The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-09-02
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excessive quantities that instantly
make the observer think of the ladies
who stand all day with their backs to
the windows of popular thorofares in
order to display the riotous excess of
capillary covering which the use of
some particular dressing for the head
unfortunately results in. Nor again
was her mouth that perfect "Cupid Is
bow" which is SO dear to the creators
OF feminine perfection It was not in
deed like bow at all; it was rather
large, and rather full-lipped, but, like
her eyes, or like aspen leaves in spring,
1t was all a-quiver with response to the
mood of the moment. Nor were her
lips vermilion, a hue that nature hap
PLY does not use on the human mouth,
leaving its employment to art, but they
: were of that yelled blood tint that
speaks Of youth and vitality as surely
as vermilion speaks only Of the desire
TO appear to be the possessor of these
excellent gifts.
Thurso was naturally of extremely
impressionable and imaginative mind.
and the. day, spent as it had been in
going from house to house, finding
wherever he went the apparatus Of ill
ness, or the simpler and grimmer an
paratus Of death, had been like some
real and hideous nightmare to him.
Clearly as Maud understood and SYM
pathlzed with his instinct Of coming
d up. here himself, she found herself
wondering whether he had been right
to come. Then, too, he had tortured
himself with a hundred pure suppose
lions. Was this epidemic in any way
+ his fault, in that he had not had the
water supply more constantly tested9.
Clearly, if everything, drains. pipes.
water andy--what not, had all been in
perfect order typhoid could mot have
come. These were his tenants; it was.
has. business to see that the conditions
under which they lived were sanitary.
>. NOW Ihurso was a perfect working.
model Gas, large as ife) of the con-.
scientious landlord, and these SUPPOSE
tlons, tho they seemed terribly real and
totally unanswerable to him on his way
back to the house at this same hour
last night, were but morbid creations of
his brain, since all his life he~had done
all he could to insure the healthfulness
OF those who were dependent on him,
and on these morbid creations Maud,
with her sweetness and gaicty Of spirit,
had acted like charm. She knew well
that Thurso had never been neglectful
or culpable, and that being certain, she
had addressed herself not to combat
his doubts and questionings, but to
turn his attention resolutely away from
them, just as wise nurse will not try
to convince a frightened child that the
dark contains no bogeys, by letting the
room continue dark and prove by dem
>onstration that no winged and nailed
creature is born therefrom, but will
rather quiet its fears by: bringing
light. Aud as the nurse does not rea-
son to herself about the best treatment
for childish terror, so Maud did not
reason to herself about the best treat.
~ment for unreasonable scruples. She
only said to herself: "Darling old
;Thurso is dreadfully down.. Sc. IN
: distract his mind by being dreadfully
foolish!'
So foolish she had been, but vet with
: art, so that it should not occur to him
that she was playing the part of nurse,
and bringing light because he was
afraid Of the dark: And as when David
spirit, so she had played till he forgot
his. imaginary troubles in the charm and
gaiety which, tho she assumed them de-
iberately, were yet natural to her.
s Tonight, however, the obsession of his
fear and unreasonable dependency had
seemed to descend on her, and it needed
a strong and conscious effort to dispel
it. For this might be unreasonable.
too-she knew that at the back of her
mind she was anxious about him.
Terrible as this epidemic WIS, it was
producing "a disproportionate effect
on him: he was taking it too hardly,
and also too self-consciously. From her
intimate knowledge Of him, from that
blood-instinct also which can enable
sister to know what a brother is feel
ing, even tho wife does not perceive
it, she knew that he was strung up al
most to breaking point. Yet she felt,
with a certain secret pride in his cour-
age, that nobody else but she would
have guessed that For from childhood
he had always been like that, balanced
on an edge, ready to topple over into
depths of dependency, but with proper
courage he had concealed his precarious
balance from the world, turning brave
and equable face to it, even tho he wore