Evening star., 1925-11-29

L Nowadays we don't want
our friends to come to our
parties against their WILL" answered
Milly.
Mrs. Osborne said nothing, but
looked from one TO the other-from
her mother to her daughter. She some
times felt crushed between the two.
Her mother was so sure she knew
what was right and wrong, and her
daughter felt so sure nothing was
either. Mrs. Osborn herself compro.
missed; she behaved very much as her
mothers generation behaved-but she
had what she considered a rather
daringly open mind-=she could see
the point of the younger generation.
That was favOrite phrase OF hers,
II can see the point of view"
Il can understand perfectly Milly's
preferrins to go to the psychic's, "
she said, but l can't see why she
did not tell Dorothy she was Ill in bed
or called out of TOWN.
And add lie to a rudeness?" said
the old lady briskly
Il don't bit mind Dorothy's know
ing that l chucked her in order to
do something more amusing" said
Milly. If she gave better parties peo-
pie wouldn't chuck her"
The two elder ladies were dining
sitting at opposite ends Of a rather
long table. Nlilly, in a cranberry
colored dressing gown with gold and
silver dragons ramping upon it, was
standing beside them. She had just
come from the telephone and was on
her way to dress.
Mrs. Stormouth, the grandmother,
was sitting erect at the head of
the table. She would not have
seemed old at go, and was now a
mere II. Her hair was a deli
cate mixture of gray and white. but
1t grew with the same crisp Yigor
with which 1t had grown when It was
auburn. There We're wrinkles in her
face of course, but the fundamental
skin was, as it had always been, of
a wonderful whiteness. Her black
eyes We're utterly unchanged, and her
black straight brOWS. Her figure was
much better than her daughters. for
Mrs. Osborn at so had put on
little weight-lke her fathers family
Mrs. Stormouth was not quite as slim
and rounded as her granddaughter.
but there was touch of elegance in
the way she carried her shoulders and
her elbows which Milly had never
even heard Of Admitting some in
considerable changes in the old lady's
physical being, there We're almost
none in her spirit. People said to
Mrs. Osborn, It's wonderful how
your mother keeps her spirit" The
truth was 1t was her spirit that kept
Mrs. Stormouth-the same fearless.
amusing. intense spirit that had kept
her when she was is.
Il hope" she said, sincerely but not
dlsagreeably. that Dorothy Will never
ask you inside her house again"
What did she say over the tele-
phone?" asked Mrs. Osborn.
Milly laughed. Il did not get her.
Mother-oh, | asked for her. but I
timed it carefully at that moment
when she's in the tub. Nothing can
get Dorothy out of her hot bath
before dinner. SO I was obliged to
send my message by the man-just
that Miss Osborn was dreadfully
sorry, but she found she couldn't dine
with Mrs. Morton tonight"
ITS the third time you've thrown
her over at the last minute" said her
mother, and she raised her eyes sadly
TO see what such a monster, socially
speaking. as her child looked like.
Id have thrown any one over to
dine with Ahmud," said the monster.
unbashed. He's wonderful, and he
finds something interesting in me.
1t seems l have a swell parti-Colored
aura. Mother, and there is something
name which indicates that my destiny
Is to be violently altered against my
villa stronger spirit cuts across
mine-I can't remember his words,
but / got the idea that l was to be
taken prisoner by pirates. or run
away with by a Spanish grandee, or
something really amusing"
Heaven help the grandee," said
Mrs. Stormouth.
II hate these Near East fortune
tellers." said Mrs. Osborn.
"Ahmud was born In California"
said Milly, "and he is not a fortune
teller. Mother, he's a great psychic
College professors come" tat this
point Mtlly glanced at the clock and.
seeing it was almost the hour at
which she had been asked to dine
with the great man, she left the room,
without interrupting her sentence,
which continued for several seconds
to float back to the dining room)
from all over to consult him, and
there's bank president never makes
an investment without asking his ad-
vice, and so you see to be asked to
dine with him"
Can you imagine" said Mrs. Stor-
mouth, selecting a mandarin orange
from the silver bowl presented to her.
can you imagine being able to be-
lieve all that nonsense, and not being
able to believe the Ten Command
ments?"
They don't want to believe In the
Ten Commandments" answered Mrs.
Osborn. They don't believe in any
thing that they don't want to believe
in--any more than they do anything
they don't want to do. l can't under
stand how they can be so different
from what we were, Mother"
"Mllly," said her grandmother. "is
exactly like me-eXaCtIy as I might
have been if l had been as abominably
brought up as you have brought her
up"
MRS. Stormouth was sketching how
4'A the increase in liberality between
her bringing up and her daughters
had been right, and the increase in
liberality between her daughter and
her granddaughter's had been wrong.
When the doorbell rang and a young
man entered -ao dining room. He
was wea1t..s a dark overcoat, silk
n1uIfier to protect his collar, and he
held a derby hat in his hand. He
bowed to the two ladies'. and said:
I'm afraid I'm a little late, but I
don't suppose Milly's ready, at that"
There was no use in putting 1t off.
Mrs. Osborn, observing signs of ac-
llVlCy III ueT UOlLeIp anu Knowing
that Mrs. Stormouth's version would
be less conciliatory than her own,
hastened into speech.
Ned Vaughan stood perfectly silent.
his eyes fixed on Mrs. Osborn's and
his face, never a soft one, hardening
visibly. He was not a New Yorker; he
came from New England, and his as
betrayed him.
This Is going rather too far" he
said, when she had finished. II hadn't
meant to go to Dorothy's at all. L
had q asked a clasSmate of mine who's