Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1914-06-06
CHAPTER v.
Discussing a sister-in-Law.

Discussing SlSIer-ln-LdW
You remember my sister-in-law,
don't you, Brandy" was the question
that Leslie Wrandall put to a friend
one afternoon, as they sat drearily in
a window of one of the fashionable up
town clubs, little more than year
after the events described in the fore
going chapters. Drearily, have said.
for the reason that it was Sunday, and
raining at that
81 met Mrs. Wrandan a few years
ago in Rome" said his companion. re-
newing interest in a conversation that
had died some time before of its own
exhaustion shes most attractive
saw her but once. 1 think it was at
somebody's fete."
"She's returning to New York the
end of the month"; said Leslie. Been
abroad for over a year. She had
villa at Nice this winter"
81 remember her quite we'll. l was
of an age then to be particularly SEN
sitive to female loneliness If I'd been
staying on in Rome, l should have
screwed up the courage, I'm sure, to
have asked her to sit for me-"
Brandon Booth was of an old Phila-
delphia family: an old and wealthy
family Both views considered, he was
qualified to walk hand in glove with
the fastidious Wrandalls. Leslie's
mother was charmed with him be-
cause she was also the mother of Wv
ian. The fact that he went in for por-
trait painting and seemed averse to
subsisting on the generosity OF his
father, preferring to dive by his tai
ent, in no way operated against him.
so far as Mrs. Wrandal was con-
HI 1lf
| hers: if he elected to that sort of
thing, all well and good. He could
afford to be eccentric; there remained,
| in the perspective he scorned. the bulk
of huge fortune to Offset whatever
| idiosyncrasies he might choose to cul-
tivate. Some day, in spite Of himself,
she contended serenely, he would be
very, very rich. What could be more
desirable than fame, family and for
tune all heaped together and thrust
upon one exceedingly interesting and
| handsome young man?
He had been the pupil of celebrated
| craftsmen and painters in Europe, and
| had exhibited a sincerity of purpose
| that was surprising, all things con-
| sidered The mere fact that he was
not obliged to paint in order to obtain
| a living was sufficient cause for won
der among the artists he met and
! studied with or under
His studio in New York was not a
| fashionable resting place 1t was a
workshop. You could have tea there.
| of course, and you were sure to meet
people you knew and liked, but it was
quite as much of workshop as any
! you could mention. He was not a
dabbler in art, not mere dauber OF
pigments: he was an artist
| Booth was thirty-perhaps a year
or two older: tall, dark and good look
| ing. The air of the thoroughbred
marked him He did not affect loose,
| flowing cravats and baggy trousers,
| nor was he careless about his finger
nails. He was simply the ordinary,
everyday sort of chap you would
meet in Fifth avenue during parade
hours, and you would take a second
| look at him because of his face and
manner but not on account of his
dress. Some of his ancestors came
over ahead of the Mayflower, but he
| did not gloat
! Leslie Wrandan was his closest
| friend and harshest critic 1t didn't
/ really matter to Booth what Leslie
| said of his paintings: he quite under
| stood that he didn't know anything
| about them
when does Mrs. Wrandall return %
| asked the painter, after a long period
| of silence spent in contemplation OF
| the cleaning pavement beyond the
| clubs window
That's queer" said Leslie. looking
up. Il was thinking of Sara myself
She sails next week I've had a let
ter asking me to open her house in
| the country Her place is about two
| miles from fathers 1t hasn't been
opened in two years Her father built