CEMBER 21, 1940

THE CHARLOTTETOWN GUARDIAN a

b

, ," 531d MMROQ

l ""“§§. ‘Star. ‘Tm m" 3°‘ géflgyou pettlni your clp at surwik"

tp have W" W" the Junior Sur- th 1m-

'u, that you

m yglirs. Robin n't a howl don't L10

tuna him - last Saturday, none of nrngisters would have dream- heilowlng such a thinfl!" of the other Sisters —»!-h¢ _wou1d have had h ht Carol furiously- Ne . , however! f ‘ is l line and or reilfitaldtlofgrofd the“ Home," Wen!- f She was enloyinl; h"- mllhflhlirlgna lot. "If it harms? B- fin, you'll have to g0. anon r2‘:- . k you have your ow f . for n ‘vantlng to be out o milk so “ext time you meet Mr. rtin reel» yo!" “Y” m ml?" i“, m‘. and behave like a lady ‘n ‘l.- pcd. The youngest Sister she Smelly disappeared —bolted aha-t» n-liddle of her sentence! lame‘ nsped. The lmpudfince or mtwixrxligSize deserved sacking for mfnfw... a pity that all the rm- glmg liked her. She had a Wily ‘m, “ml, unfortunately-t tsttlfixg nus tostay for the preset! . I nit. . ngcit sister. heart beat- m?geulh(il%tuollsly. “W! 31mg ‘he Ho, She w,“ so angry that she fill}. ink when she was gcinit- A nllvl wvlltolli and stopped 1W! PTO- ‘ qw- found il-cl-self more or 'in\l1\-!\ flllllo o! the very mull

A; for l8

ilmlu talking about.

l illlll guy grey QYP-i- a lll the sort 0f hands willy have —firm and

nice.

{lid now, without "training for lll? »' liznlcllcflol? by MW it the O‘*st:lc!e Race

n ‘cc! Girls?"

Carol. Hcw illrz-e he

w". nice as .~:ll~. "e-

"Iln in a hurry!

. said the Junior

5.1mm, a tie more formally.

um, term. v-ll r10, could ycu nos- : with me next TUE‘- 2: is your free night, isn't

,,. n“! couldn't ncvihlv." S110 ca”! r-i o.‘ you. I'm -—I’m K0-

_ _ tron though {W's an c" ‘ty to wait?"

“I'm Pi\..!"'fl tl'l"r\. tPO- 011. T’!!! sorry. but lll“ fact is-—"

A l '- c.‘ l"\".i." came over Carol's face: Marcus door was DDR0“!- giu» lil"ll"(! "i! and fled.

Robin lcr"-'c'i alter a“d whistlefi softly. “n ‘in’ was We way 0T lt- was it? lI~ was quite an astute rrllnw nlnn 1w! rhrfllsed thct rnilrcn mic’ well have her knife irrc a nl'e'!v s'st"r. Then he. too. brited for more or less the same reason as Crlvol. He <"""'!i W" ‘he

heir! of till- Dolvnsirle Nursin”! llcmo; h» didn't much like the nllrsWl-hvnle either. H“ entered

the bcdrornl of Miss Grey. his tllPCSl» oat'ent..

Very swer-t and tired was Miss lilphemla Grey. She was letting on in years but she was nice to look at. and had the swee‘est smile. Bile had lwd a scrlous operation. but however lll she had hem. She hlid manhood to smile. She was lfllllill" this morning.

‘And how are we this momlnif?" ltlted Robin Martin

"We." said Miss Grey, "are be- lliininz to sit. up and take nourish- nent."

“When are you going to stop be- ins c0 lazy, and talk of goth: home?" said Robin. He seated him- self on the patient?! bed in a most unprofessional manner.

"I've not any home to go to." collfessnd Miss Grey. "You see. I ustd to live in rooms. And then "llitbvtiy died and left me some Money. and I could stop teachinif- and then what did I have to do but have this silly operation! I don't want. to be pushed out of this "lllilllil-ilolne in a humv. f?" ire worse places for spendinfl Christmas in My own brother lives inScotland. so I'd have to go back filmy rooms. if they really got tired of me here."

"Nil! they." said Robin. "A nurs- hK-IIOIUFS idea of bliss is to have lomebodv stay a long. long time and

_I1\'e as little trouble as you do. No complaints? Food all right? No against the Sisters. or m!-

“1 mllzllt have had, if you'd uked P" B day or two ago." admitted libs Grey. "Sister Warren's goose-

iTy eves rather got on my nerves.

don't mind tel‘lrrlr you And Sis- ter Smith would talk baby talk to m!» when she washed me. And the "illit- Slster asked me if I was l- gffiljllst when I'd go off nicely.

u! Im all right now, ‘They're giv- f" me another Sister to look after "£23110?! the sweetest, prettiest

. an -_"

“And her name ls Carol Lester," Robin Martin.

500ml! know her!" said little

Tfiy,

Not half as well as I'd like to ‘OW her," said Robin. "But she's “darling. fin-—you might tcll her klllyiwm me." he added deliber-

.000‘, "rev. - .5193“ Mm

m‘

Euphemia

P55 nucleus!" You mean u.‘

‘cur again

nDeek

BY Phyllis llamhledon

"that's e ll ' “w, ‘aid what I mean to

N111 8n. fore Miss G dfkeet thil exciting rlilltlnrtxrson came in. Robin got up in g,

"By the way. sure id M... GNY. "fly OB-iufllly the nQeDkt morn- ing. "Mr. Martin asked me to tell IQ}! thetyou are s darling!"

What! lafd Carol, and she near. ly dropped the troy she was carry-

"Be careful with th . home crockery!" Miss oheynfilfit. ed h"- "YES. those were his very words. How does Mr. Martin know that you are a darling, sister?"

"He doesn't —I mean, I'm not!" said the youngest Sister incoher- ently. "I mean. he hardly knows me at all. I mean-it hardly counts, does it?-just meettlng here, and then he saw me waiting for the bus, and offered me a lift, and some- how wc never went to the place I'd been going to, but somewhere else quite different. But it must nor oc- . It was very bad for nurs- lng-home discipline. Besides, you see. there's Derek."

"Derek?" said Miss Grey.

"Yes. He's—Oh, that's No. bell again. He's dreadfully this morning!"

The youngest Sister went flying, and Miss Grey was left alone. So there was Derek, was there? 0f course, there was bound to be a Derek or a Jack or a Peter for somebody coins to watch a lov - affair, after all, as she had rather hoped to do. She waited until the youngest Sister returned to take a- way the empty cup.

"About this Derek?" she said. "You're very fond of him, I sup- pose?"

“Fender of him than of anybody else in the world," said Carol, just a little as if she were trying to convinw herself of the fact

"How nice!" said Miss Grey, meaning not nice at all. "And what docs he do for a livulu?"

“Oh, he doesn't do iillf.'ll"illl'l, for a living,“ said Carol. "Ho's not our of college yet, you scc. He'll he a dor- ior in time. That's \vh_v I slulply mustn't lci Matron suck nu. I help with his lccs. He couldn't lll‘.\ll— age if I didn't. He's rcully u simil- did fellow. I'll show you ills photo- graph, if you'd like to soc it."

‘Thank y'all." said hl-ss (‘vrvy Docs he like the idea oi bfllli; llclp- ed out cf your lnisclnhic sail!

“l-Ic hutch it." said Cur-oi. l1. of course. he would ('0 txc slnu- fur mo, ii‘ he could. I'm the tllly Parson he's got. you so."

"H'm," said Miss Grey.

The youngest Sister departed to attend lo other patients. Miss Grey was alone once mo . Silo lay in bed, watching the sztzlv falling out- side. It was llle uav of the xvorld. she tlicugllt. A girl like _Ca‘l'ol SElDilrl- lng her money on a nro 2a :1)’ W-"lrih" less young man like Derek. She was looking rather" sad when Mr. Martin. F‘ R C.S. put his head round the door.

“In luck again," he said._“Mair0n is busy ill the dtllicltiitféd_é.lls morgn; in ,l-- el'——-\VOIl ere — l ypll if‘! slgter Lester my message. by any chance?" ,

"I did," said Miss Grey, "and this is her answer: ‘It's no use. There IS

5's cross

beret.» said Robin Martin

"An utterly worthless yoltng man." said Miss Greyywith quite un-ln- validish energy. “A scanyivcs of a young man who lets her give hurl money. That's why she cant 1'15» losing her job, and she would iuuc it if there were any EOWB-On- "5 the saying is. Anyway, she says she's in love with this Derek."

"I might have known it." 511d Robin. "That's that. I suppose. Ex- cuse me talking aboukmyself. Ho“ are you this morning? n

“Bitterly disillusioned, said Miss Grey. "1 though}, you were a ma" who did things

“so 1 gm," said Robin.’ v

“Then why say ‘Thats that? That isn't that at all. You're sure- ly not going to let Sister Lester throw herself aWBY 0D B ma" W“? sponges? If he was the right sor, do you think he'd take a 9911"!’ from her? If you've fond or her. grid you ought to be, you'd say: G0 to —I-Iades! to a young map 111" Derek. You'd go in and win

"By Jove," said Robin Martin. “you're a bit of a fighter, arent you? You're $18!". M155 Grey "M1!" Ls by no means that! Now kindly “we me ygur pulse, and encourage me m behave like your wrseim!" Not a single word more on the subject of darlings did she get out of him. When he left her an opera- tion was over, and Matron was coming out of the theatre. She greeted him with 3 toothy smile.

"All, Mr Martin, she cooed, a0 son-y 1 w“ busy. Will you have a cup of coffee? with me. Jim '0 keel)

th ld " OuItjgUAGXIyOORODID would have P91‘- fernd the cold. b"! lll-dill’ h" 1d" coincided with his.

"That's very kind said. . rt was very my in Melly!" sitting-room. Matron herself was in the best of humours. She admired Mr. Martin very much. Althouil" h, w“ young, he was acquirinit quilg n leprntoin. It seemed a Pit!‘ that he should be a bachelolnlwihe; he was earning really 8 ° money. Everybody We“ that 5'1"“ Rims ought to have wlyes —ni(1; telligent. sympflthe"? “ft”- m; too young, who could ta. e an m“ terest in their work. What was he was still"! Rwif," 9' “fly? b,

"r was thlnkinfl." m9 R0 ti; rather awkwardly, that Id like celebrate Christmas a bit this yf-‘B-Y- Do something seasonable, you know The sisters hero have lll looked after my cases so well that I wondfifll l; their would all come to me for Christmas. On Christmas night, you know Dinner and so 0n

of you." he

[gt/Party For Cinderella

I'd get a 1 I: m” Illflrlwyoformthefictgxhlthggon: II

"FIRE. don't you think." Er_y“...

Something seemed u; b; w“

hi. .. She was frowning. Robin nw what ..

‘m’ W" fllpectlng. Dash the wo- man—dldn't she realise that she was too old for parties of this kind?

"Q! course." he added unwilling- 1Y- '11 you would honour us comics. we would be delights . Just to see we behaved ourselves PTODeIIy and so on,” ho added. It W“ hmlly a pressing invitation. but Matron jumped at it,

Ijltow charming of you Mr. Mar- tin! he said. "I'm sure the staff will be delighted. And except for old Miss Grey. the home will be empty for Chrismae. The night Sis- ter can look after her. of course."

"Excellent," said Robin,

I-Ie whistled to himself u he drove home. There was only another week to Christmas. Carol would come to his house: she would sit beside him for dinner; afterwards they would DIE-Y the Silly games that everybody plays at the festive season. And if he didn't get a. chance of having her to himself, and asking her just how much this Derek person was to her, and of telling her just how much she was to a. certain rising young surgeon, then he was a great deal more dumb than he thought he was, and Christmas was a very overrated occasion!

So this is love, he thought to him- sclf. Just like any susceptible first- year student!

The news of Mr Martin's Christ.-

mas party spread through the home like wildfire. Tb Sisters were per- fectly thrilled. The idea of the doc- tors to be invited added another zest. . Carol was the only one of them who did not talk of it. She only dreamed. And on her first after- noon off she went out and bought yards and yards of rose- pini: chiffon. a spray or two of (lillmame. and she fa=hioncd a frock of it all, at llllilll, when she ought to ll-lve been asleep.

You ncvcr know how frocks you mllizc yourself are going to turn out. Tilis one was obllging. Carol fm- ishcci it onc off-duty time, tvlo days bcfnrc Chrislnlas. She put it on, ans! slrlrcd at hers-elf. _

“Am I really as pretty R5 111M’? sllc wrlllzlorccl. and hcr mirrcr all- slvcl-cd cmnllaiicalll/ in the affir- lnniivc. She wrlntcd badly to show lll" f‘o"k to SDll‘."h17'!_y,Mfl1l'0ll wrl out. Dllrcrl sh“ slip dQW-l t“ Ml-ié Grey's l ills‘ as she was?

Carol . s daring quite a lot a! llincs PM!‘ days. She ran !“-l"‘u'!l’l the corridor" unseen. She didn't ‘it ill with the smell of ether and the bgri" shicirg hvyyenic walls.

ltfhs Grev gasped when she saw her. Nurse usually look their best in uniform, bllt Carol looked like a rose in her rose-pink frock. a r058 and hnmen "‘rl in one.

“Ob, my dear." s1id Miss Grey. "He'll love you when he sees you like that."

"Tic?" said Carol

“Ro“eri Martin." said Miss Grev. "But. you know about that, don't ynu? You know he's "iving ‘the party snccirflv for you?"

Mrltrons do not knock at. the doors cf their own nursing-homes. ‘Matron didn't knock now. She was in an unusually viru‘ent temDer. she rad had her hair waved, and it hadn't ccme right: she had had lo stand in the tram on the way coming back. and her Christmas presents had cost more than BhB ‘sad intended. And. as she had en- tered her own front door, she had seen a wisp of chiffon disappearing into Mia Grey's room.

She entered in time to hear Miss Grey's own words.

They seenczl the last straw to the Matron of the Downside Nursing Home She stared at the rose-pink girl without speakinfl- And Bhl. $00. perceived that almost my YOURS man, be he surgeon or not. WM morally bound to fall for a girl u lovely as this one was. Even M Grey was a. little nervous at Mat- p911‘; firece, unbllnking stare.

"I asked Sister Lester to show me her evening frock." she said. ‘Iant it pretty, Matron?’

Matron deliberately and rudely ignored her. She addressed herself to Carol. ,,

"when do you come on duty. Sister?" she asked. I,

“At five o'clock, Matron. ’

"Report to me at five ocloclf- then. And go away “Q?” G110! ought to be sleeping.

"Miss Grey does sleep." said that lady angrily-

Again Matron ignored her as! ‘if she were a naughty child. She lo.- lowed Cam! out of the room. =l weinutflloackxto her sitting-room with s. ous acex

so they thought Mr. Martin wI-s giving this party for Sister Meter! Well. u they did. and 11 he W there was Boinl to be n. bi! 1"!‘

prise for them and him. wrltin when Our 0n- teieehde avtuflive. Sh: went on yfiitinl

and kept her wsiting. Than bhl! —

ut down her pear.

p "You didn't tell me you hlsd my invitations for evcnink PIYWH; 5'5‘ ier," she saldnsofgy. "Blgtzngll-QV‘: a new even g ess

wearing this afternoon, I think."

“Yas," said Carol. "mare: thergts Mr. 1 hlgayfsknmirgw m Chr mas n g . 0 -

“Dear me. Sister," punnd Mat- ron. "You gliding. thinllgyou were l0‘ l t the, l you '

“no” “duitiiii.”

"1 ml pu you on . I . beginning with m-nlglm." Mid Matron sweetly. ‘A: the your! Sister, you will be the one to all? at homo. Obviously, Misti Guy con- not be left. And you seem to get onsowellwithherthetfemsure you are the Sister whom she would choose. Report for night. duty It

not want‘ ' ‘

nd without ape

It is true tha men and women at Christmas time do things which are foolish, es- pecially in the giving of pre- cents. But when did cold wisdom ever make people happy? Who wants to see a Chrietmll when nobody spends more than he should or when there is no giving of thins! that are trivial or needless or foolish? A truly sane Chris-mu would be a miserable one. — American Magazine.

eight. please. and tell the present n! lit-Sister from me that she is re evod

She took up her pen again. Carol still stood there; her face was white and her hands were shaking. Matron once more put down her pen and looked at her.

"But that means I can't go to the party," Carol cried-

"That is all, Sister," said Mat- ron, still in that soft, purring voice. "There was nothing else you want- ed to see me about, was there?"

Her eyes defied Carol to protest or complain. Her eyes told Carol exactly what would happen if she did. And there was still Derek!

"Ne, nothing at all, Matron," said Carol in a still little voice.

"It's a sin and a shame!" ful- minated little Miss Grey on Christ- mas night. "It's the story of Cind- erella. all over again. The step- mother and the ugly sisters have gone to the party, and you're left behind. I wish now I hadn't said I'd stay here over Christmas, My dear, I feel you must be hating mel you looked so sw'\. too, in that rose-pink frock-like Cinderella on her way to the ball!"

“I'm afraid I couldn't get a pumpkin for a coach," said Carol. "though I might find a mouse or two in the kitchen that you could tum into horses. If you hadn't been here Matron would have made me stay anyway! I'm glad you're here. It would have been much more Cinderella-lsh without you! We ll have a Christmas dinner all to our- selves!"

She smiled wanly. but still sh-c smiled. Miss Grey looked at nel- approliltgly Sire was pulling llcr- self together" pretty \vcll.. Perhaps it's all for the best. she told her- self sadly. Alter all. there is still Derek. I wonder Wlllii. l.e sent he!" l0!‘ Chrisinlas. by the way"?

Suddenly Carol llild all ldca. All day she had nlupitl illlil lit-Lieu.» She ilad watched tile other S tars decking themselves i0!" txe 0c m0?!‘ she had secn Matron (ilEsw-l til kill, her face ileavy with rouge ano pointer, sailing atvnv lll tile car lvhicll Martin llllrl lrnl fol" fiscal. And ti!!! told llvrJ-cl! it. lvIurLrll nzlci lolcl illlllL-Sll, that that was tllali He'd probably think she had reins- ed to-nighi, for Llle some reason as she had refused his 011.’! U‘- vitatlons. And now that she was on night duty, she would hardly come his way agzfin.

Then sh-c thcttght of little Miss Grey, the only person left in the place. She wasn't counting ‘h:- moirls -they were having a party of their own. She though o.‘ Miss Grey. who lid stayed here because even a nursing-home was bs-ttel than rocmz. who had been left money so late in life that sire had never known the nice and ex "'21s! ways of using it: Miss Grey, who. too, was being done out cf Chvist~ flllii‘. Well, she shouldn't be, uftel a .

She got hulcl of a ward-maid who was young and sympathetic. They fetched a table. They decked it lvtlh a gay cloth and holly and mistle- toe. They found a. tiny Christmas tree. There was cold turkey and jelly by way of eatables. And Carol had crackers and chocolates in he room. She went to fetch them.

It was then that she saw the photograph of Derek upon her mantclplece. She had promised. hadn't she, to show it to Miss Grey? She'd take it down now while she remembered. It would be nice. too, to feel she had somebody really belonging to her at Christmas rim- ner. She helped the maid take in the table, and handed the photo- grafph to Miss Grey. "That's Derek,’ she said.

"You

iss wanted to see him didn't you"

.Mlss Grey looked at the photo- rnaph. Her first thought was that rek didn't look tho sonlivwag she u! imagined him. Instead, he ap- lpeared a nice boy. But he was young —not mom than twenty-one at the mitaide. ‘Pherl she read the signature scrawled across it, and her expression changed.

“'Derek," said Carol. "He's like me. isn't he? Everybody would know cg! ngabrothcr and sister, don't you

n .

“Brother and sister?" "Carol did not hear the gasp in her voice. She was arranging the crack- ers and putting the sweets into a little dish. Min Grey stared at her aking. This put I. new light upon everything. Now she un-