Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1927-09-09

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deep into their young minds.
Aunt Delights recovery, despite her
good cheer and excellent appetite, was
slow. Long after the broken wrist was out
Of its splint the strained nee kept her
in bed. Something proved to be the
matter with her back as well. 1t caught
her when she tried to rise. Undue exer-
ton also brought on headaches. There
were, the doctor said, contu-
sions that could not be lightly taken in
one OF her age.
1t was, indeed, the end of q rainy
March before Aun Delight did more than
walk about her room each day. She never
dined below stairs. For fou months
honour reigned as arbiter on style and
literature in Agatha. For four months
she and Professor Bartlett faced each
other at pleasant dinner upon the pie
crust table. Then on the evening after
the March faculty tea, at which she had
been q special guest and the new presi-
dents wife had shown her marked atten-
ton, she faced him, charming in her bois
de rose gown, and realized his manner
was distract. He did not look at her as
usual. He was pale. He had eaten little
of the housekeeper's excellent dinner.
They rose from the table after an almost
silent meal. Foreboding gripped her.
This was how he had looked long ago on
that dreadful commencement day.
Yet when she made as If to go up to
the invalid's room he checked her.
II must tell you something" he said.
He began once more with what her
letters had done for him.
Out here in this little place." he told
her, towering above her as she sat in the
big chat by the fire, IT felt so isolated.
There was no n to prod me, excite me,
shame me into effort. The little college
library was so poor in scholarship I
WAS dnadpnpd with 81 mncq nf teaching
When / was not in the classroom ! was
in some airless committee room listening
to men of Imagination debate some detail
Of no Importance to exhaustion. Poverty
was a ball and chain. And / had-I had
anxieties."
In the pause she could see his bleak
years as he had lived them.
your life was SO vivid, so varied, SO
big, significant. You poured 1t all out
to us with such fullness! You poured
life into me. I began to write. ] started
some critical studies in the drama, to-
ward my thesis"
He stopped again, this time for a long
while. Honour scarcely breathed.
well, / got something done and sent
1t off. / had a letter today offering me
a two-year fellowship II I'd come on. 1t
will pay more than my salary here. And
/ dared to hope perhaps you might come
with me-
Later, when she did go up to the in
valid's room Aunt Delight gave her one
perceiving glance.
WELL" she said. Don't tell me he's
done 1t at lastl"
She was all that Honour could have
wished as her niece wept out her happy
story.
III guess" she said, as they parted for
the night, I'LL try to come downstairs
tomorrow"
They were married on Commencement
day. Once her improvement really set in.
Aunt Delight explained, it's progress was
something miraculous. BY June you
would not have known she had been
hurt. Even the sprained nee caused no
trouble AND the back never caught her
at all.
Talk about me being oldl" she said
as she drove the bride and groom to the
station. I'm only sixty-nine. Nothing
but a girl. I've a good mind to come east
in November and take you to the opera.
I owe it to you, seeing ! cheated you out
of it last year"
Her rosy face beained It's last upon
them from the platform. Certain strate-
giles had succeeded just as she planned
them. Better. Not only did Grantland
Bartlett have his fellowship but the ALL
American Wool Trade Magazine had tele-
| graphed it's wish for Mrs. Bartlett's serv-
ices. Even in New York efficiency is no
drug on the market. Her young folks
were to be happy. And they were to be
relatively quite rich. Aunt Delight
beamed as she waved after them.
do you know what will mean more
to me han n opera?" Grantland Bart
lett asked his wife as the train rolled out
of the station. ITO look out of your
| window at the little park and the front
steps of the Willy Westons."
Looking at him she knew that the
hour Of her r~etribution had struck. How
was she to tell him? Day by day she
grew wan over this question. AS each
click OF the wheels brought her nearer
to New York her panic and her despair
increased. How could she have failed to
foresee this? How could she confess?
How show herself the sham she had
been? She met his happiness with a
sick heart. Each day, she thought, ITO
day."
Then as the hours went she thought,
mol Tomorrow
BY the time there were but a few
hours between her and New York she had
decided that the way to tell him was to
take him up the five flights to the little
back room, show him the window, the
delicatessen, the tailor shop, the tene-
ments. tie L. picture her thrifty. COM
monplace daily life, strip the glamour
from it all and cast herself upon his pity.
They took a cab straight for the Van
der Donck mansion. He wished for 1t as
the climax of his happiness. She sat with
a cold hand in his as they threaded the
busy avenues eastward. Once she turned
to him.
"Will you love me always2" she asked,
N matter what happens?"
Wondering at her intensity he prom
Used. The cab turned in at the familiar
street.
"At the corner" she directed and let
him help her descend.
Perhaps he'll never want to hold my
hand again." she said to herself as he
helped her from the taxi.
She waited while her husband paid the
fare. And as she waited she was con-
scious OF a change that penetrated even
the blindness OF her~misery. The square
lay beside her, sweet in the evening light.
The Van der Donck mansion was gone.
A huge sign reared itself instead, read
ing. Manhattan Wrecking company. Be-
hind the sign, a vast sound OF falling
bricks and rending framework gave token
OF those night and day activities to which
New Workers are h~abituated. She read
the further legend on the sign and knew
as her husband turned to her that the
Van der Donck mansion, forever van
ished. would be replaced In fifteen
months by a twenty story apartment
hotel with electric refrigeration and all
other distinctive marks Of modern home
life.
Grantland Bartlett looked as she was
looking at the sign. Then the two looked
at each other.
"Gonel" he said.
"Gonel" she whispered. How should
she tell him now? He saw her pallor.