Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1922-08-24


! that took care that opportunity Of
fered frequently. / was fascinated. I
had never seen any one like him be-
fore. Tall, handsome, brilliant, at per-
| feet ease, he plainly dominated every
group of which he was a part. Toward
him every face was turned-yet he
never seemed to know it. (Whatever
his faults, Jerry is not conceited.
will give him credit for thatD To me
he did not speak again that day. I
| am not sure that he even looked at me.
| If he did there must still have been
| In his eyes only the "Oh, some friend
Of Helen's," that / had seen at the
morning introduction.
/ / did not meet him again for nearly
/ a year; but that did not mean that /
did not hear of him. / wonder IL
Helen ever noticed how often / used
to get her to talk of her home and her
| family life; and how interested was
| in her gallery Of portraits on the man
tel-there were two fine ones of her
| brother there.
Helen was very fond of her brother.
4 oOOh lOunu tlIut ohC iOFNu " taih
/ about him-if she had good listener.
/ Needless to say she had very good
one In me.
/ Jerry was an artist, it seemed. He
was twenty-eight years old, and al
ready he had won no small distinction.
Prizes. medals, honorable mention, and
special course abroad - all these
Helen told me about. She told me, too,
about the wonderful success he had
| just had with the portrait of certain
New York society woman. She said
that it was just going to make" Jerry
that he could have anything he wanted
now-anything.
saw Jerry myself during the East
er vacation Of my second year in coll
lege. Helen invited me to 60 home
with her, and Mother wrote that /
might go. Helen had been home with
me for the Christmas vacation,s and
Mother and Father liked her very
much There was no hesitation, there
fore, in their consent that should
visit Helen at Easter time. So ! went.
Helen lived in New York. Their
home was Fifth avenue mansion with
nine servants, four automobiles and
two chauffeurs. Naturally such a scale
of living was entirely new to me, and
CORRESPONDENCE fascinating. From the
deliberately uniformed footman that
opened the door for me to the awe
some French maid who "did" my hair,
adored them all, and moved as In a
dream of enchantment. Then came
Jerry home from week-end's trip
and forgot everything else.
/ knew from the minute his eyes
looked into mine that whatever I had
been before, I was now certainly no
mere "Oh, some friend Of Helen's."
was ESQ his eyes said) "a deucedly
pretty girl, and one well worth cul-
tivating" Whereupon he began at
once to do the "eultivating."
In less than thirty-six hours I was
caught up in the whirlwind Of his
wooing, and would not have escaped
It If / could.
When l went back to college he held
my promise that If he could gain the
consent of Father and Mother, he
might put the engagement ring on my
finger.
Back at college, alone In my own
room, drew long breath, and began
to think. 1t was the first chance had
had, for even Helen now had become
Jerry-by reflection.
The more thought, the more fright
ened, dismayed, and despairing be-
came. In the clear light Of calm, sane
reasoning, it was all so absurd, so i'm
possible =! What could / have been
thinking Of? I must forget Jerry.
/ pictured him in Andersonville, in
my own home. tried to picture him
talking to Father, to Mother.
Absurd, What had Jerry to do with
learned treatises on stars, or with the
humdrum, everyday life of a stupid,
had Father and Mother to do with
dancing and motoring and painting
society queens portraits7 Nothing.
Plainly, even If Jerry, for the sake
Of the daughter, liked Father and
Mother, Father and Mother certainly
would not like Jerry. That was GER
tain.
OF course I cried myself to sleep
that night That was to be expected.
Jerry was the world; and the world
was lost. There was nothing left ex-
cept, perhaps, few remnants and
pieces, scarcely worth the counting
excepting, Of course, Father and Moth
err. But one could not always have
ones father and mother. There would
come time when
Jerry's letter came the next day
by special delivery. He had gone
straight home from the station and be-
gun to write to me. (How like Jerry
that was-particularly the special
delivery stamp!) The most Of his let
ter, aside from the usual lovers rhap-