The Glenwood post., 1922-10-12
10 think of Lulu as having mad expert

"Yes," she said. ut was in Savan-
nah, Georgia" She flushed, and lifted
her eyes in manner of faint defiance.
"Of course" she said, II don't know
the names Of all the different instru-
good mdny." She laughed pleasantly
as part of her sentence. "They had
some lovely tunes" she said. She knew
that the subject was not exhausted
and she hurried on. "The hall was
real large" she superadded, "and
there were quite good many people
there. And 1t was too warm"
II see." said Cornish, and said what
he had been waiting to say: That he,
too, had been in Savannah, Georgia.
Lulu lit with pleasure. "Well!" she
said. And her mind worked and she
caught at the moment before 1t had
escaped. "Isn't it pretty city?"
she asked. And Cornish assented with
the intense heartiness of the provincial.
He, too, 1t seemed, had conversa-
tional appearance to maintain by its
own effort. He said that he had en-
joyed being in that town and that he
was tnere IOf Two nOurS.
II was there for week" Lulu's
superiority was really pretty.
Have good weather." Cornish se-
lected next.
"Oh, yes. And they saw all the diff.
ferent buildlngs-but at her I'VE" she
flushed" and was silenced. She was
coloring and breathing quickly. This
was the first bit of conversation of
this sort in Lulu's life.
After supper Ina inevitably pro-
posed croquet, Dwight pretended to
try to escape and, with his irrepressi-
BILE mien, talked about Ina, elaborate
In his insistence on the third person
"She loves 1t, we have to humor her,
you know how 1t is. Or no! You don't
know! But you will'-and more Of
the same sort, everybody laughing
heartily, save Lulu, who looked un-
comfortable and wished that Dwight
wouldn't, and Mrs. Bett, who paid no
attention to anybody that night, not
because she bad not been introduced,
an omission which she had not even
noticed, but merely as another form
If 'tantrim"-a self-indulgence.
They emerged for croquet. And
there on the porch sat Jenny Plow
and Bobby, waiting for Di to keep an
old engagement, which Di pretended
to have forgotten. and to be fright
fully annoyed to have to keep. She
met the objections of her parents with
all the batteries of her coquetry, set
for both Bobby and Cornish and, bold
in the presence of company" at last
went laughing away. And in the mi
mute areas of her consciousness she
said to herself that Bobby would be
more in love with her than ever be-
cause she had risked all to go with
him; and that Cornish ought to be
distinctly attracted to her because
she had not stayed. She was as primi
tive as pollen.
Ina was vexed. She said so, pout-
ing in fashion which she should
have outgrown with white muslin and
blue ribbons. and she had outgrown
none of these things.
"That just spoils croquet," she said
"Tm vexed. Now we can't have a
real game"
From the side door, where she must
have been lingering among the water
proofs, Lulu stepped forth.
"Tll play game" she said.
When Cornish actually proposed to
bring some music to the Deacons', Ina
turned toward Dwight Herbert all the
facets of her responsibility. And ma's
sense of responsibility toward Di
was enormous oppressive, primitive,
amounting, in fact. toward this daugh-
ter of Dwight Herbert's late wife, to
an ability to compress the offices Of
stepmotherhood into the functions Of
the lecture platform. Ina was foun-
tain of admonition. Her idea of a
daughter, step or not. was that of n
manufactured product strictly, which
you constantly pinched and nodded
She thought that n moral preceptor
had the right to secrete precepts. D
got them all. But of course the crest
of Ina's responsibility was to marry
Di. This verb should be transitive
only when lovers are speaking of each
other, or the minister or magistrate
is speaking of lovers. 1t should never
be transitive when predicated of par
ents or any other third party. But 1t
is. Ina was quite agitated by Its
transitiveness as she took to her hus
band her incredible responsibility.
''You know. Herbert" said Ina. "if
this Mr.. Cornish comes here very
much, what we may expect"
"What may we eXpect?' demanded
Dwight Herbert, crisply.
Ina always played his games. an
swered what he expected her to an
swer. pretended to he intuitive when
she was not so, said ~ know" when
she didn't know at all. Dwight Her
bert on the other hand. did not even
play her games when he knew per-
fectly what she meant. but pretended
not to understand. made her repeat,
made her explain. 1t was as If Ina
had to plense him for. say, living !;