Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1912-12-10
The Evening Story
WHAT A
CRACK DID
By SADIE oLcoTT

bernard went TO another nelo Tor
awhile and during his absence CORE
sponded with Susie. Whether or NO 1t
was absence, he discovered that he
wanted her. Her parents were In rath-
er straitened circumstances at the
time. and this caused the young man
to think that the question between
him and Susie was. should he. who
would inherit wealth, marry girl who
had not even prospects? He wanted
her badly enough to make the pecuni-
airy sacrifice. but considered that Susie.
under the circumstances, shonid feel
highly battered.
Before hls return no wrote her
long letter which he considered con-
tanned lot Of good sense. ending with
q proposition Of marriage. When the
letter was delivered Susie was out. The
postman handed IL to maid. who left
IL on mantel with q crack in It, and
perhaps 1t was the modesty natural to
love letter-it slipped down Into the
crack out Of sight. When Susie came
in the maid told her that letter had
como for her. and she was going to get
It when fate stepped in to play one Of
those tricks 80 common in tho affairs
Of man and woman kind. There came
q ring at the telephone. followed BY
summons for Susie. The summons kept
her away all night, and the next day
her little brother was taken very Ill.
30 that the matter slipped her mind.
When Bernard returned he did not
60 to see her, and when she learned
that he had been At homo q week
without calling she was surprised. 1t
did not seem that there was anything
to do In the matter. She was uncon-
scious Of having done anything to Of
fend him and, being sensitive. fan
cied that he might have met his fate
while away and thought It best to
break Oh all intimacies with other girls.
Perhaps she would meet him and the
matter weuld be explained.
But that fate which had started the
misunderstanding kept It up. A num-
Der Of times Bernard and Susie were
within q hundred feet Of each other
without coming In contact. Once she
saw him crossing q street, but since
he was not facing her he did not see
her or, II he did. pretended he didn't.
They were under the same roof at 90
cial gatherings twice, but the little imp
that fate set to keeping them apart
contrived that they should not be In
the Same room at the same moment.
Then one morning Susie took up
newspaper to see under large headlines
q notice Of the failure Of the Ellsworth
company, Incorporated, Of which Ber-
nard's father was president and own
err Of the majority Of the stock.
The day after this announcement
Bernard, who was sunk in dependency
consequent upon the family misfortune;
received a letter from his/old friend
Susie offering him her sympathy. One
would suppose such letter coming at
such time would be received In the
spirit with which 1t was sent But
Bernard considered himself to have
been badly treated-snubbed, In fact.
at receiving no reply to his letter Of
fering himself, and the epistle he now
received seemed to be adding insult to
injury. He tossed It in wastebas-
ket without reply.
Then fate, still bent ON playing its
little game. brought about another ele-
ment to complicate matters. Susie and
her father, who had long been keep
ing his family In straitened circum.
stances by trying to market inventions.
succeeded in getting capital for the
production of an electrical machine
which made every one even remotely
connected with 1t rich. Mr.. Pixley had
secured nice block OF the stock in
payment for organizing the company.
and It became a fortune.
But one thing prevented Susie from
being happy In her family's altered
fortune. She would have liked to
make her old friend Bernard happy In
some pecuniary way that was rather
vague in her inexperienced mind.
! Then fate. having got the matter
into ~ bad a snarl as possible and
4 having turned things completely up
side down. instructed its imp to undo
everything that had been done. The
house tho Pixleys lived In was very
much run down and Il was decided to
make the necessary repairs and I'm
provements. One morning when me-
chanics were tearing everything to
pieces q workman who had just pulled
down q mantel handed Susie letter.
She recognized Bernard Ellsworth's
handwriting and at once opened It
Since It was long epistls she took It
to q portion Of tho house that had not
yet been disturbed and read Il.
What q mess had been made by Z
bit Of Q crack behind mantell And
Why should It have required . tearing
up Of the house to straighten the mat
ter out? Why hadn't Bernard told her
what he had done and what she had
not done3 But, on the other hand. why
had she not made inquiries d him ~
Il TO what was the trouble1 Theu Z
A. .