United States or Falkland Islands ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"Well, yes, there is," admitted Brimbecomb. "I'll do anything I can," replied Horace heartily. Brimbecomb hesitated before going on. Shellington looked so grave, so dignified, so much more manly than he had ever seen him, that he scarcely dared open his subject. "It's something that may touch you at first, Horace," he explained; "but "
"Horace is the soul of truth. If he did not tell it to you, he had good reasons." Brimbecomb frowned. He could have bitten his tongue out for making that misstep. "That's so," he admitted. "But, ever since last September, Horace, and I might say Ann, too, have drawn more and more away from me. For my part, I see no good that can come of their relations with squatters."
Suddenly she began to sob wildly, and in another instant fled down the hall. Not more than two weeks after Lon had demanded the twins from Horace, Everett Brimbecomb sat in his office, brooding over the shadow that had so suddenly darkened his life.
"Dear child, dear heart," murmured Ann, "your faith is greater than mine! Katherine Vandecar is a saint, and and so are you, Fledra." "No, I'm not." The girl dropped her eyes and flushed deeply. "Oh, but Fledra, you are!" Then a new thought entered Ann's mind, and she hesitated before she continued. "Fledra, will you tell me something about Mr. Brimbecomb?
He glanced up as he spoke, and the train fell with a bang to the floor. Everett Brimbecomb dropped the toy he held in his hand, and Ann bounded from her chair. A white face with wide eyes, staring through scraggly gray hair, appeared at the window. For only an instant it pressed against the pane, then vanished as if it had never been. "It was a woman," gasped Horace, "or was it a "
Brimbecomb said she didn't know the name under which I was born. I'm convinced that I shall find them." "I hope you do, Dear." "You don't blame me, do you, Ann, for wanting to know to whom I'm indebted for life?" "No," answered Ann slowly; "although it might not make you any happier. That is what I most wish for you, Dearest complete happiness."
The girl broke the quietude now and then by muttering softly the names on the gravestones over which her eyes roved: "EVERETT BRIMBECOMB ONE YEAR OLD BELOVED SON OF AGNES AND HAROLD BRIMBECOMB. RESTING IN JESUS" Flea read this over several times, and turned to Flukey. "Who's Jesus, Fluke?" she asked. The boy raised his head and opened his eyes languidly. "What? What'd ye say, Flea?"
Ann watched him go to the telephone; then, with a premonition of even greater coming evil, she crept back to Floyd. When Horace ushered Brimbecomb into his home, so firm was his belief that the young lawyer had been instrumental in removing Fledra that he restrained himself with difficulty from wringing a confession from the man by violence.
His face was so stern that she dared not at once speak of the fears Brimbecomb had raised in her mind; but at last she said: "Horace, I've been thinking since our last talk about the children " His sharp turn in the desk-chair interrupted her words; but she paused only a moment before going on resolutely.
"Not now, Dear; I'll run away from you, and tell Everett that you will go to Dryden with us and I do hope that the weather will be fine!" Ann tripped out, her heart light with contentment. Her star of happiness had reached its zenith when Everett Brimbecomb had asked her to be his wife.
Word Of The Day