Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1919-1980, 1922-11-11
The Discovery

1 rushed blindly forward not
knowing the import of that sinister
remark of the woman beside me.
What work did she mean that the
little white pellet had donef
Was Sheila dead or only sleep
ingf
hardly dared 60 to the bed. She
looked so white and I could not see
that she was breathing.
The same thought came to Phil
and Tony, but we were all reassur-
ed by the woman saying, do not
worry. l gave her only a very lit
tie morphine. wanted to help her.
And morphines the only comfort
that can be given to woman after
she gets down here"
The tragedy of this assertion was
heightened by the matter of fact
tone in which the woman made it.
When I found this girl on the
street." Sarah continued, "she was
talking to herself and calling upon
Walter to come and get her out of |
some sort Of trouble. The name Wal
ter was one / had been much in
terested in for the last few weeks
and / tried to talk to her.
"She was bareheaded and / saw
she was out Of her head
when she saw me, she gave a
little cry of delight and ran over
o me holding out both her hands,
aging | am glad, SO glad you are
Iere. Help me to find Walter And
hen she looked around as though
he were afraid that someone would
ONE and get her before she found
i'm.
"At first I thought she was the
ister of young man | had been
lking care of named Walter. ! ask
d, Are you Walters sisterF She
aid no attention to my question,
ut kept entreating, Help me to
nd Walter. Until / find him and !
, tells Phil the truth, Phil will }
sep on hating me.'' n
Darling darling" crooned Phil, !
Keeling beside the bed and taking >
leila's hands in his.
Darling" he repeated, covering {
e little hot hand with kisses, Il 1
syer hated you, have always low
| you even when I was made to
,lieve you did not love me.
Sheila for a moment seemed try
g to understand. She opened her
,es and looked at him but just as I
thought, with bated heath, that {
e was going to recognize my broth
she turned her face away with a /
gh and questioned; won't you
lip me to find Walter2" II
/ do not think l win ever again t
g upon my brothers face such an S
Iish as / did when he realized that {
leila did not know him. a
$50 that is Sheila, is it9" Sarah !
hispered. THAT is the young lady t
heard Walter often speak of. And
that man the one for whom she
owed faithless to the boy. Was it e
cause she fell in love with him ~ b
lestions spilled out of the woman's n
,uth eagely. / looked up causual-
and noted with surprise remnants
once great beauty in the woman's
ce as she bent forward toward
}. | saw that she was young, per-
ps even younger than Sheila. Vice
d drugs had multiplied the years.
"He certainly got raw deal from
me one" she commented vieiously.
t was too bad that boy like
alter would have to come down
re to find little kindness from a
man like me. He was too good
TOO decent for all that. But /
not think that would have
,ught that woman up here if l
l known she was the Sheila that
liter had loved, the one who had
itten him the love letter that he
rays carried.
'Sheila did not write that letter
Walter" said to the woman
her loudly before l thought.
Phil raised his head from where
had been resting close to Sheila's
'veless hand. He saw great
1t. Presently he said;
Am I to understand, Kay, that
letter Sue showed me from her
ther--the letter he wanted her TO
d 70 Sheila--was in answer to
to which Sheila's name had been
gedf''
Yes, Phil, I would have told you
ore, but You believed so implicit
in Susanne that it was not the
. to make accusations
hills hand stole tenderly to the