The star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1908-1909, 1908-07-07
Continued From Yesterday

Continued From Yesterday
1t was about three months after the
departure of the Duke hat an offer tc
purchase Lady Belle came to Mallory.
His partner, Crawford, had not re-
turned to Maple Grove after his first
visit. Mallory was not exactly an
adept in the art of letter writing. He
decided that ii would be advisable for
him to continue the negotiations with
McGovern in New York. where also he
could have the benefit of ready counsel
with Crawford. This course seemed
the more advantageous In that 1t would
afford him the yearned-for opportunity
of spending a few hours with Patsy.
He argued, further, that If he gave the
old people a treat by taking them with
him Mrs. O'Brien. being able to see
with her own eyes and hear with her
own ears that everything was all
right, would regain at once her cheer
fulness and her health, which had be-
gun to suffer.
the supper table he announced his plan
and extended his invitation was a rich
recompense for the sacrifice of expense
II lIINOlNtu, lOI MAINLY was NGiJ lOiih
of her. O'Brien's satisfaction was
scarcely less than that of his wife.
Doubts and fears were dispelled as
though by magic. Mrs. O'Brlen recov-
cred there and then her old-time en-
ergy. a proposal by Mallory that they
should keep the news of their coming
from the girls and take them by sur
prise was adopted with almost childish
enthusiasm.
The few days of preparation were
busy and lively ones. O'Brien was so
glad to see his wife herself again that
he enjoyed the ordering about, admon-
ishing and snubbing hat seemed to be
part and parcel of all extraordinary oc-
casions and from which for several
weeks he had been absoIved, his spouse
having been too apathetic to take an
interest in things. The trip was an
event of no small Importance to both
of them. They had not been to New
York in many a long year n had
been able to judge of the transforma-
ton the city had undergone during that
period only from the descriptions given
by Patsy when she came home for the
holidays and from the pictorial post
cards the girls sent to them from time
to time. Such an overhauling of long
hidden and carefully preserved trea-
sures of the wardrobe the journey
necessitated had never occurred in the
household.
At last the great day when the trio
found themselves amid the towering
buildings of Manhattan arrived. 1t
was early evening when, a little tired
from their long journey. but buoyed
by excitement and expectancy, they
reached the metropolis and put up at a
hotel near Times Square, where Mrs.
O'Brien arrayed herself In her gala
attire, and Mallory t~elephoned to
C~rawford's residence and to McGovern,
the prospective purchaser of Lady
Belle, who promptly followed this call
with a visit. Then after refreshing
themselves with a substantial meal
they set off for the theatre, the old
couple gleeful at the thought of the
glad surprise they had reserved for
the girls and prepared to enjoy the
treat of their lives in seeing them act.
1t was with much ceremony and a
proud consciousness of the attention
she was attracting that Mrs. O'Brien
took her seat in the orchestra with her
husband and Mallory. But soon after
she had settled down and loked about
her she was much veXed to discover
that she had no fam. This was an aw-
full oversight. How could any one sit
In a theatre In a black silk dress and
lack a fan!
pat she demanded In a stage whis-
per, didn't Oh have a fan wanst?"
O'Brien, with a very dim recollection
that at some remote period she had
possessed this coquettish article, re-
piled:
"Oi believe yez did"
"Thin phwy didn't we think to bring
it ?" she wanted to know.
"Oi disremimbered that yez had such
a thing" he answered alphabetically,
did yez foind it among the clothes?"
"Ye're the most contrariest man."
she said, ignoring the question. aye
nivir think ~ anything when it's for
me. I do behave ye'd forgit yir head if
it wasn't screwed on"
cant yez use yir handkerchief or
yir program" he suggested.
Patrick O'Brien,'' she exclaimed,
"Oi'm ashamed of we. WHEREVER did
we learn such manners?"
O'Brien subsidized. and Mallory. tell
ing them he would rejoin them after
the first act, went out to seek Craw-
ford. First of all. however, he re-
paired to the stage door and, having
ascertained that Patsy was upstairs,
sent his message announcing their
presence in the theatre.
While Dan was on his way uptown,
chuckling at the thought of the aston
ishment and delight of the girls, the
O'Briens were trying in vain to recog-
nize their darlings among the array of
beauties on the stage. Throughout the
first act the mother was strainlng her
eyes and fidgeting and demanding of
O'Brien whether he could see them. He
had to confess hat he could not. and
a dime-in-the-slot opera glass failed
to aid them, except to the extent of
Mrs. O'Brien's pronounce
ment that none of the girls was Patsy
or Nora. At the conclusion of the sec
ond act, when they had not appeared,
her growing conviction that something !