Evening star., 1912-07-21

II !: : : :; :. !: ::
/ A&6l \ everybody said that
III I II the New Workers
DN> GsN II of our generation
IN N ZI NJ had ever known
III ~ NVj n There seemed an
iT Nv Unsuitable malice III
the sharp winds,
| persistent cruelty in the thick, icy at
mosphere. Even on the November day
that / first saw her remember that
| resistless chill was creeping. like :. thing
of shape and sinister purpose. upon the
city: and l was shivering miserably when
l came in just before dinner and ran up
our two flights of stairs, childishly yearn-
ing for the warmth that waited me at the
top Our outer hall was rather dark. and
could not see plainly the lady who hap
pened to be coming down from the floor
above but I knew that it must be Miss
Larcher. We lived in an old-fashoned
house comfortably remade into studios
and apartments, whose easy going ten
or died, or in the case of the Neil Gill
lespies who had the big studio on the
top floor, went abroad. 1t was only a
week before that the Gillespies had sailed,
the arrangement having suddenly been
made with this old friend of theirs that
she should take the studio during their
absence. Mrs Gillespics flowing conf
dences had included. somewhat to my dis
taste. great many points of Miss
Larcher's somber history. and although
the new tenant was, her friend said, very
far from the type of woman one expects
to find living in a studio, Mrs. Gillespie
had nevertheless been sure that | should
like her very much.
So. as we stood there facing each other
in the dusk. | Ventured to speak to her
to tell her that ! was Mrs. Southmayd,
and to say a few welcoming things that
should still not seem oNercordial. for l
had quickly caught that there was some
thing peculiarly formal and elegant in her
unaggressve presence and ] did not
wish her to think me obtrusive or ia
mliar. She had only arrived, she said,
that afternoon. and had now left her
maid to unpack while she went out to get
some dinner. and she asked me, rather
casually. and by way of response to my
own. overtures. to tell her of some good
place to dine nearby. for she had never
lived SO far down town before, and did not
know about the restaurants.
.'Oh. won't you come in and dine with
me. Miss Larcher?' l mpusvely begged
her. forgetting the formal manner ] had
assigned myself. My husband will not
be at home, and it is so desolate dining
! alone
She accepted very readily. and was
| therefore my guest before l had really
| seen her face: and it was not until led
her into my own bedroom and helped
her to take off her wraps that / got a
complete impression of her. She managed
| gracefully her slender height, and it was
not until you looked her squarely In the
| face that you realized that she was. as
| people say. mo longer young; Mrs. Gill
| lespie ] remembered, had at least been
| Loyalty vague on the point Of her friend $
age. Her dark face was too thin, and
| there look deep In her eyes. that
/ one does not like to see, but she was OF
the scrupulously worldly type that never
allows itself to 'go to pieces exteriorily.
| and her dark hair was so beautifully ar
| ranged, her smile so charming. and the
details of her quiet dress. to a feminine
perception at least SO ravishing. that she
| could still pass for pretty woman. She
| too, seemed cold, so l gave her some
| sherry and had fire built in the dining
| room as well as In our little library. we
both complacently absorbed the warmth
| as we sa1 and talked, and Miss Larcher
! inquired. little anxiously, whether she
| could have as many open fires as she
| liked in her own studio. In hurried.
| explanatory way. she added that she had
been ordered south for the winter as
| usual, and had been on the point OF start
! ing when she heard of the Gillespie
| plans and changed her own. looked
| ed and said she believed that she had
been superstitiousy obedient to medica!
| prescription and was tired OF II. At all
| events, she had spent year after year IN
| California on the Rivera. in Sicily, until
| she was bored to desperation and her
| throat seemed no better after all. SO she
| had decided to spend one winter as sne
| pleased, seeing her Old friends, nearing
all the music that she wanted, and lg-
noring. with delirious imprudence the
stupid matter of climate. The next day
she should have a piano moved III ana
| go to Philharmonic in the evening. She
| believed she should be quite content:
! nothing for years had promised so richly.
| We had barely finished dinner when
Sidney Fennell. whose rooms We're oppo-
site ours, stopped in as usual. 1T had De
come his custom to have a cigar with
| Dick before he went out for the evening:
| or when as was now coming oftener
| to be the case, Dick was not at home. he
would stop long enough to tell me some
! thing amusing or to play to me llttle.
Ny guests encounter seemed slnguiariy
fortunate. for Sidney was still young
enough to feel devouring JOY in any
one who genuinely understood music. as
| / knew that Miss Larcher did, and l
guided their instant plunge into what was
| for them the great topic Sidney had al
ready composed some credltabie thlngs,
and he brisiled with an artist dlNlna-
tons. but he felt hampered. tninK, ny
the narrowness Of his experience. Miss
| I.archer. on the other hanN In ADDITION
| TO a fair amount of solid knowledge. had
an easy familia rity with musical people
and performances the world over; there
| seemed to be nothing. his eager ques-
| tionng drew out. she had not seen and
| heard 1t was some time previous that
/ ] had abandoned the use of Sidney as a
| social pawn. greatly as his good looks
| and good spirits and kind of youthful
radiance tempted what is supposed to De
/ "A young matron's pre-eminent obsession.
The danger Of inviting the obliginS youth
to meet the pretty gir.s'' of my acauaint-
ance had proved to be that the pretty
| girls had liked him more than was neces-
sary, and that he. seemingly invulner-
able never thought of them again. But
these two were already on solid basis
I had only to sit by, purringly. and con-
| template them. By the time that they
both had to leave they We're in the midst
Of an amiable quarrel over Strauss: SO
| invited them to come to dinner few
nights later and have it out at their
leisure.
| Because We honestly liked each other
and had each of us. many empty hours,
Miss Larcher and I fell shortly into An
unburdensome intimacy. | had. to tell
the truth. been wretchedly lonely before
she came because Dicks work, or his
pleasure. ] weakly preferred not to know
which. allowed him TO be at home SO lit
tie: a fact which | preferred that my
older friends should 50 far as possible,
not suspect. 1t was different with Con-
stance Larcher: one could not mind her
knowing. 1t was her exquisite way not