Connecticut western news., 1911-03-02
The Stone Lantern And How It United Two
 Families
 By CLARISSA MACKTE Copyright by American Press Asso-
 citation, 1911.

The Japanese servant moved noise lessly about the studio, bringing order out of the chaos that always followed one of his masters busy days. The priceless, oriental rugs were straight ened, the window draperies carefully adjusted to admit the fading glory of a reflected sunset, and Nasogi va lished from the room at the moment Ethan Stanley entered from the adjoining bedchamber
 The young man surveyed the lCvuri- ous appointments of the studio }'.th discontented frown on his hAL .,.Jme face. With knitted brows he ( ossed the room to the easel where G.s, last picture was hidden bS a curtain.
 Presently he dropped the curtain and turned to find the Japanese s,uIl.ng at attention in the doorway.
 What is it, Nasogi?' asked Stanley.
 ''The telephone calls, sir" replied the man.
 "Who is it?'
 MT. Clayton, sir"
 "Ah, how are you, Bob" Stanley was saying over the wire. Certainly. Delighted. Bring the whole crowd. was going to dine alone, but Nasogi is a magician and can spread feast for dozen. Eight-thirty. Good. Be sure to bring your fiddle. Goodby.
 "Nasogi, MT. Clayton and four friends will dine with me tonight at S:30. There will be three ladies in the com pany. Can you manage 1t in three hours?" He looked at his watch.
 Most certainly, sir. It will be ready at the hour. I will go to the market again immediately" In an in stant the Japanese had bowed himself from the room and Stanley was alone. He flung himself into deep chair and lighted a pipe.
 The, pagoda shape of a stone lantern was outlined against the twilight space of the window and reminded Stanley of the gray day he had first seen it in a neglected garden beyond the gates of Tokyo. It was what he had been looking for ever since he had come to Japan. He might have bought a score of stone lanterns in the orien- tai shops of New York, but his par ticular stone lantern must be found by himself in some place where it had stood-in the garden of some home or among the ruins of a temple. These things have associations or they could find no place in his collection.
 He remembered the day, gray with fine mist of rain. He had bowled out of the city with his favorite riclkshaw man between the shafts, and when the first light shower came the runner had turned into a tiny tangled garden where a small house stood deserted among the plum trees.
 As Stanley found shelter in the ye- randa he spied the stone lantern near ly overgrown with some clinging vine.
 "Who owns this houseY he asked quickly.
 The runner named a man in the neighborhood. "It was his daughter who lived in the house with her hus band They were newly married, and they called it the abode of peace and joy But the husband went away to war, and he never came back. The daughter lives with her parents, an in consOlable widow, and the little house is a place of sorrow"
 Stanley thought over the little trag edy that had been briefly played out here, and then when the rain had stop ped he sought the house of the owner and found it easy to purchase the stone lantern.
 "My daughter. will be glad. It grieves her to see even "a distant glimpse of her former abode. I shall tear down the house one day and turn the place into playground" said the dignifed old gentleman.
 It was dark now, and his pipe had gone out. Stanley switched on the electrics and then extinguished them, lighting in their place several softly shaded lamps.
 As he dressed for dinner he won dered idly who the girl was that the Claytons were bringing with them. Bob had said it was a friend of his wife's, and Mrs. Clayton had so many friends it was useless to puzzle his head over that The other couple were the Lesters. The Claytons and the Lesters were his most intimate friends and had been Oelia's, too, before she and Stanley had quarreled and sep arated. Celia had returned to her par ents, and Stanley had gone to Japan and lately had returned to occupy the studio alone Under the circumstances he rather wondered at the Claytons bringing along a strange girl.
 Years of travel and hard work had not softened the blow of Celia's de- sertion after the bitter, foolish little disagreement He had written once, but she had never replied to it. He tried not to think of her. Tn that way alone there was peace of mind.
 Exactly at S:30 the elevator stopped at his floor, and Nasogi threw open the studio door to announce the guests. Maud Clayton and Bessie Lester came in first, and close behind them was a third figure, at the sight of which Stanley's heart jumped into his throat