Evening star., 1926-11-21

the morning paper ina
NN Mrs. Hcwiand Fitzpatrick
Vaughan cf Baltimore and
Miss Adelaide Vaughan
were spending the Winter AZ the Mad
dox Hotel. her eyes lit up with Joy
Mrs. Manfred was sitting up In bed
In q room recently done over for her
by decorator whose good taste was
eouaied only by his self-confidence~-A
symphony in pink. blues. hlacs and
Frays. The he'd itself was beautiful
old French he'd and should have con
tained a peariy blonde, instead of
n1iddle-aged lady in a fur-trimmed
bed Jacket. reading the paper through
tortoise shell spectacles.
A tap came at her door. and heg
son Raymund entered-his dark serge
and white collar looking somehow Sc
we're and unsuitable TO this eighteenth
century delicacy OF decoration, al
though, as a matter of fact, has
smooth, fine face would not have done
ta6lv in brocades and ruffies.
rs mother snatched off her spec
tacies to get good look at him. She
loved her daughters with sensible
slightly contemptuous. ma ternal affec'
ton. All three, like the female rela,
tives of Can't Reese. r. N. were
married to peers of various degrees in
England and Italy She understood
them oughly-competent. rather
grasping young women. Much of her
relation TO them consisted in the strug-
gle on their part to obtain from her.
the custodian of her dead husband 8
immense fortune. more of that for
tune than was quite their due. She
respected their energy and sometimes
yielded to them. There WAS no magic
In her relation to them.
But her son she could not under
stand at all, and she expended more
fnesse in trying TO make him take
what she thought he ought TO have
than in keeping from the girls what
they dema nded He was a psycholo-
gist. Instinct was the subject of his
studies. He had spent three months
on lonely Caribbean island. study
ing the habits of sea gulls. And now
she saw by various signs that he was
wearying to be off to Africa, where a
certain ant offered rich information.
She counted greedily the days he
stayed at home with her She was
powerless to keep him. but she knew
one thing that would: Marriage
marriage to a soft, luxurious creature.
who would be a poor traveller and
would take no interest in insects, how
ever instructive.
The Summer before at Bar Harbor
she had found the girl-Miss yaugha n
of Baltimore. lovely, languid being,
whose family fortune had been lost
because of the conviction, held up-
alteringly through Ave generations.
that the aristocratic iuxuries of the
world belonged by right TO the Kill
patrick Vaughans, no matter what
their bank accounts might happen TO
Be. Nor was the lovely Adelaide any
exception to this rule.
Mrs Manfred felt, no doubt, that
Adelaide loved Raymund-a any girl
would, of course-hut she knew also
that Adelaide had been brought up to
believe that husband Of great
wealth was her inescapahie destiny
Raymund had been interested in
the girl during his long Summer holi.
day. In the early Winter he had
gone to Baltimore for a week end
which he reported as having been
vary gay and delightful He talked a
great deal about the friendly spirit OF
Baltimore, the excellent cooking, the
available countryside: hut very little
about the lovely Adelaide.
~ II
MRS. MANFRED saw that some.
AvA thing must be done: and now she
was delighted to observe that Mrs.
Vaughan was doing IL.
Good morning. dearest" she said
II ordered the car to take you across
to the museum. The first heavy
snowstorm of the Winter was in
progress.
Raymund thanked her warmly. hut
she had no conviction that he would
really use the car. 1t would be just
like him to send 1t away and walk
walk In all that snow, and the wind
blowing. The idea was intolerabie to
her.
Promise. dear" she said that
you'll take the car.
He laughed at her affectionately.
''T1l promise that if I walk Ii won't
do me any serious injury.
He seemed In a hurry TO be of. and
his mother wasted ne more time.
Il see that Adelaide and her mother
are In town. she observed for 50 do
New Workers. refer habitually to a
visit from the citizens of any other
metropolis.
"Gcod heavens cried Raymund