Show Q in C 4 oviel b ly y service H heni eu Y kitchell webster b by y me ae bobbs A merrill errill company PRECEDING EVENTS in an effort 70 to aid a neigh neighbor bor ruth ingraham in a business we way Y edward dward patterson cashier of the chicago agency of a life insorn insurance nce company bompa i ny Is wrongly sus suspected acted by his wife 1 fe julia of infidelity her accusation unfits him for business and he takes a shott short vacation on his return his daughter edith tells him his personal belongings are in the tha spare room having been removed from the room which had bad been his and his hie cifes bedro bedroom OM patterson acce accepts P t b t the he s situation it as il proof of nis ils w cifes 1 fe Is belief in h his guilt edith seventeen years old Is worried over the estrangement of her parents her mother only partly succeeds in her efforts to co comfort M fo r t her the son edward junior Is at college A business matter brings b ings an inventor james mariner marb into patterson patterso n a life mariner needs with which to push bis invention antion an automobile choke and patterson after a brief investigation decides to go in with w I 1 h him without informing his family he re resigns his position devoting his wh whole 0 le time to the pushing of the invention A few days later he tells his wife of 0 the change he has made though surprised she accepts th the situation edith Is made aware of the alteration in the family fortunes by her mother telling her she has decided to part with the cook she and edith to do the housework edward comes from college tor for the holidays with him Is roger morgan whom edith had known as a child her mother asks edith to leava leave her present private finish her studies at the public high school it will mean a saving of several everal a hundred dollars and ed edith ith agrees agee A talk with roger morgan heart heartens e her edward tells her he Is going to pay his own way through college CHAPTER IV continued 10 she told her plans to anyone not even to ed though shed had bad to borrow twenty dollars of him to take the first step toward carrying it out shed blied done that this morning just before he be left and had got at the same time a promise from him that lie tell but now her bomb was all made and ready to throw ill be ready in a few minutes dad said 1 I want to sign a letter that should go out tonight if you dont wind mind walting waiting 11 ile he went back to the papers on hi his S desk and gave her the opportunity for a good look at the typewriter upon which the unspeakable boy oy was hammering out the letter he e waited for it was important that hat she should k know now what kind of typewriter ype writer it was and it took more than lian one glance to spell out the halt half obliterated ibl iterated gilt letters on the front bar aar of the frame the letter was finished at last dad looked it over made quite a lot of corrections in ink and finally signed and sealed it lie ile seemed in a sort of 0 hurry to get away she took the drivers seat when she got into the car feeling dimly ina that t she had the reins in her own hands better that way almost halfway home she pulled out to the curb and stopped the car til ill tell you what ive done she said aid of course she make her voice sound the way she wanted it to ive arranged about going to school ive paid my tuition for the first mouth month its a nice little business college dad ile he cried out her name at that as it if shed actually hurt him and she stopped for a minute to see it if he wanted to say anything more but it seemed he be anything cosay to say just yet im going to learn tile the typewriter filst she went on the man says that part of it wont take very long got the same I 1 kind ind of 13 typewriter pe that you have in your ow owe office e ill bet in a week ill be better belter than that horrible boy then im going to com come down and be your stenographer all ill go on taking lessons in shorthand handau a the afternoon you know I 1 can study from four to six and then come conie home to dinner wont it be tun fun going off to work together every morn morning int dad im crazy about it IL I 1 really an am dad arent you oh ob my dear my dearl was all he said she w was as glad it was dark in there because she could tell by his voice that he was crying shed have hated to see him cry somehow or other shed gotto go on talking im tired of the old school anyhow she said 1 I think a person with a job is different and I 1 want to be different 1 11 I wish you yon had a different father it fair she tried to say what fair but her throat was frozen perfectly numb she say anything thin im a failure you see he went on of course you see it or you have made a plan like that your mother sees it if too I 1 guess and ed ive been a long time seeing it myself I 1 went into this business like a fool like a boy I 1 thought I 1 was too good for my old job I 1 thong thought lit id show them that underestimated me 1 I wava war any advice from your mother nor bert willard nor anybody they really knew what I 1 was good for ju just S t as the people in the alie office did 1 I cant stand it she managed to say if you talk like that it was a relief when the sob that was coming brol broke e away from her im sorry r edith diab he said 1 I have done that tie he put his arm around her shoulders and drew her close 1 I was taken by surprise you see I 1 knew you were going to say something about school if id had any idea what it would mean to you to change schools id never have suggested it what I 1 was ready to say you see and when you spoke of going to business college find and taking a job it well it stripped me of my last pretense somehow she was glad he stopped tall talling talking ing then and just went on holding her tight there was something comforting about the steady feel of him now that that first outburst was over finally she managed to ask Is it really hopeless dad the business I 1 mean Is it sure to fall fail no he said reflectively grudgingly almost really it the queer thing about it IL it what I 1 thought it was when I 1 went into it IL theres nothing mysterious or revolutionary about it weve got nothing that will set the world on fire lord what a tool I 1 wasl was but weve got an article a nov novelty elty they call it in the trade slang that people find rather attractive its a question of our being able to hang on while were developing ve our market persuading ing enough people to buy it Is what that means then he went back to tile the drift of his own thoughts were handicapped by more than a lack of ID money aney mariner Is temporarily untrustworthy he knows a good deal but you cant believe what hesayo because he can believe whatever r he pleases and im not much better because im almost totally ignorant and add then of course im not dot a salesman ed would be worth twice as much to the business as I 1 am I 1 suppose wed better be starting on home mother wont know become of us she immediately start the car she was thinking about something thin else roger was back in college too they might he be talking together now about her berl did ed know about this plan of yours no she said eaid only that I 1 go back to school I 1 had bad to tell him that because he wanted to pay the money tor for it himself I 1 made him lend me twenty dollars for my tuition at business college not telling him what it was tor for let me do it wont you dad let me work for you I 1 mean because B im going to get a job with somebody dont bont you want me dad she heard a long shakily indrawn breath oil oh yes my dear I 1 do he said she started the car and drove along for a while in silence 1 I bet I 1 could sell a lot of those things she told him CHAPTER V the coward T THEY ney compromised with edith it was agreed after an evenings argument and a mornings investigation ves vesti gation by bt julia that the child might go to her nice little business college for a trial month by the end end of that time if she still wanted to she could go to work tor for her father at the office it was lie who insisted upon the delay ills wife to hla his astonishment after she had heard what edith had to say about it was in favor of letting her take the plunge at once she was frankly enthusiastic over the plan lie he had bad never been able to make out whether julia believed in the auto choke or not she had never said she thought their own car ran better with it than before slie she blew cold when lie he blew hot she never took so dark a view vie of the future as when lie he came home buoyant over a good order or a gorgeous pros prospect yet tet when the prospect faded or the man who had sent in the big order turned out not to have the money to pay for it when he found himself drifting on oil the rocks of despair she just took hold of him and pulled him through often he be rec recalled ailed bert willards saying that she was a good sport it had surprised him at the time and it surprised him still it was true truc true up to the hilt hill in a way it was truo true if you considered what she did but it if a good sport was an adventurer who took hazards and defeats as a part even an en ell hin han cement or 0 a game then julia was fis as little a sport as anyone be knew less than tic lie himself put but whatever the source of her courage might be the steadfastness of it sometimes made him gasp and it was not nol he believed all a bluff either from some source or other she was finding happiness she beon as cheerful in months she confessed herself puzzled about tile the change in edith shed known more of the girls real feelings of course than he had anyhow slie she was delighted with the change of he heart a rt its really on her account more than yours julia amazingly told him that I 1 want her trained to earn ear her ber livius I 1 dont want her ever to have to wake up to the fact that ashes helpless at the mercy of some one else any one else not even the best husband in the world she said it with such intensity that he asked before lie he stopped to think did you ever feel like that 1 I dont now she said and he was glad she went on talking about edith without giving him a chance to ask any more questions you must make a real job for her ned she told him earnestly pay her real wages whatever ashes worth and always pay them just as you pay the others and it if she turns out not to be good enough discharge her dont try to make her feel that ashes just one of the family helping out dont try to pretend to anybody that ashes doing it for 1 I fu fun n he said of course not to in a rather aggrieved tone but he be admitted to himself that this was exactly what lie he had been meaning to I 1 66 the fellow was leaning over her closer than necessary and his good looking enough F face a ce wore a fatuous smile try to pretend she had made him wince by putting her finger on a sore spot lie ile bad never realized before that he was a snob but now the fact confronted him hed always said that snobbery was a specialized form of cowardice ile he a coward was ne lie mariner looked a bit blank when edward told him of editha plan and his own tentative agreement to it but he be offered no objections shed find it a pretty dull way of spending her days he thought but of course she have to stay if she found it so 1 I dont believe shell find it dull edward said it will take her a week or so to get the hang bang of it slid and it may prove too much for her but it if it does ill let her go and get some one else its to be a PI plain a in businesslike arrangement well pay her a fair salary and sep see that she earns it IL its her own idea from the first but if will be a material help to me if it works mariner said oh ob all right of course and apparently forgot all about it IL ile he was in ID a queer sort of mood these days anyhow it was hard to be sure you had bad his attention tor for anything upon edward editha presence was profoundly disturbing it gave the day a different color and texture from any that had bad gone be before fore it made the office a different place that sort of electrical tingle which her presence put in tile the air be a permanent tiling thing could it how long would it irv 1 I why it would last edward found himself deciding exactly as long as he could play up to it on the day she saw him slack despondent frightened ready to quit the spell would be brok broken ell there had been nothing aggressive ly virtuous about iter her manner shed just been natural once indeed shed mildly shocked him by uttering a perfectly audible id d nl n over some mistake in her typing and once when shed bent over his desk to see some correction he was pointing out to her shed forgotten she was at home and rumpled his hair no she was all right shed keep it up as long as he did a as S 10 long D g as lie he remained the person she wanted him to be she be critical shed take him for granted a as s long as she could what she do was be sorry for him encourage him pull him up when she saw lie he was down she would pull him up wonderfully as long as she know it was necessary that was las what it came to then lie ile must never n ver gl give e illin himself se I 1 f away they gt got into the doldrums the impetus that their business had bad got from the automobile show in jan uary nary had bad spent itself nobody now took any interest lu in his bis car tile the accessory game was hibernating be nothing much doing until spring or at least until a few fine days gave a hint that it was coming A real adser advertising campaign was the only thing that could possibly wake them up right now this was nas the burden of the sales mens complaints edward did ills his best and it was a better best than he would have been capable of a month ago to inspire them and keep them up to their work ile he admitted it ans a handicap that they better supported by advertising but a real camp campaign a ign was out of the que question s t 0 n the financial resources of the bustness business run to it edward had an out of town customer on his hands one day at and ad took him to lunch when he got back to the office about three he found the city salesman dictating a letter to edith the glimpse he got of the man through the glass door before he opened it offended him the fellow was leaning over her closer than necessary and his good looking enough face wore a fatuous smile ile he looked around with a perceptible start as his employer opened the door straightened up and said with a completely changed manner all yours very truly ile ha seemed suddenly too in a great hurry to get out on his rounds he had a lot of people to see he told edward between now and six almost against his will and aware e that his v voice 0 I 1 c e d lm t s sound a as S casual as he meant it to edward asked Is that a business letter edith the girl laughed 1 I should say not hotl I 1 she turned around to him with nothing in her face but a grin of perfectly spontaneous amusement its the silliest stuff you ever saw its a letter to a girl iles hes a sort of a washout he dad edward sighed im inclined to think he Is he said the sigh was half rueful half relieved ile he was glad edith felt that way about him but this feeling he kept to himself you be brokenhearted broken hearted then if I 1 let him go he asked broken she whipped around upon him and saw by his grin that he was teasing her ile he really any good Is he she asked oh ob dear I 1 wish you could get somebody that was some good or I 1 wish 11 she go on to complete the alternative and presently he be asked her what it was he much want to somehow but the silence forced the question from him 1 I wish go out and sell the thing yourself she said just to show them up ile he tried to laugh that off as a simple absurdity but he found he be let it go at that thal 1 I doubt it if I 1 could show them up in the first place he be said you see ive never sold anything in my life theres a special technique about it that ive |