Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-09-04

Grange. Their conversation. reinforc-
Ing his bad two days with his mother.
had piled remorse on his other miser-
les. He did drink too much. He was
branded q drunkard; and no one
wanted drlnkard. Vague ideas OF
beginning again In a new land foated
through his mind. The life was out OF
him; and when life has gone out Of the
soul In this fashion. the Lord of Life
Is ever waiting to enter and take pos
session. Which 10 by way OF introduc-
ing Betsy-B Barbara.
We have taken little time to con-
slider Betsy-Barbara. Let us view her
now, as she stands. dressed In blue
frock Tor dinner, tapping ut Constance
door. Betsy-BarbAra's heshN and
spirit wsrc twenty-four; her heart was
eighteen; her purpose was forty. In
complexion, In such accessories OF COM
plexion a. eyes and hair. In tho hidden
soul, she was q white creature, light
shot. Whenever even the darkest ray
touched her hair, 1t fickered with gold.
In full sunshine, even her brows and
lsshes differed and twinkled. Her
mouth was large and generously ir-
regular; her nose was small ana Wnfm'
sically Irregular: her viclet-blis eyes
were ~ clear - pools. Why tho
regularity Of . Greek statute may 20
with absolute us1iness, and Why TEA
lures which fail 10 match may pro-
duce real beauty. n . question too
hard for you or mo or any other con-
noisseur Of beauty. Now Betay- Bar
bara, with q mouth Ill too large and .
nose all too small and . pair OF eyes
which could not be classified for sise,
was ravishingly pretty. OF course, ex-
pression entered into the equation
with Betty Barbara. She was etern-
ally assuming schooimistress stern
ness which made q piQuant contrast
with the fresh skin Of her, tho blue
eyes Of her, the. little popcorn teeth
that made her half eli, half butterfly.
And when, in her schoolmistress soil
citude over her listener-as over . bad
boy--she laughed, the worlds whole
merriment was In her laughter Betsy
Barbara had not really laughed Tor
many days now. But she was young;
the tides of life were flowing back.
And as she stood there, waiting TOR
Constance to rise and open the door,
her merr1ment took fiame from some
sleepy remark. In that precise psy-
Geological moment, all planted BY the
fates, Tommy North came down the
hall on his way to dinner. The laugh
arrested him dead. The gaslight was
on her hair 80 tha& It tumbled over her
head-'like heap OF pulled molasses
candy" he told himself. The door
opened then. She vanished like q
golden fairy caught in mist Of vapor.
A minute later, Tommy North was
sitting in the dining-room ct Rosahe's
iright-waiting for something. He
found hinr ~''e in state of embarras-
ment urcnmmon with him. What
was he that he should talk to a decent
girl? And would she know that he
Was-the branded? But when. q
moment later, she trailed in behind
Constance like luminous shadow,
when Rosalie introduced them both by
name, and when. he recognized them
as the women in the Hanska, affair
one part OF hts embarrassment hoated
away. ssf,
Indeed. Constance nerss6 did thu
simply tactful thing by referring Y
the matter 1T once. The other board
ers had not yet come; they were alone
with Resale.
LIAM 20 glad" she said, that they
have finally let you Of. Mr.. North. NO
body could have had any idea that you
were guilty It must have been hor
rible experiences" She stopped, and
her eyes fixed on something across che
room. Horrible" she repeated. s
"But everybodys going to get OF
easily, just as Mr.. North did-you
waltz" said Betsy Barbara, touching
her hand with 4 consoling little pat
Now the others were come. Miss
Harding acknowledged Tommy's pres
ence With lift Of her eyes which
said: well, you're out Of your latest
scrape. aren't your" Miss Jones wal
plainly thrilled by the proximity OF thif
now famous parsonage; Professor MOL
lost in the metr1cal mRsticat1on OF
new wheatand-oats compound prepar
ed by Rosalie, showed plainly hii
ignorance Of tho fact that Mr.. NORTH
had been away at oil.
What they thought had now become
matter Of entire indifference t.
Tommy North Tho rest Of the board
ers put down his rapt silence to EN-
barrassment over his late experience
and they left him out Of the converse
ton. 1t was just as we'll. When Miss
Harding remarked, Wasn't that ter
rible accident up In the Bronx? he
would have answered, had he been re
auired to answer, They are just the
blue OF periwinkles." When Professor
Noll said In his heavy and forma
way, Yes, indeed-oh, yes, indeed
he would have said that the question
las matter of fact 1t referred to the
weather-had run, Hasn't she q won
derful mouth?' Twice he laughed up
roariously, causing Miss Harding to re
mark that he was getting back hi
spirits, anyhow. This was wher
! Betsy Barbara ventured q mild joke
Twice again she included him IN tn
conversation. Once she asked for thu
butter, which impelled him to reacf
frantically for the salt, and once sht
referred to him the question whether
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