they had gone the midget yanked the green curtains together with -comical fierceness, then crawled under the top of the sheet that covered -Sally. - -"I'm going to sleep here with you, Sally," she said. "I don't take up -much room." - -And the woman who was old enough to be Sally's mother curled her 29-inch -body in the curve of Sally's right arm and laid her tiny cheek, as soft -and wrinkled as a worn kid glove, in the hollow of Sally's firm young -neck. - -But long after the midget was asleep, Sally lay wide-eyed and tense in -the dark, her mind a welter of fears and love and doubt. She had pleaded -passionately with Pop Bybee for David, fiercely shoving to the dark -depths of her mind even the memory of the jealousy which Nita had -fiendishly aroused in her heart. But now that she had saved him -temporarily by convincing Bybee that the boy could not have taken part -in the robbery, doubt began to insinuate its ugly body upward from those -dark depths where she had buried it. - -Did he really love her--a pathetic, immature girl from an orphanage, a -girl who had been nothing but a responsibility and a source of dire -trouble to him since he had first met and championed her on the Carson -farm? - -Her old feeling of inferiority rose like nausea in her throat. Life in -an orphanage is not calculated to give a girl faith in her own beauty -and charm. No one, until David's teasing eyes had rested on her, had -thought her beautiful. - -Had he been only sorry for her, glad of an opportunity to "blow," to get -out of the state where he was wanted on two serious charges? Was he -dismayed, too, by the fact that moonlight had tricked him into telling -her that he loved her, thus adding the responsibility of her future to -the burden of protecting her in this hectic present? - -Then a sweeter, saner memory clamored for attention. She heard again his -fond, husky voice caressing her, his "Dear little Sally!" And -involuntarily her mouth pursed in memory of his kiss, that kiss that had -left her giddy with delight. - -How unfailingly kind and sweet he had been since that first day, when he -had strode into her life, with the sun on his chestnut hair and the -glory of the sun in his eyes. He had not failed her once, but she was -failing him now, by doubting him, by picturing him as a fugitive in the -dark, fleeing with a pair of criminals who had robbed the man whose -kindness had protected him from the law. - -Why, she must be crazy to think for a moment that David could do a thing -like that! No one in the world was as good and kind and honorable as -David. - -But where was he? Mrs. Bybee had left him to guard the train. Not for a -moment could she believe that he had failed in his trust. Painfully, -Sally tried to visualize the dreadful thing that had happened. David -alone, patrolling the train, his eyes sharp for intruders. Then--the -sudden appearance of Nita and the man, Steve, weighted down with the -contents of the safe they had robbed. For Sally knew that the robbery -must have taken place before David caught his first glimpse of the -crooks. Otherwise the safe would be intact now, even if David's dead -body had been found as silent witness that he had fulfilled his trust. - -Her mind shuddered away from that imagined picture, went back to the -painful reconstruction of what must have taken place. David had seen -them, had given chase. Of course! Otherwise he would be here now. Was he -still pursuing them, or was he lying somewhere near the road, wounded, -his splendid young body ignominiously flung into a cornfield? - -She could bear no more, could no longer lie safe in her berth while -David needed her somewhere. Very carefully, for all her haste, she -lifted the tiny body that nestled against her side and laid it tenderly -upon the pillow, which was big enough to serve as a mattress for the -midget. Then, sobbing soundlessly, she groped for her shoes in the -little green hammock swung across the windows; found them, put them on, -slipped to the edge of the berth. She was profoundly thankful that the -girls had not undressed her after she had fainted. - -When she reached the car in which Mr. and Mrs. Bybee occupied a -stateroom she saw the showman and his wife through the open door, -talking to two strangers whom she guessed to be plainclothes policemen -from police headquarters of Capital City. The two men were evidently -about to leave, nodding impatiently that they understood, when Sally -appeared, like a frightened, pale little ghost in green-and-white -striped gingham. - -She forgot that she was without make-up, that the police were looking -for her as well as for the criminals who had robbed the safe. But Pop -Bybee had not forgotten. Still talking with the plainclothes detectives, -he motioned to her violently behind his back. She turned and forced -herself to walk slowly and sedately toward the other end of the car as -the detectives made their farewells and their brusque promises of "quick -action." - -When the men had left the car Bybee's voice summoned her in a husky -stage whisper, calling her "Lalla," so that the detectives, if they were -listening, should not identify her with the girl who had run away from -the orphanage in the company of a man wanted on a charge of assault with -the intent to kill. - -"Are you crazy?" Bybee demanded hoarsely when she had come running to -the stateroom. "Them was dicks! Policemen, understand? They mighta -nabbed you. What are you doing up? Get back to bed and try to sleep." - -"Have you found David?" she quavered, brushing aside his anxiety for -her. - -"Not a sign of him." Bybee shook his head. "But I didn't spill the beans -to the dicks. I'd given you my word, and Winfield Bybee's word is as -good as his bond." - -"I'm going to look for David," she announced simply, but her blazing -eyes dared him to try to prevent her. "He's hurt somewhere--or killed. -I'm going to find him." - -And before the astonished man or his wife could stretch out a hand to -detain her she was gone. When she dropped from the platform of the car -she heard the retreating roar of the police car. Instinct turned her in -the opposite direction, away from the city, down the railroad tracks -leading into the open country. - -She did not know and would not have cared that Mr. and Mrs. Bybee were -following her, Mrs. Bybee muttering disgustedly but refusing to let -Sally search alone for the boy in whom she had such implicit faith. - -Dawn was breaking, pale and wan, in a sky that was shamelessly cloudless -and serene after the violence of last night's storm, when, over a slight -hill, a man's figure loomed suddenly, then seemed to drag with -unbearable weariness as it plodded toward the show train. - -"David!" Sally shrieked. "David!" - -She began to run, her ankles turning against clots of cinders, but her -arms outstretched, a glory greater than that of the dawn in her face. - -Before she reached him Sally almost fainted with horror, for in the pale -light of the dawn she saw that David's shirt about his left shoulder was -soaked with blood. But his uninjured right arm was stretched out in -urgent invitation, and his voice was hailing her gaily, in spite of his -terrible weakness and fatigue. - -"Dear little Sally!" he cried huskily, as his right arm swept her -against his breast. "Why aren't you in bed, darling? But I'm glad you're -not! I've been able to keep plodding on in the hope of seeing you. Did -you think I'd run away and left you? Poor little Sally!" he crooned over -her, for she was crying, her frantic hands playing over his face, her -eyes devouring him through her tears. - -"But you're hurt, David!" she moaned. "I knew you were hurt! I told them -so! I was looking for you. I knew you hadn't run away." - -"And she made us believe you hadn't, too," Pop Bybee panted, having -reached them on a run, dragging his wife behind him. "What happened, -Dave boy? Had a mix-up with the dirty crooks, did you?" - -"Winfield Bybee, you _are_ a fool!" Mrs. Bybee gasped, breathless from -running. "Let the poor boy get his breath first. Here! Put your arm -about him and let him lean on you. Sally, you run back to the train and -get help. This boy's all done up and he's going to have that shoulder -dressed before he's pestered to death with questions." - -"I can walk," David panted, his breath whistling across his ashen lips. -"I don't want Sally out of my sight. I--would--give up--then. Nothing -much--the matter. Just a--bullet--in my shoulder. Be all right--in -a--day or two." - -"Please don't try to talk, darling," Sally begged, rubbing her cheek -against his right hand and wetting it with tears. - -"Lean on me and take it easy," Pop Bybee urged, his voice husky with -unashamed emotion. "And don't talk any more till we get you into a -berth. God! But I'm glad to see you, Dave boy! I'd made up my mind I'd -never trust another man if you'd thrown me down. But Sally didn't doubt -you a minute. Kept me from telling the police that you had disappeared -with the crooks." - -"Thanks," David gasped, leaning heavily on the showman. "I was scared -sick--the police--had found--Sally. Knew there was--bound to be--an -awful row." - -He fainted then, his splendid young body crumpling suddenly to the -cinders of the railroad track. Somehow the three of them managed to get -him to the show train and into the Bybees' stateroom, where Gus, the -barker, who had graduated from a medical school before the germ of -wanderlust had infected him, dressed the wounded shoulder. - -"The bullet went clear through the fleshy part of the arm at the -shoulder," Gus told them, as he washed his hands in the stateroom's -basin. "No bones touched at all. Just a flesh wound. Of course he's lost -a lot of blood and he'll be pretty shaky for a few days, but no real -harm done. You can turn off the faucet, Sally. Save them tears for a big -tragedy--like ground glass in your cold cream, or something like that. -Want a real doctor to give that shoulder the once-over, Pop?" he asked, -turning to Bybee, who had not left David's side. - -It was David, opening his eyes dazedly just then, who answered: "No -other doctor, please. I'm a fugitive from justice, remember. If I could -have some coffee now I think I could tell you what happened, Mr. Bybee." - -A dozen eager voices outside the stateroom door offered to get the -coffee from the privilege car, and within a few minutes Sally was -kneeling before David, holding a cup of steaming black coffee to his -lips. - -As many of the carnival family as could crowd into the small space of -the car aisle pressed against the open door of the stateroom to hear his -story. Jan the Holland giant, who was too tall to stand upright in the -car, was invited into the stateroom, where he sat between Pop Bybee and -Mrs. Bybee, "Pitty Sing" in the crook of one of his arms, Noko, the -Hawaiian midget, in the other. Sally still knelt beside David, holding -his right hand tightly in both of hers and laying her lips upon it when -his story moved her unbearably. - -"I suppose Mrs. Bybee has told you that I was leaving the show train to -go to the carnival grounds to see if anything had happened to Sally. I'd -have gone sooner, but the storm was so violent that I knew I'd not have -a chance to get there. Mrs. Bybee said she was going to the lot and -would look after Sally for me, but she wanted me to stay on the train, -or near it, to patrol it. She didn't tell me there was a lot of money in -her stateroom, or I'd have stationed myself in there." - -"You see," Sally interrupted eagerly. "I told you I hadn't said a word -to him about the safe." - -"Safe?" David glanced down at her, puzzled. "So this Steve crook cracked -a safe to get the money, did he? I didn't know--didn't have time to find -out." - -"And I told you it was a man named Steve!" Sally reminded them joyously, -raising David's cold hand to her lips. "They thought I was making it all -up, Dave, but they believed me after a while." - -"I suppose Sally has told you that we saw Nita and some man walking in -the moonlight that last night we were in Stanton," David addressed Pop -Bybee. "We heard her call him Steve, and say something about what she'd -do to him if he double-crossed her. I should have told you then, Mr. -Bybee, but I didn't have an idea Nita was planning to rob the outfit, -and anyway--" he blushed, his eyes twinkling fondly at Sally--"by -morning I'd forgotten all about it. I couldn't think of anything -but--but Sally. You see we'd just told each other that night -that--that--well, sir, that we loved each other and--" - -"Anybody else in the whole outfit could have told you that," Bybee -chuckled. "It's all right, Dave. Carnival folks usually mind their own -business and spend damn little time toting tales." - -"I'm glad you're not blaming me," David said gratefully. "Well, sir, I -was walking up and down the tracks, just wild to get away and see if -anything had happened to Sally, when suddenly I heard a soft thud, like -somebody jumping to the ground on the other side of the train. I crossed -over as quick as I could, but by that time they were running down the -side of the train pretty far ahead of me. It was Nita and a man. They -must have been hidden on the train, waiting their chance, when the storm -broke--were there when Mrs. Bybee left. - -"I suppose they hadn't counted on any such luck; had probably intended -to overpower her before you got back, sir, and the storm saved them the -trouble." - -"I'd have give them a run for the money," Mrs. Bybee retorted grimly, -her skinny old hand knotting into a menacing fist. - -"That's just what I did," David grinned rather whitely at her. "I yelled -at them to stop, because I had an idea they'd been up to something, -since they'd jumped off this car, and I knew Nita had no business on the -train, since all you people were sleeping on the lot. - -"They were carrying a couple of suitcases that looked suspiciously heavy -to me. It flashed over me that Mrs. Bybee, being treasurer of the -outfit, must have left a lot of money in her stateroom, and that Nita -and this Steve chap had been planning to rob her when Sally and I heard -them talking the other night. I started after them, still yelling for -them to stop, and Steve turned and fired at me. He missed me, lucky for -me, and I kept right on. - -"About a hundred yards beyond the end of the train they climbed into a -car that was parked on the road that runs alongside the tracks and after -telling me goodby with another bullet that missed me, too, Steve had the -car started. I was about to give up and start toward Capital City to -notify the police when I noticed there was a handcar on the tracks, just -where this spur joins the main line. - -"I threw the switch and in a minute I had the handcar on the main line -and was pumping along after them. The state road parallels the railroad -track for about five or six miles, you know, and I could make nearly as -good time in my handcar as they could in their flivver, for it's a down -grade nearly all the way." He paused, his eyes closing wearily as if -every muscle in his body ached with the memory of that terrible ride in -the dead of night. - -"Better rest awhile, Dave," Pop Bybee suggested gently, bending over the -boy to wipe the cold drops of sweat from his forehead. - -"No, I'll get it over with," David protested weakly. "There's not much -more to tell. They couldn't see me--had no idea I was trailing them in -the handcar. But I could keep them in sight because of their headlights. -I guess they'd have got away, though, if a freight train hadn't come -along just then and blocked the road. They were just reaching the grade -crossing where the state road cuts the railroad tracks when this freight -came charging down on us--" - -"But you, David!" Sally shuddered, bowing her head on his hand, the -fingers of which curled upward weakly to cup her face. "You were on the -track. Did the train hit you? Oh!" - -"Of course not!" David grinned at her. "I'm here, and I wouldn't have -been if the engine had hit the handcar when I was on it. But I'm afraid -the railroad company is minus one handcar this morning. The cowcatcher -of the freight engine scooped it up and tossed it aside as if it had -been a baby's go-cart, but I'd already jumped and was tumbling down the -bank into a nice bed of wildflowers. - -"Pretty wet after the storm, so I didn't go to sleep. I'd jumped to the -other side of the tracks and was hidden from Steve's car while the -freight train rolled on. They didn't stop to hold a post-mortem over the -handcar. Probably figured a tramp had been bumming a free ride on it and -had got his, and good enough for him. - -"When the train had passed I was waiting by the road for Steve's car. I -guess he was pretty badly surprised when I hopped upon the running board -and grabbed the steering wheel and swerved the car into a ditch, nearly -turning it over. I don't remember much of what happened then, what with -Nita screeching and Steve swearing and popping his gun at me. But -somehow I managed to get his revolver--didn't know I'd been shot at -first--and dragged him out of the car. - -"It must have been a pretty good fight, for Nita decided to beat it -before it was finished. She started off with one of the suitcases but it -was too heavy and she dropped it in the road and lit out. If Nita could -dance as well as she can run," David interrupted himself to grin at -Bybee, "she'd be a real loss to the outfit." - -"Well, Dave, even if Steve did get away with the money, my hat's off to -you, boy," and he reached for the hand which Sally was still cuddling -jealously. - -"Who's telling this?" David demanded, with just a touch of boyish -bravado, which made Sally love him better than ever. "He didn't get -away. I'm afraid he won't be good for much for a long time. Nita should -have stayed to look." - -"The money, Dave!" Mrs. Bybee screamed. "You didn't save the money, did -you, Dave? Where are you, Winfield Bybee? I'm giving you fair warning! -If he saved that money, I'm going to faint dead away!" - -"Then I reckon I'd better not tell you that I did save the money," David -grinned at her. "I surely hate to see you faint, ma'am. It isn't so -pleasant." - -"Dave, you answer me this minute!" the old lady commanded, shaking a -skinny finger in his face. "Do you know the outfit'll be stranded if -those two crooks did get away with the money? Every cent we had in the -world was in that safe! You oughta be ashamed of yourself, teasing an -old woman!" - -"I did save the money, if that's what they had in the suitcases, Mrs. -Bybee," David answered more seriously. - -"Then where is it? What have you done with it? Left it lying in the -road?" the showman's wife screeched, her eyes wild in her gray, wrinkled -face. - -"Now, now, Mother," Bybee soothed her. "If he did, he shan't be blamed. -How could you expect him to walk six or seven miles with two heavy -suitcases and his shoulder shot through?" - -Sally lifted her face from David's caressing hand and glared at Mrs. -Bybee. "Of course he didn't leave it lying in the road! After risking -his life to save it for you? David is the cleverest and bravest man in -the world! Don't you know that yet?" - -Her eyes dropped then to David's face, softened and glowed with such a -divine light of love that the boy's head jerked impulsively upward from -the pillow. "Where did you hide it, David darling?" - -"Dear little Sally!" he murmured, as he fell back, overcome with -dizziness. "She guessed it, sir," he said drowsily, turning his head -with an effort to face Bybee. "I knew I couldn't carry it far, so I hid -it. The Steve chap was knocked out cold--I suppose they'll have another -charge of 'assault with intent to kill' against me now--so I knew he -couldn't see what I was doing. - -"I took the two suitcases across the road, holding them in one hand, -because by that time my shoulder was bleeding so I was afraid to strain -it. There's a farm right at the end of the road. I struck a match and -read the name on the mail box nailed to a post on the road. The name's -Randall--C. J. Randall, R. F. D. 2. You oughtn't to have any trouble -finding the place. - -"There wasn't any moon, but the stars were so bright after the storm -that I could just make out a barn about a hundred yards from the road. I -cut across the cornfield and managed to reach the barn. There wasn't a -sound, not even a dog barking, lucky for me, for if I'd been caught with -the suitcases I'd have had a fine time explaining how I happened to get -them and what I was doing with them. But I had to take that chance." - -"Even if the police had caught you with them, I'd never have believed -that you robbed Pop Bybee," Sally assured him, tears slurring her voice, -but her eyes shining with pride. - -"If you'd seen me robbing the safe, you wouldn't have believed it," -David said softly, his free arm drawing her down to the berth so that he -could kiss her. - -There was a rustle of whispering, a giggle or two from the audience -crammed into the corridor outside the door. But David and Sally did not -mind. The kiss was none the shorter or sweeter because it was witnessed -by the carnival family. - -"Well, sir," David went on after that unashamed kiss, which had left -Sally trembling and radiant, "I got the suitcases into the barn and up a -ladder to the hayloft. You'll find them buried under the hay, unless the -Randall horses have made a meal off them by this time." - -"Glory be to the Lord!" Mrs. Bybee screamed, pounding her husband on the -back. "The show'll go on, Winfield! And what are you standing there for? -Hustle right out after them suitcases or I'll go myself! You've got to -go yourself, or that farmer Randall will take a pot shot at anybody that -goes meddling around his barn." - -"All right, Mother, all right!" Bybee protested. "I'll handle it. Don't -worry. But I want to thank Dave here for what he's done for the outfit. -Dave--" he began, lifting his voice as if he intended to make an -oration. - -"Oh, that's all right, Mr. Bybee," David blushed vividly. "We'll just -call it square. You didn't turn me over to the police last night, and -you've taken Sally and me in and given us work and protected us--" - -"I'm going to do more than that, by golly!" Bybee shouted. "I'm going to -the district attorney of this burg and tell him the whole yarn! I'll get -them charges against you and Sally quashed in less time than it takes to -say it! You're a hero, boy, and by golly, I feel like charging admission -for the rubes to look at you! The biggest and bravest hero in captivity! -Yes, sir! How's that for a spiel, Gus?" he shouted to the barker. - -"Dave don't seem to think it's so grand!" Gus chuckled. "Look at him! A -body'd thing he'd been socked in the eye instead of slapped on the -back!" - -It was true. David was looking so white and sick and his eyes were so -filled with embarrassment and distress that Sally was in tears again. - -"What's the matter, Dave?" Bybee asked in bewilderment. "I thought you -and the kid would be tickled to death to get a clean bill of health from -the cops. What's wrong?" - -David struggled upon the elbow of his right arm, his white face -twitching with a spasm of pain. "I'd be glad to be free of those -charges, Mr. Bybee, but I guess we'd better let them stand for a while. -I might get off all right, but--it's Sally. You see, sir, she's not of -age, and the state would make her go back to the orphanage. The law in -this state makes her answerable to the orphanage till she's eighteen, -and it would kill her to go back. I couldn't bear it, either, Mr. Bybee. -Sally and I belong together, and we're going to be married when this -trouble blows over." Although he was blushing furiously, his voice was -strong and clear, his eyes unwavering as they met the bright, frowning -blue eyes of Pop Bybee. - -"But man alive," Pop protested, and it was noticeable to both Sally and -David that he did not call him "boy" after David's declaration of his -intentions toward Sally. "We can't simply hush this whole thing up! You -did follow the crooks and take the money away from them! I've got to -notify the police that the swag has been recovered." - -"Can't you tell them it was all a mistake and call off the case?" David -pleaded earnestly. - -"And let that Hula-hussy get off Scot-free?" Bybee hooted. "No, siree! -She ain't a member of this family no more, and she'll have to pay for -double-crossing me! I was good to that girl! Staked her to cakes and -clothes when she joined up, whining she didn't have a cent to her name! -Stringing me all along! Just joined up to learn the lay of the land! - -"Besides, we've already put the case in the hands of the police and -they've seen the safe for themselves. The sergeant said it was a -professional job, all right, as neat a safe-cracking trick as he'd ever -seen turned. I couldn't hush it up if I wanted to." - -"I'll do what I can for Sally, lie like a gentleman for her, say she -never joined up with us, we don't know where she is--anything you like, -but I'm afraid you're bound to be the hero of Capital City before you're -twenty-four hours older. Too bad, son, but I don't see how it can be -helped," he twinkled. - -"I don't care a rap about being a hero," David snapped. "The only thing -in God's world I care about is Sally Ford. Listen, Mr. Bybee, tell the -police that one of the other boys chased the crooks and took the money -away from them. Let Eddie Cobb be the hero! Eddie'd like that, wouldn't -you, Eddie?" he sang out to the freckle-faced youngster who was looking -on, goggle-eyed, among the crowd that jammed the door of the stateroom. - -"Aw, Dave!" Eddie protested, flushing brightly under his freckles. - -"Sure you would like it!" David laughed feebly, sinking back to his -pillows. "Listen, Mr. Bybee: this is Eddie Cobb's home town. He was -raised in the orphanage, like Sally. He'd get a great kick out of being -a hero to the kids at the Home. He can go with you to get the suitcases, -after you've sent for the police to go along with you. - -"I'll lie low, Eddie can tell the story I've told you, and the cops will -never be the wiser. I can give him a pretty good description of Steve. I -had plenty of chances to study his face after I'd knocked him out. I -imagine he's beat it in his car by this time, if he was able to drive; -otherwise you'll find him in the road just as I told you. Of course he'd -know it wasn't Eddie that fought with him, but the police wouldn't have -any reason to doubt Eddie's word." - -"But Nita may have told him about you and me!" Sally cried. "Oh, David, -don't bother about me! Take your chance while you have it to be cleared -of those terrible charges! I--I'll go back to the Home and--and wait for -you. I could stand it--somehow--if I knew you were back in college, a--a -hero, and working for both of us. Please, David! Think of yourself, not -me!" - -"No." David shook his head stubbornly. "This little thing I've done -wouldn't get you out of trouble. They might clap you into the -reformatory, as a juvenile delinquent. We can't take a chance on that! -Besides, you've had enough of the orphanage. We stick together, darling, -and that's that! May I have another cup of coffee, if it isn't too much -trouble?" - -"You're both a pair of fools, so crazy in love with each other that you -can't see straight!" Mrs. Bybee scolded, as she blew her nose violently. -"But I'd like to see Winfield Bybee try to do anything you don't want -him to! Far as I'm concerned, you can have anything I've got and welcome -to it!" - -Of course there was nothing then for Pop Bybee to do but to adopt -David's plan. The boy was transferred to a lower berth, where he was -safely hidden until after the detectives had arrived and departed with -Pop Bybee, Eddie and Gus, the barker. - -Eddie, in his zeal for playing his part well, had torn his shirt, -bruised his knuckles, scraped dirt on his arms, rolled in mud, and done -everything else to make up for the part. - -For the rest of the day Eddie strutted about in the limelight of -publicity. Newspaper photographers and reporters arrived within a few -minutes after the detectives had phoned headquarters that the suitcases -filled with silver and bills had been found in the hayloft; and when -Eddie returned with the showman and the barker, he was prevailed upon to -pose bashfully for his pictures. - -The newspaper reporters commented admirably on the "boy hero's" -admirable modesty and diffidence in the big front-page stories that they -wrote about the carnival robbery, and Eddie's freckled face, grinning -bashfully from the center of the pages, confirmed every word written -about him. - -His kewpie doll booth at the carnival that afternoon and evening was -mobbed by his admirers, and before the day was ended Eddie almost -believed that he _had_ routed two famous criminals and saved a small -fortune for his employer. - -Sally was permitted to stay with David during the afternoon, but Bybee -apologetically asked her to go on for the evening performances, since a -record-breaking crowd had turned out, drawn partly by the fine weather -that followed the storm, but largely by the front page publicity which -the robbery had won for the show. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - - -It was just before the ten o'clock show that Sally, slipping into the -throne-like chair before the crystal, heard a familiar, mocking voice: - -"It's not fair! You look as fresh as a daisy! And I've been frantic with -anxiety all day, expecting to hear that Princess Lalla had sickened with -pneumonia. I've come to collect thanks, your highness, for saving your -life!" - - ---- - -Sally's sapphire eyes blazed at the man she knew only as "Van," but -since they were veiled with a new scrap of black lace to replace the one -lost in the storm, the nonchalant New Yorker did not appear to be at all -devastated by their fire. - -"Thank you for saving my life," she said stiffly, but the man's mocking, -admiring attention was fixed upon the deliciously young, sweet curves of -her mouth, rather than upon the tone of her voice. - -"I wonder if you know," he began confidentially, leaning lightly upon -his inevitable cane, "that you have the most adorable mouth I have ever -seen? Of course there are other adorable details in the picture of -complete loveliness that you present, but really, your lips, like three -rose petals--" - -"Oh, stop!" Sally cried with childish anger, her small, red-sandaled -foot stamping the platform. "Why are you always mocking me, making fun -of me? I've begged you to let me alone--" - -"Such ingratitude!" the man sighed, but his narrowed eyes smiled at her -delightedly. "If you weren't even more delicious when you're angry, I -should not be able to forgive you. But really, Sally Ford--" his voice -dropped caressingly on the name, as if to remind her that he shared her -secret with her--"the way you persist in misunderstanding me is very -distressing. - -"I'm not mocking _you_, my dear child! I'm mocking myself--if anyone. It -recurs to me continually that this is an amazing adventure that Arthur -Van Horne, of New York, Long Island and Newport is so sedulously engaged -upon! To paraphrase your own delightful defense, I'm really 'not that -kind of man.' I assure you I'm not in the habit of making love to show -girls, no matter how adorable their mouths may be!" And he smiled at her -out of his narrowed eyes and with his quirked, quizzical mouth, as if he -expected her to share his amusement and amazement at himself. - -"Then why don't you let me alone?" Sally cried, striking her little -brown-painted hands together in futile rage. - -"I wonder!" he mused. "I make up my mind that I'm a blighter and an ass -and that I shan't come near the carnival. I accept invitations enough to -take up every minute of my last days in Capital City, and then--without -in the least intending to do so--I find myself back in the Palace of -Wonders, humbling myself before a pair of little red-sandaled feet that -would like nothing better than to kick me for my impudence. Do you -suppose, Sally Ford, that I'm falling in love with you? There's -something about you, you know--" - -"Please go away," Sally implored him. "It's almost time for my -performance. Gus is ballyhooing Jan now and I come next." - -"As I was saying, when you interrupted me," Van Horne reproved her -mockingly, "there's something about you, you know. Last night when I had -the honor of saving your life and seeing your adorable little face -washed clean of the brown paint, I was surprised at myself. I really -was, I give you my word! - -"Do you know what I wanted to do? I wanted to swing you up into my arms, -you amazingly tiny thing, and run away with you. If you hadn't looked so -young and--pure, I believe the favorite word is--I'd have yielded to the -impulse. I suppress so few of my unholy desires that I suppose this -discipline is good for my soul--Now, what the devil are you looking at, -instead of listening to the confessions of a young man?" he broke off -with a genuine note of irritation in his charming voice. - -"Who is that beautiful woman?" Sally asked in a low voice, her eyes -still fixed upon the golden-haired woman whom Van Horne had called -"Enid," and who had just entered the tent alone, her small body, clad in -the green knitted silk sports suit, moving through the crowd with proud -disdain. - -"Again I am forced to forgive you," Van Horne sighed humorously. "I seem -always to be forgiving you, Sally Ford! You are merely asking a question -which is inevitably asked when Enid Barr first bursts upon a startled -public. - -"She is probably the most beautiful blond in New York society. Those -industrious cold cream advertisers would pay her a fortune for the use -of her picture and endorsement, but it happens that she has two or three -large fortunes of her own, as well as a disgustingly rich husband. Yes, -unfortunately for her adorers, she is married, Courtney Barr--even out -here you must have heard of Courtney Barr--being the lucky man." - -"I wonder what she's doing here," Sally whispered, fright widening her -eyes behind the black lace. - -"Oh, I think Courtney's here on political business. The Barrs have -always rather fancied themselves as leaders among the Wall Street makers -of presidents. He's hobnobbing with my cousin, the governor, and Enid is -probably amusing herself by collecting Americana." - -"She must be awfully good," Sally whispered, adoration making her voice -lovely and wistful. "She brought all the orphanage children to the -carnival yesterday, you know." - -"Yes," Van Horne shrugged, arching his brows quizzically. "I confess I -was rather stunned, for Enid doesn't go in for personal charity. Huge -checks and all that sort of thing--she's endowed some sort of -institution for 'fallen girls,' by the way--but it has never seemed to -amuse her to play Lady Bountiful in person. Of course she may be nursing -a secret passion for children, and took this means to gratify it where -her crowd could not rag her about it." - -"Hasn't she any children of her own?" Sally asked. "But I suppose she's -too young--" - -"Not at all," Van Horne laughed. "She's past thirty, certainly, though -she would never forgive me for saying so. She's never had any children; -been married about thirteen years, I think." - -"Oh, that's too bad!" Sally's voice was tender and wistful. "She'd make -such a lovely mother--" - -Van Horne interrupted with his throaty, musical laugh, and was in turn -interrupted by Gus the barker's stentorian roar: - -"Right this way, la-dees and gen-tle-men! I want to introduce you to -Princess Lalla, who sees all, knows all! Princess Lalla, world famous -crystal-gazer, favorite--" - -Sally straightened in her throne-like chair, her little brown hands -cupping obediently about the "magic crystal" on the velvet-draped stand -before her. Van Horne, with a last ironic chuckle, melted into the -crowd, which had surged toward Sally's platform. - -When Gus's spiel was finished, the rush began. At least a dozen hands -shot upward, waving quarters and demanding the first opportunity to -learn "past, present and future" from "Princess Lalla." - -She worked hard, conscientiously and cautiously, for she was vividly -conscious that both Van Horne and Enid Barr were somewhere in the tent, -listening perhaps, whispering about her. - -Most of her fear of Enid Barr, which had resulted from the connection of -the golden-haired woman with the orphanage children the day before, had -evaporated. It was absurd to think that a woman of such wealth and -beauty, whose philanthropy had undoubtedly been a gesture of boredom, -was seriously interested in one lone little girl who had run away from -charity. - -It did not even seem odd to Sally that Enid Barr should have paid a -second visit to the carnival. Probably Capital City afforded scant -amusement for a woman of her sophistication, and the carnival, crude and -tawdry though it was, was better than nothing. - -Since "Princess Lalla" was not a side-show all by herself, but only one -of many attractions in the Palace of Wonders, Gus never made any attempt -to cajole reluctant "rubes" into surrendering their quarters for a -glimpse of "past, present and future," but always hustled his crowd on -to the next platform--"Pitty Sing's"--as soon as the first flurry of -interest had died down and the crowd had become restive. - -By this method, those who were faintly or belligerently dissatisfied -with Sally's crystal-gazing, at which she was becoming more adept with -each performance, were quickly placated by the sight of new wonders, for -which no extra charge was made. - -Sally was straightening the black velvet drapery which covered the -crystal stand, preparatory to returning to the dress tent for a rest -between shows when a lovely, lilting voice, with a ripple of amusement -in it, made her gasp with surprise and consternation. - -"Am I too late to have my fortune told?" Enid Barr, gazing up at Sally -with her golden head tilted provocatively to one side, was immediately -below the startled crystal-gazer, one of her exquisite small hands -swinging the silvery-green felt hat which Sally had so much admired the -day before. - -"Oh, no!" Sally fluttered, both delighted and frightened at this -opportunity to talk with the most beautiful creature she had ever seen. -Just in time she remembered her accent: "Weel you do me ze honor to -ascend the steps?" - -Laughing at herself, and looking over her shoulder to see that she was -not observed by anyone who knew her, Enid Barr ran lightly up the steps -and slipped into the little camp chair opposite Sally. Her small white -hands, with their exquisite nails glistening in the light from the -center gas jet, hovered over the crystal, touching it tentatively. - -Sally leaned forward, her own hands cupped about the crystal, her eyes -brooding upon it behind the little black lace veil, her mouth pursed -with sweet seriousness. - -"You are--what you call it?--psychic," Sally chanted in the quaint, -mincing voice with which she had been taught to make her revelations. -"Ze creeystal, she is va-ry clear for you. I see so-o-o much!" She -hesitated, wondering just how much of Van Horne's confidences about this -beautiful woman she dared appropriate. Would Van Horne give her away? -Then, as if drawn by a powerful magnet, she raised her eyes suddenly and -met those of Van Horne, who was leaning nonchalantly against the -center-pole of the tent. He nodded, smiled his curious, quizzical smile -and slowly winked his right eye. She had his permission-- - -"Please hurry!" Enid Barr commanded arrogantly. "I'm just dying to know -what you see about me in that crystal!" - -"I see a beeg, beeg city," Sally intoned dreamily, her eyes again fixed -upon the crystal. "I see you there, in beeg, beeg house. Much moneys. -And behind you I see a man--your husband, no?" - -"Yes, I am married," Enid Barr laughed. "Since you see so much, suppose -you tell me my name." - -"I see--" Sally frowned, but her heart was pounding at her audacity, "ze -letter E and ze letter R--no, B! I see a beeg place--not your -house--with ma-ny girls holding out zeir arms to you. You help zem. You -are va-ry, va-ry good." - -"Rot!" Enid Barr laughed, but a bright flush of pleasure spread over her -fair face. "One has to do something with 'much moneys,' doesn't one? -Listen, Princess Lalla, if that is really your name: prove to me you are -a real crystal-gazer! Tell me something I'd give almost anything to -know--" She leaned forward tensely, her violet-blue eyes darkening with -excitement and appeal until they were almost the color of Sally's. - -"And what's that, Enid?" a mocking, amused voice inquired. "Do you want -to know whether I really love you? How can you ask! Of course I do!" - -Enid Barr sprang to her feet so hastily that the camp stool on which she -had been sitting overturned, anger and something like fear blazing in -her eyes. - -Enid Barr and Arthur Van Horne moved away from "Princess Lalla's" -platform together, Enid's golden head held high, her lovely voice -staccato with anger; but Sally, although she was guilty of trying to do -so, could not distinguish a word that was being said. - -Near the front exit of the tent Van Horne was greeted boisterously by a -party of Capital City society men and women, laden with trophies from -the gambling concessions on the midway. He was swept into the party, -which Enid Barr refused to join, shaking her little golden head -stubbornly and pretending a great interest in the midget, "Pitty Sing," -whose platform was nearest the exit. - -Although Sally was at liberty to leave the tent until the final -performance at eleven o'clock, she sat on in her throne-like chair, -hoping and yet fearing that the beautiful woman would return and ask her -the question which Van Horne's unwelcome interruption had left unspoken. - -Enid spoke to "Pitty Sing" in her proud, offhand manner, paid a dollar -for one of the midget's cheap little postcard pictures of herself, -refused to take the change and was turning toward Sally's platform again -when Winfield Bybee entered the tent with Gus, the barker. - -Sally, watching Enid, saw the woman's involuntary start of recognition -as Bybee crossed her path, saw her hesitate, then turn toward him, -determination stamped on her lovely, sensitive face. - -When Bybee had bared his head deferentially and was bending over the -small woman to hear her low spoken words, Sally was seized with fright. -She knew instinctively that Enid Barr's questions concerned her, but -whether they concerned Sally Ford, runaway from the state orphanage, or -"Princess Lalla," fake crystal-gazer, she had no way of knowing. All she -knew for certain was that Enid had overheard Betsy's shriek: "That's not -Princess Lalla! That's Sally Ford--play-acting!" And she fled, feeling -Enid's eyes upon her but not daring to look back. - -There was less than half an hour before the next and final show was to -start. She spent the time in the dress tent, wishing with all her heart -that she was through work for the day and that she could go to David. -Poor David! lying wounded in a stuffy, hot berth, tormented with worries -as to the future and possibly with regrets for the past, while Eddie -Cobb strutted on the midway as the hero of the safe robbery. - -It would be better for David, infinitely better, if she could screw up -her courage to the point of going back to the orphanage and taking her -punishment. It would be so simple! She had only to seek out Enid Barr -and say to her: "I _am_ Sally Ford! Send for Mrs. Stone." And perhaps -Enid would intercede for her, for she seemed so very kind. - -"Wake up, Sally," Bess, one of the dancers of the "girlie show," called -to her, as she came shuffling into the tent on tortured feet. "Gus is -ballyhooing your show." - -Yes, her mind was made up. She would tell Enid Barr, beg her to -intercede with the orphanage for her, and with the police for David. But -there was no Enid Barr among the audience at the last show of the -evening, and even Van Horne was absent. In spite of her good resolutions -Sally felt an immense relief. Reprieve! She certainly could not give -herself up if there was no one to give up to! - -"Going to the show train to see David?" Gus whispered, when the last -show was finished and the audience was straggling toward the exits. - -"Of course!" Sally cried. "Is he worse? Don't hide anything from me, -Gus--" - -"Worse!" Gus laughed. "Bybee says he's yelling for food and threatens to -get up and cook it himself if they don't give him something besides mush -and milk. Come along! I'll walk you over to the show train. You're too -pretty to be allowed to go alone. Some village dude would be trying to -kidnap you." - -They found David sitting up in his berth, working crossword puzzles, -Mrs. Bybee sitting on the edge of his bed to jot down the words as he -gave them to her. - -"Reckon you won't need the old lady now that the young 'un's come to -hold your hand and make a fuss over you," Mrs. Bybee grumbled jealously. - -"What's that? What's that?" Winfield Bybee, who had come over from the -carnival grounds in a service car, demanded from the doorway. "Been -flirting with my wife, young man? Reckon I'll have to put the gloves on -with you when that crippled wing of yours is O. K. Well, Sally, old Pop -has done you another good turn." - -Sally paled and reached instinctively for David's left hand. "Oh! You -mean--Mrs. Barr, the lady who was talking to you?" - -"Nothing else but!" Bybee nodded, smiling at her. "She tried to make me -admit you was Sally Ford and I acted innocent as a new-born lamb. Told -her you'd been with us since we left New York." - -"Why is she so interested in Sally, Mr. Bybee?" David asked quietly. - -"She 'lowed a carnival wasn't no place for a pure young girl," Bybee -chuckled. "She said they was anxious over at the orphanage to get Sally -back, away from her life of sin, and that pers'n'ly she took a powerful -interest in unfortunate girls and was determined to see Sally safe back -in the Home if 'Princess Lalla' _was_ Sally Ford. I lied like a -gentleman for you, child. Told her she was a nice little dame and all -that, but clear off her base in this instance. Reckon I put it across -all right, for she shut up and beat it pretty soon." - -"I think she's wonderful," Sally surprised them all by speaking up -almost sharply. "She's just trying to be kind. She doesn't know how -awful an orphans' home can be." - -"Come along, Mother. Let's give these two kids a chance. But you mustn't -stay long, Sally. Tomorrow's Saturday, and you oughta be enough of a -trouper by now to know what that means. We head South Saturday night, -riding all day Sunday." - -"Out of the state?" Sally and David cried in unison. - -"Yep. Out of the state. You kids'll be safe then. The police ain't going -to bother about extradition for a couple of juvenile delinquents. So -long, Dave boy. Don't let this little Jane keep you awake too late." - -"I'll leave in fifteen minutes," Sally promised joyfully. - -And she kept her promise. Her lips were smiling tenderly, secretly, at -the memory of David's good-night kiss, when she left the car and began -to look about for someone to walk back to the carnival grounds with her, -for she was to sleep in the dress tent that night, the storm-soaked -mattresses having dried in the sun all day. - -Gus had told her he would be waiting for her, but she could not find -him. She went the length of the train to the privilege car, pushing open -the door sufficiently to peep within. At least a score of men of the -carnival family were seated at three or four tables, their heads almost -unrecognizable through the thick layers of cigar and cigaret smoke. -There was little conversation except an occasional oath, but the steady -clacking of poker chips upon the bare tables came to her distinctly. - -She closed the door noiselessly and jumped from the platform of the -coach to the ground. It would be mean to disturb Gus, she reflected, for -he loved poker better than anything except ballyhoo, and there was no -real reason why she should not walk to the carnival grounds alone. - -Of course she would be conspicuous on the streets in her "Princess -Lalla" costume and make-up, but if she paid no attention to anyone who -tried to accost her, there was certainly not much danger. She began to -run, leaving the train swiftly behind her, but she slowed to a sedate -walk when she reached the business streets through which she had to pass -to reach the carnival grounds. - -She was crossing Capital Avenue, at the end of which sat the great white -stone structure which gave the street its name, when a limousine skidded -to a sudden stop and an all-too-familiar voice sang out: - -"Princess Lalla! What in the world are you doing out alone at this time -of night?" - -Sally contemplated flight, but the limousine blocked her path. Before -she could turn back the way she had come Van Horne stepped out of the -tonneau of the car. - -"Let me drive you to the carnival grounds, Sally," he urged in a low -voice, completely devoid of mockery for once. "It's really not safe for -you to be out alone dressed like that. Come along! Don't be prudish, -child! I'm not going to harm you. Remember, 'I'm not that kind of a -man!'" And he laughed as he almost lifted her into the car. - -She sank back upon the cushions, feeling their depth and softness with a -childish awe. The chauffeur started the car, and Van Horne dropped a -hand lightly over hers as he leaned back and regarded her quizzically. - -"I'm glad I ran into you," he told her. "I suppose you've been told that -Enid--Mrs. Barr--is hot on your trail?" - -"Yes," Sally nodded, her lips too stiff with sudden fright to form the -word. - -"She's almost convinced that you're really Sally Ford," he told her -lightly. "And if she makes up her mind, there's nothing in heaven or -hell that can stop Enid Barr. A damnably persistent little wretch! I've -never been able to understand Enid's passion for succoring 'fallen -girls.' She appears to be such a normal little pagan otherwise." - -Sally said nothing because she could not. But her sapphire eyes were -enormous and her mouth was twitching piteously. - -"Listen, Sally," Van Horne leaned toward her suddenly, crushing her -little brown-painted hands between his own immaculate white ones. "Let -me get you out of this mess! I've been thinking a lot about you--too -damned much for my peace of mind! And this is what I want to do--" - -"Please!" Sally gasped, shrinking far into the corner of the seat, but -unable to tear her hands from his. - -"Wait till you've heard what I have to say, before you begin acting like -a pure and innocent maid in the clutches of a movie villain!" Van Horne -commanded her scornfully. - -"I want to send you to New York, give you a year in a dancing academy -that trains girls for the stage and a year in dramatic school--both at -the same time, if possible. You've got the figure and the looks and the -personality for a musical comedy star, or Arthur Van Horne is the 'rube' -that you carnival people call him. What do you say, Sally? Think of it. -A year or two with nothing to worry about except your studies and your -dancing and then--Broadway! I'll put you over if I have to buy a show -for you! Come, Sally! Say 'Thank you, Van. I'll be ready to leave -tomorrow.'" - -As long as she lived, Sally Ford would remember with shame that for one -moment she was tempted by Arthur Van Horne's offer to prepare her for a -stage career in New York. She had "play-acted" all her life; her heart's -desire before she had met David had been to become an actress, and in -that one moment when she knew that realization of her ambition lay -within her grasp she wanted to stretch out her hands and seize -opportunity. - -Her eyes glistened; she gasped involuntarily with delight. If Van Horne -had not been hasty, if he had not snatched her to him with a strangled -cry of triumph as his black eyes--mocking no longer, but wide and -brilliant with desire--read the effect of his words, she might have -committed herself, have promised him anything. But he did touch her, and -her flesh instinctively recoiled, for every nerve in her body was still -athrill with David's good-night kiss. - -"No, No! Don't touch me!" she shuddered. "I won't go! You know I love -David!" she wailed, covering her face with her hands. "Why won't you let -me alone?" - -Van laughed, settled back in his seat and crossed his arms upon his -breast. "I can wait until you have your little tummy full of carnival -life and of hiding from the police," he told her in his old, nonchalant -way. "Incidentally I have always bemoaned the fact that conquest is so -damnably easy. It is a new experience to me--this being refused, and I -suspect that I'm enjoying it. Now--shall I say good-night, since we've -reached the carnival lot? It's not goodby, you know, Sally. I assure you -I'm admirably persistent. And remember, if Enid tries to make a nuisance -of herself, you can always fly to Van. Good night, Sally, you adorable, -ungrateful little wretch! No kiss? Perhaps it is better so. I'm afraid I -should not care for the brand of lipstick that Princess Lalla uses." - -Sally did not tell David of Van Horne's offer, for on Saturday, the last -day of the carnival in Capital City, the boy developed a temperature -which caused Gus, who had acted as volunteer surgeon, to exclude all -visitors, even Sally. - -Apparently Enid Barr had been convinced of Bybee's gallant lies that -little orphaned Betsy had been mistaken and that "Princess Lalla" was -not "Sally Ford, play-acting," but it was not until the show train was -rolling out of the state in the small hours of Sunday morning that the -girl dared breathe easily. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - - -Sunday, on the show train, was a happy day, the happiest that Sally had -ever known in her life. Freaks and dancers, barkers and concessionaires, -all the members of that weirdly assorted family, the carnival, mingled -in a joyous freedom from work and worry, singing together, reminiscing, -gambling, gossiping. - -The last week, except for the storm, had been an excellent one; money -was free, spirits high. Even Mrs. Bybee, hovering like a mother hen over -David, was good-natured, inclined to reminisce and give advice. Sally, -whose talent for exquisite darning had been discovered by the women and -girls, sat on the edge of David's berth, her lap full of flesh and beige -and gun metal silk stockings, her needle flying busily, her lips curved -with a smile of pure delight, as she listened to the surge of laughter -and song and talk. The midget, "Pitty Sing," perched on the window ledge -of David's berth, a comical pair of spectacles across her infinitesimal -nose, was reading aloud to David from one of her own tiny books, and -David was listening, but his eyes were fixed worshipfully upon Sally, -and now and again his left hand reached out and patted her busy fingers -or twirled the hanging braid of her hair. - -Oh, it was a happy day, and Sally was sorry to have it end. But the show -had to go on. The train wheels could not click forever over the rails. -Monday, with its bustle and confusion and ballyhoo and inevitable -performances, lay ahead. But they were far out of the state which held -Clem Carson, the orphanage, Enid Barr, Arthur Van Horne and all other -menaces to freedom when the train did stop at last, on the outskirts of -a town of 10,000 inhabitants. - -Carnival routine had already become an old story to Sally; she no longer -minded the curious stares of villagers, the crude advances of dressed-up -young male "rubes." The glamor had worn off, but in its place had come a -deep contentment and a sympathetic understanding, born on that happy -Sunday when the relaxed carnival family had shown her its heart and -hopes. She was glad to be one of them, to be earning her living by -giving entertainment and happiness--fake though her crystal-gazing -was--to thousands of people whose lives were blighted with monotony. - -During their first week in the new territory business was even better -than the Bybees had dared hope. Positively the only calamity that befell -the carnival was the discovery that Babe, the fat girl, had lost five -pounds, due to her loudly confessed but unrequited passion for the -carnival's hero, David Nash. - -On Wednesday, David was permitted to get up, and that afternoon for the -first time he witnessed Sally's performance as "Princess Lalla." She had -become so proficient in her intuitions regarding those who sought -knowledge of "past, present and future" that his smiling, amused -attentiveness to her "readings" did not embarrass her. - -When the show was over, she joined him proudly, her little brown-painted -hands clinging to his arm, her face uplifted adoringly to his, as she -pattered at his side on a tour of the midway. It was then that her -dreams came true. At last she was "doing the carnival" with a "boy -friend," like other girls. And David played up magnificently, buying her -hot dogs, salt water taffy, red lemonade--the two of them drinking out -of twin straws from the same glass. - -On Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning before show time the two -wandered about the village to which the carnival had journeyed the night -before. It was heavenly to be able to walk the streets unafraid. David -walked with head high, shoulders squared, unafraid to look any man in -the face, and Sally could have cried with joy that he was free again, -for Bybee had assured them that there was not the slightest chance of -extradition on the charges which still stood against the two in their -native state. - -Some day, somehow, the cloud against them would be lifted, and David -could walk the streets of Capital City as proudly as he walked these -village streets. - -With money in their pockets, they could afford to buy all the -necessities and little luxuries which their enforced flight from the -Carson farm had deprived them of. Sally, her little face enchantingly -grave and wise, chose ties and socks and shirts for David, and almost -forgot to bother about her own needs. And David, in another part of the -village "general store," bought, blushingly but undauntingly, little -pink silk brassieres and silk jersey knickers and silk stockings for the -girl he loved. When she saw them she burst into tears, hugging them to -her breast as if they were living, feeling things. - -"Why, David, darling!" she sobbed and laughed, "I've never before in all -my life had any silk underwear or a pair of silk stockings! I--I'm -afraid to wear them for fear I'll spoil them when I have to wash them. -Oh, the dear things! The lovely, precious things!" - -"And here's something else," David said to her that Saturday morning. - -They were in the still-deserted Palace of Wonders, their purchases -spread out on Sally's platform. - -"Give me your hand and shut your eyes," David commanded gently, with a -throb of excitement in his voice. - -She obeyed, but when she felt a ring being slipped upon the third finger -of her left hand her eyes flew open and found a sapphire to match them. -For the ring that David had bought for her was a plain loop of white -gold, with a deep-blue sapphire in an old-fashioned Tiffany mounting, -such as tradition has made sacred to engagement rings. - -"Oh, David!" She laid her hand against her cheek, pressing the stone so -hard that it left its many-faceted imprint upon her flesh. Then she had -to kiss it and David had to kiss it--and her. - -"I wish it could have been a diamond," David deprecated. "I suppose all -girls prefer diamond engagement rings. But--" - -"Oh, David, is it an engagement ring?" she breathed, then flung herself -upon his breast, her hands clinging to his shoulders. - -"Of course it is, precious idiot!" he laughed. Very gently but -insistently he forced her face upward, so that their eyes met and clung. -His were boyishly ardent but solemn, hers were misted over with tears, -but brighter and bluer than the stone upon her finger. "I don't know -when we can be married, Sally, but--I wanted you to have a ring and to -know that I'll always be thinking and planning and--oh, I can't talk! -You want to be engaged, don't you, Sally? You love me--enough?" - -"I adore you. I love you so that I feel I am not even half a person when -you're not with me. I couldn't live without you, David," she said -solemnly. - -They were still sitting there, talking, planning, making love shyly but -ardently, when Gus, the barker, mounted the box outside the tent and -began to ballyhoo for the first show of the morning. - -"Eleven o'clock and I'm not in make-up yet, and you've got to run the -wheel for Eddie today," Sally cried in dismay, jumping to her feet and -gathering up her scattered purchases and presents. - -As the day wore on, with show after show drawing record crowds for a -village of its size, "Princess Lalla" gazed more often into the shining -blue depths of a small sapphire than into the magic depths of her -crystal. But perhaps the sapphire had a magic of its own, for never had -her audiences been better pleased, never had quarters been thrust so -thick and fast upon her. - -At half-past nine that night, Gus, the barker, had not quite finished -his "spiel" about the Princess Lalla when the girl, whose eyes had been -fixed trance-like upon her ring, saw a woman suddenly begin to ascend -the steps to the platform. Before her startled eyes had traveled upward -to the woman's face Sally knew who it was. For twelve years that big, -stiffly corseted, severely dressed body had been as familiar to her as -her own. Instinctively, though her blood had turned instantly to ice -water in her veins, Sally's right hand closed over her left, to conceal -the sapphire. Thelma had not been permitted to keep even a bit of blue -glass-- - -Sally felt as if her flesh were shriveling upon her bones. An actual -numbness spread from her shoulders to her fingertips, in anticipation of -the shock of feeling the Orphans' Home matron's grip upon them. How -many, many times in her twelve years in the orphanage had she been -roughly jerked to her feet by those broad, heavy hands, when she had -been caught in some minor infringement of Mrs. Stone's stern rules! - -Her hands, instinctively clasped so that her precious engagement ring -might be hidden from those gimlet-like gray eyes, were so rigid that -Sally wondered irrelevantly if they would ever come to life again, to -curve their fingers about the magic crystal. But of course she would -never "read" the crystal again. She was caught, caught! - -"Are you deaf?" Mrs. Stone's harsh voice pierced her numbed hearing as -if from a great distance. "I want my fortune told. I've paid my quarter -and I don't intend to dilly-dally around here all day." - -The relief was so terrific that the girl's body began to tremble all -over, but the rigidity of terror had mercifully relaxed, so that she -could lift her shaking hands. - -Gus, the barker, who always remained upon the platform during her -"readings," had long ago arranged a code signal of distress, and now she -gave it. Her hands went up to the ridiculous crown of fake jewels that -banded her long black hair and adjusted it, tipping it first to the -right and then to the left, as if to ease the pressure of its weight -upon her forehead. - -That very natural gesture told Gus more plainly than words that -"Princess Lalla" was in danger and asked him to use his ingenuity to -rescue her. There was no need for her to lift her eyes to him. Jerkily -her hands came down, hovered over the crystal, and before Mrs. Stone -could voice another harsh complaint, the sing-song voice which "Princess -Lalla" used was requesting "ze ladee" to sit down in the chair opposite. - -But what should she tell Mrs. Stone, with whose personality and history -she had been familiar for twelve years? If she dared to read "past, -present and future" with any degree of accuracy, the matron would be -startled into observing the "seeress" with those gimlet eyes of hers. If -she went too wide of the mark in generalities, Mrs. Stone was entirely -capable of raising a disturbance which would ruin business for the rest -of the day. - -"Well, what do you see--if anything?" Mrs. Stone demanded angrily. - -That gave Sally her cue. Bending low over the crystal, so that her face -was within a few inches of that of the woman who sat opposite her, with -only the crystal stand between them, she pretended to peer into the -depths of the glass ball. Then slowly she began to shake her head -regretfully. - -"Princess Lalla is so-o-o sor-ree"--the small, sing-song voice was -raised a bit, so that Gus, who had strolled leisurely across the -platform to take his stand behind Sally's chair, might hear -perfectly--"but ze creeystal she ees dark. She tell me nossing about ze -nice-tall la-dee. Sometimes it ees so. Ze gen-tle-man weel give ze money -back." - -The thin little shoulders under the green satin jacket shrugged -eloquently, the little brown hands spread themselves with a gesture of -helplessness and regret. - -"Glad to refund your money, lady!" Gus sang out loudly. "Here you are! -Better luck next time! Princess Lalla is the gen-u-ine article! If she -don't see nothing in the crystal for you, she don't string you -along--right here, lady! Here's your money back--" - -Sally leaned back in her chair, weak with relief, her eyes closed, as -Gus tried to urge her nemesis from the platform. In a moment the danger -would be over-- - -Then, so quickly was it done that Sally had not the slightest chance to -shield her eyes, a hand had snatched the little black lace veil from her -face. Terror-widened sapphire eyes stared, with betraying recognition, -into narrowed, angry gray ones. Mrs. Stone nodded with grim -satisfaction. - -"So Betsy was right! If that idiotic Amelia Pond had told me while the -carnival was still in Capital City, I'd have been saved this trip. Get -up from there, Sal--" - -A shriek from the throat of a woman in the audience, which was packed -densely about the platform, interrupted the matron, successfully -diverting the attention of the curious from the puzzling drama upon the -platform. - -"I've been robbed! Help! Police!" Again the siren of a woman's scream -made the air hideous. "It was her! She was standing right by me! Police! -Police!" - -Even Mrs. Stone was diverted for the moment. Gus, the barker, sprang to -the edge of the platform as a red-faced, disheveled woman fought her way -through the crowd to the platform. - -"What seems to be the trouble, madam?" Gus demanded loudly. "Who took -your purse?" He reached a helping hand to the woman who was struggling -to get to the steps leading to the platform. - -"It was _her_!" The "country woman," whom Sally had recognized instantly -as a "schiller," an employe of the circus, extremely useful in just such -emergencies, shook an angry forefinger in Mrs. Stone's astounded face. -"She's got it right there in her hands! The gall of her! Standing right -by me, she was, before she come up here to get her fortune told. Stole -my purse, she did, right outa my hands--" - -"This is _my_ purse!" Mrs. Stone shrilled, her face suddenly strutted -with blood. "I never heard of anything so brazen in my life! It's my -purse and I can prove it is." She turned menacingly toward Gus, who was -looking from one angry woman to another as if greatly embarrassed and -perplexed. - -"Reckon I'd better call the constable and let him settle this thing," he -said apologetically. - -"I'm a deppity sheriff," a man called loudly from the audience. "Make -way for the law!" - -The awe-stricken and happily thrilled crowd parted obediently to let a -fat man with a silver star on his coat lapel pass majestically toward -the platform. Sally knew him, too, as a "schiller" whose principal job -with the carnival was to impersonate an officer of the law when trouble -rose between the "rubes" and any member of the carnival's big family. - -"Come along quiet, ladies!" the fat man admonished the two women -briskly. "We'll settle this little spat outside, all nice and peaceable, -I _hope_." The last word was spoken to Mrs. Stone with significant -emphasis. - -"This is an outrage!" the orphanage matron raged, but the "deppity -sheriff" gave her no opportunity to say more, either in her own defense -or to Sally. - -Gus, the barker, bent over the trembling girl while the crowd was still -enthralled over the spectacle of two apparently respectable middle-aged -women being dragged out of the tent under arrest. - -"Better beat it, kid. The dame's hep to you. Reckon she's the Orphans' -Home matron, you been telling us about. Here, take this--" and he thrust -a few crumpled bills into her hand--"and don't ever let on to Pop Bybee -that I helped you get away. Goodby, honey. Good luck. You're a great -kid.... All right, folks! Excitement's all over! It gives me great -pleasure to introduce to you the smallest and prettiest little lady in -the world. We call her 'Pitty Sing,' and I don't reckon I have to tell -you why--" - -Five minutes later Sally was cowering against the rear wall of Eddie -Cobb's gambling-wheel concession, pouring out her story to David, to -whom she had fled as soon as Gus had tolled the crowd away from her -platform. - -"And she recognized me, David!" the girl sobbed, the palms of her -trembling hands pressed against her face. "I was so startled when she -tore my veil off that I couldn't pretend any longer. As soon as she gets -away from the 'schillers' she'll set the real constable on my trail. Gus -told me to beat it--oh, David! What's going to become of me--and you? -Oh!" And she choked on the sobs that were tearing at her throat. - -"Why, darling child, we're going to 'beat it,' as Gus advises. Of -course! We've 'beat it' together before. Listen, honey! Stop crying and -listen. Go to the dress tent, get your make-up off, change your clothes -and make a small bundle of things you'll need, and I'll join you there, -just outside the door flaps, in not more than ten minutes. I've got to -get my money from Pop Bybee--" - -"He'll stop you!" Sally wailed despairingly. "He'll make us both stay--" - -"Nothing can stop me," he promised her grimly. "And he'll give me my -money, too, if I have to take it away from him. But it'll be all right. -Now run, and for heaven's sake, darling, don't let these 'rubes' see you -crying. Smile for David," he coaxed, tilting her chin with a forefinger. -When her lips wavered uncertainly, he bent swiftly and kissed her. "Poor -little sweetheart! There's nothing to be afraid of. Gus will see that -the 'schillers' give us plenty of time, even if he has to call in a real -cop and have Mrs. Stone arrested on a fake charge. Now, walk to the -dress tent, and I'll be there before you're ready." - -When Sally reached the dress tent she found "Pitty Sing" perched on her -bed, her tiny fingers busy counting a sheaf of bills that was almost as -large as her miniature head. - -"Gus brought me," she piped in her matter-of-fact, precise little voice. -"Get to your packing, Sally, while I'm talking. But you might kiss me -first, if you don't mind. I don't usually like for people to kiss me. -No, wait until you get your make-up off," she changed her mind as she -saw tears well in Sally's hunted blue eyes. "This money is for you and -David. He's going with you, of course?" - -"Yes," Sally acknowledged proudly, as her fingers dug deep into a can of -theatrical cold cream. "But we won't need the money, Betty. Please--" - -"Don't be silly!" little Miss Tanner admonished her severely. "Gus sent -the word around the tent and everybody chipped in. Jan cleaned the boys -at poker last night and he contributed $20. I think there's nearly a -hundred altogether. Gus gave $20, and Boffo--" - -"Oh, I can't take it!" Sally protested. "It's sweet of you all, but I'd -feel awful--" - -"Shut up and get busy!" "Pitty Sing" commanded tersely. "I'd wear that -dark-blue taffeta if I were you, and the blue felt you bought in -Williamstown. It won't show up at all in the dark. Lucky for you it's -night, isn't it? It will be nice to be married in, too--" - -"Married?" Sally whirled from her open trunk, her cold, cream-cleansed -face blank with astonishment. - -From outside the tent came a whistled bar of music--"I'll be loving you -always!" - -"That's David!" Sally gasped, a blush running swiftly from her throat to -the roots of her soft black hair. "I'll have to hurry. I--I think I -_will_ wear the blue taffeta!" - -"Pitty Sing" chuckled softly, but there were tears in the old, wise -little blue eyes set so incongruously in a tiny, wizened face no bigger -than a baby's. - -"Oh, let's say goodby to the carnival!" Sally cried, homesickness for -the dearest "family" she had ever known already tightening her throat -with tears. - -And so they paused, hand in hand, on the crest of the little hill which -rose at the end of Main Street, on which Winfield Bybee's Bigger and -Better Carnival was selling temporary joy and excitement to villagers -and farmers weary of the insular monotony of their lives. - -There it all lay just below them--big tents and little tents with gay, -lying banners; the merry-go-round with its music-box grinding out "Sweet -Rosie O'Grady"; the ferris wheel a gigantic loop of lights. The -composite voice of the carnival came up to these two children of -carnival who were deserting it, and the roar, muted slightly by -distance, was like the music of a heavenly choir in their ears. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - - -"Listen!" Sally whispered, her fingers closing tensely over David's arm. -"Gus, ballyhooing The Palace of Wonders. I wonder if he'll remember not -to spiel about 'Princess Lalla.'" - -They could see him, a small figure from that distance, looking like a -Jack-in-the-box as he waved his arms and thundered the dear, familiar -phrases which Sally would never forget if she lived to be a hundred. - -She was about to run back down the hill, but David strode after her and -put his arms about her comfortingly. "Sally, honey, we haven't time! -Throw them a kiss from here, and then we've got to hurry away." - -She broke from his embrace and flung her arms out in a passionate -gesture of love and farewell. "Goodby, Carnival. Thank you for -sheltering David and me! Goodby, Pop Bybee and Mrs. Bybee! Goodby, Gus! -Goodby, Jan. Goodby, Noko! Goodby, Boffo! And Babe! Goodby, dancing -girls! I hope you all land on Broadway with Ziegfeld! Oh, goodby, Pitty -Sing, dear little Betty! Goodby, goodby!" Then she flung herself upon -David's breast and held him tight with all the strength in her thin -young arms. "I've only got you now, David! Oh, David, what is going to -become of us? Do you really love me, darling?" - -She strained away from him, to search his beloved face as well as the -darkness of the night would permit. Faintly she could see the tremble of -his tender, deeply carved lips, so dearly boyish. His eyes looked big -and black in the night, but there was a gleam of such divine light in -them that her fingers crept up his face tremblingly and closed his -eyelids, for she suddenly felt abashed, unworthy of his love. - -"I love you with every cell in my body, every thought in my mind and -every beat of my heart," David answered huskily. "And now let's travel, -honey. I don't know where we're going, but we've got to put as much -distance as possible between us and this town before morning." - -But before they set off again he kissed her, not one of the long ardent -kisses that made her dizzy and frightened even as they exalted her, but -a shy, sweet touching of his lips to her forehead. It was as if he were -telling her, wordlessly, that she would be utterly safe with him through -the long, dark hours ahead of them. - -They did not talk much as they walked steadily along the dirt roads, -choosing them in preference to the frequented paved highway, for David -cautioned her to save her breath for the all-important task of covering -many miles before daybreak. Neither of them had any idea of the -geography of this state to which the carnival had brought them, but they -felt that it mattered little. David, country-bred, had an instinct for -direction. He had chosen to turn toward the east, and Sally trotted -along by his side, supremely confident that he would lead her out of -danger. - -"One o'clock, darling," he announced at last, when Sally was so tired -that she could hardly put one foot before the other. "We'll rest awhile -and then plod along. There's a farmhouse near. See the cows lined up by -the fence? We'll find a well and have a drink." - -A three-quarters moon rode high in the sky but its light was -intermittently obscured by ragged, scuddling clouds. When they had had -their drink of ice-cold cistern water David made a pillow of his coat -which he had been carrying over his arm, and forced Sally to lie down -for awhile in the soft loam of a recently ploughed field. - -He sat at a little distance from her, not touching her, his knees drawn -up and clasped by his strong, tanned hands, but his head was thrown back -and his eyes brooded upon the cloud-disturbed beauty of the night sky. - -"Does your shoulder hurt, darling?" Sally asked anxiously. - -"No," he answered, without looking at her. "It's all healed. Just a -flesh wound, you know." - -The tone of his voice silenced her. She knew he was brooding over their -future, puzzling his young head as to what he was to do with her, and -she lay very still, humble before his masculinity. - -"I've been thinking, Sally," he said at last, gently. "First, we'll get -married in the morning, or as soon as we find a county seat, and then--" - -"But David." Sally sat up, her heart pounding with joy but her mind -unexpectedly clear and logical, "we mustn't, darling. You've got to -finish college, somehow, somewhere--I can't bear to be a burden upon -you! You're so young, so young!" - -"I'm going to take care of you," David answered steadily. "We love each -other and I think we always will. My father married when he was -nineteen, and I'm nearly twenty-one--and big for my age," he added, -grinning at her. "We can't go on like this, honey. Mrs. Stone would have -a right to think the worst of us--of you--if we were not married when -she catches up with us. She would be justified in thinking that Clem -Carson told the truth to the police when he charged us with--with -immorality. Don't you see, darling, that we just _must_ be married now?" - -"Then I'll run away by myself!" Sally flashed at him, springing to her -feet. "I'm not going to have you forced into marriage when you're not -old enough and not really ready for it. You'd hate me for being a drag -on you--" - -"Sally!" David was on his feet now and his stern voice checked her -before she had run a dozen steps away from him. "Come here!" - -She crept into his arms, and laid her head against his chest, so that -his heart beat strongly and steadily just beneath her ear. - -"Listen, Sally, beloved," he urged softly. "I want to marry you more -than anything in the world. It might have been better if we had met and -fallen in love when we were both older, but fate took care of that for -us, and I'm only proud and happy to be able to ask you now to marry me. -I'll not make much money at first, maybe, but neither of us has been -used to a great deal, and I promise you now that I'll not fail you in -love and loyalty. I've never cared for any other girl and I never will. -Let's not try to look too far ahead. We're young and strong and in love. -Isn't that enough, sweet?" - -"Yes," she agreed, nodding her head against his breast. - -"Then let's travel," he laughed jubilantly. "This is our wedding day, -Sally! Think of it, sweet! Our wedding day!" - -As they plodded hand in hand through the long hours before dawn Sally -thought of nothing else. She was glad that walking made talking a waste -of energy, for she wanted to think and feel and search her heart and -soul for treasure to lavish upon the boy-man she was to marry. - -Marriage! The word made her feel shivery and solemn and more than a -little frightened, but when a shudder of fear made her hand twitch in -David's, the firm, warm pressure of his fingers reassured her. She -resolutely forced her mind away from the mysteries that lay ahead of -her, mysteries at which Mrs. Stone had hinted in that last, embarrassing -lecture she had delivered to a cowering, shamefaced Sally the day Clem -Carson had taken her to the farm. Whatever lay before her, David would -be with her, gentle, sweet, infinitely tender-- - -"I'll be Mrs. David Nash," she told herself childishly. "I'll be David's -wife. I'll have David for my family, and maybe--some day--there'll be a -baby David, with hair like gold in the sun--" - -"You'll have to tell a fib about your age, honey," David interrupted her -thoughts, his voice grave and, it seemed to her, a little embarrassed. -Maybe David, too, was frightened a bit, just as she was! That made it -easier. She was suddenly jubilantly glad that he was not wise and -sophisticated and very much older than she, like Arthur Van Horne, for -instance. - -"I'll have to say I'm eighteen, won't I?" she laughed. "Do I look -eighteen, David? Now that most girls have bobbed hair, my long hair, -ought to make me look very old and dignified. I _do_ look eighteen, -don't I, David?" - -"Oh, Sally!" David stopped abruptly and held her close to him, -pityingly. "You look the adorable baby that you are! I pray to God that -marrying me won't make you old before your time! Why, honey-child, you -haven't had any girlhood at all, or childhood either! You should have -dozens of sweethearts before you marry--go to theaters and parties and -dances for years and years yet, before you settle down." - -"Then I shan't settle down," Sally laughed shakily. "I'll be a giddy -flapper, if you'd rather! Ah, no, David! I want to be a good wife to -you! But we won't get old and serious. We'll work together and play -together and study together and hobo all over the country together when -we feel like it. I think we make good hoboes, don't you?" - -"Not at this rate," David laughed, relieved. "I'm not going to kiss you -a single other time before dawn, or we'll never get anywhere. And don't -you try to vamp me, you little witch!" - -He did not quite keep his promise, for when Sally became so tired about -four o'clock in the morning that she could walk no further, he picked -her up in his big-muscled young arms, and strode proudly into the dawn -with her, and of course the best antidote for fatigue and sleepiness was -an occasional kiss on her drooping eyelids or upon her babyishly lax, -pink little mouth. - -When the sun came up they were a little shy with each other, inclined to -talk rapidly about trivial things. - -"Canfield--two miles," David read from a sign post at a cross-roads. -"I'm going to ask that truck driver the name of the nearest county seat, -and how to get there." - -Sally watched him proudly as he ran swiftly, apparently not at all -fatigued after seven hours of hiking, to hail a dairy truck approaching -along the state highway. The sun was in his tousled chestnut hair, -turning it into gold, and the bigness and splendid beauty of his body -thrilled her to sudden tears of joy that he was hers--hers. Her heart -offered up a prayer: "Please God, don't let anything happen so that we -can't be married today! Please!" - -"Canfield is a county seat," David shouted exultantly before his long -strides had brought him back to Sally. "The driver of the milk truck -guessed why I wanted to know," he added in a lower voice, as he came -abreast of her and took her hands to swing them triumphantly. "He says -we crossed the state line about ten miles back and that the marriage -laws are very easy on elopers here. In some states you have to establish -a legal residence before you can be married, but there'll be no trouble -like that here. Elopers from two or three bordering states come here to -get married, he says. We're in luck, sweetheart." - -"You didn't tell him our names?" Sally asked anxiously. "Mrs. Stone will -have sent out a warning--" - -"I'm not quite such an idiot," David laughed, "even if I am crazy in -love. Now the next problem is breakfast. I suppose a farmhouse will be -the best bet. It wouldn't be safe for us to hang around Canfield for -three or four hours, waiting for the marriage license bureau to open. -We're going to be married, darling, before the law has a chance to lay -its hands on us." - -They trudged along the state highway, miraculously revived by hope that -all their troubles would soon be over, their eyes searching eagerly for -a farmhouse. And just over the rise of a low hill they found it--a -tenant farmer's unpainted shack, from whose chimney rose a straight -column of blue smoke. - -They found the family at breakfast--the wife a slim, pretty, -discontented-looking girl only a few years older than Sally; the -husband, thick, short, dark and dour, at least a dozen years older than -his wife; and a tow-headed baby boy of three. - -The kitchen was an unpainted and unpapered lean-to of rough, -weather-darkened pine. But Sally and David had eyes only for the tall -stack of buckwheat cakes, the platter of roughly cut, badly fried "side -meat," the huge graniteware coffee pot set on a chipped plate in the -center of the table. "Breakfast?" the dour tenant-farmer grunted, in -answer to David's question. "Reckon so, if you can eat what we got. -It'll cost you 50 cents a piece. I don't work from sun-up to sun-down to -feed tramps." - -"Oh, Jim!" the wife protested, flushing. "Cakes and coffee ain't worth -50 cents. I might run down to the big house and get some eggs and -cream--" she added uncertainly, her distressed brown eyes flickering -from Sally and David in the doorway to her scowling husband. - -"We'll be delighted with the buckwheat cakes and bacon and coffee, and -not think a dollar too much for our breakfast," David cut in, smiling -placatingly upon the farmer. "We're farmers ourselves, and we're used to -farm ways. How are crops around here, sir?" - -"My name's Buckner," the dour farmer answered grudgingly. "I'll bring in -a couple of chairs. Millie, you'd better fill up this here syrup pitcher -and you might open a jar of them damson preserves." - -"And I'll beat up some more hot cake batter," Millie Buckner fluttered -happily. "It won't take me a minute." - -Sally and David washed their hands and faces at the pump outside the -kitchen door, drying them on a fresh roller towel that Jim Buckner -brought them. - -"Run away to get married, have you?" the farmer asked in an almost -pleasant voice, as he led the way to the newly set table. - -"Yes," David answered simply. "We walked all night and we're rather -tired, but we thought there was no use in going in to Canfield until -pretty near nine o'clock." - -"I guess Millie can fix up a bed so the little lady can snatch a nap -'tween now and then," Buckner offered. "Pitch in, folks! it ain't much, -but you're welcome. Farmer, eh?" and his narrow eyes measured David's -splendid young body thoughtfully. "Aim to locate around here? Old man -Webster, the man I rent this patch of ground from, is needing hands bad. -He's got a shack over the hill that he'd likely fix up for you if you -ain't got anything better in mind. Not quite as nice as this house--we -got three rooms, counting this lean-to, and the shack I'm referrin' to -is only one room and a lean-to, but the little lady could fix it up real -pretty if she's got a knack that way, like Millie here has." - -Sally almost choked on her mouthful of buckwheat cake. Were all her -dreams of a home to come to this--or worse than this? One room and a -lean-to! She felt suddenly ill and was swaying in her chair when David's -firm, big hand closed over hers that lay laxly on the table. - -"Thanks, Mr. Buckner," she heard David's voice faintly as from a great -distance. "That's mighty nice of you, but Sally and I have other plans." - -Other plans? Sally smiled at him tremulously, adoringly, knowing full -well that he had no plans at all beyond the all-important marriage -ceremony. But after breakfast she lay down on the bed that Millie -Buckner hastily "straightened" and drifted off to sleep, as happy as if -her future were blue-printed and insured against poverty. For no matter -what might be in store for her, there would always be David-- - -They left the tenant farmer's shack at half past eight o'clock, Millie -and Jim Buckner and the baby waving them goodby. Buckner, ashamed of his -ungraciousness, had refused to take the dollar, but David had wrapped -the baby's small sticky fingers about the folded bill. - -"Shall we go up the hill and see 'Old Man' Webster?" David asked gravely -when they were in the lane leading to the highway. - -"Let's" agreed Sally valiantly. - -"You'd really be willing to live--like that?" David marveled, his head -jerking toward the dreary little shack they were leaving behind them. - -"If--if you were with me, it wouldn't matter," Sally answered seriously. - -"You'll never have to!" David exulted, sweeping her to his breast and -kissing her regardless of the fact that the Buckners were still watching -them. "I promise you it will never be as bad as that, honey. But maybe -Jim Buckner promised Millie the same thing," he added in a troubled, -uncertain voice. - -"I'll never be sorry," Sally promised huskily. - -They reached Canfield a few minutes after nine and had no difficulty in -finding the county court house, for its grounds formed the "square" -which was the hub of the small town. An old man pottering about the -tobacco-stained halls with a mop and pail directed them to the marriage -license bureau, without waiting for David to frame his embarrassed -question. - -The clerk, a pale, very thin young man, whose weak eyes were enlarged by -thick-lensed glasses, thrust a printed form through the wicket of his -cage, and went on with his work upon a big ledger, having apparently not -the slightest interest in foolish young couples who wanted to commit -matrimony. - -"Answer all the questions," the clerk mumbled, without looking up. -"Table in the corner over there. Pen and ink." - -Sally and David were laughing helplessly by the time they had taken -seats at the pine table in the corner. "Proving you're never as -important as you think you are," David chuckled. "Let's see. 'Place of -residence?' I suppose we'll have to put Capital City. But that chap -certainly doesn't give a continental who we are or where we're from. -We're all in the day's work with him, thank heaven. Don't forget to put -your age at eighteen, darling." - -When they presented their filled-in and signed application for a -marriage license, the clerk accepted it with supreme indifference, -glancing at it and drew a stack of marriage license blanks toward him. -As he began to write in the names, however, he frowned thoughtfully, -then peered through the bars of his cage at the blushing, frightened -couple. - -"Your names sound awfully familiar to me," he puzzled. "Where you from? -Capital City? Say, you're the kids that got into a row with a farmer and -busted his leg, ain't you?" - -Sally pressed close to David, her hands locking tightly over his arm, -but David, as if he did not understand her signal, answered the clerk in -a steady voice: "Yes, we are." - -"I read all about you in the papers," the clerk went on in a strangely -friendly voice. "I reckon your story made a deep impression on me -because I was raised in an orphans' home myself and ran away when I was -fourteen. I hoped at the time that you kids would make a clean get-away. -I see the young lady's had a couple of birthdays in the last month," he -grinned and winked. "Eighteen now, eh?" - -"Yes," Sally quavered and then laughed, the lid of her right eye -fluttering slowly down until the two fringes of black lashes met and -entangled. - -The clerk's pen scratched busily. "All right, youngsters. Here you are. -Justice of the peace wedding?" - -"We'd rather be married by a minister," David answered as he laid a $20 -bill under the wicket and reached for the marriage license. - -"That's easy," the clerk assured him heartily. "Like every county seat, -Canfield's got her 'marrying parson.' Name of Greer. He's building a new -church out of the fees that the eloping couples pay him. Lives on -Chestnut street. White church and parsonage. Five blocks up Main street -and turn to your right, then walk a block and a half. You can't miss it. -And good luck, kids. You'll need lots of it." - -David thrust a hand beneath the wicket and the two young men shook -hands, David flushed and embarrassed but smiling, the clerk grinning -good-naturedly. - -"Hey, don't forget your change," their new friend called as David and -Sally were turning away. "Marriage licenses in this state cost only -$1.50. If you've got any spare change, give it to Parson Greer." - -"Oh, he was sweet!" Sally cried, between laughter and tears, as they -walked out of the courthouse. "I thought I would faint when he asked us -that awful question. But everything's all right now." - -"We're as good as married," David assured her triumphantly, slapping his -breast pocket and cocking his head to listen to the crackling of the -marriage license. "Five blocks up Main street. Up must mean north--" - -Within five minutes they were awaiting an answer to their ring at the -door of the little white parsonage half hidden behind the rather shabby -white frame building of the church. - -A stout, rosy-cheeked, white-haired old lady opened the door and beamed -upon them. "You're looking for the 'marrying parson,' aren't you?" she -chuckled. "Well, now, it's a shame, children, but you'll have to wait -quite a spell for him. He's conducting a funeral at the home of one of -our parishioners, and won't be back until about half past eleven. I'm -Mrs. Greer. Won't you come in and wait?" - -Sally and David consulted each other with troubled, disappointed eyes. -Sally wanted to cry out to David that she was afraid to wait two hours, -afraid to wait even half an hour, but with Mrs. Greer beaming -expectantly upon them she did not dare. - -"Thank you, Mrs. Greer," David answered, his hand tightening warningly -upon Sally's. "We'll wait." - -As they followed Mrs. Greer into the stuffy, over-furnished little -parlor, he managed to whisper reassuringly in Sally's ear: "Just two -hours, darling. Nothing can happen." - -But Sally was shaking with fright-- - - - - -CHAPTER XV - - -During the two hours that they waited for the Reverend Mr. Greer, "the -marrying parson," David and Sally sat stiffly side by side on a -horsehair sofa, only their fingers touching shyly, listening to -countless romances of eloping couples with which old Mrs. Greer regaled -them in a kindly effort to help them pass the tedious time of waiting. -Her daughter-in-law, widowed by the death of the only son of the family, -trailed weakly in and out of the living room, her big, mournful black -eyes devouring David's magnificent youth and vigor. - -"You remind her of Sonny Bob," Mrs. Greer leaned forward in her arm -chair to whisper to David. "Killed in the war he was, and Cora just -can't become reconciled. Seems like the only pleasure she gets out of -life now is acting as witness for weddings. And I must say she cries as -beautiful and sweet as any bride's mother could. Some of the eloping -brides appreciate it and some don't, but Cora means well. Once, I -recollect, she spoiled a wedding. It seems that the girl's mother was -dead set against this boy, and when Cora started to cry, just like a -mother--" - -The story went on and on, but Sally heard little of it, for her heart -was suddenly desolate with need of her own mother. Lucky girls who had -mothers to cry for them at their weddings! Her cold fingers gripped -David's comforting, warm hand spasmodically. Somewhere in the world -there was a woman who was her mother, a woman who had not waited for the -marriage ceremony before succumbing to just such love as that woman's -unwanted daughter now felt for David. - -Understanding and pity for that harassed, shame-stricken girl that her -mother must have been just sixteen years ago gushed suddenly into -Sally's heart. If David had not been so fine, so tender, so good--she -shivered and clung more tightly to his hand. In a few minutes she would -be his wife and safe, safe from Mrs. Stone, the orphans' home, the -reformatory. - -"I hear Mr. Greer coming in," Mrs. Greer beamed upon them and bustled -from the room. She returned immediately, a plump hand resting -affectionately on the shoulder of a tall, thin, stooped old man, whose -sweet, bloodless, wrinkled face glowed with a faint radiance of -kindliness and benediction. - -"This is little Miss Sally Ford and David Nash, Papa," Mrs. Greer told -him. "They've been waiting patiently for two hours to get married. I've -been entertaining them the best I could with some of our very own -romances. I often tell Papa we ought to write stories for the -magazines--" - -"Well, well!" The "marrying parson" rubbed his beautiful, thin hands -together and smiled upon Sally and David. "You're pretty young, aren't -you? But Mama and I believe in youthful marriages. I was nineteen and -she was seventeen when we took the big step, and we've never regretted -it. You have your license, I presume?" - -David's hand shook noticeably as he drew the precious document from his -breast pocket and offered it to the minister. Through old fashioned -gold-rimmed spectacles the minister studied the paper briefly, his lips -twitching slightly with a smile. - -"Well, well, Mama," he glanced over his spectacles at his beaming wife, -"everything seems to be in order. Where is Cora? She's going to enjoy -this wedding enormously. The more she enjoys it, the more she weeps," he -explained twinkling at Sally and David. When Mrs. Greer had left the -room, the old minister bent his eyes gravely upon David. "Do you know of -any real reason why you two children should not be married, my boy?" - -David flushed but his eyes and voice were steady as he answered: "No -reason at all, sir. We are both orphans, and we love each other." - -Mrs. Greer and her daughter-in-law entered before the old preacher could -ask any further questions, but he seemed to be quite satisfied. Taking a -much-worn, limp leather black book from his pocket, he summoned the pair -to stand before him. Sally tremblingly adjusted the little dark blue -felt hat that fitted closely over the masses of her fine black hair, and -smoothed the crisp folds of her new blue taffeta dress. - -"Join right hands," the minister directed. - -As Sally placed her icy, trembling little hand in David's the first of -the younger Mrs. Greer's promised sobs startled her so that she swayed -against David, almost fainting. The boy's left arm went about her -shoulders, held her close, as the opening words of the marriage ceremony -fell slowly and impressively from the marrying parson's lips: - -"Dearly beloved--" - -Peace fell suddenly upon the girl's heart and nerves. All fear left her; -there was nothing in the world but beautiful words which were like a -magic incantation, endowing an orphaned girl with respectability, -happiness, family, an honored place in society as the wife of David -Nash-- - -A bell shrilled loudly, shattering the beauty and the solemnity of the -greatest moment in Sally's life. Behind her, on the sofa, she heard the -faint rustle of Mrs. Greer's stiff silk skirt, whispers as the two -witnesses conferred. The preacher's voice, which had faltered, went on, -more hurried, flustered: - -"Do you, David, take this woman--" - -Again the bell clamored, a long, shrill, angry demand. The preacher's -voice faltered again, the momentous question left half asked. He looked -at his wife over the tap of his spectacles and nodded slightly. Mrs. -Greer's skirts rustled apologetically as she hurried out of the room. -Sally forced her eyes to travel upward to David's stern, set young face; -their eyes locked for a moment, Sally's piteous with fright, then David -answered that half-asked question loudly, emphatically, as if with the -words he would defeat fate: - -"I do!" - -A clamor of voices suddenly filled the little entrance hall beyond the -parsonage parlor. Sally, recognizing both of the voices, was galvanized -to swift, un-Sallylike initiative. Stepping swiftly out of the circle of -David's arm, but still clinging to his hand, she sprang toward the -preacher, her eyes blazing, her face pinched with fear and drained of -all color. - -"Please go on!" she gasped. "Please, Mr. Greer. Don't let them stop us -now! Ask me--'Do you take this man--? Please, I do, I do!" - -"Sally, darling--" David was trying to restrain her, his voice heavy -with pity. - -"I'm sorry, children," the old preacher shook his head. "I shall have to -investigate this disturbance, but I promise you to continue with the -ceremony if there is no legal impediment to your marriage. Just stand -where you are--" - -The door was flung open and Mrs. Stone, matron of the orphanage, strode -into the room, panting, her heavy face red with anger and exertion. She -was followed by a flustered, weeping Mrs. Greer and by a small, smartly -dressed little figure that halted in the doorway. Even in that first -dreadful moment when Sally knew that she was trapped, that the -half-performed wedding ceremony would not be completed, she was -conscious of that shock of amazement and delight which had always -tingled along her nerves whenever she had seen Enid Barr. But why had -Enid Barr joined in the cruel pursuit of a luckless orphan whose worst -sin had been running away from charity? If David's arms had not been so -tightly about her, she would have tried to run away again-- - -"Are we too late?" Mrs. Stone demanded in the loud, harsh voice that had -been a whip-lash upon Sally Ford's sensitive nerves for twelve years. -"Are they married?" - -"I was reading the service when you interrupted, madam," the Reverend -Mr. Greer said with surprising severity. "And I shall continue it if you -cannot show just cause why these two young people should not be married. -May I ask who you are, madam?" - -"Certainly! I am Mrs. Miranda Stone, matron of the State Orphans' Asylum -of Capital City, and Sally Ford is one of my charges, a minor, a ward of -the state until her eighteenth birthday. She is only sixteen years old -and cannot be married without the permission of her guardians, the -trustees of the orphanage. Is it clear that you cannot go on with the -ceremony?" she concluded in her hard, brisk voice. - -"Is this true, Sally?" the old man asked Sally gently. - -"Yes," she nodded, then laid her head wearily and hopelessly upon -David's shoulder. - -"Mrs. Stone," David began to plead with passionate intensity, one of his -hands trembling upon Sally's bowed head, "for God's sake let us go on -with this marriage! I love Sally and she loves me. I have never harmed -her and I never will. It's not right for you to drag her back to the -asylum, to spend two more years of dependence upon charity. I can -support her, I'm strong, I love her--" - -"Will all of you kindly leave the room and let me talk with Sally?" Mrs. -Stone cut across his appeal ruthlessly. "I may as well tell you, Mr. -Greer, that my friend here, Mrs. Barr, a very rich woman, intends to -adopt this girl and provide her with all the advantages that wealth -makes possible. - -"She has been hunting for Sally for weeks, and it is only through her -persistence and the power which her wealth commands that we have been -able to prevent this ridiculous marriage today." - -"We shall be glad to let you talk privately with the young couple," the -old minister answered with punctilious politeness. "Come, Mama, Cora!" - -"Will you please leave the room also, Mr. Nash?" Mrs. Stone went on -ruthlessly, without taking time to acknowledge the old man's courtesy. - -Sally's arms clung more tightly to David. "He's going to stay, Mrs. -Stone," she gasped, amazed at her own temerity. "If you don't let me -marry David now, I shall marry him when I am eighteen. I don't want to -be adopted. I only want David--" - -"I think the boy had better stay," Enid Barr's lovely voice, strangely -not at all arrogant now, called from the doorway. - -When the minister and his wife and daughter-in-law had left the room, -Enid Barr softly closed the door against which she had been leaning, as -if she had little interest in the drama taking place, and walked slowly -toward David and Sally, who were still in each other's arms. Gone from -her small, exquisite face was the look of aloof indifference, and in its -place were embarrassment, wistful appeal, tenderness and to Sally's -bewilderment, the most profound humility. - -"Oh, Sally, Sally!" The beautiful contralto voice was husky with tears. -"Can't you guess why I want you, why I've hunted you down like this? I'm -your mother, Sally." - -"My mother?" Sally echoed blankly. Then incredulous joy floated her pale -little face with a rosy glow. "My mother? David--Mrs. Stone--oh, I can't -think!" - -David's arms had dropped slowly from about her shoulders and she stood -swaying slightly. "But--you can't be my mother!" she gasped, shaking her -head in childish negation. "You're not old enough. I'm sixteen--" - -"And I'm thirty-three," Enid Barr said gently. "There's no mistake, -Sally, my darling. I'm really your mother, and I'd like, more than -anything in the world, for you to let me kiss you now and to hear you -call me 'Mother'." She had advanced the few steps that separated them -and was holding out her delicate, useless-looking little hands with such -humility and timidity as no one who knew Enid Barr would have believed -her capable of. - -Sally's hands went out involuntarily, but before their fingers could -intertwine, Enid flung her arms about the girl and held her smotheringly -close for a moment. Then she raised her small, slight body on tiptoes -and pressed her quivering lips softly against Sally's cheek. At the -caress, twelve years of loneliness and mother-need rushed across the -girl's mind like a frantically unwinding spool of film. - -"Oh, I've wanted a mother so terribly! Twelve years in the -orphanage--Oh, why did you put me there?" she cried brokenly. "It's -awful--not having anyone of your own--no family--and now, when I have -David to be my family, and I don't need you--so much--you come--Why -didn't you come before? Why? Why did you put me there?" - -Her words were incoherent, and at the bitter reproach in them Enid tried -to hold her more closely, but Sally, scarcely knowing what she did, -struck the small, clinging arms from her shoulders and whirled upon -David, her mouth twisting, tears running down her cheeks. "I don't want -anyone but you now, David. Don't let them separate us, David. We're half -married already! Make the preacher come back and finish marrying us, -David--" - -Enid Barr, looked wonderingly upon her arms, as if expecting to see upon -them the marks of her daughter's blows. A gust of anger swept over her, -leaving her beautiful face quite white and darkening her eyes until they -were almost as deep a blue as Sally's. - -"You cannot marry the boy, Sally! I'm sorry that almost my first words -to you should be a reminder of my authority over you as your mother. -Come here, Sally!" But almost in the moment of its returning the -arrogance for which she was noted dropped from her, and humility and -grief took its place. "Please forgive me, Sally. It's just that I'm -jealous of your love for this boy and grieved that you want to leave me -for him. But--oh, why _should_ you love me? God knows I've done nothing -yet to make you love me! I can't blame you for hating and reproaching -me--" - -"Oh!" Sally turned from the shelter of David's arms and took an -uncertain step toward her mother, pity fighting with rebellion and -bitterness in her overcharged heart. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Barr--Mother--" - -"I think you'd better tell her your story as you told it to me, Mrs. -Barr." Mrs. Stone could keep silent no longer. "Now, Sally, I want you -to listen to every word your mother says and bear in mind that she is -your mother and that she has been hunting for you for weeks, her heart -full of love for you because you were her child." - -For twelve years Sally had obeyed every command uttered in that harsh, -emphatic voice and she obeyed now, allowing herself to be led by Mrs. -Stone to the sofa. Enid Barr took her seat on one side of the girl and -David without asking permission of either of the two older women who -watched him with hostile, jealous eyes, took his place on the other -side, his hand closing tightly over Sally's. - -Jealously, Enid Barr reached for the girl's other hand and held it -against her cheek for a moment before she began her story, her contralto -voice low and controlled at first. Mrs. Stone sat rigidly erect in an -old-fashioned morris chair, her lips folded with an expression of grim -patience, as if she regretted the necessity of once more hearing a story -which affronted her Puritanical principles. - -"I was just your age, Sally," Enid began quietly, "just sixteen, when I -met the man who became your father. I was Enid Halsted then. He was -fifteen years older than I. I thought I--loved him--very much. He -was--very handsome." - -Her eyes flickered toward the soft tendrils of black hair that showed -under the brim of Sally's little blue felt hat. "My father, a proud man -as well as a very rich one, forbade me to see the man, discharged him, -but--it was too late." - -She interrupted herself suddenly, leaning across Sally to challenge -David with eyes which were again arrogant. "I'm permitting you to hear -all this, Mr. Nash, because I know that Sally would not listen if I sent -you from the room. But I must ask your promise never to tell anyone what -you hear today--" - -"It concerns Sally, Mrs. Barr, and anything that concerns her, either -her past, present or future--" his eyes flicked a tiny smile at Sally as -he repeated the familiar phrase from Gus, the barker's ballyhoo--"is -sacred to me." - -"Thank you," Enid said coldly, and was immediately punished by Sally's -attempt to withdraw her hand. "I am sure I can trust you, David," Enid -added, swallowing her pride, so that Sally's fingers would twine about -her own again. "My mother was dead, had been dead for more than five -years. I had to tell my father. There's no use in my going into all that -happened then," she shivered, her free hand covering her eyes for a -moment. "He--saw me through it, because he loved me more than I -deserved. No one knew, for he arranged for me to go to a private -sanitarium, where no one but the doctor knew my real name. After my baby -was born my father told me it had been born dead, and I--I was glad at -first. But afterwards I could hardly bear to look at a baby--I mustn't -try to make you sorry for me," she cried brokenly, flicking her -handkerchief at a tear that was sliding down her cheek. - -Enid Barr drew a deep, quivering breath and cuddled Sally's hand against -her cheek. "Father took me to Europe for a year and when we returned, I -made my debut, as if nothing had happened. I was eighteen then, and -thought I never wanted to be married, but when I met Courtney Barr my -second season I changed my mind; when I was twenty I married him. I've -been married thirteen years and--there's never been another baby. There -couldn't be--because of the first one--you, Sally--though I didn't know, -didn't dream you were alive." - -"Poor Mother!" Sally whispered, tears slipping unnoticed down her own -cheeks. It was all right--all right! Her mother hadn't meant to abandon -her, even if she had been ashamed of bearing her-- - -"My father died when I was twenty-one, just four years after you were -born, Sally. He died suddenly, and the lawyers couldn't find a will. -He'd hidden it too well. Everything came to me, of course, all that he -had meant you to have as well as my own share--" - -"He--my grandfather--sent Mrs. Ford money." Sally cried suddenly. -"Gramma Bangs told me she used to get money orders and that when the -money stopped coming, Mrs. Ford had to put me in the orphanage, because -she was sick--I understand now!" - -"Yes, he sent her a liberal allowance for you, on condition that she -never tell who you were and that she should never bring you to New York. -She did not herself know who you were, who the man was who sent the -money, who your mother was," Enid Barr went on, her voice more -controlled now that she had passed over the telling of her own shame. - -"It was not until May of this year that I found out all these things. A -connoisseur of antiques was looking at my father's desk and accidentally -discovered a secret drawer, containing his will and a painstaking record -of the whole affair. I told no one but Court--my husband--and he agreed -with me that I must try to find you at once. He was--wonderful--about it -all. Of course I had told him, or rather, my father had told him the -truth about me before I married him, but Court thought, as I did, that -the baby had died. It was a great shock to him, but he's been -wonderful." - -Her voice had the same quality in it as she spoke of Courtney Barr that -enriched Sally's voice whenever she spoke David's name, and the girl -could not help wondering why her mother, who had suffered and loved, -could not understand the depth of her love for David. Maybe she -would--in time-- - -"I found Mrs. Nora Ford's address among the papers, of course, and I -went to Stanton immediately, but as I had feared, I found that she had -left there years before, and that no one in the neighborhood had the -least idea where she had gone. One old lady--Mrs. Bangs--said that Nora -had had a daughter, Sally, and I knew that she meant my daughter. I -spent weeks and a great deal of money searching for some trace of Nora -Ford and Sally Ford, but it was useless. I had almost lost hope of -finding either of you when I read that terrible story in the papers -about Sally Ford and David Nash--" - -"Carson lied," David interrupted quietly. "His story was false from -beginning to end. There was absolutely nothing between Sally and me but -friendship. I knocked him through the window because he called her vile -names and was threatening to send her back to the orphanage in disgrace, -when she had done nothing wrong except work herself almost to death on -his farm." - -"Thank you, David. I'm glad to hear the truth. I was sure of it the -first time I looked into my daughter's eyes. But if it had not been for -that story in the paper I would not be here today, so I'm almost -grateful to Carson for his vileness. I went to the orphanage, -interviewed Mrs. Stone and after I had satisfied myself that Sally was -really my daughter, I told her all that I'm telling you now and asked -her to help me find her. That afternoon I took the children to the -carnival, because it was the only way I could do anything for you, my -darling." - -"And Betsy recognized me!" Sally cried. "If Gus hadn't been trying so -hard to protect David and me from the police--" - -"Exactly!" Enid smiled at her through tears. "You've been running away -from your mother ever since, not from the police! And what a chase -you've led us, darling! That enormous old man, Winfield Bybee, had -convinced us that we were on the wrong track, that Betsy had been -mistaken, and the carnival had left town when Mrs. Stone got a letter -from a woman who said she'd been with the carnival--" - -"Nita!" Sally and David exclaimed together. So she had kept her promise -to avenge herself, Sally reflected. A queer revenge--restoring an -orphaned girl to her mother who was a rich woman. Sally smiled. -But--wasn't she avenged after all? Wouldn't Nita congratulate herself on -having separated David and Sally, no matter what good luck she had -inadvertently brought upon Sally by doing so? - -At the sudden realization of what this story meant to herself and David, -Sally withdrew her arm from about her mother's shoulders and flung -herself upon David's breast. - - ---- - -Very gently David unclasped Sally's hands, that locked convulsively -about his neck. His eyes were dark with pain as Sally, hurt and -resentful, shrank from him. - -"You're glad to get out of it!" she accused him. "You were only marrying -me because you were sorry for me. You won't fight for me now, because -you're glad to be free--" - -"Sally! You don't know what you're saying! You know I love you, that -I've thought of nothing but you since we met on Carson's farm. Of course -I want to marry you, and will be proud and happy to do so, if your -mother will consent." - -Sally's face bloomed again. She seized her mother's hands and held them -hard against her breast as she pleaded: "You see, Mother? Oh, please let -us go on with our marriage! David and I will love you always, be so -grateful to you--Listen, Mother! You'll have a son as well as a -daughter--" - -"Don't be absurd, Sally!" Enid commanded brusquely. "When you were -indeed a girl alone, with no family, no prospects, nothing, a marriage -with David would undoubtedly have been the best thing for you. But -now--it's ridiculous! This boy has nothing. You would be a burden upon -him, a yoke about his young neck that should not be bowed down by -responsibility for several years. You're both under a cloud. I -understand that he cannot return to college or go back to his -grandfather until this trouble is cleared up. What did you two children -expect to do, once you were married?" - -"I expected to work at anything I could get to do," David answered with -hurt young dignity. "I have brains, two years of college education, a -strong body, and I love Sally." - -Enid Barr leaned across Sally and touched David's clenched fist with the -caressing tips of her fingers. "You're a good boy, David and Sally, the -orphan, the girl alone, would have been lucky to marry you. But you -understand, don't you? She's my daughter, will be the legally adopted -daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Courtney Barr. Anyone in New York could tell -you what that means. She will have every advantage that money can offer -her--finishing school or college, if she wants to go to college; travel, -exquisite clothes, a place in society, a mother and father who will -adore her, a girlhood rich with all the pleasures that every normal girl -craves. Help me to give her these things, David, things you would give -her if you could!" - -"This is all nonsense!" Mrs. Stone spoke up sharply. "You know perfectly -well, Mrs. Barr, that these two foolish children can't get married -without your consent. I, for one think you're wasting your time. Simply -put your foot down and take your daughter home with you." - -Sally flushed angrily and struggled to rise, but David held her back. -"You'll have to go with her, darling. Remember how you've always wanted -a mother? You have one now, and she wants you with her, wants to make up -to you for all you've missed." - -As only mute rebellion answered him, he wisely changed his tactics: "Do -you think you could ever be really happy, darling, knowing that you had -hurt your mother, cheated her of the child for whom she has grieved all -these years? She'll never have another child, Sally, and she needs you -as much as you need her." - -When Sally's mouth began to quiver with new tears, Enid Barr took the -girl in her arms. At last Sally raised her head and searched her -mother's face with piteous intensity. "Do you really need me?" she -cried. "You'll love me--be a real mother to me? You don't just want me -because it's your duty?" - -Tears clouded the clear blue of Enid's eyes as she answered softly: -"I'll be a mother to you, Sally, not because it's my duty, but because I -already love you and will love you more and more. If I had searched the -whole world over for the girl I would have liked to have as my daughter, -I could not have found one who is as sweet and pretty and dear as you -are. I'm proud of my daughter, and I shall hope to make her proud of -me." - -"Then--I'll go with you," Sally capitulated, but she added quickly, "If -David will promise not to love any other girl until I'm old enough to -marry him." - -Over Sally's head, cradled against her mother's breast, Enid Barr and -David Nash exchanged a long look, as if measuring each other's strength. -David knew then, and Enid meant him to know, that Sally's mother had far -different plans for her daughter than any that could possibly include -David Nash. - -"I'll always love you, Sally," David said gravely, as he rose from the -sofa. - -Sally struggled out of her mother's clasp and sprang to the boy's side -just as he was reaching to the little center table for his hat. "Where -are you going, David? Don't leave me yet! Oh, David, I can't bear to let -you go! How can I write you--where? Tell me, David! Oh, I love you so I -feel like I'll die if you leave me!" - -Defiant of the tight-lipped disapproval of Mrs. Stone and of the anxious -signal which Enid's blue eyes were flashing him, David put his arms -about Sally and held her close, while he bent his head to kiss her. - -"You can write me here, general delivery. I'll stay here for a while, I -think, until I can make plans--" - -"My husband is in Capital City now, David," Enid interrupted eagerly. "I -am going to have him intercede with the authorities for you. You can -return to Capital City as soon as you like. There'll be no trouble, I -promise you. It is the only thing we can do to repay you for your great -kindness toward--our daughter." - -"Then you can go back to college, David," Sally rejoiced, her eyes -shining through tears. "And when you've graduated and--and gotten your -start, we can be married, can't we?" - -"If you still want me, Sally darling," David answered gravely. "Thank -you, Mrs. Barr. You'll--you'll try to make Sally happy, won't you?" - -"I promise you she'll be happy, David," Enid answered, giving him her -hand. "May I speak with you alone a moment?" she added impulsively, and -linking her arm in his drew him toward the door that opened into the -little foyer hall. - -"David! You're not going? Without telling me goodby?" Sally cried, -stumbling blindly after them. - -"Goodby, my darling." He put his arm about her shoulders and laid his -cheek against her hair as he murmured in a low, shaken voice: "I'll be -loving you--always!" - -When the door had closed upon her mother and her almost-husband, Sally -did a surprising thing: she went stumbling toward Mrs. Stone, and -dropped upon her knees before that majestic, rigid figure which she had -feared for twelve years. - -When Enid Barr returned a few minutes later, two round spots of color -burning in her cheeks, she found her daughter in the orphanage matron's -lap, cuddled there like a small child, trustfully sobbing out her grief. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - - -Enid Barr left with her daughter for Kansas City that night, after -wiring her husband, Courtney Barr, who was still awaiting word from her -in Capital City. For two days Sally and Enid shopped for a suitable -wardrobe for Sally, went to shows together, explored the city, and spent -many hours talking. Whenever the question of Sally's future arose, Enid -spoke only in generalities, evading all direct questions, but about -Sally's childhood and young girlhood in the orphanage and on the Carson -farm, and about her experiences with the carnival, Enid was insatiably -curious and invariably sympathetic. Sally sensed that her mother was -anxiously awaiting Courtney Barr's arrival before making any definite -plans, and gradually the girl grew to dread the ordeal of meeting her -mother's husband, the man who would become her father by adoption. - -And when at last he came she knew that her troubled intuition had been -correct. However "wonderful" he had been to Enid when she had discovered -that her child had not been born dead but was alive somewhere in the -world, Sally felt instantly that his kindness and generosity toward Enid -would not extend to herself. - -Courtney Barr was a meticulously groomed, meticulously courteous man who -had, in slipping into middle-age, lost all traces of the boy and youth -he must have been. To Sally's terrified eyes, this rather heavy, -ponderous man, on whom dignity rested like a royal cloak, looked as if -he had been born old and wise and cold. She wondered how her exquisite, -arrogant little mother could love him so devotedly. - -Almost immediately after the awkward introduction--"This is our Sally, -Court!"--the three of them had had dinner together, a silent meal, so -far as Sally was concerned. She had felt that the Enid with whom she had -talked and laughed and wept these two days had slipped away, leaving -this sophisticated, strange woman in her place, a woman who was in -nowise related to her, a woman who was merely Mrs. Courtney Barr. - -They left her alone for an hour after dinner, an hour which she spent in -her own room in writing a long, frightened, appealing letter to David. -At nine o'clock Enid knocked on her door and invited her to join them in -the parlor of the luxurious suite which had been such a delight to -orphanage-bred Sally. - -She found Courtney Barr seated in a large arm chair, her mother perched -on the arm of it, one tiny foot in a silver slipper swinging with -nervous rapidity. The man smiled bleakly, a smile that did not reach his -cold gray eyes, as Sally took the nearby chair that he indicated. - -"Mrs. Barr and I have been discussing your immediate future, Sally," he -began ponderously, in tones that he evidently thought were kind. - -Institutional timidity closed down upon Sally; under those cold eyes she -lost that ephemeral beauty of hers which depended so largely upon her -emotions. It was her institutional voice--meekness hiding fear and -rebellion--which answered: "Yes, sir." - -"Oh, let me talk to her, Court!" Enid begged. "You're scaring my baby to -death. He fancies himself as an old ogre, Sally darling, but he's really -a dear inside. You see, Sally, I was so eager to find my baby that I -made no plans at all." - -Courtney Barr said, "I think I'd better do the talking after all, my -dear. Your sentimentality--natural, of course, under the -circumstances--would make it impossible for you to state the case -clearly and convincingly." - -Sally's cold hands clasped each other tightly in her lap as she stared -with wide, frightened eyes at the man who was about to arrange her whole -future for her. - -"I have made Mrs. Barr understand how impossible it will be for us to -take you into our home at once, as our adopted daughter," Courtney Barr -went on in his heavy, judicial voice. - -Sally sprang to her feet, her eyes blazing in her white face. "I didn't -ask to be found, to be adopted!" she cried. "If you don't want me, say -so, and let me go back to David!" - -It was the loving distress on Enid Barr's quivering face that quickly -brought Sally to bewildered, humiliated submission, rather than the cold -anger and ill-concealed hatred in Courtney Barr's pale gray eyes. Enid -had left the arm of her husband's chair and had drawn Sally to a little -rose-up-holstered settee, and it was with her mother's hand cuddling -hers compassionately that Sally listened as the man's heavy, judicial -voice went on and on: - -"I am sure, Sally, that when you have had time for reflection you will -see my viewpoint. Naturally, your mother's happiness means more to me -than does yours, and I believe I know my wife well enough to state -positively that a newspaper scandal or even gossip among our own circle -would cause her the most acute distress. It shall be our task, Sally, to -see that she is spared such distress. - -"I'm sorry to appear brutal," Barr said stiffly. "But it is better for -us to face the facts, for if our friends ever know them they will not -mince words. If you should come into our home now, as you are, gossips -would immediately set themselves to dig up the facts. Too many people -already know that Sally Ford has been sought by the police as -a--delinquent. My wife and I could not possibly hope to explain our -extraordinary interest in a runaway orphan. Do you agree with me, -Sally?" He tried to make his voice kind, but his eyes were as cold and -hard as steel. - -"Yes, sir," Sally agreed in her meek, institutional voice. But she felt -so sick with shame and anger that her only desire then was to run and -run and run until she found a haven in David's arms. At the thought, -some of the spiritedness which her few weeks of independence had -fostered in her asserted itself. "But, Mr. Barr, if I would disgrace my -mother, why don't you let me go? I can marry David and no one will ever -know that I have a mother--" - -"That is very sensible, Sally," Courtney Barr nodded, a gleam of -kindliness in his cold eyes, "and I have tried to make your mother -believe that your happiness would be best assured by your sticking to -your own class--" - -"It isn't her class, if you mean that she's suited only to poverty and -hard work!" Enid Barr interrupted passionately. "Look at her, Court! -She's a born lady! She's fine and delicate clear through--" - -"And so is David!" Sally cried indignantly. "He may be middle-class, but -he's the finest, most honorable man in the world!" - -"We shall not quarrel about class," Courtney Barr cut in with heavy -dignity. "The important thing is that your mother is determined to have -you, to fit you for the station to which she belongs. I believe she is -making a mistake, both from your standpoint and from hers, but I am -willing to agree to a sensible arrangement. Our plan now, Sally, is to -put you into a conservative, rather obscure girls' finishing school in -the South. I have several relatives--'poor relations,' I suppose you -would call them--in the South, and it is my suggestion that you enter -school as my ward--mine, you understand, not your mother's, so that any -suspicion as to your real parentage will rest upon me, rather than upon -her." He arched his eyebrows at Sally, looking rather consciously noble, -and she nodded miserably. "During the two years that you will be in -school--" - -"Two years!" Sally echoed blankly. Two years more of loneliness, of not -belonging, of being an orphan! - -"Two years will pass very quickly," Courtney Barr assured her. "Enid, -please control yourself! I am infinitely sorry to distress you in this -manner, but it is the only sensible thing to do." - -"Yes, Court," Enid choked and buried her exquisite face in her small, -useless-looking white hands. - -Sally put her arms about her mother, and leaned her glossy black head -against the golden one. "I'll try to be contented and happy, Mr. Barr. -Of course I want to protect Mother--" - -"That is another thing, Sally," Courtney Barr interrupted in an almost -gentle voice. "You must try to remember not to refer to Mrs. Barr as -your mother in the hearing of anyone--anyone! If we are going to protect -her, we must begin now." - -"Yes, sir," Sally bowed her head lower so he might not see her tears. - -"Both Mrs. Barr and I will drop casual remarks about my pretty young -ward in school down South, until our friends have become accustomed to -the idea. You will be registered as Sally Barr, a distant relative of my -own, and my ward. It is even probable that it would not be unwise to -have you with us for a short time next summer. We have an estate on Long -Island, you know. - -"As my ward and as my distant relative, you would not be particularly -conspicuous, but our friends would meet you casually and be the less -surprised when it became known that Mrs. Barr and I had decided to adopt -you as our daughter. All our friends and acquaintances know that it has -been a great grief to us that we have no children, and I believe our -action in this matter would occasion no great surprise. The adoption -itself will take place before your eighteenth birthday, while you are -still in school. If there is any newspaper publicity, it will be of an -innocuous kind, I hope. - -"Naturally I shall take care that any newspaper investigation will not -be able to go back of the story I shall prepare very carefully, and if -there is any hint of scandal at all, it will inevitably reflect on me -and not on your mother, as I have already pointed out. After your -adoption and your graduation from the finishing school, you will, of -course, take your place in our home as our daughter, will make your -debut in society that fall, and, I hope, be very happy with us and in -your new life." - -Sally sat very still, her eyes wide and blank, while her bewildered, -unhappy mind tried to picture the future which Courtney Barr was -outlining for her. At last she shook her head, as if to clear away the -mists of doubt and bewilderment. Her mother had taken Sally's little -lax, cold hands and was cuddling them against her cheeks, bringing a -fingertip to her lips occasionally. - -"Poor baby! And--poor mother!" Enid whispered brokenly, and the spell -was broken. The hard lump of unhappiness and resentment that had been -aching in Sally's throat since Courtney Barr had begun to speak melted -in tears. They wept in each other's arms, while Enid's husband walked -impatiently up and down the room. - -When the storm had spent itself, Sally remembered David again, and pain -and fear contracted her heart sharply. - -"Did you see David, Mr. Barr?" She sat up and dabbed at her wet cheeks -with one of the exquisite sheer linen handkerchiefs which Enid had given -her. - -"Oh, yes, yes!" Barr answered quickly. "I managed his affairs very -neatly. Rand, the district attorney, personally attended to the quashing -of the charges against him, and it cost only a thousand dollars to get -Carson to issue a statement to the press that he had really seen nothing -compromising between young Nash and yourself. He also admitted that the -boy's anger had been in a measure justified, that the assault had been -provoked by his own mistaken charges against you and Nash. The boy's -reputation is cleared now and he can go back to college this fall. I -also saw his grandfather and persuaded him that the boy had been a hero -rather than a blackguard. Young Nash is at home on his grandfather's -farm again, so that incident is successfully closed." - -Gratitude brought Sally to her feet. "Thank you, Mr. Barr! You've been -wonderful! It won't be so hard for me to be away at school if I know -that David is in school, too. I wrote him tonight, but I'll tear it up -and write a new letter, telling him all about everything and how happy I -am that he's free of those awful charges--" - -"No, Sally," Barr interrupted, frowning. "Your mother and I are agreed -that you must not write to young Nash, that there must be no thought of -an engagement--" - -"Not write to David?" Sally, echoed blankly. "I love David, Mr. Barr, -and I always will. It's not fair to ask me to promise not to write to -him." - -"I already have his promise not to write to you," Barr told her -implacably. "He understands the situation, agrees with your mother and -me that your past must be forgotten as quickly as possible. You are -entering upon a new life tomorrow when you leave for Virginia with me, a -life that will be totally different from David Nash's. You will--though -you don't seem to realize it--be an heiress to great wealth some day--" - -"You told him that!" Sally accused him hotly. "You told him he'd be a -fortune-hunter if he tried to marry me when I'm of age! Oh, you're not -fair! You have no right to turn David against me, when I love him as I -do--" - -"You're only sixteen, Sally!" Barr cut in sternly, "You don't know the -meaning of the word love--" - -"Please, Court," Enid begged, her own face white and drawn with pity for -Sally. "Please let me handle this myself. Sally is overwrought now, -nervously exhausted. Come along to bed now, darling," she coaxed, her -little hands upon Sally's shoulders. "Let Mother tuck you up and sing -you a lullaby. I'm not going to be cheated of that experience even if my -baby is bigger than I am." - -Fresh tears gushed into Sally's eyes, and she allowed herself to be led -away. At the door she paused: - -"Good night, Mr. Barr. I--I don't want you to think I don't appreciate -what you've done for me--and David--and what you're going to do for me. -I do think you're good and that you want to be kind to me, but I know -you're making a mistake about David and me. I am young, but I know I -love David and that I'll never want to marry anyone else." - -Courtney Barr flushed and looked embarrassed. "Thank you, Sally. I'm -sure we'll be friends. I want to be. I expect to take my duty as your -father very seriously, to try to make you happy. As for David, time has -a way of settling things if we only give it a chance. By the way, my -dear," he added hastily as Sally was about to pass on into her bedroom -with her mother, "I think it will be wiser if your mother does not -accompany us to Virginia. I will arrange for you to board with my -relatives in Virginia until school opens this fall. They will be glad, -for a consideration, to do and say anything I wish them to in regard to -you, and we must begin immediately to take every precaution to protect -your mother." - -"Yes, sir," Sally answered faintly, her eyes appealing to Enid for -consolation. - -When Sally was in bed, having been flutteringly and lovingly assisted in -her preparation by her mother, Enid bent over her to whisper: - -"Darling, darling, don't look so forlorn! Two years will pass so swiftly -and if you're very good, we'll let you ask David to your coming-out -party." - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - - -It was a desolately unhappy Sally who began what she considered the -unbearable task of living those two years which Courtney Barr had -decreed should separate the orphan, Sally Ford, from the society -debutante, Sally Barr. A dozen times, at least, during those first few -weeks she would have run away, straight to David Nash, if she had not -given her word of honor both to her mother and to her mother's husband. - -But, almost insensibly, she began to enjoy life again. It was a -soul-satisfying experience to have an apparently unlimited supply of -spending money and the most beautiful wardrobe of any girl in the little -Virginia city to which Courtney Barr had taken her. For many days almost -every mail brought her a package from New York, addressed in Enid Barr's -surprisingly big handwriting. She and her mother wrote each other twice -a week, and Enid early formed the habit of sending her a weekly budget -of clippings from the papers about the social set in which the Barrs -moved so brilliantly--"so you will become acquainted with the names of -those who will be your friends," as Enid wrote her daughter. - -Gradually the unreality of her new position and of her future -expectations wore off and Sally came to regard herself as really the -daughter of the Courtney Barrs. - -She lived for the rest of the summer with Courtney Barr's third cousins, -Mr. and Mrs. Charles Barr, who were glad of both the money and the -companionship which Sally brought them. To their friends the Charles -Barrs explained that Sally was an orphaned cousin, and the story -apparently was never questioned. She was accepted cordially by the -carefree young people of the small city's best social set, and was -sometimes ashamed of the pleasure she had in being a popular, -well-dressed, pretty young girl. - -She reproached herself for not mourning constantly for David, but she -knew that not for an instant were her loyalty and love for him -threatened by her strange new experiences. And, although she had given -her promise not to write to David, she composed long, intimate letters -to him every week, putting them away in her trunk in the confident -belief that he would some day read them and love them, because she had -written them. - -She told him everything in these letters she could not send--told him of -the two or three nice boys who declared their puppy love for her; -confessed, with tears that blistered the pages, that she had let one of -them kiss her, because he seemed so hurt at her first refusal; described -her new clothes with child-like enthusiasm; tucked snapshots of herself -in the enchanting new dresses between the folded pages; in fact, poured -out her heart to him far more unaffectedly than would have been possible -if she had been mailing the letters. - -Not feeling at all that she was breaking her promise, she subscribed to -The Capital City Press and to the college newspaper, avidly searching -them for any news of David and jealously hoarding the clippings with -which her diligence was rewarded. - -In this way she learned that he was elected president of the junior -class; that he "made" the football eleven as halfback; that--and she -almost fainted with terror--that he was slightly injured during the -Thanksgiving game, when A. & M. beat the State University team in a -bitterly fought contest. - -By that time she was in the finishing school which Courtney Barr had -chosen for her, and was herself becoming prominent in school activities -through her talent for dramatics. When David's college paper printed a -two-column picture of her sweetheart she cut it out and framed it. The -greatest joy she had that first year of her new life was to hear the -other girls rave about his good looks and his athletic record, of which -she bragged swaggeringly. - -During the spring term she was chosen by the dramatic director to take -the lead in the school's last play of the year, "The Clinging Vine." -Sally Ford, or Sally Barr, as she was known at the school, was again -happy "play-acting." Enid and Courtney Barr came down from New York for -the play and for commencement exercises, though Sally would not graduate -for another year. It was the first time she had seen her mother since -they had parted in the little mid-western town where Enid had found -Sally being married to David Nash. - -"But how adorably pretty you are!" Enid exclaimed wonderingly, when she -had the girl safe in the privacy of her own suite in a nearby hotel. "I -wanted to nudge every fond mama sitting near me and exult, 'That's my -daughter! Isn't she beautiful? Isn't she a wonderful little actress?' -Are you happy, darling?" - -Sally, her cheeks poppy-red with excitement and pleasure in her success -in the school play, twirled lightly on the toe of her silver slipper, so -that her pink chiffon skirt belled out like a ballet dancer's. - -"Happy? I'm thrilled and excited right now, and happy that you're here, -but sometimes I'm lonely, in spite of my new friends--Oh, Mother," she -cried, catching Enid's hands impulsively, "won't you let me go back with -you and Mr. Barr now? I want to be with someone I belong to! I don't fit -in here, really. I--I guess I'm still Orphan Sally Ford inside. I'm -always expecting them to snub me, or to taunt me." - -Enid's eyes filmed over with tears, but she shook her head. "We must try -to be patient, darling. I want you to be at home with girls like -these--girls who have always had money and social position and--and -culture. It's a loathsome word, but I don't know any better one for what -I mean. Don't you see, sweetheart? Mother wants you to be ready for New -York when you come, so that you will be happy, but not timid and -ill-at-ease. Court was really very wise. I've come to see that now. -Please try to be patient, darling." - -"And this summer?" Sally quivered. "He said I could be with you at your -Long Island home--" - -But Enid was shaking her head again, her eyes infinitely fond and -pitying. "I'm going abroad, dear. I haven't been very well this -winter--just tired from too much gayety, I think. The doctors advise a -rest cure in southern France. I want you to go to a girls' camp in New -Hampshire. It's really a part of your education, social and physical. I -want you to ride and swim and hike all summer, with the sort of girls -whom you'll be meeting when you do join us in New York. - -"You're to learn to play golf, perfect your game of tennis. By the way, -I want you to go to as many house parties on your holidays as you can. -Learn to flirt with the college youngsters you'll meet; be gay, don't -be--" - -"Institutional," Sally interrupted in a low voice as she turned sharply -away from her mother. - -It was almost a relief to the girl when Enid was gone. Her mother's -exquisite, fragile beauty, her unconscious arrogance, her -sophistication, her sometimes caustic wit, formed a barrier between -them, in spite of the almost worshipful love that Sally felt for her. - -Enid, when she was with her, somehow made the 17-year-old-girl feel -gawky, underdone, awkward, shy. Those cornflower blue eyes, when they -were not misted with tears of affection for this daughter whom she had -so recently discovered, seemed to Sally to be a powerful microscope -trained upon all her deficiencies, enlarging them to frightening -proportions. She knew that in these moments of critical survey her -mother was looking upon her, not as a beloved daughter miraculously -restored to her, but as a future debutante, bearer of the proud name of -Barr, and as a pawn in the marriage game as it is played in the most -exclusive circles in New York Society. - -And Sally squirmed miserably, pitifully afraid that she would never -measure up to the standard which her mother and Courtney Barr had set -for her, knowing, too, deep in her heart, that she did not want to. For -her heart had been given to a golden young god of a man, whose kingdom -was the soil, and whose wife needed none of the qualities which Enid -Barr was bent upon cultivating in her daughter. - -But twelve years of implicit obedience to the authorities at the -orphanage had left their indelible mark upon Sally Ford, who was now -Sally Barr. She would do her best to become the radiant, cultured, -charming, beautiful young creature whom Enid Barr wanted as a daughter. -And since she had Enid's letters to help her, the task was not so -impossible as it had seemed to her. For in the letters Enid was more -real as a mother than she could yet be in actual contact. The fat weekly -envelopes were crammed with love, maternal advice, encouragement, -tenderness. - -Sally sometimes had the feeling that through these letters of her -mother's she knew Enid Barr better than anyone had ever known her. And -she loved her with a passionate devotion, which sometimes frightened her -with its intensity. Gazing at David's picture, clipped from the college -newspaper, she wondered, with a cruel pain banding her heart, if this -almost idolatrous love for her mother would ultimately force her to give -up David. If it should ever come to a choice between those two -well-beloved, what should she do? - -Sometimes she agonized over the fear that David might have ceased to -love her, might have found another girl, might even be married. -Sometimes her hands shook so as they spread out the flat-folded sheets -of the college newspaper and of the Capital City _Press_ that she had to -clasp them tightly until the spasm of fear subsided. And each time the -relief was so great that she sang and laughed and danced like a -joy-crazy person. - -The other girls jeered at her good-naturedly because she was always -singing, "I'll be loving you--always!" But she did not care. It was her -song--and David's. - -She followed, with that obedience so deeply implanted in her, every -phase of the program which Enid and Courtney Barr had mapped out for -her. She went to the girls' camp in New Hampshire and returned to school -in Virginia that fall strong and tanned and boyish-looking, and was able -to report to Enid that she could swim beautifully if not swiftly, could -ride gracefully, could hold her own decently in a hard game of tennis, -could play golf well enough not to be conspicuous on the links. - -During her last term at the finishing school she obediently paid a great -deal of attention to her dancing, to drawing room deportment, and to her -own beautiful young body, learning to groom it expertly. And during the -Christmas and Easter vacations she netted three proposals of marriage, -from brothers of classmates in whose homes she visited. She learned, -somehow, to say "no" so tactfully that her suitors were almost as -flattered by her refusals as they would have been if she had accepted -them. - -Enid and Courtney Barr came down from New York to see her graduate, and -with them they brought the news of her legal adoption. - -"A surprise, too!" Enid chanted, swinging her daughter's hands -excitedly. "Court and I are going to take you to Europe with us this -summer, and keep you away from New York until almost time for you to -make your debut." - -"Europe!" Sally was dazed. Her first thought was that Europe was so far -away from Capital City and David. He was getting his diploma now, just -as she was getting hers--"Oh, Mother, you haven't forgotten your -promise, have you?" - -Enid frowned slightly, abashed by Sally's lack of enthusiasm. "Promise, -darling?" - -"That I could invite David to my coming-out party? Mother, I've lived -for two years on that promise!" she cried desperately, as the frown of -annoyance and anger deepened on her mother's exquisite, proud little -face. - -Periodically, during the four months that the Barrs spent in wandering -over Europe, Enid's evasive reply to Sally's urgent question thrust -itself frighteningly through the new joys she was experiencing. - -Enid had shrugged and said: "Remind me when we're making up the -invitation list this fall, Sally." She knew now that her mother had -counted on her forgetting David, that Enid had told herself until she -believed it, because she wanted to believe, that the transformed Sally, -the Sally whom she had remade into the kind of girl who could take her -place in society as the daughter of Enid and Courtney Barr, would be a -little ashamed of her 16-year-old infatuation for a penniless young -farmer. - -But Sally's heart had not changed, no matter how radically Enid's money, -the finishing school and Europe had altered her, mentally and -physically. - -One morning in November Sally knocked at the door of the small, pleasant -room known to the Barr household as "Miss Rice's office." Linda Rice -held the difficult, exacting but always exciting position of Enid Barr's -social secretary. Sally liked Linda, envied her her independence, her -tactful, firm handling of her sometimes unreasonable employer. As she -knocked now, fear of her mother fluttered in the heart that was so full -of love and admiration for her. For she knew that Enid and Linda were -making up the invitation list for the long-discussed coming-out party. - -"Come in," Enid's contralto voice called impatiently. "Oh, it's you, -darling. How cunning you look! Turn around so I can see how that new bob -looks from the back. Oh, charming! Max is a robber, but he does know the -art of cutting hair. Isn't she precious, Linda?" - -Sally, dressed in a deceptively simple little frock of dark blue French -crepe which half revealed her slender knees, whirled obediently. The -heavy, silken masses of her black hair had long since been ruthlessly -sacrificed to the shears, and now with the new Parisian cut, later to be -the rage in America and known as the "wind-blown bob," she looked like -an impudent little gamin, amazingly pretty and pert. - -Her clear white skin contradicted the effect of the impish hair-cut, -however, and persisted in making her look appealingly feminine. - -"To think she can eat anything she wants and still keep that figure!" -Enid exclaimed with humorous envy. "I'd give my soul to be able to eat -bread and candy again." But she looked at her own tiny body, no bigger -than an ethereal 12-year-old girl's and smiled with satisfaction. "What -did you want, darling? Linda and I are awfully busy.--Oh, by the way, -you mustn't forget Claire's tea this afternoon. You're going to Bobby -Proctor's luncheon at the Ritz, too, aren't you? Like the social whirl, -sweet?" - -"It still frightens me a little," Sally confessed with a slight shiver. -"Mother," she began with a desperate attempt at casualness, "you're -sending David an invitation, aren't you? You promised, you know--" - -Enid frowned and pretended to consult the copy of the long list which -she had been checking when Sally interrupted. "Is David Nash's name on -the list, Linda? Never mind. I'll look for it. And Linda, will you -please run down and tell Randall that Mrs. Barrington will be here for -luncheon today? He'll have to have gluten bread for her. Thank you, -dear. I don't know what I should do without you, Linda, you priceless -thing!" - -When the secretary had left the room, Enid turned to Sally, who was -standing beside the desk, twisting her hands nervously. "Darling, I've -counted so on your not holding me to that foolish promise I made two -years ago. You _must_ realize that David--dear and sweet and good as he -undoubtedly is--belongs to your past, a past which I want you to forget -as completely as if it had never existed." - -Sally opened her lips to speak, but the futility of the retort she was -about to make overwhelmed her. How could she forget those twelve lonely, -miserable years in a state orphanage? And how could her mother possibly -expect her to forget David, who had been her only friend, her "perfect -knight" when such dreadful trouble as Enid, in her sheltered life, could -hardly imagine, had made her a hunted, terror-stricken fugitive from -"justice"? David to whom she was "half married," David whom she would -always love, even if she never saw him again? But she _would_ see him! - -"Please don't get that sulky, stubborn look on your face, Sally!" Enid -spoke almost sharply. "I am thinking of David, too. Do you really think -it would be fair to him to ask him to come to New York merely for a -party, to see the girl he cannot hope to marry make her debut in a -society to which he could never belong? Don't be utterly selfish, -darling! Think of me a little, too! David knows--the truth. You must -know it would be painful for me to see him, after the story I told you -in his presence. I want to forget, Sally, and just be happy, now that I -have my daughter with me--" The lovely voice trembled with threatened -tears, and the cornflower-blue eyes pleaded almost humbly with -implacable sapphire ones. - -"I'm sorry, Mother," Sally answered steadily. "But--you promised. I've -done everything you asked me to do for more than two years. I kept _my_ -promise not to write to David, because all the time I was counting on -you to keep yours." - -Enid Barr flushed and tapped angrily with her pen against the edge of -the desk. "Of course, if you put it that way, I have no choice! How -shall Linda address the invitation?" - -"Thank you, Mother," Sally cried, stooping swiftly to lay her lips -against her mother's golden hair. "You've made me awfully happy." Her -voice shook a little with awed delight as she gave her mother the only -address she knew--David's grandfather's name and the R. F. D. route on -which his farm lay. - -"I suppose I'm having all this bother for nothing," Enid brightened. -"The boy would be an idiot to spend the money on the trip--even if he -has it to spend!" - -A beautiful light glowed in Sally's wide, dreaming eyes. "David will -come," she said softly. "He will come if he has to walk." - -"A hiking costume would be so appropriate at a society girl's debut," -Enid pointed out, a little maliciously, but she smiled then, a little -secret, satisfied smile, as if she hoped he would look a rube among the -sleek young men who would be asked to view her daughter when she was -officially put "on the market." - -But Sally was too happy to notice. "May I write him, too, Mother? It -would look so queer, just sending him an invitation, without a word--" - -"Absolutely not!" Enid was stern. "The invitation is more than -sufficient. Now run along, darling, and dress for Bobby's luncheon. It -seems to me there were never so many sub-deb parties as there are this -year, but you simply must go to all of them, if your first season is to -be a success. The list is going to be miles long," she worried. "Perhaps -it would have been wiser to have your party at the Ritz, as Mrs. Proctor -and most of the others are doing, but there seems to be little reason to -keep up an enormous establishment like this if you can't entertain in -it." - -"'Coming out' seems so silly," Sally protested with sudden, unusual -spirit. "Of course with me it's different. The crowd doesn't know me -very well yet, but nearly all of the debs have been really 'out' for two -or three years. They've been prom-trotting and going to the opera and -the theater alone with me, even to night clubs--I can't see what real -difference it will make to most of them--" - -"Of course you can't," Enid said with unintentional cruelty. "You -haven't been reared to this sort of thing. But you'll learn. Run along -now, and look your prettiest. And by the way, if you have a minute, -won't you stop by the photographers to choose the poses to be released -for publication? The society editors are calling up frantically. All -they've had are snapshots of you, and I want them to print a picture -that will do you justice. You're really the loveliest thing on the deb -list this year, you know. But do run along! I shan't get a blessed thing -done if you stay here gossiping with me." - -Sally laughed, kissed her mother and ran from the room, bumping into -Linda Rice, who was discreetly waiting outside the office until the -interview between mother and daughter should be finished. - -"Linda," she whispered, her face rosy with sweet embarrassment, "I gave -Mother the name of a very special friend of mine, to put on the -invitation list. You'll be a darling and mail it out today, won't you? -You see, he lives in the Middle West and I want him to have plenty of -time to plan to come. David Nash is the name." Her voice caressed the -three beloved syllables more tenderly than she realized, and Linda Rice -nodded her a knowing smile. - -"Of course, Sally. And I hope he comes. I'll mail it this very -afternoon." - -Sally ran up the broad, circular staircase to the third floor, scorning -to use the "lift" which Courtney Barr had had installed in the Fifth -Avenue mansion a few years before. - -She never entered her own suite of rooms--sitting room, bedroom, -dressing room and bath--without first an uneasy feeling that she was -trespassing and then a shock of delight that it was hers indeed. Now she -passed slowly through the rooms, trying to see them with David's eyes, -or even with the eyes of the forlorn little Sally Ford who had slaved -sixteen hours a day on the Carson farm for her "board and keep." - -Suddenly a picture flashed across her mind--the two-rooms-and-lean-to -shack in which she and David had eaten what was to have been their -wedding breakfast. A great nostalgia swept over her--not only for David, -but for plain people working together to make a home and to support -their children. - -All her life in the orphanage she had dreamed of delicate foods, -skin-caressing, lovely fabrics, spacious, gracious rooms. And now she -had them--and she was frightened to nausea, because they were a barrier -between her and David and all the realities of life and love which she -had so nearly grasped when she was slaving on the farm, working as -"Princess Lalla" in the carnival, fleeing from the pursuit of the law -with only David to protect her. - -She dressed listlessly for the sub-deb luncheon at the Ritz, chatted and -laughed and pretended to be as frivolous and "wild" as any of her new -friends; went to Claire Bainbridge's tea that afternoon; went to the -theater with her mother and adopted father that night, went, went, went -during the next few days, but her heart was concerned with only one -question: would David come? She had been so sure, so arrogantly, proudly -sure that he would come even if he had to walk-- - -On the fifth day after the invitation was despatched his telegram came. - -Color--all colors swirling together in a mad kaleidoscope of incredible -beauty; the muted, insistent throbbing of a violin played by an unseen -artist; the rosy glow of light which apparently had no source; the -rustling whisper of silks; the polite, subdued buzz of middle-aged -conversation; the shrill but musical clamor of very young voices; the -subtle, faint odor of French perfumes; the stronger, more sickening odor -of too many hothouse flowers-- - -Sally Barr, who had been Sally Ford, was "play-acting" again. She was -playing the role of a society debutante. She was "playing-acting" and -enjoying it, with a sort of surface enjoyment that made her look the -perfect picture of the popular and beautiful debutante. - -She knew that her cheeks were like tea roses, her sapphire eyes as -brilliant as the jewel whose color they had imitated so perfectly. She -knew that her wind-blown bob of gleaming, silky-soft black hair was -ravishing, that her "period costume" of sea-shell pink taffeta and -silver lace, made sinfully expensive by its intricate embroidery of seed -pearls, was the most beautiful dress worn by any debutante of the season -so far. - -She knew all these things because the enviously ecstatic compliments of -the other girls had told her so, because Enid Barr, her mother, who all -these people thought was only her adopted mother, was luminous with -pride and joy in her, because even Courtney Barr, with whom she still -felt ill-at-ease, looked like a pouter-pigeon in his possessive -satisfaction. - -But Sally Barr was play-acting and the Sally Ford she had been looked -on, in a skimpy little white lawn dress edged with five-cent lace, and -watched the performance with critical eyes, or, rather, watched as often -as those hungry, desperate eyes turned away from the door, unable to -bear the sight of newcomers because none of them was David. - -The Sally Ford in the skimpy little white lawn dress which the orphanage -provide for Sundays and for rare dress-up occasions wondered how these -strange, glamorous people could not see her beneath the sea-shell pink -taffeta with its silver lace and precious seed-pearl embroidery. And -this Sally Ford whom they could not see kept telling herself over and -over that her dreams had come true: she had a mother who was rich and -beautiful and tender and wise--nearly always wise, except about David; -she was living in a mansion more magnificent than the orphaned -"play-actress" had ever been able to conjure; she was beautiful and -popular; these strange people who were "in society" were here because -Sally Ford--no, Sally Barr!--was making her debut, was being accepted as -one of them. - -She told herself these things and her eyes again darted to the door, -hungry for the sign of a penniless, 23-year-old farmer boy who would be -as much out of place in this ballroom among these strange, glamorous -people as Sally Ford in her skimpy little white lawn dress. - -Three words hammered their staccato message ceaselessly on her -listening, watching nerves: "Coming. Thanks. David." Three words which -had broken the silence of two and a half years. -Coming--thanks--David--Coming--thanks--David-- - -"Darling, this is Mrs. Allenby, a very old and dear friend of mine--" - -Sally Barr smiled her shy, sweet, little-girl smile and Sally Ford noted -the success of it critically as the frumpy, dyed-haired little old lady -passed on down the receiving line. Coming--thanks--David--But, oh, was -he coming? - -She stole a glance at the tiny watch set in the circle of diamonds that -banded her bare arm just below the elbow. Half past eleven. Dancing -would begin at twelve. She had been smiling and twittering and looking -sweet and demure or provocative and gay since eight o'clock, when the -dinner for the debutantes had begun. - -How much longer could she keep it up? It was really absurd for them to -suppose that she could go on like this until three or four o'clock in -the morning, when her heart was broken-- - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - - -"Mr. David Nash!" - -Nothing, no one could have held her. The words had scarcely lift the -butler's lips when Sally reached David's side, her full skirt, -lengthened to the tips of her slippers by the frosty silver lace, -billowing like sails at the mooring of the snug little bodice. - -She seized his gloved hands, her joy-widened eyes blazing over his face, -his adored, so well-remembered face. - -"Oh, David! David! I thought you weren't coming! I'd have died if you -hadn't come!" She stepped back a pace, her small hands swinging his as -if she were a joyous child and there were no one else in the ballroom at -all. "You look older, David! You haven't been sick? You worked too hard -to finish college? Oh, David--" - -His eyes laughed at her through a barrier of embarrassment, and his -startlingly grim young face softened. It was true that he looked much -older; boyishness had left him, and Sally could have screamed out her -pain that this was so. He was thinner, or appeared to be, in his -perfectly fitting evening clothes. Odd to see him dressed like that, she -thought, near to tears. - -She had seen him in overalls and cheap "jeans" and in decent but -inexpensive tweeds. She had seen his big-muscled arms bare, the summer -sun gilding the fine hairs upon them; she had seen him sweating over the -cook stove in the privilege car of Bybee's Bigger and Better Carnival -Shows, stripped to a thin cotton undershirt. - -But she had never before seen him like this--immaculate, correct, of a -pattern, apparently, with all other well-dressed young college men. And -she was illogically hurt, felt as if the correctly stiff bosom of his -shirt was a veritable wall between the old David and the old Sally-- - -"They've cut off your beautiful hair," were his first words. - -She stood still, her hands slowly releasing his, feeling his eyes rove -over her, as hers had swept over him, and she did not need to look into -his eyes to find that he was withdrawing from her, alienated, -bewildered, saddened. - -She wanted to cry out to him, to beat his breast with her hands: "It's -Sally, David! Sally Ford underneath, Sally who loves you better than -anything in the world." But she did not say it, for Enid Barr was at her -elbow, and it was her mother's coldest most polite voice that was -welcoming David. - -"We're so glad you could come, Mr. Nash. Did you have a pleasant -journey? I'm glad. Sally, you _must_ come back into the receiving line, -darling. I'll introduce Mr. Nash." - -The next hour was an almost unbearable eternity to Sally. But she -"play-acted" through it--gave the tips of her fingers to late comers, -smiled, murmured appropriate phrases which Enid had painstakingly taught -her; opened the ball; danced, in rapid succession with the most -importunate of her male guests, for Enid, reluctantly acceding to the -new informality, had not insisted upon dance cards. - -But all the time her eyes were darting about on their quest for David. -She spotted him at last, near the door of the ballroom, moodily -listening to whatever it was that Courtney Barr was saying in his most -unctuous, weighty manner. - -"Please--I'll be back soon!" Sally gasped to her amazed partner, and -broke from his grasp. - -She did not in the least care that curious glances and uplifted brows -followed her fleet progress across the crowded ballroom floor. Her whole -attention was given to David, David who looked ill-at-ease and -wretched-- - -"Aren't you going to dance with me?" she cried as soon as she reached -him and her adopted father. "You mustn't let Father monopolize you. -Come, before the music stops." - -Unsmiling, David took her into his arms, gingerly, as if he were afraid -of crushing the precious dress. - -"Do you remember the other time we danced together, David?" she -whispered, her voice tender with memories. "In the Carsons' parlor. No -one else would dance with me and Pearl could have slain me because you -did. Remember?" - -David nodded, held her just a trifle closer, but his face was as grim -and unhappy as ever. She tucked her head against his broad breast and -closed her eyes so that he could not see her tears. When the music -stopped abruptly, she seized his hand, drew him urgently. - -"We've got to go somewhere to talk, David. I can't stand--this." - -He let her lead him down three flights of the magnificent circular -marble staircase, and because he was so silent she thought miserably -that it might be hurting him that she was so much at home in this vast, -splendid house. - -"Miss Rice's office!" she cried, after he had darted about in an -unsuccessful effort to find a secluded nook not already occupied by -truant couples. - -When the door had closed upon them, she faced him, her breath catching -on a little gasp of anticipation. But his arms stayed rigidly at his -side. - -"It was in this very room, David," she began eagerly, "that I fought the -battle with Mother and won. I made her keep her promise to me to invite -you to my coming-out ball. She promised me two and a half years ago, -promised so I would promise her not to write to you. But I wrote you -every week, sometimes oftener, and I'm still writing every week, though -I can't mail the letters. Now I can! Now I can! Do you realize I'm of -age, David? I'm eighteen and a half, and I'm 'out.' Isn't that funny? -I'm officially 'out' now, and I can do as I please." - -Her voice dragged a little at the end, for he was looking at her as if -she were a stranger, or as if he were trying to make her feel like a -stranger to him. With a moan, she lifted her arms and crept so close to -him that she could lay her head against his breast. "Aren't you--going -to kiss me, David? I've waited so long, so long--" - -She felt him stiffen, then his hands came up slowly and fastened upon -hers. But it was only to remove her hands from his shoulders-- - -"You must forget me, Sally, or remember me only when you remember Sally -Ford and Pitty Sing and Jan and Pop Bybee. We all belong together in -your memory, and none of us belongs in Sally Barr's life." His voice was -level, heavy, not the young, tender, musical voice that had made love to -her during the carnival days. - -She took a backward step, a little drunkenly, and the face she lifted -bravely for whatever blow he was going to deal her was pinched and -white, the eyes blue-black with pain. "Don't you love me any more, -David?" - -"I'm a poor man and I'm not a fortune-hunter," David answered grimly. -"I--don't know Sally Barr." - -She shrank from him then, backward, step by step, so stricken, so -white-faced, that the boy clenched his hands in agony. - -They were still staring at each other when the door opened, and an -almost forgotten but now shockingly familiar voice sang out -nonchalantly: - -"Bobby Proctor told me I'd find you here, Sally." - -It was Arthur Van Horne, whom she had not seen since the last day of the -carnival in Capital City. - -"Please don't go, David!" Sally implored, but he mistook her distress, -occasioned by Arthur Van Home's entirely unexpected appearance, for a -plea for a longer interview which he knew would only cause them both -pain. - -He shook his head dumbly and strode to the door. He paused there a -moment to bow jerkily first toward Sally, then toward Van Horne, who was -watching the scene with amused, cynical eyes. - -Pride mercifully came to Sally's aid then; she closed her lips firmly -over the question she had been about to fling at David with desperate -urgency. She even managed to wave her hand with what she hoped was airy -indifference as David opened the door. - -"So!" Van Horne chuckled when the door had closed softly. "It's still -Sally and David, isn't it? I'm glad I was vouchsafed a glimpse of this -paragon. Astonishingly good-looking in a Norse Viking sort of way, but -rather a bull in a China shop here, isn't he? But I presume that is why -Enid fondly hoped when she allowed him to come. I gather that she did -invite him? A very clever woman, Enid. I've always said so." - -Sally's teeth closed hurtingly over her lower lip, but she said nothing. -The pain and horror of David's uncompromising rebuff were still too -great to permit room in her heart for fear of Van Horne. Of course he -had recognized her at once, had undoubtedly recognized her from her -pictures in the papers, but what did it matter now? David was -gone--gone--He had not even kissed her-- - -"Still afraid of me, Sally?" Van Horne laughed, as her eyes remained -fixed on his face in a blind, unseeing stare. - -"Afraid of you?" Sally echoed, her voice struggling strangely through -pain. "Oh, you mean--?" She tried to collect her wits, to push aside the -incredible fact of David's desertion, so that she could concentrate on -Van Horne and the frightening significance of his presence here coupled -with his knowledge of her past. - -"Dear little Sally!" Van Horne said tenderly, and Sally clenched her -fist to strike him for using the words which had been heavenly sweet -when David had uttered them so long ago. "I told you the last time I saw -you that you had not seen the last of Arthur Van Horne. I meant it, but -I give you my word I hardly expected to find you _here_! I spent the -deuce of a lot of time and money trying to trace you after you left the -carnival. Old Bybee finally told me that you'd run away and had probably -married your David. So I took my broken heart to China, Japan, Egypt and -God knows where. And now like the chap who sought for the Holy Grail, I -find you at home waiting for me." - -"I wasn't waiting for you," Sally contradicted him indignantly. "I was -waiting for David and he's just told me that he doesn't want me. I hoped -I'd never see you again!" - -"Why, Sally, Sally!" Van Horne chided her, his black eyes full of -mocking humor. "Don't you realize that I'm the oldest friend you have in -this new life of yours? I really haven't got used to the idea yet of -your being Enid Barr's daughter. Of course I knew there was something -mysterious about her overweening interest in 'Princess Lalla,' but this -thick old bean of mine wasn't functioning very well in those days. My -heart was too full of that same lovely little crystal-gazer. But when I -read the rather masterly bit of fiction in the papers, the story which -good old asinine Courtney Barr gave out as to your parentage and his -wardship which he had supplanted by a legal adoption, the old bean began -to click again, and I can assure you I got a great deal of quiet -enjoyment out of the thing. Fancy the impeccable Enid Barr's having--" - -"Oh, stop" Sally commanded him, flaming with anger. "Don't dare say a -word against my mother--I mean, against Enid--" - -"Against your mother," Van Horne corrected her serenely. "Of course I -haven't told anyone, Sally, and I don't really see why I should, -if--Listen, child: don't you think we ought to have a long, comfortable -talk about--old times? We're likely to be interrupted here any minute by -a chaperon--or by your mother or by a couple of young idiots seeking a -quiet place to 'neck' in. Slip out of the house when the show's -over--the servants' entrance will be better--and we'll go for a drive -through the park." - -"I shall do no such thing," Sally repudiated the suggestion hotly. "I'm -going back to the ballroom now. Please don't come with me." - -When she arrived, breathless, at the door of the ballroom, she bumped -into Enid, whose face was white and anxious and suddenly almost old. - -"Darling, _where_ have you been?" her mother whispered fiercely. "I've -had Courtney and Randall and two of the footmen looking for you. This is -_your_ party, you know. You have other guests besides David Nash. I knew -it was a mistake to ask him--" - -"Where is he, Mother?" Sally interrupted rudely. "I've been with someone -else most of the time." She could not bring herself yet to mention Van -Horne's name to her mother, for fear Enid would notice that something -was sadly amiss. - -"I haven't seen him," Enid protested. "But run along now and dance. It's -the last dance before supper. Remember that Grant Proctor is taking you -down. Do be sweet to him, Sally." - -"She would like for me to marry Grant Proctor," Sally reflected dully, -as she obediently let herself be drawn into the dance by an ardent-eyed -young man whose name she could not remember. "She wants me to marry -Grant Proctor, when I'm already half-married to David. But David doesn't -want me! Oh, David!" - -Just before supper was announced she slipped away to her own rooms, to -cry the hot tears that were pressing against her eyeballs. And on her -dressing table she found a note, undoubtedly placed there by her own -maid. Her cold, shaking fingers had difficulty in opening it, for she -knew at once that it was from David. - -"Dear little Sally," she read, and the tears gushed then. "Forgive me -for bolting like this, but I couldn't stand it any longer. You know I -love you, that 'I'll be loving you always,' but you must also know that -Sally Barr cannot marry David Nash, and that anything less would be too -terrible for both of us. You must be wondering why I came. I wanted to -see for myself that you are happy, that your mother is good to you. And, -of course, I wanted to see you again, wanted to see if there was -anything of my Sally in this beautiful Sally Barr that the papers are -making so much of. - -"I think it has made it harder for me to find that underneath the new -surface you are still Sally Ford. But they'll change the core of you -almost as rapidly as they have remade the surface of you into a society -beauty. And after you're changed all through you'll be glad I went away. -I'll carry my own Sally in my heart always, and the new Sally Barr will -fall in love with the splendid young son of some old family, marry him -and make her mother very happy. She would never forgive us, Sally, if I -took you away and made you live on what I can earn as a farmer, and she -would be right not to forgive. I would not forgive myself, and after -awhile you'd be unhappy, too, remembering all that you had lost, -including a mother who adores you. Goodby, Sally. David." - -She was so quiet, so white at supper that Grant Proctor, who was already -in love with her, begged her to let him give her a drink from his pocket -flask, but she refused, scarcely knowing what he had said to her. Once -she caught her mother's eyes, and shivered at the anxiety and reproach -in them. - -Suddenly a fierce resentment against Enid Barr rose and beat sickeningly -in her blood. If she had not interfered, she and David would have been -married long ago. They would have been happy in poverty, would have -struggled side by side to banish poverty, might even have had a tiny -David and Sally of their own by this time. And now David was irrevocably -gone, so that Enid Barr might keep her daughter. Sally wanted to nurse -her anger against her mother, but it was impossible to do so, for she -loved her. - -When the jazz orchestra was hilariously summoning the debutantes to the -dance floor again Arthur Van Horne claimed Sally over the protests of -the half dozen younger men who were good-naturedly wrangling for the -honor. - -"You're going to meet me after this foolish, delightful show is over, -aren't you? Of course you are!" he smiled down upon her as he led her -out upon the floor. - -Sally looked up at him wearily and saw that there was more than -amusement and gallantry in his narrowed, smiling black eyes. There was -menace, which he did not try to conceal, wanted her to see-- - -"You do love your mother, don't you?" he smiled significantly. "Maybe -you'll learn to love Van a little, too. It would be--very wise." - -It was half past four o'clock when the tireless debutantes were willing -to call it a night. Sally braved the thing out, but her face was wan as -she listened to the last compliments on the success of the party which -had officially launched her into the circles of society to which her -mother belonged by the divine right of inheritance and immense wealth. - -"We'll talk it all over tomorrow, sweetheart," Enid said pityingly. "You -run along to bed now. I've got to give a few instructions to Randall. -And you'd better stay in bed all day, or until tea time anyway. You were -marvelous tonight, darling. So beautiful, so sweet. These wild young -flappers--but run along, daughter beloved. You look as if you might -faint with fatigue. Have Ernestine bring you some hot milk." - -It was ridiculously easy for Sally to slip out of the house, using the -servants' entrance, as Van Horne had suggested. She found him waiting -for her and submitted wearily to being led to where his car was parked, -a block away. - -"What do you want, Van?" she asked abruptly, when the car turned into -Central Park from Fifth Avenue at Eighty-fourth street, the wheels -crunching the glazed crust of new snow. - -"To talk with you and hold your hand and possibly kiss you--oh, very -possibly!" Van Horne laughed at her, reaching for her hand. - -"What did you mean when you said it would be 'very wise' for me to love -you a little?" she persisted, too tired to be diplomatic. But of course -she knew. He held her mother's security and happiness in the hollow of -his hand. That he could destroy her own social career if he wished did -not occur to her, for she had not yet learned to care about it, to prize -it. But Enid must be protected at all costs. - -"I think you know," Van Horne shrugged. "But why put it into words? Some -things are much nicer unsaid, if they are distinctly understood. -Now--will you kiss me, Sally? I've waited a long time, sweet child, and -I'm naturally not a patient man." - -"Not tonight," Sally said in a low, flat voice, shrinking into her own -corner of the seat. "Please turn at One Hundred and Tenth street and -take me back home, Van. I'm utterly tired." - -Van obeyed cheerfully, exultant over her indirect promise. Sally was -creeping exhaustedly up the stairs to her room, her mother, still -dressed in her formal ball gown, came hurrying frantically down to meet -her. - -"Darling, where have you been? I've been crazy with worry! How _could_ -you go out and meet that Nash boy so brazenly? Tonight of all nights!" - -"It wasn't David, Mother," Sally said in a dead-tired voice. "It was -Arthur Van Horne. He--knows--all about me. He's known all along." - -Five weeks later--it was in early January, just before the annual -scurrying of self-coddling society folk from the rigors of a New York -winter to the sunshine of Palm Beach and Nassau--Sally Barr, "one of the -season's most beautiful debutantes," as the society editors called her, -sat at a table for six in one of New York's most exclusive night clubs. - -She was thankful for the fact that an inhumanly flexible male dancer was -doing his most incredible tricks for the amusement of the club's -patrons, for watching him gave her an opportunity to think, an excuse -for not chattering brightly as debutantes were expected to do. - -Grant Proctor, whom Enid had hoped she would marry, sat opposite her, -Arthur Van Horne on her right. Beside Grant, twittering and giggling, -was Claire Bainbridge, whose engagement to the heir of the Proctor -millions would be announced from Palm Beach. - -And yet Sally was conscious that Grant's nice, leaf-brown eyes followed -her with a frustrated, doglike devotion whenever she was near him. He -had told her that he loved her, and Sally, terribly anxious to please -her mother and to secure Enid Barr's safety from scandal, had been ready -to listen to his proposal of marriage. Since David was lost to her, it -did not much matter whom she married. - -"But if he asks me to marry him, Mother, I'll have to tell him the truth -about my birth," Sally had told Enid. - -Now, with her wistful eyes apparently watching the agile dancer, she -remembered Enid's horrified protest. "You can't tell him, Sally! He -wouldn't marry you if he knew. His parents wouldn't let him. Promise me -you won't tell, darling!" - -And so Sally had not told him, but when he did ask her to marry him she -refused him. His as yet unannounced engagement to Claire Bainbridge had -followed swiftly, but his eyes were still pathetically true to Sally. - -She shifted her position a trifle, so that she could observe Arthur Van -Horne out of the corner of her eye. Not that she wanted to see him! She -had been forced to see so much of him since the night of her debut party -that the very sound of his mocking, drawling voice was obnoxious to her. -She would never forget her mother's terror, her abject pleading and -tears. - -"Don't antagonize him, darling!" Enid had begged. "He can ruin us, ruin -us! Be nice to him, Sally! If--if he was in love with you during those -awful carnival days, maybe--" She had hesitated, ashamed to put her hope -into words. "Van is really a rather wonderful man, you know, darling. -One of the most eligible bachelors in New York society. Old family, no -mother or father to dictate to him, a tremendous fortune. Of course, -he's cynical and blase, and rather more experienced than I'd like, -but--just be nice to him, darling. Maybe--" - -That shamefaced "maybe" of Enid's had kept thrusting itself upon Sally's -rebellious attention ever since. Enid, more frightened of Van's power -over her than she would admit, even to Sally, threw the two together on -every possible occasion. After Grant Proctor had retreated from the -field, smarting under his refusal by Sally, Enid had almost feverishly -concentrated on Van Horne. Sally had stubbornly insisted to her mother -that she would not marry any man whom she could not tell the truth about -her illegitimacy, and Enid had just as stubbornly refused to consider -the possibility of Sally's telling. - -"If Van really knows," she had told Sally in desperation, "that is one -too many. You could not possibly harm any man by marrying him without -telling. You're _our_ daughter now--the legally adopted daughter of Mr. -and Mrs. Courtney Barr. That is all that matters." - -"What matters to me," Sally had insisted wearily, "is that no man that -you would like for me to marry would have me if he knew. I can't cheat. -Of course I don't have to marry." - -"Of course not," Enid had agreed with assumed gayety. "But since Van -does know--Of course, since he already knows, if you married him it -would be as much to his interest to forget it and protect me--us--as it -is ours. But I want you to be happy, darling." - -Sally, her little round chin supported on her laced fingers, her eyes -brooding upon the dancer whom she did not see, reflected with an -unchildlike bitterness that there was no question now of her being -happy. Happiness lay behind her; she had almost grasped it, had been -"half-married" to a man she loved. David! His name flashed through her -heart like the thrust of a red-hot lancet. - -"Dance, Sally? Or do you prefer to go on dreaming?" Van Horne's low, -teasing voice interrupted her bitter reverie. - -She made a sudden resolution, rose with sprightly vivacity from her -chair, flung a sparkling glance to her mother whose beautiful face was a -little pinched with the strain under which she had lived these last few -weeks. "Dance, of course. Van!" she cried, wrinkling her nose at him -with a provocative moue. "I was dreaming about you! Aren't you -flattered?" - -She saw her mother's pinched face flush and bloom with hope, caught an -austere but approving smile from Courtney Barr, with whom she had not -yet reached the intimacy that should exist between a father and a -daughter, even an adopted daughter. If she could make them so happy by -marrying Arthur Van Horne, why let her own feelings prevent? If she -couldn't have David, what difference did it make whom she married? And -if she married Van Horne the only menace to her mother's reputation -would be removed. - -"You adorable little thing!" Van Horne whispered, as he swept her out -upon the crowded dance floor. "So you were dreaming about me? Pleasant -dreams, little Princess Lalla?" His ardent, dark face was bending close, -his black eyes free of mockery but lit by a fire that repelled her. - -"Did you really fall in love with 'Princess Lalla'?" Sally forced -herself to ask coquettishly, fluttering her long lashes in the demure -fashion which had proved so effective during her short career as a -debutante. - -"Absurd question!" Van Horne jeered softly. "Didn't I convince you at -the time? Listen, Sally, I almost never see you alone. Enid seems to -have an antiquated leaning toward chaperonage." - -"Chaperons are 'coming in' again," Sally laughed at him, hiding her -distaste. "Mother adores being a leader of fashion, you know." - -"You're so adorable tonight that I want to run away with you," Van told -her boldly. "But I'll try to be content if you'll promise me to come to -my apartment alone for tea tomorrow. Do, Sally! I've something to tell -you. Can you guess?" - -She stiffened, every nerve on the defensive against him. But she -remembered her resolution, and nodded slowly, her head tucked on one -side, her eyes granting him a swift, shy upward glance. - -"If you look at me like that again, I'll kiss you right here on the -dance floor!" Van threatened exultantly, as his arms tightened about -her. - -Enid's pathetic gratitude to her for being "nice" to Van Horne -strengthened the girl's resolution to carry it through. She dressed with -especial care for her tea date with Van the next afternoon, pinning the -corsage of Parma violets which he had sent her on the full shawl collar -of her Russian squirrel coat. - -But before she left her room she took the ring David had given her from -the box in which she had hidden it because the sight of it hurt her so -intolerably, and kissed the shallow, flawed little sapphire with -passionate grief. - -"Goodby, David," she whispered to the ring, but inconsistently she -thrust it into her dark-blue and gray leather handbag. No matter what -sort of ring Van gave her, it could never be so precious to her as this -cheap little ring that David had given her to mark their betrothal. - -She had visited Van Horne's apartment once before with Enid, but as she -gave the floor number to the elevator operator--it was one of the most -exclusive and expensive of the new Park Avenue apartment houses--she -thought she saw a gleam of amusement in the man's eyes. - -Almost as soon as her finger had pressed the bell the door was opened by -Van himself, Van in a black and maroon silk dressing gown over -impeccable trousers and shirt. She was drawing back instinctively when -he laughed his low, mocking laugh and, seizing her hands, pulled her -resisting body into the room. - -"I think one reason I am so mad about you, Sally my darling, is that you -are always fluttering out of my reach like a frightened bird. You are -superb in a Lillian Gish role, but even Lillian Gish is captured and -tamed before the end of the film. Like this!" And he laughed exultingly -as his arms encircled her quivering, fluttering little body, held it -crushingly against his breast. - -Only her head was free to weave from side to side as his flushed, -laughing face came closer and closer. "The best kissing technique -advocates the closing of the eyes, darling," he gibed with tender -mockery. "And there is a point at which maidenly coyness ceases to be -charming. Now!" - -She submitted to his kiss then, but her lips were lax, unresponsive. -When he released her, an angry glint in his eyes, she backed away, -touching her lips involuntarily with her handkerchief. "Please -don't--kiss me again--like that, Van," she quavered. "Not yet. I'll -marry you, but you'll have to give me time to get used to--you." - -The blank amazement in his eyes made her voice falter lamely. Then he -laughed, a short bark that was utterly unlike the tenderly mocking -laughter which she had always inspired in him. - -"You'll _marry_ me?" His voice was staccato with contempt. "By heaven, -your naivete is magnificent! You should be enshrined in a museum! Thanks -for your kind offer, Miss Barr, but I must confess, if your innocence -will stand the strain, that my intentions in regard to you did not -include marriage. They were strictly dishonorable. When a Van Horne -allows himself to be led to the altar, the successful huntress is a -woman who is at least socially worthy to be the mother of future Van -Hornes. There is as yet no bar sinister on our coat of arms.... - -"No, walk, not run, to the nearest exit." He barked his new, ugly laugh -at her as Sally was backing hurriedly toward the door, her body hunched -as if his words had been actual blows, her face ghastly white. "You are -entirely free to go, with my blessing! I am rather a connoisseur at -kissing and I have just suffered a grievous disappointment. At the risk -of appearing ungallant, I am forced to admit that you would have bored -me intolerably if you had consented to 'trust me and give me all' in -exchange for my silence in regard to your birth. Goodby, Sally--and good -luck." - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - - -Somehow she made her way home, crept painfully, like a mortally wounded -animal, up the circular staircase to her room. Bracing her shaking hands -on her dressing table, she stared at her reflection in the mirror as if -she had never seen that white-faced, enormous-eyed, stricken girl -before. - -Then horror and loathing of herself swept over her with such force that -her knees buckled, and she sank to the floor. As she fell her hand -knocked from the dressing table a copy of The Capital City Press, for -which she was still subscribing, over her mother's protest, to glean -sparse news of David. - -She shuddered as the roll bounced from her knees but in another moment -her sick eyes flamed with new life, for half-revealed by the folding of -the sheets was an unmistakable picture of the boy she still loved. - -Her trembling fingers gouged at the wrapper. Why was _his_ picture on -the front page? Was he in trouble? Hurt? Or--married? - -Sally, crouching on the floor of her room, spread the crackling sheets -of The Capital City Press, her eyes devouring the two-column picture of -David Nash. Two lines of type above the photograph leaped out at her: - -"Honor graduate of A. & M. inherits grandfather's farm." - -He hadn't been injured or killed in an accident, he wasn't married! In a -frenzy of relief and gratitude to the God she had just been accusing of -deserting her, Sally Barr, who had been Sally Ford, bent her head until -her lips rested on the lips of the photograph. And it was rather a pity -that Arthur Van Horne, "connoisseur of kissing," was not there to see -the passionate fervor of the kisses which the girl whom he had dismissed -contemptuously was raining upon an unresponsive newspaper picture. - -When at last she was calmer she read the short item through. It was the -last paragraph that brought her to her feet, her slight body electric -with sudden determination: - -"Young Nash is living alone in the fine old farmhouse, and apparently is -as capable in the kitchen as on the seat of a cultivator. He says his -whole heart is in scientific farming, and that his only sweetheart is -'Sally,' a blue-ribbon heifer which he is grooming to break the world's -butter-fat production record." - -"David! Darling David!" she was laughing and crying at the same time. -"He hasn't changed! He hasn't forgotten that we're half-married!" - -Jerking open a drawer of her dressing table she caught sight of her face -in the mirror, and her eyes widened with delighted surprise. Gone was -the pinched, white, shame-stricken face, and in its place was beauty -such as she had never dreamed she possessed. She turned away from the -mirror, tremulous and abashed, for what she had to do would not be easy. -Her eyes tried to avoid the exquisite photograph of her mother that -stood in its blue leather frame on the dressing table, but at last she -snatched it up and carried it against her breast as she ran to her desk. - -She felt that she was talking to Enid as she wrote, pleading for -understanding and forgiveness from those dreaming, misty, -cornflower-blue eyes: - -"Mother, darling: I'm running away, to go to David. Please don't try to -stop me or bring me back, for I'll have to run away again if you do. I'm -going to marry David because I love him with all my heart and because he -is the only man I could ever marry without causing you shame. He already -knows the truth, and it made no difference in his love for me. You know -how it was with Grant Proctor. You said yourself that if I told him, he -would not want to marry me. And I could never marry a man without first -telling him the truth. Arthur Van Horne knew and wanted me to be his -mistress. He told me today. He did not think I was good enough to be his -wife. It would always be the same. And so I am going to David, who knows -and loves me anyway. - -"Oh, Mother, forgive me for hurting you like this! But don't you see -that I would hurt you more by staying? After a while you would be -ashamed of me because I could not marry. I would humiliate you in the -eyes of your friends. And I could not be happy ever, away from David. I -wanted to die after Arthur Van Horne told me today what he really wanted -of me, but now I know I want to live--with David. Please, Mother, don't -think my love for you--" - -She could write no more just then. Laying her hot cheek against the cold -glass of the framed photograph of her mother she sobbed so loudly, so -heart-brokenly that she did not hear a knock upon the door, did not know -her grief was being witnessed until she felt a hand upon her shoulder. - -"Sally, darling! What in the world is the matter?" It was Enid Barr's -tender, throaty contralto. - -Sally sprang to her feet, her eyes wild with fear, her mother's picture -still tightly clutched in her hands. "I--I was writing you a letter!" -she gasped. "I--I--" - -"Perhaps I'd better read it now," Enid said in an odd voice, and reached -for the scattered sheets of pale gray notepaper on the desk. - -Sally wavered to a chair and slumped into it, too dazed with despair to -think coherently. She could not bear to look at her mother, for she knew -now how cowardly she had been, how abysmally selfish. - -Her flaming face was hidden by her hands when, after what seemed many -long minutes, she heard her mother's voice again: - -"Poor Sally! You couldn't trust me? You'd have run away--like that? -Without giving me a chance to prove my love for you?" - -Sally dropped her hands and stared stupidly at her mother. Enid was -coming toward her, the newspaper with David's picture in it rustling -against the crisp taffeta of her bouffant skirt. And on Enid's face was -an expression of such sorrowful but loving reproach that Sally burst -into wild weeping. - -"Poor little darling!" Enid dropped to her knees beside Sally's chair -and took the girl's cold, shaking hands in hers. "We all make mistakes, -Sally. I've made more than my share. Maybe I'm getting old enough now to -have a little wisdom. And I want to keep you from making a mistake that -would cause both of us--and Court--untold sorrow." - -"But I love David and I shan't love anyone else," Sally sobbed, though -she knew her resistance was broken. - -"I'm forced to believe that now, darling," Enid said gently. "And I -shall not stand in the way of your happiness with him. That is not the -mistake I meant." - -"You mean that you'll let me marry him?" Sally cried incredulously. "Oh, -Mother! I love you so!" - -"And I love you, Sally." Enid's voice broke and she cuddled Sally's cold -hands against the velvety warmth of her own throat. "Your mistake would -have been to run away to marry David. You have a mother and father now, -Sally. You're no longer a girl alone, as David called you. You have a -place in society as our daughter, whether you want it or not. If David -wants to marry you, he must come here to do so, must marry you with our -consent and blessing." - -"But--" Sally's joy suddenly turned to despair again. "He wouldn't marry -a girl with a fortune. He told me so when he was here." - -"That was when he was penniless himself," Enid pointed out. "I've just -read this newspaper story about his inheriting his grandfather's farm. -It's a small fortune in itself, and since there's no immediate danger of -your inheriting either my money or Court's, I don't believe he will let -your prospective wealth stand in the way--if he loves you." - -"Oh, he does!" Sally laughed through her tears. "Look!" She snatched the -newspaper from the floor and pointed to the last paragraph of the story -about David. "He named his prize heifer after me! It says here his only -sweetheart is 'Sally'! Oh, Mother, I didn't know anyone could live -through such misery and such happiness as I felt today! I wanted to kill -myself after Van--Oh!" - -"Tell me just exactly what he said to you!" Enid commanded, her lovely -voice sharpened with anger and fear. - -When Sally had repeated the contemptuous, sneering speech as accurately -as possible, her mother's face, which had been almost ugly with anger, -cleared miraculously. - -"The man is an unspeakable cad, darling, but I am almost glad it -happened, since you escaped unscathed. He won't bother us again. I'm -sure of it! He is not quite low enough to gossip about me to my friends. -It is evident that he planned all along to use his knowledge as a club -to force you to submit to his desires. And now that he doesn't want you -any more, he will lose interest in the whole subject. I've known Van -nearly all my life and I've never known him to act the cad before. He's -probably despising himself, now that his fever has cooled. If you marry -David with our consent, he'll probably turn up at your wedding and offer -sincere congratulations with a whispered reassurance as to his ability -to keep our secret." - -"_When_ I marry David, not if!" Sally cried exultantly, flinging her -arms about her mother's neck. "Oh, I'm so glad I have a mother!" - -"Don't strangle me!" Enid laughed. "Leave me strength to write a -proposal of marriage to this cocksure young farmer who brags that he is -as capable in the kitchen as on the seat of a cultivator!" - -"He can't cook half as well as I can!" Sally scoffed. "You ought to -taste one of my apple pies! He can play nurse to his blue-ribbon stock -all he wants to, but he's got to let me do the cooking! And, Mother, -you'll tell him how much I love him, won't you? And--and you might -remind him that we only need half a marriage ceremony--the last half. -Wouldn't it be fun if we could go back to Canfield and let 'the marrying -parson' finish the job?" - -"Don't be too confident!" Enid warned her. "He may refuse you!" But at -sight of Sally's dismay she relented. "I know he loves you, darling. -Don't worry. If I were you I'd get busy immediately on a trousseau." - -"One dozen kitchen aprons will top the list," Sally laughed. - -Four days later the second telegram that Sally had received from David -arrived. "Catching next train East, darling. Happiest man in the world. -Can we be married day I arrive? Am wiring your blessed mother also. I'll -be loving you always. David." - -"Of course you can't be married the day he arrives!" Enid exclaimed -indignantly when Sally showed her the telegram. "I'm going to give you a -real wedding." - -"I think the children are right, Enid." Courtney Barr unexpectedly -championed Sally in her protest. "A quiet impromptu wedding, by all -means. Our announcement to the papers will indicate that we approve, and -since the boy is unknown in New York and Sally has only just been -introduced, I think the less fuss the better." - -Sally kissed him impulsively, aware, though the knowledge did not hurt -her, that he liked her better now that she was to leave his home, than -he had ever liked her. David arrived on Monday, and was guest of honor -that night at a small party of Enid's and Sally's most intimate friends, -at which time announcement of the forthcoming marriage was made. They -remembered having seen him briefly at Sally's coming-out party and so -handsome he was, so much at ease, now that he was to be married to the -girl he loved, that it occurred to none of Enid's guests to question his -eligibility. Sally, sitting proudly beside him, looked happily from her -mother to David, knew that in gaining a husband she was not losing a -mother, as she would have done if Enid had not interrupted the writing -of that terrible letter. - -On Tuesday Sally and David, accompanied by Enid and Courtney Barr, went -to the municipal building for the marriage license, and the afternoon -papers carried the news on the front pages, under such headlines as: -"Popular Deb to Marry Rich Farmer." But in all the stories there was no -hint of scandal, no reportorial prying into the "past" of the adopted -daughter of the rich and prominent Courtney Barrs. - -The wedding took place on Wednesday, in the drawing-room of the Barrs' -Fifth Avenue mansion, and the next morning, in his account of the "very -quiet" wedding, a society editor commented: "The ceremony was read by -the Reverend Horace Greer, of Canfield, ----, the choice of celebrant -being dictated by unexplained sentiment." - -What the society editor did not know was that "the marrying parson" of -Canfield spoke only the last half of the marriage service, beginning -where he had been interrupted nearly three years before. - -Sally and David were no longer "half married." - -THE END - - ---- - -Don't Stop Here! - -There are more stories that will thrill and fascinate you for the same -unprecedented low cost. - -What greater measure of enjoyment can be gleaned from any source than -from good books? 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