The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1936-04-15
Chapter II
LUXURY
WHO were those people who

w spoke to your" Phina asked.
81 don't know" smiled Iris. Il was
in the otse walton car The red
headed one had something to drink.
and was trying to &c me to go over
and join his crowd. The tall man.
the older one. stopped him from be-
ing a nuisance"
"You didn't think o. going?"
why. mol"
1T might have been Cetter. II peo
pie are Objectionable you can al
ways drop them" said this aston
ishing aunt. "Tiey look like the
right kind"
"She's not what you thought
chaperon was. is she. little country
mousse" saiu Owen lightly
Nothing as outworD as that. /
hope" Pima smiled. s.lpIing an al
fectiOnate arm roug h Iris's.
Were going to be companions, not
old people and young PEG. :. aren't
we. my dear?"
Il .ope So" Iris said shyly. IT
seemed topsy-turvy She'd supposed
Pima would hav' approved of her
staying away from the shouting
strangers. Well. she was a country
mouse. She laughed.
you'll have to let me work up to
being sophisticate by degrees"
she said. i've been living in the
sixties or ninetie3 or something like
that. you know"
Good line" approved Owen. Then
they were at the apa: tmenI house.
A slender silver-gray terraced tower
toward the upper emo or Park Ave
nue.. Iris stirred around the foyer.
as they stood waiting for the eleva-
tor.
Ii was all sharp-lir "a metal and
silvery velvet. A single strange
twisted picture, all fed-and-silver
lines and planes. dominated a man
tel and fireplace which gave the
place a look of a deserted room.
not hall
The smiling uniformed OPERATOR
swept them upward. royal process
sion. a door orened n the rear OF
the elevator and let them directly
into Phina's apartment. A maid in
violet taffeta and lace apron took
their outdoor things. another swept
away J e baggage
The hall where they stood was
paneled in silvery wood like the one
downstairs; over : cCnsole-ta table
hung one dry-point of Fhina. signed
by famous etcher: a Lalique vase
holding out-of-season H.. ) of the
valley stood below ii on a scrap of
exquisite Chinese brocade; jade
toys lay about.
Don't dream dear come up to
your ROOM" Pima was laughing.
But it's so lovely"
She could not help contrasting
Pima with shabby. tense aunt ella
and her immutable social lines. a
woman who had male herself posi-
ton and could have place like his
was still beyond the pale to Ella
Pima. to Aunt Ella. was a dress
maker. No matter boz successful.
Poor Aunt Ella. suci. queer things
mattered to her. OF cen: Sc. Phila
delphia had always worried over
such things And title Persia, 4
province OF Philade!phl \ back.
water. held to the Oil lines more
than Philadelphia its,l. And Aunt
Ella was an old lady lrie's people
had all been middle-aged when she
was born and probably old fash
Toned for that. rs HoTinCial gentle
folk who have been impoverished
are apt to be.
I'm jumping fifty years" Iris told
herself as she stepped across from
the elevator to the gray-velvel rug
of the Toy er. The excitement of it
rushed over her again.
4 ND then. somewhere in her mind
came the thou TT OF what Mor.
gan would have said. BE sure you
don't alight on the wrong square
when you come down, like Alice in
Wonderland"
He said clever, disturbing things
like that Oh. dear. vas Morgan to
haunt her through eve; ling ste
said and did in this amazing new
world?
The elder violet-taffeta maid and
Owen followed Iris up a pair of
dolls stairs and 4 loud voice took
her mind from Morgan for the mo
ment.
Somebody in the drawing room
below was wailing suddenly. "Ok,
Pima, I'm in such a mess about
money!" and Pima. n her tailor.
made. calm as a doctor or a nurse.
was saying in her ~ool carrying