New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1919-09-05
ing proportions. and the Dunnis y inls

Ing proportions. and the Dunnie ~ iiils
for future settlement grew and g'"'..
Mrs. Chivvis made a lis. If 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 q lot of money trying to get her
off his mind. He got a good deal on
his conscience, but not Daphne off his
mind. He lOnged for her especially,
too, because there came Il 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 alb
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
the most unfortunate moment for Bay
ard and Clay. Any moment of slump.
indeed, would have come most untime-
Iy 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 a job, acted
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 n stage-fright she
had 0 felt in Reben's theater. There
was no lack of temperament in hel
manner now. But there was no audi
ence, either.
At night Kip and Chivvis locked
their doors and vent home, discOur
aged beyond words and dismally
weary in the legs, also in the smile
muscles which had been kept at an ex'
pectant tension all day long.
Occasional purchases We're made,
but unimportant. Kip and Chlvvis
tried to learn what interested people
and what did not. They realized that
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 it would not
move.
"Nhat do the women care for
p~rices?" Daphne rallied. "They are
spending some mans money, anyway.
They pretend that it's to please him,
but they know and we know that it's
because they hate each other"
One day a great lady who could
squeeze through the dooi
into the shop and spilled her.
self into a startled little chair like q
.oad Of coal. Daphne felt that she was
about to die on their hands or ask for
m ambulance, but she asked instead
For an ntnhtnflnrn hr,nlfnEt ,n,,n
from the window.
Mrs. Chivvis fetched 1t and the olo
)gress clutched II from her, holding II
up to her o $ as if to sniff 1t. but
'eally to see 1t.
"That's IL! That's what I've been
cooking fort" she wheezed. Have you
got much of this sort of thing?"
"Oh yes"
"Agh, that's good. My daughter Is
marrying in some haste-a young i'm.
Decile who's going over to France to
'un an ambulance. I'm Mrs. Romily."
Mrs. Chivvis waited unperturbed for
Identification. Daphne had
lever heard of Mrs. Romilly, either,
nut she gasped as If she had been say
ng her prayers at the shrine of Rom.
lily from childhood and now had been
by the patron saint, whom she
recognized at once, of course.
"Oh yes, Of course"
Mrs. Romilly was coughing on:
I've been to several shops, and I was
almost In despair until | saw your
'ign. If you could do a few things in
a hurry ! fancy | could give
'ou a large-ish order. And If the
hings were at all successful, | could
brow quite a little trade your way.
rather new, aren't your"
Daphne assented that the firm was
quite new. She brought forward an
pad and stood at attention.
Mrs. Romilly had trousseaued a
arge family of children and several
,oor relations. She knew what she
and what she ought to pay for
I and when IL should be done. Daphne
ook down her orders as IL the little
Dom were the mere vestibule to an
'normous sweatshop where hundreds
4 sempsters would seize the Job and
'Omplete 1t in n jiffy.
To BE CONTINUEDD