Evening star., 1924-06-29

nH savings bank and drew out
WI $2.34a.ss, and as she turned
4 away from the paying
eellers window she shed two tears.
one from each eye, for she had hoped
never. never to draw out that money.
which she had saved dollar by dollar
On entering the bank she had meant
to draw out $2,343.98, but the teller
had advised her to leave $1.0o on
deposit, so that the account would
be open" The teller hated to "close"
an account.
Mrs. Bipps walked three blocks up
Hutter street, which is the business
street of Glen Hutter, n. j., and
turned down Willow street for two
blocks. There she came to the yell
low frame building that was her.hus-
bands office"
Mr.. Ripps was Il builder, "specu-
lative" builder. Mr.. Bipps bought
lots" and erected houses on them
When he bought a lot he built a
house on it. and then he sold the
house and lot and made, he hoped
a profit. Mrs, Bipps also hoped he
made a profit.
Unfortunately. Mr.. Bipps was doing
business, as the saying is, on shoe
string. He never had had enough
capital, and it seemed that he never
would have enough, to do business
comfortably. If he built a house
he had to owe money to all the deal
ers in lumber and lime and nails and
cement and heating apparatus with
whom he traded. Then, if he began
by giving a mortgage for $4,000 to
pay for the Tot" he usually received
from the purchaser OF the house 5000
to $1,000 in cash, and a second mort
gage for $4,000, which the purchaser
was supposed to pay THE same as
rent" in easy monthly installments.
Sometimes the purchaser did pay, and
sometimes the purchaser said. after
a short period, "Oh, fudgew and
threw the house back on Mr.. Bipp's
hands. Then Mr.. Bipps had to sell
it again. The result, what with try
ing to pay more or less to the deal
ers in materials, build his houses,
keep them sold, and worry about the
inevitable strikes, was that Mr. Bipps
had brow deeply creased by care,
and was always hurrying here or
there in a distracted manner.
At times, because money was al
ways so tight with him, he was a
little short with his wife, speaking
too abruptly. but he did mean we'll.
Mrs. Bipps appreciated his troubles
and allowed for them. And for one
thing she was wholly thankful: Mr..
Bipps was not the sort of man who
goes astray. Pretty faces, neat
ankles. come-hither eyes never in
terested Mr.. Bipps. He was, Mrs.
Bipps was sure. the sort of man that
could not be vamped. Pardon the
word; it is used in Glen Hutter.
:: X X
MIR. BIPPS. feeling that the hous-
N'A ing situation was acute, had
undertaken to build three houses at
a time, instead of his usual two. For
this reason his usual condition of
suffering from mighty tight money
had changed, and he was suffering
from nightly tighter money. He had
borrowed every cent his bank would
lend him. In this crisis he appealed
to Mrs. Bipps, and she was helping
him out by putting her savings in
his hands.
Mr.. Bipps was always humping up
to his office door in his old rattletrap
of one-ton fiivver truck, dashing
into the Office, grabbing blue print
or keg Of nails, and dashing away
again. 1t had been that on these
visits he would give an order or an
instruction to the long, lean, lank
Miss Cammer, but this was no longer
so. Miss Cammer had gone to Cali
III,
order and instructions to Miss Kitty
Clark. She was his new Office help.
Frequently, when Mrs. Bipps was
downtown" she stopped for mo-
ment or two at Mr.. Bipps' office
Usually it was to get from Miss Cam
mer five-dollar bill she had ar
ranged with Mr.. Bipps to leave there.
Then she would converse a while with
Miss Cammer. A pleasant break in
the home monotony Of Mrs. Bipps'
life. Mrs. Bipps hoped her husbands
new office help would be some one
with whom she could converse a
while when she stopped at the office
AS she opened the office door she
saw Miss Kitty Clark for the first
time.
At her first glance Mrs. Bipps felt
as il some one had struck her sud
den and irresistibly heavy blow on
the heart 1t was merely that Kitty
Clark sat there, possibly the most
come hitherly beautiful girl in the
world, with lip paint, eyebrow black
ening, rouge on cheeks, legs in
breath silk, ear bangles. and the
limit in man-catching clothes. And
there were. possibly, in Glen Hutter,
n. j., and the adjacent city of New
York. several hundred thousand girls
willing to take this Office job. Mrs.
Bipps could have wept. She had not
thought this of Henry.
When she was out in the air again,
away from the overpowering odor of
Equatorial Tuberose perfume, she
could not think even that Of Henry.
She would not! But she never en-
tered the little office again. She
mover willingly came face to face
with Kitty Clark again.
Mrs. Bipps did not leave the