The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-06-27
Something
On This
CHAPTER I.
az Least. / Meant Wen.

Af least / Meant Wen.
when the dreadful thing occurred
that night every enc turned on me
The injustice Of it hurt me most
They said / got up the dinner. that
asked them to give UP other en-
fragments and come. that l promised
All kinds of joliAcation, II they would
come: and then when they ca come
and got in the papers. and every che
but oorselves-}aughcd himself black
In the face. they turned IN me ;.
who suffered ten times to their one,
i shall never forget what Dallas
Brown said to me, standing with
coal shovel In one hand AMI a--wel,
perhaps ii would be better TO tell I
all In the order it happened
1t began with Jimmy Wilson and
u conspiracy. was helped on by "a
Soot-square piece of yellow paper and
q Japanese butler. and II cHweshed
and mixed up generally Ten respect
able members II society ana "A po-
liceman. Incidentally. II involved
pearl collar and box of soap. which
sounds incongruous, doesn't it2
II Is great misfortune to he stout
especially for a man. Jim " as refund
and looked shorter than he really
was, and as all the lines If his fdce.
or what should have been lines. we're
really dimpies, his face was about as
flexible and fan of expression as a
pillow in a tight cover. The angrier
he got the funnier he looked, and
when he WAS raging. ana his neck
swelled np oyer his collar and got red.
he was enhancing And everybody
liked him, and borrowed money from
~ vs= 5a7y ar ftaE a.
has one ia the Hargrave gallery in
London now. So people buy them in
stead. and smoked his cigarettes end
tyf,sd TO steal his Jap. The whole stony
hinges on the Jap.
The trouble was, ! think, that no
one took Jim seriously. His am oition
In life was to be taken seriously. hut
people steadily refused To. Ills art
was a huge 3oke-~eXcept TO Himself.
If he asked people to dinner, every
one expes ted a frolic, When he mar
ried Bella Knowles, people chuckied
at the wedding, and considered II the
widest prank Of Jimmy's career. al
though Jim himself seemed 10 taRe 1t
awfnlIy hard We had all nnown
them both for years, went to
Pennington with Bella. and Anne
Brown Was her matron Of honor hen
she married jim. My first winter
out. Jimmy had paid ME lot OF at
fention. He painted my portrait in
oils and had q studio tea To exhibit
IL. II Was a very nice picture, but IT
did net look like me, go ! stayed away
from the exhibition. Jim asked ms
5a10t He said he was not IA Oh 3tog
4G*ttSr. and that anyhow the rest o
my features called tor the nose h
had given nae. and that ali the
GTeu2e women have long necks.
have not.
After / had refused Jin twice h.
met Bella at a camp in the Adiron
dacks, and when ne came back b
came at once tn see me. He Scenes
2 10 think ] would be sorry to lose him
and he blundered over the telling 70
twenty minutes. or course no woma
likes TO lose lover, no matter wha
she may say about It. but jim ha
been getting on my nerves for som
time. and / was much Calmer than h
expected me To be.
IF you mean said finally In DIES
peration, that you and Bella are
are iE love. why don't you say SO. JIM
/ think you will find that ! stand
wonderfully"
He frightened perceptthly.
II didn't knew how YOU WOULD tax
1t. Kilt" he said, and / hope We WI
always be bully friends. You ssre al
soIutely sure you don't carr Whoe
for me-
absolutely" / replied. and W
shook hands on 1t. Then he hega
about Bella; It WAS very tiresome.
Bella is nice girl. but / had room
L ed with her at school, and ! NJ;
under no illusions. When Jim rave
about Bella and her banjo. and Bel
and her guitar. / had painful m'
ments when ] recalled Bella leaTI
tng her two songs on each instr'
ment. and the old English ballad 81
had learned To play ON the mar
when he said she vas too GOOD Il
him, / never batted an eye. And
Shock hands solemnly across the Il
table again, and wished him happiEe'
which was sincere enough. b'
hopeiess--and said we had only hee
playing a game, but that II was tin
tn stop playing. Jim kissed my han
and 1T was really very touching,
We had been the best OF trlent
ever since Two days before the wee
ding he came around from his tailor
and we burned all his letters 10 m
He would read one and say: Here
4 a crackerjack, Kit" and pass II TO m
And after I had read ii we would Ia
II on the frelog, and Jim would sa
II am rot worthy of her Kit,
wonder If ! can make her happy
Or. ibid you know that the Dul