Stranger within the Gates Read Online Free PDF Page B

"Millie Burton and Howard Jenks have the measles, and I was over there playing games with them night before last. Wouldn't that be awful if I should come down with them before the play, when I have such a long part to recite?"
    "It's lucky most of the rest of us have had the measles," said another girl coldly.
    And amid it all Fae forgot the sorrow she had left behind at home and let the Christmas cheer and excitement surge happily over her.
    "Say, did you bring your money for the teacher's present? Well, you better get it in pretty quick, or they'll not be able to pay for it, and I think it ought to be wrapped and ready or there'll be some hitch."
    "Say, who's going to present the gift to the teacher, now that Howard Jenks has the measles? I think Fae Garland ought to. She learns things quicker than anybody, and she's the best reciter. Besides, she never makes mistakes."
    All these things warmed Fae's young heart, so that it was only now and then that a memory would come and hit her in the region of her stomach with an awful sickening thud and make her dizzy and sick. Then some new excitement would banish it for a while.
    Â 
    ***
    Â 
    Back at home Mary Garland sat at the telephone and heard the bland masculine tones of the village butcher, instead of her son's voice.
    "Mrs. Garland, I have some very nice fresh-killed capons this morning. I was wondering how you would like me to send up a couple?"
    "No! No capons, thank you! No, not today!" Mary Garland's voice rose crisp and businesslike out of the depths of despair, with a touch of almost exasperation at the poor butcher who was doing his best to make a sale.
    Then she hung up and dropped her hand in her lap, coming into sharp contact with the letter addressed in Paul's handwriting. With a start she hastened to open it. Here, here would be the explanation at last! The consolation, perhaps! Her trembling fingers removed the letter, a hasty scrawl, and her anxious eyes read:
    Â 
    Dear Mother,
    I'm sending home two suits that I shall need in the holidays. Please send for Harris to have them cleaned and be sure to get them back by Saturday. Stress that! No time to write more. Exams going well. Terribly busy! Take care of yourself.
    Â 
    Hastily,
    Paul
    Â 
    The mother dropped back limply into her chair and tried to stop the whirling in her heart and head. Tried to think what she should do. Paul's letter hadn't told her a thing. What ought she to do? She must do something. Not Paul! She must not disturb Paul until his afternoon class was over. Painfully, carefully, she turned the matter over and at last decided to send a telegram to Rex. It might be Rex would hesitate to talk to her on the telephone lest their conversation should be overheard. Very well, she would telegraph to him and make him realize what he had done to them all. She would make it brisk and to the point. A message that he could not misunderstand. One that would at least bring him to the telephone at once.
    She did not hesitate long for words, and she sent it forth, brief and clear-cut and unmistakable. It read:
    Â 
    Come home immediately.
    Mother
    Â 
    After it was sent beyond recall, she sat down again and stared at the wall, trying to figure out what Rex's reaction would be to it, and not till then did it occur to her that he might think she meant he was to bring his wife along, and that was the last thing she wanted just now. What she wanted was Rex by himself. Rex, her boy, that she might gently question him and find out by watching his clear eyes just what it all meant. That would be the key to what she ought to do.
    Yet if it was really so, and Rex was married, there was nothing to do but make the best of it. Or was that right? It sounded heathenish.
    With a deep, pitiful sigh, she dropped upon her knees.
    "Oh, God," she prayed, quietly into her pillow, "have I done wrong? Have I somehow failed in bringing up my boy? I must have, or he would not have done a thing like this. Even if the girl is