Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1914-04-24
CHAPTER xx1-(conttnuedl

MARIAN drowned. Hen n Ben had
not improved Aurelie's good name in
ing he maiden stage tour. She rambled
on: NOW tell me, who made this up
TO come In and surprise me?"
Ihey looked at each other. I'VE met
mere tonight" said Harlan, lin the
"Indeed?" She read them q shre,yd
instant. AND do you like the piece?
I don't. It's silly, Mr.. Curran. / don't
think SO much of the stage as 1 did.
ITS all graft, and unless a girl is very
lucky she Won't get on unless
Aurelie paused-"unless she has the
rlgnt friends. But people have been
mighty good to me-"
II suspect, Aurelie," murmured Mr..
Curran, you are mighty good to them"
She gave Mr.. Curran a soulful enig-
matte glance. That's why 1 like you.
Mr. Curran! Just saying things like
that!" h sighed: Harlan wouldn't!"
n looked at him with long reproach.
Harlan could not smile. He was be-
whereby trying to imagine where
Aurelie had acquired all these manners
n yet not OVERLAND her naturalness.
h dressed beautifully, yet with taste,
even with all her old vagabond love
of colors. She made them live with
health. Cohan & Snitz knew this inn
press on the audiences. Pretty things
AA0 ouL OIlc Ol LII ICNlCW.
ers talked of Aurelie and the psychol-
ogy of dress, n Aurelie shuddered.
LIE bon Dieu. did not psychology have
to do with ghosts!
She went on pl%aintively merry:
Sometimes I do get tired. Ada Nor
man says I haven't enough talent to
go on except my face. Just like a lot
pretty soon I'll ave to depend on the
masseurs. and grease paint won't make
up what / lose. Then ling! says
Ada!" Aurelie looked thoughtfully at
them both. But you know I don't care.
I'm going to save my money, and have
a cunning little place and some babies.
and go hunting rabbits sometime with
Uncle Mich in the snow!"
"That is a large and brilliant pro-
gram. Aurelie!" Mr.. Curran had to
laugh. Harlan's smile came doggedly
at last. 1t was hard to resist her
spirits. She was unspoiled, but joy had
been set free! In the hearts Of both
men a grown a miserable shame that
they had quarreled over Joe Benham.
The gilded youth, and the blatant press
for Aurelie who was thinking of Old
Michigan and tracking rabbits in the
snow!
h vent on stabbing the town and
stage folk with a vtvacious and heed
less wit. She asked of Rome, Iowa. So
11dTldIl was III pOL1IlCS. Wudl WIS 11o
running for? She just couldn't remem-
Der when she told the comedian whom
she had the date" with tonight. She
had said her friend was running for the
p~enitentiary! And Mon Dieu, the
comedian ~interpolated this in his lines
and broke her all up with laughing.
And the house didn't know. Of course
but 1t laughed with her!
Harlan listened. A Van Hart
chuckled at by a comedy man-and
chucked into his lines was exasperat-
ing-as e~xasperating as trying to be
stern with Aurelie! She was bubbling
with laughter. District attorney! OF
course! Something long and import
ant! 1 didn't mean the penitentiary!"
laughing with her-almost. Only the
desperate hurt was there. And not for
worlds would they have mentioned Joe
Benham. Wiley looked t~riumphantly
across the table at Harlan. Right?
OF course he was right.
But why did you come, Mr.. Cur
ran? Just to see me?"
out the rosary, and her cry of joy, the
quick rush of tears to her eyes was re-
ward. She had the lost trinket to her
lips, to the amazement Of all the after
theater feeders.
1.-THE boys found it behind the clap
OOdCUS Ill your .llIIlS Wl1lI0 AOVkL.
Its just as you left 1t. They keep
It waiting for you, Aurelie."
And then she cried indeed amid the
cafe feeders. Wiley looked away. "a
child-just a child, yes, Harlan" he
muttered, and the other nodded.
'sThey all love YOU. Even John. Your
help and gifts and letters-why, even
all!''
II loved him, too-only he was too re-
ligious for mel"
Mr.. Curran pointed at the rosary. $50
you are. Aurelie. Or thinking Of Uncle
Mich and Peter and the baby wouldn't
make you cry-among this sort OF peo.
Pile! And this queer little chain of
and I know where it came from"
Her eyes widened. my mothers?
Yes-yes-but where?"
New Orleans. A crazy silversmith on
Charities street who thought he was a
genius. So he marked all his rosaries
and never. made much else"
"why, 1 had it when I lone come up
river. When Captain Tfnkletoes stole
me! Uncle Michigan says he thought
I was a boy when they stole mel"
81 know Mich's old yarn. But this
rosary-I hate to show you-but-the
Cross is gone.a
She looked qinckly at him. He so un-
derstood what 1t would mean to her.
And Harlan, watching the two. saw
what q commcn piece of sentiment they
were. the same Migrants of soul. ..,
IT wouldn't say anything about It,"
murmured Aurelie, 'only It was my
mothers. AND it's dreadful not to have
q mother-onIy Ada Norman and
hairdresser!" She left al arch sad
smile with Mr.. Curran. Sometimes, I'd
rather not be a homeless stray. But
I ppo people must go rafting on
in their harness and do tho
things they love. Sometimes, I get the
old longing to run off down-river with