Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-03-23

HESS huu h&IcSu Will LEX JHOAOu&AAy.
The system was inaugurated. and all
went well for some days. Then one
evening Samuel was half hour late to
supper-was detained at the office. he
explained. He found Lucretia just nm
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.
II am sorry that you were detained,
Samuel" she said. because we had such
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" NJ = III ~ sts =
IT can stand, it If you can," she re-
piled, grimly, as she poured him some
/ lukewarm coffee !,
But SpSnuel refused to be an object of
sympathy or to permit an atmosphere
of embarrassment to gather. He rat
| tied on in most interesting manner,
telling Lucretia interesting bits OF Cos
| 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 hts conversation.
| Once she was betrayed into hearty
laugh. 2 49,. ~ i&.44.s. u.
Fishing a second mutton chop from
the CONCEALED white gravy surrounding
1t, the young husband tackled 1t with
| apparent zest.
/ Where in the world do you buy such
fine mutton chops, Lucretia?" he said.
Mother never had such fine ones at
home-and she had 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 relish that defied
suspicion. h @.t
AS he concluded hearty meal Of cold
and soggy things and wound up with q
second cupful of the lukewarm coffee,
/ he smacked his lips and said:
eff matters should go wrong and
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 a coffee drinker all my life but
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-
t. 49, r4.. \ ~rs~
3, 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 hard
day, and felt too tired to. cook two sup
pers. Samuel was all sympathy, and
roundly cursed the necessity that made
him late. Hewas delighted, however, at
his good fortune in having her company
|
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-bIank
to make any change in her plans, and
certainly it was a skinny naeal, and Luz
cretia sat like stone image at the feast.
The friend was embarrassed, but Sam
uel was delightfully."- oblivtous 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. @ ea
The atmosphere continued pretty
! chilly for some days, but it never touched
Samuel.
4 "You have found anotheradmirer, Luz
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 homelilxe feel
4 ing here. Says If he could find 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 confirmed old bach
elor, you know"
II And for days wherever they went
Samuel would talk of scarcely any
thing but the delightful little sup
per, and Lucretia's grace as hostess,
when, by Jove, she didn't even know
l was going to bring him.
| aiaxst tsroxry Lo.v, ~ -. !. "a