The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1914-12-07

And their London apartment she pic
tured with an almost homesick throb.
After the excitement of travelling.
there Is always a let down" in getting
home. And now instead OF a feeling OF
relief at having left a wAr-menaced
country. Helen had a lurking TO be
back there.
How she dreaded the u~npacking,
Every article would bring a rush OF
memories OF those weeks in London
that now seemed 70 wonderful. Even
. the labels on her trunk were a remind
er. as IL were OF past pleasures.
Never had her home life appeared so
humdrum. so DULY uneventful. She
shrank from taking up it's daily rou-
tine. Yet with the feeling that such
thoughts were disloyal. she tried to
crush them IA
She had turned on the heat and the
sizzling OF the radiators emphasized
the loneliness OF the place. Every
thing was covered with dust. She
sazed about helplessly-where should
she begin7
When she had changed her travelling
suit for IN one kimono. Helen went
out to look for a dust cloth. As she
swung open the kitchen door there
was a sound of dripping water. start
lirgly loud in the Stiffness
Stumbling against a sharp corner OF
the table. she groped in the dark for
the light. One OF the faucets in the
pantry sink was leaking, No. Il
was not turned Off, Had II been
dripping all these weeks?
Nora was too careless. They
should never have left her close the
apartment. but Warren had insisted
that IL would be all right.
How had h left the refrigeratory
a strong. musty odor greeted Helen
as b opened IL. Far back was a
couple of shriveled tomatoes. In a
greasy brown paper was a piece OF
bacon green with mold. And her last
warning 10 Nora had been to leave
nothing in the ice box,
There were no clean busters. Nora
had left them all in the bottom OF
tic broom closet. black as floor
cloths.
. Not having the heart to investigate
further. Helen turned of the kitchen
light. In the hail closet rag bag. she
found one OF Warren's old under
shirts which she took for a buster.
Ever the toilet things on her dres-
ser Nora had not put away. and the
air had furnished the silver and
rusted the pins in the cushion.
The first thing tomorrow she would
call up that Danish employment
agency. She ould never a k Nora
back, OF that she was srimly determ-
ined.
The sno blew in from the outside
sill as she raised the window to shake
out the dust cloth. II was piercingly
cold. The win vas growing strong.
er. II ratified the window panes with
a dismal whine. oh, why had War
rem gone down to the office on such
a night? How desolate II must be in
that great deserted building with only
the night Waterman on guard.
She pictured him unlocking his dark
once with the silent covered type
writers. the closed desks and safe. He
mad AIKEN her there once at night.
and she had never forgotten that i'm.
preston of deathlike stiffness. OF tense
suspended activity.
Her nerves already taut. she startled
violently as b phone shrilled out. IL
was warren, He was calling her up
Just to break the awful loneliness of
that office. She few into the front
room, falling over an open suit case IN
her eaEerness.
"Helloi" joyfully.
Number, please" snapped central.
"Why-you called met"
Mistake. 'Cuse it, please"
Resentful and disappointed, Helen
turned away. The wind was now
shaking the windows with a whistling
wall She thought OF Il bowling
through those deserted c~anyon-like
streets around Warren's Office.
lmpulsively she turned back to the
'phone-she would call him.
Cortland. 142Si" Then she waited
eagerly. II bad been so long since she
had heard Warren's voice on the wire.
There had been no occasion to phone
him in London.
h could heal the buzzing at the
other end. but the expected click of
his taking down the receiver did not
come. Then at last. Cortland 1928
don't answer"
"Oh. ring them again. central. I'm
sure some ones there"
Another long wait. then centraIs
voice with a note OF fnality. They
don't answer I'll ring you II get
them"
Bafied. Helen hung up the receiver.
lie must be there, II was only thirty
minutes to his Office. n Il had been
an hour since he left.
Naguely anNiOus, she went back TO
her work. Taking on the dusty sheet
that had protected the bed. she turned
down the covers and laid out her
night-dress and W~arren's pajamas.
Somehow the bed. now ready for the
night, gave the first touch Of home to
the place.
Three times within the next half
hour she called Warren's Office. but
still that battling Cortland 1923 don't
answer
Even n he had started home before
her first call. he would be here by now
What could II mean Every gruesome
possibility now obscssed hcr-an acct.
dent In the subway. In crossing n dark
street, or In the elevator. run BY the
sleepy Waterman.
Was this p swift punishment for her
rebelliOus thoughts AZ the m%onotonous
routine Of their home? Was this rou.
tine 70 be broken by some tragedy -
Abiect In her remorse. with n tempea.
tuous change Of feeling. her home life
now seemed ideal n only nothing had
happened 10 Warren
BY ~ o'clock Helen had worked