The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1939-10-12
hN Mario kIIZafd

I den. Crunch, OF wheels on gravef.
Doors opening. Voices. The door
opening below. Greetings.
"Oliyia, you were magnificent!n
There must have been fifteen
hundred people therel Where did
they all come fror1i"
us it true. that General Har-
board paid a thousand dollars; at
the auction for your music?"
Click Of high heels on the poll
ished floor. Tinkle Of glasses. The
string quartette tuning instru-
ments. Over it all the excited for
eign voices. And the clock in the
great hall striking twelve. Mid
night.
The end Of the concert The end
OF the season.
Olivia's annual supper party
was starting. In the kitchen, four
aproned maids added last touches
to the delectables on the table.
One stirred the onion soup sim
mering on the big stove. Another
added paprika to the steaming
lobster rlewburg in chafing dishes.
One carried a platter Of salad in
aspic, picking her footsteps warily
so as not to disturb its je11ied per-
lection. A man carved paper-thin
slices Of pale pink ham, passed the
silver platter on and carved the
birds.
Two walters stood In the pantry
waiting to have their trays loaded
with the fragile glasses filed with
champagne.
A thousand candles burn d
palely against the blazing logs in
every hearth. Perfume mingled
with wood smoke and the aroma
Of tobacco. Olivia moved gracious
~ from group to group, majestic
woman in her deep rose velvet, the
rubies at her throat and in her
ears. the diamonds on her arms
making her seem regal even to her
own.
/ Al Salon
| n MONG the guests there was
also a blaze of jewels, the
sheen of handsome gowns, an opu-
lence that was foreign to the COM
munity. Olivia's drawing room
was no longer a familiar, simple
room in a little seacoast summer
colony-it was a salon.
Cecily slipped her champagne
and watched it through dull eyes
that ached for sleep. She wanted
sleep more than anything in the
world. For eight nights she had
lain awake until dawn
At last it was over. The candles
burned to their ends, the fires
turned to embers. The walters had
taken away the last Of the plates.
the empty glasses. The musicians
were packing their instruments.
There had been beautiful music
there that night. The great Bran
zanga, Despecchi had sung their
hearts out, And CeciIy had heard
it in a dream.
She slipped away a: the last Of
them were leaving.
There was a chill in Cecily's
room in the ell. A maid had turned
her bed down.
This, then, was the end.
Her trunk. half-packed, yawned
openly. Her suitcase, her hat-box
lay on the floor beside it. She was
to drive back to Me-. York with
Helene and Manuel the next after
noon.
It was all over. In two days she
would have another room, see her
old friends. be with Doug. Make a
new life. A new life with no spirit.
The summer sun, the break Of
waves on a white beach would be
gone and with them Philip and
Laura and
She couldn't say his name.
She trie d to find happiness
thinking Of Laura. Laur a was
staying on for another fortnight.
Staying on to oversee the painting
in the old Hemingway house to
which she was returning as bride
within a month.
well. the summer did s o m e
good to someone anyway and I'm
glad il was Laura"
The clock striking three in the
han stirred her.
She got into bed hurriediy and
turned down the lamp. The house
grew quieter and quieter. Cecily
fell asleep hearing the last of the
good nights from the corridor
around the turn. b
Gloria went in to kiss her
mother good night. eft was WON
derful, Motherl The auction nett
| ted over FIVE thousand dollars.
And I've never heard Despecchi
sing the way she did tonight" 81
"All for sweet charity" Olivia
yawned. Run, along now. dear,
and get some sleep. Oh. hand me
that box -. the long white one"
Gloria picked. up jewelers.
box. 'Despecchi's?"
eyes. I'm putting all the Jewels
in my safe"
"Some day I'd like. to own q half
a million dollars worth Of emer-
aids" Gloria said. Maybe Jim
Penny can buy ther1 for me when
we get married"
"Despecchi would probably be
tickled to death to sell these"
Olivia commented as she thrust
the box into her wall safe.
well, If ! ever own them. dar-
ling. I'll see that they're kept In q
safe. that mas a lock on it"
"Oh. they're SAFE" Olivia said.
mo one knows that the combina-
ton doesn't work. It's the psychic
logical effect that matters. Do run
along. child"
| The clock In the lower hall