The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1910-08-04
BY Mary Roberts Rinehart
(oopyright, 1909, The Bobbs-sIerrin Company

cruelty. "You tainted him with
being-fat, and laughed at him.
until he stopped eating the things
he should eat. And he has been
'exercising-on the roof, until he
has worn himself out. And now
he is i'll. He-he has a rash"
Everybody jumped at that, and
We instinctively moved away from
Bella. She was quite cold and
scornful by that time.
"A rash!" Max exclaimed.
What sort of rash?"
Il did not see it," Bella said
with dignity, and turning she
went up the stairs.
There was great deal of ex-
element, and nobody except Mr..
HARRISON was willing to go near
Jim. He went up at once with
Bella, while Max and Dial sat era
venly downstairs and wondered If
we would all take it, and Anne
told about man she knew who
had it, and was deaf and dumb
and blind when he recovered.
Mr.. HARRISON came down after
a while, and said that the rash
was there, right enough, and that
Jim absolutely refused to be quar-
antined; that he insisted that he
always got a rash from early
Strawberries and that if he did
have anything, since they were
so touchy he hoped they would all
get it. If they locked him in he
would kick the door down.
We had a long conference in
the hall, with Bella sitting red
eyed and Directing to every sug-
gestion we made. And finally we
arranged to shut Jim up in one of
the servants bedrooms with a
sheet wrung out of disinfectant
hung over the door. Bella said
she would sit outside in the hall
and read to him through the
closed door, so finally he gave
grudging consent. But he was in
an awful humor. Max and Dial
put on rubber gloves and helped
him over, and they said after
ward that they way he talked
was fearful. And there was a
telephone in the maids room, and
he kept asking for things every
five minutes.
When the doctor came he said
| it was too early to tell positive
ly, and he ordered him liquid diet
and said he would be back that
evening.
Which-the diet-takes me
back to the famine. After they
had moved Jim, Mr.. HARRISON
went back to the telephone, and
found everything as it should be.
so he followed the telephone wire,
and the rest followed him. l did
not: he had systematically ig-
nored me all morning, after hav-
ing dared to kiss me the night be-
fore. And any other man knew,
after looking at me the way he
had looked a dozen times, would
have been at least reasonably
glad to find me free and unmar-
ried. But it was clear that he was
not: l wondered if he was the kind
of man who always makes love to
the other mans wife and runs like
mad when she is left a widow, or
gets a divorce.
And just when I had decided
that | hated him, and that there
was one man 1 knew who would
make love to woman whom he
thought married and then be very
dignified and aloof when he
found she wasn't, I heard what
was wrong with the telephone
wire.
1t had been cut, Cut through
with a pair of silver manicure
| scissors from the dressing-table
in Bella's room, where Aunt Sell
ma slept! The wire had been
clipped where it came into the
houoc, just uuueI d WlHuOW, ana
the scissors still lay on the sill.
1t was mysterious enough, but
no one was interested in the mys-
terry just then. We wanted food,
and wanted 1t at once. Mr.. Har-
bison fixed the wire, and the first
thing we did, of course, was to
order something to eat. Aunt Sc
lima went to bed just after lunch
con with indigestion, to the relief
of everyone in the house. She had
been most unpleasant all morning.
When she found herself i'll,
however, she insisted on having
Bella, and that made trouble at
once. We found Bella with her
cheek. against the door into Jim s.
room, looking maudlin while he
shouted love messages to her
HAPPY WOMEN