Show i d' MIND THEIR MISERY AT ALL PEOPLE CALLED THEM rr IBM YOURT CIFULEIST M EM) 0 4 BY DANA BURNET 11 t Ithostratod by Noel Sickbe Ti subtle twist is this story is done so gently that it creeps sap on the reveler almost before he's had shoe to notice what's happened Reed it end see you ears anticipate Mr Burnet —THE EDITORS IFEATURE FICTION I rhad"ungappearedwut Lymington in the spring Ben Marble told me hie a air 'of robins arriving to build a nest The boy wore khaki slacks and a red sweater The girl were a brown dress "That was about all the clothes they seemed to have Ben said The boy was nice looking: tall with brown hair and eyes the girl was real pretty with thick yellow hair and blue eyes and a figure that looked as if it had been hand-carvsaid Ben who saw things with the eye of a and cabinet maker But master the young people were shy — not timid (exactly) but sort of uncertain (of themselves) which wasn't surprising since they had come from New York City to try their luck at living in a small country town Torrance their name was Arthur and Elsa Torrance Arthur was 26 years old and had spent three of those years in the Navy M an ensign he'd been attached to the base at New London which is only a few miles from Lymington and on a visit to that old Connecticut seaport town he had fallen in love with it When his term of service was over as WOO as he'd married the girl be was also in love with Arthur had packed her and all their worldly goods into a rattletrap station wagon and bad driven from Morningside Heights where they'd both been born to Lymington where they didn't know a soul All they owned filled just one wooden crate ed wood-work- er So ma v were as poor as Job's turkey Ben Marble said but they sure were in love You could tell that the minute you saw them together — hie on that spring Saturday when they atm to his barn where be had hie woodworking shop and asked to borrow a hammer "You could tell they were educated too" Ben said But there they were living in that weather-beate- n leaky old salt box — you know the old Ames house next to mine? — and Arthur had a job on one of the fish docks unloading fish Inin the draggers He was trying to get a better job but so far he'd bad no luck I leamed that the int day met gem when they came to borrow my hammer" Ben bad !caned them tfie hammer and later when Elsa came back and said blushing with emberrassinent that they also needed a saw he'd her that too Then after supper he'd gone over to the Ames place to pay the young couple a neighborly call had found them trying to build a bed out of the wood of the crate that had held their few household possessions They'd been spring sleeping on the floor on a second-han- d mattress they'd bought had an old bedstead in my attic I could have let them have" Ben said "But when I offered it to them they said Oh no they couldn't impose on me It was bad enough they said to have to berme my tools Well I could see they were proud and independent and respected them for it But Arthur had smashed his finger with the hammer and Elsa had tried to rip a board with a crosscut saw and they were pretty blue So I said 'All right But let's take this limber over to my shop where we can put it together in a hurry' loaned He "I I "Watt I built them a bed frame mostly out of odds and ends of stock I had lyin' around the shop and when they asked me how much they owed me I said 'Why Ill Just keep this of crate-wo- od yours and we'll call it square' didn't tell 'em it would make good for my old Franklin stove I kindlint "So that was the beginnin' of it and petty my wife and I got to be real friendly soon with the cook to Arthur Torrance My wife taught Elsa how scallops and iron a shirt and when told me he was plarmin' to buy a set furniture on the instalment plan I him not to do " be slot smarter' I told him 'for you and Elsa to go pokin' round the countrysee what you can fmd in the way of side antiques There's still some old stuff tucked attics and remember the worse shape away a piece is in the cheaper youll get it Only be sure it's made of good material before you Then bring it beck here to me I'll buy help you rebuild it and refinish it That way you'll have some furniture you can take pride of cheap it advised 'It'd to in it hi and it'll be valuable too" And that was bow the Torrance found their beet It was an ancient high poster badly battered It was scarred and scratched one foot-po- st was missing completely and the tad remains Ben said were covered by several thick layers of paint "We paid only five dollars kr it" Elsa said her eyes sparkling Bst the wood under the paint was maple and old pine and to replace the missing post Ben snade a new one He turned it on his lathe using a precious maple plank cut from one of his own trees Meanwhile the Torrance scraped paint and sanded and scraped — till their (angers were raw And night after night when they'd gone home exhausted Ben worked on the bed When they finely got through Ben said they had a beautiful bed You never saw two happier young people The Tommces insisted on paying Ben for the work he'd dons and he charged them ten dollars "I put it as low as I could" he told me "because I knew they could just barely live on Arthur's wages He'd kept tryinl to better himself he'd been to see idmost every business man in town But hie a lot of good people especially those with brains — be didn't seem able to sell himself Too honest maybe Or too proud Anyway nobody'd offered him a position so he and Elsa were still livin' from hand to mouth But I - $ THZN one night — a Friday night — Arthur came alone to Ben's shop "The minute I saw his face" Ben said "I knew that somethin' was went" "Mr Marble" Arthur said looking down "we've at his shoes all covered with decided to sell the bed" "Sell the bed?" Ben said "For the Lord's sake whyr "Elsa's going to haves baby" Arthur said It was as simple as unanswerable as that Elsa was pregnant They needed more money So they'd decided to sell their treasure "Do you know anyone who might hie to Arthur asked buy "Why I know some dealers who are always on the lookout for nice pieces Or maybe one of my own customers would be interested try to think of somebody" "We'll be grateful if you can sell it for us" Arthur said and be sounded so miserable it was plain that they were heartsick about having to part with the bed That night Ben said be lay awake for some time worrying about the Torrance In the itr ( ' t ' ' 1 t '': lot r - li ' ik ay 0 t 9 ( '''' 1 I :t wanted them to have that bed" Ben added Here Ben stopped and shook his head and I guessed that he had reached a turning point in his tam He had come to my house to deliver a mahogany desk he had made for me We were sitting in my living room having coffee — a drink to which we are both addicted — and Ben had launched into this account of the Torrance' who seeined to be much on his mind "So?" I said prodding him "What happened then?" He sighed and said he had thought that as goon as the bed was finished the young couple would want to lug it home But several days went by and they didn't come to take it fish-scal- es ' : l ' t !- ''t - : f ' u' I ' ' A ) '" ! 0 94' ' Something had happened to disturb the boy mailing walked never he made a telephone call Then he over to the Ames house which had looked shabbier or older or sadder he it had been a good house to start was really a fine example of early though with and New England architecture It was raining and Arthur and Elsa were having breakfast in the kitchen and they had tin pans set out around the Boa to catch the drip iron the leaks in the roof When Ben walked in Elsa looked up at him and darted to cry so Ben told Arthur he'd better get another plan to catch Elaa'a tears and that sort of lightened things up a little "I've got somebody interested in your bed" Ben told them "A lady named Mrs Went-Wor- th She's the wife of Charles Wentworth who's bead of the Lymington Textile Machine Works so she's got plenty of money" "Is she a friend of yours?" Elsa asked "At least I've "Why Yea" Ben said known her all my life and I've done consickrable business with her She makes a hobby of conedin antiques" "Well" Arthur mid "we wool feel so badly if a friend of yours buys our bed" "11 do my best for you" Ben said Then be told them that Mrs Wentworth was awning to his shop at three o'clock that afternoon and that be wanted them both to be there too "But you let me do the talkinl" THEY agreed to that and a little before the appointed time they went to his shop and waited trying not to notice their bed which was all set up and looking its handsomest At three o'clock precisely Mrs Wentworth walked in She was wearing an old raincoat and galoshes — it was still raining outside — and carried plain black umbrella But her gray hair was beautifully waved and she had Cesstisslad as page 33 a 9 |