The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1900-03-16

| Lidy had taken q course at home,
and she hattered herself that she was
"really good at free hand drawing
| Nevertheless she sighed anxiously as
her pencil travelled over the pad:
"Her coloring, her exquisite coloring
how ever am to do justice to thatY'
The hurried heavy tramp Of the jani-
tor returning with the right key reused
the girl She turned her head swiftly,
gave look Of surprise at the open
| door, one of indignation at Miss Lidy
and swept forward with the determine
! tion evidently of slamming the door
shut.
Miss Lidy Martineau's friends
claimed that she had the most disarm-
| ing smile in the world. 1t stood her In
good stead now. She nodded pleasant
ly at the girl she had been drawing.
| "Oh, I'm so sorry you caught me at
it! Your pose was perfect. Ny child,
you arc tremendously pretty, and I
hope we will be good friends, as we are
going to be such close neighbors-just
this little scrap of hall between u.s."
''Thank you," said the young lady in
a listless manner before shutting her
own door in quietly apologetic way.
! Miss Lidy declared in later years that
| if it had not been for her determination
to finish the picture begun under such
adverse circumstances she knows she
never could have brought herself to
rent "A-Floor 5" in the Ricardo for a
whole year-"such pigeonholes for
rooms, you know"
| 1t was on that first afternoon when
she had gone out to the nearest grocery
store and was coming back loaded to
the chin with paper bags, off which she
expected to exist for several days, that
| she stopped to examine the card stuck
in the letter box of "B-Floor 81
$50 my opposite's name is Gerault-
| Colonel e. +. Gerault. That's the man
| of the family, of course. l wonder
what the mother Of my beauty is Like"
"Scuse me, madam-my lcdder box,
b'leeve."
A thick voice sounded close in her
ea--. A hot yinous breath made her
draw back quickly in disgust. A ma
jestic figure lowered far above her; a
| wavering, unsteady hand was extend
ing tiny key toward the letter box; a
| superb head, from which heavy iron
gray locks swept in untrimmed profu-
sion, was barred in respectful salutation
to her or to her sex; pair of mourn
fully large gray eyes regarded her vac
uously. Miss Lidy gathered her paper
bags in closer grip and almost ran
up the four fights of steps she had
found so formidable.
"Wellv' She was safe inside her own
den. "That's Colonel z. p Gerault!
No wonder my opposite looks as if the
weight of the universe rested on her
pretty shoulders! Such q sad young
face, such exquisite coloring! wish
Dabney could see her."
| Neither her emotions, as the dear,
sympathetic little woman she was, nor
her excitement as an artist who was
perfectly sure she had discovered
| something luminously novel interfered
with Miss Lidy's enjoyment of her pa
per bags. She was quite sure that
everything was going to be perfectly
lovely in spite Of Dabney's opposition
to her schcme-''if only" she said, look.
| ing timorously around, .that superb
wreck shouldn't mistake my door for
his ownp on the strength of which
possibility Miss Lidy made nervous
tour Of inspection of her new premises
to satisfy herself that no one could get
in without her consent.
Miss Lidy's occupancy Of "A-Floor
5" had not lasted week before she
pronounced fiat life the most demoral-
izing thing in the world. She was
ashamed of her intimate knowledge Of
her neighbors' affairs. She knew ex-
actly when Colonel Gerault went out
in the morning and when he came back
in the evening. Then she excused her.
self to herself:
"The door Is never open when he Is
at home, and so long as that dear child
thinks l asked her to leave it open be-
cause I am lonely she'll do it faith
fully"
Miss Gerault's amiable concession
came about in this wise; She and Miss
Lidy had been 'opposites'' for three
days only when. turning her head as
she had done on that first day, she
found her neighbor's door stretched
wide open and Miss Lidy hard at work
with her pencils. The little artist sent
one Of her disarming smiles across the
hall,
"It's awfully hot. isn't it?"
Miss Gerault sent back an inconse.
quent apology:
mother likes open doors. We've had
the whole floor to ourselves all sum-
mer, But now it's different"
She laid down her work and moved
toward the door. Miss Lidy guessed
her intentions.
"Oh, please don't shut it!''
The girl hesitated. From a hidden
source in the Gerault fiat gentle voice
soundedl
"Let the door be, daughter. Perhaps
the lady is timid in a strange house."
Now, Miss Lidy's proudest boast was
that she wasn't afraid of anything ON
earth, but she was quite willing to owe
her opportunity to transcribe that
graceful head and lovely face to
feminine misapprehension of her char
acter. A double fiat affords uririvaled
opportunities for rancorous hatred or
the meilowest friendships. Miss Lidy
found her tender little heart overflow
ing with sympathy for her neighbors.
One morning when she chanced to open
the dumb waiter door at the iden-
tical moment Miss Gerault opened it on
her side they smiled at each other