Evening star., 1926-10-03
Marriage All

" HERE was great excitement in
the family over the announce
ment of Clarissa' s engagement
Il and wherever two or three
uncleS or aunts or cousins We're
gathered you might hear them dis
cussing It. Not at all the type OF
man ! should have expected Clarissa
TO fall in love with And is she in
love with him." My dear, you don't
think Clarissa would marry man she
did not love" mo, | suppose not
and yet. :"
And yet, and yet That
was the general sentiment. l heard
Of the engagement first from her
runts--and mine. too. for Clarissa and
I are first cousins. They had brought
her up.
Il own we don't quite understand
it. Tom said Aunt Maud. so cautious
ly that her lips hardly did more than
motion for the sylables. Hes SO
different from the sort Of men Clarissa
has been brought up with"
"A very vulgar fellow" said Aunt
Susan, speaking out loud and clear.
She'll be sorry some day. I don t
understand it,"
did not like to suggest an expla-
nation-that the vulgar fellow had &
large fortune, made by the invention
of that priceless benefit To a civiliza-
tion gone mad about plumbing the in
destruCtible washer. (The washer, YOU
know, is that small object inside the
faucet somewhere. which, when Won
have drawn a scalding bath in a hurry,
dtsintegrates. and prevents the cold
water coming in anything hut a
frickle. so that YOU either parbOl
yourself or go unbathed) I did not
like to suggest the idea of Robinson's
wealth, partly because | doubted hon.
estly how much that had Influenced
ClarisSa, but more because | am afraid
OF Aunt Susan; it is always assumed
in the family that all of Clarissa s
adorers are rich. noble, we'll born and
Intelligent, or else how would they
dare aspire to Clarissa?
Robinson from the first had seemed
to me attractive, the sort of man a
woman might easily love. He was
Small-no, not small, for he was as
tall as Clarissa. and she must be )
feet 6. He had bright. kind, brown
eyes looking out at you under short.
stubbly, mouSefcolored hair, like a for
est animal out of the bush, so that
your first impression was that Robin
son was timid. Everybody called him
Robinson. although he had a first
name, James. Aunt Susan started the
fashion in a mood of insolence, and
every one else took it up in a less
hostile spirit. Aunt Maud had remon-
Strated with her sister.
Really, Susan" she said, what
would Mamma have thought if she
could hear you calling a man by his
last name
Now this was exactly what Aunt
Susan wanted. She replied: II never
remember hearing my mother''-she
usually laid claim to her parents as If
they had been exclusively hers-'I
never remember hearing my mother
address the butcher. the baker and
the candlestickmaker in any other
way. Is a plumber on a different So
cial plane. in your judgment. Maud?"
A soon as Clarissa was married she
- began to practice that quality
which the Greeks have sent echoing
down the corridors of time as a vir-
tue-namely, magniticence. No one
was ever more magnificent than
Clarissa IN her velvets and brocades.
and perfumes and Jewels.
They built--at least. of course,
Clarissa initiated and Robinson paid
for. and the architect planned and
agoniZed OVer--a Spanish palace in
the East NinetieS. Tapestries from q
monastery near Burgos. grilles from
Toledo. old tiles from Granada, pink
: gardeniaS and red camelliaS from the
Cintra gardens. 1t was an achieve
ment. l understood for the first time
what the family meant when they said
that If Clarissa had been a man she
would have been at the head Of some
great organization. She really had
that rare and great and somewhat un-
loyable quality, executive ability.
1t was the SAME. quality which had
led me-I regret to say--to strike her
on the head when. as children, we
played croquet together. She not only
played well, but she knew how strokes