The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1916-06-06
BETTY'S BROKEN RESOLVE
BY cATHsRINE cRANMER.

y,
off an a number one matrimonial
chance"
"Pshaw. Jack! Aren't there plenty
more fish in the sea?'
mot plenty Of Markham's kind"
you are evidently Of one mind with
him, for it's because he is so sure that
he can't be wrong about anything that
I've been keeping him on the anxious
seat
Take it from me, sis, it was a wise
fellow who said that man is some
thing like an egg-if you keep him in
hot water little while he boiIs soft,
but keep him there too long and he
hardens. Do you get me?" Jacks
question was flung over his shoulder
from the front hall, where he was get
ting into his overcoat and hat.
Eyes, get YOU laughed Betty, az
| she curled up in a big tapestried arm
| chair in front of the fireplace
| Although she had firmly resolved not
| TO give single thought to Fred Mark
! ham until he apoIcg1zed for his part in
their quarrel of the evening before,
! somehow, as she gazed into the fire,
| her thoughts were all of him The
quarrel had come about from Betty's
mention of lark she had enjoyed at
fancy dress ball at the country club a
few evenings before when a moving
picture had been taken of the ball
room by a society man whose latest
fad was moving pictures.
Great Scott" exclaimed Fred "I
hope you didn't get in range of the
picture machine?"
why, yes! Why not? Larry Mapes
and I did a special stunt before it,
And may l ask when and where
/ this picture is to be run as a means of
Haunting you in the face Of the pub
lic?"
Now may 1 ask" began Betty,
. whether this picture is any affair Of
r yours and whether you want to shield
S. the public or the picture by prevent
- ing its appearance"
1T may not be my affair, Betty-that
rests with you," Fred answered, but
: l want to protect the picture because
f you're in it."
e And so the quarrel had continued
y until Fred had bowed a formal good
She was still curled up in the arm
: chair gazing meditatively at the fire
when her mother and father returned
. from their dinner engagement at
Il Judge Napes'.
/ My, but you're home early!" she
II exclaimed. Did the Judge run out of
stories or did the cook run short on
courses?"
: Neither, nay dear,Q answered her
father, as he removed his gloves and
4 slapped them together and held them
tight in his right hand, but Larry evil
1 IDENTIFY ran out of sane amusements
= and came near causing his own finish
as well as that of two other people"
= Poor old Larry What's he up to
now?" asked Betty indifferently.
He's in the hospital right now, hav-
4 ing his many bruises dressed, and a
j poor little chorus girl will be too ner-
vous to stand in the front row to-
= night, and"-with a sly look from I'M
der his frowning eyebrows-"Fred
Markham has got a smashed roadster,
a bruised head and some broken ribs
4 as mementos of his heroism.
q Fred Markham, Daddy, tell me
q what you meant" There was no lack
= of eagerness now in Betty's big eyes
i We'll, Fred was driving along in
the park and he saw Larry's little
= red and white racer come shooting
le toward him like cannon ball and on
the same side of the road as he was.
There was a small embankment sloping
es down from the rod, and Fred tried to
tn turn his car down that embankment
IS before the racer hit him, but its front
wheel struck his back one, and his ma
Us chine turned turtle and Larry's went
IN smash"
ry "Oh, daddy"-almost in a whisper
ry SIS Fred badly hurt? What made him
! try to Jump the embankment? Why
ig didn't he cross to the other side of tbs
to road?"
Betty was puzzled at the question
to ing look that passed between her moth
to er and her father before there wal
M any answer to her questions.
at Because, Betty" said her father
ne slowly, there was chance that Lar
nd ~ also might go that way, and as Free
adj saw there was girl with Larry h,
1w took no chance because he thought tn
Ike girl might be you"
DO At that moment Betty's brothe
ily Jack came bustling into the hall an,
lat UP to the library door.
ng Gee. sis he bIurted out. with tn
ur air of one who has big news to tel
up Markham came deuced near being
to scrambled egg instead of a hard-boilei
as one" In spite of Betty's wall of pre-
test. he added, But instead of stay
IN ing in the hospital. he made them TAX
IN him to his own apartment and insiste
be he was all right Notwithstanding hi
nc broken ribs"
ny Betty vanished up the stairway tn
nd next instant and when lack went uD