Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1911-02-21
CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER III.
The handsome towIhouse of How
ard Jeffries, the well-known banker, on
Riverside drive, was ole of the most
striking among the many imposing
millionaire homes that line the citys
splendid water front. Houses there
were in the immediate proximity
which were more snowy and had cost
more money but none "a completely
satisfying from the art lovers stand
point. It was the home OF a man who
studied and loved the beautiful for it's
own sake and not because he wanted
to astonish people with what miracles
his money could work Occupying a
large plot on slightly elevated ground
the house commanded a fine view of
the broad Hudson. Directly opposite,
across the river, busy with steam and
sailing craft, smiled the green slopes
of New Jersey; in the purplish north
frowned the jagged cliffs of the precip-
itous Palisades.
The elder Jeffries, aristocratic de-
scendant of an old Knickerbocker
family, was proud of his home and
had spent large sums of money in
beautifying it. Built in colonial style
of pure white marble with long
French windows and lofty columns
supporting a fiat, rounded roof. sur
rounded by broad lawns, widespread
ing shade trees and splashing foun-
taing II n 10 ,,.I-
for miles. The interior was full of
architectural beauty. The stately en-
trance hall, hung with ancestral por-
traits, was of noble proportions, and
a superb staircase, decorated with
statuary, led off to tastefully decorated
reception rooms above Tonight the
house was brilliantly Illuminated and
there was considerable activity at the
front entrance, where a footman in
smart livery stood opening the doors
of the carriages as they drove up in
quick succession.
Mrs Jeffries' musicales were always
largely attended because she knew
the secret of making them interesting.
Her husbands wealth and her fine
house enabled her to entertain on
liberal scale, and she was a tactful
and diplomatic hostess as well. She
not only cultivated the right kind of
people who were congenial to each
other, but she always managed to
have some guest of special distinction
whom every one was eager to meet.
Her own wide acquaintance among
the prominent operate artists and her
husbands influential position in the
world of finance made this policy an
easy way of furthering her social am
billions. She would always invite
some one whom she could present as
the lion of the evening. One week it
would be a tenor from the opera house.
another time a famous viOlinist In
this way she managed to create a lit
tie artistic salon on the lines of the
famous political salons in which the
brilliant women of the eighteenth cen
fury nodded public opinion in France
Alicia knew she was clever and as
she stood admiring herself in front of
a full length mirror while awaiting
the arrival of her guests she congrat-
ulated herself that she had made
success of her life. She had won those
things which most women hold dear
wealth and social position. She had
married a man she did not love, it
was true, but other women had done
that before her. If she had not
brought her husband love she at least
was not a wife he need be ashamed
of. In her Paquin gown of gold cloth,
with sweeping train and a jeweled
tiara in her hair. she considered her
self handsome enough to grace any
mans home. Ii was indeed a beauty
which she saw in the mirror-the face
of woman not yet 80, with the fea-
lures regular and refined The eyes
were large and dark and the mouth
and nose deliCately nodded. The face
seemed accidentally perfect, all but
the expression, She had a cold. cal
culating look, and a cynic might have
charged her with being heartless. of
stopping at nothing to gain her own
ends.
Tonight Alicia had every reason to
feel jubilant She had secured a So
cial lion that all New York would talk
about-no less a person than DR..
Bernstein, the celebrated psycholo-
gist. the originator of the theory of
scientific psychology. Everything
seemed TO go the way she wished; her
musicales were the talk of the town;
= her husband had just presented her
with the jeweled tiara which now
graced her head; there seemed to be
nothing in the world that she could
not enjoy.
Yet she was not happy, and as she
gazed at the face reflected before her
in the glass she wondered If the world
guessed how unhappy she was. She
knew that by her own indiscretion she
was in danger of losing sll she had
won, her position in society. her place
in the affections of her husband,
everything.
When she married Mr. Jeffries II
was with deliberate calculation. She
did not love him, but, being ambitious,
she did not hesitate TO deceive him.
He was rich. he could give her that
prominent position in society for
which she ysarned. The fact that
she was already engaged to a man for
whom she did care did not deter her
for a moment from her set purpose.