The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1923-06-07
IN THE PURPLE
CLEANING
BY MARY cERMAINE
Copyright by the Frank A. Nun
sey Co.
BY MARY eERMAINE


cherry tinted from the sinking sun.
The colonel had never married.
No one knew why-he least OF all.
It was a good time to think matters
over. sitting there in the June twilight,
only an occasional sound disturbing
the quietness, the pant of motor nom
the road beneath, the good night croak-
ing of the crow blackbirds who had
nestled down in the clump of pines by
the rustic padagoda, or the distant
whirring OF one of the dressing room
bells.
The few guests of the house were
indoors getting ready for dinner, late
junction at Pinecrest,s as Maynard
either motored or committed out each,
night from the city.
The colonel flecked bit OF cigar
ash from his immaculate flannels and
sighed.
What man possessed of the instincts
of manhood can fail to separate the
spurious from the real--a passion, a
sentiment, a fancy-from love itself?
Not altogether a pleasant occuFa-
ton, though, and the colonel was glad
to note the lights of Maynards ma
chine showing on the driveway, under
The darkness of the pines.
saThank God!" he muttered. 1T $
time for dinner"
He watched the approach of the ma
chine around the curve and up the in
cline to the house, arose, and stood al
the top of the steps as it slowed up be-
fore the door.
Maynard was helping a lady out of
the tonneau.
"Hello, colonel" he cried cheer
fully, waiting for me? Time must
be hanging heavy on your hands"
.sNot time, but life" the colonel
lnurmured whimsically to himself, and
going down the steps he took the
lady,s long motor coat from Maynard's
hands.
He glanced at the lady who stood in
distinctly in the purple twilight, her
face lost under the shadows of her ha:
and veil.
There seemed some association
clinging about her, and the colonel's
glance sharpened into intentness.
"My wife's old friend, let me make
you acquainted" Maynard com
menced, turning from the chauffeur,
whom he had been directing.
She lifted her face and FER eyes
( widened as they fell upon the colonel.
Robert" she exclaimed with an
information that made the colonel bend
lower and peer over intently beneath
the brim of her hat.
margaret" he returned.
"Are you real?" she asked with
Iaugh-one that halted in her throat,
however, and issued unsteadily.
GAS real as when the colonel's
voice broke slightly. How long ago
was it, Margaret that we said good
by"
They went up the steps together,
Maynard following, a mystified smile
pickering his lips
In the brighter light of the wide
hall they paused and looked at each
other again.
mot changed so much; still lovely
the colonel communed, as, led by May
nard's wife, she assembled the stair
case and disappeared around the angle
Of the oak balustrade.
"An old love, eh?" Maynard ha7-
arded, as he paused on his way to his
room for .necktie and dinner coat.
81 haven't seen her since she was
twenty. and was twenty-six," the eel
onel stated gravely.
ga long time ago. Maynard COM
mented humorously, moving on.
The colonel nodded. With his back
to the fireplace, where no fire had
been lighted on that warm June sht,
he stood thinking. hands clasped be-
hind him, till the butler reused hiIa
by announcing dinner from the door
way.
There was a beautiful moon at
Pinecrest that night, shining thru the
evergreens, making feathery designs
on the green slope OF the lawn.
After dinner, one by one the guests
wandered out on the veranda. May
nard's daughter and girl friend,
cousin from West Point, and very
young broker from town, making a
laughing group at one end; Mrs. May
nard midway, giving advice OIL the
planting of rose garden to tall
flower of woman who leaned against
one of the veranda posts inhaling the
faint fragrance from a cluster of
climbing red ramblerss Maynard talk
ing business to the tall flowers hus-
I Band.
The colonel pacing up and down
finishing his after-dinner cigar
Margaret was sitting alone.
The colonel threw the stub oyer the
rail and dropped down opposite her in
one of the easy wicker chairs.
He recovered from his shock of SIR
prise and had travelled back to the
prosfac present, leaving the memories
of twenty,six behind as he supposed
DIT tho f3,o< fhipo he cnfd 1vaG