Show D I WHY BETTY KANE SENT FOR MADGE I I gave a a. comprehensive nod to Betty Kane then spoke quickly casually In I order that the other women in the little tea room might have no suspicion of anything anything anything any any- thing out of the ordinary In our murmured murmured mur mur- colloquy Would you mind making my tea extra ex ex- tm tra strong today I asked Ill have it stand alone if you OU wish she retorted lightly Not quito quite that strenuous I smiled and anti turning seated myself unobtrusively near the case of or postal c cards to wait for formy formy formy my order of tea and to speculate upon the probable reason for this odd request of Betty netty Kanes Kane's that I should come to the tear room at this time It was preposterous for me to suppose that the lines of worry on her usually placid face had anything to do with her summons and yet et the idea persisted In my mind that the two vo things were re related re- re hated in some way Was Vas the summons i on my account or her own The first proposition was too absurd for a seconds second's thought considering consider consider- ing t the brevity t of my acquaintance c ti tf with ner iser ne and db yet I recalled l d Betty l Kane was not the to send for me on her own account I had seen enough of her herI relations to her townspeople to know that I she had hosts of old friends She did not need to call upon her new ones for any faT favor This js impression became a t certainty as asI asI asI I watched her wheelchair weaving In and antI out among amon the people seated in her little tea room That she was not pitied but was revered and actually beloved by her neighbors and customers I could see bythe bythe by bythe the tender glances glance which were given Iven herand her herand and anti by the intonations of ot the tho voices which greeted her The aroma of the tea distilled by Betty Kanes Kane's quaintly figured brown teapot was no more delicate and fragrant than the mental atmosphere of the little room It was as unlike the ordinary place where one drops In for tea as could well vell be Imagined Cranford d Surely I u reflected r e outside ts whimsically i the aN pages there thero rl e of could not be found such another collection collection collection tion of prim faded gentlewomen of an age that had lon long ceased to be uncertain and more or less wheezy old g gentlemen tryIng trying try try- Ing hard to be gallant nt under the handicap of s' s asthma t BETTY KANES KANE'S WAY Nor could the question of vulgar payment payment payment pay pay- ment for tor the tho tea and cakes have havo been more Ingeniously concealed by the tho Cran- Cran than it was by the patrons of Betty Hetty Kane Evidently each understood the price of the food offered for none brought asked hta and the ge I exact think tn change ha each concealed person y d I In had a a glove or a handkerchief At any rate I 1 saw no money transaction whatsoever But as each man or woman finished tea he or she approached Betty Kane as asono one ono would take farewell of a gracious hostess at an afternoon function and shook her hand I 1 was morally certain that with each handshake there was left eft in her palm the payment duo for the tea and cakes and ana yet J as sr see far no as cuch my h V vision was hut But concerned after g each c I handshake I saw the crippled Omans Oman's hand unobtrusively Into a. a brightly I KO go colored gl cretonne rg uk bay bag fJ hung upon her wheelchair and was J Jfe rc that it was in that receptacle site slie concealed the coin which If exhibited would make snake her hel little room a pla place e of commerce Instead of the place of a pretty home afternoon When the last guest guest I I saw that she considered each customer that that had had gone she turned to me with a wistful smile curving the lips that must In her hei young youns girlhood have been rarely beautiful THE MYSTERIOUS CHAUFFEUR Please dont don't think that I expect strangers stran stran- gers to do that she said recognizing with her intuitive courtesy my unspoken query But nut it please my old friends to pretend that I am simply entertaining them thorn the way waY waY-I I would love to do do It if I could afford it and It-and and I cannot deny that I it leases pleases me also It would please me greatly if it you would let me pretend In the same way whenever I come I returned and was surprised and touched to see th the tha quick tears spring to her dark eyes ees Youre real and joure youre rare she said simply simp but with an intonation that made mado me feel as if I had received an The Tho next moment sho she had wiped her eyes briskly wheeled her chair close to mine There Is some one In my kitchen who Is waiting to see you ou she said lIe He says it ii is imperative Will VIII you come now Him I repeated the pronoun to myself myself my my- self fearfully full with a sudden flashing premonition premonition pre pro monition of ot the person I would see In another another another an an- other moment And when I had reached Betty Kanes Kane's spotless kitchen I knew that my my premonition was Justified I For or lounging against the tho door twirling his cap nervously was the driver of th the mysterious closed carriage e |