The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1912-12-26
WHAT A
CRACK DID
BY SADIE OLCOTT

Bernard went TO another neld Tor |
awhile and during his ..bsence 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.
nnder the circumstances. should feel
highly tiattered.
Before his return he wrote her
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 maid. who left
it on mantel with 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
it when fate stepped in to play one of
those tricks 50 common in the affairs
of man and woman kind There came
a ring at the telephone, followed by IA
summons for Susie. The summons kept
her away all night, and the next day
her little brother was taken very Ill.
so that the matter slipped her mind.
o,-J 4 H.~ 4 ,Nf
go to see her, and when she learned
that he had been at home 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 off 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-
ber of times Bernard and Susie were
within a hundred feet Of each other
without coming In contact. Once she
saw him crossing street, but since
he was not facing her he did not see
her or, if he did, pretended he didn't.
They were under the same roof at So
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
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 despondency
consequent upon the family misfortune
received letter from his old friend
Susie offering him her sympathy. One
would suppose such letter coming al
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 tC
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 anC
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.. PiXey hat
secured nice block of the stock il
payment for organizing the company
and it became IA fortune.
But one thing prevented Susie from
being happy in her familys altered
fortune. She would have liked tC
make her old friend Bernard happy ID
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 i'm
provements. One morning when me
chanics were tearing everything to
pieces a workman who had just pulled
down mantel handed Susie a letter
She recognized Bernard Ellsworth's
handwriting and at once opened it
Since it was long epistle she took il
to portion of the house that had not
yet been disturbed and read it,
What mess had been made by a
bit of a crack behind a mante! And
why should it have required a 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 done? But. on the other hand, why
had she not made inquiries Of him as
to what was the trouble? Then a
flush of pleasure came to her at re-
membering that when that letter was
| written Bernard was rich and she was