The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1917-02-07
4 thrilling mystery story about a
man who lost his courage and the
girl who helped him to fr1dH again

mite futurlty.
I'm not going TO give you up" he
said doggedly. when you come back,
I'll be waiting"
The shock being over, and things
only postponed, he dramatized his grief
trifle, thrust his hands savagely into
his pockets and scowled down the
street. Sidney smiled up at him.
Good night, joe"
Good night. I say, Sidney, it's
more than half an engagement. Won't
you kiss me good-night?"
She hesitated, flushed and palpitat-
ing. Perhaps, after all, her first kiss
would have gone without her heart
gone out of sheer pity. But a tall fig
ure loOmed out of the shadows and
approached with quick strides.
''The roomerr cried Sidney, and
backed away.
"D--n the roomer!"
The rOOmer advanced steadily.
When he reached the doorstep. Sidney
was demurely seated and quite alone.
The roomer looked very warm. He
should be- The men of the Street al
ways carried their own lugga. (, except
the younger Wilson across the way.
His tastes were known to be luxurious.
"Hot, isn't it?' Sidney inquired,
after formal greeting. She indicated
the place on the step just vacated by
Joe. you'd better cool off out here.
The house is like an oven. / think
should have warned you of that before
you took the room. These little houses
with low roofs are fearfully hot"
The new roomer hesitated. He did
the people in the house. Long eve
nings in which to read, quiet nights in
which to sleep and forget-these were
the things he had come for.
But Sidney had moved over and was
smiling up at him. He folded up awk-
wardly on the low step. He seemed
much too big for the house. Sidney
had a panicky thought of the little
room upstairs.
II don't mind heat. II suppose l
don't think about it," said the roomer,
rather surprised at himself.
I'm afraid you'll be sorry you took
the room"
The roomer smiled in the shadow.
I'm beginning to think that you are
sorry"
His quick mind grasped the fact that
it was the girls bedroom he had taken.
Other things he had gathered that aft
ernoon from the humming of q sewing
machine, from Sidney's businesslike
way of renting the little room, from
the glimpse of a woman in a sunny
window, bent over a needle. Genteel
poverty was what it meant, and more
the constant drain of disheartened,
middle-aged women on the youth and
courage of the girl beside him.
K. LIE Moyne, who was living his
| own tragedy those days, what with
| poverty and other things, sWore quiet
| oath to be no further weight on the
| girls buoyant spirit. He had no in
tention of letting the Street encroach
on him. He had built up wall be-
| tween himself and the rest of the
| world, and he would not scale 1t. But
he held no grudge against it. Let 9TH
ers get what they could out of living.
Sidney, suddenly practical, broke in
on his thoughts:
where are you going to get your
| meals?"
II hadn't thought about It. I can
| stop in somewhere on my way down
town. / work in the gas office--I don't
believe told you"
cts very bad for you" said Sidney,
with decision. "It leads to slovenly
habits, such as going without when
| you're in hurry, and that sort of
| thing. The only thing is to have some
one expecting you at certain time.''
ut sounds like marriage" He was
| lazily amused.
''It sounds like Mrs. McKee's board
| ing house at the corner. Twenty-one
meals for five dollars, and your ticket
| is good until it is punched. But Mrs.
Mckee doesn't like it if you miss"
Mrs. Mckee for me-" said LIE Moyne.
Il dare say I'll be fairly regular to my
meals
1t was growing late. The Street,
which mistrusted night air, even on
a hot summer evening, was closing its
windows. By shifting his position, the
man was able to see the girls face.
Very lovely it was, he thought. Very
pure, almost radiant-and young.
From the middle age of his almost
| thirty years, she was a child. There
had been a boy in the shadows when
he came up the Street. OF course there
would be a boy-a nice, clear-eyed
| chap
Sidney was looking at the moon.
With that dreameR's part of her that
she had inherited from her dead and
gone father, she was quietly worship
ing the night. But her busy brain
was working, too-the practical brain
that she had got from her mothers
side.
What about your wasfIing?" she in
quired Unexpectedly. Il suppose you've
been sending things to the laundry.
and-what do you do about your stock
ingS?"
Buy cheap ones and throw 'em away
when they're worn out" There seemed
to be no reserves with this surprising
young person.
And buttons?"
use safety pins. When they're
closed one can button over them as