The Washington times., 1931-05-05

carry the story in headlines
that had been the occasion of
peremptory cablegrams for their
return to America and had
virtually shut off subsequent
trips abroad.
There had been the affair,
too, of the young Argentinian,
son of a castor bean magnate.
driving his Hispano-Suiza into
the swimming pool at the Ros-
lyn, Long Island, estate. Jenny
had been as outraged as Rarick.
except that he went to the ex-
treme of keeping the house
closed for two subsequent sea-
sons.
A Wise Wife
There were certain wellde-
fined limits to opposing Rarick,
which were none the less tricky
limits, because there seemed to
be no way except the intuitive
one. to anticipate them. He
would give in on many a grand
issue, such. for instance, as the
FIcke house. Jennifer's fabulous
string of matched pearls, or
Jenny's whim for 5000 acres
OF F'rench-Canadian tract north
of Quebec, upon which they
had built an artificial lake, a
4O-room chalet, The Cataract,
and which had been opened
exactly 20 days in five years.
On the other hand, a trifle
like Avery's roadster, or this
matter of DR.. Gerkes, would
set his head rigidly into the
valley of his shoulders and
square him for fight.
The coming Of DR.. Gerkes was
one of those occasions. This
time Jenny knew it even before
she raised the first faint dust
of issue; but she could not fore
go that first faint dust. The
coming of Gerkes angered her.
1t went against the grain. Not
that, offhand, it would seem to
cause much of a ripple in a
household where 81 servants re-
ported to the housekeeper every
morning; but it did matter more
than was discernible at the first
glance.
From the first, Jenny had
found the Ficke house decep-
tive. A Gothic library two sto-
ries high. which ran across the
entire Fifth Avenue frontage, a
Sdrawing-room of enormous pro-
portions, a Roman dining-room
into which you assembled by
Pompeian marble steps, and a
glaSSed-in conservatory for
which a breakfast-room had
been sacrificed as Rarick's pas
sion for difficult and exotic
transportation began to grow,
left embartassingly few bed
room suites.
Shuns the Household
An additional story would
have marred the Hellenic grace
of the building, and the owner
of the adjoining pile of magnifi-
cence felt affronted, rather than
tempted, by the Rarick offer to
buy.
The yellow suite assigned to
DR.. GerkeS Subtrated one from
the five small suites of guest
chambers that Jenny had so
elaborately planned and redone.
It is true that the comings and
goings of Gerkes, who preferred
to use what was known as the
service-entrance and the small
rear staircase that led quite pri-
vately up to his rooms, made
practically no dent in that
household.
That evening, before they
went down to dinner. Jenny's
anger overflowed her discretion.
There's a time and a place
for everything, Rarick," she said
to him, as he stood tugging at
his collar in the enormous mir
rored bathroom which gave off
their bedroom. That man is
no more comfortable here than
we are in having him."
What man."
"Gerson, or whatever it was
you said his name is"
Makes Few Demands
Il said his name is Felix
Gerkes," he pronounced, slowly
and meticulously. as you might
mouth lesson to child. DIR.
Felix Gerkes. has condescended
to come and make his home
here"
isn't is usual, Rarick," she
said, her rising anger crowding
closer on her discretion, for
even so great a patron saint of
INDECENT college professors as
yourself to consult the members
of his family before introduc-
ing a worthy outsider into the
houSehold?"
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