Evening star., 1926-05-16

V front in black satin of ;
i thick, dull quality.
Everything about her seem
ed to be pressed backward by deter
mined though invisible fingers. 1t wa:
as if she were forever breasting {
gale Her shoulders were thrown bacl
80 far that there was an indentur'
between her shoulder blades Ever
her thin gray hair seemed to be striv
ing to leave her face; the marks left
by the comb divided it into little rail
ways that went hurryins to the back
of her head. and the scalp between
was pink with the eXertion.
The small black lace cap on hel
head, coming to a point neatly on the
front parting, carried out the illusion
At either side of the point three
baroque pearl beads were Sewed into
the lace half an inch apart. For some
reason they suggested hidden artll
lery. She reSembled nothing so much
as a battleship Steaming out to the
field Of action.
Mistress Macintosh had dealt fairly
with life, as she was wont to point
out. but life had been far from dealing
fairly with her. First, there was
Sandy MacIntosh--a hard man TO
catch he had been. and no such catch
Mt that But this shA wouldn't admit
now. for il ia ill-done and unwiselike
10 belittle the dead. SO she loudly pro
claimed his saintlineSs to the neigh
hors. but in her heart she admitted
that he had been a sore disappoint-
ment.
And then there was young Sandy.
sure to be dead by Spring with that
cough he had that was like to split
him in two.
And the blind girl! \ body might
think there would come an end to
trouble some time. But no! Without
giving q thought to anybody's comfort
except her own, and with no provoca-
ton Whatsoever, she had died the
week after they had laid her father
away, and this, mind you. at the very
time that the elders had finally con-
sented to raise her salary for playing
the organ from 10 shillings q week to
10 shillings and pence.
It was lust another instance of the
perversity of life that the daughter
who had the musical education should
die. and Sally Ann, who had nothing.
not even enough getup -and-So to
catch a man, should be left.
Goodness knows it wasn't for the
want of help that Sally Ann was
single,
unless to instruct her in the ways to
inveigle a man. If you left her alone
with one purposely, instead of edging
him into a dark corner to give him
courage to kiss her. she would hand
him the family album to look at. 1t
seemed that the more you threw
man at Sally Ann, the more she drew
back and let her chances slip by.
She had no more sense than the
father of her, and he had little enough.
Many a time when a customer had
called to take out an insurance policy,
Mistress Macintosh had waited Just
out of earShot till Sandy would call
her to witness the document. but
when. after an hour had passed. she
would hear the front door shut on
the customers departing heels, she
would find him carefully putting away
his luster china. with never 81 thought
of insurance policy in his head, and
his only excuse would be: IT'S un-
pleasant-ike. woman, L keep harpin
on death when man comes t see We"
She was a sorely tried woman. Mis-
tress Macintosh; sorely tried and ill
done by.
pCT after all. the way things had
~ turned out now, it was a mercy
that no man would batter down the
door to get Sally Ann. With nobody
else to bring in a penny, it was just
as well that Sally Ann was free-footed
and not tied to some man who might
not so much as give her mother pail
Of SKINNED milk on Saturday night.
1t was a blessing too, although 1t
had looked like Willful waste of siller
at the time. that Sally Ann had spent
L. u
pounds 10 shillings to go to Fraser
burg and learn candy-making. And 1t
seemed like a special consideration
that at the very time Sally Ann
started. In business. SWeetie-Annie's
asthma took a turn for the worse, and
she was obliged to give up her shop
and go to live with her daughter. so
that Sally Ann was able to buy her
bottles and pans for next to nothing,
and get all her trade forby.
Not that Sally Ann would ever make
success of the business if it were left
to her. Indeed no: 1t was case of con-
stant watching to see that she didn't
give the candy away to any red-cheek-
ed bairn that pushed his nose against
the window. Things had come to such
a pass one day that she had even
caught her putting her thumb on the
weight side of the scales right under
her very eyes, and she had barely pre-
vented her from giving the Fraser
BARN three half-penny's worth of but
terscotch for his half-penny.
1t was the like of this which proved
that Sally Ann was not fit to serve
the public, and that finally persuaded
her to don her black satin gown and
serve the candy herself 1t was a
sorry downcome that the widow of an
insurance man. with brass plate on
his door, should be serving candy to
any BARN that had a half-penny to
spend; but the black satin gown made
IT bearable. And even the like of
Skllly's Gype, that carried high head
and an impudent tongue in it, had
been impressed by the gold locket, and
remarked that it "dootless had cost a
bonnie penny" and when he ordered a
pair of knitted gloves. he asked if she
would mind knitting them in heather
mixture color; so it wasn't as if they
dldn Know that she was above such
doings.
1t had been bitter privation to give
up the front parlor and turn it into a
shop where all and sundry could come
to geek and glover; and harder still
10 take the lace curtains off the win
COW and fill 1t with pans of candy.
She didn't want to do il. but Sally Ann
had been determined about this: she
had even gone the length of saying:
It's no secret that we're sellin' candy.
mither." That wasn't like Sally Ann,
she was unreasonable and feckless like
the father of her, but 1t was seldom
that she was impudent.
There was something gleyed about
Sally Ann. She had started to be a
perfect copy Of her mother. and then
lost heart. Her prominent brows
were made to oe heavily marked with
dark eyebrows, but, instead, each
hovered naked as an unstroked 1T"
above timid, vague blue eye. Her
shoulders had the challenging set of
her mothers, and her dominant cheek