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Show s6 11\lHl '!Rose ant> Sill'er Sobemla hungry, slept when they were sleepy, and, if they desired to sit up until four in the morning, reading, they did so. A woman who had a key to the back door came in every morning, at an uncertain hour, to wash the dishes, sweep, dust, and to make the beds if they chanced to be unoccupied. As Romeo had said, the chimney had blown down and several loose bricks lay upon the roof. They had a small vegetable garden, fenced in, and an itinerant gardener looked after it, in Summer, but they had no flowers, because they maintained a large herd of stray dogs, mostly mongrels, that would have had no home had it not been for the hospitable twins. Romeo bought the choicest cuts of beef for them and fed them himself. Occasionally they added another to their collection and, at the last census, had nineteen. Their house would have delighted Madame Bernard-it was so eminently harmonious and sui table. The ragged carpets showed the floor in many places, and there were no curtains at any of the windows. Romeo cherished a masculine distaste for curtains and Juliet did not trouble herself to oppose him. The furniture was old and most of it was broken. The large easy chair in the sitting room was almost disembowelled, and springs showed through the sofa, except in the middle, where there was a cavernous depression. Several really fine paintings Ube (trosbp Uwtns adorned the walls, and the dingy mantel was glorified by exquisite bits of Cloisonn~ and iridescent glass, for which Juliet had a pronounced fancy. "Set the table, will you, Romie?" called Juliet, tying a large blue gingham apron over her sweater. "I 'm almost starved." "So 'm I, but I've got to feed the dogs first." "Let 'em wait," pleaded Juliet. "Please do!" "Don't be so selfish! They're worse off than we are, for they haven't even had tea." While the pack fought, outside, for rib bones and raw steak, Juliet opened a can of salmon, fried some potatoes, put a clean spoon into a jar of jam, and cut a loaf of bread into thick slices. When Romeo came in, he set the table, made coffee, and opened a can of condensed milk. They disdained to wash dishes, but cleared off the table, after supper, lighted the lamp, and talked automobile until almost midnight. In less than an hour, Romeo had completed the plans for remodelling the barn. They had no horse, but as a few bits of harness remained from the last equine incumbent, they usually alluded to the barn as "the bridle chamber." "We 'II have to name the barn again," mused Juliet, "and we can name the automobile, too." 57 <&etttna "" |
