The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-07-14
Page of
Interest
WIEN AMANM ARRlFS
7henu@lfomwhld fhe ySEvENDNSwaS made
BINARY ROBERTS RINEIlART
Authorof DlECIRlNAR, SEaRCAHe 90 TlErlkNN LOwERIN
Copyright, 1903, The Bobbs- Merfn Com

! here, and why / have leisure to write
you three days after landing. II the
situation were not SO ridiculous, 1t
would be maddening. Here / am, on
for a holiday and congratulating my
self that / am foot free and heart
free--yes, my friend, heart free
here / am, shut in the house of
man / never saw until last night, and
wouldn't care II never saw again,
with lot of people who never heard
OF me. who are almost equally vague
about South America, who play as
hard at bridge as l ever worked at
building one tforgive this. won't you,
the novelty has gone to my head, and
who belong TO the very class of ex-
travagant luxury-loying, ncn-produc-
ing parasites (isnt that what we
called them that you and l used
TO revile from our lofty Andean PIN
nacle.
To come down to earth: here we
are. six women and five men. includ-
ing a policeman, not a servant in the
house, and no one WHO knows how to
do anything. They are really i'm
mensely interesting, these people; they
all know each other very well, and
IL is Jimmy here, and Dali there
Dallas Brown, who went to India with
me, you remember my speaking OF
him-and they are good natured, too,
except at meal times The little
hostess. Mrs. Wilson. took over the
cooking, and although luncheon was
better than breakfast. the food still
leaves much TO the Imagination.
/ wish you could see this Mrs. VIII
son, Hal You would change whole
lot OF your ideas. She scarborough
bred. sure enough .I~snd of% Course
some of her beauty As the rsssAt OF
the exquisite care about whiah You
and I--stiil from our Andeah pin
nacie--used to rant. But the fact Is.
she is more than that. She has FIRE,
ana pluck. no end. II you could have
seen her this morning, standing in
front Of a cold kitchen range, de-
termined 70 conquer II. and had seen
the tilt OF her chin when l offered to
take over the cooking-you needn't
grin, / can cook. and you know it
you would understand what | mean.
II was ST clear that she was paraiNZed
with fright at the idea OF getting
breakfast and equally clear that she
meant to do It. BY the way. l have
learned that her name was McNair
before she married this would-be
artist. Wilson. and that she IL a daugh
ter OF the MaNair who financed the
Callao hranchi
| have not met the others SO init
mately. There are two sisters named
Mercer. inclined to he noisy-fhey are
/ playing roulette 50 In the next room
now. one is small and dark, almost
Tebraic in type. named Leila and
called Lollie. The other larger. very
blonde and langushing. and with
decided preference for masculine SO
ciety. even, saving the mark. mine,
Dallas Browns wife, good looking.
smokes cigarettes when / am not
around--they all do, except Mrs. VIII
son. Then there is miden aunt.
who is i'll to-day with grippe and ex-
element. and Miss Knowles. who
came for q moment last night TO see
Mrs. Wilson MAS caught ia the quar-
antine tsee papers,, and, after hiding
all night In the basement is sulking
all day In her room, Her presence
created an excitement out of all pro-
portion 10 the apparent cause.
i From the fact that l have reason to
/ know that my artist host and his
beautiful wife are on bad terms, and
from the significant glances with
which the announcement OF Miss
Knowles presence was met, the state
OF affairs seems rather clear Wilson
/ ilnpresses me as spineless sort, any
how. and when the lady Of the base
ment shut herself away from the rsst
q
as they call him, pleading with her
through the door. livery nearly kick
ed him down the stairs. oh, yes. I'll
keep out, right enough; 1t isn't my
affair
by the way, after quarantine and
with the policeman locked in the fur
mace room, pearl necklace and
diamond bracelet were stolen, Just
ten OF lis to divide the suspicion. Upon
my word. Hal, It's the aueerest situa-
ton | ever heard of. Which of us did
II | make ~ guess that not few
of US are fools, but which Is the knave?
The worst Of it is. l am the unaccred-
tied member OF the household
This Is more scandal than / ever
wrote in my life. Lay it to circum-
scribed environment. and the lack of
twenty miles over the pampa before
breakfast. We have all been vacci-
mated. and the officious gentlemen from
the board of health have taken their
I grins and their formaldehyde and
/ gone. We gods, how we cough,
The Carlton order will go through
all right. ! think. 'Phoned him this
morning. II it does. old man, we will
/ take month in September and ex-
+ plore the Mercator property.