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

Il love you, too. BEATRICE"
With an apprehensive face that i'll &C
| corded with the fervor OF his pencil he
answered:
Not as much as I love you"
His communication brought him from
that far away table a sickly 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;
"Will you marry mes 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 filled with the
clamor of many voices speaking at once
each to its neighbor
THE punch at 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
womans voice, the high pitched tremu-
lous falsetto tone of Mrs. Gerard, who
was half on her feet
al feel just like little twitterlng bird
! in the tree top" she cried and then fell
over backward to the floor apparently in
a dead swoon.
Swift We're the rescuers. Nine millions
Of dollars in womans hands may have
! wings, but While ii lasts it 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 still
others. sodden with wine, stood agitated-
ly at their chairs, and then drank the
drees from their glasses. there seeming
nothing else 10 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-
ipsrent effort. 1t was his hand which
raised Mrs. Gerard's head from the floor
his knee upon which it was pillowed,
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 displacine
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 II" she murmured
AS best he could from his half-squat-
ting position on the floor, he put his
: young arms about the angular time
gouged form
Here, dearest, I'm my arms. safe where
you belong, little Beatrice" he said, SC
that an ever widening circle about him
! heard and repeated to those on the out
skirts
There was again 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 10 be restored
In response to his gestures the com
pany found, if not their old seats new
ones. which they drew as near t. Mrs.
! Then, at last Broadway spread out his
arms in gesture for silence. He got it
| Immediately. lie sat down and young
lawyer, 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,
begs 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-
tionS and 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
piece Of the grotesque, from which
even the most thoughtless might have
drawn sinister shade. A white haired
man, with a champagne glass in his hand,
arose and waved it aloft. He was recog-
nized as an intimate of the Gerard fam
lily. and of the age precisely of Mrs Ger
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.
"A health TO the bride, A health to
the BRIDE" he shouted
Then at a signal from him repeated
by the pallid Broadway Jones files of
walters swiftly appeared with great mag
NUNS Of champagne cooled in huge sill
yer pals. Under the def efforts of the
serving men. the foamjng 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
dais, made by heapng chairs upon chairs
and covering all with Oriental rugs, they
set Broadway Jones and his antique
divinity, while they crowned them with
chaplets made from the fiowery table dec
orations
1t 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 so many
laughs. so that. in the end the chief sign