Show I t r I II I 1 I I If i r Jr c J H TY T V e r 7 I J w THE BRO r 14 1 it N OTTLE Y 4 t d dw L V t tV tr f de dei Jordan i r r fr HERE ERE it was that little green bottle boUie shaped TI something like the pickle jar at It home bits bil of clay cia sticking to it as if i it had just been dug up to in the back bick yard yet et it stood on a small pedestal on Mrs Irs drawing room mantelpiece Susy had often wondered why it had been singled out for this honor Today having haing leisure and opportunity she wondered more than ever She had come conic to play pIa 1 house with Emmy Empty Woods but hut had found her in the hands of oC the visiting seam scam seamstress seamstress stress After an unpleasant Mrs Woods foods had politely dismissed d Susy telling her not notto notto notto to bang the street door after l ler her and the visitor had departed with a feeling of o deep resentment With a dull Saturday S afternoon a stretching in gray grayness grayness grayness ness before beCore her Susy had crawled listlessly down the stairs letting her arm slide along alons the smooth mahogany banister until she had paused just before the open door It was then as she he stood peering into the he shaded hushed place that the little ittle green bottle had begun to interest her curiously curious Why hy should it be up there enthroned on a pedestal to her irritatingly stuck up as if iC it sneered down on the Dresden shepherd and his lass and on the stuffed under a glass cover coer that kept looking up at it most worshipfully as if it wanted to chirp Cast but one glance gance on thine humble servant 0 O OKing King I Ill It ll was odd too that Mrs Irs Woods should put the hot bot bottle hottie tie tle there for or every ever one to look at It and never nce r have it cleaned Susy remembered that the first time she had seen it itoh oh a very vcr long time ago maybe a as long as a six months it had been very dirty d rt and md dirty it had re remained remained remained The fhe result of her reflections was a criticism of oC Mrs Woods as a housekeeper and a decision to use her own surplus activity in n cleaning the impudent looking bottle To this end she cautiously rolled over to the mantel mantelpiece mantelpiece piece piece a armchair Very Ver guardedly a I fixed nervous smile of anticipation on her face f ce Susy SUS took the bottle from its high place and lifting the point of her apron prepared to give it a thorough brushing But Buther Buther Buther her uneasy uncas feet Ceet had pressed the armchair backward and she lost her balance She fell against the mantel mantelpiece mantelpiece piece and her clasp loosened on the bottle With a dainty tinkling crash it broke into splinters The suddenness of the disaster hypnotized her into inaction and for a moment she could only stare at the prismatic hued wreck With Ith realization of her mis mischief mischief chief the thought of the wrath in Mrs cold eyes made her cringe She pushed the chair back to its place stole from the room and the previous direction direction direction tion to leave the house quietly quiet was wa obeyed with fanatical exactness No mouse ever crept out on a mid midnight night ni ht reconnoitering expedition with more silken stealth than did Susy Gilvarry from the Woods home What hat was to be done She must tell her mother of course and 1 her mother would go and tell Mrs Woods making polite apologies for her child after the manner of the Big People and Mrs Woods no matter how furious she site might be inside would also following the same law smile and say it did not matter in the least leasta and aid a d that Mrs Gilvarry must not think of such a trifle again Susy SUs was WIS however trembling and very awed when she reached r ched her own home butt but a few doors away Ellen admitted her her expression sulky because her hercheck hercheck hercheck check was swollen Oh its you ou Miss hiss Susy is it she grumbled You forgot forfot to wipe your your feet feel again too How often will Peter have to wash the steps Id like to know Susy SUS did d d not seem to hear With a preoccupied cx ex expression ion she site began climbing energetically to her mothers room It Il was WIS empty empt Neither was Margaret the nurse in the stitching as usual There was Vas no trace of oC her sister si Genevieve Geneieve whom she he had left in in the back yard digging with her new spade The library was vacant too The whole house was I depressingly depressing still stillA A sense of o personal injury began to inflate Susy SUS par particularly particularly when she realized that this thus being Saturday afternoon her father ather had left his office early in fact that tint the smell of o his cigar c gu was still in the library though he himself had vanished Where were they all Why was she left alone in the world and at ata a I time lime when she badly needed an arm around round her a abreast abreast abreast breast to shiver sh er up against as IS she confessed her fault She hurrie hurried Tto to the kitchen but even cook who gener gene generally generally 1 ally welcomed her with a 3 cooky cook had other Bother interests today her son was visiting her and ami cook was talking to him in a happy happ excited way a with the big green buty but butterfly butterfly bow which she reserved for great occasions plas plastered ten d on her breast Ellen was cleaning silver in the laundry her cheek now wrapped in a small shawl sh shI I Where is everybody Ellen Susy asked in an m in injured injured injured voice Out Ou said Ellen thickly I OJ But where I Time was needed for the bitterness born of this reply to have its full effect Mania Mama ama and papa took and take tale me Dont bother me Miss Susy SU said Ellen tI Me face is is ready to walk off me with the pain an In an me feet arc lre arcin arcin lrein in in me knees II Driving Susy SUS faltered But mama knew I was wasat wasat at Emmy Maybe they the drove there after I left she continued in miserable yet hopeful speculation Perhaps come back for me Ill put on my Roman sash to be ready They The wont then I said Ellen impatience and suf suffering suffering fering making her brutally honest Im your Jour mama said aid you ou might night go into Mrs so they the could take Miss Genevieve without you OU raisin your our usual l ructions Susy stared at her The Th rising tears tear retreated before a cold dead feeling that in some subtle way was an u awakening to a new humiliating h point ol t view Sure take uke you next time said laid Ellen ere care are I i A t I w t L Jf If ri Susy SUS had too much pride to weep before the servants She went back upstairs a 1 different child from the peni penitent penitent penitent tent who had descended j yearning earning for her mother She felt elt numb and a little sick but there was a n brassy flare in her brain that made her know things never under understood understood understood stood before during all the eight years jears of oC her life She selected the most uncomfortable place pace she could find the hard ropey rope mat by the back hall door under which the cold air crept and there hugging bugging her knees she gave herself over oer to her miser misery She riot not loved She was not wanted Her parents were gone Rone bearing Genevieve Geneieve to glory and pleasure the servants were cross but worst of all al Her Own Mother Mather had suggested the visit to Emmy to have her the undesired and un unloved unloved loved child well out of the way wy I She wept as long ac as the tears would come By the time her eyes were dry and burning she was hardened a 1 little Ishmael If nobody loved her why should she love loc any anyone one It was very evident that if she died no noone noone noone one would care Even the thought that they Ule would all allbe allbe allbe be stricken with remorse as they the gazed at her in her coffin had hd cold comfort in in it She began to look for the le reasons r sons which went to the making of this situation Why h did her parents love Genevieve better than they the loved loveo her Why was she not trot adored as Emmy Empty Woods Roods was adored by her mother Thinking of oC Emmy made her remember the green grcen bottle and Ind that she had been seeking a sympathetic confessor to tell of its ruin rum when the le knowledge of her unloved condition had come upon her She now wove the thought of oC this disaster into the questions prompted by her sense cense of o injury If J f Emmy Emm had broken the bottle Lotte Emmy the pampered pet who was loved and guarded both by her mother and her German would Emmy be scolded sc ded No NoH If H Genevieve had broken it aged five whom everybody e kept kepi kissing would she be e punished No If her brother Bob had broken it Bob aged eleven cleven off at a l whose homecomings were feasts for whom the best of everything was kept would he be punished Hardly nothing to speak of certainly He would hear heu a few regretful words and aud be dispatched to apologize to Mrs Woods This was WM injustice and recognized it as l such She began to understand it in her own way Emmy Emm was an Only Child Quid Genevieve was a Youngest Child Her brother Bob was an Eldest Edest Child But she he hc had been placed by b unkind fate ate in in the most unattractive position possible she vas as in the thc middle She began lo to hink that the fairy airy stories were wrong and that Cinderella must have hae been a Middle one Well Veil what would happen to a Middle l one ne when she quite by accident broke a agreen arcen agreen green bottle She would be taken sadly by her mother to a quirt quiet library where her father would sit sternly waiting and after a lot of oE talk about how awful she was wasand wasand wasand and what a disappointment to her parents various arious pun punishments punishments punishments that she did not care to dwell dell upon even cen in infancy infancy fancy would be k arranged for her herAt herAt herAt At this point the instinct of o brought her herto herto herto to a decision I 11 f I soy nothing about the bottle no on our will know Her face ace brightened Why Vh not Why Wily confess and be he punished she the Cinderella the unloved Middle Child Mrs Woods would fancy fanc that Emmy had broken the bottle Very well let et Emmy who had ever everything thing made pleasant for her bear the blame Sh She Susy Gil Gilvarry Gilvarry varry varT had trouble enough in to her dark life without both hoth bothering bothering ering about a nasty little bottle that must have been beener very er cheap to break so easily So from a stumbling sinner she became an In exultant one When hen she saw Gene Gale Genevieve vieve come back from Crom her drive with a balloon she al 11 almost almost most did not mind she was so wickedly edl happy in having put Iut the onus of oC her own fault upon an m Only Child Her eyes were red but a silence eloquent of dark things wrapped her about Susy Sus dear her mother asked aked the mat matter matter matter ter II and she site drew her to her ller plaiting her hair afresh after 1 ter the tender busy bus manner of or mothers Were V ere you disappointed d because you ou taken driving dr today Im sorry but there room for you Oll in the carriage car carriage carriage Susy wriggled from her Words Words On Saturday week if i its fine you Oll shall come and ami Genevieve shall stay star at home tome Genevieve Geneviee wont mind will you my sweet Genevieve paused in her Site She Sh looked oo cd dubious What would I do while Susy Sus went away in the han hansom hansom som sam II she asked cautiously Why nty hy Margaret could coul take lake you OU to Central Park to see sec the lions Oh then I care if Susy went cried Gene vic e You eYou Y Oll dear generous sweet mite mile If and Mrs Gilvarry caught her and smothered her with kisses Susy had retreated to a corner comer and her set mouth her folded arms were not unlike those of the exiled Napoleons in the famous painting The little scene had borne horne out her previous logic only too well Of O course when she was taken driving something equally charming was provided for or the Youngest Child She Site went to bed that night a rebel rebe ripe soil for more de deception deception deception if by it she could champion the Cause of the great army arm of unappreciated Middle ones But as 31 is usual when one is eight all this was almost II most entirely forgotten long before four our days da had passed So Soman many man new and really pleasant things had happened that dark reflections had been crowded out On Tuesday she had won praise in in school for her realistic realist c rendition of The Charge of the Light Brigade Brig and she site liked to remember the hush h after aCter she had cried in her best be t chest tones OJ Theirs but hilt to do and an die Noble Nobe six hundred Also a new girl had said it was a shame to plait pl it such curly curl hair as Susy had hOld and this had led Ild to friendship scaled and signed with whit many m ny drops drop and other confection so o dear to the thc childish heart It was no i therefore t cr fore that t on on Thursday Thurs Jay when Susy i r 7 r rJ rF J c TJ J reached ached r home from school she site was genuinely light lighthearted lighthearted lighthearted hearted and was about to run rum upstairs to show Gene Genevieve vieve iee the pinwheel which the new girl had given her when Mrs Irs drawling discontented voice voice floated to her through the open parlor door She broke broe it my dear Mrs Gilvarry G beyond a doubt I am simply distracted What shall I say sa to Uncle Roger when becomes he conies comes back front from Morocco lorocco That Aztec bottle was as the apple of his eye Every scrap of the lava adhering to it l was dear to him It was one of the specimens excavated during his first firt expedition tion to Yuca Yucatan Yucatan tan fifteen years ago aso when wuen he went for the Govern Government Government Government ment Susy SUS had come conic to a stand against the newel post of the stairs Who was the trie she Emmy or herself And what did lava laa and nd and all the le other strange words mean Im so sorry Susy heard her mother say OJ A lie lieto lieto lieto to shield herself is the last thing thins of which wh ch I could have believed Fraulein Fr capable The pinwheel fell eU from fingers and a smothering smothering smothering ering sensation filled her throat and head When at length she crept upstairs not to Genevieve but to the and Empty Emmy were playing near his chair he lie had cried in ina a snapping voice Oh this drivel about the delight to be found in children 1 J Confounded little pests they drive me mc fran frantic frantic tic tie I King example might be followed occasion occasionally occasionally ally all with good results Susy Sus knew her Bible well King Herod 11 had killed children ell i d No she could not tell she she could noil riot ot otSo So began her double life During several days following she had to listen to much ab about the green bottle and Fraulein Fr Her mother and Lather father ath spoke of the matter frequently In Susy heart the consciousness of oi her guilt deepened hourly She felt sorry for Fr but not sorry enough to con confess cons fess fi s for she excused herself by bj b saying that she had known how precious prec ous the bottle bot e was she would not have havet touched t it But an experience e that t t left its mark upon her hap happened happened happened on Wednesday afternoon aft This way was a chance meeting with Emmy and nd Fraulein Fr in in Washington Square Fr ule n was sitting quietly beside Emmy who seemed to have hac no heart to play How sad she 11 was poor tt r rT rYr T Yr A a t rP r Mi a c fi fir r r 4 S is t h r y L d tf T fir S ry t r T Ty a a tv tva a A lr tb 1 a t rr c n So ur 1 r i r ae e Wei v Y r t ti 1 T r SRI fir c a rt ir irv t tS N 9 yin sut 1 r er t S A M MJ X t p J z n Z rM t r J i rb 4 jt t r rr rS S L tC r v 1 r ti t t a t t Jr Jat t h rr AX t t sac t e i it C r r r i s1 1 t l vr 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