Atlanta Georgian., 1914-02-19

w HEN the Dlsnop and rather
w Dan arrived the bell was
rung and we went to break
fast.
We breakfasted in the new dlnin.
room, which was now finished and
being used for the first time.
1t was a gorgeous chamber be-
blazoned with large candelabra, huge
mirrors. and pictures in gold frames
resembling the room it was intended
to initiate, yet not resembling it, as
woman overdressed resembles a we'll
dressed woman.
My father sat at the head OF his
table with the bishop, Lady Margaret
and Aunt Bridget on his right, and
myself. my husband, Betsy Beauty
and Mr.. Eastcliff on his left. The
lawyers and the trustees were mid
way down, Father Dan with Messy
Macleod was at the end, and a large
company of our friends and neigh
bors, wearing highly -colored flowers
on their breasts and in their button
holes, sat between.
The meal was very long, and much
Of the food was very large-large
fish, large roasts of venison, veal
beef and mutton. large puddings and
large cheeses, all cut on the table and
served by walters from Blackwater
There were two long black lines of
them-a waiter behind the chair of
nearly every other guest.
All through the breakfast the
storm ragged outside. More than once
it drowned the voices of the people al
the table, roaring like a wild beast in
the throat of the wide chimney, swirl
ing and lashing and leaping at the
outside of the walls like lofty waves
breaking against a breakwater, and
sending up a thunderous noise from
the sea itself, where the big bell of
ST. Mary's Rock was tolling like
knell.
Somebody-it must have been Aunt
Bridget again-said there had been
nothing like it since the day of my
birth, anG it must be fate"
"Chut. woman!" said my father.
We're living in the twentieth CEN
tury. Who's houlding with such ould
wife's wonders now?"
He was intensely excited, and his
excitement betrayed itself as usual
in reversion to his native speech
Sometimes he surveyed in silence,
with the old masterful lift of his
eyebrows, his magnificent room and
the great guests who were gathered
within it; sometimes he whispered to
the walters to be smarter with the
serving of the dishes; and sometimes
he pitched his voice above the noises
within and without and shouted, in
country fashion, to his friends at
various points of the table to know
how they were farlng.
How are you doing, Mr. Curphy,
sir?"
Doing well, sir. Are yorR doing
well yourself. Mr.. O'Neill, sir?'
Lord "a massy, yes, sir. I'm always
doing we'll sir"
Never had anybody in ELAN seen
so strange a mixture of grandeur
and country style. My husband SEEM
ed to be divided between amused con-
tempt for 1t and a sense of being COM
promised by it's pretense. More than
once | saw him, with his monocle in
his eye, look round at his friend East
cliff, but he helped himself frequently
from a large decanter Of brandy and
drank healths with everybody
There We're the usual marriage
pleasantries, facetious compliments
and chaff. in which to my surprise
(the solemnity of the service being
still upon me) the Bishop permitted
himself TO join.
was now verv nervous, and yet l
kept up a forced gaiety, though my
heart was cold and sick. l remember
that | had a preternatural power OF
hearing a the same time nearly every
conversation that was going on at
the table. and that l Joined in near
~ all the laughter
At more than unusually loud
burst of wind somebody said it would
he a mercy if the storm did not lift
the roof off.
"Chut. mani" cried my father.
Solid oak and wrought iron here.
None of your mouldy old monuments
that have enough to do to keep their
tiles on"
Then nobody" said my husband
with a glance at his friend need be
afraid of losing his head in your
house, sir?'
Not if he's got one to come in
with sir"
Betsy Beauty, sitting next to Mr.
Eastcliff, was wondering if he would