The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1913-05-23
CHAPTER |,
Two Ladies Hereft,
COPYRIGHT 1911
bOBB5-MPRlu COMPANY

10 slipped off her gloves and tossed
them on the table where they lay,
long, handsome and rather distin.
gutshed-there's always something 50
personal In woman's glove!-then
she sat down and We stared at each
other. The props had been knocked
from under US, and We had landed
with good. sound bump, surprised,
astonished, astounded, dumfounded!
But not despairing as yet. The blow
hadn't had time to benumb us. conse-
quently we hadn't arrived at the de-
snairing stage.
10 has gorgeous eyes with long
iashes that sweep her cheeks when
she looks down, and she has a trick
OF doing that when she's thinking.
But she was not looking down now;
she was looking at me plainly per-
plexed-hunted. Id say II were in
clined to be notwithstanding direct.
ly at my nose, which I'm rather sensi-
tive about, with slight pucker be-
tween her gorgeous eyes. The blow
was beginning to sink in. could tell
by the droop settling at each corner
7of her beautiful mouth.
Two years ago when 10 was Just
bursting out of Radcliffe with all sorts
OF honors, and was specializing in
French, voice, expression, art, tennis,
baseball and automobile with no hope
OF college and no wish to have and
hope, my father died suddenly. 1t
had been coming on long time-for
five years, to be exact-ever since my
mother died. 10 was sixteen then;
was twelve. 10 mothered him and
myself, DIS well as the infinite wisdom
of her sixteen years would permit:
read the books he liked, played the
music he wished to hear, followed ad-
vice for motherless girls so that we
would never do the wrong thing and
give him cause to worry. But we new
er could fill that aching heart, and
we knew it.
The copper muddle had done some
thing to his income. 1t was necessary
to cut down expenses, so We did away
with the footman and six maids, sold
the horses, which gave Us no use for
the groom, fired the chef, put Wilkins,
the housekeeper, to cooking, and kept
only one car. 1t also put an end to
any social ambitions 10 might have
had, and didn't; and placed US on a
lower plane in everything except our
self-respect.
10 set herself to studying Prac-
teal Economy, and housekeeping
and pounded it into me-did the mar
keting where we paid nothing for
style, and began to cut out those
pages In the Sunday newspapers that
tell how to use the left-overs. Then
came time when something hap
pened that we could fully understand.
A customer, old, reliable, absolutely
safe, ordered stock and failed to pay
for 1t when 1t slumped, and poor old
Dad went down In the ruins. He saved
his reputation, but It was the end
He was too old and heart-broken to
recover; even his faith in friendship
was gone. He came home, went to
his room and died.
After we laid him beside our mother
10 took an inventory. We found we
had a home, elegant and imposing In
the most exclusive section Of Boston,
packed to the garnet with mahogany,
most of which had come down to us
from the wonderful supply on the
Mayflower, and all of 1t mortgaged up
to the hilt. Everything else was
swept away. It had been going grad
ually for five years while poor old Dad
simply drifted. Also we had some
stock In a western mine that gave us
three thousand year. Our personal
assets consisted of our name, some
family portraits and jewelry, old
fashioned and elegant enough, but
worth little to any one but ourselves;
10 had a good education, had a
smattering of everything, and both OF
us had the advantage of two years
abroad, and good, sound, robust,
healthy bodies. am not counting
JOS beauty or those gorgeous eyes OF
hers, because 10 never would use
those eyes except to see with.
don't know how she managed, ex-
cept that she was born manager, to
pull out so much from the wreck. She
exchanged our equity in the house for
the mortgagee's equity in the fur
niture. rented modest apartment In
the best neighborhood We could aTord.
mt in as much of the mahogany as
we could crowd into 1t, and sent the
remainder to a storage warehouse
Guaranteed fire-proof, and locked 1t IN
with care and affection. She wouldn't
mart with a stick of 1t. Then she be-
gan to fray the edges of PRACTICAL
Economy, bought pair OF shears
some tissue paper patterns, and set
to work to make her own clothes ana
mine. She allowed us one luxury
we kept the car.
Now the final blow had fallen. Mr..
Partridge telephoned us to come TO
the office. In itself 1t was not unus'
aal. We always had to go down to
look over the report and sign re-
cejnt when a dividend was declared.