THE OUTGOING OF SIMEON

By ELIZABETH DUER

Simeon Ponsonby--the professor of botany at Harmouth--had married when
over forty the eldest daughter of a distinguished though impecunious
family in his own college town. His mother, on her deathbed, foresaw
that he would need a housekeeper and suggested the match.

"Simeon," she said, "it isn't for us to question the Lord's ways, but
I am mortally sorry to leave you, my son; it is hard for a man to
shift for himself. I was thinking now if you were to marry Deena
Shelton you might go right along in the old house. The Sheltons would
be glad to have her off their hands, and she is used to plain living.
She would know enough to keep her soup pot always simmering on the
back of the range and make her preserves with half the regular
quantity of sugar. I like her because she brushes her hair and parts
it in the middle, and she has worn the same best dress for three
years."

Soon after Mrs. Ponsonby died and Simeon married Deena.

She didn't particularly want to marry him, but then, on the other
hand, she was not violently set against it. She saw romance through
her mother's eyes, and Mrs. Shelton said Professor Ponsonby was a man
any girl might be proud to win. If his sympathies were as narrow as
his shoulders, his scientific reputation extended over the civilized
world, and Harmouth was proud of the fact. Deena's attention was not
called to his sympathies, and it was called to his reputation.

He proposed to Miss Shelton in a few well-chosen words, placed his
mother's old-fashioned diamond ring on her finger, and urged forward
the preparations for the wedding with an impatience that bespoke an
ardent disposition. Later Deena learned that his one servant had grown
reckless in joints after Mrs. Ponsonby's death, and the house bills
had shocked Simeon into seeking immediate aid.

At twenty Deena was able to accommodate herself to her new life with
something more than resignation; a wider experience would have made it
intolerable. She was flattered by his selection, proud to have a house
of her own, and not sorry to be freed from the burdens of her own
home. There were no little Ponsonbys, and there had been five younger
Sheltons, all clamoring for Deena's love and care, whereas Simeon made
no claims except that she should stay at home and care for the house
and not exceed her allowance. If she expected to see a great deal of
her own family she was mistaken, for, while n