The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-11-08
WHAT A
CRACK DID
BY SADIE oLcoTT

were playmates. When they grew u
Bernard went to another field 70
awhile and during his absence CORE
sponded with Susie. Whether or no
,, was absence, he discovered that h
wanted Ter. Her parents were in rath
err straitened circumstances at tn
time, and this caused the young mai
to think that the question between
him and Susie was, should he, wht
would inherit wealth, marry girl WHIT
had not even prospects? He wanted
her badly enough to make the pecuni
airy sacrifice, but considered that Susie
under the circumstances, should fee
highly fattered.
Before his return he wrote her O
long letter which he considered con.
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 1t, and
perhaps 1t was the modesty natural to
a love letter-it slipped down into the
/ Nldth Oui VI oiSul. w Itu Guult
in the maid told her that letter had
come for her, and she was going to get
1t 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 Ill,
so that the matter slipped her mind.
| When Bernard returned he did not
go to see her, and when she learned
that he had been at home week
without calling she was surprised. II
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 1t best to
break or all intimacies with other girls
Perhaps she would meet him and the
matter would be explained.
But that fste which had started the
misunderstanding kept 1t 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 street, but since
he was not facing her he did not see
her or, IL 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
n@,{, hat oh no tn
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 n
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 a 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 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,
In getting capital for the
production of an electrical machine
which made every one even remotely
with 1t rich. Mr.. Pixley had
secured nice block of the stock in
payment for organizing the company,
md 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
nto as bad a snarl as possible and
having turned things completely up
'ide down, instructed its imp to undo
that had been done. The
louse the Pixleys lived In was very
much run down and 1t was decided to
make the necessary repairs and i'm
One morning when me-
hanics were tearing everything to
ieces a workman who had just pulled
own a mantel handed Susie letter.
The recognized Bernard Ellsworths
and at once opened IL
ince 1t was long epistle she took il
0 a portion of the house that had not
ct been disturbed and read 1t.
What a mess had been made by
ii of crack behind a mantell And
Thy should it have required tearing
D of the house to straighten the mat
sr out? Why hadn't Bernard told her
hat he had done and what she had
OF done? But. on the other hand. why
ad she not made inquiries of him as