THK SUNDAY BEE: OMAHA. JULY 23. 1922.
even re spritalilr, rrril a hideous
lrt dl bUk alp.n.4 thai her utiiit
.al made lor lur ! go to churth
in. So you mc what they needed
y.is a miraculous amount of
liium y. Money enough to work a
transformation si t lie. Think about
that for a w title ami you'll Kit the
lull emotional impart of the situa
tion. "Remember it the one day
yhen the only possible source of
money afforded a fool's chance.
I'icle Lemuel hal gone to town.
l would come back tonight with
S4 indefinitely large amoiyit of
currency uiou hi person. He
Aouli be nioic or less drunk, and
f he was drunk to the precise de
rce where his amiability was
highest it might be possible for
Kosemary to get liim to give her
the money. Not drunk enough,
he'd be too cautious; too drunk,
lie would be ugly might even be
dangerous. Forty dollar! was
what Amy Belle decided they
would need.
"Rosemary was aghast at the
prospect, but resolute. She prom
ised across her heart before Amy
Belle started back to town that
the would sit up until her uncle
came back and see what she could
do.
"She had to pretend to go to
lied, of course, when the family
did, which was pretty early, since
on these occasions they made a
prudent point of getting under
cover before Uncle Lemuel turned
up. When the house got quiet
she put on her clothes again, what
ever of them she had taken off,
and stole out of doors. That part
of it was easy because the room
.where she slept it wasn't hers in
a,ny proprietary sense was just
off the kitchen. Her aunt and
uncle occupied the front room,
what would have been the parlor
if they'd have been New Engend
ers, and the boys bedded down
in some sort of loft or attic.
"Rosemary's idea was to follow
lcr uncle into the stabe with an of
fer to help him put up the horse
and to make her attempt upon him
there. It wouldn't do to try it in
the kitchen, because of the danger
of ardusing her aunt.
"She waited out in the yard most
of the night, and, of course, the
longer she waited the more hope
less her project became, since the
later the drunker was a pretty good
.working rule with her uncle. But
she seems really to have felt that
she was under orders from some
whereto see the thing through.
It's that streak of mysticism in her,
I suppose, that gave her later the
look she needed.
"Well, at last she heard her uncle
coming. Heard his cursing and
beating the horse as they lunged
into the gully between the road
and yard. She knew then, of
course, that was beyond her
persuasions, and she stayed where
she was, hidden among the trees,
because there was nothing else for
her to do. She didn't dare to try to
Set back to her room until after
he'd gone in and fallen asleep.
"He unhitched the horse in the
thed; didn't take the harness off,
though; let the beast find his own
iay into the stalls. Then he stum
bled and staggered into the house.
But she didn't follow him in. She
went, instead, into the shed where
the buggy was and felt around on
the seat and on the floor of it, and
found, by God I his pocketbook.
"She stuck a little at telling me
why she searched the buggy, but
got it out of her that she believed
hc was told to do it. Anyhow
khe took the pocketbook out into
the moonlight, opened it up, and
found a lot of money in it, counted
but $40, and put the rest back
jwhere she found it, not frightened
H bit, but perfectly triumphant.
"If she could have flown back
frith it then and then there to Amy
Bell it would have been easy. But,
of course, she couldn't do that. She
tad to face it through. She had
o stay out the whole two weeks
jlhat remained of her spell with her
uncle. She said that getting up the
Pcxt morning and helping her aunt
cook breakfast and seeing her uncle
tcme through the kitchen and go
.out to the shed where the buggy
was and waiting for him to come
hack was like a nichtmare.
"If ha'd looked at her with any
Sort of suspicion she'd have died
of fear right there. But, he didn't.
He'd been too drunk, most likely.
3to know how much money he did
bring heme with him; was lucky,
Serhcs, to have come off with any.
lut rlia couldn't help wondering
if he didn't suspect and wasn't per
haps secretly watching her.
"Real drama, that isl She had
the corpus delicti wrapped in a rag
end pinned where she could feel it
all the time to some sort of under
garment she never took off. She
had po sort of real privacy, yon
know. No sort of place to hide
anything. Even her person wasn't
especially sacrosanct. Those boy
cousins of hers were pretty rough
and familiar with her. And her
aunt was likely to pop in upon
her at any time. She had the same
sort of psychological experience
that soldiers at the front went
through when they had a leave
joining; the nearer their day of de
liverance came the more impotkible
it termed that they'd live to get
a M a v,
"Hut the did Kit away without
any hindrance at all, and the lirtt
inomrnt kite could evade hrr aunt
klie clipped round to Amy Belle
and put the $40 in hrr charge,, She
lird to Amy Belle, tliouich about
the way she not it. Told her
I'ucle Lemuel had been feeling
affectionate and hud given it to her,
but under a proline not to tell a
soul. So everything imM be kept
dark."
I remarked, given a chance to
interrupt by ichary's pausing to
light a rigaret, upon the ueernet
of Rosemary's confessing her fel
ony to liim when she had been
afraid to tell about it to her best
friend.
It had been natural enough that
she should tell him about it, he
thought, but he admitted that her
reticence with Amy Belle had
struck him as curious. "Because
she doesn't regard herself in the
least as a criminal. Never has. So
it couldn't have been shame that
made her Ire to the other girl. As
t.ear as I can make out, it was a
fear that Amy Belle would lose
confidence, if she knew how the
money was come by, in the the
big medicine, the charm, the spe
cial providence whatever you
want to call it.
"And that perfectly serious con
vection was what they took with
them through the whole thing. You
won't understand the rest of the
ttory at all and I warn you there's
quite a lot more of it unless you
accept that. Regular Joan of Arc
stuff, that's what it was. It keyed
them up to the shifts and bargain
ings they had to make to get that
costume complete for $32 they
found they could get 'the photo
graph for eight.
"They got the materials, all they
needed, they thought, for the drest
and the hat for $13.25 and thought
they were on easy street. The ac
cessories, gloves, stockings and
slippers, cost them $12. which still
left them a comfortable margin.
But they ran across, accidentally,
a parasol that matched a wonder
ful thing that sinmply cried out to
be bought at the greatly reduced
price of $5 and they fell for it.
The consequence was that when
they went wrong with the hat
they were almost in despair. A
bit of wide expensive ribbon they'd
bought for it couldn't be made to
do. But they found a providential
remnant of the original organdie
which by bargaining they got for
a dollar and there they were with
75 cents left over. So they made
the ribbon up into a bag and put
the spare 75 cents into it.
"They got a shock after it was
all complete, hut, luckily, before
they went to the photographer, to
find, reading over the instructions
once more, that hats were barred
in the contest. But it couldn't be.
Amy Belle argued, that they had
wasted labor on the hat. It would
be found to serve part of the great
purpose in the end. Well, it did,
all right 1" , . ' .
I remarked that I thought I
could imagine what the hat looked
like, but Zachary didn't believe I
could. "One of those girls had
an eve," he said, "and I judge it
was "Rosemary herself. Anyhow,
the hat was a nice hat, with a soft
looking crown and a wide droop
ing brim. And. indeed, the whole
costume. Oh, yes, I saw her m
it. It was not smart didn t try
to be but with it on the girl had
charm, had an air. In a word, she
looked a darling in it.
"But it all went back into tissue
paper the day the photographs
were made, even the bag with-the
75 cents in it, and Rosemary went
back into calico and alpaca to wait
for the day when the prize award
should be made two months or
so, she knew it was going to be.
It seemed so extraordinarily rig
orous a thing to do, putting it all
away, like that (the hat and para
sol hadn't served her at all, you
see; not even in the photograph)
that I couldn't help wondering if
she'd really done it. I asked if she
hadn't, now and then, dressed up
and gone out on parade, picking up
a little of the admiration that was
due, even if nothing more tangible
such as an invitation to the
movies with an ice cream soda
after. Imagine a pretty girl refrain
ing for two whole months from
wearing the only pretty clothes she
had ever had! But thre's no doubt
she did it. She was visibly shock
ed at my idea. Those clothes were
sacred, see? Tart of the big medi
cine. Hold fast to that idea, be
cause you're going to need it!
"Well, the waiting was pretty
hard. Amy Belle's mother had a
boarder who bought the Sunday
papers, and each week after he
finished with them Amy Belle res
cued the section that had pictures
of some of the contestants in it.
Occasionally there would be a face
that struck one or the other of
them as fatally too beautiful, but
never both at the same time, so
together they managed to keep
their faith warm.
"Oae thing they worried aboot;
the itrize would be, they assumed,
a letter with money in it Ten
thov pod dollars! Suppose Aunt
Letty khuuld open it, or even find
(tut about it I KoM inary didn't
know muih about the law, but be
bitterly well knew what happened
to money that was mppoicd to he.
long to her. It went into the law
kuit, and people fought fur and
over it, and the only people who
got any of it to M'rud were hrr
gmrdains. She's IK, but it seems
that in Kentucky she's ktill a
minor. So if the prize a to do
hrr any good it was necessary that
it be received privately anil
promptly hidden. The best safe
guard they could think of wa a
letter to the paper asking that
when the prize was sent it should
be directed to general delivery.
Rosemary had been making trips
to (he poktoifire two or three times
a day for as much as a fortnight
when the telegram finally came.
"It strikes me as a devil of a
telegram for the paper to have
sent. Of course they could have
hardly been expected to reckon
on anything quite as Arcadian as
those two girls, but even so they
might have made it a little clearer.
Rosemary didn't show me her copy
of it, so of course I've only her
impression from it to go on. It
was a consternating thing for a
fact.
"In the first place, it came di
rectly to the house. It just hap
paned that Rosemary was making
the bed in the front room and saw
the messenger get off his bicycle
and come into the yard. Her aunt
was busy in the kitchen. Rose-
The look
Rosemary
mary slipped out to meet him, saw
that the telegram was addressed to
herself, signed the receipt, and
packed off the boy, all, by a mir
acle, before Aunt Letty happened
to poke her head into the front
room or to speak a casual word to
her niece. She stuffed the tlclegram
down her neck without attempting
to open and read it, went back and
finished tidyiqg up the room. Half
an hour later she made an excuse
to her aunt and flew over to Amy
' Belle's, where together they read
the message.
"It said that it was important for
Rosemary to be in Chicago on
Wednesday tomorrow, that was.
She should telegraph the Sunday
editor saying what time she was
arriving in Chicago, and by what
railroad she was coming. If her
mother, 'or other companion'
which, of course, meant Aunt
Letty wished to come with her
the paper would undertake this ex
pense also. It added that the re
turn fare and all local expenses
would be paid in Chicago.
"There wasn't a word in it to
the effect that Rosemary had won
the prize. In fact I believe -she had
won it only tentatively. They want
ed to see her before confirming it
to make sure she was the girl and
that the winning picture was an
honest photograph of her.
"Anybody less serious or more
sophisticated would, of course,
have drawn a happy augury from
a message like that. But these two
young fanatics it meant nothing
but an utterly unforeseen ordeal.
What would they do to her in Chi
cago? What sort of dreadful in
quisition awaited her there? It
didn't matter. Whatever it was,
she must go through with it. And
she must be in Chicago tomorrow
moining. All was irretrievably lost
if "he failed in that.
"They were perplexed by what
struck tlieiu as a contradiction in
the telegram on the matter of the
expenses of the trip. Amy Belle
thought perhaps the money for the
fare to Chicago had been sent with
the telegram and by an oversight
had not been delivered. Rosemary
didn't think you could telegraph
money.
"She had to go straight bark
home, her excuse to her aunt hav
ing expired, so Amy Belle under
took to go to the depot, find out
when' the train went io Chicago,
how much the ticket cost, and
whether by a;iy lucky chance the
money was waiting at the tele
graph office. She was to report
to Rosemary's house at 2 o'clock.
"There was one small indica
tion that the fates were kind. This
again was the right day. The day
of the monthly meeting of the
sewing circle, the thing which
Aunt Letty never missed. She
would be off the board entirely
from 2 to 6, leaving the girls a
free field.
"And at 2 o'clock, five minutes
after Aunt Letty had turned the
corner, Amy Belle arrived, desper
ate. The travi left at a quarter
of six. You went on it as far as
Louisville and there you changed
to another train that took all night
getting to Chicago. The fare was
$16.09. and there was no money at
the telegraph office. Money could
be telegraphed all right, but in
was enough to tell
that he teas the one.
this case it hadn't been done.
"For two and a half mortal mis
erable hours the girls sat in Aunt
Letty's darkened parlor discussing
and rejecting one frantic expedient
after another. They weren't
idiots, you know. There were
two factors in the situation that
blocked them off from thinking of
the dozen obvious ways of getting
the money. One was the real
need for secrecy. They couldn't
appeal to any o;ie they knew with
out giving the whole show away.
And if cither of Rosemary's guar
dians even so much as guessed
what was in the wind the prize
would do her no good if she won
it. The other was that they had
drawn no hint of victory from the
telegram.
"Amy Belle at last caved in.
Flung herself down upon Aunt
Letty's brass bed and wept, a pas
sionate acknowledgment of defeat.
But Rosemary, slower to kindle,
was made of harder material. She'd
been through her vigil out in the
yard the night her uncle came home
drunk. She had, you might say,
heard her voices. She scorned
Amy Belle's tears. They turned
her adamant. She abandoned the,
futile quest for expedients, sat si
lent, and watched the clock on the
mantelpiece. At 4:30 she got up
and said she was going; to Amy
Belle's house, first, to dress and
then to the depot. She couldn't
take the train, could she, unless
she were there when it left? And
then she found the thing to say
which not only restored her com
panion's courage, ,but immensely
fortified her own. 'What do you
suppose we made the hat for,' rhe
asked, 'if it wasn't for this? She
couldn't have traveled to Chicago
without a hat.
"Out they went together to Amy
Belle's home. Amv Belle helped
her dreks in the pink filk Mock
ing ami slippers, the organdie
dress with the white lawn slip u li
bit n worn, the parasol that
never been put up, the silk glovc,
ana U't of all the ribbon bag, vti'n
tc ... : : .1.- - Li. .1
r j inn. in it iiiai u ten vt
Uncle Lemuel's unconscious con
tribution and was to be used for
sending the telegram to the paper.
Then they went down to the depot.
"They had quite a wait before
the train came in. But Rosemary
says they didn't exchange a word.
Beyond speech, of course, both of
them. Just waiting with quite a
superhuman intensity. I asked her
if she prayed and she looked at
me a little startled, but didn't tell
me. She did say, though, what
amounted to an admission, that
just as the train pulled in she knew
it was all right, knew the answer
was coming.
"The answer was a man who
came out of the waiting room just
then carrying a tightly rolled silk
umbrella and a polished leathern
suitcase. An oldish man with
close trimmed gray mustache. You
could see he was rich, which was
the first requisite, of course, for
Rosemary's purpose. And in ad
dition, he looked friendly. His eye
met hers as he was crossing the
platform and he smiled a little and
hesitated as if he wanted to speak
to her. She he'e her breath. If
he had spoken she'd have told him
what she wanted then and there.
But it didn't matter that re did not.
The look was enough to tell Rose
mary that he was the one.
"She kissed Amy Belle goodby,
and sat down across the aisle and
a scat or two in front of him. She
decided to do nothinir until the
train had started.
"She went through, though, a
terrible quarter of an hour after
the train did start. She didn't rec
ognize the sensation as fright. It
seemed more like paralysis. She
felt as if she couldn't possibly
move her legs, nor turn her head
nor speak. She was -aware that
the man was glancing at her in
an interested sort of way, too, but
she couldn't respond. Ifowcver,
when the conductor opened the
front door of the car and said,
'Tickets, please,' the paralysis
drained right out of her.
"She got up at once, went back
to the man and, standing beside
him in the aisle, told him that
she had to go to Chicago that night
and had no ticket. Would be buy
one for her? He had just got out
his own ticket and sat there with
it in his hand.
"You know, the only thing Rose
mary smiled over, in the course of
telling me the whole tale, was the
man's expression when she made
that request. He looked almost
frightened, she said, and this put
her completely at ease. He glanced
quickly around as if to see whether
anj'one was paying any attention
to them. Then, almost crossly
that was her own word he pushed
his ticket into her and told her to
go back to her own seat.
"She knew that he wasn't cross
exactly and she obeyed the urgen
cy of his manner promptly, though
she didn't understand it, and
slipped back into her own place.
"Slip tnnr nnp lnnk at hpr ticket.
saw that it said Chicago on it and
then rnnldn't see anvthincr more fo
a while because everything began
to swim. She felt the conductor
looking at her when he came along
but didn't try to look back at him.
He didn't say anything, though;
just tore off a little of her ticket
and went on.
"Then she began to come to. and
she heard her benefactor talking
at some length with the conductor,
whom he seemed to be fairly well
acquainted with. She didn't quite
take in the details. He seemed to
be explaining why he hadn't a
ticket by saying something about
a friend who had wired only at the
last moment that he would go
north with him. He wanted the
conductor to telegraph from the
next station to engage a drawing
room for him on the night train
for Chicago.
"He came over and sat with her
after the conductor had left the
car, and now he didn't seem cross
at all; friendly, on the contrary,
and funny. Full of stories at
which she laughed, though she
didn't understand some of them
very well. It was all she could do,
for she had no more to say to him
than a pan of milk. She didn't
exactly want to tell him why she
was going to Chicago, and there
was nothing else that she could
talk about.
"His manner struck her now and
then, as rather queer. She'd catch
him looking at her in a startled,
almost frightened way, just as he
had at first. Finally he asked her
whether she had heard what he
had said to the conductor.
"She acknowledged a little
ashamed of herself for having lis
tened that she reckoned she had.
most of it. Whereupon he asked
her if it was all right about the
drawing room.
"She was really embarrassed
now, partly by the queerness of
(OontinuMl on rage Tonr.)