The Ely miner., 1930-08-01

TIERE were eight finely written
pages in the letter WHICH il had
taken an extra stamp to send.
Alice Draper read every word,
slowly. with The panied look deepen
ing on her face.
Twenty-one years before Margaret
Wells and Alice had been married un-
der the same floral arch. A double
wedding, and the prettiest one of the
year, roo, so everybody had said. Mar
garet. of course. was the loveliest bride
and Richard Burling the handsomest
bridegroom. From the start every
thing was in their favor. Richard
soon worked up to a high-sslaried job
on the road. Orson Draper, working
for the same firm, was held back in
the office.
Alice folded the pages and put them
hack into the envelope. She had a
sense of helplessness at time when
she would have given aid. There was
nothing she could do. Margaret lived
far away. If she went TO her-she
shook her head. She could write, of
course, but anything she could say
would sound so futile. She must think
a lot before she wrote at all.
Meanwhile. her own tasks and du-
ties pressed more heavily than ever.
And she was worried about her hus
hand. Orson hadn't been sleeping
good of late or eating as much as he
should Sometimes of an evening she
found him staring over the edge of his
newspaper.
This letter of Margaret's seemed
somehow to he horribly revealing.
Richard at first had slept and eaten
poorly and stared. Then had come
the first awful Outburst, after which
things had never been the same be-
tween husband and wife. In fact, "a
Margaret said in her letter. they had
simply gone on from that point TO
worse and worse.
All day as she worked Alice thought
about the letter and her own proc
lens, which seemed now to bear
strange likeness to Margaret'S. as they
had been at first. She was getting
the boy ready for his first year in col
lege. David would come from his
camping trip in few days and would
leave almost Immediately for the uni
versity. She had to have everything
in readiness for him to pack. All this
took time and careful consideration.
Then as chairman of an important
committee she must devise some plan
whereby her club could add to its
finances before the year clnsed. She
wanted her plan to he fresh enough
to attract attention. She was reading
everything that she could lay her
hands on i'm the hope of finding some
workable idea. Then. also. she had
wrenched her shoulder in way that
the doctor seemed grave about. She
hadn't told any one about that. And.
lastly there was OrS0n. She was more
troubled about him than about all the
rest.
That night she had an unusually ap-
petiZing supper-roast pork, potatoes
mashed TO fluff. homemade rolls, a
shortcake for dessert. She had fin
ished a new frock and she put it on.
She looked nice; although twinges of
pain left her bit white about the
iips. Just before time for OrSon to
drive up the street she turned on the
tights. 1t was raining and storming
and she wanted the cheer of his home
to go out TO him.
Yet, as she waited for him. she had
an appalling sense of wasted effort.
Suppose that Just as Richard BurlnG
had grown tired of Margaret, Orsnn
had grown tired of her! She loveG
him. But what if in their middle age
with boy ready for college. her huS
band had ceased to love her!
When he opened the door she met
him with the old. quick, CHEEKY greet
ings He answered in kind. "How've
you been. Alice?"
Fine. Dinners justsready to serve"
They sat down at opposite sides of
the pretty table.
"Roast pork. eh?" Orson said. THAT
looks good" He helped her and then
himself and began TO eat as if the food
tasted to his liking. Neither talked
during the meal. This was not unus-
ual. for Alice realized that Orson had
been talking all day. After matching
his wits with other mems her small
affairs couldn't interest him to any
great extent.
While she washed the dishes he
looked at his newspaper. Presently she
came into the room and, sitting down,
took up her sewing. After a few mo-
ments she lifted her eyes and saw that
| ly. At that moment her shoulder gave
fierce twinge. She came near cry