Ladies In The Parlor by Jim Tully Read Free Book Online

tomorrow.” Her eyes roved over Leora. “No beautiful girl ever starved—unless she got her heart in a trap, and I’ve watched you for a long time, Miss Blair.”
    Leora looked up. Fearing she had said too much, Mrs. Haley laughed. “I am not at all jealous, not at two hundred and thirty pounds.” She moved closer to Leora. Her voice became more pleading. “You are a clever girl. Your head is very old, and your heart is older.”
    Leora stepped gracefully across the room. The older woman’s eyes followed. “You know, Miss Blair,” she continued, “affection can become a habit after a long married life. I expected the worst when my husband engaged you, but I’ve always chosen to talk to his women, not to him— the women understand .” She stepped heavily to the window out of which Leora was gazing. “I could go to the courts,” she said, “and make myself ridiculous, but even the judge would envy the doctor so lovely a girl as yourself.”
    Leora said nothing. Mrs. Haley, mistaking her silence, asked, “Are you in love with him?”
    “Maybe,” she lied.
    Surprised, the heavy woman finally said, “You can pick up a man like the doctor any day.”
    “I’m not so sure,” returned Leora.
    The words alarmed Mrs. Haley.
    The girl still gazed calmly out of the window.
    Mrs. Haley became more excited and said, “Even if you were in love with him, no good could come of it.
    You wouldn’t live with him a year if you had him.”
    “I would be a better judge of that,” Leora teased.
    “For your mother’s sake,” the distracted woman said.
    “Let’s leave her out of it,” suggested Leora. “She’s through with men for a while.”
    “Yes, thank God,” sighed Mrs. Haley, “I wish I were.
    Leora was again silent. As her life was not involved she could be more calm than the older woman, who now began to talk about morals and a woman’s duty to society.
    After some moments, Leora said, “I don’t know what you mean,” and then cunningly, “If I were married to Dr. Haley and he saw something in you that he didn’t in me—I wouldn’t complain—I’d feel that I didn’t own him.”
    Her words hit Mrs. Haley under the heart. She panted for breath.
    Mrs. Haley’s mind, like her heart, was now in a whirl. She dropped all feeling of superiority, and held out her hands, saying,
    “It is really serious. It will break my heart.” She talked on, and more completely revealed her strong anxiety to the instinctive Leora.
    Finally Leora said, “I owe four hundred here. I couldn’t get far on five hundred.”
    Mrs. Haley sighed with relief, “I’ll make it seven hundred—in cash,” she said.
    “All right,” agreed Leora, “give me the money and I’ll leave right now. You can tell the doctor I went home sick, and no one will ever know.”
    Mrs. Haley had come prepared.
    She counted the money while Leora watched her eagerly. When the heavy woman handed it to her, Leora took it indifferently.
    “Of course you will keep your word, Miss Blair.”
    “I’ll be as glad to go as you are to get rid of me,” was the answer.
    Mrs. Haley’s manner changed. “I know you’ll keep your word. You are not a bad girl—some day you will also marry, and then you will understand.”
    Leora hardly heard the words. The money crinkled in her hand as she went for her hat and pocketbook.
    Returning to where the doctor’s wife stood, she placed the money in the purse.
    “Don’t worry, Mrs. Haley,” she said, “I’ll be gone in a few days.”
    The door closed on her last words.
    The doctor’s wife stared about the office until long after the echo of the girl’s footsteps had died away.
    She then sank in a chair until the telephone roused her from reverie.
    She waddled to the receiver, and answered pleasantly, “Dr. Haley’s office.”
    “Is that you, dear?” asked a man’s voice, “This is Dr. Farway.”
    “This is Mrs. Haley, Doctor.”
    “Well, well, well—your voice is as youthful as ever,” he said,