Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-11-15
THE DAILY NOVELETTE,
EMILY ALIAS CUPID
By Margaret ID. Joyce

LNMlLG was apparently troubled. AS
IL she drew the kitchen curtains aside
she saw one OF the neighbor's hens in
corner of the grass patch which oc-
cupied the space between her house
and the one in the rear.
Emily had sanother sister little
younger. Their father had been a sue
cessful business man and had left them
enough money to get along comfort
ably.
They>-also had n brother, john who
still retained the fathers business, and
between the trio affairs went well.
But to return to Emily and her trou-
bles. This was the third time during
the week that one of the neighboring
hens had made a nest Of her grass
patch. ..-.
And" she murmured, 'if people let
their hens stray they should pay the
forfeit and let us keep the eggs"
The matter was brought before Han
with Emily. They belieyed that the
owner of the hen should own the eggs.
Well" said Enrily wrathfully, why
don't they buy a hephouse and keep
their hens where they belong?"
"Henhouses are expensive nowadays
and the O'---'s are not wealthy, you
know said Hannah.
,,,n II shall hal give them piece piece Of I'm; my
with a toss of her head.
True to her word she wrote an i'm
pudent note to Mrs. O..
When that poor woman received the
letter she remained silent until her eld-
est daughter came home. They put the
the subject
81 guess we will haye to sell them.
said the mother mournfully. =
II suppose So" answered Helen, her
eyes filed with tears II will write an
ad for the paper"
On her way to work next morning
Helen mailed the letter unwillingly.
The day after John Shea was sitting
in his office reading the paper. AS he
ran his eye down the ad column, he
suddenly stopped and angrily exclaimed
aloud, I knew that Emily would say
something harsh to that poor woman.
But-I'll fix it."
He rang a bell and an office boy ap-
peared
Willie" said he. 'T want you to- go
to this address and purchase the fowls
that are for sale there"
"All right, sir" replied Willie.
Received a visit from Willie, who paid
| an agreeable price for the fowls, promis
| Ing to take good care of them.
When Helen came home that night she
could not eat. as a lump rose in heI
| throat when she looked out into the now
seemingly empty yard. She asked who
bought the hens, and she seemed relieved
when her mother said, John s.
| Now Helen was Stenographer fo1
! John s., and in her few previous con.
versations with him he had been very
! courteous to her.
Lately he had made remarks concern.
| ing the welfare of the hens. But he no.
| ticed that when ne spoke of them tina,
| her lips trembled. Indeed, Helen would
not trust herself to answer him for feai
of crying outright.
It seemed that Helen and John be.
came pore intimate as the days passed
And the latter soon mustered enough
| of courage to invite her to his new homt
which he had lately purchased ant
where the hens were now residing.
She accepted the invitation. and care
| fully added: Il will take mother along
as I know she would like to see tht
| hens, too"
The following Sunday Helen and hel
mother paid the promised visit. But in
| stead OF the hired man doing all tn,
| guiding, John occupied his time by bring
! ing Helen around. There seemed to b,
a longing look in his eyes as he watched
her fondle the much-beloved fowls.
He asked her to Stay to supper an,