Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1941-09-19
Jessie WasAnArtist!ss1 +

AS the weeks heightened into months
she got back her nerve and like most
other Londoners grew a thick skin
where the bombers were concerned
One night when the Molotov bread
baskets were scattering their ill-begot-
ten mama, she was one of the first
to rush into the street and put out a
fire bomb.
That made her something OF hero
inc, particularly in the eyes Of Major
Creagh. with whom she had become
on friendly terms by this time, as in
deed she was with lots of other people.
ErTington Court was now filled al
most exclusively with officials from
the ministries and their faithful wom-
enfolk who were standing by TO make
sure they had some comforts in their
off-duty hours. They all had plenty
Of money, or they couldn't have lived
here. No matter how tight the ration
ing got, they had plenty to eat, too
They could feed in the restaurant, if
it suited them, where nothing was ra-
/ toned.
If any of these people. so favored
/ by fortune, noticed that little Miss APP
/ pleby was not Of their world they did
not show it. The odds were they didn't
/ notice it much. Everybody was in this
, thing together now, and snobbery hard-
| ly existed any more.
| At night. down in the foyer and
/ ground floor corridors, maids, porters,
walters, admirals, generals and high
| born ladies all snored in unison while
the bombs fell and the guns doomed.
/ Some sprawled in the fat upholstered
chairs, or sat nodding, croSs-legged on
/ the floor with their backs to a selected
inner wall; some brought themselves
camp beds or "lie-lows," and went TO
bed publicly. but in comfort: and some.
like Tessie Appleby, curled up like cats
on heap of cushions.
Tessie had strung out her slender
resources until we'll into December, al
though heaven alone knows how she
did it. But the week before Christ
mas found her with only few shillings
in her purse and an empty larder.
AS long as the night raids kept up
however, she was fairly safe. for as
time went on, a picnic element had
been introduced into the all-night
vigils.
Mrs. O'Malley. the admiral's lady
who lived on the ninth floor, like Tes-
sic, always came down TO the foyer
when the guns got going. especially
when her husband was on night duty
and being a foreseeing woman and APT
to get hungry under excitement, took
to providing herself with sandwiches
and a thermos Of cocoa. Tessie, BY
getting into conversation with Mrs
OMalley at the right moment, coulc
rely upon being offered a share in thi.
snack And now the management al
ways handed around tea and biscuit:
in the early hours after particularly
thick night, and that served TeSsie yer!
nicely in lieu of breakfast
Major Creagh, too, was good for bis
cults and a nip Of whisky from hi!
flask, and one never-tobe forgotten
dawn the Dutchman who had a sublet
on the fairly safe second floor, but
always came down because he Hkec
company, produced sausage sandwiche!
and pickles. and invited Tessie to share
his last bottle of beer. But shortly
after that. he moved away from Err
rington Court. TeSsie kept her eye Out
for him quite while before she learned
that he had gone.
All the time, nagging letters hac
been arriving from Margot with tire
} some regularity. How was the apart
: ment? What had Tessie done abou
. the broken windows, and was she faith
t fully having the whole ones cleaned.
: Was TeSsie sure she had forwarded al
I the letters? Had she found the key
! to the store cupboard yet? Margo'
: had contrived to leave that behind hel
and she wanted it sent on
Well what remained of the windows
four altogether, had not been cleaned
now for over a month and were thicE
,, with CRIME The rest had merely beer
boarded up, for nobody was replacing
broken panes in these uncertain times
Continued Next Week