Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1911-01-12
SYNOPSIS

j
by his friends Jimmy was. rotund and
looked shorter than he really was. His
ambition in life was to be taken seriously,
puC people steadily refused to do so, his
art is considered a huge joke, except to
himself, If he asked people to dinner eV-
eryone expected a frolic. Jimmy marries
Bella Knowles; they live together a year
and are divorced Jimmy's friends ar
range to celebrate the first anniversary
My dear" she said over the tele-
phone, when I invited her, q want
you to know him. He'll be crazy
about you. That type of man, big and
deadly earnest, always falls in love
with your type Of girl, the appealing
sort, you know. And he has been
too busy, up to now, to know what
love is. But mind, don't hurt him;
he's dear boy. I'm half in love with
him myself, and Dallas trots around
at his heels like a poodle"
But all Anne's geese are swans, SO
I thought little Of the HARRISON man
except to hope that he played respect
able bridge and wouldn't mark the
cards with a steel spring under his
finger nail, as one Of her finds" had
done
We all arrived about the same time,
and Anne and I went upstairs togeth-
or to take off our wraps in what had
been Bella's dressing room. It was
Anne who noticed the violets.
Look at that" she nudged me,
when the maid was examining her
wrap before she laid it down What
did / tell you, Kit? He's still quite
mad about her"
jim had painted BelIa's portrait
while they were going up the Nile on
their wedding trip. It looked quite
like her. if you stood well off in the
middle of the room and if the light
came from the right. And just be-
meath it, in a silver case. was a
bunch Of viOlets. 1t was really touch
ing, and violets were fabulous. It
made me want to cry, and to shake
Bella soundly, and to go down and
pat jim on his generous shoulder, and
tell him what a good fellow I thought
him, and that Bella wasn't worth the
dust under his feet l don't know
much about psychology, but it would
be interesting to know just what eff
feet those violets and my sympathy
for jim had in influencing my decision
a half-hOur later It is not surprising,
under the circumstances, that for some
time after the odor of violets made
me ILL.,
We all met downstairs in the living
room, quite informally, and Dallas
was banging away at the pianola,
l.
and feeling of a football center-rush
kicking a goal Mr. HARRISON was
standing near the fire, a little away
from the others, and he was all that
Anne had said and more in appear
anCe. He was tall-nOt too tall, and
very straight. And after one got
past the oddly of his face being
bronze-coIored above his white collar,
and of his brown hair being sun
bleached on top until it was almost
yellow, one realized that he was very
handsome He had what one might
call a resolute nose and chin, and a
pleasant, rather humorous, mouth.
And he had blue eyes that were, at
that moment, wandering with interest
over the lot of us. Somebody shout
ed his name to me above the Tristan
and Isolde music, and I held out my
hand.
Instantly I had the feeling one
sometimes has, of having done just
that same thing, with the same sur
roundings, in the same place, years
before l was looking up at him, and
he was staring down at me and hold
ing my hand. And then the music
stopped and he was saying:
Where was it?"
Where was what?" l asked The
feeling was stronger than ever with
his voice.
4 beg your pardon" he said, and
let my hand drop. Just for a second
had an idea that we had met before
somewhere, a long time ago. I sup
pose-no. 1t couldn't have happened
or l should remember" He was smi-
ling, half at himself
No" I smiled back at him. 1T
didn't happen. I'm afraid-unless we
dreamed it"
"We?"
Il felt that way, too. for a moment -
The Brushwood Boy" he said with
conviction. Perhaps we will find a
common dream life, where we knew
each other. You remember the Brush
wood Boy loved the girl for years be
fore they really met" But this was
a little too rapid, even for me.
Nothing so sentimental, I'm
afraid" I retorted. 7 have had ex-
actly the same sensation sometimes
when l have sneezed"
Betty Mercer captured him then
and took him off to see Jims newest
picture. Anne pounced on me at
once.
Isn't he delicious >" she demanded
Did you ever see such shoulders
And such a nose? And he thinks we
are parasites, cumbers of the earth
heaven knows what. He says every
woman ought to know how to earn
her living, in case of necessity!
said I could make enough at bridge
and he thought 1 was joking He's a
dear" Anne was enthusiastic.
I looked after him. Oddly enough
the feeling that we had met before
struck me. Which was ridiculous, OF
course, for we learned afterward that
the nearest we ever came to meeting
was that our mothers had been school
friends! Just then I saw Jim beck
oning to me crafty from the den. He
looked quite yellow, and he had been
running his fingers through his hair
For heavens sake. come in, kit
he said. 81 need a cool head. Didn't
I tell you this is my calamity day?"
Cook gomez" I asked with interest
I was starving.
He closed the door and took up a
tragic attitude in front of the fire
did you ever hear of Aunt Selma? p
he demanded.
Il knew there was one I ventured
mindful of certain gossip as to