The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1920-03-12

What is your plan2" said Dave
kindly. "AEy plan, no matter how
bad, Is always better than no PLAN
II thought" said Merton timidly-
Il thought If l could build a little
shack on the lots I could live there
with the boy and we could raise q
very fine garden. The soil IS very fer
tile and at least we should not Starve.
And the gardening would be good for
me, and | could perhaps keep some
chickens and work out at odd jobs as
well. But it takes money to build
ever q very small shack"
How much money! demanded
Dave.
IF l had a hundred dollars
Bring your title to me tomorrow;
to me personally, you understand. I'll
advance you five hundred dollars"
Merton sprang up, and there was
more enthusiasm in his eyes than had
seemed possible. "You will? But !
don't need that much"
'Then use the surplus to live on"
So the Merton affair was straight.
ened away in a ann which left
Dave more at peace with his con.
science. But another event, much
more dramatic and ~far-reaching in its
effects upon his life, was already ripe
for the enacting.
There were cases that could not
be turned away with a sharp answer.
Bert Morrison, for instance. Bert had
never mentioned her investment"
since the occasion already recorded.
She greeted Dave with the sociability
due to their long-standing friendship;
and her calm avoidance of the subject
hurt him more than the abuse Of all
his irate patrons.
Business conditions had necessitated
unwonted economy in the office affairs
of Coward & Eden, as a result OF
which many old employees had been
laid off and others had been replaced
by cheaper and less experienced labor.
Stenographers who had been receiving
a hundred dollars a month could not
readily bring themselves to accept
fifty, and some Of them had to make
way for new girls, fresh from the buai-
ness colleges. Such a new girl was
Gladys Wardin-pretty, likable, mex
~perienced. Her country home had
offered no answer to her ambitions,
and she had come to the city with
the most dangerous equipment a young
woman a carry-an attractive face
and IN unsophisticated confidence in
the goodness Of humanity. Coward
had been responsible for her position
In the Office, and Dave had given little
thought to her except to note that she
was a willing worker and Of comely
appearance.
Returning to the Office one Saturday
evening Dave found Miss Wardin max
ing up a bundle Of paper. pencils and
carbon paper. She was evidently IN
high spirits, and he smilingly asked
If she intended working at home over
Sunday.
"Oh, didn't Mr.. Coward tell you"
she answered, as though surprised that
the good news had been kept a secret.
He Is to spend a day or two at one
Of the mountain hotels, and I am to 90
along to do his correspondence. Isn't
1t just lovely? I have so wanted to go
to the mountains, but never felt that
I could afford it. And now / a COM
bine business with pleasure"
The smile died out Of Dawes eyes,
and his face became more set and
stern than she had eve seen it.
"Why, what's the matter, Mr.. N.
den?" she exclaimed. "Is anything
wrongT"
He found 1t hard to meet her frank.
unsuspecting eyes; hard to draw back
the curtains of the world SO much that
those eyes would never again be quite
so frank and u~nsuspecting. Miss
.ardin," he said, "did Coward tell
you thatw
"What? About going to the noun
OF course. He said he was
some work with Tim, and he
wondered If I would mind going along
to do it. and he would pay the II.
penses, and-and-" There was q
hard catch In her voice, and she
seized Elden's arm violently. Her eyes
were big and round; her pretty face
had gone suddenly white.
"Oh, Mr.. Elden. you don't think-
you don't think-that THAT he
You wouldn't believe that"
~ think you are absolutely inao-
he said. gravely,' Outfits the
innocent thing that gets caught"
The girl had broken into Yiolent
tears. "Whatever shall I do7 SWhkt
can / dot" she moaned. "Oh, why
didn't somebody tell me? What ear
I dor
He let her passion run on for a few
minutes, and then he sought, al gently
as he could. to win her back to some
composure. "Some one has told you."
he said-'in time. You don't have to
so. Don't be afraid of anything Con-
ward may do. ] will settle this score
with him."
She controlled herself, but when she