Henderson daily dispatch., 1939-11-28
CHAPTER TEN

5rERTRIJDE. Comtesse de Ligne,
maintained nine-room apart
ment in New York and a small
house in Paris, both rather hand
some menages. But it was VIII
loughby hall, old and white ana
Gracious as the beauty of the belle
Who had come to it as bride
nesting in Maryland valley
twenty miles from Baltimore, that
was home to Gertrude's daughter
Fabienne Seymour.
It had not always been known DIS
Willoughby hall. It was Carr Sey-
mour who had left it to Marx ana
Edna Willoughby-having nothlng
else to leave to his brother and
sister-in-law who had been tather
and mother to his children after MS
divorce from Gertrude Willoughpy,
who had cared less for her children
than the glitter of European socl-
etv. It was his one gesture to leave
the security of a home to ms chill
dren.
Richard Seymour had built it for
his bride, lovely, spirited Fablenne
de Courcy, who came from France
to attend a ball in New Orleans
and never returned to her native
land. They had met and married
decade before the Civil war. None
of her dark beauty, but allNot her
love for the hall, and her spirit, she
had left to find its clear trace IN
her granddaughter.
The room that had been F'a-
biennes since she could remember
had been the bridal chamber Of that
first Fabienne. It's walls were hung
with the now-faded Nand-Woven
silk that had been brought from
France. The painted fire screen, the
long oval mirror, the lowered car
pet and the spindle-legged chairs
that once had served Fabienne de
Courcy, were tributes to her grace
and femininity.
Lying on the big bed with its
headboard of tufted satin, Fabienne
Seymour, on that first morning OF
her return to Maryland, let her eyes
sweep lazily over the room and
was aware for the first time that
it no longer seemed like HER room.
It was the room of another WOn-
ana belle But was not she, Fa-
bienne, belle?
She arrived at dinner time the
evening before and already the in
vitations had come by telephone
and messenger. yes, yes" she had
said to them ALL The invitation to
the Hunt ball, the Bachelors dance,
the 'Hallowell and Jackson parties.
Eyes, I'd love to-" To ride with
Tom and Jane and Nicky; to tea
with young masters at the school
that Uncle Mark headed.
She was, and she intended 10
continue, being a belle Those three
months Of service in New York
would mean nothing to her. No
more than they should mean. She'd
done it merely to prove to herself
that she could. She'd done it and
now she would go back to being
WlIdI SHG 1SdlIy WdS- L rue, size WC"D
no longer rich girl who could send
her bills to her great grandfather
But she had enough money to live
pleasantly She'd always have this
home with Uncle Mark and Aunt
Edna. Gertrude would finance a
trip to Europe if she wanted one
And when she wished to marry,
there was Nicky waiting for her.
And days of grace and comfortable
living
There was a silver cord that
hung beside the tufted satin bed. A
touch Of her hand would summon
old Molly. But the habit formed |
during three months of routine,
eating breakfast when she was
dressed, with an eye on the clock,
was upon her; she threw back the
soft blankets and ran into her bath.
She brushed her silky hair pow
dered her nose and hastily applied