Mine to Hold — Emily Thorne

Her first sight of the young man approaching the Bookmobile told Laura Crane that he definitely was not a native of Bronckville. Jeffrey Harrod was theatrically handsome, his manner urbane -- that he was from New York was no surprise. But the revelation that he was the nephew, newly discovered, of Cornelia Lamberston, wealthy Bronckville widow, and that he had come here to lure his aunt out of reclusion piqued Laura's curiosity.

Of all the towns on her two routes, Bronckville was Laura's favorite, for there, more than elsewhere, the Middleton County Bookmobile was eagerly awaited. Henny Siegeron, a shy, truant youngster, John Jacobs, costume-jewelry artisan; the teachers Dora Knight and Helen Kloos; and Mrs. Sironen were among Laura's favorite people. Of them all, only Mrs. Sironen didn't borrow from the Bookmobile, but without being malicious she could give Laura all the local news when the Bookmobile stayed in Bronckville overnight. She even had an inside source at the Lamberston mansion.

Laura first met Bronckville's new young doctor, Philip Lowton, when the Bookmobile got stuck on ice and he came to her assistance. The next time she saw him, it was in equally unfortunate circumstances. When he had come to her rescue the third time, at a fire that set all of Bronckville buzzing. Laura was certain he thought her a bungling, accident-prone ninny. What Philip Lowton really thought makes a delightful ending to Miss Thorne's story of a librarian and her Bookmobile.