Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-03-30
THE GIRL WHO
SMILED THROUGH
By Marion Rublncam.
Copyright. George Matthew Adams
LAWRENCE.
Chanter NLIN.
!. George Matthew Adams.

sued the rather monotonous course OF
his life. and found in Alice merely a new
interest. He lived in one OF the largest
houses on Brown avenue, the centre OF
the most fashionable residence district
in Pennington. 1t was queer and rather
dreadful house, all the Marlowe realized
that but it was so comfortable they madc
no effort to change IT. -.
Lawrence Marlowe, senior, had oui.t
it 25 or 80 years before, when wealth
hrst came to him from some wheat lands
he owned. He had torn down the dainty
little home of white painted boards with
green blinds and clematis climbing over
the Colonial porch, and in its place he
had erected huge square house OF arti-
6cal stone. at that time considered very
smart. The terrible regularity of the blocks
of "made" stone were punctured by large
windows of imported plate glass. by bow
windows and by occasional fancy bal
comics that never looked, in their alriness,
as though they had even speaking nc
ouaintance with the house they wero at
tached to.
Inside, everything was as comfortable
and expt nsive and hopclessiy ugly as was
possibie. 1t was before the craze Tor period
furniture had reached Farmington, and
the house was furnished forth with q
fnIItffflltc O' SIUUcu ftiNtt tifehiio ehNs
much ornately hand-carved oak. The
floors were carpeted and rugs thrown over
the CARPET and bronze statues were set
upon marble columns.
And vet. when time had worn OIL the
garishness. the house looked rather
comfortable. even II IL did seem too crowd
ed :,
'Iused to admire this house immensely
Lawrence remarked TO his mother one
afternoon in the spring. 1T merely annoys
me now. When did | outgrow this sort
of thinr?" He pointed to a carved wood
panel on the wall, where were depicted
realistically two bleeding ducks, so carved
that they stood out somewhat from the
panel. -. .,
you outgrew it in college" his mother
remarked smiling She was small wo-
man. with dark eyes that contrasted
beautifully with her snow white hair.
She had been handsome and rather coarse
when she was young Her social ambitions
had always been njpped in the bud, and
she never knew why. But when she
became old, her white hair softened
her face so she was simply . handsome
little old lady And daily contact with the
better quality of goods and people that
money makes possible. had gwen her re-
finement of bearing In Pennington she
had finally achieved the social distinction
she coveted.
~ would do way with this awful place |
and build something quiet and artistic,
Mrs. Marlowe went on. But your father
worked hard Ia get the money for this,
and he still thinks it's the acme of good
taste The least we can do Is TO live IN 1t
TO please him.
Lawrence Marlowe stared out the
window moment. His mother looked at
the spiritleSs drop OF his shoulders, then
smiled wisely.
You have the spring fever, or else
Won are in love. nv son" !" she said at last
If it's the former, get your father TO let
YOU off and nun West 20 the coast for
trip. II you're in love, bring the girl around |
and let me look her over.
I'm not in love-" Lawrence laughed
and turned around to his mother. You
know. | wish | were, IT would give me
new inter est The trouble with me is that
/ haven't any purpose IN hfe.
Here YOU We given me a college educa- |
ton. and I've had money to travel when |
wanted TO 90. know quite a lot of facts /
about various subjects; IN other words. |
I'm very well educated, my manners and /
accent, thanks to my education, are bet /
ter than those Of most OF the people meet. /
] know enough about my fathers business
10 be able to run it easily and continue |
10 make money with it. Anytime he tires
of it and wants to hand 1t over.
"Well?" his mother asked, smiling. /
''Wellr' Lawrence shrugged his shoul-
ders. There YOU have it. I've had every
thing / want without a struggle | shall /
get everything else l want without n
struggle.
You could have nearly any girl in
this county for your wife If YOU wanted.
Mrs. Marlowe said with maternal pride
II don't want any" Lawrence returned
That's Just it. I've never had a serious
purpose in life. I've never had even q
serious interest ! wish had to work as
hard and had the ability TO work as hard
as girl / know
"A girlr' Mrs. Marlowe laid down
her embroidery at once new interest in
her voice. ''Who Is she?'
mo one you ever heard Of, Lawrence
answered with return of his moodiness.
She lives way out on Dexter street and
her family is poor She had TO work. Nv
goodness, you ought to see her work.
| never dreamed anyone could be so ener-
getic. And she laughs at it-and every
thing else, as far as | can make out"
He related few more facts about Alice.
.'You arc IN love, said Mrs. Marlowe.
Il am not" said Lawrence with con-
viction.
Invite her to tea. Mrs. Marlowe ans
wered, not believing a word he said
Tomorrow New Summer.