THE GLASS DOOR

BY MARY TRACY EARLE


Charlotte and Emory Blake lived at the old Blake place, on the little
plateau at the foot of the Colton hill, in a vine-covered stone
cottage. The place had belonged to old George Blake. When it came into
Emory's hands he sold it to Uncle Billy Kerr, and used the money for a
course in a school of pharmacy. Later, Charlotte, who was then
Charlotte Hastings, bought it, and, after her marriage, finished
paying for it out of its own products, while her husband talked
politics or played chess in his drug-store. It was said that when
Blake was doing either of these things he was as likely as not to keep
a customer standing a half-hour before waiting on him,--and this not
so much out of interest in his discussion or his game as from complete
lack of interest in the business of selling drugs.

North Pass correctly interpreted this general nonchalance of Blake's
as a sign that he was an unwilling partner in the matrimonial venture
he had undertaken. Indeed, it was known that the engagement had hung
fire for years through no fault of Charlotte's, and everybody had
noticed that such mildly loverlike enthusiasm for her society as Blake
had shown before he went to the school of pharmacy had disappeared
from his manner when he returned. Charlotte had told people that they
should marry as soon as he came home, yet the wedding did not come off
for two years. During this time it was noticed that although she held
her head high and was fertile in good reasons for the delay, her