Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-11-30
In the Attic.
 By TEMPLE BAILEY.
Copyrighted, 1907, by P. c. Eastment.

Miss Cynthia's attic was fragrant with aromatic herbs. Little bags of lavender and of dried rose leaves hung from the rafters and mingled their del fcate perfume with the coarser aroma of sage and sweet marjoram and thyme and summer savory. On autumn afternoons the attic was golden with sunshine, and from the little peaked window one could see the long white road and the blue hills beyond.
 It was to this fragrant and gold ligL attic that Miss Cynthia would com n the summer rush was over and in it's peace and quiet try to for. get that she was worn and worried and withered.
 At thirty-five one should not be wor. ried and withered. But hard lives ds not make for youth and freshness, and Miss Cynthia had always drudged l Work had been the watchword on the farm, and when prosperity had come in later years the habit of keeping summer boarders had become fixed and even after the death of her par ents Miss Cynthia had continued 1t. | But with September came rest and freedom, and it was then that Miss | Cynthia sought the attic and wrote in her diary.
 The diary was safe outlet for her woes. There were pages plotted with the tears she had shed when she had closed the volume of her first romance and two leaves on which she had pen. ned a poetic swan song of affection were pinned together with black pin
 Miss Cynthia had old fashioned ideas about love- She had loved once, and hence there could be no other affair It mattered nothing that the man in the case was married and had grown fat and puffy and uninteresting. Il was not the man, but the idea, and tr that idea Miss Cynthia was true. To be sure, no second suitor had en. tered her life, so that there had been no severe tax upon her constancy But the roses had gone out of her cheeks when she was twenty, and she had twisted her hair in an uncom. promising knot and had at that early date given herself up to mourning and to memories.
 You're silly Martha Ann told hel one bright September morning as Miss Cynthia, with her black diary in hel hand, prepared to ascend to the attic "Why don't you go out and visit and have a good time instead of writing ir that dark old place?"
 Martha Ann was an old and privi legged servant, but Miss Cynthia would brook no interference with her acts ot affiiction.
 q don't think good times are my portion, Martha Ann," she said and went up the stairway thoughtfully.
 Halfway up she paused to say "Make good vegetable soup fol lunch. Martha Ann. I'll throw down q bunch of my herbs. Soup will taste good on cool day"
 Love" wrote Miss Cynthia in hel little book, "is of mans life thing apart; 'tis woman's whole existence"
 When she had rounded off the last prim letter she bit the end of her pen ell and sighed and looked out of the peaked window
 Far down the road she could see a cloud of dust. Coming nearer, the cloud showed itself the forerunner of an automobile.
 The big machine swerved out of the road and into Miss Cynthia's OWL drive. It stopped at her door. and she had to lean far out of the peaked win dow to see Martha in her gingham apron speaking to the occupant.
 Miss Cynthia could not hear word and she almost fell over the sill in the effort to satisfy her curiosity. She saw Martha Ann go in, and presently she felt a pull at the back of her dress.
 Goodness" Martha Ann said cross ly, 'I called and called, and I couldn't make you hear. That man wants some thing to eat"
 "what?" Miss Cynthia gasped. But he doesn't look like a tramp, Martha Ann"
 "Tramps don't ride in automobiles, " Martha Ann sniffled. He says he's been riding all the morning. and he just couldn't find a place to eat, and he would be glad to pay for meal He understood that We took boarders, he said
 Well. you go down and hurry the soup and make an omelet and some hot biscuits. and I will talk to him, Martha Ann"
 You'd better stop in your room and primp a little" Martha Ann advised. Hes awfully good looking"
 The idea" said Miss Cynthia. with dignity.
 She was little sorry. however, when she reached the sitting room that she had not taken the girls advice. for the man that she greeted was big and blond and prosperous looking. It de- veloped that he slurred his grammar. but as he leaned back in the biggest rocking chair and talked in his hearty voice Miss Cynthia decided that he was very attractive.
 "I expect you think its queer my drOppin' in on you this wsy:r he said as Martha announced lunch. But I couldn't pass the pOppies and the peonies in the yard My mother used to have an old fashioned garden. and