Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1914-12-25

/ ingS? Every normal woman, no mat.
/ ter what sort of bungalow, palace,
ranch-house, cave, cottage, or tene-
ment she may be living in, has in her
minds eye picture of the sort OF
apartment she'd live in if she could af-
ford it. I've had mine mapped out
| from the wallpaper in the front hall
| to the laundry tubs in the basement,
and it doesn't even bear a family re
semblance to this
I'm sorry" stammered T. A. Buck
you asked my opinion and -
Opinion! If every one had so lit
tie tact as to give their true opinion
when it was asked this would be a
miserable world. II asked you because
| wanted you to lie. expected it of
you. | needed bolstering up. / real
| lie that the rent I'm paying and the
! fiat I'm getting form geometrical
problem where x equals the unknown
quantity and only the agent knows
the answer. But it's going to be a
be place where he can bring his
| friends; where he can have his books,
and his baccy, and his college junk.
1t will be the first real home that
yOungster has known in all his mis-
cradle clearinghouse, hotel, boys
school, and college existence Some
times when I think of what he's
| missed, of the loneliness and the neg
lect when / was on the road, Of the
barrenness Of his boyhood, T."
T. A. Buck started forward as one
who had made up his mind about
something long considered. Then he
gllped, retreated, paced excitedly to
|, the door and back again. On the re-
turn trip he found smiling and repent
ant Emma McChesney regarding him.
snow aren't you sorry you insisted
on coming along? Letting yourself in
for a Raging like that? think I'm a
wee bit taut in the nerves at the pros
pect of seeing Jock-and planning
things with him"
T. A. Buck paused in his pacing.
DON'T" he said. II had it coming
to me. I did it deliberately. / want
ed to know how you really felt about
| it,"
7. A. Buck was regarding the head
of his walking stick with gaze as
| intent as that which he previously
had bestowed upon the chandelier.
Mrs. McChesney had wandered into
the dining room. She peered out Of
| windows. She poked into buffers pan
try. She inspected wall lights. And
| still T. A. Buck stared at his stick.
tits really robbery" came Emma
| McChesneys voice from the next
| room. "Only New York agent could
have the nerve to do it. I've friend
| who lives in Chicago-Mary Cutting.
| You've heard me speak of her. Has a
fiat on the North side there, just next
door to the lake. The rent is ridicu-
lous; and-would you believe it?-the
| fiat is equipped with bookcases, and
| gorgeous mantel shelves, and buffet,
and bathroom fixtures, and china clos
cts, and hall tree"
Her voice trailed into nothingness
as she disappeared into the kitchen.
T. A. Buck did not look up. But,
"Oh, Chicago!" he might have been
heard to murmur, as only New York.
er can breathe those two words.
Don't oh, Chicago!' like that, !"
mimicked Emma McChesney. tive
lain awake nights dreaming of home
l once saw there, with the lake in the
back yard, and a couple of miles of
veranda, and a darling vegetable gar
den, and the whole place simply honey
| combed with bathrooms, and sleeping
porches, and sun parlors, and linen
closets, gracious, I wonder
what's keeping Jock!"
T. A. Buck wrenched his eyes from
his stick. All previous remarks de
scriptive of his eyes under excitement
paled at the glow which lighted them
now. They glowed straight into En-
ma McChesney's eyes and held them,
startled.
Emma" said T. A. Buck quite calm
ly, twill you marry me? / want to
give you all those things, beginning
with the lake in the back yard and
ending with the linen closets and the
sun parlor"
And Emma McChesney, standing
there in the middle Of the dining
room floor, stared long at T. A. Buck,
standing there in the center Of the
living room floor. And if any human
face, in the space of seventeen Sec
onds, could be capable of expressing
relief, and regret, and alarm, and dis
may, and tenderness, and wonder, and
| great womanly sympathy, Emma Nc
| Chesney's countenance might be said
to have expressed all those emotions
and more. The last two we're upper
| most as she slowly came toward him.
CT. A." she said, and her voice had
in it marvellous quality, ''I'm thirty
nine years old. You know was mar
ried when / was eighteen and got
my divorce after eight years. Those
eight years would have left any wom-
an who had endured them with one of
two determinations: to take up life
again and bring it out into the sun