From the Housetops

traveled only by the perfectly healthy of mankind, confided to her doctor that the mystery of the daily bunch of roses was solved. They repre

ll making love to you?" sai

lose the gates in the wall that guarded his own opinions of the common foe, or would he let her inside long enough for a joint discussion of the condition that confronted both of them: the Tresslyn nakedness? "He has been inquiring about me twice a day by telephone,

at all," said Thorp

something, doesn't

n love with you, if that'

He's a dear, and I don't care who hears me say it. If he'd had any kind of a chance

e had but little pity for George Tresslyn. The little he had was due to the belief that if the boy had been older he would have fought a better fight for the girl. As she lay there now, propped up against the pillows, he could not help contrasting her with the splendid, high-bred daughter of Constance Tresslyn. That she was a high-minded, honest, God-fearing girl he could not for an instant doubt, but that she lacked the-there is but one word for it-class of the Tresslyn women he could not but feel as well as see. There was a distinct line between them,

ese flowers every day. I am getting a new light on him. Has he ever sugge

ten a line to me. That's fine of him too. He loves me, I'm sure of it, and he wants me, but it is fine of him not to bother me, now isn'

k to him if he as

Thorpe, that if we had been left alone, we could have managed somehow. He was young, but so was I. I am not quite impossible, am I? Don't these friends of yours like me, don't they find something worth while in me? If I were as common, as undesirable as Mrs. Tresslyn

be pleading with

many exceedingly nice women among your friends. So be of good cheer, if th

evil as fast as I could. I took it for an entirely different reason: to put myself where I could tell other people to go to him if I felt so inclined. I took it so that I could make of myself, if possible, the sort of woman that George Tre

ly," he agr

he got to work for now? Nothing, absolutely nothing. He's merely keeping up appearances, and he'll never get anywhe

wisdom, mind telling me just what you think George would be capabl

me am I to do with these things that God has given me?' Doesn't a blacksmith earn enough for ten sometimes, and how about the carpenter, the joiner and the man who brings the ice? Didn't I earn a living up to the time I burnt my fing

he, with conviction. "I believe you could hav

ing? Let's talk about you for awhile. Miss McKane won't be back for a few minutes, so let's chat s

up and abo

know that you are pale and tired-looking, Dr. Thorp

forcing a smile. "I sh

. I think you ought to talk to some one about it. Are you still i

t I have been dreadfully hurt, terribly shocked. A man doesn't get over such things easily or quickly. I will no

"Oh, I'm sorry if I've-if I'

lad you gave me the opportunity to say in so many words that I do not love her

and there's one somewhere who will make you glad that this thing has happened to you. Now, we'l

d Simmy Dodge refuses to break his neck for scientific purposes, so I've given up hope. I shall take no more ca

ng at your grandfather's house any

tel," he said

d, frowning very

d. "You may be interested to hear that while I am invited to attend the weddi

ell as could be expected, Miss McKane," she said glibly, "and if nothing unforeseen hap

ok in to-morrow-af

already heavily curtailed list of guests would have to be narrowed to even smaller proportions. The presence of so many as the score of selected guests might prove to be hazardous in view of the old gentleman's state of nerves, not to say health. Mr. Thorpe was able to be up and about with the aid of the imperturbable Wade, but he was exceedingly irascible and hard to manage. He was annoyed with Braden. When the strange illness came early in the night, he sent out for his grandson. He wanted him to be there if anythin

couple were well on their way to the Southland, where the ludicrous honeymoon was to be spent. And so it was that the old family doctor had to be cal

Mrs. Tresslyn. She went all to pieces, according to reports from the servants' hall. In an hour's time, however, she was herself once more, and then it was discovered that a postponement was the last thing in the world to be considered in a crisis of such magnitude. Hasty notes were despatched hither and thither; caterers and guests alike were shunted off with scant ceremony; chauffeurs were commandeered and motors confiscated; everybody was rushing about in syst

Tresslyn came upon Simmy Dod

kly. His high hat was set far back

Simmy, with discernment, "and for hea

for? I don't want to whisper, Simmy. I never whisper. I ha

him to a table in a corner remot

for a drive in the Pa

to be driven any more. I'm tired, that's what's the matte

Strictly on the wagon, you know. Better let it alone yourself. Take

ime I've been like this in a mighty long time, Simmy. But don't think I'm celebrating, because I ain't. I'm drowning something, that's al

n't if I were you. Come along with me. I'll walk h

again, not even in my grave. Say, do you kno

S

. See, he was sittin' just like you are-lean back a little and drop your chin-and I was standing right here, see-on this side of him. Just like this. And over here was Anne-oh, Lord! And here was Katherine Browne,-best maid, you know,-I mean maid of honour. Standin' just like this, d'you see? And then right in front here was the preacher. Say, where do all these preachers come

eaven's sake. You don't wan

at the preacher all the time. Watchin' to see that he kept his face straight, I suppose. Couple of old rummies standin' back there where that table is, all dressed up in Prince Alberts and shaved within an inch of their lives. Lawyers, I heard afterwards. Old Mrs. Browne and Doc. Bates stood just behind me. Now you

bsequent catastrophe. He was in no mood to be left to himself. There was the

go on like this. Come along, do. Come to my

t like that, right in our faces-right in mother's face, and the preacher's, and old Mrs. Browne's. You could have heard a pin drop. 'Good-bye,' that's what he said, and then, will you believe it, he turned to one of the pie-faced lawyers and said to him: 'Will you turn over that package to my wife, Mr. Hollenback?' and then he says to that man of his: 'Wade, be good enough to hand Mr. Tresslyn the little acknowledgment for his services?' Then and there, that lawyer gave Anne a thick envelope and Wade gave me a little box,-a little bit of a box that I wish I'd kept to bury the old skinflint in. It would be just about his size. I had it in my vest pocket for awhile. 'Wade, your arm,' says he, and then with what he probably intended to be a sweet smile for Anne, he got to his feet and went out of the room, holding his side and bending over just as if he was having a devil of time to keep from laughing out loud. I heard the doctor say so

altogether the result of maudlin reaction. He presented a combination of manliness and effectiveness that perplexed and irritated Simeon Dodge. He did not want to feel sorry for him and yet he could not help doing

gifts with a kindlier hand? To what heights of attainment in all the enterprises of man would not he have mounted if Nature had but given to him the shell that George Tresslyn occupied? And why should Nature have put an incompetent, useless dweller into such a splendid house when he would have got on just as well or better perhaps in an insignificant body like his own? Proportions were wrong, outrageously

"Call me whatever you please, Simmy; I'll not resent it. Hang it al

"See here, George, there's a great deal more to you than you suspect. You've got everything that

said George, va

o you know what I'd do if I ha

re that kind of a feller. You've got character, you have. You've got self-respect,

for yourself, George. Be

my, that sort of talk, but I'm not in the mood to listen to it now. I wasn't through telling you abo

ed to do under the circumstances. But he was astonished by the next act of the tall young man in evening clothes. George proceeded to jam the scarf-pin into the fellow's coat where the badge of service had rested the instant be

sslyn's coat and handed it back to the waiter. "Give him the scarf-pin if you like, old man, b

y abashed. "What an awful bound

He slipped the waiter a bank-note and moti

could, but the others beat me to it. I left mother and Anne there all alone, just wandering around the room as if they were half-stunned. Never, never will I forget Anne's white, scared face, and I've never seen mother so helpless, eith

ial, in any event." Simmy

ang to his feet. "By the way, before I forget i

ing eyes. Simmy, coming no higher than his shoulder, linked his arm through one of Ge

George. Don't bot

aid George hoarsely. Simmy felt the big ri

ike a fool,"

ne," said George. "He's go

hallway by this time.

a taxi,

It's his fault that she-Let go my ar

um with some difficulty after the jerk he had rece

med, foolish laugh. "Forgive me, Simmy. Of cour

heaven's name, you kid, what has he done to you

re and made her marry him. That's where he's to blame. He ought to have gone right up to the house and grabbed her by the throat and choked her till she gave in and went with him to a justice-of-the-peace or something. He owed it to h

bravery to choke a woman into s

at I'm talking about, too, because I'm one of the sneakingest cowards on earth. What do you t

Braden's case is different.

have been a man when he had the chance. He ought to have stuck his fist under Anne's nose and said 'Come on, or I'll smash you,' and she'd have gone with him like a little lamb, and she'd have loved him a hundred times more than she ever loved him before. He didn't d

toward the door of the taxi-cab.

"He took Lutie up there to that beastly hospital and slashed her open, curse him. A poor, helpless littl

Simmy u