Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1938-04-09

day party, Chris for years
! 1 haven't had one" said Chris. Last
! year, Daddy was laid up-that was Just
before came home 70 live. The year
/ before was kept, arranging the new
; branch OF the shop IN town, and the
the year before that. And the summer
before that was-Oh, somewhere
I else"
You were in Italy" her aunt tact
leSsly reminded her, at Lady Rack
Straw'S villa"
so was" said Christina.
Her mother gave her an anxious
glance.
Had her aunt forgotten It might hurt
the child to remind her OF the Rack
straw episode2 Or did she not care
whether or not the child's feelings
were Jared?
Christmas own mother did not know
how much or how little that episode
meant to Christina, now.
Young Robert Rackstraw, nicknamed
Face, had been running around" as
these people put it, with this girl and
that for several years before he had
proposed TO "the attractive little piece"
from that modern glass place. It was
on an impulse, as Bobbie afterwards
said. that he had suddenly broken out
with: We'll, what about 1t, Chris?
Orange blossoms and st. Georges
Hanover Square, mean?" (His init
mates declared that poor old Face
could not have been sober at the time).
Christina, airily accepting him with
a Right It might be amusing" had
not said that on an impulse. For some
time she had come to the conclusion
that, of the various lads with whom
She had gone places and done things"
danced, attended midnight bathing
parties-Face, being the most opulent,
was the more likely to give her good
time.
Their engagement had made a
splash; gratifying to everybody except
Christmas parents. who had other
standards, and to the baronets mother,
who had cherished other views for her
reckleSSly -extravagant son.
But Lady RackStraw had been sweet
ness herself when she invited Christina
for months stay at her Italian villa.
Chris had given up her job, spent all
she could raise on what she called
brand new suitcases and gone.
She had come back in a week, with
a shut little face and disillusioned
eyes. asking her people not TO talk |
about it more than they need. Every /
body. she said, reservedly, makes
only Boobies calculating lady
mother had not made any mistake in
getting the penniless fiancee to her
italian villa, treating her there with
'uave patronage, letting her feel that
;he, Christina Hoylake, was looked
upon as Poor Boobies Alteration"
md then filling the house with other
5irl guests, smarter, snapper, meal
'ulably better off.
The papers, which had announced
hat the marriage of Sir Robert Rack
traw, Bart, to Miss Christina Hoylake,
laughter of DR.. Hoylake, Of Rosemead.
Shellhaven, Sussex, would not take
)lace :" announced quite shortly
the forthcoming marriage
# "Sir Robert Rackstraw. Bart, to
diss Hazel K. Cooper, only daughter
# the American railroad king"
Such is life. Full Of jars that don't
lold JAM" as Christmas aunt pointed
,ut.
The odd part was that from that
lay Christina appeared less Jared, less
'estleSs than before the crash. With
very month, gradually but surely the
transformation was effected of gilt
ering Cocktail Mink into a positively
'ld-world, home-girl, who slipped back
nto all those obsolete interests Of
louse, garden, family, who thought Of
theirs and lived content
And now, on her 18th birthday, she !
1as something more than contented.
The child looks happy" noted Mrs.
Eoylake. When she was 81 she was
UGH a bright girl-yes, bright with
nat brittle brightness Of polished glass.
Tut now, her little face-why, 1t shows
soft luster, like a PEARL"
(which reminds me, she said aloud.
I've a present for you, darling"
But haven't I had my presents,
They were in curious contrast. Chris
mas presents from the cocktail set,
le cigaret holder and lighter, the gold
impact, which friends had sent for
er Blister. Today Christina had found
4 her birthday table little silver fox
,llar, an old-fashioned sampler,
AIMED, a beautifully produced red
Bible Intended to Be
cad as Literature" And now some
ing more?
Her mother slipped into her hands
] old green leather case.
your grandmother'S pearls"
Christina, in surprise, opened the
Lse. There they lay, not large, not
er-costly, but cleaning with that I'M
istakable milky luster of the real.
low lovely. For me2"
you were to have had them long