The herald. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1905-1953, 1922-10-26
CHAPTER Ix-Contlnued.


AID while read the letter. Just
no would do It. Why / could |
tne" soo the sparkle Of the ring on
even ror But in five minutes after
" letter was folded and put away
,u sDew with equal certitude-that ne
wouldn't ,o o-oc,lr eIcht
rben a telegram from Jerry
.sred permission to come at once
-. gentIy as l could l broke the
% Father am Mother. He was
H.. brother. They must have
h me mention him. l knew him
~an very well, iureed. In fact, the
rHrpose Of this visit was to ask them
y. The hand of their daughter. |
", r.,hsr frowned an, scolded. and
=. tint. nut" and that l was moth
:. INT a child. But Mother smiled
s shook her head, even while she
.,rhsd and reminded him that was
.+sD,r-two whole years older than
was when she married him;
.sourh in the same breath she ad-
&C., that | was young, and she GER
,,,nly hoped I'd be willing to wait be-
Vs.. married. even II the young man
"a, all that they could ask him to be.
r.,ber was still little rebelliOus, /
Alt but Mother-bleSs her dear
--mnathetic heart soon convinced
~, that they must at least consent
70 see this Gerald Weston. So sent
,bs wire inviting him TO come.
Jerry came-and he had not been
a. minutes In the house before u
,,cb, easily have seemed that he had
,lwsys been there. He did know about
sars. at least, he talked with Father
.hou, them, and so as TO hold Fathers
,r,erest. too. And he knew a lot about
,,numerable things in which Mother
was interested. He stayed four days;
and all the while he was there, l never
so much as thought OF ceremonious
dress and dinners, and liveried but
l0rs and footmen: nor did II once oc-
ur 10 me that our simple kitchen
Nors and Old Johns son at the wheel
Of our one motorcar. were not beauti-
fuly and entirely adequate, so unas-
sumIngIy and so perfectly did Jerry
mmIstakably aft in" (There are no
other words that so exactly express
what I mean.) And IN the end. even
his charm and his triumph were so un-
obtrusively complete that l never
thought of being surprised at the
prompt capitalization Of both. Father
and Mother.
Jerry had brought the ring. GERRY
always brings his ''rings"-and he
never fails to put them on.D 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 days-after he had gone; and
should have been tempted TO doubt
the whole thing had there not beer
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 them
Father said he was a fine, manly
young fellow; and Mother said he wa:
q dear boy. a very dear boy. Neither
Of them spoke much Of his painting
Jerry himself had scarcely mentioned
Il to them, as / remember, after h
had gone.
Invent to Newport in July. THE cot
tage." as / suspected, was twice Al
large and twice as pretentious as tn
New York residence: and 1t sporte'
twice the number Of servants. Ono
again was caught in the whirl Of din
Sers and dances and motoring. witt
the addition Of tennis and bathing
And always. at my side, was Jerry
seemingly living only upon my lightes
vhim and fancy. He wished TO pain
my portrait; but there was no time, es
pecially as my visit, in accordance wit
Mothers inexorable decision, was Q
only one weeks duration.
But what wonderful week tina
wasl / seemed to be under a kind @
spell II was as II l were in a ne'
worid-a world such as no one ha
ever been In before. Oh, / knew, c
course, that others had loved-but nc
a. We loved. / was sure that no on
had ever loved as we loved. And
was so much more wonderful tina
anything had ever dreamed of-thi
love OF ours. Yet all my life since m
early teens ! had been thinking an
pAnning and waiting for it-love. An
now II had come-the real thing. tn
others-all the others had been shan
md make-believes and counterfeit
AT Newport Jerry decided that h
wanted to be married right away. n
oidnt want to wait two more endle.
years until was graduated. The ide
VI wasting all that valuable time whe
We might be together! And whe
uere was really no reason for
etner-no reason at alll
smiled to myself. even as thrilie
u his sweet insistence. / was pref,
sure l knew two reasons-two vel
sood reasons-why l could not man
before graduation. One reason W,
father: the other reason was Mothe
limited as much.
no! Is that all7" He laughed ar
KISSED ma ssv'll - -.