The Benson signal. [volume] (Benson, Cochise County, Ariz.) 1915-1921, 1918-09-28
CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER !.
i
Which Introduces a Lady and TWO
Gentlemen.
Dressed In plain white shirtwaist
and an equally plain black cloth skirt,
Miss Hazel Weir. on weekdays, was
merely unit in the Office Of Harring-
ton & Bush. implement manufacturers.
Neither in personality nor In garb
would a casual glance have different1-
ated her from the other female units.
occupied at various desks. A business
office Is no place for woman to pa
rade her personal charms. The meas.
ure Of her worth there is simply the
measure Of her efficiency at her ma
chine or ledgers. So that If any men,
Der Of the firm had been asked what
sort of a girl Miss Hazel Weir might
be. he would probably have replied
and with utmost truth-that Miss Weir
was capable stenographer.
But when Saturday evening released
Miss Hazel Weir from the plain brick
office building, she became, until she
donned her working clothes at g. m
Monday morning, quite different sort
of a person. In other words, she
chucked the plain shirtwaist and the
plain skirt into the discard, got into
such q dress as normal girl OF
twenty-five delights to put on, and de-
voted half an hour or so to doing"
her hair. Miss Weir then became an
entity at which few persons Of either
sex failed to take second glance.
Upon a certain Saturday night Miss
Weir came home from an informal
little party escorted by young msrn.
They stopped at the front gate
'Tll be here at ten sharp said he.
"And you get good beauty sleep
tonight, Hazel. That COMPOUNDED Of
Ace / hate to think Of you drudging
away at 1t. / wish we were ready
to-"
'Oh, bother the Officer she replied
lightly. Anyway, don't mind. 1t
doesn't tire me-. I will be ready at
ten this time. Good night. DEAR"
''Good night, Hazie," he whispered.
Here's kiss to dream on"
Miss Weir broke away from him
Faughingly, 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 weren't
such sleepyhead-Or else that |
weren't pore wurrkin' CURL"
At which last conceit she laughed
softly. Because, for a pore wurrkin'
gurl," Miss Weir was fairly well con-
tent with her lot. She had no one de-
pendent on her-a state Of affairs
which, If it occasionally leads to lone
illness, has it's compensations. Her
salary as stenographer amply coz
cred her living expenses, and even peg
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 OPP
timism, they two considered it already
settled. Six months more, and there
was to be a wedding, three-weeks
honeymoon, and a final settling down
In a little cottage on the West side;
everybody in Granville who amounted
to anything lived on the West side
Then she would have nothing to do
but make the home nest cozy, while
Jack kept pace with real-estRte bust
ness that was growing beyond his most
sanguine expectations.
She kissed her finger tips to him
again across the rOoftops all grimed
with a winters SCOT. and within fif-
teen minutes Miss Weir was sound
asleep.
She gave the lie, for once, to the say
ing that 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 off 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
q 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 little group of their
.cuuaintances Hazel gathered scra rs