Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-11-27
4 BRIDES IMPROVEMENTS
Bv 1EANNET TIE MARKS.

I idea of her own, and that until Ariel res.
| cued her she had never been allowed to
have. She reached up and patted hts
| face; even her gestures were incompre-
! hensibly childlike. What she lacked in the
| passion of woman she seemed to make
! up in the perfect trust OF child. Ariel
! selfish with the selfishness of man who
| has lived by himself and who has lived
much in his own mind thought now with
| a pang how lonely fanny must have been
ever since she came to him; the appeal
! OF her confidence touched the best that
/ was in him. the protection that was his to
?! give her. and some potential sense o.
/ fatherhood. Aye. he knew how tired she
/ was after the life that lay behind her,
and he Gaths red her into his arms, hold
ing her there quietly while he talked.
What shall it be, fanny? A star an
anchor. bit of rope, an cat, did We
say. dear?''
AYE, a star, Ariel. please. 1 don't
think / want the anchor. The bit rop+
| would be nice, dear. An I'd like. the cat"
| An what are We goin' TO do with these
drawin's, fanny? Are ye goin' to hang
them on the walls.
No, I'm no goin' to do that
We'll, it's just as well. dearie, for
Betto Griftiths an Mrs. Conner Roberts,
the tinman, an Mrs. Parry Wynn, the
baker, would be hauntin Ty Mawr. But
what arc ye ,goin' to do with them,
dearie?'
Ariel, l couldn't say now"-Janny
stirred uneasily-''l might ne hangin them
! in our bedroom an'-an AM might b..
puttin-puttIn' them in the-BiDle -
pr.ss. They'd be useful.
Aye, that's so. An Eow large shall l
draw tnem?'
fanny thought minute. ',
Tine cat, dear. I'd like about a foot
1ong-that Is from his tail to his whis-
kers-no. I'm thinkin' that's too narrow
for the cat; rom the tail 70 the whiskers
I'D like h,m one foot an half, ARIEL
Janny's glance took flight over Arlel's
shoulder.
An III starr
fanny thought again.
SIX inches from point to point, an
four stars-no-one star will dol can
cut-oh!-Ariel, one star, please
An the roper
Its the twisted kind, l want, an it
must go all around the-oh, dear! Ariel,
ABOUT an inch wide, please
Good. One caI, one star one inch
rope. Anything more, little lamb"
Moo: could We do it now?"
aye, dearle; fetch me the ruler, the
paper an n pencil.
so fanny watched Ariel's thin fingers
work skiiifully, swiftly, with the pencil.
the ruler measuring on star-poInts and a
cats length as carefully as If the paper
were Welsh flannel worth one and six
yard And the next night, after DAY
of unusual elation of feeling, fanny,
when sleep had come to Ariel, stol.
noiselesSly from the marital side, crept
to the whitewashed wall of their bed
room. pallid in mlpnshine, felt tor. the
white paper cat and star and length of
rope hanging there indiscernible. caught
the edge of the paper with her fingers as
she felt about. unpinned the pieces, and
tiptoed out of the room down the stair
way
AS she moved about the sitting room in
her nightgown she looked pathetically
little. the flush in her cheeks marking her
eager helplessness. Much had slipped
nv hor Oh I,4l
sorry life before Ariel took her and
brought her to live among strangers,
whose motives and feelings she had no
means of penetrating. But the tender
childhood, had remained with her as il
making amends for her loss or awaiting
the sunshine of maturing impulses. She
set a candle beside the SETTLE lifted the
cover; took out two long rolls of paper.
closed the settle. and bore her parcels to
the table. Then she united them with
trembling fingers. rolling out several
feet or green and crimson paper and a
small sheet of yellow. She placed
weights on the corners Of the lengths,
pausing to run her fingers into her hair
as. she gazed with rapt eyes upon the
coiored surfaces, commonplace enough to
an appearances. She took the cat. laid
down. and penciled around the edges.
In the same fashion she drew the out
lines of four yellow stars and some
lengths of yellow rope. Finally with a
pair of shears she cut out all the out
lined figures. She lifted the cat, freed
now from the matrix of surrounding
paper and enlivened with the Mfelike-
ness Of new liberty. and held It's foot
and half Of length against the candle
light The light shone through the
crimson paper but dimly. fanny nodded.
took a small cake of paraffin. melted n
and with a bit OF cloth sponged the cat
as it lay upon the table. This she did
also to the four yellow stars, to the
lengths of rope. and to large piece of
green paper upon which the original cat
pattern had been appliqued. Once more
she lifted the crimson animal to the Ii0ht
the candle fame shone through clearly
with beautiful crimson hood OF softer
iight. After this fanny broke a half
dozen eggs; separating the white from
the yoik: Her fingers worked feverishiy
now and her eyes kept measuring dis
tances; in her nervous haste there were
moments when she seemed hardly ahre
to accomplish the next step forward in
the task already complete in her minds
eye She stopped to listen for sounds
and steps as she worked. and again and
again she imagined Ariel was looking
down ,. from the head Of the staircase.
and with sigh. half sob Of WEAKNESS
half eontentment and with many a
glance OF admiration as she went she
sip.oed up I,s the stairway. Ariel was
put out hand to touch his thick black
hair and then. curling into the coni
white OF the pillow. fell asleep as chill
dren sleep one hand resting lightly on
Ariel Jenkins awoke at the wak1nr
time of all Glaslyn-the dawn: Jannr
lay beside him. still sleeping. her face
leaVlly shadowed in her abundant hair.
She seemed so wlstfully childlike and
ler closed eyes SO unforgettably weary.
ierhaps 1t was merely the shadows OF
the early dawn and her hair but the
eyeiids had kind Of veined Transparency
ana her face transparent pallor. and
the mouth dropped. Ariers selfshness
snote him consciously: he thought with
panS or fanny. and he made resolu-
tons With this awakening he trans
1erred little of his poetry from the
bard to the man. Aye. he acknowledged
TO himself, this might well be called the
education OF Ariel Jenkins. bard and
merchant And for the first time a
thought that Sripped his heart brought
him no desire to turn 1t into rhyme He
recalled compassiopately all her efforts
TO make improvements in the house her
\ evident Inability to understand and cone
with the shrewd Welsh women of their
village. and he remembered with fear
! the prSiRg curiosity and overt enmity
| these women had shown toward Janny
1 Then he wondered in 1esultory way
what she was planning to do with the
stars and the cat and the bits OF rome
And after she awakened and they were
| talking at breakfast he reflected how
easily his resolution won success. for
fanny since he brought her to Glaslyn
had not been as buoyant. almost ami