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The Wingham Advance-Times, 1937-12-23, Page 18PAGE TEN WINGHAM ADVANCE-TIMES mill people-—” Jane began, but Melis­ sa cut in sharply: “Of course—1 know all about that. He’s the son of Alma and Rufus Kel­ vin. I remember them well. People thought they were fools to work so hard and stint themselves to try to make a doctor out of their boy^Well, what’s he like? Is he a good doctor?" “The mill people swear by him. He works among them. Has refused a chance of being a partner to Dr. Has­ brook—” “I don’t blame him for that! A drunken old quack like Hasbrook—’’ “Mother, Dr. Hasbrook is very well thought of—” “Then it’s only by fools. I’ve known him since he was a boy in knee pants, and he’s no good. I tell you. I wouldn’t let him doctor a sick dog, if I thought anything of the dog, This Dr. Kelvin must be a pretty shrewd young man to turn down a partnership with that old scoundrel,” said Melissa in a tone that announc­ ed she wanted no argument as to the relative merits and vices of Dr. Has­ brook. “I want to see this Dr. Kel­ vin. He sound like a right nice young man." And Jane, studying her, demanded -suddenly, frankly, “Mother — what are you up to now?” Melissa stared at her, eyes round and childlike, a look of almost un­ bearable innocence on her crumpled old fate. “Up to?” she repeated, politely puz­ zled. “Why, I’m sure I don’t know what you mean, Janie.” Jane grinned at her. “Albright, Mother — you win! But we both know you are up to some­ thing, even if you won’t admit it! But ,__ _ L.2. I won’t* pester you^•never mind. I won’t* pester about it,” she said lightly. Melissa hid a cynical grin. “A deuce of a lot of good it would do you if you did,” she answered cheerfully. CHAPTER XIX The following morning a commit­ tee composed oi Chloe and three oth­ er girls from the Day Nursery Club went into Cunningham’s, Oakton s * finest furniture shop, and selected the furnishings for the Day Nursery. Af­ terwards they dropped in on Rosalie, in the auditorium of the big white frame Community House and watch­ ed the quietly efficient way in which Rosalie was whipping the tableaux in­ to some sort of form. After lunch, wlren she had said good-bye to the committee, Chloe turned her roadster towards Jennie Barwell’s comfortable, cheerful look­ ing house. As she, went up the walk she heard the sound of childish voic­ es from the back and knew that Jen­ nie Barwell had been unable, to re­ fuse the car of the children, despite her worry and the illness of her hus­ band. Well, Chloe promised herself, tomorrow the children should all be delivered at the new Day Nursery and Jennie’s Barwell’s hands would be filled only with the care of her hus­ band. Jennie came to meet her as she en­ tered the small dark hall, and when they reached the glassed in “sun-par- lor” (which had started life as a back porch) she saw that Jennie had been crying. “Oh, I’m sorry. Your husband—” she, began, but Jennie shook" her head. “No, lie’s as well as could be ex- .’peCted. It’s his heart. He’s over-ex­ erted himself and his heart’s badly strained, but if he has quiet and care and all that, he’ll be all right, the doc­ tor says,” answered Jennie. “It’s them two poor kids—Susie May and her little brother, Timmy.” Chloe remembered the little tow­ headed girl who had doubted the ex­ istence of “Santy Claus” and had been so impressed at the thought of a doll “with sleepy eyes and a w’ite dress.” “That good-for-nothin’ mother of theirs has skipped out on ’em. De­ serted them cold,” said Jennie, and her eyes snapped at the thought of such wickedness. ( “Honest, Miss Chloe, I could wring her neck with my own two hands! She brought ’em here yesterday morning same time the other women brought their kids. She was as meek as you please and as pleasant as always. It wasn’t ’til last night when the other women come to get their young uns that I found Out she had quit her job night before last and that she’d skipped town, No­ body knows where she went nor why, but everybody knows she ain’t cornin’ back. All that was left in the rooms her and the kids had been livin’ in Was a pasteboard box with the kids clothes in ’em. I’d keep the little fel­ lers and be glad to, but with Paw down sick, and. two of the boys aimin’' to get married and me and Paw ain’t so young any more, ^reckon the only thing we can do is send 'em to the Home—but I do hate to!" Chloe looked down at the improvis­ ed crib in which the small Timmy lay sound asleep, one tiny crumpled fist flung up, the other one curled on his tiny chest. His small, well-shaped head, was covered with an absurd fluff of dark hair, His wee button of a nose, his tiny pursed mouth, all the small, defenseless helpless shape of him suddenly tugged at Chloe’s heart. So tiny, so frail, so helpless, to be tos­ sed out into a disinterested world.' The poor mite! She looked up at Jennie suddenly and said, “I’ll "take them both home with me, Mrs. Barwell.’’ “Oh, but Miss Chloe, maybe your father wont’ like it." “Don’t be silly, Dad’s a pushover for babies and cats and pups. He’ll adore them! Where’s Susie May? I might as well take ’em right along now,” she said cheerfully and stooped and scooping the small sleeping Tim­ my so tenderly in her arms that he' did not awaken as she bundled a wrap about" him. The two children were stowed into the car and Chloe drove home with them. She had been tempted to stop at the hospital and show them to Dr. Kelvin, but she was,afraid that it wouldn’t be a good idea to keep Tim­ my out of doors in this bleak, chill wind any longer than was necessary. She reached the stately old house in mid-afternoon. Her grandmother's old-fashioned, expensive and still dis- spensable car was parked in the drive as Chloe got out of her roadster and, with Timmy in her arms, Susie May clinging to her skirt, went into the house. She came face to face with Melissa, dressed for the drive home, and Jane, in the hall. .Mellissa stared at her as if she had never seen her before. “What on earth have you there?” demanded Melissa, while Jane was still trying to find breath to ask the question. “A baby,” said Chloe proudly. “A very nice baby. And a cute little girl who doesn’t believe in Santa Claus. But a very nice child otherwise.” “May I ask what you intend to do with them?” “Keep them, until we find their mo­ ther, or until somebody wants to a- dopt them. Their mother deserted them yesterday morning. They’ll have to go to the Home,( I suppose, and be adopted by different families, which seems a shame for Susie May adores her little brother Timmy." She turned baqk the edge of the soft blanket and Melissa and Jane stepped forward to peer down at the —......o. - baby. To Timmy’s eternal credit be -But tonight standing beside that small it said that he did not howl on awak- sleeping scrap of humanity, deserted ening. He was a perfectly healthy baby, therefore a good baby. He a- woke with a tiny delicious yawn, a faint stirring of his small body, his tiny fists flailing the air, his dark eyes~ looking straight up into the faces bent" above him. “Here,” said Melissa firmly, “let me have him.” She scooped him out of Chloe’s arms with the deft gesture of a wo­ man who adored children and wanted a huge family and had had to content herself with two children. “He is a nice baby at that,” she a- greed almost reluctantly. Susie May, resenting this high-han­ ded passing about of her adored bro­ ther, gained courage to poke a small indignant face from ..behind Chloe and say, “He’s a dam’ swell baby, an’ he’s mine.” Melissa gasped and stared down at the’ small defiant scrap. “Little girl, did you ever have your mouth washed out with soap and wa­ ter?” she demanded sternly. No’m,” saiad Susie May, slightly a- bashed . “Well, you will have, unless you stop using naughty words,” promised Melissa darkly. "Seems h healthy young man.” Me­ lissa nodded to Jane. “If Chloe in­ tends to keep these children here, I suppose I may as well stay a while and look after them. I feel sure that neither you nor Chloe know anything about taking care of a nice baby like this.” * Jane looked at Chloe and winked solemnly. Chloe nodded and grinned. Upstairs in the nursery that had once been Chloe’s, the two children were installed. Timmy had hi'S bottle and given his bath by a Melissa who looked years younger, her cye.s sinn­ ing as her wrinkled, rheumatic gnarl­ ed hands touched the tiny body with loving care. Wheft Timmy was as­ leep in the old carved mahogany crad­ le that had been Chloe’s and her fa­ ther’s before her, and when Susie May was sound asleep in the trundle bed .that had also once been Chloe’s, the three women finally fore themselves from the room, “I’ve just been thinking abotit that young woman, Chlpe, the mother of those two children,” said Melissa, “She must have been an inhuman sort of creature-,-—--” • “Or else she has had an inhuman sort of time,” Melissa interrupted her, “I’ve been looking over the child­ ren’s things, Chloe. The material is poor and shoddy, but they have been made by hand with the daintiest, most ■careful stitches. * That woman loved her babies, Chloe, or she wouldn’t have gone to so much trouble about their poor little clothes. She went away and left them because she could no longer take care of them, so that some one else would, of course. She did it for them, poor soul. That’s a lot harder to do than Jo cling to ’em • ■regardless of what may happen. She’d lost her job, you say-----■” “But if she had gone‘to Dad, or come to me,” protested Chloe. Melissa smiled faintly. “You poor child," she admitted Chloe’s lack of reasoning. “Is she wasn’t capable of holding her job, then she just wasn’t capable that’s all. And that must have been the reason she lost the job. Because the mills aren’t discharging capable. workers right now during the busy season. So your father couldn’t have done any­ thing. H^e’s running a business, not a charitable organization. She" knew that, obviously. And she apparently knew that the Home is designed to take care of children whose parents are no longer able to do it. That, of "course, is why she went away and left them.” CHAPTER XX . Chloe’s heart was touched to a swift sharp pity for the mother who had had to abandon those two helpless mites. On her way downstairs to din­ ner she peeped in at the nursery where the small Timmy, dainty and fresh as a rosebud, was sleeping sdun- dly in his old mahogany cradle that had sheltered four generations of Sar­ gents and that now cradled a home­ less, perhaps even a nameless mite of human flotsam. At Susie May, sleep­ ing the sound sleep of healthy child­ hood, and once more her heart was wrung with pity that was now un­ touched with censure for the. mother who had had to desert her babies. Somehow, as she stood there by the cradle looking down at the sleeping child; another picture came before her All her life Chloe had heard the Christmas story. ’ It had been a story dulled by repetition. It had long ago ceased to have any special meaning. by a heartbroken mother, for the first time the people in that old, old oft- repeated story came alive to Chloe. Standing beside that mahogany cradle there in the dim-lit, lovely room, she Shivered a little at the picture, and it swept over her suddenly that this was the thing that Christmas meant, Not just a stupid round of parties; silly little silver trees with amethyst dec­ orations; not the meaningless ex­ change of presents with people one didn’t like but rid not want to over­ look during the holiday season. Christ mas’ meant none of this. Christmas, the birthday of that Child who had been born in a manger, fragrant wiht the scent of hay, murmurous with the sounds of. cattle and sheep, bright with the shining glory that surround­ ed the little Child and His gentle, lov­ ing mother, His startled, reverent ear­ thly father. And all this, she told herself, mar­ velling a little because, for the first time in years, a baby slept in that old mahogany cradle. She bent lightly and touched tlie sleeping Timmy’s rose leaf cheek with her lips before she turned and went softly put of the room and down the stairs. ( The following morning Melissa in­ sisted on being takeii to Scott'Kelvin. “The man interests me,” was all she would say, but she said* it Very definr itely. So that they knew there was nothing to be gained from arguing with her. Of course it fell to Chloe to accom­ pany her, since Chloe was already dressed for the street, while Jane was busy with her usual round of house­ hold duties. The nurses greeted Chloe with plea­ sant smiles and offered no objection when she expressed a wish to see Dr. . Kelvin, even though the hospital was usually very strict about its visiting hours, from two to four in the after­ noon. Chloe knocked at the door and, hearing a voice from the Other side, pushed it open and stood aside for Melissa, a slender, erect figure bun­ dled in her handsome, if old-fashion* e^l fur coat* to walk into jiie room a- head of her, As she introduced her grandmother Chloe noticed that Scott looked particularly well this morning. There was a ghost of color in his cheeks and his eyes were brighter, “I remember your father and moth­ er well,” said Melissa as she seated herself in the chair beside the bed, “And I remember you when you were about so big” She held her gloved hands a few inches apart and grinned cheerfully at Scott, who was delighted with her, “You were a red faced, squalling young one, but fine and healthy. Even then, Alma, your mother, told me pridefully that some day you were go­ ing to be a great doctor.. She thought of old Dr. Hunter, but then every­ body in the village did,” she went on birskly. “Nobody ever believed Alma and Rufus would be able to go through with their ambitious plans^ A fine couple, those two.” .JBfcK Scott said, his voice a trifle tlpW’i “Two of the best.” ’ “They’d have liked knowing that you wdre going to follow in Dr.' Hun­ ter’s footsteps, doctoring the village folk, instead of moving up on the Hill with a starched linen nurse in your office, and a starched tone in your voice for those whose incomes were not in. five figures,” said Melissa. "Al­ ma would have hated mothering a son who was content to Hold the hand of pretty neurotics with nothing the matter with their bodies and whole lot the matter with their minds.” Scott laughed. They were so ab­ sorbed, thought Chloe grimly, that they didn’t even remember that she was in the- room. She felt a tiny sharp twinge of — it couldn’t be jeal­ ousy, she told herself, shocked. Jeal­ ous of her own grandmother. That was a laugh! But jealous of Scott Kelvin! That was even more hilar­ ious. Or was it? She studied him as he lay with his head turned towards Melissa, his eyes alight, his ready laughter paying tribute to Melissa’s pungent remarks. Studying Scott Kelvin for one of '. the very few times in her life that she had been able to look quietly at him; Chloe felt a tiny, unaccustomed stirr­ ing of her heart. He was surprisingly good-looking, she decided. Surprising ’to herself because she had never paid especial attention to him before. Us­ ually when they were together she « had been so completely on the defen- siveThat she had had neither the time nor the inilnatoicn to study him close­ ly. To decide whether or not he was . good looking or’homely. Of course, she tolf herself almost dreamily, he had none of the polished smooth good looks of Jim Pearsall, just as he had none of Jim’s gay, de­ bonairly charming-manner that made every woman he looked’at feel herself charming, alluring, practically irresis­ tible. Jim played a gav game of make believ;. Making every w,oman he looked at think that he was interested in her. While Scott Kelvin would look coolly and calmly at all womenJMf) save the one woman. But to her heWr would be — at the thought of what Scott Kelvin would be to the woman he loved, Chloe’s heart climbed up in­ to nei throat and she was a little breathless. Because Scott Kelvin had told her- uncompromisingly that she was the woman he loved'. He turned his head to look at her as if his eyes had been drawn to her by her own intent regard of him. For a moment they looked squarely at each other, .Chloe was powerless to turn her eyes away, from his. For a long, long moment'they looked at each other while the color rose warm and sweet in Chloe’s face, and Scott’s eyes widened a little and she saw that his breath came a little faster. The laughter died from his eyes and his ’ faced paled ever so little. It was a breathless moment that seemed to Chloe to stretch endlessly. But it could not have lasted more for a second, for the next moment Meliss^ said something aiiitising; Chloe forced her eyes away from Scott’s wide, startled, regard and rose to Jier feet, saying a trifle hurriedly. “We must go, Gran. I’ve a million things to do this morning.” Melissa stood up and drew her coat about her. She smiled down at Scott and said cheerfully: “Well, hurry and get out*of here, Scott Kelvin. I want you out at Chinaberry Grove for a few days be­ fore you start back to work. Got a • lot out there to show you. You’ll like the place. .Be good for you to finish up your convalescence out there, too. And good for me. I’m a lonely old woman and I adore young people about.” Scott thanked her warmly. She shook hands with him and walked to tlie doon Scott held out his hand to j Chloe with a wordless plea that she 1 could not ignore, x n ■ i .