Argosy, Vol. 118, No. 2 — page 107: what you’re looking at

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

BLESSED ARE THE MEEK. Dora sank into a chair. He waggled a long forefinger at her. “My dear,” he began, “do you know that your poor husband was just on the verge of going into bankruptcy?”’ “Oh,” said Dora. ' “ Yessir,” Henry continued. “ Right on the ragged edge, he was. I was facing ruin, my dear. You know when If opened up that allotment out Georgetown way, I put into it about all I had. The one house I built out there put me in debt. ‘“ Well, I had a-double purpose in build- ing that house. The first purpose was to make people believe that the whole project was the real thing. The second was to give you a home. Say, that house is a gem of purest ray serene, and, by ginger, we're going to move into it next week. I’m so full of news I don’t know where to begin.” He rose and got his pipe and filled it. But he did not light it. It would interrupt his flow of speech. He held it in his hand and gestured with it. “You know how I’ve been lately,” he went on; “like a bear with a sore head. I dunno just how you stood it to live with me. You’ve been awfully nice about it.” “Oh, my,” said Dora. “But what could you expect a man to do, how could you expect him to act when he saw himself going to the wall? Why, if this thing didn’t sell right away, I not only wouldn’t have been able to install you in the new home, but we’d have had to give up this flat. We’d have had to go to light housekeeping in some damned smelly room- ing-house. Oh, boy, I was sick all over. “Well, last week in floated the lady that just called me up. Whee, but she was a crude thing—all froth. I said to myself when she began to ask about the allotment that I’d be eternally cussed if I’d sell her a lot. You see, she wasn’t our kind, my dear. I didn’t want her for a neighbor for you, when you took possession of our new home. But I had to come to it. . “You see, she’s one of the kind whose husband picked up a bunch of change on account of the war. I raised my price on the lots twenty-five per cent but it never stopped her. She said she had a bunch 7 Arcosy 257 of friends who would buy out ‘ theh’ if she did. She claimed to be a ‘ leadeh’ in her set. Imagine! It sickened me to think of having a gang like that settling around the nest I’d planned for you. “Well, I gave her a card and she left it lying on the desk. She said just now she got my address and phone numbers out of the directory. Being in a hurry, she took my home address. Then she went on an auto trip. She lost the handbag with the scribbled card in it. She’s been hunting through the phone book ever since trying to locate Mr. Wilkinson. ‘“‘T just told her there was nothing doing for her ab-so-lute-ly— Why, what’s the -matter, honey?” “ N-nothing,” Dora said. “ Go on.” “Take your hat off and come and sit on my lap,” he said. ‘*T— I’m not worthy,” wavered Dora. He threw back his head and laughed. ‘TI see,” he chuckled; ‘“ just because I’m getting on my feet, you’re bringing that old scarecrow to life, eh? Worthy, my foot. Come over here.” Through a mist of tears she groped her way to him. He caught her and drew her down to him and held her firmly. ‘Now, for the big news,” he said. “Your brother phoned me last night that he had got track of just the kind of people who would grab at my allotment. I told him to keep it under his hat. Wanted to surprise you. This morning I hiked out to a burg out here on the trolley. Say, I met some folks out there, believe me. Our sort of folks, Dora. ‘Why, say, Mrs. Biggs, the first oné I went to see, wouldn’t talk business till I had my dinner and I was out there a little after nine. She made Mr. Biggs take me for a ride in their new car. That old gan- der can drive, too. Well, we got back a little after eleven. And, say, Mrs. Biggs set out a dinner like I used to eat when my own mother was alive down on the farm. Chicken and fixin’s and apple pie. “Dora, I told Mrs. Biggs that if she would teach you to make pie like that I’d shave the price of her lot ten per cent. She laughed and said J didn’t need to. She Gomichbooks (ECO) f