The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Rose Garden Husband, by Margaret Widdemer

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Title: The Rose Garden Husband

Author: Margaret Widdemer

Release Date: September 16, 2008 [EBook #26635]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE

ROSE-GARDEN HUSBAND

BY

MARGARET WIDDEMER

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY

WALTER BIGGS

NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS

COPYRIGHT 1914, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

COPYRIGHT 1915, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

PUBLISHED, JANUARY 27, 1915

SECOND PRINTING, FEBRUARY 6, 1915

THIRD PRINTING, MARCH 12, 1915

FOURTH PRINTING, APRIL 23, 1915

FIFTH PRINTING, JUNE 10, 1915

SIXTH PRINTING, AUGUST 6, 1915

SEVENTH PRINTING, OCTOBER 21, 1915

EIGHTH PRINTING, MAY 1, 1916

NINTH PRINTING, OCTOBER 30, 1916

* * * * *

[Illustration: "YOU KNOW, I MARRIED YOU PRINCIPALLY FOR A ROSE-GARDEN,
AND THAT'S _LOVELY_!"

_Page 172_]

* * * * *

IN LOVING MEMORY

OF

HOWARD TAYLOR WIDDEMER

* * * * *

THE ROSE-GARDEN HUSBAND

I

The Liberry Teacher lifted her eyes from a half-made catalogue-card,
eyed the relentlessly slow clock and checked a long wriggle of purest,
frankest weariness. Then she gave a furtive glance around to see if the
children had noticed she was off guard; for if they had she knew the
whole crowd might take more liberties than they ought to, and have to be
spoken to by the janitor. He could do a great deal with them, because he
understood their attitude to life, but that wasn't good for the Liberry
Teacher's record.

It was four o'clock of a stickily wet Saturday. As long as it is
anything from Monday to Friday the average library attendant goes around
thanking her stars she isn't a school-teacher; but the last day of the
week, when the rest of the world is having its relaxing Saturday off and
coming to gloat over you as it acquires its Sunday-reading best seller,
if you work