The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1921-05-05
THE CITIZEN

confidence OF Sophronla Ames. She
told Sophronia Of brilliant scenes In
the changing spectacle OF metropolitan
life, Of the wonderful young man and
the untlmely afiilction Of Phyllis, now
happily past. Then, In whisper,
while Sophronia held up her right
hand as pledge Of secrecy, she told
OF the necklace Of which the lucky
girl had no knowledge. Now, Mrs.
Ames was one Of the best OF women.
People were wont TO speak Of her, and
rightly. ns "the salt Of the earth" She
would do anything possible for
friend. But Mamie Bling had asked too
much. Moreover, always II had been
understood between them that these
halfplayful oaths were not TO be taken
too seriously. OF course, "the fish had
to be fed" as Judge Croker had once
put IT, BY "the fish," he meant that
curious under-life Of the village-the
voracious, silent, merciless. cold
blooded thing which fed on the sins
and follles Of men and women and
which rarely came TO the surface TO
bother anyone.
'The fish are very wise," Judge
Croker used TO say. "They know the
truth about every one and It's well
that they do. After all, they perform
m Important Office. There's many a
man and woman who think they've
been foollng the fish, but they've only
fooled themselves"
And within day or two, the Sc
crets Of the Blng family were swim
ming up and down the stream of the
under-life Of Bingville.
Mr.. Blng had found a situation In
the plant which was new to him. The
men were discontinued. Their wages
were "sky high" TO quote a phrase Of
one Of the foremen. Still, they were
not satisfied. Reports Of the fabu-
among them. They had begun to
think that they were not getting
fair division Of the proceeds Of their
labor. At meeting of the help a rad
lcal speaker had declared that one of
the Blng women wore moose Of pearls
on her neck worth half million dol
lars. The men wanted more pay and
less work. A committee of their lead
ers had called at Mr. Bing's office with
a demand soon after his arrival. Mr..
Bing had said mo" with a bang of his
fist on the table. A workers meeting
was to be held a week later to act upon
the report of the committee.
Meanwhile, another cause of worry
had come or rather returned TO him.
Again. Phyllis had begun to show
symptoms Of the old trouble. Mrs.
Blng, arriving at dusk from a market
trip to Hazelmead with SOphrOnia
Ames, had found Phyllis lying asleep
among the cushions on the great
couch in the latter's bedroom. She en-
tered the room softly and leaned over
the girl and looked into her face, now
turned toward the open window and
lighted by the fading glow in the west
EN- sky and relaxed by sleep. II was
a sad facet There were lines and
: Swallows ia II which the anEions moth
q had not seen before and-had she
been crying? Very softly. the woman
sat down AT the girls side. Darkness
fen, black, menacing shadows filed
the corners OF the room. The spirit of
the girl betrayed Its trouble in sor-
rowful groan as she slept. Roger De
lane was coming next day. There was
every reason why Phyllis should be
happy. Silently. Mrs. Blng left the
room. She met Martha in the hall.
81 shall want no dinner and Mr.. Bing
is dining in HaZelmead," she whis-
pered. "Mlss Phyllis is asleep. Don't
disturb her"
Then she sat down In the darkness
Of her own bedroom alone.
Continued Next Week