The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-01
FORIY-SEvEN BARDANE
 STREET.
BY NORA DUNnLANE. snas = n~sy- Atnvv

NNBSA D0sNASA>1tNe~s Ifcopyright, 1905, by. Daily Story Pub fishing Co.)
 Wilkes Larrabee was doing wonder fully we'll. His latest painting, hung at the spring exhibition of the Bizarre
 Association of Impressionists," had been awarded first prize. Another re- cent work had been purchased by
 wellington Smith, the banker, at sum
 that would have made Wilkes Larrabee
 dizzy with happiness three years be- fore. .
 Also, wilkes Larrabee was beginning to creep into society. At the informal receptions given by him at his new and sumptuouse studio on x Street were cer- tain to be found men and women prom inent in the fashionable world. The number of his desirable invitations were increasing weekly, and he was learning to use to great advantage his quick wit and charm of manner.
 Smooth seas had come at last for the young man from Vermont who had
 come to New York without a dollar. 7
 Larrabee's place of residence was
 supposed to be the Hotel Caverdale,
 where he had a room. How much time
 he spent at this address was not known. or even inquired about.
 One morning scarcely past g o'clock pAdiHiy QEcSScu W0uidu CdAlCa 6t titc studio on X Street and asked for Mir, Larrabee. The Japanese servant at- tempted to show her into the tiny re- ception room, but she brushed past him and went directly to the studio. enter ing without a knock.
 Larrabee stood as his easel splash ing streaks of crimson color across a
 gray forniIess-looking background. He glanced up and started with an- noyance at the sight of the woman. h the bright glare of the room she show ed to be a woman of thirty-three or thirty-four years. rather bent in figure and trifle drawn about the mouth, but possessing a remarkably hne pair of big, dark eyes and firm, clear-cut profile.
 What is the matter, EttaT' exclaiEn. ed Larrabee, irritably. T was worried" said the woman. in
 a Tagging voice. You promised SC
 surely to come home last night. and ] waited up till 8 o'clock"
 You were very foolish" he said, test fly T dined with some men at their
 club, and 1t was quite too late to come home when our evening broke up.'' Wilkes" said the woman, abruptly
 and without a change of expression, ''do any of your friends suspect that you are married?"
 The man made a gesture of impa- tience. Don't be absurd, Ettar' he ex- claimed. They don't of course. As ] have told you, I'll tell them some time after I am firmly establishedr The woman made no comment and no move.
 How. are the childrenr' asked Lar rabee. with very cool interest. Well" replied the woman, quietly. Then she turned on her heel. will you come home tonight?" she asked,
 walking to the door.
 Yes.' he replied. you may count on
 me positively. shall be in time for dinner.
 The woman left without a word She returned to little house very far downtown, at ~ Bardane Street. It was simple. scrupulously clean place. The severe arrangement of the furniture
 and the few ornaments suggested the
 taste of rigid New England. And 1t
 was in rigid New England that Etta
 Larrabee had been born and bred. The
 same town was>the birthplace of her self and Wilkes Larrabee. She and Wilkes had grown up together. and Wilkes could not remember a time when black-eyed Etta had not stood at his shoulder and praised. first his
 crude drawings, and later his more
 budding efforts.
 He had married her when he was stiIl
 painfully poor. And she had worked
 for him! When the grind of poverty
 had been at its very cruelest she had
 borne 1t without a word and struggled on. If she knew not how to criticise
 her husbands work or to suggest ideas
 to him, at least did she cook, sew, wash, scrub and toll for him with unfiagginE energy and tireless devotion. As Larrabee progressed in his chosen