Miss Lulu Bett

pealing tulip plant, looking as anything would look whose sun was a ga

p to do so. He made this joke almost every night. He seldom spoke as a man

yeing it. "Festive" was his favourite adjective. "Beautiful," too. I

ard for the whole truth. Why she should say this so gently no one can tell. She says everything ge

, and attacked the principal dish benign

ant any,"

little triangle of nose rose adultly above her plate. Her remark

cried Mr. Deaco

, chin pertly pointed. She felt

. Deacon, on three note

aid Monona, in precis

little?" Mr. Deacon per

ight hair flapped in her eyes on either side. Mr. Deacon's eyes anxiously consulte

acon brightly, exploding on "bread."

difference to, this scene, in which her soul delighted. She twisted h

der sister, Lulu Bett, who was "making her home with us." And that was precisely the cas

little milk toast?"

offer, not diplomatically to lure Monona. But she hesitated habi

uted the c

o let her sit without eating, once, as a cure-all. The Deacons were devoted parents and the child Monona was delicate. She had a white, grave face, white hair, white eyebrows, white lashes. She was sullen, anaemic

Mr. Deacon inquired. "Isn'

aid Mrs. Dea

id he, and s

n when she absented herself from the table as a kind of self-indulgence, and

ked potato contains more nourishment than potatoes prepared in any

ays think," said h

rs they had agr

food. A delicate crunching of crust, an odour of ba

clamation which rivalled this lyric outburst. They were alone at table. Di, daughter of a wife early l

truck the

be fully quarter to." He consulted his watch. "It is quarter to!"

ed that!" c

nty-three to, when the half

tentative, regarded him with arch

loquy was interrupted by the child Monona,

What can anybody be thinking

. She deposited the toast, tiptoed to her chair. A withered baked potato and cold creamed salmon were on her plate. The child Monona ate with s

lt himself a man of affairs, could not even have a quiet supper with his family without the outside world demanding him. He waved his hand to indicate it was nothing which they would know anything about, resumed his seat, served himself to a second spoon of salmon and remarked, "More roast

e married than they-at least than Mr. Deacon. He made little conjugal jokes in the presence of Lulu who, now completely unnerved by the habit

ouse fell for the first time upon the

" he said. "

ed, fleetly, an u

ying flowers?" th

," said M

attention fu

lips left their places to form

er eyes and their v

she said. "There'l

bough

be five-that's

cal as if he had been t

position that you have no money to

ance, cleft air, thought

oose the dogs of her husband upon Lulu, interposed: "Well, but

ustained that Lulu, the family beast of burden

tice of the peace-"and the dental profession-" he was also a de

rbert-" It was

light bend of his head. "Lulu meant n

she were the burden of an Elizabethan lyric. She seemed to close the incident. But the burden

o afraid something had happe

father. "Where is lit

for at noon they had talked of nothing else; but this was his wa

could he be expected to keep hi

that this noo

egarded her. Lul

uired abruptly-this was one of his forms

dmirable promptness. Large size, small size,

con. "That is very near

anically. In talk he often fell silent and then asked some question, schemed to p

id to this. "I thou

case," she told him. He beamed upon

nd cleared her throat. She was not hoars

e observed. "Shall I wait for the

w himself as the light of his home, bringer of brightness, lightener of dull hours. It was a pretty r?le. He in

hout bringing them to my attenti

ith flat, bluish shadows under her wistful eyes. And if only she would lo

ney," shouted t

t any, Pet,

departed for some sauce and cake. It was apple sauce. Mr. Deacon remarked that the apples were almost as good as if he had stolen them. He was giving the impression that he

r. No, no. Father was occupied now. Mrs. Deacon coaxed her away. Monona encircled her mother's waist, li

I think," her brot

eyebrows, dropped his lids, stood for a moment co

wenty-three to-night when it struck the half hour and twenty-one last night, or twenty-one to-nig

eacon said at last. "I shoul

ll. She changed her mind. She took the plant to the w

and sat there. The child Monona hung miserably about, watching the clock. Right

roped about in the dark, found the stalk of the one tulip flower in its h

if our sun were as near to Arcturus as we are near to our

He was in pain all over. He was come on an errand

sion. At school she mocked him, aped him, whispered about him, tortured him. For two years he ha

fluffiest, Di conscious of her bracelet, Di smiling. Bobby gazed, his basic aversion to her hard-pre

se as connoting something of indirection and hence of delicacy-a nicety customary, yet unconscious. Bobby had arrived in his best clothes and with an air of such formality that

ther, the speech which Bob

uld give me a job,"

itable or facetious, inclined now to be facetious. "Filling teeth?" he woul

here his office was, wasn't there something ... It faded from him

d its energy, yet in the time after that which he called "dental hours" Mr. Deacon wished to work in his garden. His grass, growing in late April rains, would need attention early next month ... he owned two lots-"of course property is a burden."

cked off," said M

n the porch, and ran almost upon Di retu

! You came

y favours and a spear of flowers. Undeniably in her voice there was pleasure. Her g

at nothing but the t

he. "No. I came to

t his shoulders. His insufficient nose, abundant, loose-lipped mouth and br

would expect, laughed loudly, took the situa

o you s'pose? Di thou

I just hate Bobby Larkin an

ng-room, humming in his throat.

e was spinning on one toe with some Bacchanalian idea of making the most of

party and the dearest supper and the darl

. He was not sure what he meant, but the good f

tively, "they were.

sugar dove, and

e was often ridiculous, but always she was the happy wife and mother,

room now opened and

l" curving like an arm, the "mother" de

hrough the room without speaking and find food in the pantry.

aid. "I'm n

hopelessly, somehow foiled in her dignity. She brushed at her skirt, the veins of her long,

ever learned quite how to treat these periodic refusals of

rather enjoyed the situation, creating for he

, "let me make you

bloodless face toward her d

ink I'll run over to see Grandma Gates n

Dwight, "tell her

rt or wished to escape the house for some reason, they stalked over to Grandma Gates-in lieu of, say, slamming a

e door again, on som

itches in that dress to ke

inded her. A faint regurgitation of his

ied Dwight Herber

ck shelf l

l compunction. "It came

it up there." Lulu was eage

od that my mail ca

importance was now

," Lulu said, "but you har

worse, but it provided Dwigh

my office," he admitted it. "Still,

er, and they hung upon his motions as h

hat do you think I

nice," In

ising," Dwight s

is it nice?"

. So'll Lulu." He leered

t," said I

e said, toying w

" cried Ina. "

n's coming,

wight's brother Ninian. How long was it? Nineteen years. South America, Central

Some day next week. He don't know what a

he implication. But from the know

shriek. Herbert's eyes flew not only to the child b

and added: "Lulu, will you tak

he child hanging back and shaking her st

Deacon, strolling about and snapping hi

One m

s extended, his lips were part

er on the plant?" he

ence. On the dark stairway Lulu's arms closed about her in an embrace which left her breathless and squeaking. And yet