The herald., 1922-10-19

blonde senior at my sids>
And that was ali--for htl.- But for
me
All that day I watched him which
ever opportunity offered; and suspect
that l took care that opportunity Of
fered frequently. l was fascinated. /
had never seen any one like him be-
fore. Tall, handsome, brilliant, at PEI
feet ease, he plainly dominated every
group Of which he was 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.
am not sure that he even looked AT me. I
II he did there must still have been .
in his eyes only the "Oh, some friend /.
Of Helen's," that I 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. l wonder If
! 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.
| soon found that she loved 10 talk
about him-if she had n good listener.
Needless to say she had very good
one in me.
Jerry was an artist, 1t seemed. He
was twenty-eight years old, and al
ready he had won no small distinction
Prizes, medals, honorable mention, ana
a 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 1t was just going to make" Jerry;
that he could have anything he wanted
nOw-anythlng.
I saw Jerry myself during the East
er vacation Of my second year in col
lege. Helen invited me to go home
| with her, and Mother wrote that
might go. Helen had been home with
me for the Christmas vacation, ana
: Mother and Father liked her very
much. There was no hesitation, there
= fore, in their consent that l should
visit Helen at Easter time. So went.
: Helen lived in New York. Their
t home was Fifth avenue mansion with
nine servants, four automobiles and
. two chauffeurs. Naturally such a scale
= OF living was entirely new to me, ana
correspondingly fascinating. From the
eIaborately uniformed fOOtman that
+ opened the door for me to the awe
some French maid who did my hair,
O 7 adOred them all, and moved as In
q dream of enchantment. Then came
Jerry home from week-end's trip
o and forgot everything else.
= knew from the minute his eyes
looked into mine that whatever l had
been before. I was now certainly nc
mere "Oh, some friend of Heien's.
was $50 his eyes said) "a deucedly
pretty girl, and one we'll worth cul
tivating." Whereupon he began al
\ once to do the "cultivating."
I In less than thirty-six hours j was
N caught I'D in the whirlwind OF his
woojng. and would not have escaped
II II I could.
When I went back to college he hell
Il my promise that If he could gain TIT
4 consent Of Father and Mother, n
/ might put the engagement ring on m!
finger.
Back at college, alone In my owl
room. I drew q long breath, and begal
4 TO think. 1t was the first chance l ha
\ had, for even Helen now had becom
Jerry-by reflection.
] The more l thought, the more fright
l ened dismayed, and despairing / be
4 came. In the clear light Of calm, san
II reasoning, 1t was all so absurd, so In
possiblel What could I have bee
thinking Of? 1 must forget Jerry.
pictured him in AndersOnville, l
nv own home. 1 tried to picture MI
' talking to Father, to Mother.
7 Absurd, What had Jerry to do wit
learned treatises on stars, or with tn
humdrum, everyday life OF stupl'
small town? For that matter. whi
had Father and Mother to do wit
dancing and motoring and paintin
society queens portraits? Nothing.
>, Plainly, even If Jerry, for the sal
u of the daughter, liked Father an
n' Mother. Father and Mother certain
~ would not like Jerry. That was ce
tain.
es OF course I cried myself to slet
iii that night. That was to be expecte
Jerry was the world; and the wor
ig- WAS lost. There was nothing left e
'ur cept, perhaps, few remnants al
pieces, scarcely worth the counting
be- executing. of course, Father and Mot
or. But one could not always ha'
ones father and mother. There wOu
/ come q time when
lot Jerry's letter came the next day
es, by special delivery. He had gol
nd straight home from the station and b
t i gun to write to me. (How like Jer
that was-particularly the speci'
ege delivery stampD The most OF his Il
Ter fer. aside from the usual lovers rha
,ol- sodies. had to do with plans for t
pse summer-what we would do togeth
Ter. at the Westons' summer cottage
tho | Nounort He said he should run