Carroll County democrat. (Huntingdon, Tenn.) 188?-1971, 1921-07-29
Poor Butterfly
Indeed
By ROSE MEREDITH

will find 1t warm In winter, cool In
summer and always quiet. The view is
pleasant, too"
Marshall agreed that the view Of
tangled old garden that crept towards
the woods would be ideal. He heard
his prospective landlady add that the
other rooms overlooked kitchen gar
dens, the untrimmed trees Of the spa
clous lawns, and the village beyond
the bridge. He turned to Miss Hes
keith.
II shall need quiet place, simple,
well-cOoked meals served in my room
and that is about all" his plain face
broke into a pleasant smile. II am
writing a play" he added, "and may
sit up very late at night. Of course
you may charge for the extra oil !
may burn"
"My father used to sit up at all
hours. He was great student-you
shall have his favorite lamp, If you
WISH" Miss Hesketh almost smiled
as she made this concession to the
'paying guest" she had dreaded to
take into her old house with Its fad
ed grandeur and its many evidences
of better days. But falling fortunes
had driven her to this extremity-no
one wanted to buy the place and she
had resolved that her knowledge Of
good cooking combined with the
natural resources Of the place should
exc out living for herself and Archi-
bald's child.
Archibald's child, lovely, dark
eyed girl of twenty, was the subdued
companion Of the stern, elderly aunt,
Archibald Hesketh had secretly mar
ried beautiful dancer who had given
up her own life for wee little Amabel.
Archibald brought the baby home to
his Mortified elder sister and later had
been lost at sea. So Lydia Hesketh,
who never wanted a husband or q
baby In all Of her narrow life, found
herself In middle age with a child to
bring up to womanhOod. Is 1t any
wonder that Amabel was strangely
quiet and restrained2 She had few
girlish companions and her education
had been undertaken by Miss Hesketh,
but then there was the brown old IL
brary, dim in summer, coy in win
ter with log fires and hundreds Of
books, and occasionally old friends
dropping In for tea, or there would
be a bazaar at the church. No Won
der the girls dark gray eyes were
quiet pools rejecting only the fame
Of sunrises and sunsets.
"My little niece will wait upon you.
She Is not a laxative child and am
sure she will not annoy you" con-
cluded Miss Hesketh after the pc
cuniary matters had been arranged.
She had found Marshall most lib
eral as to terms, and when he moved
his traps into the south room on the |
second floor she went downstairs in |
the kitchen, humming a weird little |
tune In minor key. Things looked |
very bright, indeed, for the old house.
Amabel was in the kitchen hulling |
She looked up and |
smiled as Miss Hesketh entered, and
when Amabel smiled all the gravity |
there was mirth in eyes that
danced, lips that curved deliciously, |
dlmples In the creamy cheeks.
At sight Of this loneliness Lydia Hes
keith was panic-stricken. Whenever
she was frightened or disconnected
she Immediately became very iras-
chile. "You must not smile like that
at Mr.. Marshall, child-you are so
unusual looking he might think you
were trying to flirt with him. be-
lieve l should wait upon him myself"
Amabel's face sobered. For the first
time she realized that she had an OBJ
jectionable, unruly face; she had al
ways thought most approvingly Of her
reflection In the dim old mirrors, for
she was her own playmate for many
years. "Why couldn't / wear one of
Did Hepsy's frilled caps, Aunt Lydia?
They are not frivolous. Hepsy left
some of them when she went away
and they are clean and starched, in /
the linen press" She ran and fetched
one and slipped it over her dark hair.
No one would have suspected that the
quiet face under the quaint starched
sweeping cap was that Of girl in her
teens. With her small stature and
:iny form Amabel looked like child
playing at grandmother"
Excellent" pronounced Miss Hes
keith. "Now, there Is no reason why
you should not carry his meals up
stairs while I attend to the other
work." But Marshall elected to eat
alone in the gloomy dining room, and
be barely glanced at the funny little
form that waited upon him every day.
Sometimes he read while he ate, which
Is a bad habit, but Amabel and her
aunt quite approved. So, money came
Into the great house and the old wom-
an and the young one rejoiced in the
new prosperity; they still cultivated
the strawberry beds and the small
fruits on the place and made and sold
lellies. Up in the south room Lane
worked on his play, and was
away sometimes for days riding In
bis small, high-powered car.
One night In August he had worked
until midnight. he put out his lamp
and sat down by the open window,