ODOUR OF CHRYSANTHEMUMS

" Oh, no -- I wouldn't like to put ---- ! "

" Yes, I will, if you'll just step inside an' see as
th' childer doesn't come downstairs and set their-
selves afire."*

Elizabeth Bates, murmuring a remonstrance,
stepped inside. The other woman apologized for
the state of the room.

The kitchen needed apology. There were little
frocks and trousers and childish undergarments on
the squab* and on the floor, and a litter of play-
things everywhere. On the black American cloth*
of the table were pieces of bread and cake, crusts,,
slops, and a teapot with cold tea.

" Eh, ours is just as bad," said Elizabeth Bates,
looking at the woman, not at the house. Mrs.
Rigley put a shawl over her head and hurried out,
saying :

" I shanna* be a minute."

The other sat, noting with faint disapproval the
general untidiness of the room. Then she fell to
counting the shoes of various sizes scattered over
the floor. There were twelve. She sighed and said
to herself, " No wonder ! " -- glancing at the litter.
There came the scratching of two pairs of feet on
the yard, and the Rigleys entered. Elizabeth Bates
rose. Rigley was a big man, with very large bones.
His head looked particularly bony. Across his
temple was a blue scar, caused by a wound got in
the pit, a wound in which the coal-dust remained
blue like tattooing.

" 'Asna 'e come whoam yit ? "* asked the man,
without any form of greeting, but with deference
and sympathy. " I couldna say wheer he is -- 'e's