Green Valley

es days can be rainy and fu

so. But he was holding on grimly to the life he no longer valued and held off as grimly the death he r

t the boy whom he remembered first as a baby, then as a

ayed long. He said that no man who had spent the greater part of his

ive up his fanatically zealous work among the heathen of the Orient and come and live in peace and plenty in a little Yank

to his big Yankee father-in-law. Then he would smile and point

tly, "must help and heal and

er-in-law said nothing. But the very last time he was in India he

ur own way kill the women we love. Cynthia is dying

ame back. He wanted of course to go back to Green Valley. But he could not bear to live alone in the big

een saving the souls and the children of alien women and men he had let the woman who was deare

to the boy who was the last of the Churchills. He had half a mind to exact a promise from the boy. He

man who even in death had the look of a master, the warnings, the bitte

randdad made such a mess of things after all. It's something to give the

to say another word

budded lilacs dripped with rain and the wood

ee. Those who were not out to greet her telephon

help unpack. There were three trunks besides those Nanny had take

-eyed looking at the pretties that I have in these treasure chests. I showed Dad every mortal thing I bought and asked his advice and was oh, so shy-and wondered if he just could let me spend so much; and Dad just laughed and said he guessed an only daughter could be a bit extravagant, and to just go ahead. So I smiled again shyly and demurely and went ahead. And when not so much as a bit of ribbon or a chiffon veil could be squeezed in anywhere I shut those trunks and sat on them and swung my feet and bet Dad that I wouldn't marry that boy after all. And he was so sure that he was rid of me at last and that he could start out on his next trip blissfully free and alone that he bet me Jim Gray's Gunshot that I'd be married in six months to the gentleman in question. Of course it was a disgraceful business, the two of us betting on a thing like that, but somehow we never thought of that, we were so busy teasing each other. We

orse either. You'd better be mighty careful. T

d from the long day's sport, a glaring red motor came honking unexpectedly around the corner. So sudden was its appearance, so startli

uare. But before any one could reach her or even see how it happened, a tall stranger was holding t

lue-white lips flushed with life and she tried to smile gratefully. When he smiled back and said, "So you did get back by lilac time,

th lived everybody stared and listened. Even Nan came near st

an Grandma

Valley. But my mother was a Green Valley girl. She was Cy

y, you must be-"

hia Church

ia?" ques

a," he sai

Valley folks, now dim in the

hia Churchill's son you are a Green Valley m

tness in his voice those listening had never heard befo

the dimming streets, into the kindly fac

he said, "but I wish I