Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-05-12
MEREDITH NICHOLSON

| her garnet was a valhalla of discarded
gods. One day the scent of joss sticks
chung to the draperies of her library
the next she dipped her finger boldly in
the holy water font at the door of the
Catholic cathedral and sent a subscrip-
ton to the Little Sisters of the Poor
She appeared fitfully in the Blair pew
at Memorial Presbyterian Church. where
her father was ruling elder and her hus-
band passed the plate; and Memorial
we may say. was the most fashionable
house. of prayer and worship In town.
frownfng down severely upon the Alle-
quippa Club over the way. Fanny Blair
is sure of heaven. Dick Wingfield said,
for she has tickets to all the gates.
Mrs. Blair was generous in her quixotic
! fashion,: her husband had inherited
wealth. and he was. moreover. sue
cessfu lawyer, who admired her i'm
| mensely and encouraged her foiSles. She
dressed her twin boys after portraits of
the Stuart princes. and their velvet and
| long curls caused many riots at the pub
| lie school they attended-sent there, she
said, that they might grow up strong in
| the democratic spirit.
When they had adjourned to the library
| Mrs. Blair spoke in practical ways of the
| new wife's homecoming. She rendered
her own services in any changes her
father wished i'm the house Some of her
| mothers personal belongings she frankly
stated her purpose to remove. They
| We're things that did not. to Col. Craig
hills masculine mind seem particularly
| restless as his father and sister cOnsid-
cred these matters. He moved about
| idly. throwing in a word now and then
when Mrs. Blair appealed to him directly.
Evenings at home had become unusual
events and domestic affairs bored him.
| Mrs. Blair was. however, sensitive to his
moods and she continued her efforts to
hold him within the circle of their talk.
Don't you think reception-some-
thing large and general-would be good
thing at the start. Wayne?''
Yes: oh, yes, by all means he re-
piled. looking up from a publishers ad-
vertisement that he had been reading.
| He left the room unnoticed a few min
utes later and wandered into the wide
hall. feeling the atmosphere of the house
| flow around him. 1t was the local Gus
tom, in our ready American fashion of
comforting antiquity. to speak of the
mansion as the old Craighill place. The
house. built originally Vim the early sew
enties had recently been remodeled and
fenlarged. 1t occupied half block, and
! the grounds were beautifully kept. faith
full to traditions of Mrs. Craighills taste
! The full force of the impending change
in his fathers life now struck Wayne
for the first time. There is no eloquence
like that of absence. He stood by the
| open drawing room door with his child
| hood and youth calling to all his senses.
The thought of his mother stole across
his memory-a gentle. bright, smiling
spirit. The pictures on the walls; the
! familiar furniture; the broad fireplace:
the tall bronze vases that guarded the
glass doors of the conservatory, whose
| greenery showed at the end of the long
room-those things cried to hiU now
with new appeal. great bowl OF
yellow chrysanthemums glowing In a
| far corner. struck upon his sight like
| flame. He walked the length of the
| room and gaZed up at a portrait of his
mother, painted in Paris by a famous
artist. It's vitality had in some way van
| ished; the figure no longer seemed poised,
ready to step down into the room. The
! luminous quality of the face was gone;
! the eyes were not SO brightly responsive
as of old-he was so sure of these diff
! ferences that he flashed Off the frame
] lights with a halfconscious feeling that
| a shadow had fallen upon the spirit rep
resented there, and that it was kinder
| to leave it in darkness.
! His sister called him on some pretext-
he was very dear to her, and the fact
| that he and his father were so utterly
unsympathetic increased her tenderness
and repeated the program of entertain
ments which she had proposed.
| Its quite ample. There's never any
question about your doing enough,
| Fanny" he remarked indifferently.
Col. Craighill announced that he must
go down to the club to a meeting of the
executive committee of the Greater City
| Improvement League, in which his SON
in-law was interested.
Wayne. you will take Fanny home in
your own car, won't you? Or maybe
! you'll wait for John to STOP"
II must go soon; Wayne will look a1.er
me- she said. and they both went to the
door to see their father off.
| Its like old times" she sighed as the
motor moved away: but those times
won't come any more
| (TO be continued tomorrow