Mexico weekly ledger., 1922-01-12
1t
2 Err

We were late! We'd hardly COM
mencedf"
The remaining members of the fam
uy now streamed forth: Fred Daven-
port. q thin, rather gray mar Of fifty,
with an intelligent face, a worried
forehead, and kindly eyes; Julia, q
blonde beauty Of twelve; Nanny. q
fat. sweet boy Of Eve, with a bib on;
and Pip. q serious .ten.year-old, with
black hair and faded blue oyeralls.
Fred was a newspaper man, n Of
the submerged many, underpaid, over
worked, unheard, yet vaguely gratiied
through all the long years by the feel
ing that his groove was not quite the
groove of the ONCE. the teller's desk,
or the travelling salesman's beat"
Here In the little suburban town his
opinions gained some little weight
from the fact that he had been ten
years with a New York evening paper.
Mrs. Davenport was interested In ev-
erything her sister had to say; knew
the Carriers, and even some Of their
closest friends. by name, and asked
all sorts Of questions about them.
Later In the evening Fred wal at
the piano, II was q poor piano. and
he was a poor player who smoked bis
old pipe while he painstaklngiy
fingered Mendelssohn's Songs With.
out Words" or the score Of "The
Geisha." But Linda loved him.
~He win putter away there, per
fectiy eonteat, for an hour" sAe told
Harriet. ,"And at ten you1l Sss him.
starting to get Josephine. They're
great chums-she thinks there's ne
one In she world like Daddyr'
Hssfieta thoughts had wandered.
"How's DRvidT
Lovely. He always comes to nj
for Sunday dinner" Linda said. "And
he always asks for you!" she added.
with some significance. David Daven-
port, Fred's somewhat heavy and plod.
ding brother. a successful Brooklyn
dentist, had never made any secret
Of his feeling for the beautiful Har-
riet.
II like DaVidg" Harriet said, In an
swer to some faint indication Of re-
preach In her sisters tone, But i'm
mediatcly afteryard she added, In a
lower voice: Ward Carter has had
Royal Blondin at the house this
week" .. H.
LAnda's rocker stopped as II by
shock. There was an electric silence.
When she spoke again 1t was with
awe and incredulity and something
like terror In her tone.
"Royal Blondint He's in Englandr
"He was" Harriet said. dryly. Hes
been In New York for tive years now"
Linda ~shuddered. .EaFs
: II knowsI remember" she said IN
q whisper. And she added ~fervently.
81 hoped he was dead!~ "SF'" 4
"Se did II" Harriet said, simply.N
''sC9rt meeting was entirely accidental.
He had. nn adeaNof finding, me; was
as surprised as ! was" She stopped
abruptly, mEising on some Gnpalht==
able thought. "YOu wouldn't know
him. Linda. He is q perfect freak.
New thought. and poetry. and the oc-
cult, and Tagore and the Russian
novelists. and the Russian music; be
lectures about them and he has been
extremely successful! He wears pom
gee coats and red ties. and has his
hair long. and-well, you neyer saw
women act 50 about anything or any
body! He's having dinner with the
Carriers tonight" To this Linda could
only calculate an amazed:
"Royal Blondini" And as Harriet
merely nodded, In the gloom, she add
ed, vigorously, "Why, he hadn't q
penny! He was always an idiot-he
didn't have enough TO eat ten years
agoT"
swell, he has enough to eat nowI
Ward told me that he gets three hun
dred dollars for his drawing-room
taiks-his interpretive musings he
called them"
swell. that" Mrs. Davenport was
still dazed with establishment and in
disnation. THAT really" she be-
gan, and stopped. shaking her head.