The Jasper news., 1922-10-12
Copyrishtby Eleanor q. Psrtsf
CHAPTER Ix-ContInued.

CfAH EH IN-Contlnueo.
--23-
And while l read ;he letter, l just
knew he would do It. Why, could
even see the sparkle Of the ring on
my finger. But I'm FIVE minutes after
the letter was folded and put away, |
! knew, with equal certitude-that he
wouldn't.
l had been at home exactly eight
hours when a, telegram from Jerry
asked permission to come at once.
AS gently as l could broke the
news TO Father an. Mother. He was
lIelens bTother. They must have
heard me mention him. knew him
well, very well. ilD eed. In fact. the
purpose of this visit was to ask them
for the hand Of their daughter.
Father frowned an, scOlded, and
said, "Tut, tut !" and that | was moth
ing but a 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 adj
mitted that | was young. and she GER
ininly hoped I'd be willing TO whit be-
fore married, even If the young man
was all that they could ask him to be
Father was still u little rebelllOus,
think, but MOther-bless her dear
sympathetic heart soon convinced
him that they must at least consent
TO see this Gerald Weston. So / sent
the wire inviting him to come.
Jerry cume-and lie had not been
five minutes In the house before II
might easily have seemed that he had
always been there. lie did know about
stars; at lenst, he talked with Father
about them, and so as to hold Fathers
Interest, too. And he knew Il lot about
innuinernble things In which Mother
was interested. He stayed four days !;
and all the while he was there, never
80 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 beauti-
fully and entirely adequate, so unas-
sumingly and so perfectly did Jerry
Enthusiastically "fit IN" (There are no
other words that so exactly express
what ! mean) And in the end, even
his charm and his triumph were so un.
-ubtruSively complete that never
thought Of being surprised at the
prompt captulation of both Father
and Mother.
Jerry had brought the ring. (Jerry
always brings his "rings"-and he
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 dHys-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 chem
Father said he was fine, manly
young fellow; and Mother said he was
n dear boy, very dear boy. Neither
Of them spoke much of his painting
IT 10 them, as I remember, after he
had gone.
! went 10 Newport in July. THE cot
tnge." as ] suspected. was twice as
large and twice as pretentious as thC
New York residence; and 1t spOrtet
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 llghtes
whim an fancy. He wished TO pain
my portrait; but there was no time, es
pecially as my visit, In accordance will
Mothers ineXorable decision, was o
only one weeks duration.
But what a wonderful week tha
wasl | seemed To be under a kind o
spell, II was as II | were In u new
wOrld-n world such as no one haI
ever heen In before. Oh, | knew, o
course. that others had lUved-but no
as we loved, was sure that no on,
had ever loved as we loved. And |
was Sc much more wonderful thar
anything | had ever dreamed of--thl
love a. ours. Yet all my life since IN,
early teens | had been thinking ant
planning and waiting for it-love. AM
nov Il had cume-the real thing. Tn,
others-all the others had been sham
ami nake-believes and cOunterfelts