Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1910-08-05
liticaT henchman.


and paused to ask:
Aren't you having good time,
Mr.. Shevlin?"
"a good time? Me? Oh, yes. Sure,
l am. only hope no one'll mistake
me in this open-face suit for a sena-
tor or mattinay idol. That's all
that's botherin' me. I've been rubbin'
elbows with the Van Alstynes that
own half of Pompton Av'no and live
in Yoorup, and with Slat Kerrigan's
wife, who used to push coffee and
sinkers at Kerry's beanery. Oh, Pm
in sassiety all right. An feel like
pair of yellow shoes at fun'ral."
Never mind!' laughed Anice. "The
supper-rooms open. and you'll enjoy
that part of the evening, at any rate"
II will, eh? Not me, Miss! The
Boss's passed the word that the boys
is to hold back, and kind Of make
noise like innercent bystanders till
the swell push is all fed. So it's me
for the merry outskirts while they're
gettin' their moneys wort"
Give Standish watched them thread
their way through the crowd, until
Anice's dainty little head with it's
crown Of shimmering bronze hair was
lost to sight. Then he sat looking
moodily out on the heterogeneous, Ill
assorted company before him.
Now that he had talked with Anice
he no longer regretted the impulse
that had led him to accept Mrs. Con-
overs invitation. The girl had al
ways exerted subtle charm, a name
less influence, over him. Years be-
fore. when he was struggling. penni-
less, to make living in a city where
his family name opened every door to
him, yet where 1t was more of an i'm
pediment than otherwise in his task of
bread winning; even then he had
worked with vague, half-formed hope
of Anice Lanier sharing his final vic
tory.
Then had come her own financial
reverses, her fathers death, and her
withdrawal from the world that had
known them both. Since that time
circumstances had checked their grow
ing intimacy. 1t was pleasant to
Standish to feel that that intimacy
and understanding We're now renewed
almost just where they had left off.
His battle for livelihood and success
had beaten from him much of the
buoyancy that had once been his
charm. Anice seemed The one link
connecting him with Youth-the link
whereby he might one day win his
way back to that dear lost country of
his boyish hopes and dreams. 1t
would be good to forget. with her, the
dreary uphill struggle that was so bit
ter and youth sapping when endured
alone. Then he laughed grimly at
his own silly fantasy and came back
to everyday self-control.
The rooms were clearing. Give got
to his feet and followed the general
drift toward the enormous ballroom
in the rear of the mansion that had
for the occasion been converted into
banquet hall.
On the way he encountered a long.
lean, pasty-faced young man who
hailed him with weary:
Hello, Standish! Didn't expect to
see you here. Beastly bore. isn't it?
And the governor dragged me all the
way from New York to show up at
it."
"You spend most of your time in
New York nowadays. don't you Jer-
ry% said Give.
Say. old chap protested young
Conover, "cut out the Jerry can't
you? My Christian names Gerald.
Jerry was all right enough when
was kid in this one-horse provincial
hole. But 1t would swamp man of
my standing in New York"
Give had fair idea of the stand.
ing" in question. A half-baked lad,
turned out of Harvard after two years
the world (that eliminated In a de-
lightfully misspent year in Paris). at
last coming home with we'll
grounded contempt for his native city,
and turned loose at his own request
on long-suffering New York, with
more money than belonged to him
and fewer brains than sutficed to keep
so far as the world at large knew
of Caleb Conover's only son.
From time to time newspaper ac-
counts of beaten cabmen, suppers that
ended in police stations. and similar
feats of youthful gayety and culture
had foated to Granite. Yet Caleb
Conover, otherwise so rigid in the
matter of appearances, read such ac-
counts with relish. and boasted loudly
of the swath his son was cutting in
Gotham society. For. on Geralds
word, Conover was firmly assured that
this was the true career of young
man Of fashion. 1t represented all
he had missed in his own poverty
fighting early manhood. and he re-
joiced in his sons good times.
Getting rid of Gerald as soon as he