Thursday. April 21, 1932
TIMES, WILLAMINA. OREGON
at least, he'd tried. H e would try at
the next garage he came to. A fter
all, they couldn’t do anything to him.
They couldn't even, with rudeness and
ridicule, make him feel any worse
than he felt right now.
All the same, he went hy two more
before he tried one. At last he opened
a door and went Inside. He took hla
autv choke out o f hla pocket and
started In on the first man he saw.
"Can I Interest you . .
H e didn’t
know what he was saying, but It must
have sounded coherent since the man
listened calmly enough; but a fte r a
while he yawned and said, “Yon’ll
have to talk to the boss. I ain't got
“Pay her real wages, whatever ahe'a
was leaning over her closer than nec hla pretenses? I f she were to see
nothing to do with IL "
worth, and always pay them, Juat us
essary, and hla good-looking-enough
through him, what would ahe think?
“la the boss out?*’ Edward asked.
you pay the others. And If ahe turns
face wore a fatuous smile. He looked
How would ahe account for hla un
He thought for an Instant he was go
out not to be good enough, discharge
around with a perceptible start as his
willingness to turn salesman, now and
ing to get a reprieve, but the man
her. Don't try to make her feel that
employer opened the door, straightened
then, when he had a chance? Would
said, "No, here he cornea now.” So
she's Just one of the family, 'helping
up, and said with a completely changed
ahe decide that he was lazy—or
he had to begin all over again.
out.’ Don't try to pretend, to anybody,
manner, "That's all.
Yours very
afraid?
The fog lifted momentarily while he
that ahe'a doing It for fun.”
truly."
O f course he believed In the auto
talked
and he heard himself saying
H e seemed suddenly, too, In a great
choke. He believed It waa a valuable
lie eeld, "O f couree not," In a rather
things . , .
hurry to get out on hla rounds. He
adjunct to a car. H e believed that It
aggrieved tone, but he admitted to
A customer had come In and the
had a lot of people to see. he told
himself that this was exactly whst he
actually waa better, more to be relied
boas was getting uneasy. "Oh, It'a a ll
Edward, between now and six o’clock.
upon, cheaper— In the long run— than
had been meaning to try to pretend.
righL I guess,” he said at last, “but
Almost against his will and aware
any of the other devices In the market
She had made him wince hy putting
there are so many o f those things.
that hla voice didn't sound aa casual
her finger on a sore spot. He had
which pretended to o more or lees
No, I don't believe I ’m Interested.
aa he meant It to, Edwnrd asked, "la
the same thing. He believed heartily
never realized before that he waa a
Nothing
doing Just now, anyway."
that a business letter, Edith?'*
enough In all thia to hire glib young
snob, but now the fact confronted him.
H e was out on the street once more.
men to go about telling people It was
The girl laughed.
**1 should say
He hnd been trying to find a way to
He had known It would come out like
true and trying to persuade them to
not I” She turned around to him with
save hie face. He flinched from the
thaL
IVhat the boas had said was
nothing In her face hut a grin of per buy chokes on their representation
thought of Edith’s going In on the
perfectly
true; there were uncounted
that It was. The only fault he had to
fectly spontaneous amusetnenL "It's
train with him every morning under
things to make cars run better, or
find with these young men was that
the silliest stuff you ever saw. It's
the eyes of his more prosperous ac
more
conveniently,
being
offered
they didn't do It well enough. That
a letter to a girl. He la sort of a —
quaintances whose daughters didn't
every day.
pretty well disposed of hla moral su
washout, Isn't he dad?”
have to go to work. He hnd hud In
W ell, he'd tried, anyhow, and the
periority, didn’t It?
the hack of his mind, even while Julia
Edward sighed.
“I ’m Inclined to
experience hadn't been so bad. By
Oh, he was making a mountain of a
tulked, the whimsical explanation he
think he Is," he said. The sigh was
comparison with the way he’d felt
m olehill!
He'd been arguing with
would make to M ariner when he told
h alf rueful, h alf relieved.
He waa
when he went Into th at place, he waa
himself about ft until he was getting
him who the new stenographer was
glad Edith felt that way about him,
almost elated. H e might aa well go
morbid. The thing to do would be to
going to be.
hut this feeling he kept to himself.
on and try other places. H e tried an
put one of the chokes Into hla pocket
He'd always said thnt snobbery waa
"You wouldn't be broken-hearted,
other and another and another. He
some day. walk Into the nearest garage
a specialized form of cowardice. Ha
then. If I let him go?" he asked.
lost count at la s t; didn't know how
he came to and sell them a dozen.
wnsn't a coward— wna he?
“Broken . . .” She whipped around
many he had tried. The thing was so
T
hat
would
settle
the
question
Mariner looked a hit hlnnk when
upon him and saw hy his grin that he
obviously useless, he was surprised to
whether
there
waa
anything
the
mat
Edward told him of Edith's plan and
waa teasing her. "H e Isn’t really any
And, In the main, so mnch good-hu
ter with him or not; take the sting out
hla own tentative agreement to It, but
mored
tolerance. They let him talk.
of
Edith's
“I
know
that
anybody
who
he offered no overt objections. She’d
They even seemed to listen, some
waa any good could sell those things."
ffnd It a pretty dull way of spending
times for one minute, sometimes for
O f course, she'd been talking about the
hpr days, he thought, but of course
as many aa five.
salesmen when she said thaL not about
ahe wouldn't have to stay If she found
The steady repetition of failure was
him.
Anyhow,
he'd
do
IL
when
he
had
It so.
wearing him down. The mood of des
time, and restore his sense of propor
“ I don’t believe she'll find It dull,”
peration that had driven him from
tion— leave his mind free for dealing
Edward said. " It w ill take her a week
with matters that were really Im the office waa once more engulfing him,
or so to get the hang of It, and It may
with fatigue, ernde bodily fatigue, on
portant.
prove too much for her, hut If It
top of IL He couldn’t go back to the
Naturally he'd find It unpleasant, a
does I ’ll let her go nnd get some one
office now. H e waa marked legibly
man of hla years and position, to start
else. It's to he a plain businesslike
w ith failure, branded with IL
out peddling, to try to get the attention
arrangement. W e'll pay her a fa ir
of a man who was busy—or pretend
A queer reminiscence came over him
salary— and see that ahe earns IL It's
ing to he— about something else and
of the other office; the handsomely
her ewn Idea, from the first, hut It w ill
didn’t want to listen to him ; to as
furnished, comfortable office In the In
be a material help to me If It works.”
sume a manner of hollow goodfellow-
surance company; of himself sitting In
M ariner said, "Oh, that's all right,
shlp . . . “Say, friend. I've got some the easy chair, dictating to a smart,
of course," and apparently forgot all
thing here . .
neat stenographer. The queer, almost
about IL H e was In a queer sort of
It made film sick to think about IL
unbelievable oddity about It waa that
mood, these duya, anyhow.
It waa
Call It fear. I f you liked. He'd do It
he
didn't wish himself back there. Not
hnrd to he sure you had hla attention,
though, some time. H e was going to
even now. For the man who had sat
for anything.
have to do It.
In that easy chair, comfortably sal
U|»on Edward, Edith's presence was
He did discharge the city salesman
aried, secure, exercising an authority
profoundly disturbing.
It gave the
and none of the applicants who an
that was unquestioned as fa r as It
day a different color and texture from
swered hla want-ad In the paper was
went, seemed to him not to have been
nny thnt hnd gone before. It made
conceivably satisfactory. The out-of-
a man at a ll— a symbol; a stuffed
the office a different place.
town salesman, too, was temporarily
s h irt
Thnt sort of electrical tingle which
Tha Fellow Was Leaning Over Har
laid off. M ariner was more nearly non
He turned Into the office of another
her presence put In the a ir couldn't be
Closer Than Necessary and Hla
existent than ever. He and Edith had
public garage and asked— it had be-
n permanent thing, could It?
How
Good-Looking-Enough Face Wore
the office to themselves.
come a mechanical question— for the
long would It last? Why, It would
a Fatuous Smile.
There came a particularly bad day;
boss. “He's busy now,” his Inform ant
last, Edward found himself deciding,
no orders at all In the first m all; an
said with a Jerk of the thumb. “You'll
good, Is he?” ehe asked.
“Oh, dear,
exnctly as long as he could play up to
obviously disingenuous letter from a
have to wait a minute.”
I wish you could get somebody that
IL On the day ahe saw him slack,
customer who owed them quite a lot
Edward drew near and waited.
was some good. O r I wish . .
despondent, frightened, ready to quit,
of money, offering a perfectly un
I t was another salesman who was
She didn't go on to complete the
the spell would be broken.
bankable ninety-day note Instead of
talking to the boss, trying to sell him
alternative, and presently he asked her
There had been nothing aggressively
the check Edward had counted upon—
a newfangled trouble lighL Edward
what
It
was.
He
didn't
much
want
to,
virtuous about her manner. She'd Just
another bad debt; a dun that he sim
listened absently at first, but a fte r
somehow. But the alienee forced the
been natural.
Once, Indeed, she'd
ply hadn't the heart to answer; a tax
a minute or two he noticed something.
question
from
hint.
mildly shocked him hy uttering a per
notice: and a long chatty letter from
The salesman wasn’t saying a word
" I wish you'd go out nnd sell the
fectly audible “d— n" over some mis
a bond house announcing an attractive
about the merits of hla device. He
thing yourself,” she said, “Just to
take In her typing, and once when
offering of municipal tax-exempt se
was talking discounts, quoting Job
show them up.”
she'd bent over hla desk to see some
curities ; that was a lt Nothing to do.
bers’ prices. There was a clean profit
H e tried to laugh that off as a sim
correction he was pointing out to her,
Out-of-doors, the day was ironically
of two dollars and twenty-five cents In
ple absurdity, but he found he couldn't
she'd forgotten she wasn't at home
fine; the sky, a pitiless cold blue; the
every individual light the boas could
let It go at that. “I doubt If I could
and rumpled hla hair.
winter's aun. In greaL broad, golden
sell, ’fh a t was more than a dollar
show them up. In the first place,” he
No, ahe wna all rlghL She'd keep
splashes, making a mockery of his
better than he could hope for under
said. "You see I've never sold any
It up as long ns he d id ; ns long as he
despair. H e shut hla hook and put
ordinary conditions. He'd better let
thing In my life. There's a— special
remained the person ahe wanted him
down hla pen. Edith at that moment
him leave a h a lf a dozen on consign
technique
about
It
that
I've
never
to be. She wouldn't be critical; she'd
had gone Into the shop for a consulta
ment w hile he was finding out what
learned. And then, of course, I have
take him fo r granted as long as ahe
tion with Charlie Franklin. H e got
the demand amounted to. The sales
to
be
here,
really;
especially
now
that
could. W hat ahe couldn't do wna be
up and put on hla hat and overcoat.
man would come back In a few days
Mr. M ariner has practically aban
sorry for him, encourage him, pull him
W ith hands that trembled, he picked
and sell him a real order.
doned
us.”
He
essayed
a
smile.
up when she saw he wna down. She
up a sample choke and slipped It,
Edward didn't try to make a sale la
“There has to be somebody on the
could pull him up wonderfully as long
along with a pad of order blanks, Into
that place. H e remembered, now, that
bridge,
you
know.”
ns she didn’t know It waa necessary.
hla pocket.
hla salesmen had always grumbled
“ Well, I ’d be here," ahe reminded
That waa what It came to, then. He
"I've got to go out for a while," he told
about discounts. He'd followed M a ri
him.
”1
mean,
I
usually
know
what
to
must never give himself away.
Edith, when ahe came hack Into the
ner's lead In stiffly maintaining the
tell people now when they telephone.
They got Into the doldrums. The
office. " I may not be back before
price. He'd learned something more.
And
I've
sold
three
chokes
this
week
Impetus thnt their business had got
lunch."
Why should any of these little dealers
to people who were driving by and
from the automobile show In January
W ell, he’d got out, anyway, he re
care how much gasoline his device
stopped
to
see
what
It
was
like.
Oh,
flected, aa he closed the door behind
had spent Itself. Nobody now took
would save?
They sold gasoline.
of course," she concluded, a fte r a
him.
He was safe so far. Edith
any Interest In hla car. The accessory
They'd sell anything there was a hand
pause,
“I
know
you
really
are
too
game was hibernating.
There'd be
hadn't remarked anything queer about
some profit In, unless It were so hope
busy. I was only— wishing. I know
nothing much doing until spring, or at
his voice.
less a fraud that It kept coming back
that
anybody
who
was
nny
good
could
least until a few line days gnve a
H e walked away without direction,
on th e ir hands.
sell those things."
hint that It wna coming. A real adver
with no conscious objective. H Is hands
He tried the new approach and
The afternoon mall enme In Juat
tising campaign wna the only thing
were In his overcoat pockets and his
found that h alf the time, perhaps, it
then, like a godsend, and gave them
that could posalbly wake them up,
fingers became conscious of the thing
worked. H e accumulated a little list
something to do. But that talk of
right now. This wna the uurden of
they were gripping—that d— d auto
of dealers to whom he was to send,
theirs wasn't forgotten. He didn't be
the salesmen's complaints.
choke! He'd left the office with the
next day, h alf a dozen of hla chokes
lieve, at least, that ahe hnd forgotten
Idea of making a sale, and with some
Edward did his best— and It was a
on consignment.
It. Aa for himself, It kept gnawing
unrecorded vow that he wouldn't come
better beat than he would have been
He was dog tired by now, but some
away In hla mind like a persistent
back until he had made a sale.
caimhle of a month ago— to Inspirit
how he couldn't stop. Something— he
mouse, audible whenever the alienee
them nnd keep them up to their work.
He was passing a big public garage
didn't know what it was— drove
gave him a chance to hear It.
He admitted It was a handlcnp thnt
now, and he paused before the show
him on.
H e couldn’t be expected, could he,
they weren't better supported by ad
window. They hnd all sorts of acces
At last, he visited a man who did
to rush out whenever he found a free
vertising, hut a real campaign wua out
sories In there. Why didn't he make
not mean to hear a word of his story.
moment nnd peddle their article about
of the question. The financial re
his beginning here? Why didn't he go
H e was a swarthy man. of sixty, per
the neighborhood? "Can't I Interest
sources of the business didn’t run
inside and find the boss? And say
haps, with a thick neck and a bullying
you In the Mariner Auto Choke?" O f
to IL
"Can I Interest you . .
voice.
course It was preposterous.
Edward had an out-of-town customer
H e turned and walked hastily, al
(TO BK CONTINUED.)
on his hands one day and took him to
All the same, he grew acutely self-
most furtively, away, as If his design
conscious about the periods of unwel
lunch. When he got back to the office,
might have been legible through the
A n c ie n t L a k e D w e llin g
come leisure which kept cropping up
about three o'clock, he found the city
window to the boss— the design, nnd
The remains of one of the lake
salesman dictating a letter to Edith.
during his business days, and he re
the terror, too, thnt set him on his
dwellings of the Gaelic period, fo rti
The glimpse he got of the man
sorted, sometimes, to rather fa r
way once more, in flight agnln. He'd
fied against Invaders, was discovered
fetched occupations to HU them up.
through the glass door, before he
have to do It some time, though. H e
on the bed of a Scottish loch which
opened It. offended him. The fellow
Did Edith suspect the hollowness o f
couldn't go back and face Edith until.
has partly dried up.
The BEGINNERS
A N o v e l by H e n ry K lte h e ll W e b s te r
SYNOPSIS
A e tln r In Rood fa ith to aid a nalffh-
bor, Ituth In grah am , In a hu aln.aa w ay,
E dw ard P a tter so n , r a u h l.r of tha C hi-
• * < “ • ■ • n r y o f a I l f . In su ran ce c o m
pany, I. w r o n g ly su sp ec ted by h l .
wire, J u lia , o f In fid elity. H er a c c u s a
tion u n lit , him for b u a ln .a ., and ha
t a k a , a abort vaca tio n . On h it retu rn
ha I. d e e p ly w ou n d ed by hla d a u g h
ter, E dith , te llin g him hla paraonal
b eln n g ln g a are In t h . " .p a r e room."
h a v in g b . . n rem oved from the room
whl^h had been h l. and hla w ife*, bed-
room F a t t .r .o n a ccep t a the altu a tlo n
ae proof o f hla w ife ’, b e lie f In hla
g u ilt. E dith , a e v .n te e n y e a r , old, I.
w orried over th# e etr a n g o m e n t of her
paA m ts. H er m oth er o n ly p artly su e-
r e .d e In her e ffo r t, to co m fo rt h .r .
The .o n , E dw ard. Jun ior, I. at c o lla g e .
A b u sin e ss m a tter b r in g , an "Inven
tor," Jam as M ariner, Into p n ttsr sn n ’s
life M ariner n .e d a H.OOO, w ith w h ich
to push h l . in v e n tio n , an a u to m o b ile
"hoke, and I'a tt.r a o n , a fte r a b rief In-
v e etlg u tlo n , d e c id e , to g o In w ith him ,
su p p ly in g th e m oney and ta k in g a part
In the m a n a g em en t W ith o u t In form ing
hla fa m ily , he realgna from the Inaur-
i n c . com p an y, d e v o tin g hla w h ole
tim e to t h . pu ahlng o f the In ven tion .
An old friend . A lbert W illard, la fr a n k
ly .k e p t lc a l o f the v a lu e o f the ch ok e.
I’a tt.r a o n t e l l , hla w ife o f t h e c h a n g e
he hae m ade, (the a c c e p t , the a ltu a tlo n
E dith I. m ade a w a r e o f th e c h a n g e
In the fa m ily fo r tu n e , by h e r m oth er
te llin g her ehe h a . d ecid ed to part
w ith th e co o k , .h e and E dith to do
the h ou aew ork . At C h ristm a s E dith*,
achool, a p r iv a te one, p u t . on a play,
In w h ich th e g ir l h a . a p a r t
H er
brother E d w ard cornea from c o lle g e
for the h o lid a y .. W ith him la lin g e r
M organ, w h oiv E d ith hrd kn ow n a . a
child H er mot? er a«!.« ': 111h to le a v e
her preaen t ach. ol and tl <h her atu -
d le a at th e publt* h igh achool. It w ill
m ean a s a v in g o f se v e ra l h u n d d d o l-
lar«, and E d ith a /r e e a . A ta lk w ith
R oger M organ heat t e n . her
E dw ard
te lle her he I. g o ln x to pay h l . ow n
w ay th r o u g h th e u n ' v .r .' t y , and ehe
decid es to le a v e s.-hoi I and fit h e r e e lf
to b ecom e her fa th er* , a ten o g ra p h er.
He la hurt, but her d e te rm in a tio n la
e v id e n t
CH APTER V
T h e C ow ard
I
They compromised with R<llth. It
w a i agreed, after tin evening'» argu
ment and a morning'. Investigation by
Julia, that the child might go to her
nice little business college for a tria l
month. By the end of that time, If
ahe atilt wanted to, .h e could go to
work for her fnther at the office.
It wna he wlfh Insisted upon the de
lay. Hla wife, to hla astonishment,
after ahe hnd heard what Edith had
to aay nbout It, waa In favor of let
ting her take the plunge at once. She
was frankly enthu.lagtlc over the plan.
11« had never been able to make out
whether Julia believed In the auto
choke or not. She had never Raid .he
thought their own car ran better with
It, than before. She blew cold when
he blew hot. She never took .0 dark
a view of the future a . when he came
home buoyant over a good order or a
gorgeous prospect
Yet when the
prospect faded or the man who had
Bent In the big order turned out not
to have the money to pay for It, when
he found himself drifting on the rocks
o f de.pnlr, ahe Just took hold of him
and pulled him through.
Often he recalled Ile rt W illard's
saying that ahe w a . a good .port. It
had surprised him at the time and It
aurprlaed him still. It waa true— true
up to the hilt. In a WRy. It waa true
If you considered what she did. Hut
If a good sport waa an adventurer,
who took hazards and defeats as a
part—even an enhancement— of a
game, then Julia waa a . little a sport
aa anyone he knew. Less than he
himself.
But whatever the source of her
enurnge might be, the steadfastness of
It sometimes made him gusp. And It
wna not, he believed, all a bluff, either.
From aoroe source or other ahe wna
finding happiness. She hadn't been
to cheerful In months. H e wondered
rather bleakly whether this might be
due to the cessntlon of their mnrltnl
relations. Was that part of their life
something she hnd nlwnys hated, and
wna It now her sustaining belief that
she had escaped from It — perman
en tly!
She confessed herself puzzled about
the change In Edith.
She'd known
more of the g irl’» real feelings, of
course, than he hnd. Anyhow, she wna
delighted with the chnnge of heart.
“It'a really on her account more than
yours," Julia nmnzlngly told him, "thnt
I want her trained to earn hpr living.
I don’t want her ever to hnve to wake
up to the fact that she's helpless, at
the mercy of some one elso—nny one
elsp, not even the best husband In the
world."
She sold It with such Intensity thnt
he asked, before he stopped to think,
“Did you ever feel like that?"
“I don't, now," she said, and he was
glad she went on talking about Edith
without giving him a chance to ask
any more questions.
"You must make It a real Job for
her. Ned." she told hint earnestly.
Pa#e 5