Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-04
CONTINUED from Yesterdays Starr
INSTALLMENT XXI.


~ the night of the day following
Greta's departure for Italy Sir
~ I Isn Taverner went to the
It was a rare thing for
Taverner to go to theaters. rarer still
for him to 60 alone. AS Hodges drove
him along oxford street he tried to per-
suade himself that he was taking this
unusual step because he was over
worked and needed recreation. The
truth of the matter was that he miss
ed his niece and found the palatial
fiat in Park Lane dull and lonely with
out her.
Greta had been oddly changed Of
late. She had been quiet Of manner
and more settled. There had been none
of those frantic searches after some
thing original in dance frocks, few
hastily consumed meals, no midnight
or after midnight returns from those
revels that had once made up the greater
proportion of her existence. Instead,
she had spent her evenings curled up In
big chair by the lounge flre, armed
with book which she rarely read.
Taverner had welcomed this change.
Bachelor though he was, it stirred
home-loving instinct that had long
remained dormant From a date that
synchronized curiously with that en-
which Alan Dighton had embarked on
his Journey south, an altered Greta had
produced an equally altered Taverner
He had given up working late III MS
study, forsaken his clubs and dropped
quite naturally into the habit OF ENJOY
ing his after-dinner whisky ana cigars
in the company of his niece. =,
1t was surprising how pleasant 1t all
was. how much satisfaction could be
gained from quiet, uneventful evenings
spent within the warm radius OF the
fires glow. He felt more rested III these
DAYS. more ready for the strenuous &C
tivities of the morrow. The change
spread to the furnishings OF the nat.
Those comfortable modern chairs, those
priceless antiques that had Rugged the
walls with a stiffness worthy OF nlu-
scum, became moved into more con-
venient positions. In some subtle, mex
plicable manner a dead room nao DE-
come suddenly alive!
The altered state of affairs did not
pass unnoticed in the kitchen. Inc
cook remarked on 1t to Jarrett, ana tne
| housemaid proud in the possession OF
| her seventh young man, claimed that
she had OWNED the reason. If any,
| body were to ask her she declared, she
would reply without hesitation that
Miss Greta was in love. Hodges, who
was less in demand in these non-danc-
ing days, declined to express an opln-
ion when appealed to by a joint COM
mittee of his peers; and yet the same
Hodges could have told them a whole
| lot If he had chosen.
The chauffeur occupied UNIQUE po-
sition in the Taverner household, and
the one outstanding reason why ne had
remained In it for so long was because
he did not talk. He was probably the
best-paid motor driver in the nletropo-
lis. but the realization of this fact did
not turn his head it rather increased.
| if anything; his attitude of respect
toward his master and Miss Haye.
Hodges knew his place and kept 1t:
Taverner had a knack OF getting good
people around him and keeping them.
He did this without pandering to. them
or expecting them to lick his boots. AS
direct result. the imperturbable
Hodges would have gone through FIRE
and water to serve his master. He