Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-08
hen at the Casino, she tells me, and not sell

oom IN the company OF the King himself
He has the entree into the most difficult
Saltravlan houses. Indeed, why not,
since that Clarimond designs to be mis-
friend? You viii change your mind about
the Jerninghans, my dear, will YOU not?"
mo, replied Kathleen, with much firm
ness. Then she looked at her mother very
fIedlv, and pursued: Now, mamma, let
one thing be clearly understood between
you and me. We came here for the waters
at least did, if you did not. 1t is late in
the dav for me to try and impress upon you
that my social lite is ended. You must
have seen that in Dresden. And as for a
certain idea of yours, 1 can only say that 1t
would be painful to me beyond words
painful and mcrtifving in the extreme
were it not so strongly favored with an
element of wild absurdity."
Mrs Kennaird attempted no further per-
suasions 'Let me achieve her presenta-
tion TO the King" she unused, "and this
nonsensical desire for secluding herself will
vanish like one of the Saltravian morning
mists" And while she robed her stately
figure, that afternoon, in the most becom-
ing gown that her limited wardrobe pos
sessed, the new yearning cheered her
spirit as an e1lixir-like cordial warns the
blood. Because an aim was dazzling, even
dizzving, should it for that reason be de-
tory it would mean? How that horrible
Marchioness of Dendudlow would writhe
when she heard of it? To be the mother of a
queen! There was something splendidly
distinctive in the very boldness of the pro-
iect The fact that an effort like this teemed
with novelty and daring was no sign that
1t would prove failure. After all, so much
depended on kathleen's powers Of fascina-
tion, and these were immense. Then, too,
was she not Just Amarican enough TO be
called an American girl, and was not this
the next remarkable and stirring act for the
American girl to commit? Margaretta
Kennaird surveyed herself in the dressing
mirror as she donned her bonnet, and
thought how the matronly symmetries of
her figure would grace a court. And then to
have her portrait painted by some famous
European artist and hung in the palace as
that of the Queens mother 90 Perhaps
several centuries after her death it would
hang there. And for several centuries, no
doubt, they would recollect her great ac-
complishment overseas in New York,
who could claim the faintest relationship
with her would do so. "Queen Kathleen
would rate for them as an ancestress worth
having; that humiliating Dendudlow affair
would be mercifully hidden (why not?) by
the capacious mantle of history itself.
Queen kathleen % What a delightful
sound it had ''CIarimond and Kathleen :"
There was not as much real honeyed roman
ticism in even Romeo and Juliet %
1t must be confessed that meditations of
this kind produced an intoxicating effect
upon this most curious of American 'taristo-
Gratis" Her state of mind was almost an
agitated one by the time that short stroll
had brought her to the gates of the Jerning-
ham villa. She felt herself on the verge of
society here in Saltravia; felt that to-day
might prove but the quiet threshold of many
beautiful morrows There were not more
than 20 guests present, and these were near
" all her own country folk In the course
OF a little time she was presented to at least
half of them, finding that she already knew
& few. that she had heard of number more,
and that certain others were not by any
means of desirable type. Then it entered
her Shrewd mind that this set, into which
she had drifted, was altogether the wrong
set, and that if she kept Kathleen quite out
Of il she would be doing a most prudent
act.
The Jerninghams brother and sister, had
evidently a great grudge against the King
and his court, and it was pleasant for them
to feel that their friends were of the same
rather rancorous mind They never spoke
against Clarimond but they limited that he
was tippant and frivolous and had all the
proverbial bad faith of the Princess.
Brother and sister were oddly alike, both
being tall and slim, both having a sunEen
look about the cheeks and slaty-hued eyes
with pink-edged lids. They both talked
with q slight lisp, and in talking used their
hands with the same jerky little gestures.
Neither of them often said al" it was
nearly always ''we" with them, so that
after a while YOU got the impression that
nothing happened singlv to this devoted
brother and sister, but that human expert
ence treated them to its good and its i'll in
perpetual duo, as the rain and sun treat two
apples on a single stem.
Harriet birmingham made herself notably
civil to Mrs. kennaird, and after awhile
they had a private chat together amid the
general bs5bIe OF the little modish drawing
room.
1--WE hear your daughter is so wonderfully
beautiful. Mrs Kennaird," said the sister
Of the deposed Art Superintendent. "Par-
don me, but We do! And it grieves US
greatly 10 hear that she is indisposed to-
day. The waters sometimes affect people
for few days just like that.
We can't live away from them now, though
at first we thought them really quite horrid.
That is why my dear brother hasn't depart
ed from Saltravia. l mean since Mr.. Eric
cruelty. But perhaps you haven't heard
about that No? Oh, then, 1 won't bore
you with our private grievances. And vet,
after all, they've become horribly public,
ever since nv dear brother was ousted from
his position and that Alonzo Lispenard was
made to replace him.
"Alonzo Lispenard,'' broke from Mrs.
Kennaird. Isis he in Saltravia?"
Il believe be is in Munich now, though
there's 4 report that he will be back next
week Tor the great royal ball at the palace.
Yes Yes, I've met him. He's "a
New Yorker, you know. )"
True. l suppose you've met him in
society over therein the -Four Hundred
as they cali it
Yes" said Mrs. Kennaird, feeling a
little dizzy and hardly knowing just what
answer left her lips. ''Quite right. It-er
was in the -Four Hundred, as you say"
Such q queer name, isn't it?' babbled
Miss birmingham. "We can't get used to
it, you know. There was nothing of that
sort when we were there.
''Oh, yes, there was" her listener might
mentally have said. "only you know moth
ing about it, But Mrs Kennaird was in
no mood for any such comments, whether
mute or vocal "And so this Alonzo Lis
penard," she presently faltered, holds
position here under the King"
''Oh, yes, Art Superintendent, you know.
Eric Thaxter, the adored friend of Ciari-
mond, took it away from us-that is, l
mean from nv brother-and gave it (with
the Kings full sanction) to this Mr. Lis
penard."
''I see-I see."
''Pray, is it true" continued Miss Jer-
ningham, ''that he was engaged to beauti
ful girl in New York who Tilted him the