The Glenwood post., 1919-10-18

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The orchestra and the catsrer were
brought from away, in the Anderson
manner, though this was really ges-
ture-perhaps one more Of habit than
At ostentation-for servitors Of gayety
- proficient as these importatiops
were nowadays to be found in the
town. It was the last Of the great,
long-remembered dances that every.
body talked. about"-there were get
ting to be 40 many people In town that
no later than the next year there were
too many for Everybody" to hear Of
even such ball as the Ambersons'.
George, white-gloved, with a garde-
MIA in his buttonhole, stood with his
mother and the Major, embowered in
the big red-and-gold drawing room
downstairs. to receive" the guests !;
and, standing thus together, the trio
offered a picturesque example of good
looks persistent through three gene
rations. The Major, his daughter and
his grandson were Of a type all Am
berson: tall, straight and regular, with
dark eyes, short noses, good chins !;
and the grandfather's expression, no
less than the grandson's, was one Of
family amused condescension. There
was difference, however. The grand
sons unlined young face had nothing
to offer except this condescension {:
the grandfather's had other things to
say. 1t was a handsome, worldly old
face. conscious Of its Importance, but
persuasive rather than arrogant, and
not without tokens of sufferings with
stood. The Majors short white hair
was parted in the middle, like his
grandson's, and in all he stood as
briskly equipped to the fashion as the
exquisite young George.
Isabel, standing between her father
and her son. caused vague amaze
ment in the mind Of the latter. Her
age, just under forty, was for George
thought Of something as remote as
the moons Of Jupiter: he could not
possibly have conceived such an age
ever coming to be his own: fve years
was the limit of his thinking in time.
Five years ago he had been a child
not yet fourteen; and those five years
were an abyss. Five years hence he
would be almost twenty-four; what
the girls he knew called zone of the
older men," He could imagine himself
at twenty-four, but beyond that his
powers staggered and refused the
task. He saw little essential differ
ence between thirty-eight and eighty
eight. and his mother was to him not
woman but wholly a mother. The
woman, Isabel, was a stranger to hef
son; as completely a stranger as II
he had never In his life seen her or
heard her voice. And 1t was tonight,
while he stood with her, receiving"
that he caught disQuieting glimpse
Of this stranger whom he thus fleet
ingly encountered for the first time.
Youth cannot imagine romance
apart from youth. That 10 why the
roles Of the heroes and heroines Of
plays are given by the managers to
the most youthful actors they can find
aged people and young people enjoy
play about young lovers; but only
middle-aged people Will tolerate play
about middle-aged lovers; young
people will not come to see such
play. because for them middle-aged
lovers are a joke-not 4 very funny
one. Therefore, to bring both the
middle-aged people and the young
people into his house the manager
makes his romance as young as he
con. Youth will indeed be served, and
its profound instinct is to be not only
scornfully amused but vaguely an
gered by middle-aged romance. So,
standing beside his mother, George
was disturbed by a sudden impression,
coming upon him out of nowhere, so
far as he could detect. that her eyes
were brilliant, that she was graceful
and youthful-in q word that she was
romantically lovely.
He had one Of those curious moments
that seem to have neither a cause nor
any connection with actual things.
There was nothing in either her looks
or her manner to explain Georgs's IN
comfortable feeling; and yet 1t in
creased. becoming suddenly a vague
resentment 10 II she had done some.
thing unmotherly to him. lN "
The fantastic moment passed; and
even while 1t lasted he was doing his
duty. greeting two pretty girls with
whom he had grown up, as people say.
and warmly assuring them that he ~
membered them very well-an assur-
ance which might have surprised them
I'm anybody but Georg1e Minaferi"
1t seemed unnecessary, since he had
spent many hours with them no longer
than the preceding August. They had
with them their parents and an uncle
from out Of town; and George negli-
gently gave the parents the same as
surance he had given the daughters,