Newspaper Page Text
8
Cynth i a-of-the-M inute
Copyright 1911 By Louis Joseph Vance
VII. I
CINDERELLA.
"Beast!”
That crisp epithet, barbed with
whole-hearted rare and contempt, fell
■harp upon the closinr of the door be
hind gaunt, unpleasing. sullen Sidonie.
Tittering it. Madame Savaran sank;
heavily back into her chair, replacing
her cane in ita corner. She sat in
silence for a long minute, her eyea
•eintillant.
• Then her mood veered. The ten
plump and active fingers of her two
hands drummed the devil's tattoo on
the polished top of the little table be-1
fore her. He- handsome old face cloud
ed. "Whatever shall I do?” she solilo
quised in despair. "I can neve replace'
her. never!”
To that instant Cynthia, untroubled
by the envenomed glance the discharged
Ina id had given her tn parting, had
been faintly amused. She was so no
longer. She detected In the old lady's
exclamations a very real and poignant
distress Sympathy stirrer in the girl s
generous bosom.
"Ton mrtn't think that,” she said
soothingly. “I'm sure there must be
plenty of maids —”
There's only one Sidonie!” declared
madame with vigor. That animal. '
she cried. Think of it! For ten—no.
for more years than I can say without
•topping to reckon, she r.as been my
servant. One doesn't uproot from one's
heart the association of that time and
not feel it! She was a paragon of
maids; she understood me thoroughly;
J never had to tell he * word of her
duties. It is true she would steal my
trinkets and pawn them for money to
get drunk on. she would lie to me and
carry tales to turn me against my com
panions—she had got rid of at least
bne rival every year by such means;
but then I could say anything to her.
She was the >nly maid I ever had who
could endure my temper. [ have a
filthy temper.” eaid Madame Savaran
complacently.
“And you don't think you could take
her back?”
"What? That snake” That ingrate!
Never!” the old lady swore cheerfully.
“Anything but treachery 1 could stand;
but let that once show its head, and
it is over—all—everything is finished!” <
She waved her hands excitedly, folded
them, and breathed, or rather sighed
-plaintively, a three-ply. copper-riveted
malediction on the head of the de
parting maid
Shocked. Cynthia involuntarily sat
bolt upright, eyeing madame in. wide
dismay. The movement did not pass
unremarked.
"I do swear wonderfully,” observed
madame- "Sometimes I surprise even
myself. But it is a great comfort. You
mustn't mind; you'll get used to it in
time.' “
"I!” Cynthia exclaimed, amazed.
“You—certainly—my dear. Why, do
you Imagine, did - 1 call you back if I in
tended to let you leave me?”
j “But—"
"You needn't think I hold it against
you that you were sent me by that red
headed blackguard. Rhode. It only goes
to prove that good may come of evil.
You see. my dear. I believe you, and I
don't believe that if you were to attach
yourself to me you'd sell me. like that
. . . that." repeated madame slow
ly; then she got her faculties well in
hand, and with the careful deliberation
of the true artist, thoughtfully, fully,
an freely delivered herself of a charac
ter sketch of Sidonie. forgetting, exten
uating and omitting nothing, working
up through well chosen epithet and
similie neatly applied to a soul-stirring,
hair-raising, blistering, blasting perora
tion that borrowed its bolts from the
skies and sifted the abyss for Its meta
phor a
Whesn she had finished. Sidonie's
ante-mortem obituary had been written
by a master hand. Stunned, breathless,
hardly able to credit her hearing. Cyn
thia remained spellbound, unable to as
sociate such fearful powers of expres
sion and the comely old lady with the
stately manner moderated by a glow of
creative enthusiasm and obvious self ap
proval. from whose lips the tirade is
sued.
Then the heavens cleared. Madame |
Savaran folded her hands, compressed |
her mouth primly, and smiled, radiating
, good nature.
"I feel better now,” shu remarked, i
“Well fefget it and say no more about
it.” It was Cynthia’s thought that she |
had .left nothing unsaid. "It's a great
comfort to be old enough to have a |
safety-valve like that, really: ever aso
much better than what fools -all a good |
cry. Besides, women don’t cry much,
except in novels, unless there's a man
concerned. Now we will talk about .
yourself. How old are you?”
Recovering. Cynthia told her.
"Al d your middle name—how «o j ou
spell it?"
• Cynthia detailed the orthography of
•Vrcilla
• “Don't you wonder why I ask?” .
f “Perhaps you thought the name un
usual." Cynthia ventured.
"Rather,” Madame Savaran affirmed
wtlh a strong, humorous drawl. "But I
had another reason. But no matter; I'll
explain later. Now tell me more of your
self."
In the course of the next ten minutes
she proved herself an exceedingly able
.practitioner of the art of cross-examina
tion. Cynthia was not permitted time to
think how entirely she was surrendering
her personal history and character into
the bands of this pragmatical person,
so swiftly did question follow upon the
heels of answer. Things she bad never
dreamed to tell another ran off her
tongue ere she thought to impeach ma
dame's right to know. Beneath the fire
of Interrogation lay warmth of sympa
thy, a personal and friendly interest,
anaesthetic to maiden reticence. Before
this reserve melted like ground mists be
fore tbi •>'« of morning; Cynthia inno
cently revealed herself, with neither >
picion nor misgiving.
Afterwards, wondering at this. she I
was never able to account for it. save I
under the excuse of white magic; Ma
dame Savaran seemed undoubtedly a
witch of sorts, to have been able to
Insinuate herself beneath a stranger's
guard
Cynthia told everything, indeed; what
Crittenden had missed in her more con
strained self-accounting of the evening
previous; the story of her mother’s ar
rant infatuation with the notion of mar
rying her child to money, through pur
suit of which her small competence had |
ebbed as she moved wearily on from con
tinental spa to capital, capita! to seaside
watering place and thence to gambling
center, dragging with her the poor, over
dressed. shrinking, sullenly mutinous
girl and thrusting her beneath the notice
of the fashionable crew they followed;
and the story of the senile devotion of
a certain Englishman, to whom she had
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i reluctantly engaged her hand before
her mother's death, only to beg and
plead and pray and finally to fly for
freedom, when death came to ease her of
| the necssity for self-sacrifice upon the al
tar of daughterly love.
Guilelessly she disclosed everything;
and absorbed, the old woman listened,
drinking in the least, last detail with
her gossip-loving ears, and when the
inquisition was temporarily suspended,
proving herself no less candid in the
matter of unveiling her personality.
, “And now, my dear,” she said, sleek
wijh satisfaction at her success in
pumping the'girl. "I'll tell you what your
middle name interested me. The only
woman I ever knew who wore it with
the same spelling was Miss Urcilla
Wayne, of the Waynes of Washington
Square.”
"My mother!” cried Cynthia. "You
knew her?”
"Os course I knew h< r.” returned
Madame with some asperity. "Why not?
Not intimately, you understand, but
still in a somewhat personal way
I desiggned the gown she was married
in—to say nothing of the rest of her
trousseau—l, Adele Blessington. .
I remember her |»erfectly; you are very
like her. only I should say, a mite pret
tier. And you should know that Ur
cilla Wayne was considered the most
beautiful bride of her year. So you
see. ...”
"You, Madame ~ Savaran —you were
Madame Blessington? Really?"
"Mademoiselle Blessington I was in
those days, my dear. That, you see. was
before 1 made a fool of myself, marry
ing that villain Savaran. Yes,” reaf
firmed the old lady, placidly self-con
ceited. "1 was tht same Adelaide Bles
sington. Adelaide was my given name,
you know, my dear; but I changed -t. It
always sounded to me like something
spoiled—and nobody ever spoiled me,
not even that brute Savaran. when we
first married.” She choked and lifted
her voice. "Sidonie!”
“But —” began Cynthia.
“To be sure,” said Madajne. with a
flush. “Bless your heart, my dear, you
made me forget my troubles. No mat
ter.” She assumed a look of obstinate
cheerfulness, expectation a-glitter in
her eyes.
A door opened noiselessly and the
maid showed herself on the threshold.
“Madame calledT’ she inquired in a
voice of velvet fawning.
“Go to the devil you!” said Madame,
briskly. “Why are you still there?
Your time is up!”
“But. Madame —”
“If the porter delays another instant,
go wait in the hall. Get out of my
apartment. You understand me? Go!"
Dumb with rag% Sidonie shut aerself
out of the room.
Madame Savaran chuckled like a mis
chievous child. “Loathsome insect,
she commented, and then dropped tne
subject for good and all. "Cynthia, my
dear, will you fetch me a ciga<ctre—
that box on the console there. If I am
to talk to myself—and 1 know I shall—
I must smoke; although as a rule I
smoke but once between breakfast and
lunch. But this is an exceptional day.”
Cynthia obligingly brought the cigar
ettes and matches, her European up
bringing having made her so thoroughly
accustomed to the practice of smoking
on the part of women of station and re
finement that she thought nothing of It
m this instance.
I “Yes.” resumed madame, puffing con
tentedly, “it was I who founded the
great Blessington dressmaking establish
ment and made it what It is, easily the
foremost house <m Fifth avenue. 1 m
out of it how—and they feel the loss of
me. I can tell you; but that's another
matter. Savaran was responsible for
that, the beast. He was my head cutter,
in the beginning. I married him-*let me
see—yes, the year your mother married
Dr. Grayce. Immediately he stopped
working; he seemed to think the hus
band of the head of the house ought to
do nothing. And then he took to drink.
I stood it for a while. Then I discharged
I him.”
She smiled sweetly in reminiscent en
: joyment.
"You discharged your husband, mad
! ame?"
Madame nodded emphatically. “As
suredly. Do you think I would stand his
■ nonsense? Not I. I refused to have him
■ hanging round the establishment. He
j lowered its tone. It did the business no
: good to have a half-drunken creature
I acting as my right hand—and letting not
the left hand know what the right was
lup to. The animal used actually to flirt
I with my assistants the moment I turned
Imy back. And then they would com
-1 plain to me and threaten to go. Be
sides, he disturbed my temperament.
How is one to dream creations with a
pig of the gutter like that at one's
elbow? Certainly I discharged him.
“He would not believe me at first; but
soon I Convinced him. Even then I had
my famous tempe-; the thing was
known. So one day he went. And that.
It was I who could not believe it true—
that blessed relief!-until I discovered
the thief had absconded with ten thou
sand dollars of my money. It was cheap
at the price, I told myself; of course,
after that he would never return- And
he didn't; I am always right. I never
saw him again until a month or so ago,
when he was dying. Then he sent for
me. and at first I wouldn’t hear of going.
But finally I went; I went to find out
what he had done with my money.”
Madame paused, puffed her cigarette
viciously until the smoke grew too hot
for comfort, and put it aside.
“My dear,” she pursued, "fancy my
feelings! That blackleg. Rhode, came
with the longest face imaginable to tell
me Savaran was dying and had asked
for me. 1 flew to him. repentant, pre
pared to forgive him —to forgive him
even the ten thousand dollars. Besides.
I had made my mind up that he had
long since squandered it tn reckless
profligacy. I figured to myself the
the poor man dying In want and
j misery, the deserted and wronged wife
i hastening to his Eide to comfort his last
1 moments, angelically pitiful and com
passionate. . . . And I found him
on the point of expiring, it’s true, but
surrounded by every imaginable comfort
and luxury! Never was woman so disil
| lusioned. Do you believe he had sent
for me to beg my forgiveness? Not he;
■ not Savaran. He merely wanted to do
Rhode an ill-turn. They were associat
ed in a business venture none too sav-
j ory, and had quarreled, so he summoned
me to make me a present of his inter
| eat in it, that I might be a thorn in
Rhode's side.
"What a deathbed! I thought it was
I who would die of amusement, as soon
as I got over being indignant. I bear
George Rhode no love myself; he is
my son-in-law. He's a bad one, a cut
off the same piece as Savaran —only a
rarer cut, you might say. He married
my only daughter against my will, and
THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA., TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1912.
By Louis Joseph Vance
Author of “7 he Brass Bowl,
“No Man’s Land, ’ Etc.
got what he deserved. She was more
Savaran’s daughter than mine, anyway,
and she left George Rhode after mak
ing him properly miserable for a year,
more or less.”
The old lady paused to rejoice with
I unnatural glee over the discomfiture of
■ the Red Man; and Cynthia, fascinated,
interjected an excusable query.
“Is she living, madame —your daugh
ter?”
“Os course. We never die, we Bless
ingtons. But she’s no good. I have
nothing to do with her, beyond giving
her money when she’s broke.
But no matter; 1 never talk of her. To
get back to my husband: we had it hot
and heavy, right and left, Savaran,
Rhode, and myself. Rhode wished to
prevent his talking: he’s slow, that one;
he'd never guessed what Savaran was
up to when he asked for me in his pa
thetic whisper. And in the end I had
to put the hulking red brute out of the
| room; and he let me do it. Just fancy
■ that! He was afraid of me, the great
’ coward.
“Then Savaran told me something
about his affairs. It seems he had not
wasted the stolen money; and that was
like him; he never by any chance did
what one would expect. He actually
tiad the face to Insist it was rny temper
that made him drink, and that once
free of it he straightened out, went on
the water-wagon and into the restaur
ant business in Boston, and positively
made money. My <IO,OOO grew to $-0,00
tn as many years. Meanwhile he had
got acquainted with Geo'rge Rhode,
through my daughter. somehow —I'd
never suspected she ever saw her fa
ther —and when Rhode proposed his
scheme to make cent per cent, by a
questionable means to say the least,
questionable) Savaran sold out his bus
iness. retired on a quarter of his cap
ital and put the rest of it into Rholes
venture. On the eve of its inception he
reil ill; the matter had to be postponed,
against Rhode’s wishes. Delays exasp
erated that devil. So they oeean to
tight—and I inherited a 115,000 interest
in their plant.”
The semi-occasional and always ab
rupt descents into current slang wli'cn
were apt to punctuate the voluble on
ward flow of Jiadame’s vivacious nar
rative. as cascades a mountain torrent,
were always mystifying to Cynthia. She
had not the slightest notion of what a
•plant" might be any more than she un
derstood the term “water-wagon’’ save
by a process of connotation in Itsel?
vague and unsatisfactory. But she wa<
too interested to interrupt, even ha.«
the manner of Madame been such as to
make interruption seem advisable,
which It was not. So. after finishing
her cigarette and extinguishing Its
glowing tip upon the ash-tray. Madame
Savaran took up her tale.
"The dickens of it was, the money
was tied up; I couldn’t get it out with
out losing most of it. And by every
right It was mine, though yoked to a
scamp for a rogue’s march. Savaran
was a fiend for cunning; he got even
with both of us by that move. And then
he turned his back to us and died
chuckling. It was as good as any play.
“So here am I, on the verge of step
ping off Into the qpKnown with un
arm crooked through a rascal’s—for 1
wouldn’t trust George Rhode out of
my sight with a dollar of my money.
And here are you sent me by him to
be my comfort and delight—he’ll bite
his cigar In two when he finds out how
things stand with you and me. Not
that I’m not fond of you for your own
sweet self already, my dear; but it
doesn't lessen my Joy In you to know
all this will make George Rhode run
round in circles. . . . And here are
the two of us sitting and Jabbering
like a couple of old women at a meet
ing of the Dorcas circle, when we
ought to be up and hustling, getting
our things packed. We must be on
board by 9 tonight, you know, though
the steamer doesn’t sail till morning.'
“But —Madame Savaran —” Cynthia
protested in bewilderment.
That lady had got out of her chair
with every apparent intention of being
an exceedingly busy woman in the im
mediate future and of expecting Cyn
thia to stand by her without further
parley. But she wasn't disposed to be
unreasonable —as she comprehended the
meaning of that term.
“Yes, my dear?” said she, pausing.
“Os course I don't want to hurry you,
but we really have a great deal to
get through with, and it’s all the fault
of that double-faced Sidonie. for most
of the packing’s finished, and it's only
the odds and ends we must attend to,
but, of course —”
Here she shopped short and laughed
outright at Cynthia's dazed expression.
“Am I talking your head off, my dear,
and never permitting you to get a word
tn edgewise? There, I’ll try to be
sensible. What is it you wish to say?”
“The steamer,” Cynthia pleaded in a
breath—“you say we must be on board
tonight—what steamer? And where is
she going?”
"Her name is Cydohia, and as for her
destination you know as much as I, my
dear—or very nearly. Rhode won’t say,
beyond that she’s clearing for Rio de
Janeiro; and that may be t'ue. But
when you’ve known George Rhode as
long as t hare you’ll take everything
he says with several grains of salt. He
says Rio and sticks to it; I nay I don’t
know.”
“Is that the only reason you have
for believing his intention to be dis
honest?" asked the girl.
“I need no other; I know the man. He
declares the Cydonia is bound on a per
fectly legitimate business venture, carry
ing a valuable cargo to its market; I say
the man's as crooked as the off hind leg
of a mongrel hound-pup, and therefore
wouldn’t turn his hand to anything on
the level. Besides, he had Savaran with
him to start with; and Savaran was a
scoundrel if ever there was one. And
even he intimated the speculation was oft
color, though he was despicable enough
to stop at that and refer me to Rhode
for further particulars. And then Rhode
has fought tooth and nail against tny
coming; and that's more proof. If he
is going to turn an honest trick, why
should he object to my company? Thank
goodness, I'm too old to have the wool
drawn over my eyes by a clumsy rip
Hke George!”
The old lady wound up with a wide,
combative flourish of her cane; but she
had been studying her companion’s face
while she rattled on. and now was in
stant to encourage the girl, recognizing
that her mind was troubled.
“That isn’t all you wanted to know,
my dear?”
“No, Madame Savaran.” Cynthia hes
itated. coloring adorably. “It’s very kind
of you to want me, and I—l'd like to
come—tut—”
“And come you shall. Make up your
mind to that. I'm not taking no for an
answer from you, child.”
“But I can't.” Cynthia blurted in des
peration. "I'm not prepared. I—l
haven’t any clothes for an ocean trip.”
"Indeed!” commented madame, unper
turbed. “And do you think that shall
stop you or prevent me from having you.
when I’ve set my heart on it?” She de
liberated briefly, keen old eyes searching
the young and txautiful ones that met
them so openly and honestly. “But not
against your will,” she said suddenly.
'JL EWikJpey*..Jiut DQUunltEs. jou really.
want to come ■with me. Tell me truth
iully, Cynthia, if you had the proper
outfit, would you be willing to come?”
“Oh, yes—” ,
"Then it's settled. While I’m looking
round and mal Ing up my mind where to
begin, please go to the telephone, call
up Ninety-eleven Gramercy Blessinton’s
—ask for Mr. Simonson, and I’ll talk to
hiir."
As one who dreams, Cynthia complied.
And as in a dream she moved and
had her being throughout the remainder
of that extraordinary day—though with
gratitude be it chronicled she attempt
ed nothing so bromidic as to pinch her
self for reassurance as to her wakeful
ness. She was quite a normal human
woman, was Cynthia, but in this as in
some other minor matters she was not
altogether as other girls one reads
about.
It would, however, have been re
markable if she had neen able to
review this day without considering
it a day apart. She awakened to its
light a pauper orphan; she went to
sleep with the sensation of a princess
in a fairy tale; but, unlike most such
princesses, quite forgetful of the prince;
indeed rather inclined to ascribe her
transformation less to his adroit and
courageous intervention than to the
magic weavings of the benignant witch.
Through the glamour, of that day of
days men and women and things ap
peared. postured for a little time, and
went their waya like puppets moving
to the manipulation or a master: or
again like gnomes and elves and gob
lins, supernaturally potent, but none
the less docile to the will of the omnip
otent fairy godmother bent on creating
a new world for. her new-found Cinder
ella.
Mr. Simonson, of Blessington's, for
one. by some magic incantation ,of
madame's was materialized from a
paradoxically nasal and disembodied
voice at the end of a telephone wire
into a small, neat, suave Semitic
jinnee, charged like a storage battery
with juice of deference—obsequious to
the least significant utterance of the
enchantress. With him appeared a train
of imps bringing boxes, a’ small ware
house of boxej; which, being opened,
discovered a woman's world of ravish-
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ATLANTA, GA.
ing things—gowns, suits, wraps, skirts,
ana blouses, hats, veils, stockings, un
derwear in deliciot s profusion, appoint
ments of many kinds. . , . ’’Every
thing!” as madame had stipulated im
perially over the telephone, adding
measurements partially supplied by
Cynthia, partially perceptible to- her
educated eye.
Simonson had taken her word at its
literal value. With his and madame's
counsel Cynthia found herself trying on
and selecting what seemed a little of all
things requisite and (madame’s amend
ment, curious but expressive) “then
some.”
Following Simonson's prompt ex
orcisrp at the instant his services seem
ed no longer essential, other Jinn of an
inferior order, in checked jumpers, bear
ing on their shoulders empty trunks
dedicated with her initials to the ward
robe of the princess.
This reminded Cynthia of her own
trunk and small belongings; and after a
brisk discussion with Madame the
Enchantress she gave way, much
against her will, and permitted one of
the Monolith housekeepers, specially de
tailed for the service at the command
of the old lady, to go to her humble
lodging, pay her bill and pack and bring
away everything she owned.
There followed hours of furious pack
ing, spaced by Intervals devoted to the
spiritual excoriation of Sidonie for hav
ing forgotten all things forgettable and
having neglected all things else.
And then, arrayed in her fresh finery,
she had a ride in a taxi with madame,
with pauses here and there to pick up
a dozen ipdispensables —among these
the amethyst ring of Monsieur le Due
de GUise; after w’hich they returned to
the hotel in frantic hast,e, madame hap
pening to remember having left the jew
el case in a precariously exposed posi
tion. But they found it safe, its con
tents intact.
A little later they had an early din
ner of many delectable courses—"the
last mouthfuls of decent food we’ll have
in weeks, my dear!”—served In state
in the most magnificent dining room of
the most magnificent Monolith.
There were breathless final rites in
the stormswept apartment.
Most indelible of all memories was
provided by the long and weary ride
alone in the motor cab —Madame Sava
ran following in another, because two
were required to convey their luggage
—with one of the hotel detectives on
the front seat as a guard over Cynthia
and the jewel case; the same in its own
individual handbag having been intrust
ed to her care—most unfairly, Cynthia
considered.
The feeing of unreality was most
ineluctible then, with the well-kerned
lights of Manhattan slipping steadily
past, to be replaced by those of the
bridge, of the long, slow climb and the
swift downward dip to Brooklyn, where
interminable processions of strange lights
strode mysteriously through strangely
quiet streets, all appparently escaping
from the echoing iron-roofed shed by the
waterside with its old chioroscuro of
high swung spluttering electric. arc
lamps and grim, tenebrous shadows
amidst great piles of bags and
bales of crated things—and, most tena
cious of all memories, 'its atmosphere
impregnated with a sickly sw’eetish.
fruity odor, lightened by Infrequent
whirts of salty wind from the tidal river.
A myriad of singular impressions cul
minated with the Rubicon-crossing of a
gangplank that spanned a black abysmal
depth with a forbidding glint or sluggish
water at its bottom, to a stuffy-smelling
and poorly-lighted saloon, where Rhode
greeted them, dawning upon Cynthia’s
consciousness like some sullen midnight
sun, blazingly ungracious. The sight of
him jogged her perceptions out of their
glutted stupor for a little; but she was
too utterly weary to remain awake for
long. Even a sharp passage-at-arms
between Madame Savaran and her son-in
law had no more effect than to rouse dtill
wonderment that they had energy enough
to quarrel.
She experienced a sensation of moving
down a narrow, dark tunnel (termed by
Rhode an alleyway), of coming to a stop
in a small cabin bright with electric
light and white-painted woodwork, of
understanding that this was her own pri
vate stateroom .and that it’adjoined that
to be occupied by madame, of bolting the
I door behind Rhode and unlocking and
i gage.
i Then dull, sweet, narcotic darkness.
VIII.
THE CHANGELING CYNTHIA.
| "My dear .. .
Cynthia opened drowsy eyes incredu
| ously.
I My dear, it's after 8 o’clock, and you've
slept!— Do you know you almost fell
asleep standing up!—so tired, poor child
you hardly opened your eyes when I
made you undress and get into your
unpacking divers pieces of hand-lug
! berth.”
j Madame Savaran’s voice; and Madam*
Savaran’s the face bending aoove Cyn-
Ithla. So it all was true! After ail
some dreams do come true. . .
With a quaint. perverse shake of her
. head and a sleepy smile, “I don’t believe
1a word of this, you know,” said Cyn
thia.
Madame had at her command a smile
j very winning and sweet. If a trace Imp
! ish; with such she answered Cynthia’s
J from her place on the folding seat by
| the head of the berth. She was wearing
a very fetching thing of frills and fur
belows, all of a soft pink tone, which
went by the designation of dressing
gown; and her morning .cap was set
jauntily atop that surprising edifice of
hair which Cynthia half already begun to
suspect. But if it were a wig, it was
certainly a most becoming one; and
Cynthia could have sworn, had there
been need, that there was nothing arti
ficial about the coloring of madame's
cheeks and lips any more than there
was about the brightness of her eyes
or the humanity of her heart.
(Continued in Next Issue.)
LITTLE PROGRESS MADE
ON BERNSTEIN JURY
(Special Dispatch to The Journal.)
CHICAGO. Aug. 10.—Progress in
picking a jury to try Mrs. Florence
Bernstein, who is accused of murdering
her husband, George Bernstein, was
slow today. One of the veniremen de
clared that he had been approached in
the court room by a stranger, who de
clared that Mrs. Bernstein was guilty
and should be punished. The court halt
ed further examination of veniremen.