Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-04-16

Wy !: ::
q w NIX roof supported pA
w a" NJ Great Corinthiar
GHHdpA%A Pill ars EXTENDED
~ a. over wide porch
NOna and ! k e, m J
houses of tina
period both roof and cupola were orna
mented by low wooden ratings,
The trees and shrubs surrounding 1t
had grown unpruneG for years. and the
once trim. box-bordered garden beds were
tangIe of Japan and Bermuda lilies,
pink sweet williams, blue bachelors but
tens. fra grant phloX and Haunting holly
hooks.
In spite of its general dilapidation it
was place which would have suggested
Infinite possibilities to an artistic eye. but
Tom Hillary closed the gate of the old
fashioned white rail fence with an impa-
tient bang.
I've a white elephant on my hands all
right, all right" he reflected, irritably
tut if I'd foreclosed SINNERS mortgage
rs lac directed. and the property had been
Pot mp at public sale. in all proba bility the
place would have brought not more than
enough to satisfy the lien on it. and
there would have been nothing left for
poor old Willard.
re paused to regard with covetous eyes
an ornate Queen Anne villa in process of
erection.
Something like that, now, was what I'd
had In mind, he thought, wistfully.
Mothers been used to living in hand
some house ever since Cello married Jim
Bennett.
Then his face cleared I'll tell her just
how Il was.'' he decided. Bless her heart,
she'll he glad to know that l was able TO
do ID turn to the old man who was
SO kin. to me when | was kid
And. anyhow, he continued with in
creaSing cheerfulness. II can furnish the
Old ark way up in G.. and with fresh paint
pink instead of white-aII that shrub
berry CT; down. a nice smooth lawn, and
perhaps fountain with the figure of a
Child holding an umbrella over her head
Ike that one saw in Peoria. it will look
Ike g different place
His meditations We're interrupted by an
eager. p;aintive voice
"Oh, Thomas, Miss Marilla Bucking-
ham exclaimed. I'm so delighted to have
met you. Sister and We're intending 10
call at your Office this afternoon to con-
s,'lt YOU on matter of-of grave impor-
tarce. But there seems something $3.50
indicate in ladies calling on a gentle
man that, perhaps. now that YOU are IN
the neighborhood, you won't mind stop
ping
Hillary had swept off his hat and stood
looking kindly down at shabby little
woman in rusty black.
1t will be pleasure. Miss Buckins-
ham, he assured her cordially.
"
Nevertheless, he seemed a trine de-
pressed as he relieved the tremulous
hands of some pitifuly small browa
paper parceis. He had known the Misses
buckingham all his life and he was
aware that, Ike many other women lett
alone in the world. they had allowed a
comfortable competency to slip through
t'-eir fingers. He OWNED the nature Of
tie matter of grave Importance and
his prophetic soul told him that he would
be called to solve the hopeless problem
of making their impaired capital yield a
living income or the still more hopeless
one of pointing out to two proud luxuri-
ousiy brought-up women past middle age
some means of earning livelihood
ii;llsry himself had, been poor boy, but
he had come of sturdy working stock and
lis mother. left widow with two young
children to support, had applied herself to
the task with such indomitabIe pluck and
vim that the little cottage where she bent
daily over her wash tubs had been a
happy home. And now Hillary CHANGING
at the delicate worn face beside him. real
lied the difference between the cheerful
hopeful poverty of his boyhood and that
which confronted these two helpless wom-
en- in their old age.
For an instant he was tempted to Mead
forgotten engagement and thus avoid A
painful scene. But as small boy with
an unsuitable appetite for cookies and
apples. the Misses Buckingham had often
appeared TO him in the role of Lady
Bountiful, and gratitude was not merely a
name with Tom Hillary
His manner showed no trace of his in
ward perturbation when Miss Marilla
ushered him into the dim drawing room
where sat Miss Lucinda a frail thin
shadowy edition of the younger sister 1t
was plain that in his capacity of legal ad-
wiser the sisters regarded their former
protege with awe, and their natural reti-
cence made il difficult for them to ac-
knowledge the straits to which they had
been reduced; but by d!nt of skilIful. SYM
pathetic questioning Hillary at length sue
ceeded in obtaining { clear idea of the
condition of their affairs
That gold mine promised SO well,'
sobbed Miss Marilla, in conclusion
How could we possibly imagine that
the bank was going TO fail when the
cashier himself. not a week before he was
arrested for embezZlement assured us
that IL as solid as a roek'. sighed
Miss Lucinda. ''fJister and ] really cannot
manage to live what is left" she con-
tinaed, tearfully. land we thought,
Thomas. that you could tell us what is
best to be DONE
This great house must be an expensive
Place to keep up began Hillary, tenta-
lively. Have you never thought of dis
posing of it?'
Sell the house that has been in our
family for four generations? We would
rather starye" the old women cried as
one person.
The only plan which seemed TO him at
ali feasible being thus summarily reject
ed. Hillary sat tboughtfully frowaing over
the apparently insoluble problem present
ed to him when the silence was broken
b. Miss Marlla.