The Washington times., 1931-06-15
CHAPTER SO

CHAPTER 80
1t came as a shock to Rarick,
that the suggestion to unload
himself of the great property Of
his town house should come
from his daughter.
They had been sitting over
after-dinner coffee on one Of
. those evenings which, during
the months since the death Of
Jenny, his daughter had duti-
fully apportioned off, as if al
/ lowing him just so much time
out Of the more-than-ever
crowded budget of her days.
i In a sense this was true.
. Since the death Of her mother,
a rigid, self-made rule, which
she had not allowed to lapse in
the Is months, except 'luring
the periods of absence from the
city, had been to set apart two
evenings of the week, either to
accompany her father to a con-
cert of opera, or remain with
him in his library.
The conclusion of her moth.
er's death, coming. as it should
not have been permitted, out
of an ignorance and innocence
Of the facts, had been an ir-
ritant that set her Skyrocketing
into a state half noSy, half hyS-
terical.
An Independent Girl
''I don't give damn for any
thing now!" she had cried, the
morning they had begun to
pluck the finery from the wait
ing hospital bed of Jenny, as
you would pluck the feathers
from a swan. She had gone
rather consistently about not
giving it.
'I'd be a fine one to go into
mourning. wouldn't I?"-when
she troubled at all to explain.
"She would be the first to hoot
laughter at it. She despised
long faces and emotional side
shows"
That was probably true.
There had been no ostensible
period of mourning for Avery,
even in the days when Jenny's
face had resembled a wax mask
that was melting downward
from the corners. To Rarick,
the formal period of mourning
did not even occur.
The affairs of household went
on pretty much as usual, except
that after the first blank weeks
of shock, Jennifer began to
cram the evenings with oc'
casions. The formal dinner.
never too frequent a function
with Jenny, because of the
strain of Rarick, who never at
tended, became the rule.
They were mixed parties Jen-
infer held that year, frantically
assembled parties, without So
cial rhyme or reason; social
fringe assemblages that Jenny
would have tried to avert some
times, parties with the servants
mopping up small pools Of wine
from the dining room floor the
morning afterward and scrap
ing the marred surface for
fresh waXingS.
Does Not Protest
In the main, Rarick did not
protest, except on the occasion
when young Rodney Martens,
finding one Of the buffers
bicycles propped in a rear hall
where he must have been
cropping, between dances, for
air to clear his fuddled brain
had ridden it into the ball
room about 3 o'clock in the
morning, plunging into a great
crystal and lapis lazuli can
delabrum of so bulbs, toppling
it over, blowing the fuse, and
crashing the evening into dark
ness, as he landed in a ringing
mess that stirred the household
and reached Rarick as he lay
abed, sleepless.
II dislike to have to men,
tion it to you, Jennifer; you
are no longer a child, but
either you pick your friends
with more discrimination or
don't have them here"
That was the evening, seated
over coffee in the library, her
eyes level and burning under
the straight bang, that Jen-
infer burst forth:
Lets chuck it, father. Sell
the house!"
Sell the house! He could
have told her, almost as far
back as her mission to him in
behalf of Cataract Lodge, that
he had already sold it.
THAT is" she added, grind.
ing out her cigarette with a
sort of fierce enjoyment at the