Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1915-12-17
distant, my husband will pay him fif

|
You won't leave the mill? You in
sist on working here for ten dollars
a week to spite me?'
Easy, easy, my girl! This is my
job, and I'm not going to leave it to
take that scamps money!
James is not scamp!"
''And it seems to me, Nora, darling,
| that if our own girl is that bad, why
we've got to make up our minds to
| lose her. said Mike to his wife.
Kathleen took herself, satin slip
pers and all, out of the cottage Her
heart was bursting with shame and
also with Characterization. But was
she to be tied forever to that old,
ignorant laborer and his wife-she
with expensive tastes?
The town was just large enough for
her story not to be widely known.
BY steering her way cautiously, and
inventing tale about an old couple
whom she had befriended, she man
aged to shake her skirts clean of her
parents. Her husband, in his rage,
threatened to put Mike out of his job;
but the stubborn old man threatened
to sue, and that would mean wide
publicity. SO Mike remained.
This went on for years after Kath-
leen's marriage. He had never heard
| Of her. He had seen her once, rid
ing in her car. She was gowned like
a princess and splendidly bejeweled.
Then a lawyer came to see Mike.
There had been rumors for some time
| Of extravaganza in the management
Of the mill; it was thought things
were not going well. But everyone
knew Jim Ellery had no business head.
Mike should have been manager, if
his father had been an honest man
Mike, who, working as a laborer,
| process from the foundations up.
Mike could have told Jim Ellery what
was wrong, why the cheap fax was
unable to take the aniline. But Mike
was only labOrer, remember
The lawyer came on a Sunday, and
Mike got out of bed to receive him,
| ap0logizing for his Powered dressing
gown, which Nora had made for him
the last Christmas.
The lawyer waved his apologies
aside
Listen to me carefully, Mr.. Dona-
hue he said. You should by right
have had better treatment from Mr..
Ellery than you had
Il don't know" said Mike, stub
bornly loyal to the memory of the
Ellery he had once known and loved.
He kept his word by me-
HE repented on his deathbed,' said
| the lawyer. He left you half share
in the mill and made you manager for
| life. That will was suppressed by Mr..
James Ellery. He is at your mercy
now, for all has come to light. [ rep
resent an interest which wants to buy
the mill and give publicity to the af-
fair"
Yes, sir" said Mike.
"a warrant can be sworn out for
| Mr.. Ellery's arrest. We can get an
| injunction tying up the money"
What for would you be tying up
the money!" demanded Mike
The lawyer started to explain all
over again. Mike listened patiently.
We'll, you see," he explained, my
daughters married to him. So it
wouldn't do to bring her into disgrace,
would it?'
But she has neglected you," said
| the lawyer. 1T is scandal And the
mill is half yours. We want to buy
! your interest. 1t is worth four hun
dred thousand dollars at least. And
you will have the position Of man.
ager-"
We'll, you see," said Mike, Il have
a life job here. And a manager is
| sort of uncertain. And then, what
would we be doing with four hundred
| thousand dollars at our age? No, mis-
ter, nobodys going to jockey me out
of my job. l earn my ten, and I'll
go on earning it till I die. And say!
If there's any trouble about Jim, just
remember that he's a good boy, and |
stand by him to the last penny of my
four hundred thousand Remember
that, will you?"
1t was Ellery's lawyer who came
next. He came humbly, to beg Mike
to consent to an agreement whereby
he could wriggle out 81 his liabilities
and escape the charge of fraud. Mike
signed the papers without looking par
ticularly. He only assured himself
that his job was not being taken away
from bim.
you see," he explained to the law
yer, who had the grace to look
ashamed, now that there's only the
wife to take care for, | guess my ten
a week will provide for us-won't it,
Nora, girl?"
And all his anger against his daugh-
tor died. 1t was his money, after all,
that was buying her those gowns, had
bought the car, was providing for her
every minute.
If he had pressed Ellery he would
have been a rich man, but life would
have been utterly empty for him.
Because he relinquished all, he gained
all. For the day came when his daugh-
ter kneeled before him and Nora, inn
nIOrinc for