The Washington herald., 1915-02-14

Grab lay upon the teatable. He wa:
struggling with this new idea of fail
ure, the tangible realization, that
was taking shape and substance
condensing, as it were, out of the
misty uneasiness of many days. Al
present it was simply one concrete
fact; there were thirty-nine pounds
left in the bank, and that day three
weeks Messrs. Helter, Shelter &
Grab, those enterpriSing outhtters OF
young men, would demand their
eighty pounds.
After tea there was a customer
or so-little purchases: some mus
lin and buckram, dress protectors,
tape and a pair of Isle hose. Then,
knowing that Black Care was lurk-
ing in the dusLy corners of the shop,
he lit the three lamps early and set
to refolding his cotton prints, the
most vigorous and least meditative
proceeding of which he could think.
He could see AIinnie's shadow in
the other room as she moved about
the table. She was busy turning an
old dress. He had walk after sup-
per, looked in at the Y. NJ. c. A,
but found 10 one to talk to, and
finally went to bed. Minnie was al
ready there. And there, too. wait
ing for him, nudging him gently,
until about midnight he was hope
less awake, sat Black Care.
He had had one or two nights
lately in that COMPANY but this was
much worse. First came Messrs.
Helter, Shelter & Grab and their de-
.mand for eighty Pounds-an enor-
mous sum when your original capi-
tai was only 175 pounds. They
.campcd, as it were, before him, sat
down and beleaguered him.
He clutched feebly at the cir
cumambient darkness for expedi-
ents. Suppose he had sale, sold
things for almost anything? He
tried to imagine sale miraculously
successful in some unexpected man
ner, and mildly profitable in spite
of reductions below cost. Then
Bandersnatch, Limited, 1O1, 102,
103, 105, JOG, 107 Broadway, joined
the siege, a long caterpillar of
frontage, battery of shop fronts,
wherein things were sold at a farth-
ing above cost. How could he fight
such an establishment? Besides,
what had he to sell? He began to
review his resources. What taking
line was there to bait the sale? Then
straightway came those pieces OF
cretonnc, yellow and black with a
bluish-green flower; those discredit-
ed shirtings, prints without bouy-
ancy. skirmishing haberdashery.
some dcspairful four-button gloves
by an inferior maker-a hopeless
crew.
And that was his force against
Bandcrsnatch, Helter, Shelter &
Grab and the pitiless world behind
them. Whatever had made him
think d mortal would buy such
things Why had be bought this and
neglected that: He suddenly real
lied the intensity of his hatred for
IIeltcr, Shelter & Grabs salesman.
Then he drove toward an agony
Of seIf-reproach. lie had spent too
much on that cash desk. What real
need was there of a desk? He saw
his vanity of that desk in a lurid
glow of self-discovcry And the
lamps: Five pounds! Then sud-
denly, with what was almost physi-
,al pain, he remembered the rent.
He groancd and turned over. And
there, dim in the darkness, was the
of Mrs. Winslow's
That set him off in an
other direction. He became acutely |
sensible OF Minnie's want of feeling. !!
Here he was. worried to death about /
}hsiness, and she sleeping like a lit
lie child.
He regretted having married,
with that infinite bitterness that only
comes to the human heart in the
small hours of the morning. That
lurnmock of white seemed absolute
Y without helDfulneSS burden 4