Mary Ware in Texas

Northern tourists on account of that same inner garden, around which the big building stretched itself. The rooms opening on to it had vine-covered balconies

he might lean over the railing as far as she pleased to watch the brilliantly lighted scene below. Electric bulbs were strung through the cacti and devil's ivy like elfin lamps. There was a shine of brass buttons as co

it. So much bunting was draped over the arch between the office corridors and this inner court, that the view was somewhat obscured, but, by leaning dangerous

a month up in the hills of Arizona, and Lone Rock in the winter was such a barren waste socially that her present surroundings seemed wildly exciting. In Lone Rock it

, her pulses a-tingle. Something delightful was beginning to happen. Two girls, one in white and one in pale lemon-yellow, attended by a young lieutenant and a

little soul could watch, who for months had been hungering for such companionshi

ets that the girl in white wore on her corsage, and was close enough to see that an amber comb was slipping out of the soft auburn-bronze hair arranged so becomingly on the graceful little head. Eac

the alligators in the fountain, Mr. Wade, to convince you that you're really in th

e jeers at me for liking them, but I think they ar

ver the railing to see how such banter was received. Evidently the lieutenant

o on, Roberta. I don't care to flock with alligators

A boyish straightforwardness of manner contradicted their coquettish curliness, however. She had an air that comes only from being brought up in a houseful of teasing brothers. The man in civilian dress, whom she

an unseen listener. But to Mary it was as if a new book had been opened before her and she had been allowed a glimpse of one page and the attractive picture that illustrated it. It was never necessary for her to begin at the fi

that the girl in white was a daughter of one of the majors at Fort Sam Houston, that the lieutenant had known Roberta ever since he was a cadet at the West Texas Military School, and that it was her brothers who had dubbed him Bog

he was only fourteen. Fashions evidently had not changed in lieutenants, since these looked as if they might have been taken out of the same box that furnished the first soldiers of her acquaintance; but the girls-there had been many changes in girls since she last saw any of this kind. It was eight m

ta's escort, whom Mary had classified in her mind as a "callow

h crystal beads which spangled its soft meshes like dewdrops. As they turned to go it slipped from her shoulders, and Mr. Wade sprang

nglet, she blus

glet, she clipped y

like her multiplication ta

glet, she gave

it, love, a

change, why,

curls, but she decided to try the rest of the coiffure in the morning. Not a single twist or wave had escaped her sharp eyes. In the darkness of her r

the balcony adjoining hers. The intruder was a large and elderly woman in a rustling black dress. The light from the room streaming out behind her showed t

llar to belt, and she readily guessed the trouble. Forgetting that her presence was unknown to t

ave been more startled. With a stifled shriek she backed up against

little school-girl of seventeen or thereabouts her relief found vent in a hysterical giggle. It shook her plump sho

e of evening, and I won't ask a bell-boy as some of the ladies do. I don't think it's decent. So I just thought I'd look down into the court and see if I couldn't catch sight of James.

id Mary with her usual alacrity for

s the grateful answer. "I'l

r the railing which divided their balconies, and was following he

nd making friends with stockmen like himself, but by the end of the second day I'm homesick for the ranch. Of course I enjoy the stores and the crowds on the street, and seeing all the finely dressed tourists at meal-times, but we've been down here three days now, a

ch and she had no occasion to put it on save when she made her rare visits to San Antonio. The sleeves had been changed so many times to keep it in fashion, that her dressmaker had refused to alter it another time, even if the lace on it did cost five dollars a yard. James said why didn't she wear it a

date," she added, "when you're livin

a lonesome little spot out in Arizona for so long t

the still franker gaze of her listener travelled ov

k last Easter vacation. I was in school at Washington, but as I had to leave at the end of t

," urged her hostess hospitably. "I'v

to be fairly bursting with a sociability for which there was no outlet. She had experienced that same sensation a few minutes before when she watched Roberta and the Major's

to classifying people. "She's like mission furniture-plain and simple and genuine. She'd

d barely remember the great prairie schooner that brought them. They had suffered all the hardships of the early Texas settlers, gone through the horrors of the Indian uprisings,

ny questions to talk of herself. Mrs. Barnaby had a lively curios

hat reason was led on to tell more than she would have told to most strangers. She did not take the world at large into her confidence now as she had done

n accident at the mines where he was manager-that it had made him a cripple for life. We all just adore Jack, so of course I packed up and went straight back to Arizona. It wasn't possible for Joyce to leave just then, an

right away," interrupt

hile every morning. But as soon as the cold weather set in he began to have such dreadful rheumatism that the doctor

hetic shake of the head. "Arizona always did seem to me like the jumping-off

y enjoyed the trip. Waffles, the old colored cook on the car, you know, jus

d like to travel in a private car. It must be such a nice way to

t was not their car. They had come as guests of Mr. Robeson, one o

here it was I'd seen you before, and I believe it was with that party. There was a little lady in black and a boy and

ond of Jack and has been so lovely to all of us on his account. His valet stayed wi

off to another subject and left Mrs. Barnaby with the impression that the Wares were wealthy beyond computation. Mary had the manner of one always accustom

an in the dining-room. "Mrs. Ware was having dinner in her rooms with Jack," Mary explained. He was sensit

long nose and stumbled half-way through the menu. He always read the bill of fare aloud to his wife, pronouncing the French words

genuine and primitive as his wife when he made no attempt to cover his ignorance of French menus. Looking up with a twinkle in his eyes he said to the waiter, "Just bring me the same as my wife ordered." Then he added

est of a shrewd, genial old man who kept pace with the times and liked the companionship of young people. They were warm friends before the meal was over, and Mary hurri

tched earlier in the evening. Mrs. Ware had just tucked a lap-robe around him and drawn a wrap over her o

withered but still sweet. As Mary stooped to pick them up she heard Jack say in a voice so full of hearty enjoyment that she scarcely recognized it for his: "This certainly is great! What a world of things we've been missing all these years, little mother! I never realized just how much we have missed till I went East last year. Then afterwards the days were so full o

up now, but Mary still stood by the

that I'd always had my full share. I'd visited a great deal and travelled with Cousin Kate and her father. And I'm sure that no one could want anything brighter and sweeter and more complete than life as I found it as a girl, in 'my old Kentucky home.' As I had so much more than most people the first part of my life I couldn't

r must have suffered from the hardships of their early poverty, because it was in such sharp contrast to what she had known before. To hide

e cats in the lap of luxury," she

urselves on being in this land of summer with every comfort at hand and a fre

since we started South in Mr. Robeson's car I've felt as opulent and as elegant as if we owned the earth, and I've noticed that you and mamma take to luxury quite as readily as I do-like ducks to water. Norman is learning fast,

finances in hand since his illness, and her economical clu

of mine. But to-morrow it will be a different story. To-morrow a copper cent may be too great a boon for my family to ask me

he music, each enjoying to the fullest the novelty of being in such a place. Then Jack asked, "Didn't you

Bogey, and I overheard the beginning of a romance, a most sentimental request for an 'adorable little curl,' and I've hooked Mrs. James Barnaby of Bauer, Texas, up in her best bl

following his gaze into the court below she saw two of the gr

and the other is the major's daughter. I don't wonder that you're stunned at the s

tone almost as excited as her own. "That's Gay Melville, and I met her a

sure?" ga

you could never forget it after you'd watched her through one performance. Then her hair-there's no mistaking that, and tha

e're in the same town. Really I'd forgotten her in the excitement of our sudden coming. But now it just takes me off my feet to know that we're under the same roof, and to remember that she lived a whole summer in Lloydsboro Valley and is

red Jack, following with intent gaze the vanishing f

rina so softly and sweetly that he did not want to lose a note. When it was done Mary took up his las