Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-07


VI suddenly transplanting an old
4 lady who had lived 70 years In
one house to an apartment
But Carlita said to herself, ut is time
for grandma to make a change, If she
ever is going to make one ~
The Egenhoffs had left q l0-room
house behind them, not counting the
attic. No Egenhoff would ever count
the attic. They settled In Inwoods
seven rooms. because Carlita didn't
know how two people could live in less.
I'VE will need kitchen" said Car
lita, two bedrooms. dining room, q
parlor, library and music ROOM"
"And a maids room?" asked the
agent, who was showing the Egenhoffs
around.
Carlita gave him deadly look. did
you hear me mention q maids room?"
she asked.
The agent didn't reply. He was
bowled over. In mwood two people
live in three rooms. The lease was
Carlita'S grandmother closed herself in
one of the rooms, furnished the same
as the one she had had in the old
house, and spent most of the time
glaring at the portraits Of her ances-
tors who had never had the courage 10
move to an apartment
And Inwood knew that the Egenhoffs
had come.
seven rooms they took" said Mrs.
Lewis. Maybe other relatives are
coming from somewhere"
But no other relatives ever came, and
Inwood wondered what the two Egen-
hoffS did with seven rooms. They
speculated much on the two strange
ladies in apartment D IL. The agent
told them that Carlita was the grand
daughter, and they watched her with
interest. Some of them nodded to her
and were rewarded with the frostiest
of acknowledgements. Inwood was not
discouraged. Faint heart never won
q goSsiping acquaintance with a neigh
Dor.
Every afternoon when the sun shone
brightly Carlita would come down the
stems of the apartment house. In five
minutes she would be back, driving a
differing black sedan. Without look
ing to left or right she would re-enter
the house. tall. aloof-Carlita Monroe
Egenhoff! .,
shes gone to get the old woman"
the neighborS would inform each other
And. sure enough, Carlita would re-
turn with her grandmother. deposit her
carefully in the car, wrap her In olan-
kets and go rolling down the Drive at a
full 10 miles an hour.
x X y X
THE first person in Inwood who got to
L know Carlita Egenhoff was Tommy
ODen. Tommy was drug clerk. He
was one of those men with bewildered
blue eyes and the look of having very
recently been washed and combed by
his mother.
Heaven only knows why he, of all In
woodites, got Carlita's first friendly
smiles. Perhaps the reason for that
dates back farther than Carlitas ances-
tors.
She hadn't wanted to be friendly with
Tommy. She didn't need him. Carlita
never bothered about people she didn't
need. She liked to read and she adored
shopping and she liked to play chess.
All she needed to read was q borrowers
card at the Inwood Library; she re-
uuired no companions to help her shop
and she'd never met better chess play
er than her grandmother. So why
bother about making contacts in In
wood and why be friendly with drug
clerk? Obviously, she had no use Tor
him. She tried to puzzle 1t out, but
reached no solution. She decided she q
buy her drugs in another store. That,
however, didn't work out well, because
the store in which Tommy worked had
the largest stock, and Carlita's grand
mother was always needing some very
unusual drug.
The Egenhoffs had lived in Inwood six
months when Mrs. Egenhoff took to her
bed The doctor came three times a day.
The neighbors saw Carlita scooting be-
tween the market and the drug store.
such a shame If she should die" said
Mrs. Lewis. she must have money, the
way they live, and to think she has to
leave it."
When Carlita came past them with
her bundles, they stopped her. They
now had perfect right, according to
Inwood law, to speak TO her, even
against her will. There was illness in
her house, and it was compulsory that
she should tell how everything was
going.
Gust the same" Carlita would reply.
Mrs. Egenhoff went down-hill rapidly.
Carlita faced the neighborS with her
rouge as thickly spread as usual, with
her clothes as carefully arranged, but
something within her grew more and
more taut each day.
1t was 10 o'clock one night that Car
lita 'phoned the doctor. Grandmother
was very Ill. He came at once and dis
patched Carlita to the drug store with
a prescription. Carlita stood at the
counter between lady who hated drug
stores that didn't keep stamps and an
elderly man who wanted to buy an
ounce of very expensive perfume.
Tommy took the prescription from Car
lita's hand.
well" said the lady who needed a
stamp, you were waiting on me, young
man."
Carlita began to smile. At least, she
thought she was going to smile, but, the
first thing she knew, there were tears
streaming down her face, and she was
trembling all over.
Tommy sat her down In the back of
the store. He hastily compounded the
prescription, and then walked back to
apartment D IL with her. When they
got there, it was too late. Grandmother
had checked Carlita's chess king for the
last time.
The doctor broke the news rather
hrutally, Tommy thought, but he didn't
know his Egenhof1s as the doctor did.
Tommy thought that Carlita showed
signs of nervous breakdown. He didn't
know that she had had all the nervous
there in the drug store.
* X
TEE neighbors thought that Carlita
would move from the house. She
didn't She stayed.
MY goodness, q young girl like that
In such big apartment"
"And the expense Of II"
"Yeh, that must be hard on her, with
out the old lady's money"
And then suddenly it dawned upon
the ladies Of Inwood that the money
that had made possible seven--room
apartment, glittering black automo-
bile and the smart clothes was now
Carlita's.
The money Grandmother Egenhoh
had left, however, was not staggering
amount, but In Inwood, where nobody
was financially secure, Carlita became q
creature apart, the lady with money.
She had not shed a tear since that