The Benson signal. [volume] (Benson, Cochise County, Ariz.) 1915-1921, 1918-10-12

NSCpAy CuSIOSScu III u0r OWN CTOUUlCS
to notice or care whether any subtle
change was becoming manifest In the
attitude Of her fellow boarders. The
worst, she felt sure, had already over
taken her.
She had little lime to spare, and
that time she devoted to making up
package of Barrow's ring and few
other trinkets which he had given her.
This she addressed to his office and
posted while on her way to work.
She got through the day somehow,
struggling against thoughts that would
persist in creeping into her mind and
stirring up emotions that she was de-
termined to hold in check. Work, she
knew. was her only salvation.
And so she got through the week.
Saturday evening came, and she went
home. dreading Sundays idleness, with
its memories. The people at Mrs.
StOuts establishment, she plainly
saw. were growing trife shy Of her.
She had never been on terms of init
macy with any Of them during her stay
there, hence their attitude troubled
little after the first supersensitiveness
wore off. But her own friends, girls
with whom she had played in the pima
CHRONOLOGICAL stages of her youth,
young men who had paid court to her
until Jack Barrow monopolized her
she did not know how they stood. She
had seen none Of them since Bush
launched his last bolt. Barrow she
had passed on the street just once, and
when he lifted his hat distantly, she
looked straight ahead, and ignored
him. Whether she hurt him as much
as she did herself by the cut direct
would be hard to say.
When Sunday neon arrived, and the
phone had failed to call her once, and
not one of all her friends had dropped
in, Hazel twisted her chair so THAI ahe
could stare at the image Of hersEH 81
the mirror.
"You're in a fair way to become q
pariah, 1t seems" she said bitterly.
"What have you done, wonder, that
you've lost your lover, and that Alice
and May and Hortense and all the rest
Of them keep away from you? Moth
ing-not thing-except that your
looks attracted man, and the man
threw stones when he couldn't have
his way. Oh, well, what's the differ
ence? You've got two good hands, and
you're not afraid of work."
She walked out to Granville park
after luncheon, and found seat on a
shaded bench beside the lake. People
passed and repassed-couples, young
sters, old people, children. 1t made
her lonely beyond measure. She had
never been isolated among her own
kind before.
A group Of young people came saun-
tering along the path. Hazel looked
up as they neared her, chattering to
each other. Maud Steele and Bud
Wells, and-why, she knew every one
of the party. Hazel caught her breath
as they came abreast, not over ten feet
away. The three young men raised
their hats self-consciously.
"Hello, Hazel!" the girl said.
But they passed on. 1t seemed to
Hazel that they quickened their pace
trif1e. It made her grit her teeth
in resentful anger. Ten minutes later
she left the park and caught a car
home. Once in her room she broke
down.
"Oh, I'll 60 mad if stay here and
this sort of thing goes on! ~ she cried
forlornly.
A sudden thought struck her.
"Why should I stay here?" she said
aloud. "Why? What's to keep me
here? I can make my living any
where"
"But, no." she asserted passionately,
81 won't run away. That would be
running away, and I haven't anything
to be ashamed of. will not rum
Still the idea kept recurring to her.
It promised relief from the hurt Of
averted faces and GOODNESS where she
had a right to expect sympathy and
friendship.
The legal notice Of the bequest was
mailed to her. She tore up the letter
and threw it in the fire as If it were
some poisonous thing. The idea Of
accepting his money stirred her to per-
feet frenzy. If she could have poured
the whole miserable tale into some
sympathetic ear she would have felt
better, and each day would have
seemed less hard. But there was no
such ear. Her friends kept away.
Saturday of the second week her
pay envelope contained brief notice
that the firm no longer required her
services. There was no explanation,