Evening star., 1922-11-04
The Wife Who Wouldn't
Settle Down!
A Sequel to "Brides Will Be Brides
Il to 'sBrides Will Be Brides
By Lucille Va,, Slyke

| 1t. her husband somehow expects her
to go on doing 1t. Women shouldn' :
take mems work away from them. 1
think. Earning money is what men
are made for. and. my dear" she
leaned forward impulsiVely, its none
of my business to say so, and I'm
biting off my own nose when l do.
for. If you give up your school con-
trary. 1 shall have to sit around en-
ployment agencies finding u nurse
| had dad who has all the money
yours has. i wouldn't be so silly as
to try to shift for myself. I'd trot
home to daddy. bag and baggage"
Which is about what I'll have to
do in another month";" Merriam found
herself thinking bitterly. as she start
ed out to collect the rest of her days
charges.
She put in an unusually hard day
at it. Shs breathed a sigh OF relief
when she had returned the last one
at night. and could go back to her
comparatively quiet house. She was
so weary of childish prattle and
pranks that she actually didn't want
to hear her own children's voices Her
head ached. her back ached and her
feet ached. She was just a bundle
of nerves. She tried a hot bath, but
She dropped into her bed and called
Susan.
I'm a gutter tonight" she al
most whined to the faithful old
creature. You feed the twins, and
tuck EN- in bed--I'm all in"
that Susan sent up to her. 1t seemed
to her that the house would never
get quiet enough to let her think.
But at last even Susan and Ethel
were in their beds. Still Merriam
could not sleep. 1t was nearly mid
dope book. She turned on her light.
tiptoed down the hall, rescued it from
under the towels and scuttled back
to bed. Propped up in her pillows.
She examined it thoroughly from
cover to cover. Struggling her
of family. history whereby the
fortune teller had been able to dupe
the credulous souls who came to her.
At the back Of the book were the
lists of numbers over which she had
been pondering when the officer had
queer fgures-evidently sums of
money: but these were followed by
shorter sets Of figures. things that
didn't tally with anything.
She gave 1t up as an unsolvable
enigma. slipped the book into the
work basket beside her bed. turned
of her light and tried again to go
But still she couldn't. ALI sorts Of
figures danced about her in the dark
ness. Small sums that she had to
pay this tradesperson or that the
amount of the allowance that John
had been wont to make her before
mated cost of tho house that he had
forbidden her to ask her father to
have built for them, and finally the
chastity sum that had disappeared
in the Blaisdell payroll robbery, in
had a part. Suddenly She sat bolt up
right in bed. Those figures in that
small book! Ralph Beecher had
always had a theory that Doreen's
gang had had much to do with other
payroll robberies. Particularly had
he mentioned to her two-one q theft
about eight thousand. and another
from q factory In q town with q queer
name-Canajoharie- had been
for q sum slightly over sixteen
thousand. She flashed the light on
quickly; She snatched up the little
fore an item Of 5000" q g beside q
scrawl Of "lsaoo." trembling with
excitement, she tiptoed downstairs to
the telephone. She wanted to COM
municate her findings to Beecher at
faint clues that he had had and been
so ioath to stop.
She poured low-voiced explana-
tion over the wire to him. Just hear
ing his eager queries was giving her
courage.
Those crooks may lie till kingdom
come, but their figures tdst don't lie,
I'll say: You hush up about that
book. Just tie 1t up and get 1t off
to me. registered mail. drst thing In
tho morning." he commanded her.
Copyright. 1927
CONTINUED In MondaysD star.)