The citizen., 1918-02-28

soldier might have the same defect. n
remedied the trouble in my boys
made them sleep In ear bonnets when
they were little" Here she tugged re-
gardless Of Gregory's features and got
the sweater over. Then taking II OF
again-"and now my good man will
you wait minute till I try this he'll
met on you. First. ] must count the
stitches to make sure | haven't lost
one"
"Would you awfully mind taking OF
your shoe" quiet little lady in black
piped up. "I'm not at all sure about
the length Of this sock"
Gregory was still obliglng, and tried
on several pairs Of socks and then a
pair Of wristlets. and finally Mrs. Van
der Hayden's helmet while his dark
locks, usually lying as close to his
head as ducks feathers TO its back
were dlsheveled and towseled. and he
was limplng with one shoe off, for the
duchess had given him no time to put
his shoe back again.
'It's funny we never thought OF get
ting you TO do this before" Mrs. Smith
said cheerfully. "You have seemed sd
lonely down there. Oh. would yoV
awfully mind holding my next skein o.
yarn? ] can use the back of chai1
but I'm sure you would be lots more
intelligent about keeping out the
knots"
"Thank you" murmured Gregory.
and as he looked up at Margery's face
he caught just the suspicion of
twinkle in her soft brown eyes.
Perhaps II took as much courage for
Gregory to do what he next did as
anything - had ever done before in
his llfe-for II does take more courage
than some men possess to say the first
words to the girls they love when some
quarrel. groundless or otherwise, has
broken the cord of their friendship.
At any rate, when he had finished hold
ing Mrs. Smiths yarn, he deliberately
took a skein Of the same sort of gray
yarn from Margery's work bag. and
there, before all the boarders, said to
Margery, "Now, let me hold this for
you. ] am better than a chair; Mrs.
Smith will vouch for that"
The rest was easy enough. Margery
wound the yarn very prettily, and
thanked Gregory with all her old win
someness when II was done. There
were more socks and sweaters to be
tried on and more yarn to be wound
for the other women in the twelve
chairs. And so passed Gregory's Sat
urday afternoon.
Somehow he managed that evening
TO ask Margery TO stroll around the
block with him. and then they sat to-
gether on the little wooden bench by
the gate.
"Thank fortune tomorrOw's Sunday"
Gregory said. "YOu won't have to knit
then and perhaps can get you to go
up the rivera little picnic would be
good fun this time of the year."
"But we can knit for soldiers on Sun
day." insisted Margery. even Mrs.
Van der Hayden says so. Her minister
told her it made a difference"
"She's a cool proposition" Gregory
mrmured.
"Yes, there are always people like
her in every boarding house." replied
Mar@ry.
$50 much the worse for boarding
houses" was Gregory's rejoinder.
Somehow / feel that If 1t hadn't been
for those women, especially that
duchess, you and l would have made
up long ago. But with their eyes on
us. how could we? Margery, do you
think my ears are so awfully big?"
This with an emphasis on the "you"
that indicated that no ones opinion
but Margery's counted.
Boarding houses are dreadful"
Margery cOoed after assuring Gregory
that his ears were ideal.
"Then don't let's live in 'em any
more. Let's get married and have
cottage of our own"
Gregory, how lovelyw
About that time the portly duchess
clad in her black china silk bath robe
tlptoed across the hall 10 Mrs. Smiths
room. Mrs. Smith was removing the
rat from her bOuntiful blonde hair.
"Its DONE" exclaimed the duchess
'T knew it when he started 10 wind
her yarn and they're sitting ont on
the wooden bench now. Wen. I'm
mighty glad. A boarding house is no
place for young people like that any.
way"
ut takes you 10 be n match maker"
sighed Mrs. Smith. and then, as she
brushed out the golden switch that she
had Just unp.uned, "you were
wretch TO tell them an I wore rat
But I'll forgive you thls time"