The Washington herald., 1913-12-23
BOB'S CHRISTMAS LADY.
BY 1zoLA FonREsrER.
tCowrisht. isis,

ITS none of my business, only SO far
fas neighborliness goes" Mrs. Battersea
concluded In her rich. hearty voice, as
she set the tray of tea and honey cakes
before sybil. Hes the closest, oldest
character You ever came across, any
how, and don't have a mite of patience
with him in half he does, but there's the
house, and you can't live next door and
see 1t go to rack and ruin without lift
ing hand to stop it."
sybil nodded approvingIy. toastlng her
feet before the open hearth fire in the
old kitchen. She had thrown back her
throat scarf Of moleskin. The mum lay
at her feet on the rug, and her fair,
Fcurly hair was rufiied by the wind.
Its darling place to live and work,
and 1 don't mind the loneliness one bit
want to be lonely when I'm really
working. II nave been down here be-
fore-iast summer-so 1 know what the
! house is like inside
We'll, he told me to do as liked, so
long as / got somebody that wouldn't
break things up. He's left his easel up
stairs and some old chests and beds and
| tables and what not. Sailed for Egypt a
week ago last Saturday, didn't he?''
Sybil nodded, looking thoughtfully
down at the fire, her cup OF tea untasted.
And somehow, before she could stop her
self. she sighed. But before Mrs. Bat
tersea could remark on the significance
thereof, she had paid her a month in ad-
vance and turned the conversation into
purely business channels.
'TIl be down Monday, and please don't
tell anybody"
Mrs Battersea understood perfectly
so she said. But later she stood in the
low doorway and watched the trim, girl
ish figure in the gray tailor-made gown
step lightly along the narrow strip of
beach. And she had her misgivings. 1t
didn't stand to reason that such a pretty,
companionable creature should come
across the Hudson to that lonely shore
under the Palisades to live in a deserted
old house and write plays. That was
what she said she did for a living.
She looked again at the card the visi-
tor had left, Miss SybiI Latham" II
she amt nursing a secret sorrow miss
my guess" smiled the custodian OF the
Stanton studio. She watched until she
saw the girl boarded the tiny motorboat
that ferried across the Hudson, and some
way her heart warmed toward her as she
remembered the little pitiful droop to her
mouth and the sadness in her eyes. A
month at the gray house would do her
good. II didn't begin to grow really cold
until after New Years, and she and
Joe. her big boy, would take good care
OF her.
II was less than a week afterward that
Sybil moved in. She brought over a trunk
and typewriter with her, and decided to
occupy the studio room on the second
floor, with its high north light and all of
Stanton's paraphernalia lying around.
Joe was to see that a good fire was kept
up on the hearth in the living room be-
low, and in the round studio stove. 1t
was all very coy and inducive to work,
yet after the door closed on Joe and his
mother the first hour of her arrival. Sybil
took one good look around, and dropped
down on the broad couch TO have a good
cry.
Bob had not even sent a message. one
last message before sailing. He had said
that any overtures must come from her
side. since she had been the one to break
the love bond between them.
But I'm not doing It for my sake,
Bob she had told him. and it had
all seemed so simple and plain. These
years Of work and study mean so much
to you, boy. dear, and you're not able
to swing the load, and you say l mustn't
work / think men are selfish to the
core. Bob Stanton; selfish straight to the
core OF their hearts. They expect a girl,
no matter what her own work in the
world may be, or what ambitions she |
may have. TO throw it all into the scrap |
heap when they marry her, and just
just"
Go ahead. You're doing finely" Bob |
had counseled generously. DO you want |
to be free, sweetheart
81 think you ought to be-for your |
works sake" she had faltered.
But even then, way deep in her heart |
she had not thought he would take her
seriously. She wanted to be argued |
and joyously out of her own
intrenched position. She wanted him to |
say he didn't give a rap about anything
she had said, but that the subway was !
invitingly. and the way down to |
the City Hall was not fraught with any
special dangers to a young man and /
young woman with intentions of matri-
nony. But he had said nothing OF the /