The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1923-10-05
CHAPTER |

Through the curtained windows OF
the furnished apartment which Mrs.
Horace Hignett had rented for her
STAY in New York rays of golden sun
tight peeped in like the foremost spies
of some advancing army. 1t was ex-'
actly eight; and Mrs. Hignett acknowl-
edged the fact by moving her head on
the pillow, opening her eyes, and sit
ting up in bed, she always woke at
eight precisely.
Was this Mrs. Hignett THE Mrs,
Hignett, the world-famous writer on
theosophy, the author Of "The Spread
ing Light" "What of the Morrow" and
all the rest of that well-known series?
Tn glad you asked me. Yes, she was.
] she had come over to America on
.lecturing tour.
The year 1921, it will be remem-
bered, was trying one for the inhabi-
tants Of the United States. Every
boat that arrived from England
brought fresh swarm Of British lee
turers to the country. Novelists, poets,
scientists, philosophers and-plain, or
binary bores; some herd instinct
seemed to affect them all simultane-
ously.
Mrs. Hignett had come over with the
frst batch of Immigrants; for, spir-
itual as her writings were, there was
solid streak of business sense in this
WOMAN and she meant to get hers
while the getting was good.
She had not left England without a
paag, for departure had involved sac
rifices. More than anything else in
the world she loved her charming
home, Windles, in the county of Hamp-
shire, for so many years the seat Of
the Hignett family. Windles was as
the breath of life to her. Its shady
walks, its silver lake. its noble elms,
the old gray stone Of its iwalls-these
were bound up with her very being.
She felt that she belonged to Windles,
ana Windles to her. Unfortunately,
as matter of cold, legal accuracy, 1t
did not. She did but hold it in trust
for her SON Eustace, until such time
as he should marry and take posses
/. sion of it himself. There were times
when the thought Of Eustace marrying
and bringing strange woman to
Windles chilled Mrs. Hignett to her
very marrow. Happily, her firm policy
OF keeping her son permanently under
her eye at home and never permitting
him to have speech with female be-
low the age of fifty had averted the
peril up till now.
Eustace had accompanied his
mother to America. 1t was his faint
snores which she could hear in the
adjoining room, as, having bathed and
dressed, she went down the hall to
where breakfast awaited her. She
smiled tolerantly. She had never de-
sired to convert her son to her own
early rising habits, for, apart from
not Allowing him to call his soul his
own, she was an indulgent mother.
Eustace would get up at half-past nine,
/. long after she had finished breakfast,
read her mail, and started her duties
fdr the day.
~ Breakfast was on the table in the
sitting-room. Beside it was a little
pile of letters. Mrs. Hignett opened
them as she ate. The majority were
from disciples and dealt with matters
Of purely theosophical interest. There
WIS an invitation from the Butterfly
club asking her to be the guest of
honor at their weekly dinner. There
was letter from her brother Mall
laby- Sir Mallaby Marlowe, the emf
nent London lawyer saying that his
son sam, Of whom she had never ap-