The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1934-04-27
Little White House By Charles J. McGu;rk

J. McG uirk
country club-the teas and the bridge
parties, because she had wrapped her
life around her family and tneir pos
sessions.
Well, it wasn't quite true that she
never missed any Of these tnlngs be-
cause sometimes she did. Sometimes
she missed them terribly. Up to the
time she and Allan had married, they
had represented the biggest part OF her
life. She played better than passable
bridge. Her golf game had been almost
remarkable for a woman. n she
loved to dance. It was n oanclng
she missed most.
o, well, she comforted herself, one
couldn't have everything. She was sac
rificing part of her present for the Sc
curity of the future. Let Allan be the
showpiece of the family. Allan was
noticeably a well dressed man, even for
Fairview, which was a rich suburban
community. Yes, even for New York,
where he went to business every morn
ing. And If she, Anne Stanwick, had
become somewhat of q hermit Allan
remained one of the most popular men
in town.
Little Allan, ushered through the
back door by Conscientious, Anne's
colored cook, maid, and general assist
ant, appeared on the back porch fresh
from his nap, so Anne knew it was be-
yond mid-afternoon. He was a tower
ing giant of three feet with broad,
bronZed, naked shoulders hulking over
his sun suit and a middle that stuck
out like a melon.
"Hey!" he beloved, spying her.
Hey, YOURSELF" she answered. Come
down and help me weed the garden"
He came, uncertainty but swiftly, and
went straight to a particular tomato
| vine.
"Mine!" he announced and squatted
down and glared at it. Then his head
went slowly to one side. You could al
most see his ears cock to listen.
"Hwissh," he whispered softly.
His mother smiled and nodded. She
hadn't imagined it after all. She really
had heard things grow.
give thousand banks all over the
United States have failed in the last
two years. And every nickel Of every
one of their depositors' money went
with them.
Eyes, dear. But what has that to do
with us?"
This. We're going to take our money
out OF the Fairview bank, where we're
only getting three and a half per cent,
and invest it for as high as twenty.
I know just the place."
So that is what had been occupying
big Allan all through dinner. That is
why he had been so silent, and by that
very silence had told her so much.
People Anne had known all her life
gave of themselves away in an
hour of silence than they did in a
month Of conversation, just as they
showed more of themselves in a dim
light than they did in a bright one. In
a very bright light. like daylight, people
put on the masks they wanted the world
to look at. In dim light, like moon
light. the mask slipped-the DINNER
the light, the greater the slip.
She and big Allan had sat very late
over dinner. Little Allan had already
been put to bed and dusk was settling
into full night. Conscientious Lit the
candles in their places on the table and
their light threw the rest of the room
into heavy shadow while etching Al
lan's features into startling relief. Anne
was glad. Now she could know what
went on in his mind by the play of
the shadows upon his face. And, she
was convinced there was a great deal
on his mind. From behind her serene
eyes she watched him and waited.
Big Allan was Enthusiastically the orig
inal Of which Little Allan was the copy
He had the same hulking shoulders
and looked the six feet even that made
him a real giant. But he had no melon
in his middle. He was straight and
hard as a washboard. He had little
Allan's trick of glaring. But he did
not have little Allan's bulges of mag
nation over each eye. He was not the
sort that would be able to hear things
grow. He was, he admitted himself,
a practical business man. Let others
dream dreams. He would try to carry
them out. Now by the set of his mouth
and chin, Anne knew he had made up
his mind about what they would dc
with their money. He expected opposi-
ton from her. And he was prepared
to override it. So whatever it was it
couldn't be exceptionally safe.
TITS the Anican Oil company" he
said. And by the absent expression
about his eyes Anne saw that he was
not so much telling it as he was re-
membering it, as he would remember
a speech he had either heard or men,
orized. Brand new organization, with
wells on the Pacific coast-down around
Long Beach, Cal. Big oil operator nam
ed Banner. Tim Banner is president
OF the company. Used to be associated
with Marland. Then went in with
the Arzonico people.
Had a fight with them and struck
out for himself. Bought a lot of oil
leases hat the Arzonico people had
turned down, and seventy-eight per
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