The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-05-09

T was startled to find that her feeling of ease and relaxation in her present situation was due not entirely to the regatned associations of -her girl hood. Much of the purring comfort of her position was caused by the proximity of this powerful man, who had somehow and without communi- cation never been quite. absent from companionship there was now in. his very glance!
 Brookheld himself, almost silent be- tween his sister, who was analysing recipes with Ellinger on one side, and Helen's boy, who was lowering youthful protectorate over Viola on the other side, found amusement in telegraphing to Helen a mental com ment upon it all. Under that heavy and apparently phlegmatic mask Helen could see the play of his thoughts like summer lightning behind an evening cloud-bank-the veriest ghost of a smile from one corner of the mouth, the slightest droping of an eyelid at some banalfty, a suggestive uplift of eyebrow doing service for in Quiry, an indescribable accent of glance that conveyed assent. Helen's quiet enjoyment of the im- plicit communication was interrupted tonishment at. the fact that Brook fields facial play was a running com mentary upon her own inmost thought. and then, as she felt herself flushing beneath this consciousness there was just noticeable compress sion of Brookheld's lips in the reas- suring audacity of phantom caress, after which. in more overt communi- cation, he lifted his glass and smil. ingly, though silently, drank to her. This last act caught the attention of Hllinger, ever watchful for any legitimate excuse, and he roughly led the chorus which voiced less inti- mately Brookfield's sentiment: ITO our fair and honored guest"
 Shortly afterward, when the party had again scattered it's attention Helen found Jacks eyes saying: Wouldn't this have been much bet ter, after all-this cosiness, this inti- macy. tranquility. and warmth Wasn't 1t all a vanity. vexation of spirit: the years of strident effort iu the aggressive charities, the societies for civic betterment, and all the altru- tstic, self-appointed turmoil since we parted?" Again Brookfield lifted his glass as Helen's look of waverinR in- decision seemed to him confession. | Ellinger and general laugh follow Ing some pleasantly of his at Brook fields expense
 Jo. the colored hall-boy in Brook neld's establishment, appeared in the doorway leading from the library. Yes?" inquired ,Brookffeld. ! MT. Denning, sur." said 10. E Brookfield begged the company to excuse him moment, then rose from the table and followed Jo.
 Chapter TIT
 sWell, Jo?" Brookheld looked at the negro boy bit impatiently. On those rare occasions when the house was dark. Jo was endowed with suf- most any applicant away. MT. Denning. suh," 10 repeated. with slightly justifying emphasis. Bf0okheld hesitated, and then: Ask MT. Denning to come up," he said. Yes. suh. The boy left on his er- rand.
 sBrookfield moved a few. steps after the boy, as If with the intent to re- yoke his order; and then, as a more definite plan occurred to him. he called to the group about the supper-table: :: Levi say, Lew! Won't you la dies excuse MT. Ellinger a moment ?''
 A chorus of assent, not necessarily | Ellinger joined Brookfield.
 Want to see mel"
 Broohheld took Lew by the elbow and led him few steps from the doorway and beyond the line of vision
 From Dennins's hers-he expects a game. My sister. and Mn. whipple object to the pasteboards. SD don't mention 1t before them Not a word." answered the dis erect old sport: "but of Tom"-he nodded toward the hati door-'what of him 2,
 I'll attend to Tom," said Brook field; you rejoin the ladies.'' Good"
 As Lew regained the doorway of the dining-room Dennine entered from the hallway.
 Hello. Lew" callel the newcomer. Eilinger pausel in helpless embar- rassment between his duty and this convival interruption.
 Go en-" said Brookfleld, impera- lively, and Lew obeyed.
 penning, astonished at the sight of Ellinger in evening attire anl by the formal front of the proprietor, sail:
 "what have you got tonight-young Rockefeller? ?"
 Some ladies'" BrookfieId started to explain, and paused, drowning, in- terrupted by the leer on Denning,s |@1ace. And then he added, My s1S- ter-and- her daughter-and a lady friend of hers There was a rebuke in the measured authority of the ut terance.
 NO game?'' Denning asked. disap- pointedly.
 "Not until they go'
 The young man, who had changed his position so as to catch a glimpse of the group in the next room. ex- claimed with that sudden alteration of mood characteristic of the immature mind in the presence of new toys: Oh, chahng- -dish!"
 They've been to the opera, and I had Harvey brew them some terra pin.',
 My luck Denning complained.
 No. I think there's some left '' Brookheld consoled; and as an ex- pressiOn of relief passed over Den nings. countenance, Jack felt a sense of shame that his victims held among their number one so simple as the man before him. Denning was an example of type numerically in- creasing-that wasteful intermediate Shirt-sleeves; the pampered son of A father apochryphally opulent. The class to which he belonged h4d not yet arrived at the distinction of inn peria1 denunciation, and Tom was an only child; but had there been a sister the family could have been reconciled to seeing her a foreign princess. As Brookheld regarded his guest there passed vaguely before his mind a picture of the scheme of things so faahioped that Inv a 1aw of nature ft