Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-09-16

She isn't old. Mr.. johnson. She Is Miss
Bowman Of The Purple Moth" Bancroft
laughed.
johnson shook his head. Never heard Of
that or her
johnson, I'm going to take you out sorne
night and show you the town"
No, sir. This is the town, .hereabcuts
Here is where we hold the reins, sir. Thosf 3si
fancy. offices uptown don't mean anything
Down here we W the city. You will wan
me to mail this special delivery?.'
yes"
johnson scrubbed his chin, which was n
ways in need of a shave late afternoons
MIR. Bancroft, it's none of my business, but
it seems to me that some one ought to nd
wise YOU"
About WHAT" ..
Writing personal letters to young ladies J.
of the theater. They're a bad lott
"But I'm not writing any letters; ana II
did,. Bancroft wouldn't appear in any OF
them. I'm Jeremiah Colingswood, remem-
ber."
II am only suggesting, sir. / cant help
but observe the headlines IN the newspapers.
Always some young fellow is being rocked
by these harpies." :
well, I'll remember. I've seen some OF
that in the newspapers myself. AT present !
am perfectly safe. I'm Il poor young man
who has come to the city to work"
Women have a way Of finding out what
they wish to know, SIR ~
81 haven't any locks to shear, Mr.. john
son. The military cut doesn't give much OF
II hand grip"
True. Do you ever think about 1T"
johnson asked. with Il jerk of the thumb
toward the room once occupied by Sias
Bancroft.
Yes" said Bancroft, his expression seri-
Gus. "By the way, who owned that house
before my father bought it,"
Il can tell you in a, minute answered
the old clerk. He returned after a brief
i, absence. 1t was purchased from the Chem-
ioal bank
WHO owned it before that?"
II should have to make a search"
Don't bother. But l find myself curious
about everything"
Yes, sir. I still hold to the opinion that
there were high wordsSin there"
"But what can be done?" said Bancroft
crasively. There isn't so much as n single
hair to pick up
Johnson sighed. There doesn't seem to
be-
DO you know anything about my father
that Mr-Snell doesntt?'
sir"
"Well, send this letter special delivery;
and tell MIR. Smell I'll be in tomorrow, be-
tween eleven and twelve"
Mr.. Smell tells me you're quite a Latin
scholar, sir"
"Oh, l can get along with it,
THAT'S one of my pastilncs, sir. l never
tire of the IIncid." ;.
IAN of which | saw. and part OF which 1
was Wen talk it over some day. I'm i'll a
n hurry now $500
johnson sighed again! Youth was ever in
Il hurry. All at once a brilliant idea popped
into his dusty mind. lie deterninedrto see
what sort of Il girl this Miss Bowman W;1s.
/. ,,c diva ~, tho firm t0 see that this
youngster was particularly guarded. 1t WIS
, not right to sit back and permit him to be
made Il fool of.
"By.by. Better reconsider and let me
give you i whirl some night said Bancroft
unconsciousfy using one Of Jenny Malloy'P
words.
I'm too old for that nonsense
IN wager you never had a wlirl.' .
Maybe not. Good day, sir
Or the way back to the house IN MINI
street Bancroft studied Nancy's letter; that
is. he studied the address on the envelope:
= Even though he knew the exact wording OF
the letter, even though it was really ad'
dressed to him. he would never break INTO II.
But he would always keep it.
He was not in love; he was merely IN the
middle of one Of those first adventures OF
youth: he was tiguratively sitting on tne
porch in the moonlight, or going to a barn
dance or to a church social. 1t was the
InllSyN ii / dIillI " LIZ 1850
and somehow Nancy was the naturalization
of those dreams he had had OF women.
Lacking a Nancy, he would have been tenn
porurily satisfied with n Jenny; a pretty.
friendly young woman, no matter "hal her
name was. #..
Hc was astonished when the train guard
whined, Eighteenth street"
He walked down to Ninth street. Every
where men AID women. boys and girls. were
pouring forth out Of doors. almost with that
jerky hurriedness of the slowly turned NOV
ing picture camera which had always made
him laugh. But, in this hour he found moth
ing to laugh at. He was struck by an astouno-
ing fact. He was without ambition; that y.
). he had no objective, no goal. 1t seemed in
credible. He could not recall having desired
to be something-a novelist, an inventors; Z
r merchant prince. What was the meaning Of
that? He had lived the very kind of life to
stir the ambition; and all these years he had
lent his body to mental tasks and his brain
; to moonshine. What would he have been had
) his father died in poverty? A farmland. or
i, a country school teacher, all his life! 70
carve out a niche for himself-he hadn't
!, really given the matter any substantial con.
$ sideration. Oh. yes, he had imagined himself
$ this or that character. but he had never ere
D ated a permanent dream of which he himself
should be the woof and warp. And now the
e magic wand of ready money would atrophy
t the instinct.
Y IT was a distinct shock. What could he do
n What should he try to do? The notion o.
e fooling about with at Latin primer now dis
v gusted him. Could he write? Surely, no.; o.
he would have begun scribbling long ago. HI
d was twenty-four, the son of his father. ant
he had no definite ambition, no goal towars
r which to set his energies! He became ap
palled; and the depression abided with hin
long after the curtain had risen upon tn
first act of The Purple Moth until h
discovered johnson in the audiencel
e He wanted to laugh: for he understood tn
o meaning Of the old fossils appearance in thi
ungodly temple Of music and flesh and laugh
g. ter. Wanted to see for himself what sort q
t. a girl it was whose dog had been worth s
,, much trouble. The first impulse was to 1nee
il him and carry him off to Nancy and Jenn!
n ac Rrot rnafa to his own Chllnn2isa Tha