The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-04-11

A1VVcS aDoub 1s you Coulu never Laucy oSh JILL
Ing near 1t. Such a lovely atmosphere of peace
and beauty was there, such lovely women were
sittihg in their wicker chairs on the tagged space
under the shadow of the lofty group of ~interlac-
ing elms, surrounded by the brilliant beds and
great vases of flowers flaming in the sun beyond!
For all the world such innocent ideal life 1t
seemed, this life of theirs, in such a place, as that
life pictured on the Vatican fans. But after all
was that Vatican life anything but wolish guilt
and conspiracy masquerading under lamblike
fleece with pastoral gambolsl
Yet, to say truth, there was never woman
made with less conspiracy and guilt about her
than Mrs. Louie, the responsible life and soul OF
the place. I doubt If she was ever acquainted
with an artifce before that cruel December day;
certainly she never was afterward. And surely
her paler shadow, Miss Margaret, had less OF
earth than heaven in her composition, and the
breath of reproach in any sort had never touched
the stately Laura, nor the pretty Rose, nor
Julia, nor Virginia, nor any Of the rest of the
sisters, and sisters-in-law. and cousins who made
tie place gay, and helped live this life of a per
petual pleasure party. So why did ! speak of
the Vatican life Of guilt at ALL
When Francis, and Russell, and Herbert
same home in the afternoon from the
hot and dusty city it seemed to them that they
rame to a life above the clouds, a course left
over after Eden, and they grumbled all the morn
hg at going away, and felt as though there were
wings on their feet, hurrying, impatient wings,
all the afternoon in thinkingof coming back. 1t
aas so cool there under the trees, so sweet, SO
far from turmoil! No thought of trouble there,
no loud voices, or bitter words. nothing more
noisy than the bees and breezes in the tops OF
the trees, nothing, at least, till Mrs. Flossy
Venning came, and then it was q ripple of
laughter, and exclamation, and question. and
answer all day long, breaking in on Julia's
song, or Roses guitar, or Laura's slow reading
Of some verse she loved. or Mrs. Louie's lula
bies; and when it was not laughter it was deep,
absorbed interest in the last thrilling recital OF
She strange doings among the people whom Mrs.
Flossy Venning knew or heard about, but who,
for the most part, seemed to he a sort that never
sntered into the innocent circle of Ferncroft
Hill except through Mrs. Fiossy Venning's Cos
sips. She did not come there every year, how
eyer, and when she did come she brought such
word of the outside world to these gentle people
who knew SO little Of it that che was like the open
pages of q fairy book to them. Their own life
was 10 quiet that personal news Of those whose
names they heard in dull rumor far remote, or
read of in the journals, gave a sort OF enlarging
acquaintance with them, and Mrs. Venning found
herself encouraged till word of the great players
domestic meanness, and Of the great novelists
private jealousies. and the great poets sly love
STAIRS, led on to gossip about any Of her acquaint-
nnces that had the least piquaney or flavor. 1t
Ihey had known it was gossip, how Mortified they
gould have beent As it was, they considered
d only Flossy JENNINGS little talk. To-day 1t
NAs the story of the way General Tollifer abused
BIZ wife, and the way that woman held mp her
h6sd and called him Dear, and smiled at the
people when everybody knew her arms were
black and blues and her spirits. oh, her spirits
were black and blue, too! "Ah, how thankful !
ought to be- thought Mrs. Louie, s'that Francis
ls the perfect character that he isp And to
morrow It was the story Of the way in which
Maria Burns smuggled her diamonds through
she postoffice,. would you believe It'll pin
after PIN, with a diamond in the head of
n, Just pinned into a letter, the officials thinking
pothing of much value would be sent SO care
)essly. "And when you see Arletta at q Cabinet
reception, If you ever do see her, Rose-fts Roses
burn to 60 somewhere now, isn't 1t. since Laura
vent to Florida last ~yeara-when you see her
with a perfect choker Of diamonds round her
throat, you'll know how she came by them"
'But, I don't see," asked Laura, looking up
from her book and her hammock; 'are things of
that sort so much cheaper abroad?"
Worlds cheaper! And you get lovely things
in the pawn-shops. Why we got q Turquoise
once, IN a pawn-shop in Munich, as big as the
end of your thumb. for forty pfennigs-just
think Of ii And then Arletta escaped the du-
ties, too. Oh, yes, there never was SO cheap a
peckIace in this country as Arletta's, except, to
be sure, the one that Kirke Outerbridge sold for
his sisters, and that, we'll that was such an out
rage on decencyl Only imagine ii, Louie, Hell
ena's diamonds, that bad been her great-grand-
mothers, given to the eldest daughter for four
generations, and that brother Of hers sold them
for a song and spent the money on his pleasures"
sHow shocking! Whom did you say he VAST
why, I told you-her brother Kirke. And
= IN never could believe it to see him. continued
MIo. N0HuluSs 6uPOiO-iOonibS lCliOWy 81 tdtf
and brightfaced-just like ones ideal OF a Greek
god"
.I never had any ideal of a Greek god, said
Mrs. Louie. feeling blindly that the cherishing OF
such an ideal was like the tacit countenancing
Of such a person as this man who defrauded his
sister, 1t may be.
swell, I should be sorry to have my ideal do
sueh a thing as that said Rose. taking a uew
needleful of her arrasene, and happy in the con.
seriousness that such people and such things
were far outside their sphere.
wasn't 1t dreadfula You know their father
left an immense property, enough to make them
al very rich-the Outerbridges. lie must have
left q million dollars worth of houses and real
estate, and Kirk was the executor, and manager
End all that. don't know whether sc much as
that, all at once, turned his head or not,
but he led such a life! Yon heard