Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1920-02-12

what made the difference. National
avenue met Anderson boulevard here
at an Obtuse angle, and the removal Of
the pillars made the boulevard seem a
cross street of no overpowering inl-
be q 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 "for 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
mothers room, having sent everything
from his w to the auction. Isabel's
room was still as it had been, but the
furniture would be moved with
Fanny's to new quarters in the morn
ing. Fanny had made plans for her
nephew as we'll as herself; she had
found a "three-room k~itchenette apart
ment" in an apartment house where
several old friends of hers had estab-
lished themselves-elderly widows of
citizens nee ''prominent" and other
retired gentry. People used their own
"kitchenettes" for breakfast and lunch,
but there was a table-d'hote 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-
teal" in such matters. George acqui.
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;
he was far from sure that he was
willing to live in a "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 "such a pretty
Colonial dining room" ESQ 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.
lilies would have all to themselves. For
the first time, now that the change
was imminent, George began to devel-
Up before his minds eye pictures of
what he al in for; and they appalled,
lin. He decided that such a life
vcrged upon the sheerly unbearabIe,
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 it at dinner" and tell
her that he preferred to ask Bronson
10 let him put a sofa-bed, a trunk and
a folding rubber bathtub behind a
screen in the dark rear room Of the Of
fee.
But at dinner Fanny was nerv-
GUS, and so distressed about the fail
ure of her efforts with s~weetbreads
and m%acaroni; and she was so eager
in her talk Of how comfortable they
would be "by this time tomorrow
night
After dinner" he went upstairs,
moving his hand slowly along the
smooth walnut railing of the balus-
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 vas the worst day of his
Life; here he had stood when his moth
ef passed through that doorway, hand
finland 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 Isabel's room and shut the
door. He did not come forth again,
and babe Fanny goodnight through
the closed door when she stopped out
side it later.
give put all the lights out, George"
she said. "Everything's all right"
Every WE'LL" he called. "Good night,
Aunt Fanny"
His voice had q strangled sound in
spite of him; but she seemed not to
notice it, 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 sur your
mothers watching owe you, George"
She had meant to be kind, but it de-
stroyed his last chance for sleep that
night. He would have slept little if
she had not said it, but since she had
said it he did not sleep at all. For he
knew that it was true-if it 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 come
and "watch over him."
He felt that if there were such gates
they were surely barred: they were