The guardian. [volume] (Boston, Mass.) 1901-1960, 1940-03-16
Miss Eppa
BY PHYLLIS M. GALLAGHER
g Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate.
WNU Service.

pansive hips she was fitting skirt,
for Miss Eppa could talk, no mat
ter what she was doing.
elsie Murphy brought me fifteen
yards of white lace yesterday"
Miss Eppa's colorless lips pressed
on the pins and her pale eyes lifted
to Mrs. Humbolt's passive face.
Guess she'll marry Tyree after
ALL"
"You mean Warren Phelps, don't
your"
Miss Eppa bristled. 81 mean Don
aid Tyree! l saw 'em at the hedge
last night" She nodded toward the
window to designate which hedge.
"She kissed himl Then she an
down the road a-kickin' up dust! e.
all happy and hussy-like! But he
didn't follow her, you can bet!
No sir! Not that one! But if it's
Warren Phelps she's marrying. Of
course, Mrs. Humboldt, when you
go to Mrs. Phelps canning bee this
afternoon, don't mention nothing :.
Warren being her son. ="
"Of course. .not!"
But Miss Eppa knew by the posi-
tive not that Mrs. Humboldt would
tell Mrs. Gavy and when Mrs. Gavy
knew thing, we'll just about all
bennington would know!
| Mrs. Humbolt's skirt was finished
and on the ironing board when Miss
Eppa heard two short rings and one
long. That was Mrs. Waverley's call.
She glanced swiftly at the clock
over the pince-nez, for Miss Eppa
was near-sighted, and clucked her
tongue against her teeth. 1t was a
satisfying sound for her teeth were
false and little loose. That ring,
at four-thirty, meant that Mrs. Gavy
was home from the canning bee.
Miss Eppa skipped across the
room to the telephone, for she was
brisk now in her new excitement,
and softly lifted the receiver from
the hook Mrs. Gavy was telling
Mrs. Waverly that Elsie Murphy had
stood kissing Donald Tyree for an
hour or more, right smack in front
of Miss Eppa's door!
Miss Eppa voiced a mental "Tskl
| Tsk!" She wanted to shout into the
mouthpiece mot door, Mrs. Gavy!
The hedge!"
At this point a bell pierced the
alive silence of the bungalow and
Miss Eppa nodded an exasperated
head, replaced the receiver care
fully and tiptoed to the door.
Elsie Murphy was no different.
She trembled visib1y on the fuzzy
brown welcome mat, her blue eyes
dancing, her hair the burnt gold of
the sunfowers that lined the pebble
walk.
81 came about my
dress. Elsie Murphy always hest
tated in her speech, even when
she wasn't startled.
mot todayl" Miss Eppa's lips
were tight enough to bend a pin
Elsie fingered the belt of the blue
checkered Bingham that Miss Eppa
had made. "I'n come in
the morning Miss Eppa," Ell
sic offered meekly, closing the
white-washed gate behind her.
Mrs. Warman had hung up when
Miss Eppa sneaked the receiver off
the hook. But in a few minutes
she listened to Mrs. Gavy and Mrs.
Krunch and then to Mrs. Humboldt
and Mrs. Waverly. By seven o'clock
her arms were so stiff that she
gave up the idea of a cooked supper
but made, instead, a sandwich, a
pineapple salad and nibbled at a
square Of mouse-trap cheese, as she
called it; all out of the ice-box
without troubling herself to set the
table. When the telephone shrilled
long and short, which was her
own number, she scuttled, like a
frightened doe, from the kitchen to
the hall and answered,
Elsie's mother, who didn't recog-
nize Miss Eppa's garbled voice,
started to hang up but Miss Eppa,
who had completely masticated the
cheese, said quickly, cts me, Mrs.
Murphy" A talk with Mrs. Murphy
at this time could be mighty in
teresting! 1t was, too, for Mrs. Muir
ply began,
cts about Elsie, Miss Eppa. She
won't be needin' that lace dress. She
and Warren Phelps they've
quarreled. You know how children
are"
That night Miss Eppa, a strange
worried expression on her gaunt
features, seated herself in the red
plush chair by the table lamp and
sat quite rigid for moment. She
was deciding a problem because
her thin forefnger, tapping on the
chair-arm, was the only thing about
her that moved.
Then she got up briskly and went
to the hall telephone and rang two
shorts and four longs. When Mrs.
Phelps answered in a troubled
voice, Miss Eppa began, MRS.
Phelps, l hear Elsie Murphy and
Warren have broke off. We'll
if it's about that Donald Tyree Cos
sip out in front of my hedge