Evening star., 1913-11-29
THE EVENING STORY.
The Pudding Stick.
Copyright. 1913. by W. Werner.)

Copyright, 1918, by W. Nerneft
The Sayres came without any warn
ing They simply moved into the
empty Walsh house one day betwixt
morning and night. Nobody knew who
they were or whence they came But
from the first moment of their arrival
everybody was interested. Pink street
was an old locality which had not
received a stranger into its midst
i'm a long time. And these strangers
carried distinct appeal with them.
OF course, before they had been more
than twenty-four hours under the Walsh
roof Mrs. Bendew knew something about
them. Trust Mrs Bendew for that! She
knew Mr.. Sayre was the new partner in
the china store; that he was middle aged
and bald and n perfect gentleman. She
also knew that Mrs. Sayre was slender,
gray haired and pretty They were love
ly people and everybody was going to
like them immensely.
Scarcely had Mrs. Sayre got up her
parlor curtains, which were of amaz-
ingly fine texture, when the neighbor
folk began to rush in They were eager
TO know her. Mrs. Bendew led. She
was the oldest resident and prided her.
self on it.
Mrs. Sayre was charming. Her great
brown eyes under dreamy lids and deli
cate eyebrows were SO girlishly frank
y
forgot the gray hair not SO far away.
She had vivid color when she warmed
up in conversation. She was very sweet,
very gentle, very gracious.
She's a dear thing, Mrs. Sandow de-
clared when she came away.
shes as ingenious as my granddaugh-
ter Molly" asserted Mrs. Witheridge.
who was Mrs. Bendew's next door neigh
Dor and choicest friend.
So these two good women carried the
news of Mrs. Sayre's delightful person
ality. set the seal of their favor upon
her and so flung open the doors of all
Pink street to her.
Pink street, old and slumbrous. had
become somewhat of a monotony unto
itself. For a dozen years the same peo-
PIE had lived there and had become
like one huge family, in which there
were no secrets. no dissensions, no
excitements. They were peaceable.
eminently sure Of each other and a
little weary of each other also. Mrs.
Sayre was a novelty; she was like a
freshly bloomed rose in the midst of
to have her and they could not do
enough to show her how glad they
were.
They drew her into their clubs and
to every occasion. Her frocks were
new, her ways new, her little stories
new The praise of her seemed likely
to rise to the very heavens. Within six
NSehS she WAS WIFI every DOuy-
so intimate that the barriers of indffer
ence and reserve were down and she was
in everybodys confidence.
1t was impossible not to tell her
things. She was SO kind. SO sympa-
thetic. such a perfect listener Those
brown eyes of hers drew the contents
of ones inmost heart. And there was
not a woman on Pink street who did
not have some little ranking trouble
of her own in which she wanted help.
Mrs. Helen's trouble was her husband,
younger than she, and forever in the
good graces of some other woman.
Its Mrs. killifer now" she whispered
to Mrs. Sayre. '-Of course, you under
stand it's all very innocent, but very
annoying. Sometimes I think she leads
him little--like last night at Mrs.
Stocks. You saw that? | knew you
did when / met your eyes. l felt your
sympathy reaching out to me and it
helped
Mrs. Killifer came with her little tale
of woe. I'm afraid Mrs. Helm is
jealous And all because l accompany
her husband when he sings. It's a ter
rible thing. my dear to have a musical
soul and be obliged to live with a man