The Monticellonian., 1919-05-23


 for future settlement grew and grew.
 Mrs. ChivviS made list of their debts and tried to show if ta Daphne, but she stopped her eyes and ears and forbade any discussion that would queneii 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 q myriad regrets. and his af- iai@> could wait Her business needs could not
 Clay did not come near her. He spent q lot of money trying ta get her off his mind. He got d good deal on his conscience. but net Daphne off his mind He longed for her especially. loo, because there came q sudden dis aSter to his schemes. lie was not st rich aS he bud been. Indeed. he could not he sure thai he WaS rich at all Any day might smother him with hankruptcy This fear kept him from Daphne. toa
 The bouncing muntion stocks that were known aS war hahioS. had ah- runtiY faiien into n decline Thn ~ab- marine thm tarpedoed the Lusitaaia shattered Wall streets jay. threw the dread of war into the United States and set every one to- questioning the problem of revenge aud is cost
 The slump in the mnrkef eana at tlle most unfortunate moment fur Bay ard and Clay. Any moment of slump. indeed. would have come meSt uatiIae= Is for their ventures.
 Nip and GhlKvis" were making q picnic ground of the shop Behind the Soap=veiIcd windows they lauehed and debated on arrangements and price tags and show cards.
 Mr. ChikSis. still eut of il ioh. acted as maid Of all work and stevedorc. and grew so useful that they had to put him out. And at last the moment arrived when they declared the shol open. raised the curtain. as Daphn, said.
 She waited with a stuge=fright she had aot felt in Reben's theater. There was no lack of temperament ill her manner now. But there was no audi enee, either.
 At night Kip and Ghivyis locked their doors and went home. dscour- aged beyond words and dsmally weary in the legs also in the smile muscles which had been kept at an ex pectant tension all day long
 Occasional purchases were made but uHimpartant Kip and ChivVi> tried to learn what interested people and what did not. They realized thnt they had far too much of certain things and far too little of others They attempted to sell the deadwood by marking it down; but il would not move.
 What de the women care fol priees?s Daphne railed. "rhey ar, spending some mans money, anyway They pretend that it's to please him but they know and We know that it. 1 because they hate each other" One day great lady who couif hardly squeeze through the doel ereaked into the shop and spilled her self into q startled little chair like | l load of coal Daphne felt that she WI, about 10 die on their hands or ask fol ] an ambulance, but she asked iuSteat ] for an embroidered bre3thfaSt guWf ] from the window
 Mrs. Chiyvis fetched if and the olt i ogft N elntehed il from her holding f up to her nose as if to snin if. hn really to see it.
 That's it, That's what I've beef looking fort' she wheczed. "Have yot gof much of this sort of thing?''
 "0h yes"
 "Agh, that's good. My daughter i, marrying in some haste-a young i'm beeite who's going over to France to run an ambulance. I'm Mrs. Romily.
 Mrs. Chiyvis waited mpertul4,pd foi further identification. Daphne hat never heard of Mrs. Romilly. either but she gasped as if she had been SHY. ing her prayers at the shrine of Rom illy from childhood and now had been visited ty the patron snint. whom sht had recognized at once. Of course.
 oh yes. of course.
 Mrs. RomiIIy was coughing on I've been to several shops. and wns almost in despair until I saw yonr sign. If you could do Il few things in rather n hurry I fancy could give you large-ish order And if the things were at all successful. could throw quite Il little trade your WAY You're rather new aren't youE'
 Daphne assented that the firm was quite new. She brought forward an order pad and stood at attention.
 Mrs. Romilly had trousseaued Il large family of children and several poor relations. She knew what she wanted and what she ought to nay for it and when it should he done. Daphne took down her orders as if =lhe little room were the mere vestibule to an enormous sWeatshop where hundreds of sempsters would seize the iob an6 complete il in q iiny.
 Gro BE CONTI&UEpl