Evening star., 1921-02-20

anticipation to Lady Cockrilfs little
party next Wednesday evening. be-
cause we are sure she Ia going to
have some delightful new and star
tling surprise in store for u.s.
she always does" chimed in the
circle Of ladies on the consular
veranda, voicing their sentiment
through the personality of Mrs. Bev-
whose long residence in the east
gave her tho privilege Of being the
first speaker on any local topic what
ever. Il am wondering now what 1t
is going to he this time. Let me
see-we've had the Egyptian dancers
Siamese fairies. and all that"
Perhaps she will have some Euro
pean entertainers this time, Mrs.
JONES'" ventured to remark the young
wife Of one Of the Junior clerks In
the bank.
Mrs. Bevington Jones. If you
please" was the crushing rebuke
administered by Shanghafs self-ap-
pointed society leader to this young
upstart.
Excuse me. I meant Mrs. Beving-
ton-Jones" was the courteous reply.
81 understand there are some won
derful Russian musicians visiting q.
their consulate just now. and sne
may give us an opportunity OF near
ing them" 49,,
"Pos-si-bly SO. but I doubt It,"
drawled out the offended dignity
well. ladies'" put in Mrs Hoiio,
way. evidently desiring 10 pour on
on the troubled social waters, what
ever it ia: am sure 1t will be some
thing we'll worth hearing and seeing
and / know We shall all be deilgnt-
ed" (The wife of the American con.
sui was just beginning to get usea
to these little ocial Irics1ons, D,, 50
I'VE certainly shall.' arose the
chorus f-o.r the teacups and saucers.
Wednesday evening duly arrive,
at the British consulate. ana with
the appearance of the after-dinne.
the anticipated surprise. A dainty
little program was handed around
by the immaculate house oy and on
il, after several musical offerings by
to the erect that "Mme. Rodinsky;
entertainer at the Russian court.
would appear In her marvellous seance
of mindreading and clairvoyance.
** -
livery one was on the tip-toe OF
IL expectation and there was just
that little nervous feeling creeping
around among the guests that always
precedes any form Of entertainment
that proposes to give public utterance
to ones private thoughts or future.
Mrs. Bevington-Jones seemed 70 pe
more than usually sensitive on thte
point, and took occasion to remark 10
Mrs. Holloway, leaning over her wav-
ing ostrich fan: We'll. whatever she
does, I don't propose to give her q
chance to read my thoughts. my dear:
special thoughts - and goodness
knows haven't very many"-she gig
gled with her quaint little giggie as
she said TT propose to keep them
to myself. and not have them CAB
bled al over Shanghai"
Mrs. Holloway made no reply to this
sentiment. but inwardly concluded-
as probably every one else in the
room would have done-that Shanghai
wouldn't be much poorer by the loss. -
playe., the piano. Mrs. Brevaine OF
the French concession had charmed
the company with her operatic selec-
tions and the Misses Wilson Of the
5s. cosEs st 5Sss
was seem reaching over to his wife
and whispering something in her
"Impossible. why. what an awful
sapln sae TO them aea At
Rutherford"
Ladies' and gentlemen" remarked
the consul. as he turned to address the
company, e'it 10 with feelinEa OF ex-
treme regret that % have to annoonSss e; 1Sna nee
TO appear before US this evening. The
Reason is, given in her own words"
Unfolding q message In his hands.
MADAME regrets that owing to the
which her manifestations are given.
has mysteriously disappeared from
her room in the hotel. she will be un-
able to comply with your request for
"Tns Golden Frllet. The Golden
mouth.
"I wonder what that can ber
Perhaps. Sir Rutherford" asked
DIR. Holloway, .you can throw some
light on what this mysterious object
why" replied the consul. "as far
. as I can remember. from the enter
tainment that saw her give in
Government House at Hongkong. 1t
tightly bound about her head. after
she goes into q trance. and which
she claims has the magical power of
catching the Thoughts floating in the
ether as she says. and conveying
as" .as whsthsr 10 nsf thsres anything f in Sah i
or not. but she certainly does some
wonderful things with it and she
seems to be perfectly helpless with
what you say only makes US all
the o;t. more ansiosT an,,s;,t to see sns her wish
say now. on behalf Of Lady cockriil
and myself" that when the mys-
terious Fiilet turns up-if it does
while she Is in the port-we shall
expect you to do US the honor OF
being our guests on some other even
ing"
I, wasn't that Lieut.. Pierson of
the Charleston was at all discour-
snous-indeed. what real American
6ifieer could ever be to a lady-but
he certainly felt that the time had
come when he would be obliged to
ten MRS Ss the sGea nehoss sHs
school for chinese) that he didn't
approve of her overstrict chaper-
onaEe, There could be no possible
reason whatever. in his mind. why
he shouldn't call upon any OF the
young lady teachers in the evenings.
" told him. on this very afternoon,
that she preferred to have him con-
fine his calls upon Miss Atherton to
the house between and Z. Perhaps
he did not realize that the Charleston
had been 20 long in the port-and
consequently become SO numerous
and so lengthy--that he was reported
amng the school authorities to have
very serious designs upon the young
lady's affections. and she, on her
part, was accused OF allowing that
much -maliRned little angel: Cupid. OF
seriously interfering with her legtti-
IT will tell the old girl Just what I
think Of her" he remarked as he