The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1937-01-22
CHAPTER III


sent the car rocketing into drive,
accompanied by swirls of dust and
a noise like fire-crackers exploding.
This sulky young man named Her
bert, thought Jim, was probably
head-over-heels in love with Dolly.
Jim smiled compassionately. She
led him merry chase, no doubt.
There was something about Dolly
which appealed to the imagination
of men.
Jim whistled as he walked along
the side of the road.
He felt amazingly cheerful. 1t
was food he had needed and stimu-
lating company. Dolly-bless her!
had provided both. He must
make every effort to deliver her
message. She had assumed he was
acquainted with the household at
"Meadowbrook." Cecily. Attractive
name. But who was Tommy? Some
one who worked on the place-per-
haps the chauffeur.
The imminence of seeing the Mac
Phersons again added to Jim's in
creasing felicity. He found that he
was able to recall the weekend
with less acute humiliation. Why
had he let the Callenders get under
his skin to such a disturbing de-
gree? It wasn't his fault that he
hadn't job. Fellows smarter than
he were in the same predicament.
He should have been jaunty.
Brother, can you spare a job?"
Debonaire. The light touch did it.
He'd lost his genius for the light
touch. He'd lost his sense of pro-
portion, his conviction that life
should be lived in terms of come
dy. He hadn't been cast for tragic
role. He was too healthy, too blond,
too naturally cheerful. He'd gotten
out of character, glooming and
glowering and sensitively magnify
ing trifies into Sights and insults.
Jim grinned sheepishly and the mel
ody he whistled, rising in trills of
hooking notes, reached a derisive
crescendo. AS a tragic figure he
was absurd. He'd get back into
character and stay there, to extend
the metaphor, until the third act
curtain. He was going to marry
Lenore-
The whistled notes ceased abrupt
ly. He saw her in minute detail,
her small exquisitely groomed fig
ure, her dark hair parted demurely
and pinned in a shining knot at
the nape of her neck, her long dark
eyes, her skin so nearly the tint
and texture of the gardenias which
were her favorite flowers. She was
lovely looking. Interesting, too,
He'd been so crazy about her
What had become of his young
passion for Lenore? Jim walked
more slowly along the dusty margin
of the road. It had been real enough
the summer she'd spent with Kay
at Whitehall" He was nineteen
then, just through his first year at
Princeton. The details of her visit
were lost in a roseate mist. He'd
been down for the count from the
moment he had met her at the sta
ton, petite and enchanting in some
sort of a silver-grey costume fra
grant with gardenias.
What an egregious young ass he'd
been! Jim thought with amused
compassion of the young Jim who
had been himself very long time
ago. And yet he was fond of Lee
more. If only Forget it! Time
enough for her-tomorrow, the rest
of his life. Today was his. Lenore
had no part in it. Hewhistled again,
tentatively at first and then with
more assurance.
Nice country, he thought, emerg-
ing into sunlight from the shade of
a stretch of woods. His eyes moved
over fields and woods, rolling mead
ows, horse-jumps and worm-fences,
corrals, lanes winding in to comfort
able dwellings glimpsed briefly
through trees.
Living, here, would be simple and
pleasant. Summer places, he sur
missed, weekend retreats for city
jewellers who liked country. A
pleasant life; horses, dogs, hunting,
simple hospitality. That white
house on the hill
"Meadowbrook," perhaps. The
girl in the drugstore had said "a
white house on a hill" Jim sur
veyed with deepening interest the
low rambling house settled snugly
into the contours of a series of roll
ing hills. "Sort of old-fashioned,
Dolly had added. 1t was impossible
to see the house distinctly. The
foliage of many trees screened it
almost completely. Jim had the i'm
preston that it was built of stone
which had been painted white. "But
pretty" Dolly had concede'..
1t was a nice looking place, Jim
decided. Dolly's taste probably ran
to something more elaborate. This
was attractive. The estate. as far
as he could see, had an ordered,
well tended appearance. Rail-
fences, freshly white-washed, edged
meadows foaming with daisies and
Queen Anne's lace.