The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1896-12-04
TALEOFANOPEN DOOR

There really was no telling how long she
had been living there all alone except fo1
tie two servants Even the servants them
Ives could not have told. Susan, the
cook if you had asked her about it, would
lave said:
Law, chile, don ask mo 10 scch qucs
tons. Use been shet up in dissher house
81 long Use got plum moldy."
And if the years had not left mold on
TIE mind and the heart of the lonely old
woman in the upper rooms it was not be-
cause the time had been too short. People
wondered what kind Of woman she could
have been when she was young, but that
did not really matter. They all knew very
we'll what kind of woman she was now.
OF that she was so very old, either. She
Lad simply made herself old by sitting
alone and shutting out the sunlight and
thinking hard, bitter thoughts and get
ting wrinkles in her face and gray in her
lair. Any one can do that who tries very
J! ard, but whether it is the best thing to
do, that is the question.
Imaginative people said that she had
been imbittered by great disappointment
sour gloomy old recluse, hating the world
aud everybody in it, but, after all, when
You came to ask about these Stories they
We're all hearsay.
OF the two servants in the kitchen, one
vas Susan, who knew just when to do ev-
C1ything and just how to do it, because she
nd done the same things at the same time
every day during all those years when she
was growing "moldy" The other WAS
Jane tho housemaid. Jane had been there
only six years, and Susan told her every
day that if she didn't quit "disremember-
in everything that she was told she would
Certainly git her walkin papers"
Perhaps the threat had been repeated too
C-ten and had lost its effect At any rate,
Jane went on ''disrCmemberin" with the
cllnness OF perfect confidence in her safety
;2d left doors open and forgot to lock gates
and was altogether IL trial to the method
! nj Susan.
Year after year this old woman had been
alone She had great, fine house, bat
sle lived in n little corner of it. She had
great quantities of money, but she used
Vsry little of it. She had no friends, or, if
ne had, she never saw them. In all Su-
: ms recollection of her she had never done
anybody IA kindness. The servants had or
Cars never 20 feed tramp, and as fer Civ
i g money to beggars, why, dear me, such
thing was never dreamed of.
But it was Jane that ended it. Jane
ID gone out TO the coalhouse and had
come in with scuttie of coal, and perhaps
is needless to state, knowing what we
q of her. that she left every door open on
r way up stairs. As she set the scuttle
Gown in the corner she heard the well
lown command:
''Shut the doors as you 60 back, Jane"
And she gave the stereotyped reply:
Yes Mis- Arnam, L ten to it"
So she went back, shuttingal the doors,
Int it was too late then. The mischief
as done Something had whisked into
tie room before you could think, and be-
re the echo of James footsteps had died
cat of the room there was the roundest,
funniest gray kitten running up Mrs Ar
ans dress and scrambling into her lap.
Once there, it looked her in the eyes,
stretched out it's soft little paws and mewed
tho most wheedling, caressing manner
nown to kittenhood
The cid woman did not throw the kitten
DOWN, or push it down, or shut it outside
the door. She started to do all three, but
Instead she only sat there, looking at the
Little ball of gray while it closed and un-
closed its paws on her folded hands.
well, what do you WANT" she said
presently.
The sound of her own voice startled her.
II had been so long since she had heard it
except in giving orders to the servants.
There never was such kitten. The
moment she spoke to it, up it went, hand
over hand, over the bosom of the black
dress, and before the old woman could move
finger it was actually rubbing its pink
lose on her very chin. Not only that, but
it mounted upon her shoulder and purred
in her ear and smoothed its silky side
against her cheek and actually clawed at
her hair and tumbled down into her lap
and ran back to her shoulder again as
though it were the greatest fun in the
world
Something stirred in the stern, SILENT
grim old woman. The touch of living
creature against that withered face went
deeper than the face She raised a hand
and stroked the kitten and spoke to it
gently
Such frolic as that kitten hadl How
it caught her hand and pretended to bite
her fingers with its ridiculous little teeth
and to scratch them with all its claws at
once! How it scampered about, playing
hide and seek with its own tail! How it
swarmed up the curtains and the table
rolled itself up in the Persian rug and en-
joyed every minute Of the time In short,
ii ever there We're o kitten that just simply
took possession of a room and made itself
thoroughly at home there, this was that
kitten.
When Jane went up stairs to announce
the next meal as was her custom, she re-
turned to the kitchen almost tottering and
with distended eyes
Il bleebe Mis- Arnam done gone crazyr
she cried. She sottin up dere wifi kit
tn in her lap, an she say for you to fotch
ler dinner up to 'cr an u sasser o. milk
for de kittenP'
''G'way from here, niggah!' cried SUI
sun, and she hurried to her mistress room
70 disprove James story. She returned
with slower footsteps and frightened
flCe. Mrs. Arnam had said to her:
Yes. | want my dinner here, Susan,
until the kitten gets used to the house. ]
Lave never had a kitten before. l don't
know why 1 have never thought of it.
"Dey's somefin wrong wifi Mis- Liza
beth, said Susan when she had gained
the sacred precincts of the kitchen and
Jane had assured her that she 'sho'ly did
look pale. Tonga l been stayin here, she
amt never ct in her room yit, an now she
swine ter eat dere on account oh u measly |
little cat ="
On the second day a queer thing hap.
iened. The kitten had performed what il
considered a great feat, and Mrs. Arnan
laughed. The sound of the laugh fright |
Cled her, and it sent the kitten slurryin2
under the bed 1t came out presently anG
Growled at her as a gentle intimaton not
- try that any more, and that made hcl |
laugh again. Jane, sweeping in the EcX |
room, heard it, and left her work unGnish |
q to tell Susan, but Susan scornfully |
armed her not to come "tellin her no secf |
ash. There We're bounds beyond which |
usan's credulity could not 20.
OF course Jane left the doors open agair |
cfOrc Il week was out. She declared that |
sc ''shct cherry one OBJ EN-" But she must |
ave left them open, for how else did the |
ittcn get out? Atany rate, before any one |
new it, the kitten was gone and was not |
Il bo found anywhere about the house
When mistress and servants had searched |
everywhere in vain, Mrs. Arnam shut her |
sslf up in her room again and sat down |
lcfore the fire The little creature that |
lEd distracted her thoughts for few days |
and had made her forget herself was gone |
and once more she was a lonely old WON. |
gilmore lonely and miserable than she |
Lad been before. She sat there looking at |
gloomy scenes in the glowing Goals until |