The Washington times., 1934-08-18


plans for the entertainment.
Taking her social activities serir
ously, Laura Ingram was q sue
cessful hostess. To advance her
position in society was to her .
career and an art. Her husband
had helped her by becoming so
rich that-thiS being America
he had made her inevitably so
cially important. When he mar
ried her she was q well-brsd, MD
dle-claSS girl, living with her
father, who had q profeSSorShip
in a small college.
To the professors diSco1s
tented daughter, Jasper Ingram
represented opportunity; to In
gram she was the coolly So
lected instrument Of q purpose
he had at heart.
DisiIluSiOned
When he decided to marry,
he proposed to Laura Seward
for what seemed to him .
number Of good reasons. She
was handsome and apparently
healthy, she had q scholarly
background, and he had read
somewhere that a child derives
its Intellectual equipment main
ly from its mother. Great men,
he had heard. have, as q rule,
remarkable mothers and mNdi-
OGRE sons.
Marriage opened his eyes 10
the fact that Laura'S health
was not altogether sound, and
that the pliability and sweet,
ness and disposition she had
shown during courtship masked
disposition that was not en-
tirely angelic. He had naively
tested her for love of children
and joyfully given her high
marks on her responses, but
with the birth of Seward, she
refused to have another child.
Seward thus was an only
child, but, surprisingly enough,
he was a charming boy, popu-
lar at prep school and college
and now ShameleSSly run after
by half the girls on Long Is
land.
Ingram, somehow, had never
been able to get close to his
son. AS Seward grew older and
heard rumors about his father
and other women, the gulf
between the two widened-and
the boy became a violent parti.
san Of his mother. So it was he
entered a period Of cyniciSm
and establishment in which
she alone retained his rever-
ence.
While Ingram unused silently
OF mergers and stock manipu.
lations, she thought now about
the Infanta, second cousin to
ex-King Alfonso, whom a rival
hostess. widow of former AM
baSSador to Spain, was enter.
tanning. Laura had tried to
secure this lady for tomorrow,
but Ruth Bartlett was whirling
her prize to Bar Harbor.
Angling
It developed, when the In.
grams had joined the party on
the Bartlett terrace. that only
a few of the more intimate
members of Dona JoSepha'S
encourage were going with her
to Maine. The Marques DIAL
hueS Y Silva, certainly the most
attractive member of the party,
was to remain at loose ends in
New York.
But then, I am enchanted
with your New York" he told
Mrs. Ingram, your so beautiful
women and so many cars, your
Skyscratchers such as we have
not in Spain. What is Bar
Harbor but another San Sebas-
tian?-and that is an old
story"
you don't find it frightfully
hot in town." asked Mrs. In
gram.
Heat does not incommode
me, Senora-on the contrary.
After the revolution we went
first to England. B-r-r. I still
carry the chill of that England
in my bones!"
wont you come to US
tomorrow, Marques?" Laura
begged. I'VE will promise not
to freeze you. and you might
be amused"
Il shall be most happy" he
assured her, and gazed soul.
fully into her eyes as he kissed
her hand in parting.
CHAPTER w
Turning into their own drive,
Jasper and Laura saw their son
walking across the lawn accom-
panied by a girl whom Laura
identified as "the little acting
person-named Martin, or some
thing like that"
He seems interested"
Ingram said.
The way Seward walked, the
way he tilted his face to the
girl, it would not have been
palmer, had he worn a collar
and chain, that he was Airline
Martins captive.
Il do hope everything will
go off we'll" Airline was saying.
1T will mean SO much to me
If I can have a real success"
"Of course you'll be a success.
I thought you were perfectly