Those Lucky Pullens

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 233, 2 October 1929, Page 22

Those Lucky Pullens

THE STORY SO FAR. Mrs. Fred Pullen, innocently romantic, has interfered so much with the heart affairs of her pretty daughter, Julia, that the girl, iu the last chapter, suddenly marries Sam Carlile, a neighbour youth, without previous warning either to Carlile or her mother. Mrs. Pullen herself has been the victim of gossip by Mrs. Hamilton, a neighbour, because of numerous costly gifts that have come to the Pullen home from an unknown friend. A young lawyer named Parks tries to bulldoze Mrs. Pullen into making him her attorney, and when she refuses, becomes lawyer for Mrs. Hamilton and a fat man, who, Mrs. Hamilton has told, is the source of the Pullen fortune. As the last chapter ends, the newlywedded Carliles are at the Pullen home and young Parks comes to the door.

CHAPTER LIX. "Holy Mackinaw!" exclaimed young Carlile. "What in blazes do you want?" Mr. Parks looked upon him with melancholy dignity. "My errand con- ( cerns Mr. Pullen, Mrs. Pullen and Miss Pullen," he said. "There ain't any Miss Pullen. any more," Sam proclaimed. "She's Mrs. Carlile now!" Mr. Parks pressed his hand to liis forehead. "Is this true?" he inquired faintly, addressing himself to Julia. She came and clung to her new husband, by way of confirmation. "Now say what you want and get out," Pullen said. Mr. Parks shifted his feet and sighed. "Things are not going well with me," he said. "I had hoped that the late— er, misunderstanding between us might be cleared. May I come in?" "No," said Pullen. The young man sighed again. "Then I'll speak from the doorstep as a stranger. Yet I must ask your aid." He cleared his throat and gazed pathetically into Julia's eyes. "I had hoped that our relations might be closer, instead of more distant," he went on. "The fact is, I had come to say that I was in

error at the time I called upon Mrs Pullen. I was under a misapprehension it seems. And now lam in greal trouble. Very great. Your neighbour Mrs. Hamilton, says if she sees mt again she will have me arrested, anc the fat gentleman has told me that if h< meets me, lie will'attack me." He looked at the little circle befon him, pathos in liis eyes. "Mrs. Hamilton accuses me of leading her into difficulties. It seems that none of the ladies hereabouts win speak tc her. This- is because of a meeting—a brief meeting, that she and I had witli the stout gentleman in liis hotel. He believes that I (vas simply after money She blames me for leading her there. If seems he spoke to her harshly in public. 51 "Fine," commented Pullen. "But," begged the young attorney, "Won't you help me out? Truly I only intended to be her laAvyer and his. I believed there might' have been some little matters—" he pointed to the clutter of furniture that could be seen through the door of the living room— "in connection with the fine presents you received, in which the stout man might need a lawyer. And he assaulted me! I liave,beon to Mr. Murty and he drove me out of his office." Mrs. Pullen moved before her husband, sympathy in her eyes. "Poor young man," .said she. "Just trying to practice law and getting into so much trouble! What did you want us to do?" • "Why," he said, "I thought you might give me a testimonial that I was acting as your counsel —your legal adviser, in brief —when I dealt with Mrs. Hamilton and the fat man. That would clear everything up." He looked hopefully at Pullen. "If we don't give you the testimonial, what'll you do?" Pullen asked, curiously. "I'm afraid/' said Mr. Parks, "that I'll have to leave town." "Better pack your duds, then," advised the other man, "because you don't get anything here. Good-bye." His head' hanging, the young man turned away, and slowly descended the steps. They watched him as he moved down the street, his shoulders bowed and his feet scuffling the pavement as if they were too heavy to lift. "I think you were real cruel to him," Mrs. Pullen said. "After all, a young lawyer has to start some way." Her husband laughed and patted her shoulder. "You're a * good scout,, Elsie, underneath your foolishness, but don't forget this—that fellow's' a crook!" She laid her hands flat upon his breast and tilted her head so she '.could see. into his eyes. ; "Am i a fool ?" she asked, a catch in her voice. . . . • He put. his arm round her shoulder" and. held her close to him. "No," lie : told her. His voice was tender. "You're not-a fool. You only do foolish things,

sometimes. But you're my best girl!" j He tightened his hold upon her shoulder, and her cheek rested for a moment on his coat. "I love to hear you say that," said she. "I don't mind if you think I'm foolish—just so long as you like me." She stirred briskly, and handed 'to Julia, to Sam and to Pullen their coats and hats. "We'll go down arid see our new property now," said she. "I've simply got to take my bride and groom out some place! I didn't get to have a wedding, and I'd counted on • it so!" With the youth and the girl clinging' tightly to one'another, walking in the rear, -and Mrs. Pullen with her husband proudly leading the way, they moved in procession up the street. Twice they passed women of the neighbourhood, and Mrs. Pullen received effusive greetings from tttern. "I can have them all come to my party for Sam and Julia," she told her husband. - "But why are they so strong for you all of a sudden?" her husband asked. "I think that Mrs, Carlile must have fixed it up," ehe surmised. Her theories received confirmation in a few moments. As they turned toward the lots that they had bought next to Mrs. Hamilton's house, Mrs. Carlile herself stepped. toward them. She had been standing before the strip of vacant land, and now she was smiling graciouslv. v i "Dear Mrs. Pullen," she said. 'We're sisters now!". She seized upon the happy matron and kissed her. "My husband just called up with the news that Sam and Julia are married. Isn't it delicious ?" She embraced the bride and groom, and then—eagerly—she jerked her head toward the Hamilton home. "I've told all the ladies about the scandalous way Mrs. Hamilton acted, and none of them will speak to her, and she's found out that you own the mortgage on her place and she's so nlad she's moving away," she explained rapidly,

By MALCOLM DUART :

and without pausing for breath. "It will be so nice to have our neighbourhood without any mean women in it, won't it, Mrs. Pullen?" She moved to a fence that separated the lots from the neighbouring yard, and leaned against the post. "I've been waiting," she explained, "for the moving vans to come. I wanted to see her furniture come out. I think I'll stay a while." Pullen was chuckling when he reached home again with his wife, and the two young people. "By George, Sam," said he, as they entered the house. "Women are funny, aren't they? This bunch here is just as interested in pestering Mrs. Hamilton as they Were in deviling my wife. Mrs. Pullen is ace high, and Mrs. Hamilton is >a torn deuce!'', "Women are rougher than men are," observed Sam. "All except Julia, anyway—and you, Mrs. Pullen," he added politely. Mrs. Pullen had lingered a moment to investigate the mail box. She brought forth a letter addressed to Julia, and bearing the name of Mr. Murty in the corner of the envelope. "He knows you're married!" cried the mother: "It says, 'Mr . Julia Pullen Carlile! 5 It's a sweet name, child." The girl opened the envelope, read the sheet that ." contained, and laughing, passed it to her father. "Bead it out loud, papa," she said. He cleared his throat and obeyed. My dear new Mrs. Carlile.—l am frankly glad to be rid of my most charming You have occasioned me much worry. I even thought of marrying you at one time, as a means of avoiding tha difficulties in which I found myself involved.