| Show queen anne s rw PM ta ace by arl duson keyes frances parkinson keyes CHAPTER XI continued 27 because when the time came that we really needed to spend I 1 wanted to be able to do it and I 1 think the time has come 1 I 1 see said neal a little ironically am I 1 permitted to ash just how these vast sum sare to be squandered since I 1 am to earn them neal darling darlin dont talk tails about it in that tonel tone you know how hard it was to find even this crowded little house that we could rent and you know how uncomfortable weve been in it all winter I 1 I 1 want you to let roe me be bein begin in hunting now for a house that we can live in suitably next winter and buy it in other words lie he said dryly 1 I suppose you have got your eye on one alrea already dyl and as anne colored and gave a little laugh lie he laughed too and sat down beside her all rl right bt tell me about it it is in georgetown anne breathed breathe excitedly an old house rather badly out of repair georgetown I 1 interrupted neal contemptuously why full of shacks and riffraff riff raff what on earth do you want to go there for BeCal because lSe the best values in real estate are there said anne proudly it used to be the court end of town and was a metropolis before washing ton even existed I 1 now the lovely colonial Coln nial houses are being snapped up agair and soon there won wont I 1 be any left people are moving out there so fast this house I 1 like is a big square brick one on a corner lot and its a great I 1 b bargain of course it needs a lot done to it but rut but you could supervise the im prove ments this spring while I 1 am leiding leading a celibate life slaving away in lin Ilin well how much would it cost all told the house Is only five thousand dollars if we pay cash for it I 1 should have to spend at least that much more on repairs and then of course I 1 should have to furnish it 1 seq see you want at least fifteen thousand dollars then 1 I want more than that I 1 might as well tell you so all at once how much the clothes I 1 bought in paris are just about gone ill il have have to get new ones ive made a list of what I 1 need and a thou thousand band dollars is a conservative estimate of the cost then weve got ig ot to have h ave a new motor and I 1 want to put the children in private schools next fall both of them and meantime anne drew her breath and went on 1 want to take them to europe during their vacation we can cross on a cabin boat quite comfortably and then we could go straight to fontaine bleau and stay there nearly all sum mer the children can study french and I 1 can call go on with mine and I 1 want to take up tip my music again it means a lot to me ine music arid and I 1 have neglected it 1 I know you have dear said neal and I 1 thought ailt we might have some horses and ride in tile forest of course if you could only come too it would lie be perfect but I 1 suppose you no said neal steadily camy st of course not fill have to work all summer but I 1 do want you all and the children to go ill book our passage right off it if youre willing said anne and now about the house could you go with me this afternoon and look 1001 it over it occupied and I 1 have the key they went immediately after inner the fine old house was in a sad state of dilapidation but neal had discernment enough to see that it was one fine the house which he and anne had built in hillsboro Hin was a comfortable nondescript middle class home tills this properly repaired and furnished would become a residence of individual charm and distinction a suitable setting for a rising statesman the dignified background for his wife suppose we drive back and get the kids and dora and horace he suggested if they all like it as much as we do I 1 guess ve may just as well consider the question settled the day after tile the adjournment of congress neal left alone for hillsboro Hin facing the fact that as anne had once stayed there without him saving savin money that he might spend it so lie he must now stay there without her saving money that she might spend it ile he accomplished what he set out to do and more in fact his bis reputation as a lawyer labye r of national and international note dated from that summer true he already had wide experience and a large practice upon which to build the foundations for his fame were laid but it was only now that he began the brilliant super superstructure structure which was to bring him fame and fortune in june he permitted himself the brief luxury of going to washington to see how the improvements on the house were advancing and to accompany his family from there to new york when they sailed on the de grasse ile he did not leave hansboro Hin Hirl again until he returned to new york three months later to welcome them back again in the fall he be returned uncomplainingly to mrs simmons cottage the two servants accompanying anne and N nancy ancy and the new french maids to georgetown just before congress opened sain again neal rejoined his family anne had bad done her work well and the place in georgetown in its completely repaired and renovated condition surpassed his every expectation As they sat before the library fire the evening of their reunion after a ahelf delic delicious iou s and beau beautifully if ully served dinner anne commenced outlining her plans for the winter 1 I am going to start my days at home rig right ht away she said that will give me time to get in three before christmas christinas and I 1 think this year we had better have an occasional sunday tea as well now as to dinners wit with dora and horace reinforced b by y A alphonsine and madeleine I 1 see no reason why we should hesitate to ash anyone here there is just one hitch 1 I had a letter from harriet saying now that we have a guest room sl she ie feels sure we would like to have a long visit from her the h I 1 we would said neal with vehemence and that she thinks she ought to do her best towards influencing congress prohibiting the sale of tobacco in an any y form and limiting hie file sale of tea and co coatee afee she wants to lobby against again st then them with tills this as a center good G d ejaculated ejaculate neal w with ith still greater vehemence well what can I 1 do I 1 cant de cline to allow your own and your only sister to come to our house can ITI I 1 no o o o I 1 suppose not retter better have her come at once and get her visit over with anne sighed but my problems dont end with li harriet arriet my mother tills has writ ten too she says now that we have a spare room she is sure that we would be glad to have sol and sam come and stay with us and go 0 to george washington university lint but if they start in a college course they will have to be here four years said neal meal aghast of course but as far as that goes we do not know that the legislation harriet Is interested in will be disposed of this session true too well we will just have to live in hopes its too bad honey just when you thought you had everything so nicely organized but I 1 guess it cant be helped anne wrote to her mother saying she would have bare a room ready for sol and sam by the first of january and she wrote to harriet arriet EI to come at once hoping that this a aggressive dessive lady would by some miracle prove sufficiently adaptable to her surroundings to bo be at least partially assimilated by them her hopes were groundless harriet arrived in the middle or of annes first at home the day was stormy and she wore a serviceable hat large black rubbers and a dingy brown mackintosh relieved relieve of these and of her dripping umbrella she was disclosed clad in a high necked white cotton shirtwaist and a gray whipcord skirt shirt which was cut in multitudinous gores and finished around the bottom with braid anne had left her guests for a moment ent to see harriet comfortably installed in the precious guest room she was conscientiously cordial but she faltered a little 1 I thou thought ht you might like to pour tea for m me e a little while while she said hesitatingly 0 you could relieve nime estabi a at t five that will give you plenty of time to change your dress 1 I shall not take time to change harriet assured her briskly 1 I sh shall come down at once I 1 see there are a number of people here and I 1 certainly shall not lose tills this opportunity to anih about the evils of smoking tea and coffee it be better to wait and do that at some meeting suggested anne at strictly social affairs like tills this we dont bring up debatable questions that shows you are not really interested te in great causes said harriet brushing her hair back flatly from her high forehead 1 I shall have no such scruples I 1 am conscious of the frivolity into which you have led neal but I 1 shall try to counteract such RD an in fl fluence u en ce AS to meetings I 1 shall attend those too of course in fact I 1 shall hold some here I 1 can see there is plenty of room for them in this large house which you have so so extravagantly trava gantly purchased regardless of the fact that you already had a beautiful home in hillsboro Hin the first person whom harriet approached pro ached on tile subject near to her heart chanced to be senator lassiter immensely amused he shepherded harriet skillfully to tile the sun parlor and encouraged her to talk conveying g tile the impression that he agreed perfectly with everything she had to say when late in the afternoon lie he was relieved by neal he left her with tile the iden idea that slie she had made a tile mis misleading lending phi philanderer linderer however wandered olt off in search of anne laughing softly and claiming a reward what thanks do I 1 get gel for helping you out he asked no end of thanks she said with a smile as she leaned hack bacic in her chair ah but I 1 would like something concrete would you ride with me to morrow morning or let me anke you to a concert in the afternoon 1 neither you know we went all over that thoroughly last spring blythe after neal went away r f wont play with ith fire TO BE CONTINUED |
