Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 February 1919 — A SCRAP OF PAPER [ARTICLE]

A SCRAP OF PAPER

By ESTELLE M. TIDD.

TUliiilllllllllllllllllllilllllillliiillllllliillK * Copyright. McClure Newspaper Syndicate.? The first time the' telephone rang that morriipg young Mrs. B picked up the receiver and heard the following: “That.you, Nell? Say, did you notlee a little'folded pleee of paper on the hall floor after I left? Didn’t? Well, will you look, please; and say, Neil, If, you find it, dbn't look at it„ please, do -you hear? It's a little bit private. I'll hold "toe line. Hurry back.” The paper was quickly found and' Nell rushed hack to inform her husband of her success. “Good! I don't want to lose that,” was the reply. “Put it in the little drawer in my desk, and you won’t look at it, will you, Nell? Promise.” "Awfully private, it seepis to me, but you needn't worry, I won’t look at your precious paper. Good-by.” She sat for a moment, regarding the bit of paper with hostile eyes. “Pretty fussy to call it a folded piece of paper,’ ” she mused indignantly. “Hooks to me hke a fidtC—a regular note.” Presently there rushed in upon her Julia D , her best and frankest friend. “Have you heard the latest?” she demanded. “Sue B is here —came Tuesday; she’s going to stay a month. She’s looking magnificent. Funny she hasnjt visited in town, since your-en-gagement to Harley was announced over Two yrs ago. .She used to be crazy about him, They made the most stunning pair—everybody turned to look. I wonder- she paused abruptly, then rattled’ on: “Say, Nell, I wouldnf dare t o marry a handsome man —you never can tell —Goodness, Nell, don't ever wear that” shade-of-blue again. You look five years older in it.” Julia had just whirled out when the telephone rang again. Harley's sister Lou wanted Nell’s new recipe for eggless cake, and after hearing it she contributed her share to the morning’s budget. “Whose car were you out in last ifight at Pinetree Heights? After you had whizzed by, breaking every speed law ever made, I realized that one of the men was Harley. It was so near dark I couldn't recognize anyone else, but I suppose you were along, YOU certainly had a reckless person at the wheel.” ——— —; —■ “I —i’ll tell you all about it later, Lou. I —l think there’s something burning on the stove. Good-by." She hung up the receiver. Out at Pinetree Heights last night, and he had told her it was a business engagement that had kept him until 7 :3b. He had been unusually high-spirited duringthe evening, and then alternately absorbed in thought. What could it mean? Miserably she went about her work. She thought incessantly of that arch-charmer. Sue B t and the mysterious note, and though she felt a wholesome distaste in doing so, still she kept wondering whether Sue B —- and the note did or did not belong together. “No, I won’t look at it,” she assured herself. “I said I wouldn’t, s and I won’t—l won’L” , .. . ■ But before she had finished speaking her hand reached straight to the drawer, opened it and drew out the paper. “All the rest of the day, ’ she choked, “I’ve got to live with this aw TutrfOte^— —-—— Springing upv sim-erumpled it.“I know what I’ll do. I’ b burnup the horrid thing. Harley shan’t have it—nobody shall have it, and if it’» burned up I can’t read it.” Lighting a match, she knelt before the grate. She had just thrown down the flaming ‘‘Scrap when the front door banged and her husband entered the room, going straight to the desk in the

corner. “Building a fire, Nell? Say, where s that paper I ’phoned about?” His voice was edged with excitement. “That’s important.” “Yes, o*f course—very Important— to you. Oh, I know all about it. “What’d you look at it for? By George, you said you wouldn’t. I like that!” “I didn’t look at it!” she flamed. I had some degree of honor, but I’ve burned the horrible thing, ami I didn’t have to read it to find out a few things —joy riding way out to Pinetree Heights last night, for instance—and “What!” broke in Harley. “lou burned that paper—you silly—and little you know what I was out to Pinetree Heights for. That peachy little bungalow out there, you know, Nell, that we later, perhaps. We can have a gardni and chickens and help out on our bit. I was out there again this afternoon, looking the place over, and have come back now to take you there. And, listen here. I’ve just bought another Liberty bond, my biggest yet, for you this time, and the ‘horrible thing’ you just saw fit to burn up was the receipt for 'fhO first payment. I was going to give you a pleasant little bunch of surprises, -and that was why I told you not to look at it.” “Oh. Harley, how awful!” Sha wailed. “You can’t ever forgive me.” There was such distress in her face that Harley’s annoyance vanished. "There now. partner, don't you care, * he southed. “Nothing’s really lost; the bank’s got the record, but see here, Nell, don't ever go up in the air over shadows again. I shan’t ever play any game without you for a partner.'*