| Show I 1 FOUND WANTING hartney has always cherished ten der rac collections recollections of his cousin lucy when he was a small boy his par ants frequently used to take him back to the small town from which they both had come there he rioted among uncles and aunts grandmothers and cousins galore all of whom he ac cepter lightheartedly light heartedly as belonging to the established order of things lucy especially was his chum she had big blue eyes and a wide mouth that al at ways laughed and a most wonderful knowledge of birds and bugs and toads everybody remarked how beau wilily the two get along together they exchanged christmas presents and kept up a correspondence till they both were grown then outside interests gradually divided them hartney hadn haan t been back to the old town in years in the first place his wife always preferred to go east or to europe when he had any spare time and in the second place there really wasn gasn t anything to go back tor for since he had outgrown the joys of black and making sand pies but it was with real pleasure that hartney recently learned over the telephone by the voice of cousin lucy herself that all she e wa was S 1 in n t town 0 wn for th the e day on her way east she said she had cousin bertha s daughter with her and they would be delighted to accept Hart hartney s invitation to luncheon hartney determined they should have a luncheon they would kemem her he reserved a table at one of the most fashionable places in town and even made out a menu with con sid erable care the cousins greeted each other with genuine affection then cousin lucy said in a surprised tone indicating the tall and awkward girl of 17 who was with her why cousin henry don t you remember adeline 7 9 cousin bertha a s daughter you know of course she was a good deal younger when you caw her last come to think of it she was only 2 when you saw her before that was the year the barn burned down you cremeni her about the barn barns to Hart hartney s embarrassment he did not in the least remember about the barn but he had the presence of mind to conceal the fact still he was startled to find that cousin lucy was bubbling over with conversation about the relations whom he remembered only dimly or not at all loud know aunt salina she told him over the soup she s gained I 1 forty arty five pounds and chasn t an ache or and it s just because sae stopped taking those bitters she count ed so much on didn dian t she always do her hair up I 1 should say she did hartney re spondee to himself he was repeat ing over and over aunt salina which one was she of course you know about artle artie cousin lucy remarked as she accept ed without any display of interest the specially prepared chicken with its wonderful sauces she said it in a tone which made one realize how ut terly unthinkable it was not to know about artle artie so hartney said airily mrily oh yes well pursued his cousin with some excitement what do you think about it really 1 I 1 id d like your opinion could he have done otherwise than he dida hartney began to perspire cousin bertha a daughter was eyeing him critically and offering no help so there was no escape I 1 in afraid I 1 dont dent know anything about it he conf confessed eased I 1 what cousin lucy exclaimed I 1 should think at least you d take enough interest in your relations to remember when one of them gets a divorce you remember what a pretty girl she was hattle hattie smith the blond one onea les w said hartney diplomatically but his tone betrayed him henry said cousin lucy do you mean to say you don t recall hattle hattie smith though you used to eat cookies by the ton at her mother mothers s 7 I 1 in sur at you 1 I think hattle hattie always v n as a little flighty after tom toms s death oh was she married before hart ney ventured tom said cousin lucy coldly was her brother you used to go fishing with tom there were items in all the newspapers about his awful death why of course interrupted hart ney have some of this salad dress ing it s a special kind how do you like these tomatoes 7 we grow bigger ones in our gar den said cousin lucy of course coure these are fixed up different uncle john a laid up with his leg again 1 loud ou d better come out and aee us henry cousin lucy said a se verely when they parted you seem to have forgotten a lot and we re your own people you know of course it s been a good many years and I 1 can understand your forgetting just erdl nary things but how on earth you could hae haie forgotten about artles dl di vorce beats me met I 1 think I 1 will run out for a little visit nest next month hartney promised her abjectly they didn dian t pay much attention to the lunch because it wasn gasn t like what they got at home he murmured as he watched the departing train they d rather have had corn beef and cabbage say I 1 got in wrong all around |
