The Snowflake herald., 1916-02-11
(Copyright.)

pu''O noighborhood. A long line OF
the tone houses stretched on
DroSrid or eide of the way, little pointed
el'n'- I,,ndows displaying a variety of
pay NOT or Nottingham lace cur
cDeap The street had never been
tSlnI, Ssiorable. Numerous ash barrels
iaSn S mite frankly on the sidewalk
s'OY the mistress of the house, as a
anr snIa answered the bell.
fuI'' maid admitted Ellsworth, regard
him with the Indifference born of
m9 ,naa service in lodging house.
IOnS %,odam will be right down." she
"a and left him standing in the
narrow parlor,
D 70 recognized some of the furni-
There was a rocking chair he
1 cbo,en himself. He felt little
n"a i. creep into his throat as he looked
P = II was as though the inani-
@oto a. thing had risen to strike him.
And there was the piano.
O. Rose had kept the piano. 1t
.,owod the effect of having been
'novod ",,y more times than was good for
Tbore was an air of disorder in the
.oom little wads of dust lay ON the
aoor AGAINST the wall, where the rug
551t meet the Dashboard. The table
overlaid with light cloud of
:.
An ,,o,ulse to run away seized him,
new fear joining the old repug-
rorce. but he conquered both and
rose TO greet her, looking quiet, only
b;eyes were tense.
Pose had come in carelessly. She
6, 73osed he was looking for rooms.
Well of all things!" she said, and
sst down suddenly; and then: Il sup
nose you're looking for rooms? Amt
it funny?
Ellsworth found his voice. why,
r." he said. He found it was not easy
tc tell her the truth. you see-I was
l.oking for you. / met Sara Walton
il, London last month. She told me
ab0utsyou. All you had been doing
these last years. The time you were
oq14he stage-in the store-keeping
G4arders-"
She interrupted him. You didn't
think | was living on what you sent,
did you?" she inquired tartly.
81 sent all l could" he protested,
"and as long as l knew how to reach
you; but after Desborough died l
couldn't find out where you were. /
have more money now. My last book
really paid-you find it hard to believe
that?" he smiled for the first time.
She refused to meet his jest.
Il got along" she said sullenly.
He felt very awkward. Rose hadn't
changed He laughed uneasily.
I'VE made rather mess of things,
Rose" he said.
She flashed another look at him
without making any answer, so he
spoke again:
1t was rather a shock to meet Sara
as did. She brought it all back to
me so wildly. She set me wondering
how much of it could have been
helped. | know / was wrong a good
deal of the time. l want to be fair
about that"
You haven't changed a bit" she de-
clared hotly. you just sit there and
talk; and you'll sit there and talk all
night, if I'll let you"
Ellsworth was slightly offended. It
was all ridiculously like the past they
had both dropped.
i only wanted to make the thing
clear" he told her; ''if we could talk
1t over quietly, we might both feel
better"
Rose shook herself impatiently.
what's the use of talking it over?"
she exclaimed Who wants to talk it
over! I've got along all right and you
look as though you had. People are
sOod to me-I'm that kind. You got
nOtlce of the divorce, didn't you?"
|fes-yes," he said, from Dakota.
les' To tell you the TRUTH confess
didn't pay much attention to it.
we never thought of marrying again,
"nu was so busy with my book"
nose shifted audibly. Il can believe
'Hat' she remarked with some as
perity.
Ferhaps / gave too much attention
-" my work, he confessed. 81 can see
'ndt now. At first it was with the idea
VI making more money-you always
]'eued money, Rose" He was very
0'comtortable. What ground did you
si'e Tor divorce?" he asked with a
NC NC" curiosity as he reviewed their
Life together
Nonsupport and extreme cruelty"
'eglled RCRe glibly
...n me laughed involuntarily, and Rose
,ueued n' perceptibly, half insulted.
49, Inen he rose and paced the little
t"tlor' t"r' twice and three times he went
chair.
so,s course that's all nonsense" he
You know that as we'll as l do.
save save you more than | could afford,
you didn't know what cruelty was.
or poOably did spend too much time
b,n- MY work. You needed lot of