The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1937-11-05

eight Housekeeping" rooms
On Central Ave, in Chicago. We were
Just married-Mr. and Mrs. William
cording to the laws Of the state Of
Illinois ON the strength. of Bills
twenty five-dollar-a-week job on n
of the Chicago dailies, and my 500
prize for a short short in one of the
"Amateur Writers Contests" of the
season, and any rooms where we might
be m together S1ane Licked Looked pr Eod good 1T to Us US;
wedding presents, half of mothers
sheets and table linen and half of Bills
mothers canned fruit up to the second
floor when We met the middle-aged
women who were to be Jul neighbors.
Kathleen, the younger and many
times loyelier sister, was in front and
she smiled at us in .passing-.a shy,
sweet smile like that of a lovable child.
Lizzie, the red-haired one, however,
stared past us, and continued her way
downstairs with a firm step and tightly
folded lips. Bill and I may have ap-
peared as romantic young lovers to
kathleen, but to Lizzie we were just
leave the common bathroom in a mess
and raise cain during the hours when
honest folk were abed.
Mrs. Fish, waiting for us at the head
of the stairs, told us who they were
very estimable Irish women only a few
years over, she said; lovely people who
were never a day behind with their
rent and extremely thrifty in their use
of gas and electricity-this last bit of
rather alarmingly fixed stare.
Mrs. Fish's approval didn't awaken
any particular enthusiasm for the
sisters in either Bill o. me. We seldom
saw them in the days that followed
as they left early in the morning for
their Work-Lizzie to the altering room
of a loop dress shop, and Kathleen to
the cosmetic counter of one of the big
department stores.
At first I didn't give them a thought,
but later I longed for someone to stop
in and admire the bright, new draper
les with which I had replaced Mrs.
Fish's limp atrocities, and to exclaim
over the kidney-shaped dressing table
that Bill had installed for me and
which I had adorned with a billowing
curtain Of sprigged chintz.
into the night, and I'd sit listening to
the hum Of Lizzie's voice next door,
wishing I could invite them over to
see our new hanging book shelves and
the demitaSSe cups we'd found down.
town and had bought against the stern
outcries which even our somewhat
stunted judgments made.
Finally I did make an effort. For
an hour or longer I labored over a
cite; then putting on my brightest
house dress and patting the waves
more deeply in my hair, I took the
plate of candy and walked over to the
next door, humming casually. Lizzie
answered the door. Her Good even
in" was a cold interrogation.
something intended to convey the
neighboriy spirit, I offered my fudge.
It Suddenly seemed an awfully asin-
inc thing to do and Lizzie'S eyes ap-
peared to confirm that opinion though
+ think she may have suspected arsenic
as well as presumption.
"shure, it's thankin' you very kindly,
I am" she said distantly,. "but my sister
bein' that delicate. and myself bein'
never one for sweets"
She didn't finish for there was a
rustic from the corner OF the room,
and Kathleen'S voice interrupted. Liz
zie!" was all she said. but there was
a low warning and reproot IN that
effectually. Kathleen came to the door
then, her large blue eyes shining from
their surrounding shadows, a smile on
her faded pink lips.
my sister is that shy about takln'
a gift" she told me gently, but me,
I'm the greedy n that's always flnd1n'
candy welcome. And we've been visit
full to know you these weeks; you must
come in, and Lizzie will be maxim a
cup of tea" ,,.,
Bill said, Susan, you're a thick
skinned child" when I admitted to
him that I had gone in after ilzzle,S
reception. But I was interested, and
anyway it took just that gracious little
speech from Kathleen to convert her
sister from a stiff -necked. cold-eyed
stranger to the loyal friend she came
to be.
For Kathleen, in Lizzie's eyes, could
do no wrong, could make no mistake;
she would have stood IN detense o! tnis
or all of the archangels, enmasse, and
if Kathleen chose to invite a presump-
tious stranger in. for a cup OF tea,
self.