The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1940-06-22

AAf oS1OAl AICouSs 4uSu sue saw
their faces; lovely sad faces, with a
soft high light of kindness on both
as though one reflected the other.
MAY I know who you are.
please?" asked the older woman
gently.
tina Brenda. Burnham.ss She
smiled and came down the rest Of
the steps. Sand your" -...-~-~.
Durham" mIrmured tn e
caller. Frances, do you hear
that? You have the Burnham
mouth, my dear. Your mother.
whose husband built this house,
had just such dimples."
my grandmother" Brenda cor.
rected. Mother had no dimples."
"Was it indeed your grand
mother? Yes, I suppose It was.
Frances, this in Anne Burnham,s
niece. ] am right, am / not? Anne
Burnham," went on the sad, gen.
tie voice, fused to be my closest
friend before-before she left The
Street. But I must explain our err
rand here. We have heard that
Mrs. Rosttetor is i'll. She does not,
Of course, either by inheritance
or right of primary occupation.
belong to The Street. Still, she is
a neighbor, and seriously Ill. May
we be of asSistance?"
Brenda was bewildered. She
had entirely forgotten the Wicks.
Her native courtesy impelled her
to treat these queer gentle wo.
men with the utmost graciousness.
At the same time, she could not
risk an invasion of the house by
those of whose conduct she could
not be sure. T0at. -
The younger woman saw her
perplexity and spoke for the first
time, and in the same almost in.
audible voice as her mother.
Mother is Mrs. Wick, and I'm
Frances" she explained. 1--WE live
between Miss Ormond and Mrs.
Arnold"
A Daring Idea
BRENDA rallied her forces. She
- realized dirnly that this was
quite as likely to be a crisis in the
lives of the callers as In Adelaide's
illness.
She said:
shall we 60 into the living
room where we can talk?" And
when they were all seated, she
told the whole story in the
utmost detail. It'll do 'em good"
she thought, ITO get their minds
on something besides themselves"
So she spoke Of diets and ice
bags, doctors calls. and the diff
Guilty Of managing a house in time
of illness. She described Isobel,
Eric and Mac: even Grenadine.
She dwelt on the kindness the
stricken family had received, even
mentioning the flowers that had
come that day. and the jelly Maud
VanNeSs had sent in.
They drank it all in thirstily. Il
seemed to plying Brenda that
they had been parched for just
such trivial news of their kind.
When the girl had finished her re-
cital, she looked at them with Q
smile.
$50 you see we are in good
handsl"
Mrs. Wick's mouth dropped.
Eyes, I see. You don't need Us,
that Is certain. We'd hoped to be
of some help, Frances and 1" She
paused a moment, then leaned
forward and spoke with urgency.
Cant you think Of something
no matter how simple, or how Diff
ficult-we could do to be Of serv.
ice?"
A daring idea seized Brenda's
Imagination. Mac told her after
ward that no one else on The
Street would ever have had the
courage to propose it.
There's one thing that we SIM
ply can't get around to-" she said
in a matter-of-fact tone. THAT'S
paying the bills downtown: light,
and gas, and water and all. you
know. The men are so tired with
helping us. or so busy making up
arrears, that we haven't felt like
asking them"
A bleak light dawned In Mrs.
Wick'S eyes. "You can certainly
send checksl"
Brenda shook her head. -Ade-
laide-Mrs. Rosttetor would have
a relapse when she found it Quit
She never paid anything by
check. And" continued Brenda
ShameleSSly, I'VE have only cash
in the house, anyway, since Mrs.
RoSttetor is too Ill to sign checks"
She paused a moment and then
went on. "Of course ] shouldn't
have spoken Of it If you hadn't
been so kind about offering to do
anything -She put a significant
accent on the word-"for US We
won't say any more about il. Do
you think it Is getting colder
out?"
She could see mother and
daughter look at each other. It
seemed to her that some signal
passed from Frances to the older
woman. At any rate Mrs. Wick
sighed. and said: Give me the
bills. my dear. and I'll see that
they are attended to-"
you won't-won't send your
own checks? It really would up
set Mrs. Rosttetor seriously
it would"
A faint smile curved the grave
lips Of her caller.
I viii pay them in cash. Please
make uOlYr mind aawxr aI~a,,k A. ~kaas