The Washington herald., 1914-10-18

was the rival, since Enslee,s tnfafua-
ton for Persis. was generally known
| long before Forbes reached New York.
Even so, Forbes would have prefer
red to make love to Mr.. Enslee's sweet
heart somewhere else than at Mr. Ems
lees home. But how was he to fight
his rival except where his rival wass
How rescue the imprisoned princess
but BY invading the ogre's castle!
Besides, in invading Enslee's own do
main he was giving Enslee every ad-
vantage All Of the splendor of Ens-
lees chateau, the armor of riches and
the sword Of gold, would defend him,
while Forbes would artaek only with
his empty hands and the power Of love
II Goliath thought that David took an
unfair advantage of him, why did not
Goliath lay aside his bucI<ler and his
bludgeon and use a sling, too! Peb-
bles were plentiful enough.
As Forbes folded his togs and wished
them better and Drawer, he paused to
laugh at what Persis had told him !:
Willie believed that Forbes was flirting
with Mrs. Nef for herself or her
daughteri What blind little ape Ems
lee wasi Then Forbes Strengthened up
and flushed and called himself double
dyed cad He flung aside the things he
was folding and resolved not to go to
Enslee's home at all
He sank into a chair and pondered.
II he did not go he would be left alone
in New York Only a few days re-
mained of his little vacation. By the
time Persis came back Forbes would
be at his army post, slave to disei-
pline and the everlasting round of the
same dull duties. Persis would be
angry and hurt, and she would marry
! Enslee; she would live IN that home
| with Enslee; she would become part
Of the Enslee estates, body and soul.
Forbes gorge rose at the visions this
brought to his mind He ripped out an
oath, and flung off the withes of such
false honor He would. he must, save
Persis at any cost. II Enslee were
foolish enough to think that Forbes was
hunting Mrs Nef or Alice, let him take
the consequences.
The motor caravan was made up OF
three machines. Winifred ran her own
roadster, nursing the steering wheel to
her bosom, while her fat elbows har-
ried Ten EycIs cramped form. Bob
Fielding had been unable to get away
from the troubled waters of Wall
street, and Winifred had adopted Ten
Eyck as his understudy.
Mrs. Neff took her four-passenger
touring car. Forbes decided after sew
eral appalling bumps that it had be-
longed to her first husband Alice sat
with the chauffeur, dreaming of Stowe
Webb. no doubt. In the rear Mrs. Nef,
in her most garrulous mood, talked
nonsense through ven whose flying
ends kept swapping in Forbes face. And
when they were beyond Broadway her
cigarette ashes kept sitting into his
eyes.
There was pause by agreement for
dinner at a roadhouse-'their last CIV
ilized meal" as Ten Eyck mournfully
prophesied. before they entered the
Purgatory of Winifred's cooking at
Willie's clearinghouse"
When the task of fretting out din
ner was finished they got under way,
pushing north again.
Eventually the pilot car, or, rather, its
guiding cloud of dust, swept off to the
east, turning its back on the Hudson
and plunging into the heart of West
chester County, an ocean of hills like
green pillows, and valleys like their
troughs; peaceful castles set on high
places, and pleasant villages dispersed
in low; the homely roominess of farms.
and now and then a huddle of crowded
rookeries, where Italian peasants had
set up a congenial little Slums along
some ugly waste
Finally the searchlights of Ensiee's
machine turned sharp at right angles
A beautiful granite bridge leaped into
view so suddenly as If the great god
Wotan had builded it with word. At
the farther side of the bridge stood
lodgekeeperS home, whose architecture
seemed to shift the scene instantly to
the France of the first Francis.
The car giided across the bridge,
and the moon-whipped stream reveling
below it, then proceeded through a
granite gateway with a portcullis sus-
pended like a social guillotine And
then the sense of privacy began The
the Enslee estates. A turn or two more,
and the wheels were swishing into the
graveled court of a stately mansion.
The door under the porte-cochere
was open. and in its embrasure stood
leanish man and his fattiSh wife, hos
pitable as innkeepers, the warm light
streaming back of them like peering
children.
Enslee's voice came out of the silence:
That you, Prout? Hare you. Mar
tina" And then, with characteristic
originality, We'll, we got here"
To which Prout responded with equal
importance:
$50 you did, sir"
He and his wife had been working
like mad since Ensiee telephoned, try
ing to turn themselves into a troop of
servants, whisking shrouds from table
and piano and chairs, and nopping a
cloth of dust from every surface. They
were as respectful now as Philemon |
and Baucis welcoming Jupiter, and as
apologize as if the paface were their
own unworthy cot.
The, cars rolled up to the door in
turn. The women as they got out piled
their wraps on Martha till she COM
pletely disappeared, except for a pair
of clutching hands, and a voice from
the depths. ..
The ehauffeurs made OF down the
road to the distant garage, with instruc-
tions to stay there after one, OF them
should have come back for WinItreds
roadster
The gardener, apologizing for his
in the Office of butler,
led the little troop into the great living
room, where a big FIRE blazed, splashing
walls and floors with banners of red