Milford chronicle., 1925-06-12
SIXTEENTH INSTALLMENT

%. and don't see much use il
learnin' about the mythology of Greece
and Rome. The mythology of Vir
ginia is enough to keep me busy thu
rest of my life. ="
james, your armi" cried Margaret
gayly when he had finished his sentence
and set down both glasses.
THE Lord sent mannap' he mur-
INJURED, patting one of her hands. at
was rumored or alleged that had to
,Sdt next to Miss Hebe Savage. Now ]
wish to go on record as sayin' that am
very partial to Miss Hebe Savage, but
s"
~ don't believe q word that comes
out Of the Democrat Office any more"
b "We'te yeller, as houn' daWg, I'll
theerfuIly admit. But here's one
plemn truth we're goin' to print in a
tfee column spread on the front page
6ni6gToR afternoon"
Fsomething diabolical, III bet."
RYQQ're IN the wrong department,
ise Margaret. 9omethin' heavenly.
Bow Mr., James Wilder, esquire, a
mtcrobe, was granted an entire evenin'
bf unbroken bliss, sittin' on a golden
cloud sWappin' opinions with Miss
Mahgaret Peale, an angell-"
"Pu1 out my chair, microbe. And,
Jimmy, you're such a sweet fool. Give
me some almonds, and Ill love you to
distraction"
II wish you meant that"
There was no comedy in that last
remark. It came from his throat, a
still, hurt sound. She looked curiously
around at his small, manned face; it
was usually convivial, and tonight
Jimmy had been drinking too much.
She was sorry for him; just for an
instant she forgot to be sorry for herself. |
She had always liked Jimmy. He had
brains and wit. He was a character. |
But the thought of his being in love |
with her came as something of a shock. |
He was so out of her zone
'I wish did, Jimmy" she heard |
herself saying, and she wanted to cry
with a sudden pity for the poor things
Of earth. weak-winged creatures forever
singed in vain fires.
The dinner was spread on series of
tables joined and extending into the
large room beyond. 1t was handsome
dinner, quite up to the Peake standard.
The banks of roses, the sparkling glass
to the fine Spanish gentleman who sat
next to Mrs. Garnett, exerting a charm
which managed to conceal the fact that
he thought her conversation infantile.
The Sycamore Club Set-which is to
say the noisy youngsters of Satsuma-
were a little quelled by the old-fash-
lOned fOrmaity that Judge Peake
always managed to lend to his Occa-
siOns. As to the Judge, he was in an
expansive mood; his Roman
nose reddened markedly before sound
changed for dry champagne.
The dinner, indeed, was up to the ;
Peal1e standard. Only there was a ,
difference which six persons, perhaps, 1
might have noticed. Harris, the butler,
was bound to know it, The gentle eye ,
Of Jimmy Wilder trained to detail,
observed the change almost as soon as u
he had taken his place at the table. q
Miss Sunshine Buclner, who seldom
allowed i'll news to slip by without a
milf from her queer little nose, got wind ;e
If it and made a note for the meeting n
If the All Saints Sewing Circle. Then +
here was Flora Lee. Her languid gaze,
llways dreaming upon some project of n
Ter own, wandered across the table and
inspired the unsettling question. What
lad become of the gold service plates?
Certainly they should be out for a f,
tate dinner like this. They were ii
ceremonial dishes. But what had be-
ONE of them? A sudden, disturbing o,
hought caused her to bite her lip, then II
lugh more boisterously than ever into h,
he ear of her most humorous ex-flance, 81
he funny Len Hawley who sat at her
ight
But Margaret wasn't noticing small oi
hings that night. She took more iii ih
hampagne than she was used to and
-ent on recklessly with Jimmy Wilder, ". ol
ever a poor second in a contest Of Sn
-ords. Through it all she was holding
erself to one fixed purpose. tn
'on't let them know. Be a tn
port. See it through. Don't let any co
ody know. =
After dessert strange orchestra he
Dpeared; four negroes with stringed oV
struments and a fifth who made a tn
Ieer hollow music by blowing into the tai
outh of a stone jug. This organiza-
on was called the Jug band" and its tn,
embers, when not in the workhouse, wi