Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1919-01-30
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view all the activities of her circle
with a critical eye. Certain of her
friends had become tentative enemies.
Kitty Brooks and the Bray w%omenfolk,
who were a numerous and influential
tribe, not only turned silent faces
when they met, but they made war on
her in the peculiar fashion of women.
A word here, a suggestive phrase
there, a shrug Of the shoulders. 1t all
bore fruit. Other friends conveyed the
avid gossip. Hazel smiled and ignored
1t. But in her own rooms she ragged
unavailingly.
Her husband had left her. There
was a man in the case. They had lost
everything. The first count was suf-
ficiently maddening because it was a
half truth. And any Of it was irritat-
ing-even if few believed-since it
made a choice morsel to digest in gos-
sipy corners, and brought sundry Curl
GUS stares on Hazel at certain times.
Also Mr.. Wagstaff. had caused the
stockholders Of Free Gold a heavy loss
which was only offset by the fact
that the Free Gold properties were
producing richly. None of this was
even openly flung at her. She gathered
it piecemeal. And it CALLED her. She
could not openly defend either Bill or
herself against the shadowy scandal
mongers.
Slowly it dawned upon her, with a
bitterness born Of her former expert
ence with Granville, that she had lost
something Of the standing that certain
circles had accorded her as the wife
of a successful mining man. 1t made
her ponder. Was Bill SO far wrong,
after all, in his estimate of them? 1t
was a disheartening conclusion. She
had come of a family that stood we'll
in Granville; she had grown up there /;
If lifetime friends blew hot and cold
like that, was the game worth playing?
In so far as she could she gave the
lie to some Of the petty gossip. Where
as at first she had looked obviously on
spending Bills money to maintain the
standard of living they had set up, she
now welcomed that deposit of five
thousand dollars as a means to dem
onstrate that even in his absence he
stood behind her tinancially-which
she began to perceive counted more
than anything else. So long as she
could dress in the best, while she could
ride where others walked, so long as
she betrayed no limitation of re-
sources, the doors stood wide. Not
what you are, but what you've got
she remembered Bill saying that was
their hottest creed.
1t repealed her. And sometimes she
was tempted to sit down and pour 1t all
out in a letter to him: But she could
not quite bring herself to the point,
Always behind Bill doomed the vast
and dreary Northland, and she shrnnk
from that.
On top Of this, she began to suffer
a queer upset Of her physical cOndi.
ton. All her life she had been splen.
didly healthy; her body a perfect.
working machine, afflicted with nc
weaknesses. Now odd spasmodic pains
required without rhyme or reason in
her head, her back, her limbs, strik.
ing her with sudden poignancy, disap'
pearing as suddenly.
She was stretched on the lounge one
, afternoon wrestling %nervously with &
: particularly acute attack, when Vests
LOrimer was ushered in.
you're almost a stranger Haze
remarked, after the first greetings