Eve and the Apple

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 440, 1 September 1904, Page 8

Eve and the Apple

LSy Owen Oliver. j *mr> Tuti fifi faimi rin frr T

EYE and an apple overcame an an* cestor of mine. He would not have wanted the apple, he said, but ioa Sve. That was exactly my case, Eve lived at No. 52 and I at No. 04 I am not sure where the apple lived but it was at one of the two. It hung on a high branch over No. 52's garden, but it fattened on the toil of No. 64, for which I paid rent. It was Sve, of course, who called my attention to it. I heard her voice through the open window. She hat an attractive voice. "Oh, look, mother!" she cried "There is my apple." "Hush, dear! It isn't your apple al all. It belongs to the people nexl door." "He isn't people," objected Eve. 4 am a bachelor. «l .' "Anyhow, the apple is hie." \ •1m it?" She tossed her head. She has a graceful way of tossing hei head. "Then he shan't have it. Mr. Layton gave it to me every year." Mr. Layton wbb my predecessor. "You know he always lent me his ladder tc get it." I felt inclined to offer mj ladder there and then, but the time, like the apple, was not ripe. As the summer went en the apple grew in size and beauty. Eve watched the apple, and I watched Sve. She was so nice to watch that I did not effer her the forbidden fruit. I regarded it as & hostage for her ngu> lar appearance. "look at its rosy -cheeks, mother!" she used to say, teaeingly. "If it gets much bigger it must drop." She made motions expressing rapture. "Eve, dear," her mother paotsseti, know it isn't youra. ,, "It would be if I had * laMerV* Then she would oem & isismj lesAe laugh. She has a tVHfsajj, vmj ei laughing. The apple stffi httttf m, aowfHfe, m grew and grew. In the east xJL ?ening Eve tried to-reaeh it wttfc « lothee prop—at least it leokeja gfct ive. I knew ft was a clothe* peop, because she let it drop ov?r my w*M 4 and It smashed tf:ree pan v of a *acrmiber frame. Next morning sin r to he in the garden, so X retumad It 'with grave ceremony. J "I—l'm afraid ft broke ahe apologised. j "Not in the least," I assured her.

*Tfl tell Mary Jane »q* -to st and-.lt up against your wall agaa** she promised mendaciously. After that the apple shushed more furiously than ever. It was so ripe that it was marvelous fcswr it held on, I heard her say. She was probably unaware that I had climbed up one sight and secured it with sbm wire.

Kext she tried knocking 1 ♦©unit balls at it. Of course, she never went -within a" couple of yards. I picked np nine bail* next morning and restored them to her.

"I thought they wera wind&Hs from my apple tr»«," I said, and she fled indoors.

**l believe he waa laughing at ma," I heard her tall har mother. •'Now, I will have it."

"No, no, dear I I forbid yon io toueh it. It's no nae looking like that, Ive. I ahall ba really ems with you."

When I eame home that eTening the apple wai still there, in all its glory, but when it grew dusk I noticed maneuvers with the prop going on once more. Finally I heard a cry of triumph, and the rustle of her skirta as ahe ran Indoors. Then I went out. I climbed the tree, gathered about • gallon of apples, and sent them td with a note. *• "Dear Madam: I trust you win" ace opt a few apples from my tree overhanging your garden, as I notice that there is only One upon your side. -.*? have ' however, a special reason for desiring that one. May I enter your garden to gather it? Yours very truly. "FRAIfK NEWTON." In a few minutes Sarah Ann returned with Mrs. Parker*! trarwW % n f{ tfeftt **■* * ,w *«*<*». io, .ifter !rf***gg 15* • »re for i« u a t, 'tnfftSS* **&£* i ad a pr«v*-f '-'re & M* wssewW. Ixi» ihe Bunkers' ievt-ut*'' s-v ***epin<: rr*r-h J* '** v' ■**» •*»? i 5 t\ : v l*,t U6" v

I ladder over the wall, I went round to their front door and knocked. I was shown into a cozy sitting-room. Mrs Parker received me very pleasantly, but Miss Eve was rather quiet, as a young lady should be. 9 j --"You will be surprised at my bothering you about a single apple," I said. "The fact is I want it for some j one who has particularly admired it"

• "We have noticed," said her mother, with a side glance at Eve, "that it Is a singularly fine apple." "An exceptionally fine apple," a agreed. "It would be almost impoa- ■ sible to match it." i "I should like to see it when you . have picked it," Mrs. Parker eonfessed. Eve said nothing. She appeared to have become absorbed in a book.

"I'll bring it in at once," I promised. I went out through the French window and ascended the tree. No one was looking, so I gathered another fine apple from my own side. When? I returned Eve had disappeared "It doesn't look quite so large off the tree," I suggested, placing the apple upon the table. "No," said the mother, examining it critically, "I scarcely think it does; but it is a very fine one." "Perhaps your daughter would like to see it?" "Ye—es." She laughed. "I am afraid it will make her feel rather envious." She rang the bell, and the servant came. "Ask Miss Sve to come for a moment, please." After a few minutes' waiting, during which Mrs. Parker discovered that we had some mutual friends, and asked me to call in there sometimes, pretfly Eve reappeared, looking guiltily defiant. "Mr. Newton wants you to see bis apple, Eve, dear. Isn't, it a beauty t" Sve flushed and gave me t> swift glance. "Yes." she said, hesitatingly. She seemd to be studying the floor rather than the fruit. "It might be a feXow to the offe that tempted Sve!" I observed, with a smile. She traced a pattern with her foot.* "Adam was also tempted." "By Sve, I believe? I don't fancy he wanttd the apple much, did he?" She blushed again. "You eould not have a nicer apple than this, anyhow." She looked right at me at last. Her eyes said quite plainly: "You needn't tell mother." As if I had any such intention! "I am glad you like it," I said, "base use X want to give it to you, if I may. I eould not help noticing that you admired it." "There, Eve!" said her mother. "I told yon that everyone would see that you coveted it." "I—l am sorry," she said, In a subdued little voice. "Please don't say that, or you will spoil my pleasure in giving it." "Then—l am not sorry." She took it with a laugh. Soon afterward I went, assuring Mrs. Parker that I should soon avail myself of her kind invitation to call again. I hope they did not hear me laughing when I got indoors. The next day was Sunday. In the afternoon Eve sat under the shade of my apple tree reading a book. So I strolled out and looked over the wall: "Sve," I remarked, "was turned out ef Paradise for stealing an apple." She looked up and smiled. linen she looked down. The annual apple on this side has always belonged to Eve," she asserted, pretending to cut the pages of her book. They were cut already. "She might spare a tiny piece for Adam," I suggested. She glanced at me out of the corner of her eyes. "Adam was better without the apple, you know,", she assured me. "Adam," I declared, "needed ne pity at aIL" «a> She rested her chin on one hand and looked at me inquiringly with her big eyes. I would.put down how she looked, if it were possible. It isn't. Mare ordinary charm of feature or eol- , oring is common enough to have words. Seal prettiness is unique, unnameabie; I little willful curves of the fea- | turee, little waves of the hail I —and ; *V*ys." She is pretty like that. "Adam," she remarked, "lost Pare- | dise and the apples." | "But he had Eve." She studied her shoes, and I seated ! myself on top of the wall. "You have plenty of apples," she said; "and you are not shut out ef Paradise."

"Then," I replied, promptly, "I will come in." I did. "How do you know this U Paradise?" she asked, demur sly. "Eve is here."

She looked at me saucily oyer her book.

"Poor Ere was much to be pitied." She simulated a sigh. "Because she lost Paradise?" • "No; because she kept Adam." V.

"Did she mind, do you think?" "Well—you see, it was just a very little bit her fault that ha ate the apple." "She would have eaten every scrap l herself if she had been a modern T3ve."

She looked up at the desecrated bough and laughed. A stray sunbeam •lanced in her ejea, like the dazzle of diamonds. —-

"I think she could be persuaded to fchnre it with the modern Adam," she stated.

Thereupon she dived under the chair ushion and produced it. "Now you have P*» r adise—and the ipple." she told me. "They are nothing." I said, feelingly, 'compared with—Eve."

Put Eve—my dainty little Eve—is '•oming to Xo. TA in the spring. It will *ave any furtht-r depute, she sa/s, about the itpHp. -Madame.