Vernon Parish Democrat. (Leesville, La.) 1917-193?, 1919-07-05

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nothing purchase, nothing sell moth
ing borrow. nothing pay. The only
way to get out Of debt is to go in
deeper-like getting a fish hook out Of
your thumb"
Mrs. Chivvis suffered herself to be
persuaded. They visited the whole
salers and the jobbers and were well
received, having paid cash before
and, thanks to Mr.. Chivvis' suggestion,
having been astute enough to demand
discount for cash.
And now the motortruclKs and the
delivery wagons and the cyclecars and
the messenger boys began to pour
stock into the little shop. It was pleas
ant not to have to pay for things
though the tips were reaching alarm
ing proportions, and the bundle of bills
for future settlement grew and grew.
Mrs. Chivvis made a list of their
debts and tried to show it to Daphne,
but she stopped her eyes and ears and
forbade any discussion that would
quench her spirit.
In the swirl of her tasks Daphne
almost forgot Clay Wimburn. She
was too busy to care much. She had
no time to mourn. Clay was only one
among a myriad regrets, and his af-
fairs could wait. Her business needs
could not.
Clay did not come near her. He
spent lot Of money trying to get her
off his mind. He got good deal on
i I,sr oopsofonoo bvYk !, ~ TOoDhvno ofF hfe
mind. He longed for her especially,
too, because there came a sudden dis
aster to his schemes. He was not so
rich as he had been. Indeed, he could
not be sure that he was rich at ALL
Any day might smother him with
bankruptcy. This fear kept him from
Daphne, too.
The bouncing munition stocks that
were known as "war babies" had abb
ruptly fallen into a decline. The sub
marine that torpedoed the Lusitania
shattered Wall streets joy, threw the
dread Of war into the United States,
and set every one to questioning the
problem of revenge and its cost.
The slump in the market came at
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ard and Clay. Any moment of slump,
indeed, would have come most untime-
ly for their ventures.
"Kip and Chivvis" were making a
picnic ground of the shop. Behind the
soap-veiled windows they laughed and
debated on arrangements and price
tags and show cards.
Mr.. Chivvis, still out of q job, acted
as maid of all work and stevedore,
and grew so useful that they had to
put him out. And at last the moment
arrived when they declared the shop
open, ''raised the curtain" as Daphne
said.
{ She waited with a stage-fright she
had not felt in Reben's theater. There
was no lack of temperament in heI
manner now. But there was no audi
a ence, either.
a At night Kip and Chivvis locked
their doors and went home, dlscour
e aged beyond words and dismally
e weary in the. legs, also in the smile,
: muscles which had been kept at an ex
pectant tension all day long.
e Occasional purchases were made
e but unimportant. Kip and Chivvis
5 tried to learn what interested people
5 and what did not. They realized that
they had far too much of certain
: things and far too little of others
r They attempted to sell the deadwooG
: by marking it down; but it would moi
h move.
}, "What do the women care FOL
y prices?" Daphne rallied. 'They arr
! spending some mans money, anyway
They pretend that, its to please him
!. but they know and we know that it,
because they hate each other"
r One day a great lady who coulC
4 hardly squeeze through the dool
creaked into the shop and spilled her
self into a startled little chair like
/ load of coal. Daphne felt that she was
| about to die on their hands or ask FOL
/ an ambulance, but she asked instead
for an embroidered breakfast gown
| from the window.
/ Mrs. Chivvis fetched it and the ole
J ogress clutched it from her, holding i
+ up to her nose as if to sniff it, bu
4 really to see it.
Y ''That's It'll That's what I've beer
: looking for" she wheezed. "Have vol
n got much of this sort of thing?"
r ooh yes"
+ "Agh, that's good! My daughter Il
marrying in some haste-a young i'm
G beetle who's going over to France t,
p run an ambulance. I'm Mrs. Romily.'
; Mrs. Chivvis waited unperturbed fo
\ further Identification. Daphne haC
: never heard Of Mrs. Romilly, either
but she gasped as if she had been say
: ing her prayers at the shrine of Rom
: lily from childhood and now had beer
visited by the patron saint, whom sh'
3 had recognized at once, of course.
= "Oh yes, of course"
! Mrs. Romilly was coughing on
= "Tve been to several shops, and wa
= almost in dacDair 11nfi1 cow vo71