Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1944-01-14


voice when next she spoke was quite
calm.
Perhaps you're right, both of
you," she said. Having kept still
SO long, however, it really makes lit
tie difference with me now" She
continued to stand before Rogers as
If answering to him, ignoring the
others who sat silently in their
chairs.
II ran away from school in the
East. I went to New York, be-
cause I'd decided to be an artist.
Father knew what I'd done and ap-
proved it. I didn't tell Aunt Kitty
and she didn't know where I was.
After I'd been there nearly a year
father one day telegraphed me that
Aunt Kitty needed me. That was
the first mistake. She never need
ed anybody. But just the same I
flew to San Francisco. l was seven
teen, and I didn't have any sense"
Rogers interrupted her. Wont
you sit down, Elsa?"
She smiled at him. mo, thank
you," she answered, continuing to
stand easily before us. 81 met Aunt
Kitty when she got off the boat with
the baby. Father had written me
at San Francisco, telling me what
he believed was the truth. I'd had
only the telegram. OF course, I
was sort of stunned; nothing like
this had ever happened to our FAM
lily. l was very frank to say so;
she had it coming to her after the
way she'd brought me up. Aunt Kit
ty turned on me so fiercely thought
she was going to strike me. She
denied it was her child. She said
Father had lied to me. 1t was
baby she was going to adopt. But
stuck to the point like the little
fool l was. l threatened to kidnap
the child and go home with it and
announce it as my own, just to
shame her. That was the second
mistake. I didn't carry out my
threat, but it was only because I
couldn't get the child away from
her."
"You returned home together,
then, you and your aunt?" Rogers
suggested.
eyes. I'd used up all my money
in going to San Francisco, and IA
Their couldn't send me any more at
that time. Aunt Kitty would not
give me any to go back to New
York. She'd buy me anything I
wanted, though, in the way of cloth
ing. She'd never been really gen.
erous. couldn't understand it now.
l thought before this that I'd hated
her, but we were really only begin
ming to hate each other.
"T3"n one day I woke up to what
had happened to me. Odd how you
can be the center of gossip and
never hear whisper of it. It's like
being in the center of hurricane,
everything is so quiet. Months had
passed before the maid one day said
something to me about my baby,
I was furious. I went to Aunt Kitty.
She laughed. The whole town thinks
it's yours she said. She laughed
again. And it's going to be yours.
You can't prove it's not. You ran
away from school, so the school
authorities can't help you deny it.
1t comes down to your word and
mine, and mine will be believed be-
fore yours. So what?'
There I was" said Elsa simply.
"What could I do? She had me, and
I knew it. So all could do was to
go on hating her more and more.
When the baby died-it didn't make
any difference. I could only 60 on
as l had been going, hating her with
every breath l drew, and hoping to
live it down some day."
Tell me now about Chesebro and
what happened the other day." in
structed Rogers matter-of-factly.
Elsa laughed shortly, but there
was no mirth in her voice. ELSA,
the brilliant car!caturist," she said
sarcastically, never saw that re-
semblance in the child to Jimmy
the Cheese. She had to be told by
Jimmy himself in one of his sew
eral fantastic proposals of mar
rage There was tinge of scorn
in her voice. He'd made advances
to me in his elephantine way ever
since Aunt Kitty's death. He didn't
seem to mean it until short time
ago. l detested him and l told him
so. Then came that picture in the
paper. He was very contrite that
day we went for ride. He begged
thousand pardons; he groveled
before me-litcrally. Finally he
startled me with the statement that
he was the father of the child, and
before he was through Cabling he
admitted that it was his idea origi-
nally and not Aunt Kitty's that the
gossip be started at home that the
child was mine" Elsa'S voice
ceased for moment and then took
up again in a quiet, dead level tone.
For several moments none of us
realized just what we had heard, or
that Elsa had reached the end of
her recital. There had been no bit
terness in her tone at any time, no
emotion until she had come to
Chesebro, when something of that
immense anger she had shown on