| Show R E N N am TE D L aft FOSTER JAY FAY OY MAE s A ji tji cara A WW 1 by 17 awilde oo co aj CHAPTER XIII continued 22 and I 1 never dreamed mary said a few minutes later that a mere bowl of soup could make a stomach feel as AL if it had died and gone to heaven cut but dont be feeling sorry for me I 1 iii have ve been bun hungry gry and id not lot have let myself starve you have friends mrs dale stated ive noticed them with you at the hotel sir air and mrs stark mary assented insisted that I 1 stay with them until I 1 find a job but the old determination showing in her eyes 1 I wanted to stand on my own you see my slogan happens to be no quarter mr stark been able to point you to anything again marys cynical smile fie hns fins let me know of several openings but some one else always 7 got them first she add that she had stood aside to let some one else get them first that the old obsession which had prevented her from taking work in paradise valley had followed her here like a crime she had committed from which she never would get away your line edna dale was asking im a civil engineer but id wash dishes or sell flowers on a corner see here how would you like to come out with me for a time tears rushed to marys eyes kindness was so overpowering after weeks of having it hammered into her that she was just another person looking for a job youre not called upon to adopt me you know mrs dale 1 I know and im not being entirely unselfish I 1 have an apartment in what used to be a swell house its not bad we might hit it off together if you mind sleeping 7 on a cot in the lavin living room or a little boy about six id love a little boy about six mary said chokilo chok ily ill jump at a chance to come and to stay if I 1 can find something to do to hold up my end so it came about that mary checking out at the hotel wrote finis to four disillusioning weeks weeks which had bad begun as a gay adventure sallying forth each morning with worlds to conquer going the rounds of the en gi aces offices meeting the other engineers from paradise valley at coffee dans to compare notes over dinner or a late lunch returning to the hotel eyes questing through the th lobby for denis he would have come today failing to single out the little lithe figure the laughing laughl ng boyish face the fair hair failing t to 0 hear his teasing 1 voice in greeting asking finally at tile desk for mail running through the letters for the one which had not come so bendeth the first chapter of the thumb worn word melodrama about the innocent girl jilted by the cruel city and her cruel hero she said wryly to mrs alm dale as they were about to set out for their quarters by the way when mr stark calls up give him my new address and tell him ive taken a temporary job for at least I 1 shall be your housekeeper but am still interested in any opening he may know about does that message hold for the slow young man too that slow young man mary laughed has also been just steady enough to have saved up a sufficient clent stake so that he can sit pretty and wait for something to turn up no you wont need to give give walt wait a minute as we called him on the job where we both worked any messa message e here he comes now to help me move a veritable johnny on the spot 1 I 1 dont know she added uncertainly how id have worried through these weeks without nell neil neil keil piloted the two to a taxi looked a little uncertain as edna gave the address and still a little more uncertain as they stopped before the large old house but a dark plump little boy had dashed joyously from the yard to ednas arms sly my dickie edna said As she shook hands with the child mary noticed that be had bad ills his mothers vaguely familiar eyes then she observed that edna actually smiled as nell neil goodenough stooped and said climb on son im the old packhorse and it looks to me as if we were about to climb a mountain with dick on ills his back and bags and bundles under ills his arms nell followed edna up tile the steps through a fog of odors to the third floor door and mary bringing up the rear tried to cheer herself by asking facetiously what sort of wild lowers flowers bloomed in these mountains cabba cabbage 1 e gl giggled bcd dickie and tills this Is onions and this oh boyl beefsteak Beef 1 orsel iut but there were no odors tn in edna dales two high rooms the closets ar are e large she told mary and theres a bath down the hall now while youre unpacking your bags ill run out to the store on the corner for some chops 11 it if I 1 went and bought my own c hop chop ventured nell neil would I 1 rate an invitation to dinner oh bully ask him mother cried the child and ill take him to tile the store and without waiting for the invitation that might or might not have been forthcoming he dragged his new idol out of tile the door they were back again shortly not with chops but with steaks and with various intriguing bags and boxes know anything about art mary demanded edna over their coffee nothing to bra brag about why do you ask 1 I was wondering if you could run bluff enough to get the job my roommate had to give up yesterday they probably filled her place yet she was taken so suddenly if you knew her line well enough to make them think lead me to them said mary with visions of keeping from flying the white flag 1 I really have been around to the museums a little she did not add as she was thinking slyly all over the world well you girls can plan your attack while I 1 tackle the dishes nell neil drawled im a thoroughly domesticated man mary watched him in her eyes that tenderness she never ceased to feel for wait a minute after he had finished his task with the same thoroughness and neatness with which he kept his field book after he had crawled around on his knees being a big black bear in a bedtime frolic with dick after he be had taken ills his departure edna gasped 1 I never knew wea men like him existed they dont make many like him mary assured her and yet be a little fool about a letter better the following day clay mary acquired a position as clerk in an exclusive art shop the only thing about it which was not exclusive she found being the manager lie he was obtrusive and intrusive but mary still had her way of looking at a person as if he be there at all if need be and she also had the correct way the manager found of meeting the wealthy patrons and an all almost unbelievably convincing line about the objects of art and in the ensuing days mary brown quit listening for I 1 a telephone which ring and lookin looking for a letter which does not come finally she even went so far as to cease to ask ash edna for mail which still might have come to the hotel no word of a job came from john stark so she clung tenaciously to the one she had once a week nell neil goodenough took all three of them out to dinner one night a week lie he dined with them but quite often he picked dickie up after school for an excursion to the park or the dime stores sometimes this genuine affection ot of a man for a 2 child eh lid aspeel especially ally for her own child seemed to soften edna dales hard attitude toward tile the other sex at first mary wondered how any experience could have so embittered a person toward life As time went on she did not wonder quite so much one evening mary dined with the starks in their comfortable apartment overlooking the civic center she regaled ga led the couple with the experiences of a civil engineer selling it was not until she was a about b out to leave that john stark said somewhat cryptically ill 1 I wanted you to come tonight especially mary because I 1 have a job for you one more in your line than an art shop really neally tell me where marys dark eyes leaped with excitement at a place called paradise valley 11 oil oh the light ran out of her eyes oh limply then she added lifting a face that tried to be gallant pass it on to some one else mr stark no ko need studying her closely denny wants all his old force back all that I 1 can get hold of he wrote me that includes you mary see here child 1 you been silly lon long enough whatever has happened between you and denis Is surely just a misunderstanding igo go back to your old job and give things a chance to work out but mary unable to speak shook her head with finality mrs stark threw her arm about the girls shoulder searching her face with sympathetic and motherly eyes it might need only a word my dear mrs stark mary managed it my move youre a couple of young idiots 1 blustered john stark ive a notion to order you to report at camp 0 just a as s I 1 did the day you had the impertinence to spring your feminine self upon me demandil demanding a job not no t a bad idea M brown brown 1 but his wife silenced him after all ail john a girl cant throw herself at a mans head bead 1 but guiltily wishing that john stark had thrown her at a mans head mary made her escape to a taxi denny was sending for his old force and he had not sent for her I 1 neil goodenough was at the apartment when she reached home 1 I waited for you mary he said 1 I thought surely have one of these drawing a letter from big hi pocket but edna says you mentioned it lie he spread it out on tile the table mary bent over it she dare pick it up her hands trembled so she kept them behind her denny s large writing like denny frank and easy but firm thoroughbred the message like denny breezy and optimistic optimist ie and affectionate were off again old scout 1 chase yourself back down here you were a regular guy to wait for me but no summons to herl denny would start his project again without asking her to come back to him TO BE CONTINUED |
