The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1916-08-21
A NOVEL A WEEK.
Next Week
THE SECRET OF THE REEF
by Harold Bindloss.

Iso long as that. but II can't be
helped. II I don't sign with Mr..
Bauer--and / shan't except as a
last resort may be idle weeks
or months, and it would be mad
ness to increase expenses just
now.
Read over my recent letters,
dear child, IL you've kept them.
I've explained the situation as
clearly as / could.
You say 1t seems strange that
I've never sent for you in all
these years, and that I've been
home to see you so seldom. 1t is
strange-and dreadful. Thir-
teen ears!-and these brief, hur-
ried, worried visits count for so
little! Nothing can ever make up
to me for those lost years. Moth
ing! But it has all been for your
sake, Elsie. You believe that,
don't you?
Aunt Phoebe has told you
how it was when your father
died? How I was only a young
girl, without money or resources
or training, and not a relative in
the world | could turn to but her
poor soul? | didn't care about
the stage then. All | knew of it
was what I'd learned with your
father, and that But never
mind went to acting as I'd
have gone to sewing or typewrit-
ing il I'd known how-for the
money | could earn.
But l couldn't get decent en-
gagements out West. We were
horribly, hideously poor. At last,
In sheer desperation, l decided to
come East. 1t wasn't ambition
that lured me. 1t was plain pow
erty and the need to get where
work could be had.
Il couldn't take you with me.
You see that for yourself? / had
to count every penny. l foresaw
every kind of hardship and priva-
ton. And with Aunt Phoebe,
you would at least have enough
to eat and a clean bed to sleep in.
so l came away. That first
season! Some day, when you're
olde.-, | will tell you about it.
And for two or three years 1t was
almost as bad as that. | man
aged to keep bread in our mouths,
but that was the best / could do.
To pay my fare home for a visit
or yours to come to me-just to
find money for the bare tickets
why, 1t wasn't to be dreamed
of!
"Since then, since I've begun
to get a foothold here, perhaps l
should have managed differently.
don't mean that | should have
visited you oftener or longer, for
that / couldn't do. Winter sal
aries wouldn't carry us through
the yean l had to work summers,
too, and | had to be here to get
my engagements, as well as to fill
them.
ooh, dare say I'm to blame
for not being able to say to you,
Come this minute!' l should
have contrived to earn more and
save more. have tried, but
well, / suppose we've all been a
little extravagant. However, now
there will be no more payments
on the house, we shan't be so
cramped and worried, and this
summer I'm going to be shame
fully stingy, SO that, next fall,
when you come"
Anne stopped abruptly, and re-
read those last words. Next fall,
when you come"-the certainty
and definiteness of them, set
down in black and white, sent an
electric shock of delight tingling
over her. Elsie was coming!
The rest of the letter was a
breathless mixture of plans and
rejoicings, written at top speed,
and sprinkled with the funny,
tender. little nicknames she was
wont to use so freely.
Good news greeted her at the
theater next morning. Bauer
had gone to Chicago for a week.
This gave Anne the few days she
longed for before signing his con-
tract. She spent every moment