The Winslow mail., 1911-02-04

jumping up and almost dropping her
ammonia bottle. my dear Bella!
Homer"
Jimmy groaned at the foot of the
stairs, but Anne Brown was getting
over her tears and now she turned on
me in a temper.
TITS all your fault" she said. 81 was
going to stay at home and get little
sleep"
well, you can sleep now," Dallas
broke in. "There'll be nothing to do
but sleep"
'T think you haven't grasped the
situation, Dal," 1 said icily. There
will be plenty to do. There isn't a
servant in the housed"
mo servantsl" everybody cried at
once The Mercer girls stopped gig
Cling.
Holy cats!" Max stopped in the
act of hanging up his overcoat DO
you mean-why, can't shave myself!
I'll cut my head off"
You'll do more than that" l re-
torted grimly. you will carry coal
and tend fires and empty ash pans,
and when you are not doing any of
those things there will be pots and
pans to wash and beds to make"
Then there was a row. We had
worked back to the den now, and 1
stood in front of the fireplace and let
the storm beat around me, and tried
to look perfectly cold and Indifferent,
and not to see Mr.. Harbison's shocked
face. No wonder he thought them a
lot of savages, browbeating their host
ess the way they did.
Its fool thing anyhow" Max
Reed wound up, ito celebrate the an
niversary of a divorce-especially-
Here he caught Jim's eye and
stopped. But 1 had suddenly remem-
bered. Bella down in the basement!
Could anything have been worse?
And Of course she would have hys-
terra and then turn on me and blame
me for it all. 1t all came over me at
once and overwhelmed me, while
Anne was crying and saying she
wouldn't cook if she starved for it,
and Aunt Selma was taking off her
wraps. felt queer all over, and sat
down suddenly. Mr.. HARRISON was
looking at me, and he brought me
glass Of wine.
1T won't be so bad as you fear"
he said comfortingly. There will be
no danger once we are vaccinated, and
many hands make light work. They
are pretty raw now, because the thing
is new to them, but by morning they
will be reconciled."
"It isn't the work: 1t is something
entirely different" said. And it was
Bella and work could hardly be
spoken in the same breath
If had only turned her out as she
deserved to be, when she first came,
instead of allowing her to carry
through the wretched farce about see
ing Takahiro! Or if I had only run
to the basement the moment the
house was quarantined, and got her
out the areaway or coal hole! And
now time was flying, and Aunt Selma
had me by the arm, and any moment
expected Bella to pounce on us
through the doorway and the whole
situation to explode with a bang.
1t was after eleven before they were
rational enough to discuss ways and
means, and, Of course, the first thing
suggested was that we all adjourn be-
low stairs and clean up after dinner.
1 could have slain Max Reed for the
notion, and the Mercer girls for taking
him up.
"Of course we WILL" they said in
duet. What a lark!" And they actu-
ally began to pin up their dinner
gowns. 1t was Jim who stopped that.
ooh, look here, you people" he OBJ
jected, I'm not going to let you do
that Well get some servants in to-
morrow I'll go down and put out the
lights. There will be enough clean
dishes for breakfast"
1t was lucky for me that this started
a new discussion then and there about
who would get the breakfast. In the
midst of the excitement 1 slipped
away to carry the news to Bella. She
was where had left her, and she had
made herself a cup of tea, and was
very much at home, which was
natural.
do you know" she said ominously,
that you have been away for two
hours? And that I have gone through
agonies of nervousness for fear Jim
Wilson would come down and think
/ came here to see him."
(TO BE CONTINUED)