The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1922-05-09
7
S OR / S TORY
.JlzIl.L,TED!
by Jessie Douglas, as

BY Jessie Douglas
r.. HE 5wag a hudd1ed little heap
In the dim corner. she had
& ~ cried until she could cry
ssno ore, and even her face seemed
to smart from those scalding scar
sing4tears.
Soon she would have TO get up
and meet the world again, ana sne
SSsobbed$as she thought Of It. Lie
lay ahead of Alice Trowbridge ike
long passage with neither win
81 dow Tor light to make 1t pear pear
ia Bile.
She vent over to the window
? seat and saw that the day was
dying, a faint following mist hung
over the roofs OF the great city
s and riffs of amethyst clouds were
darkening to purple
AS she knelt there she should
see quite plainly just how 1t mad
begun.
The little weather-beaten farm-
house with the twinkling$ panes of
glass had seemed to her {. haven
8 OF rest. She had crept up those
clean narrow stairs the first night
o3the west chamber and had slept
in the old walnut bed, the sleep Of
the exhausted, city-wrecked work
err
Gould she ever forget the first
Lmorning when she had eaten her
breakfast in the low-ceiled yellow
Kitchen from the oilcloth covered
table, fresh berries and cream and
crum bling corn-bread with
Igcountry butter?
s She and Aunt Martha as she
had come to call her-had fallen
deep into talk. and found themsel-
Ives Kindred souls. had laughed at
the antics of the newest kittens.
Hands had made, before the Week
was out, a great batch Of yellow
! cookies together. < NJ
10y ou'd make some man a right
nice little wife" Aunt Martha had
said admirin gly.
Alice had shaken her head gay
lily and cried MY independence for
Same! Why. there's nothing like it!
coy little flat and enough
& friends and books and pictures
and flowers, what more could one
w ant
Aunt Martha had only looked at
q her agely.
all right now, but wait till
10y &7SeLlH1o SOuA - = - 4& = - -
your forties!''
Th1rties. Alice had turned her
head away quickly to hide the
flush that burned her cheeks.sShe
had reached those ugly thirties
now, and although she was quite
willing to stay where she was, she
didn't want to go any farther.
IL orty! Ugh!
They had both started as some
one tramped across the kitchen
floor and Alice had turned to see a
young man drop knapsack on the
hearth and take Aunt Martha into
his arms.
Been tramping down through
h the Berkshires,' he had explained,
sand if you can take in tramp
for a few days
Fake in a tramp? Suddenly the
house was full OF laughter and
sunshine and the smell of delici-i
sious things. Norman Taylor came
and went, smoking a crooked old
pipe, teasing the both indis-
5crininately, and praising Aunt
s$Iartha's cooking.
s.....Never ate anything like your
II BURBERRY pancakes in my life:"
he would say patting her arm
this cake! Good girl!
Alice would laugh and flush
when she had made the cake.
$50 In the evenings, he would shoe
Aunt Martha out OF the Kitchen
and, making a great show of ty-i
ing an apron around his waist, he
S5and Alice would wash dishes. How
long it took! He would wave al
Knife he was polishing in the
height Of argument and Alice.
it fearfully would burst
S1nto delighted laughter.
81 Could she ever forget that last
walk they had taken? With al
Ebasket OF apples over his arm they
shad gone shuffling through the
riffs Of bronze leaves to old Miss
EyFinthrop's She had tried to an
sswerS his gay sallies with her
daughter, but her heart had been
too heavy; or Monday he was go