Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1921-01-30
THROUGH HE'LL FOR HIM


poor voice.
81 know you're not" she snapped.
I and a lot Of jolly fools who'll stick by
| you and tell you hnw perfect you are
so long as your moi ey holds out What
! you need Is just the sort OF woman
one who'll take that much pains with
i you. You've never done useful thing
| in your life. I'm through. I'm going
, to work in a regular 1hice for
regular"
She was going to say. OF course. "a
truth wouldn't permit that. There fell
4! an embarrassing silence. When ne
! spoke, it was more astonishing than
an insult would have been.
ETHEL" he said in tone which was
! melancholy. hurt and gentle. do you
think you care TOTO try?
TRY what?"
, She looked at him in amazement.
This was truly sudden.
; Il care an awful lot about you."'.
he declared in his lisping tone. o.
Don't talk nonsense" she brought
,, him up sharply. Five minutes ago
you wanted to marry an actress. And
now you've the nerve to talk this way
to me-"
1t was luxury for her to be thus
scolding the high and mighty.
"All right" he conceded meekly.
! "where did 1 leave of that letter.
Simeon J. Cornstock. Crossdick 4
, Cannon. Boston. Yours of the 18th
received and would say in re Omaha
purchase OF September 12th-
She heard him mumbling the next
sentence of the letter. but her eyes
. were filmy, her throat filing with a
hysterical unreasonable desire to cry.
Suddenly she threw down her book,
and. rising. charged toward the little
room where her coat and hat were
i hung.
Ethel lived through the next week
in and out of her little fiat. which was
two flights over a delicatessen store
in Brooklyn. Almost the moment
after her impetuous flight from bond
age in the great offices Of Alcis ].
folly. She had crossed her Rubicon
and found poor picking indeed on the
other side. She had seen the useless
ness Of applying to the Bowdins for
recommendation. and without 1t there
was to be found nothing comparable
with the berth she had just left.
During foot-tired intervals between
job hunts she had time to think. and
hard necessity gave her thoughts
calculating turn. That pathetic little
posed to her! What couldn't she do
with the Bowdin money? Clerkly Cos
sip had limited that the Bowdins were
not SO well OF as they pretended. that
old Alky's passion for plunging had
more than once brought their affairs
ever. they kept up mighty show.
maintained a big house in town, two
or three in the country ana drove
feet Of motor cars. Wilfred belonged
81 70
bles. entertained right royalty.
Another letter from Bob added to
her depression. drove her thoughts into
forbidden paths. Because he wrote
uncheerily she was alarmed, for Bob
was not the whining SOFT. But he In
timated, in q few terse words. that he
was thinking Of giving UP college for
a year or SO until he could earn q
little for himself and go back. self
supporting and self-respecting. as a
man should. He was already twenty
four years old, almost Wilfred's age.
Two years of delay would cripple him
terribly in his career.
She laid the matter before her room
mate. Judy Allen. Judy was a slivery.
hard spinster with amber-rimmed
the awful square-heeled shoes satir-
| ically called "common-Rense." When
Ethel told her about Wilfred's talk
| with his father and his subsequent
proposal. Judy hardened her little color
's: you e fool! Why didn't you accept
himT"
II can't bear him. In the second place
well, I'm pretty human, I suppose.
And you've got to love man q lot to
A few days later Ethel found . card
showed under her door. It was nicely
| engraved. Mr.. Wilfred Bowdin." but
the romance lay in what was scrubbed
on the reverse side.
! said a word II hadn't cared 50 much.
When will you let me see you"
Hard. mercenary temptation again
entered her soul, held sway over her
hell where all the bills were paid on
| the FIRST of the month, hell whore
there was always a generous surplus
| with which to help the deserving
wherever help was needed. 1t was
a motion picture version Of heilish
it haunted. And yet she made no
move to answer wilfred's scrubbed
appeal She was secretly disappoint-
ed when a week went by and nothing
more was heard from poor. misguided
Wilfred.
an Saturday afternoon, Judy having
" gone to free concert. Ethel sat
in a shabby scroll rocker, at
tempting to settle her mind over a
paper-backed copy OF 'Ivanhoe" which
she had borrowed from the deIicates-
sen dealers wife. Above Sir Walters
mighty highfalutins the question OF
the day kept tap-tapping at her brain.
Then a louder tap-tapping brought
her to her feet. 1t was knock upon
the door, An impairment perenptory.
insulting knock which seemed to say:
open in the name OF the law"
She went to the door. and. az soon as
she had swung 1t wide. stood irreso-
lutte in the presence of Mr.. Alcis J.
Bowdin himself.
Quite without an invitation. and
| neglecting to remove his pearl.g.ay
hat. the little giant strobe into the
| room. His hard. red face was inscFu-
table. but his quick. marvelously in
telligent eyes were taking in every
detail Of the shoddily furnished inte-
, rior: Finally he decided to remove
! his hat