OCR Text |
Show THE EVENING STORY I BT THE WEEK. this way." said Mry. Collins ulilly. as sh tried on suits and coals anil Jrwed down the KHb salesman with Him nrlumh of t lie exirrieneil hover. Aflur she h;l'l decided de-cided upon a gray cheviot she xuyly urKed Annu tu buy one. In the end Anna yielded and took the blue aerge, fvwmown lu the warm sunshine sun-shine of 4 o'clock, with the street h led wlili hurrying well dressed women (Anna'a wlatful eye overlooked th ahl-hy). ahl-hy). It had aeemd a small tliiin t, tl mmer. He wouldn't care. Si Sha aaaoad with dlamay. (Copyright, 11S. by W, Werner.) Anna hastily pushed tha green oblong pasteboard box under th bed a she heard her husband's key In the door. Her cheeks were pink, and sh did not meet lit ye a slut hurried out oa the pretext pre-text that the corfe waa boiling over. u.hn Mi bad carried th dinner from Hi orai to th small labia sha talked rapidly nervoualy. lnr would have do-elded do-elded had ha not been very tired. Elmer and typhoid had parted company only a month be lore, and ba had not regauiad all hi alertness. He handed an unopened pay envelop across th la hi before h began to cut tha ateak. "Ouaaa you'll have to let m keep out IS thl week," he aald. as apui-ocetlraily apui-ocetlraily aa though h bad not earned th money. "I'v got to get a pair ol shoes. I hat to take lb money when yon need cloth " "Oh, Blmer!" ah cried proteatlngly. Her far flushed. "I don't need any Aftr that h wa rather qult. Th evening pasaed pleaaantly but inonot-inously. inonot-inously. Ilk all their other vnln-. In th Hire year that thy had been married mar-ried they had never been able to afford a muse menu other than th evening pa- t,Not until Klmer had left th neit mom. Ing did Anna have a chance to open the green boa and look at th Mm eerg ult in It not a prteatloua auJt, but aaw. And h hadn t had a nw on for two year. Klmer wa only a mediocre book, keeper and It seemed th supply of bookkeeper book-keeper greatly exceeded th demand. A baby had been horn, lived two weeks, and then died, leaving a doctor a bill all out of proportion to Ita short span of life. Then after sl month of scrimping had noma th sleae of typhoid and consequent loss of salary. Bh looked at th ult regretfully. She had no right to buy It- Sh didn't know. In th clear morning light. Just why aha hut bouaht It. and she hadn t th allght- Sbs heard bar huaband key in tha -vou'r some thinner than you were," Anna stared gratefully and then got heartsick at the thought of th now use- . one unpaid for. Hh began to cry. but liefor Klmer' mother could say anything the doorbell pooled sharply, -the heard K'mer cross the tiny hall and -'hen her heart stopped beating aa h aald n perplexity. "Blue suits," he queried Why. 1 didn't know anything about nna knew at once that tlu, collector mil come for tha dollar she should have wid the day before. Her face burned red is eh darted out. She already could iar Kmnia'a snort of acorn. And thn lie saw that th flgur in th hall was Mrs. Collins. At sight of th visitor Mr. Collin Hopped her excited Jabber of explanation to Klmr and beei Anna te com out , In theTia'l "Just a moment." ...... "Hiy will you sell m that bin iiilt?" 'she whispered. Tve got an Invitation In-vitation to spend a week out f town, ind 1 spilled coffee on my gray. Please, hat's an angcL You can o down and nvt another. I want to taka th train tonight. I'll Pity you now for all that lue will you?" ' "Will I?" said Anna. "I gue T will! And in a second she had brought the ireen bo and Mra. Collin had given her two bill. . . . "Why, Anna," aald Emma when sh i-sm back to the sitting room, "how you 1 look! I thought a supper time you were - kind of peaked. But It must hav been t he Hght But In th emldimk. when sh ntred th shabby flut, th debt loomed monstrous mon-strous and tli hole uiade In the rent money by th absence of the 5 was awful. aw-ful. Sh rememtieretl with a sinking heart that rent day wa only two weeks off. In th morning, away from th salesman' sales-man' hypnotic talk and the rack of still chapr aiiits. th blu aerg looked tawdry and III rut. With a eltth she folded It and put It back In the bos; then went out to wash the dlnhea. Riaorously sh want over the list of grocrruM nnd meat for the week and excluded what wa not absolutely necessary. And the total wa not a dollar. F.lmer's f.ic worried her. Bhe couldn't buy less with typhoid alwaya leering around the comer. 8vn day later Anna fac whs wtiite and drawn. She had never once pulled th stilt out to look at It; sh hated the thought of It. oh left the breakfast table wonderlngty at the mailman's r'ng Letters wer not frequent. She gasped with dlamay when Klmer opened tt and announced that his mother and lter Emma would be (her next day to spend two week. E'mer chod her rasp. "1 wish, since they've waited all the yenr. that thev'tl wslt awhll longer"" he said drvly. "Emms, I mean. Still. I guesa we're better Axed than w were a month bark. Can we manage to feed 'em?" anxiously. Anna4ked at him with hot sympathy. Emma waa not charitable to reople who had failed, and Emm had a nasty, lb-Ing lb-Ing wy. Bh resolved mentHillv that Rimer would appear a good provider If she had to nil th gold Suing out of her She kesri aar anahaad's key ia tks dooc. eat Mas how aha waa avar going to pay for It. But Mra. Collin, a frlwlou llttl matron acraaa tha ball, who flaunted an outragwou number of etha, had run In th morning before to aak Anna to go downtown shopping with her-that aftar-nooa. aftar-nooa. Sh bad to get a new fail ault and eb wanted another' Judgment. Anna had been glad of th Invitation. Shop-pine? Shop-pine? waa pleasant, even when sh got no benefit. More pleasant UwA t -r "shliisd been mirprlsed whan' Mra. Collin Col-lin too hr dlrecdy to on of th many pay by tha week, ready mad olothlng bopa that dot Btata street. At Brat It seemed a disgraceful thing to do. Anna had keen raised la an Ohio parsonage, where debt waa regarded aa heavily as mB??h Urn they had Writod tha third hop Mr, Collin looked in all before h bought tamptaUon lured Anna. In her puree waa the money saved toward tha rent Th lt wero Ohio and rea-eonable. rea-eonable. Only IS down and II a week. Surely aha oouM skimp a dollar out of tha table money. And ah needn't pay the doctor th next week. Only- TH pever bsve stitch if I d'dn t buy But irtt ro1rssj clon't lwy. ho4. An I. watchM Kmrna twin fcronn-l tb rxrnr tr t hr hhl-Tif't) nn-M har Tbm, for tt W mpolWe. to MV -tn- othsjr $5 for fhtj rum. kii out a dollar fjaah aairh wk put on a vnar of proa-paHtv proa-paHtv for aharp ,vd Kmma. Tharv ram Art tha o'clock train. Fl-nr Fl-nr not off from wot, an htir rarlttr to mt tharn nnS bmunht thm homa t tba pl-"tant rtlnnrr th'it Anna hart rr-tard- Thrr wra dark abido-na un1r hr , and bar v.ok flow rt talk tbomrh brtwisttpbl-., bad an iin-lfYion o1 nenrounaa that onlv K'trrr riMtwtM V took of worrtment rttma Into b'- va Catrhlna tt, Anna trivt fo b'(rhtn nnd 'jrat " tbat tha flr dnl-aF on tb stilt nhontd haira btmn b-1d b day bvfor Aftr dinner wbi'a I'mma wftn t-Vlnc Tr-mar about bar rrnt trlr? tn Tlliw- j art on a ttark (rTmena waa a av-rw! taarbr, and avs-nr vumtlnn wi TfUff'-Miai'v d-votad d-votad to atrbisln. Ma mith- ntty rvackonrd Anna Into tbn brdroon,. Tbrf-ha Tbrf-ha crmrA th -door. and. at!H ailtnt(v. draw from b"r r-analoua aitlt rn twn trtwwatia. a T.nk bouaa rtr-aa an! , p ratty bbia artr. mitt. T dttin't 'pt n to Ttmma " aba -arMa. nrrd, "hut 1 aot of ini--"l tbxt K''n- a"an't srtilna aMnir nv . wH S- I ynn tli. Maha thry Hon t (It |