The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1942-12-11
CHAPTER "

So Emma and Ferny propped her
up comfortably and arranged the
lights becomingly, and were barely
finished as the clock struck the half
hour after seven, when Dorothy and
her mother came in to preen them
selves under the old lady's approx
ing eyes; to admire her and be
praised themselves. And in another
half-hour three or four mothers
were there, and quite a little re-
ception was going on in the up
stairs sitting room. At Cherry's
suggestion the arriving guests were
to be sent upstairs in attachments;
she went below at half-past eight
to find sixty of them milling about
enjoying a succession of cocktails,
and was reminded of old days at
Saint Dorothea's and school theatre
Gals as she sent them up in parties
of six.
Unexpectedly, Cherry found Amy
Marshbanks in the center of an ad-
miring circle, and hated herself for
the wretched little prick of jealousy
that rose even through her new
found sense of ease and power. She
looked for Fran and Kelly Coates,
but they were evidently coming lat
er; they were not in sight. When
the time came for her to say to
Amy that /. if she would please
would any four of them-go up
stairs and say good evening to Mrs.
Porter, Amy stared at her amused
ly, entirely without recognition, and
said in an undertone to an adoring
boy beside her:
'What's the big idea? Is Nursey
telling us to say we had a nice
timer" .a
There was a small library known
as ''the den" tucked away under
the wide turn of the stairway. The
door into the hall was open, but
when Cherry approached it to an
swer the telephone in the hall near
it she had no idea that anyone was
in the room.
The voice on the telephone was
that of an agitated gentleman who
was bringing a lady up from Hill
borough and had had the misfortune
to break a spring while driving.
They had sent for taxi.
Cherry's eyes moved absently to
the open door of the den, and rested
incuriously upon pair of satin slip
pers that in their turn were resting
upon one of the tasseled taborets
that stood before the fire.
The wearer of these slippers, who
ever she was, was sunk so deep in
a great chair in the comfortable po-
sition she had assumed her heels
were at least as high as her head.
The freight twinkled on the slip
pers and on the swirl of her ver-
million velvet gown; she was evil
IDENTIFY whispering, for Cherry heard
no words distinctly.
Cherry went upstairs with her
message that Miss Trotter and Mr..
Buddy Brown would be a little late,
to find the detachments coming and
going between the downstairs
rooms and Mrs. Porter's apart
ments, and any serious considera-
ton of dinner as far removed as
ever.
Emma said with her usual air of
stern but repressed annoyance that
this would never do, and just as the
delayed couple arrived from Hills
borough, at twenty-five minutes past
nine, the eight-o'c clock dinner began
to take shape and form, guests
struggled toward the tables and
looked for name cards, and wait
ers began to serve smoking cups Of
madrilene.
It was at this moment that the
couple whose privacy she had OBJ
served sauntered from the den.
Cherry, halfway up the stairs to
find Keno and ask the little Japa-
nese maid to keep an eye open for
lost evening bag of silver and
amethysts, happened to see them
come out She paused on the stairs
to watch them make their leisurely
way toward the dining room. They
stopped once in the lower hall, the
man speaking earnestly, the woman
listening with a bent head, giving
him only s.l occasional swift upward
glance.
Kelly and Fran. Kelly and Fran.
The sight made Cherry feel first a
little weak, and then heartsick.
They had come supposedly to keep
an eye on the younger crowd, to
help with the party. They had real
ly come to seize an opportunity of
being alone and unobserved togeth-
er. OF counsel OF Counsel
ALI her bright, vague hopes for
what this evening might bring were
destroyed instantly. Everything was
a dull and dreary blank now; Cher
~ hated every detail of the party,
dragged herself through the next
hour or two by sheer force of will.
There was plenty for her to do.
for the cocktail hour had been a
time sof great confusion. sand sthe