The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1916-01-06

coming. NO one met nun III tue hail.
No one was there to ask if his spinal
meningitis was better or worse.
He hurried upstairs Mrs. Bowser
was not lying on the bed with sick
headache and the room redolent with
the odor of camphor. He hurried down
to the kitchen and met the cook with a
| disconsolate face. She listlesSly said
at sight of him:
''Your dinner is ready, SIR"
/ But Mrs. Bowser?'' he queried.
/, ''She won't be here"
"She won't be here! But where iE
she"
'>Gone, sir; left this morning."
"For her mother's2'
Il think, sir, she has sailed for Eu-
rope. / may be wrong, but think so.
Just before she left the house she was
asking me about the cataeombs of
Paris / think she has gone to live in
those catacombs"
"And did she leave no note for meY'
''No, SIR
| mo wordf''
mo, sir-that Is, not tosyou directly.
| She said to the cat bust as she was
about to go that she hoped the new
| housekeeper would remember to put
| little sugar in her milk when she fed
her. That was all, sir. except that she
| told me where the mustard plasters
| were If you came home with a pain in
your side. / viii go home to stay
nights, sir, and remainsduEing the day
10 cook your meals"
Mr.. Bowser sat down at the table,
! but after a look around he got up, leav-
| Ing his food untasted. It was a great
shock to him, and it struck to his solar
plexus. He went upstairseand tried to
think. The cat followed him, but in
stead of rubbing against his leg and
purring her satisfaction she stood off
and gazed at him with eyes filed with
reproach. He had driven her mistress
away. Instead of patting her, the new
housekeeper might give her q kick
| whenever she cameenear her.
"By thunder! But.wshy did she do it.
why did she do it?' haDf moaned Mr..
Bowser as he lighted his cigar and
took two or three p1ffs and threw it
away. az think she gotsup In the night
and moved some, of my things around,
but probably she did it for joke, and
hadn't ought to haveygDt mad about
/ it. My language must have sounded
very strong to her"
He got up and vents outdoors 20 take
a saunter, but in4en minutes was back
into the house. This was no occasion
| for sa9nter. He was an abandoned
husband. Mrs. BoEser had gone sew
eral thousand nRIesSaway to live in a
! catacomb.
IF | knew where%a cablegram or a
wireless would reach her would ask
her to come back he unused to him
self. II didn't mean half said In
fact, I did not mean any of it. 1 was
/ just looking. But she didn't take it
that way. Get new housekeeper! I
guess nott Mrs. Bowser is one of the
best little managers in this whole
w0ridr
! He went Out and stood on the front
steps In hopes to see her coming. 1t
was cold and dreary. The wind had a
moan in it. An owl, perched In q shade
tree gave dismal boot. The cries of
the orange peddler, who was hanging
on In hopes to sch the last dozen of his
speckled fruit, came to him like the
walls OF a woman who had no further
hopes IN this life. Mr. Bowser went
back into the house with q SILVER. 1t
| was a silent house. 1t was a gloomy
house. 1t was the house with the mis-
tress far, far away and the cook hus-
ting to get out as soon as she could
Mr. Bowser lighted eight gas jets, re-
| CARELESS Of expense, and walked to and
fro, but he could not bring feeling of
peace and Joy.
An hour passed away. He heard the
steps of men and women on the side
walk, but Mrs. Bowser's step was not
among them. 1t had stepped off. At
intervals of five minutes the cat gave
a yeowl Of grief, and he felt to pity
her rather than a desire to knock her
blamed head off, Mr. Bowser finally
sat down. One can bear desolation bet
ter that way than standing up. He put
his head down on the table on his arms
and tried to think. His thoughts were
| All u1A6l up IlhC q NO1ISy ASldlIu AOW.
He was an abandoned husband. His
house was a house OF gloom. If he
continued to live in it he would meet
the ghost of Mrs. B0wser at every turn.
What should he do? What would be-
come of him?
And the folding doors between the
sitting room and library softly slid
back and figure slipped out and stood
beside Mr.. Bowser and a soft hand
was laid on his shoulder, and a pleas
ant voice sounded in his ear:
'I knew all the time you were only
joking this morning, and I thought l
would joke with you to even things up.
/ will stay right here and be your
housekeeper, and If don't manage to
your satisfaction you need not pay me
any salary"
And there was joy In the house Of
| Bowser.