Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-04-07
+cHAprEn Xxx.

had discovered box Of bonbons that
she had forgotten, and we divided
them around. Aunt Selma asked for
the canAied fruit and got it-quite .
third Of tho box. We gathered In the
lower hail and on the stairs and nib
blsd nauseating sweets while Mr..
HARRISON examined the telephone.
He did not glance In my direction.
Betty and Dial were helping him. and
he seemed very cheerful. MAX sat
with mo on the stairs. Mr.. Harrison
had Just unscrewed the telephone box
from the wall and was squirting into
Il, when Bella came downstairs. It
was her first appearance. but a. she
was always late, nobody noticed.
When she stopped. Just above US on
the stairs, however. we looked up.
and she was holding to the rail and
trembling perceptibly.
"Mr. HARRISON. will you-can you
como upstairs?' she asked. Her voice
was strained, almost reedy, and her
Lips were white.
Mr.. HARRISON stared up at her. with
the telephone box in his hands.
'sWhy-er-certainly he said, but
unless its very important, I'd like to
Ax this talking machine. We want to
make food record"
I'D like to break food record"
Max put In, but Bella created q d.
version BY sitting down suddenly on
the stair Just above us. and burying
her face In her handkerchief.
Tim IL SICK" she said. with q sob.
~He-he doesn't want anything to
eat, and his head aches. He-said for
me-tof 60 away and let him diet"
Dal dropped the hammer immedi-
ately. and Lollie Mercer sat petrined.
with q bonbon halfway to her mouth.
For. Of course. it was unexpected.
finding sentiment Of any kind in
Bella, and none Of them knew about
the scene IN the den in the smail
Eours Of the morning.
"sick!" Aunt Selma said. from .
hall chair. "sick! Where?'
"Au over" Bella quavered. His
poor head is hot, and he's thirsty. but
he doesn't want anything but wa
ter"
Great scott!" Dial said suddenly.
6UpP0B0 0O 6uVOAV"O0AAoS 0AO yOO
telling NJ all his sympt6ms?"
Bella put down her handkerchief
and got up. From her position on the
stairs she looked down on us with
something Of her old naughty manner.
III he II III. you may blame your.
selves. all Of yoS." she said cruelty.
"You tainted him with beinE-fat,
and laughed at him, until no stopped
eating the things he should eat. And
he has been exercisinS-on the roof,
until he has worn himself out. And
movie Is i'll He-he has rash"
Everybody Jumped at that. and We
tnstinctively moved away from Bella.
She was quite cold and scornful BY
that time.
"A rash!- Max exclaimed. What
sort Of rash!''
II did not see It." Bella said with
dignity. and turning she went up the
stairs.
There was q great deal Of excite
mont, and nobody except Mr. Harbi-
SON was willing tQ go near Jim. He
went up at once with Bella. while
Max and Dial sat cravenly downstairs
end wondered IL we would all take 1t.
and Anne told about man she knew
who had 1t, and YES deaf and dumb
and blind when he recovered.
Mr.. HARRISON came down after .
while. and said that the rash was
there, right enough, and that Jim Alb
solutely refused to be guaranteed;
that he insisted that he always got q
rash from early strawberries and that
II he did have anything. since they
were so touchy he hoped they would
all get II. II they locked him in he
would kick the door down.
We had long conference In tho
hall, with Bella sitting red-eyed and
Directing to every suggestion We
made. And finally we arranged to
shut Jim up in one Of the servants
bedrooms with q sheet wrunE out Of
disinfectant hung over the door. Bella
said she would sit outside In the hall
and read to him through the closed
door. 30 finally he gave . grudging
consent. But he was in an awful hu.
NOR. Max and Dial put on rubber
gloves and helped him over, and they
said afterward that the way he talked
vas fearful. And there was q tele.
phone in the maids room, and he
kept asking for things every I'VE
minutes.
when the doctor came he said It
was too early to tell positively. and
he ordered him liquid diet and said
he would be back that evening.
~ ~ y,ys!ch-khe diet-takes me back to
the famine. After they had moved
Jim, Mr.. HARRISON went back to the
telephone. and found everything a.
Il should be. 80 he followed the tele.
phone wire, and the rest followed
him. did not: He had systematical
" Ignored me Ill morning. after hav-
,lnx dared TO kiss me the night before.
And any other man knew. after look.
ing at mo the way he had looked q
dozen times, would have been ct least
reasonably glad 70 ind me free and
unmarried. But It was clear that he
was not: wondered II he was the
kind Of man who always makes love
20 the other mans wife and runs like
mad when she u left widow. or gets
= divorce.
And Just when ! had decided that
hated hin. and that there was enc
man knew who would never ma1a
lave 20 woman whom he thought