The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-12-09
HE N SHE.

ne iVed al No. IL Woodman street, Cnel-
sea- She lived at No. 13. For ten years they
had been opposite ~neighbors. each occupy
ing the drawing room apartments She had
taken up her abode there six weeks after
He was installed. and in a dull uninterested
way he had watched the unloading OF the
cab. the taking in OF the luggage. the bust
ling to and fro OF the small slim woman
whose face he got a very imperfect glance
at. She looked sbout thirty, not that He
cared whether she was twenty or seventy.
His heart just then was heavy and sore: he
had lost the one relation he had left. the
only being in the world he cared for-his old
mother-and In place OF home and her he
was simply now "the drawing-room fodger."
For some time after her arrival. She
rather annoyed him BY standing at her win
dow. looking straight in front Of her, which
meant looi1ng into his room, and he got
into the habit of calling her Miss Pry, and
tt quite amused him TO devise plans for
DAZZLING her curiosity. When, as he sup
posed she found II impossible to satisfy her
self and turned away, he would seek a posi-
ton where he could get sight OF her, and 1t
was thus he discovered that that something
she bent over and Rugged to her was a
black kitten. and his eyes involuntarily
glanced to an empty cage in which, a. few
weeks before. his mothers old canary had
moped and died. and somehow he could not
see the opposite house SO clearly.
He left his lodgings TO go 10 the city.
where the insurance office was in which he
was a clerk, every morning at twenty min
utes to .: this gave him time TO walk to
Charing Cross, where he took an omnibus
for the rest OF the way. and She. after some
months noting this fact, began to say to
har cor ssTts~ 49, - - .t
". and I got ready. There goes Mr.. Pune
tual over the way"
Size never saw him return, becadse the
hours at her situation were longer than his.
She was typist to a wholesale firm In Bed
ford street. and it was generally five, often
six. O'Clock before she had finished her pile
or letters But she was in no hurry 20 get
back-she did not say ''to get home" for
the sound Of that word still choked her
and when He had noticed her looking
through the window-panes, playing, as he
thought, the spy on him, her blurred eyes
nothing but a picture. from memory, of a
coy room In a country rectory, with faith
er and mother and Tom and Anne. all now
dead and gone. and she left alone to
struggle as best she could to get her own
living.
And so years went on, with all the joys.
and sorrows, and changes they bring; but
chance. opportunity. and fortune, whether
good or bad, seemed to have forgotten and
passed over the two occupants of ~ and IL
woodman street; the duh routine of their
uaug hVes Went on exactly the same.
Stay. though; there was one small differ
ence. Although they had never exchanged
OF the road being between them. thew tooL
q kfndlier interest. and in a way occupied
themselves with one another in a far more
est suspicion of.
They still kept for each other the names
a. ~ Ut FunctuaI and Miss Pry. md gradual
returned, by watching for her gas to be
asnted. 'Ihey take advantage of her being
q woman, ana Keep her too late" he would
say; and this leading him to wonder what
ner occupation could be. he one dav ven
cured 10 put the question to his landlady.
Miss Bates. when she brought up his tea.
Notwithstanding Miss Bates's firmly
grounded prejudice against female dodgers.
wno didnt have their proper dinners out.
cooked with their teas, she showed her sense
OF Justice by. opining that the young person
was respectfully conducted, inasmuch as she
never saw nothing bIameworthy in her"
out SO far as she could make out. her occll-
patton wasn't millinery. or music lessons. or
wouldn't trouble the Jenkens's. for ANYBODY
particular would be very out of place in
She. too. had made her effort at discovery.
and had said casually to the domestic
uTodge' DO you know the name of the gen.
zie?' III"
WHAT he as lives with tn old cat Bates?
NO, nor L don't want to neither. He Amt
no gentlenan-he never give the postman a
Drassxfarthin at Christmas" The postman
was reckoned by Lizzie among her follow
turn into my young man who has offered
10 treat me to the pantomime."
Pernaps he cannot afford to give"
Lizzie gave a -contemptuous toss of her
mead; cant aford!' she said. why, you
give him sixpence and has to work hard and
zrfn and na hos in TvfDA a~1 - -
beer: 1 watched 'em deHverin' 1t there.
see him come home this afternoon with a
pro: that shows him for a reg'lar old
A Bird She made no more inquiries from
Lizzie. but several times she found herself
canary. Anne had been so fond of birds
and so clever with them, she hoped he
would manage It properly.
IS soon as the weather grew warm She
saw that the bird was a canary. He meant
ner TO notice II. for he displayed il rather
docking out OF the corner of his eve to see
aI she was taking notice, and saying to
himself the while. Come. come. Miss Pry,
1 have a pet now as well as you"
Perhaps six or seven years went by. in
exactly the same fashion. when a most ex-
friend of former pdays. hanpe11ns sn tn b ana
something about the old rectory and remem-
Dering how much kindness she had been
London worker to come down TO Weather
dale and spend Christmas there. and it was
oy reason or THIS mat He, startled by the
unusual sound OF a cab being whistled for.
got up from his breakfast to see that IL was
driven up TO No. 10. Why, no-yes, actually
% was for Miss Pry; the servant girl was
hosting up ner box to the cabman. and
there at the door She was standing with a
basket-evtdently the cat in it-on her arm.
Where could she be going? He forgot that
phe could see him, and when she looked up
he could almost fancy she smiled, her face
wore such a beaming expression. At that
moment there was a great furry and hustle
10 get IN, the cabman bent down to get his
directions. and away he drove. with such a
show or haste that the watcher. from the
window. returning TO his breakfast, found
himself saying, Put everything off to the
very last minute; that's just like a woman"
Cross he looked at the station and wondered
was it there that Miss Pry had been going.
and then he forgot all about her until at the
usual hour. drawing aside the blind TO look
out. he saw the dark window. and he felt
as IL a friend had gone from him.
The Following Sunday was a very dull
uay. Usually He looked out at the hour
when he knew She would be going to
church. often saying. You're very foolish
TO go without an umbrella; it's almost GER
tain to rain before you get home;' and
wrnen MS rorebodings proved true. he would
leei quite ndgety, and say. She'll get wet,
and spoil all her best things"
Pernaps IL was that going away at Christ
mas that made him think OF a holiday; at
all events. IN the summer a holiday he took.
and then IL was her turn to say TO her cat.
Oh. Totty. | hope Mr.. Punctual will soon
come back. for without him I never know
the time" And missing the canary. she
hoped the landlady was OOking after az: and