Evening star., 1909-02-14

room and I have a desk in there, all to
myself
u
For this palatial residence-which might
add is moderately we'll furnished-we pay
forty-f1ve dollars a month, and then, of
course. We have to pay for light and
heat-the steam heat in this house is con-
sidered great luxury. Moreover there
Is a bath. which is most unusual in
a European house. and altogether it isn't
SO bad since we have put up a few
pictures and bought some cushions.
We have a real treasure of a maid
Marie Is her name and she's distractingly
pretty-who does everything. cooking.
mending. me cleaning and all. for the sum of
$40 month. OF course, she does all the
marketing and gets a generous commits
sion from that. but Marie at any price
would be cheap. She adores Irene, who
does all the talking. and sits for her by
the hour.
Irene runs the house and 1 run the
finances. and Kathleen and Dixie are too
frivolous to run anything except their
professors. But our household expenses
Including everything, barely comes to
$1.1o day apiece. SO, you see, it really is
cheap. We have q big living room and q
dining room, kitchen and three bedrooms
Marie sleeps down in the servants quar-
ters), and 1t is not at all like an American
1idl, Dut just DIS DlS dS Cuy uOuSe at nome.
The police come good deal-Marie SAYS
they always do herewith lists to be filed
out and about taxes and things. She and
Irene always interview them. so the rest
of us don't bother.
The days certainly are crowded to the
brim. We all breakfast together at half
past eight Most people have 1t in their
rooms. but We voted against that from
the start. At Irene is off to art school,
and Dixie or Kathleen (whichever it may
@ m lld fn~ fynrN lit {1~
the other Is off for her lesson They
wouldn't mind at all practicing at the
same time; In fact they tried it once. but
never again! oh. but it was pande-
monlum: l refused to consider such
thing as future possibility. and from
that day forth gently but firmly elected
one of them out the front door before the
other began.
They are dears, both of them Kathleen
and Dixie. Kathleen really plays re-
markably well. or she couldn't have got
ten in with Leschetizsky so soon, and
Dixie has an adorable voice. a Deep
throaty contralto, that shakes you all up
inside. She is very pretty. too. with soft
dark eyes and heaps Of dark brown hair
kathleen's is auburn and she is more on
the stunning type. All the Viennese go
crazy over her.
Well. as l was saying, they all go OF
in the morning and l retire to my sane
tum with my pen and a worried express
sion and scribble vaiantly till luncheon
that is. when the nurse comes on the
run. When she doesn't I chew the end
of my pen for ten minutes and then dash
on my wraps and go out.
Sometimes l pacify my conscience by
hunting illustrations In the queer little
photo shops with racks of pictures all
around the walls. but the more often /
just wander. Generally I have opera
tickets to buy, and that means an agoniz-
ing half hour trying to make the ticket
man understand my German-which is
really a wonderful conglomeration Of bad
French and worse Dutch-or sometimes
l go to market with Marie (she doesn't
mind as don't understand anything and
she can make her commission just the
same).
The markets in Vienna are queer things.
right out In the middle OF the street. as it
were. and simply consist of boxes or
loaded wagons under big umbrellas. But
you can buy most anything. from hats to
herrings / got some lovely lace In the
market last week, and Irene bought some
candlesticks to send home for a wedding
present.
One morning. in search of some local
color / dropped in at the art school to
have look at Irene and her Bohemians.
Such crowd l never saw before. All OF
them were sitting around in groups, draw