Ladies In The Parlor by Jim Tully Read Free Book Online Page A

frowning.
    “Thank you, Doctor.” Mrs. Haley smiled with satisfaction.
    “Will you please tell the doctor I called?”
    “Certainly, Doctor.”
    Farway hung up the receiver as though it burned his hand.
    “The damned old crow,” he said, “how’d she get there —I wonder what the devil’s wrong?”
    Leora opened her purse and felt the crisp money as she hurried along the street. Her mind raced with her steps.
    She would leave the town forever. How glad she was that she had not run away. She thought of the funeral expenses.
    “It will spoil him if I pay them,” she said to herself, as she thought of her father, “but it will help Sally and the other kids.”
    The thought came suddenly—she did not have to leave town—she had seven hundred dollars—she might stay and get more—and then—no—she would leave—she was better off—Alice was doing very well.
    She wondered what Dr. Haley would think when he returned to the office and found her gone. How would Mrs. Haley explain to him?
    Her mind suddenly fertile with schemes, another idea came to her.
    She turned in at the undertaker’s place of business.
    He rubbed the palms of his hands together and opened his solemn face in a fatuous smile, saying, “Can I do something for you?”
    “Yes,” said Leora. “I collected some of my mother’s insurance. If I pay you two hundred dollars in cash will you give me a receipt in full?”
    The undertaker wrote the receipt while Leora, waiting, looked about the room which was lined with coffins.
    “Do you ever try to figure who’ll fill them?” she asked.
    “Not so much that,” replied the undertaker, “but I often wonder how I’ll ever get them paid for.”
    The girl pondered, “That’s right, you do have to buy them, don’t you?”
    “Yes, indeed, they don’t grow on trees,” replied the undertaker.
    Still elated with so much money, the idea of coffins growing on trees fascinated her.
    Her smile made the undertaker forget his dingy business.
    “Are you still working for Dr. Haley?” he asked.
    “Yes,” Leora replied, smiling, “He sent me to get a coffin for Mrs. Haley.”
    “She needs one,” smiled the undertaker, “though I haven’t any large enough.”
    For several blocks the girl thought of coffins growing like apples on a tree.
    The trees multiplied, and all contained coffins. Their handles gleamed in the sun as they swayed back and forth.
    She could hear the wind swishing around them.
    Suddenly one fell to the ground. The lid flew open. Her mother stepped out. Shuddering, she ran a short distance to banish the thought of coffins from her mind.

Chapter 7
    Her father was rocking in his chair when she arrived. His wife’s death had made him abject.
    “I’ve been thinkin’,” he said, a whine in his voice, “how’d Buddy ever hear about his mother.”
    “Oh,” was Leora’s answer, “he may be coming back any day.”
    Her mind still in a furor, she looked restlessly about the house.
    She went to the porch just as Dr. Farway entered the gate.
    “I telephoned,” he explained. “You were not there.”
    Her quick mind began to work.
    “Mrs. Haley became so jealous, I had to leave—as if I’d have anything to do with him—” she said contemptuously. He looked at her in surprise, as she continued, “I’m afraid it’s not over yet. She threatened to drag you into it.”
    The doctor now looked bewildered as Leora went on, “Mrs. Haley screamed as I left, ‘I’ll shake the whole town with this—Dr. Farway using you, then turning you over to my husband.’ “
    Dr. Farway pondered, as Leora put in, “Naturally I wouldn’t get you mixed up for worlds.”
    “What are we to do?” he asked.
    It was the question Leora wanted.
    “I’d leave town if I had the money.”
    “Where to?”
    “Chicago—Alice Tracy is there.” She sighed, “But it costs so much to travel.”
    She had been the most delightful habit in the doctor’s life. Faced suddenly with the possibility of her