The record-union., 1897-03-07

/ pOdl-HOuSG.
| She hesitated, for her nature too was
| thrilling to the charm of earth and air
| that makes out-of-doors such days so
tempting; and perhaps the prospect of
| floating along the pleasant Pleisse with
this congenial companion had also it's
| influence. But they We're already leav-
| ing the too brief beauty of the prone
| nades behind them and were crossing
| bare KonigsplatZ towards ugly busy
| Peterssteinweg, and the scheme Of
work she had mapped out as she came
| that way an hour before returned to
| her.
NO" she replied heroically. IT have
two more lectures this morning and no
end of reading to do"
| 80 have l, but I'll do it this after
noon, or tonight or tomorrow, or
next day. Es konant aus den Tag NIGHT
| an" and he laughed, for he was think
| ing of the German experimentalists he
was thrown with, men whose concep-
| ton of time had taken on philosophic
| infinity
| Il don't suppose it does in your psy-
Geological laboratory" she answered
teasingly. But a day does count with
me. l never dare put off till tomorrow
| that l can do to-day, for if 1 do it's
very apt not to be done at all.
| Il heard a man say once he'd got
rich that way-putting off till to-mor-
row what he could do to-day" he said
smiling and still in tone inviting to
the row
| But she persisted in her refusal: mo,
really; L won't go with you this morn
| ing, but 1 will go any afternoon you
choose, after the 5 o'clock lecture"
| "All right" he agreed TRANQUILITY
dropping the subject without any show
Of regret and without suggesting, as
| she had half hoped he would, that
same afternoon for the excursion
She laughed over this afterwards, and
over him as she sat down alone in her
Wohnzimmer, eating her breakfast of
rolls and coffee, which the German
| frau she lodged with served to her
| there each morning; laughed and then
| frowned. He puzzled her, this Allan
Armstrong he had puzzled her ever
since that day in the previous semester
when she had seen him for the first
| time and their eyes had met in
| glance of mutual attraction, and in
stantly the thought had leaped into her
/
| like to marry. Why should she have
| thought of marriage then? 1t was not
ordinarily in her nina. She was not
| in the least anxious to marry. On the
| contrary, life had seemed more to her
| liking without this limitation, and her
| work of self-development and self-cul-
ture all sufficing. She meant to go back
| when she had got out of Europe all she
wanted, to make a career, and, If pos
sible, a name for herself. But the
| thought had come and it stayed for a
| time, the young mans conduct tend
| ing at first to keep it up, following up
as he did with evident interest the in
| PRODUCTION that he had straightway
| sought through a common acquaint-
ance. He called on her here in her small
parlor; joined her at the plays and op-
eras and concerts they both diligently
attended as part of the culture they
were after, and walked to and from
| the university lectures with her as to-
| day, but always, as to-day, with the
| easy-going, Unconditional, matter of
| fact manner of one good comrade to
| the other. And as such she speedily
came to regard him, the thought of
love and marriage vanishing from her
| mind as spontaneously as it had ap-
peared. Yet there were moments when,
as now his conduct puzzled her, and
the woman in her missed half resent
fully that something in it which other
| men had taught her to expect. Why,
even the German whom she had never
seen till he sat down beside her that
morning had looked and acted differ
emily. But what had she to do with
such frivolous thoughts as these in the
face of yonder pile of books and notes
waiting to be read and digested! She
rose briskly, called the Hausfrau in TO
remove the breakfast tray, and sat
down to her desk, which stood by one
Of the two windows.
This piece of furniture with the
crowdedvbookcase beside it was the
student feature of the room, which
otherwise presented the usual German
interior of it's class. The dark wood
floor was bare, save for small oasis
of rug at one side whereon stood the
inevitable table before the inevitable
sofa, and two armchairs; the set in red
velvet. and the whole arrangement
forming the conventional piece de re-
sistance of such apartment Over the
sofa hung a set of shelves of Cynthia's
adding for her collection Of ornamental
beer-mugs. Bohemian and Venetian
glass and bits Of Meissen china, with
the single instead of the two crossed
swords. it is true, but picked up for
that very reason marvelously cheap at
the semi-annual Messe. There were
other additions, too, of Cynthia's own
about, in the way of pretty knick-
Lpool-c ciIly cofa-DiIlOwS and the like.
which gave the room a cosy look that
made Allan Armstrong wonder why
his though really better furnished,
should seem bare to him after an even
ing with her. But there was one
prominent feature of her interior that
defed all her esthetic effort and her
esthetc feelings too. and that was the
huge white porcelain stove which tow
cred monumentally up nearly to the
ceiling, angular, obtrusive, and ghast-
w. She did contrive to get comfort
out of it, however which was more
than the Germans themselves generally
did for she bought her own fuel and
insisted that enough of it should be
used TO make the complicated structure
Of brick and tile perform its function.
Put, liebes Fraulein, it costs SO
much." her Wirthin would protest, too
ipgrainedIy economical to suffer in ST.
lence another to waste what she would
have saved at the price of personal
comfort.
They were plain respectable people,
this hard working woman and her hus-
band, a small clerk, from whom Gym
thia rented the two best rooms of their
apartment whose quiet was just the