The Ely miner., 1924-02-15
Joseph Greer and His Daughter

number of things could happen In that
time. The thing he'd said that had
given Viole. most food for thought was
that broken sentence. "Of course, II
he married Margaret" Had he
meant that this would bring Joe, some
how, within the pale2 Afford him the
protection of another code. so thar he'd
be allowed to get rich, after all?"
Anyhow. the thing for Violet to do
for the next few months-was to let
Joe Greer alone. If she as much as
looked at him. let alone lifted finger,
Margaret would attribute the probable
failure IF her project (for whaI seri-
Gus attraction could cold. finicky per-
son like Margaret effectively exert
upon this genial freebooterO to her,
and, judging by the latest sample of
her conduct, act most unreasonably
about it. Luckily, 1t mattered very
little TO Violet herself; she'd have
nothing to do with Joe-for the pres
ent, anyhow.
| She kept this resolution scrupulously
for littl less than week then, on
the afternoon of Margaret's lunch for
Beatrice, as result of a chance en-
| counter with him, she broke 1t rather
badly. Shed motored In with Dorothy,
having three or four things she wanted
to do in town-the most important of
| these being a~call on Eileen Corbett,
| Gregory's wife. who was at the Pres
byterian hospital, having her appendix
removed. 1t was around FIVE o'clock
when she left the hospital. She hadn't
gone more than block or two when
her chauffeur ran over a jagged frag-
ment of broken milk-bottle and blew
a tire. He trundled over to the curb,
stopped behind car that was parked
there-it had, she thought at the time,
family familiar look-and went TO
work, in the disgustingly deliberate
manner characteristic of chauffeurs,
putting on spare
1T was the hottest part of what had
| turned out to be a remorselessly hot
day, and this particular spot was. she
was sure, the hottest In Chicago. The
prospect of fifteen or twenty min
utes' wait was irksome. But before
the first of them had passed, Joe ap-
peared. amazingly, descending in the
freight elevator from the very building
opposite which they'd stopped.
What on earth are you doing out
here" she cried at sight of him. She
cared nothing about an answer; the
question was galvanic. All she was
aware of was tingling sensation from
| the brilliant look he gave her and the
feel of the hand which met the one
she'd stretched out to him.
But his answer was not perfunctory.
This is the last place I'd expect you
to come to- he said. "Eve1 your hus-
bands never paid US a visit here"
Then, perceiving the chauffeur's occu-
patton and, in the same instant, inter-
preting her puzzled frown, he ex-
planned. why. this is our laboratory.
thought, for minute, you'd come
out to see what our linen process was
! like"
Il didn't even know you had a lab
oratory," she said. what is it like?
A laboratory always sounds exciting" !"
| 'This one isn't" he told her deri-
sively.
"It's so beastly hot right here" she
| began, that almost anything"
Its hotter up there" he broke In.
"And it stinks to heaven. wish there
was some place" The roar of pass
ing elevated train checked his speech,
/ hut bo want oy, cforip1 ot No., +t,,.,,,-L.
fully until it passed. 81 wish there
were some cool. quiet place that /
could take you to, and make you COM
Portable, and give you drink-or a
cup of tea. But IL there's such a
place within mile of here, don't
know it."
She agreed with him about the
frightfulness Of the West Side, and
then told him idly that her father-in-
| laws old house, where John had lived
until they married, was just round the
corner.
"The human animal can change a lot
in one generation, can't it?' he OBJ
served. ''They tell wonderful lot of
stories about old Nick. It's queer to
think you must have known him. !
expect he was more my kind than your
husband is."
He gave her no chance to deal with
this, for by now he'd got an idea.
There was no need of her sitting here,
sweltering. He could take her in his
car wherever she had been going, and
hers could follow and pick her up as
soon as it was in running order.
"Pll tell you what you can do, II
you've really time to rescue me; you
can take me to our town house There's
no one there but the caretakers, but a
closed-up house is always the coolest
place there is"
| .:X:X*X:X:Y..X.Y.