Christian fiction; Love stories; Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; Nineteen twenties -- Fiction; Young women -- Fiction
whether she believed, or prayed or not, she would have merely smiled as
at one who is talking about something he does not understand. So simply
had she been taught in the Faith while she was yet a little child, and
so deeply and truly had the Faith grown within her year by year.
Joyce smoothed her hair with the tiny comb and mirror in her handbag,
and decided to hunt up the railroad station and wash her face. She did
not care to appear at Mrs. Bryant’s until her arrangements were more
complete, neither did she wish her to know that she was so hard put
to it for shelter that she had slept in a newspaper bed all night.
It would not look well for her reputation to be poor as a tramp. She
wanted to be respected if she was poor, and she wanted to hold up her
head and feel independent, not to have people feel they must offer her
charity. She must hunt up those two men right away and try to make them
take that money back, or thank them at least if she found it would hurt
their feelings to restore the money. She felt deeply touched at the
thought of their act of kindliness. Perhaps they had daughters of their
own, and had noticed her thin little purse. Men who would take the
trouble to dig up a vine and make a shelf to keep it safely must have
fine souls within them.
Joyce folded her bed into an innocent-looking pile of papers, so that
it would tell no tales of the night, in case any one looked in the
window, pulled the casements shut, and moving the box against the wall
softly opened her door. As she did so she noticed for the first time a
key hanging on a nail high up on the door frame. She fitted it into the
lock and found to her joy that it worked perfectly. The coast seemed
to be clear for the moment. The yellow Ford, without a muffler, had
whizzed away after another load of freight, and the only person on the
side street was walking away with his back toward her. She cast a
furtive glance toward Mrs. Bryant’s kitchen door but it seemed to be
closed and no one about, so she locked her door, slipped quickly out
the gate and around the corner without being seen.
She found on inquiry that the pretty little stone railroad station
was only four blocks away. It contained a tiny wash room that was in
tolerably clean condition, so that she was able to make herself quite
respectable, although her serge dress did look a bit rumpled from
sleeping in it, and she realized that a hot iron for pressing must be
among the first necessities, if she was to keep neat and presentable
for finding a job. An iron would mean some kind of a stove. What kind?
There was no gas in her little house, and she hated oil. Aunt Mary
had felt it was dangerous. Still, that was probably the only thing
possible. Mrs. Bryant would perhaps let her press her dress once, but
she did not want to be constantly beholden to her landlady for the
every-day necessities. Well, a way would come. She must trust and work
each problem out as it appeared. She could not face them all at once.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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