The Elk Mountain pilot., 1917-01-11


Vertrees' rejection of his proposal of
marriage. Instead, against his will,
the father rants about his sons need
for hard work-and suddenly halts his
abuse in the middle of a sentence.
Bibbs looked up patientiy-an old.
old look. Yes father: I'm listening"
That's ALL" said Sheridan, frowning
heavily. That's all came to say. and
you better see I you remember it,
He shook his head warningly. and
went out closing the door behind him
with crash However, no sound of
footsteps indicated his departure. He
stopped lust outside the door, and
stood there "A minute or more. Then
abruptly he turned the knob and ex-
hibited to his son forehead literally
covered with perspration.
Look here" he said. GROSSLY. THAT
girl over yonder wrote Jim letter.
~ know" said Bibbs. .'She told me-
"Well. | thought you needn't feel so
much upset about it" The door closed
on his voice as he withdrew, but the
conclusion of the sentence was never
theless audibe-"lf you knew she
wouldn't have Jim, either"
And he stamped his way downstairs
to tell his wife to quit her frettin' and
not bother him with any more tools
errands. She was about to inquire
what Bibbs said but after second
thought she decided not to speak at all.
She merely murmured n wordless as
sent, and verbal communication was
given over between them for the rest
of the afternoon.
Blbbs and his father We're gone when
Mrs sheridan woke. the next morning,
and she had dreary day. She missed
Edith woefully, and she worried about
what might be taking place in the
Sheridan building. She felt that every
thing depended on how Bibbs took
bold" and upon her husbands return
in the evening she seized upon the first
opportunity to ask him how things had
gone. He was noncommittal. what
could anybody tell by the first day
He'd seen plenty 60 at things well
enough right at the start and then
slow up. Pretty near anybody couid
how up fair the first day or So There
was a big job ahead. This material.
such as it was-Bibbs. in fact-had
to be broken in to handling the work
Roscoe had done; and then, at least as
an oyerseer. he must take Jim's posi-
ton in the Realty company as well.
He told her to ask him again in
month.
But during the course of dinner she
gathered from some disJointed remarks
hnI In cd
together at the small restaurant where
1t hau been Sheridan's custom to
lunch With Jim. and she took this to be
an encouraging sign Bibbs went to
his room as soon as they left the table,
and he, husband was not communica-
tive after reading his paper.
She became an anxious spectator OF
Bibbs' progress as man of business.
although it was a progress she could
glimpse bat dimly and only in the eve
ming. through his remarks and his IA
theirs at dinner. Usually Bibbs was
silent. except when directly addressed.
but on the first evening of the third
week of his new career he offered an
opinion which had apparently been the
subject of previous argument
'I'd like you to understand Just
what meant about those storage
rooms. father" he said, as jackson
placed his coffee before him. "Aber-
.rombie agreed with me, but you
wouldn't listen to him.
"You can talk. If you want to. and
I'll listen" Sheridan returned, "but
you can't show me that Jim ever took
UP with bad thing. The roof fell be-
cause 1t hadn't had time to settle and
on account of weather conditions. l
want that building put just the way
Jim planned It."
"You can't have it." said Bibbs.
"You can't, because Jim planned for
the building to stand up. and It won't
do It The other cne-the enc that
didn't falls so shot with cracks we
haven't dared use it for storage. 1t
won't stand weight. There's only one
thing to do: Get both buildings down
as quickly as we can, and build over.
Bricks the best and cheapest in the
long run for that type"
Sheridan looked sarcastic. Fine!
What we goin' to do for storage rooms
while we're waitin' for those few
bricks to be laid?'
Rent" Bibbs returned, promptly,
"we'n lose money If we don't rent,
anyhow-they were waiting so long for
you to give the warehouse matter your
attention after the roof fell. You don't
know what an amount of stuff they've
got piled up on us over there. We'd
have to rent until we could patch up
those process perils-and the Krivitch
Manufacturing company's plant is
empty, right across the street. l took
an option ou 1t for us this morning.
Sheridaps expression was queer.
sS-eoS b~r~~' he said. sharply. Ibid