Show furniture cy ERRIC E richardson ER R by L fe for mt a il bride mcclure newspaper syndicate cl service IT T WAS early one spring morning that may belle started from her boarding house to the littlest and remotest antique shop on her list for five years she had been decorating furniture for other peoples homes while tor for herself she had a room too tiny to make beautiful today as she changed from bus to street car and then swung along the sun spattered street she was unusually happy A little bride who was to start housekeeping in a wee apartment had commissioned may belle to find for her quaint odds and ends of furniture and decorate them according to may belles inimitable taste it was therefore necessary to seek the bargains far from the beaten path down a back alley may belle walked and into an abandoned stable where instead of horses one found musty piles of furniture mr GoIden berger may belle called 1 I want to talk to you about that spool bed and table if you arent holding up today there was a laugh from behind the plunder that did not have the lutteral gut teral tones that marked mr Golden bergers mirth and a pleasant face peeped around a battered highboy hes asking nothing less than a pound of flesh for some of his junk the stranger ventured at once the bargaining began and eventuated in may belles ordering the quaint old bed and table sent to her studio ill think more about the sideboard the other purchaser said to the dealer and abd followed may belle into the alley if its sideboards youre interested in may belle suggested 1 I think find better bargains at edis im going th there e re now to look for the hall set im to decorate for my bride so your profession Is making the ugly bugl y beautiful mines just selling real estate and filling in the furniture gaps in a wonderful old house my grandmother left me three miles from town M MAY AY BELLE clapped her hands in excitement oh cant I 1 help you she asked and bit her lip when she realized that she really know aleman the man at her hei side heaven knows I 1 need need all the help I 1 can get he replied and then seeming to sense may belles apprehension he handed her his business card witnessing the reliable connection that was his what about a spin out there this afternoon that afternoon howard ambler called for may belle at the studio alq first fi cst to admire ahe the br brides ide s chair which had been painted a dull black and decorated with a rose design may belle had copied from her grandmothers work box then he led the girl to his waiting car and drove out where the air smelled of the growing things of spring the way to the old house led through a grove of lindens lindena to a garden where box hedges and old fashioned flowers had been cared for by someone who loved them the house was perfect pioneer colonial with its peaked roof its gables and its tiny porch 1 I was was wondering howard ambler said when the tour of inspection was completed it if I 1 could get you to find and put in just what should be in all the nooks im going to live here and I 1 want it to take me after working hours to the restfulness of the past alter after that may belle was happier than she had ever been throng THEN HEN one day everything went wrong someone else bought the tour four poster may belle had spotted at one of the shops and had simply been waiting tor for the chance to tell howard about the bed that exactly suited the big south room next the little bride came into the studio her husband to be had been transferred to the californian territory and freight would be so enormous may belle sell the lovely things to someone else of course may belle could and would but as she went on painting the colonial wreath on the pack back of the little curved armed rocker she knew that all the joy in the work had gone late that afternoon howard came to take her to the old house As hev h led her toward the rustic seat beo be neath the grape arbor may belle began telling i him about the disappointments point ments men ts of the day well surely find other four post ers just as pretty and im so glad you arent selling that beautiful stuff youve been decorating it just suits the little bedroom in the ell and the upstairs sitting room he consoled but it was meant tor for a bride brid e may belle objected 1 howard ambler was bending close to her on his face a look that she had not seen before but may belle he said gently ever sin since ce I 1 met you ive been hoping to bring a bride into grandmothers house will you come may belle she lifted her eyes to howards the singing again in her heart |