The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1939-08-31

And SO Jane and Adelaide were
left alone.
Adelaide sat in a big chair with
back like a spreading fan; she was
statuesque, and knew it, but she
would have exchanged at the mo-
ment every classic line for the eff
feet that Jane gave of unpremedi-
tated grace and beauty. The child
had flung a cushion on the marble
step, and had dropped down upon
it. The wind caught up her ruffies,
so that she seemed to float in
cloud.
She laughed, and tucked her whirl-
ing draperies about her. II love
the wind, don't your"
Adelaide did not love the wind. It
rumpled her hair. She felt spite
fully ready to hurt Jane.
''It is pity" she said, after a
pause, "that Ricky can't dine with
u.s."
Jane agreed. "Mr. Towne always
seems to be very busy person."
Adelaide carried a little gauze
fan with gold-lacquered sticks. When
she spoke she kept her eyes upon
the fan. do you always call him
Mr.. Towne'?"
"Of course"
"But not when you're alone"
Jane flushed. Eyes, / do. Why
not?"
"But, my dear, it is so very for
NAL. And you are going to marry
him.
HE said that he had told you"
"Ricky tells me everything. We
are very old friends, you know"
Jane said nothing. There was,
indeed, nothing to say. She was not
in the least jealous of Adelaide. She
wondered, of course, why Towne
should have overlooked this lovely
lady to choose shabby child. But
he had chosen the child, and that
settled it as far as Mrs. Laramore
was concerned.
But it did not settle it for Ade-
laide. II think it is distinctly anus
ing for you to call him Mr.. Towne.'
Poor Rickyl You mustn't hold him
at arms length"
"Why not?"
swell, none of the rest of us
have" said Adelaide, deliberately.
Jane looked up at her. 1.-THE rest
OF you? What do you mean, Mrs.
Laramore?"
''Oh, the women that Ricky has
loved" lightly.
The winds futtered the ribbons of
James frock, fiuttered her ruffles.
The peacock on the lawn uttered a
discordant note. Jane was subcon-
sciously aware of a kinship between
Adelaide and the FURNISHED bird.
She spoke of the peacock.
what disagreeable voice he
has"
Adelaide stared. "Who?"
"The peacock" said Jane.
Then Eloise and Edith came in,
and presently the men, and Lucy
and Del from a trip to the small
porkers, and Adelaide going out with
Del to dinner was uncomfortably
aware that Jane had either artlessly
or artfully refused to discuss with
her the women who had been loved
by Frederick Towne
The dinner was delicious. "Our
farm products" Delafield boasted.
Even the fish, it seemed, he had
caught that morning, motoring over
to the river and bringing them back
to be split and broiled and served
xxyitb 1iff1n poxry r,ofaf0ac Thoro xr,o~
chicken and asparagus, small cream
cheeses with the salad, heaped-up
berries in Royal Worcester bowl,
roses from the garden. "All home
grown" said the proud new hus-
band.
Jane ate with little appetite She
had refused to discuss with Adelaide
the former heart affairs of her be-
trothed, but the words rang in her
ears, "The women that Ricky has
loved"
Jane was young. And to youth,
love is for the eternities. The
thought of herself as one of a sue
cession of Dulcineas was degrading.
She was restless and unhappy. It
was useless to assure herself that
Towne had chosen her above all the
rest. She was not sophisticated
enough to assume that it is, per-
haps, better to be mans last love
than his first. That Towne had made
it possible for any woman to speak
of him as Adelaide spoke, seemed
to Jane to drag her own relation to
him in the dust.
The strength of the wind in
creased. The table was sheltered
by the house, but at last Delafield
decided, WED better go in. The
rain is coming. We can have our
coffee in the hail."
Their leaving had the effect of a
stampede. Big drops splashed into
the plates. The men servants and
maids scurried to the rescue of
china and linen.
The draperies of the women
streamed in the wind Adelaide's
tulle was a banner of green and
blue. The peacock came swiftly up
the walk, crying raucously, and
found sheltered spot beneath the
steps.
From the wide hall, they saw the
rain in silver sheets. Then the doors
were shut against the beating wind.
They drank their coffee, and
bridge tables were brought in. There
were enough without Jane to form
two tables. And she was glad. She
wandered into the living-room and
curled herself up in window-seat.
The window opened on the porch.