Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-02
CHAPTER I.

In going aboard the Baltic that excep-
tionaliy fine October morning Miss Car
, stairs convinced herself that, of the people
assembled to see her off, no one could rea-
! sonably discern in her movement the sug-
! gestion of retreat. The commonplace of
| a sailing for the other side would not, in
deed. have met with the recognition of any
attendance at the pier among her set save
! for her hint that she might remain abroad
year. There had been small rally on
! the part of a few friends who had CHANGED
! to meet at a dinner over night to 60 down
to the White Star docks and say good-by
; to Helen Carstairs. Helen sincerely wished
they had not come, both because the cere-
} mony proved a little fiat and because, when
she had time to think them over. she was
not so sure they were her friends.
/ But the main thing was that she had been
able to withdraw, easily and naturally.
. from a dOubly trying situation. She had
not wanted TO go abroad. All the novelty
| and sparkle had gone out of that business
long ago. She knew foreign travel from A
! to z, and she loathed tables d'hote even
more than the grim prospect o. private
meals with Miss Blocker in sitting rooms
redolent of departed food, insufficiently
atoned for by an encireling wilderness of
tgilding and red plush. The very thought of
q concierge with brass buttons lifting his
cap to her every time she crossed the hall.
of hotel corridors decked with strange foot
year upon which unmade bed rooms yawned.
of cabs and galleries and harpy dressmak
ers, of sights and fellow tourists, gave her
q mental 1ualm. But 1t was better than
staying at home this winter in the big house
in 9Th avenue where Mr.. Carstairs had
just brought a stepmother for her, in the
person of that Mrs. Coke.
There was apparently no valid reason for
Helen's shuddering antpathy to the lady,
who had been the widow of a junior part
ner of her father. man whom Mr.. Car
stairs had made" like many another be-
ginning in his employ.
Mr. before
nervous overstrain, leaving this f1amboy-
antly handsome, youngish woman to profit
by his gains. Helen had always disliked
having to ask the Coxes to dinner when her
fathers fat compelled her to preside over
the dull banquets of certain smartly dressed
women and weary, driven men. whom he
assembled at intervals around his board
She could not say what she objected to in
Mrs Coke; she thought it might be her
giggle and her double chin. 1t had been al
ways a relief when one OF these business
dinners was over, and she knew she would
not have to do it soon again. When Mr..
Carstairs dined in return with the Coxes.
they had him at some fashionable restau-
rant, taking him afterward to the play.
Mrs Coke had shown sense enough for
that, During the interregnum of Mrs
Coxe's mourning following the demise of
her exhausted lord. Mr.. Carstairs had had
the yacht meet Helen and himself at Gil
braltar. and cruised all that winter in the
Mediterranean.
: fond of her father rather a stony image to
most people, and immensely proud of the
way people looked up to his achievements
in the street, the resstless rush of his bust
ness combinations. his massive wealth and
his perfect imperturbability to newspaper
cavil and attacks by enemies. She had
loved to be at the head of his establishment,
and to receive the clever and distinguished
land notable people, foreign and domestic,
who accepted Mr.. Carstairs' invitation to
meet one another, because they were clever
and distinguished and notable, not because
they wanted to talk all the evening what
they had talked all day.
When they had come home from their
cruise, Helen spent the summer in New
port, where her father rarely went. The
yacht was his summer home, he was wont
to say; and Helen did not suspect how often
that season the noble "Sans Peur" had
nent in Long Island where Mrs. Coke was
enjoying the seclusion of a shingled villa
with broad verandas set In a pocket hand
kerchief of lawn. Back and forth flew the
owners steam launch between the Sans
Peur'' and the landing, and yet nobody
told Helen. That autumn she had affairs
of her own to absorb her time and give her
a SOLDERING view of humanity. For the first
time in her life her father had vacated his
throne as masculine ruler of her thoughts.
She had passed into the grip of a strong,
real passion for man nobody knew.
That is to say. John Glynn was too hard
at work to let himself be found out. Heller
had INDUCED in her affair with him almos
unknown to her acquaintance, most OF
whom regarded the foot of the ladder Of
wealth. where he distinctly stood, as the
one spot where dalliance in sentiment was
to be Stunned. Her movements were ham,
pered by the fact that, although the daugh-
ter of a plutocrat, she had only a trife OF
: her own; Mr.. Carstairs having announced
: with the insolent eccentricity of some men
OF his stripe, that she should go dowerless