Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1910-12-14
CHAPTER II.
The Way 1t BEGAN.

1t makes me angry every time think
how | tried to make that dinner a
success. I Cancelled a theater en-
in the electric brougham father had
given me for Christmas. Their chauf-
feur had been gone for hours with
their machine, and they had tele-
phOned all the police stations without
success. They were afraid that there
had been an awful smash; they could
easily have replaced Bartlett, as Lol-
lie said, but it takes so long to get
new parts for those foreign cars.
Jim had house we'll uptown, and it
stood just enough apart from the
other houses to be entirely madden
ing later. 1t was a three-story affair,
with a basement kitchen and servants
dining room. Then, of course, there
were cellars, as we found out after
ward. On the first floor there was a
large square hall, formal reception
room, behind it big living room that
was also a library, then a den, and
back of all Georgian dining room,
with windows high above the ground
On the top floor Jim had a studio, like
every other one / ever saw-perhaps
little mussier. Jim was really a
grind at his painting, and there were
cigarette ashes and palette knives
and buffalo rugs and shields every
where. 1t is strange, but when think
of that terrible house, I always see
the halls, enormous, covered with
heavy rugs, and stairs that would
have taken six housemaids to keep
in proper condition. I dream about
those stairs, stretching above me in
Jacobs ladder of shining wood and
Persian carpets, going up, up, clear to
the roof
The Dallas Browns walked; they
lived in the next block. And they
brought with them a man named Har-
bison, that no one knew. Anne said
he would be great sport, because
he was terribly serious, and had the
most exaggerated ideas of society, and
loathed extravaganza, and built
bridges or something. She had put
away her cigarettes since he had been
with them-he and Dallas had been
college friends-and the only chance
she had to smoke was when she was
getting her hair DONE And she had
singed off quite lot-a burnt offer
ing, she called it.
MY DEAR" she said over the tele-
phone, when I invited her, IT want
you to know him. He'll be crazy
about you That type of man, big and
deadly earnest, always falls in love
with your type of girl, the appealing
sort, you know. And he has been
too busy, up to now, to know what
love is. But mind, don't hurt him;
he's dear boy. I'm half in love with
him myself, and Dallas trots around
at his heels like a poodle"
But all Anne's geese are swans, so
I thought little Of the HARRISON man
except to hope that he played respect
able bridge, and wouldn't mark the
cards with steel spring under his
finger nail. as one of her finds" had
done.
We all arrived about the same time,
and Anne and l went upstairs togeth-
er to take off our wraps In what had
been Bella's dressing room. It was
Anne who noticed the violets.
Look at that" she nudged me,
when the maid was examining her
wrap before she laid it down. What
did l tell you, Kit? He's still quite
mad about her"
Jim had painted Bellas portrait
while they were going up the Nile on
their wedding trip. It looked quite
like her, if you stood well off in the
middle of the room and if the light
came from the right. And just be-
meath 1t, in a silver case, was a
bunch of violets 1t was really touch
ing, and violets were fabulous. 1t
made me want to cry, and to shake
Bella soundly, and to go down and
pat Jim on his generous shoulder, and
tell him what a good fellow I thought
him, and that Bella wasn't worth the