Evening star., 1922-06-04

the Keeps were the reigninE dy-
nasty. socially and in every way.
Old man Keep was president or
tho trolley line. the telephone COM
pany and the Keep National Bank
But Fred, his son. and the heir ap-
parent. did not inherit the business
ability of his father; or, il he did,
he took pains to conceal that fact.
Fred had gone through Harvard, put
a to that also. unless he told people
they would not have known IT. Ten
minutes after Fred met a man he
generally told him.
When Fred arranged an alliance
with Winnie Platt. who also was or
the innermost inner set of keepsourg.
everybody said KeepsburE would soon
lose them. And everybody was right.
When single each had sighed Tor
other social worlds to conquer. ana
when they combined their fortunes
and ambitions they found KeepsburS
impossible and they left it to lay
siege TO New York.
THEY were too crafty to at once
attack New York itself. widow
they met while on their honeymoon
at Palm Beach had told them not I"
attempt that. And as she was the
Palm Reach correspondent of So
ciety paper they naturally accepted
her advice. She warned them that in
New York the waiting list is already
.nterminable and that if you hoped
to break into New York society the
clever thing to do was to lay siege
to il by way Of the suburbs and the
country clubs. II YOU went direct 10
New York knowing no one. you would
at once expose that fact and the re-
suit would be disastrous.
She told them of couple like them
selves. young and rich. from the west.
who. at the first dance to which they
were invited asked Who is the old
lady in the wig" and that question
argued them so unknown that it set
them back two years.
TT was terrible story and it filled
the Keeps with misgivln9s. They
agreed with the lady correspondent.
that il was far better to advance
leisurelv: hrst firmly to intrencn
themselves in the suburbs. and then
to enter New York. not as the Keeps
from Keepshurg, which meant n"th-
ing. hut as the Fred Keeps nf Long
Island. or Westchester. or Borden
town
"In all Of those places" explained
the widow "our smartest people have
country homes. and al the country
club you may get I" know them.
Then when winter comes. you fol-
low them on to the city
THE point from which the Keeps
elected 20 launch thier attack
was Scarboro-on-the-H Hudson. They
selected Scarboro because both of
them could play golf. and they plan
ned that their first skirmish should
be fought and won upon the golf
links of the Sleepy Hollow Country
Club But the attack did not succeed.
Something went wrong. They began
to fear that the lady correspondent
had given them the wrong dope. For.
although three months had passed
and they had played golf together
until they were as loath to clasp a
golf club as redhot poker. they
knew no one and no one knew them
that Is, they did not know the Van
wardens: and if you lived at Scar
boro and were not recognized by the
Van Wardens you were not to be
found on any map.
Since the days of Hendrix Hudson
had looked down upon the river that
hears his name. and ever since those
days the Van Wardens had looked
down on everybody else. The Van
Warden estate had the appearance of
a well-kept cemetery. And those
Van Wardens who occupied the coun-
try place were as cold and unsoca BILE
as the sort of people who occupy GEM
Harry" Van Warden.
and he lived in New York at The Turf
Club.
Harry. according to all local tradi-
tion-for he frequently motored out
TO Warden Koopf. the Van Warden
country seat-and according to the
newspapers. was a devil of a fellow
and in no sense cold or unsociabl
So far as the Keeps read of him. ne
was always being arrested for speed
ing. or breaking his collar-bone out
hunting, or losing his front teeth It
polo. This greatly annoyed the proud
sisters at Warden Koopf: not be-
cause Harry was arrested or had
broken his collarbone, but because it
dragged the family name into the
newspapers.
III you would only play polo or
ride to hounds instead of playing
golf" sighed Winnie Keep to her
husband, you would meet Harry Van
Warden, and he'd introduce you to
his sisters. and then We could break
in anywhere"
IF I was to ride to hounds" re-
turned her husband. the only thing
I'd break would be my neck
THE country place of the Keeps
was completely satisfactory, and
for the purposes of their social
comedy the stage setting was per-
feet. The house was one they had
rented from a man of charming taste
and inflated fortune; and with il they
had taken over his well disciplined
butler his pictures, furniture family