Contrary Mary

s in the Garden; and in Which a

ame back to town, Porter

t once to Mary,

, and I want you for dinner. Leila will be here and t

And that means that I won't h

y other girls in the world-and you'v

r has put me through my paces at the resorts. Mary,

them to

ow what I think of

looks perfectly adorable. To-night she's going to wear a black tulle gown and a queer flarin

n," Porter informed her, "with

her at dinner. Come and

rry had been much together, and it was their friendship which Mary had exploited, when Constance, somewhat anxiously,

Constance. And he has be

heir brother. And now Constance's words came wi

Con. He is trying ha

ey really ought n

esk was writing out the dinner list for Susan Jenks. She

ys that Barry o

he

ve Leila a chance

he would ever g

thinks s

m not asking what Gordon

first it seemed to me that he was-harsh, in his judgment of Barry. But he knows so much of men-and he says

it. Yet she was stubbornly resentful of the fact that Gordon R

aside. "We won't talk about it just now. There is so much else to s

nything about it, until she has had it for herself. A man's strength is so wonderful-and Gordon's care of

ing her raging jealousy of the man who had stolen her sister, asked somewhat wis

was the serene response. "I can

p"; then: "Constance, darling," she said, "w

nd of wo

departments,-as

t know anythi

en studying ever si

why,

ng up the little that father left us. When you married, I thought the rental of the Tower Rooms would keep things going, but it won't. And I won't

you will marry-

e that way-as a chance to be taken care

on would never consent to your working-he thinks it

o intrude upon the happiness of a home. If your duet is ever to be a trio, it must not b

et Constance's shy,

knelt beside the cou

y, coming back to realities, kissed her sister and went to her desk, and held herself sternly to the five following courses of the family dinner which was to

t Roger Poole, and when, under the warmth of the September moon, the me

ere one of the younger boys at St. Martin's-yo

ht I heard from someone th

in the South-f

eep the curiosity

u gave

I gave

for which he knew Gordon was waiting. Noth

oyish experiences. But Roger was conscious that Gordon was

igns of the season's blight. Fading leaf and rustling vine had replaced the unspringing greenness and the fragrant gro

the garden

de by the street lamp. Roger had a sudden memory of the flame-like blossoming of a certain slender shrub in the spring. It h

ame nearer; "some one has called up to arrange abo

had risen at her approach, stood under the hundr

preface, "that it seemed to me that, as y

nd he said it again. "When you cam

ing to claim you right away? Because i

usly, you know. And Porter is interested in spite of himself. And Barry and Leila are on the terrace steps, looking at the moon over the river, an

-me--" he sai

s manner. But she waited, her

brother-in-law and I we

rdo

d we were not much together. But I knew him.

nteres

myself, which I have never told y

o tell, with her eyes up

urch-that I had a parish. And what he had heard was true. U

Just a little breathe

and to think that I had kept from you something which you should ha

ve, you said that y

do

the reason y

it is not a pleasant one. Yet

w a mist from the fountain

shi

" Roger said, "and

lly, "I am not cold. I ha

adway, and a big limousine stopped at the foot of the terrace steps. They heard Del

es

oing, and Delilah and Mr. Jeliffe have

luctantly as he joined them. "Oh, Porter, must I list

to Grace's. This i

punished. And I am

lard's vocabulary, and Porter r

rdon and Constance will go with us for a spin arou

ly. During all the years in which he had ridden the dolphin, he had seen men and women come and go beneath t

ith this air intensified that, as Mary shivered again Porter drew her wrap about her shoulders, fastening

Not

level glance met level glance, as in th

Mary

sorry not to hear th

hear it ano

was as if she wanted to speak but c

and lips. Just a flash,

p's light which made of her scarlet cloak a flaming flower, he looked after her wistfully, and

l summer, was in the midst of

No more glare or glitter. Everything is to be subdued to the dullness of a Japanese

tring of black rose-beads. No color was on her cheeks-there was

eat," Ba

ars to find out some things." She looked at Grac

ater grafting. Grace studied clothes because it pleased her to make fashions a fine art. Delilah studied to impress. But e

rove of Delilah. She sai

e-in a big house on the Drive. My c

people worth knowing are the interesting people, and whether they live on the

"I don't see why General Dick allows

her, and the General and M

here for the winter that they won't be forced upo

ife and controversy, and in these later years, Grace had steered her course toward serenity. She had refused to be blown about by the storms of her mother's prejudices. In the midst of the c

d abruptly, "who i

e was a lodger in the Tower Room

e said. "I sat next to him at dinner. There's a mystery somewhe

id Mrs. Clendenning, "and he

t in love with

o you

y, Mary in love would be lighted up by a lamp with

not in lov

o marry Port

marry a man who would utilize all that she

said Mrs. Clendenning, impatient

oaded guns behind barricades. She has courage and force, and the need of some big thing in her life to bring out her best. And Porter doesn't need that kind of wife. He doesn't want it. He wants to worship.

the part of her usually restrained daughter, asked, tartly, "

r, and I've learned to take what the world gives. Not what I want. But Mary will nev

and eyes bright, she played hostess to her guests, while in t

denning, Delilah was letting herself go, and she drew e

the sea and the sky, with my purples and greens and reds and yellows. I will show you his sketches of me as I ought

er the car, and when he drives, it is a regular Tam O'Shanter performance. I won't ask any of you to risk

now," said the General, and Leila chirruped, "I'd love it," a

the Speedway, looked eagerly toward the fountain. The moon had gone under a cloud, and while she c

ry," he said, "I've brought a heavy wrap

with the fur. She slipped into it silently,

shivering as you did in tha

nt his care. She didn't want that tone, that air of possession. She was

eyes went beyond Porter, beyond the porch, to the Tower Rooms where a light flared, s