The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1902-03-11
CUPID
~ Versus ART
By HELEN ]. WOOD :.
Copyright, 1901, by
Helen J. Wood


ing for the allurements Of the French
shops, but Connie had been resolute
The exposition first and Paris after.
ward was her motto.
| But today she was wise enough to
overlook this sudden INSTRUMENTATION.
Besides, she was tired herself. So
there she sat, idly watching the stream
of passing people. What contrasts in
figure and costume met her eye-Eng-
lish, Turks, Hindoos, Japanese and,
more numerous than all, Americansl
Connie saw her compatriots with a
thrill of pride, the girls so much more
beautiful than their foreign sisters, the
men SO tall and broad shouldered. oh,
the American men! She would choose
them every time. tender smile part
ed her lips. Her mothers voice broke
her reyerie:
why, / can't believe my eyesl
Well, wellr' And she paused as If
overcome.
Connie leaned over and read the ex-
citing paragraph:
sMr. and Mrs. Van Ingen announce
the engagement of their daughter
Maud to James Workman Pennington
of this CITY,"
Connie started in spite of herself.
Jim! And he never told mer'
THAT'S just what I'd like to know.
How did he ever work it up in such a
hurry? Why, we have been gone only
two months, and before that he was
always hanging round after you"
She fairly sputtered in her excite
ment, but a glance at her daughters
face Gained her. 1t wore the look Of
one stunned by the shock of sudden
blow.
'Of course" she went on more quiet
ly, SIT may have been going on for a
long time. Maud is not pretty" with
an admiring gaze at her own daughter,
'but she is kind and pleasant He
might have done worse"
Connie had started to her feet.
Eyes, he might have done worse"
she echoed. But l shall write him a
note tonight and scold him for not hav-
ing told me before-me, whom he call
ed his best friend. Now, mother, If
you are determined not to see anything
more today you can easily find your
way home. will follow out the pro-
gramme alone" And. picking up her
guidebooks, she hurried off.
Mrs. Curwin gazed after her with a
growing anxiety. Did Connie really
care?
MaoDwhiIa +bo +,;,,, J;++lo q .-,,~- v,v.,,,.
hurrying down a long aisle. Her eyes
passed over a kaleidoscope succession
of objects that somehow failed to
make any impression on her brain.
The exposition roared and flashed
around her, and in her mind one train
of thoughts kept repeating with hor-
rible persistency.
Jim engaged-her Jim! Yes, he had
been her Jim, she said almost savage
ly; had been her best friend for ever so
long. She had been coquettish and
fiirted with the other boys, but he had
known all along, she felt sure. Had
he only been flirting with her? No,
mol But here he was, engaged to
another girl! And then the whole
miserable circuit began once more.
She came home to the pension so
white and weary that her mother was
alarmed, but she pleaded fatigue and
went off to bed like tired child.
Poor Mrs. Curwin was much per-
picked in the days that followed Con-
ME seemed the usual Connie, but what
had inspired the girl with this insane
notion of staying in Paris to study art?
She argued and scolded, but all in vain.
Connie was young person of deter
mined mind, and on this subject she
was more than usually determined.
Her mother finally resigned herself to
the prospect of being an exile from her
beloved native land, for of course
where Connie stayed she had to stay,
too, until Connie wearied of this latest
whim. Mrs. Curwin devoutly hoped
that it would be soon.
However, there was one alienation
for her misery. Connie seemed to have
lost her enthusiasm over doing the ex-
position. She spent her time inyes-
tigating art schools and studios, leav-
ing her mother to plunge into all the
delights of shopping. of which the good
woman did not soon tire. To be sure,
Connie might have shown little more
interest IN her purchases. 1t was all
very well to say that as an art student
she would need few clothes. Mrs. Cur
win knew better. Connie had always
Been fond of clothes. and some day she
xvo1,ld vx1ol-o m fra,,, nor or% drooxr,c
and find that her wardrobe was bare.
But her daughters Indifference ito
her real interests did not prevent Mrs.
Curwin from entering eagerly into all
her plans for the studio. If only they
had brought some of their home fur
niture with them! Connie tried to ex-
plain patiently how out of place the
heavy. elegantly upholstered pieces
would be in a studio and how much
more delightful it would be to pick up
the necessary things one at a time In
the various curio shops. This last idea
was balm to her mothers ruff1ed feel
ings. 1t offered such infinite possibil.
tiles for shopping.
With this laudable object in view
she soon became a familiar figure to
all the curio dealers. Connie was
usually the interpreter, but if, as often
happened, she did not care to go Mrs.
Curwin never lacked the courage to go
alone. Each day she came home with
some new treasure, and the girl had
not the heart to spoil her delight by re-
minding her that they already had
enough traps to fill two ordinary
studios.
These were weary days for Connie,
and yet she was too proud to confide
her sufferings to her mother. What
good would it do anyway to disturb
that serenity And she had had no
word from Jim in answer to her note.
Small wonder, for what could he say?
And yet-and yet--he might have
She had been sitting on a bench in
the Jardin DIES Tuileries, and now she
rose with a start and tried to enjoy the
fountains splashing and glittering I'M
der the July sun and the pretty French
children with their BONES in peasant
caps.
AS she glanced down the path she
saw a well dressed American looking
from side to side as if In search of
some one. Her heart gave leap He
looked like Nonsense! She was al
ways imagining that she saw him.
The gentleman came directly toward
her. There was no mistaking him now.
1t was Jim.
She gazed at him. Then the glad
light died from her face.
AYoul Herer' she said SLOWLY.