The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1913-04-10

three; she and Bernies having been
the offspring Of Danny Iverson's sec
ond alliance with q woman Of roman
tic tendencies. which had no way OF
expressing themselves except In the
naming Of her children. Hazel. while
yet In her teens, had married a clerF
in jewelry store, called Josh McCrae.
1t had been a happy marriage. After
the birth Of a daughter, Hazel had re-
turned to her work as saleslady in q
fashionable millinery. Both sisters.
Josh, and the child, had continued to
live together in domestic harmony, in
the house which Hannah. with the
savings Of a quarter Of a century. had
finally cleared of all mortgages and
now owned. No household could
have been more simply decent and
honest; no family more unaspiringly
content. In such an environment Ber-
nice. with her daring ambitions and
bold unscrupulousness, was like that
unaccounted-for blossom which In the
floral world is known as a sport"
But it did not appear that she re-
garded herself as such. With the ex-
ception of year spent In Los An
geles and Chicago she had been
member Of the household from her
childhood till the day Of her marriage.
The year Of absence had been the re-
suit Of sudden revolt against the
monotony of life and surroundings, an
upwelling OF the restless ambitions
that preyed upon her. A good position
had been offered her in Los Angeles
and she had accepted 1t with eager
ness, thankful for the opportunity to
see the world, and break away, so she
said, from the tameness Of her situa-
ton, the narrowness Of her circle.
The spirit of adventure carried her
farther afield, and she penetrated as
far across the continent as Chicago,
where she WAS employed in one Of the
most prosperous business houses, earn
ing a large salary. But, like many
Californians, homesickness seized her,
and before the year was out she was
back, inveighing against the eastern
manners, character, and climate, and
glad to shake down again into the
family nest. Her sisters were salts
fed with her account Of her wander
ings, not knowing that Bernice was a.
much of an adept at telling half
story as she was at taking down a
dictation in typewriting. She was too
clever to be found out in lie; they
were altogether too simple to suspect
her apparent frankness.
After the excursion she remained at
home until her marriage. Her liaison
with Dominick was conducted with
the utmost secrecy. Her sisters had
not q suspicion Of 1t. knew nothing
but that the young man was attentive
to her, till she told them Of her 0p-
preaching marriage. This took place
in the parlor Of Hannah's house, and
the amazed sisters, bewildered by Ber-
ny's glories, had waited to see her
burst into the inner glories Of fashion
and wealth with tiara OF diamonds
on her head and ropes Of pearls about
her throat. That no tiara was forth
coming, no pearls graced her bridal
parure, and no Ryan ever crossed the
threshold of her door, seemed to the
loyal Hannah and Hazel the most
unmerited and inexplicable injustice
that had ever come within their ex-
perience.
It took Bernice some time to dress,
for she attached the greatest lmpor-
tance to all matters Of personal adorn-
ment. and the lunch hour was at hand
when she alighted from the Hyde
Street car and walked toward the
house. 1t was on one Of those streets
which cross Hyde near the slope Of
Russian Hill, and are devoted to the
habitats of small, thrifty householders.
A staring. bright cleanliness is the
characteristic Of the neigh
borhood, the cement sidewalks always
swept, the houses standing back in
tiny squares Of garden, clipped and
trimmed to a precise shortness Of
grass and straightness Of border. The
sun was now broadly out and the