Smyrna times., 1935-05-30
WEEKLY STORY
AROUND TABLE
Reading to While Away Time
Under the Evening Lamp
When Days Work is Done
INTERESTING READING
'PEGGY'S LAST ASSIGNMENT
BY Dorothy Dodd

. l.
BY Dorothy Dodd
1T WAS at one o'clock on Wednes-
day afternoon that the managing
editor of the Review-Journal told
Peggy Wilder to "go after" Freddie
Dodge AT eleven o'clock Thursday
evening Peggy Wilder was pacing
up and down under the shadows of
the linden trees that lined the drive
way into the old Dodge mansion
still going after" the heroic Fred
die.
During the time that had inter
vened Peggy had caught exactly
five glimpses of Freddie, once all
but surrounded by group of
friends and relatives at the station,
later as he entered the elevator of
the Vendome hotel, once the sight
of his hat rising above the heads
Of the mayor and his reception COM
mittee
And all the time Peggy had eaten
exactly two ham sandwiches, one
soda cracker, four cups of coffee,
and had sucked lollypop offered
to her by the young man who was
trying to get ''story" for the Star.
They had shared the same divan
in the Vendome hotel on Wednes-
day night until the desk clerk had
none too politely asked them to get
out. And unless Peggy had dOzed
little as she sat with the young re
porter on the divan she had had no
sleep. For time there had been
quite number of reporters though
she was the only girl among them,
but one by one they had fallen Off
But Peggy had remained on the job.
The facts of the case had, of
course. all been duly splurged on
the first pages of the Review-J our
nal and the other papers. but none
had been able to get single line of
personal comment from the much
lauded young man-all no doubt be-
cause Freddie belonged to one of
the exclusive old families who still
avoided personal publicity as they
would the plague. There had been
a coal mine cave-in In the northern
part of the state. Twelve miners
had been buried alive Peggy was
so drowsy that she could not recall
| the details-only somehow this
young Freddie whose family for
tune had been made from the mines
had hit upon a scheme of rescuing
the men-a bold. hazardous, crazy
scheme that offered one chance of
success out of thousand of failure.
And to give the scheme test some
one had to make a descent and do
something that might bring liberia
| tion to the imprisoned miners-and
| that almost certainly would bring
/ destruction to the one who did it.
And Freddie had accomplished the
| impossible. Peggy now couldn't
/ quite remember what 1t was he had
| done. Anyway the miners were safe
| and so was he.
/ Peggy Wilder was rehearsing to
| herself the leading remarks she
would make in case by any miracle
/ she did encounter the young hero.
! She would have TO trick him into
some sort of personal comment. But
\ Peggy reflected that a girl who had
been without sleep as long as she
| had couldn't expect to get very far.
| She leaned up against one of the
linden trees and opened her bag
tried to get the little vanity case.
But the bag seemed incredibly
heavy and she couldn't make her
fingers lay hold Of the vanity case.
Then Peggy was just dimly con-
scfous Of the fact that the gravel
on the driveway was very rough. If
she only had pillow 1t wouldn't
be SO bad-and then 1t didn't even
seem to matter about the pillow.
When 1t occurred to Peggy that
] she might try to open her eyea and