The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1914-12-05
HER yNINVITED GUEST
BY WILLIAM BURTON.

in an apartment OF her own-she oe
cupied her fancy more with the spar
room than with any other.
This was curious, inasmuch as sh
was woman not much inclined t.
sociability, being fond OF her own SO
ciety SO why in fancy she shoul,
always be furnishing that spare cham
ber, laying the gray rug on its floor
hanging the dimity curtains ant
smoothing the Marseilles spread, sh,
herself could not explain.
She even arranged the books in tn,
little white case. books calculated t.
put a guest In good humor with him
self, books which would bring about
that peaceful state OF mind conducive
10 sleep. She would have no exciting
novels, no passionate poems, no soci
illogical firebrands In her guest
chamber There should be such vol
umes as "The Measure OF the Hours,
Society and Solitude" Sesame and
Lilies" These would become the
shelves and crafty a guest even If he
never got beyond the titles.
So when by generous increase in
her salary the apartment was made
possible she took one with FIVE rooms
instead Of four, because, as she told
the agent, she must have a spare
room"
The rooms Of reality are never as
well furnished as are those in the
houses of our Imagination Still, her
guest chamber was marvel Of white
ness and daintiness. There was a
lovely gray hand woven flower bcrd-
cred rug on the floor and a French
striped paper with a pattern of tiny
rosebuds on the wall. The woodwork
was white, and so we're the little iron
bed and the enameled dresser and the
stiff chair. There was another chair.
a rocker, covered with cretonne Of
much the same pattern as the paper.
and It stood close to low wicker ta-
BILE. on which was placed small rain
bow glass vase an Indian basket and
few books.
The covers OF the books were OF
the same colois as those in the wall
paper-pink, to match the buds, or
green, to match the buds leaves-and
they looked like the kind of books one
is proud to buy, but never has time
to read. Bot "The Measure of the
Hours" Society and Solitude" and
Sesame and Lilies" stood up fresh
and inviting
II was conventional room, but It
had cost much thought and self-denial
to procure 1t. And it was ten times
more costly than her own.
But where was the guest? After
three months OF residence in her new
home she had never turned down the
MaIseilles spread nor put flowers in
the rainbow glass vase. nor brought
out the guest towel that she herself
had embroidered OF course, all sorts
of imaginary persons had occupied the
room and had expressed themselves
as having slept the sleep of the just
and of infancy and Of having felt a
strong desire never to be obliged to
emerge from the rose colored com.
forter and the Marseilles spread that
covered It,
Sometimes the guest was a cousin
whom she had known in her child.
hood and who had gone through Har
ward and was now practicing law in
Boston; the rose comforter and the
Sesame and Lilies" would be none
too fine for him Then again 1t was
an old friend of her fathers, an aris.
tocratic woman, who had visited them
in the days Of their prosperity. and
who, being literary in her tastes
would be sure to appreciate the quail
ity Of the quilt and to pounce upor
the Sesame and Lilies"
One day, a minute after she had
closed the door on the grocer's shabby
boy. who had consented to deliver her
groceries after she had returned home
at night, she heard crash on the
back porch and the sound Of some one
falling She opened the door quickly |
and turned the electric light upon the |
white face Of the boy who but a mo !
ment before had been explaining to |
her why he had brought white corn.
meal instead OF the yellow she had
Now his face was as white
rs the meal and he looked as II he
would never again deliver groceries
He was only a mite OF boy and
she had little difficulty in getting him
nto the guest chamber and on top OF
he Marseilles spread. where he re.
NAMED until the arrival OF a strange
loctor who ordered that he be placed
inder this priced coverlet and that
le remain there until able to be re.
moved to his home That was not un.
ii the end of the second week.
Those two weeks she declared to
'e the happiest OF her life, though the
,uest who occupied her spare cham
,er showed no interest either In
looks or bouquets. After he had
one she used to love to sit alone in
he little rocker, staring meditatively
{ the backs of the books and at the
oses on the wall
But this is not all OF the story. She
larried the doctor and turned her
ack forever on the little room that