The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1914-08-09
tCopyiEht, lsll.)

In reality it was a small palace. From
Boston to Bar Harbor there was nothing
FINER of its kind srchitecturally, except
here and there few Carnegie Libraries
and orphan asylumns anywhere along
the coast. 1t stood there on the prom
ontory at Blue Haven, commanding .
marvellous expanse of sky line and sea,
a melancholy but beautiful reminder Of
Its dead architects rare genius.
The ample spsciousness and stateliness
of its salons, combined with the known
democracy of its fair owner, made Es-
peranza-by-the-Sea a synonym in those
parts for a. splendid hospitality. The
size of the smallest of her sequence of
drawing-rooms made it almost necessary
for Mrs. Harlow to entertain on Law
ish scale, lest her parties" as she called
them, should appear to be failure.
Just look around you," my friend
Billie Rawson, late of the United States
Secret Service, observed to me one aft
ernoon while we were attending one OF
Mrs. Harlow's famous FIVE o'clocks, with
nigh on to thousand other members OF
the summer -Four Hundred. THE treas
lures of art and porcelain and literature
that this good lady has on her walls,
.mantels, and shelves are enough to keep
connoisseur busy for year, just cas-
ually inspecting them. 1t is a wonder
TO me that she dares have such treas
ures off here in so comparatively lonely
spot"
That may be why she does dare, "
said l. The fewer people there are
around the smaller the chances of theft "
But the greater the exposure" said
Rawson. why, my dear fellow, you
don't suppose" he added, that these
things aren't already marked by some
body somewhere, as affording some
thing Of an opportunity, do you? Look
at the crowd that has been here this aft
ernoon- How many OF them do you
suppose Mrs. Harlow really knows?"
Granting that she doesn't know them
at all" said l, somebody does. The
fact that she keeps open house here is
Of course pretty widely known, but,
after all, those who are here this after
noon are in sense vouched for by peo-
pie she does know, and in the end it
comes to the same thing"
you think so, do you?" said Rawson,
with a mysterious smile on his face.
well, now, just for the fun of it, let's
look around here and see what we can
discover. For instance, there's old Col.
Bustard over there-nice old chap
blew il here at the River View three
days ago, and is one of the heroes of
the place because of his bluff and
hearty ways, and the easy grace with
which he rattles off stories Of his PROV
ess in India. He is here at Blue Haven
as the guest of the Marrowdales, who
met him-where? In England, under
social conditions practically guarantee
ing his character? Not at all. In New
York, through mutual friends who know
all about him? Not a bit of it. The
Marrowdales picked him up on the Mau-
retania three weeks ago-or he picked
them up-I don't know which. But
that's immaterial-the fact is that he is
here, introduced to the River View by
the -rowdales, themselves eminently
respectable members of society, and
brought here to Mrs. Harlow's this aft
ernoon to be lionized."
Eyes, and a bully good lion he is,
too" said L
sSure thing-the life of the Zoo, as
it were" laughed Rawson. IF 1 had
to be cast away on a desert island for
year with only two companions I'd
like nothing better than to have you and
Col. Bastard constitute the party-but
suppose l were to rise up here at this
moment and announce to this ecstatic
company that this hero of theirs, this
wholly charming Col. Bastard, was
cashiered from the British army eight
years ago, not as a common garden thief,
but because he was a sufferer from that
aristocratic form of lunacy known as
kleptomania; and that his real name is
not Bastard. but Skelton-"
You don't mean to say he's that Skel-
ton who was kicked out of the British
army by Gen. Sir William" began.
81 said suppose" said Rawson. "All
things are supposable, but in this case,
Jenkins, if you'll promise to keep it en-
tirely to yourself, don't mind telling
you that"
Rswson suddenly stopped speaking,
for as he spoke no less a person than
the subject of his discourse appeared at
our side, the perfect picture of smiling
lffability.
What charming place this is" said
the colonel, glancing admiringly about
him. -.
Our hostess is quite a connoisseur,"
said /.
"Yes," said the colonel. "But it isn't
that, exactly. One looks for something