The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1911-06-10

SeH again AT once. Inen new Ca
PLANTATION occurred to me. Suppose 1t
had been Bella all the time. and the
real shock had been to find that she
had been married!
The fault OF the situation was real
ly mine." said magnanimously; Il
quite blame myself. Only. you must
believe one thing. You never fur'
nished US any amusement" I looked
at him sidewise. The discovery that
Bella and Jim were once married
must have been a great shock.
1T was a surprise" he replied even
ly. His voice and his eyes were In
scrutable. He returned my glance
| steadily. 1t was infuriating to have
gone halfway to meet him. as l had.
and then to find him intrenched in his
self-sufficiency again. l got up.
1t is unfortunate that our acquain-
tance has begun so unfavorably," re-
marked. preparing to pass him. I'm
der other circumstances We might
have been friends"
There is only one solace," he said.
When we do not have friends, we
can not lose them"
| He opened the door to let me pass
out. and as our eyes met. all the cold
ness died out of his. He held out his
hand. but l was hurt l refused to
see 1t.
Kit" he said unsteady. Tin
an obstinate, pig-hearted brute. l am
sorry. Can't We be friends. after
all?"
When we do not have friends we
can not lose them.'" l replied with
cool malice. And the next instant the
door closed behind me.
1t was that night that the really
serious event of the quarantine oc-
Cured
We were gathered In the library.
and everybody was deadly dull. Aunt
Selma said she had been reared to q
strict observance Of the Sabbath, and
she refused to go to bed early. The
cards and card-tables were put away
and every one sat around and quar-.
relied and was generally nasty. except
Bella and Jim, who had gone into the
den Just after dinner and firmly closed
the door.
l think 1t was Just after Max pro-
posed to me. Yes, he proposed to me
again that night. He said that Jim's
illness had decided him. that any Of
us might take sick and die. shut in
that contaminated atmosphere, and
that If he did he wanted 1t all settled.
And whether took him or not he
wanted me to remember him kindly II
anything happened. really hated to
refuse him-he was in such deadly
earnest But 1t was quite unnecessary
for him to have blamed his refusal,
as he did. on Mr.. HARRISON. l am
sure had refused him plenty Of times
before I had ever heard Of the man.
Yes. 1t was Just after he proposed to
me that Flanagan came TO the door
and called Mr.. HARRISON out into the
hall
MIR. HARRISON went out, muttering
something about a 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 TON" on every possible
occasion. 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.
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 shoulders; Mr.. HARRISON and
next day was Monday, that she had
only a weeks supply Of clothing
with her and that no policeman who
ever swung a mace should wash her
undergarments for her
She paused a moment, but nobody
offered to do 1t. 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 upstairs. coming
down soon after with a bundle cov-
cred with green shawl and with a
white balbriggan stocking trailing
from an opening in 1t. She paused at
the library door, surveyed the In
mates. caught my unlucky eye and
bee koned to me with a relentless fore.
finger.
I'VE can put them to soak tonight, !"
she confided to me, land tomorrow
they will be quite simple to do. There
is no lace to speak of''-Dal raised his
eyebrows-"and very little flouncing." "
Aunt Selma and l went to the laun.
| dry.
It is strange what big things de-
velop from little ones. In this case 1t
was a bar of soap. And II Flanagan
had used as much soap as he should
have instead of washing up the kitch.
en- floor with cold dish water. 1t
would have developed sooner. The
two most unexpected events of the
whole quarantine occurred that night
at the same time. one on the roof and