Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1908-03-27

whatever Ii might be. and gloves
this though the summer sun might be
hammering down with all his might
And then they sat In closed room
and talked In reserved fashion which
was entirely the property Of the call.
OF course one could have a moments
real talk by chance meeting and there
were the natural griefs Of life to break
the corsets Of this etiquette. although
In general the griefs seemed to he
long drawn out and conventional af-
fairs. as II nature herself Mt last yield
ed to the system. conquered by the
invincible cOnventlonality and stub
bornness of the ladies' Of Fairfield. It
was the unspoken but firm belief Of
each Of these women that person
Of their circle who had no more idea
Of responsibility than to drop dead on
the public road would never 60 to
heaven.
Poor Miss Matte! Small wonder
she dropped her hands. sat back and
wondered. with another sigh. II 1t were
for this she was born. She did not
rebel-there was no violence In her
but she regretted exceedingly. In spite
Of her slenderness 1t was wide
mother lap In which her hands rested.
an obvious cradle for little children.
And instinctively 1t would come to you
rs you looked at her that there could
be no more comfortable place for q
tired man to come home to than a
household presided over by this slow
moving. gentle woman.
There was nothing old maidish about
Miss Matte but the tale Of her years.
She had had offers. such as Fairfield
and vicinity could boast, and declined
them with tact and the utmost graft
tude to the sutton for the compliment
but her mo-" though mild. was firm.
for there lay within her a certain quiet
valiant spirit which would rather en-
dure the fatigue and loneliness Of old
age In her little house than to take q
larger life from any but the man who
was ALA commonplace In fiction, in
real life sometimes quite a strain.
The sun distorted himself into Rug.
by football and hurried down as though
to be through with Fairfield Ms soon
As possible. 1t was a most MAGNIFICENT
sunset. flaming. gorgeous, wild-be-
yond the management Of the women Of
Fairneld-and Miss Matte stared into
the heart Of It with longing for some.
thing to happen. Then the thought
came. What could happenY' She
sighed again. and, with eyes blinded
by heaven shine, glanced down the VII
lage street.
She thought she saw-she rubbed her
eyes and looked again-she did see, and
surely never a stranger sight was be-
held on Fairneld's street! Had a Roy.
al Bengal tiger come slouching through
the dust 1t could not have been more
unusual. The spectacle was a man:
very large and mighty shouldered man.
who looked about him with q bold, i'm
perious. keep the change regard. There
was something in the swing Of him
that suggested the Bengal tiger. He
wore high heeled boots outside OF bis
trousers, flannel shirt with q yellow
silk kerchief around his neck, and on
his head sat white hat which seemed
to Miss Matte to be at least q yard In
diamstsn Under the hat WAS q IA.
variable head Of hair. II hung below
the mans shoulders In q silky mass Of
dark scarlet fecked with brown gold.
Miss Matte had seen red hair, but she
remembered no such color as this. nor
could she recall ever having seen hair
foot and half long on man. That
hair would have made fortune ON the
head Of an actress. but Miss Matte
was ignorant Of the possibilities of the
profession.
The face Of the man was a flne tan.
against which eyes, teeth and mus
tache came out In brisk relief. The
mustache avoided the tropical tint Of
the upper hair and was content with
q modest brown. The owner came
right along. walking with a stifr.
strong. straddling gait. like a man
not used to that way Of travelling.
Miss Matte eyed him in some fear.
He would be by her house directly.
and 1t was hardly modest to sit ar
gressively on ones front porch while
a strange man went by, particularly
such q very strange man as this. Yet