Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-04-16
HOUSE TO LET,

1t was advertised in the papers after
this fashion: "A bijOu residence, suit
able for small family; charmingly Sit
uated on one OF the loveliest reaches Of
the Thames. A house of unique design
and exceptional sanitary arrangements
sloping garden to the river, boat, boat.
house, stabling, fruit garden" etc.
Yet despite the alluring character Of
this announcement, the bijou residence
went through two seasons unlet--its
notice boards leaning lower and lower
as the seasons went on over the stone
box fringed garden walls, with pathe
tic sponsibility.
At length simultaneously one morn
ing in late July two people caught the
glow Of that announcement from opEo
site corners of Englan6-the one a
man, the other a woman-and thCy
bent their faces in it's direction.
A geographical, as we'll as railway
time book, dispensation decreed ais
that those two people should make
their debut simultaneously at the littl5
wayside alton, situated some mile an
a half from the bijou residence in ques-
ton. After that, how much fac 0l
destiny had to do with it? How much
man? how much woman? remains
2roblematical. 1 defy two people oil
the opposite sexes to walk for a mile
and half along a boxed-in country
lane and not be oppressively conscious
of each other. I defy man possessed
Of the slightest moiety of taste not to
pick cut the various beauties of that
woman, if she have them, and briefly
tabulate them ON the retina of his ap-
probation as he walks. | defy her If
she have grain of that cOquetry which
is said to be innate in woman, not to
display those beauties to the best ad.
vantage for his especial delectation.
And what woman ever walks along
country road rich in wild flowers
without stopping every five minutes to
pick samples Of them?
Finally, the two drew up at the gar
den gate, if not simultaneously almost
so, the man pushing the gate wide for
her and waiting, and they arrived face
to face under the trellised porch.
The woman had put a bunch of scar
let rowan berries in her hat, CORE
spending with the bunch in her waist
band. She held sufficient wild grasses
and flora in her arms to decorate font
at a harvest festival. Her dark, gypsy
face had caught glow from these ber-
ries; her dark eyes shone; she was not
young, the man thought, but extremely
attractive.
The sound of advancing footsteps
footsteps presumably of the caretaker-
reused him from his temporary alb
berration. 1t occurred to him that
speech was the only thing possible to
save the situation. He raised his hat,
displaying a grizzled, but patrician
head, and smiled.
us the house let, them" he asked.
The woman showed a CLEAN of teeth
under the rich undulating curve of her
red lips.
"That was just the question I was go
ing to put to you," she answered.
"No," he said; II have merely come
from Dorchester to look at it"
And I have come from Cromer."
In the pause of which announcement
q woman, in sun bonnet and clogs,
with that reticence which the caretaker
exhibits when she does not want to
let the house, slowly opened the door.
She moved back, making room for
them to enter, making at the same
time depreciatory movement with
her bare arms. Its all very nice an
convenient like" she said, indicating
the tiny dining-room on the left, the
Liliputian kitchen in perspective-the
narrow stairway intervening ''for
bachelor, or a spinster, but not for
I fiatter myself, as I
knows, being myself a married woman,
this ere bijou residence amt 'alf, nor
yet quarter, large enough. A man
may be es fond O. his wife as ever it
Is possible for i'm to be; a woman may
be es fond of her 'ushand as 'er ever
ken be, but they don't want to be
up agin' each other all the
liye-long day"
Here the figure in the rowan berries
disappeared into the tiny
The tall patrician man,
preternaturally embarrassed, strobe
into the tiny dining-room, and the gar
rulous caretaker was left to finish her
speech to empty benches. She mag
ined herself to be a woman of singu-
lar penetration, However. 1t was her
boast that she could grasp a situation
at a glance, and take it all in. There
fore she was by no means disconnected
till a f1utter of skirts smote her ear,
and the woman with the rowan berries
reappeared, the man having gone up
stairs, saying in a whisper, with in
dignation traceable in every word:
THAT gentleman is a perfect stranger
to me. [ have never seen him before
today in my life. We CHANGED to ar
rive at the station together, and to
walk up to the house together. And
now you can go. There is no occasion
for you to follow me over the house,
prefer to look at it alone. By the
bye" she added, 81 should advise the
owners of it to put it in other hands
You evidently don't want to let it."
1t does not take long to look over
cottage. In ten minutes
The man was out On the slope of garden
IN the rear looking idly ahead of him
across the reach He had scan in a
fash through the staircase window the
rowan berries going upstairs. He
taught in a flash now the rowan ber-