Evening star., 1923-03-13

self. The customs of a day might
F, beguile her daughter, might temper
| arily set at naught the careful teach
! ings which Cherry had received in a
| conventional-one might almost say.
a provincfal-Christia home. but
Cherry was, as her mother knew. an
| extraordinarily sensible creature who
! responded readily to kindness. A man
J such as Mr.. Chichester. a man with
! inherited traditions and a knowledge
Of the world. would be just the infu-
ence that Cherry needed TO enable
| her to see life as it really was. its
duties. dignities and responsibilities.
and emerge at a proper time from
! the chrysalis of adolescence into IA
! broad and useful womanhood.
! Alicia Mohun raised her pretty eye
brows and laid her rose-petal fingers
along John Chichester's coat sleeve.
"Oh, don't think I'm apologizing for
| Cherry's unreflecting infatuation for
| the foibles of the day
| MY dear Mrs Mohun-''
! "Or for her captious indifference to
conventions which. however stupid,
are really necessary evils
| "Stupid-yeS. Who cares"
! These are the heritages of her un-
| fortunate generation. Cherry merely
j does what others do. If she didn't
| she would be distinctly out of every
! thing"
! "Oh-of course
But what l do want you to un-
derstand, Mr.. Chichester, is that her
! apparent indifference to your atten-
tions. her preference for the com
+, panionship-may / say it?-of boy
not of dislike for YOU personally. but
Of An embarra assment-even awk-
wardness-in the society of one who
suggests a larger view of life. She
/ does like you, Mr.. Chichester. very
| much. She always speaks of your
roses so gratefully and she does
| dance with You frequently, doesn't
She?"
Not nearly so much as I would
she villas she knows YOU bet
ter. as she learns the high motives
which actuate you-
II hope So
I'm sure of it. But I counsel YOU
not TO be discouraged by the insou-
Glance of youth-you can't reproach
her for that, can you? Just try to
be patient with hcr-and kind. She
will respond in time"
Alicia Mohun laughed prettily as
they rose. Then whispered al his
ear. And remember that l am your
ally
II will remember" said Chichester
This conversation had taken place
in the picture gallery of the Chi
chesters' house on Central Park.
-
had been invited to lunch. The only
guests were Cherry and her mother
and in any other household the gath
ering would have been most informal.
but at the Chichester house even the
entering of a room was attended by
ceremonies. Mrs. Chichester. who had
been a Bartou, prided herself on her
lineage. which was even better than
the ChicheSters', and kept her state
even in informal matters. To Alicia
Mohun. the footmen, which she had
never had the courage to affect were
a part of the dusky grandeur of the
great mansion--a house which rep
the architecture of the seventies,
though it still left much to be de-
sired in point of simplicity and pro-
portion. And yet the footmen be-
longed to it as they would not have
belonged to the house at oyster Bay
or the smaller place I'm town. The
Mohuns. mother and daughter. had
been shown in and announced in
faultless cockney TO where the great
lady, sIbilant in black silk and jet
beads, rose from the red damaSk of
her gilded chair. heavily leaning on
her ebony cane, and greeted them.
Her cordially was tinged delicate
mountain. which she resembled not a
little in other respects. peers above
its clouds. To Alicia Mohun. who had
long scrambled through the foothills
to lesser peaks. she wore an aspect
of serenity which seemed already to
take the visitors into its keeping. She
gave them her plump fingers and in
dicated chairs at either side of her
which were placed swiftly by shad-
owy figure who vanished imme-
diately.
(To he continued tOmorrOw.1