The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1941-05-17
. BY MARGARET MlppEAER


Jordan had lost her. He was UP at
the other end Of the farthest par
lor. He was talking agreeably to
one of the older professors; one
of black-coated group who were
standing round a mantelpiece,
gossiping and relaxed. The sight
of him, so Usual, so kind. so sane,
so ambitious, should have pulled
her back to, herself as she had
been. 'l''
She took one step toward him.
Then she halted. There was an
other group, near them. Not so
important; the women's dresses
were brighter and more trimmed
and less expensive, the men
laughed louder "a couple OF
voices with a foreign accent
echoed toward her. The musical
and artistic group, drawn together
in secret boredom with the others,
clustered in chairs and on a stool
or so.
One man had a leg thrown over
his chair arm, one of the younger
women was on a floor cushion
even here in the sacred Onder-
donk mansion. The groups center
was a middle-aged woman with a
tanned, plump, intense face and
long banged hair, filleted with un-
becoming gold ribbon that had
probably by its creases come off
candy box. Her dress was artis-
tic but badly made, and her shoes
were wrong for it.
But her vitality made up for
all that. She was laughing and
gestieulating with one hand; the
other, as usual, imprisoned in
that of the dark man with a
crumpled shirt front who sat
close by her, his specialized eyes
doglike on hers. The Weigands.
Eileen came close to them. She
stood above them, and waited till
Martha Weigand's last staccato
sentenced came to its close. Then
she spoke, deliberately.
Il wanted to talk to you. That
addition you wrote me about,
Mrs. Weigand."
hetfOSpect
"TT ISN'T like her." her aunt
l said. She looked up from the
pile of exercises she was cor
recting.
The neat, little old mission desk,
in corner of the square, trim,
inexpensively pretty living room,
was what Eileen always remem-
bered as her aunt's natural back
ground. She belonged there, much
more than at any of her other oc-
equations.
Miss Gardner had life which.
she said brightly. was very sat-
isfactory one. A broad life, she
called it, with innocent pride. She
and Helen Doran were popular
with the other teachers in their
school.
There was their group-two
tables Of bridge--which met fort
nightly on Friday evenings, with
couple of bachelor teachers, a
married assistant principal and
his wife. 1t had small Jokes which
had become more ingrown for a
generation; it had predestined
partners. who knew each others
ways; it had a final gala night
once a winter when the gentle-
men took the ladies to a real
show. with a two-dollar table
d'hote dinner beforehand.
When Louise Gardeners brother
and sister-in-law had died, close
together, of flu in bad flu winter
in the late twenties, Miss Lou
had taken over sixteen-year-old
Eileen as a matter of course.
Everybody had always had high
l.opes about Eileen. Even Helen
Doran, who had been pretty and
popular in tall, dark, serious
way, and had lost her lover in the
World War. The two women felt
that it was a sort of carrying on
the torch when the boys began to
flood the little apartment; they
smiled reminiscently over tele-
phone CABS by shy gruff young
voices, and high-school girls gig
Cling with Eileen in little groups
after school.
Miss Louise didn't know II. but
in her disn1ay at Eileen's decision
to go a hundred miles away and
take a job that did not pay
living wage, there was not only
an unSelfiSh concern for her
nieee's welfare, but dismay at
ldsihg her greatest pride and most
valuable possession.
But darling, any moron can
go sing love songs down a radio"
she mourned. What about your
intellectual life? And you had
such high !. o."
BLACK mark for brains"
Eileen quoted TO herself, She re-
membered every word Martin
had said in that brief ten min
utes, II seemed.
She paused in her work. She
was sorting q pile of sheet music,
on the long, narrow. and mahog-
any-stained table that served for
hving-room piece and a dining
table. Its makeshift elegance was
all Of a piece, she suddenly real
lied, with all Of Aunt Louise's
ways. She wanted. impatiently,
either TO eat sitting on a packing
box or in a room especially for
dining. Her usually def hands
Numbered. and the plaster
bronzed book end in the shape Of
Robins Thinker" went over and
was just saved.
But any moron eau be A Sec
rotary to professor. too" she
said, "a
Its safe" '~''
Eileen laughed. who wants to
be Safe?" ISIS ? t&
IT probably wouldn't be for
long. I'd like to see YOU in a little
hNe.an a. a.r.tNr ....... D