The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-11-13
A Bit Of Domestic Diplomacy

lFTom the Chicago Record Herald.l
Jane" said Mr. Hurlbut to his house
keeper. as he rose from the dining table,
+ I'D like to see you in the library about
9 o'clock, or as soon as the children
have gone to bed
She was standing in the doorway in
answer to his call, and wifeH she said
Yes, sir to his kindly spoken instruc-
ton. her hands fell to her sides and
scared, helpless look came upon her
cOmely face. She sat down then to wait
for the two children to finish their
desserts, staring out the darkening VIM
dow into the garden and fumbling the
napkin in her hands. Jane came to the
Hurlbut house a year before it's mis-
tress died From her capacity as nurse
to the two children she passed easily
and properly to that of companion and
confdante of the lady of the house. Jane
Waring was a woman of 30. perhaps a
sweet faced, low voiced, silent woman
who loved children and was beloved of
them.
She had ordered the affairs of the
Hurlbut house with rare discretion and
perfect diplomacy She seemed aware
of all the little, fine differences between
her own position in life and that of her
employer. Modest she was in dress and
demeanor, but yet so admirably poised.
so cool in her earneStnesS and so in
tense in her diligence to duty, that the
master of the house came gradually to
understand that he couldn't get along
without her. To be sure, the household
y
self, Flora, who was 12 Harry, who
was 8; the cook. the coachman and
Jane. He was rich and might have
maintained many servants, but Jane
managed all that In an odd, unobtru-
sive way, she even managed the coach
man-Peters, who was the only other
servant who had remained since Mrs.
Hurlbuts death.
If you had asked Hurlbut where
Peters came from, he couldn't have told
you. He had a vague idea that Jane
had been a trained nurse but what hos
pital she had come from, or where Mrs.
Hurlbut had picked her up he didn't
know or care. She had been a pet with
his wife, the children idolized her, and
but that comes later on. When Mrs.
Hurlbut had come to realize that death.
was near she had asked, among other
things, that Peters and Jane be kept.
The widower had often been tempted to
dismiss the coachman, for he was .ad-
dicted to periodical sprees and had land
ed in the police court more than once.
A ruffian in his cups and an illiterate,
self-willed vulgarian when sober, he was
/ yet a master of horses, a perfect whip
and as expert in the stable as could be
wished. Mrs. Hurlbut had set her heart
upon reforming him, and it was for this
/ reason, doubtless, that she bade her
| husband keep him.
AS for the cooks. they came and went
as rapidly and so irregularly. that Hurl-
but had idea what sort of an agency
was preparing his food. II was always
/ good, Jane to that rs she saw 70 ev-
erything. Sometimes there had been days
when a new cook became temporary
impossibility. Then it was that Jane War
ing. dainty. nimble, accomplishing wo-
man. had herself tucked up sleeves and
prepared such meals as no woman ever
made before.
Hurlbut himself didn't know when he
began to look upon this housekeeper with
| other than employers eyes. 1t must
| have been some time in those long, rainy
summer evenings when his house seemed
so utterly lonesome. He had noticed her
one evening, sitting on a wicker bench in
| the veranda with Flora and Harry, with
| one arm about the girl and queer, visit
full loving light in her great brown eyes.
She had worn some f1imsy lawn dress
that evening. a bit old-fashioned. he
| thought. but very becoming He had
come across the lawn and was watching
her through the ratings before they
noticed him. Yes, he had seen the tiny
foot peeping from beneath her skirts
and the hand. the strong, shapely white
hand that dropped across his daughter s
| shoulder, it was very pretty. very
! unctuous and warm looking And after
that he began to notice her more narrow
/ 1y- He couldn't help it.
Sometimes. when he came home quite
early, he would hear her playing the Ole
piano in the nursery. while Flora SANG
some old-fashioned songs her mother ha6
taught her. Once or twice he had stoler
up the stairs to catch them and to watch