EL FOR YOUNG OR OLD
 
 or
 
 Novels of 
 ISLA MAY MULLINS 
 
 Each one volume, cloth, 1 2 mo, illustrated, $1.75 
 
 m 
 
 THE BLOSSOM SHOP 
 ANNE OF THE BLOSSOM SHOP 
 
 ANNE'S WEDDING 
 THE MT. BLOSSOM GIRLS 
 
 TWEEDIE 
 UNCLE MARY 
 
 THE PAGE COMPANY 
 
 53 BEACON STREET BOSTON, MASS.
 
 NCLE MARY 
 
 ./? Novel for Young or Old 
 
 ISLA MAY MULLINS 
 
 Author of 
 
 "The Blossom Shop" Books, 
 "Tweedie," etc. 
 
 With a fronliipiece in full color from a 
 painting by 
 
 GENE PRESSLER 
 
 And other illustrations from drawings 
 bv 
 
 JOHN GOSS 
 
 I
 
 Copyright, 1922 
 BY THE PAGE COMPANY 
 
 All rights reserved 
 Entered at Stationers' Hall, London 
 
 Made in U. S. A. 
 
 First Impression, May, 1922 
 
 PRINTED BY C. H. SIMONDS COMPANY 
 BOSTON, MASS., U.S.A.
 
 IN MEMORY OF 
 
 M. JOSEPHINE TUTT 
 
 WHOSE SKILL AND INSPIRATION AS 
 
 TEACHER OF ENGLISH 
 
 GAVE ME MY FIRST IMPULSE TOWARD 
 
 WRITING 
 
 2137297
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAQH 
 
 I FORECAST 1 
 
 II A LETTER 7 
 
 III MARY . 21 
 
 IV AN ARRIVAL 31 
 
 V MARY'S STRATEGY 50 
 
 VI SUNDAY 71 
 
 VII MONDAY 83 
 
 VIII SURPRISES GATHER 89 
 
 IX NEW FEATHERS ....... 97 
 
 X UNCLE MARY SHOCKS THE TOWN . . 116 
 
 XI A LIMOUSINE CHRISTMAS 126 
 
 XII A FRIEND AT COURT 141 
 
 XIII INVESTIGATION 158 
 
 XIV "STAN' STILL!" 163 
 
 XV FINDING NEW PATHS 175 
 
 XVI A STRANGE RETURN 195 
 
 XVII ELWOOD 207 
 
 XVIII DEVELOPMENT . 234 
 
 XIX A COMING AND A GOING 236 
 
 XX FEMININE OBSTINACY AND MASCULINE 
 
 DECISION. . 252
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PACK 
 
 XXI DEPARTURES 264 
 
 XXII Two INNOCENTS CONSPIRE .... 277 
 
 XXIII JOY ARRIVES BUT TROUBLE LINGERS. . 293 
 
 XXIV A VICTOR 306 
 
 XXV A TOWN WEDDING 323 
 
 XXVI EEVELATION . . 328
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 UNCLE MARY Frontispiece 
 
 " FOR ANSWER MARY GAVE HER A LOOK THAT WAS 
 
 ALL-SUFFICIENT " 9 
 
 " ' WHAT ARE YOU STARING AT, ALICE HAL- 
 
 SEY ? " 109 
 
 " ' BUT YOU MUST COME HOME,' MARY CRIED, 
 
 LAYING A HAND ON HIS ARM " . . . . 2O2 
 " ' NOW, WHAT IS TO BE MY ANSWER? ' " . . 3IO
 
 UNCLE MARY 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 FORECAST 
 
 A LITTLE group sat upon the hotel ver- 
 anda of a small New England town when a 
 stranger came out, and, looking keenly into 
 the faces about him, said genially, "Is there 
 room for another?'* He was of medium 
 height, well proportioned and with a 
 smooth face upon which were written in 
 equal proportions business interest, kind- 
 ness and determination. Dark brown hair 
 lightly touched with gray, crowned his erect, 
 well-dressed figure. 
 
 There were rather inarticulate responses 
 to his question, for it was nobody's special 
 prerogative to welcome or deny; but, with 
 an air of ready adaptation, the stranger sat 
 easily down.
 
 2 Uncle Mary 
 
 The habitual lounger at once placed the 
 new-comer as from the West, and gave him 
 no further interest. The others chatted 
 more or less with the stranger, who was de- 
 termined to be friendly. 
 
 Finally, one by one, the men left, or went 
 inside as the hour for dinner approached, 
 till only the stranger and the lounger re- 
 mained. They sat in silence for a time; 
 then the stranger turned pleasantly to the 
 other, and asked: "Do you know anything 
 of a little village not far from here, called 
 Sunfield?" 
 
 "Born there," returned the lounger, 
 laconically. 
 
 "Indeed!" exclaimed the stranger, with 
 ingratiating pleasure ; "then you must know 
 the people well!" 
 
 " 'Tain't much to know 'em," came again 
 curtly. 
 
 "Small town," returned the stranger, un- 
 perturbed. "Will you be so kind as to name 
 over to me some of the old residents ? I was
 
 Forecast 3 
 
 there once, and I would like to refresh my 
 mind as to names." 
 
 It took some time for the lounger to make 
 up his mind to so decided exertion, but he 
 finally brought forth the names of a dozen 
 or fifteen families. 
 
 "Ah," said the stranger, "they sound 
 familiar." He asked concerning perhaps 
 three or four families, simply inquiring how 
 many of the family were then living, and 
 questions of like general character. Among 
 the names mentioned by the lounger was 
 that of Halsey, and not a shade more of 
 concern appeared as the stranger put the 
 query, several times repeated, "And what 
 members of the family are left?" 
 
 "Well, there's just the two Halsey girls, 
 now. The old folks died and the boy ran 
 off. Alice sets in a wheel chair all day, and 
 Mary sews up the town with her needle, and 
 lashes it with her tongue." The lounger 
 was much pleased with himself over this 
 spontaneous bit of wit.
 
 Uncle Mary 
 
 "Is that so?" returned the stranger, and 
 passed on to another name or two which he 
 had noted in the lounger's list. Then the 
 stranger, seemingly satisfied, passed in to 
 get his dinner ; and immediately after, hired 
 a small motor run-about and set off, over 
 the Berkshire hills, toward the little village 
 of Sunfield. 
 
 It was a very beautiful early Octo- 
 ber evening, with a lingering touch of 
 summer in the air. The ride was a delight, 
 or would have been had not the stranger's 
 mind been filled with thoughts not just to 
 his liking. He stopped his car at last and 
 parked it just at the edge of the village. 
 Then he set out afoot along a roadway for 
 some distance before he came to a semblance 
 of sidewalk. But at last his quick step 
 struck a beaten path ; and, although it was by 
 this time fully dark, he walked on a bit with 
 confidence, turned in at a little gateway and 
 thence up a brick path toward the door of a 
 small brown cottage. The transparent 
 draperies of the glass-paned door were
 
 Forecast 5 
 
 drawn back, and the approaching visitor 
 involuntarily halted, as he looked, without 
 obstruction, into the pleasant sitting room 
 which was the heart of the little house. 
 There was a wheel chair drawn up beside 
 a center table, covered with books and 
 papers and a bit of sewing. A quiet woman's 
 figure, not a great many years beyond girl- 
 hood, filled the wheel chair and a quiet, 
 attractive face bent forward listening, but 
 not with approval, he was quick to note. 
 His eyes went swiftly to another young 
 woman's figure, opposite the one in the 
 wheel chair ; it was a more aggressive figure, 
 with a face of sharpened features, a frown 
 caught between the eyes, hair drawn tightly 
 back, every line marking severity as she 
 talked and gestured emphatically. The 
 stranger might have heard what she said, 
 had he drawn a little closer ; but, instead, he 
 suddenly turned his steps and walked with 
 vigor back, down to the gate, along the 
 beaten path and over the roadway to where 
 he had parked his car. Without pause he
 
 Uncle Mary 
 
 set it going again, over the hills to the town 
 of the hotel and the lounger. 
 
 "I would not have believed it!" he ex- 
 claimed under his breath. " She was so so 
 little-girl-like, with her color coming and go- 
 ing just like a living, breathing rose; and 
 shy as a wood nymph, she was but quick to 
 see a thing, and staunch and true as steel!" 
 Here he paused in his rapid renewals of 
 memory. There was the explanation : " She 
 was quick to see a thing and she was 
 staunch and true as steel!" These very 
 qualities had made her what she was, she 
 had carried her quickness to see things, and 
 her adherence to truth too far under the 
 lash of work and poverty, while the " little- 
 girl-like roses" of joy had been cruelly 
 crushed in the ten years since he had seen 
 her. Could they ever by any process be re- 
 stored to even a ghost of their former bloom- 
 ing? If not, then he 
 
 "111 try it," he muttered after a time, 
 with dogged determination as he rode fu- 
 riously on into the night.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 A LETTER 
 
 IT was one Friday morning in late Octo- 
 ber that Alice Halsey sat in her wheel chair 
 by the center table in the living room of the 
 little brown cottage that had been "home" 
 to the Halsey girls all their lives. Mary sat 
 opposite her in quite the accustomed way. 
 But the two young women gazed at each 
 other with tense concentration. 
 
 Mary was still holding an astonishing 
 letter, her vigorous hand tightly gripped, all 
 the energy of her body tensed to climax in 
 the strained gaze of her gray-blue eyes, as 
 though she were trying to break into and 
 visualize the eternal sweep of things to defi- 
 nitely explain, interpret and forecast the 
 outcome of this astounding thing which had 
 come to them. 
 
 Alice, in her chair, bent to her sister, 
 
 7
 
 8 Uncle Mary 
 
 startled and helpless, her delicate face full 
 of conflicting things, her tapering fingers 
 tightly interlaced. The two had already 
 gone through the first state of amazement, 
 which even the unopened envelope had 
 started, with its post mark, "New York 
 City," and return address of a prominent 
 bank there whose name was familiar to 
 them. Then they had passed on through 
 three excited readings of the letter; but, 
 when Mary's eyes came back to earth, Alice 
 urged once more, "Read it again!" 
 
 And Mary began instantly, just as though 
 she were used to obeying orders, which was 
 far from the truth: 
 
 Miss Mary Halsey, 
 
 Sunfield, Mass., 
 My dear Miss Halsey: 
 
 A little girl of five years and delightful personal- 
 ity, of which you only receive a dim impression from 
 enclosed photograph, has been committed to us with 
 instructions that she be sent at once to you. She 
 is an orphan with no near relatives, and she is en- 
 trusted to you for an unlimited time with a bank ac- 
 count here upon which you may draw three thousand 
 dollars per year. You will please report here the
 
 FOR ANSWER MARY GAVE HER A LOOK THAT WAS 
 ALL-SUFFICIENT "
 
 A Letter 9 
 
 first of each month as to her health. Accordingly, 
 Miss Elizabeth Lee Starling, properly attended, is on 
 her way, will arrive at your nearest station, Barrin- 
 ger, on the early morning train of Saturday, and an 
 hour later by taxi at your door. 
 
 Hoping this will meet your pleasure, we are, 
 
 Eespectfully yours, 
 
 Mary's hand dropped with some relaxa- 
 tion after the fourth reading, and Alice, 
 with lips that quivered, ventured to give ex- 
 pression to the exclamation which had been 
 upon them from the first reading : 
 
 "It is Elwood's child!" 
 
 "Never," returned Mary vehemently. 
 "If I thought so, I would send her straight 
 back I would wire them that on no account 
 would I take her!" 
 
 "Mary!" exclaimed Alice with deprecat- 
 ing agitation, "it is wicked for you to feel 
 as you do!" 
 
 For answer Mary gave her a look that 
 was all-sufficient. The subject of Elwood 
 had been tensely forbidden by Mary many 
 years before, and the look was simply an
 
 10 Uncle Mary 
 
 electric warning that the ban had not been 
 lifted. 
 
 There was intense silence for several mo- 
 ments, then Alice asked, with repressed emo- 
 tion, the impossible question: " Whose child 
 is it?" 
 
 Mary turned upon her with almost fierce- 
 ness: "I don't know, and I don't care!" 
 
 "Of course you are not going to take her, 
 then," Alice ventured again, with relief. 
 
 "Yes, but I am," with cool intensity re- 
 turned Mary; "and to-morrow is Saturday, 
 so there is no time to lose in getting ready 
 for her." 
 
 There was an immediate return of Mary's 
 accustomed energy. Something must be 
 done, and she was on normal ground. Alice 
 relaxed correspondingly and determined to 
 talk, whatever Mary might answer. This 
 was too astonishing a thing to keep silent 
 over. 
 
 "Well, if you are going to take the child, 
 what are you going to say to people? The 
 letter does not tell you anything."
 
 A Letter 11 
 
 "I shall tell people nothing just exactly 
 nothing, which is all I know." 
 
 "Mary, you can't do that!" 
 
 4 'You just wait and see," said Mary 
 evenly. 
 
 "But," Alice would persist, "why don't 
 you write the bank and ask them to tell you 
 something about her, and why she is sent to 
 you?" 
 
 "Because, in the first place, I don't want 
 to know; and in the second, what time is 
 there to write she is on her way, now, 
 probably. More than all that, this letter is 
 of the final variety. It says as plainly as 
 words could that no more is to be told me." 
 
 "You could telegraph them not to send 
 her," Alice put in at last desperately. 
 
 "But I am not going to," Mary reiterated 
 firmly, "for I want her; and, as I said be- 
 fore, I don't care to know where she comes 
 from. Now I am going to work to get ready 
 for her." 
 
 In one astonishing hour Mary Halsey had 
 passed from the typical New England
 
 12 Uncle Mary 
 
 spirit, which demands minute information 
 in any matter of moment, to the freedom of 
 the idealist, who mounts the wings of oppor- 
 tunity and looks not to the cords which have 
 hitherto bound him. And could Alice have 
 seen into Mary's heart at that moment, she 
 would have realized that her sister had long 
 been a being altogether unknown to her, 
 though they had lived their lives together, 
 and for ten years had lived alone, so close 
 that they almost breathed together, their 
 friends would have said. 
 
 "But, Mary, think!" Alice came again, 
 as Mary started for the door; "we can't 
 take care of a little child!" And Alice's 
 cheeks grew pink with agitation. "We 
 don't know how, and I " her voice trailed 
 off as her helplessness came over her with a 
 weight she had never known before. 
 
 "We are women," returned Mary lacon- 
 ically. 
 
 "Oh, I know but your sewing " 
 
 "She can be company for you or I will 
 manage that when the time comes," Mary
 
 A Letter 13 
 
 added, realizing suddenly that children 
 were not always desirable company for help- 
 less people. 
 
 It did not occur to either of them then 
 that the letter had said there was to be at 
 Mary's command three thousand dollars a 
 year. And if it had, they would have felt 
 that this sum was to be spent only for the 
 child, never realizing that the child's needs 
 would necessarily include theirs, and that 
 the money was Mary's to spend to make the 
 home a suitable place for the child, and that 
 she must give up sewing in order to do this. 
 It took a later letter to make all this plain. 
 
 Mary determined now to end all further 
 talk and said with emphatic finality, "I am 
 going up attic to get ready for her." 
 
 Alice wanted dreadfully to ask what Mary 
 was going to do, but she knew that she had 
 gone the limit with questions, so without a 
 word more she let Mary stride from the 
 room to the stairs which led from the kitchen 
 to the attic. 
 
 With what impatience Alice waited for
 
 14 Uncle Mary 
 
 some sign as to what Mary was doing up- 
 stairs, can only be guessed. How she longed 
 to go, too! "It was dreadful to have to sit 
 still when exciting things were going on," 
 was a plaint that Alice rarely allowed her- 
 self to make. Then her nervous hands in- 
 stinctively reached for the wheels with a 
 movement that was full of unconscious 
 grace, while the chair swung aimlessly 
 around and around the table which occupied 
 the center of this combination sitting and 
 dining room. Mary was gone exasperat- 
 tingly long, and how could Alice know that 
 every other moment Mary was hungrily 
 devouring the little pictured face which the 
 letter had enclosed! 
 
 "What is Mary doing?" she said to her- 
 self, again and again. But finally the firm 
 steps were coming down the stairs, not rap- 
 idly, but with steady care, and, with flushed 
 face and eyes alight, Mary soon appeared 
 in the doorway with an old-fashioned crib 
 of solid wood. 
 
 Alice's chair stopped and her hands went
 
 A Letter 15 
 
 up. "Mary! She can never sleep in that 
 tfiing!" 
 
 "Yes, she can, too, for one night, or even 
 two," Mary retorted. "I am not going to 
 buy a bed for her to-day and have every- 
 body in town talking, with at least half of 
 them right here in our way. I am going to 
 have that child all Saturday and Sunday 
 without anybody finding out she is here! 
 Then we can see her ourselves, and I am 
 going to fix this bed for her so she can be 
 in our room and not be lonesome." 
 
 Never had Mary's heart been in such a 
 tumult as it was now over the thought 
 of this child who was coming coming to 
 her! To hide it all, she set the crib down 
 in their bedroom, beside her twin bed and 
 Alice instantly longed that it might be set 
 by hers ! But, of course, that was not to be 
 thought of. Mary would have to look after 
 both at night. 
 
 "It won't be long enough for her," said 
 Alice, anxiously, her wheel chair following 
 Mary into the bedroom.
 
 16 Uncle Mary 
 
 "Yes, it will," returned Mary with scorn- 
 ful confidence; "I make all five year old 
 skirts thirteen inches long ; from the bottom 
 of the skirts to the floor is twelve and from 
 the waist to the neck is nine, with nine left 
 for the neck and head." Instantly her 
 tape-line was reeled off from her side and 
 the length of the crib deftly measured. 
 "There, I knew it! She will be an exact 
 fit, with several inches to spare for tucking 
 in bed clothes." 
 
 "I forgot you had children all measured 
 off by inches," said Alice meekly. 
 
 "This crib was made in the old times, too, 
 when things were expected to last a while. 
 They didn't dump a child out when it was 
 a year old and buy a new bed for her, 
 though I do admit that she usually had to 
 crawl out the second year to make way for 
 the next comer. Still, they made them long 
 enough, so if there happened to be a gap in 
 the line a new bed was not necessary." 
 
 Under Mary's capable hand, and with the 
 help of Alice, that little old-time bed, which
 
 A Letter 17 
 
 their grandfather had slept in, blossomed 
 like a rose. The daintiest little mattress 
 was made for it, blankets were devised from 
 some packed away woolens, a little comfort 
 with silken flowers and zephyr knots of blue 
 was fluffed into shape; and all the small 
 sleepers of the past would have been amazed 
 to see the old crib itself slip out of sight into 
 a frilled blue sateen cover! It was the 
 prettiest little bed imaginable. A princess 
 could not have asked for a better. And 
 that common-place October day was simply 
 transformed for these two women who had 
 lived so many years alone. 
 
 Again and again as they had sewed, how- 
 ever, Alice had to go back to the mystery of 
 it, and force Mary to discuss various phases 
 thereof. 
 
 "What are you going to tell folks?" Alice 
 questioned, with renewed consciousness of a 
 gaping town. 
 
 " Nothing," said Mary, again, with em- 
 phatic brevity. 
 
 "Mary!" exclaimed Alice, "you know you
 
 18 Uncle Mary 
 
 can't do that! You will have to tell them 
 something!" 
 
 There was no answer and Mary's lips 
 were firm. 
 
 "But what will they think?" persisted 
 Alice. 
 
 "Whatever they want to." 
 
 "Then I am going to tell them some- 
 thing!" said Alice boldly. 
 
 "No, you are not, either!" was another 
 emphatic response, and Alice knew in her 
 heart that what Mary decided would be 
 done. 
 
 "But," parried Alice, "there is no use in 
 making a silly mystery of it." 
 
 "That may all be, but it is a mystery; and, 
 besides, I like mystery. It's a long time 
 since we stirred up the town any." 
 
 Alice was silent for a moment. It was 
 not pleasant even for her to remember just 
 how they, as a family, had last stirred the 
 town. But turning from this quickly, she 
 said, with a bit of pleading in her tone, 
 "Why don't you tell the simple truth to
 
 A Letter 19 
 
 people, all about the letter and how little 
 you know, yourself?" 
 
 " Because they will fill in all we don't 
 know, and be absolutely sure they are right ; 
 so I prefer to have them think we know it 
 all, and let them work away on the whole 
 tell them nothing and let them wriggle," 
 Mary smiled grimly. 
 
 "They will wriggle certainly," admitted 
 Alice smiling dimly back ; "but I think there 
 is a better way than to put the whole town 
 on edge with curiosity which will be a per- 
 fectly natural curiosity." 
 
 "I think it is better than telling the little 
 we do know, and then have Sophie Stoneham 
 argue with me every time I see her that I 
 am doing the devil's work in keeping the 
 child away from people who ought to have 
 her. She will know all about who ought to 
 have her. And then, having the story 
 change and grow with every telling would 
 set me crazy. The fact that they will think 
 we know all, will keep them within bounds, 
 because folks don't like to be caught guess-
 
 20 Uncle Mary 
 
 ing wrong. The whole town may turn into 
 a detective agency if it wants to, which it 
 will certainly do, anyway, and turn up the 
 universe to find the facts. I can hear 
 Sophie Stoneham holding forth on the mat- 
 ter as she sees it. You don't come against 
 people as I do, Alice, or you would find out 
 that silence has many virtues. You don't 
 ever have it to unsay, and not often to apol- 
 ogize for." 
 
 Alice sighed acquiescence. Mary always 
 got the best of it in an argument ; and, even 
 if she didn't, Mary's decisions had come to 
 be law.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 MARY 
 
 IF the gray late October day was trans- 
 formed for these two from quiet routine 
 into a thing of excitement and expectation, 
 the night was equally lively for Mary. She 
 could not sleep for thought of the little child 
 who was to come to her to her ! She must 
 not disturb Alice, of course, but how she 
 longed to make a light and gaze and gaze 
 upon the little picture ! It was already in- 
 delibly printed upon her brain every cun- 
 ning curl that framed the small round face, 
 the laugh that lit the child's eyes and held 
 the dear sweet lips open to show a shining 
 row of even white teeth, the pudgy fist 
 stuck under the chin, were all clearly there 
 in her mind but she wanted to hold them 
 before her eyes and drink in every detail 
 again. At last she fell asleep, but only to 
 
 21
 
 22 Uncle Mary 
 
 dream of a fairy land of laughing little folk, 
 skipping, dancing, racing over green fields 
 and under billowing snow-clouds which were 
 as gay as the children in their field of azure 
 blue! 
 
 At the first hint of dawn Alice and Mary 
 were both awake, and Mary was soon upon 
 her feet to begin that day of days. Alice 
 wanted to do the same, but Mary urged that 
 she rest longer a most desirable thing for 
 Alice herself, but also convenient for Mary 
 to seek again that small pictured face, alone. 
 Before she could leave the room, however, 
 Alice forestalled her: 
 
 "Mary, let me have the picture before 
 you go. I want to see again how she looks." 
 
 Mary was silent a perceptible instant; 
 then she said, with unaccustomed artfulness, 
 "All right, as soon as I light the fire in the 
 stove I will bring it to you." 
 
 Alice stared, for she was sure Mary had 
 the picture with her at that moment; but 
 remembering, as she was destined to do 
 many times in the future, that Mary had all
 
 Mary 23 
 
 the rights in the matter and she none, she 
 refrained from comment. 
 
 Mary kept her face turned away, dressed 
 with her usual dispatch, and hurrying out 
 to the kitchen rattled the stove lid indus- 
 triously with one hand after lighting the 
 fire, while she slipped the picture from her 
 pocket with the other and feasted her eyes 
 once more. Then she took turns washing 
 one hand at the sink while she still held it 
 with the other. When able no longer to dis- 
 semble, she carried it in to Alice who knew 
 full well by this time that it came from the 
 pocket of the dress Mary was wearing. 
 
 Neither Mary Halsey, herself, nor any 
 one who knew her, had ever guessed the dif- 
 ference between her interior and exterior. 
 The village people when they met her saw a 
 spare, erect figure and a face from which 
 youth had not gone had no right to be 
 gone, for she was yet in her twenties, 
 twenty-seven, to be exact. And her clean, 
 fresh complexion confirmed the youth, if one 
 noticed it. But there were firm lines about
 
 24 Uncle Mary 
 
 her mouth and eyes which indicated a full 
 measure of care and responsibility, while 
 her rare smile consisted mainly of high 
 gleams piercing the steady blue-gray eyes, 
 leaving lids unsympathetic and giving the 
 mouth a touch of sarcasm which gradually 
 robbed it of its warmth. These were the 
 things one noticed most. Her manner of 
 dressing was always severe, out-of-date and 
 exceedingly plain. Her skirts were down 
 about her heels, instead of well, where the 
 war brought them for most women. She 
 rarely had a new dress, in fact. Alice con- 
 formed to the same standards, but as she 
 didn't walk it wasn't so noticeable, and the 
 town, somehow, knew that Alice did as Mary 
 said, though Alice was the older by two 
 years. But Alice's dark hair was always 
 attractively arranged, while Mary's was se- 
 verity itself. It was light golden brown, 
 soft of texture, and might have been beau- 
 tiful in its own natural waves had it not 
 been tightly held back for so many years. 
 This, in general, was the personality that
 
 Mary 25 
 
 Mary presented the village people who had 
 watched her hurrying to and from the var- 
 ious homes along the highway for at least 
 ten years past, winter and summer, in snow, 
 sleet or wind, in spring sunshine or summer 
 heat, while she kept everybody's clothes in 
 good shape in the village and for miles 
 around as well. The longer trips must be 
 made in good weather, so that she might 
 without fail be back to Alice for the night. 
 Besides this, she and Alice made children's 
 dresses for Barringer stores. 
 
 A very prosaic exterior, indeed, Mary 
 Halsey presented for the village eye, and 
 nobody dreamed that the interior corres- 
 ponded perfectly. They knew she was in- 
 dustrious, capable and the incarnation of 
 honor, according to strictest New England 
 standards; and, if she was sharp in her 
 judgments and sarcastic in her humor, this 
 was the inward that fitted into the outward 
 picture she presented to them. 
 
 As for Mary's obliviousness of the outer 
 and inner difference, it came from ignor-
 
 26 Uncle Mary 
 
 ance of the other side of things. Her knowl- 
 edge concerning her own exterior grew con- 
 stantly less and less, for she spent little time 
 before a mirror, while the interior, so mar- 
 velously at antipodes, was a poignantly con- 
 scious thing. 
 
 Who would have dreamed that Mary Hal- 
 sey, New England "old maid," (as she was 
 already classified because of her severity 
 of dress and manner) had a husband? No- 
 body, of course. Any such statement would 
 instantly have been denied. And yet Mary's 
 inner self stoutly proclaimed that she had! 
 Few people remembered that in Mary's 
 early youth, at seventeen, to be exact, she 
 had made a trip away and come back with 
 fresh roses in her cheeks, twin stars in her 
 quiet eyes, and dancing light on her fair hair 
 which, somehow, had learned new ways in 
 the six weeks' stay. And people had ex- 
 claimed on meeting her, "How fine you look, 
 'Mary !" "That southern climate must agree 
 with you !" And no one knew that a young 
 man had come to see Mary Halsey from that
 
 Mary 27 
 
 southern town, for nobody had had a glimpse 
 of him. He came one night and went away 
 immediately. Just before that Elwood Hal- 
 sey, the only brother of Alice and Mary, had 
 quarreled with his father and left never to 
 be heard from again; the father had died 
 almost immediately, and with family calami- 
 ties coming in hurdles, one after another, as 
 they often do, Alice fell from a step ladder 
 and was never able to walk again. Conse- 
 quently events in the Halsey family were 
 too precipitous, entirely, at that period for 
 even New England energy to keep up with 
 every detail. So the village gossips never 
 got hold of the fact that Mary Halsey had 
 found a lover in that one trip south, or that 
 she uncompromisingly dismissed him on his 
 one visit to her later ; but they did observe 
 that Mary's dancing hair fell promptly into 
 straight lines, and the twin star lights flitted 
 forth from her eyes. They knew, also, that 
 following the family calamities she had 
 taken up the sewing for everybody in the 
 village that could afford it, and that she gave
 
 28 Uncle Mary 
 
 Alice every care. They thought it dread- 
 ful, at first, that Alice should be in the little 
 house alone all the days while Mary was out ; 
 but so rapidly capable did Alice and the 
 wheel chair prove themselves, that it was 
 nothing unusual to hear wheels turning in 
 response to a knock on the door, and to be 
 received with as much ease as if Alice were 
 free-footed and strong. 
 
 Mention of Mary Halsey's husband in- 
 deed would have startled the village! But 
 he was a reality with Mary ! She had cher- 
 ished a man's love in her heart, and nour- 
 ished hers for him through all the years. 
 He was hers and she was his for time and 
 eternity, so far as she was concerned. That 
 she had heard from him only twice meant 
 nothing to this vital, time-abiding love 
 affair. It was a marriage of hearts, for 
 Mary, that nothing could dissolve, though 
 even that in source was but a thing of a few 
 weeks' association and a southern picnic 
 with a day's disclosing, when Mary had 
 gone on that six weeks' visit to a Kentucky
 
 Mary 29 
 
 cousin. No one had dreamed that a trip of 
 two hours up the river in a row boat just 
 a boy and a girl who had daringly left the 
 picnic party could mean such momentous 
 things. The southern cousins, accustomed 
 to harmless flirtations of no moment, had 
 never afterward connected the two; and 
 there was never any revelation from them, 
 or questions asked by Mary, later. 
 
 If Mary had ever told Alice of her love 
 affair, the mere telling would have pre- 
 vented its dropping into morbid fancies, 
 while Alice's sympathy would undoubtedly 
 have greatly softened the sharpness of the 
 bitter-sweet experience. But keeping it 
 close, pent within her own heart, she grew 
 fantastic in her love, and very bitter against 
 her brother Elwood, who, had he stood by 
 the family, would have made things very 
 different. Alice could not from the first 
 understand her sister's bitterness, and she 
 would have been amazed at her devotion to 
 a shadow. But the shadow was suddenly 
 materializing ; for, though Mary knew noth-
 
 30 Uncle Mary 
 
 ing of the physical habitation of her mate, 
 yet now, after years of solitary devotion, 
 she was to be miraculously presented with a 
 child ! A child that was to be her very own 
 no matter where she came from, just now ! 
 And Mary's well-trained imagination had 
 gone out to meet and to claim her with a 
 ready motherhood that would have amazed 
 her sister Alice-. "Her child" was coming! 
 That was the song of Mary's heart as she 
 flew about the kitchen on this morning of 
 mornings.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 AN ARRIVAL 
 
 BREAKFAST was ready to serve on the 
 minute of seven as, of course, it could have 
 been two hours before. Then Mary stood 
 at the window watching, her expectation too 
 keen for superficial nervousness, while Alice 
 sat in her wheel chair with white, interlaced 
 fingers, and eyes fixed too upon the front 
 windows. There was an instant's whirr of 
 a motor, at last, and Mary threw open the 
 house door at the moment the taxi door 
 swung round revealing the profile of a uni- 
 formed nurse who did not get out. But an 
 alert young man stepped immediately to the 
 ground, then reached for the hand of a little 
 girl in snug brown wrap, furs and cap to 
 match, helping her uncertain step carefully 
 to the running board and thence to the walk 
 in front. Mary met them just outside the 
 
 31
 
 32 Uncle Mary 
 
 door, and the introductions were skillfully 
 managed by the capable young man, though 
 Mary could never have told just how. She 
 got them into the house successfully, how- 
 ever, and introduced them to Alice, who 
 swung about to meet them in her wheel 
 chair, with ready if somewhat excited grace. 
 Then, while the young man went out to see 
 about bringing in a trunk and satchel, Alice 
 put both arms about the little brown bundle 
 which was Elizabeth Lee Starling, and 
 gazed warmly into her eyes until the child 
 smiled back at her. Mary, though watching 
 for the trunk, noted this with a quick stab, 
 and said with energy : 
 
 "We must take Elizabeth's wraps off at 
 once; it is warm in here." So she began 
 vigorously unfastening and removing, while 
 the little girl submitted with the unmoved 
 air of children when subjected to many new 
 experiences to which they have no key and 
 against which they have ceased to struggle. 
 
 After placing the trunk with the chauf- 
 feur's help, the young man left immediately
 
 An Arrival 33, 
 
 almost precipitately it would have seemed 
 if Mary and Alice had not been too excited 
 over the child to notice. 
 
 Elizabeth Lee standing before them was 
 indeed a beautiful child with rare brown 
 eyes and curling brown hair, a dear smile 
 and rosy cheeks ; perfect in form and round 
 with the fullness of health. Then, to crown 
 the sweet vision which was presented to 
 these two heart-hungry women, she was ex- 
 quisitely dressed in a simple little white 
 gown of finest materials, with every acces- 
 sory corresponding. 
 
 It was no wonder that they took little 
 note of anything else, and it was some 
 minutes before they remembered breakfast. 
 Then the little girl's eyes had wandered to 
 the set table, and Mary flew to the kitchen 
 for the hot things which were all ready. So 
 they were soon gathered about the snowy 
 breakfast table, Alice swinging easily to her 
 place in the wheel chair, Mary lifting Eliza- 
 beth into a high chair before a second plate, 
 then seating herself in a very straight, un-
 
 34 Uncle Mary 
 
 compromising chair that just suited her 
 uncompromising exterior. The sun danced 
 in upon them from the east window as 
 though challenging the three to life's hap- 
 piness. 
 
 Mary was mistress of ceremonies. 
 
 " Elizabeth, I guess you're hungry, riding 
 so early in the morning; I'll give you some- 
 thing to eat first and let Alice wait," said 
 Mary, a thrill at her heart and sudden 
 sharpness of tone to hide it. 
 
 The child's big brown eyes turned to her 
 with a wistful look gathering in their 
 depths. 
 
 " Everybody says 'Libbie Lee,' came 
 slowly from the little lips. 
 
 "I like Elizabeth much better," said Mary 
 briskly, without looking at the little girl. 
 "That is what I am going to call you," she 
 added decidedly. "It takes too long to say 
 Libbie Lee." 
 
 Alice, with quick intuition, laid a hand 
 upon the child's and bent toward her with 
 a smile that instantly brought one in return.
 
 An Arrival 35 
 
 " You've got time to say Libbie Lee, hasn't 
 you Auntie Alice?" came quickly from 
 the little girl with the falling inflection of 
 certainty. 
 
 "Yes, dear, I surely have," laughed back 
 Auntie Alice, in delight with the name the 
 child had chosen for her, unbidden, such 
 delight, indeed, that she spoke with a new 
 note of authority to her aggressive sister. 
 
 "Mary, get some syrup to put on Libbie 
 Lee's pancakes." 
 
 But revolutions are not so quickly accom- 
 plished with natures like Mary Halsey's. 
 
 "Syrup! You never know what sort of 
 stuff syrup may be made of, but honey is al- 
 ways safe. I will get some honey for her." 
 
 The golden-combed honey ranked equally 
 in acceptability with syrup, so far as Libbie 
 Lee was concerned; so, as the sweet fluid 
 flowed over her pancakes, she began politely, 
 "Thank you," then stopped, plainly puz- 
 zled for a moment, only to go on confidently, 
 "Uncle Mary." 
 
 Alice laughed uncontrollably. She could
 
 36 Uncle Mary 
 
 not have helped it if the heavens had fallen 
 and she almost felt that they would when 
 she could look into Mary's face. Conster- 
 nation, grief and almost anger swept quickly 
 over the usually inscrutable mask that Mary 
 carried. 
 
 It was Mary who first found words: 
 
 " l Uncle Mary.' What do you mean by 
 calling me Uncle ? ' ' And there was strained 
 sharpness in her tone. 
 
 The child turned startled and bewildered 
 eyes toward her: "Why, there was Auntie 
 Abbie and Uncle Gary at the 'Home' and 
 here there's Auntie Alice and Uncle Mary!" 
 She emphasized the little difference in the 
 names with an aggrieved defense that was 
 really funny to both of them, and took 
 much of the sudden sting which Mary 
 had first found in the name applied to 
 her. 
 
 Little did she dream how the name was to 
 go out and sweep the town with its aptness ! 
 There was so much more to think of, just 
 then, that she made no further ado over it,
 
 An Arrival 37 
 
 and had no thought that it would persist, 
 even in the child's mind. 
 
 Breakfast over, at last, and Libbie Lee's 
 little abdomen swelled to its utmost with 
 pancakes and golden honey, Mary Halsey 
 essayed to make the day move on as days at 
 home, when she was not sewing, had a habit 
 of doing. She went at once out to the 
 kitchen to "do" the dishes, leaving Alice 
 and the little girl to their own devices. 
 
 And conversation, from the very first, did 
 not languish between the two that were 
 left. 
 
 "Auntie Alice, why don't you walk round 
 like other folks?" came in the kindest little 
 tone of curiosity from the small stranger. 
 
 "Why, because my feet are just no-ac- 
 count feet," Alice returned, smiling into the 
 child's earnest face. 
 
 Then Libbie Lee stepped up to her and 
 said eagerly, "May I peek at them?" 
 
 For answer Alice lifted her long, light 
 skirt and displayed two perfectly correct 
 feet, clad in substantial slippers.
 
 38 Uncle Mary 
 
 1 'Why, Auntie Alice, they are all right 
 unless they are bad. Auntie Abbie says 
 mine are sometimes; but they are bad be- 
 .cause they go to places they shouldn't, and 
 yours, I guess, are bad 'cause they won't go 
 at all !" And the little laugh rang out mer- 
 rily. 
 
 Libbie Lee felt thoroughly at home with 
 Auntie Alice, it was clear. Institutional 
 children, being accustomed to contacts of 
 all sorts, take what comes to them with a 
 philosophy that stands them in good stead ; 
 if it is freedom, they make much of it, if it 
 is submission to authority why trouble to 
 rebel? So it must be. A new experience 
 had come to the little girl, and finding Alice 
 so approachable and responsive, she was 
 making good use of her time while Mary 
 was out of the room to find out many things 
 she wanted to know. 
 
 Alice laughed at the child's interest in her 
 useless feet, and answered her accusation 
 that they were bad because they would not 
 go at all, with an admission that "this was
 
 An Arrival 39 
 
 about right, she guessed." "But," she 
 added, "we must not blame the feet too 
 much, for the back was bad first." 
 
 The little girl looked in quiet surprise 
 from the feet up to Alice's back; then down 
 to her own little feet, which she moved in- 
 quiringly about, at the same time feeling of 
 her own back. 
 
 "Why, feet are tied to backs, aren't they? 
 And just can't help doing what backs say, 
 can they?" 
 
 "Yes, but the head tells the back what to 
 do, you know," laughed Auntie Alice; "and 
 so you have come up to the real trouble at 
 last, I suspect." 
 
 There was more in this than the little girl 
 dreamed, for Alice Halsey sometimes felt 
 that her energetic sister thought if she would 
 only try determinedly enough, the helpless 
 feet would go about as they once did and 
 there were times when she cruelly upbraided 
 herself that they did not ! 
 
 But Libbie Lee, all oblivious, went on with 
 investigations concerning her own brown-
 
 40 Uncle Mary 
 
 curled head. At last she exclaimed with 
 delight : 
 
 "It is my head that makes my feet go! 
 My thinker up here just thinks, 'Go!' and I 
 go right off! Auntie Alice you must " 
 then she hesitated, trying unconsciously to 
 get hold of the initial force of movement, 
 "you've just got to make your thinker act 
 right, then you can walk just like me!" 
 And she went briskly off. 
 
 "Well," smiled Alice, a little slowly, "I 
 will go right to work at it and see if I can 
 make the old thinker do as it should. But 
 you must give me time, for it has been doing 
 wrong a long while." 
 
 "I'm going to help you," said the child, 
 confidently. 
 
 Having finished this source of interest, 
 the little girl looked inquiringly around the 
 room at the chintz-covered couch, sewing 
 machine and big base-burner, which heated 
 the entire little one-floor and attic abode. 
 Then she tried the two old rockers with 
 chintz seats and backs, and inspected two
 
 An Arrival 41 
 
 straight chairs which held down two unoc- 
 cupied corners, her eyes turning at last to 
 the tall secretary which occupied the space 
 between the two back windows. 
 
 " What's this?" she asked, pointing to 
 it. 
 
 And Alice, smiling at her curiosity, and 
 in a sort of reaction from the talk about 
 her own useless feet, which had left her 
 heart a little sore, said aloud something 
 which had often come whimsically to her 
 mind. She looked at the grim old piece of 
 furniture of which she had stood in awe as 
 a child, since she was never allowed to open 
 it and replied: 
 
 "Oh, that holds Mary's chains which tie 
 her down." 
 
 Instantly realizing the possible conse- 
 quences of such a revelation, Alice in alarm 
 cried quickly, "Don't tell Mary I said 
 that!" Then tried to cover any suggesti- 
 bility the remark might hold with the com- 
 monplace statement: "It is full of papers 
 that are important, and nobody goes into it
 
 42 Uncle Mary 
 
 but Mary. So you and I mustn't think or 
 talk about it any more." 
 
 The little girl looked soberly back at her, 
 and said, "No." But it did not go out of 
 her mind, although she did not talk about 
 it any more, since children of "Homes" 
 must do as they are told. 
 
 Meanwhile Mary was having trouble try- 
 ing to make things "go" as usual in the 
 kitchen; for there were very diverting 
 things. First, "the milk boy" had arrived, 
 shambled up to the back kitchen door and 
 tried an unyielding knob ; then lifted a rug- 
 ged face of amazement as Mary turned a 
 key to open the door to him. He had al- 
 ways walked right in, as far as his memory 
 ran back, which was some distance, since he 
 had been milk-boy to the Halsey's for at 
 least a generation. 
 
 "I'll empty it here," said Mary, hastily 
 producing a small tin pail ; and then remem- 
 bering, cried excitedly, "That won't do, Jim 
 Peters! I've got to have five pints this 
 morning and to-morrow morning and all
 
 An Arrival 43 
 
 the time now ! Let me get the big pail and 
 you take it out and fill it !" 
 
 Jim Peters looked helplessly at her, as if 
 his senses were reeling. Five pints of milk 
 daily for the Halsey girls! He pondered 
 over it as he hurried unsteadily toward his 
 wagon. Never before had he left over a 
 pint well, he might once, or even twice, 
 have left a quart. But five pints and reg- 
 ular, was beyond his comprehension. As he 
 shambled back, still hastily, Mary was 
 standing at the door ready to take it from 
 him, and he could only glance furtively 
 around at the windows for a solution of the 
 mystery, as he inquired cautiously, knowing 
 well that Mary Halsey did not like prying, 
 "Got comp'ny, hev ye?" 
 
 "No," said Mary crisply, taking the brim- 
 ming pail and closing the door promptly. 
 
 Then she said to herself, "Well, he doesn't 
 know much " adding indignantly, "but 
 every house he goes to will get that and he's 
 just begun his round!" 
 
 "I can hear him now," she went on
 
 44 Uncle Mary 
 
 grimly, hurrying through her dishes and 
 keeping one ear open for the music of that 
 little high treble alternating with Alice 's low 
 voice in the sitting room, though she could 
 not catch what they were saying. She 
 wouldn't let Alice help in the kitchen 
 usually, as there was so little to do ordina- 
 rily, and she did not "want her around in the 
 way." This morning she would have liked 
 to have her come for an excuse to bring the 
 little stranger but there was the milk boy 
 and of course she couldn't. 
 
 She followed the milk boy about in her 
 thought: "He'll say, 'Mary and Alice Hal- 
 sey must be going to keep boarders. They 
 got five pints of milk this morning and want 
 it reg'lar.' Between here and the Kembles 
 he will have decided it's boarders, and by 
 night everybody in town will know it, though 
 of course Sophie Stoneham will rip him 
 wide open with questions and find out just 
 how many facts he has ! Then she may de- 
 cide that Alice is going to try the milk cure, 
 that The Banner told about last week.
 
 An Arrival 45 
 
 That's the only hope I have; but she'll be 
 here to see about it to-day. Mercy ! I must 
 get through and do something to head her 
 off!" 
 
 Excitement rose in Mary every moment 
 and no wonder. There had never been any- 
 thing in the brown cottage of the Halseys 
 so beautiful and young as little Libbie Lee 
 since Alice and Mary were young them- 
 selves. In fact there had never been a 
 superfluity of young things in the entire 
 village. New England folk of the past few 
 generations have not been prolific in child- 
 bearing, and inland villages like Sunfield, 
 brought in little new blood and few new 
 things of any sort. But for the factory 
 people there would have been few children, 
 indeed. The village was seven miles away 
 from the railroad, and while a few auto- 
 mobiles had come over the hills and found 
 homes in the old-time barns, they had not 
 changed the even tenor of the place as to 
 growth and innovations. A scattering row 
 of houses on either side along the valley
 
 46 Uncle Mary 
 
 highway, flanked by hills, with a church 
 steeple rising determinedly, a general store 
 or two, a small factory and a school house 
 were its component parts. Back of the 
 scattering row of houses stretched at vary- 
 ing lengths, small farms of garden and 
 meadow land, freely interspersed with 
 rocks, and bounded by the hard-won, ances- 
 tral accumulations of preceding rock-dig- 
 gers. Piled in uneven stretches these cast- 
 out bowlders of previous generations made 
 picturesque enclosures, especially when 
 over-run with flowering vines, which nature 
 furnishes in abundance, as if to make up 
 for the bleakness of those granite-filled 
 hills. 
 
 Mary did not stop to philosophize about 
 the town, or she might have been more le- 
 nient toward its desire for some interesting 
 developments to break the monotony of life. 
 She was only bent upon keeping this one 
 bit of youth and charm to herself for two 
 days! 
 
 There are few things that come to us with-
 
 An Arrival 47 
 
 out alloy, however, as Mary was to find 
 out. She hurried back to the sitting room, 
 after having put the kitchen to rights, and 
 caught from Alice's lips something which 
 wound up with, "Your Uncle Mary." 
 
 She appeared at the door on the instant 
 while a speaking face said sharply to Alice, 
 " Don't you begin that, now!" 
 
 Then she noted that Elizabeth, as she had 
 determined to call her, leaned affectionately 
 at Alice's knee. Mary went at once to the 
 child and stooping, for pretext, examined 
 the little garter to adjust an imaginary 
 wrinkle in the stocking, and her face grew 
 strangely flushed from the unaccustomed 
 touch of little rosy knees. 
 
 Alice, noting the flush, said quickly, 
 " You've hurried too much with those 
 dishes!" 
 
 ' ' No, I haven ? t, ' ' returned Mary brusquely. 
 "But I have some work I must finish." 
 And she sat down to the machine and began 
 to sew rapidly. 
 
 Libbie Lee looked on with instant interest,
 
 48 Uncle Mary 
 
 watching the wheel whirl and a piece of 
 goods fly from under its crooked foot. This 
 was absorbing enough for a space, but soon 
 the child's eye fixed upon Mary's face most 
 disconcertingly. She was not a child who 
 talked every minute. She alternated be- 
 tween thinking and talking ; storing up am- 
 munition, so to speak, one moment and 
 firing it off the next. 
 
 Mary bore the child's scrutiny uncon- 
 cernedly as long as she could, then she 
 glanced up with the high gleam in her eye. 
 
 Libbie Lee took it soberly: "Why don't 
 your eyes wrinkle up underside when you 
 smile?" 
 
 Mary replied in unconscious defense: 
 "They smile just the way they were made 
 to smile." 
 
 "Auntie Alice's wrinkle up all 'round," 
 persisted the child, "and smile all over, 
 see," turning to Alice, "and that makes me 
 smile, too." 
 
 Alice came instantly to the rescue: "Lib- 
 bie Lee, come here! You are a great little
 
 An Arrival 49 
 
 girl to investigate! Come here to me and 
 I will find something to interest you." And 
 the eyes that "smiled all over 1 ' were so win- 
 ning that Libbie Lee was at once at Alice's 
 knee, looking expectantly up into her face. 
 
 But Mary rose on the instant from the 
 machine, closed it and put her work away. 
 Then she turned to the little girl and took 
 her firmly by the hand, with a look of deci- 
 sion thrown to Alice by the way: "Come 
 with me and I will get you some cookies." 
 
 It was rather a grim invitation, or com- 
 mand, but "cookies" were new to Libbie 
 Lee, and she followed without a word to the 
 kitchen, where Mary seated her by the 
 kitchen table and gave her nice round things 
 to eat with sugar on top. 
 
 "Now, stay here a moment, and I will be 
 back for you," said Mary. Then she hur- 
 ried out for a word with Alice alone.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 MARY'S STRATEGY 
 
 " ALICE, " she said brusquely, entering the 
 sitting room again. "I have thought how 
 to manage things for to-day." 
 
 Alice looked puzzled: "What do you 
 mean?" 
 
 "I mean how I am going to manage not 
 to let folks know the child is here for to-day 
 or to-morrow. Jim Peters has already 
 started things." 
 
 "How?" asked Alice, puzzled again. 
 
 "I ordered five pints of milk to-day, to- 
 morrow and regular." 
 
 * ' Oh, ' ' said Alice, comprehending. ' 'Then 
 you can't do a thing, Mary!" 
 
 "Yes, but I can, and I will," Mary re- 
 turned vehemently. 
 
 "What?" queried Alice skeptically. 
 
 Decision came instantly to Mary, and it 
 so
 
 Mary's Strategy 51 
 
 was the more tenaciously adhered to, be- 
 cause, as Alice promptly pronounced, it was 
 absurd ! 
 
 "I am going to the kitchen attic and stay 
 all day with her!" 
 
 ' * Mary ! How absurd ! You can 't do it ! " 
 
 " Watch and see! I've got to hurry, too, 
 or Sophie Stoneham will be here before I 
 can get things fixed." 
 
 " Fixed how?" questioned Alice, be- 
 wildered. 
 
 "Never mind," answered Mary, as she 
 hurried out the room and brought back Lib- 
 bie Lee, who had just finished her cookies. 
 Then Mary turned to the kitchen again and 
 hurried up the attic stairs. 
 
 The child had a sort of pathetic soberness 
 as Mary brought her back, and as Mary 
 left again, Alice with her quick sympathy, 
 put out her arms once more to the little girl, 
 who smiled and ran into them. 
 
 "I am going to stay with you, Auntie 
 Alice. Mayn't I?" 
 
 "I don't know, little girl," Alice replied
 
 52 Uncle Mary 
 
 uncertainly; "Mary didn't tell me just what 
 she was going to do." And Alice began at 
 once to divert the child in loyal preparation 
 for whatever Mary might have in mind. 
 
 Meantime Mary was busy in what Alice 
 would have said was an absurd way, indeed, 
 if Alice had been looking on. 
 
 With lips tightly set, Mary began pulling 
 out an old carpet from a corner of the low 
 attic. This she spread down upon the floor, 
 pushing it out in every direction as far as 
 she could. Next she lugged out several old 
 comforts from a great chest; and, contrary 
 to all New England ethics from the days of 
 the Pilgrims down, these comforts, dedicated 
 to the use of beds alone never under any 
 circumstances to be allowed to touch a floor 
 were spread about on top of the old car- 
 pet, covering the many holes and making a 
 deep, noiseless mesh upon which to tread. 
 
 There is a certain high-spirited reaction 
 that comes to the best of folks when they 
 reach the point of trampling on traditions, 
 and Mary was no exception.
 
 53 
 
 "I'm not going to have Sophie Stoneham 
 asking what child that is running about the 
 attic floor ! She '11 not hear a sound through 
 these old comforts!" She was enjoying her 
 innovations. 
 
 Then she tacked up at the low side win- 
 dows impromptu curtains made from old 
 dress skirts, leaving open only the long back 
 window which looked out over brown mead- 
 ows and rolling hills. 
 
 "There, I think that will do," she said, 
 at last, surveying with satisfaction the low 
 room with sloping roof. "And there are 
 plenty of things to play with here." 
 
 Then she went down in triumph to Alice 
 and the child. 
 
 "Well, I've got everything ready," she 
 said in grim glee to Alice; and Alice in- 
 stantly came back with a spirited, "Beady! 
 What do you- mean, Mary HalseyT' 
 
 "I mean that I have fitted up a padded 
 cell where Elizabeth Lee and I are to stay 
 to-day in peace!" Mary said under her 
 breath.
 
 54 Uncle Mary 
 
 11 You shan't do it, Mary Halsey, and leave 
 me all alone!" exclaimed Alice, whispering 
 back. 
 
 "You won't be alone, you needn't worry 
 about that you'll have plenty of com- 
 pany!" 
 
 Protests, of course, amounted to nothing ; 
 and seeing Libbie Lee begin to look vaguely 
 troubled, Alice meekly said no more, while 
 Mary turned with authority to the little girl : 
 "We're going upstairs, now." 
 
 But the child drew back: "I want to stay 
 here with Auntie Alice," knowing with in- 
 stinctive finality that rolling chairs could 
 not mount stairways. 
 
 And Mary Halsey, for the first time in 
 her life, resorted to "wheedling," as she 
 would have called it in another: "We're 
 going upstairs to see a lot of things things 
 you never saw before." 
 
 The child hesitated, and Alice looked 
 loyally away, remembering, as she often did 
 in clashes between her sister and herself, 
 how much Mary did for her. Then Libbie
 
 Mary's Strategy 55 
 
 Lee obediently put a hand out to Mary, and 
 went wonderingly through the kitchen and 
 up the attic stairs. 
 
 "This is such a funny place," she said, 
 mounting the top step, and looking slowly 
 around. 
 
 "Yes," returned Mary with a new eager- 
 ness. "But see, it is just like walking 
 around on a bed !" And Libbie Lee laughed 
 merrily as Mary stalked about on the out- 
 raged bed-comforts. Then Mary began 
 bringing forth long forgotten toys. Nothing 
 was ever thrown away in the typical New 
 England home, and care of toys was care- 
 fully taught, as they were expected to be 
 handed down from generation to generation. 
 Libbie Lee was soon interested in a big doll 
 that had been packed away since Alice and 
 Mary passed their doll days. Things went 
 pretty well, though now and then the little 
 girl paused to ask why the windows on the 
 sides were covered up. She wanted to see 
 what was outside. 
 
 At last Mary's watch said it was noon,
 
 56 Uncle Mary 
 
 time to get something to eat, though she 
 had brought up with her a glass of milk 
 and more cookies for lunch for her little 
 charge. 
 
 "Keep still, Elizabeth, just a minute, 
 don't say a word or move " and the child 
 was surprised into sudden quiet. 
 
 Mary cautiously opened the door, not a 
 sound was to be heard from below. "Now 
 we will go down stairs," she said. 
 
 "To Auntie Alice," the child cried joy- 
 ously, and Mary gave a reluctant, "Yes." 
 
 They trudged down hand in hand, but at 
 the bottom of the stairs Libbie Lee ran 
 through the kitchen and hallway straight 
 into the arms of Alice. 
 
 "What have you been doing ?" asked Alice 
 as she tenderly folded the child to her. 
 
 "Oh, just lots of things," returned the 
 child a little wearily, whereupon Mary 
 broke in with, "What company have you 
 had?" 
 
 And Alice reluctantly admitted that So- 
 phie Stoneham had been in.
 
 57 
 
 " Special conunittee from the town," re- 
 turned Mary, scornfully. "What did she 
 ask you $" 
 
 "About the milk cure," admitted Alice 
 with a smile this time, which came easily 
 with that warm little body leaning against 
 her knee. 
 
 Mary chuckled, "I knew it, and did she 
 ask where I was*?" 
 
 "Of course, that was natural," said Alice. 
 
 "And what did you tell her?" 
 
 "I said you were doing some work up 
 attic." 
 
 "Then I suppose she listened for sounds 
 and didn't hear any," questioned Mary. 
 
 "Go on Mary and get some dinner; we are 
 famished," Alice laughed, squeezing the 
 little girl close within her arms, while Mary 
 inwardly squirmed. She could squeeze with 
 her heart, but she did not know how to do it 
 with her arms. 
 
 "I won't take a step," said Mary, "till 
 you tell me what you said to Sophie Stone- 
 ham about my being up attic."
 
 58 Uncle Mary 
 
 "I told her you were looking into some 
 old chests!" 
 
 Mary Halsey smiled satisfaction and went 
 at once to prepare lunch, or dinner, for their 
 main meal was at mid-day. 
 
 "I don't think anybody will be in this 
 afternoon," Mary chuckled, as she stepped 
 briskly about the kitchen. "I wouldn't 
 have believed Alice would do so well at 
 throwing Sophie off the track. And she 
 will tell everybody as she goes down the 
 street; so we will be safe for to-day, I 
 think." 
 
 It was a delicious little dinner; Libbie 
 Lee was hungry, and she and Auntie Alice 
 were wholly happy, with Mary partially so, 
 because Libbie Lee would turn to Alice for 
 meat to be cut and bread to be buttered, 
 when by all rights of common sense and 
 fitness, Mary should be the one called upon ! 
 A sudden determination seized her ; she had 
 not meant to go to the attic again, for she 
 really thought Sophie Stoneham would allay 
 curiosity for the day, but she was going to
 
 Mary's Strategy 59 
 
 have the child to herself absolutely for the 
 afternoon, that was sure ! And to go to the 
 attic was the only way to manage it. 
 
 So, with the dishes washed again, and the 
 kitchen set to rights, Mary announced with 
 as much matter-of-courseness as she could 
 summon: "We are going upstairs now, 
 Elizabeth, to see lots of things you haven't 
 seen yet," giving Alice orders with a mean- 
 ing glance which quieted all protest but a 
 low, "Mary!" 
 
 The little girl again looked from one to 
 the other. Alice's powers of entertainment 
 had not been fully tested, it was true, still 
 it was nice just staying with her! But 
 Mary's firm hand reaching hers was quite 
 compelling, and the child went reluctantly 
 up the stairs again, while Mary determined 
 that it should be so gay an afternoon that 
 Libbie Lee could have no regrets. Feeling 
 so sure that no one would call, Mary romped 
 with the child as she would not have 
 dreamed possible, and Libbie Lee laughed 
 out and cried, "Oh, Uncle Mary, you are so
 
 60 Uncle Mary 
 
 funny!" again and again. Mary drew her 
 around and around upon an old red sled 
 over those rebellious comforts, and even 
 piled up more at one end of the room that 
 she might slide down hill! At last, when 
 both were tired out, Mary found a little old 
 sewing box that had been hers when a child, 
 and in it was everything intact ; thread and 
 needles, thimble and scissors, with even a 
 cardboard lamb whose outline was to be 
 filled in with gay threads of wool. She 
 showed Libbie Lee how to do it, and while 
 the child was absorbed with the task, Mary 
 turned to the old trunk from which she had 
 taken it, and a sudden impulse made her 
 open a cunningly devised secret little com- 
 partment in the trunk, of which no one knew 
 but herself for it was she who had devised 
 it. Years had passed since she opened it 
 last, and why she should do it now, she 
 could not tell. 
 
 There were just two letters slipped care- 
 fully in the narrow, hidden space; and, 
 glancing at the child to make sure that she
 
 Mary's Strategy 61 
 
 was not looking, Mary opened one. She 
 knew every word the letter contained, but it 
 thrilled her anew to see them lying crisp 
 and firm on the substantial business sheet. 
 
 It was a simple, straight-forward love- 
 letter, and the second was much like it. 
 
 The afternoon ended, tea time passed and 
 no one came in, for which Mary and Alice 
 were profoundly grateful. The little girl's 
 eyes grew heavy as soon as tea was over. 
 Mary, noting it, was glad to postpone dish- 
 washing, and briskly set about putting her 
 little charge to bed. There was no objec- 
 tion on the child's part, and when she saw 
 the little old crib with its transforming lace 
 and frills, she was full of delight. 
 
 "It's such a funny little bed, and so 
 pretty," she said again and again, as Mary 
 slipped wee garments from the small warm 
 body while her fingers thrilled at every 
 touch and Alice looked on in breathless ec- 
 stacy. Never had a little child been un- 
 dressed in that house within their mature 
 recollection. It was an indescribable mo-
 
 62 Uncle Mary 
 
 merit for both, stirring dormant things that 
 lie in every true woman's heart. And when 
 the dainty night dress was thrown over the 
 brown head and fell to the pink toes, it was 
 much as though a small angel had suddenly 
 lit at their feet! 
 
 But a very matter-of-fact child-voice at 
 once announced: "Now, I must say my 
 prayers. The nurse wouldn't let me kneel 
 on the floor to say 'em last night in the sleep- 
 ing car. She said folks would step on my 
 feet going through the car. And it was so 
 funny kneeling on the bed and bouncing 
 'round all the time, I 'most forgot my 
 prayers," she ended with a gurgle; but 
 added quickly, "I'm going to say 'em good 
 to-night, though, with this pretty bed to say 
 'em by." 
 
 The little white-clad figure knelt, wriggled 
 an instant to get into just the right position, 
 then the small voice began its petitions in 
 a suddenly reverent room. 
 
 "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the 
 Lord my soul to keep ; if I should die before
 
 Mary's Strategy 63 
 
 I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." 
 A moment's pause, and she went on: "God 
 bless, bless " Then she stopped, and her 
 head bobbed up with sudden question in the 
 brown eyes. "Is it right to ask God to 
 bless everybody in two Homes? Maybe I 
 oughtn't to ask for but one. " 
 
 "What do you mean," came stiffly from 
 Mary. 
 
 "Why I always ask God to bless every- 
 body in the 'Home' and I want Him to do it 
 now, too; but then I want Him to bless 
 everybody here, and maybe He won't want 
 to do both." 
 
 Alice and Mary found their lips twitch- 
 ing with amusement, but Mary said quickly, 
 "It seems to me, since you are here, you 
 could just say, 'everybody in the house,' and 
 that would do." 
 
 The child was not satisfied; she went on 
 plaintively: "But, if God would do it, I 
 would like Him to bless the 'Home,' too." 
 
 Then Mary and Alice together, came to 
 the rescue. "Of course God will do it,"
 
 64 Uncle Mary 
 
 said Mary, jerkily it seemed so odd to be 
 talking about what God would do while 
 Alice put in warmly, "He'll just love to do 
 it!" 
 
 And a beaming little face went down on 
 the bed again : ' ' God bless everybody in the 
 Home where I'm not, and in the home where 
 I am, amen!" 
 
 She was up on her feet instantly. "Isn't 
 it nice that way ? " A sober minute followed 
 and she added, "But I do wish Emma and 
 little Billie had pretty beds like mine!" 
 
 "Who is Emma and little Billie," asked 
 Mary, with a hint of rebellion against these 
 interlopers in her tone. 
 
 "Billie was the littlest boy and Emma was 
 next to me in the button-up-line, " returned 
 the child in plaintive brevity. 
 
 "The button-up-line," queried Mary and 
 Alice together. 
 
 "Yes," said the little girl with renewed 
 animation; "don't you know?" Then, see- 
 ing from their faces that they did not, she 
 explained happily: "You see it's dreadful
 
 Mary's Strategy 65 
 
 hard to button up your own dress in the 
 back," and she reached around to show how 
 hard it was "but it's just fun to button-up 
 anybody else ! So we all stood in a line and 
 Ella buttoned-up Mary, and Mary buttoned- 
 up Amy, and Amy buttoned-up Sarah, and 
 Sarah buttoned-up Bridgie, and Bridgie " 
 
 "I see," broke in Mary on that line which 
 she saw was going to be interminable, end- 
 ing it with, "and Emma buttoned-up you." 
 
 "No," returned the child positively, "I 
 buttoned-up Emma," while Alice laughed 
 sympathetically, then asked, "And who but- 
 toned-up the last little girl with nobody 
 behind her?" 
 
 "Oh," cried the child in triumph, "the 
 one who had dressed the fastest that morn- 
 ing always got to do it and / got to do it 
 lots and lots of times!" 
 
 "Well, that was good," broke in Mary 
 again (with lingering rebellion toward these 
 childish recollections), "but here's the little 
 bed waiting for you." 
 
 And the child's delight was quickly re-
 
 66 Uncle Mary 
 
 newed while she laughed, "I'm going to be 
 a big, big doll in it!" 
 
 So she looked, when she had nestled down 
 in its soft depths, while Mary tucked the 
 covers about her curls with a hand that very 
 nearly trembled. Both Mary and Alice had 
 kissed her good-night, and now Mary mo- 
 tioned Alice to roll out, and immediately fol- 
 lowed, herself. As a matter of fact both 
 wanted to stay fairly ached to stay, but 
 Mary knew she must not with the dishes yet 
 to wash, and Alice should not stay if she 
 couldn't! 
 
 The child was almost instantly asleep, 
 and never did Mary Halsey make dishes fly 
 as she did that night. As soon as her task 
 was done she was at the bed-room door, 
 peeking cautiously in to see if sleep had 
 really come. And no one would have 
 guessed from Alice's serene face that she 
 had noiselessly rolled by that door a dozen 
 times while Mary did the dishes ! 
 
 "She's asleep," whispered Mary, relief 
 and joy commingling in her tone. "Now,
 
 67 
 
 we will open her trunk," she added briskly. 
 
 "Oh!" cried Alice, "we can't do that!" 
 
 "Why not?" returned Mary, who had 
 thought it all out. "She is in our my 
 charge I must take care of her clothes. 
 She is too little to do it for herself." 
 
 Alice thought a moment, then seeing that 
 Mary was right, she rolled her chair with 
 alacrity toward the little hall where the 
 trunk had been temporarily placed. 
 
 "You better not try to come in here," 
 Mary grudgingly warned, "there's no 
 room." 
 
 "I won't be a bit in the way," returned 
 Alice, pleadingly, and Mary said no more. 
 She put the key, which had been in her 
 pocket since the child's arrival, at once in 
 the lock and, with a hand that decidedly 
 trembled this time. The whole thing was 
 so contrary to anything she could ever have 
 imagined would come into her experience, 
 and the day had been one of constant emo- 
 tional strain! But the lock sprang open 
 with prosaic alertness, and lifting the lid
 
 68 Uncle Mary 
 
 with tightly pressed lips, Mary faced the 
 neatly covered trays. It was hard again to 
 go further, but with a jerk the lids were up, 
 and while Alice looked on breathlessly, 
 Mary laid out dainty little garments of all 
 sorts. They were the prettiest little things 
 either of them had ever looked upon! Of 
 the daintiest textures, and most exquisitely 
 made. Then they came to the larger tray, 
 and finally to the big space below, to find 
 beautiful small dresses, for morning, for 
 Church, for parties ! Never were two spin- 
 sters so excited and delighted! They ex- 
 claimed, and warned each other: 
 
 "Alice, Alice! Suppose somebody comes 
 to the door, what would they think of the 
 racket you are making?" Or, "Mary, 
 Mary ! You forget how loud you are talk- 
 ing!" When, as a matter of fact, it was 
 only their emotions that had run up the 
 scale to high C ! 
 
 Alice's arms were piled full of lovely 
 things, while Mary still produced more, and 
 both exclaimed:
 
 Mary's Strategy 69 
 
 "What will we ever do with them all?" 
 "We will have to give her all of the little 
 bedroom, and move our things upstairs," 
 Mary answered herself, and Alice agreed 
 enthusiastically. They were both ready, if 
 need be, to move out on the roof to make 
 room for the marvel which had slipped into 
 their lives. Mary flew into the little bed- 
 room, which opened from their own, 
 snatched their prosaic things from the closet 
 shelves and hangers, wiped the dust from 
 where no dust had ever been allowed to 
 light, and placed each little garment away 
 with joyous care, just as it should be. 
 Everything seemed absolutely new in the 
 big trunk, and both had New England re- 
 spect for "new things." Their own cloth- 
 ing had been piled on the bed in the little 
 room, and now the three lower drawers from 
 the old "high-boy" were emptied of their 
 contents and space given for the child's 
 under garments, gloves, sashes, etc. 
 
 Alice said at last, "What are you going to 
 do with our things I'd let them lie on the
 
 70 Uncle Mary 
 
 bed to-night, Mary. You are all tired out, 
 I know, if you would only own it," Alice 
 answered herself earnestly. 
 
 "I'm not," protested Mary vigorously. 
 "Do you think I am going to let her see this 
 disorder in the morning?" 
 
 That was all the stimulus Mary needed 
 her own declaration of purpose and she 
 began instantly to take the things from the 
 bed and carry them to the attic, where she 
 disposed of them for the time being. It was 
 late, indeed, when they finally sought their 
 beds, and then how could they sleep with the 
 thought of that little thing breathing so 
 softly at Mary's bedside! Alice wished so 
 much that she dared ask Mary to leave the 
 light burning, so she could look over there 
 once in a while; and Mary wished rather 
 fiercely that Alice were not in the room at 
 all, so she could keep a light all night !
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 SUNDAY 
 
 THE next day being Sunday brought new 
 problems. To begin with, the milk boy 
 was more aggressive in his investigations, 
 but Mary was quite equal to him and no hint 
 of the real situation was allowed to pass the 
 locked back door even when it grudgingly 
 opened a space ; neither was there possibility 
 of his stealing information from any tell- 
 tale window. Everything was foreseen and 
 guarded against. Libbie Lee slept late in 
 the be-f rilled little bed. The day before had 
 been taxing to the child in many ways, and 
 she had slept as quietly as a rose on a sum- 
 mer's night till after nine o'clock. 
 
 Meantime, their breakfast done and dishes 
 put away, Mary turned to Alice : 
 
 "I suppose I've got to go to church, or 
 we'll have the whole town here by night!" 
 
 71
 
 72 Uncle Mary 
 
 Alice laughed with what she imagined was 
 hidden delight, but Mary was not slow to de- 
 tect and comprehend. If Mary went to 
 church, Alice thought that Libbie Lee would 
 be left with her ! 
 
 There was instant decision, entirely con- 
 trary to all previous plans : 
 
 "I am going to take Elizabeth to church 
 with me," Mary casually, but firmly said. 
 
 "Why, I wouldn't think of such a thing!" 
 protested Alice, and "What will people 
 say?" came the old query. 
 
 "They might as well say it now and be 
 done with it, whatever they may say," re- 
 turned Mary coolly. 
 
 "But " protested Alice again, in con- 
 scious futility, "I'd make some kind of a 
 statement about her first." 
 
 "Call a town meeting, I suppose, and tell 
 them I don't know anything about her," 
 Mary scornfully returned. Then she added 
 sharply; "We've talked this all over before, 
 and you had better let me manage it. " 
 
 Alice knew this was final and resigned
 
 Sunday 73 
 
 herself to keen disappointment, for she had 
 fully counted upon the two hours when she 
 would have the child all for her own. 
 
 Mary kept a constant eye upon the little 
 bed to catch the first stir within its depths. 
 At last it came. Alice, on her part, was 
 watching Mary's face and wheeled instantly 
 into view. The two were breathless, while 
 a bewildered look swept the little sleeping 
 rose like a sudden rough wind then she saw 
 the two standing guard, and joyous light and 
 color flooded it. 
 
 "Oh, I sleeped so good!" 
 
 "And aren't you hungry?" asked both her 
 keepers together. 
 
 "Yes, I'm so hungry, but I just want to 
 stay all the time in this pretty bed!" 
 
 Mary was on the point of saying, "Stay 
 right there and I will bring your break- 
 fast," but that was not at all according to 
 her training, or oft-stated policy as to the 
 training of children. So the firmness of 
 self-denial came to her tones as she said, 
 "That won't do. It is time now everybody
 
 74 Uncle Mary 
 
 was up." And Alice's look of sorrowful 
 reproach cemented her determination. 
 
 But Libbie Lee had been only joking; she 
 tumbled gayly out of her nest, then turned 
 and patted it with, "I'm coming back to 
 you, pretty little bed, to-night, and every 
 night as long as I live!" while her listeners 
 glowed. 
 
 "I put my clothes on by myself," she said, 
 hesitatingly, as Mary began to dress her, 
 "that's what I had to do when I was at the 
 'Home'." 
 
 "Well, you are not at the 'Home' now," 
 said Mary firmly. She wasn't going to be 
 cheated out of everything through rules and 
 regulations, especially if they weren't her 
 own! 
 
 Consequently she had the joy of putting 
 small garments on the warm little body, and 
 Libbie Lee never twisted or squirmed once. 
 "Homes," as a rule, disapprove of small 
 bodily contortions. Their system soon 
 smoothes out the last vestige. So Mary, 
 without delay, slipped a little morning dress
 
 Sunday 75 
 
 over the child's head and led her out to 
 breakfast where both women feasted their 
 souls as the child ate and prattled. Then 
 Mary made her ready for church a process 
 that, for Mary, was memorable. The pride 
 with which she selected and put on hand- 
 some outer garments that marked the child 
 as coming from sources of wealth and per- 
 fect taste was of such an inflating variety 
 that if Mary had not learned so well the les- 
 son of self-restraint, she must have simply 
 floated afterward along the village street on 
 her way to church ! As it was, she started 
 up the street a little late, so as to see no one 
 on the way, then entered and walked up the 
 aisle, leading Libbie Lee in jerky, deter- 
 mined strides, while the entire church stared. 
 The child, so evidently, did not belong to the 
 town. The Halsey pew had always been at 
 the front, Mary and Libbie Lee occupied it, 
 and no attendant of the day could fail to 
 take astounded note. Mr. Stillwell, the old 
 pastor, also took note and knew he must 
 preach against odds ! How much of his ser-
 
 76 Uncle Mary 
 
 mon was heard will never be known, but it 
 is certain that Mary never heard a word. 
 Neither could she have told whether she was 
 most happy, as she sat there with the child 
 looking up into her face every little while, 
 or most miserable over the coming ordeal of 
 questions. 
 
 The benediction came at last and Sophie 
 Stoneham, portly and wheezing, was the 
 first to reach her. 
 
 "Well, well, Mary Halsey, how did you 
 get her?" with breathless directness. 
 
 And the question, determining Mary's 
 policy toward the town, enabled her to reply 
 at once, "I stole her!" 
 
 In her joy and misery during the service 
 Mary had constantly petitioned: "Oh, Lord, 
 tell me what to say to them!" 
 
 Her prayer had been granted ! The first 
 question asked had been in a form that gave 
 her immediate answer. Of course some 
 sticklers for God's high integrity, who are 
 extremely careless of their own, might try 
 to prove that her answer was not strictly
 
 Sunday 11 
 
 true, and so could not have been providen- 
 tially provided. But, in her heart, Mary 
 knew how unquestioningly she had taken 
 the child to whom nobody's legal right was 
 proven. So, her answer for all came in that 
 first reply, "I stole her," and she did not 
 add to or take from that statement. 
 
 One after another passed and spoke to 
 her, and what she had said first was repeated 
 with a grim smile again and again, till Mary 
 grasped the child more tightly and fled to 
 the little room in the rear of the church, 
 which served as pastor 's study and class 
 room for the smallest children of the Sunday 
 School. 
 
 Elizabeth Lee in her short life had had 
 many experiences, and she had learned to 
 keep step with other little feet ; so she went 
 into the room with the few other little folk 
 of the church, without question. But, as the 
 other children crowded around her, in even 
 more evident curiosity than their elders, 
 she clung tightly to Mary's hand; and then, 
 it seemed to her that Mary's brief introduc-
 
 78 Uncle Mary 
 
 tion to the teacher meant a passing on of 
 her ownership again! 
 
 "This is Elizabeth Lee Starling," Mary 
 said, very firmly. "I hope she is going to be 
 a very good little girl." 
 
 Miranda Evans, the teacher, did not have 
 a prepossessing personality. She was tall 
 and very angular, and her eyes didn't look 
 in the same direction, Elizabeth could have 
 told you in frightened whisper though not 
 in just those words. And, since astonish- 
 ment dominated those disagreeing eyes, as 
 Miranda looked at the child, the effect was 
 extremely trying. When the teacher recov- 
 ered herself sufficiently to put out a hand for 
 Elizabeth Lee's, a closed little fist was 
 thrust behind the child's back, while 
 she cried, "I want to stay with Uncle 
 Mary ! ' ' 
 
 ' * Uncle Mary!" the children all cried, and 
 then they laughed spontaneously, while 
 Miranda Evans' eyes, though still refusing 
 to focus in concert, smiled too, most harmo- 
 niously. Elizabeth Lee had no idea what it
 
 Sunday 79 
 
 was all about, but she responded to the 
 changed atmosphere which merriment had 
 brought; and when Miranda Evans tapped 
 a little bell which sent all the children to 
 their seats, then kindly laid a hand on 
 Elizabeth Lee's shoulder, she relinquished 
 Mary's hand and allowed herself to be 
 guided to a chair in the front row. The 
 teacher returned to her place and the exer- 
 cises began. 
 
 Miranda invited Mary to a chair near her 
 own, and Mary sat stiffly through the hour, 
 under the consciousness that the name her 
 precious little protege had given her would 
 go over the town by night and, with fur- 
 ther inner prescience, she knew it would be 
 fixed upon her for life; because everybody 
 would feel it was so eminently appropriate ! 
 Somehow, it had not occurred to her that the 
 child would call her so away from home, or 
 she might have taken her in hand and made 
 sure it would not be done. It was a crucial 
 hour, but Mary met it with a bit of added 
 firmness about the lips, even while her heart
 
 80 Uncle Mary 
 
 softened again and again as the child she 
 was calling, "Mine, mine!" turned often to 
 her among so many strangers with smiles 
 that confirmed the claim. 
 
 When Sunday School was over, Mary 
 tried to hurry away, but she did not succeed 
 before a forward child had taken hold of 
 Elizabeth Lee and asked : "You meant to say 
 Aunt Mary, didn't you?" 
 
 Whereupon Elizabeth Lee replied deter- 
 minedly, "No, she is my Uncle Mary!" 
 
 And the children laughed again, while the 
 forward child, looking fearfully up toward 
 Mary, persisted, "How did she get to be 
 your Uncle?" 
 
 "That is none of your business," returned 
 Mary sharply, and taking her little charge 
 by the hand she was quickly out in the open, 
 and away from people, she thought, thank- 
 fully. All except those interested in the 
 Sunday School had gone home, and should 
 have been busy getting the Sunday lunch 
 upon the table, but Mary caught sight of 
 prying eyes behind curtains as she tried to
 
 Sunday 81 
 
 walk unconsciously along past the unpreten- 
 tious homes lining the village street, while 
 Elizabeth Lee's tongue ran joyously about 
 a sparrow, a tree or a cloud anything that 
 caught her eager young eyes. The Sunday 
 School had not impressed her much. She 
 was accustomed to sitting in rows of children 
 while somebody talked about something ; but 
 walking a village street was a new and de- 
 lightful thing. 
 
 So Mary's spirit was soothed; and, when 
 Alice got a chance to ask, without notice by 
 the little girl, how things went, she replied 
 with a high gleam in her eye and smil- 
 ing lips, "Just as you know they would 
 go!" 
 
 "But what did you tell them, Mary," 
 Alice begged. 
 
 "Told 'em I stole her!" 
 
 "Mary! You know they would not be- 
 lieve that!" 
 
 "Just as good as anything else to tell 
 them," Mary persisted. "The town is in a 
 perfect ferment by now. It had to blow up,
 
 82 Uncle Mary 
 
 you know as well as I, and the quicker the 
 better. I shall never tell them anything 
 different." 
 "Mary Halsey, you are terrible 1"
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 MONDAY 
 
 THE high gleam held in Mary Halsey's 
 eye next morning, as she started an hour late 
 for work; and, for some distance down the 
 street, her mind kept pace with hurrying 
 strides as she worked out the new problem 
 before her how she was going to adapt her- 
 self to the town's new interpretation of her 
 personality, which would come with the 
 adoption of "Uncle Mary." Life had all 
 along been shaping her exterior just as it 
 willed, without regard to the real Mary Hal- 
 sey, so at variance and now, here was this ! 
 She had even dreamed before Libbie Lee 
 came that the child, somehow, might forget 
 and call her " Mother," sometimes and 
 later come to apply the sweet name alto- 
 gether! Oh, wonder of wonders! 
 
 Instead, here she was in two days fixed 
 
 83
 
 84 Uncle Mary 
 
 with the name of Uncle Mary! Her mind 
 was taking it up afresh, because she ex- 
 pected to hear it the first thing when she 
 arrived at the house where she was engaged 
 for the day. She was sewing at the Tur- 
 ners' that day and her strong hand was soon 
 at the old-fashioned jingling door-bell. 
 
 "Come right in, Mary," bustled Mrs. Tur- 
 ner, an active, bright-eyed, nervous little 
 woman, glancing at the clock to show that 
 she had taken note of the lost hour, though 
 it was the first time any one had ever known 
 Mary to be late. 
 
 "The sun got tangled up in its orbits this 
 morning and all the things tied to it, like 
 sewers-by-the-day, lost a whole hour," said 
 Mary coolly. 
 
 "You don't say," returned Mrs. Turner, 
 nonplussed. She had been at high tension 
 for at least fifty-nine minutes over Mary's 
 delay; and, though no one could ever fore- 
 cast what Mary might say, she did not ex- 
 pect any such fantastic reason as the one 
 Mary gave. Marvel of marvels, Mrs. Tw>
 
 Monday 85 
 
 ner had not heard the news ! Such a relief 
 it was to Mary ! But she was never a time- 
 waster on any account; so, picking up a 
 piece of goods, she said, just as though there 
 had been no momentous changes in her life 
 and that she had come in at the expected mo- 
 ment, "How do you want this skirt cut 
 gored or straight?" 
 
 Mrs. Turner could hardly gather herself 
 together after her anxiety over the lost 
 hour, sufficiently to determine this basic 
 question, though in reality its discussion was 
 a formula they always went through with 
 unvarying result. 
 
 * < Why, it takes less to gore, always. ' ' A 
 cardinal point with Mrs. Turner. 
 
 "But your hips need the fullness of a 
 straight skirt," cut in Mary. 
 
 "Y-e-s, they do," reluctantly admitted 
 Mrs. Turner; "but don't you think you 
 might take a mite off the sides for patches'?" 
 
 "No," said Mary firmly, "for you'd have 
 patches to put on the sooner if I made your 
 house-dresses tight around the hips. How
 
 86 Uncle Mary 
 
 much in this pattern, anyway?" she went 
 on, measuring off the goods as she spoke, 
 knowing well that it would be just a bit 
 under full requirements. 
 
 Mrs. Turner grew nervous over the rap- 
 idly estimating fingers. "Why, it seemed 
 to me that piece of gingham was a mite wide, 
 and that a little less would do " 
 
 "Mrs. Turner," put in Mary, "you're go- 
 ing to skimp your white sky-robe if the Lord 
 lets you have the buying of the goods." 
 
 "Well, you'll never have any skimp in 
 your tongue, Mary Halsey, if heaven don't 
 change you any," retorted Mrs. Turner. 
 
 With this interchange of pleasantries the 
 air was entirely clear, and Mary's scissors 
 and needle flew when the machine did not 
 hum, while Mrs. Turner bent all her energy 
 to putting things to Mary's hand, that as 
 much as possible might be accomplished in 
 the limited portion of the day remaining 
 with one whole hour already deducted ! Of 
 course Mary would not charge for that hour, 
 such a thing would be unthinkable; but,
 
 Monday 87 
 
 nevertheless, there was economic waste 
 where one got ready for work one hour be- 
 fore work actually began ! Mrs. Turner did 
 not formulate all this it would have wasted 
 too much time, but she had the sense of need 
 for catching up, which spurred her on to 
 the utmost. 
 
 Mary's secret was not out till little Carrie 
 Turner came in from school. She had been 
 sick the day before, which kept her and her 
 mother away from church. Now, she had 
 hurried home to tell about the little girl 
 Mary Halsey had brought to Sunday School. 
 Mary distinctly heard the high treble ex- 
 citedly exclaiming in the kitchen, "And she 
 calls her Uncle Mary, Mamma!" 
 
 As soon as possible, thereafter, Mrs. Tur- 
 ner was at hand with her questions, even 
 forgetting for the moment that they might 
 possibly delay Mary in her work. 
 
 "Carrie says you brought a little girl to 
 Sunday School yesterday morning," with 
 aggressive inquisitional inflection. 
 
 "She didn't lie," returned Mary.
 
 88 Uncle Mary 
 
 "Where did she come from?" pursued 
 Mrs. Turner, with the air of an indisputable 
 right to know. 
 
 "I presume the stork brought her as he 
 does other children," said Mary. 
 
 Mrs. Turner was exasperated: "Mary 
 Halsey, where did you get her?" 
 
 "I stole her," replied Mary coolly. 
 
 Mrs. Turner was speechless. 
 
 Monday typified Mary's experiences for 
 the week and then life turned a new page 
 for her.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 SURPRISES GATHER 
 
 AFTER the first high tension of receiving 
 Libbie Lee and fitting her into the quiet old 
 brown cottage which was much like fitting 
 a new-blown rose into an old brown bottle 
 and the greater strain of allowing the town 
 to look, gasp and gossip for even more than 
 the allotted nine days, things settled some- 
 what into routine for the little household of 
 three. Mary cancelled all her engagements 
 for sewing after the first week, for a second 
 letter had come from the bank making it 
 clear that they wished her to give all her 
 time to the child and to receive full remu- 
 neration therefor. So the town was left 
 gasping again; for how could they keep 
 themselves and their children covered if 
 Mary did not come at least twice a year and 
 help them out? There was consternation, 
 
 89
 
 90 Uncle Mary 
 
 indeed and it did Mary's soul good! Ten 
 years was long enough to be measuring 
 people's bodies, and incidentally their souls, 
 while she felt her own grow daily more 
 cramped and unlovely. No proclamation of 
 freedom ever brought greater joy than 
 Mary's canceling of sewing engagements 
 brought to her. Her head fairly felt light 
 from the dropped burden, and the " Uncle 
 Mary" which had eome simultaneously with 
 it, when once squarely accepted, only added 
 to the light-headedness aforesaid. 
 
 Alice began to protest along altogether 
 new lines, especially after almost two 
 months had passed and another terse letter 
 had come from the New York bank officials. 
 It read : 
 
 Miss 'Mary Halsey, 
 
 Dear Madame: We beg to say that a modern 
 limousine with competent chauffeur is to be placed at 
 your disposal so soon as you advise us that your 
 barn has been made ready for its occupancy, and 
 that you have secured a boarding place for the chauf- 
 feur, who is a young man in whom you can place 
 every confidence and who will make a pleasant 
 boarder for any village family who might feel they
 
 Surprises Gather 91 
 
 could accommodate him. All expenses of the car 
 will be met here. 
 
 Hoping to hear from you as promptly as possible, 
 we are, 
 
 Yours, etc. 
 
 This was just as though a sky-rocket had 
 suddenly shot up into the blue above the 
 little old brown cottage and dropped a 
 shower of golden and red stars upon it. 
 Mary and Alice were too excited for words 
 and words they were most careful not to 
 use before Libbie Lee ; for that it must come 
 as a matter of course to the child, was 
 Mary's instant decision. 
 
 But Alice had exclaimed when first the 
 letter was read to her "You won't take it 
 Mary, will you?" 
 
 "Why not," Mary had returned. 
 
 "What will people say?" Alice helplessly 
 added. 
 
 Mary returned a scornful look as answer 
 and tossed that new light head of hers, then 
 went immediately to the old barn to look 
 after its possibilities for a garage. She de- 
 cided that very little would really have to be
 
 92 Uncle Mary 
 
 done. There were two big doors in front, 
 a good floor and a good roof, with a slight 
 incline leading up to the doors, and a road- 
 way that went out by the side of the cottage. 
 The whole would simply have to be cleaned 
 up and some new boards placed in the in- 
 cline. 
 
 When she returned to the house Libbie 
 Lee was at Alice's knee listening to a story 
 from a book, and this picture of the two 
 struck the jealous spot in Mary's nature, as 
 it always did. She said instantly, " Eliza- 
 beth Lee run out and play with the kitty 
 a few minutes. I want to talk with 
 Alice/' 
 
 The child always obeyed, because obedi- 
 ence was a thing she had learned thoroughly 
 at the "Home," but she exchanged longing 
 looks with Auntie Alice all the very slow 
 way out of the room, while Mary's lips set 
 into straight lines. She hoped Alice would 
 disagree with her about something so she 
 could be firm in speech, but Alice was too 
 happy in the child's love to disagree about
 
 Surprises Gather 93 
 
 anything just then, so Mary told about the 
 barn very briefly, and said she was going out 
 to get Sam Oldham to put the new boards 
 in and clean up the barn and road. Then 
 too, she would see if Sam's wife wouldn't 
 take the chauffeur to board and " everything 
 would be done with only two tongues to wag 
 about it," she ended, letting off some of her 
 irritation in this acrid conclusion. 
 
 "Now, Mary," protested Alice, "you 
 know Sam and his wife are quiet folks al- 
 ways, just minding their own business." 
 
 "Yes, I do know it, and that's why I have 
 thought of them," Mary admitted with a 
 slow smile, which if Alice had been suspi- 
 cious, might have seemed suggestive. 
 
 In fact that light-headedness of Mary's 
 had led her to plan another, and if possible 
 even greater, sensation than she had already 
 given the little town. She did not want a 
 hint of the coming auto and chauffeur to 
 reach village ears until some fine day when 
 she and Elizabeth Lee should ride in state 
 through the village streets !
 
 94 Uncle Mary 
 
 Saying to Alice, finally, "Let the child 
 stay out-doors and play with the kitten, 
 the fresh air will do her good," (instructions 
 which were instantly ignored) Mary hurried 
 away to see Sam and his wife. 
 
 She found both at home, Sam limping 
 about in Ms shop, his thin, patient face set 
 in lines of suffering, while his wife bent over 
 the wash tub. Mary soon put before them 
 her business and found prompt agreement 
 on the part of both. Then she smiled her 
 grimmest smile and said: 
 
 "Now, Sam and Maggie, you both know 
 this town," (forgetting that in reality it was 
 not unlike other towns in its interest, per- 
 fectly natural and legitimate, in unusual 
 happenings), "and I don't want it talking 
 about my affairs. It has talked about me 
 enough lately." 
 
 Sam and Maggie smiled understandingly 
 back at her, and instantly said that neither 
 would speak of her affairs, or of what they 
 were intending to do themselves. Maggie 
 added that she would have to notify some
 
 Surprises Gather 95 
 
 folks that she could not wash for them any 
 longer, but she would give no reason beyond 
 the one, which was true, that she was going 
 to rest a little from washing. 
 
 And Mary went down the street, after 
 leaving them, with the joy of freedom for 
 another to make her blood run gayly. 
 
 " Maggie Oldham has slaved for other 
 folks even longer than I have, and how good 
 it is going to seem to think of unbending her 
 back and letting her make her table pretty 
 for a boarder which I could see in her eye 
 she was going to do and let things come a 
 little easier to Sam, who can't do much with 
 that old hurt in his hip always to nag him." 
 And the joy of easing the burden of others 
 brought a flush to Mary's face and a soft 
 light to her eyes that would have amazed 
 any villager who might have met her just 
 then. 
 
 Sam pushed along the work about the 
 barn, while Maggie made ready for her 
 boarder, and it was not a week before Mary 
 was able to write to the New York bank that
 
 96 Uncle Mary 
 
 everything was in readiness for the car and 
 chauffeur. 
 
 The next few days were full of excitement 
 and expectation at the little brown cottage. 
 Though Libbie Lee didn't know a word 
 about it, she reveled in the gayety that per- 
 vaded its atmosphere.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 NEW FEATHERS 
 
 DURING the wait for arrival of the limou- 
 sine and chauffeur, Mary had been turning 
 several things over in that suddenly light- 
 ened head of hers. So, on Saturday after- 
 noon of a crisp day, with snow covering the 
 ground, packed nice and hard, she an- 
 nounced to Alice that she was going over to 
 Barringer and do a few errands. 
 
 It was most casually stated, but Alice re- 
 sponded with consternation. They did not 
 need a thing, and trips to Barringer were 
 always few and far between 1 
 
 "I am not going to take Elizabeth Lee 
 with me," Mary went on, unperturbed, "so 
 you can have her all to yourself." This 
 was added grudgingly, but it was inevitable 
 from several points of view, and brought 
 
 97
 
 98 Uncle Mary 
 
 the quick smile to Alice as she looked over 
 at Libbie Lee, while that little silent listener 
 flew at once to the arms she loved which 
 rested upon the rolling chair. 
 
 "We'll have a good time, won't we, Auntie 
 Alice?" 
 
 Mary turned abruptly away and almost 
 immediately, with hat and coat dashed on, 
 strode out the front door. 
 
 Alice instantly took herself to task. Mary 
 was so good to her, she told herself; sup- 
 ported her that was the word for it and 
 saw that she had every care. What a wretch 
 she was to try to steal the heart of Mary's 
 child from her! Libbie Lee was Mary's 
 child. There was no denying that, and 
 Alice should be cold and reserved toward 
 the little thing. That was the proper atti- 
 tude for her. But, Oh, how could she be? 
 It was simply impossible. She must try, 
 though, to make the child love Mary more ? 
 show her more affection. So she set her- 
 self the task for that afternoon. However, 
 it seemed very hard to keep the child's
 
 New Feathers 99 
 
 attention when the matter was really taken 
 in hand. Libbie Lee wanted to talk about 
 the sparrows on the window-sill, or have 
 Auntie Alice "read a story" to her, and al- 
 together Mary's heart would not have been 
 particularly soothed with the lame effects 
 of Alice's first lesson in teaching Libbie Lee 
 to love "Uncle Mary" more. 
 
 But Mary had gone out in the crisp air 
 and up the street to a neighbor from whom 
 she had hired a sleigh for the afternoon. A 
 few minutes later she was driving an old 
 gray horse and dilapidated cutter along the 
 roadway, past the little brown cottage and 
 on and on toward Barringer, entirely un- 
 conscious of Alice's praiseworthy efforts. 
 The nostrils of the old horse dilated in the 
 crisp, wintry air, and it was so good to be 
 out that he sent his hoofs flying with an al- 
 most frolicsome thrust. As a result they 
 fairly flew by the Halsey cottage and Mary 
 did not turn her head once for observation 
 in that direction. Her spirits lightened 
 rapidly, however, responding, even as did
 
 100 Uncle Mary 
 
 the old horse, to New England's winter 
 elixir. 
 
 "Well, old Gray," she said aloud, as they 
 speeded along, "we're pretty old-fashioned, 
 you and I, stiff and dull in the bargain, but 
 we will show them that there is 'come back' 
 in us yet. You are doing it already, and I 
 will show Sunfield that I can, before many 
 moons." 
 
 Her cheeks glowed with the keen air, and 
 the high gleam of her eye gave the rest of 
 her message to old Gray through the back 
 of his long ears ; but it all seemed satisfac- 
 tory to him, for he did not check his gait, 
 and they continued to speed rapidly over 
 the miles they were to travel, till Barringer 
 was promptly reached. 
 
 Mary's plans were very definitely made. 
 She tied old Gray in the church sheds, just 
 on the edge of town; then went first to a 
 hairdresser's where she was absolutely un- 
 known, and made immediate arrangements 
 to have her hair dressed. Seated by the 
 table, with all the implements at hand and
 
 New Feathers 101 
 
 a very suave young person ready to be- 
 gin, a feeling of panic suddenly seized her, 
 which of course was instantly put down, 
 and with such vigor that the young person 
 in waiting almost jumped as Mary blurted 
 out: 
 
 "Now, don't look at me and think I don't 
 know anything what style is, that just any- 
 thing will do for me. I want my hair done 
 in the latest twist, or wrinkle, whatever it 
 
 is." 
 
 "For evening then, I suppose," returned 
 the girl, with pert insinuation in resentment 
 of Mary's tone. 
 
 "No," returned Mary, shortly, "for 
 breakfast, dinner and supper." 
 
 The lady in charge, not quite liking the 
 tones which reached her, was quietly on the 
 spot, and tactfully considered what style 
 would be most becoming for the new cus- 
 tomer, with the result that Mary received 
 excellent attention ; and, when she looked at 
 the finished product as it came from the 
 girl's skillful fingers, she flushed to the tip
 
 102 Uncle Mary 
 
 of her brow at the transformation it had 
 made in her. The hair had been softly mar- 
 celled, or to put it more correctly, it had 
 been coaxed to lie in its own soft waves, with 
 a little mass of locks resting upon her fore- 
 head, and at either side it had been put 
 artistically back to cover all but the tip of 
 her well-shaped ears. It was hard for Mary 
 to believe that the vision sent back to her by 
 the mirror was really her own. She bit her 
 lips red to keep them from trembling, and 
 without a word of commendation or dissatis- 
 faction, she paid her bill and hurried out of 
 the shop. She stopped next at the first gen- 
 eral store beyond and bought a thick veil 
 which she tied tightly over her hair and 
 hat. 
 
 Then, with courage restored, she began 
 looking for gown and wrap and hat, for she 
 meant to complete the transformation. The 
 first two purchases were not difficult. Mary 
 knew what pretty clothes were, if she had 
 not worn them since she was a very young 
 girl. She bought a lovely brown satin dress
 
 New Feathers 103 
 
 with self-colored embroidered stripes edged 
 with tiny threads of gold, and a touch of 
 burnt orange about the neck and sleeves and 
 waist line. It was most becoming, but it 
 was above her shoe-tops in length, and soon 
 there were high brown shoes and silk stock- 
 ings to match the dress ! The wrap was of 
 warm brown velour, long and loose, with 
 beautiful seal fur about the throat and 
 hands. Attired in the new things, she 
 removed the sheltering veil and said 
 brusquely. 
 
 "Now, I want a hat." 
 
 The plain out-of-dateness of the hat she 
 had on, made the saleslady who had sold 
 the dress and wrap, smile involuntarily, but 
 she instantly subdued it and said with great 
 cordiality, "Let me take you at once over to 
 the department. " 
 
 There Mary did not feel so sure of her 
 ability to choose; and, between a sudden 
 sense of weakening at the demands of a new 
 field of investigation, and a saleslady's 
 urgency, she finally purchased a hat of ultra
 
 104 Uncle Mary 
 
 style, that was becoming, but quite startling 
 for any quiet inhabitant of Sunfield. It 
 repeated in waving plumes the burnt orange 
 of the dress trimming, and went off at rather 
 a rakish angle to the left side. The hour 
 was growing late, however, and Mary has- 
 tily told the sales-people to wrap it up, while 
 she returned to the dress department, 
 gathered up her old things and made haste 
 back to old Gray. Of course common sense 
 would have dictated the packing up of all 
 the new things and wearing of the old ones 
 back home. But that was not in Mary's 
 plan common sense was, for the time being, 
 not her key-note. It was dusk by this time, 
 and Mary had meant it to be. 
 
 When she hurried around to take the 
 blanket from old Gray's back, he gave her a 
 glad whinney of welcome, but as she went to 
 his head to untie him and put back his bridle, 
 he turned to give her further welcome, when 
 lo! she flashed her lantern into his face, 
 lighting up her own at the same time, and a 
 stranger looked upon him ! He had known
 
 New Feathers 105 
 
 Mary practically all his life, and he was 
 about to rebel at being carried off by some 
 one he did not know, when Mary laughed in 
 a quick rush of humor, as she said, "Well, 
 old Gray, if you don't know me, I'm afraid 
 my family will turn me out of house and 
 home when I appear to them!" 
 
 But voices mean much more than looks 
 to horses, and entirely re-assured, old Gray 
 whinnied to her again in response, and the 
 two started gayly off. 
 
 They covered the road even more quickly 
 coming back than going, and it was little 
 more than an hour when Mary let old Gray 
 walk out of the shafts in his own barn, back 
 to his stall for his waiting supper ; and then, 
 locking the barn door, started rapidly back 
 to the little brown cottage. She smiled as 
 she thought how her feminine ancestors 
 would have cried out at her for entering a 
 barn in all that finery. But she did not 
 allow herself breath to think how she was 
 going to meet Alice's consternation. She 
 kept her thought upon the sharp tingle
 
 106 Uncle Mary 
 
 above her shoe tops where thin silk stock- 
 ings met the crisp night air as she flew along 
 the walk and hurried into her own door like 
 well, like a being from another world! 
 For so she seemed to Alice, as she looked up 
 when the door was thrown open and Mary 
 stepped in ! 
 
 Alice, indeed, had every reason to be 
 totally unprepared for the apparition that 
 presented itself to her when Mary burst 
 into the door of the brown cottage. For 
 had not that light-headed Mary deliberately 
 withheld from her a letter from the New 
 York bank of the week before which had 
 insisted that the money sent monthly for 
 the maintenance of Elizabeth Lee Starling 
 was intended not only for her board and 
 any other needs which might develop for 
 her, but was also intended for the house- 
 hold, that everything might be in keeping 
 with desired standards in the rearing of the 
 aforesaid Elizabeth Lee. It was earnestly 
 hoped, therefore, that Miss Halsey would 
 not hesitate to equip herself personally with
 
 New Feathers 107 
 
 anything needful, since every confidence 
 rested in Miss Halsey's judgment and in- 
 tegrity. 
 
 Mary Halsey's love for beautiful clothes 
 had, on the instant, begun to unfold. It 
 had always been there, in fact, but trampled 
 on and crushed through the past ten years 
 till it was an utterly lifeless thing. Free- 
 ing it, at last, with a sudden shock, had 
 contributed to that bit of light-headedness. 
 But there was another underlying motive 
 which led her to keep this letter of instruc- 
 tions and its effects secret; this was the 
 rapidly growing bond between Alice and 
 Libbie Lee, which left Mary out and stifled 
 every bit of affectionate demonstration of 
 which Mary had dreamed. Now, here was 
 Mary's chance! She would transform her- 
 self with pretty clothes ! For the child, she 
 would make herself lovely to look upon! 
 And Alice could not go out to wear pretty 
 things, so her conscience would be perfectly 
 easy in buying nothing for Alice. She 
 would out-do Alice by her clothes !
 
 108 Uncle Mary 
 
 Hence, it was a dramatic moment all 
 round, when Mary burst in at the front door 
 and stood a moment with flaming cheeks and 
 sparkling eyes before Alice, with Libbie Lee 
 leaning against her knees. 
 
 It was a speechless moment also, during 
 which Alice for a fraction of time really 
 failed to recognize her sister, and Libbie 
 Lee was equally bewildered. 
 
 Of course it was the child who spoke 
 first. 
 
 "Oh, Oh!" she cried, clasping her hands 
 ecstatically. "How pretty you are, Uncle 
 Mary!" 
 
 Was there ever balm sweeter, to human 
 heart than that little spontaneous cry ! And 
 Mary wanted with all her soul to rush for- 
 ward and fold the little thing against her 
 soft new furs ! But it was as impossible as 
 for a lumbering elephant to suddenly take 
 wings, she told herself afterward. As for 
 Libbie Lee, there was not the least impulse 
 toward demonstration of affection. She 
 simply stood and admired.
 
 WHAT ARE YOU STARING AT, ALICE HALSEY ? '"
 
 New Feathers 109 
 
 The dramatic moment was over and 
 Mary's tongue was loosened. 
 
 "What are you staring at, Alice Halsey? 
 Anybody would think you had never seen 
 any new things in your life." 
 
 "Mary?" was all that Alice could artic- 
 ulate, whereupon Mary, the lumbering el- 
 ephant of her own designation, with a few 
 ungainly strides reached the bedroom and 
 quickly laid aside the hat of flaming burnt 
 orange, unfastened and hung up her new 
 wrap ; then, arrayed in the rest of her finery, 
 she made haste to the kitchen to prepare the 
 tea. Her passage through the sitting room 
 was wordless, for she wanted no protest, or 
 even exclamation over the unsuitability of 
 her costume for the kitchen, or comments 
 upon her stylish coiffure. By the time tea 
 was ready to put on the table, however, she 
 had regained her adamant poise, and held 
 her head as though her outfit were a thing 
 perfectly familiar to her. 
 
 But when the three were seated at the 
 table Libbie Lee could not take her eyes
 
 110 Uncle Mary 
 
 from Uncle Mary's face. Finally she said: 
 
 "Uncle Mary, your hair is so pretty. Did 
 you buy it when you went to town?" 
 
 "Yes," returned Mary, looking at Alice 
 with a "you-keep-still" expression, "I 
 bought it." 
 
 "Then you are going to wear it all the 
 time, and never that you used to have, aren't 
 you? It looked like some of my dresses I 
 used to have at the Home that were so 
 tight on me," she said soberly. 
 
 Mary laughed and Alice was glad to fol- 
 low suit. Without example she would not 
 have dared, for the way Mary had long 
 "plastered" her hair down, had been a mat- 
 ter of contention between the two, till Alice 
 had given it up as hopeless some years be- 
 fore. The real source of Mary's laugh had 
 been revived hope in the child's admiration 
 for the transforming process. 
 
 They had hardly begun their tea, though, 
 when a knock sounded upon the kitchen 
 door, and Mary, with excited expectation, 
 hurried to answer it. The bank's last letter
 
 Neiv Feathers 111 
 
 had said the car and the chauffeur would 
 probably arrive by Saturday night. 
 
 She was met at the door by a young man 
 of very neat appearance who tipped his cap 
 with utmost courtesy as he said: 
 
 "I am Stafford, Jack Stafford, the chauf- 
 feur, sent by the bank to take charge of 
 
 your car that is if you are Miss Mary 
 Halsey." 
 
 "I am," returned Mary, with quick com- 
 posure. 
 
 "The car is in front, shall I bring it up 
 the driveway?" 
 
 " Certainly," said Mary, "the garage is 
 ready. I will bring you the key by the time 
 you come in." 
 
 It was so like dreaming that the key was 
 elusive, as Mary tried to pick it up ; and her 
 hand still trembled as the big car glided up 
 to the old barn door, paused, and then 
 thugged its impatience while the chauffeur 
 stepped lightly down and, with lifted cap, 
 took the key from Mary. 
 
 The barn door was shoved back on its
 
 112 Uncle Mary 
 
 brand new runners, while Mary watched; 
 then the car whirred impatiently again and 
 moved gracefully into silence. 
 
 The young man returned to Mary with 
 the key, and she at once told him of arrange- 
 ments which she had made for his board, 
 with directions as to where to find the Old- 
 hams. She sat down a moment, limp, after 
 he was gone. 
 
 "I don't believe I can ever do it," she 
 whispered, and the lip which had long 
 curled so scornfully upon the slightest occa- 
 sion, trembled like that of a frightened 
 child! 
 
 But she glanced at her dress and 
 straightened instantly: "I've got it to do! 
 And I am glad I've got some new clothes to 
 help me live up to that chauffeur! Such 
 airs! They might as well have sent me a 
 college president ! " Then she smiled grimly 
 and went back to Alice and Libbie Lee 
 Alice, who was all excitement over the 
 sounds which she could readily interpret, 
 and Libbie Lee wondering what was going
 
 New Feathers 113 
 
 on, but too well trained in obedience to be 
 leaving the table and going off on investiga- 
 tions. 
 
 Alice looked up inquiringly and Mary 
 simply said, "It has come, and the man with 
 it," which ended the matter till after Libbie 
 Lee was fast asleep then the questions had 
 to come. 
 
 "Mary, what does it look like?" Alice 
 said eagerly. 
 
 "A beautiful car, of dark blue, I should 
 say." 
 
 "Oh, if I could only see it," breathed 
 Alice in rare expression of desires that were 
 beyond the possibilities of a wheel chair. 
 
 "I wish you could," returned Mary; "and 
 that chauffeur I wish you could see his 
 elegance! I am certainly glad I've got 
 some clothes." 
 
 This brought Mary's outfit back to Alice's 
 mind. 
 
 ' i Mary ! You 're never going to wear that 
 hat and everything to church to-morrow, 
 are you?"
 
 114 Uncle Mary 
 
 "I most certainly am," returned Mary. 
 " That's what I got them for!" 
 
 "But, -Oh, Mary do make some explana- 
 tions I'm so afraid people will say dread- 
 ful things!" 
 
 "Then let 'em! My life has been an open 
 book before them, and now that I have 
 simply turned a new page, let them do and 
 say what they want to!" 
 
 "But this isn't an open page," pleaded 
 Alice. 
 
 "No, not even to me," returned Mary, a 
 bit wearily, but she instantly pulled herself 
 up. "Yes, it is, too, and I know it is all 
 right! This town has known me long 
 enough to trust me without being shown my 
 credentials for every move!" 
 
 "I am afraid no town on earth would ever 
 do that when the moves are so startling as 
 the ones you have already made lately." 
 Alice's voice was weary, too, and they 
 quickly made ready for bed. 
 
 Before they fell asleep, though, Mary said 
 to Alice, "If you hear a rumpus out in that
 
 New Feathers 115 
 
 barn to-night, you may know father's old 
 cutter has picked up one of its broken shafts 
 and is thrashing that new-fangled limou- 
 sine." And they laughed together like two 
 girls.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 UNCLE MARY SHOCKS THE TOWN 
 
 THE next morning by eight o'clock the 
 chauffeur's knock was at the door, and then 
 his most deferential bow met Mary in her 
 morning dress. He was a well-built, quiet 
 young fellow, perfectly trained for his pro- 
 fession. 
 
 "Miss Halsey, I'd like the key, please, to 
 put the car in order by the time you wish 
 to use it," and there was the rising inflec- 
 tion at the close of his statement. 
 
 "At ten o'clock," Mary returned stiffly, 
 while the chauffeur bowed again and hur- 
 ried to the barn. 
 
 "That will never do!" Mary took her- 
 self to task, as she hurried about the kitchen. 
 "How am I ever to be consistent, anyway 
 one moment the kitchen maid, which I 
 must be, and the next a grand lady in a lim- 
 
 116
 
 Uncle Mary Shocks the Town 117 
 
 ousine!" But again came recognition of 
 the thing which had shaped her life so far 
 "It's got to be!" 
 
 The usual Sunday processes were gone 
 through. They had had their breakfasts, 
 and not a word had been said to Libbie Lee 
 about the car. She talked again of Mary's 
 hair (whose perfection had been retained by 
 use of a thick veil for sleeping) , and when 
 the little girl was being dressed for church 
 and Sunday School, she lightly touched the 
 pretty waves of soft brown tinged with gold, 
 and said, "Oh, Uncle Mary, you are going 
 to wear your pretty clothes too, aren't you?" 
 
 "Yes," said Mary, shortly, dreading 
 more than any one could have dreamed the 
 ordeal she was about to face. But there 
 was the car in which she must ride, whether 
 or no, and she might as well take everything 
 at once, while Alice's opposing look helped 
 to fix her determination. 
 
 Promptly at ten o'clock the beautiful dark 
 blue car swept gracefully up to the little 
 old brown cottage doorway with almost an
 
 118 Uncle Mary 
 
 air of disdain, Mary thought, as she glanced 
 out the bedroom window. But Libbie Lee 
 happened to be standing at the glass front 
 door, all dressed and ready to go. She drew 
 in her breath with a big "Oh" as it came 
 into view, and cried out: "Oh, Auntie Alice, 
 that is the car I came out here in!" 
 
 Alice's wheels brought her instantly to the 
 child's side, and with an arm about the little 
 fur-clad shoulders, the two enjoyed the first 
 glimpse together. Mary had intended to be 
 on the spot, too, but getting on the new 
 things took more time than she had allowed, 
 and so she missed the carefully planned 
 surprise. But she stepped to the door of 
 the bedroom without delay and said more 
 sharply than she meant : 
 
 "No, it is not, Elizabeth Lee! But it is 
 one very much like it, and it is ours 
 yours and mine, to ride in every day all we 
 please!" 
 
 "Auntie Alice's, too," urged the child, 
 reaching up and patting the face so near 
 hers.
 
 Uncle Mary Shocks the Town 119 
 
 "No, Libbie Love," said Alice quickly, 
 "not Auntie Alice's because, you see, she 
 cannot ride in it." 
 
 "But I will lift you up and put you right 
 in it," protested the child, stoutly, "Or the 
 man out there can." 
 
 "We won't think about that now, for you 
 know riding might hurt Auntie Alice's 
 back," she whispered close into the little 
 girl's ear. And Libbie Lee knew no more 
 must be said. 
 
 Meanwhile Mary's nervous hands had al- 
 most refused to put that giddy hat into 
 place. "Libbie Love!" she cried indig- 
 nantly to herself. "When did that begin? 
 She is just trying to steal my child's heart 
 from me! I meant to try to make a way 
 for her to ride, but I won't do it now!" 
 And anger for a moment ruled in Mary 
 Halsey's heart as it never had done before. 
 As for Alice and Libbie Lee, they were so 
 excited over the lovely car that neither no- 
 ticed the secret name which Auntie Alice had 
 discovered for the little girl had slipped out,
 
 120 Uncle Mary 
 
 and they never meant to tell anybody about 
 it! 
 
 Mary came out at last with her head high 
 and her nerves very firm. Anger is a good 
 stiff ener. 
 
 "Come, Elizabeth, we must go now," and 
 the child, kissing Auntie Alice lovingly, ran 
 out the open door and up to the long blue 
 car. 
 
 The chauffeur was at the door ready to 
 help the child in, and Mary stepped quickly 
 in herself, quite as though she had ridden in 
 limousines all her life. 
 
 "We will drive a bit in the country first, 
 Stafford," she said, finding courage to use 
 his name for the first time. "We do not 
 have to be at the church until half past ten." 
 
 He bowed deferentially, and a moment 
 later they were off. 
 
 Libbie Lee was delighted. She examined 
 every item of the car's interior with happy 
 childish interest, and nothing pleased her 
 more than the little glass holders with their 
 almost true to life, bunches of flowers. She
 
 121 
 
 wondered much over them: " Didn't they 
 grow somewhere, Uncle Mary?" 
 
 "Well, they grew under somebody's fin- 
 gers who made them, just as a dress grows 
 under mine." 
 
 "But God didn't make them," Libbie Lee 
 ended, disappointedly. 
 
 "No," said Mary, smiling down at the 
 little earnest face wistfully. Why was it 
 that children seemed to love God and feel 
 near to Him just naturally? She remem- 
 bered that she did as a child. To feel that 
 God made a thing was to lift it entirely 
 above ordinary things. Then she flushed 
 with sudden thought that she was getting 
 far from that attitude of love and near- 
 ness. 
 
 But things had been set for her to 
 do things that had been hard things 
 that were still hard, and she had them to 
 do! 
 
 She straightened back on the luxurious 
 cushions, while Libbie Lee prattled on. And 
 the morning was glorious with sparkling
 
 122 Uncle Mary 
 
 sunshine on the hard-packed snow, and they 
 sped over it as though on wings, the motion 
 of the car almost noiseless. 
 
 "Oh, Uncle Mary, that birdie couldn't 
 keep up with us ! She flew right along with 
 us till her wings tired all out, then she 
 dropped right down under the car ! Do you 
 think we mashed her?" was the tragic end- 
 ing. 
 
 "No," returned Mary, "not a bit of it; 
 she just swooped down after something she 
 saw in the road." 
 
 The little confiding spirit, which was all 
 hers in the car, as it had not been since the 
 child came, brought a sudden lightness to 
 Mary's heart which, with the charm of the 
 ride itself, sent Mary at last to the church 
 door (exactly at ten-thirty) with a return 
 of the light-headedness which had marked 
 the past week. So, while the gathering 
 congregation almost stopped in their tracks 
 as the car swung into place, and Mary, with 
 Libbie Lee by the hand, stepped forth in all 
 her finery, Mary herself was entirely com-
 
 Uncle Mary Shocks the Toivn 123 
 
 posed, bowing here and there quite naturally 
 even though a bit hurriedly, for she did 
 want to get into her place as quickly as pos- 
 sible. 
 
 The sermon did not mean much to her, of 
 course, for once seated she could feel fem- 
 inine eyes upon that hat, and she added 
 scornfully to herself, "I'll bet the men are 
 looking, too." 
 
 The minister was again pitted against 
 fearful odds ! But so earnestly did his fine 
 old voice battle for the center of interest 
 against that worldly thing in a front pew, 
 that it reached out for spiritual verities as 
 it had rarely been heard to do ! Things had 
 gone along the even tenor of their way with 
 his people for so many years that he had 
 fallen into comfortable lines. But, as So- 
 phie Stoneham put it after the service was 
 over and she was on her way home, "The 
 church had come to be a regular moving 
 picture show now, with Mary Halsey's do- 
 ings !" 
 
 As for Mary, when service was out, she
 
 124 Uncle Mary 
 
 was let absolutely alone ; and so marked was 
 it, that kind Mrs. Stillman, the minister's 
 wife, hurried quickly to her side with a 
 pleasant, unobserving, "How d'ye do," and 
 a caress for Libbie Lee. Then the two prin- 
 cipal actors, as Sophie Stoneham would 
 have designated them, hurried on into the 
 Sunday School room for the little ones of 
 the congregation. 
 
 Mary had been to Sunday School with 
 Libbie Lee every Sunday since she came, 
 and had listened to Miranda Evans trying 
 to teach the children. It was very stupid, 
 Mary knew, but it was the kind of thing she 
 had heard from Miranda when a child, and 
 so she supposed it was all right. But her 
 thought had been chiefly held by watching 
 her own little new-found treasure, who sat 
 on a bench and tried not to wriggle, or looked 
 over at her for encouragement. To-day the 
 other children looked with Libbie Lee, and 
 so freely that Miranda finally said to 
 Mary : 
 
 "You better come here and teach these
 
 125 
 
 children; they are more interested in you 
 than they are in me." 
 
 It was said sharply, with intent to cut 
 Mary Halsey in her finery ; so Mary replied 
 promptly, "All right, I will." And she 
 stepped right up to Miranda's place, while 
 that dignitary took Mary's chair. 
 
 Mary knew the lesson, for she had taught 
 it to Libbie Lee, and she amazed herself by 
 teaching it to the children in a way that 
 held their complete attention. She knew 
 this was not altogether due to her finery, 
 either. As for Miranda, when the lesson 
 hour was over, she said to Mary, "I've 
 taught this class fifty years. I'm done. 
 You can take it." 
 
 Mary protested that she didn't want it, 
 Miranda ought to keep it; but, though Mi- 
 randa said never a word more, her resolve 
 was taken.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 A LIMOUSINE CHRISTMAS 
 
 IT was the Saturday before Christmas 
 that the beautiful car had come to the brown 
 cottage, and Mary had made her debut in 
 fashionable finery. Her spirits being high, 
 she determined that Christmas for her little 
 girl should be one to be remembered. Why 
 she herself, had never seen a real Christmas ! 
 When she and Alice were children, New 
 England frugality still prevailed in the little 
 cottage, and a simple gift for each was all 
 they ever expected, or got. They hung up 
 their stockings, it was true, and these next 
 morning were full of candy, an orange, an 
 apple and some raisins; but Christmas joy, 
 like other kinds, must always be restrained 
 joy. There must be no plunging out of bed 
 at daylight, no riotous romping or hilarious 
 merry-making. It was a time to look for- 
 
 126
 
 A Limousine Christmas 127 
 
 ward to all the year, and then keep well 
 within bounds when it arrived ! Mary could 
 see all this plainly now; and with the spirit 
 of daring which was then upon her, she de- 
 termined to wake the old cottage up with 
 one real Christmas ! 
 
 So, with the new car, she flew hither and 
 thither gathering together Yule-tide acces- 
 sories. On most of the trips Libbie Lee 
 went, too, because Mary's jealous heart 
 refused to leave her much alone with Alice. 
 And the little girl would stay obediently in 
 the car, if Mary wanted to shop in secret; 
 neither did the child show embarrassing 
 curiosity as to the bundles, since her train- 
 ing had not included happy nosing after 
 secrets "just before Christmas. " The 
 "Home" had been too big for that. But 
 trips into the woods, when Sam Oldham sat 
 in the seat with the chauffeur and carried 
 an ax, were trips that the little girl did not 
 make ; and the big limousine on its return at 
 dusk slipped quietly into the barn-garage 
 before unloading.
 
 128 Uncle Mary 
 
 Then came the time when Mary and Alice, 
 Sam and the chauffeur worked on Christ- 
 mas eve till far into the night, transforming 
 the old cottage while the little girl slept. 
 
 To Alice's profound amazement, the first 
 thing Mary did after the little one fell 
 asleep, and before Sam and the chauffeur 
 came, was to throw open a room on the op- 
 posite side of the little sitting room from 
 theirs. It was a door that had not been 
 opened for many a year not since their 
 father died, in fact. 
 
 Alice exclaimed: "Mary, Mary!" as it 
 swung determinedly around under Mary's 
 hand. 
 
 Mary set her lips and said nothing as she 
 strode in and began at once to dismantle the 
 room while Alice looked on, speechless, after 
 the first exclamation. 
 
 Finally Mary remarked grimly, "Here is 
 where I am going to have the Christmas 
 tree, and I want to get the room swept up 
 and dusted before Sam and Stafford get 
 here."
 
 A Limousine Christmas 129 
 
 "No, Oh, Mary, don't!" cried Alice. 
 Then, as Mary worked on without a word, 
 she cried again : 
 
 "Why can't you have it in the sitting- 
 room? That is where everybody puts a 
 Christmas tree!" 
 
 "That's the reason I don't want it there," 
 returned Mary. "I don't want everybody 
 seeing it from the street and coming in from 
 curiosity. I am going to have it here," she 
 ended with finality. 
 
 Of course it was useless to argue over the 
 matter, and Alice silently watched Mary's 
 flying hands as she swept up the dust of 
 years and put to rights a little bedroom 
 which held only an old-fashioned day-bed, 
 a table and some chairs. It was here that 
 their brother had slept from a little boy till 
 the night before he left home. It was a 
 simple thing to gather up the clean dirt of 
 a country house, even though of years' 
 standing, and to "put it to rights." When 
 it was thoroughly gone over with broom and 
 duster, Mary was ready for the men, whom
 
 130 Uncle Mary 
 
 she had purposely asked to come an hour 
 later than the little girl's bedtime that she 
 might have opportunity to put it in such 
 shape that no questions would come to the 
 minds of either. 
 
 As they waited a few moments for the 
 helpers, Alice relaxed with the thought of 
 how much pleasanter it was going to be with 
 that room opened from the sitting room! 
 And, perhaps, Mary's opening it meant a 
 little less of bitterness in her heart toward 
 Elwood. But Mary's face did not promise 
 much as Alice searched it. Still, just hav- 
 ing the room open might do something, and 
 Alice hoped. It was Christmas eve, too, 
 and Alice had been full of joy at the thought 
 of making it a wonderful time for the little 
 girl, who grew dearer and dearer each day. 
 The child was the greatest joy that ever 
 came into Alice's limited life; and so, with 
 Christmas-making in her blood, she could 
 not brood or question over-much. 
 
 A knock sounded at the back door, and 
 Mary hurried out to let Sam and Stafford
 
 A Limousine Christmas 131 
 
 in. Then the real work began. The stored- 
 up treasures from the woods were brought 
 into the house from the barn-garage; the 
 Christmas tree was set up in the "north bed- 
 room, ' ' as Mary immediately called it, where 
 first a soft rug had been spread upon the 
 floor. Then Mary opened her bundles from 
 the shops, and brought out a beautiful cover 
 for the day-bed, and marvelous things for 
 the Christmas tree : tinsels of all sorts, can- 
 dles, balls and little gifts; kitties and dogs, 
 rabbits and squirrels ; birds and angels that 
 hovered about the branches, and innumer- 
 able horns and bells and whistles. Nothing 
 was lacking for this wonderful tree. Ever- 
 greens were tacked about the walls and over 
 the windows, from which hung dainty lace 
 curtains ; and, lastly, handsome gifts for the 
 child were laid out on the day-bed. It was 
 a bower of beauty that almost took Alice's 
 breath away as she looked at the finished 
 product, while Mary's eyes gleamed with 
 brilliant high-lights. 
 
 Sam, quiet though he was, could not for-
 
 132 Uncle Mary 
 
 bear smiling and saying, " That's the purti- 
 est thing my eyes ever laid on"; and the 
 chauffeur, who might be supposed to have 
 seen many finer and more beautiful things 
 in metropolitan homes where he had served, 
 nodded and smiled in polite agreement. 
 
 "Now, we must do the sitting room," said 
 Mary; and a similar transformation took 
 place there. Evergreens hung from the 
 walls, rested upon the window and door 
 frames and adorned the few pictures while 
 candles were securely fitted here and there 
 in safe places. It was as pretty as the 
 Christmas tree room, they thought, when it 
 was done, and they could look at it after 
 the men had gone. Then Mary brought a 
 gay and beautiful Christmas breakfast cover 
 for the table, and set it with some rare old 
 china that was the little cottage's most valu- 
 able possession. It had been handed down 
 from the Halsey ancestor who had first 
 come over from England. Alice looked on 
 it all with delight that equaled Mary's pent- 
 up joy.
 
 A Limousine Christmas 133 
 
 "How are you going to manage it I" came 
 a final question from Alice. 
 
 "I am going to get up before day, light 
 the candles and stir up the base-burner. 
 Then, when everything is ready, I am going 
 to call Elizabeth and tell her Christmas is 
 here, and I know she will be ready to fly up 
 and see things !" 
 
 Alice laughed in responsive anticipation, 
 even though prudent care of the child made 
 her say, "But don't you think it would really 
 be better to wait later and let her get her 
 sleep out?" 
 
 "No," said Mary emphatically. "We 
 were always kept in bed Christmas morning 
 till we nearly died of waiting, and I am go- 
 ing to have this child ready for all the fun 
 she can get out of it." 
 
 "Even if you have to wake her to get it," 
 laughed Alice again. 
 
 "Yes; for of course they could not have 
 children in the Home up and flying about at 
 all hours of the morning, even if it was 
 Christmas; and so she is not full of day-
 
 134 Uncle Mary 
 
 light-getting-up-ideas, as we were. But I 
 want her to have it all!" 
 
 " Jimmie and Anna Stillwell were always 
 allowed to get up whenever they waked, I 
 remember," said Alice, "and that was what 
 made us so crazy to do it, too." 
 
 Mary's lips set at this, for she did not like 
 arousing old memories. Jimmie Stillwell 
 and Elwood had almost lived together as 
 boys. 
 
 This little rift in their joy made them 
 both conscious of how tired they were ; and, 
 with a last look, they undressed and crept 
 into bed. 
 
 How much these two slept need not be 
 estimated or recorded, but Mary flashed on 
 an electric pocket-light, which she had kept 
 by her bed since the little stranger came, 
 and her father's watch, which was always 
 under her pillow, said it was half-past five 
 o'clock. So she crept out of bed, dressed, 
 noiselessly stirred the sitting room fire, and, 
 with long tapers, set blazing in the winter 
 morning all the candles in both the rooms
 
 A Limousine Christmas 135 
 
 they had decorated. Then she crept back 
 under the bed covers till everything should 
 warm up, for it was a biting Christmas 
 morning. 
 
 Of course Alice was awake the moment 
 Mary stirred, and was soon slipping on her 
 clothes, for she meant to be as far ready -as 
 possible, so that Mary would have no excuse 
 for leaving her out which Mary really had 
 no intention of doing. But there was never 
 any telling about Mary, Alice had come to 
 feel. So, cold or no cold, she was ready with 
 just a little help from Mary to slip into her 
 wheel chair. 
 
 When Mary stirred the next time, Alice 
 whispered almost imploringly, "Get me up 
 first, Mary, please !" 
 
 "All right,'' Mary whispered back. 
 "You ready?" 
 
 "Yes, oh, yes," came from Alice excitedly, 
 " I 'm ready now ! ' ' 
 
 Mary stole around the beds and promptly 
 had her sister in the wheel chair. Then 
 came the most exciting moment ! The wak-
 
 136 Uncle Mary 
 
 ing of that small sleeping treasure in her 
 little be-frilled bed, for she had never had 
 another, since she so loved that little bed 
 from the first. The two women looked 
 breathlessly down upon her under Mary's 
 electric light. 
 
 The child stirred, as one will through some 
 strange influence of being closely watched 
 in sleep. Then the brown eyes opened sud- 
 denly ; and when she saw the two, she smiled 
 and said, sleepily, "Has day come 1 ?" 
 
 "Yes," cried Mary, in trembling glee, 
 "day has come, and brought what do you 
 guess?" 
 
 "Christmas!" cried the child, springing 
 immediately up. For hadn't they talked 
 Christmas all the week ? 
 
 "Yes, yes! Christmas is here," cried 
 Alice and Mary together. "We'll hustle 
 out as fast as we can and see it," went on 
 Mary, slipping on warm stockings and the 
 softest and downiest of little robes which 
 had come in the child's trunk, and which 
 Mary always hung at the foot of her bed at
 
 A Limousine Christmas 137 
 
 night. Then, with warm slippers on the 
 small feet, the child flew from Mary's hand, 
 at last, in joyous search of " Christmas." 
 And the old story of happy childhood, and 
 tired, but even more deeply happy grown- 
 ups, was enacted in all its fullness for the 
 first time, perhaps, in the little brown cot- 
 tage with its fine Puritan principles, but its 
 frugal and awful restraints. 
 
 "Oh, how pretty, how pretty the tree is!'' 
 cried Libbie Lee over and over, while she 
 hugged a big doll whose wardrobe Mary 
 and Alice had worked over for a month of 
 nights while the child slept, and which now 
 lay in orderly fashion in a big doll trunk 
 standing on top of the old day-bed. Her 
 gayety and joy over everything as it was 
 disclosed, proved all that Mary and Alice 
 could ask, until suddenly the small face 
 sobered, and then she said plaintively: "Oh, 
 I wish the children in the 'Home' could see 
 it all! And I would let Emma have this 
 little chair, and little Billie this horn! He 
 would just blow and blow it, and make such
 
 138 Uncle Mary 
 
 a big noise!" And she laughed in gay rec- 
 ollection only to sober again, instantly, as 
 she ran .to Mary and pleaded, "Oh, Uncle 
 Mary, couldn't we go to the 'Home' and 
 bring them here?" 
 
 Of course the child had little idea of dis- 
 tance, and the yearning for those others to 
 share in all this bounteous joy Emma and 
 Billie and all the rest, who were having so 
 little came to her not at all as budding 
 altruism, but as a child's natural longing 
 for those of its kind in Christmas joy. This 
 must be the conscious or unconscious lament 
 of every little one who revels alone in 
 Christmas bounty. 
 
 But Mary had not counted on this. She 
 had only thought of filling full the cup for 
 this one child of her heart. That something 
 should be lacking, made her almost impa- 
 tient for a moment, while she answered, 
 "No, no! That is too far away, we could 
 not go. But see! Look at this old Santy 
 with his reindeer and sled! You haven't 
 seen how fast he can go over roofs, yet."
 
 A Limousine Christmas 139 
 
 And there was a little house under the 
 Christmas tree, so Mary drove the prancing 
 team right up over its sloping roof, while 
 Libbie Lee with returning spirits laughed 
 in glee, and then must do it, too. 
 
 They were seated at the breakfast table, 
 at last, and there was a final small gift at 
 the little girl's plate. A pretty wee hand- 
 kerchief which Auntie Alice had made for 
 her, with a nice Christmas card tied to it. 
 
 When Mary had read for her what the 
 card said, the child still had joy left for the 
 new gift. 
 
 "Did you make it all yourself, Auntie 
 Alice?" she said. 
 
 "All myself," returned smiling Auntie 
 Alice, who realized to the full, nevertheless, 
 that there were few things she could do "all 
 by herself." 
 
 The little girl's face sobered again. "I 
 I haven't made anything or given any- 
 thing to anybody!" 
 
 The little lips that quivered were a stab 
 to Mary's heart as she realized that she had
 
 140 Uncle Mary 
 
 left the most important thing of all out of 
 this wonderful Christmas: The spirit of 
 the Christ-child for her small charge. She 
 did not know how to find Emma and Billie 
 and all the rest and she didn't want to 
 know but there were poor children in Sun- 
 field whose Christmas she might have 
 allowed the little girl to brighten.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 A FRIEND AT COUBT 
 
 DURING the week that preceded Christ- 
 mas and those that immediately followed, 
 nobody within reach of Sunfield failed of 
 an opportunity to see that gorgeous limou- 
 sine with the perfectly up-to-date young 
 chauffeur; and Mary Halsey's burnt orange 
 plumes nodded almost saucily from the lux- 
 urious rear seat, the on-lookers thought, 
 while Libbie Lee's delighted face, amid soft 
 encircling furs, peeped out at them from 
 some car window. How the child loved to 
 ride! And Mary simply shoved her old 
 New England conscience far into the back- 
 ground of her life, as she enjoyed to the full 
 the hours that she could spend with "her 
 child" alone. She even took up the old 
 dream of the "husband" again, which had 
 largely dropped from her consciousness 
 
 141
 
 142 Uncle Mary 
 
 since the coming of the child. "He is do- 
 ing business in the city," she said, in gay 
 make-believe to herself, while they went 
 skimming over snow-packed roads, Libbie 
 Lee chattering about everything they 
 passed, and asking innumerable questions. 
 
 They went shopping often in Barringer, 
 and Mary bought more things for herself, 
 since Libbie Lee needed nothing ; she bought 
 no extravagant things, but a few pretty and 
 becoming gowns which really transformed 
 her from a drab drudge to a modern up-to- 
 date young woman. Her complexion was 
 fresh, and improving in texture under the 
 new care which Mary was surreptitiously 
 giving it. Her hair was growing prettier 
 each day under the hair-dresser's occasional 
 hand and teaching, while Libbie Lee's 
 interest in every process was most lively. 
 
 "Uncle Mary, you are getting to be the 
 beautifullest thing I ever saw," she would 
 exclaim with little clasped hands. But it 
 was to Alice's arms that she ran when they
 
 A Friend at Court 143 
 
 returned to the little brown cottage! So 
 Mary's face still held the lines of scornful 
 fighting against things she couldn't change. 
 She made no calls on neighbors ; in fact call- 
 ing, or "running in," in Sunfield parlance, 
 to see friends, was a thing given up many 
 years ago, following the avalanche of trouble 
 which had come upon them together with 
 the beginning of strain for every nerve in 
 Mary's body to support herself and Alice, 
 and to keep the "chains" that the old sec- 
 retary held from pressing too hard upon 
 her and the little brown cottage. If it had 
 been otherwise if she could have had fel- 
 lowship in neighborly ways with the town's 
 people, the angular lines in Mary's face and 
 character might not have been there. But 
 "ifs" are always in waiting for humanity, 
 and Mary could not escape hers. It so hap- 
 pened, too, that people had come to do their 
 "running in" at the Halsey's when Mary 
 was away sewing; "because Alice was alone 
 so much," they said, but most of them "got 
 quite enough of Mary's sharp tongue,"
 
 144 Uncle Mary 
 
 Sophie Stoneham would have told you, when 
 she was sewing at their various homes, and 
 were willing to leave it out of possibility in 
 their calls upon Alice. 
 
 Now that old neighbors and friends 
 watched her from front windows as her 
 burnt orange plumes flew past, or caught 
 glimpses of her short skirts, it is no wonder 
 that the town was in a gale of laughter and 
 comment. 
 
 There would come a sudden whirr on the 
 still winter air and Sophie Stoneham, with 
 one bound, was at the front pane winded, 
 but still able to gasp, "Mary Halsey will be 
 the death of me yet!" And she strained to 
 see if there was a different dress on this 
 time! Then, with the motor faintly whir- 
 ring off in the distance, she would make her 
 way back to her work in the kitchen with the 
 scornful remark, "Selfish thing! Nobody 
 knows what right she's got to it, either! 
 She'll get a come-down yet if I don't miss 
 my guess!" 
 
 Every day when Carrie came home from
 
 A Friend at Court 145 
 
 school, Mrs. Turner, whose house set far 
 back from the road, would ask, "Did you 
 see Mary in that car to-day?" 
 
 "Yes, Ma, and Libbie Lee looked at me 
 and smiled, but Mary didn't turn her head. 
 I so wished she would pick me up and take 
 me just a little, teeny ways." 
 
 "Well, you needn't wish, for Mary Halsey 
 ain't going to take you nor anybody else in 
 that car. It's perfectly shameful the way 
 she has left us all with our sewing to do 
 and then riding 'round like a queen right 
 under our eyes ! ' ' she ended sourly. 
 
 People met in the street with exclama- 
 tions : ' * Have you seen her ? " " Mercy, yes ! 
 A body could see them plumes from Mt. 
 Pisgah any day!" "Wonder if Mary Hal- 
 sey thinks she's sixteen?" "How old is 
 she, anyway?" "She's twenty-seven if 
 she's a day, for I remember " and then 
 followed the fatal accuracy of related occur- 
 rences in a small community. 
 
 The village wag brought forth this: 
 "Mary Halsey is as big a surprise to this
 
 146 Uncle Mary 
 
 town as if one o' my onions had sprouted 
 a sunflower!" 
 
 After a few weeks of lively reaction on 
 the part of the people, Mr. Stillwell, the 
 village pastor for many years, was walking 
 along the road with bent head, when he, too, 
 caught the whirr of Mary's coming car. He 
 halted instantly, and stepping into the road- 
 way, held up his cane quite authoritatively. 
 The chauffeur slowed down and tipped his 
 cap respectfully. Mr. Stillwell bowed in 
 response, then stepped up to the door of the 
 car on the side where Mary sat. She stared 
 for a moment without making a move, but 
 the chauffeur was on the ground in an in- 
 stant and had the door open. 
 
 Mr. Stillwell smiled ingratiatingly at 
 Mary, putting unconsciously a new element 
 in his old kindly manner; then he said, 
 "Mary, won't you let your old pastor have 
 a ride in your new-fangled outfit?" 
 
 There was no refusing this even by the 
 crustiest of crusty people, which Mary was 
 really far from being. She was simply in
 
 A Friend at Court 147 
 
 the crucible which was shaping her life and 
 character, with first one angle, then an- 
 other, presented for the transforming 
 process. 
 
 "Why, yes, Mr. Stillwell," she said, at 
 last, rather stiffly. " Elizabeth Lee you can 
 sit in front," and she reached to pull down 
 one of the extra seats, when Mr. Stillwell 
 laid a firm hand on hers. 
 
 "No, Mary," he said, "I am going to put 
 little Elizabeth Lee on the front seat with 
 your good chauffeur. I know she will love 
 to sit there and look out at the front," with 
 a compelling smile for the child. 
 
 But Libbie Lee and the waiting chauffeur 
 both turned toward Mary for instruction, 
 and Mary could not, for the life of her, do 
 otherwise than nod her consent to the chauf- 
 feur and say to Elizabeth Lee, "Very well, 
 you may sit there a very little while!" 
 
 A most adroit hint to the self-invited 
 visitor, which he proceeded at once to 
 ignore. Settling his long body back against 
 the soft upholstery of the car, he looked
 
 148 Uncle Mary 
 
 about the interior, as they started off again, 
 with much satisfaction. 
 
 "Look here, Mary, this thing just about 
 suits me ! It fits my rheumatic legs to per- 
 fection. I wonder I never thought of it 
 before ! If I had, this town would certainly 
 have had to get one long before this." And 
 his whimsical smile was a thing no one 
 could resist. Mary's heart grudgingly 
 warmed to it. 
 
 "I'm mighty glad, as southern folks say, 
 that you've got it. You deserve it, Mary. 
 You've worked hard, child, and I fairly 
 revel in the sight of you, whirring around 
 the streets and sending the rest of us scurry- 
 ing, with the chickens and the dogs, to 
 cover." 
 
 "I guess you are the only one that does 
 enjoy seeing me with it," Mary returned in 
 quiet scorn. 
 
 "No, Mary, no. You are mistaken there. 
 With the hard years that have fallen to you, 
 you have somehow gotten it into your head 
 that the town's against you. But it isn't,"
 
 A Friend at Court 149 
 
 "You can't tell me," returned Mary with 
 spirit. "You see I have been too close to 
 all of them, sewing in their homes. Pve 
 seen Joe Steel sullen and mean to his wife 
 when she was sick and helpless; I've seen 
 Mag Turner skim the last shadow of cream 
 off. the milk she had to sell, and I've seen 
 Sophie Stoneham strip the last shred of 
 decency from a young girl's reputation, and 
 they all hate me for it." 
 
 "Well, we will let them all alone, though 
 I think you are mistaken in what you say. 
 The greatest damage has come to you from 
 your own heart," and he sat back with 
 sudden firmness. "It is your own reaction 
 to these close contacts that has made you 
 cynical and uncharitable." 
 
 Mary recognized the truth of this, though 
 she made no reply, and her lips took on their 
 old firm set. 
 
 "No, Mary, I am not talking about in- 
 dividuals every town has its assortment. 
 Why, we would all stagnate if we didn't 
 have some folks with bristles to stir us up
 
 150 Uncle Mary 
 
 at times ! But I am talking about the town 
 as a whole ; I know how it feels toward you 
 for I have taken pains to find out." He 
 did not add that he had gone about protect- 
 ing her. "It is glad you have the little girl, 
 wherever she may have come from, and glad 
 you have the beautiful car to ride in and 
 nobody but me is going to ask you to let 
 them ride in it. You see I couldn't wait 
 it fits my rheumatic legs so well." 
 
 And Mary and he laughed together over 
 that, but Mary quickly sobered: "I am sure 
 Sophie Stoneham has been able to manu- 
 facture some dark, hidden chapter in my 
 life to account for it all." 
 
 "No, she has not," he replied firmly, 
 but he did not tell her that he had stopped 
 the wheels of Sophie's gossip factory before 
 she could turn out the finished product. 
 " Sophie has had her fling over your riding 
 around in style, but there has been nothing 
 evil in it. 
 
 "Nevertheless, Mary, I want to talk with 
 you about this thing. You really owe it to
 
 A Friend at Court 151 
 
 us to give some explanation. Now take me, 
 for instance, I am so curious to know how 
 it all came about that I don't sleep good 
 nights!'' 
 
 They laughed together again in real com- 
 radeship, and then Mary said with forced 
 lightness : 
 
 "Well, I'm curious on my part, to know 
 what conclusion you have all come to when 
 you have been lying awake nights for I 
 am sure you are not the only one who has 
 lain awake." 
 
 The minister waited a while before speak- 
 ing ; at last he turned and looked at her with 
 tears in his eyes for he loved his peo- 
 ple, and it was a keen, long-standing 
 regret that he could never speak to the 
 Halsey girls about the supposedly erring 
 brother. 
 
 "Mary, we all think the child is Elwood's ; 
 that his wife has probably died, that he has 
 made plenty of money, and that he wants 
 you and Alice to bring up the child in the 
 old home he still loves."
 
 152 "Uncle Mary 
 
 "No," Mary cried, "the child is mine, it 
 was sent to me!" 
 
 "Yes, yes," said the minister soothingly. 
 "It would naturally be sent to you." 
 
 Mary was silent, thinking of many things. 
 At last she laid a hand on the old pastor's. 
 He grasped it eagerly. 
 
 "That is all right," she said, almost under 
 her breath. "Alice thinks so, too. But 
 and you must not tell this to a living soul 
 I don't know! Somehow in my own heart 
 I cannot feel that he sent her. Yet it is 
 reasonable to think as you and Alice do 
 and so I am acting as though I thought so 
 too!" 
 
 "But," exclaimed the old pastor, "don't 
 you really know?" 
 
 "No, I don't!" 
 
 And then she told him all there was to 
 tell. 
 
 When she was through, he said again pos- 
 itively, "But the child must be El wood's! 
 That is the only rational explanation of the 
 whole thing."
 
 A Friend at Court 153 
 
 "She is not in the least like him," Mary 
 returned. 
 
 "That may be, but she is his, we may be 
 sure." 
 
 "Have it that way, and I am glad the 
 town has so settled it; but I could not tell 
 them it was so, and I could not tell them 
 anything. I thought they might as well 
 work with a whole piece of uncharted cloth 
 as with a few scraps. It gives them a better 
 chance to work out something interesting." 
 And she smiled with a touch of sarcasm 
 again. 
 
 The old minister had asked few questions ; 
 he simply listened to Mary's story, and by 
 tacit understanding the problem as to 
 whether Elwood was living or not, was left 
 untouched. There was silence, now, between 
 them while the car skimmed on and on, and 
 Elizabeth Lee chattered away to the chauf- 
 feur, to his evident liking, till at last Mary 
 spoke abruptly: 
 
 "The truth is, Mr. Stillwell, strange as it 
 may seem to you, I have for years longed
 
 154 Uncle Mary 
 
 with all my heart for a child! That's a 
 confession no old maid should make, but it 
 is true." 
 
 "My dear, my dear," exclaimed the old 
 doctor, moved as he rarely had been in his 
 serene life in the fastnesses of the beautiful 
 Berkshire hills, where life flows with un- 
 usual steadiness, even in this stirring twen- 
 tieth century. For such a statement to 
 come from Mary Halsey of all people! It 
 showed that the frank spirit of the new age 
 had penetrated even here where the hills 
 hold their own in rare seclusion. 
 
 Having begun, Mary wanted to finish, 
 with the peculiar urge out-of -character im- 
 pulses at times impose. She hurried on, 
 scarcely noticing the old man's affectionate 
 understanding. 
 
 "I wanted a child so terribly that I did 
 not question overmuch how this one was 
 coming to me. I simply grabbed her, so to 
 speak. You know, really, the need of this 
 century is to provide a respectable way for 
 old maids to have children," she went on,
 
 A Friend at Court 155 
 
 daringly, ''especially in New England where 
 there are so many of us.'* 
 
 The old pastor laughed heartily, under- 
 standing perfectly, as Mary knew he would, 
 and putting it softly away for no future 
 repetition, as Mary also knew he would. 
 
 "Mary, Mary," he said at last, "you are 
 a real woman, although you have tried to 
 make us all think you were not!" 
 
 "Perhaps so, but you were all ready to 
 dub me, 'Uncle Mary.' " 
 
 Mr. Stillwell laughed again most heartily, 
 in fact it was a "Ha, Ha!" that even made 
 Libbie Lee turn around and smile at them 
 through the glass partition that separated 
 them. 
 
 "Now, Mary," he said, as soon as he got 
 his breath, "you know that you have bossed 
 us all for years while you sewed up our 
 shirts and made our dresses. You have 
 even measured us off spiritually on the yard 
 stick and sized us up unsparingly." 
 
 "Have I, really?" said Mary, with a pa- 
 thetic sort of wonder.
 
 156 Uncle Mary 
 
 "But, we have understood you, child, and 
 loved and respected you only you must let 
 us have our little fun. You know New Eng- 
 land folk can't live without a little neigh- 
 borly fun, and we just settled some old 
 scores with this * Uncle Mary,' which the 
 great little treasure of your life brought 
 with her. But there is no disrespect meant 
 in it, I assure you; the town admires the 
 way you have kept things together here for 
 you and Alice, when, had it not been for 
 her, you could have gone away and found 
 success and perchance happiness, for you 
 are no old maid not even yet. That you 
 have fine business qualities, that you are a 
 strong, fine personality, is one reason the 
 name fits you so well." 
 
 The old minister would never know how 
 he soothed Mary's rebellious, hurt heart with 
 his wise words and perfect understanding, 
 while she, on her part, would never know 
 how he had longed to help her through all 
 the years, when he knew it was impossible 
 to try!
 
 A Friend at Court 157 
 
 The chauffeur had, of his own accord 
 swung around a circle, and they were in the 
 village once more, so Mary directed him to 
 the parsonage and the two who had found 
 understanding, parted with only a hand- 
 clasp which said all they wanted to say.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 INVESTIGATION 
 
 IT was just about this time, perhaps a few 
 days before Mary's talk with Mr. Stillwell, 
 that a stranger appeared at the hotel at 
 Barringer. He was well dressed, of medium 
 height and good proportions, dark brown 
 hair, serious eyes and determined jaw, 
 which gave a distinct impression of remote- 
 ness until suddenly the eyes lit up with a 
 flash, which threw him into a new world of 
 interest, sympathy, alertness, humor. He 
 sat idly in the lobby reading a morning 
 paper; but an observer might have noticed 
 that he glanced up at each entering footstep ; 
 and that, later, when a somewhat seedy look- 
 ing man with a slouch in his gait which pro- 
 claimed him the hotel lounger, came into the 
 room, the stranger's eyes flashed just a little 
 with sudden interest, which was quickly sub- 
 dued while he read on, unconcerned, for per- 
 
 158
 
 Investigation 159 
 
 haps an hour. He rose at last and moved 
 about the lobby, consulting his watch fre- 
 quently, as though he might be expecting 
 some one who was a bit late. He finally 
 paused at a front window for a look out- 
 side, and it so happened that it was the win- 
 dow near which the seedy individual had 
 seated himself. The stranger glanced 
 toward him and was met by the full gaze of 
 the other man's empty, dreaming orbs. A 
 glance of recognition passed between them; 
 the stranger nodded, and the lounger smiled 
 slowly : 
 
 "You was here last fall sometime, wasn't 
 you?" 
 
 "Why, yes, I was and now, I remember, 
 you told me about Sunfield folks, did you 
 not?" and the stranger's smile was quietly 
 inviting. 
 
 "Yes," drawled the other, "and p'rhaps 
 you remember I told you about the Halsey 
 Girls. Things have been happening to them 
 since then. If you've got time I'll tell you 
 about 'em."
 
 160 Uncle Mary 
 
 The stranger looked somewhat reluctantly 
 about for a chair, and finally drew one up, 
 at the same time consulting his watch and 
 remarking, "I have a few minutes." 
 
 "Well, the Halsey girls, 'specially Mary, 
 has been a reg'lar movie show, so Sophie 
 Stoneham says, for the hull town. First a 
 little girl, all dressed up like one o' them 
 Fifth Avenue New York kids, dropped down 
 on the girls nobody knows from where, 
 but everybody thinks it's their brother's 
 child, so that is all right. Their brother 
 Elwood run away years ago and never has 
 been heard from. Then one o' them big li- 
 mousines, with a smart chauffeur, dropped 
 down out the sky, too, and the way Mary 
 swells around in that thing, certainly must 
 call attention of her Pa and Ma in them 
 upper regions. Then the way she dresses 
 scandalizes the town." 
 
 The stranger smiled slowly, as he said: 
 "The town thinks there is something 
 wrong?" with a quiet rising inflection. 
 
 "No, not exactly. I told Sophie Stone-
 
 Investigation 161 
 
 ham when I met her on the street here a few 
 days ago, that they was all jealous because 
 they didn't have finery and limousines and 
 chauffeurs too. ' ' The narrator paused here 
 for enjoyment of his own penetration. 
 Then he went on: "But Mary's been too 
 straight all her life for folks to get up much 
 dirty gossip now, 'specially since there ain't 
 been no man seen around and the town's 
 had their eyes open, too. Old Mr. Stillwell, 
 the pastor at Sunfield long before Mary was 
 born, wouldn't stand for no gossip 'bout her 
 noway. The trouble is, them Halseys have 
 been too close-mouthed ever since Elwood 
 run away; so Mary won't tell nobody 
 nothing. But the town thinks Elwood sends 
 her the money, or else he's dead and left 
 it Well, I swun ! There she is now in her 
 limousine, just stopping at that store next 
 door! See her she's getting out with all 
 them yaller plumes bobbing about on her 
 head!" 
 
 And the stranger glanced out, with no 
 great display of interest, as a lady, well
 
 162 Uncle Mary 
 
 dressed, and tastefully, in spite of the 
 "yaller plumes," stepped from her car and 
 turned her face directly toward them as she 
 did so. An instant showed a face of good 
 contour and features, but the expression 
 was not winning. The next moment she had 
 bent toward the little girl whom the chauf- 
 feur had helped out, and taking the child's 
 hand, disappeared in the store. 
 
 "Well, changes come to everybody, 
 whether they are in a village or a city," said 
 the stranger ; and then he looked at his watch 
 again, murmuring, "I must be off," and 
 stepped briskly over to the clerk, gathered 
 up his hand baggage and disappeared. 
 
 As he went out he said to himself : "Not 
 yet, not yet."
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 "STAN' STILL!" 
 
 THE next Sunday after Miranda Evans 
 had said she would teach the children no 
 more, Mary had gone with Elizabeth Lee to 
 church and Sunday school as usual, and 
 when they walked into the primary room 
 sure enough, no Miranda Evans was in the 
 teacher's place. And the little group of 
 scholars were wide-eyed and inquiring. 
 
 "Where do you think Miranda can be?" 
 was whispered back and forth. Everybody 
 waited full ten minutes wasted minutes, 
 for Miranda Evans had meant what she said 
 the Sunday before, and she never entered the 
 room again. The problem of "why" was an 
 unexplained mystery, for who would dare 
 undertake to penetrate the workings of a 
 New England spinster's mind of the last 
 generation? Faithful, untiring, conse- 
 
 163
 
 164 Uncle Mary 
 
 crated, repressed, she took what came to her 
 made decisions, forebore explanations, 
 and went on the even tenor of her way with 
 the gray finality of her granite hills. Mi- 
 randa came no more, and that was all there 
 was to it. 
 
 Mary Halsey again was prepared on the 
 lesson, and again taught the children. But 
 it was going to be about as drab an affair 
 as Miranda's weekly lesson, she scornfully 
 said to herself, as she took her place before 
 them. But her interest quickened at once 
 in the process of trying to make twenty 
 youngsters, of varying ages and both sexes, 
 listen while she talked. Miranda had al- 
 ways been content if she had kept the boys 
 from throwing wads of paper, or sticking 
 pins into one another. But, listening to 
 Miranda's dull attempts, and disgust with 
 her own best efforts, made Mary feel that 
 there must be a better way of doing it than 
 Sunfield had yet found. So, when Mr. 
 Stillwell, during the next week, put before 
 her the finality of Miranda's resignation
 
 'Stan' Still!" 165 
 
 and his keen desire that Mary become the 
 regular primary teacher, the thing most un- 
 expectedly appealed to her. Would it not 
 be another avenue to Elizabeth Lee's 
 heart ? 
 
 The making more of the lesson between 
 them, and then the challenge of teaching 
 the class, with the little girl in it, made 
 powerful appeal to her. 
 
 So, she had gone on doing the best she 
 could for a few weeks. Then came the talk 
 with Mr. Stillwell, and it was not many days 
 after that her limousine drew up in front of 
 the parsonage, the chauffeur dismounted, 
 helped her and Elizabeth Lee out, and the 
 two went into the parsonage. 
 
 It had been fully ten years since Mary 
 Halsey was there. No wonder dear Mrs. 
 Stillwell 's black lace head-dress fluttered on 
 her round, bare crown, and that the white 
 silken fringe of hair which was gathered 
 into a soft knot at the back, almost broke 
 from its moorings as she tore her reading 
 glasses from their place and strained her
 
 166 Uncle Mary 
 
 neck to see Mary alight and come up the 
 path. 
 
 "Father!" the old lady cried, as she 
 wildly reached for his knee, " there's Mary 
 Halsey and her limousine!" 
 
 The little wasted figure of a boy about 
 seven on the couch beneath the window was 
 electrified at this unusual demonstration* 
 and the thin face under a thick crown of 
 brown hair, was up at the window in a 
 twinkling to look out. 
 
 "Oh, Grand," he cried in turn, "see the 
 little girl ! She's just about my size ! " And 
 then he had to drop back, for the small 
 sharp elbow had no staying power. 
 
 But Mr. Stillwell had been roused by the 
 old lady's cry with quite as much vigor as 
 had moved the little boy, and he was at the 
 door by the time Mary's knock sounded. 
 
 "Why, Mary, Mary, come in, come in! 
 And Miss Elizabeth Lee, too, come right 
 into the sitting room," said he, while Mrs. 
 Stillwell 's knotted hands had quickly 
 smoothed down her excited locks so that she
 
 'Stan' Still!" 167 
 
 was at the sitting room door with out- 
 stretched hand and tender, smiling welcome. 
 
 Mary blushed under it all, for she knew 
 she did not deserve it and she would have 
 liked to say so, but the words would not 
 come, and then she saw Elizabeth Lee 
 walking straight up to the wasted figure of 
 the little boy lying on the couch just under 
 the window. The three older people in- 
 stinctively stopped to watch them. 
 
 The two smiled at each other first ; Eliza- 
 beth Lee's a sunny, comradely little smile, 
 and the boy's just a wee ghost with sudden 
 yearning for life. 
 
 "You're sick," said Elizabeth Lee. 
 
 "Yes," returned the little boy. 
 
 Then Elizabeth Lee put her two pudgy 
 little arms around him and kissed him! 
 
 The three on-lookers found their eyes full 
 of sudden tears. 
 
 "I'll do things for you," went on Eliza- 
 beth Lee, " I '11 just love to ! That 's the way 
 we did at the 'Home.' When anybody was 
 sick, somebody always did things for them,
 
 168 Uncle Mary 
 
 and I want to do things for you. May I, 
 Uncle Mary?" she turned quickly and 
 asked. 
 
 "Of course," said Mary, with constraint, 
 for it came to her that she had heard some 
 months before that this little grandson had 
 been left with the old pastor and his wife; 
 that he was a victim of the dreadful African 
 fever ; that his father, who was a missionary 
 to Africa, had brought him to America, hop- 
 ing he would soon recuperate. But he had 
 not ; and so, had been left in the old grand- 
 parents' care while the father returned to 
 his family and work, with the doctor's 
 assurance that time would restore the boy. 
 Here he had been, a little helpless invalid 
 ever since, and she had never taken enough 
 interest to inquire about him ! Now, as she 
 looked at him, she saw the brown eyes of 
 Jimmy Still well set in the little fellow's 
 face; and, instantly, Jimmy and Elwood 
 were racing about the old brown cottage ! 
 
 But these eyes weren't merry, mischievous 
 ones like Jimmy's! They were dull, pa-
 
 Stan' Still!" 169 
 
 thetic, listless, matching the pallor of the 
 small face, and Oh, if they should close 
 and the little thin legs straighten, it 
 would be Jimmy Stillwell lying dead before 
 her! 
 
 What was the matter with her? Was 
 she going to collapse over an imagination? 
 She straightened quickly, as she took a seat 
 at Mrs. Stillwell 's cordial invitation, and 
 the old people drew chairs close to hers, but 
 the children continued to hold their atten- 
 tion. Elizabeth Lee, standing close, was 
 patting the little boy's arm; and he looked 
 pleased, though he usually scorned petting. 
 Somehow, with a boy's mother away in 
 Africa, even if a boy was sick or perhaps 
 all the more so because he was it wasn't 
 easy to take petting from anybody else! 
 And grandfather and grandmother had 
 understood. But the brown eyes were smil- 
 ing back into the little girl's round face, 
 now, and when she said, "What is your 
 name?" he replied with a real laugh, "Stan' 
 Still."
 
 170 Uncle Mary 
 
 Elizabeth Lee laughed too, and said, "But 
 you do not stand a bit, do you*?" 
 
 "Not now," he still smiled back; "but 
 I'm going to." And there was a little ring 
 to his voice. "What is your name?" he 
 asked her. 
 
 Elizabeth Lee looked furtively around at 
 Uncle Mary, then turned back and whis- 
 pered, "Libbie Lee Starling, and sometimes 
 it's Libbie Love!" 
 
 The older folks did not catch what she 
 said, and Grandmother Stillwell instantly 
 felt they must not eavesdrop any more, so 
 began conversation with Mary; and Mary, 
 taking up the purpose of her visit with 
 characteristic definiteness, told the old min- 
 ister of her feeling that there were modern 
 ways of teaching children, about which she 
 knew nothing, and that she was anxious to 
 study, investigate, do anything necessary to 
 prepare herself for the task she had under- 
 taken. The old minister beamed within, 
 but he only met Mary's proposition with 
 quick interest, told her of some books to
 
 Stan' Still!" 171 
 
 order and suggested that she visit the Sun- 
 day Schools of their nearest large towns for 
 ideas. 
 
 Mary said that was in line with what she 
 was thinking, and that she would also visit 
 the kindergarten in Barringer perhaps 
 some other places as well, and " just see how 
 they handle children now." 
 
 "From what I have heard, " she said, 
 " which I admit has not been much, they 
 don't expect them to sit still on benches like 
 sticks for an hour or two at a time, punish 
 them if they laugh, or shake the life out of 
 them if they fall asleep!" 
 
 " You 're right, Mary, modern folks won't 
 have some sins to answer for, that we old 
 ones may have to get pretty hot over one of 
 these days," he smiled ruefully. 
 
 Just then Elizabeth Lee left the little boy 
 and ran to Mary's knee, "Oh, Uncle Mary, 
 can't I take Stan' Still to ride?" 
 
 The older folks laughed at her literal ac- 
 ceptance of the little boy's name, and he 
 laughed himself, saying slowly, "Libbie Lee,
 
 172 Uncle Mary 
 
 that is just what mother used to call me, 
 because I never would stand still a minute 
 though that was a long time ago. My 
 name's Stanley Stillwell," he added, em- 
 phasizing the "ley." 
 
 Upon which Elizabeth Lee ran back to 
 him in delight: "Oh, you've got Lee in your 
 name just like I have!" And she ever 
 afterward persisted in calling him, "Stan- 
 Lee," with the emphasis on the last syllable. 
 "But, Uncle Mary," she turned again to 
 Mary, "can't I take him to ride?" 
 
 " Certainly," replied Mary, embarrassed 
 that she could have had the car so long 
 and never thought of any little sufferer 
 whom she might take worse than that, had 
 hardened her heart to the one before her eyes 
 all the time her sister, Alice. It looked 
 wicked beyond belief to her, at this moment ! 
 
 Grandmother Stillwell was at the little 
 boy's side in an instant, all solicitude; "Do 
 you think you feel able to go, dearie?" 
 
 "Yes, Grander," he said, determinedly. 
 Grandfather was "Grand" to him, and
 
 'Stan' Still!" 173 
 
 grandmother, "Grander"; so Grand com- 
 ing up quickly, too, agreed with an urgent, 
 "Let him go mother; it will do him good. 
 He needn't go far, you know." 
 
 "I will look after him carefully," said 
 Mary earnestly, and all in a twinkling, the 
 little fellow was warmly bundled up, then 
 Stafford, the strong young chauffeur, 
 carried him out in his arms and laid him 
 across the luxuriously cushioned back seat, 
 while Mary and Elizabeth Lee sat in the two 
 front adjustable seats, though the little girl 
 was oftener on the floor of the car, showing 
 "Stan-Lee" things, or just sitting up close 
 to him and looking at him in the freedom of 
 childhood. Once she pulled out a tiny curl 
 of her hair and leaned over, stretching it to 
 his brown head. 
 
 "Your hair is just like mine," she cried 
 happily, "and your eyes, too," she went on, 
 with a note of triumph at the end. And his 
 lusterless brown eyes resurrected a real 
 twinkle, as he replied: 
 
 "Only yours are heaps the prettiest!"
 
 174 Uncle Mary 
 
 Libbie Lee was truly a little mother, born ; 
 but, beside this, having left a "Home" full 
 of children, she was also hungry for the in- 
 timate touch of her kind, and so was the 
 little boy for that matter. The old people 
 had not thought of trying to have children 
 with him ; they were just waiting for him to 
 get strong enough for that, never realizing 
 that strong children help more than grown 
 people can to give courage and love of life 
 to their weaker little fellows. 
 
 It was a ride not to be described ; too full 
 of happiness for the children, and too full of 
 tender budding things for Mary things 
 such as yearning over helplessness; old 
 memories tugging at her heart ; strong love 
 for children that was a new, more unselfish 
 thing, perhaps, than she had known. The 
 little boy had crept into her heart beside the 
 little girl, and she was instantly aware that 
 she was going to do everything she could for 
 him with no thought of returns. Perchance 
 in time she would even learn to be less sel- 
 fish with Elizabeth Lee!
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 FINDING NEW PATHS 
 
 WHAT a way the days sometimes have of 
 taking wings ! And carrying one into new, 
 glad things, as well! It is just as though 
 one had turned from a tortuous lane of 
 struggle and uncertainty into a highway, 
 with green shrubs and blossoming trees on 
 either side, all racing gayly with you. It 
 was thus that things went for Mary during 
 the early spring months. Indeed, nature, 
 herself, had taken just such an overnight 
 turn, in a way that only New England 
 knows. The struggle of the winter lingers 
 wearily with clouds and chill and sullen ice. 
 Then, lo! A morning comes, almost un- 
 heralded, when the apple blossoms are smil- 
 ing from every orchard and wayside lane; 
 when birds are singing and busy with their 
 nests, and when golden sunshine kisses every 
 
 175
 
 176 Uncle Mary 
 
 spear of grass and each blossoming, singing 
 thing! Mary made the turn with nature 
 that spring, and the beautiful dark blue 
 limousine often went gliding here and there 
 through the blossoming, budding fields with 
 an equally gay entourage. Every day after 
 that first visit to the parsonage and the find- 
 ing of limp, listless little "Stan* Still," her 
 car had been at the door; and it was only 
 a few times that the boy was taken from his 
 couch under the window, coverings and all, 
 and carried out to lie on that luxurious rear 
 seat, with Elizabeth Lee "doing things" for 
 him. Then, he was suddenly attired in a 
 dark blue sailor suit, with a rough-and-ready 
 warm overcoat buttoned beneath his chin; 
 and, instead of lying down when Stafford 
 had carried him out, he sat upright on the 
 big seat and Elizabeth Lee beside him. A 
 gay little pair they were; Mary had to ad- 
 monish them, again and again, lest the little 
 boy get too tired. 
 
 " Why, Uncle Mary, this is nothing ! You 
 should just have seen me in Africa
 
 Finding New Paths 177 
 
 'specially when we first went there. The 
 way I did get after those lizards that were 
 all over our house! They found out what 
 an American boy was," he ended with a 
 little nervous boy-brag. 
 
 Mary smiled at him, but Elizabeth Lee 
 said wonderingly, " What's lizards?" 
 
 "You know what a snake is, don't you?" 
 The little girl nodded fearsomely, and the 
 boy went on, " They 're snakes, almost, only 
 they're not so long and have got legs on 
 their sides. Some of them are little teeny 
 grayish- white things that crawl all over the 
 ceilings at night and they scared sister 
 nearly to death at first. Then there are 
 great big, kind o' red fellows that are enough 
 to scare anybody when you first see them. 
 Father wasn't with us when we went into 
 the house, and when mother and sister were 
 so scared with the ugly things everywhere, 
 I just went after them, I tell you! But 
 father came in pretty soon and said nobody 
 need be afraid of them, for they wouldn't 
 hurt anybody, and that people over there
 
 178 Uncle Mary 
 
 wanted them, tried to keep them, so that 
 they could eat up the flies and insects that 
 were bad." 
 
 Mary exclaimed at this; "You don't tell 
 me your father and mother have to live with 
 their house full of lizards all the time!" 
 
 "Oh, that's nothing," Stanley returned, 
 with full-fledged boy-scorn. "How'd you 
 like to live in a city of ninety thousand 
 black people, with ugly black bodies that 
 you see almost all of and you the only 
 white folks in the town just your father 
 and your mother and you and your sister?" 
 
 "Now, Stanley, you mustn't tell us any 
 more dark things this nice spring morning," 
 said Mary decidedly, while inwardly she 
 thought, "Have I ever made any sacrifices 
 in my life <? Think of little old Jimmy Still- 
 well giving up every comfort this country 
 had to offer, and going to such a place to 
 live simply with the doubtful hope of help- 
 ing a few out of those thousands of ugly 
 blacks to find God! And how he and El- 
 wood had "
 
 Finding New Paths 179 
 
 But, with her admonition, they all came 
 back to the lovely spring day which had 
 suddenly been dropped down by nature's 
 hand, marking a new era of life and growth, 
 and including Stanley and Elizabeth Lee 
 in the things of change. For she was to be 
 no longer the little brooding mother, just 
 revelling in doing things for him. He was 
 a real boy from that morning, telling her 
 wonderful tales of that strange country 
 where he had lived for one year and, yes, 
 letting her know in nice, but clear-cut boy- 
 ways that he was the leader and chief of 
 their small tribe of two! 
 
 From that morning strength came with a 
 rush to Stanley; and, upon the very next 
 ride, Mary had Sam Oldham to help the 
 chauffeur, and Alice was easily transferred 
 from her wheel chair to the big limousine ! 
 
 When Mary announced that she was to go 
 that was still Mary's way Alice had pro- 
 tested firmly that she did not believe she 
 could go; and when Mary persisted, she 
 cried almost in a whisper, "But, Mary,
 
 180 Uncle Mary 
 
 you don't know! I haven't been outside in 
 so long I am afraid, I am, really, afraid, 
 Mary!" And her usually quiet lips 
 trembled as she added, "It may hurt, you 
 know." 
 
 Libbie Lee had danced on ahead, over- 
 joyed that Auntie Alice was going, and 
 Mary, looking about to see that they were 
 alone, put tender arms around her sister and 
 said, "But you will not be afraid when we 
 really get started! It is just as soft as a 
 bed only more so," urged Mary, "and if it 
 hurts you the least bit, we will come straight 
 back." 
 
 It was not the words, for Alice did not 
 hear them, but the marvelous manner of 
 Mary that made Alice yield, with fear all 
 gone, and assurance striding into its place. 
 And when Alice leaned back against the 
 pillows that had been piled up behind her 
 on the soft cushioned seat, Libbie Lee 
 clapped her hands and cried, "Now, you 
 will always go, won't you, Auntie Alice?" 
 her little face beaming.
 
 Finding New Paths 181 
 
 This made Mary wince a bit, but she had 
 started unconsciously on the broad highway 
 of unselfishness and it still beckoned her on. 
 So the apple trees blossomed with promise 
 of fruit, as they drove out toward Barringer 
 to try the motion of the car for Alice with 
 no one looking on. But, after a mile of 
 careful driving, she declared the motion did 
 not hurt her the least bit, and with joy and 
 spring in her gentle eyes once more, Mary 
 could not resist Libbie Lee's plea that they 
 go by and let Stanley see Auntie Alice rid- 
 ing in the car. 
 
 "I would so love to see the old street 
 again, and the houses and the church and 
 everything/' cried Alice tremulously, as 
 they turned back toward the village. It was 
 like a resurrection to her. 
 
 So they drove slowly through the street, 
 and finally stopped at the parsonage when 
 Grand and Grander Stillwell came hurrying 
 out to the gate, Grander 's head-dress and 
 snowy fringe fluttering in the spring breeze 
 under her excitement, and Grand forgetting
 
 182 Uncle Mary 
 
 there ever was such a thing as rheumatism, 
 while Stanley just walked out on his own 
 two, quite firm legs, without leave or 
 license. 
 
 It was a real jollification they all had, and 
 Libbie Lee begged so, and Stanley looked 
 so fit and fine after his walk, that Stafford 
 went back for his light overcoat on the hall 
 rack, and he was tucked in beside Auntie 
 Alice for just a wee ride more. 
 
 "I see there's going to be no chance for 
 me any more," said the old minister with 
 mock plaintiveness, and then nothing would 
 do for anybody, from Mary down to Libbie 
 Lee, but that Grander should put on her 
 bonnet and shawl and sit on one of the 
 adjustible seats beside Mary, while Grand 
 went for his hat and coat and sat with the 
 chauffeur. 
 
 So it was the gayest sort of a party that 
 went down the spring highway for a mile, 
 and then drove back, lest Alice get too tired, 
 dropped the Stillwells, including Stanley, at 
 their house, and made its way back to the
 
 Finding Neiv Paths 183 
 
 little brown cottage where Sam Oldham 
 waited to help Alice back to the wheel chair 
 once more. 
 
 "I certainly am Cinderella and have been 
 carried off by the fairy godmother of a 
 limousine," she cried, "for it does not seem 
 possible that I have really been out and seen 
 the town once more!" 
 
 Libbie Lee hung happily over her; "But 
 you did go, Auntie Alice; so you see folks 
 don't have to have good feet or backs, or 
 good heads, if they have nice lim 'sines. You 
 and Stanley can both go, now, all the time," 
 she persisted again. 
 
 And Mary winced again. But, of course 
 it was not possible for Alice to go all the 
 time, and Mary's new, broad highway in- 
 cluded many blossoming ways. She must 
 go to Sunday Schools in neighboring larger 
 towns ; she must go to kindergarten schools 
 within reach and observe modern methods 
 with children. So, while she did not forget 
 Alice and Grand and Grander, including 
 them often in short rides and often, again,
 
 184 Uncle Mary 
 
 making up parties of children to go the car 
 and the chauffeur were kept busy mainly 
 with these business trips, as Mary called 
 them. But Elizabeth Lee and Stanley al- 
 ways went, for his strength was rapidly 
 equal to it, and the visits to schools where 
 children were taught in such an attractive 
 way as modern methods present, gave them 
 constant delight and taught them the things 
 they should be learning in just the way that 
 was best for the time. 
 
 But not only did these two especially 
 favored little ones begin to reap benefit and 
 gather delight, but the little folk of the town 
 very soon entered into what seemed almost 
 a fairy land to them. 
 
 Secret things were going on for the whole 
 of one week, with nobody knowing except 
 Mary's helpers and her two children, as she 
 had come to call them in her heart, with, 
 of course, Auntie Alice. Then late Satur- 
 day afternoon when everything was all 
 finished, came the exhibition. Mary, with 
 Elizabeth Lee, full of excitement, drove up
 
 Finding New Paths 185 
 
 to the parsonage for Grand and Grander 
 and Stanley. They came out to the car 
 beaming. Stanley because he knew the 
 secret was to come out; and the two old 
 people because it delighted them to see that 
 car and the new Mary with her dear little 
 charge, come to their door. 
 
 " Everybody is to get in," cried Mary, 
 and Elizabeth Lee scrambled out the car 
 door in her eagerness to make sure they 
 were going to come. 
 
 "Yes, Grander, do come," she tugged at 
 the old lady's dress and pleaded as if any 
 pleading were going to be necessary ! 
 
 Stopping only long enough to kiss her, 
 Mrs. Stillwell hurried in for her bonnet, 
 while Stanley met her coming out, tugging 
 at his light coat, as he ran, and bringing 
 Grand's hat on top of his own snug cap, 
 which had lit cross-wise on his round 
 head. 
 
 "Look at Stanley, how funny he looks," 
 cried Libbie Lee, and amid the boy's antics 
 they all got in with a laughing scramble, for
 
 happy secrets are sure to get into the air 
 before they're told and stir things up. 
 Grander said she thought her hat was about 
 as tipsy as Stanley's cap, she had put it on 
 in such a hurry, and the old minister pro- 
 tested that he was being kidnapped ! 
 
 "Between my good wife, who has always 
 had her own way with me, and this Uncle 
 Mary" (he loved to call her so, while she 
 was getting to like the lurking fun in it) 
 "and these two little dominating rascals, I 
 am getting so I dare not call my soul my 
 own!" And he gave Stanley, the last one 
 to get in the machine, a mischievous push, 
 then climbed in beside the chauffeur who 
 was in smiling accord with his passengers. 
 
 What chauffeur could retain his city mask 
 under the influence of spring in these smil- 
 ing hills ? 
 
 When they drove up and stopped at the 
 church door, the minister and his wife 
 began to realize that some plot was, indeed, 
 on hand. Mary had the church key, for 
 Sam Oldham was sexton, with the key hers
 
 Finding New Paths 187 
 
 at will, and they all walked through the 
 quiet old meeting house with a quick sense 
 of awe except Stanley who couldn't re- 
 frain from pulling at Libbie Lee's curls 
 just to keep his spirit within bounds. 
 
 Mary was leading and the small proces- 
 sion went quickly up the aisle to the little 
 room in the rear. Here Mary paused an 
 instant till all came up, then threw open the 
 door and cried with a flourish, "Behold!" 
 Her cheeks were pink and her eyes spark- 
 ling like a young girl's. 
 
 Before the old pastor and his wife was a 
 complete transformation. The plain, even 
 dreary room where children had gathered 
 for generations at the church, had been made 
 a thing of beauty. The walls were a 
 heavenly blue, with a kindergarten base, of 
 flying birds and all the animals that went 
 into the ark! There were pictures on the 
 walls beautiful copies of Biblical pictures 
 by the great masters, pretty curtains were 
 at the windows; the floor was stained and 
 a soft rug put down in the center; then a
 
 188 Uncle Mary 
 
 long, big table held chief place with cunning 
 little red chairs all around it. 
 
 The old people were speechless for a mo- 
 ment, then the long-serving pastor mur- 
 mured, "I am almost ready to say, *Now 
 lettest Thou Thy servant depart' " 
 
 "No, no," cried Mary, "we never want 
 anybody but you!" 
 
 "Mary," he said, "you do not know, child, 
 how I have longed that we might keep pace 
 with the times in the Lord's work here. 
 But we have so little money, and I am too 
 old, and too rheumatic!" 
 
 He paused for a moment, his eyes and 
 Mary's both suspiciously bright, as though 
 tears might be just on the threshold, then 
 he added smiling, "But I'm going to perk 
 up, Mary! I've just got to live up to these 
 new-fangled things!" 
 
 The children had Grander by either hand 
 and were showing her everything while 
 Mr. Stillwell and Mary had stopped to 
 talk. 
 
 "How did you do it without the town's
 
 Finding New Paths 189 
 
 finding out*?" lie asked quizzically, at 
 last. 
 
 "You may ask that," returned Mary 
 heartily; "but you know I took some lessons 
 in stealthiness when Elizabeth Lee came. I 
 had her a whole twenty-four hours without 
 anybody's finding it out not even the milk 
 boy!" 
 
 "You don't mean it, Mary!" he cried, 
 shaking with laughter. "But how did you 
 accomplished this a whole week's coup 
 d'etat?" 
 
 Mary laughed happily with him. "Why, 
 I bought everything in Barringer and had 
 it sent to the house. Then Sam Oldham, 
 Stafford and myself carried things to the 
 church after ten at night and worked there 
 till twelve. Of course we put up the shades 
 at the windows the first thing, and being at 
 the back, with our one window at the side 
 hidden by that nice big maple, just in full 
 leaf for the purpose, there was little chance 
 of being seen. The only thing I did openly 
 and above board, was the cleaning of the
 
 190 Uncle Mary 
 
 walls and the floor, then calsomining the 
 walls. People saw the workmen going in 
 for that, but it did not enlist much interest. 
 I have heard that Sophie Stoneham said she 
 thought I might do that much if I was go- 
 ing to impose on the children by trying to 
 teach them, when all I knew how to do was 
 to sew and scold!" 
 
 Mary's mouth set a little at this, but one 
 glance around the room and she was smiling 
 again. "You see it did not take long to 
 put the things in place and Sam Oldham, 
 who goes and comes here without anybody 
 making comment, stained and varnished 
 the floor for me. Everything was ready, 
 you see, by Friday, and we set things 
 in place last night, and hung the pic- 
 tures." 
 
 "But the whole street is wondering by 
 this time what we are all doing here," Mary 
 added laughingly, "and I think we had 
 better not linger." 
 
 So she gathered up her little party, and 
 was none too soon about it, for Sophie
 
 Finding New Paths 191 
 
 Stoneham met them at the door, somewhat 
 out of breath. 
 
 "Well," she wheezed, "have you been hav- 
 ing services all to yourselves? Some folks 
 are getting to be mighty exclusive, it seems." 
 
 They were all guilty, of course, but Mr. 
 Stillwell met her with pretty good grace, 
 considering. 
 
 "So it does, Sophie. Mary had some 
 cleaning done in the children's room and 
 we came to see that everything was all right 
 for to-morrow. I'm going to walk along 
 with you, Sophie," he added; "there's some- 
 thing I want you to do for me," and he 
 smiled his "wheedling smile, '* as he called 
 it to his wife, when they laughed together 
 over things, sometimes which they had 
 found was the only way to keep ministerial 
 courage up when humanity proved too much 
 for them. 
 
 "You know if a fellow could just stop 
 untangling human threads for a while, and 
 sell soap and starch, or anything that can't 
 snap and bite, or weep, why a minister could
 
 192 Uncle Mary 
 
 get along better," was what he told his wife 
 many a time. 
 
 By this we know that the vacation idea 
 had not penetrated Sunfield. At any rate, 
 if it had, the old minister had not become 
 modernized enough to take advantage of it. 
 
 But he knew well how to use that " whee- 
 dling smile," and Sophie Stoneham was dis- 
 concerted when it was turned upon her and 
 the minister proposed to "walk along with 
 her." In fact she had no objective except 
 the church, to see what Mary and "that 
 child" and the minister's folks were doing 
 there out of hours. But she turned her 
 heavy weight about, and walked along with 
 Mr. Stillwell while she listened to a plea 
 for help which proved to be quite in her line. 
 He wanted her to go to see Miranda Evans, 
 tell her Mary had cleaned up a little in the 
 Sunday School room of the children, and 
 ask her if she wouldn't come to Sunday 
 School next day. 
 
 The minister knew Miranda would not 
 come, but he thought it would be a safe
 
 Finding New Paths 193 
 
 place for Sophie to do her speculating as to 
 what they had gone to the church for ! 
 
 Well, ministers have to be a little crafty 
 sometimes, dealing with humanity seven 
 days in a week! 
 
 The delight of the minister and his wife, 
 of Stanley and Libbie Lee over the pretty 
 room with its up-to-date Sunday School 
 equipment, was as nothing compared to that 
 of the children when they gathered there 
 next day. Some stopped spell-bound at the 
 door, others ran here and there exclaiming 
 over everything; but all, in the end, 
 gathered about Mary, some clinging to her 
 and crying, "You are the dearest Uncle 
 jMary in the world, to fix this all up for us 
 so beautifully!" and the rest echoing it in 
 their shining eyes. As for Mary, herself, 
 she never looked happier or prettier, even 
 in her early girlhood than she did that day ! 
 
 There was really no time for a lesson. 
 The hour was entirely filled looking at the 
 things and finding out what they were for. 
 Stanley helped greatly in this, in fact he
 
 194 Uncle Mary 
 
 appeared very much as if he were the author 
 and the finisher of the whole thing ! Libbie 
 Lee followed delightedly around after him, 
 saying, "Yes," and "See this," as often as 
 she could get a word in. But at last Mary 
 rounded them all up, seated them in the 
 little chairs and asked what they wanted to 
 sing. 
 
 One bright-eyed, old-fashioned little girl 
 cried, "Praise God from Whom all Bless- 
 ings Flow." 
 
 Mary laughed within, for nothing could 
 have better shown how far behind the times 
 they were, but at the same time nothing 
 could ever better express reverential praise 
 from human lips, and the sound of little 
 voices in the solemn old hymn, while her 
 own heart welled with praise and thanks- 
 giving, made her suddenly an almost teary 
 Uncle Mary.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 A STRANGE RETURN 
 
 IT was one morning in May that Mary 
 was carrying out a promise to Stanley and 
 Elizabeth Lee to go into the woods a little 
 and get some mountain laurel, which was 
 just at the height of its spring bloom and 
 beauty. It was a suddenly hot morning, 
 when the sun seemed really bent on burn- 
 ing everything up that came beneath its 
 rays in a fashion that belongs to the 
 very energetic ways of a New England 
 spring. 
 
 The car was at the door, and Elizabeth 
 Lee, a "really" little summer girl with low 
 socks and slippers, pink gingham and broad- 
 brimmed hat, was already on the pavement 
 throwing kisses back at Auntie Alice, who 
 had decided she would rather stay in the 
 
 195
 
 196 Uncle Mary 
 
 cool house than ride anywhere. Mary came 
 from the house (herself a picture of pretty 
 summer comfort), the car whirred off and 
 they were soon waiting for Stanley at the 
 parsonage door. 
 
 Almost instantly he came bounding out, 
 too and what was the funny thing he had 
 on his head ? 
 
 Elizabeth Lee laughed aloud, as soon as 
 she saw him, and Mary joined her as she 
 asked, 
 
 "What is that thing you have on your 
 head, Stanley Stillwell?" 
 
 " That's my African helmet. This sun 
 this morning makes me think of Africa, and 
 I just wore my helmet. You see you can't 
 go out, even in the early morning there, 
 without a helmet; and a little later, when 
 the sun drops, hot as an oven, right down 
 on your head, you can't go at all." 
 
 "I wouldn't stay in such a bad place as 
 that," said Elizabeth Lee decidedly. 
 
 Stanley was quick to respond to this: 
 "Humph! I guess if you were as splendid
 
 A Strange Return 197 
 
 a man as my father, and doing as much 
 good as he is, you would stay there all 
 right!" 
 
 Which made Elizabeth Lee very meek in- 
 deed. She didn't understand, of course, 
 but she was aware that her chief was "call- 
 ing her down," which is always enough for 
 womankind. 
 
 Mary laughed at the two, behind her 
 handkerchief, then her thought shot back to 
 little Jimmie Stillwell and Elwood. They 
 had always been together. What sacrifices 
 Jimmie was making, and Elwood Why did 
 remembrance of Elwood so constantly pur- 
 sue her, was the impatient protest. 
 
 But Elizabeth Lee was laughing again at 
 Stanley and his funny hat and then in a 
 twinkling her broad hat was off and Stanley 
 had put his big, awkward thing on her own 
 curly head. 
 
 "O-o-o," the little girl giggled and wrig- 
 gled, "it smothers me!" 
 
 So it was off again in a twinkling, while 
 Stanley put it back on his own head, saying,
 
 198 Uncle Mary 
 
 "I wouldn't let you have it, anyway. But 
 I tell you, you will want it when you get out 
 in the sun hunting laurel!" 
 
 "I suspect she will, Stanley," smiled 
 Mary. "It is hot, and I think I am going 
 to drive to a spot which is close to the road, 
 where I know there is a lot of laurel, and 
 let you two go and get it for yourselves while 
 I study my books." 
 
 She spoke to the chauffeur, telling him to 
 go through a little cross-road that ran back 
 of their own place. There was nice shade 
 there, she remembered, where they could 
 park the machine and be in sight of the 
 children all the while. 
 
 So, out the two tumbled when the machine 
 halted, and Mary told them just where to go. 
 Then she smilingly watched the bobbing odd 
 tan helmet with its cool green lining, which 
 set out from the boy's head, making him 
 amusingly top-heavy. But it really was 
 very light and he plunged here and there 
 easily, with Libbie Lee trudging breathlessly 
 after, till Mary called out to them :
 
 A Strange Return 199 
 
 "Not so fast, Stanley. Elizabeth Lee 
 cannot keep up." 
 
 She thought once of sending the chauffeur 
 after them, just to keep watch, but she had 
 promised they might gather the laurel all by 
 themselves; so, as no harm could come to 
 them, close at hand as they were, she settled 
 back to her reading while the chauffeur did 
 the same. He liked a book and always had 
 one in his pocket. 
 
 Perhaps half or three-quarters of an hour 
 had passed and in her reading Mary con- 
 stantly caught the children's voices, as she 
 thought, but there came a sudden realization 
 that she was not hearing them had not been 
 for a vague length of time that made her in- 
 stantly anxious. 
 
 She spoke hurriedly to the chauffeur; "I 
 think I will go down and see about the 
 children." He replied promptly; " Would 
 you not like me to go?" as he sprang from 
 his seat to open the door. 
 
 "No," said Mary, who was already step- 
 ping out, "I think I will like to go, myself."
 
 200 Uncle Mary 
 
 So she forgot the sun in the little flutter 
 of anxiety that had come to her, and walked 
 briskly down the slope to where tall maples, 
 canopied and moss-covered bowlders and 
 mountain laurel were intertwined. Her ear 
 keenly reached out as she went, for sound of 
 the children's trebles, but nothing came 
 back to her, and her anxiety grew as she 
 came upon a pile of gathered laurel; then 
 suddenly the low voice of a man sounded 
 from beyond a big bowlder in front of her 
 and Libbie Lee's childish laugh broke over 
 the stillness. A tense moment, and she 
 rounded the bowlder to see a man with dark 
 hat drawn over his eyes, seated upon a fal- 
 len tree trunk, and the two children stand- 
 ing beside him watching intently while he 
 whittled something into shape. 
 
 The man looked quickly up and the two 
 children turned startled faces at Mary's 
 rapid step and advancing figure. 
 
 " Stanley Elizabeth Lee, what do you 
 mean by staying so long and coming so 
 far?" she cried, catching each of the chil-
 
 A Strange Return 201 
 
 drcn by the hand and hardly giving a glance 
 to the man. 
 
 "Why, Uncle Mary, he is making us a 
 whistle please let us stay till it's done," 
 cried Stanley, pulling back in unconscious 
 protest, for they had really neither gone 
 far nor stayed long. 
 
 Mary turned toward the man involunta- 
 rily, taking in with one sweeping gaze the 
 frail figure, pallid face, and emaciated 
 fingers. Her hands dropped as though 
 struck from their grasp. 
 
 "Elwood!" 
 
 The word came almost inaudibly, at last, 
 as the man met her startled gaze with quiet, 
 steady eyes. 
 
 For a full minute the tenseness had held 
 even the children. Then Mary recovered 
 herself with supreme effort. 
 
 "Stanley," she said with quick author- 
 ity, "you take Elizabeth Lee around beyond 
 this bowlder to where you have piled your 
 laurel, and wait there till I come." 
 
 When the children were gone Mary
 
 202 Uncle Mary 
 
 turned quickly again and exclaimed: "El- 
 wood, you are sick!" 
 
 A slow, whimsical smile came to the pal- 
 lid face and he said, "No, Mary, I am al- 
 most well!" 
 
 Tears rushed to Mary's eyes, but she beat 
 them back as she said brokenly: "Come 
 home with me." And the anger of years 
 fled from her heart ! 
 
 His smile had faded but there was 
 warmth in the somber eyes which met 
 hers. 
 
 "I have not come here to bother you," 
 the brother said; "I only wanted to have 
 another look at things." 
 
 "But you must come home," Mary cried, 
 laying a hand on his arm. 
 
 "No, Mary, I think not." Then the 
 whimsical smile came again and he began to 
 whittle once more: "You do not want me, 
 Mary." 
 
 "But I do!" cried Mary again. "And, 
 Elwood Alice Alice is a cripple she will 
 want to see you!"
 
 " ' BUT YOU MUST COME HOME,' MARY CRIED, LAYING 
 A HAND ON HIS ARM "
 
 A Strange Return 203 
 
 His hands paused and his eyes questioned 
 with instant pain: "How when?" 
 
 "Just after you left," said Mary, hurry- 
 ing over the words: "She fell from the step- 
 ladder and she would give anything to see 
 you." 
 
 Elwood looked at her keenly: "And you 
 have had to do everything?" 
 
 "Oh no, Alice has helped me," she re- 
 plied quickly. 
 
 His eyes did not leave her face and he 
 guessed, quite accurately, how much Alice 
 had been able to help. 
 
 "Will you not come to see her, Elwood?" 
 pleaded Mary again. 
 
 He whittled once more, and with a few 
 touches the whistle was done. At last he 
 spoke: "Do not think I do not want to 
 come," he said, weakening the bonds which 
 for years had held him. "But I must not 
 stay," he ended at last firmly. 
 
 Mary knew as well as though he had 
 added the words that he was not willing to 
 stay, and make them her trouble.
 
 204 Uncle Mary 
 
 "We will go then," she said, and he rose 
 with determined vigor, so she did not take 
 his arm to steady him, as she longed to do. 
 
 They went around the bowlder, and not 
 far beyond were the children seated on the 
 ground beside the heap of flowering laurel, 
 waiting in a sort of awed expectancy. 
 
 "Come, Stanley and Elizabeth Lee," said 
 Mary quickly, "you two walk on ahead. I 
 will send Stafford back to get the laurel." 
 
 Both children looked much disappointed, 
 because they had expected to have the fun 
 of lugging the laurel in themselves. 
 
 Elwood read their disappointment, but 
 Mary was too preoccupied to notice. He 
 smiled at them and said: "Here is your 
 whistle. Blow at this end, boy. " 
 
 And the two ran ahead, the gay little pink 
 gingham and the odd African helmet, with 
 joy's equilibrium fully restored, and Eliz- 
 abeth Lee having, of course, to find most 
 of her delight in listening to Stanley's 
 whistles. 
 
 Mary kept her thought upon Elwood, ex-
 
 A Strange Return 205 
 
 pecting uncertain steps, but he determin- 
 edly mounted the short, steep slope and in 
 a moment they were upon the road with the 
 car before them. The change in Mary's 
 life rushed back into her consciousness, 
 but she simply said: "Our car is waiting; 
 we can soon get out of this heat." 
 
 She did not see the quick questioning look 
 that came into Elwood's eyes, but he made 
 no remark, accepting a seat in the elegant 
 limousine at last without the least change of 
 expression. 
 
 " Stafford, this is my brother, Mr. Hal- 
 sey," Mary said, as the chaff eur stepped 
 down to open the door. Both men bowed, 
 and without pause she went on: " Stanley, 
 you and Elizabeth Lee can both sit with 
 Stafford this time," and motioned to El- 
 wood to sit in the back with her. 
 
 Not a word passed between them on the 
 brief ride, while Stanley and Libbie Lee de- 
 lighted themselves in whistling for the 
 chaff eur's benefit. As they paused at the 
 door of the brown cottage, Mary laid a
 
 206 Uncle Mary 
 
 hand on Elwood's arm and said: "I must 
 speak to Alice first. Wait where you are, 
 children," she called, hurrying in the 
 Jiouse. The news was soon made known to 
 Alice, and then, in upon the gentler sister's 
 tide of joy, Mary broke with "But Alice, 
 he is ill! Don't say a word, though," and 
 her voice struggled for steadiness again. 
 "I will go and bring him in." 
 
 At the car, once more she directed : "Staf- 
 ford, take Elizabeth Lee over to Mr. Still- 
 well's with Stanley, let her stay half an 
 hour, and then bring her back here."
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 ELWOOD 
 
 THE meeting between Alice and Elwood 
 had all the reserve which belongs to New 
 England granite hills in general and the 
 Halsey family in particular, though the eyes 
 of both sister and brother told their story 
 of deep emotion ; joy coming out in the high 
 lights and pain hiding in the dark depths. 
 Not a word was spoken while their lips and 
 arms clung for a brief moment. Mary fled 
 to the kitchen the instant she had brought 
 them together, and with trembling lips and 
 swimming eyes flew here and there about the 
 task of getting dinner. ' ' Elwood must have 
 something to eat at once," was the practical 
 thought which steadied her more and more 
 with each passing minute ; and by the time 
 she heard Libbie Lee's running step at the 
 
 207
 
 208 Uncle Mary 
 
 door, she had just finished placing the simple 
 meal upon the table. 
 
 Elwood turned toward the little girl when 
 she appeared, her sparkling face just above 
 a big armful of pink blossoms and green 
 leaves. But her eyes were upon Alice, and 
 running forward she threw the riotous 
 laurel in that capacious lap with it almost 
 depositing herself. 
 
 "I got it for you," she cried; " isn't it 
 so pretty!" 
 
 Elwood 's eyes kindled as she stood close 
 to him in her lovely childish abandon. 
 
 "Your hat, Elizabeth Lee," said Mary 
 promptly. 
 
 "Oh, I forgot," replied the child, pulling 
 off the hat and hanging it on her own low 
 hook. 
 
 Alice had been smiling her thanks for the 
 laurel offering, but somehow she could not 
 trust herself to speak, and Mary put in 
 again: "Alice cannot eat her dinner with 
 all that pile of laurel in her lap," with a 
 sort of brusque pleasantry. "Here, Eliza-
 
 Elwood 209 
 
 beth Lee, help me and we will carry it out 
 to the kitchen and just pile it in the sink 
 till it gets a good wetting." 
 
 And the two went out carrying the pink 
 beauties, with much gayety on the child's 
 part, and dexterous handling on Mary's as 
 she put it in the sink with a flowing faucet. 
 
 With the little girl's chatter as emotional 
 foil or refuge, the three whose hearts were 
 so full effected a commonplace meal in the 
 outward things. But Elwood ate little, 
 while he scarcely took his eyes from the 
 child. Sometimes they kindled with quick 
 warmth and spontaneous affection; then 
 they brooded or questioned with somber in- 
 tensity. The two women interpreted with 
 uncertain gropings. 
 
 When they left the table, Elwood took 
 the child by the hand and drew her to his 
 knee, asking how she liked the whistle. 
 
 As Mary cleared the table, she said softly 
 to Alice, "Stay right here; I don't need any 
 help." 
 
 But Alice turned pleading eyes toward
 
 210 Uncle Mary 
 
 her, with "I want to help!" And Mary 
 gave no denial. 
 
 They closed the door as they went together 
 into the kitchen, and Alice exclaimed in the 
 next breath: "What does it mean, Mary?" 
 
 "I don't know. Has he told you any- 
 thing, or asked a question?" 
 
 "No," returned Alice, "not one only 
 about father's death quietly, and I told 
 him." 
 
 "He has scarcely had a chance to talk to 
 me," said Mary. Then she told Alice all 
 the details of the meeting. "I remember 
 now," she added, "that Elizabeth Lee had 
 her hand on his knee when I found them 
 that burned itself into my consciousness, for 
 it was a strange man, as I thought not 
 really seeing him at all in my nervous 
 anxiety to get the children away to safety." 
 
 "He has come to have a last look at her," 
 said Alice, suddenly sobbing, "for he can't 
 live long, Mary." 
 
 Mary could not answer for several 
 minutes, then she said with instinctive
 
 Elwood 211 
 
 honesty, "I think he wanted to see us, too. 
 And we must simply wait his time to know 
 more. You know Elwood." 
 
 "Yes," returned Alice staunchly, "and 
 a finer spirit never lived!" 
 
 Mary said nothing, but loyalty was not 
 entirely lacking in her own heart. 
 
 Meantime Elwood talked with the little 
 girl and held her undivided interest. She 
 leaned against his knee, and several times 
 he made a motion to lift her to his lap, but 
 gently put an arm about her instead. Once 
 he held a curl and looked at it intently as 
 he told a wonderful story about a rabbit. 
 
 Then Mary came back, and Alice wheeled 
 her chair to the sitting room again with 
 quick grace. Both noted that Elwood 
 labored under some stress, and rising he said 
 at once, "I must go now this has been " 
 
 But he had over-estimated his strength, 
 or rather, too suddenly appraised it, for his 
 face went pallid as death, while his words 
 faltered and failed. 
 
 Mary sprang to his side and gently put
 
 212 Uncle Mary 
 
 him back in his chair. With steady hand 
 she held him in place and cried quickly to 
 Alice, " Telephone for Stafford," and to 
 Libbie Lee, "Kun out in the yard!" Both 
 obeyed as if under military orders. 
 
 Then she reached for a glass with water 
 which stood upon the table and managed to 
 get some of it on that terrifyingly white 
 face. 
 
 It was not more than five minutes till 
 Stafford strode in the door, and he and 
 Mary lifted the wasted figure and carried 
 it to the little old day-bed where he had slept 
 as a boy. 
 
 "Shall I get a doctor?" asked Stafford, 
 respectfully. 
 
 "We will wait a moment and see," re- 
 turned Mary, with the old family reserve 
 strong upon her. 
 
 A moment later a slight warmth slowly 
 crept into the face, then the eyelids fluttered 
 wearily, and Mary knew that consciousness 
 was returning. 
 
 His first look was one of question as he
 
 Elwood 213 
 
 saw Mary leaning over him; then under- 
 standing dawned, and as his eyes took in 
 the familiar aspects of the small room which 
 used to be his, he closed them quickly as 
 though he could not bear it. 
 
 " Elwood," said Mary softly a little later, 
 " shall I not send for a doctor*?" 
 
 He did not answer, but slowly reached for 
 an inner pocket, and Mary, divining, put 
 her hand in and drew out a bottle of tablets. 
 
 "A glass of water, Stafford," she said. 
 It was quickly brought and she questioned, 
 "One or two?" 
 
 The sick man put up one finger, so she 
 took one tablet and lifting the helpless head, 
 placed the medicine between his lips, but 
 he motioned the water away. 
 
 In half an hour the tablet had done good 
 work and Elwood turned to Mary with a 
 struggling smile: "I did not expect to be- 
 have like this." 
 
 
 
 "That is all right," returned Mary, "but 
 do you not think we had better have the 
 doctor?"
 
 214 Uncle Mary 
 
 "No," returned Elwood, "I understand 
 my condition and these emergency tablets 
 are all that is necessary. The thing slipped 
 up on me unaccountably this time," and he 
 looked away that she might not see the pain 
 that suddenly shot back into the depths of 
 his eyes again. 
 
 They were very quiet for an hour more; 
 then Mary brought in a cup of broth, and 
 after he had taken it, he said: "That is 
 good; it will do me good but Mary, there 
 is no getting around it, you will have me on 
 your hands for a day or two." 
 
 And Mary for answer just stooped over 
 and kissed him! Marvel of marvels for a 
 jHalsey! Then she busied herself about a 
 swaying curtain, to turn briskly a moment 
 later with the matter-of-fact statement, 
 "We must make you comfortable in bed 
 now," and at once left the room. 
 
 She had thought things out in the quiet 
 hour beside his bed, "Elwood had no 
 satchel. Yes, there were several good night 
 shirts of father's in the attic. She would
 
 Elwood 215 
 
 make the little bed and get him all fixed up 
 as soon as he was strong enough." So she 
 now returned promptly with the necessary 
 articles and laid them suggestively on the 
 foot of the bed. Elwood turned away after 
 one look, for he knew at once whence came 
 that night shirt. With Stafford's help he 
 was soon carefully prepared and made com- 
 fortable in bed. After a bit of rest he 
 turned to Mary and asked, " Where is the 
 little girl Libbie Lee, I believe you call 
 her?" 
 
 "Yes," said Mary, looking keenly at him 
 and forgetting her insistence upon "Eliza- 
 beth Lee." "Do you want to see her?" she 
 asked. 
 
 "Yes," he nodded. 
 
 So Mary brought the little girl in, and she 
 went straight to the bed, laying a small 
 round hand on his arm in her little-mother 
 way. "You are sick," she announced. 
 
 "Oh, just a little out-of-sorts," he smiled 
 back at her. And Mary left them to dis- 
 miss Stafford and look after things for the
 
 216 Uncle Mary 
 
 evening meal. Alice followed her from 
 the living room to the kitchen with the 
 quick question, "Has he said anything 
 yet?" 
 
 "No," replied Mary shortly, "and he isn't 
 going to." 
 
 Alice was silent a moment, then she said 
 confidently, "For some reason he does not 
 want us to know he has any connection with 
 her." 
 
 Mary said nothing. Things were much 
 too complicated for speech just then, so far 
 as she was concerned. 
 
 A little later, as the two sisters sat in the 
 living room, Mary, in a glance through the 
 open door, saw Elwood take the little girl's 
 face between his hands and look searchingly 
 into it. Not a move of objection did the 
 child make, and Mary, watching involunta- 
 rily, saw the intent look soften, then heard 
 the child laugh as she was released. 
 
 During the afternoon the patient was 
 given tablets regularly at his direction ; the 
 evening meal was over at last, and Libbie
 
 Elwood 217 
 
 Lee Alice as well tucked safely in bed, 
 though it was early. Then Mary went in 
 to sit quietly with Elwood again. 
 
 He turned to her in painful questioning 
 almost at once: "Mary, what child is that 
 who calls you 'Uncle Mary'?" 
 
 There was a quick gasp for breath im- 
 mediately following. 
 
 "Elwood, you had better not talk any 
 more to-night, " said Mary, decidedly. 
 "You need sleep." 
 
 With a determined gathering of his 
 forces, he returned, "But, I must talk. I 
 could almost claim that child for my own! 
 She is so like my own might have been at 
 her age like my baby's mother," he whis- 
 pered. "That is what made me flunk so 
 completely to-day," he added, at last, 
 while his whimsical smile crept faintly in 
 again. 
 
 "Yours?" returned Mary questioningly. 
 
 "Yes, I had a wife and child in New York 
 but the war " he halted a moment for 
 breath again, then began determinedly:
 
 218 Uncle Mary 
 
 "Yes, mine. When I came back from over- 
 seas, I went to the house where my wife had 
 taken a room for herself and baby as I was 
 leaving a room where she could do illus- 
 trating and was so sure she could earn 
 enough to keep them until my pay began to 
 come in. You see she was southern, and 
 had been brought up on war-loyalty her 
 ancestors having drained themselves in the 
 civil war, never considering for a moment 
 what it cost. So she wanted me to enlist 
 the moment we declared war in the great 
 world-conflict. Of course I wanted to my- 
 self, but I thought for the beginning it was 
 better for the young fellows who had no 
 families, to go. But Florence would not 
 hear to it she knew she could take care of 
 herself and the baby who was a year and 
 a half old for she had taken care of her- 
 self before we were married, and baby 
 wouldn't make it a bit harder only easier, 
 she declared. So, I was among the first to 
 go, and cheerful letters came out to me in 
 the trenches and in the hospitals as often
 
 Elwood 219 
 
 as they could find me, till about a month 
 ' before the armistice was signed. Then, they 
 stopped and I never heard again. " 
 
 He had to rest here, his breath coming 
 short again, but when Mary tried to per- 
 suade him to wait before talking more, he 
 raised a protesting hand. 
 
 "I got back as quickly as I could after a 
 round of hospital experience, but it was a 
 year later, and then I searched till I found 
 that my wife had died at a hospital here 
 during the first influenza epidemic, but I 
 could not learn a thing about the baby. Two 
 obscure young people haven't many friends 
 in New York, and the city was panic- 
 stricken with that first terrible onslaught of 
 influenza, while Florence had only two old 
 aunts as relatives, left in South Carolina. 
 They had not been notified of her death, and 
 were distressed at her long silence ; so there 
 was nothing to find out in that direction. 
 After months of search I found the land- 
 lady of the house where she and the baby 
 had been, but this woman could only tell me
 
 220 Uncle Mary 
 
 that the baby was sick, also, when the mother 
 died and the child probably died, too. I 
 asked about the trunk and she said it was 
 left in the house when she moved away, as 
 nobody claimed it. The hospital authorities 
 also told me they felt sure the baby died, if 
 it had been brought there, though they ad- 
 mitted they had no record of it. But it was 
 such a time of stress and confusion that 
 they thought the baby had probably been 
 buried with the mother and no record made 
 of it. Of course there was no money that 
 anybody knew about, and no one to look 
 after things, so " and his voice sank 
 to a whisper, "I don't even know where 
 she is buried at least which is her 
 grave." 
 
 "Now, Elwood, you must rest a while/' 
 said Mary with real authority, adding softly 
 after a moment: "You know her spirit 
 wasn't buried, Elwood, nothing could touch 
 that!" 
 
 "Such a wonderful spirit she had, too," 
 he whispered.
 
 Elwood 221 
 
 Mary passed her hand gently, again and 
 again, over his forehead while he rested. 
 Then he began once more: "I finally gave 
 up, as there seemed absolutely nothing 
 further that I could do; and, disheartened, 
 with a wound which 'had put the left lung 
 pretty much out of commission, and seri- 
 ously injured the heart, it did not seem 
 worth while to try even to live for a time. 
 But New England blood is not the sort that 
 usually gives up though it can be terribly 
 stubborn at times," and they smiled faintly 
 in mutual understanding. 
 
 "I went to a soldiers' hospital in New 
 York then, and finally fell into story-writing 
 which I had done before as a side-line 
 under an assumed name and which served 
 me a good turn. I remained there, for it 
 seemed best, till I ventured to come here 
 just to see the old place. I did not intend 
 to bother you. I came over in a taxi, and 
 had them let me out in the old laurel lot; 
 I knew it must be in full bloom. 
 
 "That is all you know what is to be, and
 
 222 Uncle Mary 
 
 of course the hospital is the place for me," 
 he ended. 
 
 Mary would not argue the last statement 
 with him then, and she knew no words of 
 response for such a tragic story as his, so 
 she only repeated gently at last: 
 
 "Now, you must sleep. Shall there be 
 another tablet?" 
 
 1 'No," he returned, "you can put them 
 where I can get them. I am accustomed to 
 looking out for myself, largely." And the 
 relaxed look upon his face said plainly as 
 words to her, "I am better for telling you." 
 But she had not answered his question about 
 the child, not even after hearing his story, 
 and his wild hope died down. As to 
 what unexpected, marvelous thing had 
 come into Mary's life he had no right to 
 probe. 
 
 For hours that night Mary lay in her bed 
 not sleeping. Of course she listened for 
 sounds from her brother's room, but her 
 mind was too full of thought for sleep under 
 any circumstances.
 
 Elwood 223 
 
 Whose child, indeed, was Libbie Lee? 
 Though he did not know, still it might be 
 Elwood 's for whose else could it be? But 
 how had it come to her ? Perhaps someone 
 who knew Elwood did, after all, get the 
 child at once from the hospital after the 
 mother's death, and knowing of El wood's 
 past, had sent the child to her to rear. Of 
 course it was some one with plenty of money 
 and Elwood 's story did not indicate 
 wealthy friends! But many people had 
 money after the war who did not have it 
 before! If it were not Elwood 's, why 
 should it have been sent to her? (Her 
 whimsical claim of fancy that it was hers 
 and "her husband's" did not even give an 
 echo in this time of earnest probing!) Oh, 
 it was a heart-breaking tangle and mystery ! 
 All she could see now was that she should 
 have been straightforward in the beginning 
 insisting on knowing whose child it was, 
 and who had sent it. Instead, she had been 
 so afraid of losing it that she would not 
 question anything and bluffed herself and
 
 224 Uncle Mary 
 
 the town with a bravado that, at the mo- 
 ment, seemed amazing! But how she did 
 love the child! For her own part she did 
 not care where it came from, and she simply 
 could not run any risk of losing it now! 
 Over and over she pursued desires, facts and 
 conclusions in a ceaseless round, until 
 finally an unselfish and definite determina- 
 tion sent her spirit into the restfulness of 
 sleep. The decision was this : she would at 
 once find out all she could about the child, 
 whatever the consequences! If it was El- 
 wood's child, it was due him to know it 
 and there was no time to lose. 
 
 Next morning the determination was un- 
 shaken, and finding Elwood fairly comfort- 
 able after the night, she said to Alice in the 
 kitchen while Libbie Lee cared for the pa- 
 tient, " Alice, I am going to find out all I can 
 about the child as promptly as possible.'* 
 Then she told the details of her conversation 
 with Elwood, and all the reasoning that had 
 brought her to this decision. 
 
 Breakfast was barely over when a tele-
 
 Elwood 225 
 
 gram went speeding to the bank in New 
 York: 
 
 "Must know at once any facts about child, Elizabeth 
 Lee Starling, sent to me some months ago. Prompt- 
 ness imperative." 
 
 In two hours the reply was in her hands : 
 
 "We have no facts. Have wired party who may 
 have, and hope you may soon receive some satis- 
 factory word." 
 
 Mary and Alice had agreed that nothing 
 about this must be said to Elwood, for it 
 would be cruel to raise so great a hope for 
 him when there was uncertain promise of 
 fulfillment. Nothing more was said to him 
 either about his confidence to Mary, and he, 
 in turn, did not repeat his question, " Whose 
 child is that?" He accepted the " Uncle 
 Mary," also, without further remark. 
 Family reticence stood them all in good 
 stead during the two days that followed. 
 
 At dark that evening came another wire 
 which said tersely: 
 
 "Party starting immediately from Oklahoma with 
 all information available. Will go direct to you." 
 (Signed again by the bank.)
 
 226 Uncle Mary 
 
 This, of course, meant that there must be 
 continued suspense, and it was still best 
 that there should be no discussion. 
 
 Elwood seemed to delight in the child, 
 and she liked nothing better than being 
 little nurse to him; or hearing him in his 
 low, relaxed voice, tell some pretty story 
 to her. He spoke no more of going, and on 
 the afternoon of the day following his 
 arrival, as Mary and Alice started out to 
 "do" the dinner dishes, he smiled at them 
 and said, "Now, Libbie Lee and I are going 
 to tell secrets, and please don't anybody 
 come here, or in the sitting-room, until she 
 lets you know that we are all through/' 
 
 "Certainly," laughed Mary and Alice, as 
 they left to speculate over what he might 
 mean. 
 
 When they were gone he turned to the 
 little girl and said, "I want you to help me 
 about something. Will you do if?" 
 
 "Oh, I'd love to! I so love to help! 
 Uncle Mary lets me, sometimes!" 
 
 He smiled tenderly upon her, and went
 
 Elwood 227 
 
 on: "Well, what I want you to do is this: 
 go to the secretary in there " and he 
 pointed to the sitting room beyond. 
 
 "That great tall thing," agreed Libbie 
 Lee, excitedly. 
 
 "Yes," he returned; "and you see that 
 little brass knob on the door?" 
 
 "Yes," she agreed again, awe creeping 
 into her voice. 
 
 "That's good," he said; "now I want you 
 to climb up in a chair so that you can reach 
 that knob, and then turn it and open the 
 door." 
 
 "Oh, but Uncle Mary won't let me she 
 won't let me touch that ! And Auntie Alice 
 told me long time ago, when I first came 
 that it holds Uncle Mary's chains, and then 
 I didn't want to touch it!" 
 
 "I see," returned her listener, adding 
 under his breath, "I suspect so." 
 
 Quickly recovering himself, he smiled 
 again re-assuringly at the child, and said, 
 "That was just right; but I, too, have some 
 things in the old secretary, and I know all
 
 228 Uncle Mary 
 
 about the chains Auntie Alice was talking 
 about. She was just making fun when she 
 said * chains'; she really meant old papers 
 that are in the secretary, which make Uncle 
 Mary, as you call her, a lot of trouble. Now 
 I want to get them out, for they are my 
 chains as well as hers, and I am going to fix 
 them so they won't ever make her any 
 more trouble. Don't you want to help me 
 doit?" 
 
 The little girl looked doubtful and how 
 Elwood wished he might rise and get the 
 papers himself! But he knew the least at- 
 tempt to walk might be fatal, now. The 
 morning had not brought the renewed vigor 
 he expected and his time might be short. 
 So he turned to Libbie Lee again with an 
 urgent smile. 
 
 "I can watch you every minute, you see," 
 putting her little face down beside his. And 
 she looked with him to the sitting-room, 
 then brightened decidedly as she raised her 
 head and turned to him once more. So he 
 urged again: "There's a little tin box that
 
 Elwood 229 
 
 you will see just as soon as you open the 
 door, and that is what I want you to bring 
 to me." 
 
 "Are you sure Uncle Mary won't care?" 
 
 "It will make her very happy! But you 
 must remember that it is just a secret that 
 you and I " then he stopped a moment, 
 going on again with, "which you must keep 
 for me till Uncle Mary finds it out for her- 
 self. Can you keep a secret?" 
 
 "I love to keep a secret! I never told 
 Uncle Mary what Auntie Alice told me 
 about the 'chains,' because Auntie Alice 
 said it was to be a secret for her and 
 me." 
 
 "All right," he said, "you are just the 
 little girl for me, and you and I are going 
 to have a secret while we do a beautiful 
 thing for Uncle "Mary!" 
 
 So the child tiptoed into the living room, 
 pushed a chair up to the awesome old sec- 
 retary looking back at Elwood every other 
 moment, till the knob was turned, just as 
 he told her; and then, as the door swung
 
 230 Uncle Mary 
 
 round, there, sure enough, lay the tin box! 
 She had it in a moment, and scrambling 
 down, ran quickly to the bedside again. 
 
 Elwood patted her hand, then opened the 
 old box, took out the paper he wanted and 
 said to her as gayly as he could, "This paper 
 is the one that Auntie Alice called 'Mary's 
 chains/ because it has bound her down to 
 hard work for many years. But it will 
 never do it again, for you and I have taken 
 it away, and I am going to fix it so it won't 
 ever trouble her any more." 
 
 " Oh, how nice that is ! I am so glad now, 
 I did do it but I was scared only you 
 looked at me all the time." 
 
 "Well, that is fine," said he, "and I will 
 look at you now while you put the box back, 
 just where you found it." 
 
 "Oh, I'm not afraid, now that the 'chains' 
 are all gone." 
 
 And she went back, climbed up again be- 
 side the old secretary, put the box in its 
 place and closed the door without ever once 
 looking back at him. She clapped her
 
 Elwood 231 
 
 hands then, scrambled down and ran to him ; 
 but, after a squeeze, he sent her in once 
 more to put the chair in its right place. 
 
 "Now that we have everything all done, 
 we won't think any more about it. But, 
 after I go away, if you ever see Uncle Mary 
 troubled about anything, you just tell her 
 what we did to-day. Will you remember?" 
 
 "Yes, I'll remember," she said, her little 
 face growing old in "remembering," as it 
 had had to do in the "Home" when charged 
 with what seemed responsibilities. Then, 
 he sent her to tell Auntie Alice and Uncle 
 Mary that they might come in any time they 
 wanted to and that was such fun telling 
 them what they might do! 
 
 As for Mary and Alice, their minds had 
 been busy, and their tongues as well, with 
 the thought of who the "party" could be 
 that was bringing information from far 
 Oklahoma about their little girl. It was 
 certainly a problem beyond solving. When 
 they came back into the living room, Mary 
 went to Elwood at once to see if he was com-
 
 232 Uncle Mary 
 
 fortable, and bring him some broth. After 
 he had taken it, he said to her as casually 
 as he could : 
 
 "Did you say since I came that Parson 
 Still well was still living?" 
 
 "Yes," returned Mary, "and pretty well 
 for over seventy years." 
 
 "I'd like to see him, Mary," he said. 
 "Can't you send that chauffeur of yours 
 for him?" he added, with a smile to hide 
 the feeling that was beneath the request. 
 
 "Certainly," replied Mary, "if you think 
 you feel strong enough to see him. I sent 
 him a note yesterday, telling him I thought 
 quiet was the best thing for you, and asking 
 him to let folks know that you were here, 
 but not to let them come." 
 
 He looked at Mary in surprise at this, 
 remembering the family way of keeping 
 things entirely to themselves; he had 
 thought she would disapprove of his want- 
 ing to see even the old parson. But the way 
 was instantly made smooth by this, so dif- 
 ferent Mary.
 
 Elwood 233 
 
 It was not later than half an hour till the 
 minister came, and during that time Elwood 
 had rested completely with his door closed. 
 
 When Mr. Stillwell left after an inter- 
 view alone with Elwood, the old minister 
 carried a paper and quite a sum of money 
 hidden in his Sunday coat. And neither he 
 nor that most orthodox garment had a bit 
 of a look of guilt about them !
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 DEVELOPMENT 
 
 ON the second day after receipt of the 
 last telegram in the brown cottage, a well- 
 dressed stranger appeared again at the 
 hotel in Barringer. He was of medium 
 height and good proportions, dark brown 
 hair, serious eyes and determined jaw. But, 
 with a smile, his eyes lit up as though elec- 
 trified. 
 
 He was evidently a business man, for 
 there seemed to be no time to lose as he made 
 his plans for indefinite hire of a taxi, and 
 started down the hotel steps. 
 
 But a lounger in the soft May air that 
 pervaded the hotel veranda, suddenly called 
 to him: 
 
 "Say, stranger, I've got some Sunfield 
 news for you!" 
 
 The stranger hesitated a moment; then 
 
 234
 
 Development 235 
 
 said pleasantly, "I don't believe I have any 
 time for gossip to-day," and was about to 
 continue on his way. But the lounger was 
 not to be denied. He leaned over the 
 banisters and his voice carried easily: 
 "Say, I saw Sophie Stoneham to-day and 
 she says that Elwood Halsey has got back, 
 and he and Mary have made up. Says 
 Sunfield's beginning to think Mary's 
 sprouted wings!" 
 
 If he had more to say, the stranger did 
 not know what it was; for, with a wave of 
 his hand, he was down the steps to meet the 
 taxi-cab which drew up in front of the hotel, 
 and in another moment he was off, on the 
 road to Sunfield.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 A COMING AND A GOING 
 
 IT was evening of the third day ; a golden 
 and green evening of promise after two 
 days of rain. Mary and Alice could not re- 
 strain a nervous tension Mary's having a 
 degree of strange outreach in it as though 
 something long pending were coming to 
 fruition; or, rather as though she had 
 dreamed all that already had come and was 
 to come, and that the dream, once gone over, 
 was being repeated. There was also a pe- 
 culiar assurance mixed with her strained 
 expectancy. 
 
 Elwood's bodily strength did not gain, 
 and his mind seemed perfectly passive. 
 He talked little, but his eyes kindled con- 
 stantly when Libbie Lee was in sight as 
 she usually was, for she liked nothing bet- 
 
 236
 
 A Coming and a Going 237 
 
 ter than to "do things" for him, or sit and 
 talk to him. / 
 
 So the third day had passed, and it was 
 just after they had had their tea that the 
 expected whirr of an auto came from the 
 street, and a man was seen to alight and 
 walk briskly up the front path to the door 
 while the taxi waited. Mary at the first 
 sound closed Elwood's room, and looking 
 out toward the front again, felt a sudden 
 leap of heart at something familiar in the 
 gait of the man approaching. But there 
 was no time 
 
 His ring was at the door she had opened 
 it and stood face to face with the caller a 
 well-dressed, well-built man of perhaps 
 thirty-one, with a fine, serious face which 
 lit up instantly at Mary's low, astonished 
 cry: 
 
 "Winthrope Arnold!" 
 
 "Yes, Mary," he smiled. 
 
 And for a moment she did not move, 
 then she was asking him in, and intro- 
 ducing him to Alice. As for Libbie Lee
 
 238 Uncle Mary 
 
 she ran to him instantly, and smiling up 
 in his face, said, "I remember you!" 
 
 He took her at once upon his knee in 
 much evident pleasure : 
 
 "You do remember me? That is fine! 
 I was afraid you wouldn't. " 
 
 "Yes," she went on excitedly, "you 
 came to the 'Home', and you took me on 
 your knee, just like this, and you talked to 
 me and told me stories and asked me, Oh 
 lots of things! And you read to me and 
 showed me picture books. You stayed a 
 long time, Oh 'most all day, and you sat by 
 me at dinner and put nice things on my 
 plate ! Then the next day a man came and 
 a nurse, in a car but not near as nice as 
 our car and took me to the train and 
 brought me here to Uncle Mary and Auntie 
 Alice." 
 
 This immediate childish chatter was a 
 great relief to them all, but when she came to 
 the innocent "Uncle Mary," Mary Halsey's 
 face flamed scarlet. 
 
 But Winthrope Arnold, glancing up at
 
 A Coming and a Going 239 
 
 her, smiled with such repressed humor and 
 delight in his eyes that the flame died down, 
 and there was question instead, upon her 
 sensitive face. 
 
 Eeminiscences between the two old friends 
 seemed about concluded, and Mary said, 
 "Now, Libbie Lee, we are going to let you 
 take care of our patient while Mr. Arnold 
 and Alice and I have a talk." 
 
 The little girl looked her surprise and 
 would have liked to stay, but after an in- 
 stant's hesitation she went obediently in, 
 and was quite as ready to talk there when 
 Elwood's eyes welcomed her. 
 
 "My brother is ill there," said Mary, in a 
 low voice," and we will talk quietly lest we 
 disturb him. He is accustomed to Libbie 
 Lee and loves to hear her chatter," she 
 added. 
 
 Instinctively they drew close together 
 and Mr. Arnold at once began upon the pur- 
 pose of his coming, ignoring the recogni- 
 tion which had passed between him and 
 Mary, greatly to her relief.
 
 240 Uncle Mary 
 
 "I am afraid what I know about the child 
 is going to be disappointing to you, for it is 
 in fact fragmentary. I take it you have an 
 urgent reason for wishing to know about her 
 and the facts do admit of such a develop- 
 ment appearing at any time, so I came at 
 
 once.' 
 
 Mary merely bowed, for full explana- 
 tion of her desire to know the child's his- 
 tory would have been hard at that mo- 
 ment. 
 
 "The story is simply this; I became in- 
 terested in the child at the orphanage where 
 I found her as you will both believe, having 
 seen the child recognize me the moment I 
 came in and I talked with the orphanage 
 authorities about her. I wanted to know 
 her parentage, and any facts they had con- 
 cerning her. I found the facts very meager, 
 indeed. She came to them at the time of 
 the terrible influenza epidemic in New York, 
 when hospitals were filled to overflowing, 
 and everything was in confusion. The 
 child was brought to the 'Home' by a trained
 
 A Coming and a Going 241 
 
 nurse who said that both mother and child 
 were ill when an ambulance delivered them 
 at the hospital ; the mother was unconscious 
 and soon died. The child grew rapidly bet- 
 ter, but no one came to see about it, in fact 
 no one had appeared to take charge of the 
 mother's body, and they did not know what 
 to do with the child. But the nurses had 
 become very fond of it, and under ordinary 
 circumstances they would have kept it much 
 longer, but the head nurse on the floor 
 was very impatient of its staying, so one 
 of the nurses took the matter in her 
 own hands, carrying the child to this 
 orphanage, of which she knew, and which 
 was an unusually homey and well-managed 
 place." 
 
 As he reached this point Mary and Alice 
 exchanged glances, for so far it fitted in per- 
 fectly with Elwood's story. Noting this 
 Mr. Arnold immediately took a little case 
 from his pocket. "Here is the chief hope 
 of perfect identification. It is a little ring 
 that was tied to the child's finger and which
 
 242 Uncle Mary 
 
 the 'Home' had placed in their bank, to- 
 gether with the facts I have given you, and 
 then transferred them all to me." 
 
 With eager eyes first Mary, and then 
 Alice, looked at a little gold circlet with pe- 
 culiar carving, and found within it the ini- 
 tials F. D. IL from E. H! Neither could 
 speak for sudden tears and high hopes, 
 while Winthrope Arnold watched them in 
 keen silence. 
 
 At last Mary said unsteadily, "It is pos- 
 sible that the child is our brother's. This 
 possibility caused me to wire the bank 
 and now everything fits in with our hope, so 
 far as we can see. Our brother will know 
 definitely about the ring, of course. I will 
 prepare him somewhat for it and send 
 Libbie Lee back to you," she ended, looking 
 at Alice. 
 
 With the sudden exchange of nurses El- 
 wood looked up in surprise at Mary's 
 flushed and excited face. 
 
 "Elwood," she said, as quietly as she 
 could, "can you bear a great possible joy,
 
 A Coming and a Going 243 
 
 or perhaps raised hope and great disap- 
 pointment?" 
 
 "The child!" he exclaimed. "It is some- 
 thing about her! I know it!" Then more 
 quietly; "Yes, I can bear anything," and an 
 other-world look in his eyes lit up the shad- 
 ows. 
 
 "You are right. It is about the child 
 your child, I hope." And then Mary went 
 rapidly over the facts she had just heard 
 till she came to the little ring and his lips 
 barely whispered, "Let me see it." 
 
 When it was in his hands the joy in that 
 wasted face was beyond telling about. 
 
 At last he could say to Mary, " Florence 
 and I bought this just before I went to war 
 Florence said, 'So that she could have 
 something to remember me by, ' and I knew 
 she meant if I did not come back. 
 
 "It has baby's initials and mine in it 
 Florence Darlington Halsey named for her 
 mother bring her to me, Mary " he ended 
 brokenly. 
 
 But Mary hovered over him anxiously a
 
 244 Uncle Mary 
 
 moment "Elwood, dear, we must not 
 frighten her, you know." 
 
 At this he took instant control of his fail- 
 ing forces and replied firmly, "I will not." 
 
 Mary stepped back to where the others 
 waited : 
 
 "He confirms everything," she whispered. 
 Turning to the child she said brightly as she 
 could manage, "Elwood wants you, dear." 
 
 The child was keenly conscious of the 
 strong under-current of high emotion about 
 her, and she stood bewildered at Mary's 
 word, so that Mary must at last lead her in, 
 leaving immediately afterward. 
 
 So the father had his moment alone with 
 the little girl, and he didn't frighten her in 
 the least, for after a brief time she came 
 smiling back into the living-room to say 
 carefully, "Father wants to see Mr. Ar- 
 nold, now." It was evidently a little lesson 
 he had taught her and she was so pleased 
 to repeat it. 
 
 There were questions Elwood must ask 
 Mr. Arnold and as soon as the brief greet-
 
 A Coming and a Going 245 
 
 ings between the two men were over, there 
 came from Elwood : "What about the child's 
 name? How did it become changed?" 
 
 "They explained that to me; for, like you, 
 I questioned, seeing that it did not corres- 
 pond with the initials in the ring," replied 
 Mr. Arnold. "The nurse said, when they 
 asked the child her name, she would only 
 say 'Darling,' which sounded more like 
 Starling as she said it, and growing so fond 
 of her they had given her different names. 
 One called her Elizabeth, another said Lib- 
 bie Lee, and they all agreed on 'Starling' 
 for her last name. They taught her to say 
 that her name was Elizabeth Lee Starling, 
 because they loved to hear her say it. The 
 nurses had taken her first from the floor 
 where they worked, and had kept her in 
 their dormitory as long as they dared ; then, 
 finally, since nobody had come to inquire 
 for her, one of them took her to the orphan- 
 age. All this was recorded in the books of 
 the 'Home,' so that I could see for myself. 
 And the ring had been taken from her fin-
 
 246 Uncle Mary 
 
 ger for it was too large and simply tied 
 on lest it get lost with only institutional 
 care for the child, amid so many other chil- 
 dren. It was put in the orphanage bank 
 for safe-keeping." 
 
 " Everything fits in with what I found 
 when I came back from over-seas," said 
 Elwood, triumph in his voice. 
 
 Mr. Arnold congratulated him with quiet 
 warmth, not only on finding his child, but 
 on finding one so lovable as Libbie Lee. 
 
 "You can see she was just the child I 
 wanted," he put in, at last, quickly. Then, 
 as quickly, he realized it would seem odd 
 that he should want a child at all! "I am 
 a bachelor, it is true," he smiled, and turned 
 to Mary who had stood by during the inter- 
 view. "Just why I wanted the child I am 
 going to tell Mary, when she will let me. 
 You do not know, perhaps, Mr. Halsey, that 
 Mary and I are old friends " 
 
 "No, I do not," said Elwood. Then 
 added, "A friend she found after I left 
 home, I suppose?"
 
 A Coming and a Going 247 
 
 "No," said Mr. Arnold, "a short time 
 before." And Mary's face flamed like a 
 girl's again, while Elwood looked puzzled. 
 But Winthrope Arnold was taking things 
 in his own hands, as he had a way of doing. 
 
 "I am going to tell her as soon as possible, 
 why I wanted this dear little girl," he re- 
 peated. And Elwood knew as he looked in- 
 to their faces that there was a heart-story be- 
 tween them. Winthrope went on, however, 
 closing the subject for the moment: "For 
 you, Mr. Halsey, I am sure nothing more is 
 needed. You have complete evidence that 
 would stand in any. court, and I cheerfully 
 turn over any claim I have, though I am 
 exceedingly fond of the child. Surely there 
 was a guiding eternal spirit that brought 
 together these threads for you at this 
 time," he ended with gentle reverence. 
 
 And Elwood murmured in response: "I 
 know it." After a few moments' silence 
 he turned to Mary again with the low cry: 
 "Bring her to me!" 
 
 They brought her and left the two to-
 
 248 Uncle Mary 
 
 getlier for an hour upon which no one in- 
 truded. Then the child opened the door 
 once more, and looking at Winthrope Ar- 
 nold, said: "Fa-fa-ther wants you!" Father 
 was a word that she had never used, and 
 really hardly knew. 
 
 The two went quickly back to Elwood, the 
 child holding Winthrope 's hand tightly. 
 Elwood gripped the two together in a close 
 clasp, and looking into Winthrope Arnold's 
 eyes, murmured, "She is yours, you found 
 her," while his own searching, other- world 
 gaze added many things to the simple words. 
 
 Winthrope returned the speechless plea 
 in kind, his eyes saying most re-assuring 
 things; then his lips softly questioned, "And 
 Mary's?" 
 
 A satisfied smile was the answer, while 
 Elwood added, "I do not mind what you 
 call her that will make little difference to 
 Florence and me in our world." 
 
 "Now, I will rest," said the sick man, 
 quite strongly, as he waved the two away. 
 
 They left him then to rest completely.
 
 A Coming and a Going 249 
 
 When Mary went in an hour later to take 
 some broth, she found him resting, indeed 
 asleep till the eternal day dawn. 
 
 In his coat pocket was found a marked 
 envelope containing sufficient money for all 
 needs that followed. 
 
 It so happened that the little village of 
 Sunfield had not had a soldier burial from 
 the great war. She had sent some of her 
 few sons into the great conflict, but all had 
 come back ; one or two with wounds, it was 
 true, but all with life and limb, sight and 
 hearing. 
 
 Now, when Elwood Halsey had come to 
 them, broken with the long struggle over- 
 seas and at home hospitals, only to pass on 
 to the great beyond, the town determined 
 there should be such a burial as the little 
 place had never known. So, it happened 
 that flags were everywhere, hanging at half- 
 mast it was true, but beautiful with the 
 colors that Americans love; and a wonder- 
 ful band came from New York. Winthrope
 
 250 Uncle Mary 
 
 Arnold could have told how this came about. 
 In fact when Mary asked him about it later, 
 he replied, "I went to war but I didn't 
 get a scratch. They kept me here till too 
 late, you know. I felt that this privilege 
 belonged to me now." 
 
 With the band playing battle hymns 
 Americans love, with flags waving, and 
 every one that could ride or walk in the long 
 line following the music and colors, while 
 the glad New England May held out leaf 
 and flower from every tree or bush along 
 the way, it seemed a beautiful thing to little 
 Libbie Lee. The three grown people who 
 had her in charge had done what they could 
 to make it seem so to her. For Mary had 
 said, at once, to the other two, that this 
 must be so ; and she was exceedingly grate- 
 ful that a revelation of the hearts and minds 
 of children had given her some understand- 
 ing just in time; also that she, herself, had 
 grasped anew the beauty of His plan for the 
 world, which included death as well as life. 
 
 At the sloping hillside, as the long line
 
 A Coming and a Going 251 
 
 broke and gathered in the soft grass and 
 about the silent shafts of white, Parson 
 Stillwell's fine old voice rang out in the 
 triumphal passages about " mortality and 
 immortality/' his white hair softly waving 
 in the breeze, and his head lifted in rever- 
 ent, joyful assurance. 
 
 Young Stanley stood by his side, looking 
 eagerly up into his face, and in a moment 
 Libbie Lee stood there, too. Stooping, as 
 he finished the last triumphant word, the 
 old minister picked the little girl up in his 
 arms and made his brief, ringing benedic- 
 tion with the child clasped close to him. 
 Then he stepped away, carrying her in his 
 arms back to the limousine where he placed 
 her on the back seat to wait for the others. 
 
 As he did so, the little girl looked up and 
 met his smile; " Wasn't it all beautiful? " 
 she said. 
 
 "Yes, dear child, it was," said the old man. 
 
 And that was the sweet memory which 
 Libbie Lee was destined to carry through 
 all the after years of her life.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 FEMININE OBSTINACY AND MASCULINE 
 DECISION 
 
 IT was several days later before Win- 
 thrope Arnold found time and opportunity 
 for his talk with Mary. 
 
 Knowing there was no hotel in the place, 
 he had asked Stafford, the chauffeur, how 
 he was being taken care of; then went at 
 once to Sam and Maggie Oldham and per- 
 suaded them to take him in also, which they 
 did, making shift in some way that house- 
 wives know about. 
 
 Dismissing his taxi, he had remained in 
 the village and had been close at hand dur- 
 ing the time of need for the Halsey girls. 
 When all was over he still lingered. 
 
 Mary was longing for, and yet dreading 
 so much, the talk with him, that she could 
 not make plans for it. Hence it devolved 
 
 252
 
 Feminine Obstinacy 253 
 
 upon Winthrope. He caught a moment 
 alone with her. 
 
 "Mary," he urged, "I must have that talk 
 with you, undisturbed. Can you plan for 
 it?" 
 
 The warm, red blood ran to her soft hair. 
 "I don't know how," she said, her voice 
 unsteady. 
 
 "Well, I do," he returned, firmly. 
 
 Not a word more was said, and in a mo- 
 ment Alice's chair wheels were softly heard 
 as she turned into the room. Winthrope 
 stepped instantly forward. 
 
 "Alice, we're planning a ride this morn- 
 ing for you and Libbie Lee. The little girl 
 needs it, and it will be worth a great deal 
 to you, as well. Mary says she has a woman 
 doing some work in the kitchen, which she 
 must overlook, and she and I are going to 
 talk over some business matters, which must 
 be taken up before I leave." 
 
 Alice agreed at once and she was not un- 
 aware of the processes by which this had 
 been brought about. Mary's face would not
 
 254 Uncle Mary 
 
 cool down, for one thing, and besides there 
 was a decided atmosphere of masculine deci- 
 sion and dispatch. So it did not surprise 
 her to be bundled off without ceremony, 
 while Libbie Lee, though not so discerning, 
 was equally amenable ; yet, when it was also 
 planned that they should go by and get Stan- 
 ley to go with them, it could not be put down 
 perhaps to telepathic or psychic manifesta- 
 tion that the little girl should lean her head 
 out of the car as they started off, and cry, 
 "We're going to be gone a long time!" 
 
 When Mary and Winthrope stood alone, 
 he grasped her hands, then searched her 
 eyes with his. 
 
 "Mary, I've waited a long time," he said. 
 
 "I know, Winthrope," she returned, her 
 lips quivering. "It has been wonderful 
 your faithfulness. And I have been true, 
 too, to you but I have been so unlovely 
 about it! You don't know!" 
 
 "No, and I don't want to know! What 
 does it matter, now? We stand here free 
 and it is spring!"
 
 Feminine Obstinacy 255 
 
 And he would have taken her to him, but 
 she put him back with a cry: " There are 
 many things you do not know and I don't 
 know how I am going to tell you all of 
 them!" Her face quivered again as she 
 turned from him. 
 
 But the ten years since they had met had 
 made a very determined man of Winthrope 
 Arnold. He drew Mary to a chair with a 
 sure hand that she did not resist; then he 
 seated himself beside her. 
 
 "I am going to tell you some things first," 
 he said, "and make some apology on my 
 own account. When you so flatly told me 
 ten years ago that you could not marry me, 
 that your life must be given to family de- 
 mands, I was young, I had nothing, and I 
 did not know how to answer so decided an 
 argument as you put up. So I went away, 
 with my youth suddenly gone, and a sort of 
 reckless resentment in its place. I took a 
 train for the west at once. 
 
 "I wrote you twice," he went on, looking 
 keenly at her, and she murmured, "I know."
 
 256 Uncle Mary 
 
 Then he continued: "My yearning, trusting 
 youth sent a faint echo back, you see; but 
 when no replies came, it fled beyond recall. 
 I determined to see the world, so I traveled 
 from point to point, earning enough to 
 travel, but caring for nought beside. Of 
 course I saw hundreds of women, but no 
 woman made the least appeal to me; and, 
 naturally, I did not learn to know any 
 woman well. Weariness of change inevita- 
 bly comes to most men, and after the war I 
 settled down in Oklahoma, becoming inter- 
 ested in oil development. It caught me 
 with the freshness of a new game, and to my 
 astonishment I went into it with zest and 
 I won magnificently. 
 
 "Now, Mary, what do you suppose I 
 thought of first, when I found myself in 
 possession of more money than I knew what 
 to do with?" He did not wait for her to 
 answer. Bending near, his face alight, he 
 whispered * ' You ! ' ' 
 
 Mary put out a hand in pathetic appeal. 
 She felt that she could not stand it!
 
 Feminine Obstinacy 257 
 
 Reading at once the stress of her emotion, 
 lie leaned back and began again in straight- 
 forward fashion. 
 
 "Now, here is where my apology comes 
 in. I started for here, and put up for a 
 few hours in Barringer. You cannot realize 
 the uncertainties that pressed upon me. I 
 hadn't the least idea what had happened to 
 you since I saw you last. You might be 
 married, or not living, you know, 7 ' he 
 pleaded. "So I was tempted, and inter- 
 viewed a lounger about the hotel, asking 
 first a simple question about Sunfield; and 
 finding immediately that he was born here 
 and knew everybody, I asked him to tell me 
 about some .of the old families; and, 
 before he was through, I heard about 
 you." 
 
 "Then you heard some very unlovely 
 things, I know! It was inevitable, Win- 
 thrope," and her tongue being loosened, 
 Mary was obliged to pour out her story. 
 "Oh, I was so ugly and narrow, and hateful, 
 that the town despised me, and I do not
 
 258 Uncle Mary 
 
 blame them. I worked hard and some 
 might admit that I was unselfish, but that 
 did not help matters. All my hard work, 
 selfish or unselfish, could count for nothing 
 for God or man, because I was so bitter and 
 mean and domineering!" 
 
 Her eyes were swimming with tears, at 
 last, and he gently drew her against his 
 breast. 
 
 "You did not let me finish/' he smiled, as 
 she recovered herself again. * 'I heard about 
 how hard life had been for you and then I 
 came to see." 
 
 She looked up at him in quick inquiry. 
 
 "No," he smiled again, "and here is where 
 you must forgive most. I came up here to 
 your front door one night, and looked upon 
 you and Alice as you sat here. Your face 
 was turned to me, Mary, and I saw what 
 hard work and bitterness had done for you. 
 I knew it was not worth while to speak to 
 you then for you or for me," he added 
 honestly; "and yet I could not give up the 
 sweetheart whom I knew, in some undefined
 
 Feminine Obstinacy 259 
 
 way, still held within her the possibilities of 
 sweet, true living. 
 
 "I went away, but I do not give up easily 
 these later years. I said to myself, 'What 
 could bring rest and fuller life to her? 
 Money? Yes, but not money alone. A 
 child! A little girl! No real woman's 
 heart can resist a little child ! ' And I knew 
 you would give her the best of life prin- 
 ciples. If you could not make her happy, 
 I would take her away. But I had faith 
 that you would. So I set about finding a 
 child, and, in a way that only God can bring 
 about, I was led to your own brother's little 
 daughter. You know the rest," he ended. 
 
 "Yes, yes" she hurried to say, "and I 
 cannot thank you enough. You read aright, 
 nothing in the world could have done for 
 me what that little child has done. And, 
 Winthrope, I must tell you what perhaps I 
 shall never want to tell you again; some- 
 how I felt in my soul that you had sent that 
 child ! I told Alice I would not take it if I 
 thought it was Elwood's!"
 
 260 Uncle Mary 
 
 And she was caught for a moment with 
 tragic recollection of her bitterness toward 
 her brother. But she forced herself to go 
 on: 
 
 " Alice would say, * Whose else can it be*' 
 And I had no answer but somehow I knew ! 
 The town settled it at once that she was 
 Elwood's child, and when they asked how I 
 got her I always answered, 'I stole her,' 
 which they did not believe, but which was 
 true, because I could not think Elwood had 
 sent her, and so I had no certain claim. I 
 had taken something which did not really 
 belong to me. 
 
 "It was strange my taking the child, of 
 course; it was so out-of-character, " and she 
 smiled a little grimly, "but the whole thing 
 seemed fore-ordained and predestinated, as 
 the old theologians say, and I was in a 
 certain state of almost hilarious acquies- 
 cence from the moment the bank's letter 
 came. Of course you had planned it so I 
 could not have stopped the child's coming 
 to the house if I had wanted to. But I did
 
 Feminine Obstinacy 261 
 
 not want to! I wanted her from the first 
 moment I heard of her!" 
 
 Winthrope Arnold listened with deep 
 satisfaction, and was about to take advan- 
 tage of Mary's attitude, but she was not 
 through. 
 
 "It was really funny about the money 
 that came with the child. Any one, know- 
 ing me, would have said I would refuse to 
 use such large sums of money, not knowing 
 whence they came. The town thought, of 
 course, that Elwood had gotten rich, some- 
 how/' she threw in. Then continuing: 
 "But I felt a strange right to it, that even 
 Alice couldn't understand, though I figured 
 out to her what my services were worth to 
 the child ; and then the bank wrote me as to 
 what was intended in the way of up-keep 
 for a home for the child. So, it satisfied 
 my conscience. Let me tell you just how I 
 planned it, for I have kept books," she 
 smiled, and immediately started to rise, but 
 he held her back with determined hand. 
 
 "Mary, Mary! What do I care about
 
 262 Uncle Mary 
 
 that ? We will have plenty of time for that 
 later, if you must show me. Now we have 
 only a few precious moments for vital 
 things!" 
 
 And she yielded again. 
 
 "This is all beautiful that you have told 
 me. I am more grateful than I can ever 
 say that I was so reenforced in my under- 
 taking by your own touch with the eternal 
 current of things. But now, now I want to 
 know when you are coming to me! To me 
 and my little girl for Elwood gave her to 
 me in those last moments I had with him 
 to me and to you, if you willed it so." 
 
 Mary looked surprised, and distressed 
 too, beyond measure. 
 
 "Winthrope," she said, "that is as it 
 should be, of course. You have every right 
 to her," her lips quivered pitifully, "but I 
 have not told you all. I I have an obliga- 
 tion that I must meet. There is no one else 
 to do it!" 
 
 "What is it?" he demanded.
 
 Feminine Obstinacy 263 
 
 "I cannot tell you. It is a family obliga- 
 tion." 
 
 If Winthrope had been a swearing man, a 
 " swear" might have given him relief. But 
 he was not, and so a furious thought ran 
 through him: "Of all the obstinacy in the 
 world, New England has the most outra- 
 geous type!" 
 
 Mary knew she was pushing him to the 
 limit, and yet family pride could not let her 
 yield! 
 
 "Give me three years," she cried, "and 
 then I am ready! I can do it in three 
 years!" 
 
 "I will not give you three years," he said 
 evenly, not pausing to ask what it was she 
 could do in three years ; and just then Stan- 
 ley burst in the door with Libbie Lee behind 
 him.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 DEPAKTURES 
 
 AFTER the mid-day meal, while Mary 
 attended to things in the kitchen, and the 
 children played out-doors, Winthrope Ar- 
 nold found the opportunity he next wanted 
 for a talk with Alice Halsey. He drew his 
 chair up to her and said at once, "I want 
 to have a talk with you." 
 
 She smiled readily, but a little sadly, in 
 acquiescence, feeling instantly that she knew 
 what he wanted to talk about. The faces of 
 both Mary and Winthrope had told an un- 
 satisfactory story, the moment she came in ; 
 and a subtle constraint between them since, 
 had confirmed it. But she was much mis- 
 taken as to the matter which Winthrope 
 wished to present to her. He began at once 
 in his straight-forward way. 
 
 "You will forgive me if I speak of some- 
 
 264
 
 Departures 265 
 
 thing personal to you, I am sure. Am I 
 right in thinking that a fall has deprived 
 you of the joy of walking?" 
 
 "Yes," she answered, surprised indeed. 
 "My limbs became perfectly helpless, 
 especially the right one, after a fall from a 
 step-ladder. They are not exactly par- 
 alyzed, but they will not work, though there 
 does not seem to be any real reason why 
 they shouldn't!" and she smiled a little rue- 
 ful smile, which checked the impulse, run- 
 ning fast to her tongue, to add "I think 
 Mary feels so, sometimes!" 
 
 "That is just as I thought," Winthrope 
 said. "Now I want to tell you about a 
 doctor out in my country who does wonder- 
 ful things, especially where there has been 
 a fall and some sort of displacement of the 
 spinal vertebrae. Over and over I have 
 known him to get people upon their feet 
 who had not walked for years. I want him 
 to try to do it for you!" 
 
 Her gentle face was a study for a moment : 
 hope, long buried, flew forth to new light,
 
 266 Uncle Mary 
 
 and her eyes took fire for an instant. But 
 difficulties fell fast upon hope's weakening 
 wings, and pale with the rapid transition, 
 she faltered: "But I couldn't go to him, you 
 know." 
 
 "Why?" he demanded, then answered 
 himself. "Of course you can go to him, 
 and I mean that you shall!" 
 
 "But, you don't know! I couldn't make 
 the journey and then it would cost so 
 much." 
 
 "You can make the journey! You see I 
 have traveled a great deal, and have seen 
 people going about in all sorts of conditions. 
 And, as for the other thing do you suppose 
 the money I have made is mine ? In a sense 
 it is, of course. But it is in my hands as a 
 trust, and I can have no joy in it if it does 
 not serve others. I spend a lot of it self- 
 ishly, I admit, for I am no saint; but 
 always I am really conscious that it has 
 been given to me in trust. Now I want to 
 spend some of it for you you will let me 
 have this joy, won't you?" And his com-
 
 Departures 267 
 
 pelling eyes seemed to make denial impos- 
 sible. Besides, that thrill of hope flew high 
 again, and she found her lips murmuring, 
 "I will go." 
 
 "That is fine!" exclaimed Winthrope in 
 keen delight. "Now, you will let me plan 
 everything, will you not 1 ? Just be passive, 
 please," he smiled, "and I promise you I 
 will see that it is no ordeal to you, whatever 
 the final outcome which, naturally, I can- 
 not guarantee." 
 
 "I shall have to let you plan," said Alice, 
 "for I am very helpless, both from my long 
 infirmity and from the shut-in days. 
 Though the rides this spring have done 
 wonders for me," she ended grate- 
 fully. 
 
 "Well, now, I have business in New York, 
 which must be looked after as promptly as 
 possible; so I will wire a doctor friend, 
 whom I have there, to send me at once the 
 best trained nurse he knows. She will get 
 here in the morning, then we can start in the 
 afternoon."
 
 268 Uncle Mary 
 
 Alice's breath was gone ! When she found 
 it she exclaimed, "Oh, I couldn't possibly 
 get ready in that time! Why, I haven't 
 told Mary, yet!" 
 
 Winthrope smiled a little grimly at this, 
 but he only said, "That will take a very few 
 moments; and as to getting ready, we will 
 stop in New York a few days for my busi- 
 ness matters, and the nurse can get any- 
 thing which she and you together, may 
 decide you will need." 
 
 Mary stepped into the room, at this junc- 
 ture, wholly unprepared for what was to 
 come. 
 
 Winthrope began at once: "Mary, I am 
 sure there is hope for Alice to walk again. 
 We have a doctor out in my country that 
 I feel certain can do the trick. She has 
 consented to try it, and we leave for New 
 York to-morrow afternoon." 
 
 Mary's spirit tottered for an instant, and 
 her limbs almost did likewise, but with her 
 usual unfailing strength, she rallied, and 
 finally said a little coldly :
 
 Departures 269 
 
 "Then, since it is all settled, you do not 
 need a word from me." 
 
 "But Mary," cried Alice, "I will not do 
 it if you do not want me to!" 
 
 Mary was on trial a moment, but the best 
 within her won out. 
 
 "Alice, if I could see you able to walk 
 again it would be the greatest joy to me! 
 As to how you and Winthrope have arranged 
 things, I really have no right to question. 
 You should be allowed to make your own 
 decisions." This was a new Mary, indeed, 
 and Alice's eyes filled, while Winthrope 
 said: 
 
 "We both thank you, Mary. You have a 
 right, and neither of us fails to recognize 
 it. But, that you are so graciously will- 
 ing to waive it, makes me very happy 
 indeed." 
 
 Then he told of the plans in detail. 
 
 Going to-morrow! The sister of whom 
 she had taken care for so many years! It 
 would seem almost that Alice had followed 
 Elwood! Again Mary's spirit tottered.
 
 270 Uncle Mary 
 
 But again she was on trial, and she sum- 
 moned the ghost of a smile, as she said 
 quietly: "So it is all arranged. I am glad, 
 for I could never have done it." 'And she 
 stooped and kissed her sister! 
 
 It had been years since their lips had met. 
 There was really no call for it in their mo- 
 notonous living and then New England 
 does not wear its heart on its sleeve! But 
 Mary had left the drab plain of repression 
 for a more colorful stratum where the emo- 
 tions play their daily part in life. 
 
 Mary turned instantly and left the room, 
 while neither Alice nor Winthrope spoke 
 again. Alice, indeed, was softly crying, and 
 Winthrope 's eyes looked suspicious as he 
 went to the door and looked out to see if 
 the children were nearby. 
 
 Libbie Lee caught a glimpse of him and 
 came running. "Do you want us ? Are we 
 going to ride?" 
 
 Winthrope looked at his watch before he 
 answered her: "Yes, you may come in in 
 five minutes." Then he stepped back and
 
 Departures 271 
 
 spoke to Mary, whom he knew to be just in 
 the next room. 
 
 "Mary, may we have the car for a ride 
 all of us, the children want to go and I will 
 take them. I would like to send my wire 
 promptly." 
 
 " Certainly," said Mary, coming to the 
 door, her face quite calm, while Alice spoke 
 immediately. "You and the children go. 
 Let Mary and me have a little time alone !" 
 Which was just what Winthrope had in 
 mind. 
 
 Alice and Mary talked constantly over 
 details of the coming trip, because they did 
 not dare touch upon things of deeper im- 
 port. Mary, with capable hand, gathered 
 together the things Alice would need, and 
 took the few stitches that were necessary to 
 put them in order; for, New England-like, 
 they did not allow things to lie in dormant 
 peace which were in need of repair ! Look- 
 ing over Alice's belongings, and making 
 decisions as to what to take, quite filled 
 their time.
 
 272 Uncle Mary 
 
 But, while Mary's hands were busy, her 
 heart was really dominated by one thing: 
 "What would Winthrope do about Libbie 
 Lee?" Not that she was anxious from the 
 money side she had visioned many things 
 mentally which she might do, and she knew 
 there would never be a return to needle- 
 slavery for her. But she could not bear to 
 be parted from the child! She was his by 
 every right, would he take her with him? 
 But she could not bring herself to ask, 
 though she felt that Alice probably knew. 
 Alice, on her part, had never given that 
 matter a moment's thought; she supposed, 
 of course, the child would be left with Mary. 
 The thing that filled Alice's mind was: 
 "What had happened between Winthrope 
 and Mary?" She pleaded with her eyes to 
 know, but Mary did not look into them, and 
 would not have answered if she had. So 
 the two kept on the surface, with its clut- 
 terings of the material, and neither visioned 
 the heart of the other. Before they real- 
 ized the passage of time, Libbie Lee was
 
 Departures 273 
 
 running in at the door with Winthrope 
 Arnold behind her. 
 
 Winthrope was carrying a new leather 
 suit-case in one hand, and a capacious 
 satchel in the other, both of which he smil- 
 ingly put down at Alice's chair and said, 
 "I knew you had not traveled lately, Alice, 
 and I brought these in for you, that you 
 might start off in style. " 
 
 "They are lovely, I know," she said, 
 accepting them in the spirit of the giver, 
 "and I can't thank you enough. I had 
 thought what I would do about something 
 in which to carry my things, and I knew of 
 nothing we had that would hold them, ex- 
 cept a beautiful old carpet-bag that belonged 
 to some of our ancestors; and I was afraid 
 you might abandon me at the very start 
 when you saw that ! ' ' 
 
 "Well, I might!" he laughed in return. 
 
 This little passage set the key-note for the 
 departure. Each tried to keep up some sur- 
 face gaiety, and so help to make easy a thing 
 that was infinitely hard all around. Libbie
 
 274 Uncle Mary 
 
 Lee was in the mind of each, and it had be- 
 come evident to Mary there was no thought 
 of her going at that time. It must be a 
 happy thing for her, this going of Auntie 
 Alice so far from home. She was told that 
 Alice was to have a lovely trip away, and see 
 lots of things she had never seen, but not a 
 word was said as to the purpose of her go- 
 ing. They did not wish it talked about, in 
 the first place; and, in the second they did 
 not wish disappointment to come to the child 
 if it must come to them. The Stillwells 
 were the only friends who knew the full pur- 
 pose of the trip. 
 
 Inevitably the village had its curiosity 
 much aroused, but Dr. Stillwell had only to 
 say in his parish calls that Alice had been so 
 long confined at home they felt a trip away 
 would do her good. Elwood's sudden com- 
 ing and going had been hard for her, too. 
 And he added, "Of course there is no reason 
 now, why she should not go, even though 
 travel for her does involve the extra expense 
 of a trained nurse."
 
 Departures 275 
 
 This implied that there was plenty of 
 money to spend, and the town believed El- 
 wood had died rich, while Mr. Stillwell knew 
 nothing, as yet, to the contrary. In fact 
 this impression had had unusual confirma- 
 tion for him. So, it was taken quite as a 
 matter of course by everybody. 
 
 As for Winthrope Arnold having come so 
 soon after Elwood's arrival, he was tacitly 
 explained by all as a friend of Elwood's; 
 and his remaining for a few days later, sim- 
 ply meant friendship for the family, and, 
 perhaps, attention to business arrangements 
 which Elwood had desired. To have heard 
 Sophie Stoneham talk, in fact, would have 
 been to get a detailed account of the whole 
 matter which was most reasonable, and 
 which would have satisfied the three, espe- 
 cially concerned, most completely, even 
 while they marveled and laughed over her 
 ingenuity. 
 
 So the arrival of the trained nurse the 
 morning after Winthrope 's telegram, and 
 the departure of the big blue limousine a
 
 276 Uncle Mary 
 
 few hours later, with Mary, Libbie Lee and 
 Stanley going to Barringer to see Alice and 
 Winthrope off on the train, was without in- 
 cident, apparently. No one was at hand, 
 however, to note that Winthrope held Mary 
 by a touch on her arm, for a moment alone 
 in the sitting room before they left the 
 cottage. 
 
 1 'Mary, may I leave Libbie Lee in your 
 charge, with everything just as it has been, 
 till the fall when Alice and I will probably 
 return?" 
 
 "Certainly," returned Mary. 
 
 And that was all.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 TWO INNOCENTS CONSPIRE 
 
 THE ride back from the station held all 
 the possibilities of a veritable crucible for 
 Mary Halsey. The separation from Alice 
 seeing her go out from the care and pro- 
 tection that Mary had given for so many 
 years was in itself sufficient to try Mary to 
 the uttermost. But the word with Win- 
 thrope had been most excruciating! What 
 did he mean ? 
 
 She sank back exhausted from the strain 
 of it all when once in the car and starting 
 for home. It was well that the children had 
 much to chatter over. Both had traveled, 
 and they knew all about what Auntie Alice 
 was going to experience. So they talked of 
 sleepers, and the nice little tables on which 
 folks ate, and the porters and conductors 
 and brakemen and engineers! Each dis- 
 
 277
 
 278 Uncle Mary 
 
 coursed concerning the thing which each had 
 observed with the most emphasis Stanley 
 getting the best of Libbie Lee inevitably in 
 the end, because he could go on to ocean lin- 
 ers and "rickshas" and even African cool- 
 ies! 
 
 Of all this Mary caught nothing, but the 
 unheeded childish talk was better for her 
 than silence, and she relaxed and steadied 
 under it, till the chauffeur saw nothing amiss 
 when she stepped at last from the car, and 
 taking Libbie Lee's hand went into the 
 brown cottage of her ancestors, which held, 
 now, only the echoes of her past. 
 
 The moment they were inside, Libbie Lee 
 voiced the surprised feeling of both. She 
 ran to Mary and clung to her knees, after a 
 moment's survey of the room. 
 
 "Oh, Uncle Mary, Auntie Alice's wheel 
 chair is gone, too!" And the little face 
 crumpled with sobs. 
 
 That was it! They had not thought 
 of missing the wheel chair but it really 
 seemed to double their sense of loss!
 
 Two Innocents Conspire 279 
 
 Mary held the little girl tightly against 
 her breast, sitting down that she might press 
 her closer, and for a few minutes they joined 
 their tears. Then Mary straightened, and 
 said: 
 
 "Oh, but this won't do! We must think 
 what a good time Auntie Alice is going to 
 have ! How lovely for her to see new places 
 and new people ! Why, you and I are act- 
 ing just as though we didn't want her to go 
 and we do, don't we?" she questioned, 
 pulling up the flushed small face and smil- 
 ing into it. So, Libbie Lee wiped her eyes 
 and smiled back through her tears which 
 ended the shower for her. 
 
 Not so with Mary, of course ; but she im- 
 mediately set about making their tea-time 
 gay and instantly hit upon the thought of 
 having unexpected company. 
 
 "Let's invite somebody to take tea with 
 us," she cried in merry application of kin- 
 dergarten methods. 
 
 Libbie Lee was charmed: "Who, Uncle 
 Mary can we get?" breathlessly.
 
 280 Uncle Mary 
 
 "Well," said Uncle Mary, "suppose we 
 invite Mrs. Kittie for one," and she reached 
 up to the old-fashioned mantel, and brought 
 down an old-fashioned china kittie which 
 had adorned it for at least a generation. 
 She placed Mrs. Kittie with a flourish, upon 
 the table, and then set plate, and knife and 
 fork before her. 
 
 Libbie Lee laughed out; and before they 
 got through, there was a motley company of 
 dolls and dogs and birds and chickens, be- 
 side Mrs. Kittie, taking tea with them. They 
 had a really hilarious meal. 
 
 But the sense of loneliness and loss pressed 
 upon Mary's spirit indescribably when Lib- 
 bie Lee was asleep, and the house full of the 
 stillness of a sudden going. Mary had never 
 dreamed how, during all the hard years, her 
 taxed nerves had rested in Alice's quiet, 
 well-balanced amiability; Now she began 
 to see many things. She had hitherto 
 thought herself the one who was serving, 
 and claimed thereby unquestioned author- 
 ity; while Alice, she now realized, had also
 
 Two Innocents Conspire 281 
 
 been serving, even though much after the 
 dear fashion of those who only wait. For, 
 though her willing hands helped what they 
 could in the actual work, her greatest service 
 was the anchoring of Mary's soul in the safe, 
 sweet ties of human relationship. This, 
 Mary now sensed with tender surprise; 
 Alice had been her other and better self in 
 the ten years of struggle, and how could 
 she, Mary, the strong one, have let her go off 
 on this hazardous search for health, alone, 
 as it were! There was anxious yearning 
 over Alice from day to day that summer 
 which greatly chastened Mary's spirit. 
 
 Then there was Elwood to think of; how 
 many years she had hated him! She had 
 never thought of him except with the bitter 
 indictment : had it not been for his desertion 
 of family interests she might have realized 
 her brief, early dream of happiness! But 
 the bitterness had dropped like a mask when 
 she saw him weak and spent by the roadside 
 that hot May day; and the short period of 
 ministry to his needs which followed had
 
 282 Uncle Mary 
 
 mellowed into mature love her latent affec- 
 tion for her brother, giving her an under- 
 standing of his character which had changed 
 the recollections of many hard years, but 
 which left for her an aching regret for 
 his broken life, his unfulfilled hopes, that 
 hovered over her spirit in brooding memory. 
 
 But all this was only the shadowy back- 
 ground of the summer 's depression which 
 lay heavily upon Mary's tried spirit as she 
 passed from the hot, fierce impulses of a 
 thwarted youth out into the open paths of 
 mature understanding. There was Win- 
 thrope Arnold. Her quickened conscious- 
 ness of him was a throbbing, stabbing reality 
 every moment of that memorable season. 
 
 What had been her love for him in the 
 first place, with only the record of a few 
 weeks' association and one day of inner 
 heart touch upon which she had lived for 
 ten long years? It held nothing of sacri- 
 ficial giving ; it was, in reality, only a thing 
 which had given her fantastic dreaming and 
 bitter reactions. A really great love would
 
 Two Innocents Conspire 283 
 
 have beautified all her life. She could ana- 
 lyze now, with clear, swift visioning. 
 
 But, he had come again into her life, 
 bringing convincing proof which had made 
 Elwood's last hours full of everlasting 
 peace, proof which had cleared from the 
 mist of uncertainty the little girl's relation- 
 ship to them, and a mature man of unusual 
 force and winning personality had been 
 revealed to her; a man of efficiency, of 
 straight-forward, clean-cut integrity in any 
 dealing, and a man with the sure anchor of 
 reverent recognition of high obligation to 
 God and man in his life. To such a man all 
 her starved womanhood had reached out. 
 And yet, when he had come to her with sure- 
 ness of his own love after all the interven- 
 ing years of separation, she had met him 
 with foolish temporizing! That was what 
 she called it now, with the keen stab of re- 
 gret upon her, and the daily growing knowl- 
 edge of her love for him of the full flood 
 of a mature woman's love that needed his 
 strength to lean upon, that reached out for
 
 284 Uncle Mary 
 
 his guidance and companionship in her life. 
 
 Oh, she did not want her own way any 
 longer ! If she could but rest in his strength 
 and integrity and love, as she might have 
 done had she taken it when it was freely 
 offered to her! This was the vain cry of 
 Mary's heart in those summer days. And 
 it was a cry that makes the lips mute, like 
 the mute anguish of dumb things for their 
 mates a thing unfathomable, holding with- 
 in it all the blessed heritage that the Maker 
 puts into life's dual completeness. 
 
 Sometimes the undercurrent of yearning 
 would sing through her consciousness in the 
 voiceless cry, "I love him! I love him! Oh, 
 he will come back to me! He cannot for- 
 sake me forever!" 
 
 But only the echo of his brief decision 
 came in reply : 
 
 "I will not wait three years for you!" 
 
 And that was what she had demanded of 
 him! 
 
 Mary's heart was a bruised reed that well- 
 nigh came to breaking, she thought.
 
 Two Innocents Conspire 285 
 
 But there was a small hand tugging al- 
 ways at hers those summer days. "Uncle 
 Mary, aren't we going to ride? Can't we 
 go by and get Stanley?" 
 
 So, witli the agitating things of her heart 
 pressed well out of sight, Mary forced her- 
 helf to smile down upon the child and keep 
 step with childhood joy. 
 
 This attitude towards Libbie Lee set the 
 pace for Mary's summer. She gave herself 
 to the children of the town. Her car was 
 almost always full to overflowing, and she 
 took them on picnics and long drives, and 
 taught them many things of value and inter- 
 est. There were historical points within 
 their reach, which were etched into their 
 memories with interesting accounts of the 
 events in memory of which they were held 
 sacred. And Mary, herself, with leisure for 
 study of things she would pass on to them, 
 found it an unceasing delight. 
 
 She filled her time full, that she might not 
 think, from the day of Alice's going. 
 
 There was a significant incident, of which
 
 286 Uncle Mary 
 
 she did not know, however. It occurred 
 only a few days after the journey of Win- 
 thrope and Alice was begun, and took place 
 when Mr. Stillwell came into the brown cot- 
 tage one morning very early in fact before 
 Mary had finished her kitchen work. 
 
 " That's all right," he said to her at once, 
 as she appeared in kitchen apparel. "I 
 know I'm disgracefully early, but I took a 
 notion for a tramp down the road and then 
 got tired as I reached your gate, because I 
 wanted to see your little girl," he laughed, 
 drawing Libbie Lee to him. "So, you go 
 right along, Uncle Mary, and leave us to 
 visit together." 
 
 He loved to call her " Uncle Mary," and 
 she had also come to love the odd combina- 
 tion name, which really marked the opening 
 of a new life for her. She smiled consent, 
 her face flushed with the warmth of a June 
 morning, which both had agreed in a brief 
 passage on the weather, could be hotter in 
 New England when it really tried, than any- 
 where else on the globe speaking extrava-
 
 Two Innocents Conspire 287 
 
 gantly ! Her hair curled about her face un- 
 der the moist air of the kitchen, and the old 
 minister said in his heart ; * ' She has grown 
 to be as pretty as a picture! I wonder 
 why " 
 
 Then she was back to her work, and he 
 bent at once to a task which had been set for 
 him. 
 
 He called to Mary, after a few moments, 
 however. " Uncle Mary, we're going to shut 
 out all your kitchen heat, if you don't 
 mind." And, getting instant consent, he 
 closed the door which led through the hall- 
 way back to the kitchen. Then he began 
 his real task with Libbie Lee on his knee. 
 
 "Little girl, you remember that your 
 father asked you to get a paper from the old 
 secretary, here, before he left us, don't 
 you?" 
 
 Libbie Lee nodded. Then she sat up, 
 glad to be able to talk about it. "Yes, he 
 did, and I was so scared! But he said it 
 was all right, because I was helping him to 
 throw away Uncle Mary's chains!"
 
 288 Uncle Mary 
 
 The minister laughed, "So you were. 
 And he wanted you to help me to complete 
 the job, so that you and he could be together 
 in it. Now I have here the nice paper that 
 he wanted you to put in the place of the 
 'chains/ so I am putting it in your hands, 
 and we will go to the old secretary and put 
 it in the tin box in place of the bad paper 
 which was there -so long, making trouble for 
 Uncle Mary." He was carrying her in his 
 arms as he spoke, pressed the brass knob 
 which opened the doors, and then bent back 
 the lid of the old tin box, so there was noth- 
 ing for the little hands to do, but lay the 
 paper carefully in. The child did it very so- 
 berly. Then, when they turned about and 
 sat down again, she said : 
 
 " Father told me not to tell anybody what 
 I had done, unless Uncle Mary got very 
 very troubled," she hesitated in trying to 
 make it very exact, "and then I might tell 
 her." 
 
 Her listener murmured under his breath, 
 "Halsey blood fighting to the last!" But
 
 Two Innocents Conspire 289 
 
 he said to her, "That is just what your 
 father told me he said to you," making her 
 feel it was very nice to be sharing the secret 
 with somebody especially with Mr. Still- 
 well, whom she loved so much. 
 
 The secret had, indeed, been a little bur- 
 densome to the child when she thought of it 
 which was always when she was alone in 
 sight of the old secretary; and then in- 
 stantly she had run away from its sight. 
 But now she would never feel that way 
 again, since Mr. Stillwell knew all about it, 
 too. 
 
 After their secret task had been done they 
 visited together, talking of far different 
 things and laughing aloud at times, till 
 Mary appeared, her kitchen apron laid aside 
 and a proposition to make to them : 
 
 " Let's go for a ride! I think that is a 
 great deal better than a tramp, this hot 
 morning!" 
 
 Mr. Stillwell hadn't the least disposition 
 to disagree with her, and so the car was soon 
 off on the road, with all the Stillwells com-
 
 290 Uncle Mary 
 
 f ortably placed within it, and the air lovely 
 to skim through in the rush of a smooth- 
 running motor. 
 
 "What do you hear from Alice?" was 
 Grander Stillwell's first question, after they 
 were settled. 
 
 "She is improving!" cried Mary. "She 
 has stood on her feet for several minutes at 
 a time, and the doctor is confident that she 
 will walk!" 
 
 "How beautiful!" they chorused. 
 
 Indeed Alice's letters told a story of tri- 
 umph all through the summer : first she had 
 stood on her feet ; next she had really taken 
 a few steps with the nurse right at hand 
 and then she was walking! Letters had 
 come frequently from the first, and the life 
 that Alice was leading was most amazing to 
 Mary. She was going to places to hotels 
 and restaurants for lunch and dinners; to 
 lectures, to concerts and places of amuse- 
 ment from the very first. Winthrope saw 
 to it that her experiences should bring a 
 complete revelation for her from the mo-
 
 Two Innocents Conspire 291 
 
 ment that she left Sunfield. Not that he 
 ever wrote about it. Not a line came to 
 Mary from him. But Libbie Lee got letters 
 from him regularly, and Mary had taught 
 her how to answer them. Alice, herself, 
 told constantly of his kindness and care of 
 her. 
 
 Was it not inevitable that Mary's heart 
 should question ? He had said he would not 
 give her (Mary) three years, and never an 
 intimate word had he spoken or written to 
 her since! If Alice really got well and 
 could walk again, free and whole, much 
 might happen and she had always been so 
 much more attractive and lovable than 
 Mary ! What chance would be left for her, 
 with or without three years more of strug- 
 gle ? Winthrope and Alice both loved Lib- 
 bie Lee they would take her and she 
 Oh, life, joy, would indeed be at an end for 
 her! 
 
 Once she had longed to have the child 
 alone. Now, she had it, and daily associa- 
 tions with the little one, depending on her
 
 292 Uncle Mary 
 
 for everything joy, love and mothering, 
 were very precious, but at the same time 
 pregant .with, suffering as she thought of 
 losing her. 
 
 Such a summer it was indeed ! It dragged 
 endlessly along for 'Mary's heart, and flew 
 from under her flying feet for was she not 
 making it a summer of delight for the chil- 
 dren of Sunfield? 
 
 She was learning to suffer and smile; to 
 hear burdens and yet to serve joyfully.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 JOY ARRIVES BUT TROUBLE LINGERS 
 
 TIME does not halt, whether driven either 
 by the reins of joy or sorrow, or by the 
 jerky, harrowing combination of both. This 
 truth Mary Halsey discovered as mid-sum- 
 mer turned to late summer days, and they 
 again merged into the alternate crisp air 
 and hazy dreaming of September; then 
 again as the full autumn touch of October 
 came upon the hills about Sunfield, in a 
 glory of red and gold; and, finally, when 
 this beautiful panorama was at the point of 
 whirling off in the hurry scurry of brisk, 
 warning winds ! It was just at this transi- 
 tion moment, when the glory of nature was 
 ready at a touch to sink into oblivion, that 
 a letter came from Alice, saying they would 
 leave for home at once! 
 
 Mary read the letter in the morning, but 
 
 293
 
 294: Uncle Mary 
 
 she could not bring herself to tell Libbie Lee 
 until afternoon, and in the meantime the 
 two had done many things while Mary 
 adjusted herself. Adjusted herself to the 
 joy of seeing Alice walking about once 
 more ? Was not that a thing she could take 
 at once into her grateful heart without res- 
 ervation? She was ashamed, humiliated 
 over her mixed feelings ! Then, in defense, 
 she analyzed carefully; and, with the justice 
 which marked the old Puritans from whom 
 she sprang, she acknowledged that there was 
 joy, and joy only in her heart for the res- 
 toration of her sister. This helped her self- 
 respect. 
 
 But, Oh, with the realization of this glory 
 of blessing, was there not to be the flitting 
 of all the red and gold of hope for her, and 
 a long winter of life begun ? 
 
 Libbie Lee was at play in the yard, and 
 Mary sat alone in the living room, where 
 she and Alice had spent so many monoto- 
 nous years together ; and, under the spell of 
 many memories clustered there, she at last
 
 Joy Arrives but Trouble Lingers 295 
 
 broke down hi a quick rain of tears. Of 
 course it was just at this moment that Lib- 
 bie Lee appeared, for Fate so chooses, al- 
 ways, that some one shall bear witness 
 to the rare yielding of a self-contained 
 woman. 
 
 Libbie Lee had never seen Uncle Mary 
 really cry, though their tears had mingled 
 for a moment when Alice left them. This 
 was different. Full of joy herself, she 
 suddenly came upon Uncle Mary in deep, 
 unexplained distress. The child stood 
 as though held rigid. Then she remem- 
 bered ! 
 
 "Uncle Mary," she said, going slowly 
 toward Mary, "are you troubled?" 
 
 Mary could not answer, her throat was 
 so unmanageable. 
 
 Libbie Lee paused a little distance from 
 her, speechless again for a moment. Then 
 she said carefully: 
 
 "Father told me if ever I saw you troubled 
 that I must tell you something." 
 
 Astonishment at the child's manner and
 
 296 Uncle Mary 
 
 words acted quickly upon Mary's emotions. 
 She controlled herself immediately, and 
 asked, "What do you mean?" 
 
 "That was what father said; if you were 
 troubled to tell you something." 
 
 "Tell me what?" Mary was rapidly re- 
 covering vigor of manner. 
 
 "But, are you troubled, Uncle Mary?" 
 And the child still stood a bit away. 
 
 "Yes, dear, or you wouldn't have found 
 me so foolish." 
 
 "Then I can tell you," said the little girl, 
 with a look of real relief. "Father asked 
 me to get a tin box right out of this big, 
 high sec'tary and I did, and he opened it 
 and took out a paper, and he said that paper 
 was your 'chains,' and we were going to 
 throw them away, and " 
 
 But she was breathless for a moment with 
 the rush of thought and words. 
 
 Then, Mary, with her own mind rapidly 
 clearing under this strange revelation, 
 reached out and drew the little girl to her. 
 
 "Now, take time," she said, "and tell me
 
 Joy Arrives but Trouble Lingers 297 
 
 all about it when you have rested a bit. We 
 don't have to hurry." 
 
 Libbie Lee instantly relaxed, and with her 
 arms about Mary's neck, she went on: 
 " Auntie Alice told me your chains were in 
 there when I first came, but she said for me 
 to never open the doors and look in there, 
 or tell you I knew the chains were there." 
 
 More amazement on Mary's part, but she 
 was cool, and the little girl went on again: 
 "I told father what Auntie Alice had said, 
 and then he said that was what he wanted to 
 do, was to throw your chains away though 
 he said they weren't really chains at all 
 just a paper. He said it was all right for 
 me to open the sec'tary" (that was a very 
 troublesome word) "if he told me to, and so 
 I did but I just looked back at him on his 
 bed every minute, I was so scared!" 
 
 Mary held her close. 
 
 "He told me it must be a secret just for 
 him and me, unless I saw you troubled some 
 time." She paused a moment, and then 
 hurried on excitedly: "I nearly forgot!
 
 After father went away, and Auntie Alice 
 and everybody went away, but you and me, 
 Mr. Stillwell came here one morning, and 
 he and I put a paper back in the tin box. 
 Mr. Stillwell said it was a nice paper, not 
 an ugly one like the other, and so I didn't 
 mind putting it in a bit. He said, too, for 
 me to do just what father had told me, and 
 that if I didn't ever see you troubled like 
 father said, that you would find the paper, 
 yourself, soon." 
 
 Mary put the child down, her hands 
 trembling, and at once opened the old sec- 
 retary door, taking out the tin box that had 
 held family papers of any importance for 
 two generations. 
 
 Sure enough there lay a fresh paper! 
 Libbie Lee crowded close to see. " That's 
 It," she cried. 
 
 Mary opened the paper and a small Bar- 
 ringer bank book, showing a goodly amount 
 on deposit in her name was revealed, while 
 the paper itself proved to be a receipt for 
 the full amount of a mortgage on the brown
 
 Joy Arrives but Trouble Lingers 299 
 
 cottage ! The old tyrant which had so long 
 threatened and menaced was indeed really 
 gone forever! A needless household skele- 
 ton in actual presence it had been, but when 
 the mortgage deed was executed, Mr. Halsey 
 had insisted on retaining a copy which 
 should show payments and corresponding 
 receipts. Thus from the old secretary it 
 had constantly reached out a sinister hand 
 and gripped her with its fetters. 
 
 But now it was gone the family obliga- 
 tion had been met she might have accepted 
 Winthrope! She might yet accept him, 
 but 
 
 Her emotions were many. 
 
 It was like Elwood like a Halsey to 
 want to do the right thing, but not to be 
 caught at it! To make reparation for a 
 fault, but not to acknowledge it ! Once hav- 
 ing taken a position on a matter, it was like 
 moving one of the granite hills to stir a 
 Halsey from it, even though he realized 
 later that the position was wrong! 
 
 Then she took thought of herself "I will
 
 300 Uncle Mary 
 
 wring that stubborn thing out of me!" 
 Yes, she would but it was too late to 
 bring her happiness! She had let it turn 
 Winthrope away from her! The fact was 
 firmly fixed in her mind by now that Win- 
 thrope Arnold had transferred his affection 
 of so many long years, from herself to her 
 sister Alice to this Alice who was walking, 
 and quite herself once more! 
 
 Thus there came a moment of tragic inner 
 turmoil and intense suffering as she stood 
 holding the paper and the little bank book 
 in her hands. Then her eyes fell upon the 
 little girl looking up at her, still excited and 
 uncertain. She stooped and took the child 
 in her arms, folding her close. 
 
 "That was a lovely thing you and father 
 did. I am so glad the old chains are gone, 
 and that you and father took them away 
 for me ! Now, you and I will just keep the 
 secret between us, and not tell anybody else, 
 except Auntie Alice, and I will tell her when 
 I think best. You see we are a family, now, 
 and families have things that they love to
 
 Joy Arrives but Trouble Lingers 301 
 
 keep just among themselves like birds in 
 a nest. They don't mind people looking at 
 them, and seeing where they live, but they 
 don't want folks to come to their nest and 
 find out their family secrets!" 
 
 In their kindergarten methods Libbie Lee 
 had learned all about the ways of birds. 
 So the secret had passed from an awesome 
 thing to something nice and natural. 
 
 Later Mary talked over the matter with 
 Mr. Stillwell, and he said that Elwood told 
 him that was what he came back home for. 
 He wanted to pay off the mortgage entirely, 
 returning the money Mary had paid on it, 
 and the amount deposited in her name was 
 intended to more than cover this. He had 
 not meant to trouble her and Alice, but was 
 going to get into the house at night as he 
 used to when a boy, take the old copy of the 
 mortgage and then mail back the receipt and 
 bank-book anonymously. Staunch old 
 family principles had found generous 
 growth in Elwood. 
 
 For Mary this whole matter brought
 
 302 Uncle Mary 
 
 much brooding thought during the two days 
 that must pass before Alice was with them 
 again. But, in spite of this, those two days 
 passed rapidly. The cottage was freshly 
 furnished for the wanderer's return. Mag- 
 gie Oldham was there to help, and things 
 went well, so that Mary looked it over with 
 practical satisfaction (and an inward cry 
 for steadiness) as she turned the key in the 
 door, took Libbie Lee's hand and went to 
 meet the train on which Alice and, perhaps 
 Winthrope, too, was to come. Nothing had 
 been said as to whether he was to come or 
 not. She prayed that he would not! She 
 would like a chance to take things in sec- 
 tions, if she might! 
 
 Calling to Libbie Lee, who was dancing 
 about the yard in the joyful thought of see- 
 ing Auntie Alice once more, she hurried to 
 the car, though they had abundant time at 
 their disposal. 
 
 What a strange experience it is to see one 
 beloved and long given over to helplessness, 
 come walking forth in newness of life ! As
 
 Joy Arrives but Trouble Lingers 303 
 
 though, indeed, one had come from the dead ! 
 Even Libbie Lee felt the awe of it, as Alice 
 stepped from the train and stood a moment 
 in the vestibule, smiling down at them! 
 
 Then Winthrope appeared and helped her 
 down the steps, quite as he might have done 
 with any healthy woman, and the nurse fol- 
 lowed immediately behind. 
 
 The greetings were quickly over with 
 glistening eyes for everybody but Libbie 
 Lee, and hers were outshining them all, with 
 no tears to mist them, while her exclama- 
 tions of joy and wonder made words un- 
 necessary from the older folks, as they made 
 their way quickly to the blue car which stood 
 in waiting, and started for home, leaving 
 the trained nurse in Barringer to take the 
 next train back to New York, as she was no 
 longer needed. 
 
 There came another speechless moment 
 when Alice stepped into the brown cottage 
 for the first time in more than ten years! 
 How Alice and Mary would ever have 
 passed those first few moments they did not
 
 304 Uncle Mary 
 
 know, had it not been for Libbie Lee, again. 
 Her tongue was ready : 
 
 " Auntie Alice, what did you do with your 
 wheel chair ?" The child had fully expected 
 to see it when Alice came, even though she 
 knew it was no longer needed. She couldn't 
 imagine Alice without its being somewhere 
 in evidence! 
 
 "Why, dearie/' said Alice, drawing the 
 child close into her arms as she sat down, 
 "you didn't think I would be bringing that 
 old chair along when my feet and my back 
 and, I hope, my head, are absolutely all 
 right f" 
 
 "No o," said Libbie Lee, doubtfully. 
 Then, with the insistent curiosity of chil- 
 dren, she persisted: "But what did you do 
 with it?" 
 
 In her little mind it had been too much a 
 part of Alice to be carelessly thrown aside. 
 
 Understanding, at last, in an intuitive 
 way Alice Halsey had, she said earnestly: 
 "I will tell you what I did with it. I had 
 it sent to a hospital, where lots of sick folks
 
 Joy Arrives but Trouble Lingers 305 
 
 go, so that if anybody needed it at any time, 
 it would be right there for them to get into 
 and ride around as I used to do." 
 
 This was perfectly satisfactory, and by 
 this time the older folks had fallen into 
 natural ways.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 A VICTOR 
 
 Two days passed with Winthrope again 
 installed at Sam and Maggie Oldham's, but 
 spending his time in the brown cottage. 
 
 Winthrope and Alice seemed on easy 
 terms of intimacy, to say the least. There 
 was ready response, quick understanding 
 and sympathy between them. And, as Alice 
 went about the house with the old grace of 
 movement (which the wheel chair could 
 never quite obliterate) fully restored, and 
 clad, as she was always in modern, attrac- 
 tive raiment, Mary really could not see how 
 Winthrope could keep from falling in love 
 with her ! So her premonitions were stoutly 
 confirmed by observation. The two had, 
 naturally, much in common with the six 
 months of close association and incidents of 
 travel to talk over. 
 
 306
 
 A Victor 307 
 
 A story of tragedy of the heart may be 
 very harrowing in print, but usually in real 
 life the victim goes about her accustomed 
 ways of life with little or no evidence to 
 mark her manner. So Mary, after her sum- 
 mer of disquiet, and of activity for others, 
 having acquired some of the poise of cour- 
 ageous living, met her climax with no show 
 of white feathers. 
 
 When Alice and Winthrope talked of in- 
 teresting things seen and heard, and she and 
 Libbie Lee had listened with proper show 
 of interest, Mary turned to Libbie Lee, 
 gayly: 
 
 ' 'They think we have had no fun at all, 
 do they not, little girl ? Well, we will just 
 tell them we have! Didn't we go through 
 the Mohawk Trail, and see the prettiest 
 mountains and valleys, and Indian relics 
 and wonders of all sorts? And then down 
 to old Plymouth, and over to Concord 1 ?" 
 
 Libbie Lee's eyes sparkled and she added, 
 breathlessly, her happy childish recollec- 
 tions of the summer till Winthrope seized
 
 308 Uncle Mary 
 
 her and swung her to his shoulder in laugh- 
 ing applause; then assured her that next 
 time there was any traveling done, she was 
 going to be one of the party ! 
 
 Could there be needed any further con- 
 firmation of Mary's worst fears ! Alice and 
 Winthrope would leave for the west, ere 
 long, and take Libbie Lee with them! 
 
 It was a most wearing undercurrent to be 
 carrying about with cheerful face and man- 
 ner, and yet the old decree that "the bruised 
 reed He will not break and the smoking flax 
 He will not quench," holds good. And so 
 it was at the moment when Mary felt en- 
 durance was no longer possible when she 
 cried out from her soul in prayer that Win- 
 thrope might go away if for only a few 
 days that she might have respite and hear 
 the story from Alice alone when Win- 
 thrope said to her on the afternoon of the 
 second day, as they stood a moment to- 
 gether : 
 
 "Mary, may I have a talk with you, 
 alone ?"
 
 A Victor 309 
 
 The reed then was even more deeply 
 bruised and the flax gave but a faint flicker, 
 for of course, he was going to tell her the 
 story of Alice and himself! 
 
 Her lips moved, without volition, in the 
 one word ' ' Certainly. ' ' 
 
 1 'Good!" he returned, for the stress she 
 was under by this time was plainly percep- 
 tible to his keen eyes, and he responded with 
 the commonplace heartiness of one business 
 man to another. 
 
 After this he went on casually, " Alice 
 wants to go over and show herself to the 
 Stillwells; she can take Libbie Lee in the 
 car, and that will give us the opportunity we 
 want." 
 
 "Not we! Oh, no!" Mary's heart cried 
 again, but her lips were silent. 
 
 It was only a few moments later that 
 Alice and Libbie Lee were started off on 
 their trip, a few moments of natural activity 
 that were most welcome to Mary ; and then, 
 she and Winthrope sat alone in the little 
 brown cottage as they had before.
 
 310 Uncle Mary 
 
 Winthrope Arnold did not know the word 
 delay. He always plunged at once to the 
 heart of things. 
 
 "Mary, I have come again, after six more 
 months. I said I would not wait three 
 years, and I will not, but I have given you 
 six months to think it over. Now, what is 
 to be my answer?" 
 
 It is a marvelous thing about that bruised 
 reed ; it does not break, and yet how does it 
 ever bear the first new thrill of returning 
 life ? And the smoking flax, how can it en- 
 dure that first bright thrust of flame again ? 
 
 Perhaps Mary Halsey can tell. Her biog- 
 rapher cannot. 
 
 A trembling smile and a sudden rush of 
 tears were the outward evidences in Mary's 
 case, while she put both hands out to 
 him and he gathered them against his 
 breast. 
 
 "Mary, Mary, is it true after all these 
 years?" he whispered. 
 
 Her answer seemed entirely satisfactory. 
 
 After a time, Winthrope turned to her
 
 NOW, WHAT IS TO BE MY ANSWER?
 
 A Victor 311 
 
 with a note of triumph in his voice, and the 
 light of a conqueror in his eyes : 
 
 "Mary Halsey, you are mastered at last! 
 It has taken more than ten years to do it, 
 but it is done!" 
 
 Mary admitted it, but the modern woman 
 is chary of the word "master," and a 
 sparkle of humor came to her eyes, still 
 over-bright from tears and joy, and she 
 added : "But I must tell you that the matter 
 which stood in my way last spring is no 
 longer there!" 
 
 No conqueror likes the glory of his vic- 
 tory dimmed, so Winthrope immediately 
 demanded: "How? Why?" 
 
 "Because what was once in the way, is no 
 longer in the way," she answered smilingly; 
 and she really had not the slightest inten- 
 tion of telling him what had stood in the 
 way. 
 
 But a real victor is very hard to down, 
 and Winthrope was a man of determina- 
 tion. His methods were fair, under the 
 circumstances, so need not be detailed, and
 
 312 Uncle Mary 
 
 they were appealing as well ; so, in the end, 
 Mary found herself telling what she had 
 supposed must be forever kept in the Halsey 
 family, no matter how many husbands or 
 wives there might be. For it was thus she 
 had been brought up, with all the staunch 
 unalterability of New England rearing. 
 Family matters were strictly for family 
 knowledge and discussion. 
 
 There had been a mortgage on the brown 
 cottage, was the first admission which was 
 like confession of a family disgrace. No 
 properly prudent people should have to 
 mortgage their home. 
 
 "Well, couldn't I have paid it off?" he 
 demanded. 
 
 "Yes, but it was not your obligation. 
 Father would not have thought it right for 
 you to doit." 
 
 "And so you would have had me and 
 you wait our happiness while you 
 spent three more years working to pay this 
 off?" 
 
 "Yes that was what I thought in the
 
 A Victor 313 
 
 spring but, Winthrope, I must tell you 
 that I would not feel so now, even if it were 
 not paid off. I have dropped some more 
 shackles since then. I have really learned 
 better, since then, how to live without hard 
 and fast lines to bind me down. Circum- 
 stances may alter many cases." 
 
 "Now, Mary," he exclaimed, joyfully, 
 "you may tell me anything and I will not 
 quarrel with you! You are the Mary I 
 loved so long ago, with your young heart 
 open and full of the promise of life and I 
 believe in my soul that you are prettier than 
 you ever were!" 
 
 After this and a few moments' passage 
 Maiy said quickly, "I want to tell it all 
 to you the whole story of our family 
 tragedy, which has affected you as well as 
 us. 
 
 "You know that beautiful visit I made in 
 the south and how I met you and that 
 wonderful day at the picnic when we really 
 found each other and were bound for life, 
 though there were no vows or promises.
 
 314 Uncle Mary 
 
 Well, I came home full of hope and joy, for 
 I knew you would follow in time. 
 
 "It was only a few weeks after this, when 
 a letter came to my father from his brother 
 John over in Connecticut. This brother 
 was a thoroughly impractical man, vision- 
 ary and ineffective. The letter said he had 
 gone deeply in debt as it seemed to him 
 and to us at that time. He appealed to 
 father for help. He had the Halsey dread 
 of debt, and felt it must be paid at once. 
 My father agreed with him, and instantly 
 said to Elwood, Alice and myself, Mother 
 had been gone many years, you know that 
 we must raise the money and pay the debt. 
 Now, New England farmers do not, as a 
 rule, get rich, and all father had been able 
 to do was to keep us properly fed and 
 clothed, in school, and a mortgage off the 
 brown cottage which had been his inheri- 
 tance. Alice and I each had the treat of a 
 trip away in our girlhood; that was all 
 the luxury we ever had. You know of 
 mine.
 
 A Victor 315 
 
 "Now, to our utmost awe and dismay, 
 father said : ' The cottage and farm must be 
 mortgaged to pay this debt in the Halsey 
 name/ This was final, crushing though it 
 was, for Alice and me; but not so with El- 
 wood. He at once demurred. He said it 
 was not just, it was not our debt. I need 
 not tell all that was said. It is enough for 
 you to know that Elwood and father quar- 
 reled Oh, it was terrible, I had never 
 imagined such a thing! It ended with El- 
 wood declaring he would leave and never 
 come back if that burden was put upon the 
 family. As father was immovable, and 
 Elwood was twenty-one, he went and you 
 know the rest. 
 
 "It killed father the quarrel, and the 
 pressure of the debt together. It also killed 
 Uncle John, I must say, for he was not 
 strong and could not bear the thought of the 
 burden he had put upon us. So he expiated 
 fully. When Elwood was gone I knew Alice 
 and I would have to help father lift the 
 mortgage, and when I met you, all unex-
 
 316 Uncle Mary 
 
 pectedly on the road that day, coming to our 
 house, there was nothing for me to do, as I 
 saw it, but send you at once away with no 
 promise, and hope dead within my heart at 
 seventeen. 
 
 "This would really seem enough, but is it 
 not Shakespeare who says, 'One woe doth 
 tread upon another's heels, so fast they fol- 
 low?' They trod right upon one another's 
 heels for me, anyway. It was not a week 
 after father's death till Alice fell from a 
 step-ladder and was helpless! Then, of 
 course, I was tied here with almost no op- 
 portunity to make a living, to say nothing 
 of paying off a mortgage. But we denied 
 ourselves everything; I went out to sew in 
 the village all I could, and Alice and I made 
 children's dresses for the stores at Bar- 
 ringer between times. And while I did 
 these things, I hated Elwood and I let my 
 soul shrivel to a degree that makes me shud- 
 der now." 
 
 He folded her close in answer; then said 
 with vigor.
 
 A Victor 317 
 
 "That is all over now. We must 
 never think of it again! A new day 
 is here, and life beckons us." 
 
 She told him then in blushing admission, 
 how day-dreams of him had been the only 
 thing that had lit up those past years. 
 "They were too foolish to tell you of now, 
 but some day I will," she said. 
 
 "There is one thing more, though, to tell 
 you now," she went on again; "Elwood 
 paid off that mortgage to the last farthing 
 and more besides! But," and she smiled, 
 "he was still too much of a Halsey to want 
 to tell me, so he had Libbie Lee get the 
 paper for him as he lay bed-fast, and then 
 turned it over to Mr. Stillwell with the 
 money to cancel it and to much more than 
 reimburse me for what I had already paid 
 on it. I did not find this out until after I 
 had given you your answer in the spring, 
 you know." 
 
 "Yes, but I shall always remember that 
 you had given up before you found out ! ' ' 
 
 "I shall, too," she laughed, "for I am glad
 
 318 Uncle Mary 
 
 to be able to record a real victory over the 
 Halsey stubbornness. " 
 
 When Alice and Libbie Lee came in later, 
 Winthrope met them at the door, and taking 
 the little girl up in his arms he looked ear- 
 nestly into her happy, round face; then he 
 held her close and said : 
 
 "This is the little lady who has brought 
 joy to us all. I think we ought to give her 
 three cheers and a tiger ! What do you say, 
 Uncle Mary?" Not waiting for an answer, 
 he swung the child three times high in his 
 arms, in laughing frolic, and hugged her 
 prodigiously for the "tiger." 
 
 Then, holding her off at arm's length, he 
 exclaimed: "Well, I suppose I will have to 
 be 'Aunt Winthrope ' since Mary has 
 usurped the * Uncle.' 'Aunt Winthrope,' 
 and 'Uncle Mary,' what a team that will 
 be!" 
 
 To Libbie Lee all this meant fun, and fun 
 was always in order, but to Alice it told a 
 happy story, which a glance into Mary's 
 face confirmed.
 
 A Victor 319 
 
 Winthrope Arnold, being a man who did 
 not know the word delay, wanted the wed- 
 ding ceremony immediately. "I would like 
 to get my family together as soon as possi- 
 ble," he put it a little later to Mary and 
 Alice, together, with a lively twinkle in his 
 eyes. 
 
 "Your family," laughed Alice, inquir- 
 ingly. 
 
 "Of course my family of four," he re- 
 turned. 
 
 "Now, Winthrope, that is most gracious 
 of you to include me ; but while we were west 
 I became greatly interested in the many 
 things open to women now. I am sure there 
 are things I can do; in fact, I made some 
 plans with a woman in business out there, 
 which I can take up at once. I have been 
 useless long enough. You can both under- 
 stand how I want to do something, now," 
 she appealed. 
 
 But there was vigorous protest from both 
 Winthrope and Mary ; so a compromise was 
 finally reached, with Alice agreeing to
 
 320 Uncle Mary 
 
 attempt nothing for at least a year, in order 
 to give her time to fully establish health and 
 strength. 
 
 "Not being a Halsey, Alice, but belonging 
 wholly to dear, amiable mother, you can do 
 lovely things people want you to, without 
 being dragged through fire and brimstone 
 as I have to be," laughed Mary through her 
 tears, as she kissed her sister, then whis- 
 pered, "I just couldn't live without 
 you!" and ran into her own room for a 
 moment. 
 
 With one matter settled, Winthrope was 
 eager for full determination of all his 
 affairs, so he called, "Mary, we need you! 
 this thing is not all planned yet I want 
 that date, you know!" 
 
 "I am so meek I don't know myself!" 
 laughed Mary, appearing at the sitting 
 room door again. "I suspect I will do about 
 as you say." 
 
 "Then to-morrow is the date!" 
 
 ' * Oh, that will never do ! " cried Alice. ' ' I 
 believe both of you have lost your equilib-
 
 A Victor 321 
 
 rium! If we are going to have a wedding 
 in the brown cottage, there must be a little 
 fuss over it! I don't think there was ever 
 a wedding here. The place has gone from 
 father to son for three generations, and the 
 weddings have all been somewhere else. 
 Give us a few days, anyway, Winthrope," 
 she pleaded. Then, as Winthrope looked 
 unyielding, she turned to Libbie Lee, who 
 did not understand at all what was going on, 
 but knew it was something very important, 
 therefore exciting, and was standing by, all 
 attention. Alice reached out and drew her 
 close : 
 
 " Libbie Lee, don't you want a wedding 
 here?" 
 
 "Oh, it would be lovely! Yours, Auntie 
 Alice?" 
 
 "No, Winthrope's and Uncle Mary's!" 
 
 Her astonishment was too great for words 
 at first. Then she said, "That will be beau- 
 tiful! And will Uncle Mary wear a long 
 white dress and a veil and flowers'?" she 
 ended excitedly.
 
 322 Uncle Mary 
 
 "I hope so," answered Alice, smiling, but 
 exceedingly doubtful. 
 
 "No," came from the bridegroom-to-be, 
 emphatically; and Mary appeared at the 
 door long enough to add her decided, "No!" 
 
 It was all, apparently, at last settled with 
 a little compromising from different quar- 
 ters : Winthrope agreeing on a date the fol- 
 lowing week, which would give time to make 
 it a sort of real wedding, even if the bride 
 wouldn't wear orange blossoms and a veil 
 which just suited the groom.
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 A TOWN WEDDING 
 
 BUT they had reckoned without the town ! 
 The Stillwells had been promptly told. All 
 the family went over, in fact, after tea in 
 the car to tell them, and to make some plans. 
 (Before the evening was half over Stanley 
 confided to Libbie Lee that Winthrope Ar- 
 nold was a good sort, which sounded splen- 
 did to Libbie Lee.) 
 
 Then the Stillwells were allowed to tell 
 the townspeople. "I want them to be happy 
 with me," Mary had said to him; adding, 
 " especially the children." 
 
 It was a day later that the minister .came 
 to the brown cottage in the early morning 
 and found Mary and Winthrope talking 
 over some matters discussing, in reality, 
 the question as to who should pay for the 
 trousseau, and Mary showing decided firm- 
 
 323
 
 324 Uncle Mary 
 
 ness as she smilingly said she would buy 
 and pay for her own trousseau! That the 
 terms with her old " employ er" did not in- 
 clude trousseau all the while remember- 
 ing in grateful, loving pride, the sum which 
 Elwood had so generously refunded, and 
 which with fine New England justice she 
 meant to divide equally between Alice and 
 herself. 
 
 Mr. Stillwell, catching some of the dis- 
 cussion, said heartily, "Mary, you are 
 right!" 
 
 And Winthrope was vanquished. Then 
 the old man sat down, and for a few mo- 
 ments he did not speak, while a most apolo- 
 getic look appeared on his face, as his gaze 
 rested on the floor. Finally, he lifted 
 his head and smiled whimsically at 
 Mary. 
 
 4 'Mary, child, the town wants a church 
 wedding!" 
 
 . A sharp retort "What has the town to do 
 with it?" rose even to the new, "meek" 
 Mary*s lips. But she, too, waited a mo-
 
 A Town Wedding 325 
 
 ment; then -she said in a puzzled way, 
 "Why?" 
 
 Winthrope was watching her, ready to 
 put in his protest if she showed any sign 
 of agreeing. But the minister was prompt 
 with his reason : 
 
 "Because the town loves you, Uncle 
 Mary! You have won the ardent devotion 
 of every child here by the beautiful service 
 you have rendered them ; and when anybody 
 wins the children of a town, the whole place 
 is won. They love you, and they want to 
 see you married, and I think every little 
 girl wants to be your flower girl, and every 
 boy your page!" 
 
 This brought a laugh all round, and Win- 
 thrope cried impulsively, "We will have a 
 church wedding, Mary, and have every last 
 one of them for flower girls and pages! 
 What do you say?" 
 
 "Why, Winthrope, nobody ever heard of 
 such a thing!" Mary protested in laughing 
 bewilderment. 
 
 "What does that matter?" said both men
 
 326 Uncle Mary 
 
 at once. And Winthrope went on, "I had 
 not thought of it, but of course they love 
 you, and we will just give them all the 
 church wedding they want!" 
 
 Mary looked at him in mock despair, then 
 said, "Well, I have promised not to be a 
 Halsey any more, haven't I? And I have 
 been very meek, so far, in this matter, so I 
 will do what you want me to you, Win- 
 thrope, and Mr. Still well" 
 
 So there was such a wedding as never 
 was ! With Mary in a white wedding gown 
 of simple materials, but beautiful and be- 
 coming; and a long veil which hid her face 
 as she went up the aisle, following Alice, 
 who as maid of honor was also dressed 
 simply, in a lovely, becoming pink! But 
 the unusual part was the small host of 
 flower girls and pages, with Stanley and 
 Libbie Lee leading, each girl dressed in a 
 beautiful gown just from New York, and 
 each boy in a spanking new suit from the 
 same metropolis! For, hadn't Mary meas- 
 ured them all carefully and lovingly, and
 
 A Town Wedding 327 
 
 then hadn't Winthrope Arnold had the joy 
 of his life in a trip down to the great city, 
 where he bought every single little garment, 
 of the finest texture and the latest cut ! 
 
 And rose petals ! The aisles were so thick 
 with them that it was like a fairy-land 
 carpet in its color and fragrance. Then 
 the church was a bower of beauty, planned 
 and executed by a metropolitan florist ; and 
 it was packed full of people even to every 
 inch of standing room!
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 REVELATION 
 
 IT was a mild, early November day and 
 a lounger sat on the hotel veranda at Bar- 
 ringer. A man of medium size and good 
 address was hurrying from the lobby along 
 the veranda to the steps, when the lounger 
 called out to him : 
 
 "Hey, stranger, I want to tell you some- 
 thing!" 
 
 The man halted reluctantly a moment. 
 
 "Sophie Stoneham's been telling me about 
 Mary Halsey's wedding, and, they say she 
 had the biggest doings that Sunfield ever 
 saw!" 
 
 "Is that so?" smiled the stranger. 
 
 And then something seemed to come to 
 the lounger by electricity, telepathy or some 
 
 328
 
 Revelation 329 
 
 such modern method : " Say ! be you the man 
 that married her?" 
 
 "I should guess so!" laughed back the 
 stranger as he hurried down the steps. 
 
 THE END
 
 <y&^c^&%mw$^&%m 
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF VIRGINIA 
 DALE 
 
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 S A FLOWER OF MONTEREY : I 
 
 A Romance of the Californias 8 
 
 IT By Kalhcrine B. Hamill "^ 
 
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 &3&3XeC8XBSK8XS&^^ 
 
 WILD WINGS 
 
 3g By Margaret R. Piper & 
 
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 &&K6BaoBxxceo^&^^
 
 Selections from 
 
 The Page Company's 
 
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 WORKS OF 
 
 ELEANOR H. PORTER 
 
 POLLYANNA: The GLAD Book (500,000) 
 
 Trade Mark Trade Mark 
 
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 Trade Mark Trade Mark 
 
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 " There is something altogether fascinating about ' Miss 
 
 Billy,' some inexplicable feminine characteristic that seems to 
 
 demand the individual attention of the reader from the moment 
 
 we open the book until we reluctantly turn the last page." 
 
 Boston Transcript. 
 
 MISS BILLY'S DECISION (ySth thousand) 
 
 Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a 
 painting by Henry W. Moore, $1.90 
 
 " The story is written in bright, clever style and has plenty 
 
 of action and humor. Miss Billy is nice to know and so are 
 
 her friends." New Haven Leader.- 
 
 MISS BILLY MARRIED (86th thousand) 
 
 Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a 
 
 painting by W. Haskell Coffin, $1.90 
 
 " Although Pollyanna is the only copyrighted glad girl, Miss 
 
 Billy is just as glad as the younger figure and radiates just 
 
 as much gladness. She disseminates joy so naturally that we 
 
 wonder why all girls are not like her." Boston Transcript. 
 
 SIX STAR RANCH (45th thousand) 
 
 Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated by R. Farrington Elwell, 
 
 $1.90 
 
 " ' Six Star Ranch ' bears all the charm of the author's genius 
 and is about a little girl down in Texas who practices the 
 ' Pollyanna Philosophy ' with irresistible success. The book is 
 one of the kindliest things, if not the best, that the author of 
 the Pollyanna books has done. It is a welcome addition to the 
 fast-growing family of Glad Books." Howard Russell Bangs 
 in the Boston Post. 
 
 CROSS CURRENTS 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated, $1.50 
 
 "To one who enjoys a story of life as it is to-day, with its 
 
 sorrows as well as its triumphs, this volume is sure to appeal." 
 
 - Book News Monthly. 
 
 THE TURN OF THE TIDE 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated, 
 
 " A very beautiful book showing the influence that went to 
 the development of the life of a dear little girl into a true and 
 good weman." Herald and Presbyter, Cincinnati, Ohio.
 
 LIST OF FICTION 
 
 NOVELS BY 
 
 ELIOT HARLOW ROBINSON 
 
 A hook which has established its author in the front rank of 
 American novelists. 
 
 SMILES, A ROSE OF THE CUMBERLANDS (26th 
 thousand) 
 
 Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.90 
 
 Smiles is a girl who has already made many friends and 
 is destined to make many more. Her real name is Rose, but 
 the rough folk of the Cumberlands preferred their own way 
 of addressing her, for her smile was so bright and winning 
 that no other name suited her so well. 
 
 " This is the best book I have ever illustrated for any pub- 
 lisher. I have tried to make the pictures all that you hoped 
 for them." H. Weston Taylor. 
 
 E. J. Anderson, former managing Editor of the Boston 
 Advertiser and Record, is enthusiastic over the story and says: 
 
 " I have read ' Smiles ' in one reading. After starting it I 
 could not put it down. Never in my life have I read a book 
 like this that thrilled me half as much, and never have I seen 
 a more masterful piece of writing." 
 
 THE MAID OF MIRABELLE: A Romance of Lorraine 
 
 Illustrated with reproductions of sketches made by the 
 author, and with a portrait of " The Maid of Mirabelle 1 ," 
 from a painting by Neale Ordayne, on the cover. 
 Cloth decorative, 12mo, $1.9*0 
 
 A story of human and heart interest. The " Maid," Joan, is 
 a personality just as real and lovable as was Smiles. 
 
 " The spirit of all the book is the bubbling, the irrepressibly 
 indomitable, cheerful faith of the people, at their very best, 
 against the grave Quakerism from the United States standing 
 out grimly but faithfully. The tale is simply, but strongly 
 told." Montreal Family Herald and Weekly Star. 
 
 MAN PROPOSES; Or, The Romance of John Alden 
 Shaw 
 
 Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.90 
 
 " This is first of all a charming romance, distinguished by a 
 fine sentiment of loyalty to an ideal, by physical courage, in- 
 domitable resolution to carry to success an altruistic under- 
 taking, a splendid woman's devotion, and by a vein of spon- 
 taneous, sparkling humor that offsets its more serious phases." 
 Springfield Republican.
 
 THE PAGE COMPANY'S 
 
 THE ROMANCES OF 
 
 L. M. MONTGOMERY 
 
 Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, $1.90 
 ANNE OF GREEN GABLES (355th thousand) 
 
 Illustrated by M. A. and W. A. J. Claus. 
 
 " In ' Anne of Green Gables ' you will find the dearest and 
 most moving and delightful child since the immortal Alice." 
 Mark Twain in a letter to Francis Wilson. 
 
 " I take it as a great test of the worth of the book that while 
 the young people are rummaging all over the house looking for 
 Anne, the head of the family has carried her off to read on his 
 way to town." Bliss Carman. 
 
 ANNE OF AVONLEA (255th thousand) 
 
 Illustrated by George Gibbs. 
 
 " Here we have a book as human as ' David Harum,' a 
 heroine who outcharms a dozen princesses of fiction, and re- 
 minds you of some sweet girl you know, or knew back in the 
 days when *he world was young." San Francisco Bulletin. 
 
 CHRONICLES OF AVONLEA (43d thousand) 
 
 Illustrated by George Gibbs. 
 
 " The author shows a wonderful knowledge of humanity, 
 great insight and warmheartedness in the manner in which 
 some of the scenes are treated, and the sympathetic way the 
 gentle peculiarities of the characters are brought out." 
 Baltimore Sun. 
 
 ANNE OF THE ISLAND (6sth thousand) 
 
 Illustrated by H. Weston Taylor. 
 
 " It has been well worth while to watch the growing up of 
 Anne, and the privilege of being on intimate terms with her 
 throughout the process has been properly valued. The once 
 little girl of Green Gables should have a permanent fictional 
 place of high yet tender esteem." New York Herald. 
 
 FURTHER CHRONICLES OF AVONLEA (2oth thou- 
 sand). Illustrated by John Goss. 
 Nathan Haskell Dole compares Avonlea to Longfellow's 
 
 Grand Pre and says, "There is something in these continued 
 
 chronicles of Avonlea like" the delicate art which has made 
 
 Cranford a classic." 
 " The reader has dipped into but one or two stories when he 
 
 realizes that the author is the most natural story teller of the 
 
 day." Salt Lake City Citizen.
 
 LIST OF FICTION 
 
 WORKS OF L. M. MONTGOMERY (Continued) 
 
 ANNE OF GREEN GABLES: The Mary Miles Minter 
 Edition 
 
 Illustrated with twenty-four half-tone reproductions of 
 scenes from the motion picture production, and a jacket in 
 colors with Miss Minter's portrait. 
 
 Cloth decorative, 12mo, $2.25 
 
 " You pass from tears to laughter as the story unfolds, and 
 
 there is never a moment's hesitation in admitting that Anne 
 
 has completely won your heart." Joe Mitchell Chappie, 
 
 Editor, The National Magazine. 
 
 " Mary Miles Minter's ' Anne ' on the screen is worthy of 
 Mark Twain's definition of her as the ' dearest and most moving 
 and delightful child since the immortal " Alice." ' " Cam- 
 bridge Tribune. 
 
 KILMENY OF THE ORCHARD (52d thousand) 
 
 Illustrated by George Gibbs. Cloth decorative, 12mo, $1.90 
 " A purely idyllic love story full of tender sentiment, red- 
 olent with the perfume of rose leaves and breathing of apple 
 blossoms and the sweet clover of twilight meadow-lands." 
 San Francisco Bulletin. 
 
 " A story born in the heart of Arcadia and brimful of the 
 sweet and simple life of the primitive environment." Boston 
 Herald. 
 
 THE STORY GIRL (46th thousand) 
 
 Illustrated by George Gibbs. Cloth decorative, 12mo, $1.90 
 " It will be read and, we venture to predict, reread many 
 times, for there is a freshness and sweetness about it which will 
 help to lift the load of care, to cheer the weary and to make 
 brighter still the life of the carefree and the happy." 
 Toronto, Can., Globe. 
 
 " ' The Story Girl ' is of decidedly unusual conception and 
 interest, and will rival the author's earlier books in popularity." 
 Chicago Western Trade Journal. 
 
 THE GOLDEN ROAD (28th thousand) 
 
 Illustrated by George Gibbs. Cloth decorative, 12me, $1.90 
 In which it is proven that " Life was a rose-lipped comrade 
 with purple flowers dripping from her fingers." 
 
 " It is a simple, tender tale, touched to higher notes, now 
 and then, by delicate hints of romance, tragedy and pathos. 
 Any true-hearted human being might read this book with en- 
 joyment, no matter what his or her age, social status, or 
 economic place." Chicago Record-Herald.
 
 THE PAGE COMPANY'S 
 
 NOVELS BY 
 
 ISLA MAY MULLINS 
 
 Each* one volume, cloth decorative, Issmo, illustrated, $1.75 
 
 THE BLOSSOM SHOP: A Story of the South 
 
 " Frankly and wholly romance is this book, and lovable as 
 is a fairy tale properly told." Chicago Inter-Ocean. 
 
 ANNE OF THE BLOSSOM SHOP: Or, the Growing 
 Up of Anne Carter 
 
 " A charming portrayal of the attractive life of the South, 
 refreshing as a breeze that blows through a pine forest." 
 Albany Times-Union. 
 
 ANNE'S WEDDING 
 
 " Presents a picture of home life that is most appealing in 
 love and affection." Every Evening, Wilmington, Del. 
 
 THE MT. BLOSSOM GIRLS 
 
 " In the writing of the book the author is at her best as a 
 story teller. It is a fitting climax to the series." Reader. 
 
 TWEEDIE: The Story of a True Heart 
 
 " The story itself is full of charm and one enters right into 
 the very life of Tweedie and feels as if he had indeed been 
 lifted into an atmosphere of unselfishness, enthusiasm and 
 buoyant optimism." Boston Ideas. 
 
 NOVELS BY 
 
 DAISY RHODES CAMPBELL 
 
 THE FIDDLING GIRL 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated $1.65 
 
 "A thoroughly enjoyable tale, written in a delightful vein of 
 sympathetic comprehension." Boston Herald. 
 
 THE PROVING OF VIRGINIA 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated $1.65 
 
 " A book which contributes so much of freshness, enthusiasm, 
 
 and healthy life to offset the usual offerings of modern fiction, 
 
 deserves all the praise which can be showered upon it." 
 
 Kindergarten Review. 
 
 THE VIOLIN LADY 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated 91 M 
 
 " The author's style remains simple and direct, as in her pre- 
 ceding books." Boston Transcript.
 
 LIST OF FICTION 
 
 DETECTIVE STORIES BY 
 
 GEORGE BARTON 
 
 Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.75 
 
 THE PEMBROKE MASON AFFAIR 
 
 " Not until the end will the reader ever surmise how Mason 
 was murdered. An ahsorbing and thrilling story." Cleveland 
 Topics. 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF THE RED FLAME 
 
 " An admirable story an engaging story of love, mystery 
 and adventure." The PMladelphia Inquirer. 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF BROMLEY 
 BARNES 
 
 " It would be difficult to find a collection of more interesting 
 tales of mystery so well told. The author is crisp, incisive 
 and inspiring. The book is the best of its kind in recent years 
 and adds to the author's already high reputation." New 
 York Tribune. 
 
 THE AMBASSADOR'S TRUNK 
 
 " Mr. Barton is in the front rank of the writers of mystery 
 stories, and this is one of his best." Pittsburgh Chronicle. 
 
 " The book is of the good red-blood type, with few dull lines 
 and stirring action and episodes in almost every page." 
 Montreal Herald. 
 
 BUSINESS NOVELS BY 
 
 HAROLD WHITEHEAD 
 
 Professor of Sales Relations, The College of Business 
 Administration, Boston University 
 
 Each one volume, cloth, 12mo, illustrated, $1.75 
 
 DAWSON BLACK, RETAIL MERCHANT 
 
 " Contains much that it would profit a young merchant to 
 know and its fictional interest makes a strong appeal." New 
 York Tribune. 
 
 THE BUSINESS CAREER OF PETER FLINT 
 
 " Peter Flint is certainly a marvel. . . . His career reveals 
 a most remarkable metamorphosis from incapacity, stubborn- 
 ness, and what seemed a chronic inclination to fall down on 
 every job which he undertook, to an amazing exposition of 
 business capacity and skill." Boston Transcript.
 
 THE PAGE COMPANY'S 
 
 NOVELS BY 
 
 MARGARET R. PIPER 
 
 SYLVIA'S EXPERIMENT: The Cheerful Book 
 
 Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color $1.T5 
 " An atmosphere of good spirits pervades the book ; the 
 
 humpr that now and then flashes across the page is entirely 
 
 natural." Boston Post. 
 
 SYLVIA OF THE HILL TOP: The Second Cheerful 
 Book Trade Mark 
 
 Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color $1.75 
 
 " There is a world of human nature and neighborhood con- 
 tentment and quaint quiet humor in Margaret R. Piper's second 
 book of good cheer." Philadelphia North American. 
 
 "Sylvia proves practically that she is a messenger of joy to 
 humanity." The Post Express, Rochester, N. Y. 
 
 SYLVIA ARDEN DECIDES: The Third Cheerful 
 Book Trade Mark 
 
 Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color $1.75 
 
 " Its ease of style, its rapidity, its interest from page to page, 
 are admirable; and it shows that inimitable power the story- 
 teller's gift of verisimilitude. Its sureness and clearness are 
 excellent, and its portraiture clear and pleasing." The Reader. 
 
 FICTION FOR YOUNGER READERS BY 
 
 MARGARET R. PIPER 
 
 THE HOUSE ON THE HILL 
 
 By MARGARET R. PIPER. 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated $1.75 
 
 " ' The House on the Hill ' presents higher ideals of service 
 and life for boys and girls, and the charming characters 
 worked their way out of problems which face all young people 
 of buoyant spirits and ambition." Buffalo News. 
 
 " The story is a delightful one, with all kinds of interesting 
 adventures and characters." Sunday Leader. 
 
 THE PRINCESS AND THE CLAN 
 
 By MARGARET R. PIPER. 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated by John Goss $1.75 
 
 "This is a delightful story for young and old, wholesome 
 and uplifting. The chief charm of the story lies in its sim- 
 plicity," Philadelphia North American.
 
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