Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-08-05

on bumbling like distracted bee: and
after all, the simplest way to get rid OF
the pest was to see what ii wanted.
Fanny got up. looking like cross.
pretty child of twelve. with her hanging
hair. and the delicate fluffy nightgown. IN
which she was not cold. because the tenn
perature OF her room would have been
considered warm for summer.
She seated herself by the telephone and
snatched up the receiver as II she were
going to shake it. But she soon settled
down TO absorbing interest in the give
and take of conversation with the instru-
ment.
Hello" she said. who are you? Oh.
Elinor Coolidge-what?-I was in bed.
You walked me up Never mind II
doesn't matter. $50 Yes. it was nice
enough ball Were you. - Oh. at Mrs
VanderPot's. How swagger! No, we
weren't invited. l didn't care. But man.
ma was mad. I don't know what's the
matter with mamma since we got back
She's got chip on her shoulder for
nearly every one. No. OF course
We haven't seen the paper | Just told
you you walked me mp. = What? -
Lord Love-oh, don't call him that, II
sounds cruel. l shall never forget his
face at the Wal-Why. Elinor Coolidge,
you don't mean It, Waiting in cheap
restaurant . . don't believe it's true.
in that. - | know newspaper man
myself - What? Oh, his names Tony
Kidd. He's great fun. He says he lies
all night thinking of lies for all day. II
it's sure to be a joke No, would
not like to go and find out for myself.
1t was bad enough az the Waldorf that
night. 1t just about gave me nervous
prostration, and / didn't see how you
could take II so coolly as You did. or
mamma either. No. She likes you.
She hasn't a good word for him now.
Says she suspected from the first. and was
always trying to pump him and find out
things -" Oh, that horrid affair about
him and papa? / don't think she cares
much. She says papa oughtn't to have
spoken to him and then ii wouldn't have
happened. Yes. papa went OF to Old
Point with that sneery Mr.. Mason man.
ma detests so. - It was the very next
day. believe 80 Who says papa's back
in New York? . Well. II he is. he
must be going to surprise mamma and
me. We haven't seen him yet.
"Oh. Elinor, think it would be horrid
to make DIP a party and go to that
restaurant -" Yes, like Summing and
seeing bohemian places pretty we'll. at
least / think / do. " haven't done
much yet. Mamma has. but she hardly
ever took me out with her anywhere, you
know, till We went to Europe. Z" . Yes,
in Paris. But here's it's different.
-" Well, 1 don't believe we'd find him
there IL we went, but. all the same. L
don't want to. Z" 4" . Why I can't help it
If you ask mamma to chaperon a party.
-" I won't go. Nothing will make me.
$50 can't answer for her. - don't
know whether she's engaged this evening
or not. She hasn't been going out so
very much since We came home.
Oh. yes. She's sure not to have left the
house yet. She's never out till IL.
Who? The Comte de Rocheverte?
I met him at the ball last night
What? +" ." He was at Mrs. VanderPot's
dinner first? . Took you in? .
Yes, he did speak to me of you when
danced with him. oh, ii was only
one waltz but tore my frock. so we sat
out the last part; I can't dance with
Frenchmen; they hop so-and tvYirl You
about. ," It was only that he asked me
if l knew you. - OF course he said he
thought you beautiful. Every one thinks
So He told me he met you at Maj. Cad
wallader Hunters lunch at Sherry's, two
days after We got home. No, the
major didn't ask us. Mamma says he's
turned the cold shoulder to her lately. /
don't know why. Yes, the count is
rather good looking. AS handsome as
:" OF, nothing to compare. You know
he isn't. 80 Pooh, don't think so much
of French titles as all that. - / sup
pose people will be nice to him.
Yes, quite good enough for Irritation.
but You're welcome to your old
comte. It's no inducement to me II
he joins the party. 1t may be to mamma
-" 4" You can ask her. - Well, I think
it would be jolly bad form of you all to
could be true that he - yes. perhaps
Jolly bad form was an expression or his.
/ don't care if it was. . . Oh. / suppose
all the horrid things about him must be
true because the news wouldn't have
come the way it did if they weren't But
l did like him, and l won't say ] didn't
now just because he's down in the world.
Lucky not to go to prison? Why,
he didn't defraud anybody, exactly. He
came over here to . 4" well. perhaps hs
did But he didn't do it. anyhow.
| don't believe he stayed in New York
after what happened Every one who
knew anything about it said he probably
slipped out of town that same night for
fear of trouble. Why. abroad some
where I should think. l would II
| had been in his place. - Not money
enough TO go away anywhere? Oh. he
must have had some. -" How too awful
if it should be true. No, wouldn't
see him again for anything-not if you'd
give me your diamond dog collar TO do
it. | think if YOU and mamma and
your Comte de Rocheverte go you'll he
just like ancient Romans watching the
martyrs eaten up by lions. - Not much
like a Christian martyr? Well, no. per-
haps not. Like going to see gladiators
fight and kill each other. then
Elinor Coolidge, hearing you talk that
way makes me just see how you'd look
dressed like a Roman lady, sitting on
marble seat beside Nero or some other
wicked old horror. and putting YOUR
death Yes. YOU would. / believe
you were Roman woman in another
state of existence. -. I won't talk about
it any more. d" +" You can ring up NAM
ma. if you like. Goodbye"
Down went the receiver. and back
scrambled little Fanny Milton into her
lavender-scented bed. shivering, not with
cold, but with emotion. Her telephone
was silent at last, but she could not find
her way into the dream again The door
of that dream was shut forever: and
Fanny WAS not jealous even of Lesley
Dearmer now.
II wonder If she knows-if he ever
wrote To her?-they were such friends.
the girl said to herself with the cover
pulled up to her small chin. and the big
eyes. that had overflowed for Loveland.
staring through the pink twilight of her
curtained room. What If It's true a bout
that restaurant--if he were starving?
After all, 1t was no use to try and sleep
again Fanny rang for the prim maid her
mother had imported for her from Eng
land and demanded the tea and toast
which that maid said all we'll regulated
English ladies took on waking. Then as
if on a second thought, she added: "Oh
you may bring me the morning paper. II
must be New York Light. If il isn't In
the house. please tell them to send out
for It,"