Omaha daily bee., 1919-01-29
CHAPTER x.

Dellabarre found occasion to say to
Monte Bracken:
Il am putting you beside little
Mrs. Forester. There are reasons
why / want you to be, well-extra
attentive to her"
Special reasons?" said Bracken,
smiling, for Irma's mental processes
were a source of delight to him, and
he saw in the request a ruse to give
the appearance of a duty to what
was already an inclination.
Mrs. Dellabarre's glance passed
down the hall to where the mechani
cal figure of her husband was super
intending the distribution of the
cocktails and remained on it no.
ticeable moment.
you are too quick, Monte, to
need embarrassing explanations"
she said significantly. 80 make a
point of it-only don't get really in
terested."
she is quite striking in her
way"
she would be great beauty" she
answered thoughtfully, putting her
finger on the only criticism that
might hold.
Then l am not to sit next to
you?" he said, with an admiring
glance at her striking and harmoni-
GUS toilette. With Irma he was
never bored and never convinced.
ITS better not" she said slowly.
He was the man to whom she
held. She held to him as she held
to her youth. She looked about I'M
easily, longing to prolong the con-
versation. Rudolph's eyes from I'M
der his bushy eyebrows were on
her, and there was something in the
new rightly of his look, something
so vaguely disquieting, that she felt
little shudder run over her Shout
ders. Some one walking over my
grave" she thought and, frowning,
she turned away.
Amy went in on the arm of Mr..
Dellabarre, who showed her to her
seat with a dignity which he as
sumed with the same care with
which he calculated the descending
steps and rounded the obstacles of
the chairs.
Il hope you are enjoying yourself
here" he said, in spaced solemnity,
with a fugitive, Indifferent look in
the pale eyes which had become
little watery. Then he drew back
into his she'll, always uncomfortable
in the presence of new acquaint-
ances, particularly of the opposite
sex.
In 10 years, he had not added
friendship. The butler, having
watched him into his seat, saw that
his glass did not remain long
empty. The scene with his wife had
upset his routine, for in his inebriety
there was no disorder-tota1 abb
stinence until 6 o'clock, a certain
number of cocktails, an invariable
pint of champagne and later the
regular measure of old precerve
Scotch. But tonight he had gone a
little beyond his schedule, and he
sat waiting for the dinner to begin,
staring painfully at silver dish on
the glowing tablecloth in front of
him.
Mrs. Forester, thus abandoned,
waited with eagerness the moment
when Monte Bracken would turn to
her. Though the patter, based on
intimate details, was foreign to her,
and the white fronts OF the men
doomed with the rigidity Of social
tombstones, she felt like an exile re-
turning into her own. The men
were mostly of the riding set, in ex-
cellent humor due to proper prepara-
ton, ready to be fed and talked to.
The women were electrically pretty,
in flashing colors, daring in the de-
collete which that season had brok-
Ell down all prejudices. Opposite
her was the beautiful Mrs. Chal-
loner, cold and statuesque, flawless
in feature and complexion, careless
of the public announcement of her
dimpled shoulders and the white fall
of her throat. She remembered
with some amusement Andrews pre-
conceived ideas. He was beside Mrs.
Dellabarre, and she thought, as she
caught his expression, that he was
rather consciously examining his
plate. Irma Dellabarre was not as
copiously revealed as Mrs. Chal-
Toner, and yet she gave the impress
sion of being more $50, in a deep
purple velvet dress that hid one
shoulder and, gave to the other the
malicious appearance of an accident.
Her hair was built high above her
forehead and fell about it in soften
ing clusters. She wore one stone
against her throat-a point of white
FIRE against the dark throat.
"She looks like a portrait" Amy
said, turning to Mr. Bracken.