Evening star., 1922-06-18

tility was her hance. She took ad-
vantage of the halt at the steam ham,
mer to draw him on one side.
| What on earth Is the matter with
the men, Herbert?" she demanded.
I've never seen, them like this be-
FORE!
The Honorable Herbert cursed un-
der. his breath He. too, had been
painfully aware of the scowls which
had followed them. though he had
| hoped against hope that Marjorie
would not notice. Moreover. he had
known only too, we'll the reason Of
the demonstration. And now it would
I come to old Johns ears. He cursed
again as the girr looked at him with
questioning eyes, - -t
Lord knows, my DEAR he an
swered abruptly. II suppose the
| blighters have got some fancied
| grievance" a..
Blighters. Fancied grievance"
| The girl stepped back in genuine
amazement. Then why don't you
have them together and ask them.
liked daddy used to do?''
| AS she spoke she glanced over Ills
shoulder, and for a moment her eyes
| met those of man standing behind
him. He was looking at her deliber-
| ately and intently, and suddenly, to
her surprise. he held up a twisted
! slip of paper In his hand. Then he
pointed to the floor and turned away.
| 1t had been done so quickly that for
a while she could hardly believe her
eyes One of the men, trying to pass
a secret note to her. What on earth
was the matter with everybody?
| Once again the man looked at her
with the suspicion of smile on his
face. and she frowned quickly He
was impertinent. this youngster, and
She turned to her fiance. She remem-
bered now that the last time she had
been round she had seen hfm work
! ing on a lathe; that 1t had struck her
then that he had seemed different
| from the others-his hands. Oily though
| they they were; the cool, unembar-
rassed look in his eyes; his wav tf
spea king. almost as il he had been
her equal. And now he was p-esum-
| ing on her kindness then.
! Her hands clenched involuntarily
as she looked at her fiance.
| WHAT is the name OF that man
with his back half toward us over
there?" she demanded. For the mo-
ment the "fancied grievance" was
forgotten in more personal matters.
! The Honorable Herbert. thankful
for the sspite. swung around Then.
as he saw the subject Of her Iues-
ton, his jaw set in an ugly line.
John Morrison" he n Se'ed
shortly. "And If had my Y " I'd
sack him on the spot. a useless.
arsumenta tive. insubordina;e svir g."
| And it was as this grac .fri eule sy
concluded that John Morrison looked
at her again. Her fiance had moved
away. and she was standing alone.
For a moment she hesiiated. Then
| she. too, turned to join. the rest Of
the party. And lying on the ground
where she had been was her hand
kerchief.
you dropped your handkerchief.
Miss Trenton" A courteo ous, we'll.
bred voice was speaking close behind
her, and she turned slow'y 10 rnd
John Morrison holding it out to her.
! Thank you" she answered.
| Rolled up insi lie it she could feel
the twisted wisp Of paper, AMI as ;he
Honorable Herbert came up with an
angry look on lis face she hesitated.
what do you want?" he snapped
at the man.
Miss Trenton dropped her hand
kerchief, sir" answered Morr'son I'M
passively.
The other grunted.
| "Au right. Get on with your
work"
Marjorie hesitated no longer. With
sort OF binding certainty there
flashed into her mind the conviction
that something was wrong. She
didn't stop to analyze her thoughts.
She merely felt convinced that John
Morrison was not an insubordinate
swine. and that in the note she held
in her hand lay the clue to a great
deal that was puzzling her at the mo-
ment And so, with gracious smile
at the man, she slipped her handker'
chief into her bag.
It was ten minutes before she found
an opportunity Of reading the note
1t was in pencil. and the handwriting
was small and neat.
! TT is immaterial to me what ac-
! tion you take on receiving this, II
ran. But IL you are in any way In
terested in your fiance's future most
strongly advise you to suggest
| change of air to him. OF his capa-
bilities as a husband, you must de-
eide for yourself: of his capabilities
az the boss of Frentons. other peo-
ple have already decided, as possibly
YOU may have noticed this morning
So get him away and keep him away.
You haven't got much time"
| Get him away and keep him
away The words danced before the
girls eyes She was conscious OF no
anger against John Morrison-merely
of stunned surprise. The thing was
40 totally unexpected. "Of his capa-
bilities as the boss of Frentons,
other people have already decided"
And even as she read and reread the
sentence she found that she was ac-
tually asking herself the question:
was it so totally unexpected. after
aN?"
That matters should have come to
a head in such an abrupt way was
STAGGERING shock, but. She
crumpled the note into her bag once
more and walked slowly toward the
waiting cars. A hundred little half
defined thoughts came crowding In on
her memory; a hundred little things
which had not struck her at the time
or was 1t that she hadn't allowed