Evening star., 1936-02-23
Magazine Section

Valerie's heart turned to lead. The
clock hands reached nine and the little
crowd filtered away to it's desks To
verify her fears. she asked Lowther:
rs it really true that you allow no
married women to work for you?"
: mo, nor men either, if we find out
they've got wives working somewhere
else. We're trying to take up the slack
in unemployment, and one member of
a family's enough. OF course if a
married woman has husband who's
an invalid or cripple and can't work
we've got one or two of them.
But - we'll. that's how you got your
job. We found out that the girl who
had it ahead of you was married all
the time, SO out she went and in you
came. But what's it to you - you
haven't any idea of sewing yourself up
with a man, have you?"
, She tried to answer him lightly:
'Oh. no. Marriage is the last thing
I'm thinking OF"
Her answer would have been more
exact if she had said that it was the
first thing in the morning and the last
at night.
That evening Neal was to come to
dinner She waited on the steps for him
and took a little walk to tell him of
the return of their bad luck. He
matched hers with his own:
Floyd took over our department
today. Clifford was sweet old man,
who pretended to know nothing when
he knew a lot. Floyd is buffer who
knows nothing and thinks he can hide
it by being toplofty. He's put me
back where l was, and brought over
with him a confidential man. think
they're letting out crooked contracts
for supplies and raking in graft of
various kinds. They don't want me
to know about it. Floyd's Shiny
crook and I wanted to belt him one
for what he did to you, but it's no
fun slapping down toad"
Valerie and Neal walked mile or
two before they could get their feelings
sufficiently under control to meet
Valerie's father and pretend that
all was we'll with them. The old man
threw them into confusion by saying
that he wanted to see them married
before he left. They could not let him
60 away knowing of their terrible dis
appointment, SO Valerie had to lie fast
to deceive him. and Neal had to invent
a journey out of town for week on
office business
They played the game until the
evening when they put him on the
train, making a huge joke of the
scandal" of the old mans "elope-
ment" with the wicked Mrs. Virkus.
When he was lifted from the chair in
which he had been wheeled down the
platform, and was carried feet first to
his compartment, he told them gaily
that he would come back riding a
bicycle - or on stills.
1t seemed that the train would
never start or that Valerie's tears
would burst out of her eyes before it
did. At last, though, it moved, and
her fathers window slid by. He was
smiling.
But Valerie ran alongside for one
more glimpse of him and saw that his
face had fallen against the glass. 1t
was wet with tears. He'could not see
her as her own grief broke in her. Neal
held her in his arms till she was able
to see and to walk. Then they went
back together to her empty fiat. They
had never been in such danger of
seeking solace in wild surrender. But
her father had never been SO present
as in his absence.
The year wore on and another Con-
gress drew to its end. The bill to
repeal Section 213 was ignored and
trannnled Under in a saf,lrnalja of bill