The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-08-31
BENEATH MASKS WE WEAR.
By Clara KUck
copyright, 1921, by Wheeler Syn
dictate. Incl

| (Copyr1Sht, 1JZ1, by wheeler Syn
dictate, Incl
well! l shall be able to write
a book on The Sunny Side of Pris
on Life If 1 stay herei" It wa.
Miss Brown who spoke. AS she die
so, she tossed note upon the deSE
of her employer.
, He had come into the Office ar
hour earlier. That he was out Of
sorts and much depressed was eVi
dent. His stenDgrapher had greet.
ed him with her usual good-natured
smile, but he had ignored her
plunging at once into the letters
and kilograms.
He looked up when she spoke
and reached for the paper mechan-
| ically. He had quite forgotten her
chair had spoken, or the clock
She meant no more to him than the
clock, or the files. or any neces-
sary part of the Office equipment.
But her words had caught his
ear. What met his eye. however
was not a dissertation upon Sun
shine in Prison, which ne had been
led to expect, but three prosaic
sentences: Il can't stand the gloom
am going for a walk. Please,
please smile when I come back"
She had gone He read these
words DULY, as he heard the click
and hum of the elevator going
down. Vaguely he thought he
should try to comply with this sug-
gestion of Miss Browns. After all,
she was not to blame for his pres
ent state of mind. and he.liked to
be agreeable When possible.
Meanwhile. it was good to be
alone. The situation might as well
be faced now and here. He began
to pace the floor. He had not been
sleeping for several nights; when
he had managed to close his eyes,
his dreams were most disturbing,
tantalizing ones, that wakened him
again and renewed his mental ag-
onies. Now as he walked back and
forth, his mind reverted to a line
Of argument that had occupied his
thoughts of late.
For the Tooth time he convinced
himself that none had ever been so
ruthlessly treated by fate as he.
He felt the utmost pity for John
Ranhope, ''one of our rising attor-
neys," as the Times identified him
on the society page And Judging
from the frequency with which his
name was mentioned on this same
society page, a casual reader would
conclude that John was not suffer-
ing from the slightest form of So
cial eclipse. His career seemed CAV
but that proved nothing.
The attentions of his numerous
hostesses and their charmina
had never reused more
than a passing interest.
Ever since his arrival in the CITY.
and that was two years ago, he had
secretly cherished dream-a
dream of day when he should go
back to the girl of his heart in the
old home town, and tell her WHY he
had worked SO relentlessly for the
two years just past; that he want
ed to work for her happiness all
the rest of his life.
What undaunted, simple faith he
had had, They were meant for
each other; of this there couId he
no doubt. She must have reaIized
Of the subtle bond he
.ween them. She must have known
hat they were more than mere
friends. How wonderful she wasi
With her beside him, the best rose
Up in>him and demanded exores-
lion. Her sweet influence lifted
aim above the sordidness and TAR
ing discords that he must meet
laily in the pursuit of his profess
ion.
What a hero he had counted him |
elf, when the hour OF parting |
:amei He had been strong enough