The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1926-04-05

vest somewhere along the road in
q hot dog.
One ate trunles Tor ones dinner,
but hot dog for the next.
Tomorrow" Barbara gtumbled,
II don't eat ct all"
Oh. we'll. tomorrow she'd get
Monday anyway. In the vague
hereafter Of next Monday she saw
herself presiding In q severe. but
becomingly mannish garb. some.
thing with q sti6 Elton collar. over
some business venture conceived
along largely profitable lines and
having to do with food. 6owers or
chocolates.
But those were distant crises.
Monday. 'you know. never comes.
The day after New Year. though,
was here. And Barbara Brown,
hammered product Of Q finishing
school, WAS over-staying q dinner
date by fourteen hours.
The thought made her jump a.
il she had been pricked BY q pin.
She must be UP and away. not this
evening, but now. In . panic she
reached for q towel.
Her. reaching hand went limp
and her eyes bulged as she caught
the initials embroidered on the
edge OF the linen.
"B. B."
Now, Nan Adams initials we're
n. A. certainly. No less certainly,
J. B. H@rdiman's were not b. h.
The initials, amazing fact were her
own! 4R.
Somehow she was less blithe
when she tripped back to her room.
In fact. she had not liked the feel
Of those initiated towels against
her flesh. Yet their texture had
been more pleasant than that of
the greyiug rags in Mama Henig's,
third floor bath. She eyed suspi-
ciously maid who entered with
q nat package in her xrms. Behind
stalked Hannah.
"You can't very well wear eve.
ming clothes in the afternoon" said
Hannah. and slipped the cover on
the striped carton as she dismissed
the maid.
SO please put THIS on. 1t IS sure
to fit.'
=
She looked through the window.
The blizzard was sill in FULL lorce.
Not the sort OF day when one
would care to cut short kind in
vi:ation to be gnest in charming
house. Was she Z guest-or a
prisOner?> Nobody stood IN guard
to prevent her from leaving. All
she had to do was to walk down.
stairs. then out into the storm. As
suredly she was not q prisoner.
Something stronger than barred
doors kept her in her room.
Here in this candy bog OF q
house. surrounded with luxuries
which she u0u knew were hers Tor
the asking, she found herself with
thin dime and q fat temptation.
The night. before in the storm
swept railway station. she had put
down on paper the valuation III
cold cash OF herself and all her
worldly goods. Now just 40 delib.
erately. with the same passionless
perspective OF self. she contem.
plated the situation which had
arisen magically aver night.
ut would be easier to make up
my mind II were dead broke, abe
thought. But I'm not dead broke
not by q dime"
Snowdakes beat against the
pane4 She looked about her, took
In with keen appreciation the
charming details Of the room.
Somewhere. q. dozen miles away,
was Mama Henig's boarding house.
where she owed @33 for Judgment
and victuals. And somewhere,
thousands Of miles away, was JO-
seph Brown. her errant father.
A surge of. bitterness swept
through her Is she thought OF him.
Tie hadn't written for months.
That was why Mama IieniS was q
person at that moment devoutly to
be avoided. That was why. ! thin
dime was all that stood between
her and absolute destitution.
Once he. too. had been confront
ed with problem. He had not
stopped to reckon the conye-
quences. He had not conjectured
what people would say. lie had
walked out. That WAS freedom for
him. For her It would be bondage.
The same situation, only reversed.
Like father. like daughter.
why rot?" she thought.
She wished she could talk it over
with somebody. But there was no.
body. Only this father OF hers. She
couldn't discuss things with him.
But she could tell him.
She sat down at the toy secre-
tary. She dipped the pen into the
Ink. She stared Tor q moment at
rhe white fury that stormed out
side and then she began to write.
Hannah's eyebrows left their
norm OF longitudinal line of de-
marcation between the sub.arctic
OF her face and the arctic OF her
forehead.
AT the door OF Barbara's room in
the house in RyeMeck she turned
the knob and found entrance bar
red.
The door was locked. Shs caves
dropped. making . pu.xllng picture
with her attitude or uuplicity and
clandestine interest.
Suddenly she stood erect. A mo.
ment more awaiting. and then she
Ellded noiselsssly TO her own room
at the back OF the house, where
ended in U wall telephone the di.
rect wire. strung from j. BIS once
70 the secluded house In Ryeneck.
Presently she spoke:
Yes. Mr.. Hardiman. She silent
we'll ard breakfaafed woll ara