Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-11-08

L love you, TOO. BEATRlCE.
With an apprehensive face that ill &C
corded with the fervor of his pencil he
answered.;
| mot as much as love you"
His communication brought him from
that far away table a sicltly smile. a
deaths head symphony of age giddy with
| the emotions of youth. For a moment his
eyes fell beneath it, then with fists clench-
ed so that nails cut into the palms of his
| hands he met it and smiled in his turn.
The next communication from the aging
goddess via the waiter route was:
"Wlll you marry me-" BEATRICE.
Almost upsetting the table Broadway
leaped to his feet Some champagne
glasses did indeed roll in fragments on the
floor, The while every eye in the room
was turned upon him, and every retina
| there recorded his swift emphatic down
ward gesture of the arm, he shouted:
| Yes"
Instantly the room was filed with the
! clamor Of many voices speaking at once
each to its neighbor.
The punch al last said Mrs. Pres
brey.
Then she looked for young Wallace,
but he had vanished some moments be-
fore.
There succeeded silence as profound as
the babel had been vigorous a moment
| before. Expectation was written on
every face. Out of the silence arose a
woman's voice. the high pitched tremu-
lous falsetto tone of Mrs. Gerard, who
was half on her feet.
81 feel just like a little twittering bird
in the tree top" she cried, and then fell
over backward 10 the floor apparently in
a dead swoon
Swift were the rescuers. Nine millions
Of dollars in a womans hands may have
wings, but while it lasts 1t also puts
wings to the feet of others Women
rushed To Mrs. Gerard. men tried to
push past them. some one called for a
physician others for brandy. while sill
others, sodden with wine, stood agitated-
ly at their chairs, and then drank the
dregs from their glasses, there seeming
nothing else to do.
But If the feet of some of the diners
had wings. those of Broadway Jones
seemed planted in twin automobiles OF
greatest horsepower. Through the press
Of men and women he passed without ap-
parent effort. 1t was his hand which
| raised Mrs. Gerards head from the floor
his knee upon which 1t was pillowed,
! while he placed smelling salts beneath
the Woman's slightly tinted nose.
1T was so sudden. poor dear he said
with just the slightest hint of his old
. humor in his eyes, and would not say
more
A doctor augmented without dsplacine
I the youth, who still supported Mrs. Ger
ard. Soon she opened her eyes. Broad
way Jones mind had phrased the words
before her lips uttered them.
Where am 70" she murmured
: AS best he could from his half-squat-
: ting position on the floor, he put hi:
young arms about the angular time.
z gouged form
5 Here, dearest, In my arms, safe where
r you belong, little Beatrice he said, sc
that an ever widening circle about him
heard and repeated to those on the out
skirts
I There was again a merciful interval
which was hidden by the outspread skirts
of the women. Then, finally. Mrs. Ger
: ard was led to her place, while, calm and
alert at her side stood Broadway Jones
waiting for order to be restored.
/ In response to his gestures the com
pany found, if not their old seats, new
ones, which they drew as near to Mrs
Gerard's table as possible.
Then, at last, Broadway spread out his
! arms in a gesture for silence He got il
! Immediately. He sat down and a young
lawyer, a friend, took his place.
, MY friends" said he, I'VE have seen
: many things together, have shared many
experiences Now, we're going to share
: a great happiness. Our guest, | may
well say. our guest of honor Mrs. Gerard
beRs to announce her engagement to
marry Mr.. Jackson Jones"
At first there was only an astonished
, ripple, to be succeeded a moment later
by bursts Of laughter This in it's turn
was followed by a blending of softer
merriment. the mingling of congratula =
lions ana polite sprightliness, when peo-
pie began to reflect that after all this
| might be one of those punches" with
, which the name of Broadway Jones had
been associated.
| But merriment unbounded returned
when from the far end Of the room came
/ a piece of the grotesque, from which
, even the most thoughtless might have
drawn sinister shade. A white haired
| man. with champagne glass in his hand
arose and waved it aloft. He was recoR-
nized as an intimate OF the Gerard fam
: lily and Of the age precisely of Mrs. Ger
! ards second husband-thst is to say, OF
{ her own age His hoary head brought
into striking relief the great difference
in the ages of the pair whose "happi-
ness had just been announced.
t "A health TO the bride! A health t.
the bride" he shouted.
| Then at a signal from him. repeated
by the palld Broadway Jones, files OF
walters swiftly appeared with great mag
NUNS OF champagne cooled in huge sill
yer pals. Under the deft efforts Of the
serving men, the foaming wine flowed in
unrestrained rivers
Then began the maddest period of the
| night which justified all Of the precau-
lions Of NJ. Henri Upon an improvised
dsis made by heaplng chairs upon chairs
and covering all with Oriental rugs, they
set Broadway Jones and his antique
divinity. while they crowned them with
r cha plets made from the fowery table dec
, orations.
. II was a season Of hilarious frenzy
, and as gradually the torrents and cas-
, cades of wine swept away the conference
of speech, words lost their meaning
their sound. and became merely many
laughs, that in the end the chief sigr
of merrirnent issued alone from every
. mouth These uniting, became but 8