The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1919-04-10

IecelVeu, having palu cash pelOfe"
and, thanks to Mr.. Chivvis' suggestion,
having been astute enough to demand
discount for cash.
And now the motortrucks, and the
delivery wagons and the cyclecars and
he messenger boys began to pour
stock into the little shop. 1t 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 toe busy to care much. She had
no time to- mourn. Clay was only one
among a myriad regrets, and his af-
fairs ccu,d wait. Her business needs
could n3t,
Clay did not come lea her. He
spent q nt Of money trying; to get her
off his mind. He got a guod deal on
his conscience, but not Daphne off his
mind. He longed for her especially,
too, becaAse there came a sudden dis
aster to- his schemes. He was not so
rich as hn had been. Indeed, he could
not be s:re that he was rich at all.
Any da.7 might smother him with
bankruptcy, This fear kept him from
Daphne, go.
The b;tuncipg munition stocks that
were kntNn as 'war babies had alb
ruptly fa.,Gn into a decline. The SUBJ
marine tat torpedoed the Lusitania
shattered Wall streets Joy, threw the
dread of sur into the United States,
and set every n to questioning the
problem &C 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-
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 a 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 her
manner now. But there was no audi
ence, either.
At night Kip and Chivvis locked
their doors and went 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 were made,
but unimportant. Kip and Chivvis
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.
"What do the women care for
prices?" 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
hardly squeeze through the door
creaked into the shop and spilled her.
self into a startled little chair like q
load Of coal. Daphne felt that she was
about to die on their hands or ask for
an ambulance, but she asked instead
yfor an embroidered breakfast gown
from the window.
Mrs. Chivvis fetched it and the old
ogress clutched it from her, holding It
up to her nose as if to sniff II. hut
really to see it.
That's it! That's what I've been
looking fort" she wheezed.. "Haye Won
got much Of this sort of thing?"
ooh yes"
"Agh; that's good! My daughter is
marrying in some haste-a young i'm.
Declle who's going over to France to
run an ambulance. I'M Mrs. Romily."
Mrs. Chivvis waited u%nperturbed for
further Identification. Daphne had
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 been
visited by the patron saint, whom she
had 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 1 saw your
sign. If you could do a few things in
rather a hurry I fancy I could give
you a large-ish order. And if the
things were at all successful, / could
throw quite a little trade your way.
You're rather new, aren't you?"
Daphne assepted that the firm was
quite new. She brought forward an
order pad and stood at attention.