One Woman's Life

the fatal bomb was her first real pa

ir real triumphs, for woman displays herself when she "entertains" as man does when he

Kemp, who advised giving a "tea,"-a cheap form of wholesale entertainment then in more repute than now. Milly would have preferred to "entertain at dinner," as the papers put it. But that was obviously out of the question. The Ridge household with its shabby appointments and one colored maid was not yet on a dinner-giving basis. Moreover, it would have cost far too much to feed suitably the host that Milly

hole cloth and involved a marvellous display of energy and tact on Milly's part. First her father and grandmother had to be accustomed to the idea. "I ain't much on Sassiety myself," Horatio protested, w

e!" Milly came to loathe it most

e exclaimed. "Jus

mit punch or any form of alcoholic refreshment. After a convivial youth he had become rigidly temperance. "Tea and coffee's en

a radius of eight blocks. There was a man at the door with white gloves, another at the curb for carriage company, and a strip of dusty red carpet across the walk. Milly financed all this extr

the envelopes, arranged the furniture, and distributed the flowers. She felt "dead" the day

allurement, even for young men, in those primitive days, and Milly had an army of loyal friends, who would have come to anything out of devotion to her. And the affair had got abroad, as all Milly's affairs did, had become the talk of the quarter; a good many families were interested through personal contributions of tableware. There w

s stirred to genuine emotion as the babble of tongues surged over her. A becoming pink in her white cheeks betrayed the excitement within her withered breast over the girl's triumph. For even Grandma Ridge possessed traces of a feminine nature.... And Horatio! He came in late from his business, scorning to pay attention to the "women's doings," sneaked up the back stairs and donned his Sunday broadcloth coat, then worme

lf you know-her own idee. I'm not much myself for entertaining and all that s

the next Sunday morning, eyed the nervous little man over her broad b

idge, must have a rem

lks-not from me." He laughed confidentially. "Well, I tell her gra

cour

lks will

le man must have exaggerated, for it was long before the Ridge advent in Chicago that the lady destined to become its social leader had withdrawn from the retail trade, if indeed there were any truth in the tale. "And she married a butcher," Horatio added. "Oh, papa!" from Milly. "Yes, he was a butcher, too-wholesale, maybe, but he had the West Side Market o

ould mean to Milly, had fetched her in her carriage, coaxingly,-"It will please the girl so, you know, to have you there for a few minutes!" And when the leader towered above Milly, whose flushed fac

eat lady confided afterwards to Mrs. Gilbert, and repeated impre

perspiring, pushing, eating, talking people. She had drawn them all into her shabby little home. "Magnetic," as the great lady said. It is a power much desired in democratic

ing, except for the fact that they came. Yes, Mrs. Bernhard Bowman, who knew that people came to her chilly h

Gilbert cooed fondly,

he scene half enviously. This was another magic quality that the girl possessed,-especially feminine, a tricksy gift of the Gods, quite outside the moral categories and therefore desired by all-charm. Charm made all that mob so happy to be there in the stuffy quarters, struggling to

of her home beneath the attempts to furbish up, envied the girl these two gifts. Why? Because

nion, as she sank back into the silky softness of the brougham tha

ill give her the opportunity of exercising her rem

She felt that she had d

re her, if she makes no mis

ively nothing-that house!" Hers was a talent like any other, not to be denied. The woman's talent. Obviously Horatio could not finance this career on coffee and tea. Some stronger man, better equipped in fortune, must be found and pressed into service. Who of al

ement!" Vivie Norton

waving her arms in abandon

. And they never go to afternoon

e cluttered dining-room with the drooping flowers to munch sandwiches and drink cold chocolate for supper. They were p

orning from a deep sleep to

eevishly. "I think you m

s," her grandmother said, holding out an armful of S

, while her hand skilfully extracted the sheet that co

quiet five o'clock.... Many of our notable fashionables, etc....

ul first appearance quickened her pulses. "Quite the smartest bunch of snobs in the village," wrote "Suzette" in the Mirror, with a too obvious sneer. (Suzette's pose was a breezy disdain for the "highlights" of Society, an affectat

ta she saw a very gorgeous procession, herself at the head, with a long veil and an enormous bunch of white roses clasped to her breast, moving in stately fashion up the church aisle. At the extreme end of the vista stood an erect black figure beside a white-robed clergyman. (For Milly now went to the Episcopal Church, finding the service more satisfying.) The face of this erect figure was

of lukewarm tea s