Evening star., 1911-01-22
THURLEY RUXTON
Continued from page 9

SO quickly!
A new tide of shame swept upward from
Thurley's heart, thus to be praised where
she should be blamed; but she sat her cousin
down and kissed away her tears, then started
a lively frsillade of cheers and questions,
while tearing the paper from three giant
chrysanthemums and plunging their stems
into vase of broken crockery that stood on
a dingy mantel shelf.
dts a wonder we haven't met before,
she said. a began to work in a downtown
office away back in the early part of the
summer But lot of the writing was the
sort | could do at home, and | was lonely
too, and trying to save my salary as much as
possible; SO | didn't attempt to go out very
much And New York is great big place,
anyway, and horrid. some parts of it. And
you've got to promise me right this minute
You'll go down to Lakewood or Atlantic
City; for a lady know insisted upon it the
very first thing, when | told her about you
this morning, and I've brought you the
money to pay all expenses for six or eight
weeks or more
Edith sat up and stared. 3Thurley Rux-
ton, she gasped, "what in the world are you
talking about, I'd like to know9 |? Go
away like that?'
Certainly" said Thurley. 4Don't you
want tor
in happiness and the sudden vanishment of
struggle. She cried again; but softly now,
and in a manner to comfort her being.
"You're taking your own precious money!
she said. IF you are, you sha' LII
never bulge step; for | know how hard it
is to eam!'
3I'm not" said Thurley, who had never
felt sense of actual ownership in the for
tune placed at her order in the bank. "1f
you don't accept this offer cheerfully and
bravely, recognizing one wo1nan's right in
helping another, shall be ashamed ever to
ask the giver again, and you don't know
what you may spoil for other girls
at seems too good to be true, said Edith,
would it do if took your earnings, Thurley,
and then later on you should be in this con-
dition yourself?" She waved her hand
weakly to indicate the shabbiness of the
apartment.
"We1l not talk about that" was Thur
ley's answer @I've been halfway promised
that you shall have an easy position at a
decent salary, whenever you're well enough
to come back to New York and accept it.
But the very first thing is to get you out of
here and off, where the change will be COM
plete. If you think you can 60 this after
noon, the fairy godmother said she'd send
III send you in number of things she said
you'd better have"
Again Edith stared in wan incredulity, her
hollow eyes big with astonishment. 3Why
but think of the money all that means!"
she exclaimed "How does it happen? How
did you find her? Think of the trust she
must have in Thurley, she must love you,
I'm sure love you dearly, as everyone does
you'v We ever known! Perhaps you can't tell
me much about hcr-they so rarely wish to
be known. But, oh, think it's beautiful to
be loved as they all love you'll
THURLEY remained for about two hours,
and departed then at Ediths reiterated
wish. The girl who had found the world so
hard was oversolicitous lest her cousin abuse
the privilege granted by some generous en-
ployer who had released her for the morning.
Recurrent waves of conscious guilt at her
inability to be absolutely frank and honest
a little marred Thurley's pleasure and
gnawed rather deep, especially at her cous-
ms appreciation of all she was attempting
at last to do. Nevertheless, the affection
she bestowed was genuine, as her sympathy
was true, and when she had gone she was
happier by far than for any day since Edith's
first letter had come.
With lavish hand and purse of magic
lresourcefulness she ordered outfits to be