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FAIR PLAY. STE. GENEVIEVE. MISSOURI. SISTERS By KATHLEEN NORRIS PETER'S RETURN. Synopsis Doctor Strickland, re tired, is living In Mill Valley, near ban Francisco. Ills family consists of his daughters. Allx. 21. and Cherry, 13, and Anne, his niece, 24. Their closest friend Is Peter Joyce, a luvablo sort of recluse. Martin LJoyd, a visiting mining engineer, wins Cherry, marries her and car ries her off to 121 NUlo. a mine town. Peter realizes that ho loves Cherry. Justin Utile woos Anne. Cherry comes home for Anno's wedding. Cherry realizes her mar riage is a failure Peter tells Cher ry of his "grand passion," without naming tho girl. Martin comes for Cherry. Martin and Cherry drift apart. CHAPTER IX. In January, however, he came homo one noon to find her hutted mid wrapped to go. "Oh, Mnrt It's Daddy!" she snld. "lie's 111 I've got to see him! lie's awfully 111." "Telegram?" asked Martin, not par ticularly pleased, but not unsympa thetic, either. For answer she gave 1dm the yellow paper that was wet with her tears. "Dad 111," he rend. "Don't worry. Come If you can. Allx." "I'll bet It's it put-up job between you and Allx " Martin said In Indul gent suspicion. Her Indignant glance sobered him ; he hastily arranged money matters and that night she got oft the train in the dark wetness of the valJey, and was met by a rush of cool and fragrant air. Cherry got a driver, rattled and Jerked up to the house In a surrey, and Jumped out, her heart almost suf focating her. Allx came flying to the door; the old lamplight and tho odor of wood smoke poured through. There was no need for words; they burst Into tears and clung together. An hour later Cherry, feeling as If she was not tho same woman who waked In lied Creek this same morn ing and got Martin's eggs and coffee ready, crept Into her father's room. Allx had warned her to be quiet, but at the sight of tho majestic old gray head and the fine old hands clasped together on the sheet, her self-control forsook her entirely and she fell to her knees and began to cry again. The nurse looked at her disapprov ingly, but after all, It made little dif ference. Dr. Strickland roused only once again and that was many hours later. Cherry and Allx were still keeping their vigil; Cherry, worn out, had been dozing; the nurse was rest ing on a couch In the next room. Suddenly both daughters were wide awake at the souud of the hoarse yet familiar voice. Allx fell on her knees and caught the cold and wandering hand. "What Is It, darling?" The old. half Joking maternal manner was all In earnest now. "Peter?" he said thickly. "Peter's In China, dear. You remem ber that Peter was to go around the world? You remember thnt, Dad?" "No " he said musingly. They thought he slept again, but he present ly added : "Somewhere In Matthew no, In Mark Mark Is the human one Mark was as human as his Mas ter" "Shall I read you from Mark?" Allx asked, as his voice sank again. A shabby old Bible always stood at her father's bedside; she reached for It, and making a desperate effort to steady her voice, began to read. The place was marked by an old letter, and opened at the chapter he seemed to desire, for as she read he seemed to be drinking in the words. Once they heard him whisper, "Wonderful I" Cherry got up on tho bed and took the splendid dying head In her arms ; the murky winter dawn crept In and the lamp burned sickly In the daylight. Hong could be heard stirring. Allx closed the book and extinguished the .'vnp. Cherry did not move. "Charity !" the old man said pros itly, In n simple, childish tone. Later, with bursts of tears, In ell the utter desolation of the days that followed, Cherry loved to remember that his last utterance was her name. Hut Allx knew, though she never said It, that It was to another Charity he spoke. . Subdued, looking younger and thin ner In their new black, the sisters came downstairs, ten days Inter, for n business tnlk. Peter hud been named as one executor; but Peter was far away, and It was a pleasant family friend, u kindly old surgeon of Dr. Strickland's own age, or near It, and the lawyer, Oeorge Sewull, the other ' executor, who told them about their affairs. Anne, as co-hclress, was pros ent at this tnlk, with Justin sitting close beside her. Martin, too, who had come down for the funeral, was there. The house went to the daughters; there were books nnd portraits for Anne, a box or two In storage for Anne, and Anne was mentioned In the only will as equally Inheriting with Alexandra and Charity. For some legal reason thut the lawyer nnd Dr, Younger mads clear, Anno could not fully Inherit, but her share would be only a trifle less than her cousins'. Things had reached this point when Justin Little cnlmly and confidently claimed thnt Anne's share was to be bused upon an old loan of Anno's fa ther to his brother, a loan of three thousand dollars to float Lee Strick land's Invention, with the understand ing that Vincent Strickland be subse quently entitled to one-third of the re turns. As tho patent had been sold for nenrly one hundred and fifty thou sand dollars, one-third of It, yMth ac cumulative Interest for ten years, of which no payment had ever been made Anne, was n large proportion of the entire estate, nnd the development of this, claim, In Justin Little's assured, woodeny voice, caused every one to look grave. Tho estate was not worth one hun dred nnd fifty thousand dollars now, by nny means; It had been reduced to little more thnn two-thirds of that sum, nnd Anne's bright concern that every one should be satisfied with wiint was right, and her Ingenuous pleasure In Justin's cleverness In thinking of this possibility, were met with noticeable coldness. If Anne was wrong, and the paper she held In her bund worthless, each girl would Inherit a comfortable little fortune, but If Anne was right, Cherry nnd Allx would have only a few thou sand dollars apiece, and the old home. The business talk was over before any of them renllzed the enormity of Anne's contention, und Anne nnd Jus tin hnd departed. Hut both the old doctor and tho lawyer agreed with Martin that It looked as If Anno was right, and when tho family was alone again, and hnd had the time to digest the matter, they felt as If n thunder bolt had fallen across their lives. "That Anne could do It 1" Allx said, over nnd over. Cherry seemed (lazed, spoke not at nil, and Martin hnd said iittlc. "People will do anything for mon ey I" he observed once drily. He had met Justin sternly. "I'm not thinking of my wife's share I didn't marry her for her money; never knew she had any! Hut I'm thinking of Allx." "Yes we must think of darling Allx!" Anne had sutd, nervously eager that there should be no quarrel. "If Uncle Lee Intended me to have all this money, then I suppose I must tnke It, but I shan't be happy unless things nre arranged so that Allx shall be com fortable!" "G-but the worst of It Is, Alixl" Cherry stammered, suddenly, on the day before she and Martin were to return to Hod Creek, "I I counted on having enough enough to live my own Iff I '!?, For Answer She Gave Him the Yellow Paper That Was Wet With Tears. life! Allx, I can't I can't go back!" "Why, my darling " Allx exclaimed, as Cherry began to cry in her arms, ".My darling, It Is ns bad as all that?" "Oh, Allx," whispered the little sis ter, trembling, "I enn't bear It. You don't know how I feel. You and Dnd were always hero; now thut's ull gone you're going to rent the house nnd try to teach singing and I've nothing to look forward to I've nobody I" "Listen, dear," Allx soothed her. "If they advise It, and especially If Peter advises It when he gets back, we'll fight Anne. And then If we win our flght, I'll always keep the valley house open. And If we don't, why I'm going to visit you and Martin every yeur, und per haps I'll have a little apartment some day I don't Intend to board always " Hut she was crying, too. Everything seemed changed, cold and strange; she had suspected that Cherry's was not a successful marriage; she knew It now and to resign the adored little slbter to the unsympathetic atmosphere of Hed Creek, and to miss all tho old life und the old associations, mude her heart ache. "There's there's nothing, special, Cherry?" she asked after a while. "With Martin? Oh, no," Cherry an swered, her eyes dried, and her pack' Ing going on compoaedly, although her voice trembled now and then. "No, Copyright by Kathleen Norrll It's Just that I get bad moods," she said, bravely. "I was pretty young to marry at nil, I guess." "Martin loves you," Allx suggested timidly. "He takes mo for granted," Cherry said, after a pause. "There doesn't seem to be nnythlug alive In tho feel ing between us," she ndded, slowly. "If he says something to me, I mnko an effort to get his point of view before I answer. If I tell him some plan of mine, I can see that ho thinks It sounds crazy! I don't seem very domestic that's all. I I try. llenlly, I do! Hut and Cherry seemed to brace herself In soul and body "but that's marriage. I'll try again!" She gnve Allx a long kiss In parting, tho next day, and clung to her. "I'll write you about the case, and wire you If you're needed, and see you soon I" Allx said, cheerfully. Then she turned nnd went back Into the empty house, keeping back her tears until the sound of the surrey had quite died away. y CHAPTER V. Alexnndra Strickland, coming down tho stairway of the valley house on an April evening, glanced curiously at the door. Only eight o'clock, but the day hud been so long and so quiet that she had fancied that the hour was much later, and had wondered who knocked so late. She crossed to the door and opened it to darkness nnd rain, and to a man In a raincoat who whipped off a spat tered cap and stood smiling In the light of the lamp she held. Instantly, with a sort of gasp of surprise and pleasure and some deeper emotion, she set down the lamp, and held out her hands gropingly nnd went Into his nrms. He laughed Joyously as he kissed her, and for a minute they clung together. "Peter I" she said. "You angel when did you arrive nnd what nre you doing, nnd tell mo all about Itl" "Hut Alls you're thin I" Peter said, holding her at arm's length. "And and " He gently touched tho black she wore, and fixed puzzled and troubled eyes upon her face. "Allx " ho asked, upprehenslvely. For answer she tried to smile at him, but her lips trembled and her eyes brimmed. She hnd led the way Into the old sitting room. "You heard about Dnd?" Allx fal tered, turning to face him at the man tel. "Your father!" Peter said, shocked. "Rut hadn't you heard, Peter?" "My dear my dearest child, I'm just off the steamer. I got In at six o'clock. I'd been thinking of you all the time, and I suddenly decided to cross the bay nnd come straight on to the valley, before I even went to the club or got my mall! Tell int. your father" She hnd knelt before the cold hearth, and ho knelt beside her, and they busied themselves with logs and kindling In the old way. A blaze crept up about the logs and Allx ac cepted Peter's handkerchief and wiped a streak of soot from her wrist, quite as If she was a child again, as she settled herself In her chair. Peter took the doctor's chair, keep ing his concerned nnd sympathetic eyes upon her. "He was well one day," she said, simply, "and the next the next, ho didn't come downstairs, and Hong waited nnd wnlted nnd nbout nine o'clock I went up and he had fallen he had fallen" She was In tears again and Peter put his hand out and covered hers and held It. 'He must have been going to call some one," said Allx, after a while, "they said he never suffered av all. This was January, the last day, and Cherry got here the same night. He knew us both toward morning. And that that was all. Cherry was here for two weeks. Martin enmo and went " "Where Is Cherry now?" Peter In terrupted. "Back nt Ked Creek." Allx wiped her eyes. "She hates It, but Martin had a good position there. Poor Cherry, It made her 111," "Anne came?" "Anne nnd Justin, of course." Peter could not understand Allx's expres sion. She fell silent, still holding his hand and looking at the fire. Ho looked at her with a great rush of admiration and affection. She was not only a pretty nnd a clever wouv an; but, In her plain black, with this new aspect of gravity and dignity, aud with new notes of pathos and appeal In her exquisite voice, he realized that she was an extremely charming worn an. Itefore he said good-hy to her, he had asked her to marry him. Ho well remembered her look of bright nnd In terested surprise. "D'you moan to tell mo you have forgotten your lady love of the hoop- skirts and ringlets?" she had de manded. "No," Peter had told her, frankly "i snau always love uer, in a way, But she la married; she never thinks of me. And I like you so much, Allx I like our mualc and cooking and tramni inn rnadlnff toolbar. lOt that a pretty gooa basla for mar riage?" "No!" Allx had axswered, decidedly. "Perhaps If I were madly In love with you I should say yes, nnd trust to little fingers to lend you gently, and so on " Ho remembered ending the conver sation In ono of his quick moods of Irritation against her. If sho couldn't take anybody or anything seriously ho hnd said. Poor Allx he was taking life seri ously enough tonight, Peter thought, us he watched her. "Tell me about Cherry," he said. "Cherry Is well, but Just a llttlo thlr, and heartbroken now, of course. Mue tin never seems to stny nt nny oue place very long, so I keep hoping" "Doesn't make good I" Peter said, shaking bis head. "Doesn't seem to 1 It's partly Cher ry, I think," Alls said honestly. "She was too young, really. She never quite settles down, or takes life In earnest. Hut he's got 11 contract now for three years, und so she seems to bo resigning herself, aud sho has u maid? I believe." "She must love him," Peter submit ted. Allx looked surprised. "Why not?" she smiled. "I suppose when you've had ups and downs with n man, nnd been rich and poor, nnd sick and well, nnd have lived In half-n-dozen different places, you rather take him for granted!" she ndded. "Oh, you think It works thnt way?" Peter asked, with a keen look. "Well, don't you think so? Aren't lots of marriages like that?" "You false alarm. You quitter!" he answered. Allx laughed, a trllle guilt ily. Also she flushed, with u great wave of splendid young color that made her face look seventeen again. "Your father left you something, Allx?" Peter asked presently, with some hesitation. "Thnt," she answered frankly, "Is where Anne comes In I" "Anno?" "Anne nnd Justin came straight over," Allx went on, "und they wore really lovely. Doctor Younger and Oeorge Sewall were here every day; you aud George were named us execu tors, I was so mixed up In policies and deeds and overdue taxes and In terest and bonds " "Poor old Allx, If I had only been here to hell) youl" the man said. And for a moment they looked a little con sciously at each other. "Well, anyway," the gill resumed hastily, "when It came to reading the will, Anno and Justin sprung a mine under us I It seems that ten years ago, when the Strlcklund patent lire extinguisher was put upon the mar ket, my adorable father didn't have nuch money he never did have, somehow. So Anne's father, my Un cle Vincent, went Into It with him to the extent of nbout three thousand dollnrs " Three thousand I" Peter, who had been leaning forward, earnestly at tentlvc, echoed In relief. "That was all. Dad had about three hundred. Dad did nil the work, und put In his three hundred, and Un cle Vincent put In three thousund nnd the funny thing Is," Allx broke off to say, musingly, "Uncle Vincent was perfectly splendid about It; I my self remember him saying, 'Don't worry, Leo. I'm speculating on my own responsibility, not yours.' " "Well?" Peter prompted, us she lies Itated. "Well. They had a written agree ment then, giving Uncle Vincent a third Interest In the patent, should it be sold or put on tho market " "Hal" Peter ejaculated, struck. "Which, of course, was only a little while before Uncle Vincent died," Allx went on, with a grave nod. "Tho reement lay In Dad's desk all those years fancy how easily be might have burned It ninny's tho time! Hut he didn't. George Sewall says that Anne Is right. They've broken tho will." Peter, In the silence, whistled ex pressively. Gee-rusnlem I" he exclaimed. "What does it come to?" . At this Allx looked very sober, gazed down at the lire and shook her head. "All he had I" she answered, briefly. Peter was silent, looking at her In stupefaction. "Almost, thnt Is," Allx amended more cheerfully. "As It was we should have had more than thirty thousand apiece. As It Is, Anno gets It nil, or If not quite all, nearly all." "Gets!" he echoed, hotly. "How do you mean?" "It seems to be perfectly Just," the girl answered, rnther lifelessly. Hut Immediately she laughed. "Don't look so awful, Peter. In the first place, Cherry and I still have tho house. In the second place, I am singing at St. Itaphael's for five hundred a year, ant! singing other places now and thou. Anyway, I'm glad you're homo again, Peter 1" she ndded. "Home again," he answered, half nrrgrlly. "I should hope I am and high time, tool Has this this money been turned over to Anno?" "Not yet. Nobody gets anything until the estate Is cleared a year or more from now. There are some things to be thankful for," Allx .ndded, dashing the sudden tears from her eyes, "nnd one Is that Dad never knew Itl" "Dear old Alixl" ho aid, put ting h! arm about her. (TO BE CONTINUED.) The annual cost of maintaining one soldier In Germany la 25,000 aaarka (normally $0,250), miii n uuiti v ht IHYTHIHC UNTIL HE USED DC DIIUJl .t a wamUTW. MPWtW I L III! lift HUHiawna ruvw -l wti wcrt and HE'LL STAY AWAKE NOW Awful Possibility Contained in oar- ber's Warning Must Have Stirred Up Mr. Brown. As Jinhn ltmwn sat In the barber's chair sleep overtook him, and while tho knight of tho lather prepared tho creamy stuff, John Hrown dozed off. "I beg your pardon, sir," saui me barber live minutes Inter, 'louu hnvo to wake up. I can't shave you 1 Nervousness sounded In the bnrber's voice. He hated to disturb customers. "Whntl Can't you shnve mo whilst I am asleep?" roared John Hrown. "And why, pray?" "Ilecause," answered the burner apologetically, "when you sleep your mouth Is open so wide l can t nnu your face. And I wouldn't like to drop the razor Into your mouth I" With n frightened look John Hrown held open his eyes with both thumbs to keep nwnke while he was shaved. London Tit-Hits. MOTHER! CLEAN CHILD'S BOWELS WITH CALIFORNIA FIG SYRUP Even n sick child loves the "fruity" taste of "California Fig Syrup." 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Miss Janice, Just turned seven, was visiting her cousin, Elizabeth, nge eight, who Is exceedingly careful of her playthings, though Bhe Is known to bo generous with them, nnd nlwny.q willing that her friends should shnro them. Janice, In somo caper In tho playroom, let fall n small doll, with great damage to Its bend, nnd with such sorrow to Elizabeth that sho cried, nnd even scolded n little. Janice. too, cried, rrom inortiiicntioii, and In their tears the two girls went out to 1m - M i tt'li tarn lllfa nlflor fiAXr H'nm sitting. 'Janice broke my llttlo pinky doll," sobbed Elizabeth, "Well," sobbed Janice, nt her elbow, I told you not to let mo havo the pinky doll to piny with, Hint's whnt I did." Sure Relief FOR INDIGESTION 6 Bellans Hot water Sure Relief ELL-ANS 25$ arid 75$ Packages. Everywhere SQUEEZED TO DEATH When the body begins to stiffen and movement becomes painful it is usually an indication that the kidneys are out of order. 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He "Women always havo to mo nopolize the conversation. A woman can't sit still and listen for one full minute." She "Oh, Indued! Sup pose the other party to the conversa tion were making a proposnl of mar riage?" He "Not even then. She'd sny 'yes' beforo he'd spoken a minute."