The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-11-04
BY ANNA srEEsE RICHARDSON.

(Copyright, 1906, by the Mcclure News
 paper Syndicats.l
 Max Carruth leaned back. with his cigar at the restful angle which oe- speaks a dinner enjoyed-a days work well done. His host, James Henry Smylie, xazed into the open fireplace his shoulders hunched forward aggres- sively, his fragrant Havana belcning forth smoke at that angle which ai- ways suggests a problem yet un- solved.
 ''That's the third governess she has fired in three months. hire them and she fires them. It Is regular game of tag, with the governess always It:
 when do you expect Mrs. Smylie home from Europe?"
 smylie ignored the question with shoulder shrug which Carruth dlo not understand--as yet.
 "Bessie says she is tired of fossils who never were young. Says they lack sympathy. Now I am going to try a young woman, as near Bessles ago es I dare to venture.
 "Yes," said Carruth, feeling that nc was expected to say something, yet being a bachelor. somewhat at sea when consulted on this particular do- nestle problem. Now. If Smylie had wanted to know the best way of whipv ping the Bradley Construction Com pany into line. or handling the B. & L.. people, Carruth would have been wide awake in a minute, but why James Henry Smylie, president of the Cement and Concrete Trust, should be worry ing about domestic matters when ne had a wife and a staff of servants was something beyond Carruth's compre- hension.
 The young lawyer had some old fashioned ideas about women managing ~l1 rtof thnratn Re. sides he had never met the second Mrs. Smylie, at present buying feminine fripperies in Paris in preparation for the summer campaign at Newport, and he did not realize that she was much more of a butterfly, much less able to grapple with domestic problems. than even the tyrannical and youthful Bes- sic whose long line of governesses ana ana companions had become thorn in the flesh of her father.
 q have wired for Peggy Moreland. She is a well-bred. high-minded girl, who will teach Bessie good sense by daily living, rather than by precept. No lectures from Peggy. I feel sure, but wholesome companionship.
 Sounds like a paragon. replied Carruth, reaching for fresh cigar.
 "No; a girl who has had the good things of life and lost them through no fault of her own. Her father IS an underpaid college professor at -. He was one of my classmates at Harvard. and her mother is q typical Southe1 n gentlewoman. The girl was practically adopted by an aunt, educated abroad, has travelled, and was the aunts heir ess. The only trouble was the aunt. in her second childhood, took to the street, and there was nothing left for Peggy to inherit Peggy, I understand. has taken up the dead-level life in midwest college town and her father has written to me, asking me to keep my eyes open for a post as private secretary here. I'm going to trust to her having inherited the high ideals of her father and the good breeding of her mother and give her chance with Bessie"
 So did Max Carruth first hear of Peggy Moreland. Two weeks later. dining again with the Smylies, he met her. Two hours after dinner he left the house feeling that it would be a long time before he knew her.
 And so it proved. The quiet-voiced friendly when turned upon her charge, inscrutable and impersonal when turn ed upon him, still remained a stranger to him as the summer months rolled round. Carruth had come out of the West, not as a Colorado David Harum who knew naught of finger bowls or evening clothes. but possessed of cer- tain democratic ideas, absorbed from millionaire cattlemen and millionaire mine owners whose legal difficulties he had solved Smylie had found him there among the daring operators In the silver and gold fields and had de- cied that his was just the keen mind. and strong healthy nerves needed for the Cement and Concrete Trust.
 IL t.A1 !, ,ta fyn nvla a into Eastern life by buying high power motor car, and he could not un- derstand why Miss Moreland did not want to share this car on his exhila- rating runs, also various other privf- leges offered in the most friendly spirit. It never dawned upon this democratic spirit from the West that Peggy More land had studied the character of Lily Bart in The House of Mirth," till she was positively morbid regarding her relations with the very set of so- ciety in which her aunt had introduced her before the unlucky venture on the street When she was alone with Bes- sic, all barriers were down. and in- tuitively Mir. Smylie felt that all was well. Three months without com plaint about a governess broke all re- cords in his family circle. He was not | looking for a psychological study-but peace within his home.
 And so stood matters on the night o1 | the dance which was to mark the open. l ing of the new Smylie country estate h
 the Berkshires.
 "" canot live without you
 sweetheart, and now that the way k
 open for us, are you brave enough tt come to me? We can signal the ex press at Lanes Junction. and be or | board the steamer before the dance |.
 over-ready to sail at daybreak. Do
 not fail me. dearest | Until death, yours devotedly. | .s- Arthur" Peggy Moreland dropped the fervit note, on the cretone-covered dressing | table and buried her face in her hands | How could she do it? Was ther' anything more cowardly, more ungrate ful? few scalding tears trickled be
 tween her trembling Fingers. then sud denly sfe pulled herself together. Pick | ing up the note. she tore it into pieces
 and tossed them upon the smouldellne i coals.
 1 With lips tightly compressed sh'
 looked around the room until her glanc, , fell upon sombre automobile cloal
 of dark blue silk, flung carelessly across
 a gay little chair of white and gGl,
 enamel. Pinning the train of her sof | black gown to its silken girdle. sh, slipped on the coat, completely hiding | her bare neck and shoulders. The mo i toring cap she pulled well over he
 eyes, Hriving the long hat pin firml! through her pale gold hair and twins
 the veil recklessly under chin. Light!
 she crossed the room to the open Frencl
 window and looked out.
 | A fire escape fell in white angula
 lines from the small Italian balcony