Judsonia weekly advance., 1922-03-16


 ting room, and came in, question in his bright eyes, his great plumy tail beating the floor as he lay down at Peters side. Presently the dog laid his nose on Peters knee and poured forth a faint sound that was not quite whine, not quite sigh, and rose restlessly, and went to the closed door of Alix's room, and paved it, his eager nose to the threshold.
 Not here, old fellowr Peter said, stroking the silky head under his | hand.
 He had not been in this room since 1 the day of her death. It struck him as strangely changed, strangely and | heartrendingly familiar. The windows were closed, as Alix had never had them closed, winter or summer, rain or sunshine Her books stood In their old order her students Shakespeare, and some of her girlhood's books, Little Women" and Uncle Max" In the closet, which exhaled a damp and woody smell, were one or two of the boyish-looking hats he had so often seen her crush carelessly on her dark hair and the big belted coat that was as plain as his own, and the big boots she wore when she tramped about the poultry yard, still spattered with pale, dry mud. Her fathers worn little Bi- ble lay on the table, and beside it an- other book, Duck Raising for the Market" with the marks of muddy and mealy hands still lingering on it's cover.
 Suddenly, evoked by these silent witnesses to her busy and happy life, the whole woman seemed to stand be- side Peter, the tall, eager, vital woman who had been at home here who had ruled the cabin with a splendid and vital personality. He seemed to feel her near him again, to see the inter- ested eyes, the high cheek-bones touched with scarlet the wisp of hair that would fall across her face some times when she was deep in baking, | or preserving, or poultry-farming and that she would brush away with the back of an impatient hand, only to nave II SID loOSe dSdlI.
 One of her kitchen aprons, caught in l the current of air from the opened | door blew about on it's hook. He re- membered her, on many a wintry day, buttoned into just such a crisp apron, radiantly busy and brisk in her kitch- en, stirring and chopping, moving con 1 stantly between stove and table. With strong hands still showing traces of 1 flour she would come to sit beside him at the piano, to play duet with her l characteristic dash and finish, only to 1 jump up in sudden compunction, with an exclamation: "Oh, my ducks-Pd l forgotten them Oh, the poor little wretches !''
 And she would be gone, leaving a streak of wet, fresh air through the warm house from the open door, and he would perhaps glance from a win dow to see her, roughly coated and booted, ploughing about her duck yard, delving into barrels of grain, turning on faucets, yielding a stubby old broom.
 She loved her life. he unused, with bitter heartache, as he stood here in her empty room. Sometimes he had marveled at the complete and unques- tioning joy she had brought to it. Pe- | ter reminded himself that never in their years together had he heard her complain about anything, or seem to 1 feel bored or at loss.
 | We've always thought of Cherry as the child" he thought. "But ii was | she, Alix, who was the real child. She never grew up. She never entered into l the time of moods and self-analysis and jealousies and desires! She would l have played and picnicked all her 1 life
 His heart pressed like a dull pain in his chest. Duly, quietly, he went out to the fire again, and duly and quietly moved through the day. Her books and music might stand as they were, her potted ferns and her scat | tered small pOSsessions-the sewing. basket that she always handled with boys awkwardness, and the camera | she used so well-should keep their l | places But he went to her desk, thinking in this long. solitary evening to destroy various papers that she might wish destroyed before the cabin was deserted. And here he found her letter.
 He found it only after he had some what explored the different small drawers and pigeonholes of the desk drawers and pigeonholes which were to his surprise. all in astonishing or der for Alix. Everything was marked tied, pocketed her accounts were bal anced, and if she had anywhere Jeff private papers, they were at least DO where to be found
 Seeing in all this dread confirma tion of his first suspicion of her death Peter nevertheless experienced shocl when he found her letter.
 It had been placed in an empt,
 drawer, face up, and was sealed, ant