Cleveland County herald., 1920-01-08


 She stared at him with such a for lorn blankness as he had never seen. 'Td be paying" she said feebly. 'Pd be paying"
 Certainly you would. You'd be using more of your money than"
 My moneyi" Fanny's chin dropped upon her thin chest and she laughed miserably. i've got twenty-eight dol lars. That's all.'
 You mean until the interest is due againg"
 q mean that's all," Fanny said. "I mean that's all there is. There won't be any more interest because there isn't any principal"
 "Why you told"
 She shook her head. "No. haven't told you anything"
 'Then it was Uncle George. He told me you had enough to fall back on. That's just what he said: to fall back on.' He said you'd lost more than you should ;n the headlight con- pany, but he'd insisted that you should hold out enough to live on, and you'd very wisely followed his advice"
 T know" she said weakly. q told him so. He didn't know, or else he'd forgotten how much Wifbur's insur- ance amounted to, and I-oh, it seemed such a sure way to make a real for tune out of a littie-and I thought could do something for you, George, if you ever came to need it-and 1t all looked so bright just thought I'd put it all in. did-every cent except my last interest pagment-and it's gone." Good Lord!" George began to pace up and down the worn blanks of the bare floor. "Why on earth did you wait till now to tell such a thing as this?"
 q couldn't till I had to-" she said piteously. It wouldn't do any good not any good on earth" She got out her lace handkerchief and began to cry. Nothing does any good, guess, in this old world! Oh, how tired of this old world I am! I didn't know what to do. I just tried to go ahead and be as practical as 1 could, and ar range some way for us to live. Oh, I knew you didn't want me, Georgel I can see that much You don't SUD- pose want to thrust myself on you, do you? It isn't very pleasant to be thrusting yourself on a person you know doesn't want you-but I knew you oughtn't to be left all alone in the world; it isn't good. I knew your mother'd want me to watch over you and try to have something like home for you-I knew she'd want me to do what I tried to dow Fanny's tears were bitter now, and her voice, hoarse and wet, was tragieally sincere. "Oh l and now-you don't want-you want you want to leave me in the lurch :! You"
 "Oh, my Lordp' He went to her anl lifted her. "For Gods sake get up! Come, let's take the coffee into the other room and see what's to be done.'
 He got her to her feet; she leaned upon him, already somewhat comfort ed, and, with his arm about her, he conducted her to the dining room and seated her in one of the two kitchen chairs which had been placed at the rough table. s'There!" he said "get over it!" Fanny's spirits revived ap- preciably: she looked up with plain tive eagerness. q had bought all my fall clothes, George" she said; land paid every bill owed. I don't owe cent for clothes, George"
 "That's good" he said wanly, and he had a moment of physical dizziness that decided him to sit down quickly. For an instant it seemed to him that he was not Fanny's nephew, but mar ried to her. He passed his pale hand see where we stand" he said feebly. Lets see if we can afford this place you've selected"
 Fanny continued to brighten. "I'm sure it's the most practical plan we could possibly have worked out, among nice people. think we'll both enjoy it, because the truth is we've been keeping too much to ourselves for a long while. It isn't good for people,"
 q was thinking about the money, Aunt Fanny. The rent is thirty six dollars a month; the dinner is twenty two and a half for each of us, and we've got to have some provision for ether food. We won't need any clothes for year, perhaps"
 "Oh, longer! she exclaimed. "So you see"
 q see that forty-five and thirty-six make eighty-one," he said. At the lowest, we need a hundred dollars a month-and I'm going to make thirty two."
 I thought of that, George" she said confidently, "and Pm sure it will be all right. You'll be earning great deal more than that very soon." T don't see any prospect of it-not till I'm admitted to the bar and that will be two years at the earliest.'