Cleveland County herald., 1920-01-01

at an obtuSe angle, and the removal of the pillars made the boulevard seem a cross street of no overpowering im- portance-certainly it did not seem to be boulevard
 George walked by the Mansion hur- riedly, and came home to his mothers house for the last time.
 Emptiness was there too, and the closing of the door resounded through bare rooms for downstairs there was no furniture in the house except a kitchen table in the dining rOom which Fanny had kept flor dinner" she said, though as she was to cook and serve that meal herself George had his doubts about her name for it. Upstairs, she had retained her own furniture, and George had been living in his mcther's room, having sent everything from his own to the auction. ISabePs room was still as it had been, but the furniture would be moved with Fanny's to new quarters in the morn- l ing. Fanny had made plans for her nephew as well as herself; she had found "three-room kitchenette apart ment" in an apartment house where several old friends of hers had estab- i ltshed themselves-elderly widows of citizens once prominent" and other retired gentry. People used their own "kitchenettes" for breakfast and lunch, , but there was a table-dhote arrange ment for dinner on the ground floor; and after dinner bridge was played all evening, an attraction powerful with Fanny She had made all the arrangements" she reported, and ner- vously appealed for approval, asking if she hadn't shown herself pretty prac- tical" in such matters. George acGui- esced absent-mindedly not thinking of what she said and not realizing to what it committed him.
 He began to realize it now, as he wandered about the dismantled house; le was far from sure that he was willing to live in "three-room apart ment'' with Fanny and eat breakfast and lunch with her (prepared by her. self in the "kitchenette') and dinner at the table d'hote n "sueh a pretty Colonial dining room" (so Fanny de- scribed it) at a little round table they would have all to themselves in the midst of a dozen little round tables which other relics of disrupted fam- flies would have all to themselves. For the first time, now that the change was imminent, George began to deyel- op before his minds eye pictures Of vbat he was in for and they appalled, Elm. He decided that such q life verged upon the sheerly unbearabie. md 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 it at dinner" and tell her that he preferred to ask Bronson to let him put a sofa-bed, a trunk and a folding rubber bathtub behind screen in the dark rear room of the Of-
 fee.
 But at dinner" Fanny was nerv- ous, and so distressed about the fail
 ure of her efforts with sweetbreads
 and macaroni; and she was so eagel in her talk of how comfortable they s would be "by this time tomorrow l night
 l After dinner" he went upstairs, moving his hand slowly along the r smooth walnut railing of the balus- l 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 he now knew was the worst day of his life; here he had stood when his moth- CT passed through that doorway, hand in-hand with her brother, to learn what her son had done.
 He went on more heavily, more slow. , ly; and, more heavily and slowly still, , entered Isabels room and shut the dcor. He did not come forth again, and bade Fanny goodnight through the closed door when she stopped out. side it later.
 I've put all the lights out, George" she said. "Everythings all right"
 every we'll" he called. "Good night Aunt Fanny"
 His voice had a strangled sound iI spite of him; but she seemed not to notice it, and he heard her go to hei
 own room and lock herself in with bolt and key against burglars. She had said the one thing she should moi have said just then: I'm sure your mothers watching over you, Georgie." She had meant to be kind, but it de- stroyed his last chance for sleep that night. He would nave slept little if she had not said it. but since she had said it he did not sleep a. all. For he knew that it was true-if i. could be true-that his mother, if she still lived in spirit, would be weeping on the other side of the wall of silence, weep ing and seeking for some gate to let her through so that she could cone and "watch over him."
 He felt that if there were such gates they were surely barred: hcy were like those awful library doors down.