The Lamar register. [volume] (Lamar, Colo.) 1889-1952, 1913-01-22
HER UNLIMITED GUEST
Dy WILLIAM BURTON.

Always when she dreamed her IA
vorite dream-that of some day living
n an apartment of her own-she oc-
,upied her fancy more with the spare
room than with any other.
This was curious, inasmuch as she
was a woman not much inclined to
sociability. being fond of her own So
:iety. So why in fancy she should
always be furnishing that spare cham
Der, laying the gray rug on its floor.
hanging the dimity curtains and
smoothing the Marseilles spread, she
herself could not explain.
She even arranged the books in the
dttle white case, books calculated to
put q guest in good humor with him
self, books which would bring about
that peaceful state of mind conducive
to sleep. She would have no exciting
aovels, no passionate poems. no soci-
illogical f1rebrands in her guest
chamber. There should be such vol
ames as 1.-THE Measure of the Hours"
Society and Solitude" Sesame and
Lilies" These would become the
shelves and crafty guest even If he
never got beyond the titles.
30 when by a generous increase in
her salary the apartment was made
possible she took one with five rooms
instead Of four, because, as she told
the agent. she must have a spare
room"
The rooms of reality are never as
we'll furnished as are those in the
houses Of our imagination. Still. her
guest chamber was a marvel Of white
ness and daintiness. There was q
lovely gray hand woven flower bcrd-
cred rug on the floor and a French
striped paper with pattern of tiny
rosebuds on the wall. The woodwork
was white, and 30 were the little iron
bed and the enameled dresser and the
stiff chair. There was another chair.
Q rocker, covered with cretonne Of
much the same pattern as the paper.
and It stood close to a low wicker ia
BILE on which was placed a small rain
bow glass vase, an Indian basket and
= few books.
The covers Of the books were of
The same colors as those in the wall
paper-pink. to match the buds, or
green, to match the buds leaves-and
they looked like the kind Of books one
u proud to buy. but never has time
10 read. But "The Measure Of the
Hours" Society and Solitude" and
"sesame and Lilies" stood up fresh
and inviting.
Il was . conventional room, but It
had cost much thought and self-denial
10 procure It. And It was ten times
moro costly than her own.
Bat where was the gusstf AfbsF
three months Of residence in her new
home she had never turned down the
Marseilles spread nor put flowers In
the rainbow glass vase. nor brought
out the guest towel that she herself
had embroidered. OF course, all sorts
Of imaginary persons had occupied the
room and had expressed themselves
as having slept the sleep Of the Just
and Of infancy, and Of having felt .
strong desire never to be obliged to
emerge from the rose colored COM
covered It.
Sometimes the guest was q cousin
whom she had known in her child
hood and who had gone through Har-
ward and was now practicing law In
Boston; the rose comforter and the
Sesame and Lilies" would be none
too fine for him. Then again It was
an old friend Of her fathers, an arts
tocratic woman. who had visited them
In the days Of their prosperity. and
who. being literary in her tastes,
would be sure to appreciate the quail
ity Of the quilt and to pounce upon
the Sesame and Lilies"
One day. minute after she had
closed the door on the grocer's shabby
boy, who had consented to deliver her
groceries after she had returned home
at night. she heard a crash on the
back porch and the sound Of some one
falling. She opened the door quickly
and turned the electric light upon the
white face of the boy who but q mo-
ment before had been explaining to
her why he had brought white corn-
meal instead of the yellow she had
ordered. Now his face was as white
az the meal and he looked as II he
would never again deliver groceries.
He was only a mite Of boy and
she had little difficulty in getting him
into the guest chamber and on top Of
the Marseilles spread, where he re-
manned until the arrival Of strange
doctor. who ordered that he be placed