Argosy, Vol. 118, No. 2 — page 105: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

BLESSED ARE THE ‘Well, my goodness, why can’t your hus- band build a house for us and for my chil- dren, and for all these folks out here that want to go to the city?’’ Mrs. Biggs asked. “ He could take the hull business off our hands and we’d have nothing to worry about.” Dora’s blood leaped into her face and her eyes grew bright. The sacrificial mood seized her. Here was a chance, ready to her hand, to prove how much she loved her husbarid. She would throw this business in his way, free him, and leave him to his happy fate. That was the quintessence of submission. The meek submit! “My husband has just the thing for you,” she said. ‘‘ He has opened an allot- ment at the edge of the city. It’s quite a big allotment. Plenty of room for all of you. I'll send him to see you.” “ Do,” said ample Mrs. Biggs. ‘ I'll in- troduce him round amongst the neighbors.”’ Dora put a hand on Mrs. Biggs’s arm and turned her shining eyes on her. “When he comes, don’t say I’ve been out here,” she said. ‘“‘ Just say nothing. Let him think you have never heard of him. It’ll be a surprise some time when he finds out I was at the bottom of it.” “Why, of course,” Mrs. Biggs said. “What a lot of fun you’ll have lettin’ on you don’t know nothin’ about it.” All the way into town, Mrs. Williamson plotted. By the time she arrived, she had her plot well formed. She went to the butcher shop which her brother ran over on Eighteenth street. She held hurriedly and lengthy converse with her brother and then she went home. It was six o’clock when she reached the flat. Her husband had not been arriving till seven lately and she had an hour to pre- pare a tempting supper for him. He came in at ten minutes past seven. She saw to it that she was in the kitchen. “ Hello,” he called listlessly. ‘“ Hello,” she answered in a stifled voice. She had a sudden, flashing understanding in that listlessness. Probably this woman was a new acquaintance. She had lost Henry’s address and hadn’t communicated with him. | _ As they finished supper, the telephone MEEK. 250 bell rang. Henry answered the call. Dora listened intently. ‘“‘ What!” came explosively from her hus- band. Youw’re kidding me. Why, it ’d be a life-saver.”’ There was a moment of silence. Peering into the other room, Dora could see her hus- band sitting with the receiver to his ear. “Say,” he said at last, ‘‘ keep this under your hat—absolutely.” When he came back into the dining-room, he feigned indifference. “Little business call,” he said. ‘“ It'll take me out in the country. I'll have to start early. I'll go to bed now and set the alarm for five o’clock.”’ As he turned away from her, Dora glanced at him. She saw that his eyes were glittering. He was hugging up to his breast his prospect of making a big deal, and he was hiding it from her. If she had needed any confirmation of her fears, she had’ it now. He wouldn’t even tell her that he was about to’ make a lot of money, and she had been responsible for it. That night he slept while she wept into her pillow. In the morning he leaped up as soon as the alarm clock began to jangle and after a hasty bite he hurried away. Dora had a miserable day. At noon she thought she could no longer bear the little flat which she had loved when they had moved into it. It suggested her husband too strongly to her. She decided to go somewhere—to a show or to a movie—and try to forget everything. She dressed carefully as she always did. It was a pretty figure which her long mirror reflected back to her, but it was a sad face. Dora looked at it for a moment and then burst into tears. She sank into a chair and sobbed. She didn’t want to go anywhere. She didn’t want to do anything. After her out- burst ceased she moved restlessly about the rooms. Then the telephone rang. For a moment she hoped it was her husband about to com- municate good news to her, but she told herself cynically that that couldn’t be. She had a notion not to answer the call. She didn’t want to talk to any one. But few women have the ability to let a telephone COLIC OOOLKS (@)