Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-12

" veranda above the sea at Cobole
Reef The manner Of his ar
rival was pleasant He descended from flne
fawn-colored runabout driven by dark-eyed,
pretty girl Ct 81 or %, who seemed to take 1t
as entirely matter of course that three young
men of similar age should nave squeezed
themselves into the rumble seat. All three
scrambled to take the place at her SIDE va
catsd by Mr. Massey; muscular force was IN
VOWED and she used some of this herself to
settle the contest.
When two had been established beside her
and the ether forced to retire to the rumble,
she leaned back. psttcd the defeated one upon
a tousled head then called to Mr.. Massey that
she would return for him later, and, settling
herself to the controls of her lively machine,
whzzed away down the white road that crosses
the salt marshes and leads to MaryS Neck.
From his chair my veranda, Mr.. Massey
a little anxiously observed the speed Of her
departure, but sighed resignedy and almost
at once began of those homely narratives
of his that find most instructive when least
interrupted. So I never interrupt him.
That one Clarssa tMr. Massey said,
and pretty much any time you'd happen to see
her it would be about the same way-dashing
off somewhere else with three or four Of em
hanging on as we'll as they could. AS a mat
ter of fact it seems to Mrs Massey and me
that about all get during our Summers at
Marys Neck is just gimpses OF both our
daughters. They're in and out, mostly out,
and when they DO stay nome II MIS MASSEY
and are in the living room, Clarissa and Enid
and their friends take the front porch, and If
we're out there they take TO the living room.
Yet I don't mean to say that those two girls
are alike; there's all the difference in the
world between EN-.
Clarissas more experienced socially and
more of general belle, you might say. She
seems to know how to keep her affections kind
of scattered around usually. and her mother
and I have about quit fretting when she does
appear to let EN- get centered upon one object
for a while, because we've found 1t never lasts
long or nterferes much with her eating or any
thing while it's occurring.
~LARISSA Just goes on having a good time
~ all the time, but Enid, who is couple Of
years younger. has always had a more severe
nature. as you might call it-youd hardly
know she's ClariSsa's sister. She's every bit
as good looking Clarissa. but light-haired
and less given to sentiment and frivolity She's
always been called the intellectual one being
artistic and reading more than most Of us do
about serious matters, such evolution and
people like the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. She
dances every bit we'll ClariSsa does,
though and it wouldn't be possible to dress any
tastilier-shes never had any lack of partners
to take her pick of-but a mighty principal
difference between the two used to be that she
never had the faintest glmmer of any suscep-
tibility to the boys.
What's more, when they showed signs of sus-
ceptibility toward herself she just couldn't
stand it, and when first began coming to
Marys Neck she made Eddie Bufinchs life
pretty miserable on that account. For quite
a while he couldn't get it into his head that
any symptoms of susceptibility on his part APP
peared to her as actual samples of mental de-
fectiveness and yet kept her from feeling the
tolerance she'd have shown to patient in such
an institution as she said ought to have charge
of him.
She was the same way with any other boys
that showed susceptibility. Shed get so angry
and so contemptuous that she d pretty we'll drive
them off, and if they still hung around she
wouldn't have anything to do with them. But
Eddie Bullfinch and she finally got into the
habit of quatreling about two-thirds of the
time and this seemed to suit her all right.
They spent most of their time together, even
when they weren't speaking.
To me Eddie Bulfinch is kind of an inter
eSting character though 1t took me couple
Of Summers to get accustomed to him. He's a
boy that hasn't widened out any he got
taller and older and the nose he had on him
during his childhood is still just the way it
was not grown up to the rest of his face. He
has Sandyish hair that he seems to try hard to
plaster backward in a fashionable manner but
without keeping part of it from rucklng up on
top toward the rear of his head, and he doesn't
appear able to wear white trousers that hold
their shape any to speak Of or to get the white
PARTS of his rubber-soled shoes more than fairly
grayish He likes to tinker up any old worn
out machinery he can lay his hands on and TO