THE B&NNEii-6dttoER, OREGON CITY, OREGON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1922.
Page Six
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I.
The maple-bordered street was as
still as a country Sunday; so quiet
that there seemed an echo to my foot
steps. It was four o'clock In the morn
ing; clear October moonlight misted
through the thinning foliage to the
shadowy sidewalk and lay like a trans
parent silver fog upon the house of my
admiration, as I strode along, return
ing from my first night's work on the
Walnwrlght Morning Despatch.
I had already marked that house as
the finest (to my taste) In Wainwright,
though hitherto, on my excursions to
this metropolis, the state capital, I was
not without a certain native jealousy
' that Spencervllle, the couuty-seat
where I lived, had nothing so good.
Now, however, I approached its pur
lieus with a pleasure In it quite unal
loyed, for I was at last myself a resi
dent (albeit of only one day's stand
ing) of Walnwrlght, and the house
though I had not even an idea who
lived there part of my possessions as
' a citizen. Moreover, I might enjoy the
warmer pride of a next-door-neighbor,
for Mrs. Apperthwalte's, where I had
taken a room, was just beyond.
This was the quietest part of Waln
wrlght; business stopped short of It,
and the "fashionable residence sec
tion" had overleaped this "forgotten
backwater," leaving it undisturbed and
unchanging, with that look about it
which is the quality of few urban
quarters, and eventually of none, as a
town grows to be a city the look of
still being a neighborhood. This friend
liness of appearance was largely the
emanation of the homely and beauti
ful house which so greatly pleased my
fancy.
It might be difficult to say why I
thought It the "finest" house in Waln
wrlght, for a simpler structure would
be hard to imagine; It was merely a
big, old-fashioned brick house, painted
brown and very plain, set well away
from the street among some splendid
forest trees, with a fair spread of flat
lawn. But It gave back a great deal
for your glance, Just as some people
do. It was a large house, as I say, yet
It looked not like a mansion but like
a home; and made you wish that you
lived in It Or, driving by, of an eve
ning, you would have liked to stop
your car and go in; It spoke so sure
ly of hearty, old-fashioned people liv
ing there, who would welcome you
merrily.
It looked like a house where there
were a grandfather and a grand
mother; where holidays were warmly
kept; where there were boisterous
family reunions to which uncles and
aunts, who had been born there, would
return from no matter what distances ;
a house where big turkeys would be
on the table often; where one called
"the hired man," (and named either
Ahner or Ole) would crack walnuts
upon a flatiron clutched between his
knees on the back porch; it looked
like a house where they played cha
rades; where there would be 'long
streamers of evergreen and dozens of
wreaths of holly at Christmas time;
where there were tearful, happy wed
dings and great throwlngs of rice after
little brides, from the broad front
steps: in a word, it was the sort of a
house to make the hearts of spinsters
and bachelors very lonely and wist
ful and that is about as near as I can
come to my reason for thinking it the
finest house In Walnwrlght
The moon hung kindly above Its
level door in the silence of that Oc
tober morning, as I checked my gait
to loiter along the picket fence; but
suddenly the house showed a light of
Its own. The spurt of a match took
my eye to one of the upper windows,
then a steadier glow of orange told
me that a lamp was lighted. The win
dow was opened, and a man looked
out and whistled loudly.
I stopped, thinking he meant to at
tract my attention; that something
mlent no wroncr: tnnt nprhnrva snmp-
one was needed to go for a doctor. My
mistake was immediately evident, how
ever; I stood In the shadow of the
trees bordering the sidewalk, and the
man at the window had not seen me.
"Boy I Boy!" he called, softly.
"Where are you, Simpledoria?"
He leaned from the window, looking
downward. "Why, there you arel" he
exclaimed, and turned to address some
Invisible person within the room. "He's
right there underneath the window.
Til bring him up." He leaned
out again. "Walt there, Simpledoria I"
he called. 'TU be down In a Jiffy and
let you In."
Puzzled, I stared, at the vacant lawn
before me. The clear moonlight re
vealed It brightly, and it was empty of
any living presence; there were no
bushes nor shrubberies nor even
shadows that could have been mis
taken for a boy, If "Simpledoria" was
a boy. There was no dog in sight;
there was no cat; there was nothing
beneath the window except thick,
close-cropped grass.
A light shone in the hallway behind
the broad front door; one of these was
opened, and revealed In silhouette the
tall, thin figure of a man In a long,
old-fashioned dressing-gown.
"Simpledoria," he said, addressing
the night air with considerable sever
ity, "I don't know what to make of
you. . Tou might have caught your
death of cold, roving out at such an
hour. But there," he continued, more
Indulgently ; "wipe your .feet on the
mat "and come In. You're safe now !"
He closed the door, and I heard him
call to some one up-stalrs, as he ar
ranged the fastenings :
"Simpledoria Is all right only a
little chilled. I'll bring him up to
your fire."
I went on my way in a condition of
astonishment that engendered, almost,
a doubt of my eyes; for if my sight
was unimpaired and myself not sub
ject to optical or mental delusion, nei
ther boy nor dog nor bird nor cat, nor
any other object of this visible world,
had entered that opened door. Was
my "finest" house, then, a place of call
for wandering ghosts, who came home
to roost at four in the morning?
It was only a step to Mrs. Apper
thwalte's ; I let myself in with the key
that good lady had given me, stole up
to my room, went to my window, and
stared across the yard at the house
next door. The front window in the
second story, I decided, necessarily
belonged to that room in which the
lamp had been lighted; but all was
dark there 'now. I went to bed, and
dreamed that I was out at sea in a
fog, having embarked on a transpar
ent vessel whose preposterous name,
inscribed upon glass life-belts, depend
ing here and there from an Invisible
rail, was "Simpledoria."
II.
Mrs. Apperthwalte's was a commo
dious old house, the greater part of It
of about the same age, I judged, as Its
neighbor; but the late Mr. Apper
thwaite had caught the Mansard fever,
of the late 'Seventies, and the building
disease, once fastened upon him, had
never known a convalescence, but
rather, a series of relapses, the tokens
of which, In the nature of a cupola and
a couple of frame turrets, were terrl
fylngly apparent. These romantic mis
placements seemed to me not Inhar
monious with the library, a cheerful
and pleasantly shabby apartment
down-stairs, where 1 found (over a
substratum of history, encyclopedia,
and family Bible) some worn old vol
umes of "Godey's Lady's Book," an
early edition of Cooper's works ; Scott,
Bulwer, Macaulay, Byron, and Tenny
son, complete; some old volumes of
Victor Hugo, of the elder Dumas, of
Flaubert, of Gautier, and of Balzac;
"Clarissa," "Lalla Kookh," "The Al
hambra," "Beulah," "Uarda," "Lucile,"
"Uncle Tom's Cabin," "Ben-Hur,"
"Trilby," "She," "Little Lord Faunt
leroy;" and of a later decaae, there
were novels about those delicately tan
gled emotions experienced by the su
preme few ; and stories of adventurous
royalty; tales of "clean-limbed young
American manhood ;", and some thin,
volumes of rather precious verse.
'Twas amid these romantic scenes
that I awaited the sound of the lunch
bell (which for me was the announce
ment of breakfast), when I arose from
my first night's slumbers under Mrs. '
Apperthwalte's roof; and I wondeMd
if the books were a fair mirror of Miss
Apperthwalte's mind (I had been told
that Mrs. Apperthwalte had a daugh
ter). Mrs. Apperthwalte herself. In
her youth, might have sat to an illus
trator of Scott or Bulwer. Even now
you could see she had come as near
being romantically beautiful as was
consistently proper for such a timid,
gentle little gentlewoman as she was.
Reduced, by her husband's insolvency
(coincident with his demise) to "keep
ing boarders," she did it gracefully, as
If the urgency thereto were only a'
spirit of quiet hospitality. It should
be added In haste that she set an ex
cellent table.
Moreover, the guests who gathered
at her board were of a very attractive
description, as I decided the Instant
my eye fell upon the lady who sat op
posite me. at .lunch. I knew at once
that she" was Miss Apperthwalte, she
"went so," as they say, with her
mother; nothing could have been more
suitable. Mrs. Apperthwalte was the
kind of woman whom you would ex
pect to have a beautiful daughter.' and
Miss Apperthwalte more than fulfilled
her mother's promise.
I guessed her to be more than Juliet
Capulet's age, Indeed, yet still be
tween that and the perfect age of
woman. She was of a larger, fuller,
more striking type than Mrs! Apper
thwalte, a bolder type one might put
It though she might have been a
great deal bolder than Mrs. Apper
thwaite without being bold. Certainly
she was handsome enough to make it
difficult for a young fellow to keep
from staring at her. She had an
abundance of very soft, dark hair,
worn almost austerely, as if Its pro
fusion necessitated repression ; and I
am compelled to admit that her fine
eyes expressed a distant contempla
tion obviously of habit not of mood
so pronounced that one of her enemies
(if she had any) might have described
them as "dreamy." -
Only one other of my own' sex was
present at the lunch table, a Mr. Dow
den, an elderly lawyer and politician
of whom I had heard, and to whom
Mrs. Apperthwalte, coming in alter
the rest of us were seated, introduced
me. She made the presentation gen
eral; and I had the experience of re
ceiving a nod and a slow glance, in
which there was a sort of dusky, esti
mating brilliance, from the beautiful
lady opposite me.
It nileht' base .been better mannered
for me to address myself to "Mr. "Dow
den, or one of the very nice elderly
women, who were my fellow-guests,
than to open a conversation with Miss
Apperthwalte; but I did not stop to
think of that.
.."You have a splendid old house next
door to you here, Miss Apperthwaite,"
I said. "It's a privilege to find it in
view from my window." ,
There was a faint stir as of some
consternation In the little company.
The elderly ladies stopped talking ab
ruptly and exchanged glances, though
this was not of my observation nt the
moment, I think, but recurred to my
consciousness later, when I had per
ceived my blunder.
"May J ask -who lives there?" I pur
sued. .-
Miss Apperthwaite allowed her no
ticeable lashes to cover her eyes for
an instant, then looked up again.
"A Mr. Beasley," she said.
"Not the Honorable David Beasley !"
I exclaimed.
"Yes,"-she returned with a certain
gravity which I- afterward wished had
checked me. "Do you know him?"
"Not In person," I explained. "You
see, I've written a good deal about
him. I was with the Spencervllle
Journal until a few days ago, and
even In the country we know who's
who in politics over the state. Beas
ley's the man that went to Congress
and never made a speech never made
even a motion to adjourn but got ev
erything his district wanted. There's
talk of him for governor."
"Indeed?" ,
"And so It's the Honorable David
Beasley who lives in that splendid
place. How curious that Is !"
"Why?" asked Miss Apperthwalte.
"It seems too big for one man," I
answered ; "and I've always had the
Impression Mr. Beasley was a bach
elor." "Yes," she said, rather slowly, "he
Is."
"But of course he doesn't live there
all alone," I supposed, aloud, "prob
ably he has " ,
. "No.. There's no one else except a
couple of colored servants."
"What a crime!" I exclaimed. "If
there ever was a house meant for a
large family, that one Is. ' Can't you
almost hear It crying out for heaps
and heaps of romping children? I
should think"
I was interrupted by a loud cough
from Mr. Dowden, so abrupt and artW
ficial that his intention to check fhe
flow of my Innocent prattle was em
barrassingly obvious even to me!
"Can you -tell me," he said, leaning
forward and following up the inter
ruption as hastily as possible, "what
the farmers were getting for their
wheat when you left Spencerville?"
"One twenty-five," I answered, and
felt my ears growing red with mortifi
cation. Too late, I remembered that
the new-comer in a community should
guard his tongue among the natives
until he has unraveled the skein of
their relationships, alliances, feuds
and private wars a precept not un
like the classic injunction :
Bp
Mrs. Apperthwaite Was the Kind of
Woman Whom You Would Expect
to Have a Beautiful Daughter, and
Miss Apperthwaite More Than Ful
filled Her Mother's Promise.
Yes, my darling daughter; .
Hang your clothes on the hickory limb,
But don't go near the water.
However, in my confusion I warmly
regretted my failure to follow it and
resolved not to blunder again.
Mr. Dowden thanked me for the in
formation for which he had no real
desire, and, the elderly ladies again
taking up (with all too evident relief)
their various mild debates, he inquired
if I played bridge. "But I forget," he
added. "Of course you'll be at the
Despatch office In the evenings, and
can't be here." After which he im
mediately began to question me about
my work, making his determination to
give me no opportunity again to men
tion the Honorable David Beasley un
necessarily conspicuous, as I thought
I could only conclude .that some un
pleasantness had arisen between him
self and Beasley, probably of political
origin, since they were both in poli
tics, and of personal (and consequent
ly bitter) development; and that Mr.
Dowden found the mention of Beas
ley not only unpleasant to himself but
a possible embarrassment to the ladies
(who, I supposed, were aware of the
quarrel) on his account'
After lunch, not having to report at
the office Immediately, I took unto my
self the solace of a cigar, which kept
me company during a stroll about Mrs.
Apperthwaite's capacious yard. In the
rear I found an old-fashioned rose
garden the bushes long since bloom
less and now brown with autumn and
I paced Its graveled paths up and
down, at the same time favoring Mr.
Beasley's house with a covert study
that would have done credit to a
porch-climber, for the sting of my
blunder at the table was quiescent, or
at least neutralized, under the itch of
curiosity farfrom satisfied concerning
the iuterestingpremises next-loor.
The gentleman In the dressing-gown, I
was sure, could have been no other
than the Honorable David Beasley
himself. He came not in eyeshot now,
neither he nor any other; there was
no sign of life about the place. That
portion of his yard which lay behind
the house was not within my vision, it
Is true, his property being here sepa
rated from Mrs. Apperthwaite's by a
board fence higher than a tall man
could reach ; but there was no sound
from the other side of this partition,
save that caused by the quiet move
ment of rusty leaves in the breeze.
- My cigar was at half-length when
the green lattice door of Mrs. Apper
thwaite's back porch was opened and
Miss Apperthwalte, bearing a saucer
of milk, Issued therefrom, followed,
hastily, by a very white, fat cat, with
a pink ribbon round Its neck, a vibrant
nose, and fixed, voracious eyes up
lifted to the saucer. The lady and her
cat offered to view' a group as pretty
as a popular painting ; It was even Im
proved when, stooping. Miss Apper
thwaite set the saucer upon the
ground, and, continuing in that pos
ture, stroked the cat. "To bend so far
Is a test of a woman's grace, I have
observed.
She turned her face toward me and
smiled. "I'm almost at the age, you
see." - .
"What age?" I asked, ' stupidly
enough.
"When we take to cats," she said,
rising. " 'Spinsterhood' we like to call
It. 'Single-blessedness !'"
"That is your kind heart. You de
cline to make one of us happy to the
despair of all the rest"
She laughed at this, though with no
very genuine mirth, I marked, and let
my 1830 attempt at gallantry pass
without retort
"You seemed Interested In the old
place yonder." She indicated Mr.
Beasley's house with a nod.
"Oh, I understood my blunder," I
said, quickly. "I wish I had known
the subject was embarrassing or un
pleasant to Mr. Dowden."
"What made you think that?"
"Surely," I said, "you saw how
pointedly he cut me off."
"Yes," she returned thoughtfully.
"He rather did, it's true. At least, I
see how you got that Impression." She
seemed to muse upon this, letting her
eyes fall; then, raising them, allowed
her far-away gaze to rest upon the
house beyond the fence, and said, "It
Is an interesting old place."
"And Mr. Beasley himself" I be
gan. "Oh," she said, "he Isn't Interesting.
That's his trouble!"
"You mean his trouble" not to "
She Interrupted me, speaking with
sudden, surprising , energy, "I mean
he's a man of no Imagination."
''No Imagination 1" I exclaimed.
"None in the world ! Not one ounce
of imagination ! Not one grain !"
"Then who," I cried "or what is
Simpledoria?"
"Simple what?'' she said, plainly
mystified.
"Simpledoria." .
"Simpledoria?" she repeated, and
laughed. "What in the world Is that?"
"You never heard of it before?"
"Never in my life."
"You've lived next door to Mr. Beas
ley a long time, haven't yon?"
"All my life."
"And I suppose you must know him
Pfptty well."
"What next?"' she said, smiling.
"You said he lived there all alone."
I went on, tentatively.
"Except for an old colored couple,
his servants."
. "Can you tell me-" I hesitated.
"Has he ever been thought well,
'queer?'" , .
"Never!" she answered, emphat
ically. "Never anything so exciting !
Merely deadly and hopelessly common
place." She picked up the saucer, now
matter with me."
exceedingly empty and set It upon
a shelf by the lattice door. "What
was it about what was that name?
'Simpledoria?' "
"I will tell you," I said. And I re
lated in detail the singular perform
ance of which I had been a witness in
the late moonlight before that morn
ing's dawn. As I talked, we half un
consciously moved across the lawn to
gether, finally seating ourselves upon
a bench beyond the rosebeds and near
the high, fence. The interest my com
panion exhibited in, the narration
might have surprised me had my noc
turnal experience itself been less sur
prising. She interrupted me now and
then with little, half-checked ejacula
tions of acute wonder, but sat for the
most part with her elbow on her knee
and her chin In her hand, her face
turned eagerly to mine and her Hps
parted in half-breathless attention.
There was nothing "far away" . about
her eyes now; they were widely and
Intently alert.
When I finished, she shook her head
slowly, as if quite dumfounded, and
altered her position, leaning against
the back of the bench and gazing
straight before her without speaking.
It was plain that her neighbor's ex
traordinary behavior had revealed a
phase of his character novel enough
to be startling. '
(Continued on Page Twelve) .
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
Notice is herebv eiven that the un
dersigned has been duly appointed ad
ministratrix of the estate of Willem
Gottfried Lamper, deceased, and any
and all persons having claims aeainst
the said estate are hereby required' to
present said claims, duly verified as
by law reauired. at the office of mv
attorney C. D. Purcell, Sandy, Oregon
within six months from the date of this
notice.
Date of first publication, December
21st, 1922. " . - . '
Date of last publication, January
18th. 1923.
Anna Lamper,
Administratrix of the estate of
Willem Gottfri&d Lamper de
ceased. CD. PURCELL,
Sandy, Oregon.
Attorney for Administratrix.
" 12-21-5t
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Hundreds of practical and acceptable gifts on display. Gifts of
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Such as sugar spoons, butter
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ranging in prices from 50c-$1.25