The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-08-26
BY Donald Allen.

Copyright. 1911, by the Associated
Literary Press)
TIP to the time the hair hanging
down her back was coiIed up, and
her dresses lowered TO her shoe-tops,
Miss Irene Nixon enjoyed life. She
had her childish diversions and her
playmates, and if she also had her
disappointments they We're not bitter
ones. Her widowed mother belonged
to tho middle class, and she had just
a fair income.
Then things changed almost in a
day. Il was legacy to the mother
that did 1t. 1t disclosed "a side OF her
character that no one had suspected.
Hiss Irene was at once forbidden to
associate with this one and that one,
and when the HIST had been cuiled out
she found herself standing almost
alone. She must hereafter act SO and
SO. Where she had chummed with
a girl she must now give her only IL
distant bow. Where she had walked
home from school with this or that
boy. she must now pass him as II I'M
aware Of his existence, That money
was to make all the difference In the
world. The daughter understood that
money was a good thing TO have. but
she could not understand why it
should almost outlaw her. In form
ing friendships She had never con-
sidered the money side of the ques-
ton She had Judged by character
instead of wealth.
None OF the Widow Nixons friends
had ever considered her ambitious In
q Social way. Perhaps that feature
vas lying dormant At any rate, she
had scarcely counted the money LETT
her by rich sister when social am
bitIon came to the surface to work
great changes.
She decided almost at once that the
daughter could not be exclusive
enough at home to- finish her educa-
ton, and the girl was sent to "a board
ling school. where exclusion was the
motto. Then came the family tree.
Mrs. Nixon had never been greatly
worried as to whether the Nixon fam
lily dated back 10 a king or q pirate.
Her husband and her husbands IA
Their had been business. men of good
character. and that had suffleed her
Now IL was different She had tho
money and she sighed for lineage.
There are soealled genealog1sts
who make it their business TO keep in
touch with the newly rich and fur
nish them with pedigrees to match
~ Their cash. 1t had scarcely become
known to the widows circle that she
had received a legacy when a gene
alogist called. He had the look of a
professor even to the dandruff on his
COAT collar. lie ha&l b@asa IN the pro-
fession thirty years. He had traced
the ancestors of 5000 families and
hauled them into the light of day lie
had never made "A mistake. His terms
were the lowest of any responsible
party. For the sum OF $500 he would
trace the Nixons back TO the cave
jewellers of England
The Widow Nixon agreed TO the bar
gain so promptly that the fellow never
forgave himself for not asking a thou
sand. es he was commissioned to
hunt, and hunt he did, and in the
course of ninety DAYS he had turned
In his report and received his cash
And from whom had the Nlxons de-
scended and Jacob Nixon never sus-
pecting IT through AL his life2 1t did
not go back to the cave dweiers but
started at Harry King of the Morse
men. Right there was the beginning.
and it came down to the widow as
straight and easy as a streak OF mo-
lasses skating across a kitchen floor
Not single break In the whole chain
The genealogtst begged leave to doubt
II there was another family in the
State that eoal1d go back within n
hundred years Of Harry. and he was
graciously permitted to do so.
Two years elapsed after the discov-
cry Of this fact when the proud widow
informed her daughter OF the need to
be still moro exclusive. With their
wealth and lineage the girl could be-
come a Duchess Still another auto
must be purchased. and so on, and so
on.
Meanwhile, Miss Irene, even though
almost a prisoner at the school. and
having "exclusiveness" dinged into her
ears every hour in the day. had fallen
in love. The young man was the son
l OF lawyer who couldn't trace his an
cestry back over two hundred years.
and didn't care copper cent IL he
| couldn't.
Young Bennett in time came to un-
derstand the ambitions OF the mother.
II he had been the son OF a merchant,
things might have turned out differ
entity, but being the son of a lawyer he
went at 1t to prepare his case for a
jury. WherE II came time to gov into
court, as one might say. there was
no weak joint to be tinkered up. What
does a girl of eighteen in love with a
young man OF twenty-one care for an
cestry? What does she care for dukes
she has never met? WHAT does she
care for the specialized old maid who
runs tho boarding school? The elope-
ment would only add to the romance.
And there was an elopement ana
marriage When the widowed mother
was telegraphed to she tainted away.
The Duke Of Hartford had left her
house that very afternoon. For the
first time since King Harry wont
sIoshing around. a Nixon girl had
/ eloped to bring obloquy on the name'
1t was just awful-terribie!
The widow Nixon first resolved that
she could never forgive her daugh-
ter. and then that the law should be
appealed to to annal the marriage,