Madame Frabelle |
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Edith heard an appalling crash, piercing shrieks, a loud, unequal quarrel on a staircase, the sharp bang of a door.... Edith started up from her restful corner on the blue sofa by the fire, where she had been thinking about her guest, and rushed to the door. "Archie--Archie! Come here, Son! What's all that noise I hear?" A boy of ten came calmly into the room. "It wasn't me that made the noise," he said. "It was that new woman, Madame Frabelle." His mother looked at him. He was a handsome, fair-skinned boy with clear grey eyes that looked you straight in the face without telling you anything at all, long red eyelashes that softened, but gave a sly humor to his glance, a round face, a very large forehead, and smooth straw-colored hair. Already at this early age he had the expressionless reserve of the public school where he was to be sent, with something of the suave superiority of the university for which he was intended. Edith thought he inherited both of these traits from her. "It was her fault,” he added. “Madame Frabelle grabbed it out of my hand before I was through with it and she said she would teach me to take away her mandolin and use it for a cricket bat. I told her I already knew how to do that, and she bopped me over the head with it." |
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"Oh, Archie, you know perfectly well you've no right to go into her room when she isn't there.” "Well, she won't let me go in while she's there. Besides, I don't want to." "You ought not to go into her room without her permission." "It isn't her room; it's your room. At least, it's one of the rooms you have to spare." "Have you done any harm to her mandolin?" He paused a little, as he often did before answering a tough question, and then said, as though starting up from a reverie: ""Er--no, I reckon not. No real kind of harm." "Well, what have you done to it?" He gulped a bit as he considered the matter. "I can fix it," he answered earnestly. "Madame Frabelle has been very kind to you, Archie. I'm sorry you're not behaving nicely to a guest in your mother"s house. It isn't the act of a gentleman." "Oh? Well, there are a great many things in her room, Mother; some of them are rather jolly." Edith grew firm. "Go and say you're sorry, Archie. And you mustn't do it again." "Will it be the act of a gentleman to say I'm sorry? I think it'll be the act of a story-teller, you know." "What! Aren't you sorry to have bothered her?" Oh, I'm sorry enough that she found it out," he admitted as he turned to the door. "These perpetual scenes and quarrels between my son and my guest are most painful to me," Edith said, with assumed solemnity. Archie looked grave. "Well, she needn't have started a quarrel with me." "But isn't she very kind to you, most of the time?" "Well, Yes, she isn't bad, sometimes. I like it when she tells me lies about what her husband used to do--I mean stories. she's not a bad sort.... Is she a homeless refugette, Mother?" "Not exactly that. she's a widow, and she's staying with us, and we must be nice to her. Now, you won't forget again to be nice, will you?" "Right. But I can fix it up good, Mama." "I think I'd better go up and see her," said Edith as her glance wandered hesitantly upstairs. Archie politely opened the door for his mother. "I shouldn't go up there just yet if I were you," he said. Edith slowly turned and went back to the fire. "Well, I"ll leave her a little while, perhaps. Now do go and do something useful." "What, useful? Gracious! I haven't got much more of my holidays left, Mother." "That's no reason why you should spend your time in worrying everybody, and smashing the musical instruments of guests that are under your roof." He looked up at the ceiling and smiled, as if pleased at this way of putting it. "I suppose she's very glad to have a roof to her mouth--I mean to her head," he hurriedly corrected. "But, Mother, she isn't poor. She has an amber necklace. Besides, she gave Dilly sixpence the other day for not being frightened of a cow. If she can afford to give a little girl sixpence for every animal she says she isn't afraid of!"... "That only proves she's kind. And I didn't say she was poor; that's not the point. We must be nice and considerate to anyone staying with us--don't you see?" He became absent-minded again for a minute. "Well, I shouldn't be surprised if she"ll be able to use it again," he said consolingly--"the mandolin, I mean. Besides, what's the good of it anyway? I say, Mother, are all foreigners bad-tempered?" "Madame Frabelle is not a foreigner." "I never said she was. But her husband was. He used to get into frightful rages with her sometimes. She says he was a noble fellow. She liked him awfully, but she says he never understood her. Do you suppose she talked English to him?" "That's enough, Archie. Go and find something to do." As he went out he turned round again and said: "Does father like her?" "Why, yes, of course he does. "How funny!" said Archie. "Well, I"ll say I'm sorry then ... when I see her again." Edith kissed him, a proceeding that he bore heroically. He was kissable, but he was glad she seldom gave way to the temptation. Then she went back to the sofa. She wanted to go on thinking about that mystery, her guest. |
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Humor Titles
The ORuddy Fortune squarely straddles three kinds of novel distinctions at once and conquers them all. It is an adventure that is rollicking and wholesome. It is a romance both special and winsome. It is humor that is splendid and welcome. I have put it inside the humor section because I need heavier guns like this one to show off my splendid selections. **
One of the best books **
The Ghost of Canter ** Madame Frabelle knows everything, she is gifted with the second sight; What she doesn't know is a mere piffle to her encyclopedic expanditures. Try the first chapter on for size. |
The Future
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Electric cars had a lot going for them.
As this comparison will show.
Electric |
Gasoline |
| 2 levers were all that were
needed to drive an electric No cranking required. No clutch required Can be driven by any member of the family. Climbs steep hills without a whisper of sound No gears required. 5 speeds easily set; 6, 9, 13,
17 and 21 MPH Tires never go flat. No spares required.
No grease needed. No engine explosions. No odors from gasoline fumes, or burning grease. Only two moving parts to the car -- the revolving motor
shaft and the revolving rear axle. The most comfortable ride you will ever know. Passengers sit between two axles and take only half the bump at a time. The motor in this electric car may last you a lifetime. |
6 - 12 levers required to drive a gasoline
powered car. Cranking could be avoided by parking on a hill. Chauffeur can quickly learn how to clutch. Chauffeurs are a dime a dozen nowadays Backfires from going up steep hills can entertain the children and can help them learn how to count if used properly. Chauffeur can quickly learn how to race through the gears and attain the safest speed on any road now built. Spare tire added for free, plus two inner tubes, a repair kit, a tire pump and a jack. Even if you have a blow out you should be able to make it to the next garage safely. Small gasoline can is also provided, free of charge. Packing grease is easily applied at specified intervals. Slight vibrations from engine piston slap is to be expected. Firewall keeps out most bad odors associated with a hot engine. The finest sleeves, bearings, valves, clutch, pistons, drive shaft and brakes known to man make this new model your dream car.
The motor in this gasoline powered car should last up to 18 months if the oil is changed and other minor services rendered on a weekly basis. |
Now the question is:
