Plentywood herald., 1931-02-26

IN THREE PARTS-PART ONE
EMILY LANES thick blackish- brown
hair, with streak of white in il
running from her high, wide fore
head to the crown, was brushed back
to lie close against her head and was
secured in that position with good old
fashioned hair pins The effect was not
prim, because Emily was not the type
who could be prim. 1t was disap-
proving. 1t was meant to be. Emily
was annoyed.
Her cheeks over their high cheek
bones were not flushed but they were
a very pronounced pink And her
mouth was set. The rest of her small
compact body followed her broom into
corners.
My! What a mess!
There had been a poker party here
in the dining room last night because
1t had been Wednesday night. And on
Wednesday nights Stanley and George
had to have their friends in for poker
with roodles," some crazy modern game
or other Sarah, their mother, insisted
on it. And when Sarah insisted on
things. Sarah was a good deal like
broom herself Emily ought to know,
who was her sister and had minded"
her before she could walk.
Sarah would decide, at their re-
quests, that the boys should have
something. And Emily, or Mary and
Alice, their sisters. would argue against
1t. Sarah would smile patiently and
hardly speak. She never argued. But
finally the boys would have what they
wanted
Cigar butts and cigaret stubsl And
small plates on which they'd had their
sandwiches. And glasses. Those glass
es! Emily suddenly picked one up and
shifted it. She was right They'd
contained something stronger than
ginger ale.
Well, she sighed, it's a mans world.
Even in spite of Evans position in it..
Evan Houstead was Sarahs husband
and the children's father and her
brother-i n-law. And he was a chame-
leon. Wasn't that the little thing
which fitted SO effectively against any
background that he practically disap-
peared?
His complexion might be a help in
that. 1t was sandy-neutral. So was
his personality neutral and gentle His
eyes were light blue, his height was
about five feet four, and he ate and
slept and pottered about the house
without anybody hardly realizing he
was there.
Not that he was henpecked. Indeed
not! In the first place, Sarah was not
the kind to henpeck and in the second
place, when he felt like asserting him.
self, you became very much aware that
1t was just that he lived in world
of his own. You could almost feel
him marveling at himself for gather
ing about him such fine, large family
And Emily was sure "the family" in
cluded her in his thoughts.
He didn't play poker. He didn't
have something called card sense" He
would sit in and watch for an hour
or SO after the players had arrived
and then he would go quietly off to bed.
He worked just as quietly in the city.
Had his own business, not tremen-
dous business, but his own. Evan was
that kind
This home of theirs was his Her
position in it was peculiar when you
came to think of it. She wasn't a
housekeeper, because Sarah did as
much as she did. She was kind of
working sister" She had come to
him with the package that was Sarah.
She got her salary every week, just
like any one who works in any field.
Her field" she supposed, was the
house and the children and Sarah and
Evan
The room was beginning to look like
something at last. The dishes and the
glasses had been piled and removed.
The sweeping had been done-prac-
tically. Everything would be neat
when Sarah and Mary returned from
their marketing.
She suddenly realized she was tired
and she sat down and famed herself
with her house apron. 1t was warm
spring day and queer, disconnected
thoughts went through her mind, like
flashes of a motion picture.
Emily wondered why she hadn't ever
married. 1t wasn't that she couldn't.
Only other things had always come
up to intervene. Sarahs marriage