, 1905-11-29

"You forget that this is the last place
they would care to invade" And in
Brewster's face Peggy seemed to read
that for her martyrdom was the only
wear. Bravely she put it on.
"Monty, | forget nothing that l real
ly know. But this is a case in which
you are quite wrong. Where is your
sporting blood? You have never fought
Il losing fight before, and you can't do
it now. You have lost your nerve,
Monty. Don't you see that this is the
time for an aggressive campaignT
Somehow she was not saying things at
all as size had planned to say them,
and his gloom weighed heavily upon
her. "You don't mind, do you, Monty"
she added more softly, 'this sort of
thing from ire? I know | ought not to
interfere, but I've known you so long,
and | hate to see things twisted by a
very little mistake
But Monty did mind enormously. He
had no desire to talk about the thing
anyway and Peggy's anxiety to marry
him off seemed Il bit unnecessary. Man
ifestly her own interest in him was Of
the coolest. From out of the gloom he
looked at her somewhat sullenly. For
the moment she was thinking only Of
his pain. and her face said nothing.
Peggy" he exclaimed finally, re-
senting the necessity of answering her,
you don't in the least know what you
are talking about. 1t is not Il fit of an
ger on Barbara Drew's part. 1t is u Sc
rious conviction"
"A conviction which can be changed"
the girl broke in.
mot at ALL" Brewster took it up.
''She has no faith in me-. She thinks
Pm al ass"
perhaps she's right" she exclaimed,
a little hot. Perhaps you have never
discovered that girls say many things
to hide their emotions. Perhaps you
don't realize what feverish, eXclamato-
ry, foolish things girls are. They don't
know how to be honest with the men
they love, and they wouldn't il they
did. You are little short of an idiot,
Monty Brewster, if you believed the
things she said rather than the things
she looked"
And Peggy, fiery and determined and
detiantly unhappy, threw down her
cards and escaped so that she might
not prove herself ~fearfully feminine.
She left Brewster still heavily envel-
oped in melancholy, but she left him
puzzled. He began to wonder if Bar
bara Drew did have something in the
hack Of hon, mind Thnp hn fnIIn1 hic
thoughts wandering off toward Peggy
and her defiance. He had only twice
before seen her in that mood, and he
liked it. He remembered how she had
lost her temper once when she was fif-
teen and hated Il girl he admired. Sud-
denly he laughed aloud at the thought
of the fierce little picture she had made,
and the gloom which had been so sed-
ulously cultivated was dissipated in a
moment. The laugh surprised the man
who brought in some letters. One of
them was from hopper Harrison and
gave him all the private news. The ball
was to be given at mid-Lent, which ar
rived toward the end of March, and ne
gotiations We're well under way for the
tIlatl Ill vi Nv illtltlb lhC oltdlh
yacht belonging to Reginald Brown,
late of Brown q Brown.
The letter made Brewster chafe I'M
der the bonds of inaction. His affairs
were getting into Il discouraging state.
The illness was certain to entail a loss
of more than $4,000 to his business.
His only consolation came through Har-
Yicnp', Gy,,pnciS Of tho ,a,,D,t1 f,,o,,
Gardner, who was managing the brief
American tour of the Viennese orches-
ira. Quarrels and dissensions were
becoming everyday embarrassments,
and the venture was an utter failure
from a financial point of view. Bro
ken contracts and lawsuits were turn
ing the tour into II continuous round
of losses, and poor Gardner was on
the point of despair. From the begin
ming, apparently, the concerts had been
marked for disaster. Public indiffer-
ence had aroused the scorn of the iras-
chile members of the orchestra, and
there was imminent danger of Il col
lapse in the organization. Gardner liv-
ed in constant fear that his troop of
Quarrelsome Hungarians would finish
their tour suddenly in a pitched battle
with daggers and stems. Brewster
smiled at the thought of the practical
Gardner trying to smooth down the
electric emotions of these musicians.
A few days later Mrs. Prentiss Drew
and Miss Drew registered at the Ponce
de Leon, and there was much specull-
4;A,, mo, tho aho,,aa. fn,. n IoaoYaii,
ton. Monty, however, maintained a