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Show f Wr ' ' ' " "LULU, ONE MOMENT!" ftYXOPSta. -General factotum in the hnu.se of her sister lna, wife of Herbert Deacon, In the smalt town of WarWIelon. I.nlu Bett leads a dull, cramped exiatence, with whleh , Hhe in eon.slantly at enmity, though n ppa really sa.tl.sned with her lot. Hlie haa natural thoughts and afpi-raliohH afpi-raliohH which neither her .sister nor her hrnther-in-lft w seemingly can comprehend. The other members of tile family are I1 Deacon, eighteen; eight-een; Monona Deacon, a child, and Mrs. Hett, Mrs. Deacon's mother, who 'vjlb "tantrlms." I Continued. 2 At length they rose. Monona filing herself tipiin her father. He put her aside firmly, every Inch (he father. No, no. '"ntlier was occupied now. Mrs. Deacon coaxed tier away. Monona encircled her mother's waist, lifted her own feet from Ihe floor and hung upon tier. "She's such an active child." Lulu ventured brightly. "Not unduly active. I think," her brother-in-law obsr rved. Ho rtirned upon Lulu his Iritrht smile, lifted his eyeltrows. dropped his lids, stood for a moment contemplating contemplat-ing the yellow tulip, anil so left the mum. i Lulu cleared ihe table. Mrs. Deacon Dea-con essayed to wind the clock. Well, now. I fid Herbert say it was twenty-Oireo twenty-Oireo tonight when it struck the half luwr and twenty-one last night, or twenty-one tonight and last night t wotity-three? She talked of it as they cleared the tabic, but Lulu did not (alk. "Crtn't you remember?" Mrs. Deacon Dea-con said nt last. "I should think- you might be useful." I.nlu w.is lifting the yellow tulip Co set it on the sill. She changed her mind. She took the plant to the wood-Kbed wood-Kbed and tumbled It with force upon the chip-pile. The dining room table was laid for breakfast. The Iwo women brought their work and sat there. The child Monona hung miserably about, watching watch-ing the clock. Itight or wrong, she was put to bed by It. She had eight minutes more seven six five Lulu laid down her sowing and left the room. She went to the woodshed, frroped about in the dark, found the stalk of the one tulip (lower in Its i heap on the chip-pile. The tulip sue i fastened in her gown on her lint chesi. , Ouiside were to be seen the eanv Hars. "It is said that if our sun were as near to Aivturus as we are near to our sun, the sreat Areturus would burn ot:r sun to nothingness. In the Dea 'ons' parlor sat Bobby I.nrkiu, ei;htoen. lie was in pain nil : over. lie was eoine. on an errand : which eivilixat ion has comriver to i make an ordeal. ; I'.el'ore lrtn on Ihe lable stood a pho- i toitrap'.i of Diana Deacon, also eight Fie hated her with passioti. At school (ihe mocked him, aped him, whispered utiotit him, U'ltirod him. For two years .he had hated her. Nights he fell asleep plannin.' to build a great house and engage her as its servant. Yet, as he waited, he could not keep his eyes from this photograph. Tt was Di tit her curliest, at her flutl Dl conscious of her bracelet, Di smiling. smil-ing. Bobby gazed, his basic aversion to her hard-pressed by a most reluctant reluc-tant pleasure, il" hfiped that he would I not see her. and he listened for her j voice. Mx. Deacon descended up, in him with an air carried from his supper hour, bland, dispensing. Well! Let us have it. "What did you wish to see me about?" with a use of the past tense as connoting something of indl-coction indl-coction and hence of delicacy a nicety customary, yet unconscious, i'.obliy had arrived in his best clothes urn! with an air of such formality that J!r. Deacon had instinctively suspeet-cJ suspeet-cJ him of wanting to join the church, ami. to treat the time with due solemnity, sol-emnity, had put him in the parlor until un-til lie could attend at leisure. Confronted thus by Di's father, the speech which I'.y..by had planned deserted de-serted him. " thought I! you would L'ive me a j.ih." he sa;d defenselcssly. dial's it!" Mr. Deacon, who always al-ways awaited but a touch to be either trr;;."dilc or facetious, inclined now' to be facetious. "Filling teeth?" he would knm. "Marrying folks, then V" .s.s:sfant .iusri-e ..r as.-ia'.nn' dentist wdrch? il i blushed. No. no. out :u that hrv; b;c!(':F.g of Mr. Deacon's where his otl'x'e wns, wasn't there somei hiicr it fa led from him. sounded i idiciiloos. of course there was nothing. noth-ing. I Ic sa w it now. T' ere was nothing. Mr. Deacon cou;,,;iie(l him. I'.'tt Mr. Deacon had fin idea. Hold on. he said hold on. Tl c g'ass. VomIi Hubby consider taking charec .,f the grass? Though 4Ir. Deacon w.'is of the type which ctit ua wwn grass and glorivs in its vigor and its energy, yet in the time ai'ler that which he called "dental hours" Mr. Deacon wished to work in his garden. Ills grass, growing in late April rains, would need attention early licit month . . .he owned two lots "of course property is a burden." If Hobby would care to keep the grass down and raked . . . Bobby would care, accepted this business opportunity, oppor-tunity, figures and all, thanked Mr. Deacon Willi earnestness. Bobby's aversion to Di, it seemed, should not stand in the way of his advancement. "Then that is checked off," said Mr. Deacon heartily. Hobby wavered toward the door, emerged on the porch, and ran almost upon Di returning from her tea parly at Jenny Plow's. "Oh, Bobby! You came to see me?" She was as fluffy, as curly, as smiling smil-ing as her picture. She was carrying pink, gauzy favors and a speaj' of flowers. Undeniably in her voice there was pleasure. Her glance vras startled hut already complacent. She paused on the steps, a lovely figure. Hut one would say that nothing but the truth dwelt in Bobby. "Oh, hullo." said he. "No. I came to see your father." Ike marched by her. His hair stuck up at the back. His coat was hunched about his shoulders. His insufficient nose, abundant, loose-lipped mouth and brown eyes were completely expressionless. ex-pressionless. He marched by her without with-out a glance. She Hushed wilh vexation. Mr. Deacon, Dea-con, as one would expect, laughed loudly, took the situation in his elephantine ele-phantine grasp and pawed at it. "Mamma! Mamma! What do you s'pose? Di though! she had a beau " "Oh. papa !" said Di. "Why. I just hate Hobby Larkin and the whole school knows it." Mr. Deacon returned to the dining room, humming in his throat. He entered en-tered upon a pretty scene. His lna was darning. Four minutes of grace remaining to the child Monona, Mo-nona, she was spinningi on one toe fa, fh s : - rv h 9 J) "Oh, Hullo," Said ris. "No. I Cam: to Sej Your Fathsr." vifh some Hacehanalian idea of making mak-ing the most of the present. Di dominated, domi-nated, her ruffles, her blue hose, her bracelet, her ring. "Oh, and mamma," she said, "the sweetest party and the dearest supper sup-per and the darlingest decorations and the gorgeousest " "Grammar, grammar." spoke Dwight Herbert Deneon. He was not sure what he meant, but the good fellow felt .some violence done somewhere or other. "Well." said Di positively, "they were. Papa, see my favor." She showed Mm a sugar dove, and he clucked at if. Tna glanced at them fondly, her face assuming its loveliest light. She was often ridiculous, but always she was the happy wife and mother, and her ro!e reduced her individual absurdities at least to its own. The door to the bedroom now onened and Mrs. p.etf appeared. "Well, mother cried Herbert, the "wll" carving like an arm. the "mother" descending like a Icisk slap. "Hungry now?" Mrs. F.ci r w as hungry now. She had emerged intending to pass through the room without speaking and find food in tin pantry. I'.y obscure processes her son-in law's rone inhibited i!l this. "No." she said. "I'm not hungry." Now that she was flier-, she seenic 1 uncertain what to do. She Iookc-1 1 from one to another a hit hoi-bss' . j somehow foiled in her dignity. S; - brushed nt her skirt, the veinsl long, wrinkled hnnds catching I tenser blue from the dark clotl put her hnlr behind her ear. I "We put a potato in tiie nl jnu," said Intl. She had never fpiite ho'.v to treat these perl I fusals of her mother to eat. never had ceased to resent th-I j "No, thank you," said Mr.-l Kvldemly she rather enjoyed t: ation, creating for herself a sil much in the manner of Monon I "Mother," said Lulu, "let me you some toast and tea." I Mrs. Ben turned her gentle. I less face toward her daughte I her eyes warmed. I "After a little, maybe," she s.I think I'll run over to see r; dates now," she added, and I toward the door. 1 "Tell her," cried Tiwight, "tel she's my best girl." I Orandma dates was a rheul cripple who Jived next door, and I ever the Leacons or Mrs. Bettsl angry or hurt or wished to escafl house for some reason, they stl over to Grandma Gates In llel say. slamming a door. These I radiated an almost daily friend! which lifted and tempered the ol valid's lot and life. I Dl flashed out at the door ngaij some trivial permission. I "A good many of mamma's stil in that dress to keep clean," Tna c afier. I "Early, durling, early!" her fl reminded her. A faint regiirgit.l of his was somehow invested willl paternal. I "What's this?" cried Dwight I bert Deacon abruptly. I On the clock shelf lay a letter. I "Oh. Dwight!" Tna was all com lion. "It came this morning. 1 1 "I forgot it too! And I laid : there." Lulu was etiger for her s of the blcme. I "Isn't it understood that my I can't wait like this?" I Dwight's sense of importance I now being fed in gulps. I "I know. I'm awfully sorry," I said, "but you hardly ever get nl ler " This might ha"e made things w but it provided Dwight with a gn importance. "Of course, pressing matter go my office." he admitted It. "Still mail should have more careful ' He read, frowning. He replacei letter, and they hung upon his (ions as he tapped the envelope regarded them. "Now!" said he. "What do think I have to tell you?" "Something nice." Ina was sure "Something surprising." Dwight portentiously. "But, Dwight is it nice?" from Tna. "That depends. I like It. STTT" Lulu." He leered at her. "It's company." com-pany." "Oh. Dwight," said Ina. "Who?"' , "From Oregon," he said, toying with his suspense. "Your brother!" cried Ina. "Is he coming?" "Yes. Xinian's coming, so he says." "Ninian!" cried Ina again. She was excited, round-eyed, her moist lips parted. Dwight's brother Ninian. How long was it? Nineteen years. South America, Central America, Mexico, Panama "and all." When was he coming and what was he coming for? "To see me," said Dwight, "To meet von. Some day next week. He don't know what a charmer Lulu is, or he'd come quicker." Lulu flushed terribly. Xot from the i implication. But from the knowledge i mat she was not a charmer. I The clock struck. The child Mo-: Mo-: nona uttered a cutting shriek. Her-i Her-i hen's eyes flew not only to the child hut to his wife. What was this, was their progeny hurt? "Bedtime," his wife elucidated, and added: "Lulu, will you take her to bed? I'm pretty tired." i Lulu rose and took Monona by the mil. the child hanging back and shaking her ntraight hair in an un-p un-p convincing negative, i As they crossed the room. Dwight 1 Herbert Deaf on. strolling about and snapping his fingers, halted and cried out sharply : "Lulu. One moment !" He approached her. A finger was extended, ex-tended, his lips were parted, on his forehead was a frown. "You picked the flower on the j plant?" he asked, incredulously. j Lulu made no reply. But the child i Monona felt herself lifted and borne to j the stairway and the door was shut I with violence. On the dark stairway I Lulu's arms closed about her in an I embrace which left her breathless and ' squeaking. And yet Lulu was not j really fond of the child Monona, either. This was a discharge of emotion akin, say, to slamming the door. "Well, I'm Bert's brother," said Ninian. "So I can come in, can't I y (TO BE CONTINUED.) |