The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1924-03-21

no money. She had nearly four hun
dred dollars of her own. she said
with her; but he told her holly that.
when they ran away to get married. 1t
wouldn't be upon her money that they
did 1t. She didn't contest the point !:
lacked the spirit to do it. somehow.
Anyway, he went. on to say they'd
have to come down eventually to liv-
ing on what he could earn Mr.. Greer
would do nothing for them, even in
the way of making an opening for
him. Forlornly she conceded this, too.
She knew how implacable her fathers
resentments WERE though she was
rather surprised that her lover should
see so clearly.
II they'd been sitting, while they
had this talk, in the big roadster, skim
ming swallow-like along some white
ribbon of road, or pulled up in the
shade of some secluded lane. she
might have been able to romanticize
the idea of poverty with her lover and
insist upon embracing it. A tiny cot
tage, single room, anything that
sheltered the pair of them together
would be enough.
But out here on the pier this couldn't
be DONE There were too many object
lessons all about. Shrill children car
rying all-day suckers on sticks,
harassed mothers, sheepish father
here and there, peremptory denials of
any more pennies for the slot-machines
this was pleasure! This was red
letter day!
Her courage wasn't equal to 1t, nor
his, either, the truth was. For the
present they'd have to give it up. If
a piece of luck came Georges way
He had plan in mind, but wouldn't
tell her now what it was.
They exchanged some promises that
day: she, never to have anything
more to do with Ware or his bunch,
or any one like them, and to quit
drinking-as he had done, absolutely,
two months before; he, never to take
another job as chauffeur, but stick it
out for something that looked toward
the future; and not to lose himself
where she couldn't find him-if she
needed him.
They parted mournfully enough,
but comforted somewhat by the meet
ing, for all that. He'd never distrust
her again,she said, whatever happened.
He had thought when her father fired
him, that night on the way to the
train, that she might have thrown
him over-made him the goat.
II never told him anything-about
you," Trix asserted. How do you
suppose he found nut?"
1t must have been Miss Macarthur,
then. George had talked to her. He'd
had so much on his chest that night
that he'd had to blow off to somebody.
He'd realized he was giving himself
away more or less, but had thought
Jennie too good friend to take adj
vantage. So the warmest emotion
Trix went home with that afternoon
was lively hatred of Jennie
This was short-lived, of course, for
1t was on that very evening that Jen-
ME offered her treaty and won vic
tory. This might, it is easy to be-
lieve, have been much more complete
than it turned out to be; for, after all.
Jennie failed.
Beatrice saw George, for the first
time since their parting, the day she
read in the paper of his having got
job as pilot in the air-mail service.
They had an afternoon together, in
the car again, revisiting some old
haunts Of theirs, but despite the ro-
mantle accessories it was not very
happy time. TIE pressed her holly
now to marry him and said some pref
~ bitter things when she refused to
promise anything. Wasn't the job
good enough to suit her? He got
base pay of fifty week and five cents
a mile. On the Cleveland run this
figured nearly fifty week more. And
between round trips, one day each
way, he had two days off. If she
wouldn't take him at that
Il couldn't stand it, just waiting.
You'd be away half the nights, even"
They both thought, when they parted
that day, that it was the end of every
thing.
Going to school, though it repre-
sented at first nothing more than
random attempt to escape from the
tyranny of her need of him, afforded
her, presently, more hopeful idea.
Most of her fellow students, she found,
were not here to pass the time nor
even to improve themselves, but with
the sharply defined aim of learning to
earn themselves living.
He wasn't very sympathetic toward
this idea when she preached it to him:
they were always on the edge of quar-
reling over it, and she was none too
confident of 1t herself. Indeed, there
was nothing very confident or clear
about her life, within or without, dur
ing the weeks that interviewed be-
tween her fathers disastrous flying
visit in August and his final return
late in October. Her wishes and her
dreams contradicted each other and
frequently themselves, and her actions
followed as best they could through
the maze.
Before Joe took up his post as SEN
try, determined. as he said, to know,
she had drifted into modus vivendi
with her lover. She saw him once
during each of his off-duty periods in
Chicago, for as long as she could
safely give him, usually in the after
noon. In fine weather they drove out
into the country; for bad days they