Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1913-01-16
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ENEMY NEXT DOOR
What Happened When He Was
Brought to Her Home Near
Deaths Door.
BY GLENN.

1OOu III ulu6 SdliSu lhc ihoA
across the hedge in what Miss Matte
Mayne considered a disagreeably
cheerful voice.
Good morning." he repeated. loud
err and more cheerfully. as she contan-
ued pruning her currant bushes In 81
lence.
She lifted her head Ten with a dig
nifty that she meal to be chilling.
and looked him over critically. before
she resumed her pruning.
He Is one of those men who new
er can see through anything. she
sighed in evaporation. knowing hat
Mary Lane was enjoying her discom'
future from the back porch adjoining,
The man, she decided, was big with
an a~N-pervading cheerfulness. and
might have been called ~good-looking
II he had not resembled SO much the
rest Of the Daytons!
Il wonder" he was saying to him
self. IF she can possibly be deaf?'
He cam quite close to the dividing
hedge. Wont you let me come over
and Go that for you?" he fairly shout
ed, and Miss Matte distinctly heard a
suppressed laugh from the Lane back
porch.
With cheeks entirely scarlet. she ap-
preached the hedge. pruning knife
in hand. Seldom had she appeared to
better advantage, and she was moi a
plain woman at any time.
Il am not deaf" she explained
painstakingly, and in a voice too low
for any ears but his. Gould you not
see that / did o care to speak to
you?"
But why" he demanded, initiating
her tone as well as his good bass
voice would allow. his admiration
shining openly in his eyes. I'D like
to come over and do that hard work
for you. What is the reason l can
not?"
Because" said Miss Matte slowly,
we are enemies"
'Enemies?" He threw his head
suddenly and laughed so unre.
STRANGELY that a head appeared at a
nearby window. why, my dear young
lady, how can we be enemies when
we are strangers. II we are to be
neighbors-"
Bat. we are not to be neighbors.'
she interrupted coolly. Il have new
err ~neighbored with the Daytons. And
beg of you to remember it. and no,
make me ridiculous before everyone
in the street" And she returned tc
her pruning without another glance II
his direction.
What Philip Dayton thought Of TIL:
dismissal cannot be recorded, because
he had recently come to the old Day
ton homestead upon inheriting 1t a
the death of his uncle. and he hat
made none of the Interested neighbor'
his confidant. He settled down Will
a capable housekeeper. and Mis-
Mayne continually heard him Spoken
of in the highest terms OF approval
all of which she accepted in silence.
But 1t takes two to make a bargain
as she presently began to perceive
she might refuse to be his neighbor
but he certainly had every Intention O
being hers.
t. One morning she found on her bacI
porch a basket Of such grapes as grey
nowhere but in the Dayton garden
The horrid wretch" she cried. no
to give me an opportunity to refus
them. Now ! shall have to accept. @
let them spoil" And she carried Their
in reluctantly.
Another morning. following a moor
light night, she found the apples no
her Spy tree in a neat pile at the roc
' OF her back steps. 81 was out ther
, Yesterday wondering how ! should &c
. them, and | suppose was seen!
: declare, 1t is getting so ] hardly dar
walk about my own garden!"