Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1906-03-23

"a ~
II home cut her off from all con-
Z tact with life distinctly west
a n ern. She found herself still
amid the velvet and silver of the parlor
car and saw only remotely those who
slept all night in the cramped corners
of the ordinary coaches. Her cousins
were not native; they were, indeed,
only translated Philadelphians who had
gone west in search of health-at least
Mrs. Barnett was there for that rea-
son. Her husband made the change
for love Of his wife.
A certain percentage Of the towns
people ana the members of the special
circle in which the Barnetts moved
were health seekers, and Ann was
deeply relieved to find that all the COM
forts of an eastern home were to be
enjoyed in the big graystone houses
Oh Rampant avenue. Indeed, the Bar
netts lived quite as they would have
done in Seabright or LenOX. They had
a dozen horses, suitable assortment
of vehicles, saddles and brides and
were enthusiasts concerning polo and
golf. Their neighbors and friends were
unfailingly ccstatic in praise of the eli
mate and the views and seemed illog-
ically anxious to placate the prejudices
of this naughty. pale faced, scarlet
Tipped young girl. who looked with
calm eyes upon the great peak gloom
ing to the westward. They formed, in
fact, a colony Of alien health seekers,
busted with pleasures, set distinctly
apart from the tOilers and the traders
Of the place.
Ann was puzzled and bit bored by
their insistencc on winning her admi-
ration Of the mountains and, being nat
urally peryerse, withheld the express
sions of pleasure she might otherwise
have uttered, for she was profoundly
moved by what she saw
Il never did understand that girl"
said Dennelly Barnett to his wife one
night after q drive into the great Bear
canyon. "Shc has everything to make
her happy, and yet she goes about tor
Did as an oyster. What's the matter
with her?"
Jeanette sighed. '"That's her moth
er's blood. She's like her mother in u
hundred ways. Louis is exactly like
his father. remember when he came
back from his first and only trip to the
west. was only :. child, but | recall
his enthusiasm. He was lovable fell
low, but | never could stand Alicia.
She was positively stony. l have hopes
of Ann. Her hand is strong and warm
human, in fact. Don't you think her
Indifference poser
81 wish it were. No, It's genuine"
'She needs to be shaken up by q
good, hot love affair. Some man will
come
"Thats what I've been saying, but
the man don't come She's twenty six"
"Iow awfuI!'
"That's the part don't understand
about Ann. She has money, is hand
some, and yet here she is quite disen-
gagged, IL we except her affair with
Peabody, which Adney writes Is quite
as tepid as any of AIMS other affairs"
"Well, now, I'll tell you. She's come
TO the right place to have men ride up
and demand attention. If she doesn't
have at least an offer week it will not
be my fault I'm going to invite all the
young fellows home to dinner while
she's here. Now watch things bile"
Barnett, nominally a mining broker,
was, in fact, president Of the polo club,
secretary of the Sage Grass Golf assO-
ciation-in short, financial nurse to ev-
cry collection of amiable sports In the
town. He knew all 'the best fellows"
in the state and now became more pop
ular than ever. The young men accept
ed his dinner invitations with graft
tude, and each and all paid prompt and
undisguised court to "thc proud eastern
beauty" as one young fellow called
her. But they soon acknowledged fail.
ure. Her reserve led to a sense Of In
jury and was reported to be arrogance.
They were seldom fattered by the
slightest unbending on her part.
However, several of these young fell
lows turned out on acquaintance to be
socially related to some Of her friends
in Boston and New York and in that
way won q certain acceptance which
no mere civil engineer from Omaha or
professor from st. Louis could hope to
attain. They were met on the conven-
tional plane, and they got no further
at any time.
Meanwhile Ann was really troubled
about Louis. He was eating less and
less each day, and his sleep was bro
ken. and at the end Of the first week
he fell in state of collapse. The excite
Inent. the late hours, the contact with
new types and, above all, the attempt
to understand the country and his re-