Evening star., 1923-12-30

II don't know why I'm wasting all
this time on you and your weird
ideas, Julian" Patty remarked with
| a severe infection, springing to her
| feet. when I've got to get over to
Belaize and do all my ordering this
morning and then get into town and
back by night. Don't bother about
me. I've recenciled myself to being
the old maid of the family" She
dropped kiss on the exact spot on
her fathers head where his stiff,
thick hair made silvery whorl and
departed.
| She was whistling when she left
the big shadowy library. And she
was whistling later when she re.
appeared on the uncovered. bricked-
/ in back piazza which by means of a
terraced, formal garden. broken by
pools and fountains, sloped In velvety
gradations to the sea. She did not
look at the sea, however. She hooked
at the sky. The whistling died down,
for her eyes were full of tears. Sud-
denly her arm came high In a lovely
1.-THE gesture as she threw a kiss up
into the deserted empyrean.
I 1t was true that in his aviator's
uniform, Monty Vielle had been the
handsomest thing she had ever seen.
| 1t was true, toe. that her heart had
been lightly TOT ehed by his debonair
| comeliness. 1t was true also-she
| had known IL even then-that he
! was weak, that she would always be
the controlling spirit and that in
consequence she was not really in
| love. That thrown kiss was a re-
morseful recognition of this con-
| dition.
| Five minutes later, however. in her
| trim little roadster, she had become
| dry-eyed and serene The road
| wound out Of the big Dade place
into the wide macadam main road Of
| Ringfinger, where correct estates,
sumptuously architected and fault
! lessly gfoomed. threw curtains of
1 gauze green away from the widening
| vistas of dazzling peacock sea OIL
drew them together into gradually
| thickenihg. carefully forested stretch
| es of wood. Reaching the mainlaid,
the road merged with dirt highway,
meticulously rustic. This ran to the
quiet, exclusive town of Belaize.
| Lying back in her seat, her shapely
hands resting lightly on the wheel,
| Patty seemed to steer the car by, a
Kind of mental wireless-the while
she dreamed back over her girlhood
| and childhood.
| TULIAN DADES wife died when
Patricia was seven. And ever
since her seventeenth year Patricia
| had been her fathers housekeeper.
| The daughter of a judge. nationally
| famous. the head Of the biggest,
most beautiful house on the Point,
| she achieved without effort an en-
viable social position.
] Patty was the type OF girl of which
| every community boasts at least one.
| whenever Patty.s little roadster
| chugged up to the post office at Bel
aize, conversation temporarily. stop
| ped in the groups gathered there;
| heads slowly pivoted; eyes furtively
| slipped in her direction. Followed
omment-sneering, questioning. ad-
! miring.. Equally when Patty served
| at tennis, drove at golf, dived at
| swirnming-started to dance-some
thing about her attracted the gaze,
| arrested it; held 1t close prisoner.
| AS a child, she had been the dare
| devil OF her group. AS child and girl.
| her courage had been the wonder Of
| her set. Are as woman-mothers
complained that she was the first to
import the astounding new fashions
In clothes and dancing that trailed