The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1938-06-03
CHAPTER xIIT-Continued

never seen any of them since, Dad.
Have your"
'''Not one" The old mans eyes
grew vaguely troubled. II watched
for them too. Nora wrote as If
there were no uncertainty about
their publications. was an assign
ment, / believe. She seemed hap
py; but her letter must have been
two weeks old before I saw it. I
was down with pneumonia just
then, and all my personal mail was
laid aside until could attend to it
myself. She wrote from boarding
house, think, not a hotel. They
were leaving in a day or two. as
soon as Don attended to some busi-
ness and the city got dug out of a
blizzard"
Ned raised his head, quickly, as
If reminded of something.
'You say this was within three
years? Are you absolutely sure,
Dad?''
"Sure? Am I likely to forget
that wretched sickness? It was
three years next month when the
letter came, Ned; and since then
nothing but silence. Such thing
never happened before. didn't an
swer Nora's letters, but she's al
ways written. Sometimes regular
ly, sometimes with several months
between. / tried to persuade my
self that their plans changed sud-
denly, especially when Don's arti-
cles failed to appear. thought
they might have gone to some out
of-the-way country and stayed
there. I suppose was just trying
to kid myself as the boys say. I
even tried to believe that since they
were apparently successful she had
forgotten me-given me up as
bad jeb-but that's not-Nora. I've
been very unhappy about her, Ned.
Very troubled. And tonight some
thing that Martha said has made
me more So"
James glanced up, conscious that
his son was inattentive. Ned said,
thoughtfully: "Do you remember
terrible catastrophe in Chicago,
when the roof of theater collapsed
under a weight of snow?"
His father was suddenly erect.
"You don't mean"
ST don't mean that anything hap
pened to Nora" broke in Ned. sThe
thing occurred, as remember now,
when you were too sick to see the
papers. I only glanced at the head
lines myself. / loathe such details.
But Corinne revels in 'em, you
know. She even read part Of the
story aloud at the table-how fell
low. who. was in the audience and
got out safely, went back into the
doomed place and spent hours un-
der a collapsing balcony trying to
rescue child who was pinned be-
meath the wreckage. It was very
luridly told. The reporter claimed
to have been an eye witness. Said
the man refused to quit even when
warned. He saved the child, be-
lieve, but failed to get out himself.
And his name was Mason. He was
caught under the timbers."
sKilled?"
"No; but l judged from what the
paper said that he'd better have
been. If it were Don"
James turned on his son angrily.
"Why wasn't I told of this?"
Then, his voice softening: "But Ma
sons common enough name, Ned.
Why should you think it was Nora's
husband?"
"Only because the paper said Dan
Mason-not Don, you understand,
but so near that a misprint might
have been possible. didn't speak
of it because you were so sick just
then. I couldn't worry you, Dad;
though I see now that should have
investigated the matter myself. My
only excuse is that it was the very
time when Junior got into that
scrape at college, and Corinne was
well, she felt it was all my fault.
She thought was too strict-didn't
understand the boy at all-said he
forged that check because / didn't
give him enough allowance and
Oh, I was showed under! ! went
through things never told you, and
never will. My home very nearly
went on the rocks, Dad; though
that's over now, thank God! But it
put everything else out of my mind
at the time-the awful worry of it.
And later, when / remembered,
supposed of course that if Nora
were in real want she would have
appealed to you"
"Oh, no she wouldn't" The Bit
terness in James Lambert's voice
was toward himself. 81 lost my
temper one day and warned her not
to. And Nora's got pluck. Always
did have. And character. Did I
ever tell you =
It was then that Ned heard the
story of courageous little Nora, sit
ting for hours beside the body of
her mother, waiting for the father
she had never seen to take her
''home." He was plainly touched.
Eyes, she's got character" he ad-
mitted. ''She showed it when she
gave up fortune Cor thought she
did1 hara,Yca she 1axroI that faIlou,