Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-09-06

~ Nv
CHAPTER vi.
Another week has passed, and the
police still report mo progress" on the
number with the newspapers story
laid aside. Wade, scorning, he says,
all lawyertricks, waits in the Tombs
until the police shall have finished and
turned the matter over to the mercies
of the grand jury. The week has been
equally quiet at the select boarding
house maintained by Rosalie LIE
Grange-a quiet overlain with gloom
and yet Illuminated with human SYM
rathy and even gaiety. Gradually the
household has become body Of Wade
partisans. That, although they know
1t not, is due to Constance. Her SOM
Der sweetness, which persisted even in
her desperate situation, has moved
them; and emotion has persuaded rea-
son and opinion, as 1t always will until
we become intellectual machines.
Out OF the shadows twinkle two
stars--Betsy-Ba and Tommy
North. Resale In Jest, and Professor
Noll In earnest, call Betsy-Barbara
"the little household fairy" Engaged
though she is In tragic guardianship,
she is also young and sprightly and a
village girl fresh to the wonder of New
York. Rosalie is the quiet force, but
Betsy Barbara the visible focus, which
draws them all together. She brings
to their consideration OF Manhattan all
the small-town intimacy of interest.
She brings to. their intercourse the
country habit of asking help, and &C.
cepting kindness, as q matter OF
course. She asks counsel OF, Miss
Harding and Miss Jones on her aut-
umn clothes. In her spare moments
she sews industriously with Resale
LIE Grange meantime those
condolences which flow at sewing-bees.
The orphan Of country clergyman
and schoolmistress, she has at her
finger-tip5 all the arts OF play. When
ever the household stays in o. nights,
she gathers them together owes Searts
or bridge; when cards grow stale, she
is capable of getting contagious fun
out Of charades or anagrams. She even
starts experimenting with table-tipping
and wonders vaguely why Rosalie
LIE Grange seems uninterested in that
one of their sports alone and manages
to break it up on the first excuse.
AS for Tommy North, he-assists.
He Is jester-in-chief to this elfn
princess. Also, he makes the Welsh
rabbits with which, at her suggestion,
they finish of the card parties.
II appoint myself all night chef to
this establishment, said Tommy
North, as he rolled up his sleeves on
the first evening. Els it possible that
there Is q hamlet in this happy coun.
try 30 remote that the fame Of my
welsh rabbits has not reached 1t?
learned through toll and suffering
other peoples. The first one ! made
is still hanging on the wall OF the old
farm house. After that, an automobile
man saw one Of 'em. Great excite
ment! He thought the problem Of the
rubber substitute was solved. But he
little rocked. The tires they made of
'em were all right as long as the auto
kept running. But when 1t stopped out
in the country, the field-mice used to
come in flocks and risk their lives to
nibblL those tires. No chemical COM
bination they could ever discover
made my Welsh rabbit tires distasteful
to the little creatures. kept on with
my art, till now-Im too modest to
show you the letter got from the st.
Regis the other day"
More and more the boarders take to
staying at home. This charming life
domestic is novelty in New York, 1t
seems; they revel in the fad. Pro
lessor Noll enters into everything with
the simple gaiety Of a child. The two
stenographers 60 out of evenings but
rarely now. Their young men (Messrs.
Dayne and Murphy entreat Rosalie
daily to furnish the attic rooms for
them. your waiting list ia going to
make the Metropolitan club look like
the Ludlow street Jail" remarks Tom
my North.
) Mr.. Estrilla has developed way OF
joining them after his evening visits to
his sister; and he brings such q spirit
Of Latin gaiety that they quit their
formal games, and take always to
music and conversation when he en-
tiers. Rosalie especially delights in
him. He has quick turn Of the ton
que which matches her own; and they
fence with good natured repartee.
Whenever Estrilla enters the room his
eyes travel to Betsy-Barbara and they
two play in a boy-and-girl spirit very
charming and amusing-to every, one
but Tommy North. All speak well OF
Estrilla. II guess he's a regular man
all right, il he Is q wop," says even
Tommy.
Through all the sprightly atmos-
phere Constance drifts, figure quiet
and dignifed and beautiful and gentle
the tragic Venus" Generally, she
joins the parties In, the lie Grange par
lor. Betsy-Barbara sees to that. Ac-
ceeding to every desire, making no
suggestions of her own, asking moth
ing-she is slipping visibly toward
melancholy. Days come when she
SMILES little, when faint stars CLEAN
ii her great eyes; then Betsy Barbara
knows, and the rest conjecture, that
some -wisp clue has lifted
her to little hope. Nights come when
midway in the game her eyes lose
their hold on tangible things and fix
u III. = H.. L. 4ksHy