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