Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1914-04-09
CHAPTER Xxx (continued).

@2 csyrisA<.
CHAPTER Xxx (continued).
Done quit. My little girl did it, Mr..
Hemm1nger. She and Mr.. Curran, they
done want me to quit. Mr.. Curran and
u little girl"
MI. Hemminger drove OF with a sigh.
Inc story Of them actresses" had done
Mr.. Curran no good. despite his win
ming fight. Neither did his Quixotic
championship of the pocket squatters.
MI. Curran was always meddling in
some Improbable affair. the defender
or some lame-dog case. When Mr..
Hemminger reached Janet Vance's Of
fee to discuss the new seats for his
district school with her. he touched on
Mr.. Curran's weaknesses. Somebody
ought to hold Wiley in tight, Miss
Vance. He needs it. And he's coming
on 20 big, Wiley is."
h smiled. wondering what curious
pain 1t gave her to hear Curran praised
by these rugged men Of the country
farmer constituents took q shy graft
fcation in Janet's appreciation Of their
homely affairs. They were proud Of
her also. odd Jake's girl was a smart
one-maybe h would marry this new
nghting governor who was SO mighty
AteSA SoIC0 VI ACIi ouI IIleu IIlGT6 WAS
Wiley Curran! They were proud of
him. too.
An hour later. glancing out, she saw
Curran and Hemmtnger together. their
shoulders to a heavy casting, which
some farmer was trying to load in his
wagon at Dickinson's warehouse. And
ngain her faint smile came. Yes. they
loved him-they had made place for
him. And she? Well. she had done
he part also for him. And she knew
him SO much better than any Of them!
Curran had been busted all the final
campaign. There was fear that the old
county gang would knife his candidacy
80 his hackers had kept him at the
front. But he had no misgivings. He
had returned to his home town brown
and hearty, pleased with the sense Of
victory. He had discovered surprising
qualities in himself, a caustic retort.
q merciless c%learness that pleased the
farmers. The papers commented on
his "brilliance." Janet had read and
listened. 1t was more than winning a
campaign; 1t was the making of a man.
He saw her when he passed the court
and came to her, eager, volatile.
bubbling with tales of the progressive
cause. Il made 'em listen. Janet!"
e in her calm eyes, back Of her
serene smile. he seemed to read again
the inexplicable pain which he did not
SoA0 " ~ <AllO Io WclI IIOIl
her. steadied by a sense Of her faith.
but refusing to dwell upon it. 1t was
Ike his estrangement from Harlan
at first 1t had been a desperate hurt.
But through the weeks, rising with his
new fighting life, he had fiercely told
himself that he would yield nothing;
ne was crying out to life with a Diony-
sian gladness-he would seize growth
and power n recreate himself. So
when he found a letter from Aurelie on
his desk, he cried out as II a meteor
had LIGHTED his dingy shop. Aurelie.
the village baggage, old Michigan's
girl; the one-time rabbit hunter Of the
hills. the ridiculous beauty prize VIM
ner; an actress trapesing over the land
with an ambition to come back with a
u pup and q press agent to startle
the old town! Janet vas right: If
there was anything needed to Finish"
Wiley Curran it was Aurelie Lind
strom. But he would not admit this.
His Celtic sense of romance begiIded
his world still: a bit of tinsel would
hold his eye and always would. Yet
he knew better than any one how des-
perately he needed the COO and sober
judgment OF men and women-that wa
what could make him; that was what
was making him now In his new fife.
the faith, the love OF these prosy farm
folk Of the midlands.
But Aurelie had written! And at
ono the walls of his shop fell away to
vistas OF enchantment.
I'm engaged" said Aurelie, In her
firm. upright, high school hand. Mr..
Curran started feverishly. I'm a mu-
steal comedy and the manager says I
can sing! Oh. what do you think Of
that? Not much. but enough. But Ada
Norman says my face did 1t, and I'd
never got a show If I hadn't made Co
hans office boy laugh. But I tell you,
Il FhH " ~ rvn - rry~
1t! Ada and / pawned our trunks, and
when she stacked me out in the best
clothes we could get I sailed into some
of these people. And I tell you Mr..
Curran, the day I got my job we were
down to oatmeal cooked over the gas
Jet In our room. But there's nothing
in q race but the finish! Oatmeal isn't
so bad"
"Oh, Aurelie!" groaned Mr.. Curran,
and that taxi. and the dollar you gave
a bell boy over at the Metropole!s
The letter went on: And what dc
you think, Mr.. Curran, / was only in
that chorus six weeks when Conan &
Snitz decided to put a road show out
and thes' picked me out Of the New
York production to understudy the
coincidence. They said I was funny!
I suppose I made faces and kicked uI
my heels "Oh. Rome! Oh, the
Shakespeare club!" murnrured Mr.
L SuA ~ "a 6CAll6 OuC Oh ZIG TOaC
with the second Girl and the Burglar
company. We aren't so classy as the
New York bunch, but 1t gives me 6
chance. I like new York. You ought
to see the clothes I've got. When W.
open In Chicago on the 10th you fus1
got to come and see me act.
"P. S.-Tell all those grantees wht
don't like mo about The Girl ana ia;
Burglar But don't say anything sh.Ii
the oatmeal!
"P S.-Pretty soon I'll send you soms
stuff to put In the paper.
"P ST. saw three little rabbits I'M.
der q bridge yesterday when the trail
Went by. With love,
"Aurelie."
The congressional candidate folded
the letter over 80 that only with love
Aurelie" showed. He gaxed at II. Thel
he sat down and tried to recall Aurelie
What The liked, and how she laughed
or rebelled-whAt i~nevitability Of lif,
had made her ~ = made all the res
Of us. q
He went about the next month /,
and out OF tho county. speaking wher
Ayer the need took him. Il WasSno
until hts next breathing space. that
back In his office TO- pick up the odd
and ends of wofk-for the task of eat
ting out the News had fallen to Aun
Abby and hi1 mongrel pr1nters-he me
Harlan. While Wiley had been on hi