Show cleom c 7 lid LILLIAN r T f vac CO 19 n a ll 11 y Y 6 r CD silo RHODES DE 5 1 r SYNOPSIS 6 at a ventry vestry meeting of the market square church gall gail sargent ustena listens to a discussion about the sale of the church tenements to edward E x allison local traction king and when asked her opinion of the he church by rev smith boyd ays says it Is in apparently a lucrative business enterprise allison takes gall gail riding in his motor car when he suggests suggest 11 he Is in entitled to rest on the laurels of hla his achievements she phe ask asks the disturbing question chyr gall returning to her bar uncle jim a home from her drive with allison finds cold disapproval in the eyes of rev smith bead who Is to calling there at a bobsled party gall finds the world uncomfortably full of men and allison tells jim sargent that his new ambition la is to conquer the world allason starts start a campaign tor for consolidation and control of the entire transportation system of th the world gall becomes popular allason gains control of transcontinental traffic and arranges to absorb the vedder court tenement property of market square church gall visits vedder court and meets boyd there I 1 CHAPTER VIII continued 16 you are blaming the church with a fault which lies ilea in the people protested the rector shocked and disturbed and yet feeling it his duty to set gall right he was ashamed of himself for having been severe with her in his mind she was less frivol ous quo than he bad had thought and what she abo needed was spiritual instruction the people are lukewarm what else could they be with the watery spiritual gruel which the church provides retorted gall 1 I am interested in knowing what your particular new religion would be like remarked daddy manning his twinkling eyes resting affectionately on an her it would b be a return to the simple alth faith in god gall told him reverent ly IY it Is still in the hearts of the people as it will always be but they have nowhere to gather together and worship daddy manning laughed as be he de that bit of sarcasm according to that we are wasting our new cathedral Absolute absolutely lyt I 1 and it struck the rec tor with pain that gall had bad never looked more beautiful than now with her cheeks flushed and her brown eyes snapping with indignation your cathedral will be a monument built out of at tha the profits wrung from squalor to the vanity of your congregation if it I 1 were the dictator of this wonderful city of achievement I 1 would decree that cathedral never to be built and vedder court to be utterly destroyed destroy edl I 1 it Is in perhaps just as well that you are not the dictator of the city the young rev smith boyd gazed down at her from his six feet of serious pur pos pass with all his previous disapproval intensified the history of market square church Is rich with in stances of its usefulness in both the spiritual and the material world with evidence of at its power tor for good with justification for its existence with rea confor son for its acts you make the corn com mon man mistake of at judging an entire body from one surface indication do you suppose there Is no sincerity no con science no consecration in market square church ills deep mellow melo baritone vibrated with the defense of bis his purpose and that of the institution which be he represented why do you suppose our vestrymen vestryman vestry men whose time Is to of enormous value find a space amid their busy working hours for the at fairs of market square church why do you suppose the ladles ladies of our guild who have agreeable pursuits for every hour of the day give their time ume to committee and charity work he ile paused for a hesitant moment why do you suppose I 1 am so eager for the building on american soil of the most 1 house of worship in the world A orld I 1 gal s pretty upper lip curled personal ambitions she snapped and without waiting to see the pallor which struck his face to stone she heeled her way out through the mud to her coupe CHAPTER IX the storm center of magnetic at traction brother bones said sold interlocutor ted teasdale commandingly with bis his knuckles on his right knee and bis his elbow at the proper angle yes sir mr interlocutor replied cunningham whose ba ck face makeup seemed marvelously absurd la in connection with bis his brown vandyke brother bones when does every body love a storm 7 1 I don t know M mr r interlocutor ad bitted brother bones cunningham touching bla his kinky wig with the tip a 0 one finger when does everybody lovea storm T interlocutor ted teasdale roved his eye over the assemblage ot of fifty or more in hla his own ballroom and smiled in a superior fashion the ebony faced semicircle of impromptu alu banded together that morning leaned forward with anticipatory grins they had bad beard the joke in rehearsal it was as a corker 1 when it its a a gall be he replied whereat gall sargent at whom every body looked and laughed flushed pret uly and the bones and tambos made a flourish and the interlocutor an bounced that the self help glee club would now sing that entrancing ditty entitled mary had a little calf it was only la in the blossom of the evening at tea ted Teas dalea dales country bouse house the sama being about eleven and the dance was still to begin luclle lucile Teas dales vivid idea for malting making her house party notable was to induce their guests to amuse them selves and their set had depended upon hired entertainers for so long that the idea had bad all the charm of dis novelty fine no end of itt one could always be sure of having a livell time around luclle lucile and ted teasdale teesdale and arly fosland gerald fosland was at this party fine chap gerald and beautifully decent in his attentions ho to arty arly pity they were so rotten boned with each other but there you were each should have married a blonde gall sargent fairly scintillated with enjoyment she had never attended so brilliant a house party her own set bark home had a lot of tun fun but this was wils in some way different the were no more clever but there were more nore clever people among them that os as it there had been a wider range from which to pick which was why in new york there were so many circles and circles within circles the men whom lucile and arly had collected were an especial joy they bad all the accomplished outward sym gym bols bola of fervor without any of its oppressive insistence gall as an agreeable duty to her new found self ex with several of them and found them most amusing and pleas ant but nothing more disturbing dick rodley was the most persist ent and in spite of the fact that be he was so flawlessly handsome as to ez ex cite ridicule gall found herself by and by defending him against her own iconoclastic sense of at humor he reached her after the minstrel show while houston van aloon and willis cunningham were still struggling profanely with their burnt cork and he stole her from under the very eyes of jack gariby while that smitten youth was as exchanging wit wm at a tremendous loss with caustic arly fosland have you seen the new century plant in the conservatory T dick asked beaming down at her bar his black eyes eyes coals he ile strolled with gall to the seat be bind hind the rose screen but it was fully engaged and he led the way out toward the geranium alcove where Is the century plant t he was a tremendously pleasant fellow when ehe she walked through a crowded room with dick she knew from the 2 there Is 1 no century plant he confessed looks of at admiration just what people were saying that they were an ex tra ordinary handsome couple there othere Is no century plant he shamelessly confessed I 1 knew it and she laughed I 1 don t mind admitting that it was a pointblank point blank lie ile be he cheerfully told her I 1 wanted to get you out here alone all to myself and his voice went down two tones he ile did dla it so prett prettily ityl I 1 my happy happy childhood days laughed gall the boys used asedo to talk that way on the way home from school I 1 don it doubt it and dick smiled appreciatively the dullest sort of a boy would find himself bayl saying ng nice things to you but I 1 shall stop it ob oh please don doltl tl begged gall you are so delightful at it he pounced on a corner halt half hidden by a tub of ferns there was no bench there but it was A as at least semi Isol isolated aled and he be leaned gracefully against the window ledge looking down at her earnestly as she stood out lined against the green of at the terns ferns in her gown of delicate blue sparkling with opalescent flakes just the trouble he corn com I 1 don t wish you to be aware that I 1 am saying what you call pretty things I 1 wish instead to he be effective and there was a roughness in his voice which bad had come for the first time she was a trifle startled by it and she lowered her eyes before the steady gaze which be he poured down on her why be he was in earn earnest estl I 1 then take me to luclle lucile she smiled up at him and strolled in toward 11 the ballroom willis cunningham met them at the door you promised me the first dance be breathlessly informed gall he bad had been walking rapidly iva I 1 ve the second one remember gall gail dick reminded her as he glanced around the ballroom for his own partner but gall gail distinctly felt his eyes following her as ebe she walked away with cunningham 11 1 I know now of what your profile reminds me cunningham told her the charm Char meaux aux praying nymph it Is the most spiritually beautiful of all I 1 the pictures in the louvre 1 I wonder which Is the stronger emotion in me lust just now she re turned gratified vanity or curiosity 1 I hope its the latter smiled cun ning bingham ham 11 I 1 recall now a gallery in which there Is a very good copy of the Char meaux canvas and I 1 d be delight ed to take you ill go with pleasure promised gall and cunningham turned to her with a grateful smile I 1 would prefer to show you thi original he ventured oh look at them tuning their drums cried gall and he thought that she bad had entirely missed his hint that the keenest delight in bis his life would be to lead her through the louvre and from thence to a perspective of picture galleries dazzling with all the hues of the spectrum and as long as life he bad had other things which he want ed to say but be calculatingly reserved them tor for the day of the picture viewing when be he would have her ex elusive attention so through the dance he talked of trifles far from bis his heart he ile was a nice chap too dick rodley was on band hand with the last stroke of the music to claim her tor for his dance by one of those waves of unspoken agreement gall was being rushed it was her night and she enjoyed it to the full van aloon danced with her danced conscientiously keeping perfect time to the music avoiding with practiced adroitness every possible pocketing or even hem contacts with surround ing couples and acquitting himself of lightly turned observations at the ex pi ration of about every seventy seconds he ile quite approved of her ex so he ile bad had never met a girl who approached so near the thou sand per cent grade of perfection by all the blue ribbon points it was while she was enjoying her second restful dance with van aloon that gall swinging with him near the south windows heard the bonk honk of an auto horn and near the conclusion of the dance saw allison standing in the doorway of the ballroom with his bands hands in bis his pockets watching her with a smile her eyes lighted with pleasure and she nodded gayly to him over van paloona tall shoulder when the dance was on side of at the room and was instantly the center of at a buzzing little knot of dancers from out at 0 which carefree laughter radiated like visible flashes ot of musical sound she emerged from the group with the arms of two bright eyed girls around her waist and met allison sturdily breasting the currents which had set towards the conserva tory the drawing rooms or the buffet nobody has saved me a dance he complained I 1 nobody expected you until tomor row gall gail smilingly returned introducing him to the girls III beg you one of my dances from ted or somebody 11 I 1 one will be enough tor for me unless you can steal me some more ot of your own be he told her glancing down at her from coiffure to blue pointed slippers with calm appreciation you are looking great tonight and bis his gaze came back to rest in her glowing eyes her fresh color had bad been height ened by the excitement of the evening but now an added flush swept lightly over her cheeks and passed III see what I 1 can do she looking at her dance card 1 I think one Is all you gel get 1 I im m lucky even to have that declared allison in content the fourth dance down that will just give me time to punish the buff buffet et I 1 in hungry as a bear I 1 started out here without my dinner her next partner came in search of her presently and the music struck up and allison All lson nodding to bis his many acquaintances jovially tor for he be was in excellent humor in these days of build ing and planning and clearing ground for an entirely new superstructure of life circled around to the dining room where be he performed savage feats at the buffet soon be he was out again at standing anding quietly at the edge of things and watching gall with keen pleasure both when she danced and when in the intermissions the gallants of the party gravitated to her like needles to a magnet in agnet her popularity pleased him and flattered him suddenly be he ca caught aught sight eight of eldridge babbitt a middle aged man who sas as watching vat ching a young woman with the same pleasure allison was experiencing in the con temptation temP lation of gall just the man I 1 wanted to see an bounced allison All lson making his way to babbitt 1 I have a new freightage i apropo proposition action tor for the national dairy products consolidation babbitt brightened visibly lie ile had I 1 been missing something keenly these past two days and now all at once be realized what it was vine business 1 I 1 can t see any possible ne vangle returned babbitt cautiously and with a backward glance at the dashing young mrs airs babbitt he beaded in for the library laughingly gall gail finished her third dance down she bad had enjoyed several sparkling encounters in passing with dick rodley and she was buoyantly exhilarated as she started to stroll from the floor with her partner she had wanted to find cherub cheekes cheeked marion kenneth and together they walked through the conservatory and the dining room and the deserted billiard room with its bright light on the green cloth and all the rest ot at the rooms in dimness there was a nar nor row space at one point between the chairs and the table and it un expect edly wedged them into close contact aa F W L she was glad to rescue herself from the whirl of anger with a sharp intake of bis his breath the fellow a ruddy faced thick necked full lipped young man who bad had fol lowed her with bis his eyes all evening suddenly turned and caught her in his embrace WI turning hurried out of the side door to the veranda her knees were trembling but the fresh cold air steadied her and ebe she walked the full length of the wide porch trying in to to forget the sickening bu hu mIll atlon she was near a window and advancing a step she looked in ia it was as the library and allison sat there BO so clean and wholesome look ing with his big pink shaven face and bis big white evening waistcoat and his dark hair beginning to sprinkle with gray at the temples he ile was so sturdy and so strong and so dependable looking as he sat earnestly talking with babbitt gall hurried to the front door and rang the bell I 1 hello gall greeted the cheery voice of at allison All lson as she came la in my dance next ton t it iff his voice was so good so comfort ing BO so reassuring 1 I |