The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1936-08-28
A Glass of Milk

ly. THAT is disgusting, to waste What
one does not want oneself. Disgusting,
YES, and wicked, tool" She stood there,
her breast heaving under her piack
dress and neat white apron. her due
eyes blazing with anger in her sman
white face.
For a moment the older woman was
almost too startled to speak. Then sne
became very angry. This was intoler-
able. Since the moment she arrived she
had felt that she was being Ill served.
treated with Scanty consideration IN
the Bismarckhof-but that a servant
should now strike her! She rang the
bell, three loud peals-the summons mons
ager. Leave the room!" she ordered
Trude, Leave the glass!". when the
maid made a movement to take u.
There was some delay in producing the
manager, which only added to Mrs.
Morgan James wrath, but she was IN
sistent and eventually he came. The
manager spoke English and Mrs. MOI
gan James fairly let herself 60.
looked like being a tiresome affair.
Apologizing, promising to investigate,
he Withdrew. He sent for Trude, he
sent for die Ritter. Trude denied hav-
ing done more than push" the lady's
hand; she apologized; finally she wept.
Die Ritter, in a private consultation,
said that the maid Gertler was hot
quently late, she would be no loss. He
had Trude-who was waiting, cold and
trembling now after her fit Of passion,
in the service room-sent down after
him to his office where he handed her
a months wages in lieu of notice and
dismissed her on the spot. Her face
made his quite uncomfortable-she put
hnr hand Nyov- hn1s voN,1fh ond Sfnnn
there, her eyes staring at him over her
hand. "Not-dismissed?" she said at
last. mot me? Not fol that? For a
little thing like that? Aber, Herr Direk-
tor" she almost sprang towards him
with a sort of anguished energy, o.
what about m" InI?"
Herr Heinz knew nothing about Lilli.
He put her hands-she was touching
his coat sleeve now-aside; really she
son!-and told her to go without max
ing a fuss or he should send for the
police. And at that she collapsed and
went.
When Mrs. Morgan James was for
mally told by the management next
morning that the peccant chamber,
maid had been dismissed and that
dent might nov be regarded as closed,
she was rather upset. She tried to
argue with herself that the maid had
behaved most improperly, and anyhow
they were always told that there was
no unemployment now in Germany.
But she could not get the matter out
of her mind. All day, during her rather
little white faced chambermaid kept
coming up before her eyes. The woman
had looked underfed, almost i'll, with
that same look of fatigue and strain
which today h was noticing on al
most every WOman'S face in the street.
Had that maid also had, like herself.
some personal anxiety or distress which
had set her nerves on edge? It was a
most disquieting thought. BY the after
noon the thing was so much on Mrs.
James mind that h almost began to
feel that, humiliating as it would be,
she would have to- make Inquiries on
her return to the hotel into the maids
circumstances. But finding herself sud-
denly at n end of the Sendlinger-
Strasse, she remembered that that was
where the Asam-Kapelle was, that
strange mixture of Gothic and baroque
which Morgan, in an earlier letter,
had said that she must certainly not
fail to see. And under an impulse Of
maternal piety-so much stronger to-
day, at least, than filial piety-she set
off to find it.
The Asam-Kapelle is certainly we'll
worth seeing, though it is not every
body's taste. To the street it presents
a dark, sober and quite inconspicuous
front of smoke grimed Gothic. But in
side it has been turned into a sort OF
oval cavern of gilt baroque-golden fig;
ures, wreaths, flowers and urns sprawl
ing, in a turgid gilded confusion.
Mrs. Morgan James, having passed
through the doors of the inner porch
and pushed aside the heavy leather
curtains, found herself in this aston
ishing place. It was already dusk and
the lamps and tapeTs were lit. The
voice of the priest and a sea-like muir
rose and fell in aiternation-Mrs. Nor
gan James realized that they must be
reciting the Litany. She moved noise
lessly into a pew and sat down. Her
intention was simply to wait till the
service was over and she could x
anime the church at leisure, but while
she sat there this purpose gradually
lost its Importance and presently faded
in her, her disappointment, her vexa-
ton, her sorrow over her beloved Nor
gan, even, all seemed smaller, less i'm
portant, in this quiet place full of the
sound Of prayer; a warm feeling, a sort
Of happy b%enevolence overcame her.
Firmly she resolved to face the mortifi-
cation Of making representations about
the maid to the hotel authorities. No
longer impatient for the service to be
over, she waited quietly till the end.
After the blessing some sort of lesson
or sermon began and most of the con-
gregation remained. Mrs. Morgan
James, however, stole quietly out. Be-
yond the leather curtains in the inner
porch something rubbed against her
skirts, she saw that it was a dog, a
small, ancient plebian black and brown
able injury. She stopped to pat 1t and
addressed it gently, You can't 60 in
there" she told it. While she was talk
ing to the little dog an old woman
came out into the porch holding a black
shawl over her head with work rough
ened hands. The little dog ran up to
her and she, too, stopped to pat it,
smiling a little as she did so at Mrs.
James.