Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-04-04
CHAPTER XVII
In Tnsuspected Pnrtnership

An unsupported Partnership
ANY West Philadelphia dwelling house
~ is a complete chapter tn itself True,
as fast as enterprising owners can
wheede loans from conservative bankers,
standardized apartment buildings are in
vadiug this picturesque district. Yet up
shady, quiet streets there remain long
reaches Of the old indivldualism: fine,
palatial residences still comparatively new
with large grass plots in front, and small
gardens in the rcar-luxuries of living
still as common to Philadelphia as clean
laundry and fresh air.
The detached houses are much too
respectable In appearance for a suspicion
that they might harbor disreputable char
aCtcrs Those occupants we know are
always nice, normal average people who
feef no pangs of jealousy when an ocCa-
stonal neghbor puts out a For Rent
sign. loads household effects upon motor
trucks, and rolls off to Overbrook, Merton,
FernwOod, Bala or one of the many beau
tiful suburban residence towns of the city.
New people who never become neiEhbOrs
move into the vacant houses, and they
may 60 and come without exciting more
than passing curiosity from the worthy
established families surrounding them.
Strange dramas are not infrequently
enacted in these repantcd and newly
tenanted houses of yesterday-weird hap
penings which never get into the news
papers. Behind their vine-Clad, deep-set
eNteriors we may find here man and
woman trying to blot out unpleasant
memories Of another city, there a drab
soul rejecting alone upon squandered
years and fortune gone forever. a new
tenant in an old house offers wide range
of speculation. Romance! Sorrow! Mys.
terry. Who knows?
No. 30 Blank street was an empty land
mark of West Philadelphia; a mellow
gabled structure of Colonial lines, half
concealed by thick shrubbery, and situ-
nted at the back end of a corner lot. 1t
had stood vacant for a year Being with
out that greatest of modern improve
ments a garage, it had been spurned by
hOrdCS of hOuse-huntcrS. although only
three blocks from the Pennsy railroad sta
tion, and one block from "A trolley line.
Through the long summer fcathered song
sters revelled in an undsturbed orgy
among the branches of the four oak trees
rooted in the spacious front yard.
At last in the early fall the realty
agent found a tenant for the premises.
and he wrote the owner an estimable
widow living in far-off Pasadena, Cal, of
his success:
Very desirable people. rich Latin
Americans, Senor Enrique Nelasquez,
a banker, MS niece ana ms nephew.
all of Brazil; in America for an in
definite stay. Indeed they have paid
six months rent i'm advance upon n
three-year lease, will make their own
repairs, and ! herewith enclose my
check for the balance on hand, after
deductions for taxes water and in
surance and agents commission
1t took a week for the agents glad
tidings to get to California and n fort
night for the good lady to write back to
her home friends of her luck. Meanwhile,
after a brief period of hammering and
other noises initial to new tenants, two
huge mud-splattered vans from New York
delivered at No. 80 a quantity of burlap-
wound furniture, and the Nelasquez
family were installed. They were set
down as Spaniards; foreigners with their
own social ties, and no one called upon
them.
And as the newcomers kept entirely to
themselves, in fact well out of sight, the
neghborhood. including the cop on the
beat, switched pryng eyes in other direc-
tions, and events logged on as usual in
the calm little street.
Two men turned the corner of Blank
street early one November evening. They
were talking earnestly as they walked
rapidly toward the stone steps and walk
leading to the front entrance of No, 80.
Their faces were distinct under the arc
light in the street.
CONTINUED TOMORROW