The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-06-13
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what I would have to pay a house
keeper; and second, that you take
an afternoon of week from the
Office and give Curtis and me the
great pleasure Of your company for
dinner. Otherwise I'm afraid it's
going to be bit lonely for the Nor
gan men"
Good! I can use free dinner
every Monday" Nan accepted flip
PANTY, to hide her JOY. you can
gamble that Mondays dinner will
always be a feast. Now I'm going
to pack my suitcase and toddle on
home or you'll be accusing your
housekeeper of 'pervading' the
house"
I'll take you home" said Morgan.
DURING the six months that fol-
~ lowed, Nan Carroll lived from
Monday to Monday, and all the
words in the English language, the
most important, the most musical,
and the most Notwithstanding became,
so far as Nan Carroll was concerned,
"I'll take you home"
For during each Of those Mon
day night drives from the Morgan
home to the tiny apartment which
she also found time to keep i'm
maculate, the girl played pathetic
little game with herself. She pre-
tended that Morgan was not an
abandoned and grief-stricken hus-
band at all, but young man en-
tirely free to be in love; that he
was in love, in fact, and that these
Monday night drives we're not at
all a hosts duty to his guest, sec
rotary and housekeepef, of-s sorts, but
dates"
And so, while the Nan that Nor
gan knew carried on an animated
conversation about Curtis, domestic
problems and legal tangles, the Nan
that only Nan knew whispered soft,
sweet nonsense with her mythical
steady"
Week by week Nan found joy in
measuring John Curtis Morgan'S
slow but definite recovery from the
tragic depression into which Iris
desertion had plunged him on that
dreadful Friday when he had re-
ceived her cruelty, curt letter.
At first, she knew he fostered q
stubborn hope that Iris had de-
cided hastily, that she would write
and ask forgiveness, that she would
return. But when, after three
months of utter silence from his
wife, he evidently made up his
mind to accept her desertion as
final, his sensitive face took Oh an
expression of sad resignation. And
after resignation came a sort of
peace, for Nan was making him and
his boy very comfortable indeed in
the beautiful home which she was
managing from his office.
4
NF course it was not so easy as
" she had pretended to Morgan
that it would be. A hundred trivial
annoyances and at least half doz-
en- major problems came up during
those six months, requiring far more
of her time and energy than Nor
gan dreamed that she spent upon
his home affairs. She spared him
here, as she had spared him the
knowledge that his wife had run
away with another mana man
whom he had called friend and
whom he had saved from prison.
He would never know from her
how nearly Curtis had come to dis
grace in school for kicking teacher
until her shins bled. Neither would
he know from her that Curtis had
stolen money from Estelle to go on
a candy orgy which left him so i'll
that candy had no appeal at all for
the boy for weeks afterwards. From
these and many other minor TRACE
dies she protected the man she
loved.
And every Monday night she saw
that he was a little more at peace,
little more at ease with her and
with his son, whose friendship and
confidence he was cultivating, as if
he were a little bit jealous of the
boy s 8 devotion to Nan.
In June Nan went to the state
capital to take her bar eXamina-
tions, for Morgan persisted in his
desire to see his secretary become
his junior partner.
On her return Willis Todd, with
whom she vas still having date
or two a week, met her at the sta
ton. 1t was 8 o'clock of a soft
June night.
Are you a lawyer yet?" he leased,
his gray eyes very fond and tender.
Nan squeezed his arm. "Oh, it's
always nice to see you, Whilst. . .
Of course I'm not a lawyer yet. I
won't hear from my exams for
weeks and there's all sorts of red
tape before I can be admitted to the
bar. Whew! I'm tired And I feel
as if Id been gone for weeks. I see
they haven't built new station yet!
Doesn't anything ever happen in
| this uown?'
watt" Willis stopped her as she
took a newspaper from the seat of
his car. Il didn't want to tell you
tonight, but you'll see it in the pa
per. the little Morgan kid was in