San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-04-01
Thee
Mary Agreeably Surprised
to Meet Philip Andover
in Palm Beach.
CHAPTER 20.

Mary Forrest walked
along the promenade at
Palm Beach, Florida.
It was a sparkling morn
ing and IL o'clock. Beside
her was a sea so warm, so
multi-colored, that just to
look at it made one feel
poetic, dreamy. Above her
was a sky SO impossibly
blue and crystalline that it almost let
her see quite clearly into heaven.
There were gardens all about her,
heavy with the odors Of thousand
roses.
Against Andalusian walls the bou-
gainvillea splashed its glowing colors.
It was an exotic scene for winter
time, especially when one thought OF
New York's bitter blasts and snow
storms.
But these were far away. And
Mary Forrest, white-clad, walked in
sunshine.
There were lots Of other pretty
girls about the place. They followed
the fashion SO slavishly that they all
seemed to wear a kind of uniform.
White silk skirt and sweater. Simple
little two-piece sports frock, pastel
: tinted.
And this bicycle craze! Odd, wasn't
It? They all had bicycles-not motor
ones, but the old-fashioned ''push-bike"
kind.
These were the Four Hundred
Palm Beach's inner circle.
Mary swung along to the office Of
her employers broker. Cyrus Wade
had told her at this early breakfast
that she must come and fetch him If
he fingered overlong in this charmed
spot.
For-like so many writers and fol-
lowers Of the "Arts"-the ticker had
a marvellous lure for him. playing
the market" was a genuine hobby of
the little novelist.
It was not too profitable hobby,
and Mrs. Wade had encouraged Mary's
search for him.
thine he was at his honest work !"
she had raped out. "If he loses all
bis money, who's going to pay the
bills down here, I'd like to know"
SO Mary had set off. She found
him IN delightfully."- alfresco room
that looked like anything - butt a
brokers' office. The pan lied walls
were stained heavenly blue. There
were lounge chairs Of grey wicker, ex-
traordinarily comfortable. Sunlight in
bright stripes was sitting through the
window awnings.
Like the deck of yacht" thought
Mary, much intrigued. "Or the loggia
Of ones favorite castle in SPAIN"
= The real purpose of the place was
displayed by automatic young men
with wires attached to their ears.
They moved jerkily towards great
blackboards, chalking with nervous
fingers the hourly temperature Of the
stock market!
Cyrus sat enthralled. No induce
ment Of mere work would tempt him
from the fascinating scene.
''Take the morning off, Miss For
rest" He was rooted in his comfort
able wicker chair, smoking a cigar of
long dimensions. Then he added ::
whats my wife doing?'
"Oh, she's off to a meeting for bet.
tering the condition Of the farm women
round about here" said Mary. "She
won't be free till nearly lunch-time."
Extraordinary, wasn't it, the pas
sion for ''bettering!r
That explained too, this crowded
sticker" room. Was it love Of money,
or the thrill of the eternal game ?
Progress-and ever Progress-was the
plo,~n.
Craze for amassing money? Or
mere habit?
Mary walked back into the sun
shine. Money as a means to an end
was laudable. But hard cash, as a
goal purely in itself, was incompre-
bensible, she thought.
Her thoughts drifted to Philip An
Ln--..-----I -. n.