The Washington herald., 1916-12-10
TYPES
Their Sisters Keepers.
BY SARA MOORE.


"hush," to the new girl who/was plac-
ing the coffee cups before 'hnr. some
thing OF her mistress's expression had
settled over the servants plain face.
There was a discreet lowering of eye
lids, prudish puckering of the lips
that made Lee think of the portrait
of one of his Quaker ancestors. And
suddenly 1t dawned upon him that
the emotion OF his helpmate and her
maid seemed to be shared by the
| feminine guests at his board
Did you drive most of the time
during the three-day trip?" asked Mrs.
/ Gaines.
Lee saw that she was eIaborately
changing the subject. He could not
quite understand how his laundering
observation of a new servant could up
set every one SO.
II sat at the wheel for six hours at a
stretch, during the thirty hours it rain
: ed" he answered.
And then, plunging into a racy descrip-
ton of cross-country campaigning, he
forgot the servant problem and all 1t i'm
piled.
1t was not until the card tables were
being dragged out and he and Mrs. Lee
were hunting vainly for cards and bridge
scores that Emma was brought to mind
again
"Oh-I remember. told Emma to take
the stun up to my den while the library
was being cleaned" Lee remarked. ASK
her where she put it and III"
Emma Is gone. For good" said Mrs.
Lee coldly. Then. under her breath
For heavens sake don't bring that
hussy's name up again this evening.
| want the Gaineses to forget her."
Lee went meekly up stairs to find the
cards himself, shocked and worried
When a respectable married woman cali
ed a servant hussy. in Westvil, she
meant only one thing.
And Emma had been in their family
| two years.
! "As soon as 1 found out, Of course. she
/ had to co. said Mrs. Lee when their
/ guests had gone and they had retired
to the dainty coziness of her own grey
and amber dressing room. when l
think of such a girl associating with my
innocent, unsuspecting children I want
! to tear her to pieces. To have a woman
like that in a decent home Is like find-
| ing a SNAKE
"The twins at nine months, aren't
likely to suffer any moral contamina-
! tion." interrupted her husband dryly.
! Now begin at the beginning of this
/ messy story and tell me just what has
| happened to the girl"
Mrs. Lee slipped into a rose silk neg
!! ligee and stood braiding her hair as she
went over the details.
| There had been suspicious. accusations.
| confession. Some wild appeals, an in
! terview with the minister and the doctor
and a terrible time in which 1t seemed
that even the county authorities might
be informed. But the minister had
thought it inadvisable to do anything that
would involve the family In unpleasant
publicity and Emma had passed from
| hysteria to defiance. They did not know
who might be responsible for her tragedy
and she refused to tell.
He amt nothin' but a loafer and no
good and I wouldn't marry him II you
kill me for it," she had walled.
! The minister the doctor and her mis-
tress argued vainly that marriage would
make things better for her baby. II she
would not let them make the man marry
her she could expect no help, no SYM
pathy. Her own sister refused to receive
her into her family and she had no place
to go unless she would be guided by their
wishes So she had packed her bag and
left, Just as 1t got dark enough to leave
the house without being noticed. No. Mrs.
Lee didn't know where she went; the
twins had developed a croupy cough and
she had been busy telephoning for
new girl because she couldn't manage
alone with sick children and guests COM
ing for dinner.
And would you believe it." stormed
ln6 "OInanp Sne SaiQ tnaI Sne dldn
care what happened, because anything
would be better than living here any
longer! And We gave her such a pretty
room and good wages and presents and
all. She said she was going crazy with
no one to talk to all day and nothing
to do with her time when she had a day
of. When I told Mrs. Gaines and Mrs.
Muffin. who have always accused me Of
being too easy with my help they said 1t
served me right; that the only way to
manage a girl is to use a firmer hand" !"
4 "Who-have you any suspicious as to
the man. Bert Lee was usually given
more to questions than comments.
"N-no." admitted his wife. II let her
have visitors in the kitchen whenever
she wished and all sorts Of boys hung
round, particularly in the winters. I
know they stayed late butt thought she
could manage her own affairs. 1t wasn't
any of my business. / ENCOURAGED her
to go to church, so she had every oppor-
tunity to know right from wrong"
Lee dropped the subject. So far as
Mrs. Gaines, Mrs. Murtin and Mrs. Lee
were concerned it was never brought up
again. But on the train bearing them to
their offices in the city, next morning,
Gaines and Murtin, who is the village
doctors brother-ir>law, looked Lee up
! and the three held a conference They
arranged for Emma's immediate future,
with thoroughneSs that would have
made the old Samaritan blush.
THE boy" remarked Gaines, ''is a no
account chauffeur for the Beaches, in
temperate, dishonest and generally
worthless. She's too nice a girl to be
tied to him, no matter what the parson
says-or the ladies. But the doctor will
turn her over to some people in the city
who'll see her through and give her a
| start again."
"But-not word to the ladies'" eau
toned Murtin.
mot word" agreed Lee.
| So the wives had an opportunity to for
get all about Emma. They had known
her for two years only as an adjunct of
the Lee kitchen, and of course there was
no reason why her personal affairs should
concern them.
And yet, at the time she left the Lee
house, she was younger than Murtin's
debutante daughter. The debutante was
still being carefully sheltered from the
world-even from society And Emma
her whole. experience limited to the Jees'
below-stairs-was turned out, shamed and
/ sick, to face unmarried motherhood at 1S
/ l have always felt there should have
been a sequel to that Biblical Sa,,e ritan
story. No doubt when he got home his
wife berated him for