"Well, they sent off the letters, an' by an' by come the answer. It was
kind of shy and stiff-like, an' I think it sort of disappointed 'em; but
they tried ter throw it off an' say that Jimmy was so modest he didn't
like ter take praise.
"'Course the whole town was interested, an' proud, too, ter think he
belonged ter us; an' we couldn't hear half enough about him. But as time
went on we got worried. Things didn't look right. The Hadleys was still
scrimpin', still sendin' money when they could, an' they owned up that
Jimmy's letters wan't real satisfyin' an' that they didn't come often,
though they always told how hard he was workin'.
"What was queerer still, every now an' then I'd see his name in my
weekly. I looked fer it, I'll own. I run across it once in the
'Personals,' an' after that I hunted the paper all through every week.
He went ter parties an' theaters, an' seemed ter be one of a gay crowd
that was always havin' good times. I didn't say nothin' ter the Hadleys
about all this, 'course, but it bothered me lots. What with all these
fine doin's, an' his not sendin' any money home, it looked as if the old
folks didn't count much now, an' that his head had got turned sure.
"As time passed, things got worse an' worse.
Pages:
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153