Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1923-05-31
CHAPTER /
ME-. PenfIeId, MANAGER.


been a barn; but it had CHANGED to
come up in the world as Mrs. Pen
field went down, and they had met
and Joined forces to make a home
where none had been intended. The
only feature which had not suffered
change was the main door, huge
sliding affair that precluded front
for blocks around, belonging to the
type that had gone out with the prac-
teal passing Of the horse.
If fortune led you that way, you
performed an operation on small
crank similar to grinding the morn
ing coffee, bell tangled, and in no
time at all the big door creaked aside,
and there was the plump figure Of
Mrs. Penfeld Her brown eyes had a
look of youth that belied the IRON
gray Of her hair; and the cheerful
curve Of her lips gave you a welcome
that preceded the words-because
always she asked you to come right
IN" Your name, your business. were
secondary matters; you were first of
all a human being and therefore in
teresting.
It was Monday afternoon. Mrs
Penfeld had started the second wash
ing Of the day, when Crink returned
from school and bounded into the
1ean-to kitchen.
Goodness me| she exclailued in
(iismay. 'Look what you've done,
and those are the last stockings you
got to your name ~
Crink twisted his spine obediently
and looked down with every appear
ance of surprise. "Geei" he said. s'It
must ha' been when I clumb that
fence"
"I could most have guessed IT.
agreed Mrs. Penfield mildly. Folks
make lots Of trouble for other folks,
leaving their fences so careless"
She examined the stocking with criti-
cal eyes. 1t was full Of crisscross
runs, each representing a previous
mishap and materially lessening the
total capacity. "I can't never mend
1t again, Crink. It'd strain right
out"
The boy glanced up in alarm. "Say,
Penzie, you don't mean gotta stay
IN"
She laughed. 'Land, mol Amt no
matter of stockings going to stand
tween you and society, Crink. You
just watch those clo'es, that they
don't boil over, and I'll make you an
other pair in two shakes"
From an apple box in her bedroom,
Mrs. Penfeld produced a pair of long
black hose which had once been the
property of a maid employed by a
certain Mrs. Horatius Weatherstone
but which had been handed down
from it's original stratum until it had
found a further level of usefulness
In the household of Mrs. Penfeld.
With practical skill she sliced off
the Weatherstone garments at the
ankle, saving the mended feet for
polishing the stove, and divided the
legs into unequal portions, the mar
rover cut for Thad, the wider Tor
Crink. Staying the severed edges of
the latter with stout thread, she
Aemmed them to receive the rubber
cord which would hold the stockings
below the tops of Crink's worn shoes.
Nominally, Mrs. Penfeld was man.
ager of the six buildings designated
by the first owner as Cluster court.
There were two small fats in each
house, and they were grouped around
a horseshoe driveway which inclosed
an oval devoted to single pepper
tree. Space had been too limited to
allow front yards, and all six build
ings fairly dipped their shabby noses
into the driveway, like little animals
feeding out of winding trough.
On one of the crumbling stucco
posts that flanked the entrance, might
still be deciphered the words Cluster
Court" although the black paint
which had formed them had been
well-nigh obliterated by the beating
rains of many seasons. 1t might as
well have beer totally effaced, be-
cause no one ever used the name. BY
one of the earliest tenants it had
been corrupted into '"The Custard
Cup" and the term had chung.
AS for Number AZ, where Mrs. Pen
6eld lived, it had no frontage what
ever, being approached by a cramped
alley at the curve Of the horseshoe.