The Detroit Times

When he usually returns to the table at night it's all over.... How happy I was that night of Stella's arrival! Even father, with thoughtfulness and understanding, ate his dinner as quickly as he could and then retired to his own room and shut the door, thus leaving my friend and myself to exchange confidences. Stella sat in the big chair in our tiny sitting room, and I dragged a cushion or two from the lounge and knelt beside her with my elbows on her knees. "You look thin, dear, a little," I said. "Is it work, or is it any worry in which I could help?" "It isn't worry," Stella assured me. "What have I got to worry my old yellow head about when I've such a dear little girl for a friend? It's just the road, Beth. It's pretty hard work, you know. At first we had one and two week stands but afterwards we went hopping from Oshkosh to Kalamazoo, "a different Jayburg each night. When they keep you moving like that, you leave about half a pound in every town." "Well, you'll rest now, dear, won't you?" I suggested. "You won't try to get another engagement for a few weeks?" "No, I guess I won't," said Stella, and stretched and yawned. "I'll take a month off. I have enough money. I can stand it. I'll sit down and be the domestic one, have the dinner ready for you each night when you come in from the office." She paused a moment, and then abruptly: "What's the matter with your father, Beth?" He looks pretty sick to me, she added. "I know," I agreed. "He is not very sick, does he?" Of course I'm with him all the time, so I don't notice as much as you would but he is awfully weak. He scarcely ever gets downtown these days for more than an hour or so. And he's glad to go to bed each night right after dinner. "Well," said Stella slowly, "That's bad. Little girl, I guess he'd better have a good doctor look him over. Maybe a few months in a sanitarium might set him up." I laughed bitterly. "Where would I get the money for the good doctor or where the money for the sanitarium for a few months?" I asked. "We'd have to manage it between us," Stella told me. You know,