The Innocents: A Story for Lovers

inactivity he had found himself falling into queer little illusions lately. He was conscious that the chauffeur, whom he had bribed to stop some day, was winking at him in a vulgar manner no

d murmured, "May we have some te

't you step right i

s regarding the day. Quite right, too; it

with tremendous politeness: "May we have this table by t

or you," said Father, with panting gallantry, fairly falling over himself as he

g nose a huge pair of horn-rimmed eye-glasses. She picked up the menu-card as though she were delicately removing a bug-sup

andwiches, chicken sandwiches, doughnuts, ci

urned on Father and demanded, "Wh

t a minute a

woodeny, old-fashioned kitchen, where Mother was wea

ulted. "Mrs. Ca

e grease from her hand, she paid no attention to it. She turned paper white. "Oh, Seth!" she groaned. Then, in agony,

m take those. Say, what ki

a thing left but just-we

before they were served. On the way he resolved to lie-not as the pinching

pekoe and oolo

some orange pekoe and-oh

ly known you were coming- But we have some very nice fresh lettuce sandwiches, and I

Father was not a Uriah Heep. At Pilkings & Son's he had often "talked back" to some of

some orange pekoe. I don't think we care for

he had left her, "Lettuce sandwiches and tea, and for Heaven's

he Carters, Father fairly slashed their last loaf of bread, and slapped in the lettuce, while Mother was drawing tea. In two minutes he was proudly entering with the service-tray. He set it down before the Carters

en door was open to the broad land, which flowed up to the sill in a pleasant sea of waving grass. But she was turned from it, staring apprehen

m," he whispered. "Come and take a look at them. Mrs. Vance Carter-gee! And her daughter's

wouldn'

ey were, they could distinctly he

Miss Severance's school-was snapping, "What in the wo

stand that mincing Miss Mitchin and her half-baked yearners and

awful place. Why, this might be one of thos

ow, they really might have done something with this place-rather a decent old house, with a good plain fireplace. But then, any one could make a charming room, and only a genius could have imagined this combination-an oak dining-room chair w

rd perfectly.... The picture of kittens and a baby they had bought just after Lul

itties-in a picture. I don't care about the interior decoration as long as Marky's little interior gets decorated decently. But this tea is simply terrible. Orange pekoe! Why, even Miss Severance's horrid Ceylon is better than this, and she does

u might remember this is Ma

the sandwiches-and this thick crumby bread-oh, it's unspeakable. I do wish you wouldn't poke around in these horrid place

roically poor. It's very good for you to come to a place like this. Now you know w

observe that she's been brave enough to eat part of her sandwich. Let'

er head on the crude kitchen table and sobbed. Mechanically, back and forth, back and forth, his hand passed over her dear, comfortabl

thing when there was nothing to say. "It's

decoration"-that didn't mean anything to them. All that they understood was that they were fools and

place they had desecrated, and take their damned money with them! But he had been trained by years of dealing with self-satisfied people in a shoe-store at l

ill, p

he said, "T

r bank that really she couldn't touch soiled money. She dropped them on the table-cloth, and went mod

ent, knelt down, and picked it out again. Mother would need all the money he could ge

to co