Evening star., 1922-11-12
There Are Devious Ways
BY Which Fate Conspires
To Bring Things to Pass


contrivsG to retain certain
smartness, a certain air--what the
French call the tournure. Nor had
poverty killed in him the aris ocrai $
instinct of personal cleanliness, for
even as Elizabeth caught sight of him
he began to wash himself.
At the sound of her step he looked
up. He did not move. but there was
suspicion in his attitude. The muscles
of his back contracted, his eyes
glowed like yellow lamps against
black velvet, his tail switched a little.
warningly
Elizabeth looked at him. He looked
at Elizabeth. There was a pause
while he summed her up. Then he
stalked toward her, and, suddenly
lowering his head. drove it vigor-
ously against her dress. He per-
mitted her to pick him up and carry
him into the hallway, where Francis.
the janitor. stood
Francis" said Elizabeth. does this
cat belong here?" i.
'.No. miss. That cats a stray, that
cat Is. I been trying to locate that
cats owner for days.
Francis spent hts time trying to
locate things. 1t was the one recrea-
tion of his eventless life. Sometimes
it was q noise. sometimes lost let
Ter, sometimes 4; piece of ice which
had gone astray in the dumbwaiter.
Whatever it was, Francis tried to To-
cate 1t.
Has he been around here long,
Them
"I seen him shopping about con-
siderable time"
II shall keep him
BLACK cats bring luck" said Fran
els sententiously.
81 certainly shant object to that.
said Elizabeth.
She was feeling that morning that
a little luck would be a pleasing nov
city. Things had not been going we'll
with her of late. 1t was not so much
that the usual proportion of her man.
uscriptS had come back with editorial
compliments from the magazines to
which they had been sent-she ac
cepted that as part Of the game. What
she did consider scurvy treatment at
the hands of Fate was the fact that
her own pet" magazine. the one to
which she had been accustomed to fly
for refuge, almost sure of a welcome
when coldly treated by all the others.
had suddenly expired with a low
gurgle for want of public support.
It was like losing a kind and open
handed relative, and 1t made the ad-
dition of a black cat to the household
almost a necessity.
TN her apartment, the door closed.
j she watched her new ally with
some anxiety. He had behaved ad-
mirably on the journey upstairs. but
she would not have been surprised.
though 1t would have panied her. If
he had now proceeded to try to es
cape through the ceiling. Cats were
so emotional However, he remained
calm. and after moving silently about
the room for a while raised his head
and uttered a grooming cry.
That's right" said Elizabeth cor
daily. IF you don't see what you
want, ask for 1t. The place Is yours"
She went to the icebox and pro-
duced milk and sardines. There was
nothing fnicky or affected about her
guest He concentrated himself on
the restoration of his tissues with the
purposeful air OF one whose last meal
Is dim memory. Elizabeth. brood
ing over him like a Providence,
wrinkled her forehead In thought.
Joseph" she said at last. bright
ening. that's your name. Now settle
down and start being mascot
Joseph settled down amazingly. BY
the end OF the second day he was con-
veying the impression that he was the
owner of the apartment. Like most
of his species, he was an autocrat. He
waited a day to ascertain which was
EliZabeth's favorite chair, then he
appropriated 1t for his own. If Eliza
beth closed a door while he was IN q
room, he wanted 1t opened so that he
might go out. If she closed it while
he was outside, he wanted it opened
so that he might come in. IF she left
it open. he fused about the draft
But the best of US have our faults.
and Elizabeth adored him in spite of
his.
It was astonishing what difference
he made in her life. She was a
friendly soul. and until Josephs ar
rival she had to depend for company
mainly on the footsteps of the man in
the apartment across the way. More
over, the building was an old one,
and it creaked at night. There was
loose board in the passage which
made burglar noises in the dark be-
hind you when you stepped on 1t on
the way to bed, and there were funny
scratching sounds which made you
jump and hold your breath. Joseph
soon put a stop to all that. With
Joseph around. a loose board became
a loose board-nothing more-and
scratching noise just a plain scratch
ing noise.
And then one afternoon he disap-
peared
Having searched the apartment
without finding the cat, Elizabeth
went to the window, with the inten-
tton of making bird's-eye survey of
the street. She was not hopeful, for
she had just come from the street
and there had been no sight of him
then.
Outside the window was a broad
ledge, running the width Of the build
ing. 1t terminated on the left in
shallow balcony belonging to the
apartment whose front door faced
hers-the apartment of the young
man whose footsteps she sometimes
heard She knew he was young
man because Francis had told her SO.
His name. James Renshaw Boyd. she