December 1931
T h e
K i n g ' s
549
B u s i n e s s
Çjûai4 io0 (eari iciih ( 5 urYOUNG READERS . . . By FLORENCE NYE WHITWELL
DIADEM They saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts” (Matt. “And on his head were many crowns” (Rev. 19:12). ^ > | onnie ! The first engagement in the Thin Red Line has happened!” Pauline whirled into Constance’s room with a suddenness that sent her papers flying. “The first!” “Oh, you dreamy old darling! Haven’t you noticed Lawrence ?” “Lawrence! N o ! And who—” “Connie! Wake u p ! The birds ■ are singing! Beatrice, of course!” Constance gasped. She had been too busy to notice— but not so Uncle Alan and the rest of the Line. It was bound to come, Uncle Alan had said to himself, and it was lovely when it came—beautiful to watch! God’s great plan for the highest human happiness! Mis used in the literature of the age, ridiculed by comedian and humorist, dragged by the world into the courts—yet out of and above it all, like a fair flower, pure and fragrant, rises the sacred ordinance of matrimony. But the course of true love usually runs over a. road of some roughness. “Lawrence’s family will be up in arms,” Althea re marked to Constance. “Against our Beatrice?” “My dear! There’s nothing so set as his old, estab lished, conservative family! They’ve had Lawrence!s wife icked out for him for years, the only difficulty being that e did not coincide with their selection. In spite of having a missionary father, they are a great deal like royalty. I noticed it when I visited them in the Orient, and sometimes the caste lines they drew made me marvel. It was so the very opposite of what I, a worldling and a snob, expected of them! Then I found Christ, and I began to realize what Paul meant when he cried, ‘I know no man after the flesh!’ ” “Lawrence is so unlike his family.” “Uncle Alan is the explanation. None of us can resist what he is. Lawrence was away out in the world in his freshman year, and drifting rapidly into a very gay set. I was not far behind—in fact, I was helping him along. But the Thin Red Line prayed, and Uncle Alan was! There, you have it all.” Constance thought for a while and finally said, “I think we ought to read James’ epistle oftener. After all, he was the Lord’s brother, and what he has to say about being a respecter of persons and about the unruly member is vastly worth while.” Althea’s fears proved to be well founded. Beatrice and Lawrence were speedily subjected to a series of tests, ad ministered by that young man’s fond and energetic rela tives. Lawrence was reminded hourly of the dangers of marrying a girl of unknown parentage, so he began to
avoid his home and to spend his spare time at Uncle Alan’s, where Beatrice had taken refuge. tt And would you believe it,” Elsie murmured to Althea, Lawrence’s maiden aunt asked us to watch her actions and her life, and to report once in so often to them!” Althea laughed. “Darling! You and Uncle Alan and Pauline in the detective business! I wouldn’t have believed it.” “They were indignant because we knew Beatrice and loved her as our friend.” “Did they refer to the lack of conventionality so loudly bewailed by the Lemon King’s daughter ?” “Oh dear, yes! Her unusual and fanciful upbringing in those northern mountains is all quite enchanting to me, but they cannot see it that way.” Althea took up the conversation eagerly. It s fascinating to me, too! Bee has always had a peculiar charm for me ever since I first met her on that Mediterranean trip when she sang the old song and wore the quaint clothes.” Both girls started as Uncle Alan’s long figure suddenly erected itself from the davenport, where he had been taking an afternoon nap. Had he overheard them? They could not say. He went at once to the tiny three-cornered room which he called his study and took up a certain news sheet, recent ly arrived. Where was that item he had happened on? A h ! Here it was, in “Items of Interest in the Political World.” He reread it, Arrivals from Abroad.” Then he sat down and wrote several pages. After writing for an hour or more, he folded up what he had written and put it into an envelope which he addressed rapidly in his fine charac teristic hand. And no one knew that Uncle Alan had written, nor what he had written, nor that the envelope that sppd away on the mail plane that night was addressed to Washington, D. C. But what of Beatrice herself ? How did this girl con duct herself under fire ? Beatrice had slipped back to the old dream-filled days of her girlhood. Her heart was stilled with a perfect trust in her Saviour. And then, there was something to dream about! Ever since Lawrence, with chivalrous intent, had ridden into the fray for her defense and had set his lance against the assaults of the Lemon King’s daughter, Beat rice had begun again to dream. Her eyes showed it. Their starry lights had drawn veils of mystery between her heart and the world. The wakeful hours of early night, when her fluff of yellow hair, loosed from its clasp, used to toss restlessly in its nest of dainty pillows, were over. She lay peacefully now, her soul filled with a great quiet. Law rence’s family could not hurt her. He would handle them as he had handled the Lemon King’s daughter. She would wait till he was ready, and trust. All this ran through Beatrice’s mind as she arrayed herself for Althea’s mother’s Christmas benefit. The chil dren of the city had suffered so from the hard times that there would be no Christmas for many. So Mrs. Sumner had assembled a committee and a list of patrons whose names were known; and on this Christmas Eve, the great
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