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Show i THE RICH COUNTY REAPER, RANDOLPH, UTAH o o o o o o o o o By George Agnev Chamberlain CHAPTER 1 1 Joyce sat on a leather puff beside her small-pane- d window looking out and down at the turning maple leaves. She was nineteen tomorrow she. would be twenty. Nobody living knew it but herself nobody. She had lied about her true birthday since she was eight and owing to a single overwhelming catastrophe it had been easy enough to confuse her father. Twelve years twelve years in Elsinboro, six of them without him, terribly alone with her stepmother. Yes, you could be alone with somebody else far lonelier than if you were by yourself. She was alive tremendously alive inside. That was the trouble; it had to stay inside. , She palpitated with dreams of what might be the secret dreams of a young girl who longs to believe in life as something warm, something you can hold in your arms. But when she looked outside herself she stared at a wall. Elsinboro has its counterpart in Olean or Elmira but not in Wilkes-BarrScranton or Pottsville. Forty thousand strong, it has known no infiltration overpowering foreign n and presents a of the American scene, old style, from a miniature Tammany to an elite who read French, talk liberalism and discriminate between one dollar and another. There are plenty of dollars, gathered by adventurous sons from the four corners of the earth, but there were no fabulous fortunes until Bolivar Smith got an idea 15 years ago. Six roughnecks believed in it and became multimillionaires almost overnight. They took over the section now known as Platinum Hill and built their incongruous chateaux in a huge circle. But Joyce Sewell was not of them; in fact she had no part or parcel of Elsinboro, new or old. She was pure North Shore, descended from generations of the Sewells who christened more clipper ships when the American merchant marine overtopped the fleets of the world than any other tribe. Her presence in the town was an accident one of those tragic accidents that leave their mark for the whole of life. The scene so far away, so long ago lived in her eyes, shut or open She would listen too, her ears trembling lest they hear. But memory is silent, part of its terror lies in silence. No crash of guns reached her now, only the remembered flash. No thud of bullets on stone, wood and flesh, no choking scream only the indelible, the unforgettable scene. Her mother unspeakably murdered. A pause the eternal pause that had lasted but a second. Her father snatching her up under one arm, a petaca under the other, to rush along interminable corridors, followed by shots and the derisive jeers of the marauders who believed he could not possibly escape. Stairs wooden stairs, stone steps, the secret door and the garden, black beneath towering cypress and spreading ash. Hurry! Hurry! The postern, unlocked, then locked. The starlit open night, immersion in the icy lake, a dugout and finally refuge in a humble peon hut. No not finally. Followed days in a pannier on the back of a mule, hours in a crowded train, a week on a refugee ship bound for New Orleans and on that ship Mrs. Irma Thorne, of Elsinboro, New York. Irma Thorne, then three years a widow, believed it was her mission to do people good whether they liked it or not. She was not a refugee d but a returning traveler with a pocketbook. She had soft cco-colored eyes, but there the softness ended; though the truth would have surprised and wounded her, her chin, her stocky body, her will and her conscience were as tough as rawhide. The mere sight of Cutler Sewells lackluster eyes, gone dead in his head, staring at his little daughter but eternally seeing something else, was a supreme challenge to her peculiar aptitude for service and abnegation. She took charge. She gave Joyce her first bath in ten days and made her a frock out of her own best skirt. She rushed father and daughter to her home in Elsinboro, She was undoubtedly a good woman and by every rule in the copybook Joyce should have loved her. Gently admonished by her, father she tried pitifully to do so and failed. It was no use. She Was too youhg to think things out; all she knew was that a barrier of ice stood between her heart and her benefactress. Daddy, lets go away. We cant, Joyce; not just now. At present I havent a cent. Please, papacito. I dont like her. You mustnt say that. Shes a good woman a very good woman. 1 know, quavered Joyce, bewildered by her own detestation but face to face with a fact. Oh, please, papacito, please! He compromised, yielding to the endearing pet diminutive that had never yet failed her. On the excuse she ought to keep up her Spanish as a possible asset for the future he took her into his study for an hour every afternoon. That hour had been sacred, proof against any form of interruption from the day e, cross-sectio- WNU Service extra-curriculu- With Joyce? when a knock on the door had thrown Joyce into a paroxysm of screams followed by prolonged sobbing. Yet she was no that one convulsive protest was her last, but it had been enough. She and her father talked Spanish in peace, not always for the full hour. Sometimes, quite content to be at his side, she watched him write letters long . painstaking letters always to one of two addresses. When the answers came he filed them away, ever more and more sadly, in the petaca. It was a funny little trunk covered with rawhide stretched on the frame while still wet. The hair was mostly worn off but there were still arabesques of d tacks to which he had added a card bearing the following signed inscription: Upon my death this box and contents become the property of Joyce Sewell, my daughter and sole heir. With each addition to the dossier he weakened, became less the man of property and more the chastened sacrificial goat. The day came when Irma Thorne married what was left of cry-bab- y; brass-heade- him for appearances sake and for his and for Joyces not for her own. Perhaps he knew the surren- - o o o o o o o o o der would kill him, but at least his self? If Platinum Hill goes after a orphaned child would have a roof girl with no money its largely beover her head. She was sixteen cause she isnt a stenographer. when he died. Blackadders scowl deepened. I hate to agree with you but I guess Helm Blackadder was a rock of youre right. Its a shame one town a man, forty-nin- e and virile, with should be saddled with three of that bushy brows, steely eyes and crisp brand of snob, but if shes so atgray hair. He was a native son, a tractive, what about a boy or two of product of Elsinboro so interwoven the good old stock? Arent any of in the towns pattern it had never them hanging around? occurred to him to consider any They would if they could afford other place as a base. Yet in his it, but they know they cant. The capacity as an excellent engineer nice boys she knows are all in coland a daring promoter he had bur- lege with years to go before theyll rowed in South Africa, combed Ko- begin looking for a job. Theyre rea and lived in Chile with varying too young. I have enough income to of In the intervals manage on and wait, but I know profit. degrees he had known Irma Bostwick, Irma she wont stay with me Thorne and finally Irma Sewell. Part Joyce much longer and she hasnt a penof him frankly admired part of her; she had a bulldog quality and so ny."What about her father? I rehad he. Now she had sent for him member he owned one of and as he entered her very com- the show hearingin Mexico. Do you places fortable living room he wondered know what means? A hacienda that why. that doesnt run over 20,000 acres Well, Irma, whats on your would be at the foot of the class.1 mind?" He lost it everything he had. Its Joyce, Helm; but do sit down. Take that big chair. It looks He wasnt even compensated for the murder of his wife though his lawas if it had been made for you. Whats the matter with Joyce? yer assured him he would be. Cutler used to speak of it as blood Mrs. Sewell frowned and then substituted a look of patient resigna- money and wouldnt have thought of You know all Ive done for taking it except for Joyce. And its tion. her. Dont think I mean I begrudge she that matters now. Shes got to it since it was my duty and theres be saved from herself and you must no greater satisfaction in life than help. I? Why me? seeing ones duty and doing it. But can you believe in spite of everyBecause youre real. Helm, and thing she actually dislikes me? She the only man I know well enough to does, though; I think she always turn to. Theres something in her has. She waited, but since Black-addfrightens me. Sometimes shes a refrained from comment she burning bush and the next instant continued. But thats not the worst shes quicksilver. Please, Helm. of it; shes harming herself, deThis child was put in my charge by liberately destroying her great a direct act of God. Whether she chance. loves me or not its my duty to How? he asked bluntly. guide her life along the lines of Oh, all this common sense. Which do you want studying shes been doing. Shes her to do go around looking for a kept up her Spanish so youd think job at $15 a week or be the first to she could teach it anywhere but now a little culture to Platinum she wants to take a business bring Hill? Which gives her the best course. chance for a full life? Secretarial? A missionary, eh? said BlackNo; she doesnt give it any fancy his adder, oddly. He name just plain stenography and lifted his lips quirking shoulders and let heavy typing. Mike oughtnt to them fall. Whats wrong with that? de- be so bad. IWell, remember his father manded Blackadder. Its the way as a ditch-gan- g foreman with a several of the highest paid women laugh and plenty of punch besides. in the world got their start and I Mrs. Sewell sighed resignedly. I can name half a dozen cases where would have chosen Howard Semp-te- r, its been a royal road to marriage. a man to pick a man trust but So I dont see how it could hurt is a good rule though we women Joyce. seldom follow it. So its to be Mrs. You dont? said Mrs. Sewell. Michael not Mike Kirkpatrick. She edged forward on her chair. it sounds a lot better than Anyway I Listen, Helm; wouldnt tell this Mrs. Schaaf. At that moment there to anybody but you. Howard Semp-tewas a sound of somebody entering Emil Schaaf and Michael Kirk- the hall. Joyce, is that you? patrick have all proposed to her Yes, maam." over and over again. Shes never once called me said mother, whispered Mrs. Sewell to Half of Platinum Hill! Well, shes Blackadder, a hurt and bewildered Blackadder, scowling. no business woman and never will look in her liquid brown eyes. Then be. Come here, she raised her voice. Why? Why do you say that? dear; we want to talk to you. Blackadder disliked being rushed Because if she were shed marry them all, one after the other, and and felt he was being drafted without his consent, but immediately retire. Oh! gasped Mrs. Sewell, truly Joyce entered he was conscious of an odd reaction as though all his shocked. Which one of the three do you gears had gone suddenly into rethink shed find it easiest to fall for verse. She nodded to him and turned to and to handle? Well? Thats what I wanted to ask you. her stepmother. Oh, do sit down, Joyce. Cant Its got to be one pretty soon or none. you sit down and talk reasonably for once in your life? Why? Whats the hurry? (TO BE CONTINUED) Cant you think it out for your- er Whats the Matter BE3W m r, Ki "Quotations" A Instead of teaching my younger readers the conventions nowadays, I find I have to adapt the conventions to my young readers. Emily Post. It is not in intelligence that we lack for the overcoming of evil, but we lack in the unselfish responsible devotion of men. Albert Einstein. There is no compensation for livnot not power not money ing of love the as as position great friends. Vice President Garner. It is character that determines the success of a man or a nation. Irving T. Bush. Mans desire to understand is one of the marks that differentiate him from the animal. Prince de Broglie. DEPARTMENT LADIES Western Mineral Survey Weekly mining news $2 yr. 22Vi E. 1st So., Salt Lake City. FURNITURE, etc., SALE W. H. ADAMS A SONS, Furniture Liquidators, 1484 So. State St., Salt Lake City. Now liquidating entire jobber's stock of the famous Voss Washing Machines, 1938 models. $74 50 model $37.25 or $89 50 for $44.75 or $99.50 for $49.75 or De Luxe Vac. tub, Chrome trim, reg. $119 50 for $54 75, full factory guarantee. In original factory crates. 2 carloads. HOTELS HOTEL FLANDOME, SALT LAKE 4th So. State Rates $1 OO to $2.00 CLEAN QUIET RESPECTABLE BARBER SCHOOLS LEARN BARBERING in a few months. New classes now forming. Position Guar. Moler Barber College - Salt Lake City. BEAUTY CULTURE Dorene Beauty Clay. Cleanses pores, removes wrinkles, beautifies. Postpaid $1. Herbs, household products. Cosmetics. Cauldwell Laboratory, Canutillo, Texas. PERSONAL ALCOHOL Treatment Results Assured. Only 3 days at INTERMOUNTAIN SANATORIUM. 1149 E. 6th So., Salt Lake City. Used Ice to Light Pipes Back in the earlier days of photography, amateurs occasionally made lenses of ice, purely as a stunt, and performed curious experiments with them. A French amateur in the winter of 1888 made a lens of ice and with it lit the pipes of some of the skaters at one of the Alpine resorts. At that he was not doing anything original but merely trying to check up on experiments previously performed in the Arctic by Dr. A. Scoresby, according to Scientific Americans column, Fifty Years Ago. Scoresby used his lenses as burning glasses to the great astonishment of the sailors. They could not understand why the ice did not freeze the beams of the sun instead of starting a smoldering fire. DO YOU LACK PEP? Mrs. Phoenix, Ariz. Tina Griffin, 1341 W. Fillmore Dr. Sc, says : Pierces Golden Medical Discovery helped to give me a fine appetite and I felt much stronger after its use. I had more energy and was able to sleep better." Ask your druggist today for Dr. Pierces Golden Medical Discovery in liquid or tablets. New size, tablets 50c., liquid $1 and $1.35. Were you ever alone in a strange city? well-fille- toba- If you were you know the Irue value of (his newspaper STARTS IN THIS ISSUE! Youll enjoy the unique story of Joyce Sewells escapade in romantic old Mexico. Follow her through unparalleled adventure as she copes with political intrigue to regain possession of LaBarranca, the secluded hacienda where she was bom. Watch the developments that place her in the center of amusing international com . . . and watch her fall in love with Dirk Yan Suttart, the handsome plications undersecretary from the American embassy, assigned to guard this young upstart! Read todays installment of Under and read the following Pressure . ' of George Agnew Chamberlains chapters serial! new gay Alone in a strange city. It is pretty dull. Even the newspapers dont seem to print many of the things that interest you. Headline stories are all right, but there is something lacking. That something is local news. For all good newspapers are edited especially for their local readers. News of your friends and neighbors is needed along with that of far off places. That is why a newspaper in a strange city is so uninteresting. And that is why tlus newspaper is so important to you. NOW is a good time to get to . . . KNOW YOUR NEWSPAPER |