University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1915-07-28
CHAPTER XIX
Mr.. MinOt Goes Through Fire

Mr.. MinOt Goes Through Fire
The Duchess of Lismore elected to
give her dinner and dance in Miss
Meyrick's honor as near to the bright
Florida stars as she could. On the top
floor of the De la Pax was a private
dining room. only partially enclosed,
with a picturesque view of the palm
dotted courtyard below. Adjacent to
this was a sun-room with removable
glass roof, and this the duchess had
ordered transformed into a ballroom.
! There in the open the newest society
dances should rise to offend the soft
southern sky.
Being a good general, the hostess
was early on the scene, marshaling
her forces. To her there came Gym
thia Meyrick, radiant and lovely and
wide-eyed on the eve of her wedding.
How sweet you look, Cynthia" said
the duchess graciously. "But then, you
long ago solved the problem of what
becomes you"
Il have to look as sweet as | can,'
replied the girl wearily. "All the rest
of my life l shall have to try and live
up to the nobility"
She sighed.
"To think" remarked the duchess,
busy over a great bowl of flowers,
"that tomorrow night this time little
Cynthia will be Lady Harrowby.
suppose you'll go to Rakedale Hall for
part of the year at least?"
81 suppose So"
81, too, have had my Rakedale Hail.
Formal, Cynthia dear, formal. Moth
ing but silly little hunts, silly little
shoots-American men would die
there. AS for American women-noth-
ing ever happens-the hedges bloom
in neat little rows-the trees bios
som-they're bare again-Cynthia,
sometimes I've been in state where
I'd give ten years of my life just to
hear the rattle of an elevated train"
She stood looking down at the girl,
an all too evident pity in her eyes.
at isn't all it might be, / fancy
marrying into the peerage," Cynthia
said.
"My dear" replied the duchess, "I've
nearly died at times. / never was eX
actly what you'd call a patriot, but
often I've walked in the night and
thought of Detroit. My little car rat
tling over the cobblestones-a new
gown tried on at Madame Harbier's
"a matinee-and chocolate afterward
at that little place-you remember :.
And our house on Woodward Avenue
the good times there. On the We
randa in the evening, and Jack Little
just back from college in the east run
ming across the lawns to see me-.
What became of Jack. deal?''
"He married Elsie Perkins"
"Ah-I know-and they live near our
old house-have box when the opera
comes-entertain the Yale glee club
every Christmas-oh, Cynthia. maybe
it's crude, maybe it's middleclass in
English eyes-but it's home, When
You introduced that brother of Lord
Harrowby's this afternoon-that big
splendid chap who said America
looked better than title to him
could have thrown my arms about his
neck and kissed him!" She came
closer to the girl. and stood looking
down at her with infinite tenderness in
her washed-out eyes. Wasn't there
any American boy, my dear?" she
asked.
"I-I-hundreds of Them" answered
Cynthia Meyrick, trying to laugh.
The duchess turned away.
"It's wrong of me to discourage you
like that" she said. Marrying into
the peerage is somesning, after all.
You must come home every year-in-
s1st on it. JOhnSOn-are these the
best caviar bowls the hotel can fur
nish?"
And the Duchess of Lismore, late Of
Detroit, drifted off into a bitter argu-
ment with the humble Johnson.
Miss Meyrick strolled away, out
upon a little balcony opening off the
dining-room. She stood gazing down
at the waving fronds in the courtyard
six stories below. If only that foun-
tain down there were Ponce de Icons, |
But it wasn't Tomorrow she must |
put youth behind. She must 60 far |
from the country she loved-did she |