Contrary Mary

Which One Who Might Have Been Presented as the Hero of This Tale is F

n the hill, it was on a rainy day. He carried his own

She led the way through the wide hall and up the front stair

ce, and the stairs that the silken ladies had once ascended showed, at closer range, certain signs of shabbiness.

yacinths, and their fragrance made the air sweet. The inner room was no longer a rosy bower, but a man's retreat, with its substantial furniture, its simplicity, its absence of non-essentials. In this roo

of all of it. The big chair was his to rest in, the fire

but over the mantel there was a Corot print with forest vistas, and another above his little bedside table. On the table

orld with its harsh judgments. Outside was the rain and the beating wind. Within were these signs of a heart-warming

coffee to him. He's to get his dinners in town, and Susan will serve his breakfast

-room. The table had been set fo

d and now the coffee. Thus did Mary and Susan Jenks make income and expenses meet. Susan's g

s business

t I think he's studying something. He

ather's

ld Bible. Somehow I felt that if any one was tired or

er was oft

iness. I used to slip up to his bedroom sometimes in the last days, and there he'd be

ur mother an

of the future for Constance and me. He

coffee-pot flanked by a dish of cheese and toasted biscuit, asked as

Bigelow is taking us to the theate

o-night it was half-past se

e Mary and Aunt Isabelle still waited. "I had tea down-town with General Dick and Lei

es it seemed to be a smile of relief. "Oh, then

did you th

re," f

ish you'd give me credit for being able to ke

eve--" Mary crossed the dinin

he old crowd. I might as well go with

always th

are, too

y-ple

the stairs. "You can't understand

a boy I'd make the world move. Oh, you | men, you have

ting up and up reached the ears of Roger Poo

's startled silenc

ole. You don't know

, met and shook hands. Then Barry muttered something about ha

wedding. They had arranged everything by telephone, and on the second shor

ess of white with its narrow edge of dark fur made her taller and older. Her fair waved hair was parted at the side and dressed

a. She can't hear very well, so

ad formed of her lodger. The other night he had been divorced from the dapper yout

had hung in an untidy lock was brushed back as smoothly and as sleekly as Gordon Richardson's. H

"to thank you for the coffee, for the hyacinths; f

busy up there all the morning, Au

for the big bath towels; they seem

epeated his remar

grateful for bath to

ion to Aunt Isabell

as in the window-seat, and when I sat down to look at the

xplained to Roger. "We've had her for years. And she was always there with father, and then wit

s very pleasant to have somet

interpret it as a plea for companionship. And he had no right--

l of wraps. "Mr. Porter's coming," sh

hat her lodger had taken Aunt Isabelle's wrap, and

y-green velvet which matched her eye

said, as he held it for her.

it to me last year from Paris. Whenever you see me wear anything that is particularly nice, you'll know that it came from

came in-a perfectly put together young man, gro

ry Mary?" he said, the

ctory things. Personally he thought the man looked down and out. But no one could tell what Mary might think. Mary's standards were those of the dreamer and the star gazer. What she was s

ey, his family's social eminence were as nothing in her eyes. If underneath the weight of these things Mary could find enough of a man in him to love that could be his onl

the musical comedy, which, for a time, had claimed their attention. Aunt Isabelle, in front of the box, was smiling gently, happy

me," Porter repeated, "and now, if

o-night she turned upon him her troubled eyes. "Porter, y

why

lost because Constance is so far away. But that isn't any reason for marrying you. Yo

ight," savagely, "a man with

ad anything t

fe wouldn't have been worth living. But mother's family and Dad's money fixed that for me. And I had an allowance big enough to supply the neighborhood with sweets. You were a little thing, bu

want me that

you-an

ess descended. But presently out of the dark

eila and the General joining them

detained Leila for a moment in a palm-s

k, Leila-Miss Jeliffe?

lil

is

arry. She calls herself Lilah and pronounces it a

d. "Where did

ming to us to-morrow. Dad has asked me to invite

she's d

on't see how you c

alous. I danced four dances with her, an

re lovely, Barry," she said, repen

pleasant, please. I've had

sco

ar

Mary was like a pale lily, among all the tulip women, and poppy w

u, you deserved it,

u don't stick to me, I

ah-dancer of the afternoon, forgot everything exce

y, like a child, "I'll s

would, Leila," he said, with a boyish catch in his vo

h the General presided. Red-faced and rapturous, he seasoned and stirred, and as the result of his wizardry t

ust be a poet-to me there is more in that dish than merely something to eat. There's color-the red of tomatoes

and Susan Jenks' is the difference between an epic-and a nurse

d the General-"when her poetry expresse

orter Bigelow who was on the other side of

nely content in her ne

n a crowd." she said, "and t

name of a famous Russian countess at the table next to them. Beyond was the Speaker of the House; the

As for the freckles and "carrot-head," they had been succeeded by a fine if somewhat florid comp

t hers, and he surprised her by

d, so that the rest could not h

rself blushi

he balance? Red head again

turned back to Aunt Isabelle,

Leila and the General should go home in h

in a taxi," he said in t

, "if I accept, will you look upon me in th

said Porter, promptly

rty off, he took his seat beside the slim figure in the gr

-Por

are going to ride around th

t's ra

will be we two and t

isn't anyth

there is

abelle will

clock on the post-office tower were not pointing to midnight. "Aunt Isabelle has been told," he inf

he avenue, and were on the driveway back o

s is a wild

uch a mood that if the times were different and the age more romantic, I would

masterfulness. "But, alas, my steed is a taxi-the age

d, showing a row of waving willow trees, spectr

en and I was fifteen. I would shake in my shoes when you looked a

utside of the rug. He

it has said, 'make her care, make her care.' And I'm going to do it. I'm not going to trouble you o

ren't an

le independent manner of yours, which scares men off. But some day a man will come

t to think of marrying-n

uld meet some man who could make you think he was the O

hat kind wil

t ki

me willing to

ing against the w

ease. We mu

let me prove it-to let me sh

ver had. I wish you wouldn't i

do in

n going home. Be

they whirled at last up the avenue of the Presidents and along the edge

light in the

a over her, and was shielding her as best he could from

y n

? And I who've known you all my life must be content with scrappy minutes with

she drew away from him a bit, sur

ke yourself to

e? What am I going to do when I leave you, Mary, and face the fact that you

madness of his earlier mood upon him, h

coward, and you weren't so-wonderful