Argosy All-Story Weekly, July 1, 1922 — page 126: what you’re looking at

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

By LYON MEARSON AMES HENRY HARRINGTON cast a rueful glance at his check book, add- ing up his balance mentally with no trace of satisfaction. “« Sixty-five dollars’ rent—each and every month; now, how in the name of the good St. Patrick can a fellow make any headway against that?” he growled ill-temperedly. “Oh, Jimmy boy, that’s the catch in it —you can’t,” Anne smiled soberly, with a thoughtful gleam in her nice brown eyes, absently running her fingers through his blond hair. “You see,” went on James Henry, “ it’s the rent that’s really holding us back. It’s more than any fifty-dollar-a-week man ought to pay—more than we have any right to pay. And—”’ “ And it’s really getting us nowhere,” Anne added. “It’s not like paying off in- stallments on books, or furniture, or Lib- erty bonds, where there’s an end to it some time, and where you eventually get some- thing for your money. It’s something like throwing bricks into a quagmire — you throw and you throw and you throw and—’”’ “Enough!” declared James Henry. ‘“* And you throw,” went on Anne regard- less, “‘ and the sixty-five dollars—I mean the bricks—sink out of sight, but you never come anywhere near filling it up. It’s like that man we studied about in Greek my- thology who was always rolling a heavy rock uphill, and just as soon as it got near the top it rolled down again, and he had to pay his rent all over again—I mean he had to roll it up again, and when it got to the top again it rolled down again and—”’ ‘Enough, chatterbox!” interrupted her husband, seizing her around the waist and making her stop by the simple expedient of placing his lips on hers. A short interlude. “But I don’t really know what we can do, old girl,” he added after a while. “* Every time we look for a cheaper apart- ment they have gone up—by golly, pretty soon you'll have to give ’em your right eye as first payment on the rent of a two-room 916 1OOOLK C©