New Britain herald., 1926-07-21
Features Inc, Broadway Cty)

get anything for Bill Erskine-"
And you want me to give you
Derricks present so you can give
it to him." asked jimmy, getting
the idea at once.
Merry nodded briskly.
well, you must think I'm crazyr'
jimmy retorted, with a whitening
look. you must think I come
from the place where the woodpeck-
ers eat up the railroad station
every night. Why should I let you
have Derricks present for your
Willy-boy? Why didn't you buy
him something yourself?"
II told you I forgot" Merry re-
minded her gently.
"Well, that's your funeral, not
mine" answered jimmy, beating the
pillows into shape.
She Strengthened the window cur
Itains, picked up thread from the
carpet and went out of the room,
huming TO herself.
Merry followed her across the
hall to their own little bedroom.
She went to her and put her arm
around her.
Jimmy, please let. me have that
IbilI-fold, darlingest," she pleaded.
you've known Derrick so long
that he's sure to understand the
whole thing when you explain it
to him. But if I don't give Bill a
present I'll never be able to square
myself with him. He'll think /
don't care bit for him"
well, you don't either!" jimmy
came back at her. "If you did you
would have bought him Christ
mas present, wouldn't you? The
trouble with you, Merry, is that
you're never honest with your
men friends. Even Derrick says
you're as two-faced as totem
pole!"
Derrick" Merry cried. He's
fine one to talk, isn't he? I sup
pose he didn't start playing around
YOU about a week after he asked
me to marry him. did he? He's not
two faced. Oh. mol"
But she knew that it was useless
to argue with jimmy any longer.
She went downstairs to help
Mons set the table for dinner.
Even if she had bought Christ
mas present for Bill, she could not
have given it to him that day, as
| it turned out.
For at two o'clock, just as she
was sitting down to dinner with
Mons and jimmy, she began to feel
sick. Not just hot and dizzy, as
she had been all morning, but
dreadfully sick.
Pains shot through her chest
and stomach. Pains that took her
breath away. and made her double
up like a jack-knife.
The meal grew cold on the dining
room table while Mons and jimmy
got her upstairs and into bed. She
writhed and twisted and cried out
in her agony. The ginger tea that
Mons forced down her throat only
seemed to make her worse.
I'm dying! Pm dying!" she de-
clared in gasping shrieks. She
thought that she was.
But Mons knew better.
mo, you're mott" she said firmly.
some more of this ginger-tea!
You're having one of those stomach
ATTACKS that your father used to
have when he was alive, that's all!
Now, open your mouth and take
this, and no more NONSENSE" She
held the ginger-tea to Merry's col
orless lips and made her drink it
to the last scalding drop.
you've just eaten something
that's upset your stomach" she
added, nodding her head wisely.
You probably had lobster salad,
or some such thing last night. I'll
tell you, you never know what
you're taking into your system when
you eat in one of those restaurants"
But Merry shook her head and
moaned. She knew only too well
that it was not food that had made
her i'll. She knew perfectly well
that it was last nights liquor that
had laid her low.
Never again!" she groaned.
whats that you say?" Mons
asked sharply.
But Merry pretended not to hear
her. Her lids were closed and her
lips were open as she breathed.
Ali the apple blossom color was
gone from her face, leaving it
sreenish white.
Merry never drinks, does she?"
sher mother asked jimmy, when the
two of them sat down to their
warmed-oye dinner a few minutes
later.
mo, indeed answered jimmy,
who thought that she was telling
the truth.
Merry spent the next few days
in bed.
She had caught cold, and she
was afraid that she might not be
able to go to the New Years Day
party that Cassie and Morley Kauf-
man were going to have. So she
stayed home and let Mons doc
tor" her with hot grease, cold COM
presses and calomile tea.
She was the only one in the fam
lily who had bene invited to the
party. And she knew that 1t was
not because she was Castles sister
that she was invited. 1t was BE-
cause she was friend of Morley's
friend, Bill Erskine!
/ Classics getting to be snob,
IL you ask me-" she said on New
Years Eve. She was sitting up In
kimono and slippers, watching
jimmy dress to go out.
"She always was one" answered
jimmy, slipping one of Cassie's cast
off evening dresses over her sleek
little red head. She smiled at her
dazzling reflection In the old mir
ror above the dresser.
Il certainly expect TO have some
time on this brawl tonight" she
chanted happily. Some of Der