The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1914-10-08


cashiers desk, with its salary of $4,000
a year, had seemed but a step away,
just step away-yet 25 years were
to bring it not one inch closer Ii
might have been different in Major
Black had lived. But one morning the
Majors heart had gons back on him
and he had died without having time
to even mako will. And directly
thereafter things began to break badly
for Jones
Blacks death had left room for q
step up all along the line. What actual
ly happened was that everybody step
ped up except Jones, the second assist
ant being pushed over his head to the
cashiers desk. Again Jones lived over
the disappointment he had felt then
One day, some three months later, a
messenger boy had come into the bank
with word that he was wanted at home
at once. When he had arrived there
DR.. Anson had opened the door for him.
He remembered how grave the express
sion on the physician 8 face had been.
"You'd better come right upstairs, "
the other had said. "She's been ask
ing for you.
Upstairs he had found his wife lying
in bed, a pink little object beside her.
She had smiled weakly at him, closed
her eyes, and sighed deeply; and then
DR.. Anson had laid hand across his
shoulders.
"she's gone, Jones'" he had said
simply.
The next time someone had been
showed over Jones head he hsdn t
cared so much. 1t hadn't seemed to
matter, somehow. For q long time
nothing had seemed to matter very
much. When he had finally begun to
take a new interest in life, he had real
lied that an advancement was out Of
the question. A fixture he was and
a fixture he would stay. When the
others moved, it was taken for grant
ed and as a matter Of course that he
should stand still
And now he was to be let ou.. This
was the end, then. After IS years of
slavery, he was to be-
A clock struck off the hour Of ten.
Jones started and climbed down from
his stool. He realized, all at once, that
the place was very cold. He tried to
speak cheerful word to the watch
man as he went out, but somehow what
he said did not sound cheerful
Reaching home, Jones went straight
to his room. He had been there but
few minutes when he heard the door
open. Glancing up he saw Gertie com
ing towards him. Her cheeks were un-
naturally flushed and her eyes were
unnaturally bright. She sat down on
the arm of his chair and put her arm
around him, and then suddenly she
buried her face in his vest front.
"F-father," she sobbed, "I-I c.
couldn't. He-he asked me TOTO
marry him, and I c--couldn't refuse
h-him. He only gets s-seventy-five
dollars a month, b--but II love
him."
"Why, what in the world!" ex-
claimed Jones, raising her face.
"Oh, II know IN ungrateful and
and s-selfish, b-but when Tom
my asked me I c-couldn't say no. I
I just Couldn't. I"
Suddenly Jones saw light. He saw
what she had done and why she was
crying about it, and he saw, too, what
his course must be. He forced a smile
to his face.
"Well, Gertie, what are you crying
abouti" he asked. "You re not sorry
you accepted him already, are youf"
Gertie frightened little behind her
tears.
"But-but Mr.. Quigley won v"
"Oh, bother Quigley" Jones ex-
claimed lightly--he made it come light
ly. "I wouldn It think Of allowing you
to marry him unless you loved him,
and you know it. Anyhow, what if |
am let out of the Beardstown Nationali
1 can get" He paused moment and
swallowed. he had meant to say that
he could get plenty Of other positions,
but those clear gray eyes would not
}. alk h-r