Omaha daily bee., 1921-07-17

WHAT excuse COulu SHe give lot go
ing out to the kitchen now
| Consumed with mingled drea,
and curiosity, she approached tn,
pantry door. She would say some
thing about dinner-oh. yes, not t.
boil so many potatoes. She had in
tended to speak of that.
| Entering the pantry, she was me
with the fragrance of roasting mea
and the sound of the choppine
board.
"Oh, Cora, | forgot to tell you
you needn't boil so many potatoes
just enough for tonight. Mr.. Curtis
doesn't like them creamed the nexI
day."
Cora, chopping the celery for the
salad, did not look up. A barely
perceptible nod acknowledged
Heleh's instructions.
you can cut up a few OF those
radishes with the salad-some of the
small. crisp ones" Helen was
fumbling for some excuse to linger.
"Oh, this faucets dripping again.
| They didn't fix it at all"
Still that insolent silence.
Flushed and disconnected, Helen
moved toward the door.
Suddenly the chopping ceased.
Mrs. Curtis"
"Yes?' Helen turned back, tensely
expectant.
"Aint my month up next Tues
day?"
"Why, yes-I believe it is. Why
do you ask?"
"I'll be leavin' then"
In the pause that followed, the
chopping grew more vicious.
"Why-I-isn't this rather sudden,
Cora?"
Maybe 'tis," still slashing the
celery.
"You mean you're not satisfied
here?"
II wouldn't be leavin' if / was"
Helen had felt the inanity of her
question, but she was cropping for
words.
Very well, Cora" she tried to say
it with dignity. "Of course l don't
wish you to stay if you're not sat
isfied."
Again she started through the
pantry door and again Cora called
her back.
When you get another girl
don't talk about her so loud she can
hear. And you can tell Mrs. Stevens
for me that just cause girl works
in the kitchen amt no reason why
she amt honest. And to my way O
thinkin' it's mighty small to be lay
in traps. No self-respectin' girls
gonna stay in a place where they
play tricks like that.
So she had overheard the plan
to mark the money! And changing
the bills had been her indignant re-
taliation.
I'm very sorry, Cora, if I mis-
Judged you,' stammeringly. "But I
couldn't know-there hadn't been
any one else in the apartment"
THAT man who scraped the floors
how d you know it wasn't him?'
Helen did not know. With a sense
of deepening guilt, she realized that
it might have been the man who
scraped the floors. That she had
wholly forgotten him, added to her
mortifying contrition.
Cora, saidsI was sorry: I can't
do more than apologize. Perhaps if 1
you think it over-you may decide
to stay"
~ don't need to think it over"
scraping the celery into a bowl. II
don't work for nobody that's always
me-and snoopin' around"
Helen found herself in her own
room standing before her dressing
table which reflected her crimson
face. Mechanically jabbing her hat
pin through the inoffensive pin cush-
ion, she recalled her conversation
with Mrs. Stevens.
Cora had had her revenge. Her |
ito my way O. thinkin' it's mighty |
small to be layin' traps" cut deep be-
cause it was true.
1t was small-contemptibly small. |
All the Uplift and New Thought |
books she had been reading exhort-
ed her to think kindly, to believe in
everyone, to give out only love and
trust.
In her application Of these prin-
ciples she had failed miserably.
And she would have to admit it
all to Warren. He would want to |
know why Cora was leaving. He
loathed anything that was not
Straightforward and he would
harshly condemn her entrapping
method of testing the girls hon
esty.
Deeply contrite, Helen realized
that what had seemed clever ruse |
had brought her only humiliation,
discomfort, and the dismal prospect |
Of breaking in new maid.
Next Week-The Sordid Decep- |
tions of Socially Ambitious Wo-
man. [
Copyright. 1921. by Mabel Herbert Urner.
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