The Crimson Thread: An Adventure Story for Girls

rform in her own room with the shades down, followed by five minutes of a cold shower, she stood there pink and glowing as a child. The glow of health and joy

eyes caught the reflection of a tiny spot of crimson against the darker col

he whispered. "I do won

hirled her swiftly t

her eyes as she passed between the tables of books in

a look of witching mockery? One thing she did see plainly enough-there

ent down the chute,

threw back the broad front of

something about

nd Lucile thought she saw

something about t

ver ventured into matrimony, I know almost nothing about women's garments. I should say, thoug

f mockery in it, that Lucile abruptly turned away. Plainly there was nothing to

to fall upon a stack of books th

two hundred books in that stack last ni

We shall need to be ordering more soon. You see, it's the critics. They say it is a good book, an especially good b

t that Jefrey Farnsworth, the author of this remarkable book "Blue Flames," (of which she and Laurie had just been speaking, and which was provin

from his publishers saying that his book would undoubtedly be a great success and that, should he be willing to arrange a lecture to be given before women's clubs regarding his work and his books, they had no doubt but that he would greatly profit by it and that in the end his sales would be doubl

to herself, "but if it's tru

look of unusual interest that she had noticed on Lau

a strong suggestion which sh

r sales-book and plunged into her work. Even a sales-book of soiled red l

n hour the great office buildings poured forth people like a molten stream. Bosses, bookkeepers, stenographers, sales-managers, office boys, every type of man, woman and ove

department-these were the spots where the great waves of humanity broke most fiercely. Crowded between a fat woman with a muff and a slim man with a grouch, Lucile wrote a sale for a tired looking little lady with two small children. In the meantime an important appear

king girl. "There must be a train leaving eve

ones every hour; smiling when a smile would come, wondering in a vague sort of way what it was all about, c

flood ebbed away. Here and there a little group of people moved slowly away; and here someone argued over a long forgot

, Lucile added up her sales and then returned to assist in straight

ul respect for books,"

led Laurie. "They'll wreck a half dozen of them t

ar Rollo or Algernon if he should receive a book with

ck to his nervous sy

tury classics in order and filled the gaps left by the frenz

aid, "is a ti

tle: "The Hope

it when they may really h

happiness?"

ne may! W

o find a custom

u sell m

thrust a copy of Pin

as

ake it with

eet mellowness

to writing the sale. As she wrote, almost automatic

ght belong to a musician or a pickpocket. Lucile felt she would always remember those hands as easily as she might recall the face of some other person. As if to make doubly sure that she might not forget, on the for

er book to the wrapper and delivered the package to the purcha

ncing toward her cash book which lay open

d that the top page of her book had been twice pierced by a needle and that a crimson thread had been dra

of purple. The next instant she was dashing down the aisle, hoping against hope that she mig

iled. The woma

no attention to our customers! If I had but looked at her face I would have known. Then I would have demanded the truth. I would have-

her with an effort, she hurried back to her table where

d not been interrupted, "I don't see much use of writing a book on the hope for hap

d's a wilde

d is not

of spring blossoms, the songs of birds, the laugh of children at play, the lazy drift of fleecy clouds against the azure sky, if these things make y

sked the question almost wistfully. She

'm quite sure that happiness does not come from long hours in a ball-room nor from smoking cigarettes, nor any one of th

em. Find a place you love to be and be there. Keep your body and mind fit. Sleep eight hours; eat slowly; take two hours for quiet thinking every day. Have

re. Christmas eve comes and out we go. But look at Donnie and Rennie, Bob, Bettie, and dear ol

y, no love, no fellowship. But look! What would happen if Rennie, the dear mother and straw-boss of us all, should slip before a car and be seriously injured to-night? What would happen? Not a soul of us all, even us transients, bu

wfully. Goodnight," she rushed for the cloak-room preparatory to donning the fur-lined cape. She half expected to find it go

rie given her his pass-out? Why had she left her gorgeously beautiful cape behind for a shop girl to wear home? How had the unusual crimson thread come to be drawn into the cloth of the cape? Had the mystery woman put it there? Had she drawn that thread through the page of Lucile's cash book? It seemed that she mus

of that wonderfully successful book. What did Laurie k

but one conclusion-that she would believe Laurie a sincere and trustworthy person until he ha

strange. Surely one who can talk so wonderfully about h

f the right sort added much to the happine