Show 5 4 WHY NORMA LEFT J 4 P 4 ti by JANE OSBORN A 4 it was blue monday on the calendar for mr burton majors the subway had taken the edge off the day toi to begin with no earlier than that it had been that ungrateful unregenerate sam yon yong who did his oriental best tol to play the housewifely role in mr bir ma mai i jors uptown apartment then things went wrong in the office offices 1 he jiggled the telephone lione impatient lyl tor for five minutes before lie he heard any response and thena boys crude tones came through to him ile he was used to a girls voice ile he remembered now that it had been a voice cultivated calm and sure in its handling of vowels and consonants conson anta I 1 why anyone answer sooner soo 11 he asked only he did so with more emphasis shea left came back to him I 1 she has left hat has she well why tile the office manager know and why by he get another girl to take her place sh did tell im only he li thought she was thought she was for more wages ony got six a week but ashes left all same well why the manager let me know know shrieked the impatient mr air majors 1 I want that girl back where has she gone there was it a suppressed unsteady giggle from the boy ashes gone to keep house for the girls club that Is ashes fixin up a place for them to live at M sister in the club says the girls have to spend so much on car fares decided to live near and i and so that there norma why she said it club together and get her as much as she was getting here shed get out and make inake some place pla ce for them to live at al that was nearer in the meantime norma had been earning her six dollars a week that the girls at the club had pursed for her she had found blocks away a curious house bouse around it was a large cemented court the bureau of buildings had not allowed office buildings to intrude on this space well norma had found this spot and she had found that through some long lease on the remainder of the estate to which the sequestered house belonged tho plot could not be disposed of tor for ten years more she went to the agent and got him to quote a price for the ten years lease then came the task of finding someone who would lend lead girls club the amount necessary for the first three months rent and them the other nee necessary essary much larger needed to put in the necessary improvements one of these improvements was them the erection of a trellis over the cemented cem enteA courtyard where norma planned to grow vines but she finally did find findt someone to trust her she called lu in person on the richest woman she had ever heard about and would not leave leare her house till the rich woman had consented to see her personally mr majors meanwhile grew more nid more distraught over the rasping male voice on the switchboard then at a directors meeting of a charity in which his family had long been interested he be met the woman vor nan of wealth who had trusted norma she asked i 1 him about her and told him of 0 her I 1 admiration for the girl the next day majors went out to find her I 1 1 I dont know just what I 1 have comei come to ask you he said as he be studied the youthful figure sheathed in it coarse all enveloping gingham apron 1 1 I thought at first that I 1 could tempt you back but now that I 1 see what I 1 I 1 you are doing here I 1 have bave another idea this is a rattling idea of yours this making a little garden cottage in ili the midst of the city I 1 wonder whether there arent other places that could he be transformed sf aled 11 1 norma told him there were ivere just that morning slie she said a real estate dealer hearing of ot normas Kormas assistance from the well known woman of wealth had tried to induce her to take a leas on a similar piece of property it a block u an RY ay you could perhaps get that place for me I 1 am sick to death of subways A place like this oils could be made ideal norma thought for at a moment if you would pay for the ilie time ive spent a assume the indebtedness tor for this place you could hac it ill start the other place for the girls with the bonus from you to help clear their initial debt so they struck a bargain in two weeks the work of finishing vr air majors house had been completed norma had bought furniture that fitted in with lines of the old house for norma had the innate eye of a decorator and a homemaker she had been too full of the joy of the undertaking to realize that mr majors was really more interested in the girl who fur the house than he was in the I 1 house then when the task was completed and norma led him through the rooms I 1 they stood speechless norma in sheer happiness owr her task completed you see ive had bad lots of troubles majors was telling her one was the voice at the end of the telephone I 1 get you back so I 1 came to you there was the problem of the subway and you solved that for me I 1 want this place to be a home and youre tho the only girl I 1 ever knew that could solve that problem tor for me and so terminated normas career a furnisher of houses downtown and so terminated mr majors desire tol td induce norma to corne come back to be the voice at the other end of the wire copyright 1917 17 by br the mcclure nap pt per By bucato Cato |