Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1928-11-09
LEANING
ON FRIENDLY
SHOULDERS

q lDNEl RUSHION felt very much
out of place and therefore very
~ much annoyed Nothing more
disasreeable could have hap
pened, she thought than that she
Haverleigh and been obliged to take
the tedious old local with its jolting
bumpers, uncomfortable seats and
dingy lights. But there was no other
train before midnight and she was
anxious to reach home as quickly as
possible. Even a few hours might
make great change in her fathers
condition.
In the smudgy panel mirror beside
her seat she saw herself slender, fash
ionable, haughtily self-conscious
sitting erect lest she soil her expensive
coat by contact with the worn plush.
The little mirror framed the one pleas
ant thing there was for her to see,
because 1t was already too dark for
any appearance outside the window.
And the swaying, creaking old coach
held barely dozen people, stupid
looking people in whom Sidney could
take no interest.
Twenty years before Sidney Marsh
had married Scott Rushton and
slipped out of the old environment as
she believed forever. But one thing
prevented her doing sober father in
sisted on staying In Hillyille. Even
though Sidney was able to keep him
ufth hop NVanlyu nj tipnn hn al
ways went back to the old place. Lat
terly he had stayed there more than
ever, and now he had fallen sick there.
For the first time Sidney was com
PEELED to go back to the old home
town for which she had developed
strong dlstasse as her husbands for
tunes lifted her into an important
new sphere.
She was resolved now to renew no
acquaintance, connect no broken
threads. If her father died she would
be done with Hillvllle anyway, and
If he grew better she meant to take
him home with her and not allow
him to escape again back to his old
haunt. 1t was ridiculous the way he
hung TO the old place with its coarse
stupidity and behind-handness. Ger
tainly, there was nothing In It for
her,
AT this point in her reflections she
was conscious Of step beside her,
of hand laid on the back OF her
seat, and she looked up into plain,
kindly face that recalled old memo
ries.
"Pve been trying to make out II was
you ever since we left Haverleigh,"
the woman said, holding out her hand
in gray cotton glove. "How do you
do Sidney? I'm glad to see you are
going home to look after your father.
He certainly needs you"
Sidney with a flush had accepted
the cotton-gloved hand, trying to
murmur something lncOnsequential
but appropriate. She was further an
noyed when the woman slipped Into
the seat beside her.
"You haven't changed much in
twenty years, Sidney" she went on
cOolly. But you've grown to look more
like your father as you get older He
10 a opIapdid man Wo oro oil ooIn0
70 nirs biz, - onrthtra Lonnons 20
him prt Mrs Cotton bos heen Won.
derful IN him.
Sidney bit her lip. She didn't re-
nct fovorobIv IN This frank familiar.
ity. Why in the world was II that
she could not hovo ontored tIIlIviIle
without running across Mary Andrews9
81 ounnoso Won ORC s,uI toochtro,n
sho no,n,nontoS
"yoou ,To,y IouoI,ad -, I,,Io .vos
rvo hoon tooobIna ali ,boso t,,.ontv
yoors yor hove heon owoy ord NOR.
Rod Ana I lilo n 90, Pm in tho
uovorIoIah htoh schooI hovo haon Co..
four yoars On homo Frido. ntob,
all A., Co,,on,a homo ,na'h
TIT au1 ,,a,Lo,no,,oa on1 oho,,,st,,,
s,,nn"ao ,h"n sn,,nn stnnId hm, ,hcn
go ii,,oIn oro,,,,h sn,,Ioota oo, 81,
,,a,, ,'tn, thon 49, - 49, 10, ~,
49, na,n.on
C. ,r. -. . A., c.,a r,
% sue ,i,uu az DIS s co.'on o h mere
mu9 no ee''ins a""s ''o'" "e'' '''e"
'''an' 0.,"'no
iour chiluren mus. pe upou, tne
age oI my h'sH schoo' poSS anu g'r's'
pursued mary
"ltoland Is nineteen and In Harvard.
julia, who Is seventeen, Is at finish
ing school on the HUDSON
They were going down the grade
into liillvllle now, and the rattling and
the bouncing made conversation al
most impossible. Presently the train
stopped with bump before the dim
little station.