Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1935-01-11

TO nave money enough W Uuy SuIIi-
cient food" was Ruggles faint answer
to his surprised comment. And after
that Darl was mighty careful what he
said. And mighty sure that he was
going to see that good things came
the way of this proud, poverty-strick-
en- family.
But he gave them more humiliation
than pleasure that night, for after the
feature was finished, there flashed on
the screen a clip of film showing the
Ruggles family guarding their few
sticks of furniture on the sidewalk
and Bethna behind the bars of the sta
ton house. He could feel, rather than
see their squirming discomfort as the
clip unrolled. But he could hear the
buzz of comments that went on about
them. That audience was gathered
from the neighborhood, and many peo-
pie who saw that film unroll had seen
the Ruggles family set out on the
street.
Somehow he had to see that the
Ruggles family got break. Finding
an unskilled man job that would sup
port his family decently was the first
move. Continued charity he couldn't
afford, even if they would accept it.
The next day and the next and the
next, Darl secuted for jobs for Mr..
Ruggles. And the next night and
the next and the next he popped in
to see how things were going with
them. And every time he called, he
had to listen again to their eulogies
of Wesley Payne. The whole family
went over and over the story, but it
was the expression in Bethna's starry
eyes that worried him most. They
didn't realize that the dollars Payne
had carelessly thrown to them meant
nothing to him. Nor did they realize
that Darl Fursten had been much more
responsible for their good fortune than
Payne had been.
Not that he was asking for credit,
he assured himself, but it did make
him sore to see that look of starry
eyed alteration in Bethna's eyes every
time Payne was mentioned. And
Payne was constantly being mentioned
They probably didn't even realize
that it was Darl who had saved Beth
mas job for her, by visiting her en-
ployer and talking cold turkey to him.
He wasn't asking for credit for that,
either, but it got under his skin to
have to listen eternally to their praises
of Wesley Payne.
He tried staying away from them,
but that didn't help either. The fam
lily drew him like magnet. The SIM
plest pleasures were brand new to
Bethna. Sunday trips through the
museums, a visit to the Statue of Lib
erty, trip to the top of the Empire
State Building. Darl had a grand
time showing Bethna her native city,
but always and always the girl would
crack out with a remark like
II suppose Wesley Payne has seen
all this a million times"
Or, you're awfully good to me,
Darl. Almost as wonderful as Wes-
ley Payne"
Wesley Payne. Wesley Payne. Wes-
ley Payne.
Even after Darl had bribed and
wangled a job for Mr.. Ruggles in the
shipping department of his own news
paper, it was Wesley Payne, Wesley
Payne, Wesley Payne.
Even after, unable to resist Beth
mas naive charm any longer, he had
caught her in his arms in the dark
hallway of that reeking tenement and
told her he loved her.
She stood there passive in his arms,
and waited until her lips were free
for words. and then she said slowly,
hesitatingly.
"You mustn't. 1 like you, Darl-
but l love Wesley Payne. Oh, l know"
she interrupted his injured protest,
maybe I'll never see him again. But
it doesn't seem as if you could just
worship person the way I do him
and not have him know it. Love al
ways finds way in the movies. May
be my love will"
The awful part of it was that she
really believed it. She wasn't pre-
tending. She had given her hearts
gratitude and devotion to a man who
probably had never given her another
thought.
you've been seing too many NOV
ies," he told her with a sort of fur
ious rage. And he had taken her to
those movies. Built up the barrier
between her heart and his with his
own hard-earned money. That ought
to be funny-but it wasn't.
ooh, Bethna, honey!" he almost
u L