Middletown transcript., 1918-05-18
termined to hold in check. Work, she

tclIHlHeu W HOIu iii CHECK. WOTk, 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.
Stout's establishment, she plainly
saw, were growing trifle 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 noon 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 that she
could stare ut the image of herself in
the mirror.
you're in fair way to become a
pariah, it seems" she said bitterly.
"What have you done, I 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 a thing except that your
looks attracted a man. and the man
threw stones when he couldn't have
! his way. Oh. we'll. 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 a seat on a
shaded bench beside the lake. People
passed and repassed- couples. young.
sters. old people, children. It 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 tc
Hazel that they quickened their pace
a trifle. 1t made her grit her teeth
in resentful anger. Ten minutes later
she left the park and caught a ca,
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 stay here?" she said
aloud. "Why? What's to keep mt
here? 1 can make my living any
where"
But. no" she asserted passionately
81 won't run away. That would be
running away, and l haven't anything
to be ashamed of. l will not rum"
Still the idea kept recurring to her
1t promised relief from the hurt OF
averted faces and GOODNESS where she
had 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 nc
such ear. Her friends kept away.
Saturday of the second week hel
pay envelope contained brief notice
that the firm no longer required hel
services. There was no explanation
only perfunctOry regrets; and, truth
to tell, Hazel cared little to know the
real cause. Any one of number OF
reasons might have been sufficient
But she realized how those who knew
her would take 1t, what cause they
would ascribe. 1t did not matter
though. The very worst, she reasoned
could not be so bad as what had al.
ready happened could be no more dis
agreeable than the things she had en-
dured in the past two weeks. Losing
Il position was a trifle. But it sci
her thinking again.
She stopped at a news stand and
bought the evening papers. Up in the
top rack of the stand the big heads OF
an assorted lot of Western papers
caught her eye. She bought two OF
three on the impulse of the moment
without any definite purpose except
to look them over out of mere curl
osity. With these tucked under bel
arm, she turned into the boarding
house gate, ran up the steTs, and. upon
opening the door, her ears were glad
dened by the first friendly voice she
had heard-it seemed to her-in ages
a voice withal that she had least ex
pected to hear. A short, plump woman
rushed out Of the parlor. and precipi
tated herself bodily upon Hazel.
kitty Ryan! Where in the wide