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About The North Platte semi-weekly tribune. (North Platte, Neb.) 1895-1922 | View Entire Issue (July 17, 1917)
9 THE 8EMI-WEEKLY TRIBUNE, NORTH PLATTE, NEBRASKA. 1 iiiL RODNEY ALDRICH HAD NEVER REALLY THOUGHT MUCH OF GETTING MARRIED UNTIL HIS SISTER "PUT THE BUR .'N HIS EAR" THEN HE THOUGHT FIRST OF PRETTY ROSE STANTON SYNOPSIS. noso Stanton, student nt the University of Chicago, Is put off n street car In tho rain after nn nrgumcnt with the conduce tor. She Is accosted by a tileo young man who offers to fllu n com plaint with the company and who escorts her to another car line. An hour later this man, ltodney Aldrlch, appeared soaked with rain at the homo of his very wealthy married sister, Mrs. Martin Whitney, to at tend a birthday dinner In his honor. Mrs. -Whitney had schemed to mnko a marriage match bctwc.m him and Hermlone Woodruff, ii di vorcee, hut tho plan falls at tluv dinner. CHAPTER II Continued 2 She iamo up to him and. nt arm's length, touched him with cautious flnger-tlps. "And do, please, there's a dear boy," she pleaded, "hurry as fast as you can, and then come down and bo as nlco as you can" she hesitated "especially to Ilerinlono Woodruff. Bho thinks you're u wonder and I flon't wont her to bo disappointed." "Tho widdy?" ho asked. "Sure 111 to nlco to her." Sho looked after him rather dubious ly as ho disappeared In the direction ot her husbund's bathroom. There was sort of hilarious contentment about him which filled her with misgivings. Well, they were justified I ( According to Violet Wllllamson'n ac count, given confidentially In tho drawing-room afterward, it was really ller piiono's fault. "Sho Just wouldn't let Rodney alone would keep talking about crimes and Lombroso and psychiatric laboratories I'll bet sho'd got hold of a paper of his somowhero nnd read it. Anyway, at last sho Bald, 'I believe Doctor Randolph would greo with me llo was talking to me then, but fWbc that isn't why he did it. Well, and ltodney straight ened up and said, "Is that Randolph, the alienist?' You sec he hadn't caught his name when they wcro in troduced. And that's how it started. Ilcrmlono was gamo I'll admit that. Bho listened and kept looking inter ested, and ovcry now and then said something. Sometimes they'd tako tho trouble to smllo and sny 'Yes, indeed I' politely, you know, but other times they wouldn't pay any attention at nil, Just roll along over her and smash her flat llko what's his name Jug gernaut." "You don't need to tell mo that," nald Frederlca. "All I didn't know was how It started. Didn't I sit thcro and watch for n mortal hour, not ablo to do a thing? I tried to signal to Martin, but of course ho wasn't oppo ilte to me, nnd . . ." "Ho did all ho could, really," Violet assured her. "I told him to go to tho rescue, and ho did, bravely. But what with Ilcrmlono being so mlffy about getting frozen out, and Martin himself being so Interested in what they wero shouting at each other because It wan frightfully interest ing, you know, l 70U don't hnvo to pretend you understood it why, thcro .wasn't much he could do." Iu tho light of this disaster, sho was rather glad tho men lingered in the dining-room an long os they did tfnd that Ilermlono had ordered her car for ten nnd took the odd girl with bcr. She mntlu no effort to resist tho departurp of tho others, with rcason Jblo promptitude, In their train. When, nftcr tho front door had closed for tho last time, Martin relcuscd a long yawn, sho told him to run along to bed ; Bhq vrantod to talk to Rodnoy, "Who was to upend tho night whllo his wn clothes wero drying out in tho laundry. "'Good night, oM chap 1" said Martin la accents of lively commiseration, Tin glad I'm not in for what you nrc." ltodney found n pipe, sat down Bbtrido a spindling llttlo chair, settled his elbows comfortably on tho hack of it, and then asked his sister what Mar Mn hud meant what wus ho In for? Frederlca, curled up in n cornor of the sofa, looked at him at llrst with u wry pucker between her eyebrows, ttiep with a smile, and finally answered fcJs question. "Nothing," sho Bald. "I Surnu, I was going to scold you, but pm not" Then, "Oh, I was furious with you An hour ago," she went on. "I'd mado ucli a really beautiful plan for you, tad then I sat and watched you in that thoroughgoing way of yours kicking ft all to bits. Tho plan was, of course, to marry you off to Ilcrmlono wood rtff." Ho turned this over In his deliberate wiy, during the process of blowing (tiro or three smoke rings, ucgun radually to grin, and said at lust: "That was somo plan, llttlo Bistor. Mw do you think of things llko that? Iwa ougUt to writo romances for tho Mtcrazlnes." 'I don't know," sho objected. "If Msonablcnc6s counted for anything la things llko that, it was a pretty yd plan It would bnyo to bo some-. EAL ADVEN By HENRY KITCHELL WEBSTER Copyright 1916, body llko Ilermlono. You can't get on nt all with young girls." "I don't know," snid ltodney, "whether Mrs. Woodruff knows what she wants or not, but I do. She wants a run for her money. And sliq'll want a nice, tame trick husband to manage things for her and bo Johnny-on-the-spot whenever sho wants him. And if tho man happened to be me . . . 1" Frederlca stretched her slim arms outward. Thoughtful-faced, sho mado no comment, unless tlicru was one In tho deliberate way In which she turned her rings, one at a time, so that tho brilliant masses of gems wcro inside, and then clenched her hnnds over them. Ho had got up und was ranging comfortably up and down the room. "I know I look more or less llko a nut to tho pcoplo who'vo always known us. IJut I give you my word, Freddy, Hint most of them look llko nuts to me. Why n man should load himself up with three houses and n yacht, a stable of motorcars, and heavens knows whnt besides, Is a thing I enn't ilgure out on nny basis except of defective Intelligence. I supposo they'ro cqunlly puzzled nbout mo when I refuse a profitable pleco of law work they've offered me, because I don't couslder It Interesting. All tho same, I get what I want, and I'm pretty dubious somotlmes whether thoy do. I want space comfortable elbow room, so that if I happen to get nn Idea by tho tall, I can swing It round my head without knocking over tho lamp." "It's a luxury, though, Rod, that kind of spaciousness, and you aren't very rich. If you married n girl with out anything . . ." Ho broko in on her with that big laugh of his. "You'vo kept your senso of humor pretty well, sis, considering you'vo boon married all theso years to a man ns rich as Martin ; but don't spring remurks llko that, or I'll think you'vo lost It If a man can't keep an open spaco around him, even after lio's married on an Income, outsldo of what ho enrns, of ten or twelve thou sand dollars n year, tho troublo Isn't with his income. It's with the content of his own skull." Sho gave n llttlo shiver nnd snuggled closer Into a big down pillow. lou will marry somebody, though, won't you, Roddy? I try not to nag at you and I won't mako any more "The Plan Was, of Course, to Marry You Off to Hermlone Woodruff." silly plans, but I can't help worrying uhout you. llvlmr alone in Hint nwful big old house. Anybody but you would uio 01 uesponuency." "Oh," ho said, "that's what I meant to talk to you uhout I I sold It today fifty thousand dollars Immediate possession. Man wants to build a printing establishment thorn. Ymi como down sometime next week nnd nick out all tho thlmrs vou think vou and Harriet would like, aud I'll uuctlbn off tho rest" She . shivered ugaln and, to her Dobbs - Mcrrill Co. disgust, found that her eyes were blurring up with tears. Sho was n little hit slack and edgy today anyhow. What he had Just referred to In a dozen brisk words, was the final dis appearance of the home they had all grown up In. Their father, one of Chicago's great men during the twenty odd years from tho Fire to tho Fair, had built It when tho neighborhood Included nearly all tho other big men of that robust period, and had always been proud of It. Of course for years the neighborhood had been Impossible. Her mother had clung to It after her husband's denth, but Rodney had sim ply stayed on, since her death, waiting for an offer for it that suited him. Ills curt announcement that the long-looked-for change had come, brought up quick, unwclcomcd tears. She squeezed them away with her palms. "Is that," sho asked, "why you've been looking so sort of gay, all the evening ns If you were licking tho last of tho canary's feathers off your whiskers?" "Perhaps so," ho said. "It's been a pretty good day, tako It all round." Sho got up from tho couch, shook herself down into her clothes a little, and came over to him. "All right, since it's been a good day, let's go to bed." Sho put her hnnds upon his shoulders. "You're rather dreadful," sho said, "but you're a deur. You don't blto my bend off when I urge you to get married, though I know you want to. IJut you will some day I don't mean bite my hcud off won't you, Rod?" "When I see nny prospect of being ns lucky ns Martin find a girl who won't mind when I turn up for dinner looking like a drowned tramp, or kick her plans to bits, after she's tipped me off as to what sho wants mo to do . ." Frederlca. took her hands off, step ped back, and looked nt him. There wns an ironical sort of smllo on her lips. "You're such an Innocent, Roddy dear. Don't think tho girl you marry will ever treat you llko that." "But look here I" ho exclaimed. "How In thunder am I going to know about tho girl I get engaged to, before it's too late?" "You won't," sho said. "You haven't a chance in tho world." "nml" ho grunted, obviously struck with this idea. "You're giving tho prospect of mdrrlngo now attractions. You're making tho tiling out an ad venture." Sho nodded rather soberly. "Oh, I'm not nfraid for you," sho said. "Men like adventures you more than most. But women don't. Thoy llko to dream about them, but they want to turn ovor to tho last chnpter and seo how It's going to end. It's the girl I'm worried about . . . Oh, come along 1 Wo'ro talking nonsense. I'll go up with you and sqo that they'ro giving you pajamas and a tooth-brush." Sho had accomplished this purpose, kissed him good-night, nnd turned to leave tho room, when her cyo fell upon a heap of dump, wanted, pasteboard bound notebooks, which sho remem bered having observed In his sldo pock ets when ho first enmo in. Sho went over nnd picked them up, peered nt tho paper label thnt had half peeled off tho topmost cover, und read what was written on It. "Who," sho asked with considerable emphasis, "is Rosalind Stanton?" "Oh;" said Rodnoy, very casually, be hind tho worst lmltntion of a yawn sho had ever seen, "oh, sho got put off tho car when I did." "That sounds rather exciting," said Frederlca behind nn Imitation yawn of her own but n better, one. "Going to tell mo nbout It?" "Nothing much to toll," Bnld Rodney. "Thcro was a row about a faro, as I said. And then, wo both got put off. So, naturally, I walked with her ovor to tho elovatcd. And then I forgot to glvo her Iter notebooks aud enmo away with them." "Whnt sort of looking girl?" nsked Frederlca. "Is sho pretty?" "Why, I don't know," said Rodney Judicially. "Really, you know, I hard ly got a fair look at her." Frederlca mado a funny-sounding laugh nnd wished him nn abrupt "good night" Sho wns a great old girl, Frederlca pretty wlso about lots of things, but Rodney was Inclined to think sho wns mistaken in saying women didn't like adventures. "You'ro a liar, you know," remarked his conscience, "telling Frederlca you hudn't n good look nt her. And how about thoso notebooks about forget ting to glvo them to her I" CHAPTER III. The Second Encounter. Portia Stanton was lato for lunch; so, after stripping off her Jacket and gloves, roiling up her veil, nnd scowl ing nt herself in nn oblong mahogany- framed mirror in tho hall, sho walked Into tho dining-room with her hat on. Seeing her mother Bitting at tho lunch table, sho asked, "Where's Roso?" "Sho'll bo down, presently, I think," her mother said. "Docs your hat JURE mean you're going back to tho shop this afternoon?" Portia nodded, pulled back her chair abruptly, nnd snt down. "I thought that on Saturday . . ." her mother began. "Oh, I know," said Portia, "but that girl I've got Isn't much good." You'd hnvo known them for mother nnd daughter anywhere, and you'd hnvo had troublo finding nny point of resemblance in cither of them to the Amazonian young thing who hnd so nearly thrown a street-car conductor Into the street tho night before. The mother's hnir was very soft an? white, and tho caro with which It was arranged Indicated a certain harmless vanity in it. Thcro wns something n little conscious, too, nbout her dress. If you took it in connection with n 1 certain resolute amiability uboyt her smile, you would be entirely propnrod to hear her tell Portia that she was to 1 talk on "Modern Tendencies" before tho Pierian club this afternoon. A very real person, nevertheless you couldn't doubt that. Tho marks of passionately held beliefs and engerly given sacrifices were etched with un deniable authenticity in her face. Once you got beyond a cntalogue of features, Portia presented rather a striking contrast to this. Her hair was done with a severity that was fairly hostile. Her clothes were brusquely worn. Her smile, If not 111 nntured It wasn't that was distinct ly ironic. A very competent, good looking young womnn, Just now droop lug a little over the cold lunch. "So Roso didn't como down this morning at all. Nothing particular the matter with her, is there?" asked Por tia. There was enough real concern In her voice to save the question from sounding satirical, but her mother's manner wns a llttlo apologetic when she nnswered It. "No, I think not," she said. "But sho was In such a state when she camo home last night literally wet through to the skin, and blue with cold. So I thought it wouldn't do any harm. . . ." "Of course not," said Portia. "Roso Is all right. She won't spoil badly." "I'm a little bit worried about tho loss of tho poor child's notebooks," said her mother. "I don't believe Roso is worrying her head off about them," said Portia. Tho flush In her mother's checks deepened a little, but It was no long er apologetic. "I don't think you'ro quite fair to Rose, about her studies," sho said. "If sho doesn't seem always to appreciate her privilege in getting a college education as, seriously as sho should, you should remember her youth. She's only twenty" "I'm sorry, mother," Portia inter rupted contritely. "I didn't mean any harm anyway. Didn't sho say tho man's nnmo wns Rodney Aldrlch?" "I think so," her mother agreed. "Something llko that" "It's rather funny," said Portia. "It's hardly likely to have been Uio rent Rodney Aldrlch. Yet It's not a common name." "Tho real Rodney Aldrlch?" ques tioned her mother. But, without wait ing for her daughter's elucidation of tho phrase, sho added, "Oh, there's Rose 1" The girl enmo up behind Portia nnd enveloped her in a big, lazy hug. "Back to work another Saturday afternoon, Angel?" she asked commlserntlngly. "Aren't you over going to stop and havo any fun?" Then sho slumped Into a chair, heaved a yawning sigh, and rubbed her eyes. "Tired, dear?" nsked her mother. Sho said it under her breath In tho hopo that Portia wouldn't hear. "No," said Rose. "Just sleepy I" Sho yawned again, turned to Portia, and, somewhnt to their surprise, said : "Yes, whnt do you mean tho real Rodney Aldrlch? Ho looked real enough to inc. And his arm felt real tho ono ho wns going to punch tho conductor with." "I didn't mean ho was imaginary," Portia explained. "I only meant I didn't bcllovo it was the Rodney Aldrlch who's so awfully promiuent; either somebody else who happened to have tho same name, or somebody who Just said that was his name." "Whnt's tho matter with tho promi nent ono?" Roso wanted to know. "Why couldn't it have been ho?" Portia admitted that it could, so far as that went, but insisted on an In herent improbability. A millionaire, tho brother of Mrs. Martin Whitney, wasn't likely to bo found riding In street enrs. "Millionaires havo legs," said Rose. "I bet they can walk around llko nny body else. However, I don't caro who ho Is, If he'll .end bnck my books." Portia went back presently to tho shop, and it wasn't long after that that her mother camo downstairs clad for ' tho street, with her "Modern Tenden- I cles" under her arm In a leather port folio, ncr valedictory, given with I more confidence now thnt Portia was out of tho house, was u strong recom mendation that Rose stay quietly with in doors nnd keep warm. "I was going to, anyway," she said, "Home nnd fireside for mine today." The house was deserted except for Ingn In the kitchen, engaged In the prlnclpnl sporting event of her domes tic routine the weekly baking. Rose hadn't meant to go to sleep, but the detective story she tried to read was' so flagrantly stupid that presently she tossed the book nsldo nnd began dreaming ono of her own In which the heroine got put off a street-car in the opening chapter. Tho telephone bell nrouscd her once or twice, far enough to observe that Inga was attending to it, so when the front-door bell rang she left that to Inga, too didn't even sit up nnd swing her legs off the couch and try, with a prodigious stretch, to get herself awake, until she heard the girl say casually: "Her ban right In tho sitting-room 1" So it fell outthnt Rodney Aldrlch hnd, for his second vivid picture of her tho first hnd been, you will re member, when sho hnd seized the con ductor by both wrists, nnd had said In a blaze of beautiful wrath : "Don't dare touch mo like thnt!" a splendid A Splendid, Lazy, Tousled Creature. lazy, tousled creature, In a chnotlc glory of chestnut hnir, an unlnccd middy-blouse, n plaid skirt twisted around her knees, nnd a pair of ridic ulous red bedroom slippers, with red pompons on the toes. Tho creature was stretching herself with the grace of n big cat that had Just been rousec" from a nnp on the henrthrug. If his first picture of her had been brief, his second one wns practlcallj n snnpshot, because at teight of him she flashed to her feet So, for a moment, they confrontec" each other about equally aghast Hushed up to the hair, and simultane ously and Incoherently begged each other's pardon neither could have said for what, tho goddess out of th machine being Inga, tho mald-of-nll work. But suddenly, at a twinkle sht caught in his eye, her own big eyes nnrrowed and her big mouth widened into a smile, which broko presentlj Into her deep-throated laugh, where upon lie laughed too and they shook hands and sho asked him to sit down "It's too ridiculous," sho snld. "Since last night, when I got to ' thinking how I must have looked, wrestling with that conductor, I've been telling myself that if I ever saw you again, I'd try to net llko a ludy. But iff no use, Is It?" Ho said that lie, too, had hoped to make a better Impression tho second time than tho first. That was what he brought tho books back for. "I'm awfully sorry mother's not at home mother nnd my sister Portlu. They'd both llko to thank you for looking nfter me last night. Because really you did, you know." "There never wns anything less al truistic In the world," he assured her. "I dropped off of that car solely In pursuit of n selfish aim. I'd enjoy meeting your mother and sister very much, but what I came for was to get acquainted with you." v Sho Hushed and smiled. "Why, I'm nobody much to get acquainted with," sho said. "Mother's tho Interesting one mother nnd Portia. Mother's quite a person. She's Naomi Rut ledge Stanton, you know." "I know I ought to know," Rodney snld, and her quick ' appreciative smile ovor his candor rewarded him for not having pretended. The "bee In his bonnet" worked rapidly on Rodney and his acquaintance with Roso de veloped with much speed as de scribed In the next Installment. (.TO B13 CONTINUED.) Promoting Thrift In Colombia. Tho Colombian cohgress has ndopt cd a measuro providing for tho ap pointment by tho minister of public Instruction of a commission to Investi gate methods for promoting saving throughout tho country. This commis sion will work out a general plan of organization of public aud school sav ings banks, retirement funda, nnd so cieties for mutual aid and co-operative buying. Is Work which brings nny unusual strain on the back and kidneys tends to cause kidney ailments, such as back ache, lameness, headache, dizziness and distressing urinary troubles. Kidney complaints make nny kind of work doubly hard nnd if neglected there Is danger of gravel, dropsy or Bright's fliscasc. If your work is hard on the back, keep your kidneys in good condi tion with Doan's Kidney Pills. Thou sands rely on them. A Nebraska Caro Dclovnn Bates, retired merchant, Ninth and J, Sts., Aurora, Nob.,' says: "I don't know of any othor kidney medi cine 1 enn recommend more highly than Doan's Kidney Pills. 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Y. CCZIHA! Money buck without question If HUNT'S CURE falls In the treatment of ITCH, ECZEMA, IUNaWonM.TETTEItorother Itching skin diseases. Price 60c at druggists, or direct from A. B. Richard! MeJiclna Co. , Shermanjex. AVntsonrC.Colcmnn.Wash Ins ton, P.O. ilook. free. High, est references. Best results MOVIE FORCE IN EDUCATION Test Made In London Shows That Children Remember Film Plots Two Years After Seeing Pictures. Thnt moving picture films piny nn Important part In a child's cducatlonnl development is revealed by a test con ducted recently In London by the Ci nema commission. In one of tho schools where n test was made, many of tho girls who have refrained from attending the theaters since the begin ning of tho war wero ablo to give good accounts of the illms they had seen more than two years before. The test revealed that films por traying domestic and fairy stories were favorites with tho girls, while the boys preferred tho cowboy and ad venture pictures. Comics were far more popular with the boys thnn with tho girls. The Interest in war films varied, whllo love films were more in teresting td.the girls eleven years old and over. Fine Words. Pedler Madam, I am introducing n new brand of soap Lady Don't want It. Pedler It costs only half as much as nny sonp now on the market Lady Don't want any of It. Pedler And It will 'do twice the work of nny other Ludy Don't want It, I told you. Pedler It softens the skin and mnkes the complexion clear nnd beau tiful Ludy How much Is it? Indianapo lis Star. A Poet's Beginning. Illehard Le Guillotine was talking rather bitterly In a New York cafe about the decline of poetry. A shabby young man slunk out, nnd Mr. Le Gallienne said: "There goes Qulller. I knew he'd bo a poet. Ho was found, you know, in n basket on n doorstep." "But," said n photoplay writer, be wildered "hut what's that got " "It was n wast,e basket he was found In," Mr. Le Gallienne explained. Lying Scoundrel. "What dill Blank say about ma?" "Thnt you owed him ton dollnrs." "Why, the lying scoundrel 1 Well, he can Just whistle for his money now I won't pay it till I get good nnd rendy." When the other fellow tells you n falsehood and you catch him at It, ho thinks lie is clumsy nnd you think you are clever. "Give all the kids Post Toasties They like em" mm aaiaaMi' mi i iaM tri .a St
