Show he was a famous man who had lost him himself self through fear but found courage in an inspiring womans comans wo mans love mary roberts rinehart tells the story in the first installment we were introduced to sidney page to joe drummond her boy bay sweetheart whom she promised to marry after years and years and to K le moyne the nw new roomer taken by sidney and h her r mother in order to piece out family finances and in this installment we see sidney step ping into womanhood and making important decisions right and left CHAPTER 11 II 2 sidney could not remember when her aunt harriet had not sat at the table it was one of her earli earliest est dis to learn that an aunt nt harriet lived with them not because she wished to but because kidneys Sid father had bad borrowed her small patrimony and an d she was boarding it out eighteen years she had boarded it out sidney had been born and grown frown to girlhood the dreamer father lind had gone to his grave with valuable patents lost for lack of money to renew them gone with his faith in himself elf destroyed but with his faith in rhe the world undiminished tor for he be left his wife and daughter without a dollar of life insurance harriet kennedy had voiced her own view of the matter the day after the funeral to one of her neighbors ile he left no insurance why should he bother he left me to the little widow her sister she bad been no less bitter and more explicit it looks to toe me anna she said as it by borrowing everything I 1 had george had bought me body and soul for the rest of my natural life ill stay now until sidney Is able to take hold then im going to live my own life it will be a little late but the kennedys Kenn edys live a long time the day of harriets leaving had seemed far away to anna page sidney was still her baby she had bad given up dp her dolls but she still made clothes for them out of scraps from harriets sewing bowing room in the parlance of the street harriet sewed and sewed well she had taken anna into business with her but the burden of the part had always been on harriet to give her credit she had not complained pla ined she was past forty by that time and her y iwah ath had slipped by in that back room with its dingy wallpaper covered with paper patterns on the day after the arrival of the roomer harriet kennedy came down to breakfast a little late katie the general housework girl was serving breakfast mrs page who had taken advantage of harriets tardiness to read the obituary column in the morning paper dropped it but bat harriet did not sit down sidney yes aunt harriet sidney when louif your father died I 1 promised to look after both you and I 1 your mother until you were able to take taka care of yourself that was five years ago of course even before that I 1 had helped to support you if you yon would only have your coffee harriet sirs mrs rage page sat with her hee hand on the handle of the old silver plated coffeepot harriet ignored her you are a young woman now you have health and energy and you have youth which I 1 im past forty in the next twenty years at the out bide ive got not only to support myself but to save s something om ething to keep me after that it if I 1 live sidney returned her gaze steadily 1 I see well aunt harriet youre quite right youve youre been a saint to us hot but if you want to go 90 away harriet i walled mrs page youre not thinking la please mother harriets eyes softened as she looked at the girl we can manage bild sidney quietly well miss you but its time we learned to depend on ourselves I 1 after that in a torrent came harriets declaration of independence and mixed with its pathetic jumble of recriminations crimi nations hostility to her sisters and resentment tor for her lost years came poor harriets hopes bud and ambitions the tragic plea of a woman who must substitute for the optimism and energy of youth the grim determination of middle age 1 I can do good work she finished im full of 0 ideas it if I 1 could get a chance to work them out but theres no chance here there a woman on the street who knows real clothes when she sees them mrs page could not get back of harriets revolt to its cause to her harriet was not an artist pleading for her art she was a sister and a breadwinner deserting her trust im sure she said you back aery cantwe borrowed if you stayed here after george died it was atall because se you offered to lr l r liin wor worked iced shi tumbled fumbled tor for t 02 iclef at ai ler her belt lilt hut ad id ney went around the table and flung a young arm over her aunts shoulders why you say nil all that a year aso ago weve been selfish but were nvere not as bod bad as you think and if anyone in this world Is entitled to success you are of course well manage harriets iron repression almost gave way she covered her emotion with details mrs lorenz Is going to let roe me make christine some things and it if all right I 1 may make her trousseau se trousseau for christine ashes not engaged but her mother says its only a matter of a short time im going to take two rooms in the business part of town and put a couch in the back room to sleep on kidneys Sid mind flew to christine and her bright future to a trousseau bought with the lorenz money to christine settled down a married woman with palmer howe she came back alil with an effort harriet triangular red spots in her sallow cheeks 1 I can get a few good models the only way to start and if you care to do handwork for me anna ill send it to you and pay you the regular rates there the call for it there be but just a touch gives dash all of mrs pages grievances had bad worked their way to the surface sidney and harriet had bad made her world such as it was and her world was in revolt she flung out her hands 1 I suppose I 1 must do something W with fill you leaving and sidney renting her room and sleeping on a folding bed in the sewing room everything seems upside down I 1 never thought I 1 should live to see strange men running in and out of this house and jarry carrying latchkeys latch keys this reference to le moyne whose tall figure had made a hurried exit some time before harriets eyes were brighter already as she went out sidney kissing her in the hall and wishing her luck realized suddenly what a burden she and her mother must have been tor for the last few years she threw her head up proudly they would never be a burden again never as long BS as she had strength and health by evening mrs page had worked herself into a state bordering on hysteria harriet was out most of the day she came in at three and katie gave her a cup of tea at the news of her sisters condition she merely shrugged her shoulders shell not die katie she said calmly but see that miss sidney eats cats something and it if she Is worried tell her I 1 said to get doctor ed very significant of harriets altered outlook was this casual summoning of the streets family doctor she was already dealing in larger figures the recklessness of pure adventure was in her blood she had taken rooms at a rental that she determinedly put out of her mind and she was on her way to buy furniture no pirate fitting cat a ship for the highways of the sea ever experienced more guilty and delightful excitement the afternoon dragged away doctor ed was out on a case and might not be in until evening sidney sat in the darkened room and waved a fan over her mothers others rigid form at halt half past live five johnny rosenfeld Ko from the alley who worked for a florist after school brought a box of roses and departed inning grinning impishly he knew joe had seen him in the store soon the alley knew that sidney had received a dozen killarney roses at three dollars and a half and was probably engaged to joe drummond Dru namond doctor ed said sidney as he followed her down the stairs can you spare the time to talk to me a little while perhaps the elder wilson had a quick vision of the crowded office waiting across the street but his reply was prompt any amount of time sidney led the way into the small parlor where joes roses refused by the petulant invalid upstairs bloomed alone first of all said sidney did you mean what you said upstairs doctor ed thought quickly of lot course but what you said I 1 was a born nurse the street was very fond of doctor ed it did not always approve of him it sald said which was perfectly true tru that he had bad sacrificed himself to his brothers career that tor for the sake of that brilliant young surgeon doctor lit ed had done without wife and children that to send him abroad he had saved and skimped that he still went shabby and drove the old buggy while max drove atolia in an automobile coupe sidney not at all of the stuff martyrs are made of sat in the scented parlor and remembering nil all tills this was ashamed of her rebellion im going into a hospital said sidney doctor ed waited ile he liked to have all the symptoms before lie he made a diagnosis or ventured an ail opinion so sidney trying to be fie cheerful and quite unconscious of the anxiety in ler her voice tog her story 1 its fearfully hard bard work of course 11 lie he commented when she had finished so Is anything worth w while hile look at the way you work I 1 doctor ed rose and wandered around the room 1 I dont think I 1 like the idea lie said at last its splendid work for an older woman but its life child life in the raw it seems such an unnecessary sacrifice dont you think said sidney bravely that you are a poor person to talk of sacrifice avent II you always all ail your life P doctor ed colored to the roots of his straw colored hair certainly not he said almost irritably max had genius I 1 had ability different one real success Is better than two halves not lie he smiled down at her enot not that I 1 minimize my usefulness somebody has fias to do the hackwork hack work and it if I 1 do say it myself im a pretty good hack very well said sidney then I 1 shall be a hack back too of 01 course I 1 had thought of other things my father wanted me to go to college but im strong and willing and one tiling thing I 1 must make up my mind to doctor ed I 1 shall have to support my mother 11 harriet passed the door on her way in to a belated supper the man in the parlor had bad a momentary glimpse of her slender sagging shoulders her thin face her undisguised middle age yes he said when she was out ol of hearing its hard bard but I 1 dare say its right enough too your aunt ought to have nave her chance only I 1 wish it have to be sidney left alone stood in the little parlor beside the roses she touched them tenderly absently life which the day before had called her with the beckoning finger of dreams now reached out grin insistent hands life in the raw CHAPTER ill III K le moyne had bad wakened early that first morning in his new quarters be cause he was young and very strong he wakened to a certain lightness of spirit but he grew depressed as he prepared for the office he told himself savagely as he put on his shabby clothing that having sought for pence peace and now found it he be was an ass for 1 ice IC i i ip I 1 I 1 11 I 1 V 1 1 I dont think I 1 like the idea he said resenting it the trouble was of course that he came of a fighting stock soldiers and explorers even a gentleman adventurer or two had been his forefathers he loathed peace with a deadly loathing having given up everything else K X le moyne had also given up the love of woman that of course Is figurative he had been too busy tor for women and now he was too idle A small part of his brain added figures in tile the office of a gas company daily for the sum of two dollars and fifty cents per cf eight h hour working day but the real X kle le moyne that had dreamed dreame creams dreams had nothing to do with the fig figures ures but sat somewhere in his head and mocked him as he worked at his task he breakfasted at mrs mckees Mc Kees the food was rather good certainly plentiful and even his squeamish morning appetite could find no fault with the self respecting tidiness of tile the place some of the dealers me alers the streets name for them ventured on various small familiarities of with tillie K X le moyne himself was scrupulously polite but reserved lie he was determined not to lot let the street encroach on his wretchedness because lie he had come to live there was no reason ully it should adopt him gut but lie he was very polite when the deat and dumb 1 beok ok agent wrote something on a pencil pad and pushed it toward him hel be replied in kind hind we wc are very glad to welcome you to the mckee family was what wits was written on the pad very happy indeed to be with you wrote back le moyne and realized with a sort of shock that lie meant it the kindly greeting had touched him the greeting and the breakfast cheered him also lie had evidently made some headway with tillie dont you want a toothpick she asked as lie went out in Ks I 1 S previous walk of life there had been no toothpicks or it if there were any they were kept along with the family scandals in a closet but nearly a year of buffeting about had i taught him many things lings ti ile he took one and placed it nonchalantly in his waistcoat pocket as lie he had seen the others do change was in the very air of the street that june morning it was in harriet asserting her right to live in sidney planning with eager eyes a life of service which did not include joe in K le moyne who had built up a wall between himself and the world and was seeing it demolished by a deaf and dumb book agent whose weapon was a lead pencil padl and yet for a week nothing happened joe came in the evenings and sat sal on the steps with sidney his honest heart in his eyes anna no longer sulky accepted with childlike faith kidneys Sid statement that get along she had a splendid scheme and took to helping harriet in hex hei preparations for lea leaving and K le alayne finding his little room hot in the evenings and not wishing to intrude on the two on the doorstep took to reading ills his paper in the park and after twilight to long rapid walks out into the country the walks satisfied the craving of his active body for exercise and tired him so lie he could sleep when E K was sure that the boy had bad gone he would turn back toward the street some of the heaviness of his spirit always left him at sight of the little house its kindly atmosphere seemed to reach out and envelop within was order and quiet the freshness of his bis turned down bed the tidiness ot of his ordered garments life that had bad seemed so simple had grown very complicated for sidney there was her mother to break the news to and joe harriet would approve she felt but these others to assure anna that she must manage alone lor for three years in order to be happy and comfortable afterward that was hard enough but to tell joe that she was planning a future without him to destroy the light in his blue eyes that hurt 0 0 after all she told K first one friday evening coming home late as usual he found her on the doorstep and joe gone she moved over hospitably the moon had waxed and waned and the street was dark the colored man who drove doctor ed in the old buggy on his daily rounds had brought out the hose and and sprinkled the street within this zone of freshness of wet asphalt and dripping gutters sidne sidney Y sat cold and silent please sit down it Is cool now my idea of luxury is to have the street t sprinkled ledon on a hot night K X disposed of his long legs on the steps ile he was trying to fit his own ideas of luxury to a garden hose and a city street im afra afraid d youre working too hard 1 41 I I 1 do a minimum of labor for a minimum of wage but you work at night dont you K was natively honest he hesitated then no miss page but you go out every even evening lri all 1 suddenly the truth burst on her oh dearl dear ill she said 1 I do believe why how silly of you yon K was most uncomfortable really I 1 like it he protested 1 I jiang |