Smyrna times., 1905-02-22
ENLIGHTENING
WENTWORTH
BY Keith Gordon
Copyright, 1904, by Frances Wilson

1uTwwTuuTmTTmTW"0TF"HN"VTTTTTT"'yk
II was with some misgivings that
wentworth took the third floor of Mrs.
uanice's house. Had she not told
him that she was almost an invalid?
And when the mistress Of a house Is
an invalid! He had half a mind to go
hack and tell her that he had recon-
sidered: that he feared, after all, that
the rooms wouldn't do. He slackened
his mace, turned, then went on. Per-
haps things would be all right, but a
fellow did so hate household discom-
fort
On the second morning after his ar
rival. when he sat like a bewildered
monarch among a piled up, shapeless
mass of books, pictures, tables and
chairs-wondering why under heaven
he had ever acquired them-there came
a knock at his door. At the moment
he was perched upon a stepladder,
smoking a short pipe and taking a rest
before he fatigued himself by begin
ming to arrange things.
"COme in!' he roared, without mov-
ing. expecting to see a servant. Then,
at slight hesitation on the part Of
the persona hesitation that he felt
rather than saw-he turned toward the
door.
"Oh! All! 1 beg your pardonv' he
apOlogized with alacrity, laying down
his pipe and jumping from his perch.
"You see I'm a bit foored. I'm
He paused rather helplessly, waiting
for his caller to explain herself, though
be felt vaguely that she was welcome,
thought she had dropped from the
clouds, so frank was her gaze, so fas-
cinating the way the thick hair rippled
away from the low, broad forehead, so
utterly wOmanly her face.
Mamma sent. me-" she explained.
"T'm Miss Manice, and she thought
perhaps the maid and 1 might be able
to help you out"
She looked about the room inquiring-
ly; then, as her eyes came back to the
new lodger's blank, helpless face, she
caught her lower lip between her teeth,
thus holding back the smile that strug-
gled to escape.
"Have you ever moved?" he asked
ruefully, surveying his helter skelter
possessions with fresh aversion, and
at the question she laughed out a
laugh so girlish and infectious that
Wentworth laughed, too, catching for
a moment the point of view from
which his dilemma was funny.
what the world needs" he went on
plaintively, ''is automatic, self arrang-
ing furniture that, placed in
the room, will adjust itself and save
its owner all trouble"
THAT'S what we will have when the
millennium comes," answered Miss
Manice gayly, "but meanwhile, if you
really loathe the task of arranging
your things and will leave it to me-
She paused questioningly, while
Wentworth gazed at her very much as
if she were the straw and he the
drowning man. Again her face dim
pied
you wouldn't-not really?" doubt
ed he, with the shamefaced air of
person who has taken a palpable jest
in earnest.
I'D just love it-that is, If you think
| can arrange the room to suit you.
You might give me a general idea of
how you like things. and
Wentworth cut her short.
"If you can give it something of the
look of that little drawing room Of
yours" he said warmly. 81 shall be
more than satisfied. The fact is. you
have saved my life" he finished can
didly.
wait until you see the rooms" she
cautioned as they parted, he to go to
his Office with a burden off his shoul-
ders and she to confide to her mother
as she got into a great apron that COW
cred her from neck to ankles.
He seems nice, grateful lodger
man, mother mine Perhaps it won't
be so hideous to have a stranger in the
house after all. And think of the mon
ey!"
When Wentworth opened the door
Of his sitting room that evening quick
approval flashed into his eyes. All the
inanimate objects that had huddled
together so incongruously in the morn
ing, as If there wasn't an ounce Of
self respect among them, now faced
him with serene dignity, once more
clothed in the beauty for which he
had bought them.
Awestruck at such insight. he passed
into his bedroom, half fearing that
here the charm would be broken, that
convenience would have been sacri-
feed to ''looks'' and that he would
have to dive into pocket nailed to the
closet door for one slipper and then
dive again for the other. At the sight
OF them standing openly and demurely
beside the fireplace wentworth voiced
the highest praise to be spoken of wo-
man.
Bless her hearth he said softly.
She ought to be a bachelors wifev'
During the three months that fol-
lowed this conviction grew more and
more fervent. His admiration for the
skill with which Ethel Manice Cat 9TH
ffVanr s..IN