The Washington herald., 1922-02-03

esoisstsf. asks only to SERVE ysosns. |
Co~tssses FROM Ysstertoy.
The wedding was only a fort-
night distant.
Jeanne's time was hlled from
early morning until early the fol-
lowing morning of each successive
day. There were endless fittings
for her rousseau: consultations
with florists, and maitres d'hotel:
sessions with the young secretary
to assist her with her increasing
socisI correspondence
Between times, there was shop
ping to do, infinite details to be
looked after. decisions to be made.
And, first and foremost in demand
Of her attention, the host of friends
who wished to entertain for Vic
Barstoe and his nance.
Jeanne lost count of the gowns
she purchased to wear at the end
less stream of dinners and dances
and teas and luncheons. A newly
engaged maid arranged them on
hangers In the wardrobe, each care
fully inserted into a specially made
shroud. ard each labeled to avoid
confusion.
Gz.e!- mad begun to come. too. to
All the Borgia Golfer which had
been Bonnicetti's gift.
Her future mother-in-law had
presented her with a strand OF
beautiful pearls as an engagement
present. and Barstowe. ST., had
given her a magnificent diamond
mented by other gifts as each week.
" anniversary Of their engagement
rolled around. He found pleasure
in INDUCING his sentiment by send
ing her flowers on each occasion
and tucking into their fragrant
center a little velvet jewelers. box
containing some small exquisite
trinket.
The Weary Round OF Pleasure.
Sometimes Jeanne, dragging her
self YEARLY down the silent sleep
ing corridor from the, elevator at an
hour shortly before dawn, would
wonder IL the game were worth the
candle after all
Sometimes II seemed to her to be
physically impossible to rise again
that day and begin the endless
round. starting with luncheon at
the Ritz: a shower at some resi-
dence up the Drive perhaps; two
and often three teas to be attended
in the course OF the afternoon: din
ner after a breathless and exhaust
ing toilet during which the French
maid endeavored with deft fingers
to smooth away the signs of IA
tigue with fragrant creams; the
theater or opera: a supper dance
somewhere. and home again for a
few hours rest before the tread
mill began to revolve anew.
1t was at such hours before
dawn. when, too weary for sleep,
her brain a discordant jangle. she
would go to the windows and look
out across the park where the, first,
faint streaks of dawn appeared
above the sleeping city.
She would recall the long, dark
winter nights when Jane Dare, the
little school teacher, had snuggled
down into her blankets for ten
hours blissful repose. She could
remember the radiant exuberance
with which she had opened her
eyes when the first rays of the sun
erept through her dormer window.
The freshness. the energy. the pep
she had known in those days, No
wonder she had felt capable of con-
duering the world!
: Jeanne Dare would lean her
weary. msrcelled head against the
chill window pane and pray for
strength to get through another
day. She had thought she would
love this hectic existence, and she
found that suddenly II was terrify-
Ing. And back of her physical
WEAKNESS lay the mental stress. the
knowledge that she was spending
thousands and thousands of dollars
which she didn't have and could
never hope to have IL anything
happened to break of her marriage
to Barstewe.
But 1t was comforting to know
that il was too late now for Bar
stowe or his family to change their
minds, though such a contingency
in the same thought with Vic was
absurd. He was bound to her by
an ever-strengthening chain of
abjeet and complete alteration.