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Show A SOCIAL " ENIGMA By OTILLIA F. PFEIFFER ' (Copyrljnt. 1&20. We.iern Newspaper Union) It was a wonderful farewell party that Mrs. Mary Eascom gave to her histrloulc friends. There were present only the rrienibers of the . Strollers company, a dramatic aggregation to horn the buxuui, happy souled widow wid-ow had been mother, nurse and bunker. bunk-er. From the gloomy Shakespearean scholar, Macready Thearle, down to Ihe midget phenomenon, little Eva Haymouii, all were present, Dan Merton, the manager of the troupe, included. in-cluded. They had comprised a happy fiitn-: fiitn-: lly. sharing Jdys and sorrows alike. : The functions of Mrs. Bascom lnelud-j lnelud-j ed care for the wardrobes, and never i was there a niftier mender and niake-I niake-I shift artist who." over night, could transform a royal robe into a glyw- ing garb for -a debutante. She had managed to keep her only child. V'i- olu at a fashionable school. No one i of the company had ever seen this daughter until - now. A wonderful thing had happened. A distant relative of Mrs. Bascom had left her a large fortune. Anion): other oth-er property was a very handsome infusion infu-sion in a fashionable suburb. Mr. Bascom decided to- abandon- the life of the road and give herself over to the securing of a social position for Viola! ., Intuitively the players recognized that the days of good fellowship were past and gone as far as the Bascoms were concerned. Dan Merton checked the effusiveness of Mrs. Bascom. when that whole-souled lady Invited all the.-le tried and true friends to visit her regularly. In a neat after-dinner-speech he complimented . her on her coming Into her own reward for kindly kind-ly cure to the friends who would miss her as a mother, but who gloried In seeing her shine la .he circle she was so fitly worthy of! She took each aside In turn and pressed a little roleaux Into their palms. "Some bonbons, dears, she explained, ex-plained, but later they were 'revealed as a dozen or more twenty dollar nld coins. i Th? only stranger In the group was a new recruit, a Mr. Evan Brookes, who had ailed the place' of a second walking gentleman. He and Viola were mutually attracted one to the other. He was a reserved, courteous young tnau, showing excellent breeding, breed-ing, and It was of him only -the un- sophisticated Viola thought after- j wards. ".. . " ' j Their new home was provided with all that comfort or luxury could suggest, sug-gest, but somehow the rumor had gone out that they were: obscure and of the newly rich. It disturbed the worthy play lady to be quite ignored , .by the higher-ups, and when the season sea-son came on .site decided to pass It j at a fashionable summer resort. ' The . Strollers were taking their I usual summer rest at a cheap resort, when old Dan broke In upon them with a determined face. "People,'' he said, "1 have been picking up some information concerning concern-ing our dear old. friend, Mrs. Bascom. She- is. .not altogether happy and 1 want you -all to unite with me in mak-' mak-' Ing her fully so." "Count us in at once," directed the company tragedian loftily. "We uiii all of one mind where dear old mother Bascom Is concerned," declared. de-clared. Miss Lucill Sutherland, Ingenue. In-genue. "Iraw near and hear the official dictum!" sepulchrally intoned the Shakespearean scholar. .Then some things began to happen ' at..bpringvllle. ., One day a magnificent auto halted at the Bascom home, and I an equally magnificent lady alighted and left a card hearing a crest and a name that Indicated a foreign countess at the least. A few days later the local newspapers announced ; that the son of an illustrious member j of the Canadian parliament had come ! 10 visit the Bhscoius. had found them absent and had doubtless later joined I them at a fashionable summer resort where the beautiful Miss Bascom was the. belle of the season. The appearance appear-ance of several others and the mention men-tion of the same in the paper began to. Impress Sprlngvllle with the conviction con-viction that the Bascoms were somebody, some-body, after all. When Mrs. Bascom returned at the ! end of the season, she was agrennbly surprlsed to linil herself the si'iihi after of the town. Within a few months she was fully launched in tin- j .social swim. line day, much to the delight ni 1 Viola. Evan Brookes appeared. He -told of leaving the company and t!ie:i ' revealed to Mrs. Knscom the clew-r "booming" that had been dune l ihe I various members of t Tie Strollers. A j week later Viola came to her mother ! blushing and timorous, confessing an ! engagement to young Brookes. Mr ! Bascom looked serious. i "After all the show those old friend-have friend-have made of our grand acquaintances,' acquaint-ances,' she said, "they will expect a 1 high and lofty fiance. Viola, hut I haven't the heart to cross real love." "But. mama," interposed Viola, j "Evan played the son of a member of parliament. And he really Is! That's ' why be left the players.. His father has forgiven his youthful wanderings and Sprlngvllle society will consider ! hltu quite a lion." So "my son-in-law, son of the Illustrious Illus-trious and Honorable Mr. Brookes." was a sweet morse on the lips i.f the ' proud and satisfied dr. Buscoui. |