Middletown transcript., 1907-10-12

cence tribe accentuated By wifely anx'
iety, watched him.
Well, Mary. lie said finally With
forced laugh, il tile worst come to the
worst, You can put up yonr ge@ gaMs--
be nodded toward her dressing table, gay
with silver. and the suiall sals where t1er
Jewels we're stored.
Nonsense! replied Mrs. Brady Win
feeble vigor, Tie worst isn't going 70
come to the worst. They'll have 70 hire
the New. There isn't another place ~
tile city with decent stage now that the
Globes burned.
That doesn't make any difference TO
simlns, interrupted her husband. he
says they'll skip Empire City altogether
and take all their shows to Andalusia.
Oil The fiat tone OF Mrs. Brady's
monosyllable bespoke at least a illallen-
tary hopelessness.
If he does, Brady went on, I'm done
for. The strikes and that suit against
LawIor almost finished me last season.
And now, if all the regular attractions
pass me by.if the New Opera House i
practically idle the whole season, I'm
done for That's the Whole of il.
OF course you couidn't-couidn't do
what be wants? The sick woman hlnshed
guiltily as she made the tentative sug-
gestion.. Brady brought his brows to-
pether in a frown and bent his eyes upon
her.
Are you crazy, Mary? he demanded.
Did you ever know me to 60 back on
bargain?
No, faltered the vile. Of course, |
knew you couldn't. 0nly-onr expenses
what with Molly's graduating and my
being i'll so long-oil, Of course, you
couldn't
Nevertheless she sighed. Sine held
rather feminine notions of business obli-
cations. II did seem too bad, she said to
herself, that Joe. with the New Opera
House on his hands, should lose the
entire seasons booking Of regular"
attractions because he had already signed
for paltry two weeks Of independent"
productions
After all you've done fIr Lem Si,nms,
too she finished her musings resentfully.
Alb, we'll, that was all of fifteen years
ago, and he's been east since, where they
don't remember fayora so long. Anyway.
Simms is under orders he's hired man,
and
He said at first that he was to use lis
own Judgment
In limited kind OF way, I'm thinking.
/ tell you what it is, Joe. Lem Sinms
has never been the same man since he
married that yomanl
1t does seem to have soured him bit,
admitted Mr.. Brady indifferently.
He might have known. A man can't
marry woman Of that sort and expect to
be happy. But he needn't take his dis
appointment out on other people.
l never heard that they didn't get
along all right, or that she-acted as you
might have expected her to act, Mr.,
Brady mildly corrected his wife's' views
Indeed, they say she'ssort Of dog grateful
to him for taking her out Of all
Ssh warned Mrs. Brady. Here comes
Molly.
For Molly to come into a room meant
always that window had been run VI
and that warm, sunny breeze with The
scent of cut grass and blooming lilacs
blew freshly in. You perceived at onet
that it would be as inappropriate to speal
of dubious things in her presence as t.
talk scandal to wild rose swaying on it
briery stem.
She leaned across her mothers bed Il
lay a flower in her hand and kiss upof
her cheek. Then she seated herself OF
the arm Of her fathers chair and bubblee
into speech.
got the drawing-room, she announced
Just tfink-it's the very last time II
ever have to leave you two. For you ar
coming East Christmas-and won't W,
show Chicago thing or two thenl Ant
in June Pm coming home TO stay 70
always and ever. Mother, I'm half glat
you've been sick-it gave me two NOR,
months at home. 1t seems silly to sent
me back before Thanktgiying.-0h
yes'm, Pm packed.
hate to have you take the trip alone
fretted Mrs. Brady.
You'd think | was baby protested
Miss Brady Indignantly.
And what else would you be calling
yourself7 Inquired her father, pinchini
her ear.
Mind, Molly, no train acqnaintances
warned her mother.
And get good, sensible meals, addet
her father.
Why don't you put me in the con
ductor's care and have done with it
cried the girl with mock resentment
Tag me-Molly Brady from Empire City
Oregon please forward to the ConveDto
the Blessed Name, Evansville, III. The,
you'd be sure was safe
Then her pretence of gay cheer chokee
her, and she fell silent and studied ttt
foot OF her mothers bed with close at
tention. She hated to leave her home
she mated the long, lonely journey. No
even the pride Of making It alone for th'
first time could sustain her just then. II
her treacherous lips shook ,and throngi
the mist in her eyes she could not see he
parents telegraph each other the warning
Mind, not word Of this new worry /,
her.
When Molly awoke. the SECOND morn
ing out of Empire City, she found hersel
shivering. There was no motion o
wheels, no laborious painting Of the en-
gines through the snowy sleeps. Shs
ran up the curtain Of her window and
peered out. The train lay exactly Wher.
it had lain the night before. Fifteer
hours. now, the same panorama had beer
presented to the view of the Eastward