The Coolidge examiner., 1932-06-17

! riSking everything on one throw
"the only trouble is, I'm not sup
posed to be there till half past six.
And that's more than an hour"
He was looking at her now q
little more as he'd looked when he'd
first come in and called her sister"
WELL" he said, you can't scare
me that way. If you like to ride,
come along and I'll show you what
the little bus will dol"
1t was getting scary now, little
like the first dip on trip In the
roller coaster. She was afraid she
betrayed that, a little, in the sound
Of her voice when she said, "Oh,
thatll be great!" and went to get
her things. She was doing 1t all for
dad. That was the thing to remem-
! Der.
The immense size Of the car gave
her a thrill, too. 1t looked, gleam-
ing there in the cold light Of the
electric street lamp, like the cars
heroines intrusted themselves to In
the movies when they were being
| lured away.
Her little black wrist-bag was a
familiar comfort. She clutched 1t
| like a talisman. That's what 1t was,
really. 1t had a note from Roger
Morgan in 1t, hidden In a little pri-
vate pocket. But now, suddenly, 1t
: gave her a terrible pang. She was
being unfaithful to Rogerl
She was so tired when Mr.. VIII
lard brought her home that, though
it was hardly nine o'clock, she went
straight to bed. She didn't tell
mother a thing. Dad could do that
when he got home after his talk
with Jake.
She hadn't been sure until almost
the last minute of her drive whether
her stratagem would come to any
thing or not. Shed begun by insin-
uating as gradually as she could the
idea into Jake's mind Of dining with
| her and her father at the club. Then
she'd had to prepare him for Mr..
Willard.
The last step of the campaign
she had decided not to divulge to
him at all until she had him safely
inside the club. This was to de-
tach Agatha's father from the party
and get him TO take her home, leav-
ing dad to work his will on Mr.. Cor
man. Even with this feature Of the
program undisclosed, she hadn't
been a bit sure when they drove up
to the ladies' entrance to the club
that Mr.. German wouldn't say good
night to her and drive away. How
ever, 1t had worked, down to the
last detail.
Yet, she felt awfully fat about It
somehow, as If, after all, nothing
had happened. There's been no pull
ing up at a roadhouse, no turning
off on lonesome country roads. Jake
had stuck to the boulevards and
kept both hands on the wheel, and
he had delivered her at the club
promptly at half past six.
She didn't quite like to admit
that she felt defrauded about this.
She hadn't wanted to be obliged to
struggle with him, furiously; or
even TO have to plead with him, re-
call him to his better self. Had she?
Tired as she was when she went
to bed, she found she couldn't get
I, off TO sleep. She was restless but
she didn't feel like reading. Even
her one and only day-dream-it had
been the one-and-only ever since
she got Rogers note-hadn't worked
very well.
The note, just a penciled scrap,
had come enclosed in a long letter
from Ed, written soon after he'd
heard from mother, the, TO him,
astonishing fact that Edith had been
studying stenography for a month
and had gone to work for dad in the
Office. Roger must have been up in
Eds room while Ed was writing the
letter, and Ed must have told him
what she'd done. And she could
fairly see the thoughtful, frowning
smile that must have been In his
face as he wrote on a bit of Eds
yellow scrap paper that message to
her:
Dear Edith: You are a brick.
I'm not letter writer, but I'm look
ing forward to our next chance for
talk. when we can go on from
where we left off last time.
Roger"
There was a delicious touch Of
impudence in the way he must have
handed it over with "Stick that in,
will you?" right under Eds nose,
for him to read it? Ed wouldn't
know what that phrase from where
we left off last time" meant. He'd
certainly have been one surprised
brother if he could have guessed
where they had left off!
1t was after taking much thought
that she decided on the little pri-
vate pocket in her wrist-bag as a
repository for the treasure. She