The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1904-04-21

explained. He found Lucretia just fin
ishing her evening meal, grim and de-
termined. Everything was cold. He
seated himself at the table with Mi
cawber-like cheerfulness, and tackled
the cold and soggy victuals, all the time
talking affably. Lucretia was dignified
| and uncompromising
Il am sorry that you were detained,
Samuel" she said, because We had such
a good supper"
oh, the supper's all right" he re-
piled. But I'm sorry on your account
| was detained. I'm afraid it makes you
more trouble"
81 can stand it if you can" she re-
piled, grimly, as she poured him some
| lukewarm coffee
| But Samuel refused to-be an object Of
sympathy Or to permit an atmosphere
of embarrassment to gather. He rat
| tied on in a most interesting manner.
| telling Lucretia interesting bits of gos-
| sip he had heard during the day. and
| equally interesting things that had hap
! pened at the office. She had never seen
| Samuel in such high spirits and found
| herself responding to his conversation.
Once she was betrayed into hearty
| laugh.
! Fishing a second mutton chop from
the CONCEALED white gravy surrounding
it, the young husband tackled it with
apparent zest.
Where in the world do you buy such
fine mutton chops, Lpcretia?" he said
Mother never had such fine ones at
homeland she had a reputation as a
marketer. Or, is it the cooking? Some
how there is flavor to them that is sim
ply great"
Lucretia gazed at him intently, but
there was no suggestion of sarcasm in
his voice or looks, and he was consum-
ing the chops with a relish that deffed
suspicion.
AS he concluded hearty meal of cold
and soggy things and wound up with a
second cupful of the lukewarm coffee,
he smacked his lips and said:
''If matters should go wrong and I
should die and leave you unprovided
for Lucretia, you just go to some swell
caterer or restaurant and ask for the
privilege of making one batch of cof-
fee for them. Make em let you do it
once and you can ask your own price
I've been coffee drinker all my life, but
l never found any like you make
That evening Lucretia's mother came
over and Samuel did nothing but sing
the praises of his wifes chops and cof-
fee. He was too enthusiastic and persis-
tent to suspect.
For some days he was promptly on
time to supper. Then one day he was
a half hour late again. Lucretia was
little cross, but the chops and coffee
were piping hot. In fact, Lucretia made
both fresh after Samuel came. This
happened several times. Sometimes
Samuel was more than half hour late.
One night he arrived an hour late and
found that Lucretia had not yet had
supper. She explained, with symptoms
| of sulkiness, that she had had a hard
day, and felt too tired to cook two SUD-
pers. Samuel was all sympathy. and
roundly cursed the necessity that made
him late. He was delighted. however, at
his good fortune in having her company
in partaking the meal. After this she
generally waited for him. once in awhile
letting him sup alone in order to dem
onstrate that she had not given in.
One day he brought a friend home to
supper without warning. The atmos-
phere in the house went down nine de-
grees lower than the thermometer would
register. Lucretia declined point blank
to make any change in her plans. and
certainly it was a skinny meal, and Luz
cretia sat like a stone image at the feast.
The friend was embarrassed. but Sam
uel was delightfully."- oblvious to the
the trouble and fairly dubbed with wit
and small talk. After supper he pro-
duced cigars, and with his friend sat
for good two hours at the table chat
ting and telling stories, while Lucretia
fairly frothed at the mouth waiting to
clear the table
The atmosphere continued pretty
chilly for some days, but it never touched
Samuel.
"You have found another admirer Lu,
cretia," he said, next evening. Tom
says it was the contest and most delight
full little supper he ever acknowledgements
to come again. He's particularly crazy
about your tea biscuit BY Jove, they
were good last night. But particularly
he's stuck on the splendid homelike feel
ing here. Says if he could find a girl
who had good sense like you who knew
enough to leave men folks alone and
still maintain her dignity and place as
the real mistress of the house. he'd
maryland that's a great compliment,
because Tom is a confirmed old bach
elor, you know"
And for days wherever they went
Samuel would talk of scarcely any,
thing but the delightful little SUD-
per, and Lucretia's grace as hostess.
when, by Jove, she didn't even know
l was going to bring him."
81 didn't know how she managed il
without any notice." he said to her
mother, but she couldn't have had a
sweller layout if the invitation had been
given a week before"
Some days later he dropped in with
another friend Unexpectedly. They
we've compelled to wait some time for