Omaha daily bee., 1918-09-08
CHAPTER XVI.

very much.
CHAPTER XVI.
The Fly in the Ointment.
TN AUGUST Father Duff died.
| Miss Flora came home at once.
- James Blaisdell was already in
town. Hattie was at the mountains.
She wrote that she could not think
Of coming down for the funeral, but
she ordered an expensive wreath.
Frank and Jane were in the Far.West
and could not possibly have arrived
in time, anyway. Nine Of the young
4 people came.
Mr.. Smith helped in every way that
he could help, md Miss Maggie told
him that he was a great coi..fort, and
that she did not know what she would
have done without him. Miss Flora
and Mr.. James Blaisdell helped, too.
in every way possible, and at last
the first hard sad days were over and
the household had settled back into
something like formal conditions
again.
Miss Maggie had more time now.
and she went often to drive or for
motor rides with Mr.. Smith. To-
gether they explored cemeteries for
miles around, and although Miss Mag
gle worried sometimes because they
found so little Blaisdell data, Mr..
Smith did not seem to mind it at all.
In September Miss Flora moved
into an attractive house on the West
Side, bought some new furniture and
installed a maid in the kitchen-all
under Miss Maggie's kindly super
vision. In September, too, Frank
and Jane Blaisdell came home. and
the young people began to prepare
for the coming school year.
Mr.. Smith met Mrs. Hattie one
day coming out of Miss Maggie's gate.
She smiled and greeted him cordially,
but she looked so palpably upset over
something that he exclaimed to Miss
Maggie as soon as he entered the
house: what is it? Is anything the
matter with Mrs. James Blaisdell?"
Miss Maggie smiled-but she
frowned too.
mo, oh, no--except that Hattie has
discovered that a hundred thousand
dollars isn't million"
What do you mean by that?"
ooh, where she's been this sum-
mer she's measured up, of course,
with people great deal richer than
she. And she doesn't like it. Here
in Hillerton her hundred and two
hundred dollar dresses looked very
grand to her, but she's discovered that
there are women who pay more. She
feels very cheap and poverty-stricken
now, therefore, in her two-hundred
dollar gowns. Poor Hattiel If she
only would stop trying to live like
somebody else'
"But I thought thought this
money was making them happy"
stammered Mr.. Smith.
1T was-until she realized that
somebody else had more" sighed
Miss Maggie with a shake of her
head.
"Oh, we'll, she'll get over that"
perhaps"
AT any rate it's brought her hus-
band some comfort"
"Y-yes, it has; but"
What do you mean by that?" he
demanded when she did not finish
her sentence.
II was wondering-if it would
bring him any more"
"They haven't lost it7"
ooh, no, but they've spent lot
and Hattie is beginning again her
old talk that she must have more
money in order to live even decent.
1t sounds very familiar to me, and to
Jim, | suspect, poor fellow. | saw
him the other night, and from what
he said, and what She says, l can
see pretty we'll how things are going
She's trying to get some of her rich
friends to give Jim a better position,
where he'll earn more. She doesn't
understand, either, why Jim can't
go into the stock market and make
millions, as some men do. I'm
afraid she isn't always-patient. She
says there are Fred and Elizabeth
and Benjamin to educate, and that
she's just got to have more money to
tide them over till the rest of the
legacy comes"
The. rest of the legacyw exploded
Mr.. Smith. Good Heavens, does
that woman think that" Mr.
Smith stopped with the air of one
pulling himself back from an abyss
Miss Maggie laughed.
II don't wonder you exclaim. 1t
is funny-the way she takes that for
granted, isn't it? Still, there are
grounds for it, of course"
"Oh, are there?? Do you think
she'll get more, them" demanded Mr.
Smith, almost savagely. w.
Miss Maggie laughed again.
Il don't know what to think. To
my mind the whole thing was rather
extraordinary, anyway, that he should
have given them. anything-utter
strangers as they were. Still, as Hat
tie says, as long as he has recognized
their existence, why, he may again
of course. Still, on tn. other hand. he
may have very reasonably argued
that, having willed them a hundred
thousand apiece, that was quite
enough, and he'd give the rest some
where else"
Humph! Maybe" grunted Mr..
Smith.
"And he may come back alive from
South America" "
HE may"
"But Hattie wasn't counting on
either OF these CONTINGENCIES, and she