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Show J She Was :::: Playing the :::: Game i (HI ' I I By ELLA SAUNDERS (C. WMtii Ntwaptptr Union.) XATHLEEN looked around the little shabby hall bedroom that she was so soon to leave forever. Her suitcase was packed, and It contained all her worldly possessions. The only other thing she had of value was her face her beauty. She surveyed herself In the glass. Tor Sale" ahe thought bitterly. Well, why not? After those three years of struggle and poverty In the city why not, when Ellis loved her? Mechanically ahe picked np a letter let-ter lying on the table. She must not leave It there. She was growing careless. care-less. She read It once again: "I'll call for yon at nine tonight and we'll be on our way West by midnight." mid-night." Ellis loved her. 'He was employed In the same office with her. He was manager of a department He had bad an offer of a better post In California. Cali-fornia. He had five thousand dollars a year In his present position, and he had money saved. Yes, It was a good thing for ber. And he had sworn to marry her after his -wife divorced him. Kathleen's last scruples had been broken down. She was eagerly waiting wait-ing for him. Soon she would hear his foostep on the stair. He would catch her in his arms. And she would be sufe with him at last Safe for ever. Safe from the dally sordid grind, the poverty. . . , A tap at the door. Surely It could not be Ellis I Kathleen went to It with a wildly beating heart and opened It. But It was only old Mrs. Toms, tbe landlady, "I -beg your pardon, Miss Jameson, but about that week's rent In advance," she began. "You leaving so sudden" "Oh, yes, Mrs. Toms," said Kathleen, Kath-leen, taking up her purse. She paid the landlady. "I wouldn't ask for It God knows. Miss Jameson. If things wasn't so hard," said Mrs. Toms. "But you know how It Is." "I suppose things are pretty hard In your business," answered Kathleen mechanically. She wished the woman would go. "Say, bard ain't the word, Miss Jameson I And what with four children chil-dren to bring np, and my husband Ood knows where I It's often I'm empted just to go off somewhere and get a Job and leave them all." "But of course you wouldn't do that" "Well, I guess not But you'll understand, un-derstand, Miss Jameson, there was a time, Just after little Charlie was born I was younger-looking then than I am now, and considered pretty. And there was a gentleman" Mrs. Toms put a corner of her apron to her eyes and began to cry. "Frank and me never got along together, to-gether, not from the beginning. He used to Ultreat me. And Mr. Farrlng-don, Farrlng-don, he came along and wanted me to go South with him. Heaps of money he had, too. If only Fd gone. But there was little Charlie, and somehow some-how I couldn't" "And are you glad or sorry?" Kathleen Kath-leen waa speaking with suppressed eagerness. "Why I guess I'm glad on the whole, Miss Jameson." answered Mrs. Toms. "I like sometimes to think of It, when I'm feeling low, and to picture pic-ture what might have been. But I guess there wouldn't have been no real happiness In It You can't get happiness happi-ness that way. It's all a sort of game, this living, and one's got to play It. And Tve played It" Her words struck home In a way she did not Imagine. She turned toward to-ward the door. "Well, I'm sure I'm thankful to you for that money, Miss Jameson," she said. "And of course you understand how It Is." "Oh, quite, quite," answered Kathleen. Kath-leen. She was standing In the middle of the floor, her hands clenched. In that moment she was making the decision of her life. A game) To play or not to play?" Suddenly, Impulsively, she called to the woman: "Oh, Mrs. Tomsr "Miss Jameson r "If my friend calls for me this evening, eve-ning, tell him I'm gone and that I'll write to him." But ahe knew that she would never write. |