The Coolidge examiner., 1932-07-22
U7ANDA WHALEN was what
w you might call a small-town
Ill .--..A O Li..-tn---r. srair.it
girl with a Oig-toWn


the pretty town of Medrose, a thriv-
ing enough little place situated on
a river notable for the beauty of
its winding banks, Wanda had prac.
tically never lived there. That is,
until she came home from an east
ern college and found herself, for
the first time in her eighteen years,
confronted with the idea of spend
ing winter at home.
Up To that time there had been
the two years that the Whalens had
spent abroad. previous to the death
of her father. Cyrus Whalen. presi-
dent Of the Medrose City bank.
Then there had been Wanda's
years at a young ladies' school in
Boston and the subsequent four
years at a girls college in New
York state. Summers had been
spent either at the elaborate camps
of elaborate friends. the Medrose
estate in Canada or in Europe.
All in all. Medrose had seen prac-
tically nothing Of Wanda, since her
toddling years.
Meanwhile, the town had grown.
Quite residential district had
sprung up around the end of town
that was still dominated by the
handsome old Whalen mansion.
What with her parents recent
death and the marriage Of an only
brother and his subsequent removal
10 Salt Lake City. Wanda was virtu-
ally the head of that mansion.
When in MedrOse she shared 1t with
maternal aunt named Rosa Lee
Masters. A faded. rather lovely
looking edition of the most robust
ly charming woman who had been
Wanda's mother. Rosa Lee ran the
house with effectiveness and skill.
The brief periods that Wanda spent
at home were entirely devoid of the
responsibilities of the elaborate
household or of the many duties
that might naturally clamor for the
attention of a young heiress recent
ly come into large holdings.
Between Rosa Lee and an old dis
tant family relative and lawyer
named Jade O'Higgins, Wanda's
days continued to be peculiarly
carefree and devoted almost entire
ly to the business of making them
as enjoyable as possible. To the
girls Of Medrose. who sometimes did
Wanda injustice to regard her fire.
quent comings and goings a snob-
berry, she was. nevertheless, an OBJ
ject of perpetual fascination and
mystery. There was something
exotic about Wanda. She belonged
to a great outside world of doings
that made her a person apart from
the usual run. Even the Medrose
girls who were in a position to
travel about a bit themselves, and
who had enjoyed the advantages of
finishing school. were nonetheless
a little under the spell of Wanda.
She rode horseback like a dare
devil. The streets of Medrose gaped
TO see her striding through them in
natty knickers on a cross-country
iaunt. She had a swimming pool
built on the extensive grounds of
the Whalen mansion and there were
rumors of midnight swims when
eastern friends came out for house
parties. Once a motion picture star
of international reputation, Polish
pianist and a senator from New
York state had made up the person
mel of one of these visiting groups.
Wanda's name and photograph
were forever in the Medrose paper,
10 say nothing of the eastern So
ciety and daily sheets.
The town agreed, a little reluc-
family. that Medrose was no place
for her. There was really nothing
there to keep entertained and occu-
pied a girl-of-the-world like Wanda.
Wanda. although she felt an affec-
tion for her little home city, came
10 about the same decision that first
winter she spent there. There were
one or two girls who were agree
ablefo her. Edna Martin, who rode
horseback with her. And the young
daughter of the mayor of the town.
A pretty girl named Tyron. There
were even one or two of the local
boys congenial TO her. Larry Pick
otto, who was a lawyers apprentice
and who drove his fathers car like
a whizz. And a rather reserved
young fellow, Claiborne Clay, whose
father had once been one of the
influential men of the state, but
whose family had gradually fallen
into arrears until Claiborne and his
mother, last survivors, occupied a
little gray frame house on the edge
of the town.
Claiborne was good fun because
he was of a quieter and more
thoughtful nature than any of the
boys who frequented Whalen's. He
was an architect by preparation and
was already eagerly working to-
ward the day when he would have
-,