About Americus times-recorder. (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 11, 1925)
"7 • I'lWkß I . ly ©kXTDICE DUDTON Ipf ■> ■ • t/ SEQUELFLAPPER WIFE" ©NEA I With fascinated eyes she watched Mr. Harker come slowly toward her across the tiry office. As he came May backed away from him, step by step, knowing all the while that she should not back away. What she ought to do, she told herself, was to stand her ground firmly. But what she was afraid of was that if she did firmly stand her ground. Mi - . Harker would seize her and kiss her. Kiss her with those horrible, wet lips of his that were stretched above his yellow teeth! Mr. Harker chewed tobacco. At last May felt her shoulder blades touch the wall. She realized that she had backed away from Mr. Harker just as far as she could. And still he kept on coming. . . “Don’t you dare come a step nearer to me!” she panted. “Don’t you dare!. . . If you do I’ll scream so the whole town can hear me!” Her voice was faint and flat. Mr. Harker smiled. “Oh, no, you ■won’t!” he said comfortably. “Your want this just as much as I do. Your eyes have been asking me to kiss you for a week!. . . And what’s a little kiss between friends, anyway?. . . Just a little love, a little kiss, eh?” Before May could say another world in protest he took her firmly in his arms, and bent his head down so close to hers that she could feel his tobacco-laden breath on her cheek. Then suddenlv he let her go. “What was that?' he hissed. “S-ssh!’ He laid one of his dirty fingers on May’s mouth. There was a faint tapping on the outer side of the door—one loud tap followed by three short ones. It sounded again. “That’s Pauline. . . .she always raps that way!” Mr. Harker Whis pered in May’s ear. “Don’t make a sound, darling!” “Pauline” was Mr. Marker’ s wife, a short, fat woman with light" hair and eyelashes: a muscular and strong-minded woman, of whom it was said that Mr. Harker was mor tally afraid. May was sure she could feel his knees shaking now. His voice shook when he spoke. “Don't move or make a sound, darling!” he said again in her ear. “She’ll be gone in a minute.’ May ground her teeth. It was bad enough to be caught this way even if she had loved Mr. Harker, but hating him the way she hated him. . . .! “For two pins I’d go right out and tell her what you were doing,” she hissed. Again the tapping sounded upon the door. This time it was. more vio lent. . . .Could it be that ’’Pauline” could hear the whispers within? “What would you tell her I was doing?” asked Mr. Harker, under cover of the tapping. “Making love to me against my will, you beast you!” May whispered furiously. “You know what you were doing, without my telling you!’ Mr. Harker laughed silently. There came a sound of retreating footsteps on the sidewalk outside the office, and in a minute or two Mr. Harker unlocked the door and threw it open. May sank down at her desk and hid her face in her folded arms. She was shaking from head to foot. Suddenly she heard a voice di r r w zM/jtSSX W/ jf XIC-<Wo7 Mother This Free Baby Book Will Help You Dr. Moffett’s Baby Book is just •what mothers have long needed, ac cording to letters from thousands of mothers who have found it interest ing. helpful and sound, “I am a young mother,” writes Mrs. F. M. Effinger, of Miltori, Fla., ’“and I don’t know what I would have done without Teethfna and the help ful advice in your book. My baby started teething at three months and was awful cross. But I gave Teethina and followed your directions and she was soon well. Now, at six months old, she is a big, healthy baby with several pretty white teeth and more coming through.” Baby’s mother’s anx iety are soon relieved if Teethina is given in time. It costs only 30c, yet it is. worth its weight in gold, as millions of mothers know. T?TJ ! SEND FOR USEFUL r 1X.£,11; Booklet About Babies C. J. MOFFETT CO., COLUMBUS, GA. TEETHINA Builds Better Babies T /WWV II I 111 1 h It 111 ■ lao r IIWIR i " i !'li« W X "Don’t you dare come a step nearer to me!” she panted Don’t you dare! • . .” rectly behind her—a woman’s voice. “Now, Henry Harker, what were you and that girl doing in here, locked up alort?” it asked. There was only a groan from Harker. May swung around in her chair, Not two feet from her stood Mrs. Harker, arm akimbo, eyes fixed on May like twin points of steel. Even through her terror, May couldn’t help thinking how much ! better Mrs. Harker would look if she’d darken those white eyelashes of hers, and rub a powder puff across her red nose. . . “You hussy!” Mrs. Harker ad dressed her in a voice that rumbled like distant thunder. “You hussy, you!’ May was too startled to speak. She inwardly cursed Mr. Harker's stupidity in unlocking the door the minute he thought his wife was out of the way. “Trying to take my husband away from me!” gasped Mrs. Harker, slapping May’s desk with the flat of her hand byway of emphasis. May tried to answer her. . .tried to tell her that Mr. Harker had tried to kiss her by force. . . but she couldn’t form the words. All she could think of was a sentence in Ulysses Forgan’s letter: “This w’orld is not fit place for a beautiful wo man to trot about in, alone.” How true that was! May felt terribly alone at this mo ment. There was no one to stand up for her, to take her part. And she was blameless, too! She turned to Harker who was leaning weakly against the door jamb. “Tell her,” she pleaded, “that it wasn’t my fault. You know it LEATHER BAGS! We have just received a large assortment of Under-Arm Leather Bags. On display. Prices from $2.50 to $6.00. Come in and see what we have. THOS. L. BELL, Inc. See Our Window Display. I LET US DO YOUR I I GINNING! I I IT WILL PAY I I YOU I I Farmers Cotton Oil CO. I Phone 92 wasn’t my fault!” At that Mrs. Harker wheeled and faced her husband. She shook her fist at him. “Just you dare to defend her!” she cried. “Just you dare open your mouth to me about that. . . . that woman, Henry Harker!” The man trembled visibly through all his great bulk. He looked wildly about him, then suddenly stooped to pick up his hat from the floor where it had fallen. He put it on. “I’m not going to defend myself Pauline,” he said to his wife. “But remember what Adam said in the Garden of Eden. . . ‘The woman tempted me and I did eat!” And with that he was gone, ths screen door slamming behind him. His words seemed to hang in the air between the two women who faced eac bother without a sound faced each other without a sound man tempted me.” Then May found her voice. It eut the stillness like the hiss of a knife hurled through the room. “Your huband lies when he says that!” she said. “He locked me in here and tried to make love to me . , . to kiss me! If he’d touched me I think I should have died. I loathe your husband. . .” She shuddered and waited for Mrs. Harker to speak. But the square woman with her white lashes and colorless lips evidently had nothing more to say. She stood staring at May for what seemed an eternity, and then collapsed heavily on a chair beside the door. “He’s been doing this for thirty years,” May finally heard her mut ter to herself in a thoughtful, dull tone: ‘For thirty years.” “Doing what?” May asked. Mrs. Harker shrugged her mas- me it wasn’t his fault.” she expiam ed thickly. “I used to wonder what there was about him that attracted women. He said he couldn’t turn around without having some woman after him. But I see, now—it’s he that’s been doing all the chasing!” She nodded slowly as if her head carried a great weight. “Yep, he’s been fooling me for thirty years!” she repeated, and got heavily to her feet. “And I've watched him like a .hawk, too!” “Well, I guess there’s nothing I can do about it,” she went on. smoothing down her wide unfash ionable skirts, and straightening her hat. At the door she turned again, and I faced May with suspicion clearly I written in her pale eyes. “You’re sure you didh’t lead | I him on?” she asked sharply. I May’s smile pitied her. Listen to j I - me a minute, Mrs. Harker,” she aaid : “You’re like all the rets of the mar- I ried women. You think that just ' because a girl works in an office. | with your husband she must be in ' love with him! But it’s not so. . . . Nine times out of ten a business woman asks nothing but to be let alone by her boss and all the rest? of the men who work with her. She usually has a beau of her own. . .” “Stuff and nonsense!” Mrs. Har ker interrupted her rudely. “You can’t tell me anything about stenog raphers. They’re crazy about men. . . .most of ’em. .. or they wouldn’t hunt jobs in offices full of men! They’d be dressmakers, or teachers, or—or missionaries!” And with a mad gesture of her flapping hand she opened the screen door and waddled away down the sunny street. May laughed helplessly. “What a woman!’ she thought. •“She’s just made up her mind that every woman who earns her own living is a vamp, and nothing’s go ing to change her. I’ll bet that right now she thinks that I invited Harker to make love to me, after ali!” Sighing, she opened the drawer of her desk and took out her hand bag, some clean handkerchiefs, and a few lead pencils. She couldn’t ever darken the doors of Harker’s office again. That was certain.-, . Where would she go, now? What would she do? She asked herself these questions walking wearily along toward the shady street toward Carlotta’s HAND BAGS, SUIT CASES AND LEATHER POCKETBOOKS REPAIRED By N. R. Harris, Expert Workman Aluminumware Fred to Customers PHILLIPS CHAMPION SHOE AND . HARNESS SHOP 111 E. Forsyth Street New Arrivals In Jewelry ! Jewels and Jewelry of the highest quality, such is the mer chandise that is offered with assurance by this store. At our moderate prices the values are rare, indeed. Americus Jewelry Company NOTICE I pay highest cash price for Iron and Steel Scrap, Junk Autos, Old Tires and Tubes, Metals and Rags. T. L. DURHAM Children Cry J2 r £i j I MOTHERFletcher’s / Castoria is especially pre- / pared to relieve Infants in \ / 7 / arms and Children all ages of s Constipation, Flatulency, Wind Colic and Diarrhea; allaying Feverishness arising therefrom, and, by regulating the Stomach and Bowels, aids the assimilation of Food; giving natural sleep. To avoid imitations, always look for the signature of Absolutely Harmless -No Opiates. Physicians everywhere recommend it. She was tired, and it wouid be love-’ ly to do nothing. . .just to lop around” in Carlotta’s comfortable little bungalow. Carlotta wouldn’t mind. . . .she’d probably love to have her around, to help out with the housework a little. A delicious odor greeted her nostrils when she opened the front door of the bungalow a minute la ter. ' S’n<* sniffed appreciatively. “Roast duck and apple fritters!” Carlotta greeted her, poking her head around the corner of the door that led from the kitchen. “We’ra having a regular dinner party to night, with shieks ‘n’ everything!” “Shieks?” May asked, puzzled. “Nothing else but,” answered Carlotta, coming into the hall. May saw,that she was dressed in her best embroidered crepe and had her thin light hair newly marcelled. “Dan’s coming, and he’s bringing Gabriel Gungliemo with him.” May gasped. Gabriel Gunliemo was probably the handsomest man in the world. . . . certainly the handsomest one on the screen. ‘How in the world does Dan happen to know him?” she asked. Carlotta shrugged. “How does Dan know anybody?” she asked. ‘He just picks people up. Everbody likes him. . . . Now, look here, May you leave this Gugliemo man alone! You can flirt all you wanto with Dan, but lay off the Dago. I want to vamp him, and make Dan jealous, See?” May opened her eyes wide. “Well, I like that!” she cried. “Trying to tell me what men to talk to. . . or what men not to talk to! You cer tainly have your nerve, Carlotta! I’ll do as I please!” There was insolence, in her ”ery walk as she swung into her own bedroom and closed the door. (Continued.) Attention, Masons Regular communication Americus Lodge No. 13, F. and A. M., to night 8 o’clock, Masonic Hall. All Masons cordially invited. C. M. BRADLEY, W. M. S. L. M’DANIEL, Secy. j fih- 1 ST v * oK K: eKklg KSttA jM I CHEESE 29c Full Cream, Per Pound FLOUR. 146 Idahome, 24 Pounds, $1.44; Twinida • COFFEE 34c Pure, Pound Package t TEA 42c Maxwell House, 1-4 Lb. 21c; 1-2 Lb RAISENS 15 c Sun-Maid Seeded and Seedless, Package PRUNES 1571 Per Pound * PEAS 15J •Dried California Black-Eyed, Pound , Wesson Oil 4zL r Pints, 23c; Quarts Snowdrift 1 No. 10 Bucket JL RICE 9 C Fancy, Best Grade, Pound Pineapple 34 c Gold Bar, No. 2 1-2 can, Sliced Pie Peaches 19 C No. 2 can, 9c; No. 2 1-2 can ■■■ Cake Flour 36c Swansdown, Package lard 15‘c Compound, Pound mb Toilet Paper 4c Per Roll * Tripe 23c Armour’s, No. 2 can Shrimp 23c Royal Scarlet, No 1 can Syrup ~69c Signfet, Gallon tan Tomatoes 1 fi c No. 2 Can “ Beans 10c Campbell’s, No. 2 Can Soup 10c I CampbelPs, any kind —.f.■
