The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1919-12-26

what she said And nox eenstxtne .
what It committed him.
He began to realize It now, a. be
wendered about the dlsmantsed house !:
l- was far from sure that he was
willing to live in s-three-room apart.
ment" with Fanny and eat Breakfast
and lunch with her tprepared by her.
self In the "kitchenette-) and dinner
at the table d'hote n "such a pretty
Colonial dining room" ESQ Fanny de
scrihed It'd at little round table they
would have al TO themselves In Tbe
midst of dozen little round tables
which other relics of disrupted fam
lies would have all to themselves. For
the first time. now that the change
was imminent. George began TO devel-
on before his minds eye pictures Of
pial he was I'm for: and they appalled,
Lin He decided that such life
vs,-Ced upon the sheerly nnbearah'e-
and that after all there were some
things left that he just couldn't stand.
So he made up his mind to speak TO
his aunt about 1t az dinner" and tell
her that he preferred to ask Bronson
To let him put a sofa-bed. q trunk and
folding rubber bathtub behind a
screen in the dark rear room of the Of
fee
But ut dinner" Fanny was nerv-
Gus. and 50 distressed about the fail
IRE of her efforts with sweetbreads
md macaroni; and she was so eager
In her talk of how comfortable they
wouio be by this time tomorrow
night
After dinner" he went upstairs.
moving his hand slowly along the
smooth walnut railing of the halus-
trade. Half way TO the landing he
stopped. turned. and stood looking
down at the heavy doors masking the
black emptiness that had been the
library. Here he had stood on what
life. here he had stood when his NTH
er passed through that doorway, hand
in-hand with her brother, to learn what
her son had done.
He went on more heavily. more slow.
"; and, more heavily and slowly still.
entered Isabel's room and shut the
door. He did not come forth again,
ahd babe Fanny goodnight through
the closed door when she stopped out
side it later.
I've put all the lights out, George
she said. "Everything's all rssht.''
Very wen,' he called. Coo light,
Aunt Fanny"
His voice had strangled sous1 in
spite of him; but she seemed n6t ~
notice 1t, and he heard her go To her
own room and lock herself in with
bolt and key against burglars. She
had said the one thing she should not
have said just then: I'm sure your
mothers watching over you, George"
She had mean: 20 be kind, but 1t de
stroyed his last chance for sleep that
night. He would have slept little ii
she had not said IL. but since she haG
said it he did not sleep ut all. For he
knew that it was true-if it could be
true-that his mother. If she still lived
In spieit, would be weeping on the
other side OF the wall of silence, weep
ing and seeking for some gate to les
her through SO that she could CONS
and watch over him.
He felt that if there were such gatef
they were surely barred: they wera
like those awful library doors down
stairs. which had shut her in to begis
the suffering 10 which he had con
signed her.
The room was srill Isnbel's. Moth
ing had been changed: even the pho
tographs OF George. of the Major ane
of brother George still stood on he1
dressing table, and in Il drawer of her
desk was an old picture OF Esgene and
Lucy. taken together. which George
had found but had slowly closed away
again from sight not tcuchSeg il. To
morrow everything would ne gomez
and he had heard there wal not Iona
TO wait before the houss itself would
be demolished. The verS space whicE
tonight was still Isabels room Ihcul6
be cut into new shapes by aew walls
and floors and ceilings; yet tbs rooIx
would always live. for 1t could tot die
out of Georges memory 1t wonyG livx
as long as he did. and il would eisraW
be murmurous with a tragic. Tb9ffU
whispering.
tTo BE CONTINrsan,