Show 0 aaa r by mae mac rosier foster jay I 1 copyright by W A wild co ca service SYNOPSIS mary daughter of a millionaire his haa the th idea that her personality to la obscured by the fact that ehe la in the child ot of the rich david brown and determines ter tor mines to make her way tn in life unaided she has a million dollars which she insists her father invest in the imaginable and about which sha ahe must know hot nothing hinc she to la a graduate engineer As an ILL M brown mary secures a position as R engineer W with ith the paradise valley project a dove development lo 10 pm s nt concern she to Is engaged by letter on the train 0 on n her way to her job she meets dents denis craig who dimmed immediately 11 abely antagonizes her alighting from the train mary Is 1 left at a way tation station practically penniless craig coming to her assistance Is 1 also left behind lie ile befriends her despite her coldness toward him enabling her to con continue t dinue her journey arriving at the project she Is accused by john stark chief engineer of deception in concealing her sex and again meets meet s craig w who ho to la the promoter of the project mary la Is given a position she cannot make up her mind as to whether crate craig in an honest visionary or a slicker CHAPTER V continued 9 so the morning wore on hundred feet by hundred feet uphill and down if by noon marys unhardened legs began to ache she sha showed no sign but she smothered a grateful sigh as they stopped under a live oak by a clear spring for lunch she was thankful for the fragrant coffee buic quickly kly boiled over a small tire fire for the thick buns with their gobs of butter and thin fat slices of ham for filling for the tough white cake and apple pie with its soaked crust but most of all she was thankful that the men of the party discovering they had fifteen minutes of their lunch hour still left stretched out in the shade for a siesta what a man could do she could she followed precedent mary ate her dinner in the mess tent that evening she was too tired to talk to hank johnson on the ride into town they arrived at the dorseys to find hilt and lucretia Luc retla out surveying a framework that had been added to the end of the house going on mary asked curiously another room said hank johnson brusquely its my house I 1 can add on to it cant IVI I 1 and he alig alighted cited to scatter a group of children the ring of carpenters hammers had brought why did you do that mary had the temerl temerity ty to ask dont like children grumpily lie ile looked over the job as if to see that he had received his nio moneys worth during the day and departed mary turned to lucretia Luc retla however you know how he Is well this morning as he passed I 1 asked him to fix our gate he said no I 1 I 1 wont let your old man fix it I 1 ile he busted it 11 in ten minutes he was back with a carpenter so I 1 screwed up my courage and asked him if he want to build on an addition for you since the carpenter was already here and all and when he strode off down the street fairly with rage I 1 guessed correctly that the lumber would be here in half an hour rt it was you see he take a chance either on the depreciation of his gate or on losing an extra five dollars a month rental the crude little room went up apace mary browns work went on apace A week or so and her legs and back were hardened to fifteen miles a day of climbing up and down hill so that she was not too tired on coming home to relax into joyous contentment within her own four walls mary had sent up to san francisco fo for her furnishings and with lucre ta ala had dressed up the room with naive delight this mary wrote her father ls Is realization I 1 beyond my wildest dreams I 1 1 in anticipation she had thought only of her work the chance to start at the bottoni bottom and work up but this life was full not only of work that held opportunity but of play primitive wholesome play she put it foggy gulch taken over as it were by engineers was startled out of its lethargy by luncheons dinners teas bridge pailles pait les the newcomers even danced on rough pine living room floors until they learned that mary brown knew all the late dance steps they hired a hall when she promised to teach them but when they came to the business detail of terms mary blushed from her fair slim throat to the tips of her fragile ears 1 I with an of her head take money as a dancing teacher but her audience read into her confusion only dental denial of her own ability not the affront the rich david browns daughter instinctively had felt not money from my friends rm im petting getting more out of this than any of you see this Is the way the hesitation waltz goesl she danced away from them alone light ight as a blown leaf totally unselfconscious conscious cons clous she was W a vivid bit vl brantly grantly alive the azure of her simple dancing frock bringing out the blue of her eyet eyes the silver sliver gold of her hair she pivoted to a stop to catch her breath inwardly in n the doorway unnoticed by her beare stood john stark and dent denis craig caig how longham long had they been there with alth his charming disarming smile denis was coming toward her now foale dont you know he wan laughing that hat in the smartest schools pros proa have their partners for demonstration he swung her off to the rhythm she had bad been demonstrating leading her with ease case and heavenly rhythm initiating his own stepa step the comradely crow crowd d had given up their attempts and stood watching with open admiration it was enough to send any girls stock soaring marys rose to the peak and then slumped to the bottom as denis said to in his most teasing tone still snapping your fingers at money I 1 see 61 51 brown A small unreasonable fury swept mary he could mention money at a time like this money I 1 money I 1 it provoked her to the stinging retort im no dancing teacher not every one can take money upon misrepresentation sent sen tation atlon you know she felt a little start of surprise he held her back to look down at her et t tu why should you think I 1 was getting personal mary asked innocently and added incidentally I 1 suppose the reason mr air stark glowers at me so Is because rm im refusing to hasten my financial status to the point where he conscientiously can dispense with my services and pondering the way a girt girl can corrupt his organization we had no such frivolities as dancing classes ba fore your advent incongruously marys marya spirits rose again and then she and hank bank johnson came driving into town one evening to gaze upon the amazing spectacle as im no dancing teacher they rounded a corner of clarabel Clarl bel moore and lucretia Luc retla dorsey racing down the street as fast as they could run before mary could question hank he stopped his bis car and with amazing behavior of hla his own commanded get mary got out one did not temporize with such a tone hank turned about and drove rapidly toward his bis own home the racing pair dashed past M mary ary past a small whitewashed white washed wooden structure which was the town jail to a framework beside it which bore at its summit an enormous bell from which a rope dangled the bell pealed outfits terrible summons from a house far down the street a great black cloud of smoke now poured from all the other houses men and women came running with palls of water mary drew in her breath and looked about the other houses bouses would catch I 1 the whole town might go she rea realized it z ed as she saw the tragedy of human and material risk in a community which has no water system the three girls hurried up the street with the rest of the crowd toward tho the house which already had bad lost its identity they arrived just in time to meet four men bearing upon a charred cot a glowing red burden that had the shape of human bodies mary dug her nalls nails into her palms who was it she asked a townsman he just looked at her and moved away but a woman who had heard whispered it was jake oleson and that daughter of his she was a wild one every one in town knew only too well what was about to happen to her and so she waved an eloquent hand at the blazing ruins it looks as if the old man had bad faced the disgrace in the easiest way ashes made life hell oh I 1 mary cried oh and then she heard something about a paupers haupers pau pers field she shut her ups upa tightly but the next morning when hank flank johnson inferred that it was just na as well that that fire had been she opened them decisively mr johnson if foggy gulch had bad had just one public spirited city father that tragedy probably never would have happened I 1 what do you mean public spirited city father one who would spend his money for the public good how could money prevent such th things birgs answer me TO BH BE CONTINUED |