The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-04-11

kt last.
 ! CHAPTER V.
 The Dinner Party. "Too bold, too confident, she'll still face down
 The spitefullest of takers in our How we talk, in the little town be- ! low."
 Pippa Passes. The dinner party at Carronlea was completed by the presence of the Vicar. and of Miss Tarlton. This was almost equivalent, from the point of view of publicity, to a paragraph in the local Press. Miss Tarlton was the daughter of R former vicar of Ponthewel, and resided, upon her means" which were limited, in tiny habitation which the late Sir Miles had trans formed for her from a workman's cot tage by the addition of a porch, a bathroom, and an extra bedroom over the bathroom. Here she passed a life Of most ideal content, making a fine art of the practice of knowing N other peoples business.
 Miss Tariton was county" to her finger-tips. Like most people of her kind. she out-countied the county. For. whereas that august body is usually quite without ceremony. to those who are inside the ring-fence. Miss Tarltons whole existence was fenced about with ceremony: and she was used as a book of reference by those who came into the neighbor- hood. worthy of being received into the circle of the elect. but. by req son of having formerly dwelt in Lon don or some other place where there is sadly too much tolerance or too little discrimination, not being initi- ated into all the delicate adjustments of local etiquette.
 "Of course, dear, it is delightful to See you again so soon," she would explain to Selma, who, as she con- fded to Jem, simply rolled in Miss Tarlton,"-"of course I am delighted; nevertheless you know. you should not, strictly, have been to see me again until I had duly paid my call after your brothers kind entertain with propriety. have been delayed longer than tomorrow, and would have been paid today, had not my gardeners weekly visit necessitated my superintendence-"
 Mrs. Bardsley wes, to Miss Tarlton, part of the recognized scheme of things. One hardly paused to con- \ sider whether one liked or disliked Mrs Bardsley. She was there. She was undeniable. One owed deference 10 her opinion and acceptance to her Invitations. One put on ones black silk and ones point lace to dine with Mrs Bardsley. For a third-person invitation one added ones diamond brooch
 When she walked into the comfort able. inartistic drawingroom at Car rcnlea, Miss Tarlton was much grati-
 fled to find that Sir Miles had been asked to meet her. She shook hands warmly, and told him, as she in- Iariably did, every time they met that one of her poor fathers last exercises of his ministerial calling had been to baptize Sir Miles in the front Of the parish church.
 ''As if they usually baptized babies i. in the pulpit or the belfry,'' Selma was wont to remarle and Miss Tarl- ton wondered what Sir Miles found So amusing in her anecdote, little know ing that he had been specially in- structed by his sister to note wheth- CT the usual formula was gone through. ana that he had confided as much both to Jem and to the fine vigorous-looking girl in a classic gown of white chiffon, who stood be- side Mrs. Bardsley in the glow ot the generous fire.
 Mrs. Bardsley introduced Vernon with particular care to the well-bred chatterbox who would announce her arrival to the whole neighborhood. My brothers daughter-poor Yer non's little Vernon-the one child oi the union for which so much had been gone through-and blood ac. tually she'd
 Miss Tarlton was profoundly in- terested. It was upon her fathers death that the Rev. Walter Ransom father of Margaret Ransom, had come as vicar to the parish which h. left abruptly. soon after the scandal of his daughters elopement. He had been dead many years: and Miss -ar.tnn was proceeding to give his granddaughter his entire genealogy for the past four generations, when -drs. BardSley broke in
 'I hate to interrupt you Sophia, -MissTarlton's baptisrnal appellatior also bestowed at the front of the same church-was Sophia--"but have to tell you that I am making a social departure this evening"