The Washington times., 1914-01-07

| in. Then, creeping slowly round and
| taking in the furniture and the books,
she came to the sleeipng figure on the
bed, so utterly restful and at peace.
Wishing not to disturb him. she was
moving slowly away when suddenly she
saw him start up on one elbow, wild
| eyed, with moving lips. His hand went
out and the room was flooded with
light.
| 1t is hard TO escape remorse.
| What Ruddy chuckingly dubbed his
\ Studio consisted of three rooms on
of all the fruit stalls. The floor beneath
him was the home of a French family.
Ruddy always referred to it as the War
ren. On Sundays, after much shrill
ordering about, which sounded to Eng
lish ears perilously like blasphemy, the
| family, consisting of papa, mamma, and,
in order of birth. Julie, Pierre, Jean,
Marie. and Berthe. lined up on the
squalid banana-peel-strewn pavement
and filed to 9 O'Clock mass at the Church
of Notre Dame IL Leister place.
On weekdays the woman was a
| hlanchisseuse de fin" as advertised; {;
| the man went off in working clothes,
only reappearing in time for the even
ing meal, and the children, except Ma
lie and Berthe. who were still more or
less ''iE arms" went off to school.
But. whether Sundays or weekdays.
they were always shrill and very nasal.
ana Ine carrying power OF lnelT voices
was equal to tnat Of a barrel OF blast
ing powder said Ruddy. with the ac-
cent on the blast"
The ground floor was a shop kept by
grotesque German and his only slight
" less grotesoue wife. 1t was the hus-
hands habit 20 lean against the door
, way in his shirt sleeves smoking cigar
cites, only moving to permit customers
! to enter, and watching life as it was
carried on in the savory purlieUs of
] Dee sNv no4 al
OF day or night to appeal to the Teu-
tonic nose.
| He looked for all the world like a
4 cover illustration to Simplicissimus-
hair coming up in clumps all over his
| face, chin. and neck, little sprouts in
! mis- ears and nOstrils, and a great ridge
| OF il going down his collar at the back.
| He was short, but vast, with an lS-inch
| neck and a heaven-knows-hOW-m many
| inch stomach. When he turned to shoot
/ a remark at his wife his voice was a
high. fiuty tenor.
The wife was one of those sad-looking
woIner with sorrowful eyes, high cheek
bones, and thin. tight lips. The melan-
way in which her hair was dragged
| back from her forehead and slowed
away in a bun behind.
She took charge of the shop, although
her husband insisted, because he de-
cared, he had rhe soul of an artist, on
dressing the window.
The artist in him had hammered nails
all down both sides of the window
IRA ne, and from each nail hung high
ly-colored Illustrated paper-Le Rire,
SImpHcissimus, Frou-Frou, the Police
Gazette, Die Lustige Blatter. and 9TH
ers Of the same class.
For the rest, the window contained
hi2gledy-pi of tops, sweets, tie
clips, sugared biscuits. fly paper, pack
cts Of note paper and envelopes, hat
Lll1Tnk nipt1ITa aTdE OF
which the legend ran: Having good
time at Brighton" and a mass of in
discriminate things.
The relationship between the differ
cnt floors was a source Of infinite Joy
10 Ruddy. The Gernians. being the old
est inhabitants. were inclined to breathe
down their noses al the French family,
who were comparative newcomers.
In the first months indeed. after their
arrival the wives had very nearly come
TO blows, and bloodshed was only avert
ed by the pTOVidehtial return of the
better halves, who mad that very mo-
ment cemented their friendship in two
plntS of four arf 1t the King Edward
VII on the opposite side of the street.
The hatchet was rot really buried,
however, until Jean, who was a pre-
cocious infant with gift for picking
I'D things tangible as well as meta
phOriCal. went by the fat German sing
ing Die WaCht am Rhein."
Both families looked upon RUddy and
hngy with friendly eyes, not because
AnEy said sweet things to the children
and sometimes gavr them pennies, or
because Ruddy had presented the Ger
man and the Frer"hnan with admir-
able charcoal drawings Of themselves.
The reason was tiat the spirit Of 20.
nance, which IS in the heart of every
foreigner. whether Latin or TeutOniC
however deep down, had been touched
Ere ;hey Said, ''were pair of love
birds. Iey were poor. but Zey were
'appy. and with zeir love and zier youth
Zey ,ad conquered the world. nO2 Yes"
CONQUERED the w"rId, ch? Ruddv
looked around the three rooms. He was
able TO do this because the bedroom and
so-called kitchen opened out of the
studio Even Napoleon would have fet
At home there before his paIrny days
Their keynote was sCrupulous untiGi-
ness, together with 4 delicious lack of
furniture, which was not so much ar
tistic selection as financial incoplpe-
tence.
The kitchen was really large cup
board. with shelves, on which were
spirit lamp, a kettle, a small frying pan.
a pile Of knives and forks, a plate of
kippers and various small things like
salt and pepper. Ruddy considered him
self to be the very last word in kippcr
cooks. 1t was what he called his forte.
and IL you shut the kitchen dOOc and
opened all the studio and bedroom Win
dows that would open. the mixed smell
OF tFNIliS IiSi anu ii'tIg idl"u SpiitS
soon eVapOrated.
Besides, Angy didn't mind smoke
bless her.-she occasionally lit a cigar
cite herseIf-so Ruddv always lit a pipe
when Starting culinary operations.
The bedroom was as RUddy eN-
planned. a bedroom-that is. a place
where there was a bed. BeyOndJhe bed. |
indeed, there Was nothing except one
cane, chair. II was a jolly fine exercise
10 sit on il. IT had a habit, unless you
We're intimate with the thing, of lurch- |
ing suddenly forward and depositinE