335: A coolness, . . .
Herb ’n’ Lorna, Chapter 13 continues
A coolness, a distance, had developed between May and Garth that made life at May’s less than pleasant. Lorna and Herb were always, awkwardly, in the middle, listening to the confidences of one or the other, trying to offer the right advice, trying to bring back the happiness that had been in the house not so long ago. They couldn’t keep it up, and so Lorna and Herb decided, in the flush of optimism that their returning prosperity brought with it, to buy themselves a house. To provide a down payment, each of them, in secret, got from the appropriate uncle an advance on future coarse-goods work.
One night, when Herb had his money in hand, he burst through the door wearing one of those ear-to-ear grins. “Lorna,” he said, “I’ve got great news.”
“Why, I have, too, Herb,” said Lorna.
“Me first,” said Herb. “Mine’s too good to keep. You don’t mind, do you?”
“No. I don’t mind at all. You go ahead.”
“I — no, you go. I can see you want to. Go ahead.”
“It’s all right, Herb, really. You go.”
“No, you, Lorna. It wasn’t fair of me to — ”
“Herrrb!”
“All right. Look at this!” He took a wad of bills from his pocket and fanned them in front of Lorna.
“Herb!” said Lorna. “Where did you — ?”
“From the Studebaker company!”
“The Studebaker company?”
“That’s right. I never said anything to you, because I didn’t want to worry you, but they held back part of my pay during the bad times. I never thought I’d see a penny of it, and then all of a sudden, today, Garth called me into his office and handed me this.”
“In cash?”
“Sure, in — well, no. No, not in cash. Of course not. A bank draft, but I cashed it. I cashed it right away because — because — I guess it was because I must have been worried that they’d go out of business before I could cash it. That must have been it.”
“Well, wait till you see this,” said Lorna. She produced a similar wad of bills.
“Where’d you get that?” asked Herb.
“From Mr. Joseph. The jeweler.”
“What for?”
“Why, the same as you. I hadn’t told you either. Mr. Joseph held back some of my pay, when he wasn’t able to pay me, sometimes.”
“He did?”
“Isn’t that a coincidence?”
“It’s practically unbelievable,” said Herb.
“It is, isn’t it?” said Lorna.
“He paid you cash?” asked Herb.
“Yes,” said Lorna. “Yes, he did. Cash. This cash. Just like this.”
“Hm,” said Herb.
“What luck,” said Lorna. “You know, I think we have enough to look for a house.”
“Oh, I’m sure of it,” said Herb.
[to be continued on Friday, September 9, 2022]
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