The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1922-07-13

sodes. had to do with plans for the
summer-what we would do together
at the Westons' summer cottage in
Newport. He said he should run up
to Andersonville early very early;
lust as soon as I was back from col
lege. in fact. so that he might meet
Father and Mother. and put that ring
on my finger.
And while l read the letter, just
knew he would do it. Why, 1 could
even see the sparkle Of the ring on
my finger. But in five minutes after
the letter was folded and put away,
l knew, with equal certitude-that he
wouldn't.
I had been at home exactly eight
hours when a telegram from Jerry
asked permission to come at once.
AS gently as I could I broke the
news to Father anu Mother. He was
Helen's brother. They must have
heard me mention him. knew him
we'll, very we'll, inueed. In fact, the
purpose of this visit was to ask them
for the hand of their daughter.
Father frowned and scolded, and
said, "Tut, tut" and that l was moth
ing but child But Mother smiled
and shook her head. even while she
sighed, and reminded him that l was
twenty-five whole years older than
she was when she married him;
though in the same breath she ad-
mitted that was young, and she GER
tainly hoped I'd be willing to wait be-
fore I married, even if the young man
was all that they could ask him to be.
Father was still a little rebellious, l
think, but Mother-bless her dear
sympathetic heart soon convinced
him that they must at least consent
to see this Gerald Weston. So I sent
the wire inviting him to come.
Jerry cane-and he had not been
five minutes in the house before 1t
might easily have seemed that he had
always been there. He did know about
stars; at least, he talked with Father
about them. and so as to hold Fathers
interest, 200. And he knew lot about
innumezable things in which Mother
was interested. he stayed four days:
and all the while he was there, never
so much as thought OF ceremonious
dress and dinners, and liveried but
lers and footmen; nor did it once oc-
cur to me that our simple kitchen
Nora, and Old Johns son at the wheel
of our one motorcar, were not beaut1-
fully and entirely adequate, so unas-
sumingly and so perfectly did Jerry
unmistakably "it in" (There are no
other words that so exactly express
what I mean.) And in the end, even
his charm and his triumph were 80 un-
obtrusively complete that I never
thought of being surprised at the
prompt capitulation Of both Father
and Mother.
Jerry had brought the ring. (Jerry
always brings his "rings"-and ne
never fails to, '.put them on.") And
he went back to New York with
Mothers promise that should visit
them in July at their cottage In New
port.
They seemed like a dream-those
four days-after he had gone; and
should have been tempted to doubt
the whole thing had there not been
the sparkle of the ring on my finger,
and the frequent reference to Jerry
on the lips of both Father and Mother.
They loved Jerry, both Of them.
Father said he was a fine, manly
young fellow; and Mother said he was
a dear boy, a very dear boy. Neither
of them spoke much Of his painting.
Jerry himself had scarcely mentioned
it to them, as I remember, after ne
had gone.
went to Newport in July. "The cot
tage," as I suspected, was twice as
large and twice as pretentious as the
New York residence; and it sported
twice the number of servants. Once
again was caught in the whirl Of din
ners and dances and motoring, with
the addition Of tennis and bathing.
And always, at my side, was Jerry,
seemingly living only upon my hghtest
whim and fancy. He wished to paint
my portrait; but there was no time, es-
pecially as my visit, in accordance with
Mothers inexorable decision, was OF
only one weeks duration.
But what a wonderful week that
was! 1 seemed to be under kind OF
spell. It was as if I were In a new
world-a world such as no one had
ever been in before. Oh, I knew, OF
course, that others had loved-but not
az we loved. I was sure that no one
had ever loved as We loved. And it
was so much more wonderful than
anything I had ever dreamed of-this
love Of ours. Yet all my life since my
early teens I had been thinking and
planning and waiting for it-love. And
now it had come-the real thing. The
others-all the others had been shams
and make-believes and counterfeits.
At Newport Jerry decided that ne
wanted TO be married right away. He