The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-04-07

OW, nay dear girl. let us face the
~ situation. 1t Is a crisis, / admit;
but everything in this world may be
got over If we only face it in the proper
manner. First of all, what have we to
consider?"
Mr.. Harry Rakeley was supporting his
young wife tenderly. and that young wife
was weeping bitterly and hopelessly on
his shoulder. Even the tone of deter
mination In which he spoke failed to put
any courage into her; she only shook
her head and wept the more. They had
been married but two months; and it is
scarcely too much to say that they had
been ideally happy during that time. And
now tonight their castle had tumbled
about their ears like house of cards.
The first thing to consider, my love,
is that Uncle Parker and Aunt Lucilla
will be here in something less than half
an hour, and will expect something to
eat; the second thing to consider is that
there Is nothing in the house, and no
prospect of getting anything"
"Oh-that brutal man at the StoresH'
walled Bella Rakeley. II tried to argue
with him-I-I tried to reason with him;
he was like marble"
my dearest girl" said Harry, with
smile, "a Stores Is not generally possess
ed Of a heart; it isn't to be expected.
More than that, We have to remember
that this man has been worrying us for
payment for some time past, and is prob
ably getting anxious; he has seized this
opportunity to endeavor to squeeze money
out of u.s.
But you know. Harry, we have no
money" said Bella.
Practically, we have none, my darling;
theoretically, We have plenty. Tonight, as
you know, 1 shall receive the sum of
over ESQ; I have particularly asked
D0hs, - in hot
may pay some things at once. Did you
tell the man at the Stores that I should
receive a large sum tonight?
"Of course l did, Harry, dear; and he
laughed and said something about some
one named Walker. Then, of course, I
said that l was not accustomed to have
my word doubted, and L walked out of
the shop"
''Quite right my darling" said Harry.
1.-THE only thing is-what are we to do?''
Let it be explained that Mr.. and Mrs.
Harry Rakeley had-partly from motives
of economy and partly in order that a
rising young writer should receive the in
SEPARATION he could not get in London
taken up their residence, Immediately aft
er very short honeymoon. in the pic
tureSque little town of LOngdip Cross
There in a very light hearted fashion,
they had patronized the one large shop in
the place-dignified by the name of
"Stores"-and had ordered everything
they required. In a most unaccountable
fashion money had failed to come in so
readily as they had anticipated; the pro-
prietor of the Stores had limited that pay
ment would be esteemed a favor, and had
been put off with promises. Now. at the
very psychological moment of their lives,
the man had taken what they regarded
as a mean advantage of them and had
them at his mercy.
Uncle Parker was very important ele-
ment in their lives. He was very rich,
and a little difficult to get on with and
he had viewed their excursion into mat
rimony with some contempt and many
oninOuS ShakingS Of the head And,
three days before the crisis at which we
have limited, he had written to say that
he and his wife, Aunt Lucilla, intended
to come down and see the young couple,
have cold supper, and catch the last
train back to London. At the same time
he broadly limited in his letter that they
expected to have to put up with incon-
venienceS.
That, of course, put Bella Rake1ey on
her mettle; she instantly determined that
Uncle Parker and Aunt Lucilla should
have the best and the daintiest cold sup
per that could be provided In the town
Of Longdip Cross and, it having hap
pened that Harry had had work accepted.
to the value of over $50, and payment
promised at the latest by the very date
of the visit of Uncle Parker, she quite
gayly ordered various things to be cooked
and daintily prepared at those same
Stores. added bottle or two Of wine, and
aiPily promised that payment should be
forthcoming at the proper time. In ac-
cordance with her wishes, everything had
been done, and she had actually seen the
tempting dishes set out in the pastry
cooks department at the Stores, but there
the proprietor declared they should re-
main until he had something on ac-
count
Bella had interviewed him, and had
PLEADED with him. but In vain. He
secuted the idea of a large sum of money
coming in on that Identical evening; he
wanted. to use his own phrase, "to see
the color of it, at once So that mat
ters were at that deadlock at the very
hour Uncle Parker and Aunt Lucilla were
expected
Now, it happened that Uncle Parker
was of an obstinate disposition, and
that anything like an attempt to coerce
him into any given line Of action was
certain to set him off in quite the oppo-
site direction. And 1t happened that on
this particular evening, on arriving at
the railway station Of Longdip Cross,
Aunt Lucilla meekly suggested that they
should engage the one fly in the station
yard to drive them to the house. But
for this suggestion Uncle Parker would
undoubtedly have taken the fly, but un-
der the circumstances he Immediately de-
clded to walk.
TITS going to rain, dear" urged Aunt
LuciHa.
"Let it," retorted Uncle Parker. and
STROBE away out of the station, followed
by his spouse.
Aunt Lucilla was right 1t did rain.
Uncle Parker was unprovided with an
umbrella, and obstinately declined to g6
under that held by his wife; consequently
1t happened that by the time he reached
the house Uncle Parker was remarkably
wet about the shoulders and much in need
of being dried Immediately.
With many fears for his safety and
many expressions Of concern at the fact
that he should be wet. Harry hurried him
upstairs and insisted that his coat and
waistcoat should be removed at once
Uncle Parker. seriously alarmed upon
finding how very damp he was removed
them hurriedly, and then donned a coat
of Harry's.
The damp garments were taken down
into the kitchen and spread before the
fire; there was nothing else to spread
before the fire. and. by the appearance
OF things there never would be. Uncle
Parker and Aunt Lucilla went into the