Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-08-13
IN TWO PARTS-PART ONE

IN TWO PARTS-PART ONE
4 LII HER friends agreed that Elsa
n Branksome was a hopelessly ordi-
nary woman. They had said it SO
often that it was a wonder they had
not tired of saying it. 1t was still more
of a wonder that they had not tired of
including so ordinary a woman in their
parties. Human persistence, in some
respects, would seem to be incalculable.
Wherever there was a party, there
Elsa Banksome was sure TO be; and
wherever there was a party, there was
a knot of people getting into a corner
and saying how hopelessly ordinary
poor Elsa a One wag even went so
far as to describe Elsa Branksome as
the woman in the street" at last typi-
fed. She never failed to say exactly
what was expected of her. Her re-
Spouse to everything could be foreseen.
But even while such response to antici-
patton ~exasperated some people, there
was something %reaSsuring about it. 1t
confirmed a comforting n Of the
endurance of certain value. Perhaps
lildL was WHY RNOpIN lOilNiilQSd " III
clude Elsa Branksome as an element
in their parties. She vas not inspiring.
She was never Illuminating. But she
was always an emollient.
Needless to say, Elsa Branksome had
never married. No romance, NO scan
dial. had ever brushed her name. She
was society's old maid. well on the
way to becoming legendary in that
role. Her age was underlined. Thirty
five? Forty? And the more kindly
disposed struck a happy near at thir-
ty-eight. No one could be really i'll
disposed towards Elsa Branksome. She
vas too inoffensive for that, she was
nobody's rival and everybody's con-
fidante. Moreover, rare quality in a
confidante. she was discreet. She never
made mischief. No storm center she,
whether of her own storms or any
body else's. She was essentially a non
explosive. Therefore the establishment,
and, indeed, the Indignation, of her
friends may well be imagined when the
attractive and hitherto unapproach-
able Evan Sinclair was observed to
pay her marked attention.
Even Elsa herself, humble though
she was (humble almost by profession),
could not fail to observe it. Evan Sin
clair was always at her side. She had
known him. of course, for ~years-they
moved in the same set-but their &C
quaintance had never advanced beyond
a mere social familiarity. And now,
suddenly, there he was; always there,
tactful but insistent, saying, LET me
fetch your wrap or "You oughtn't
to sit on that damp grass" Assuming
proprietary airs towards her.
AT first Elsa couldn't understand it.
And then her friends began to tease
and she was forced to understand. She
felt the scratch beneath their teasing
it wasn't likely that her friends would
Evan without a scratch
but at the same time she felt that their
had ceased to be dear old Elsa and had
become a woman, with a woman's
and a Woman'S danger. The
experience was novel, terrifying, and
exquisite. For the first time in her
starved existence she apprehended the
emotions which ordinary people regard
as their birthright. She, society's old
maid, had secured a man, and what a
man, for herself.
She was beWildered. Over and over
again, every night, in fact, she told
herself that she must keep her head.
But she knew very well that she had
lost it, and her heart to boot.
Evan Sinclair was the most attractive
nan that she, or any Of her friends,
lad ever known. He was good looking
a Gainsborough, they said, with
lis gray hair brushed back-athletic,
cornful, socially charming but inward
y and ~incorrigibly reserved. OF i'm
,eccable manners, he was often said
0 reveal his real self to none. Women
,etted him and he gave nothing but
lis charm in return. He laughed and
oked and slipped away. And now
lisa Branksome, dear old Elsa, poor
Id Elsa, such a dear but rather a bore,
ather an old cup of tea, nice old Elsa
lisa of all people had caught him.
lisa Branksome, that ordinary woman!
She sat before her mirror, taking
|own her hair. (The year, it must be
aid, was nineteen hundred and six,
7hen women still allowed their hair to
row to its natural length and paid the
in a nightly brushing out of
,,y ~ fvocCoc Che cot fhnn