Middletown transcript., 1919-11-01
w
Dead-Broke
Girl
9~HD
N ". ED9OH SMITH
(copyright.)
By ". EDS0H SMITH

SneS gong DOWN TO the Duncn OF
vacant lots that all reputable citizens
call City Park" remarked Welsh idly,
as he leaned eorpulent figure against
the gas-pipe railing in front Of Simon's
place.
j Delano. letting the screen door slap
behind him. stood on the top step.
Tall, well-groomed and charming Of
manner, his handsome young face just
now expressed great contentment.,
He looked like prosperous broker.
The fact that he happened to be an
other sort Of gambler worried him not
at all as he sent out cloud of fra
grant blue smoke into the quiet air.
Delano imported his cigars.
. what nOw?" he inquired. "Who
are you degrading by making her the
subject of your vulgar remarks?''
Welsh refused to be insulted.
Before l answer" he murmured, II
must be sure that Miss Lenore Stacy
would not object to your having the
information. Far be it from me to be
the start of foolish flirtation."
"T've told you forty times," cried his
friend ferociously, "that IGNORES up
in Deadwood for a month. I told you
that she said she'd scream, and die, and
everything else, if she didn't get away
from here for while.
II told her that I didn't blame her,
as anybody would hike for higher
ground and away from this painful
prairie that could. You know as well
as anything that I've been up the line
myself for two weeks. Are you going
to tell me about"
''The dead-broke girl?"
Welsh used the slightly bored tone Of
one who handles a somewhat thread
bare theme
"Oh, forgot. You say you've been
away for a week. Why-that's a
young lady named Martelle- Helene
Martelle.
"She's right pretty little thing
bit too mournful-looking to suit me,
but, under the circumstances you
couldn't blame her for that. She halls
from your good old sunny South-Ala-
bama. Seems she was a simple be-
lever and got roped in by an en-
ployment agency that was a bad actor.
''They took large, robust whack at
what money she had, then let her use
the balance journeyin' clear out here
beyond the sand hills and the setting
sun, where there was no job! And
so, we've been calling her the dead
broke girl.
"See, she's heading off Main street
every day she goes over to our state
ly park. I can't make out why"
Delano turned his dark blue eyes
in the direction indicated, and watched
the slowly receding figure at the far
ther end Of the raw thoroughfare.
stopping at the hotel, eh?" he re-
marked.
yep. Guess she's about to the end
Of her welcome, though; you know
Pop Grier. He wouldn't let the angel
Mike sit on the veranda of that old
clapboarded ruin, unless he bought
some of those Brown Beauty cigars.
"Say, it must have been a nasty,
cheap bunch Of grafters. feel a lot
like philanthropist, with my high
stool and my crap-game, when I think
about the raw plays they make back
in those burgs.
Cheap! Think Of sending the poor
kid this far out Of the way just to cop
out her few dollars"
Nothing wrong with the world" re-
Joined the croupier coldly. "The low
down population is what raises the
deuce all the time"
Hear! Hear!'' applauded Welsh.
"But to resume our narrative.
"The little girl has acquired per-
manent habit, all in three days. of go
ing down yonder and sittin' under the
one sizable tree.
1--WE couldn't both get In the cool at
the same time. II she wants to be
really, truly miserable, that beauty
spot is certainly the place to go. She'll
never commit suicide by drowning, any
how.
"Pshaw! Here comes John Weick-
er. I reckon as to how he'll be want
Ing to roll the bones. 1 must 60 in
and get behind the table. Ho-hum!
Such work-a-day-''
"What did the girl expect to do
when she came?" interrupted Delano
incuriously.
"Huh? Oh! Why, old Grier said
that he understood she came out with
the idea in her head that she was to
act as companion to rich lady"
"Oh, Simon!" Delano turned and
spoke through the screen toward the
cool, darkened interior.
His employer was half doing over
a newspaper at the desk in the rallied
of corner, but Delano got an irritated
grunt by way Of response.
II want to 80 down the street an
hour or so," he announced.
And suppose you expect me to run
the confounded Wheel" came Simon's
placid growl. "Well, give me one Of
them four-bit smokers. Otherwise you
can't CO."
Delano went leisurely str0lling along
the board sidewalk.
To the left, at the end Of the dreary
road, lay the struggling park Of
Welsh's reviling.
He looked In that direction for a
minute. Then he turned sharply and
followed tho cr0sa stroot in tho nnnn.
site direction.
Here were two rows Of one-story,
sQuare-fronted shanties.
A little farther on. Delano stopped
before one of the doors, and rang.
A tall, gaunt young woman was hold
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Ing It wide and looking 1t him. Her
hollow cheeks Jared with vivid color
that might have been rouge-but was