Omaha daily bee., 1902-10-18

EaAIlCAa hlhNNEs uUnE ana atNEl-lllQNas
struck Rothveil fairly between wind and
water. That H 70 say. without metaphor.
between his vesriness Of q silly woman and
hh wsriness Of one over-bold. He half
hated the pair Of Mechanically they
made him remember what be had come to
a Forest hoping to ~forget-namely. that
he was the best part Of ten years.
Worldly wise matrons and virgins had made
him so painfully conscious Of the fact the
flag end Of the season had found him much
In the mind 10 60 back to his beloved globe
trotting. Just then the Taplows laid vio-
lent Inequalities upon him, whisking him
away in a private car TO meet the spring
amid the pines and yellow jessamine Of
their south country place.
The hippsnt new house. high-colored,
many gsbled. seemed an sffront to the
splendid old avenue and the riotous rich
ness Of grounds and garden run wild for SO
many years. Rothwell wondered why the
Taplovs. had not put UP something colonial
something at least d~ecently reminiscent
Of the burned house, one OF whose tall
ehimnsrs was still erect Ivy and wilding
vines htd overrun II so picturesquely. Mrs.
Taplov would not have 1t down IL was .
monAmen1 che said TO the old times. the
old ownerY-the only one either would ever
hHve. Unier all her gay loudness Molly
Taplow hid q heart Of gold. She kept on
dttng kIld things regardless o, the fact
that oftener than not the doing got her
Into social bot water.
Thus a Taplow house party was morally
certain 10 be q mixed Afiair. Missile Ware,
the silly woman. made part Of this one, be-
cause Molly knew in the Jenten begira the
girl had nowhere else to 60; Mrs. Loudon,
whom men called Unexpectedly the bold
Loudon, was at Wake Forest because she
chose instead of being chosen. A dashing
widow. and rich, she had all the world be-
fore her. That ought TO have hardened
Molly's heart against her. In q manner IL
did-still, when Mrs Loudon said calmly:
Molly, my Lenten sacrifice is-myself. /
am coming with you to save you and VIII
from being bored to extinction" Molly had
acquiesced, and when her husband pro-
tested, had even said: well. Clara's maid
10 q tressure-it will be a comfort to have
her In the house. there where one is 30 far
from everything
verna Ash. truly q golden giri-yellow-
haired. with a million in her own right. had
been asked. because Molly wanted to match
her with Tregsrs. Tregars was q cross
grained genius Of whom Molly and Taplow
both expected great things if he could be
persuaded to give himself the leisure and
liberty Of riches. The other men besides
Rothwell were Dick Morton. q fortunate
broker, once Tsplow's college chum; Van
Rensselaer, Lewis, Molly's brother. with
leanings TO reform and holy orders, and
Hugh Anstruther, a transplanted Scot, who
had risen in twenty years from the forge
and the furnace hearth to the control OF
unreckoned millions.
All had been at Wake Forest for a week
before Patricia came. Patricia was to the
- - - -
father. Colonel Rhett Of the Palmetto Rifles.
had saved the life Of Major Taplow. When
the majors widow, old Madame Taplow.
found she could not turn her son from what
she called Ills supreme folly Of buying q
Carolina estate, she charitably resolved to
plant thorns In his chosen path. To that
end she resurreoted the story Of rescue and
subsequent 1anEuid friendliness. No doubt
the people were by this time more than ever
inpossible-but since Molly and VIII had
a taste Tor the impossible they must search
out the Rhetts and DO them such good turns
a. they might.
The guest proved distressingly easy.
Colonel Rhett had been dead ten years-so
had his wife. His son had disappeared, but
there was a daughter living In lonely indie
pendence upon the plantation. It lay some
thirty miles OF the millionaire colony. Ali
through the first spring VIII and Molly
meant 90 go there, but somehow never found
time. Madame Taplow fumed when she
heard. You must invite her to visit you
next year. she said. You cannot do less
though i know she has nothing TO wear.
and dare say often not enough TO eat"
Molly wrote and was answered in ad-
vance Of her own coming. Mis- Rhett would
come to Wake Forest for n fortnight. bring
ing her own hunter. The hunter staggered
the Taplows a bit. Clara Loudon laughed
sneeringiy over II. mo doubt she will trot
out a rack OF bones that can hardly step
over a toad In the path" she said. Il know
those southerners-grAndiloquent fools. all
of them They feel. II only things sound
big. nothing else matters"
Everybody was out when Patricia came.
She rode o sIsek mule. as did Betsy Patter-
son when she Get out for the ball where
she wHs TO cAptivate her Bonsparte. By
way OF further parallel. a black boy upon
another mule fetched her froeks In two
portmantsaus. The footman and butler.
both much scandAlized. had taken the
riders for market folk. or else gypsies. and
ordered them around 10 the back. Some
thing In PatrieiA's voice showed them their
mistake, even before she said: Il am Miss
Rbett. whom Mrs. Taplow is expecting"
She had got down, smiling a little within
steal smile. and seen 10 IL that her saddle
was stripped from the mule and put prop
eriy away before going in. II was an
English saddle-one OF Whipple's best
and made TO order. Patricia knew she
could not ride as well in any other. Her
mare. Ruby. was to be sent on next day
Rain had made the roads tremendously
hsavy-Rnd since Patricia had a certain
ambition TO show Ruby at her best in the
hunting, she had thought II best not to let
the mare carry her weight through wet
sands over such a distance.
She had rested. browsing delieiously after
her ride. then toward shutdown had made
herself a picture in faded pale blue china
crepe and odorous pink hyaeinths. and set
herself NJ ease in a piazza nook. A lightly
1utting wall angle sheltered her from
casual eyes Thus three OF the riding
party had sat down a little way on, IN
conscious Of her presence.
She looked AT them as she might have
watched a play. II was. indeed. better than
. play. II was. indeed, better than q play
10 Be thus the strAnger-guest OF aliens. in
her own land. and peeping into q fairy
world. 10 which she herself was properly
born Rothwel interested her most-his
face vas 80 kind ans strong and clean-cut.
vithsl touched with impotence. Missile
W. wkn uAEaHaH HH#snnHEh r-aw me-