itting by the open window, reading the
dramatic news in a Denver Sunday paper. Tillie kept a scrapbook in which
she pasted clippings about actors and actresses.

"Come look at this picture of Pauline Hall in tights, Thea," she called.
"Ain't she cute? It's too bad you didn't go to the theater more when you
was in Chicago; such a good chance! Didn't you even get to see Clara
Morris or Modjeska?"

"No; I didn't have time. Besides, it costs money, Tillie," Thea replied
wearily, glancing at the paper Tillie held out to her.

Tillie looked up at her niece. "Don't you go and be upset about any of
Anna's notions. She's one of these narrow kind. Your father and mother
don't pay any attention to what she says. Anna's fussy; she is with me,
but I don't mind her."

"Oh, I don't mind her. That's all right, Tillie. I guess I'll take a
walk."

Thea knew that Tillie hoped she would stay and talk to her for a while,
and she would have liked to please her. But in a house as small as that
one, everything was too intimate and mixed up together. The family was
the family, an integral thing. One couldn't discuss Anna there. She felt
differently toward the house and everything in it, as if the battered
old furniture that seemed so kindly, and the old carpets on which she
had played, had been nourishing a secret grudge against her and were not
to be trusted any more.

She went aimlessly out of the front gate, not knowing what to do with
herself. Mexican Town, somehow, was spoiled for her just then, and she
felt that she would hide if she saw Silvo or Felipe coming toward her.
She walked down through the empty main street. All the stores were
closed, their blinds down. On the steps of the bank some idle boys were
sitting, telling disgusting stories because there was nothing else to
do. Several of them had gone to school with Thea, but when she nodded to
them they hung their heads and did not speak. Thea's body was often
curiously expressive of what was going on in her mind, and to-night
there was something in her walk and carriage that made these boys feel
that she was "stuck up." If she had stopped and talked to them, they
would have thawed out on the instant and would have been friendly and
grateful. But Thea was hurt afresh, and walked on, holding her chin
higher than ever. As she passed the Duke Block, she saw a light in Dr.
Archie's office, and she went up the stairs and opened the door into his
study. She found him with a pile of