The Ordway new era., 1919-12-19
CHAPTER xvIll-continued.

But a moment later. as he turned
from the shelves of glass jars against
the wall, with the potion she had ask
ed for in his hand. he uttered an ex-
clamation: For goshes' sake, Miss !"
And. describing this adventure to his
fellow boarders, that evening, "Sagged
pretty near to the counter, she was"
he said "'F 1 hadn't been a bright,
quick, ready-for-anything young fella
she'd "a fiummiXed pluml l was
watchin' her out the window-talkin'
to some young s'iety fella, and she
was all right then. She was all right
when she came in the store, too. Yes,
sir; the prettiest girl that ever walk
ed In our place and took one good look
at me. l reckon 1t must be the truth
what some you town wags say about
my facet"
At that hour the heroine of the
susceptible clerks romance was en-
gagged in Frightening the rosy little
coal fire under the white mantelpiece
in her pretty white and blue boudoir.
Four photographs all framed In decor
Gus plain silver went to the anthra-
cites fierce observation-disclosures and
all-and three packets of letters and
notes In a charming Florentine treas
ure box of painted wood; nor was the
box. any more than the silver frames,
spared this rousing finish. Thrown
heartily upon live coal, the fine wood
sparkled forth In stars, then burst In
TO an alarming blaze which scorched
the white mantelpiece, but Lucy stood
and looked on without moving.
1t was not Eugene who told her
what had happened at Isabels door.
When she got home, she found Fanny
Mlnafer waiting for her-a secret ex-
cursion OF Fanny's for the purpose, pre-
sumnbly, of letting out" again; be-
cause that was what she did. She told
Lucy everything (except her own la
mentable part In the production of the
recent miseries) and concluded with
n tribute to George; ''The worst of it
Is, he thinks he's been such a hero,
and Isabel does, too. and that makes
him more than twice us awful. It's
been the same all his life; e,esything
he did was n7hls and perfect. He aad
domineering pature to begin with.
and she let 1t go on, and fostered 1t
till 1t absolutely ruled her. l never
saw n palmer case of n persons fault
making them pay for having 1t She
goes about, overseeing the packing
ana praising George and pretending to
he perfectly cheerful about what he's
done. She pretends he did such fine
thing-so manly and protective-go-
ing TO Mrs. Johnson. And so heroic
doing what his principles made him
even though he knew what 1t would
cost him with you! And all the while
it's almost killing her-what he said
to your father! She's always been
lofty enough, so to speak, and hnd the
greatest idea of the Ambersons being
superior to the rest of the world, ind
all that, but rudeness, or anything like
a scene or any bad manners-they
always just .made her sick! But she
could never see what Georges man.
ners were-oh, it's been a terrible
adulation! :. . It's going to be task
for me, living In that big house. all
alone; you must come and see me
mean after they've gone. of course.
IN go crazy II don't see something
OF people. I'm sure you'll come as
often as you can. know you too well
TO think you'll be sensitive about COM
Ing there. or being reminded of
George. Thank heaven you're too we'll
balanced" Miss Fanny concluded,
with profound fervor, "you're too
well-balnnced to . let anything affect
you deeply about that-that monkey"
hnt he nd hn noipf.
ed Florentine box went to their crema-
tion within the same hour that Miss
Fanny spoke; and n little later Lucy
called her father in, as he passed her
door, and pointed to the blackened area
on the underside of the mantelpiece,
ind to the burnt heap upon the coal.
where some metallic shapes still re-
tsined outline. She flung her arms
about his neck In passionate sym
pathy. telling him that she knew what
bad happened to him; and presently
he began to comfort her and managed
an embarrassed laugh.
"Well, we'll" he said. 81 was too
old for such foolishness to be getting
into my head, anyhow"
"No, moi" she sobbed. "And If you
knew how despise myself for-for
ever having thought one instant about
oh, Miss Fanny called him the right
name: that monkey He Isl"
There. think agree with you,"
Eugene said grimly, and In his eyes
there was steady light of anger that
vas to last. "Yes think agree with
you about thati"
There's only one thing to do with
such a person." she said vehemently.
"Thnt's to put him out of our thoughts
forever-foreverl
And yet, the next day, at six o'clock,
which was the hour. Fanny had told
Tor xvhpn Gaorpa and his mother were