The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1912-11-15
WHAT A
CRACK DID
By SADIE oLooT1

Bernard Ellsworth. the only son OF
weaIthy parents. and Susie PtxIey
were playmates. When they grew up
Bernard went to another field Tor
awhile and during his absence corre-
sponded with Susie. Whether or no 1t
was absence, he discovered that ne
wanted her. Her parents were tn 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 q girl who
had not e prospects? He
her badly enough to make the pecuni-
airy sacrifice. but considered that Susie,
under the circumstances, should feel
highly 1attered.
Before his return he wrote her a
long letter which he considered con-
tanned a lot Of good sense, ending with
a proposition of marriage. When the
letter was delivered Susie was out. The
postman handed it to a maid. who left
it on a mantel with a crack in it, and
perhaps it was the modesty natural to
a love letter-it slipped down into the
crack out OF sight. When Susie came
In the maid told her that a letter had
come for her. and she was going to get
it when fate stepped in to play one of
those tricks so common in the affairs
of man and woman kind. There came
a ring at the telephone, followed by a
summons for Susie. The summons kept
her away all night. and the next day
her little brother was taken very III.
so 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 home a week
without calling she was surprised. 1t
did not seem that there was anything
to do In the matter. She was unc0n-
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 1t best to
break OF all intimacies with other girls.
Perhaps she would meet him and the
matter would be explained.
But that fate which had started the
misunderstanding kept it up. A num-
Der of times Bernard and Susie were
within a hundred feet of each other
without coming in contact. Once she
saw him crossing a street. but since
he was not facing her he did not see
her or. if he did. pretended he didn't.
| T4,ou ,,p10r <hn So n roof of GO
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 a
newspaper to see under large headlines
a notice OF the failure Of the Ellsworth
company. Incorporated. of which Ber-
nard's father was president and own
er 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 a letter coming at
such a time would be received in the
spirit with which it 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 a 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 it rich. Mr.. Pixley had
secured a nice block of the stock in
payment for organizing the company,
and 1t 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 as bad a snarl as possible and
having turned things completely up
side down, Instructed its imp to undo
everything that had been done. The
house the Pixleys lived in was very
much run down and it was decided to
make the necessary repairs and Inn
provements. One morning when me
chanics tearing everything to
pieces a workman who had Just pulled
down a mantel handed Susie a letter.
She recognized Bernard Ellsworth's
handwriting and at once opened 1t.
Since 1t was q long epistle she took 1t
to a portion Of the house that had not
yet been disturbed and read It
What q mess had been made BY q
bit Of a crack behind a mantell And
why shouldsit have required q tearing
sr.EAA A.