The Glenwood post., 1922-07-13
The Turquoise
Frame
By JESSIE DOUGLAS

IlIues DecOFe he spoke 10 ueT. but at
last, meeting him on the fourth land
ing. he said "Good-morning! and
passed on down the stairs. That was
what he always did, pass
Nellie shook her head pertly and
said. "Well see!" But the strange
part of 1t was the man on the floor be-
low continued to speak when he saw
her, and continued to pass her by.
1t was puzzling. She was the pref
tiest girl that worked in Johnson &
Hughes offices. And she knew it.
Almost without exception every clerk
had made some kind of advance to her.
She could go out every night If she
chose and even old Mr.. johnson him.
self had given her theater tickets.
The girls in the Office envied her in
their quiet way. She had the palest,
fullest hair, and she "did" it In the
most elaborate style, so that any one
would have stopped to admire Its in
tricacies alone. She rouged, of course.
Perhaps little too much, but habit
dulls perception. Her light blue eyes
were the color Of forget-me-nots, her
lashes gold-tipped, but Nellie Dwight
saw that they came out jetty black.
Her lips were pretty and soft, If
slightly aided by art. She was pretty,
startlingly pretty, and she would have
known it. There was never the slight
est doubt in Nelie's mind about her
charm, and she played up to 1t every
second of her life. Her blouses were
the most elaborate, her stockings the
sheerest she could buy.
So 1t was no wonder that she lifted
one plucked eyebrow a trifie and eyed
askance the girl who had just knocked
at her bedroom door.
According to Nelie's standards, she
was worse than plain, regular old
maid, not bit of makeup, and her
blouse, Of irreproachable cut, was
Opaque. Her hair, it was true, bad
beautiful luster but 1t was arranged
10 simply that anyone could have done
It'll she had time and patience.
II beg your pardon" the girl at the
door said, II realize it's rather queer
Of me, but my brother and have seen
you so often on the stairs that almost
feel l know you'll I'm going away for
two weeks and I'd be grateful II you'd
keep this picture for me-"
She held out picture In a turquoise
frame and Nellie, without looking at
1t, laid it on her bureau and answered,
"Glad to, I'm sure" and then con-
tinued to rouge her other cheek with
the greatest nonchalance.
Nellie did not really bother to look
at the picture until she came In from
the movies that night. She saw that
1t was a photograph Of low stone
house, ivy-girdled, with a charming
view of garden and woodland behind
and she guessed shrewdly that 1t was
the girls home. The little frame of
oddly cut fiat turquoise was fascinat-
Ing in itself; and then she realized
with a shock the girl had said, "Her
brother" Why, that must mean the
man on the stairs!
Nellie put the frame in the center Of
her bureau and eyed it with fresh In
terest. But something was the matter
1t didn't seem somehow to go with her
bright pink bureau set nor with the
artificial geranium that she had stuck
in her hatpin holder.
Slowly she removed the geranium
and still studied the effect. Some
thing was still wrong.
She had decided to buy herself one
of those new green hair ornaments,
but that noon she found herself in
stead at the toilet goods counter. That
ivory set would so well with the tur-
quoise frame-she hesitated and then
plunged-and she found herself whit
ing for the five o'clock whistle.
1t did go well Somehow the tur-
quoise frame seemed to rest against
that creamy background. and Nellie,
eyeing the bureau critically, realized
that something still was the matter
The imitation lace cover, with the
pink sateen underbody, struck a wrong
note
It was queer what happened in the
next week; first Nellie had to get a
linen cover to suit her bureau, instead
of the green slipper buckles she had
been counting on. Then her keen eye
saw the bureau stood out like an
island In her tawdry room. The pic
lures on the wall somehow did not
At that calendar with the black-eyed
cherub that advertised John and
Hughes the chrome Of roses and pap-
sizes that was so gaily colored, seemed
to hurt the quiet bureau. She took
down her pictures. But now the room
was too quiet.
Another noon found her purchasing
chintz with quaint pink blossoms on a
cream ground, and when she had made
a curtain for her window and some
cushions for her coach, even back
for her wicker chair, she glanced hur.
riedly over at the turquoise frame
The right keynote had been struck.
Now It looked as though It belonged
there.
She gave pleased sigh Of self
satisfaction and went over to the
bureau to look In at her pretty face
She could see reflected as well. her
soft gray walls with its gay back. Star.