FICTION

From Wales

To Wedding Bells

by Yvonne FE-S-3

The sun shone from a cloudless blue sky as Jim Parker drove his M.G. along a main road leading through the magnificent scenery of central Wales, the hum of the tires and the purr of the engine fail- ed to smother the squeaks and rattles of the ancient bodywork, but he would be quite content if it per- formed as well during the next three weeks as it had in the past ten days.

The

Orphaned as a child, Jim had been adopted by his Aunt and Uncle. Unfortunately their kindness to him had been utterly ruined by the attitude of their only son Charles, three years older than Jim. He had made it plain from the start that he considered Jim an interloper in the home and by his presence to have stolen some of the dues and privileges which should have come to himself by right of birth. animosity between them increased as they grew older and as soon as he started work, Jim left the home and took a small flatlet in the East End of London. For several years he had a variety of clerical jobs. all at fairly low pay, existing most of the time on one meal a day, until finally he obtained a position as a clerk in a solicitor's office. The work was interesting and he studied hard, spending four eve- nings a week at night school, and after a couple of years his hard work earned it's reward when the boss took him into the firm in a junior capacity, as at the age of twenty five he still had another year of study before he could take his exams to qualify as a solicitor.

The previous year he had been forced by pressure

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