Evening star., 1934-06-25
CHAPTER xxx.

tie chimneyS and big. Ram
IL dimpled puddles and biting
small winds, that set the lilac
bushes thrashing by the gate and
stripped the last of the rose bushes
to a shivering nakedneSS which some
how, more than any other factor,
seemed to bring home the idea that
Winter was finally here.
The river below Roses cottage,
frozen to a solid, opaque sheet OF sill
yer. was no longer calm and unruftied
under the whispering lace of the will
low trees bordering its banks. 1t was
alive with the Shrill shouts of skaters
from the village. With children, bum
died mummylike against the cold, into
thick mitts and mutfierS, screaming
in excited delight.
Lottie, bulging opulently out of her
new Russian blouse, sat crouched over
her teacup in a corner OF Rose S
kitchen. thrilling the small Kitten
with startling, if unauthentic fairy
tales. all told in lisping. baby voice.
Kitten regarded her with grave at
tention, claSping close to her side the
person of her pet doll Mabel-a hor-
rible. caved-in bisque creature. with
no eyes and an elaborate wardrobe,
whom she alternately loved passion
ately and dSaStrouSly. or carried head
down and feet aloft in disgust.
'Never you mind. Miz' Therrold," :"
Lottie had said earlier il the evening.
"Taint always goin' to be this way.
That babyI get her chance. Why
come this time next year, who knows
but you and III both be rich! There's
real money in the beauty business
and when that lotion o yours begins
to sell-say! The womenll fight over
it-you know how beauty shops are.
It's like Mr.. Mertz says-SaVe the
surface and you save all He sure is
a card. Mr.. MertZ Just plumb
full of little WITNESSES like that!"
"I don't know. Lottie,' Rose mused
in her soft voice Il don't know that
Id want that-being rich, mean. If
I could Just be sure that l could earn
enough always to keep Kitten safe .
to keep her from eartaches-children
have them. too" she added, as
though t. herself.
You bet kids get heartacheS!' Lot
ties smiling pink face sobered oddly.
II remember when I was .. they
larruped me for something l never
did l didn't mind the lickin'-I was
used to lickin'S by that time. But
the heartache l got over the injustice
of the thing-say, l can remember
that even now!'
Rose, too, coldd remember them
the heartaches of her lonely. careless,
neglected childhood There had been
a willow tree at the foot of a lane
somewhere; she couldn't remember
where . Only the way she had been
wont to rush blindly beneath its COM
forting fronds, burying her face in
the earth, her small heart bursting
With woe. This must not happen to
Ritten-not ever Her eyes yearned
above the fair little face in which the
blue eyes were blazing tonight with
the excitement of setting up past 6
o'clock"
Bertha Harris was coming to sit
with the child. and Rose had allowed
her to wait up. This was church
night for Lottie and Mr.. Mertz, and
Rose had promised to return and
tend the little store. which on Satur-
days Lottie kept open until 9 for the
accommodations OF the mill workers
and their wives.
And myself" Lottie was wont to
add. with knowing grin. Saturday
night being pay night and me KNOWN
my trade Why, say, if 1 was to
leave them boys go over Sunday with
all that money in their pants there d
not be a red cent left for poor Lottie
to pay her rent. It's like Mr.. MertZ
sings in that song about the under
taker: I got to catch 'em while the
tear is in their eye!
There was a sound Of heavy bump
ing and the grind of brakes valiantly
fighting battle against slippery ice
Mr.. Mertz, grotesque and indignant
over the fact of having arrived at the
front door by the process of sliding
the entire length of the garden path
on his back, had come to take Lottie
to church.
His pale brown derby had been re-
placed by a coonskin cap Of elegant
proportions; the fur flaps trimming his
cherubic countenance like a frame
And his soaring comments regarding
the weather came forth in a mild
complete.
1t would take more than a mere
snowstorm. Rose thought with a
chuckle, to keep Mr.. Mertz from a
chance to drive his car. The mildest
of men when on foot, Otto Mertz be-
hind the steering wheel Of his ancient
flivver became himself in italics.
Everything about him seemed to end
in flourish =. The curl of his blond
hair showing beneath the coon-skin
cap. The ends of his neat necktie,
looped rakishly at his throat. The
very quirk to his little finger as he
swung crafty down the street, the car
taking the corner at an angle Of 10
degrees
Bertha Harris, waving good-by from
the security of the little back porch,
seemed to Rose the last link to a
safe, sane world before she was
plunged through space into the twi-
light world.
Mr. Mertz never talked while driv-
ing. Lottie. in the front seat be-
side him, obediently co-operated by
a silence which. more than anything
else, impressed Rose with the serious
ness of the moment And. happily,
left her to the tenor of her own
thoughts
Restless thoughts. Chaotic thoughts
--engendered by the approach of
Christmas again, the throng of old
memories and new 1t was, she
n