The Dolores star. [volume] (Dolores, Montezuma County, Colo.) 1901-current, 1918-10-04
CHAPTER !.
Which Introduces a Lady and Two
Gentlemen.

Gentlemen.
Dressed in a plain white shirtwalst
and an equally plain black cloth skirt.
Miss Hazel Weir, on weekdays, was
merely a unit In the office OF Harring-
ton & Bush. Implement manufacturers.
Neither In personality nor In garb
would a casual glance have dlfferenu-
ared her from the other female units,
occupied at various desks. business
office Is no place for woman to pa
rade her personal charms. The mems
ure Of her worth there is simply the
measure OF her efficiency at her ma
chine or ledgerS. So that IL any mem-
her Of the firm had been asked what
sort Of d girl Miss Hazel Weir might
be he would probably have replied
and with utmost truth-that Miss Weir
was Il capable SteDographer.
But when Saturday evening released
Miss Hazel Weir from the plain brick
office building, she became, until she
donned her working clothes at a. IN
Monday morning, quite different sort
Of a person. In other words. she
chucked the plain shlrtwaist and the
plain skirt into the discard, got into
such a dress US n normal girl of
twenty-five delights to put on. and de-
voted half an hour or so to "doIng"
he hair. Miss Weir then became an
entity at which few persons of either
sex failed to take second glance.
Upon certain Saturday night Miss
Weir came home from an informal
lirtle party escorted by a young nun.
They stopped at the front gate.
tn be here at ten sharp" said he.
And you get good beauty sleep
tonight. Hazel. That COMPOUNDED Of
fee! l hate to think of you drudging
away at 1t. 1 wish we were ready
to"
"Oh, bother the officel" she replied
lightly. Anyway, l don't mind. 1t
doesn't tire me. 1 will be ready at
ten this time. Good night. dear"
Good night. Hazie," he whispered.
Here's q kiss to dream on"
Miss Weir broke away from him
taughingly, ran along the path, and
up the steps, kissed her finger tips to
the lingering figure by the gate, and
went In.
Bed" she soliloquized. sis the place
for me right quickly If I'm going to be
up and dressed and have that lunch
ready by ten o'clock. wish I weren't
such a sleepyhead-or else that |
weren't pore wurrkin' gurl.'"
At which last conceit she laughed
softly. Because. for pore wurrkin'
CURL" Miss Weir was fairly well con-
lot a ,
pendent on her-n state Of affairs
which, If it occasionally leads to lone
illness. has its compensatiOns. Her
salary as a stenographer amply co..
cred her living expenses, and even pei
mitted her TO put by few dollars
monthly. She had grown up In Gran
vile. She had her own circle OF
friends. So that she was comfortable. |
even happy, in the present-and Jack |
Barrow proposed to settle the prob |
lem of her future; with youths OBJ
,imism, they two considered 1t already |
settled. Six months more, and there |
was to be a wedding. three-weeks |
honeymoon. and final settling down |
in little cottage on the West side ; |
everybody in Granville who amounted |
20 anything lived on the West side |
Then she would have nothing to do
out make the home nest coy, while |
Jack kept pace with a real-estste bust
ness that was growing beyond his most
sanguine expectations.
She kissed her finger tips to him
again across the rooftops all grimed
with winters SCOT. and within ff-
teen minutes Miss Weir was sound
asleep.
She gave the lie, for once, to the say
ing that a woman is never ready at the
appointed time. by being on the steps
a full ten minutes before Jack Barrow
appeared. They walked to the corner
and caught car. and In the span of
half an hour got of at Granville park
The city fathers, hampered in days
gone by with lack of municipal funds,
had left the northumberland square
of the park pretty much as nature
made It; that is to say. there was no
ornate parking, no attempt at land
scape gardening. Granville park was
bit of the old Ontario woodland, and
as such afforded pleasant place to
loaf in the summer months.
when Jack Barrow and Hazel had
finished their lunch under the trees,
in company with a little group Of their
scauaintances Hazel gathered scra IS