Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-08-09

us might take sick and die, shut in
that contaminated atmosphere, and
that if he did he wanted it all set
he wanted me to remember him kind
| ly if anything happened. l really
| hated to refuse him-he was in such
deadly earnest. But it was quite un-
necessary for him to have blamed his
refusal. as he did, on Mr.. HARRISON.
am sure l had refused him plenty of
| times before | had ever heard Of the
man. Yes, it was just after he pro-
+, posed to me that Flanagan came to
| the door and called Mr.. HARRISON out
into the hall.
Flannigan-like most of the people
| in the house-always went to Mr.. Har-
bison when there was anything to be
done. He openly adored him, and
what was more-he did what Mr.. Har-
bison ordered without a word, while
the rest of us had to get down on our
knees and beg.
Mr.. HARRISON went out, muttering
something about n storm coming up.
and seeing that the tent was secure.
Betty Mercer went with him. She had
been at his heels all evening, and
called him Tom" on every possible oc-
casion. Indeed, she made no secret of
it: she said that she was mad about
him, and that she would love to live
in South America, and have an Indian
squaw for a lady's- maid. and sit out
on the veranda in the evenings and
watch the Southern Cross shooting
across the sky. and eat tropical food
from the quaint Indian pottery. She
was not even daunted when Dal told
her the Southern Cross did not shoot,
and that the food was probably canned
corn on tin dishes.
So Betty went with him. She wore
a pale yellow dinner gown, with just a
sophisticated touch of black here and
there, and cut modestly square in the
neck. Her shoulders are scrawny.
And after they were gone-not her
Aunt Selma announced that the next
day was Monday, that she had only a
weeks supply of clothing with her, and
that 40 policeman who ever swung a
mace should wash her undergarments
for her.
She paused a moment, but nobody
offered to do it. Anne was reading De
Maupassant under cover of a table,
and the rest pretended not to hear.
After a pause, Aunt Selma got up
heavily and went up stairs, coming
down soon after with a bundle COW
cred with a green shawl, and with a
white balbrggan stocking trailing
from an opening in it. She paused at
the library door, surveyed the inmates,
caught my unlucky eye and beckoned
to me with a relentless forefinger.
I'VE can put them to soak tonight,
she confided to me, "and tomorrow
they will be quite simple to do. There
is no lace to speak of'-Dal raised his
eyebrows-"and very little founcing.''
Aunt Selma and l went to the laun-
dry. 1t never occurred to any one that
Bella should have gone; she had step
ped into all my privileges-such as
they were-and assumed none of my
obligations. Aunt Selma and | went
to the laundry.
1t is strange what big things devel-
op from little ones. In this case it
was a bar of soap. And if Flanagan
had used as much soap as he should
have instead of washing up the kitch-
en- floor with cold dish water, it would
have developed sooner. The two most
unexpected events of the whole quar-
antine occurred that night at the same
time, one on the roof and one in the
cellar. The cellar one, although curl
| Gus. was not so serious as the other,
SO it comes first.
Aunt Selma put her clothes in a
| tub in the laundry and proceeded to
| dress them like n vegetable. She threw
| i'm a handful of salt, some kerosene
oil and a little ammonia. The result
| was villainous. but after she tasted IL
or snuffed it-she said it needed a
bar of soap cut up to give it strength
or flavor-and l went into the store
room for it,
| The laundry soap was in a box.
took in a silver fork. for | hated to
| tnuch tho Stuff an6 IN hba6 a bar crn
cessfully in the semi darkness. Then
| carried it back to the laundry, and
dropped it on the table. Aunt Selma
| looked at the fork with disgust; ther
we both looked at the soap. One side
of it was covered with round holes
that curved around on each other like
coilcd snake.
| ran back to the store-room, and
there, little bit sticky and smelling
terribly of rosin. lay Anne's pearl
necklace!
| | was So excited that | seized Aunt
Selma by the hands and danced her
all over the place. Then | left her,
| trying To find her hair-pins on the
floor, and ran up to tell the others.
met Betty in the hall, and waved the
pearls at her. But she did not notice
| them.
rs Mr.. HARRISON down there" she
asked hreathlcssly. Il left him on the
roof and went down to my room for
my scarf, and when | went back he had
| disappeared. He-he doesn't seem tC
bc in the house" She tried to laugh
but her voice was shaky. He couldn't
have got down without passing me
anyhow" she supplemented. Il sup.
pose I'm silly. but So many queer
things have happened, Kit"
Il wouldn't worry. Betty" sootheG
her He is big enough To take care
of himself. And with the best mten-
ti"ns in the world. YOU can't have hin
all the time, YOU know"
| She was too much startled to he in
| dignant. She followed me into the H.
hrary. where the sight of the pearls
| produced a tremendous excitement
and then every one had To go down tC