The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1919-12-12
By BOOTH HARRINGTON

as you're answering and
tried to be gentle! don't care to be
handled with glovesl tell you was
right. and I don't need any coddling
by people that think wasn'tl And
1 suppose you believe was wrong not
to let Morgan see her that last night
when he came here, and she-she was
dying. II you do, why in the name Of
God did you come and ask me? You
could have taken him in! She did
want to see him. She"
Miss Fanny looked startled. you
think"
"She told me sol" And the tortured
young man choked. "She said-just
once She said I'D like to have seen
him-just oncer She meant-to tell
him goodbye! That's what she
meantI And you put this on me. too !;
you put this responsibility on me!
But I tell you, and I told Uncle
George. that the responsibility isn't
all minel If you were SO sure was
wrong all the time-when took her
away, and when I turned Morgan out
If you were SO sure, what did you
let me do 1t for? You and Uncle
George were grown people. both Of
you, weren't you? You were older
than !, and If you were so sure you
were wiser than /, why did you just
stand around with your hands hanging
down, and let me go ahead? You
could have stopped 1t If it was wrong.
couldn't your"
Fanny shook her head. mo, George" !"
she said slowly. Nobody could have
stopped you. You were too strong,
and"
'And whatT he demanded loudly.
"And she loved you-too WELL"
George stared at her hard, then his
lower lip began to move convulsively,
and he set his teeth upon It but could
not check its frantic twitching.
He ran out of the room.
She sat still. listening. He had
plunged into his mothers room, but no
sound came to Fanny's ears after the
sharp closing of the door; and pres
emily she rose and stepped out into
the hall-but could hear nothing.
w hut lAlC1 view was 5ChACd away AlOAi1
human eye and ear within the lonely
darkness on the other side Of that
door-in that darkness where Isabefs
own special chairs were, and her own
special books. and the two great wal.
nut wardrobes filed with her dresses
and wraps? What tragic argument
might be there vafnly striving to con
| fute the gentle dead? "In Gods name
what else could I have done?" Fol
his mothers immutable silence was
surely answering him as Isabel in life
would never have answered him, and
he was beginning to understand how
eloquent the dead can be. They can
not stop their eloquence, no matter
how they have loved the living: they
cannot choose. And so, no matter II
what agony George should cry out
"What else could have done?" ant
to the end of his life no matter how
often he made that wild appeal, Isabe
was doomed to answer him with th'
wistful, faint murmur
"rd like to have-seen him. JUS
once"
4 -. A superstitious person
might have thought it unfortunate tina
Fanny's partner in speculative indus
try as in Wilbur's disastrous rolling
mills, was that charming but too hap
hazardous man of the world, Georg'
Anderson. He was one of those op
timists who believe that If you pu
money into a great many enterprise
one of them is sure to turn out a for
tune, and therefore, in order to fint
the lucky one, it is only necessary t.
go into large enough number Of them
"You ought to have thought of m.
record and stayed out" he told Fanny
one day the next spring, when the af
fairs of the headlight company hat
begun to look discouraging. Thing
do look bleak. and I'm only glad yol
didn't go into this confounded thin
to the extent did"
Miss Fanny grew pink. But 1t mus
go rightl' she protested. 1--WE say
with our own eyes how perfectly
worked out in the shop. 1t simply
"Oh, you're right about that" Am
berson said. 'Tt certainly was a pei
feet thing-in the shopw
"But think Of that test on the roa
when We"
"That test was lovely" he admitted
''The inventor made US happy with hi
oratory, and you and Frank Bronso
+. and went whirling through the nigh
at a speed that thrilled us. We mus
, never forget it-and we never shal
It cost"
'But something must be done"
'It must indeed! My somethin
would seem to be leaving my watch q
my uncle's. Luckily, you"
The pink of Fanny's cheeks becam
, deeper But isn't that man going
do anything to remedy it? Can't h
try to-"
'He can try" said ANDERSON. III
, is trying, in fact. I've sat In the sho
: watching him trv for several beautifr