| Show the flom DIM ak V LANTERN LAN RN by TEMPLE TEM TE M 1 BAILEY AILA ed Y 0 PENN publishing COMPANY SERVICE CHAPTER I 1 I 1 sherwood park is twelve miles from washington starting as a somewhat pretentious suburb on the main line of a railroad it was blessed with easy accessibility until encroaching trolleys swept the tide of settlement away from it and left it high and dry its train service unable to compete with modern motor vehicles increasingly inefficient property values inevitably decreased the little suburb degenerated grew less fashionable people who might have added social luster to its gatherings moved away the frame houses which at first had made such a brave showing became a bit down at the heel the barnes cottage was saved from the universal lack of loveliness by its simple lines its white paint and green blinds yet the paint had peeled in places and the concrete steps which followed the line of the two terraces were cracked and worn old baldwin barnes had bought his house on the instalment installment plan and his children were still paying for it old baldwin had succumbed to the deadly monotony of writing the same inscription on red slips through thirty years of faithful service in the pension office and had left the world with his debts behind him he had the artistic tempera temperament n ent which his son inherited julia was like her mother who had died two years before her husband mrs barnes had been unimaginative and capable it was because of her that julia had married an architect and was living in a snug apartment in chicago that baldwin junior had gorie gone through college and had some months at an art school before the war came on and that jane the youngest had a sense of thrift and an intensive experience in domestic economy As for the rest of her jane was twenty slender as a florentine page and fairly pretty she was in love with life and liked to talk about it young baldwin said indeed with the frankness of a brother that jane ran on like a babbling brook she was running on this november morning as she and young baldwin ate breakfast together jane always got the breakfast sophy a capable negro woman came over later to help with the housework and to put the six dinner on the table but it was jane who started the percolator poached the eggs and made the toast on the electric toaster while young baldwin read the washington post he read bits out loud when he was in the mood he was not always in the mood and then jane talked to him he did not always listen but that made no difference jane had named the percolator philomel because of its purling harmonies dont you love it baldy her brother with one eye on the paper was eating his grapefruit love what philomel silly stuff it I 1 like to hear it sing in my present mood I 1 prefer a hymn of hate she buttered a slice of toast for him well of course feel like that who he took the toast from her and buried himself in his paper so jane buttered another slice for herself and ate it in protesting silence plus a poached egg and a cup of coffee rich with yellow cream and much sugar janes thinness made such indulgence possible 1 I simply love breakfast she continued Is there anything you dont love janey with a touch of irritation yes what you he stared at her over the top of the sheet 1 I 1 like that well you wont talk to me baldy it my fault lf it you hate the world no it lie he laid down the paper but ill tell you this janey im I 1 m about through she caught her breath then flung out oh youre not be a good sport baldy things are bound to come your way if you wait he gave a short laugh and rose I 1 wisht had your optimism I 1 wish you had they faced each other looking for the moment rather like two young cockerels cocker els janes bobbed hair emphasized the boyish effect of her straight slim figure baldy towered above her his black hair matching hers his eyes too matching gray and lighted up jane was the first to turn her eyes away she looked at the clock be late he got his hat and coat and came back to her im a blamed sorehead give me a kiss jane she gave it to him and clung to him for a moment dont forget to bring a steak home for dinner was all she said but he was aware of the caress of those clinging fingers it was one of his grievances that he had to do the marketing one could not depend on sherwoode She single small store so baldy with dreams in his head drove twice a week to the butchers stall in the old center market to bring back chops or a porterhouse or a festive small roast he had no time for it in the mornings however his little car took him over the country roads and through the city streets and landed him at the patent office at a quarter of nine there with a half hour for lunch he worked until five it ao t 14 h 1 V I A 4 I 1 t I 1 she felt poignantly the beauty of it was a dogs life and he had other aspirations jane left to herself read the paper one headline was sensational the bride of a fashionable wedding had been deserted at the altar the bridegroom had failed to appear at the church the guests waiting impatiently in the pews had been informed finally that the ceremony would be postponed newspaper men hunting for the bridegroom learned that he had left a note for his best man and that he was on his way to southern waters the bride could not be seen her uncle who was also her guard lan and with whom she lived had stated that there was nothing to be said that was all but society was on tiptoe delafield simms was the son of a rich new yorker he and his bride were to have spent their honeymoon on his yacht edith towne had a fortune to match his both of them belonged to old and aristocratic families no wonder people were talking there was a picture of miss towne a tall fair girl in real lace orange blossoms seed pearls pride was was in every line fine of her janes tender fancy carried her to that first breathless moment when the bride had donned that gracious gown and had surveyed herself in the mirror how happy she must have been then the final shuddering catastrophe sophy arrived at this moment and jane told her about it shell never dare trust anybody will she sophy was wise and she weighed the question out of her wide experience of human nature she could not read or write and she was dependent on those around her for daily bulletins on the way the big world went but she knew life yo faint ever tell a woman will do miss janey effen she a trustin nature shell trus and trus P and effen she ain a trustin nature re she wont trus but what do you suppose made him do it nobody knows a mans gwine do wen it comes to gittin married but to leave her like that sophy I 1 should think shed die effen the good lord let women die wen men them sophy proclaimed with a chuckle dere be a female lef wen the trump sounded her tray was piled high with dishes as she stood in the dining room door does you all want rice buddin fol fo dinnah miss janey and there the subject dropped but jane thought a great deal about it as she went on with her work she told her sister julia about it when late that afternoon she wrote her weekly letter The worst of it must have been to lose her faith in things id rather be jane barnes without any love affair than edith towne with a love affair like that baldy told me the other day that I 1 am not unattractive cant you see him saying it and he think me pretty perhaps im not but there are moments judy when I 1 like myself I 1 baldy nearly had a fit when I 1 bobbed my hair but I 1 did it and took the consequences and its no end comfortable baldy baidy at the present moment is mid victorian it is his reaction from the war he says he is dead sick of flappers that they are all alike and make no appeal to the imagination 1 he came home the other night from a dance and read tennyson can you fancy that after the way he used to fling amy lowell at us and carl sand burg he says he is so tired of short skirts and knees and proposals and cigarettes that he is going to hunt with a gun if he ever decides to marry for an elaine or a griselda but the worst of it is he takes it out on me I 1 wish see the way he censors my clothes and my manners and I 1 sit here like a prisoner in a tower with not a man in sight but evans follette and he is just a heartache judy baldy has had three proposals he said that the fir first st was stimulating but repetition 9 staled the inter estl of course he tell me the names of the girls baldys not a cad but he is discouraged and desperately pera tely depressed he has such a big talent judy and he just slaves away at that old office he says that after those years in france it seems like a cage I 1 sometimes wonder what civilization is anyhow that we clip the wings of our young eagles we take our boys and shut them up and they pant for freedom Is that all that life is going to mean for baldy eight hours a day behind bars yet I 1 am trying to keep him at it until the house is paid for I 1 dont know whether I 1 am right but its all we have and both of us love it he been able lately to work much at night hes dead tired but theres a prize off offer er of a magazine cover design and I 1 want him to compete he says there any use of his trying to do anything unless he can give au all of his time to it of course youve heard all this before but 1 hear it every day and I 1 like to talk things out I 1 must not write another line dearest and dont worry baldy will work like mad if the mood strikes him did I 1 tell you that evans evan s follette and his mother are to dine with us on thanksgiving day we ought to have six guests to make things go but nobody will fit in with the fol lettes you know why so I 1 explain kiss both of the babies for me failing other young things I 1 am going to have a christmas tree for the kitten its a gay life darling ever your own jane the darkness had come by the time she had finished her letter she changed chafi ged her frock for a thinner one wrapped herself in an old cape of orange hued cloth and went out to lock up her chickens she had fed them before she wrote her letter but she always took this last look to be sure they were safe the shed where the chickens were kept was back of the garage when jane opened the door her old persian cat Merry maid came out to her and a puffball puff ball of a kitten jane snapped on the lights in the chicken house and the biddies stirred when she snapped the them m off again she heard them settle back to sheltered slumber the kitten danced ahead of her and the old cat danced too as the wind whirled her great tail about we wont go in the house we wont go in the house said jane in in a sort of conversational chant as the pussies followed her down a path which led through the pines she often walked at this hour and she loved it best on nights like this she felt poignantly the beauty of it the dark pines and the little moon above them the tug of the wind at her cloak like a riotous playmate bald baldy Y was not the only poet in the family but janes love of beauty wa was S inarticulate ate she would never be able to write it on paper or draw it with a pencil TO BE CONTINUED |
