The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1905-03-14
BY Keftb Gordon


the rooms wouldn't do. He slackened
his pace 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
knock at his door. At the moment
he was perched upon a stepladder,
smoking short pipe and taking a rest
before he fatigued himself by begin
ming to arrange things.
Come inv' he roared, without NOV
ing, expecting to see servant. Then,
at a slight hesitation on the part Of
the persona hesitation that he felt
rather than saw-he turned toward the
door.
"Oh! All! I beg your pardonp' he
apologized with alacrity, laying down
his pipe and jumping from his perch
you see I'm bit floored. I'm
He paused rather helplessly, waiting
for his caller to explain herself, though
he 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.
''I'm Miss Manice, and she thought
perhaps the maid and 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 heller SHELTER
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 a
person who has taken palpable jest
In earnest.
I'D just love it-that is, If you think
1 can arrange the room to suit you.
You might give me 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, Il shall be
more than satisfied. The fact !, 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 great apron that COW
cred her from neck to ankles.
HE seems a nice, grateful ledger
man, mother mine. Perhaps it won't
be so hideous to have stranger in the
house after all. And think of the mon
eyP'
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 anonymously In the morn
ing, as II 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 Cooks 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
I,ocido tho dropIa % WonfuoTfh voiood
the highest praise to be spoken Of wo-
man.
''Bless her hearth he said softly.
"She ought to be bachelors wifeP'
During the three months that fol-
lowed this conviction grew more and
more fervent His admiration for the
skill with which Ethel Manice lat 9TH
er times a merry, companionable girD
ran the household, reducing friction to
the minimum, making life continual
joy, grew into sort Of religion to him.
And it was something Of this sort
that he said to her one night, scarce
knowing that he was saying it and
adding to 1t a humble request that
she marry him.
She looked at him oddly for a mo-
ment. Then she laid her hand upon his
arm and said half kindly, half mock
ingly:
what you want is housekeeper,
Mr. Wentworth, not a wife" Then. q
little more earnestly, please let us
not remember" And Wentworth, feel
ing more discounted than he cared to
admit to himself, did his best to obey
her.
After this life flowed smoothly on fol-
another six months, the ripples closing
over the night when Wentworth was
rejected and leaving no sign.
1t seemed sometimes as If his latch
key admitted him to another world
where all was order, simple beauty
and good will, where every hour made
him stronger and better. Little by lit;
tie he had become part Of the small
family, often making third in theiI
coy drawing room-sometimes talking
sometimes reading and again scoldinG
or advising Ethel with the freedom Of q
big brother.
His appreciation Of the delightful
nominees and ease led him into his
second blunder. 1t was a clustering
night in November. On her couch
Mrs. Manice, who had been less vel
than usual, lay sleeping, while Ethel
who had been playing Schubert witt
dreamy Inconsistencies, wandered OF
into some improvisations Of her own.
Presently Wentworth laid down the
book that he was reading with an al
most suffocating sense Of the dearness
Of it all. Then suddenly Ethel stopped
playing and rose from the piano. The
action seemed significant. Wentworth
was Jared by the thought that just as
abruptly might the slender thread by
which he held this utterly delightful
home be snapped. Mrs. Manice might
grow worse; Ethel might