Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1918-01-25
North Of Fifty Three
BY BERTRAND W. SINCLAIR
Copyright Browne

cent fellows-and you've got one COM
ing"
IF you'd had my experience of the
last two weeks you'd sing a different
tune" Hazel vehemently declared.
"I hate-I-"
And then she gave way, and in
dulged in the luxury of turning herself
loose on Kitty's shoulder Presently
she was able to wipe her eyes and re-
late the whole story from the Sunday !
Mr.. Bush stopped and spoke to her in
the park down to that evening.
Kitty nodded Understandings. But |
the girls have handed it to you worse
than the men, Hazel" she observed |
sagely. "Jack Barrow was just plain /
crazy jealous, and man like that /
can't help acting as he did. You're !
really fortunate, think. because you'd |
not be really happy with Il man like
that. But the girls that you ana |
grew up with-they should have stood |
by you, knowing you as they did; yet |
you see they were ready to think the |
worst of you. They nearly always do
when there's man in the case. That's
a weakness of our sex, dear. Well. !
YOU aren't working. Come and stay
with me- Hubby's got twO-year' con-
tract with the World Advertising COM
pany Wen be located here that long
at least. Come and stay with u.s."
"Oh, no, l couldn't think of that,
Kittyl" Hazel faltered. you know
I'd love to, and it's awfulIy good of
you, but 1 think I'm just about ready
to go away from Granville"
"Wen, come and stop with us till
you do CO." Kitty insisted. 1--WE are
going to take a furnished cottage for
a while. Though, between you and me,
dear. knowing people as l do, I can't
blame you for wanting, to be where
their nasty tongues can't wound you"
But Hazel was obdurate. She would
not inflict herself on the one friend
she had left. And Kitty, after short
talk. berated her affectionately for
her independence and rose to go.
"For." said she, 81 didn't get hold of
this thing till Addie Horton called at
the hotel this afternoon, and I didn't
stop to think that it was near teatime.
but came straight here. Jimmfe'U
think I've elOped. So ta-ta. I'll come
out tomorrow about two. | have to
confab with a house agent in the fore
noon. By-by."
Hazel sat down and actually smiled
when Kitty was gone. Somehow
grievous burden had fallen off her
mind. Likewise, by some psycholog-
ical quirk, the idea of leaving Gran
vile and making her home elsewhere
no longer struck her as running away
adventure forth among strangers in
strange country with a better heart.
knowing that Kitty Brooks would put
swift quietus on any gossip that
came her way.
So that Hazel went down to the din
ing room light-heartedly, and when the
meal was finished came back and fell
to reading her papers. The first of
the Western papers was a Vancouver
World. In a real-estate mans half
page she found q diminutive sketch
plan of the city on the shores of Bur-
rard inlet, Canada's principal outpost
on the far Pacific.
"It's quite a big place." she mur-
INJURED absently. "One would be far
enough away there, goodness knows"
Then she turned to the Help
Wanted" advertisements. And down
near the bottom of the column she
happened on an inquiry for a school
teacher, female preferred, in an out
of-the-way district in the interior of
the province.
"Now, that" Hazel thought.
She had second-class certificate
tucked away among her belongings.
Originally 1t had been her intention to
teach, and she had done so one term
in a backwoods school when she was
eighteen. With the ending of the term
she had returned to Granville, studied
that winter. and got her second GER
tiicate; but at the same time she had
taken business-cOllege course, and
the following June found her clack-
ing a typewriter at nine dollars a
week. And her teachers diploma had
remained in the bottom of her trunk
ever since.
Unaccountably, since Kitty Brooks
visit, she found herself itching to turn
her back on Granville and its unpleas-
ant associations. She did not attempt
70 analyZe the feeling. Strange lands
and most of all, the West, held alluring
promise. One thing was certain
Granville, for all she had been born
there, and grown to womanhood there
was now no place for her. The very
, people who knew her best would make
: her suffer most.
, She spent that evening going thor
oughly over the papers and writing
letters to various school boards, taking
: a chance at one or two she found il
the Manitoba paper, but centering hel
> hopes on the country west of th'