Tragedy Trail | Page 2

She's the first society woman I ever knew about who went into such a thing sincerely. It isn't just a plaything with her. She has helped the girls a lot."
"I suppose I'd better run in and see how Mabel is before I get ready for dinner," Alice Patton said.
"She's got a headache, that's all," Mrs. Burke persisted. "This is going to be an awful night; I can feel it in my bones. The air is so heavy and depressing."
"That's due to the decaying vegetables in the Italian grocery across the street," Alice Patton responded.
She hurried into the house, ran quickly up the stairs, tossed her hat on the bed in her own little room, and then hurried to the room of her particular chum, Mabel Higgins.
Miss Higgins was stretched across the foot of her bed, with a wet towel wrapped around her head.
"It's the same old thing, Alice," she complained. "I endured it all morning, and went to the girls' club for lunch, and then decided that I'd come home. Mrs. Roberts was there, and she said it would be foolish for me to go back to work."
"You've been using your eyes too much."
"We've got to get that centerpiece done, Alice. We haven't much more time."
"Don't you worry about that," Alice Patton told her. "I'll come in here after dinner and work on it as late as I can; or I'll take it to my own room, if you want to keep the lights out here."
"Please come in," Mabel decided. "I'll be all right if I just stay still for a time."
"Want some dinner?"
"No. I told Mrs. Burke that she might bring me some tea and toast; that's all I can eat. I'll be all right in an hour or so if I keep quiet. I feel so--so creepy!"
"It's the weather, Mabel. It makes me feel shivery, too. I think there is going to be a storm."
Alice Patton went to her own room again, and ten minutes later was in the big dining room eating with the others. The meal at an end, she hurried back to her chum's room. Mabel Higgins had consumed her tea and toast.
"Where's that centerpiece?" Alice demanded.
"In the top drawer of the bureau."
"Sure you don't want me to go to my own room to work?"
"No, dear. I'm much better now. And we can talk if you work at it in here. My head doesn't ache so bad if I keep my eyes closed and don't move around."
Alice Patton took the big centerpiece from the drawer, sat down beside the table, adjusted the light, and began the work.
"To think that Jessie Simpson will be a bride before the end of another week!" she said.
"She's getting a good man, too," Mabel added. "He's steady and straight."
"A plumber!"
"They make tremendous wages, dear. Jessie is a lucky girl. She'll have a dandy flat."
"And she'll have some centerpiece to put on her table!" Alice Patton said.
"I showed it to Mrs. Roberts at noon, and she said that we had done fine. She told me about a new stitch, too."
"This needle is about as dull as it could be."
"You'll find a couple of new ones in that little envelope on the dresser. Mrs. Roberts gave them to me. They are a better kind for this sort of work, she said. She had a package of them--just got them at the dealer's."
"She's a funny rich woman," Alice Patton commented; "always wanting to be at work."
"She was working on a scarf to-day--and it was some scarf!" Mabel Higgins said. "She just loves to do fancy work, even if she is rich. I'll bet she almost pays the rent of that little shop where she buys her stuff. I went there with her once. A queer little fellow runs it. He's some sort of foreigner. Mrs. Roberts told me that he knows more about embroidery and silks and needles and patterns than any woman on earth. He's really an expert."
"Deliver me from being an expert on embroidery!" Alice Patton exclaimed. "When we get this centerpiece finished I am done with embroidery for life! If you ever decide to get married, Mabel, I'll buy you a cut-glass pickle dish."
She got the package of needles, selected one and threaded it, and sat down to resume her work. There was silence for a time. And then Mabel Higgins started to get up from the bed.
"Better lie still," Alice advised.
"I just want a drink of water."
"Stay on the bed, and I'll get it for you. I want one myself. Oh, confound it!"
"What's the trouble?"
"I stuck my finger with the needle, if you want to know. That is the 'steenth time this week. I'm not very handy with the thing, it seems to me. Jessie Simpson never will know what I've suffered to help make her a wedding present."
She