across the hall used to come out and watch
me descend the stairs, muttering so threat-
eningly that it would have been easy to fall
into a quarrel with him. Lena had told him
once that she liked to hear him practice, so
he always left his door open, and watched
who came and went.

There was a coolness between the Pole and
Lena's landlord on her account. Old Colonel
Raleigh had come to Lincoln from Kentucky
and invested an inherited fortune in real
estate, at the time of inflated prices. Now he
sat day after day in his office in the Raleigh
Block, trying to discover where his money
had gone and how he could get some of it
back. He was a widower, and found very
little congenial companionship in this casual
Western city. Lena's good looks and gentle
manners appealed to him. He said her voice
reminded him of Southern voices, and he
found as many opportunities of hearing it as
possible. He painted and papered her rooms
for her that spring, and put in a porcelain
bathtub in place of the tin one that had satis-
fied the former tenant. While these repairs
were being made, the old gentleman often
dropped in to consult Lena's preferences.

[[321]]

p320 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p321w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p322

v?