Show F 0 0 the aff to BEGINNER A no novel vel by henry kitchell webster I 1 lit copyright CWB 0 by r the tha merrill co service SYNOPSIS acting in good faith in tin in effort to aid id a neighbor ruth ingraham rn Braham in a business war edward patterson cashier or of 0 the chicago agency of a III life e in insurance aurance company Is wrongly suspected suse pe c d by his wife julia aillia ot of infidelity her r accusation in a letter latter from a summer resort units unfits him for or business and lie he takes a short hort vacation on his return he Is 1 deeply wounded by hla his daughter edith telling him his personal be longings were in the spare spara room having been removed from th the room which had been hla his and his w cifes fal bedroom beddoo at patterson accepts accents the situation tio us proof of his hl cifes cifes belief in ills hi guilt built edith seventeen nev enteen years old V JB worried over the estrangement 0 of her r parents llor ifor mother only partly succeeds in her efforts to comfort her the non on edward junior Is at colle college g e A business matter brings an inventor n james mariner into rat n life lit mariner needs with which c h t to 0 push puah hla his invention an automobile hoke choke c and patterson to Is interested after a brief investigation he decides to go BO in with mariner without informing hi Is family he be resigns from the ibur nce anoe company devoting his whole time to the pushing of th the I 1 invention an ld id friend albert willard Wll lard ls Is frankly kep of the value of th the choke patterson als tells his wife of the change be hits has made mad she accepts accept s the situation CHAPTER IV 5 the actress Is As y a rule edith hated thursday it was vas normas afternoon and evening out and she and mother had to cook the dinner and wash up afterward but today they were making a lark of it dad had telephoned tel that he be home to dinner so had just what they liked chicken salad calad and rolls and two mince turnovers from the community kitchen and cocoa that made at home they had a lot to talk about edith did anyhow she was full of the senior play the school for scandal they had been rehearsing all the afternoon edith was charles surface the comfortable rather jolly feeling remained as they set about washing fashing the dishes mother looked so pretty in that dutch apron she was a peach it was fun to have her all to yourself even since the new change back to more like his big old self that had lately come over dad dads conduct wai still perplexing but it make her blue any more but of course her fears ears and worries about him and mother had been largely ignorance the idea that mrs ingraham hialit be going to have a baby or that there was anything queer and unnatural about dad and mother sleeping in different rooms birre an amazing talk she che had had with her science teacher speculations of that sort had been relegated to the world of mere childish nonsense ed had been right of course last summer when he had toll told lier her she know what she was talking about she wished shed believed him then what a lot of fun it was to act and how much more fun it was going to be when they really gave the play in costume everybody agreed she was going to make a perfectly corking man she thought shed like to be an actress her mother called her back therel there she said when the list last dish was dried and put away that so BO bad was it I 1 now how would you like to do it every night she was waa in the act of answering the first question carelessly oft off the top of tier ner mind when the import of the second stopped he short mother meant something by that unless she was just teasing she look as it if she was teasing she wait for an an ewer there was just time for the look to pass between them before she went on because were gong going to try it rm fm letting norma go I 1 gave her two weeks weeke notice notte ethis this morning edith let herself understand 1 I thought norma was pretty good she said oh yes her mother agreed we arent going to try to get anyone else were going to do it ourselves for a while make a picnic of it like tonight mother has anything happened to father lie he going way away or anything ner her mother laughed as she said no and hugged her iles hes gone into a pew new business all we hope its going to make our fortunes well if its going to make our fortunes edith began but her mother interrupted fathers athers resigned from the insurance company ile he had to because the new business will take all his time and of course that means that his salary stops and it may be quite a little while before the money from the new business comes in ile he want me to let norma go ile he said he believe it would be necessary but 1 I thought wed rather begin now making money go its as far as we could than wait till we have any it makes it feel more ns as it if we were helping I 1 want you to look at it that way too so that he ha wont feel unhappy about it that was all reasonable enough of c course 0 ur e and if they were really going t to 0 be be rich in the end elid of course they mind doing the housework only mothers mother assurance sound convincing why did she try so hard to keep edith from being frightened about it unless down inside she were really frightened herself she felt fell Iter herself self turning perfectly cold wilde inside you mean he wont have any more sa salary lariat at all she asked hed always said shed heard him tell her mother a hundred times that they had nothing to live on but his salary ills ilia salary from the insurance company has stopped and tile the other begun yet mother when will it begin oh we dont know exactly before very long wo we hope the words so bad but she had tried to give a little laugh as she said them and the laugh work mother was frightened too she know when tile the new money would come in she know if it would ever come in at all but why did he do it mother what made him bim you want him to did you oil oh it fair fairl I 1 the girl cried in a sudden burst of anger it I 1 I 1 dont care what you say I 1 ue ile any right to do it mother what are we going to do edith I 1 the single word pulled her up short it often that mother took that tone youre acting very silly about this rm rin disappointed in you you criticize your father because you dont understand I 1 dont criticize him myself I 1 dont want to because I 1 do understand lie been happy for a long time in the insurance company lies iles felt that there any future in it for him im glad hes bes made the change because hes happier ill be glad even it if it come out exactly as he be hopes it will A memory of something held hed said while they were riding home in the taxi after the play flashed into the girls mind and held her thoughtfully silent for a minute oblivious even to her mothers rebuke hed made her rather blue by saying that he knew now at forty six that hed never be rich nor conspicuously successful just as he knew that hed never find a bag of pearls or a treasure box of pieces of eight behind the wainscoting in the library you mean she said thoughtfully to her mother that its sort of an adventure for him mother gave her a funny look at that yes she said exactly what I 1 mean and what we must do la Is to make our part of it an adventure too do you me sec dearci dear edith nodded that was the line have to take all right but it seem to her that dad had any right to throw away a perfectly good salary that was keeping them all safe and comfortable in favor of a hunt tor for hidden treasure suppose he t find tt it where would they bo be then mother she asked do you think it will come out right and make us rich honestly mother mother instantly ready with an answer it sure to come out th atway of course she said af atlant last even your father say its sure but he thinks it Is probable and his judgment Is usually very good As long as he thinks its more likely than not to make us rich why I 1 do too it came over edith with almost sickening force that her mother had no real hope at all she expected the id ad oh yes the mother agreed we ve arent going to try to get anyone else were going to do it ourselves for Awhile make a picnic of it ILI venture venture to fall she sha was trying to en courage herself edith found a lump coming in her throat all right she said as gally gaily as possible then ill believe it too when her father cams came home a little later she rushed upon him and gave him it a tremendous hug dad she cried 1 I think its perfectly great mothers been telling me im simply too excited to breathe and ill bet you are too though you are trying to look solemn and middle aged about it 1 I am for a fact he admitted theo then he went over to mother and kissed her cheek weve had a good day he be said three nice orders in one mall mail id like to celebrate it too late for a movie Is it whenever dad was in that mood edith found him irresistible doubts and fears were forgotten of course the great adventure was coming out all right she he and dad used to talk at length and in particular about things they would do when they wore w re rich they planned trips to europe or to honolulu and japan they serious about jt t of course it was all tooling fooling each playing placing up to the other and trying to go him one better mother never took part in these talks edith noticed and she confessed at last that they made her rather uncomfortable for table she continued stoutly to assort assert her belief in her husbands husband s enterprise but slig she t bring herself to joke about it sometimes dad came home silent and depressed slid and if he be talked at all it would be unbearably about bills and expenses and things they afford that mood of his always reduced edith to despair she had besides black moments of her own ono one of the worst of these was ft as occasioned by bv her first visit to the factory it was in a rather jubilant spirit of adventure that she set out which made the shock of coming down to literal reality till all the worse nothing less explicit than tile the sign newly painted on the shabby brick face of the building could have convinced her that shed come to the right place so the cloud castle of her dreams came down to this I 1 this was where they were going to make their fortune she tried to laugh at herself but t her panicky finicky impulse was to drive away again and pretend shed never come but she was trembling so she was afraid she t drive finally she went in through the grimy little door that said office on it did dad was there sitting at a desk and seemed pleased as well ns as surprised to see her ter sit down lie he said ill be through in a few minutes after apparently hesitating a moment he introduced trod to her the man who sat opposite him at the desk ills his name was weed and she thought him detestable the other occupant of the room he introduce lie was younger perhaps lie he had a thick dirty looking skin and a pimply face and he sat morosely at a typewriter pounding out a letter rather slowly with two thick fingers she turned her chair it a little to make it easier not to look at him shed she d made occasional elelta to her fathers father s old office an and d the contrast a it really was appalling that had been in its sober way palatial furnished with great dull mal mahogany logany desks and leather chairs but this place t why it was hardly clean it really and it was shabby the floor was bare and to think of poor old dad having to come to a place like this I 1 it was ws pitiful the pimply young man whom she bear to look at must be dads dad s stenographer she thought of ills his stenographers at the other office and shuddered at the contrast dad have made the change of his own free will ne he must have louthis lost los this his other job got fired instead of having resigned rind and been willing to tell her did mother know the truth she wondered another man came into the office from the shop A workman in overalls his face and hands streaked with dirty machine oil like a man in a garage he asked Is mr mariner coming back this afternoon mr air patterson I 1 believe not dad said and then to her amazement he stopped the man before he could go back into the shop oh charlie he said walt wait a minute I 1 want you to meet my daughter edith edith this Is charlie frank un I 1 C harlie charlie seemed to have an idea of a baking hands bands and he rubbed his hand 0 on his overalls but then he looked at it and laughed 1 I guess it 11 hardly do he said and then you hav en t seen our shop yet have you luckily dad answered for her no its her first visit ill bring her out in a minute its pretty dirty out there charlie said and it straightened out yet but were really malting making something there miss patterson she liked charlie franklin Frankl ln you help liking anyone who alio spoke us as pleasantly and comfortably as he and his assurance that they were really mak making rig something restored somewhat her c courage 0 urage but she found the shop when father made mad e good his promise and conducted her through almost as di spiriting a place as the office the meagerness of its equipment was a shock to her the machinery anywhere near fill up the space even in that little building it was just pitiful did dad really think he could in make ake a fortune out of that when she elie and dad got into the car and started driving home she began feverishly about anything she canuti think of that was not the shop she settled finally upon the senior play at school and gave him a detailed account of the misadventures adventures mis of the last rehearsal ue ile more than half listening she knew and at last the thing she dreaded happened im afraid lie he said cutting her short that you were disappointed in our place down there you know you cant judge a thing you cant judge what it will grow into by what it looks like at the beginning A turnips bigger than an apple seed but it wont grow into a tree and the seed will if it gets tile the chance weve got a seed down there and weve going to try to give it a chance to grow you wait a while and see I 1 mean you to visit it quite so soon I 1 thought id let you wait until wed put out a leaf or two oil oh its till all right she said 1 I understand der stand what you mean it was a relief not to have to pretend any longer 1 I suppose it if I 1 gone to see you so many times in your other office 11 ue ile laughed at that but she felt a little uncertainly and she perceived he felt that contrast too but that other office mine he said 1 I belonged to it almost as it if I 1 had been one of the items of furniture this thing Is mine min e halt half mine almost and ns as it grows my share in it will grow you liked charlie F franklin rank you youl oh yes she said hes great hut but dad who are those other people the man with the cigar and that horrible boy at tile the typewriter weeds a salesman he said lie he lant alt 7 ws ul ab 1 t to r bo abou arou around nd to ta dealers and garages and try to got get them to carry our choke the appalling boy at the typewriter Is a concession well lies hes a concession but I 1 dont think we shall be saddled with him much longer they drove along tor for a while in silence oh there are plenty of discourage ments he said at last but the thing itself Is right and its going to succeed edith laid her hand on his knee 1 I know it will dad she said really and truly I 1 do to mother when the three of them r sat at down to dinner that night she I 1 showed herself full of enthusiasm and confidence she thought everything was perfectly great what did you think of mr mariner nerl mother asked 1 I met him yet you know aile ne there today either cither dad raid fald he has to be out a good deal of course by the way he went on 1 I think it would be nice if you were to ask them to dinner his cifes been visiting a sister of hers somewhere but she came back a week or two ago of course well have them out oat to dinner but |