Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-06-29

ones touched with yellow. He had wanted to use dahlias in their many rich shades. from pale yellow to ordnge and deep red. but Monty held out for orchids. It was the artist, too, who had found in a rare and happy moment the massive gold candelabra- ancient things of more luxurious age-and their opalescent shades. Against his advice the service. too was of gold-"rank vulgarlty," he called it, with its rich meaningless ornamenta- tion But here Monty was obdurate. He insisted that he liked the color and that porcelain had no character. Mrs. Dan only prevented quarrel by sug- gesting that several courses should be served upon Sevres.
 PettingilPs scheme for lighting the room was particularly happy. For the benefit of his walls and the four love ly Monets which Monty had purchased at his instigation he had designed a ceiling screen of heavy rich glass in tones of white that grew into yellow and dull green. It served to conceal the lights in the daytime. and at night the glare Of electricity was immensely softened and made harmonious by passing through it. It gave note of i quiet to the picture which caused even these men and women, who had ! been here and there and seen many | things. to draw in their breath sharply i nefo an impression. -- ] Such an environment had its infiu- ence upon the company. It went far 1 toward making the dinner a success 1 From far in the distance came the softened strains of Hungarian music. ! and never had the little band played the "valse Amoureuse" and the "Valse Bleue" with the spirit it put into them that night Yet the soft clamor in the dining room insistently ignored the emotion of the music Monty, bored as he was between the two most i'm portant dowa gers at the feast. wonder ed dimly what invisible part it played in making things go. He had vAgrant fancy that without it there would have been no zest for talk. no noisy competi tion to overcome. no hurdles to leap. As it was, the talk certainly went well, and Mrs. Dan inspected the result of her work from time to time with smil- ing satisfaction. From across the ta- bIe she heard Colonel Drew's voice: Brewster evidently objects to long siege He is planning to carry us by assault
 Mrs. Dan turned to Subway Smith, who was at her right-the latest ad- dition to her menagerie. What is this friend of yours?" she asked. T have never seen such complex sim plicity. This new plaything has no real charm for him. He is breaking it to find out what it is made of. and some thing will happen when he discovers the sawdust."
 "Oh. don't worry about him." said Subway easily. "Monty's at least good sportsman. He won't complain, whatevef happens. He'll accept the reckoning and pay the piper"
 It was only toward the end of the evening that Monty found his reward in a moment with Barbara Drew. He stood before her. squaring his shoul- ders beIligerently to keep away in truders, and she smiled up at him in that bewildering fashion of hers. But it was only for an instant, and then came terrifying din from the dining room. followed by the clamor of crash ing glass. The guests tried for mo- ment to be courteously oblivious, but the noise was so startling that such politeness became farcical. The host with a little laugh. went down the hall Ii was the beautiful screen near the ceiling that had fallen. A thou sand pieces of shattered glass covered the place. The table was a sickening heap of crushed orchids and sputter- ing candles. Frightened servants rush. ed into the room from one side just as Brewster entered from the other. Stu pefaction halted them. After the first pulseless moment of horror exclama- tions of dismay went up on all sides. For Monty Brewster the first sensa- ton of regret was followed by dia- bolical sense of joy. ...5- .. .e.
 Thank the Lord" he said softly in the hush.
 The look of surprise he encountered in the faces of his guests brought him up with jerk.
 That it didn't happen while we were dining" he added. with serene thank fulness. > And his nonchalance scored for Tim in the idle game he was playing.
 CHAPTER VII. NH R. BREWSTER'S butler was