The Innocents: A Story for Lovers

ho had quarreled about the thickness of the bread or the vagueness of flavor in the tea Father had considered insulting, and he had been perky as a fighting-sparrow in answering them. A good many mus

custom which was just large enough to keep their hopes staggering onward, and just sma

ulu-Lulu the fair, Lulu the spectacled, Lulu the lily wife of

ugh to keep her away. Lulu wasn't unkind to her parents; rather, she was too kind; she gave them good advice and tried to arrange Mother's hair in the coiffures displayed by Mrs. Edward Schuyl

enjoy a single game of cribbage, nor a single recital by Signor Sethico Applebi the mouth-organ virtuoso, as long

door to "The T Room," and she didn't hesitate to say that her parents would have done better-which meant that Lulu would have enjoyed her visit more-if they had "locate

talked to her about vorticism and this jolly new Polish composer with his suite for tom-tom and cymbals. She led Father into the arbor and efferve

e to speak to your mother about that place. It's raised the devil with our trade, and I won't have your mother bothered with it. And if you mean

se you have particula

and asking us if we'd read a lot of new-fangled books that we'd never heard of. I'll admit that was a good way to show us how superior you were.

was in awe of Miss Mitchin's. Even his daughter was impressed. She forgot for a moment that sh

d some clever people-or some society people-coming here o

id Father-which meant, of course

ommenting, but every day when business was light they could feel her accusingly counting th

a motor-car stop, and Mother prepared to go down and serve the tourists. The brazen, beloved voice o

n't know whether they are at home. If they a

ll, just say

d Mrs.

s, yes,

and talked about the Tubbses' boarders, and the Applebys admired to hear that Uncle Joe now ran the car himself. But all of them were conscious that Lulu,

avel cliffs, did Father quite realize what his daughter had done-that, with her super

hat state she now lived; or it may conceivably be that, in her refined and determined manner, she was fond of her parents. She kissed them repeatedly and was gone with

t had been denied the silly fondnesses of utterance. They could laugh, now that there was no critic of their shy brand of humor. Father stopped on the step

be in such a gosh-awf

ar as to grunt, "W

had tone poems on the mouth-organ. And dreamed that

tion that they ought to bag a social or artistic lion as an attraction for "The T Roo

he season, had come, he would ca

Boston. She was so solid that society reporters didn't dare write little items about her, and when she was in Charleston she was invited to the Saint Cecilia Ball. Also she was rather ignorant, rather unhappy, and completely aimless. She and her daughter spen

ery day, in a landaulet with

tion. Sitting by himself in the rose-arbor while Mother served their infrequent customers or stood at the door unhappily watching for them, Father visualized Mrs. Carter exclaiming over the view from the arbor, the sunset across the moors as seen from their door-which was, Father believed, absolutely the largest and finest sunset in the world. He even went so far as to discover in Mrs. Vance Carter, Mrs. Cabot-Winslow-Carter, a sneaking fondness for cribbag

olk could be? Why here just the other day he had been reading in the boiler-plate innards of the Grimsby Recorder how Jim Hill, the r

ull the tea-room out of the hole. Without a word to Mother he started for Grimsby Hill, the estate of Mrs.

for a quarter of a mile before he got up courage to go back, rush through the towering iron gateway and past the gate-house, into the sacred estate. He expected to hear a voice-it would be a cockney servant's voice-demanding, "'Ere you, wot do you want?" But no one stopped him; no one spoke to him; he was safe among the rhododendrons. He clumped along as though he had

He veered around toward these. Outside the garage he saw the chauffeur, with his livery coat off, polishing a fender. Great! Perhaps he could pers

tarting with the one neutral top

the chauffeur, an

I wanted to have

et away. The old dragon wanted to have a talk with me, too, this morning.

d more like "Hick, hick!" As carelessly as he could Father observed: "

so, Si! Haow's the shoe b

siness in New York City, New Yo

O

ts-as he had not done these six gloomy weeks-threw out his chest, and tried to look li

any guy that's lived in New York that long and then

nders, the chauffeur disappeared into the garage. Father forlornly felt that h

eaner out of an unexpected basement door. An under-gardener, appearing at the corner, dragging a cultivator, stared at him. Far off, somewhere, he heard a voice crying, "Fif' love!" He could see a corner of a sunken garden with stiff borders of box. H

sby Head-you know, couple of miles this side of the Center. It would be pretty nice for our class of business if the Mad

hen she's thirsty. She jus

wo-dollar bill. It seemed to bore the chauffeur a good deal, but he condescended to take it. Father tried to look knowing and friendly and sophisticated all at onc

hat I can do," said the cha

inspected the tennis-courts as though he were Maurice McLoughlin. He admitte

carum Rag" all the way home, interrupting himself only to murmur: "I wonder where the

at with Mother in the sun a

a complete failure; that they were ruined; that they didn't k

orders for bread and butter and cheese-and even these orders we

ing miracle as they sat with hand desperately clutching hand in the evening; they nearly convinced themselves that Mrs. Carter would send her friends. September was almost here, and it was too late for Mr

, gray-haired and hook-nosed; sometimes with Miss Margaret Carter, whose softly piquant little nose would in time be hooked like her mother's. Father's treacherous ally the chauffeur never even looked at "The T Room." Sometimes Fa

p their minds to notify Mr. Pilkings, of Pilkings & Son's Sixth Avenue Standa

or the noise of that most alien

whittling. He looked up, saw the Vance Carter motor approach. H

and Miss Margaret Carter had incredibly steppe

to co