Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-16
INSTALLMENT XIII.

~ THAN'S car stopped before Hell
- ems house ceremonially Tuesday
evening. Ethan, in his evening
IL clothes, tall and distinguished.
rang Mrs. Birch's doorbell to
call for Helen.
Helen herself felt little as If things
weren't real. An engagement dinner at
| Nina's! And for herself and Ethan
Kingsway!
In spite of herself Helen felt a little
apprehenSive as to how Nina would act.
Nina could have q sharp tongue when
she wanted to.
Tacy, unchanged as the Sphinx,
tall and brown and solid, opened the
door in place of the housemaid and
| greeted Helen with warmth OF affec-
| tion-for her-which swept Helen along
| to Nina, warm and encouraged.
But there was nothing, at first glance,
which needed warming or encouraging
In the situation. So much had hap
pened to Helen that she wondered half
childishly II Nina would look like a
! different person. But the five months
since Nina had gone away had added
and taken away nothing.
Her evening gown was, Of course, from
| Paris-one, Helen knew, without being
told, Of big trunkful acquired Of a
little dressmaker" who had a secret
and immediate wire into three Of the
big showroons.
She rushed to greet Helen and Ethan
with Just her old staccato friendliness
my darling child! How clever Of
you and how delightful for mel Now
I'll have my little cousin in the same
town with me always. She's a house
| hold treasure as well as a bad little
flirtatious Southerner like me, Ethan!
I know. I've had her two years." And
then to Ethan, whose hand she held
with the one that wasn't holding
Helen's, in a softer voice, You don't
know how glad am that you're going
to be happy at last, dear Ethanl"
Ethan's quick and pleasant smile, his
equally quick and pleasant words of
! thanks, showed nothing of what he
thought or felt. Even DR.. Gaynor, q
little jaded from what he confided to
Helen later had been hard day, smiled
with more than his usual professional
cheeriness from behind his gold-bridged
eyeglasses at the two of them.
Il wonder If wasn't present at the
beginning of the romance" he said,
leaning back and slipping his cocktail
appreciatively, when this young per-
son, who looks so blooming now,
stunned herself against Mrs. Kingsway's
| pet walnut tree?"
"Oh, do tell me all about It'll" cried
Nina with enthusiasm.
There isn't much to tell. I gath
cred that Ethan had picked her up and
carried her into Kingsway House, like
she was unconscious In old Mrs. Kings
ways bed room, with the whole family
gathered around her. I must say I
never saw anything prettier."
1T must have looked like a death
bed scene" said Helen, with an un-
easy flippancy.
Instead Of being the prelude" be-
gan Nina lightly, to"
LAS matter of fact" Ethan spoke
across whatever Nina had been about
to say, you are little wrong there,
Gaynor, but net much. MY mother
and little Patricia did fall in love with
Helen then and there, but I'd begun be-
fore that"
Now we're going to get dates and
places" said Nina with glee.
mot one" said Ethan cheerfully.
You asked us here, my dear cousin-to-
be, to give us a good time and, we
hoped, because you loved us. We refuse
to make Roman holiday for you"
The amusement over this carried
4 them into the dining room, where
Helen. sinking into her old seat, found
herself beginning secretly to keep an
eye on Mattie's serving. so that Nina
could be free to lead the conversation.
Nina did.
What have you been doing9" from
DR.. Gaynor, elected a stream Of Nina S
| talk at its most amused.
We'll, there was a Russian count on
the Riviera" she began.
And 1 suppose there was a(French
one in France and an English baronet
in England" said the doctor in a de-
spair that was very nearly real. Nina
shrugged her white shoulders under the
demure black satin bows. The evening
gown was deceptively plain, tight,
black chiffon, whose cut alone told what
it had cost even from the little dress
maker"
Its possible!" she told him, with a
look that conveyed memories of whole
"Burke's Peerage" to good, innocent DR..
Gaynor. AT any rate, you never saw
| anything as marvellous as he was. Our
American men don't have that some
thing. That Is, of course" added Nina,
with a f1attering glance at her two
guests, except a very small minority
!. I choose my friends from that
minority"
DR.. Gaynor looked f1attered.
I'VE hoped so,' said Ethan with one
of his most winning smiles.
Helen listened and wondered Nina
seemed to have shrunk somehow. Her
manners, her phrases, her methods,
even her looks, seemed farther off and
less important. Helen felt like the little
boy in the fairy tale who felt that the
Emperor had no clothes on. She Won
dered again and suddenly realized that
she was seeing Nina now through
Ethan's more sophisticated eyes. His
entirely charming I'VE hoped so" yet
had note of casually accepting Nina
as she was and not taking what she was
seriously. Helen need never worry any
more, she knew that from just those
three words as to whether Nina's spell
could move Ethan ever so slightly. DR..
Gaynor believed in her, not Ethan.
She went on about the Russian count.
There was such depth, such tragedy,
in everything he said and was. Moth
ing left at all, of course. He said to
me: I live living death, Of course, as