New-York tribune., 1913-07-20


it was not hard, really, to handle him. And then he
gave no trouble. She had always been strong woman,
and age had not, far, impaired her strength much
After all She wasn't very old: still IN the FIRST hall Of
her sixties.
But there was no getting away from the fact that lie
was dull Hiram entertained very little, In the social
sense of the word and never at his own house Tie re.
paid his social Obligations periodically with dinner at
the hotel. He had never in his best days, been what
one would call viyaciouS She couldn't thin. what Ada
had ever seen in him that had made her wan. 20 marry
him; although, of course herrcscntmcn over , having
Tilted her for Peter Darvcls widowed daughter was easy
To- understand. Indeed, she shared It herself.
Jp to the time when old Peter had had Us stroke,
and Hiram had offered her her present position She had
for many years been the principal proc>-,'' nuTSt IN
the town: not trained nurse in the modern slien'hc
sense but the only sort our mothers knew. She got
more money for that than Hiram offered a.- but he
life was harder and the expenses more.
If there was any feeling in the back Of mind that
the new position might some day give h.~ % oppo
tuuity to even up the grldge she bore ag.'. I'D Oar
vcs worthy Sonn-law, she was not cons,i.- aat she
thought Of it that way.
Ithad really been old Peters fault, Of cou- Hehad
engineered the match between Hiram AMI ne But
the Judgment of Heaven had fallen upon .w in the
form of the stroke, and that score was i. Is .or
IIiram-wcl, II was Ada herself who had l mat i1ea
into her head
Ad. had smiled when she told hcrabout -ew posi-.
ton-that grim, hari-fnishcd smile of h...-.nd rc-
marked that Hiram had something coming '1 some
day and that II would be amusing to see II " . the H.
side
Old Mrs. Harper was secretly proud Of Adj. though
she protcsscd and with sincerity di,aprr H, her
They hadn't met above half dozen tlnly~ ..e Ala
had left Edmonton. on thoS, occasions There come
a letter with money in il and an invitation " to"n
10 Chicago or Cleveland cor, once or twice, ... OK
for a little visit rs rule these visits coin with
similar absences Of Ada's husband. Ada hal -tainly
turned fashionable. The like of the clothc- wore
was never seen in Edmonton.
1t was q long time, though, al of three or " years,
of l.ff ID rta
ony And life, as she often complained, was ...
RUT beginning at eleven o'clock on Tues night,
II when Hiram came back uncNpcctclK iru- aCago
in q very bad temper, things began To- happen , were
not only interesting, but in some cases quite count
able.
IIiram's bad temper was not anything Of the
ordinary these days to be sure. He had bee aacker
and GUNNER for the last six months than She ID ever
known him before 1t wasn't unusual cithc, hat he
should have taken Dr. Aliens message n' emily
He had often said he wished the old doctor leave
his fathcr-in-law alone. He didn't need mcl atteil-
on. really, and the old man was simply trying 20 run
up bills.
~Thi, time he said its important Mrs Harper had
insisted. "You TO call him up the very rinnue
you got back from Chicago. He said WIS ' keep at
you till you did, because it something you'd want
to know about"
Hiram had looked rather queer at that she rcnem-
bcrcd, rs IT, for just second, he was frightened nat
something unusual certainly. She had never seen
that sort of look in his face before II gone IN an
instant, and he said all right, he'd call up IN quite his
old, sharp, contcmptuous way and moved oh then anu
there TO the telephone.
Mrs. Harper would have liked to stay and hear
HiramS end of the talk But just then another unpIE
cdcntcd thing happened. The doorbcll rang. And II
was already after midnight But that WAS nothing to
what followed. For the person who had ruug the ben
handed in yellow telegraph cnvclop addressed TO Ms
Harper herself She had never had q telegram before
and she signed for it in rather Shaby way, and Shu
the door upon the messenger and then down on T
bottom step of the stairs, underneath the rcd-Shad'u
chandelier and wondered what it could be about. ,
Something about Ada, surely. Ada probapP
dead And she canvaSscd half dozen possible causes
e IL fis pnNe