Argosy All-Story Weekly, June 27, 1925 — page 76: what you’re looking at

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

S63 ARGOS celf-reproach. She seemed & ve of he flippant creature who had became swiftly hing, “I reckon ef hit badn’t ’a’ been an ied 9’ been somebody else. I reckon ther horn spoon of Lesher Skidmore hes been stirrin’ ther kittle pot an’ these pore fools hev done been beguiled with ther brew. Moreover, we likes ye—an’ we wouldn’t love none ter see ye 80 away.” “Did Mr. Murrell—" The girl put ber question faintly. “Did Mr. Murrell tell you all I'd told him?” Aunt Erie nodded energetically. “T reckon he’s done told me all he knows,” she replied. “ Him an’ me, we're right-outspoke with one another.” The wom- an paused, and into her stern eyes flashed that vagrant glint of laughter that was al- ways as Surprising as a shot from ambush. “Wade, he seemed satisfied,” she gave as- surance, ‘an’ whatsoever sots easy on Wade's conscience, hit'don't fret mine none. Wade, he’s got a mighty tormentin’ con- science, anyhow. He’s a good boy an’ a godly, upstandin’ man—but he mout be jest a shadder less pious without hurtin’ my feel- in’s none.” The mother shook her head emphatically, then went on as though afraid she had Seeme disloyal to her son. “I'm a full iever in prayer. I don’t belittle no godli- ovely pus fs Keeps ater ther good Lord with thar socieatame tastl Ste plumb pestered an’ wore out with ’em.” °s saat shook her head and shifted her lly aching body i “Tm a coin? ~ leaves reat =o Aunt Erie told her, “so i one now,” sleep. But don’t fret pet ifn oap eon ter. Ye’re a Murrell now, a ‘ame ¢ oe he we stands with ye.” A no ean Wade, ed in the words. « can ¢ of pride sound- gits kilt—but I hain’t n elumes us Murrells ron uckles under 8 vr Deered tell thet ynthia did 7 her, and now the aie had told e str : on of pt ene build a wall of con. the voice sobered : V-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. She was awakened by the sound of her door opening and she heard two lowered voices there. She opened her eyes then and saw one figure only in the room. It was the figure of Anne Purviance. “Tm SOITy, said the girl in the bed rather feebly. ‘ I meant well. I was all set to play the part you wrote for me. I was going to be the shiny-eyed little angel. But- ter wouldn’t melt in my mouth. But those roughnecks jumped me before I got the chance to register goodness.” She fell mood- ily silent and brushed back the rumpled hair from her eyes. “ Did you come to tell me that I’ve broken my contract?” she asked desperately. ‘“‘ Because for once it wasn’t my fault.” Anne Purviance shook her head and smiled. “One can’t break a contract before one starts with it,” she answered gravely. ey came to see how badly you were hurt and if there was anything I could do.” Cynthia wondered afterward and never could quite tell how that conversation shaped its course. She knew, though, that she talked and that Anne listened, and that eventually, when the sun was lowering and the room was beginning to darken, she found herself telling this other woman inti- ay things about herself. ‘ t was all funny in a way about Harrison and I,” Cynthia was mere grammatically. “I had been over at Fort = where they were making a picture. I'd i a re part in a carnival scene and — na . up for a gypsy dancing girl. I’d ° ay . ing Broadway for weeks hunting iD - ay in and day out it was always ways te oe agency after another—al- to — answer: ‘ Nothing to-day, uma , eep in touch. Something may ri ae 7 But nothing ever did.” The. wretched memory single noted laugh of landlan Just about down and out. The stringing ri my lodging house said I’d been me . er along just about to the limit her heart hiah gle dere the egtinee, soft, but He likewise knew nate S wasn’t and the gas company’s thing , O unless I could kick in with some M account she’d have to pass the COMmica@oo SS Co