| Show r SYNOPSIS artt 2 Sheri Sherl dans attempt to make a business ibbe man of his son bibbs by start startling ilig him in the y rout n itch nine 1 ne shop ends in bibbs going coins to a sa n a nervous wreck on jila his return bibbo Ts is met at the station by hla his leister L ister edith 11 one of the near tragedies of 5 life comes when the poor young i man or woman Is snubbed by i the rich crowd with whom he I 1 or she has played at school in childhood it is then that pov I 1 erty stings and pride of family help much the situa tion Is quite as interesting i though reversed when a rich and lovable young man is I 1 snubbed by a poor but haughty aristocrat because he belongs H to the new rich 11 CHAPTER 11 II continued oh hes bes a friend of the whole famy lily she returned with a petulance which she made no effar to disguise roscoe and he be g got it acquainted some and they take him to the theater about every night sibyl has him to lunch too and keeps r site she broke off with an angry littlee liette jerk of the ithe head bead we can see shenew house from the second corner ahead roscoe ihas built straight across the street from us you know honestly sibyl makes me think of a snake sometimes the way she pulls the wool over peoples eyes she honeys up to papa jand and gets anything in the world she wants out of him and then makes fun jot of him behind his back yes and to his bis face but he be cant see it she got bim to give her a twelve thousand illar idillar porch for their house after it iwas good heavens said bibbs staring iha ahead as they reached the corner and the car swung to the right following a bend in the street streel Is that the new bo house tise yes what do you think of it awell na eil he drawled im pretty sure th the sanitariums about half a size bigger I 1 ge I 1 cant be certain till I 1 measure and a moment later as they entered the driveway he added seriously but its beautiful 1 CHAPTER III it was ray gray one with long roofs of thick green slate an architect who gloved loved the milder gothic motives had built what he liked it was to be seen at once that he had been left unhampered and he had wrought a picture bout out of his bis head into a noble and exultant reality at the same time a landscape designer had played so good t second with ready made accessories of screen approach andi vista that already whatever look of newness re re upon the place vs top ti its a ad da rvan vantage tage as showing at least one thing i jet clean under the gri grimy mv sky ky altogether the new b house was s a success it was one of those architects successes which leave the owners veiled belled in privacy it revealed nothing of the people who lived in it save that they were alch in our swelling cities rich families one after another take title and occupy such houses as for aunes muncs rise and fall they mark the high tide it was impossible to imagine a childs toy wagon left upon a walk or driveway of the new house and yet it was as bibbs rightly called itt lt beautiful ir rw what the architect thought of the 14 1 golfo di kapoll which hung in its vast gold revel of rococo frame against the gray wood of the hall is to lie conjectured perhaps he had bad not seen it edith did you say only eleven 1 feet bibbs panted staring at it as the white jacketed twin of a pullman porter helped him to get out of his 1 I overcoat eleven without the frame she ex plaines Pla ineL its splendid dont you think awne it lightens things thing a up so the ball was kind of gloomy gloom before no gloom now said bibbs this thin statue in the corner is pretty too she remarked mamma and I 1 bought that and bibbs turned at her direction to behold amid a grove ot of dubbed palms a life size blaek black bearded ibe be ardad moor of a plastic composition painted with unappeasable gloss and brilliancy upon his big chocolate head bead he dwore wore a gold turban in his hind hand he held a gold tipped spear and for the rest he was red and yellow and black and silver hallelujah was the sole comment of the returned wanderer and edith saying she would find mamma left laim him blinking at the moor presently after she had disappeared be turned ato to the colored man who stood waiting bibbs traveling bag in his hand what do you think ot of it bibbs asked solemnly gran replied the servitor she mighty hard bard to dus dus git in all em cm wrinkles she mighty bard to dus 1 I expect she must be said bibbs ibis glance returning reflectively to the black full beard for a moment Is there a place anywhere I 1 could bould lie its down f r Yes suh we got one nem spare rooms all fix up to fo you suh sub up stains suh sub nice room he led the way and bibbs followed slowly stopping at intervals to rest and noting it a heavy increase in the astaff staff of service since the exodus from I 1 ithe the old house mald maid and scrub women etere em ni at work under linder the patently nominal direction of another 1 pullman porter who was profoundly enjoying hla his own affectation of being harassed with care Evy Evly thing got look spick aa to fo the big dolas tonight bibbs I 1 guide explained chuckling Yes suh we got mir his joins tonight big doln coins do ins V snow ri i 0 Th eStory 6 aie M of a BW j 6 04 man a 0 39 6 N BOOTH TARK INGTON bia torri P 0 4 the room to which lie he nia 1118 lagging charge was furnished lurnis hed in every particular like it ii room in a new nev hotel and albl babba kia framl it pleasant thou though gli indeed any room with a good bed would have seemed pleasant to him after ills his journey he stretched himself flat immediately and having baying replied not now to the atten attendants danCs oter offer to unpack the bag closed his eyes wearily white jacket racially sympathetic lowered the window shades and made an exit on tiptoe encountering the other white jacket the harassed overseer in the hall ball without said the emerging one he mighty shaky mist jackson drop right down an suet shet his eyes eyelids all black rich folks gotta go same as anybody else anybody ast me it if I 1 change itu at ole b boy oy no sun sub lem keep is as money I 1 keep my black skin an keep out the ground mr jackson expressed the same preference Yes suh he be look tuh tub me like somebody already laid out 21 ile he fell silent at a rustling of skirts in the corridor it was mrs S sheridan herldan hurrying to greet her son she was one of those fat pink people who fade and contract with age like drying fruit anil and her outside was a true portrait of her her husband and her daughter had long iong ago absorbed her edith lived all day with her mother as daughters do and sheridan so held ills his wife to her unity with him that she had bad long ago become unconscious of her existence as a tiling thing separate from his bia mrs Sheri dans manner was wag hurried and inconsequent her clothes rustled more th an other clothes she seemed to wear too many at a time and to be vaguely troubled by them and she was patting a skirt down over some unruly internal dissension at al trie tle moment she opened bibbs door at sight of the recumbent began to close the door softly withdrawing but the young man bad hear heard the turning of the knob and the rw rus ong ali ng of skirts and dewene he d hl alls e ayea ye s pont go mother 1 4 1 ue tie sol said jmj not asleep he h ahli I 1 jang k dg legs leisl over the side of the iced t ls bijj she set a hand band on his d yei ye e i straining him and he lay a aguil no she bi said bending ov over rt to 0 1 kaiss s a I 1 his cheek 1 I just come tor for a minute I 1 A 1 I 1 J M fe I 1 you look a great dei de I 1 better than what I 1 expected but I 1 want to see how you seem edith said eald poor edith he murmured she look at me she P Nou nonsense sense mrs sheridan having let in the light at a window came back to the bedside you look a great deal better than what you did before you went to the sanitarium anyway its done you good a body can see that right away you need fatting batting up of course and you got muc much h color no be said 1 I much color you look a great deal better than what I 1 expected edith must have a great vocabulary tie he chuckled ashes too sensitive 9 said mrs mra sheridan and it makes her exaggerate a little what about your diet all right they told me to eat anything thaes good she ibe said nodding they mean for you just to build up your strength what they told me the last time I 1 went to see you at the sanitarium you look better than what you did then and only a little time an ago how long was it eight months month I 1 think no it coul dat be I 1 know it aint that long but maybe it was longer n I 1 thought and tola tills igat muth month or er so BO copyright 1916 b I 1 bavel bavello lt una lina scarcely even time to write more bilah ali m just a line to ask how bow you were gettin along but I 1 told edith to write the weeks I 1 and I 1 asked jim too and they both said they would so I 1 suppose youve kept up tip pretty well on the home news oil oh yes 11 what I 1 think you need said the mother gravely Is to liven up a little and take an interest in things what papa was mayful this morning after we got your telegram and stimulate your appetite too he was over his plans for you 1 l plans rh ins bibbs turning on his side shielded his eyes from the light with his hand so that he might see her better what 1 l ile he paused what plans is he making for me mother she turned away going back to the window to draw down the shade well you better talk it over with him she said with perceptible nervousness ous ness ire he better tell you himself I 1 dont feel as if I 1 had bad any call exactly to go into it and you bettor better got get to sleep now anyway she came slid and stood by the bedside once more but you must remember bibbs whatever wha teveL papa does cloea is for the best lie he loves his bis children and wants waties to do right by all of lem em and always find hes ri right lit in the end ile he bade made a little gesture of assent which seemed to content her and sin she rustled to the door turning to speak again after she had opened it yo you u get a good nap now so as to be all rested up for tonight you you meart mean he 1 bibbs stammered having baying begun to speak too quickly checking himself he drew a long iong breath then asked quietly does doe father expect me to come downstairs this evening well I 1 think he be does she answered you see its the house warming as lie he calls it and he said he be thinks all our children ought to be around us as well as ag the old friends and other folks its just what he thinks you need to take an interest and liven up you dont feel too bad to come down do your you mother Mot ber well li t I 1 take a good look at me T he be said 1 oh see here she cried with brusk che cheerfulness grUness f youre nt ayt so bad off as yo you think you are bibbs youre on the mend and it wont do you any harm hiarm to please your 19 it that he be interrupted honestly im only afraid it might I 1 spoil appetite edith 1 I told you the child was too sensitive she interrupted in turn youre a plenty good lookin enough young man for anybody any bodyl you look like you been through a long spell and begun to get well and all there is to it IL all right ill come to the party if the rest of you can stand it I 1 can do you good she returned rustling into the hill ball now take a nap and ill send one 0 the help to wake you in time for you to get dressed up before dinner you go to sleep right away now bibbs he woke refreshed stretched himself gingerly as one might have a care against too quick or too long a pull upon a frayed elastic and getting to ills his feet went blinking to the window and touched the shade so that it flew up letting in a pale sunset he looked out into the lemon iemon colored light and smiled wanly at the next house as editha grandiose phrase came to mind the old vertrees country man mansion siou it stood in a broad lawn which was separated from the Sheri dans by a young hedge and it was a big square plain old box of a house with a giant saltcellar salt cellar atop for a cupola paint had been spared for a long time and no one could have put a name to the color of it but in spite of that the place had bad no look of being out at heel and the sward was as neatly trimmed as the Sherl dans own directly opposite the window the vertrees 9 lawn had been graded so as to make a little knoll kholl upon which stood a small rustic summer house it was almost on a level with bibbs window and not thirty feet away arob probably the summer house was pleas pleasant ailt and pretty in summer but now in the thin light it was desolate the color of du dust 5 t an and d it hung u ng with haggard vines which had lost their leaves bibbs looked at it with grave sympathy probably feeling some kinship with anything so dismantled then he be turned to a cheval glass beside the harper 6 Il brothers window and paid himself the dubious tribute of a thorough h inspection throughout this cryptic his manner was profoundly impersonal but finally lie he appeared to become pessimistic si he shook his head solemnly then gazed again and shook his head again and continued to shake it slowly in complete disapproval you certainly are one horrible sight he said aloud and at that he was instantly aware of an observer turning quickly he was vouchsafed the picture of a charming lady framed in a rustic aperture of the summer house bouse and staring full into ills window straight into his eyes too for the infinitesimal fraction of a second before the dashingly censorious withdrawal of her own composedly she pulled several dead twigs from a vine her action conveying a proclamation to the file effect that she was in the summer house for the sole purpose of suchlike pruning and tending having pulled enough twigs to emphasize her unconsciousness and at the same time her disapproval of everything ery thing in the nature of a sheridan or belonging to a sheridan she descended the knoll with maintained composure and sauntered red toward a side door of the country mans mansion lort of the Vertree ses an elderly lady bonneted and cloaked opened the door and came to meet her are you ready mary ive been looking tor for you what were you doing nothing just looking into one of Sheri dans windows said mary vertrees 1 I got caught at it maryl mary cried her mother just as we were going to call good heavens well go just the same the daugh ter returned 1 I suppose those women i would be glad to have us if wed burned their house to the ground i but who saw you insisted mrs 1 I vertrees one of the sons I 1 suppose he was 1 I believe hes bes insane or something at i least I 1 hear they keep him in a sani 1 barium somewhere and never talk about aboul him he was staring at himself la in a 7 mirror and talking to himself then ea he be looked out and caught me av did he lukl ake a ghost in a blue suit lf said niss miss vertrees moving toward the street tand and waving a white gloved hand tn in farewell to her father who was observing them from the window of his library rather trag tragic gle and altogether impossible do come on mother and lets get it over f i and mrs vertrees Vert with many mis mid set forth with her daughter for the graci gracida cAus assault upon the new house next door CHAPTER IV sir mr vertrees Vert roes having watched their departure with the air of a man who had something at hazard upon the expedition tion turned from the window window and began to pace the library thought fally pending their return lie ire was about sixty a small man withered and dry and fine a trim little sketch of the elderly dandy ills his lambrequin qu in mustache like his smooth hair was approaching an equally sheer whiteness and though his clothes were old they had shapeliness ness and a flavor of mode the room was cheerful and hideous I 1 under a mantel of imitation black marble a merry little coal fire beamed 1 I 1 forth upon high and narrow 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