The Washington herald., 1914-10-25

shd ne followed with a great ado OF
helphg her. The two were rnakino .
slower job of It than either would have
required alone A-'e
It's rather fun being prooosed -
while one IS setting the table, P.rs;s
murmured. We're getting terribly
You'd be so beautiful domest;c.+.
ed, Forbes urged.
But so somebody else thinks-a,d
were on his grounds" And since =
was Characteristic of Persis to exnr.sS
a virtue in a sporting term, she shook
her head. We're not playin9 strictIv
according to Hoyle. It's not quite
7 know it." said Forbes aAnd l.
/ dare you to come outside-off the
I get" '' e'AH''
The first chance you get to whatsH
SAID Mrs. Neff, who appeared as sud-
denly as Cinderella's witch. And sb.
looked triae witchy this nornine
without the re uyenating spells of her
maid. 4 couldn't help oyerhearin1-
put my eyes aren't open I didn't SEQ
Persis surprised Forbes and Mrs.
Nef by her frankness.
was saying would take a long
walk with Mr.. Forbes the first chance
l get"
Good work." said Mrs. Nef,. quite
earnestly. I was telling him what a
love OF couple you two would make"
FersIs turned on her in amazement.
You were telling Mr.. Forbes that|
Yes, | was. When a woman gets
as old as feel of mornings, she has
the right to be a matchmaker. You
two go on and work out your own SAL
vation and I'll keep Willie off the
scent. II / could prevent Alice from
marrying Stowe Webb, and you from
marrying Willie, I'd retire on my lau-
rels. dote on conspiracies. That's
where Alice gets her knack for plots"
This to her daughter, who sauntered
in just IN time to receive the facer and
gasp:
Why, mother, what do you mean"
Forbes and Persis paid little Heed to
the usual duel of these two women.
They were thinking of the complexity
of outside interference in their own
program of quiet communion.
Persis' mind was full of reproof for
Mrs. Neff; but she was silenced by the
presence of Alice, and Ten EycISs ap-
pearance, and the irruption of Wini-
fred with a great tray of egg-gold and
bacon-bronze
1t was an informal gathering at that
breakfast table. Important articles Of
toilet had been forgotten, and there
were no maids or men to repair the
omissions. But too great correctness
would have been an anachronism at
Wlnitreds table Everybody had gone
to bed early and tired, and had slept
longer and better than usual Doing
without was new game to these peo-
pie, and they made picnic-ground of
the breakfast-room.
Even Willie tried to romp with his
guests, but he lacked the genius for
hilarity, and his jokes consisted prin-
c1pally of repeating exactly what some
body else had just said, then laughing
as hard as he could.
He told Persis that he wanted to
show her the farm, and the new foun-
tain IN the sunken gardens, and he told
her in such way that the others felt
themselves cordially invited not to 90
along. But they were used to tactless-
ness from Willie, and they merely
winIed mutually.
Mrs. Neff led Forbes about the place,
which she knew well. But the beau
ties were only torments to him. Be-
low the climbing marble stairway to
the temple there was a broken stairway
winding down the hill. 1t meandered
like the dry bed Of a stream, between
brick walls, bordered with flowers, with
now and then a resting place. or some
quaint niche where a little statue
smiled or fountain trilled and tinkled.
At two stages of the descent there
were circular levels with ornate shell
tiers and aristocratic plants From the
lowest shelf there was only a path
dropping down the long hill to a dis
tant wall; beyond this ragged woods
like a mob of poor shut out from a
rich mans place
That wall is the end of the Enslee
estate" said Mrs. Neff.
There is an end to IT, them" said
Forbes, more bitterly than he intended.
There's an end to everything, my
boy, Mrs. Nef brooded, with a far
off bitterness of her own-"an end to
wealth and love and-everything."
But Forbes was too young in his
own anxieties to give much importance
TO her ancient plants, though she was
not too old to understand his. He was
glancing upward now and then to the
little temple. It was visible from here,
though the two figures in it were small
and blurred with light.
Forbes was sure that Enslee was
proposing to Persis, for he gesticulated,
pointed at the landscape and the house.
He was evidently commencing these to
Persis, laying them at her feet, begging
her to become at once the chatelaine of
this splendor.
Forbes wanted to abandon Mrs. Neff
and fly to the rescue of Persis.
He could not know that he pleaded
well enough at a distance. His absence
wrought for him against Willie Ems
lees presence Willie was indeed
commencing his estate to Persis, urg-
ing her to marry him at once and set
tie here for the summer, except what
time they might spend abroad or on the
yacht, or his other palace at Newport.
But while he pleaded Persis was
searching Enslee's landscape for
Forbes. 1t would be Joy for Forbes
and her to pick out a hundred acres
or more-not too far from New York;
perhaps among the hunting and poloing
colonies on Long Island. While they
were building they could cruise.
And so, while Willie pleaded in his
uaQQin0 Way her own irnaoinatior, ma.