Grand Forks herald., 1917-01-24
tCopyrtxht, 1915. Robbs-MerriM co.,
-. CHAPTER XVI.
The summone to New Yor,r

Rose would probably have taken to
Miss Gibbons In any circumstances.
But coming into her life Just when she
did. the little woman was the shadow
Of q great rock to her. She was in q
state. when she" settled down in the
drug store, where all the warmer emo
tions seemed terrible to her. It was
Rodney's love for her and hers for
him that had bruised and lacerated
her; that had made the winter months
a long torment. unmitigated during
the last of them by any form of ade-
quate self-expression. To her, in that
condition, any expression of friend
ship that was warm and soft and in
the least sentimental. would have
been almost uncomfortable. Miss Glib
bons. In that acrid, antiseptic way of
hers. washed her soul in cold water
and clothed 1t again In the garments
of self-respect.
Her manner to Rose. even as their
friendship ripened and grew more
confident, never changed Nor did
the manner Rose adopted toward her.
Their endless talks resulted in a good
deal of self-revelation. hut this was
never direct. Rose never explained
how 1t happened that she was left at
the mercy Of the town Of Centropolis
by the failure Of ''The Girl Upstairs
company. But. she poured out for her
friend a wealth Of Illustrative remin-
iscences. drawn from her childhood,
her days at the university. .her life on
the stage; and, though she was a, good
deal more reticent about It, she even
touched upon her married life with
Rodney.
Miss Gibbons listened to all this
with a hunger she didn't conceal, and
this eagerness gave. Rose a pretty
vivid picture OF the inner life the lit
tie woman had lived here in Centrop-
oils. Shed made. after q fashion. a
position Of acknowledged social con-
sequence. There were disquieting
echoes in her. rhythms that answered
to the pulsation Of an ampler life.
She never could hope to get out into
1t, she knew, but she took every op-
portunity she could for a glimpse at
-, In a material way, her adoption Of
Hose was an. immense success Cen
tropolis. when 1T :learned the news,
was thunderstruck.. For matter Of
hours, one might say, the town held
its breath. Then It began to talk
The women began asllng questions:
What did the actress look like? The
men offered lame descriptions. Rose
had been seen. apparently, that morn
ing on Main street, by the entire male
population, but Their descriptions
weren't satisfactory. Curiosity must
be assuaged! But Rose never went
into the stores on Main street; never
patronized the picture show: and even
had these -Elimpses-. been afforded.
tneyd have been Hretty .unsatisfac-
discoverins Whse ties % ereatnre asn1 "A : Was a.
like-that was to go and buy a hat of
Lizzie Gibbons.
The first daring adventurer was
Agatha Stebbins. Agatha found. you
VIII remember. the hat Rose had al
ready designed for her. And, as Miss
Gibbons caustically d.sclaimed the au-
thorship of It ("Td never have made
you up q thing like that. you can be-
lieVe!). and as Miss, Stebbins, after
moments .hesita tion. decided she
adored 1t. another intucement, though
perhaps superauou, one. was ofrered
Tor visits to the atell.r.
-'"Of course she aisn'tswhat YOU could
call genteel." Miss sebbins explained,
paradinE her acquisition. land she's
never had any advantages. And as
to her moral character. I suppose the
less said the better. Lizzie Gibbons
can settle that question with her own
conscience. But when 1t comes to
mats. she's got more gimp in her lit
tie nnger than Lizdes got in both
nands. Dear no! She's not what
call pretty. Not with a mouth like
that. OF course the men. ;"
So Miss Gibbons spring business
was distended to unrecognizable pro-
portions. Rose fitted on hats in the
show room during business hours, and
took a n1ischievous delight in the as
sumption Of the intangible manner of
perfect shop-assistant: in saying