| Show EING alone over christ mas so bad but a whole week after that tool tm lonely now what will it be for ten days for mary wont be home until new years day for the first time during twenty years of married life robert adams helpmeet had taken a vacation or rather had gone on a visit to an invalid sister and her husband had begun to miss her woefully so smoothly had life gone so many burdens had mary lifted from his shoulders in her patient plodding nay that he missed her guiding help tul presence dreadfully she had left in trim order the house was neat as a pin everything provided r comfort to his hand but the irksomeness so of the intense solitude vas beginning tc set on his nerves 1 I I 1 never knew her value 1111 just now he muttered she shames me with the contrast between the inside neatness and the outside disorder and as he glanced from the window he had to confess that be was a careless slovenly man the front fence had two out of every five pickets broken or missing the barn wis an antiquated ruin the porch wobbled and the clapboards of the house were bent and storm blistered for the lack t paint lie glanced into a mirror as he passed it his neglected beard tousled and awry tte looked down at the grimed and threadbare suit he wore and flushed he had just come from the sleeping room upstairs and rummaging a bureau for some papers had happened across a stored away memento cherished by mary a photo graph of himself in bis early courting days it showed a neatly dressed arrow straight young man scarcely comparing with the careless shabby looking individual he presented now the front gate gave out a rasping sound it did not click for one shattered hinge alone supported tt the crack toned house bell issued a hollow growling sound and robert wi ait to the door to greet his brother in law local reil estate agent who held the ical knob in his haul as it had come trailing halt a foot ot rusted wire with it 1 I nearly arole my neck stumbling over that sidewalk of yours he ob served not much like mary s domain here eh and be bestowed an approve his face softened ing look around the neat clean little sitting room I 1 say robert I 1 had a bid today on some of your property here ehnts good responded robert pricking up his ears ever keen for business the towns growing and getting crowded and a client Is thinking of buying some street frontage and build ing a halt bungalows as a speculation I 1 wondered 1 sour vi cant corner beyond here suit him what are you asking tor it an acre an acre I 1 fairly shouted robert humph I 1 cool I 1 why the land Is fully a quarter of a mile nearer town alan the new subdivision of jem lane he charges lot prices and so ahall I 1 the brother in law bunched his shoulders and looked dubious here robert he said I 1 m going to be plain with you I 1 ve brought halt A dozen customers here who want to build and lost all of them the loca alon so bed it a a direct and thy widest la town ewt the minute they those rickety sheds facing the street and the house here lopsided paint all flaked off and the lot littered up with old wagon wheels and other rubbish they shake their heads you re behind the times worse than that ou lu placing the dont care old hayseed who appeal to an up to date neighbor I 1 should think with mary the thrifty mary always neat as a pin and ihling in this old wreck when she could grace a palace you would turn over a new leaf by the way the good time to start it will soon be here january 1 think it over it means happiness for mary ae serves it and profit for you have let the golden chances blip by unheeded all these years robert adams did not resent the straightforward talk of his visitor lie was just in a frame t mind where the suggestions implanted might take root he nodded a thoughtful adieu to his relative and sat down alone to cogl tate the postman appeared with a letter from mary and a small bundle the former expressed the delight her long anticipated visit had brought to her people the package opened revealed marys christmas gift to him halt a dozen handkerchiefs and two neckties all of them bore initials or some ornamental needlework and his face softened as he realized how many plodding hours his alfe had devoted to the task to give him pleasure then he smiled grimly As he fixed his eyes on a framed portrait of his helpmeet his eyes grew tender ihen they tool to their depths a dreamy tinge before his mental vision a series of pictures born of the vivid suggestions of the day why not be cried abruptly coming briskly to his feet january first Is a good time to begin 1 stared fixedly at a feminine form robert adams visited a carpenter car peAter shop the town raint store and other places early the next he went to the hardware store and examined the latest in house trimmings lie spent two hours going over wallpaper stock lie asked each artisan he consulted one uniform question can ou get the work all finished by new years ee he amazed the village tailor by ordering his first suit in five years lie was a profitable customer for the barber who not only worked in a shave und a hair trim but a shampoo and halt a dozen special unguents alie renovated husband of mary adams dallied long at the mirror ero he went out and took dobbin out of the stable the train was adje at ten but it was new years eve travel was heavy and nil trains de laiad and it was well on toward mid night when he craned his neck from the sleigh and eagerly watched the passengers alight an utterance 0 escaped his lips as passenger after passenger left the platform then he stared fixedly at a feminine form arrayed in a neat velvet hat and a pretty plush coat she hid turned her face toward the station light maryl he cried but unbelievingly as he viewed her strange attire oh robert 1 she replied and hastened eagerly toward him but halted with a quick shock old dobbin looked ten years than when he had last him the sleigh glistened like a newly burnished chariot and robert I 1 she feasted hw eyes on this apparent subject of fountain 0 youth I 1 I 1 know you she stam roared nor I 1 you said robert all dolled up in new togs oh uncle ephraem made sister and me a famous christmas present and insisted on seeing it spent on our own selves explained mary invested a trifle in the lame line mi self vaunted robert with a spice 0 pride get in mary yes new robes dont think me reckless I 1 did it all for you again oh robert 1 in rapt tones as they came in sight of home loom ing up like a mansion in a new robe of white trimmed with daria green walt till lou we the rooms new papered from top to bottom and mary was in a daze as she was ushered into alio I 1 ayse then she put her arms around his nack and kissed him what does this wonderful magic mean she fluttered it mean shark I 1 there go the bells out the old year it means app new year I 1 and he placed his an bout her waist the bew irr of our lives for we are going to to enjoy the bafit the world can give all ovar |
