THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
.The 
 
 Chippendales 
 
 BY 
 
 ROBERT GRANT 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER S SONS 
 1909 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER S SONS 
 
 Published April, 1909 
 
The Chippendales 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 BLAISDELL had come to Boston to seek his fortune. Not 
 precisely without a penny in his pocket, as tradition ex 
 pects, but with only two thousand dollars in the bank and 
 knowing no one in the Athens of America. He had been 
 born and his boyhood had been spent in a large town in the 
 State of Maine. His father had fallen in the Civil War, 
 and Hugh s education Hugh McDowell Blaisdell was his 
 full name had been obtained by sacrifices on his mother s 
 part. Although eager to go to work in order to provide 
 comforts for her old age, he had yielded to her prayer that 
 he should pass four years at one of the smaller New Eng 
 land colleges, from which he had lately been graduated. 
 Six weeks after his Commencement Day his mother had 
 died. When he roused himself from his grief to face the 
 world he had chosen Boston rather than New York, 
 mainly because a friend offered to give him a letter of 
 introduction to General Horatio Langdon, the banker. 
 General Langdon, who was the commanding officer of the 
 brigade to which his father had belonged, had not only 
 found him a business opening, but had recommended him 
 to apply for lodgings to Mrs. Avery. Her abode was on 
 Dartmouth Street, but on that part of it slightly to the 
 
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2 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 south of Copley Square just beyond the pale of fashion, 
 yet within breathing distance of an aesthetic atmosphere. 
 Were not the Museum of Fine Arts and Trinity Church 
 close at hand? .. 
 
 Though only forty-eight hours had elapsed since his 
 coming, Blaisdell believed that he had made a favorable 
 impression on the inmates of the house. He desired 
 people to like him; people always had liked him as 
 a lad and at school and at college. In the beginning he 
 had never thought of the effect he produced; indeed, 
 he did not now think about it at the time, for he was 
 not self-conscious; but he had examined his own winning 
 way and intended to persevere in it. Did this consist in 
 his wide-awake and sociable address? Or his incisive 
 power of stating what he had to say? Or his cheerful, 
 optimistic point of view? Listlessness and indifference 
 were repugnant to him. Ever since he could remember, it 
 had been natural to him to be pleasant to those with whom 
 he was brought in contact, and the sound of his own voice 
 had had no terrors for him. How many people were 
 listened to grudgingly because they were ineffective in 
 their delivery! No one hesitated to interrupt them, and 
 they were thrust into the background. He liked to keep 
 his listeners silent until he had finished. Every-day 
 humor appealed to him, and he not only enjoyed an enter 
 taining anecdote but could tell one engagingly, a faculty 
 which was also characteristic of Abraham Lincoln, most 
 illustrious of self-made men. 
 
 In the light of his perception of these qualities, certain 
 historic careers beckoned to him, and he believed that he 
 recognized in himself some of the hall-marks requisite for 
 success. He intended to succeed; he had always so in 
 tended; with which goal in view he had studied hard at 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 3 
 
 school and had proved to be one of the leading scholars in 
 his class at college. His first idea had been to become 
 a lawyer one who would convince courts and juries by his 
 clear, fluent logic. The desire to earn money more rapidly 
 so as to recompense his mother for her devotion while she 
 was still capable of enjoying the luxuries of modern life 
 concerning which he had read in the newspapers had 
 turned his mind toward business, and his mind had re 
 mained fascinated by the prospect. If others had been 
 able to accumulate large fortunes by persevering industry 
 and the shrewd exercise of their wits, might he not do the 
 same? The vast industrial resources of the country were 
 just beginning to reveal themselves. Why should he not 
 take part in their discovery and exploitation ? 
 
 The thought had become a fixed purpose by the begin 
 ning of his Senior year. There were some family prece 
 dents for his decision. His paternal grandfather had been 
 a local judge and his maternal grandfather a physician, 
 but when the war broke out his father had been paying- 
 teller of the town bank, and his mother s only brother, 
 who was drowned in the prime of life on one of the Maine 
 rivers, had been a lumber merchant and the owner of saw 
 mills. His mother s death had crushed his spirit for the 
 time, so that he took no joy and found no stimulus in any 
 thing. When, at the spur of necessity, he opened his eyes 
 and faced reality, he saw himself at the bottom of the lad 
 der, lacking resources and influential friends. He could 
 have remained at college as a tutor, but his imagination 
 had been fired and his mind was made up. Yet in his day 
 dreams he had avoided fixing on the particular business 
 he wished to follow; indeed, he did not possess the knowl 
 edge necessary for apt discrimination as to which offered 
 the surest opportunity to an ambitious youth. He was 
 
4 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 eager for a foothold, and in that spirit he had grasped the 
 first hand held out to him. "We have no vacancy at the 
 present time," said Horatio Langdon, "but I happen to 
 know of a firm which is on the lookout for an enterprising 
 young man one not afraid of work. The junior partner 
 has died recently and they are short-handed." This con 
 versation had taken place a week before, and now he was a 
 clerk in the employ of Delano and Kurd, brokers and deal 
 ers in stocks and bonds. 
 
 He had come home from the office this afternoon only 
 just in time to get ready for dinner. As he looked in the 
 glass while shaving he beheld a smiling countenance. He 
 was thinking of the two girls, his landlady s daughter, 
 Lora Burroughs, and her step-daughter, Priscilla Avery, 
 and was reflecting on his good fortune in finding himself 
 under the same roof with them both. Mr. Langdon had 
 done him another good turn in this. And how dissimilar 
 they were! Blaisdell was not sure which of the two he ad 
 mired the most. Hearing their voices as he ascended the 
 stairs to his chamber he had asked himself again this ques 
 tion, which he was still pondering. Possessing the happy 
 faculty of summoning the absent before his mind s eye, he 
 proceeded to make a mental photograph of them for his 
 edification. In Lora he saw a trig, compact little girl of 
 medium height, with an erect carriage and alert move 
 ments. She was becomingly plump. These evidences of 
 elasticity served to neutralize the somewhat doll-like effect 
 of her blue eyes, golden hair, dimples, and slight lisp. The 
 thought though strictly impersonal had already occurred 
 to v him that here was a desirable combination a woman 
 whom it would be a constant joy to caress and who 
 would neglect neither her husband s dinner nor his 
 stockings. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 5 
 
 Priscilla, on the contrary, was tall and spirited-looking, 
 with wavy dark-brown hair, a nose just aquiline enough to 
 denote strength of will without being obtrusive, and what 
 he denned to himself as a swan-like neck. Her movements 
 were graceful but swift, suggesting a spirit of unrest, as 
 though she were pursuing something which constantly 
 eluded her. His experience of womankind was limited, 
 but he believed that he preferred what he called com 
 fortable girls and Priscilla, with all her beauty, was 
 obviously of the high-strung order. She interested him, 
 yet she reminded him of a tense young Amazon; whereas 
 Lora s musical laugh was soothing and would be a menace 
 to care. The first time he had heard it was on the day of 
 his arrival. On the way up-stairs to show him his room, 
 Mrs. Avery had introduced him to her two daughters, 
 who were descending. In depositing his bag in order to 
 shake hands, he had managed to knock it with his foot so 
 that it toppled over and went bumping down three or four 
 steps until caught by the wainscoting. Thereupon Pris- 
 cilla s soulful eyes had danced, but Lora had exploded 
 gleefully. 
 
 Like the good-humored fellow he was, Blaisdell was 
 susceptible to mirth at his own expense. On the other 
 hand, he was not fond of making slips, however unim 
 portant. To be sure-footed and clear-cut in whatever he 
 undertook was a leading article in his code of life. He 
 had echoed Lora s merriment, but he had looked at her 
 with an expression which announced definitely, though 
 playfully, that he intended to be even with her some day. 
 And her blue eyes had drooped under his gaze. Was it on 
 this account that a vision of convulsed loveliness set in 
 a frame of golden hair rose before him as he thought 
 of her? 
 
6 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Now that he had brought his mind to bear upon the 
 question, he was conscious of this slight preference. Yet 
 it merged itself again in his sense of general satisfaction 
 at his surroundings, for he was encouraged to believe that 
 he had become a member of a family circle rather than an 
 occupant of a boarding-house. His landlord, Gideon 
 Avery, a student of science and an inventor, visionary but 
 scholarly and refined a sort of Ralph Waldo Emerson 
 looking man with dreamy eyes and a slight stoop gave an 
 air of gentle dignity to the establishment which harmon 
 ized with his prepossessions regarding Boston. He had 
 wedded recently so General Langdon had informed 
 Blaisdell a second wife, Mrs. Olive Burroughs, widow of 
 the late Colonel Leander J. Burroughs, of Ohio. She had 
 come east to complete the training of her daughter Lora s 
 voice, and the marriage had been the result of a summer s 
 propinquity at one of the beaches where their small cottages 
 had stood sMe by side. The second Mrs. Avery was 
 buxom, ingratiating and capable. She, as well as Lora, could 
 sing and play attractively, and they both had at the tips of 
 their fingers all the melodies of the day. On the library 
 table lay the latest books and the current magazines. 
 Lora was taking the course at the Conservatory of Music 
 and Priscilla Avery was studying art for the time being at 
 the neighboring Museum. It appeared that his landlady 
 had induced her husband, who had lived for years under 
 the shadow of the Harvard elms, to set up his new house 
 hold gods in Boston in order that the girls might be nearer 
 to their work. There was another boarder besides him 
 self, named Morgan Drake, a young man with large eyes 
 and a thin, wan face, who was connected with a magazine 
 and had literary aspirations. 
 
 Thus complacent at his good fortune in having fallen on 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 7 
 
 his feet, Blaisdell went down-stairs. It was Saturday and 
 he recalled that Mrs. Avery had informed him at breakfast 
 that she kept open house on Saturday evenings for the 
 homeless and the clever young men of her acquaintance- 
 most of them interested in one or another of the arts. She 
 gave him to understand, that during the year since her 
 marriage, they had acquired the habit of dropping in for 
 a welsh rabbit after the recently established symphony con 
 certs; and that she was apt to invite to meet them two or 
 more of her daughters girl friends and some of the junior 
 instructors from the neighboring University across the 
 Charles. 
 
 While Blaisdell was finishing his toilet, the rest of the 
 family, including Mr. Drake, had been listening to the 
 animadversions of a guest who had been asked to dine 
 Mr. Paton, assistant professor of Greek at Harvard. He was 
 a rather short and rather stout, yet dapper man of thirty, 
 with a dome-like forehead and a heavy, brown mustache 
 which curved deeply and rose in bristling points, giving 
 him a somewhat piratical look in spite of his glasses. He 
 was fond of airing his grievances, chief among which were 
 the encroachments of science on the sacred classical curric 
 ulum the time with which we are concerned was the 
 early eighties and the growth of the elective system of 
 studies. He was known by the Averys to be engaged in 
 the preparation of a work on the Greek dramatists, de 
 signed to emphasize their literary significance, and it 
 happened that the first words said to him by his hostess as 
 she greeted him had been the sympathetic inquiry, "How 
 goes the magnum opus?" 
 
 She uttered this in an undertone, but he chose to answer 
 it aloud, as though he desired the widest audience, stand 
 ing with his back against the mantel-piece. "What time 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 has a man in my position for original work ? There was a 
 time when a professor at Harvard College was a personality 
 a moral and aesthetic force not a mere intellectual ma 
 chine run at high pressure." 
 
 Mrs. Avery s parlor was pseudo pre-Raphaelite in tone. 
 The predominant colors of its upholsteries were chromatic 
 greens and yellows. The medium-sized room had a cosy 
 but somewhat crowded effect. At opposite corners stood 
 two tall lamps with large Japanese shades. There were 
 sundry low chairs, a piano, and a divan piled with soft 
 cushions sheltered by a screen decorated with real fans. 
 Lora was sitting among the cushions, a banjo in her lap. 
 Priscilla leaning forward from a basket-work chair ob 
 served the speaker, with whose opinions she generally 
 disagreed, although she knew him to be a scholarly person. 
 To her he represented a censorious attitude of mind and 
 hostility to progress, whereas she had sympathy with en 
 thusiasm and welcomed new ideas. 
 
 "But you get three months vacation every year, don t 
 you?" It was Lora who spoke, never antagonistic, but 
 invariably practical. 
 
 Mr. Paton shrugged his shoulders as a Frenchman 
 might have done. "We re fagged done up by Com 
 mencement Day," he exclaimed trenchantly. "But the 
 real point, Miss Lora, is that there s no longer any real 
 reverence for learning out there. Everything is sacrificed 
 to the plan of rushing men through as fast as possible in 
 order that they may get a job. A scholar a trainer of 
 scholars ought to have time to ponder. Then we d de 
 velop into something besides academic automatons. As 
 it is 
 
 "But my idea of some of the old professors the kind 
 you revere was that they were er almost lazy," broke 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 9 
 
 in Priscilla. "They colored their pipes, they pottered in 
 their gardens, and now and then they delivered a lecture." 
 " Exactly. Yet they had atmosphere; and they pub 
 lished masterpieces, not pamphlets." 
 
 "But one was required to study subjects one didn t care 
 for at the feet of men who might be drowsy or behind the 
 times. Now a student need go in only for the courses he 
 is interested in; and isn t it fair that his instructors 
 should devote their best energies to teaching him what 
 there is to know ? That s the modern view." 
 
 "The modern view! The dollars and cents point of 
 view," he retorted. "We must earn our salaries to the 
 last nickel." 
 
 At this point in the conversation Blaisdell entered the 
 room. 
 
 "Professor Paton, let me make you acquainted with 
 our new boarder, Mr. Blaisdell. Mr. Paton is a professor 
 of Greek at Harvard," said Mrs. Avery in her cheerful, 
 resonant voice. "He would have us believe that the 
 elective system is all wrong because some of the students 
 will have none of his pet Latin and Greek. You never get 
 much solid comfort in this house, do you, Mr. Paton?" 
 
 Alert and gracious, Mrs. Avery, in her silk dress cut 
 square in front with flowing lace sleeves, looked, as she 
 glanced from one to the other, a little like a pouter pigeon. 
 She was about her daughter Lora s height and comely still 
 in spite of her full cheeks. She, too, had dimples, and her 
 silky light brown hair, arching itself becomingly in its 
 profusion, gave to her expression a certain coquetry which 
 tempered her whole-souled laugh and executive ways. 
 "This is his hobby and the girls lose no opportunity to 
 tease him," she added in an audible whisper, turning to 
 Blaisdell. 
 
10 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "The tide is running their way now, but wait wait for 
 twenty years and see what people will say then." The pro 
 fessor gave a nervous twist to his mustache by way of 
 emphasis. 
 
 "Twenty years! We may all be in our graves by that 
 time," cried Mrs. Avery. But dismissing this mortuary 
 train of thought, she added, "Long before the end of 
 twenty years you will have finished your magnum opus, 
 Mr. Drake will be famous as a poet or a novelist, and my 
 husband will have perfected his invention." As she con 
 cluded she beamed on Mr. Avery, who was patiently wait 
 ing for his dinner, a silent yet attentive listener. 
 
 Blaisdell perceived that his landlady was an optimist, 
 and his heart warmed toward her. That she should mani 
 fest faith in the entire company revealed an agreeable out 
 look on life. It was obvious that she was the executive 
 spirit of the establishment, and at the same time level 
 headed. Presumably she was not blind to her husband s 
 visionary proclivities, and yet chose to humor them. 
 Simultaneously Blaisdell had observed a shade of restraint 
 come over Priscilla s countenance as though she did not 
 approve of the encouragement vouchsafed to her father. 
 He noticed how like to her father s was the high bred, 
 delicate cast of her features, but that there the resembknce 
 ceased. At least she displayed none of his deprecating 
 forebearance, but, on the contrary, was evidently disposed 
 to challenge what did not please her. 
 
 Blaisdell, too, was ready for his dinner, yet content 
 to bask for a moment in the sunshine of his own good 
 fortune. What a pretty room it was much the most in 
 viting and ornamental he had ever seen outside of an hotel. 
 He had as yet no social standards, for up to this point 
 there had been few opportunities in his life for discrimina- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 11 
 
 tion, and it had never occurred to him to question the 
 substantial truth of the euphemistic maxim, early im 
 parted to him, that all Americans are created equal. 
 There were criminals, of course, and the lowest grade of 
 foreigners, but everybody else was practically the peer of 
 his neighbor. Such apparent grades as existed marked 
 merely the possession of a little more or less money, a dis 
 tinction which signified nothing socially. At the same 
 time, he was aware that Americans as a rising nation were 
 constantly making progress, and it elated him to find him 
 self in surroundings compared to which those of his early 
 days seemed plain and even dingy. As he took in once 
 more the enlivening effect of the Japanese lamp shades 
 and the screen decorated with real fans, he silently ap 
 plauded the domestic enterprise of his new friends. Was 
 not the girl who had laughed at him, sitting in her pretty 
 frock among the cushions toying with her banjo, a real and 
 enchanting improvement on the heroines of Eastern love 
 tales? While he thus reflected their eyes met, and at the 
 same moment he heard her remark with a solicitude 
 which struck him as mock 
 
 "But, mama, you left out Mr. Blaisdell from your 
 prophecy." 
 
 All eyes were promptly turned on the new boarder, 
 which was doubtless what the young woman had intended. 
 
 " It wasn t because I overlooked him, you may be sure of 
 that, dear," said Mrs. Avery blithely, "but forty-eight 
 hours is a short time in which to fathom the secret ambi 
 tion of a young man s soul unless one is a mind reader. 
 Mr. Blaisdell is in business," she explained for the benefit 
 of Professor Paton. "He has just started, and, without 
 any disrespect to Greek, we may fairly assume that he 
 hopes in twenty years to be very rich and able to live on 
 
12 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 the water side of Beacon Street, or the sunny side of Com 
 monwealth Avenue. There! Mr. Blaisdeil, will that do? 
 But speaking of mind readers, we have the next best thing 
 in our midst an astrologist. If I am in error, Priscilla 
 will read your horoscope." 
 
 It was never disconcerting to Blaisdeil to be made the 
 focus of attention, and as he stood unabashed and good- 
 humored seeking his cue, he observed that Miss Avery, un 
 like many girls in similar circumstances, neither simpered 
 nor protested. 
 
 "I hope to succeed, certainly; and in business that must 
 mean making money, I suppose. But as to the rest, the 
 water side of Beacon Street and the sunny side of Com 
 monwealth Avenue, I scarcely know where they are and 
 much less what they signify. So will you try?" he asked, 
 bowing toward Priscilla. He was not averse to knowing 
 what this interesting looking girl would discover in him. 
 Had it been Lora, she might have chosen to be tormenting, 
 but he divined that her step-sister was sure to be frank. 
 
 Nor was Priscilla diffident where her interest was 
 aroused. Semi-humorous on her step-mother s part as she 
 knew the suggestion to be, she acceded to it with an alacrity 
 born^of her sudden willingness to make a more thorough 
 scrutiny of this newcomer s countenance than she had 
 yet allowed herself. Many of her evenings at the seaside 
 during the summer of her father s courtship had been 
 spent in studying the starry heavens, a pursuit which had 
 led her to dip into astrology sufficiently to become con 
 versant with the lingo of lucky and malign influences. 
 Yet she did not now invoke this as she arose and, shading 
 her brows, studied the features of the stalwart young man 
 who had invited her to provide the assembled company 
 with a clue to his inmost character. She was prepared to 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 13 
 
 risk a prophecy by the light of her intuitions, and desired 
 merely to make sure that the definite impression which she 
 had already formed was correct. Blaisdell had appeared 
 on the horizon just at the moment when she felt the need 
 of some one to whom she could point as an illuminating 
 contrast some one whose personality appealed to her as 
 the antipodes in the flesh of the man with whom her 
 family was trying to persuade her that she was in love, 
 and whom it hoped that she would marry. Henry Sumner 
 had come into her life in a romantic guise but was he not 
 the embodiment of qualities with which she had no pa 
 tience ? 
 
 The figure of her prototype was erect and thick set, but 
 of manly height. His air was reliant and cheerful. Obvi 
 ously he was a victim neither to dyspepsia nor to self- 
 distrust. His round face was full and not too mobile; in 
 dicating that he would not go off at a tangent contrary to 
 the dictates of common sense. His eyes were a trifle small, 
 but keen and alive with energy. There was a correlation 
 between them and his shrewd, humorous mouth, the ex 
 pression of which was guarded but not concealed by a 
 brown mustache inclined to be stiff. Smooth-shaven, he 
 might have resembled a friendly priest or wise cherub. 
 As it was, his effect was sturdily secular. In the state of 
 mind Priscilla was in, he impressed her as being one of the 
 sanest and most pleasant looking young men she had ever 
 beheld. Though he lacked some of the graces, his person 
 ality seemed to her to overshadow that of every one else in 
 the room, radiating enterprise and determination. Who 
 could doubt that here was a spirit which, when it had an 
 end in view, would not perpetually be beating about the 
 bush or questioning the accuracy of its aim ? And best of 
 all, the dominant note of his character appeared to be en- 
 
14 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 thusiasm. She felt sure that he would never feel that it 
 was his mission to pour cold water on everything like some 
 people she could mention. 
 
 "I do not pretend to be able to disclose Mr. BlaisdelPs 
 secret ambition, but I can see that, whatever it may be, he 
 will do something practical do it thoroughly without 
 doubt or misgivings. And I venture to predict that he 
 will never let his New England conscience if he has one 
 interfere with his usefulness." 
 
 Priscilla s tone was a little like that of a dauntless be 
 liever uttering a creed in the teeth of opposition. It was 
 apparent to Blaisdell that he was merely the pretext for 
 a confession of faith. At the same time her words tallied 
 with his own inner purposes so completely that he mar 
 velled. He heard Lora clap her hands by way of tribute 
 to the appositeness of the divination, and Mrs. Avery ex 
 claim gayly: 
 
 " There s a character to live up to, Mr. Blaisdell. Mark 
 my words, Priscilla knows what she is talking about." 
 
 "I shall try. It s the sort of man I should like to be." 
 Blaisdell s hearty response left no room for doubt both 
 that he was ready to set his feet in the path which had 
 been blazed for him, and was undismayed at the prospect. 
 "As to my conscience, Miss Avery, it s New England, 
 but I shall hope to justify your confidence in my common- 
 
 " Neatly put. Shall we go in to dinner?" said Mrs. 
 Avery, for the maid stood at the door. 
 
 "Is not all life a struggle to reconcile common-sense 
 with conscience?" asked Professor Paton sententiously. 
 "But do any two agree precisely as to what is common- 
 sense?" 
 
 "No two, perhaps, except Miss Avery and I." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 15 
 
 The music of Lora s explosive laugh was BlaisdelPs re 
 ward for this rejoinder. In his ignorance he imagined 
 that Priscilla had been shooting over his head at the pro 
 fessor, yet he could not quite account for the sudden in 
 tensity with which she had spoken. Now that he measured 
 swords with him for a moment, he noticed that she smiled, 
 but not as though she took a strong personal interest in 
 their exchange of pleasantries. He divined that she had 
 something on her mind the inwardness of which her speech 
 had not revealed to him. He noticed, too, that, as she 
 walked into dinner at her father s side, the mild-mannered 
 inventor stroked the back of his daughter s head after the 
 manner of one who, by a coaxing touch, seeks to soothe 
 and restrain a beautiful but unbroken steed. 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 IT had not occurred to Priscilla Avery that her father 
 would marry again. She had taken for granted that his 
 habit of worship at the shrine of her mother s memory 
 would be proof against middle-aged masculine sprightli- 
 ness or the blandishments of coquetry. From all she had 
 been able to gather her mother had been exactly suited to 
 him a sweet, highly sensitive woman of his own social 
 circle, with corresponding spiritual and intellectual sym 
 pathies. Yet when Priscilla realized that Mrs. Olive 
 Burroughs had captured him in his fifty-second year, 
 while she experienced a slight sense of shock, she admitted 
 to herself that on the whole it was the best thing for him 
 which could have happened. 
 
 It had been a clear case of propinquity. Mrs. Bur 
 roughs and Lora had been their next door neighbors at 
 
16 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 one of those beaches where people of modest means, es 
 caping from heat and humidity, camp out in tiny frame 
 cottages nearly as close to one another as the bathing 
 houses in the foreground of their landscape. The cheery, 
 buxom widow, who sang snatches of light opera and Sal 
 vation Army hymns while attending to her household du 
 ties, and who boasted that she had no nerves, had begged 
 them from the first evening to be sociable. 
 
 Her cottage, the exterior of which was draped with 
 "Old Glory," and from the front eaves of which hung 
 Chinese lanthorns, revealed to the visitor who crossed the 
 threshold a nest of gay silk cushions fortified by all the 
 magazines and latest mechanical puzzles like "Pigs in 
 Clover." The dexterity with which his hostess compelled 
 each of the marbles or disks to seek its appointed place 
 was a constant source of amused surprise to Gideon Avery 
 who, in spite of his erudition concerning the principles 
 controlling such matters, was awkward in his manipulation 
 of these slippery nothings of science. He would sit by the 
 hour fascinated by his inability to master the toy on his lap, 
 while the widow strummed with spirit at the piano and 
 sang the airs which every one was humming, or read to him 
 some progressive paper on a timely topic. They had fam 
 ily bathing parties, after the gaiety of which they sat on 
 the sand while the ladies dried their hair. The indiffer 
 ence of Mrs. Burroughs at such times to considerations of 
 vanity became a feather in her spiritual cap. It was as 
 though she said, "You see I disguise nothing. Perpetual 
 prinking is a foe to informality, and informality is the spice 
 of life." 
 
 It was a surprise to Priscilla that one who, in her ways 
 and point of view was so unlike most Cambridge women, 
 should be able to captivate her father, for Mrs. Burroughs 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 17 
 
 had won him by her blithe and somewhat showy versa 
 tility the handiness and gusto with which she could turn 
 from the preparation of griddle cakes to the discussion of 
 current world problems. These were the widow s summer 
 manners to be sure for they were living a "camping out" 
 life; nevertheless, Priscilla could not but be conscious that 
 their genial, bustling neighbor was of a less delicate clay 
 than her transcendental and sensitive parent. Yet when 
 he told her in a shy, half-apologetic way that he was en 
 amoured of the charms of informality, the announcement 
 caused her no repugnance. On the contrary, she argued 
 that association with this energetic helpmate, who was of 
 a suitable age for him, had a small property of her own 
 which would be serviceable, and was a thrifty yet agreeable 
 housekeeper, would enliven the rest of his days and make 
 the final disappointment in regard to his scientific experi 
 ments, which she believed to be in store for him, more 
 easy to bear. To a girl of eighteen his fifty-two years 
 marked the beginning of an end, and she rejoiced to think 
 that when she should leave his house for a home of her 
 own, or to strike out for herself, there would be some one 
 at his side to make him comfortable and happy. 
 
 The results had thus far more than justified Priscilla s 
 anticipations. Mrs. Avery s first husband, Colonel Leander 
 J. Burroughs, who had followed the law after leaving the 
 army, had died*just as he was beginning to reap the fruits 
 of professional success and cautiously to feel his way, like 
 a true Ohio statesman, toward the Presidency of the 
 United States. She was seven years his junior and Lora 
 was their only child. He left a small life insurance and 
 the remnants of several large fees some $20,000 in all 
 which had enabled the widow to come East for the purpose 
 of ascertaining if Lora s voice were of operatic calibre. 
 
18 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Opinions at home the growing town to which they be 
 longed were unanimous that Lora was a prodigy, and 
 though Mrs. Burroughs recognized in her daughter her 
 own full-throated ease, an endowment which when rein 
 forced by lack of diffidence easily deceives the uninitiated, 
 she cherished hopes that such was the case. It was a dis 
 appointment when they told her at the Conservatory in 
 Boston that the prodigy would be able to hold her own 
 admirably in a church choir, and might by diligence fit 
 herself to shine in small concert halls, but that she could 
 never hope to become a prima donna by any amount of 
 zeal or application; yet the elastic sense, if it may so be 
 called, of both mother and daughter had saved them from 
 falling under the spell of a definite delusion. They had 
 faced the situation and agreed that, since they were on the 
 spot, the wisest thing was to spend a year in the vicinity 
 in order that Lora might obtain the instruction necessary 
 to enable her to make the most of such voice as she had. 
 Then, fleeing from the summer heat, they had found them 
 selves next door neighbors of Gideon Avery and his 
 daughter. 
 
 Priscilla had many times asked herself why Mrs. Bur 
 roughs had seen fit to marry her father. To her eyes he 
 was a lovable but pathetic figure a man who had failed 
 utterly in the struggle of existence to accomplish practical 
 results, and who was still self-deluded. Just at the age 
 when the young are prone to judge their parents most se 
 verely, she felt pity for him as well as deep affection, 
 a compound resulting in a state of mind which yearned to 
 protect him from himself. She did not begrudge in the 
 least his having spent his small capital in the fruitless en 
 deavor to elucidate mysteries which still baffled him. His 
 life was a failure from the point of view of the world, but 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 19 
 
 it was his life, and however visionary he might appear to 
 others, he had been faithful to his high aims. What she 
 resented was that he remained unconvinced and wished at 
 his age to persevere. Very soon after the marriage she 
 had said to her step-mother from the fulness of her heart, 
 "I do hope that you will not lend my father any money to 
 throw away on experiments." Already the new wife s in 
 come had provided him with numerous small comforts, 
 and Priscilla dreaded the possibility that now, when he 
 was likely to be comfortable for the rest of his life, the 
 same depleting process might begin again. 
 
 Mrs. Avery s reply had been characteristic. "I guess 
 I shan t let him bankrupt me. But, you know, I believe in 
 your father. I m sure that he is going to work something 
 grand out of his experiments before he dies something, 
 maybe, which will set the world on fire." Then she 
 added, "And he is such a gentleman!" 
 
 Indisputable as was the last remark, it had struck Pris 
 cilla at the moment as irrelevant. Subsequently she came 
 to the conclusion that she had not done entire justice to 
 Mrs. Burroughs s point of view, and that it served to throw 
 some light on the inquiry why the latter had changed her 
 name to Avery. 
 
 As a matter of fact, Gideon Avery s refined, sensitive 
 personality had appealed to the widow. Like Blaisdell, 
 she, too, had been reminded the first time she beheld him, 
 of the picture she had formed of Emerson. There was the 
 same gentleness of bearing, slim figure, and austerely serene 
 countenance. Her imagination was on the alert, and, 
 though the East was, according to her preconceived opin 
 ions, effete and socially stolid, she was in no haste to leave 
 it. Why not settle down for the rest of her days she was 
 only thirty-eight under the shadow of Harvard College 
 
20 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 with this gentle man of science who, though he might 
 never bring to pass anything practical, would give her a 
 dignified standing and the opportunity to make herself 
 felt? She believed that she was practical enough for both 
 and that she .had social gifts into the bargain. She had al 
 ways felt sure that at a pinch she could write; she wel 
 comed new ideas, and would be glad to take part in new 
 movements. 
 
 Her first idea had been to live in Cambridge, but reflec 
 tion had changed her mind. The old-fashioned wooden 
 house which Mr. Avery had occupied for twenty years did 
 not attract her. Its weather-worn exterior exhibited the 
 depressing shade of brown one associates with soaked and 
 faded autumn leaves which have lain long in the gutter. 
 Within the upholsteries were dingy and worn. All might 
 be refurbished from roof to cellar; but while she was esti 
 mating the cost she asked herself why she should prefer 
 Cambridge to Boston. Cambridge was a suburb dignified 
 by a seat of learning, but Boston was a literary centre and 
 a crater of advanced thought. In Boston she would be in 
 closer touch with the throes of progress and still remain, 
 to all intents and purposes, under the shadow of Harvard 
 College. Everybody had heard of Boston, but the identity 
 of Cambridge was more hazy and was associated with 
 mere book learning. 
 
 To her surprise and satisfaction Priscilla had eagerly 
 favored the project from the moment it was broached. 
 Move to Boston? Leave Cambridge and the accumu 
 lated rubbish of half a lifetime amid which he had fruit 
 lessly dreamed ? Nothing could be more desirable for her 
 father. New surroundings and a clean, modern, enliven 
 ing domestic hearth would take him out of himself, and 
 give him a fresh hold on life. Thus supported, the widow 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 21 
 
 found little difficulty in inducing her new lord and master 
 to be pulled up by the roots. He was in an acquiescent 
 mood and glad to sacrifice on the altar of his new happi 
 ness any conviction of his own which was not an essential 
 and to remain in Cambridge was not an essential. He 
 submitted gracefully, and scarcely demurred to the final 
 disappearance of most of his household gods in the vortex 
 of removal. Some stacks of pamphlets and his books, 
 which looked as though they had never been dusted, were 
 banished to a side room to be known as his "den," to 
 make space for lighter literature and knick-knacks. Yet 
 there were limits to his forbearance, and he revolted 
 when he missed The Spectator and The Nation, his only 
 annual extravagance. They had been discontinued on the 
 thrifty plea that for the same money all the popular maga 
 zines could be procured. "And you know, father," said 
 Priscilla, who was present when her step-mother owned 
 up to the substitution, "that the daily papers now have 
 all the foreign news, and it isn t really good for you to read 
 The Nation, which always says just the things you al 
 ready have in your mind most of them unpatriotic 
 things, too." 
 
 From the first moment of the new relationship Priscilla 
 had resolved to confound the traditional conception in re 
 gard to step-mothers. Most girls might detest or disagree 
 with theirs; she intended to like hers and to meet her more 
 than half-way if necessary. It did not prove necessary, for 
 the second Mrs. Avery, evidently inspired by a similar sen 
 timent, had showR herself maternal in her advances, so 
 that the process of getting used to each other s peculiarities 
 had been lubricated by reciprocal admiration. Mrs. 
 Avery admired Priscilla s look of breeding and her high 
 spirit which suggested both the disposition and the capac- 
 
22 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 ity to make the world her football. Priscilla, on her side, 
 was fascinated by her mother s optimism and practical 
 sense. In shaking off the dust of Cambridge from her 
 shoes and in establishing herself for the time being under 
 the shelter of these new household gods, Priscilla believed 
 also that she was completing her emancipation from the 
 associations of her girlhood associations against the 
 spirit of which she had protested since she had first begun 
 to reason; a spirit which, in spite of her struggles and her 
 detestation of its workings, still seemed at times to hold her 
 in its grip and compel her against her will to say and do 
 things utterly at variance with her own philosophy. She 
 had been brought up in an atmosphere of introspection 
 and repression. She had been taught that it was fine and 
 essential to finger one s happiness and ask questions about 
 it instead of letting oneself go and taking what life had to 
 give. The habitual attitude of her father and of all his 
 friends had seemed to her that of criticism, shy restraint, 
 and self scrutiny. Early in their intimacy she had con 
 fided to her step-sister : 
 
 "I m not like that, and I don t wish to be. When I was 
 sixteen years old, Lor a, I made up my mind that I didn t 
 intend to grow up dowdy and to poke along the streets as 
 though my body were merely a sackcloth for my learned 
 mind and my mind a a distillery for doubts as to whether 
 anything is worth while. I don t mean to be afraid or 
 ashamed to show my feelings and to remember that the 
 blood in my veins is red. What the world needs our 
 generation at least is people who will do things with all 
 their might, not dream about or cavil at them." 
 
 She felt sure, moreover, that she was not peculiar in fos 
 tering this creed of healthy-mindedness. The air was full 
 of it. In the freemasonry of youth a single phrase or the 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 23 
 
 slightest act suffices to reveal affinity of thought, and 
 she rejoiced at the discovery on every side of men and 
 women of her own age who derived their inspiration from 
 the thrill of a similar revolt; who believed with her that 
 morbid introspection was a mildew eating at the heart of 
 life. 
 
 Under the influence of this ambition, she had grown up 
 frank and impulsive; and nature had played the part of 
 an accessory to her purpose in providing the tall, shapely 
 figure and handsome face of which she was resolved to 
 make the most. On the streets of Cambridge she had, in 
 deed, almost the air of a young Amazon, if only by way of 
 contrast to most of her companions, and, though her 
 father s marriage had taken place when she was only just 
 eighteen, the discerning eye of the Harvard student had 
 already singled her out as a coming belle. But the act of 
 transplantation meant new life to her. It was no case of 
 being pulled up by the roots, but of reaching out for a 
 more congenial soil and wider horizon. Militant as she 
 was, she recognized that Cambridge was no Jericho, the 
 walls of which would fall at the sound of a trumpet. On 
 the contrary, she was conscious that the members of the 
 earnest but undemonstrative circle to which her father 
 belonged looked at her a little askance and were disposed, 
 when pressed, to criticise her as forth-putting, emotional, 
 and too positive. Moreover, that the way she carried her 
 self and the somewhat picturesque clothes she wore en 
 couraged surmises as to whether she was serious-minded. 
 It must be remembered that this was in the early eighties. 
 Now it is said that Cambridge has even its fast set. But 
 in those days it seemed to Priscilla that all her elders re 
 garded life from a subjective point of view which imposed 
 primness as a cardinal virtue on the rising generation, 
 
24 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 most of whom lacked the courage, if they possessed the 
 inclination, to throw off the yoke. 
 
 Priscilla had her own ideas, too, regarding Boston. It 
 was only across the bridge; therefore, while she rejoiced 
 at the change to a larger sphere, she had no expectation of 
 being received with open arms. Some of the undemon 
 strative Cambridge friends of her father were more or less 
 closely related to the people who lived on the water side of 
 Beacon Street the backs of whose houses formed a sort 
 of sky line to a critical view from the University. These 
 Boston people dressed better and had the reputation of 
 being haughty, yet were they not essentially one with those 
 she was leaving behind? Such was Priscilla s conviction 
 gathered from many straws. There might be differences 
 of administration, but her experience had already in store 
 various evidences of the same spirit. It was the New 
 England cast of thought which she abhorred as opposed 
 to the new gospel which she carried in her bosom, and in 
 crossing the bridge she understood that she was merely 
 transferring her residence from one hotbed to another. 
 Yet with this distinction. Boston was a great city and had 
 always been the battleground of reforms. If its walls 
 would not fall at the sound of the trumpet of Israel, at least 
 she would be sure to find champions for a worthy and 
 stimulating cause. The residents on the Back Bay might 
 not choose to listen, but she had no doubt of meeting many 
 who would. 
 
 Glad as she was to move to Boston, and certain as she 
 was what she wished to do in the abstract, Priscilla had 
 felt less clear concerning the immediate future. The lines 
 along which she wished to develop were perfectly distinct 
 to her mind, but the opportunities for action were not so 
 obvious. For the moment the new house on Dartmouth 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 25 
 
 Street afforded an attractive shelter, but her strongest 
 desire was to cease to be a source of expense to her father, 
 especially as this would now be equivalent to living on the 
 bounty of her step-mother. She intended to be married 
 some day. Indeed her attitude toward love was a part of 
 her protest against introspection. She had faith in her 
 own capacity for passion, and she meant, when the time 
 came, to put to shame those who, through coldness of na 
 ture or lack of vitality, paraded it as a starveling emotion. 
 But until the time came she knew that a refined maiden 
 must thrust into the background of her consciousness 
 everything on this score but hope and the ideal creatures 
 of her fancy. Her perfect knight might not present him 
 self to woo for another five years, and meanwhile she must 
 go her way as though men did not exist or were all the 
 same to her. 
 
 This would have been easier had she been more certain 
 that she possessed talent as an artist. Her ambition was 
 to support herself by painting portraits which would win 
 her fame and a competency. She had been clever with her 
 pencil since earliest childhood, and this proficiency had 
 been encouraged by regular instruction. But was the gift 
 more than a pretty accomplishment? Here was one of 
 the instances where her bringing up or heredity, whichever 
 was responsible, was to blame. But for the critical faculty 
 working within her, she would have thrown herself into her 
 work and never questioned the outcome. To have com 
 plete faith was half the battle; and she chafed to feel that, 
 notwithstanding her ardor, she was haunted by the spirit 
 of doubt. Why had she been born with this imp in her 
 bosom which persisted in thrusting forth his ugly head 
 just at the moment when, lulled into confidence, she was 
 on the point of believing herself a genius ? 
 
26 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 So, while she worked indefatigably at the art school, she 
 asked herself from time to time what she should do in 
 case she proved a failure as a portrait painter. For, 
 though it angered her to feel that she distrusted her own 
 powers, she comforted herself with the thought that there 
 was no justification for poor art. To be other than in the 
 first or second rank would offend her ideas of making the 
 most of life from a practical standpoint. In case of disap 
 pointment her recourse would be to choose from the mod 
 ern occupations open to women nursing, teaching, or some 
 kindred employment, and to throw herself into it with all 
 her soul. 
 
 At just this time, during the first year after her father s 
 marriage, she had attended the Artists Festival. This was 
 one of the first of those gay pageants given from time to 
 time in Boston by means of which the art students seek to 
 clothe the world for a night in the garb of a picturesque 
 past. Subsequently these took place for a while in the 
 Art Museum, but in the beginning a private studio in the 
 rear of that building was dedicated to the purpose almost 
 opposite Mrs. Avery s house. On this occasion the fantasy 
 selected was "Lalla Rookh, the lovely Princess of Delhi," 
 who, on her long journey to become a bride, was beguiled 
 by and fell in love with the poet Feramorz, only to find in 
 him at last the King whose throne she was to share. Amid 
 the throng of fire worshippers, fair maidens from the Vale 
 of Cashmere, and other varieties of Eastern loveliness, 
 Priscilla and Lora figured as a peri and a houri respec 
 tively. Priscilla s choice was made on the spur of the mo 
 ment. "I ll be a peri," she cried impetuously, remem 
 bering the couplet which runs : 
 
 "One morn a peri at the gate 
 Of Eden stood disconsolate." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 27 
 
 "What is a peri?" asked the practical Lora. 
 
 "I don t know exactly, but I like the sound. I intend 
 to go as one, whatever she is." 
 
 The discovery that peris were the offspring of fallen 
 angels did not alter her determination. Nor did it cause 
 her to adopt a crestfallen demeanor on the night of the 
 festival. As Lora, who had been looking up peris in par 
 ticular and Eastern heroines in general, remarked, she 
 resembled rather the proud daughter of a rebellious Ca 
 liph. In truth, under the spell of the occasion, the spirit 
 of the East had entered into Priscilla s soul. She could 
 not help being herself whatever her impersonation, but, 
 as they entered the transformed studio, her imagination, 
 aglow with the luscious imagery and romantic sentiment 
 of Moore s poem, entertained a vision of what love might 
 be love outside of New England. She pictured herself 
 some daughter of Araby or dark-haired Sultana listening 
 for the forbidden footsteps of her lover, or, clasped in his 
 ardent embrace, whispering sweet secrets to the music of 
 the bulbuls. Then as she yielded herself to the glamour of 
 her dream, she half believed that it was true or, at least, 
 that its complete and unfaltering rapture might prove an 
 experience even in her own clime. 
 
 While thus exalted, she became aware that a young 
 man, evidently a poet from his attire besides, he carried 
 a lute was gazing at her with undisguised admiration. 
 There was something in the expression of his eyes which 
 brought comfort to her belief. They suggested a soul fear 
 lessly eager to express itself, and which was centred for the 
 moment on her alone. His thin, refined face indicated 
 gentility and some pride. His nose was prominent and 
 his cheek bones showed under his high Tartarian cap, but 
 any effect of austerity was neutralized by his animated 
 
28 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 glances and oriental costume. His vest, made of cloth 
 from shawl goats, was confined by a flowered girdle over 
 which hung strings of pearl, and on his feet were em 
 broidered sandals. 
 
 Their eyes met, and presently he had spoken to her 
 without an introduction, and in Boston. Did this mean 
 that he, like herself, had dismissed for this evening all 
 knowledge of conventions and was ready to let himself go ? 
 It almost seemed so, such was his fervor and devotion. 
 He never left her side, and though they talked gay badi 
 nage, his every word breathed the character of his disguise 
 that of a lover seeking his soul s idol. His name, he said, 
 was Hafiz, and he had poetry at the tip of his tongue, the 
 burning lines of Lalla Rookh, wherewith to proclaim his 
 heart hunger for the peri of his choice. 
 
 Hafiz brought her cooling ices at the proper moment, 
 and secured, by what seemed to Priscilla the display of 
 consummate tact, the only nook in the studio where 
 two could avoid interruption. From passionate sym 
 bols of the East, which became monotonous after a 
 while, they turned presently to new world philosophy, 
 though neither chose to break the charm of the hour by 
 divulging a single clue to identity. Hafiz announced his 
 allegiance to the ideal, and his sympathy with those ready 
 to sacrifice life for a great principle the Knights of Ar 
 thur s Round Table, the Crusaders, the heroes who had 
 fallen in the Civil War. His voice trembled as he referred 
 impersonally to these last; it was plain that he had 
 precious associations with their valor. "Let us stand for 
 truth in spite of the world!" he asserted with the mien of 
 one blowing a bugle call. 
 
 The peri echoed his conviction, yet she chose to add : " Yes, 
 but to act, not to dream; action action is what I adore." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 29 
 
 Then, because it was late and most of the guests were 
 already gone, the peri left her corner and bade Hafiz wait 
 while she obtained her cloak. She was still under the spell 
 of the East, and her spirit was skipping like a young ga 
 zelle. Lor a, the houri, was also putting on her wraps, but 
 without a word to her she rejoined her poet and said 
 merely, "Come." She led the way down-stairs and 
 paused a moment on the brink of the night. It was dark 
 and raining; from where they stood they could see the 
 glistening pavements and the moist rubber garments of 
 the waiting cabmen. Priscilla s heart bounded at this 
 complicity of the elements. She heard with joy her com 
 panion ask: 
 
 "What is the number of your carriage?" It was an 
 anxious tone, as though at contact with everyday reality 
 the ardent, spontaneous Hafiz was fading away like 
 a ghost at cock crow. 
 
 " I have no carriage. Will you escort me home ? " 
 
 "Certainly." Hafiz hesitated a scarcely perceptible in 
 stant, yet it was hesitation, as though some scruple held 
 him back. "Where do you live? But do let me try to 
 borrow an umbrella, Miss 
 
 Priscilla jumped to the conclusion that he was afraid of 
 wetting his feet, and she glanced at his embroidered sandals. 
 
 "Steal one for yourself but peris are not accustomed 
 to umbrellas. For all you know, I live at the ends of the 
 earth. Are you coming ? " 
 
 "Yes, indeed. But will you wait one moment," he 
 asked imploringly, "while I speak to my sister. I brought 
 her here, and she will not know 
 
 "In the magic East, the land of true love, sisters count 
 for nothing; nor are there New England consciences." 
 
 She threw the words tauntingly over her shoulder, and 
 
30 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 sprang down past the amazed cabmen into the darkness. 
 Across the street she sped like a gazelle, spurred on by 
 laughing disdain, and wondering if he would follow. In 
 another moment she realized that he was at her heels and 
 running with all his might. She flew up the steps of her 
 house into the vestibule and bolted the outer door. As 
 she did so the shadow of his figure shut out the light of the 
 street and she saw his face silhouetted against the glass as 
 he tried the knob. 
 
 " Forgive me, forgive me," he cried. 
 
 "Too late, too late. You are no Hafiz, but an im 
 postor." 
 
 This time it was not the peri who stood disconsolate at 
 the gate of Eden. 
 
 As he rattled the door in vain, she heard him murmur 
 with a groan: "This comes of being a Boston man!" 
 
 His confession was the echo of her own thought. Why 
 should she be merciful? Had he not failed her at the 
 critical moment and, by his mousy behavior, ruined the 
 fabric of her dream ? His sister, indeed ! How exactly like 
 a Boston man! She turned her latch-key noiselessly and 
 slipped inside. 
 
 This had happened more than six months ago and he 
 was the man whom now they were trying to persuade her 
 that she ought to marry. Subsequent events had served 
 to disclose that his true name was Henry Chippendale 
 Sumner, and that he lived on the water side of Beacon 
 Street. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 31 
 
 CHAPTER m 
 
 PROFESSOR PATON took advantage of the moment when 
 every one else was tasting the soup to reintroduce his 
 hobby. 
 
 " Just to show how everything is turned topsy turvy out 
 there, what do you think of this?" Then realizing that it 
 was incumbent on him to make his example lucid to the 
 only stranger at table he addressed Blaisdell. " There s 
 a young man in the Senior class at Harvard named Chip 
 pendale Chauncey Chippendale. He s one of the 
 Brahmin caste of Boston, which means 
 
 The difficulty of expressing so much concisely caused 
 the professor to weigh his words for an instant, and Mr. 
 Drake suggested: 
 
 "That he lives on the sunny side of Commonwealth 
 Avenue." 
 
 "That will identify him sufficiently for the moment. 
 Out there he happens to be one of the most popular men 
 in college, which, I admit, doesn t necessarily depend on 
 ancestry even in these degenerate days. He was in the 
 first ten of the Institute and of the Pudding, he plays 
 quarter back on the football team, and he has systemati 
 cally maintained a dead level of inferior scholarship, just 
 sufficient to pull him through his examinations by the 
 skin of his teeth. Now this young man happens to have 
 a cousin named Henry Sumner, a capital Greek scholar, 
 who " 
 
 "Lives on the water side of Beacon Street," interjected 
 Mr. Drake. 
 
 "And whom we hope to see here this evening," said 
 
32 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Lora, with a gleeful side glance at Priscilla, which Blais- 
 dell did not fail to observe. 
 
 Mr. Paton chose to disregard these additional prompt 
 ings which were not essential to his narrative. As a mat 
 ter of fact, he was well aware that he had a more or less 
 formidable rival for the hand of Miss Avery in the young 
 man whose name he had just introduced, but he could be 
 impersonal where a matter of principle was concerned. 
 "Who has sympathy with scholarship, and who is, besides, 
 sufficiently muscular and popular. He s well up on the 
 rank list, and would seem to be the natural choice of any 
 sane man looking for a capable assistant. Now what 
 happens ? A fortnight ago General Horatio Langdon, the 
 banker, sent for Chauncey Chippendale and offered, out 
 of a clear sky, to keep a position for him in his office until 
 he graduates. And why, ye gods and little fishes, why? 
 Because of that run which he made in the recent game 
 with Yale. Ergo, idleness plus football is the recipe for 
 commercial preferment in Puritan Massachusetts." 
 
 "Wasn t it magnificent 1" exclaimed Priscilla. 
 
 "But for him Harvard wouldn t have scored! said 
 Lora. 
 
 "I can see him now," continued Priscilla, "slip round 
 the end and tear down the field with three monsters at his 
 heels trying to catch him, with everybody on the Harvard 
 benches shouting like mad and then when he hurdled the 
 full-back and made a touchdown it was just grand- 
 grand, because he really did it and didn t fumble or throw 
 away his opportunity. I think General Langdon was en 
 tirely right." 
 
 Blaisdell had pricked up his ears at the first allusion to 
 the banker. It was clear now why there had been no 
 room for him in that office, and he felt a mild curiosity 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 33 
 
 concerning the athletic hero for whom a berth was being 
 kept warm. Intercollegiate contests were infrequent at 
 his own college. He had played foot-ball occasionally, 
 but he had never been on the eleven. The enthusiasm of 
 the two girls entertained him and was convincing. 
 
 "I would have liked to see it," he asserted, as Priscilla 
 finished her enthusiastic description, and he nodded at 
 Professor Paton in a manner which indicated where his 
 sympathies lay. 
 
 "But they say he was offside," said Mr. Paton. 
 
 "What a shame!" cried Lora. "No one thinks so, and 
 the umpire decided at the time that he wasn t." 
 
 "The umpire admits that he wasn t looking, and I have 
 the best of reasons for believing that Chauncey Chippen 
 dale took the chance the chance of not being detected." 
 
 " But the umpire ought to have been looking," said Mrs. 
 Avery. "And if he wasn t looking that s a dreadful 
 thing to say." 
 
 "Who was it told you that he played unfairly?" asked 
 Priscilla with a frown. It was manifest that she thought 
 she knew, and that she put the charge thus bluntly in 
 order to emphasize her disbelief in it. 
 
 "Some one who had a good opportunity to observe." 
 Mr. Paton spoke self-consciously, as though he understood 
 what was working in her mind. 
 
 " I imagine I know who, and it s just like him. He may 
 be a capital Greek scholar, but that s no reason why he 
 should disparage such a splendid 
 
 Lora s amused laugh kept pace with this innuendo, 
 while Mrs. Avery hastened solicitously to cut it short: 
 "But, Priscilla, why jump to such a hasty conclusion? 
 Professor Paton didn t mention any names." 
 
 "On the contrary, a lot of people are saying it under 
 
34 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 their breath," volunteered Mr. Paton, "though most of 
 them are rejoicing." 
 
 "That he wasn t found out? That s the way I feel," 
 said Lora, clapping her hands. "I m just thankful the 
 umpire didn t see him." 
 
 "So am I," said her mother. 
 
 "And I," said Mr. Drake. "Because if he had, the 
 coaches wouldn t be able to maintain the fiction that they 
 never give secret instructions to slug and break the rules 
 if no one is looking. Butter wouldn t melt in the mouths 
 of some of those coaches." 
 
 "Exactly," said Mr. Paton. "There s the truth in a 
 nutshell. It s anything in order to win." 
 
 "But what s the proof that he did it? I don t believe 
 that he did it," said Priscilla, emphatically. "Yale made 
 the claim at the time and it wasn t allowed. So why 
 shouldn t loyal Harvard men give him at least the benefit 
 of the doubt? It was a glorious run a magnificent ex 
 hibition of agility and endurance. Why, then, should 
 people with no special qualifications for expressing an 
 opinion prefer to take all the glory out of it? Mr. Paton 
 didn t see the game and we did. I ll leave it to father, even, 
 if we re not bound to take the hopeful view under the cir 
 cumstances." 
 
 Mr. Avery put down his spoon and looked at his daugh 
 ter with a gentle smile. " If I were a judge I should feel it 
 my duty to acquit the defendant on the evidence. But," 
 he added, with a twinkle in his eyes, " I know that you are 
 always in search of the real truth, my dear, whatever you 
 may allege to the contrary. An easy way to ascertain that 
 would be to ask the young man himself." 
 
 "Ask him. He s well coached. Never fear," cried Mr. 
 Drake. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 35 
 
 Priscilla liked Morgan Drake. He had saturnine tend 
 encies, but she knew he was honest. He had a lively way 
 of getting at the root of things which, though at odds with 
 her philosophy, was dignified by his own artistic devotion 
 to his work. His present insinuation did not shake her 
 faith, but it caused her instinctively to seek support else 
 where. 
 
 " You haven t told us yet what you think, Mr. Blaisdell. 
 Am I not right?" 
 
 Fond as Blaisdell was of holding the floor, he had been 
 content to listen to the discussion and thus take advantage 
 of the opportunity to observe the members of the family 
 circle to which he had been admitted. Since his last re 
 mark a pleasant, half humorous smile had lingered on his 
 lips, affording to Priscilla, as she addressed him, a confi 
 dent hope that his point of view would be vindicating or at 
 least lenient. Her appeal was made to him just as he had 
 begun to be conscious that he had remained silent long 
 enough. He replied without hesitation; the words seemed 
 to flow from the tip of his tongue as if inspired by confi 
 dent conviction, and they were uttered, moreover, in a dis 
 tinct, compelling voice which was hearty rather than me 
 lodious. Its cheerful, persuasive quality was no less 
 adapted to banish doubt than is a west wind to dispel an 
 ocean fog. 
 
 "I don t see the justice of trying to convict a man when 
 the natural interpretation is altogether different. I ve 
 played football enough to know how excited one gets, 
 and, as I look at it, what really happened was this: Chip 
 pendale, if that s his name, may possibly, in the heat of 
 the game possibly, I say have been offside. But, if so, 
 what reason is there for thinking that he was there delib 
 erately ? And granting, as in all fairness we are bound to, 
 
36 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 that it was an accident then it was the umpire s business 
 to see him; and all supporters of Harvard ought to pat 
 him on the back, and cry, noble work, old fellow. It 
 must, from all accounts, have been a star play, and other 
 things being equal, it seems tough that he shouldn t get 
 full credit for his brilliancy." 
 
 A murmur of approval ran round the table. The plau 
 sible enthusiasm of the speech caused Mr. Avery to look 
 at him with new interest, and Morgan Drake to grin by 
 way of tribute to what he denned to himself as its devilish 
 ingenuity. As for Mrs. Avery, she sighed from joyful 
 relief that all troublesome doubts had been suddenly swept 
 from the room by a major force. 
 
 " There s nothing else left to say that I can see," she 
 asserted radiantly. "It was an accident plain as can be." 
 
 " Of course, I can t prove that it wasn t," Professor Paton 
 felt constrained to admit. He realized that he was worsted, 
 and he turned in his chair to obtain a better view of the 
 antagonist whose obvious ability was not lost on him. 
 
 Priscilla looked, as she felt, triumphant. "Thank you 
 very much for coming to my aid," she said to her champion. 
 
 "I thought you were getting on very well as it was," 
 Blaisdell answered. In spite of her beauty, it struck him 
 that she had taken the whole matter too seriously at 
 least for a woman. Lora s attitude on the subject was 
 much more to his taste. Though he had answered Pris- 
 cilla s appeal, it was really her sister s cause which he was 
 advocating. Realization of this led him to add genially, 
 "But I was quite content to take my stand on Miss Bur- 
 roughs s platform one of thankfulness that the umpire 
 didn t see him." 
 
 This robust statement was the occasion of more merri 
 ment, after which the topic was dismissed. But the dinner 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 37 
 
 proceeded gaily. Every one felt that the new boarder was 
 an unusual person and an interesting addition to the house 
 hold. When the ladies left the table, the men went to 
 smoke in Mr. Avery s "den" which was in the rear of 
 the dining-room small and overflowing with old books 
 and pamphlets. The furniture, covered with faded green 
 rep, was from the drawing-room of the Cambridge house. 
 Mr. A very lighted the coal fire in the small grate, and, 
 while it was being coaxed to blaze by the aid of a blower, 
 Professor Paton, standing with his back to the marble 
 mantel-piece, smoking a cigarette, asked his host if he had 
 any hopeful information to impart concerning the missing 
 link. 
 
 Mr. Avery shook his head, but replied, "The machine 
 still fails to work to do what I claim for it; and that 
 means discouragement so far as my friends are concerned. 
 But I m close on the secret; I feel sure of that; and may 
 find it any day." 
 
 Blaisdell, taking for granted that the reference was to 
 his visionary landlord s invention, inquired what the ma 
 chine was expected to do. 
 
 "Manufacture electricity from coal," said Mr. Avery 
 simply. 
 
 "A splendid proposition, isn t it?" exclaimed Professor 
 Paton. "If it can be done, it opens a grand vista scien 
 tifically and er commercially. Suppose the energies 
 of the coal, instead of escaping in the form of heat," he 
 added, indicating by a tap of his foot on the handle of the 
 blower the fire which had begun to roar up the chimney, 
 "were to be drawn off as an electric current and made to 
 drive engines instead just think of the saving all round. 
 It would tend to revolutionize modern industries." 
 
 "When the process works as it should, the blazing coal 
 
38 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 will be practically cold; not the least degree of heat will be 
 given out," explained Mr. A very, and his eyes sparkled at 
 the vision. 
 
 "O, who can hold a fire in his hand 
 By thinking on the frosty Caucasus ? " 
 
 quoted Mr. Drake. 
 
 " Exactly; it contradicts contradiction. Bravo! Drake," 
 cried Professor Paton, while Mr. Avery looked pleased by 
 the appositeness of the Shakespearian analogy with which 
 he was evidently familiar. 
 
 " That s a great idea, if it were perfected great. There 
 would be millions in it, I dare say," said Blaisdell gra 
 ciously. But his inward comment was, "I guess the old 
 man is a little doty." He was interested by the far-reach 
 ing consequences of the conception, but its very boldness 
 proceeding from such a source inclined him toward 
 scepticism. "How long have you been working on it the 
 machine, I mean?" he inquired. 
 
 "Fifteen years." 
 
 "Fifteen years!" Blaisdell did not attempt to conceal 
 his amazement. Fifteen years was a huge slice from a life 
 time. Surely in such a period it could be definitely deter 
 mined whether any machine would work or not. He was 
 more than suspicious now that his landlord was an im 
 practical person. Nevertheless, his amiability prompted 
 him to add, "I d like some day to see what it looks like." 
 He knew that the inventor had a workshop somewhere in 
 the suburbs. 
 
 "There s not much to see; only a lot of jars and dyna 
 mos," replied Mr. Avery with his gentle, deprecatory 
 smile. "It must be worked out here" and he touched 
 his forehead "but time is all that is necessary; time 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 39 
 
 and a little more money." He did not flinch from the last 
 word, but it was evidently the one rueful factor in the 
 otherwise serene prospect. 
 
 "Well, we must form a company and boom the stock," 
 asserted Blaisdell. "Stocks are my business, you know. 
 Going to be, that is." 
 
 Mr. Avery shook his head. He could scarcely have 
 thought that this genial capitalist in embryo had anything 
 definite in view, yet he evidently desired to prevent any 
 misunderstanding on that score, for he said : 
 
 " My patents when I get them are mortgaged far ahead. 
 The trouble with my experiments is that they are expen 
 sive. The machines are intricate to build and rather 
 massive." 
 
 "Is General Langdon still favorably disposed ?" asked 
 Professor Paton,who could be inquisitive as well as friendly. 
 
 " Oh, yes. That is, the generous man doesn t refuse me 
 when I have to apply to him. But it s philanthropy, not 
 faith, which actuates his bounty. He s apt to be jocose; 
 I m one of his right-handed charities which he doesn t 
 let his left hand his business hand know about." 
 
 "But rumor says that his business hand generally man 
 ages to treble or quadruple whatever it gets its clutch 
 upon," said Professor Paton. "That is one of the penal 
 ties penalties I repeat" and he tapped the blower 
 again with his foot, "of becoming a successful banker." 
 
 "Besides, no rich Boston man ever spends more than 
 half his income," said Morgan Drake. "That s why 
 they re so disgustingly rich." 
 
 Blaisdell was content to be listening again. These side 
 lights on his surroundings were both illuminating and di 
 verting. He set down the poet s sententious remark as 
 pleasantry a bit of poetic license. But he was interested 
 
40 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 to hear about General Langdon, who was evidently a per 
 sonage of greater importance than he had supposed, for his 
 name seemed to be cropping up everywhere. It was ob 
 vious, too, what the banker thought of his landlord s efforts 
 to extract electricity from coal. 
 
 "But I intend to convince him yet," said Mr. Avery. 
 "He will live to see " 
 
 The inventor s prophecy was cut short by the blower, 
 which, loosened by the energy of the blaze in co-operation 
 with Mr. Paton s boot, fell clattering on the hearth to the 
 peril of the professor s legs. But Mr. Paton was spry and 
 apparently used to such catastrophes, for he promptly 
 reached for the tongs. 
 
 "Live to see all that fiery, untamed waste material 
 utilized," he cried as, holding at arm s length the no longer 
 prostrate blower, which was well-nigh red hot, he restored 
 it to its stand beside the fireplace. 
 
 Shortly after this diversion Blaisdell heard the tinkle of 
 a piano, which, perhaps, was a signal that they were dally 
 ing too long, for Mr. Avery almost immediately extin 
 guished his pipe and suggested that they should join the 
 ladies. As Blaisdell entered the parlor his eyes encoun 
 tered those of Lora across the room. It was she who was 
 at the piano and she was just about to sing. Indeed, as he 
 stood in the doorway her fingers struck the keys, playing 
 a jaunty air a saucy air, to judge from the expression of 
 her face and she seemed to look straight at him. 
 
 "Young man, despair, 
 Likewise go to, 
 Yum Yum the fair 
 You must not woo. 
 It will not do: 
 I m sorry for you " 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 41 
 
 This was what she flung at him gaily, bewitchingly, and 
 laughed that same bubbling laugh. Was she making 
 sport of him again ? 
 
 "It will not do: 
 I m sorry for you." 
 
 Why should she single him out ? What was she trying to 
 do? Blaisdell was conscious of feeling a little hot, but 
 both his fancy and curiosity were stimulated. Was he to 
 quail before a pretty girl with blue eyes and golden hair 
 merely because she chose, for some unaccountable reason, 
 to amuse herself at his expense ? Surely not, and by way 
 of fortifying himself in his own esteem on this score, he 
 looked back at her unflinchingly, yet without disguising the 
 admiration which she had aroused. Then as he stood his 
 ground, it was her glance which suddenly dropped to the 
 keyboard the second time, as he remembered that she 
 had abandoned the field in the moment of victory. But 
 there was this to be said, the song was over. 
 
 His brain swimming, Blaisdell, joining eagerly in the 
 applause, watched her as she rose from the piano stool and 
 began to talk to those nearest her. Several guests had ar 
 rived, and there appeared to be a difference of opinion as 
 to what she should sing next. He knew little about music, 
 but the alluring rhythm of the selection to which he had 
 just listened lingered in his ears, and he was eager for more. 
 He was on the point of joining the disputants, which already 
 included Morgan Drake and Professor Paton, when of a 
 sudden he became aware that Mrs. Avery had snatched 
 a smoking candle from the piano and was hastening toward 
 him. Instinctively he opened the door for her and fol 
 lowed her into the hall where she instantly broke into reso 
 nant laughter as the result of having nearly collided with 
 
42 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 one of her guests, a young man whom the maid had just 
 let in. 
 
 "Why, Mr. Sumner," she cried, "we hoped you might 
 come to-night. I dote on informality, as you know, so I m 
 on the way to snuff this candle while the others are choosing 
 the next song. Leave your things in the den, as usual." 
 
 While, notwithstanding her pose was that of a flying 
 Mercury, she thus accorded an exuberant welcome to this 
 newcomer, Blaisdell had a chance to observe that the visi 
 tor was very polite and rather agitated, as though his nar 
 row escape from having been run down by his hostess had 
 upset him a little. He was of good height with a spare 
 figure. His thin, sensitive face was dignified by a large 
 nose and prominent cheek bones which suggested that he 
 did not eat enough. His expression in his sober moments 
 while he was endeavoring to apologize to Mrs. Avery 
 was not unlike that of an observant eagle, keen and a trifle 
 austere. But when it lighted up under the influence of her 
 confidential welcome, the ardor of his eyes became quizzi 
 cal and the lines of his thin-lipped and rather ascetic 
 mouth broke into a pleasant discerning smile. While he 
 talked he toyed nervously with his soft, circular, gray, felt 
 hat, which, clutched in his hand, looked not unlike a 
 damaged squirrel skin. 
 
 "That," said Mrs. Avery to Blaisdell, when they were 
 in the dining-room, "is Mr. Sumner Mr. Henry Chip 
 pendale Sumner; a first cousin, by the way, of the Mr. 
 Chippendale we were talking of at dinner. Since you re 
 one of the family," she added in a whisper as she snuffed 
 the candle, "and sure to discover it for yourself, I ll con 
 fide to you that he and Priscilla are great friends. He 
 comes here to see her. He belongs to one of the first fami 
 lies in Boston." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 43 
 
 "Lives on the water side of Beacon Street?" 
 Mrs. Avery gathered from this inquiry merely that her 
 boarder was quick-witted. "Yes, between Berkeley and 
 Clarendon; one of the small brownstone houses with 
 ampelopsis running over it. His mother is a widow his 
 father was killed in the war at the head of his regiment, 
 colored troops and he has two sisters." 
 
 "My father was killed in the Civil War, too." 
 "Then I must introduce you to him right off. He s a 
 senior at Harvard graduates this year. I don t mean, of 
 course, that there s anything in it yet, but there s no deny 
 ing that he s pretty devoted." 
 
 " He can t be the only one. With two such daughters in 
 the house, I should think you d be overrun with devoted 
 tins." 
 
 ; They are pretty girls, I can t deny that," responded 
 Mrs. Avery with a gracious nod, "and each in her own 
 way; but," she continued, pausing on the threshold of the 
 dining-room to add impressiveness to her words, " a Boston 
 mother has always to remember that there are two hun 
 dred thousand more women than men in Massachusetts. 
 Girls get kinks into their head. What Priscilla said about 
 the New England conscience before dinner had reference 
 to him." She pointed with the candle in the direction of 
 the front stairs. "When Professor Paton told us at dinner 
 that some one had accused Chauncey Chippendale of be 
 ing offside, Priscilk suspected him. There, I m letting you 
 into family secrets." 
 
 "Then she doesn t entirely reciprocate his devotion ?" 
 asked Blaisdell gaily. Although he preferred Lora, it did 
 not suit him to be denied by fate the opportunity for a 
 more deliberate choice. 
 
 "She thinks she doesn t, but she does," answered Mrs. 
 
44 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Avery in his ear on her way through the hall. "He may 
 be a little pernickety at times, but that s infinitely better 
 in the long run than being fast." 
 
 Just at this moment Lora began to sing again, which 
 drove every other consideration for the moment from 
 Blaisdell s mind. Again the selection was of a bright, airy 
 kind, but the sentiment was not satirical, nor did it lend 
 itself to personal application. This time she did not seem 
 aware of his presence, though he stood in the same spot as 
 before and was feasting his eyes on her. It seemed to him 
 that she sang entrancingly. The melody flowed as richly 
 and spontaneously from her throat as the notes of a song 
 bird. And how attractive she was! How pretty, how 
 frolicsome, and how capable looking! 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 BLAISDELL S success up to this time had been with men. 
 He had sought to attract the attention of his masters, and 
 to put his best foot forward among his fellows, but young 
 women were practically a sealed book to him. A book, 
 however, which to judge from the binding, was to be 
 handled with reverence. Yet the single peep inside which 
 he had taken, on one of the few occasions in his life when 
 he had met the other sex unreservedly, had served to con 
 vince him that they were human; he had squeezed a girl s 
 hand on the spur of the moment at a church sociable and 
 she had not resented it. From this one incident he had 
 not jumped to a hasty conclusion, but it had led him to 
 suspect that a deer-stalking policy was not invariably 
 necessary in the case of courtship. Indeed, he had every 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 45 
 
 intention, in the event of his falling in love in the dim 
 future, of wooing the maiden of his choice as openly and 
 thoroughly as he was in the habit of pursuing the other 
 objects of his interest. 
 
 This method was in keeping with his self-reliant nature. 
 Therefore, with his single experience at the back of his 
 mind, Blaisdell, as soon as the song was over, made a bee-line 
 for the piano and mingled with the group which clustered 
 about it. Lora now insisted that one of the other girls 
 should take her place, and when she rose the new boarder 
 was at her shoulder with a manifest intention of talking to 
 her in his eyes. Observing that her favorite seat, the divan 
 piled with cushions in the angle of the screen, had just been 
 vacated by her successor at the piano, she hastened to 
 establish herself there. Blaisdell, on the alert that no one 
 should get ahead of him, promptly appropriated the rest 
 of the sofa. Their position commanded the room, yet was 
 in a measure isolated from it. 
 
 "What was that first piece you sang?" he inquired. 
 "From the Mikado. Gilbert and Sullivan s operas 
 are all the rage now. Did you like it?" 
 
 "It s as good as going to the theatre to hear you sing. 
 You ve a superb voice." 
 
 "But I was only strumming then running through the 
 score while you men were smoking." 
 
 "I listened to the words, too, and what I wish to know," 
 said Blaisdell, regarding her fixedly, "is whether the young 
 man took the advice. Did he despair and go to, as he 
 was bidden?" 
 
 Lora looked elated but a little confused. " Oh, that was 
 a man s song Pooh bah. You ve heard of him, haven t 
 you?" Her lisp always thrilled him. 
 
 "But there was a girl in it. He was cautioned not to 
 
46 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 woo Yum- Yum. I m interested to know what happened. 
 I m sure he married her in the end." 
 "Why are you sure?" 
 
 "Because the right sort of man would, if he dared." 
 "But suppose the girl didn t care for him?" 
 "She couldn t help herself. Come now, he did marry 
 her, didn t he?" 
 
 Lora tossed her head in animated protest at the claim, 
 but was obliged to admit that in the play it had so re 
 sulted. "That was in Japan, though," she exclaimed, 
 and she began to hum blithely the words of the opening 
 chorus : 
 
 "If you want to know who we are 
 
 We are gentlemen of Japan: 
 On many a vase and jar 
 
 On many a screen and fan " 
 
 Blaisdell made no attempt to conceal that he was fas 
 cinated. On the contrary, he was content to have her 
 know what was passing through his mind. She was so 
 alluring and yet so direct. Her touch was bewitchingly 
 light, and yet she invariably kept straight to the point, 
 showing that she was practical withal. 
 
 "It s true anywhere, I guess, if a man s determined 
 enough; if he sets his teeth and says l l love her and I ll 
 have her. " 
 
 Blaisdell looked resolutely at Lora as he spoke. Yet he 
 did not intend the words to convey more than an intima 
 tion that, in case he took it into his head to desire her, such 
 would be her fate. This time she seemed amused rather 
 than embarrassed by his demeanor. His assurance evi 
 dently struck her as diverting but preposterous. 
 
 "I see you don t know much about American girls," 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 47 
 
 she exclaimed with coquettish glee. "I wouldn t put too 
 much confidence in perseverance." 
 
 As Lora spoke the last words she glanced across the 
 room at her step-sister and Mr. Sumner, who were ab 
 sorbed in some discussion. The latter s expression was 
 earnest, wistful, and a little diffident. Obviously Priscilla 
 was his goddess and he was apprehensive of her frown. 
 Just at the moment she was listening listening interest 
 edly, yet sternly; on the lookout so it seemed to Blaisdell 
 as he followed Miss Burroughs s gaze to pounce on the 
 opinion he was advancing and contradict it. 
 
 Lora said nothing, but Blaisdell divined from her 
 roguish smile that they were a case in point before her 
 own mind tending to illustrate the absurdity of his assertion. 
 
 "So that s the fellow whom Miss Avery suspected at 
 
 dinner?" 
 
 "Mr. Henry Chippendale Sumner." Lora pronounced 
 the words grandiloquently with her pretty lisp, as if she 
 were proclaiming a royal title. 
 
 "He lives on the water side of Beacon Street and comes 
 here to visit your sister." 
 
 " So mama has been telling tales out of school. Yes, he 
 may be said to be somewhat partial to Priscilla; in fact, 
 he may almost be said to be persevering, Mr. Blaisdell." 
 
 " But he stands in awe of her and lets her see it; and the 
 next moment look there he rouses all her evil passions." 
 
 Priscilla was talking now and her eyes were flashing like 
 one whose noblest sensibilities had been outraged. 
 
 "But he s obstinate, too, and never gives in, though he 
 does stand in awe of her." BlaisdelPs diagnosis of fear had 
 evidently struck Lora as accurately droll, for she uttered 
 one of her bubbling laughs. "Priscilla maintains that he 
 is always pouring cold water on her aspirations. The few 
 
48 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 times I ve talked to him, however, he has seemed to me to 
 have ideals on the brain. But Priscilla says his outlook 
 on life is limited; she likes action big things and going 
 right ahead. All the same for I guess he s kind and 
 clever, and mama has discovered that his moral character 
 is irreproachable if I were in her shoes, I should try hard 
 to like him. I should love to live on the water side of Bea 
 con Street. I tell Priscilla that she isn t sufficiently appre 
 ciative of the compliment." 
 
 "The compliment?" 
 
 "Of being invited to mingle her blood with the sacred 
 blue blood of the Chippendales. It s a good deal like the 
 case of the Prince in the fairy tale and Cinderella only 
 I m not a proud sister. The way they met, too, was deli- 
 ciously romantic. Disguised at a fancy ball as a Persian 
 poet, he singled her out from the throng and fell in love 
 with her on the spot. What could Priscilla ask better than 
 that?" 
 
 In spite of her gay tone Blaisdell understood that she 
 was half in earnest. Moreover, her intimation that she 
 would like to live on the water side of Beacon Street made 
 that locality for the first time seem important to him. On 
 his way home from the office on the previous afternoon he 
 had made a detour through the so-called Back Bay. He 
 had walked down the sunny slope of Beacon Hill from the 
 State House, where the houses are only on one side, past 
 the Common and along the sidewalk which skirts the 
 Public Garden. Then crossing Arlington Street he had 
 met the fresh west wind which blew in his face as through 
 a tunnel, and followed the tall mansions of the long straight 
 street without envy, yet with the eye of one who intended 
 to be content sooner or later with nothing less dignified 
 and substantial. These were the days of cold and formal 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 49 
 
 brownstone substantiality and stateliness, chiefly with 
 lofty stoops and high-studded stories, mantled now and 
 then with ampelopsis or dusty wistaria. At regular inter 
 vals through the short side streets, named in alphabetical 
 sequence after famous political aristocrats of old England 
 Berkeley, Clarendon, Dartmouth he saw almost within 
 a stone s throw the gleaming surface of the river Charles 
 on which the prosperous merchants who built there had 
 turned their backs from fear of that northeast wind which 
 has been described as themselves made flesh. 
 
 "And now they sigh for an enchanter s wand 
 To put their porches where their kitchens stand." 
 
 The lines were an impromptu effort on the part of Morgan 
 Drake, who had a faculty for composing satirical couplets 
 on the spur of the moment, when Blaisdell had subse 
 quently alluded to his excursion. 
 
 He had been mildly interested by the Back Bay; the 
 handsome private residences and the churches and edu 
 cational buildings of the new district the new made land, 
 as it was called were imposing and suggested a wealthy 
 community. But they meant nothing to him. He ex 
 pressed much more interest concerning the historic spots 
 and monuments which he had visited in the course of the 
 week. Indeed, his close observation in regard to these had 
 first arrested Priscilla s attention. When he described 
 graphically the old North Church, from the tower of which 
 Paul Revere s friend hung the Ian thorns, she was conscious 
 of wondering whether she could find it unaided. She had 
 visited it once somewhere at the North End. When he 
 spoke of Copp s Hill Burying Ground, she flushed under 
 the self-inquiry whether there were still a Copp s Hill and 
 if so, where. 
 
50 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 He had noticed new points of interest even in such 
 hackneyed landmarks as the State House, Frog Pond and 
 Bunker Hill, and had put her completely to the blush by 
 asking, with a twinkle in his eye, what was on top of the 
 vane on Faneuil Hall an elementary question, it would 
 seem. Neither she nor Lora had been able to answer it, 
 however. 
 
 "A gilded grasshopper," was his response. "Plain as 
 can be, if you only choose to look." 
 
 Priscilla then realized that she had never known, but 
 her mortification yielded to enthusiasm. "How you do 
 observe everything ; the things which we all ought to see 
 and don t!" she had exclaimed. 
 
 But now Blaisdell s acumen, whetted by Lora s re 
 marks on blue blood, reverted to his walk through the 
 Back Bay. Was there something he did not understand ? 
 At all events, such a point of view was to be ridiculed. 
 "I guess the blood in this house is just as good as any 
 body s," he asserted. 
 
 Lora smiled indulgently. "That s polite, but it shows 
 you haven t lived very long in Boston. We re not fash 
 ionable people. The people in this room" and she cast 
 a comprehensive glance around her "are clever people 
 and pleasant people, but nobody in particular. They re 
 rather hard up, and the atmosphere we breathe is greenery 
 yellery the latest fad half Bohemian, half literary. 
 Mama and I are new from the West. The Avery blood 
 used to be deep blue, but the pigment has been diluted by 
 years of close economy low living and high thinking, 
 Priscilla calls it. She declares she s almost a social albino, 
 and she rather glories in the fact. But I don t. In short," 
 she continued, egged on by Blaisdell s look of dissent, 
 "we are odds and ends of society social mongrels, if 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 51 
 
 you like. Aren t we social mongrels?" she asked, appeal 
 ing to Mr. Drake, who came up at this moment. " By com 
 parison, I mean. I m trying to explain to Mr. Blaisdell 
 what it signifies to be a Chippendale. I think I really 
 know, but I ve been here such a short time that I m not 
 sure I can express it." 
 
 Morgan Drake pondered a moment, tilting his wan, 
 sympathetic face to one side. "We are the scum of the 
 earth as compared with Chippendales. To be one means 
 lots of things. But first of all, Blaisdell, being able to save 
 half your income, as I told you up-stairs and having 
 standards. That s it, I rather think," he said, weighing 
 his words, " standards. They live up to them. The stand 
 ards may be narrow heaven knows, some of them are 
 but they live up to them. It s pretty difficult for a new 
 comer to realize how Boston can be the hotbed of every 
 fad in creation and at the same time the most conservative 
 place under the sun. But it s true there are two kinds of 
 Bostonians people who are cantankerous because every 
 thing isn t just as it used to be, and those who are perpet 
 ually seething with something new." 
 
 "And the Chippendales are the old fogies, I dare say? 
 The holders up of progress?" said Blaisdell, jumping to 
 the conclusion that he understood. 
 
 Drake shook his head. "You would find both kinds in 
 that family, as in nearly every other which counts for any 
 thing. No, it s the way each kind adheres to and insists 
 on what it believes which distinguishes them. There s 
 where their fathers lived both kinds, side by side," he 
 continued, waving his hand in the direction of Beacon 
 Hill, "facing the sacred Common and the mid-day sun 
 which poured in through their purple-tinted window-panes. 
 And," extending his gesture toward the west, "there s 
 
52 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 where they live now, on the new-made land, as we call it, 
 because it s compounded of gravel, tomato cans, and old 
 hoop-skirts. It s the same old point of view, though- 
 only there are lots more people and but you can t under 
 stand," he broke off, " until you have lived here long 
 enough to see us all up in arms over something the rest of 
 mankind never heard of and cares next to nothing about." 
 
 Blaisdell assumed the description to be whimsical. 
 Morgan Drake was evidently sardonically inclined ; one of 
 those literary fellows so he concluded who felt obliged 
 to appear clever. Nevertheless, he accepted the description 
 for what it was worth, and merely qualified his inability to 
 understand by expressing the doubt to himself whether 
 there was anything in it he would ever care to know. At 
 the same moment Lora came to his rescue with the remark 
 that he had already discovered more about Boston in a 
 week than Priscilla and she knew together. 
 
 "Then he is just the man we need some one with 
 acute powers of observation," said Drake. "Your mother 
 sent me over to organize a mind reading test." 
 
 Lora clapped her hands. "This is real Boston," she 
 exclaimed to Blaisdell. "Priscilla is great at it. She will 
 blindfold you and then make you do whatever she chooses. 
 But you mustn t resist; you must just let your mind be 
 a perfect blank." 
 
 "You could make me, and I shouldn t try to resist." 
 
 "Oh, you mustn t treat this with levity, Mr. Blaisdell. 
 It s a serious matter an occult force, some people think. 
 I never could hypnotize anybody. I m too matter of 
 fact, I suppose." 
 
 "You ve hypnotized me already." 
 
 " How silly ! " Lora blushed and showed her dimples un 
 der his open determined gaze, but her words were indicative 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 53 
 
 of what was passing through her mind. Such exaggerated 
 compliments on such short notice, however flattering, 
 appeared to her ludicrous. Besides, instead of being dis 
 concerted by her glances, as she had originally intended, 
 here was this new boarder almost wooing her in a bold and 
 brazen fashion. This would never do. "Listen now, 
 mama is going to explain," she said with an air of com 
 mand. 
 
 The girl who had succeeded Lora at the piano ceased 
 playing " rag-time" the moment Mrs. Avery knocked, 
 and an expectant lull fell upon the company. Mrs. Avery, 
 with a pocket handkerchief in her hand, stated that the 
 person to be experimented on must leave the room so as 
 to be out of earshot of the discussion in regard to what 
 he was to be made to do. Which of the men should it be ? 
 From her glances it was apparent that she was hesitating 
 between Henry Sumner and Blaisdell. They were the 
 only men present to whom the proceeding was a novelty, 
 and it lay in her mind that, as the experiment was a result 
 of a discussion which had been going on between Priscilla 
 and her admirer, it might be wiser not to begin with him. 
 He had expressed himself as sceptical of Priscilla s power 
 to do what she claimed, and it was only fair to her step 
 daughter to allow her to convince him if she could. Mrs. 
 Avery was on pins and needles in her desire to harmonize 
 their constantly divergent points of view. Mr. Sumner 
 was so anxious to please and yet he seemed to have the 
 faculty of ruffling Priscilla the wrong way. If she would 
 not take him up quite so sharply ! Only a few days before 
 she had expressed her feelings by saying, "If I didn t hap 
 pen to please you as a man, I m not sure that I wouldn t 
 rather be a worm, dear." Now recalling Priscilla s evi 
 dent liking for Blaisdell, she turned to him as an ally. 
 
54 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Besides, his good-humored, solid face suggested that he 
 would enter into the spirit of the occasion and help them 
 out, if necessary. To tell the truth, Mrs. Avery was not 
 quite sure whether the performance was to be regarded as 
 a game or an exhibition of magnetic force. The results 
 which were accomplished were simply wonderful they 
 made her gasp; she could not explain them. Yet all she 
 ever did was to hold the blindfolded person s hand while 
 Priscilla held the other, and think hard of the thing to be 
 done. 
 
 "Come, Mr. Blaisdell," she cried, "you re a fresh sub 
 ject. You ve never played it before, have you? That s 
 splendid," she continued in answer to his assurance that 
 he was entirely a novice. "It might be claimed otherwise 
 there was collusion. Go into the dining-room, and we will 
 call you when we re ready." 
 
 When Blaisdell returned in response to a summons from 
 Morgan Drake, his landlady bound the handkerchief 
 a large one belonging to her husband securely across his 
 eyes. Then Mrs. Avery took one of his hands and Priscilla 
 the other, each letting her fingers lightly clasp a wrist. 
 
 "Now the important thing is to think of nothing. Let 
 your mind be an absolute blank," Priscilla cautioned him, 
 and he heard Lora laugh explosively at this repetition of 
 her own warning. The rest of the company was sitting ex 
 pectantly around the room, partaking of chocolate with 
 whipped cream, served in green Japanese cups without 
 handles, and little home-made cakes with an aromatic 
 flavor. Just before he was blindfolded Blaisdell had ob 
 served Henry Sumner paying close heed to the preparations 
 with a quizzical smile. The eyes of the two men met and 
 Blaisdell, who understood already that he was being used 
 as a medium for confounding the young man who lived 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 55 
 
 on the water side of Beacon Street, felt the inclination 
 come over him to do whatever was expected of him 
 what precisely he did not know. For Henry Sumner 
 looked not only sceptically amused but lynx-eyed, as if re 
 solved that nothing should escape him. Between a man 
 who took a game too seriously and a woman, his sympa 
 thies turned to the latter, especially as the burden of proof 
 was on her shoulders, whereas her opponent had merely 
 to sit back and carp. 
 
 For the first few moments the trio remained stationary. 
 Blaisdell tried assiduously to think of nothing as directed; 
 but presently, losing his balance slightly, he shuffled his 
 feet to the right, which was toward Priscilla. Before he 
 regained his pose he felt drawn a few steps on that side. 
 Again he remained motionless, and, as far as possible, both 
 muscularly and mentally limp. The pause was so pro 
 longed that Mrs. Avery began to breathe hard and ripples 
 of suppressed mirth emanated from the audience. He was 
 conscious from Priscilla s nervous touch that she was be 
 coming agitated. 
 
 A moment later those looking on, who had been on the 
 point of interrupting, became still, for the new boarder 
 had begun to move. To glide rather, very slowly and 
 with an occasional pause, yet unmistakably and under the 
 influence, so it appeared, of some occult power. With 
 Mrs. Avery s and her step-daughter s fingers still lightly 
 holding his wrists, he went steadily down the room, paus 
 ing every now and then, yet persisting, until he was close 
 to the piano. There he halted again as if not quite certain 
 of the next step. Suddenly his hand went slowly up in the 
 direction of the gas jet just behind the music stool and, 
 hovering for a moment or two, touched the stop-cock. 
 The next instant his fingers seized it and extinguished the 
 
56 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 light. Immediately there was loud applause and laughter. 
 He had done the feat which was expected of him, and in 
 another moment Mrs. Avery s nimble fingers had loosened 
 the knot and BlaisdelPs sight was restored. 
 
 Priscilla regarded him jubilantly. "You were splen 
 did," she cried. "You didn t offer the slightest resistance 
 and we just willed you to do it. You felt an uncontrollable 
 impulse to put out the gas, didn t you?" 
 
 "Everyone must have realized that." The hearty ring 
 to BlaisdelPs voice carried assurance. He was smiling, but 
 his geniality suggested acquiescence not distrust. 
 
 "What have you to say now? How do you explain it, 
 Mr. Sumner?" asked Mrs. Avery, turning to the sceptic 
 for whose benefit the test had been undertaken. 
 
 "My opinion hasn t changed. Explain it? Why, of 
 course, he was pulled." 
 
 The words were spoken with jaunty yet deprecating de 
 fiance, as if the speaker realized that he was asserting his 
 personal spiritual conviction against his temporal inter 
 ests and was at the same time a suppliant for mercy. 
 
 "I hold up my hand and swear I didn t move a muscle," 
 protested Mrs. Avery. 
 
 Priscilla had stiffened at the charge. "It s simply ab 
 surd," she retorted. "I appeal to Mr. Blaisdell. I ask 
 you, Mr. Blaisdell, if you were conscious of the slightest 
 pressure being exerted on you at any time by either of us ?" 
 
 "Not the slightest," said Blaisdell, without hesitation, 
 and he looked Sumner beamingly in the face. 
 
 "Miss Avery pulled without being aware of it. The 
 pressure was involuntary. I meant to say that in the be 
 ginning." 
 
 "But if neither of us were aware of any pressure, what 
 proof is there that any existed?" asked Blaisdell, and per- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 57 
 
 ceiving his opportunity, he added, " You claim, I suppose, 
 that because you can t see how the thing is done because 
 it transcends your experience the explanation must be 
 collusion or self-deception. Is that quite fair ? There are 
 all sorts of mysterious powers about us which we don t 
 understand, and in trying to penetrate them we now and 
 then get a glimpse of their workings. Isn t this one of 
 those glimpses ? That seems to me the broader view." 
 
 There was a murmur of sympathetic approval as he 
 paused. 
 
 "Well put, young man," said Mr. Avery who, returning 
 from a second pipe in his den, had listened to Blaisdell 
 from the threshold. 
 
 "If we re not careful, he ll persuade us that black is 
 white," whispered Morgan Drake to Professor Paton. 
 
 "I just knew I didn t move," said Mrs. Avery gaily. 
 "It s mesmerism of course, it s mesmerism." 
 
 "Thank you, Mr. Blaisdell," said Priscilla. "You ve 
 supplied us with just the right phrase the broader view. 
 Mr. Blaisdell has an open mind," she asserted with a 
 derisive courtesy to her admirer. It was plain that she re 
 joiced at what she regarded as his discomfiture; her 
 cheeks were bright with the glow of triumph. 
 
 "Mine seems the narrower view because I can t prove 
 that it was self-deception. Which only shows 
 
 "That you think you know what is going on in my 
 mind better than I do myself." 
 
 "Not altogether; and yet " 
 
 "In this particular case you are convinced of it, because 
 you are not willing, as Mr. Blaisdell says, to countenance 
 any explanation which savors of wonderland. My an 
 swer is that the fault lies in your own lack of imagination." 
 
 " She accuses you of being a literal Bostonian," explained 
 
58 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Morgan Drake. "Of the Brahmin caste," he whispered 
 in Lora s ear under cover of the laugh which his sally 
 elicited. 
 
 "And if I am why, to be honest with one s self is often 
 one of the most difficult things in the world." 
 
 Priscilla s eyes flashed. "But that s an insult to the 
 intelligence." 
 
 "You know well" he began, horrified evidently by the 
 effect of his own presumption. Then realizing doubtless 
 that he was in danger of floundering, he stopped short. 
 "Let me try," he said. "If you succeed with me, I will 
 believe," and he held out his hands. 
 
 "She is lost," Lor a confided to Morgan Drake. "She 
 knows in her heart that she exerts pressure unconsciously, 
 but she will never admit it." The point which was uncer 
 tain to practical Miss Burroughs was what Blaisdell 
 thought of the whole affair. Was his plea one of credulity 
 or partnership ? 
 
 "Where is the handkerchief?" asked Mrs. A very so 
 licitously, eager for the test. 
 
 But Priscilla stood irresolute like one seeking a valid 
 excuse for evading a challenge. 
 
 "Has Mr. Sumner an open mind?" asked Blaisdell, 
 springing into the breach. " Will not his lack of faith nec 
 essarily prevent the mysterious force from working? I 
 was cautioned by Miss Lora before I began" and he 
 looked intently in her direction "that the essential thing 
 was not to resist and to let the mind be a perfect blank. 
 The point is whether, under all the circumstances, his 
 mind would be capable of becoming a perfect blank." 
 
 "And he would be certain to resist," cried Priscilla, 
 rejoicing that her native honesty had been provided with 
 a legitimate argument. "He could not help resisting." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 59 
 
 "That young man will be heard from later mark my 
 words. He has the gift of gab, if nothing else," said Pro 
 fessor Paton to Mr. Avery. 
 
 "I promise not to resist, and my mind shall remain 
 blank as a sheet of paper." Sumner spoke with engaging 
 candor. 
 
 Priscilla, having found her cue, was at ease again. " The 
 resistance would be unconscious, of course." Then an in 
 spiration seized her, and she added, " You may try, if you 
 like, but it would be no use." 
 
 This was evidently the opinion of the company, unless 
 it "were Mrs. Avery, who, anxious to propitiate Henry 
 Su\nner, hastened to tie the handkerchief over his eyes. 
 
 "Come, Mr. Blaisdell, you and I will be the accom 
 plices this time," said Priscilla. "We challenge him to 
 detect the slightest pressure." 
 
 Each took a wrist, and the experiment began. All three 
 stood motionless. For a few moments they were given the 
 benefit of a complete silence. Then, as they continued to 
 stand like figures in a tableau, everybody began to laugh. 
 The next instant Priscilla dropped Sumner s hand. 
 
 "I told you it would be no use. You resisted all the 
 while. I could feel you resisting." So saying, she sum 
 marily untied the knot, and the handkerchief fell from 
 his eyes. 
 
 "I assure you" Sumner started to protest. 
 
 But Blaisdell cut him short. "The trouble was, you 
 were saying to yourself every moment that you wouldn t 
 resist, which was just as bad. Your mind wasn t a perfect 
 blank, so it was not possible for us to succeed. You were 
 really antagonistic in every fibre of your being." 
 
 This uttered jocularly was at once accepted as a clever 
 finale to the diversion, which had lasted long enough. 
 
60 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Two or three guests made their adieus to Mrs. Avery; the 
 hour was getting late. 
 
 "Antagonistic in every fibre of your being." Priscilla, 
 radiant, echoed the apt phrase. "That exactly described 
 your state of mind, Mr. Sumner." The smile which she 
 accorded her admirer was made up both of exultation and 
 the agreeable consciousness that she was demonstrating 
 how narrow he was. 
 
 Some one again was playing "rag-time" at the piano, 
 and there was a loud murmur of leave-taking. The victim 
 realized that the opportunity had been denied him to reply 
 to BlaisdelPs trenchant diagnosis. He understood that 
 the easy-going readiness of his opponent was what had 
 won the sympathies of the audience but it was his nature 
 to feel disturbed that the eternal verities as he saw them 
 should be obscured. Yet reluctant as he was to abandon 
 the field, his disappointment yielded forthwith to the joy 
 of being able to confine his attention to her who was re 
 sponsible for his presence in this semi-Bohemian drawing- 
 room. For he found himself alone with Priscilla once 
 more. Blaisdell had slipped away to Lora s side and 
 everybody else was occupied. Thereupon, undeterred by 
 his lady-love s air of triumph and ignoring her taunt, he 
 tremulously put into words the formula which he had 
 been treasuring up all the evening as a parting speech. 
 
 " Shall you "be at home to-morrow afternoon ?" And he 
 added, "There is something particular which I wish to 
 say to you." 
 
 As he spoke Sumner was painfully conscious that his 
 words were excessively common-place and that his man 
 ner was egregiously wooden. He knew his heart to be a 
 volcano, and he intended his language to convey so much, 
 and yet he stood talking in a diffident, cut and dried sort 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 61 
 
 of way, as if the subject-matter which he had in mind was 
 as far removed from passion as a lecture on economics. 
 He perceived that she understood which increased his 
 perturbation and added to his distress. Would she think 
 him indelicate for speaking so soon? Was she unpre 
 pared for his avowal? Curiously enough, this bogy 
 bobbed up in his mind side by side with the depressing 
 conviction of his own stiffness and served to heighten the 
 apprehension of his demeanor. What would he not give 
 for the power to impart to his voice and eyes the ardent 
 language of his heart! Even in the disguise of an Eastern 
 poet he had been weighed in the balance and found 
 wanting. He lacked the gift of expression. Or was it- 
 could it be that he did not really care ? That others were 
 able to feel more deeply than he? The sudden thought 
 was like a stab, for Henry Sumner s creed in life was never 
 to avoid facing the truth. A fire worshipper ! Would that 
 he possessed even the engaging ease of his cousin, Chaun- 
 cey Chippendale, or could borrow for the occasion the 
 fluent, stalwart assurance of his late opponent in the mes 
 meric test. A vivid vision of how differently this domi 
 nating newcomer would conduct himself in similar cir 
 cumstances haunted his mind s eye as a final figure in the 
 swift train of impressions which darted through his sensi 
 tive brain while he waited for Priscilla s answer. "I m an 
 awkward goat," he subconsciously murmured. Sumner 
 was prone to sardonic mental soliloquy at his own expense. 
 His critical cast of mind was never lenient toward himself. 
 There was an appreciable moment of waiting. Pris 
 cilla s heart beat fast as the result of his words. She could 
 not doubt what was in his mind in spite of the formal little 
 bow which accompanied the announcement, as though he 
 were planning to ask her to dance the German instead of 
 
62 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 to become his wife. But his eagle glance subdued so as 
 not to violate conventionalities, yet eagle negatived his 
 deprecating, almost timid, air. For months she had been 
 refusing to believe declaring as preposterous when it was 
 broached by her family the idea that his attentions would 
 culminate in anything desperate. Was not caution the 
 ruling motive of his life ? Only a week before, when bad 
 gered by Lora on the subject, this had been her comment : 
 
 "If you wish to know, the real trouble with Henry Sum- 
 ner is that he lacks genuine enthusiasm. If he offered 
 himself to a girl, it would be because he had worked him 
 self up to it in spite of her faults. I won t have the man 
 whom I accept for better or for worse love me in a luke 
 warm, apologetic fashion. He shall think me an angel 
 and be unaware of my shortcomings." 
 
 This argument was very convincing now, so why was it 
 that her heart beat so quickly ? As Hafiz, the first evening 
 of their acquaintance, he had shown himself lukewarm 
 and inadequate as a lover. What had he done since but 
 pour cold water on her most cherished inspirations and 
 contradict her at every turn ? The very fact that she ap 
 peared to be tolerating for a moment the possibility of 
 listening to his suit irritated her, so that she drew her tall 
 figure to its height and regarded him so it seemed to her 
 disdainfully. Yet the words which she coldly uttered 
 were: 
 
 "I expect to be at home to-morrow afternoon after five 
 o clock." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 63 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 As Henry Sumner strode away from the Averys s he re 
 peated to himself the trite but dashing lines : 
 
 "He either fears his fate too much, 
 
 Or his deserts are small, 
 Who dares not put it to the touch 
 To win or lose it all." 
 
 His family would be startled by his choice. His mother 
 and two sisters were aware of his interest in Priscilla, 
 but they had no inkling of his purpose to ask her to be 
 come his wife. She was not one of their own set. As for 
 his relatives, the Chippendales, they would be shocked. 
 He was used to shocking the Chippendales, and he was 
 aware that they, though fond of him, viewed him askance, 
 fearful what he would do next. A speech of his cousin 
 Chauncey s, who was in the same class at Harvard, had 
 reached his ears "Henry Sumner is in his way one of the 
 most interesting fellows in college, but one of the biggest 
 cranks in creation." Chauncey was an authority on social 
 matters out there; his word carried weight, for he had 
 been "first man" in the leading societies and was promi 
 nent on the foot-ball team. Henry had been taken into the 
 "Institute" on the strength of this qualified endorsement, 
 but in one of the last tens, as was fitting in the case of one 
 who had a way of criticizing the established order of 
 things. 
 
 Henry Sumner s development thus far had been chiefly 
 on the side of conscience and subjective ideals. He was 
 not an ascetic, for he displayed a healthy appetite. More 
 over, he had no trace of effeminacy. On the contrary, he 
 enjoyed regular exercise, and possessed a spare, muscular 
 
64 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 frame, which rendered him a formidable competitor in 
 every-day sports. But his ruling passion thus far had 
 been duty duty relieved by entrancing visions. The 
 bright particular star which led him on was his father s 
 memory his father, who had fallen at the head of his 
 command in order to free the slave and to save the Union, 
 when Henry was but a mere child. Colonel Sumner s 
 picture a young, man in regimentals, alert and handsome 
 looked down on him from the wall where his eyes could 
 rest on it every morning when he awoke. To do well in his 
 studies, so that he might later become a credit to his family 
 and follow in his father s footsteps, was the line of conduct 
 he had laid out for himself. Not necessarily on the field 
 of battle for, according to his code, war was a deplorable 
 accident, though it might prove a glorious opportunity. 
 But was it not possible to follow worthily in any path 
 where unselfish and untiring endeavor would result in 
 helping on the work of the world ? 
 
 This was the question he had asked himself when, 
 under the spell of Professor Paton s enthusiasm for Greek, 
 it occurred to him to devote his life to scholarship. Why, 
 in pursuing erudition under the shadow of the Harvard 
 elms, would he not fulfil his obligation as a Sumner and 
 a Chippendale? It would be aloof from the madding 
 crowd, but not so remote that his ears would be unable to 
 detect the accents of falsehood, or his mind s eye fail to 
 recognize a great opportunity for action. There was 
 money enough. That is, his mother was able to live com 
 fortably and to provide for his sisters on what she pos 
 sessed in her own right, added to what his father had left. 
 His own share was sufficient to support him decently as an 
 instructor at Harvard Professor Paton had intimated to 
 him the likelihood of such an employment even though 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 65 
 
 married. Even though married! This was an essential 
 proviso, for the two ideas, embodying the choice of a career 
 and of a wife, had come to him simultaneously. So his 
 duty had suddenly amalgamated with the most entrancing 
 of his visions and he had caught a glimpse of a future sat 
 isfactory to both. 
 
 It will thus be perceived that Henry Summer was a 
 dreadfully serious young man. Moreover, his seriousness 
 was not limited to the domain of duty, but colored all his 
 estimates and, in particular, his estimate of the other sex. 
 It should here be stated that the entrancing visions which 
 he entertained from time to time chiefly related to woman 
 maidens of a marriageable age. Woman as he saw her 
 in the abstract was human to be sure, but akin to the 
 angels. Her purity, her unselfishness and her marvellous 
 intuitions set her on a pedestal which brought the skirt of 
 her dress about the height of his lips, so that, figuratively 
 speaking, he was perpetually kissing the hem of her gar 
 ment, and was, in his own opinion, quite unworthy to tie 
 her shoe-strings. However, it would have embarrassed 
 him very much to have been suddenly invited to do the 
 latter, for he was rather clumsy with his fingers and his 
 ideas of propriety would have made him tremble. But 
 complimentary as this was, the entrancing vision thus 
 formed in the morning of his youth, as to the sort of per 
 son his wife was to be, might be described as a little frosty. 
 Ambitious himself at this time to become an abstraction 
 of all the virtues, he demanded something even superior 
 for her, and when he ventured to lift his eyes toward her 
 metaphorical person, he beheld a halo upon her brow re 
 flecting the white light of divinity. 
 
 When his eyes met for the first time those of Priscilla 
 Avery, he realized that he had found her the woman he 
 
66 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 had been in search of. Not deliberately, not avowedly in 
 search of, of course, but fervently. There she stood in the 
 flesh, the prototype of the being of his fancy; in the allur 
 ing garb of a maiden from the vale of Cashmere to be sure, 
 but unmistakably corresponding to his ideal. His own 
 disguise had enabled him to gaze more boldly than his 
 wont. His high Tartarian cap and other fantastic habili 
 ments, instead of increasing his diffidence, had cured his 
 self-consciousness for the time being and given rein to his 
 tongue. He had wooed for the moment in a fashion worthy 
 of the name, and her glances had assured him that his de 
 votion was acceptable. Transported and rejoicing in his 
 ease, he had forgotten everything chief of all himself, 
 until, in a fatal moment the crucial moment of the even 
 ing as it had proved his New England conscience had re 
 minded him that he was the escort of his sister and must 
 look after her. Then at the breath of duty the fabric of 
 his vision had been rent and his divinity had slipped 
 through the aperture. Lamenting yes, cursing his 
 fate, he had chased her down the steps across the street 
 only to have the front door slammed in his face. And she 
 had never forgiven him. He had never been the same to 
 her. But she had remained the same, and was the same 
 to him transcendently, ineffably the same. Though his 
 boldness and power of expression had vanished with that 
 evening, and he was reincarnated again as the cold and 
 critical Bostonian he knew himself to be he lacked neither 
 determination nor hope. The memory of that delicious 
 evening lingered. She was the woman of his choice the 
 only wife in all the world for him and he was resolved to 
 win her. So he had vowed on the morning after the catas 
 trophe, and so he had been saying to himself every day 
 since. He had courted her assiduously as devotedly as 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 67 
 
 she would permit him. He had lent her books and sent 
 her costly flowers. In one of various efforts to persuade 
 her that he was really a volcano in spite of appearances, 
 he had watched at midnight the light of her bedroom 
 window from the shadow of the Art Museum until she 
 extinguished it and told her so. He had danced attend 
 ance on her every wish and yearned to kiss the very ground 
 she trod upon, and yet and yet, in spite of all, he had 
 reason to fear that he had failed to recover the lost ground. 
 She had never looked at him again as on that first evening. 
 Moreover, he had somehow managed constantly to con 
 tradict and irritate her. Of a sudden all her opinions had 
 seemed to be contrary to his. He had only to express one, 
 to find her on the opposite side, yet was it not a man s 
 duty to stand up for what he believed to be the truth? 
 Duty again! Duty once more had him by the throat; 
 duty had stepped in a second time between himself and 
 happiness. He had tried to suppress himself, to hold in 
 check the protesting arguments which would rise to his 
 lips in spite of his love and work to his undoing, and he 
 had been unsuccessful. Why was it that he must always 
 relentlessly champion the truth to the utter hazard of his 
 most precious happiness ? 
 
 " It was only a game. I needn t have been so stiff. Why 
 didn t I enter into the spirit of it like that fellow Blaisdell ? 
 He knew just as well as I that she was deceiving herself. 
 But I can never make believe." 
 
 Sumner sighed at the end of his soliloquy. He would 
 ask her at any rate, declare his love at her feet; and, if she 
 refused him, go on loving. At least, she had granted him 
 an audience. Must she not have gathered his meaning? 
 She had given him the opportunity to pour out his soul in 
 her presence and that was something. Was it not a hope- 
 
68 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 ful sign, suggesting that her mind was not yet steeled 
 against him ? 
 
 Thus reflecting, Sumner proceeded along Dartmouth 
 Street, and crossing Huntington Avenue and Boylston 
 Streets, hastened toward his home. Despite uncertainty 
 as to what the morrow would bring forth, he walked with 
 a springy step, for the fresh northwest breeze which blew 
 in his face was as a tonic to his blood. It was a strong and 
 honest wind, which he loved even in the rigor of winter; 
 an ally it ever seemed to him of hardy and open living, a 
 foe to sloth and murkiness. He loved to battle against it, 
 and to-night when it assailed the skirt of his thin ulster 
 and caused him to press his little round gray hat more 
 closely to his head, he expanded his lungs vigorously like 
 one who would renew his strength. As he walked his ner 
 vous figure seemed the embodiment of energy, but he was 
 far from sartorially picturesque. Absorbed in his desire 
 to become an abstraction of all the virtues, dress beyond 
 the point of sufficient neatness was not interesting to him. 
 To change the cut or sober color of the garments to which 
 he had become accustomed was something he invariably 
 shrank from. For the first few moments in his fancy dress 
 he had gone to the Artists Festival to please his sister- 
 he had felt like sinking through the floor from the convic 
 tion that he was making a garish fool of himself. This 
 was the result of taking a peep in the drawing-room mirror 
 in Beacon Street. Yet, strange to say, on his arrival at the 
 studio, he had become bold as a lion, joyful that for once 
 he had left himself at home. 
 
 Mrs. Sumaer s house was of brown stone and formal 
 looking, with tall windows guarded by a stone balcony, 
 and a flight of brownstone steps. It was substantial look 
 ing, but inconspicuous, being less wide than some in the 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 69 
 
 same block as became a widow with three children who 
 was comfortably off, but had no husband to increase the 
 family possessions. Her ambition was to live like a lady 
 without ostentation, which met with the approval of her 
 brother, Harrison Chippendale, who was the trustee both 
 of the small fortune which Colonel Sumner had left and of 
 his own patrimony. Of course she must, as a Chippendale, 
 live with dignity, but within her means. Therefore it was 
 eminently fitting that she should occupy a house which 
 could fairly be described as modest in comparison with his 
 own on Commonwealth Avenue. This was an august 
 looking mansion, but relieved by a few light touches, re 
 vealing that the architect who had planned it was trying 
 his prentice hand fresh from Paris at the risk of being 
 accused by those who set the fashion of a lack of serious 
 ness of purpose. Harrison Chippendale had the reputa 
 tion in the family of being a progressive person, though to 
 the world at large he appeared a hide-bound conservative. 
 Flighty was the word his brother Baxter was fond of apply 
 ing to him by way of stricture on his occasional coquetries 
 with progress. Baxter, who was still a bachelor, and their 
 maiden sister Georgiana, continued to reside in separate 
 establishments not far from the State House, preferring the 
 old-fashioned plumbing of Beacon Hill to the moral 
 earth-slides which they associated with the new-made 
 land. When Harrison had moved down to the Back Bay, 
 and induced Eleanor Sumner to do the same, they had 
 regarded the departure as a sign of undue restlessness 
 a speculative venture which only confirmed them in the 
 growing belief that their brother was inclined to be ex 
 travagant. They had begun to suspect that he was spend 
 ing his entire income. When Baxter, who was a portly, 
 thickset man, with a bald head and reddish brown- side 
 
70 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 whiskers, beheld the new house with its light colored fac 
 ings, he grunted by way of passing judgment upon it, and 
 next day examined the records at the Registry of Deeds 
 to ascertain the size of the mortgage. 
 
 Henry Sumner s mother was sitting up for him. Not in 
 order to know at what hour he came home, but because 
 her affection was provided with an excuse for listening for 
 the stamping of his feet on the door-mat. Besides, she 
 was absorbed in a French novel, which she had been able 
 to read uninterruptedly after sending her daughters to 
 bed. Eleanor Sumner was a refined, delicate looking 
 woman, slim like her brother Harrison a regular Chip 
 pendale in appearance whereas Baxter and Georgiana 
 resembled their mother s family. So frail was her phy 
 sique that people declared at the time of her husband s 
 death that she would not survive him long. Yet she had 
 lived; and though her figure continued to suggest that 
 a breath would blow her away, her friends had learned to 
 regard her as tough which indeed she was for her ner 
 vous system had the flexibility of steel. She possessed 
 repose of manner and daintiness in her personal ways. 
 She spoke French better than her daughters, though, 
 unlike them, she had never been abroad until after her 
 marriage, and her handwriting had a flowing, graceful 
 distinction shared with a few of her social acquaintance 
 who had been similarly taught very foreign to copy-plate 
 precision or ill-rounded slovenliness. She had mourned 
 for her husband so truly and so long that she had not yet 
 reached the point when she felt that she could wear colors 
 again. She would wait until the wedding day of one of 
 her children. In the meantime she wore plain silk, the 
 blackness of which was relieved by a flowing gold chain to 
 control her glasses. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 71 
 
 "Why, mother dear, are you still up?" 
 
 "It s only just twelve." 
 
 "Another orgy of French novels in the stilly night," he 
 said playfully, and, stooping to ascertain what she was 
 reading, kissed her fondly on the cheek. 
 
 Though eager to hear where he had spent the evening, 
 Mrs. Sumner displayed superior maternal tact by restrain 
 ing her curiosity. 
 
 "Your Uncle Harrison has been here. He was disap 
 pointed at not finding us both. We talked about money 
 matters." 
 
 "Money matters?" A sense of alarm mingled with 
 sudden self-reproach succeeded Henry s astonishment. 
 There was evidently exceptional meaning in his mother s 
 words, or she would not have broached a subject rarely 
 referred to between them, except on the quarter day when 
 his share of the income from the trust fund was paid over 
 to him. He had seen fit to leave everything to her or 
 rather, to his uncle, in whom he had implicit confidence 
 and to remain deliberately uninformed concerning the 
 state of the family property. He had but the vaguest idea 
 as to how much it was and as to how it was invested. 
 
 "Is there anything wrong?" he asked. 
 
 "It s something about the Warrior Mills. It appears 
 they haven t earned as much as usual, and the family own 
 a good many of the shares. The dividend has been cut in 
 halves, and your Uncle Harrison intimated that we shall 
 have to be more careful what we spend. But he thinks 
 women do not understand business matters, and he wishes 
 to talk to you." 
 
 "I will go to see him to-morrow. Why, I supposed we 
 were rich, mother. I took for granted 
 
 She understood from his look of dismay that he was 
 
72 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 heaping reproach upon himself,, and putting out her hand, 
 she drew him down beside her on the sofa within the influ 
 ence of the smouldering fire. "I don t understand that it 
 is serious; he hopes the reduction is only temporary. It s 
 my fault, dear, not yours, that you are ignorant of our 
 affairs. I wished you to drink as long and as deeply as 
 possible at the Pierian Spring without distraction from 
 practical concerns. Besides, your uncle is the head of the 
 family and has our interests at heart." 
 
 " But a man at my age has no right not to know how his 
 own money to say nothing of his mother s and sisters 
 money is invested. I have been a dolt a dreamer." 
 
 "I loved to have you dream, and you will never be a 
 dolt. But perhaps the time has come for you to take your 
 father s place." 
 
 Henry winced, then threw up his head proudly. He 
 glanced around the cosey room, as if he were making a new 
 inventory of his surroundings. Two low reading lamps 
 threw soft light on the rich red rug, on the deep blue up 
 holsteries and the yellow and black curtains, on the young 
 Augustus in marble and a flying Mercury in bronze. The 
 latter figure had ever seemed to Henry to personate the 
 desire and the power to aspire. 
 
 "But, mother, I sometimes think I have the clumsiest 
 mind of any man alive!" 
 
 Her intelligence divined that such complete self-disgust 
 had not been evoked solely by what appeared on the sur 
 face. Again she restrained herself from asking, "Where 
 have you passed the evening? At the Averys s?" 
 
 From several indirect sources she had learned of his 
 friendship with Priscilla, and, though it had never occurred 
 to her that he was thinking of marrying the girl he was 
 too immature for so serious a step she suspected that his 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 73 
 
 heart was temporarily engaged. Therefore, though she 
 bridled her tongue, her smile was almost arch. "You can 
 scarcely expect me to assent to that. To underrate one s 
 self is almost as fatal as the other extreme. In the morn 
 ing you will view this matter less tragically." So saying, 
 she swept back his forelock which hung low on his brow 
 he had been dilatory in having his hair cut and looking 
 into his eyes kissed him. "Go to bed, you conscientious 
 boy!" 
 
 When, on entering the house he had found his mother 
 alone, it had occurred to Henry to give her a hint as to 
 what the morrow might bring forth and invite her blessing 
 on his hopes. But his uncle s words had not only opened 
 his eyes to his own neglect, but thrown a new shadow across 
 his matrimonial prospects. Could he afford to marry? 
 This would be made clearer after he had conferred with 
 his uncle. Consideration of this point, however, he thrust 
 sternly aside, though conscious of a pang his tense air 
 betrayed this because his keen sense of duty was ouick 
 to perceive that it might clash with an absolute obligation. 
 This obligation he now felt a glowing need to define in 
 words before he said good-night, since it gave him an 
 opportunity to trample ruthlessly on his own happiness. 
 
 "If it is necessary to be careful what we spend, it must 
 be I, not you, mother. I shall not allow you to change 
 your mode of living. I will go to work and make money. 
 That, you know," he added with an exalted smile, "is what 
 my father would expect me to do." 
 
 Mrs. Sumner did not contradict her son. She under 
 stood his mood and that it would be useless to oppose him 
 at the moment even if she desired to do so. She was proud 
 of him, too; his joy in his self-sacrifice reminded her of 
 her husband there was the same eager sensitiveness to 
 
74 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 the call of duty. And was he not right ? If the family in 
 come were curtailed, the burden of supplementing it 
 should fall properly on him, even though he might be 
 transformed from a scholar into a man of affairs. The girls 
 were not yet married they might never be and at least, 
 it was important for their sake to avoid serious economies. 
 As to Henry s flirtation if there were anything serious in 
 that might not this interruption be the welcome means 
 of nipping it in the bud ? 
 
 "I see your side; but we won t, my dear boy, discuss the 
 matter further to-night," she said, rising from the sofa 
 and extinguishing the lamp nearest to her. "And avoid 
 deciding anything in your own mind until you have talked 
 with your uncle." 
 
 She was fond of analyzing her mental processes, and 
 when, later, in her chamber she viewed these reflections, 
 she ascribed them to the workings of the Baxter blood 
 her mother had been a Baxter of Salem for the Chippen 
 dales were, in their own estimation, essentially idealists. 
 Had she herself not plighted her troth to the colonel of 
 a negro regiment ? But she saw no reason to regret that 
 she had let Henry perceive that she was not certain to 
 refuse his utilitarian sacrifice. He was as the apple of her 
 eye, and his rectitude delighted her, but obviously he stood 
 in need of practical training. Nor was she averse to have 
 him think twice before he decided to immure himself as 
 a Professor of Greek. She had not frowned on that incli 
 nationon the contrary, she had been proud of his impulse 
 to become a scholar and yet she wished him to be sure 
 that his ambition would not later feel itself circumscribed 
 by the choice. Would his transcendental proclivities be 
 satisfied by a life of research and contemplation ? 
 
 Henry Sumner went to see his uncle the following day 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 75 
 
 in time for luncheon. In Boston it would not be necessary 
 to describe the lineage of either Mr. or Mrs. Harrison 
 Chippendale. All simon-pure Bostonians know their 
 genealogies by heart. But we are not all simon-pure Bos 
 tonians. Harrison Chippendale, the great-grandfather of 
 him whose family tree we are about to gaze at, was a cop 
 persmith, now and then euphemistically referred to by his 
 aristocratic descendants as a worker in precious metals. 
 In this country conditions shift so rapidly, as we all know, 
 that it is nothing uncommon for a mender of pots and 
 pans in one generation to be dining off gold vessels in the 
 next. But gradual ancestral progress, such as that which 
 we are called on to consider, is more convincing. The 
 second Harrison, starting as a clerk, presently became a 
 supercargo, who nmde long voyages to China and the Indies 
 and laid by something for a rainy day. This, in the grip of 
 his son of the same name, became a fortune as fortunes 
 were estimated at that day. He was one of the successful 
 merchants of his time this father of our Harrison 
 a pioneer in cotton and woolen manufacture and an under 
 writer of maritime insurance risks on State Street. His 
 wife/ a Miss Baxter of Salem what more need be said 
 than this ? was the daughter of another money-bags who 
 was part owner of a flotilla of clipper ships on some of 
 which were brought home the stock of choice Madeira 
 found in his wine bins. 
 
 The children of this couple were four in number: Har 
 rison, Eleanor, the widowed mother of Henry Sumner, 
 Georgiana and Baxter, who, like his sister, had remained 
 single. Their inheritance, which came to them snugly in- 
 vestec in the shares of New England factories, insurance 
 companies and banks, had amounted in all to some 
 $1,000,000, about $250,000 apiece, and served in the opin- 
 
76 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 ion of their contemporaries to place the fortunate possessors 
 high in the class of those privileged to live on the income 
 of their principal. 
 
 Of Harrison it may be said that to his friends and 
 acquaintances there was no more courteous gentleman in 
 town. He was not demonstrative; what simon-pure Bos- 
 tonian is? But he was uniformly urbane, if dignified, in 
 the society of people whom he knew. Toward strangers 
 his instinctive attitude was one of reserve; social caution 
 it may be termed. If, at the fashionable club to which he 
 belonged, he beheld a stranger, he would, perhaps, not 
 actually scowl, but at the first opportunity, he would be 
 sure to inquire behind his newspaper, "Who is that?" in 
 a tone which said only too plainly "What the devil is he 
 doing here?" Doubtless constitutional diffidence had 
 much to do with this aloofness of demeanor, for Mr. Chip 
 pendale was by no means lacking in hospitality and good 
 fellowship on other occasions; but shyness affects different 
 people in different ways. An unwritten perhaps an un 
 conscious law of his being was that he did not care to know 
 many people. Did he not know intimately the best in 
 Boston already ? 
 
 On the other hand, Mr. Chippendale was not untrav- 
 elled. As a young man after graduation from Harvard 
 he had "seen" Europe and had then acquired what he, at 
 least, regarded as a knowing familiarity with the institu 
 tions and customs of France by persistent reading of 
 French novels, a hundred of which he possessed bound in 
 half ^ calf. He had made other trips from time to time to 
 foreign parts, and he aimed to keep in touch with old 
 world interests by careful perusal of the local eclectic miscel 
 lany, "Littell s Living Age," composed of articles from 
 European magazines. On his return from the Civil War 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 77 
 
 he had married, and, believing himself to be rich beyond 
 the dreams of Boston avarice, he had settled down to the 
 serious duties consequent upon bringing up his family, 
 preserving his health, looking after his property and culti 
 vating his mind. Incidentally he interested himself in 
 charities and private theatricals and kept an eye on the 
 Common to preserve its integrity. He waged war on local 
 pests like the English sparrows and the dust on the Back 
 Bay through letters to the Transcript, and took a feverishly 
 passive part in politics. Feverishly passive because his 
 political convictions, though positive and even vindictive 
 in their quality, rarely, if ever, operated beyond the ballot 
 box in which he deposited his single ticket. Sometimes 
 they stopped short of this, if it were inconvenient to vote, 
 or if peculiarly unhappy nominations by both political 
 parties had left him more than usually hopeless in regard 
 to the future destinies of the nation. A secret ambition of 
 his reserved nature was that he might be sent to Congress 
 one which he never confided even to his wife. The 
 spontaneous proffer of the nomination by the people of the 
 Congressional District would have pleased him greatly 
 and would have seemed to him intelligent recognition of 
 his latent capacity for public service. Yet he would have 
 been the first to tell you that in this he cherished a vain 
 hope and that, save in the case of genius and not always 
 then, it was necessary to scramble for or purchase office 
 under a Republican form of government. 
 
 Against the gray background of this somewhat cynical 
 attitude of mind the gray background, too, of his daily 
 wardrobe, for Harrison Chippendale, like most of his 
 friends, wore sober blacks and drabs and avoided novelties 
 or extravagances in dress stood the ideals of the man, 
 none the less genuine because intuitive and not reduced 
 
78 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 formally to a system; none the less living because the 
 casual observer was not always able to identify them. 
 What glorified his vision and reconciled him to the more 
 or less deliberate inactivity of his middle life was the fact 
 that he had served his country in the Civil War and that 
 he bore the scars of an honorable wound. This experience 
 had been his opportunity the obvious answer to the 
 question which the New England conscience of that day 
 demanded of every true Bostonian not "what shall I do 
 to be saved?" perish the thought! but "what shall I 
 do in order to do something?" There is no need for us 
 to inquire what Harrison Chippendale would have done 
 had fate not provided so enviable a background. As he 
 walked the streets henceforth, dignified and irreproachable 
 in his silk hat and lustreless but well-fitting clothes, the 
 substance of the poet s thought was a part of his sub- 
 consciousness : 
 
 "They come transfigured back 
 Secure from change in their high-hearted ways, 
 Beautiful evermore, and with the rays 
 Of morn on their white shields of expectation." 
 
 Yet, on the other hand, the tranquillity of spirit thus 
 engendered did not blind Harrison Chippendale to the 
 need of fulfilling rigorously another obligation no less 
 a part of his creed as a true Bostonian which was to 
 gauge with discernment the things which he and hence 
 a gentleman would not do; a sort of mellowed Calvin- 
 Jfem which drew the line on gaudy pleasures and on equiv 
 ocal compromises with honor. For such lapses he had 
 only a cold frown or a stern shake of the head, as if he felt 
 himself on guard to preserve hallowed traditions from 
 violation. What a Bostonian will not do has ever been, 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 79 
 
 perhaps, his highest title to distinction. Yet he was an 
 overseer of Harvard College and a director of the Boston 
 Art Museum. 
 
 At this date Harrison Chippendale had been living on 
 Commonwealth Avenue for nearly ten years. During this 
 period his family of five bad grown from children into young 
 women and young men, and he suddenly found himself 
 face to face with realization that the income of his princi 
 pal was barely sufficient for their needs. Not only was 
 the price of everything, from rent and servants to beef and 
 eggs, advancing steadily, but new demands upon his purse 
 were being constantly levied on the plea that they were 
 absolutely indispensable to a family in the position which 
 his occupied. With three daughters in society, Chauncey 
 at Harvard, and Arthur at a private school, with a house 
 on Commonwealth Avenue and a summer residence on 
 the North shore, with saddle horses, club and pew assess 
 ments and annual donations to charity, he had begun to 
 ask himself feverishly where he was coming out ? Two of 
 his girls might never marry was not Aunt Georgiana 
 ominously in point ? and if so, they must be provided for. 
 The thought of leaving his daughters without the means 
 to live as they had been accustomed haunted him in the 
 watches of the night. For not only was his income insuf 
 ficient, but his principal appeared to be in danger of shrink 
 ing. The snares of some of the cotton and woolen mills 
 which he had been brought up to regard as gilt-edged in 
 vestments were reported to be shrivelling up in the fire of 
 competition and were passing their dividends. His own 
 shares and also those belonging to his nephew, Henry 
 Sumner, of whom he was the guardian and trustee. Here 
 was a fresh source of anxiety, for his sister had two daugh 
 ters as well as this only son, so that the affairs of two fami- 
 
SO THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 lies were virtually on his shoulders. In short, taking one 
 thing with another, he felt worried, and being touched in 
 his pocket he was touched in his pride, for though he re 
 garded in the abstract money as dross and a mere means 
 to an end, he had always until recently had more than he 
 knew what to do with. Besides, it galled him to think 
 that while he was growing poorer, his bachelor brother, 
 Baxter, and his spinster sister had been waxing in riches. 
 To be sure, this might redound eventually to the advantage 
 of his children; but who could tell ? His relations with his 
 brother and sister were not unfriendly, yet no one of the 
 three was apt to agree with either of the others on any 
 subject. All the Chippendales were peculiar, and he held 
 no assurance against a kst will by either or both of them 
 in favor of a hospital or of Harvard College. Moreover, 
 the Chippendales were traditionally long-lived. 
 
 Baxter and Georgiana might well live to be ninety 
 without providing just grounds for resentment to their 
 heirs. In this connection, if it be said that Harrison Chip 
 pendale, under the stress of perplexities, was tempted to 
 pry into the future further than true family delicacy per 
 mits, it will doubtless be agreed that the clouds upon his 
 immediate horizon furnished some excuse for it. 
 
 In person he was tall, slim and erect, with a thin, pointed 
 nose, and a slight goatee which he had worn since his first 
 trip to Europe. His walk was elastic, but deliberate. 
 Fashions might change, but he was always faithful to a 
 silk hat on week days as well as Sundays and holidays 
 neatly brushed and annually exchanged for a fresh one 
 persistently moulded on the same pattern, the distin 
 guishing feature of which was a flatter brim than that 
 usually worn. Regular as clock-work in his leisurely hab 
 its, he was a familiar and dignified figure on his walks to 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 81 
 
 and from State Street he had no business, but he went 
 down town for an hour about noon by way of the Athe 
 naeum Library, where he stopped almost daily to browse 
 among the new books. 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 HENRY repaired to his Uncle Harrison s house the fol 
 lowing day in time for luncheon. From the bay window 
 his approach along Commonwealth Avenue was visible to 
 the assembled family. They were all there for Chauncey 
 had come in from Cambridge to pass Sunday. It was he 
 who spied his cousin half a block away. 
 
 "There s Henry Sumner," he said. "I wonder why he 
 considers that little round felt hat of his harmonizes with 
 a frock coat. I think he s coming in." 
 
 Mrs. Chippendale sighed. She was fond of her nephew 
 and always glad to see him, but her sigh echoed the family 
 judgment that, though good as gold, Henry was queer; 
 that he liked queer people and was prone to entertain im 
 possible opinions in regard to established conventions. 
 He would be sure to inquire whether an invitation for her 
 daughter Georgiana s coming out ball had been sent to a 
 Miss Priscilla Avery and her step-sister, for he had written 
 her a note requesting this favor, which she had put off 
 answering. 
 
 " Come, girls, we must decide definitely one way or the 
 other before he comes up-stairs," she said with a worried air. 
 
 Let not the radical or righteous fly hastily to the con 
 clusion that this was so simple a request to grant as at 
 first sight appears. It was their plan to have this ball, the 
 expenses of which Aunt Georgiana Chippendale was to 
 
82 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 defray in honor of her namesake, a fashionable and not 
 too crowded affair. Neither of Mrs. Chippendale s other 
 daughters had been a conspicuous social success. More 
 than once she had been compelled to bring one or the other 
 in a brand new Parisian dress home immediately after 
 supper because the poor girl lacked a partner for the cotil 
 lon. Margaret, the eldest, was a silent girl in society, 
 much interested in charities; Dorothy was rather plain 
 and an awkward dancer. The girls seemed to accept philo 
 sophically their failure to arouse general admiration, but 
 the consciousness was mortifying to their mother and had 
 got a little on her nerves. They might never be married, 
 even though it was said by the consoling that plain girls 
 were liable to be married soonest. But Georgiana, the 
 youngest, bid fair to become a social success. Everything 
 pointed this way, and Mrs. Chippendale was anxious to 
 avoid any false step. Two extra girls would tend to crowd 
 the ball when taken in conjunction with the harrowing 
 dimensions of her regular visiting list and requests which 
 she had already received for numerous New York and 
 Philadelphia girls. Moreover, her son Chauncey had in 
 timated that there might be a shortage of men owing to the 
 fact that the night which had been chosen was the eve of 
 one of the Harvard examinations. Too many women for 
 the supply of partners would be disastrous. Besides, what 
 kind of girls were these whom Henry wished to include ? 
 His taste was not to be relied on. No wonder she felt 
 worried ; for she disliked to refuse him. 
 
 "I thought we had decided not to ask them," spoke up 
 Georgiana. "It ought to be sufficient that they wouldn t 
 know anybody." 
 
 "Except Henry," remarked Dorothy, to whom no one 
 had ever been assiduously devoted and who occasionally 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 83 
 
 broke water with a sly sarcasm as a fish will now and then 
 poke its head above the surface to the surprise of the on 
 lookers. 
 
 "Whom she sees constantly," said their mother. "If it 
 were anybody but Henry," she continued solicitously, "I 
 could make him understand, but he he will take it as a 
 personal matter. He will impugn my motives; he will 
 think we are snobbish. If it were not to be a small ball, of 
 course I should be glad to send them invitations. I wish 
 you would tell me again who they are," she added, ad 
 dressing her eldest son. 
 
 "He will impugn your motives fast enough," responded 
 Chauncey. " One of the girls Henry s girl is the daugh 
 ter of a scientific man who s trying to invent something, 
 and whose home was in Cambridge until his second wife 
 married him. The other is her daughter they are from 
 the west and they all live on Dartmouth Street beyond 
 Huntington Avenue, where the present Mrs. Avery has 
 Bohemian Saturday evenings at which Henry is a fre 
 quent attendant. I was told by a man who was there not 
 long ago that both the girls are good looking, and he inti 
 mated that Henry was pretty far gone on Miss Priscilla 
 Avery. Some fine morning we may wake up and find that 
 they have been married at King s Chapel." 
 
 Chauncey had his father s pointed nose, but a round, 
 placid and.rather jocular face which expressed shrewd 
 ness and amiability. He was good looking without being 
 effeminate. What was most noticeable in^his personal ap 
 pearance perhaps was its nicety, a sort of repressed but 
 undisguisable elegance, a walking rebuke both to sloven 
 liness and ostentation. Everything about him was neat, 
 from the cut of his hair and the twist of his modest necktie 
 to the bottoms of his trousers, which were turned up for no 
 
84 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 manifest reason, yet the folds were smoothly ironed. 
 Abroad his manner was not so distant as his father s, yet 
 was restrained in tone, suggesting which was indeed the 
 case that he deplored as vulgar all extravagances of speech 
 or gesture. But at home and among his friends he had a 
 lively way with him. He was of good height, but shorter 
 and stockier than his father, taking more after his moth 
 er s family the Floyds who had been a less nervous race 
 than the Chippendales. His mother, as Miss Margaret 
 Floyd, had been a beauty in her day, and Chauncey and 
 Georgiana among her children had inherited much of her 
 good looks. Arthur, the other son, a youth of fourteen, 
 promised to grow up tall and slim like her husband. The 
 eldest child of all, Harrison, Jr., had died in early infancy, 
 and Chauncey had been named after his maternal grand 
 father, old Deacon Chauncey Floyd, who, for nearly half 
 a century, was "Treasurer of the Pilgrim Institution for 
 Savings in the town of Boston." 
 
 The three girls smiled knowingly at this matrimonial 
 forecast, but Mrs. Chippendale promptly shuddered. 
 
 "I wonder if your Aunt Eleanor has her eyes open to 
 what is going on," she murmured. 
 
 Here her husband interposed with, "What is that you 
 say, Chauncey ? Married ? Henry married ? To whom, 
 pray?" 
 
 "Miss Priscilla Avery, formerly of Cambridge, art stu 
 dent." 
 
 "Priscilla who? I suppose you are guying me, young 
 man," he asserted with an indulgent smile at his son. He 
 did not always understand the humor of his children, but 
 was not averse to being practised on within the bounds of 
 due filial respect. 
 
 "All I know, father, is that she s a pretty girl and that 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 85 
 
 Henry is said to be over head and ears in love with her. 
 As to matrimony, seeing that Henry is Henry, I shouldn t 
 be a bit surprised at anything." 
 
 "Your information gossip shall I call it? comes in 
 the nick of time, for I sent for Henry to to talk to him 
 about something else. It costs money nowadays to main 
 tain a wife." 
 
 "He s coming up-stairs," exclaimed Margaret in a stage 
 
 whisper. 
 
 "Stand firm, mama; I don t want them," said Georgi- 
 ana by way of caution. She was a vivacious, quick-witted 
 girl, with a slim, graceful figure. Her small bird-like head 
 was crowned with brown hair, and her eyes when in re 
 pose had the soft refinement of a doe. She possessed that 
 same physical nicety which distinguished her brother 
 Chauncey. 
 
 "Oh, yes, but I despair of being able to make him 
 understand." 
 
 "I m going to try and get him to confide in me," said 
 Dorothy, with a little laugh. "It seems to be true ro 
 mance and it s the first in the family." 
 
 "Don t you get mixed up in it, child," Mrs. Chippen 
 dale had only time to utter before her nephew appeared. 
 
 The greetings were affectionate and at the first pause 
 the visitor said to his uncle, "I was sorry to miss you last 
 night, Uncle Harrison." 
 
 "And where were you gallivanting, young man?" 
 
 The inquiry was purely casual, but the rest of the fam 
 ily pricked up their ears for the response. 
 
 There was an instant of embarrassed hesitation on 
 Henry s part before he answered, "I was passing the even 
 ing with some friends." 
 
 This ambiguity caused Mr. Chippendale to remember. 
 
86 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 It is a theory of mature years that what is called calf love 
 can often be eradicated by felicitous banter. He proceeded 
 to deal his nephew a humorous body blow without relax 
 ing a muscle of his countenance. 
 
 "You neglected to tell us of what sex your friends were." 
 
 Henry blushed. He observed that his three girl cousins 
 were smiling. Realizing that he was at bay, he said stur 
 dily, "Why, Uncle Harrison, I was at Mrs. Avery s on 
 Dartmouth Street, and my particular friend there is Mrs. 
 Avery s step-daughter, Miss Priscilla Avery. I wish you 
 all to know her," he continued looking from one to an 
 other. "I m sure you would admire her immensely." 
 
 "Chauncey says she s very pretty," said Margaret, who 
 was a conscientious girl and wished to ameliorate the sit 
 uation for her cousin so far as was compatible with exact 
 truth. 
 
 "That s only hearsay," said her brother. "I haven t 
 seen her. But we re on to your curves, Henry. Don t 
 think you ve been telling us something startlingly novel. 
 You may not credit your family with more than ordinary 
 intelligence, but we re not purblind and stone deaf. The 
 latest rumor is that her father has asked you your inten 
 tions." 
 
 "Oh, Chauncey!" murmured his mother, appalled yet 
 convulsed by her eldest son s witticism. "Don t mind 
 what he says, Henry, dear." 
 
 "I don t in the least," replied the victim with bright- 
 eyed alacrity. "I don t mind adding 
 
 "Intentions? Nonsense!" exclaimed Mr. Harrison. 
 "At your age, Henry, a young man may without impro 
 priety have a sweetheart a best girl I believe you call it 
 nowadays in every street. Who is her father? Avery? 
 Avery? I don t recall any Avery." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 87 
 
 "Not Henry, I m sure. He is of the constant kind," 
 Dorothy interposed softly and obtained thereby a grateful 
 glance from her cousin. It did not suit her to have the 
 good faith of the first family romance called in question by 
 any such fast and loose interpretation. 
 
 "I was only metaphorical about the intentions, " 
 Chauncey hastened to explain for his father s benefit, but 
 this did not prevent Henry from answering the question. 
 
 "Gideon Avery. He s a Harvard graduate and er - 
 a scientific investigator. Recently he has married again 
 and moved to Boston. But before that he lived a very re 
 tired life in Cambridge, where his energies were devoted 
 
 to " 
 
 "Avery? There was, I think, a man of that name in 
 
 my regiment." 
 
 "Mr. Gideon Avery went through the war, sir." 
 "But he has never been to the army reunions. I have 
 not seen him for twenty years. I should not know him 
 to-day." This conclusion was evidently a serious reproach 
 in the speaker s eyes. 
 
 "He has lived very much out of the world, Uncle Har 
 rison, for he has been absorbed in experiments which thus 
 
 f ar . He knows General Horatio Langdon, the banker, 
 
 who has interested himself in his inventions, I believe." 
 
 "Then it s the man, of course. Langdon was Mir colo 
 nel, you know, and subsequently our brigadier. I think 
 I can place him now a dreamy-eyed man with rather a 
 Sto0 p_ a fi n e face, if I remember aright. I wonder why 
 he has never turned up at any of the reunions. If so, I 
 might be able to tell you more definitely about him." 
 "I imagine he has not been very well off." 
 "Ah! Very likely. An inventor?" The suggestion of 
 straightened circumstances not only recalled to Mr. Chip- 
 
88 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 pendale the real point which he desired to discuss with his 
 nephew, but brought back the shadow of that from which 
 he had supposed himself secure for life the possibility of 
 personal financial worry. His sister had fortunately taken 
 upon her shoulders the burden of Georgiana s coming out 
 ball, but if it were not one thing in the way of unexpected 
 demands upon him, it seemed to be another. "I m glad 
 you ve come, Hen^y. There are several matters I wish to 
 talk over with you after luncheon," he exclaimed by way 
 of postponement. "Is not luncheon on the table, my 
 dear?" he inquired of his wife. 
 
 " It ought to be," said Mrs. Chippendale, glancing at the 
 clock. While listening to the dialogue she had been trying 
 to frame a refusal which would not wound her nephew s 
 sensibilities. Now she heard him declare with the air of 
 one who, having found that his secret is no secret, sees fit 
 not merely to make a clean breast of it, but to glory in his 
 infatuation 
 
 "As the subject has come up and you seem to have 
 heard it spoken of I don t mind saying that I am in love 
 with Priscilla Avery. She s my ideal of all a woman ought 
 to be, and if I don t marry her, it won t be because I don t 
 ask her." 
 
 Henry spoke without a quaver. There was just a touch 
 of defiance in his tone, due, perhaps, to foreknowledge of 
 the mirth which his fervent avowal would call forth from 
 his cousin Chauncey. To proclaim his passion on the 
 house-tops was the last thing which his diffident soul would 
 have indulged in but for the condescension of his family, 
 which had goaded him to a point where to be silent would 
 have appeared to him craven. Chauncey was on the 
 broad grin and he heard the girls, though manifestly thrilled 
 by such dramatic impetuosity, each gasp with amusement 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 89 
 
 in her own way, while he noticed that his aunt was regard 
 ing him with an embarrassment which suggested that she 
 had doubts if he were perfectly sane. It was to her that he 
 addressed the further remark 
 
 "You will remember, Aunt Margaret, that it was for 
 Miss Avery and her step-sister, Miss Burroughs, that I 
 wrote you the other day for invitations for Georgiana s 
 ball." 
 
 The appearance of the servant to announce luncheon 
 was utilized as a convenient escape from immediate com 
 ment on his ardent but dazing confession by every one of 
 the family except Mr. Chippendale. He clapped his 
 nephew on the shoulder and said casting a significant 
 glance in the direction of his eldest son "I do not object 
 to hear a young man talk like that. It may be old-fash 
 ioned, but it does credit to your imagination, Henry. I was 
 like that at your age. I remember feeling sure that I was 
 definitely and overwhelmingly in love; but but the 
 young lady who subsequently did me the honor to become 
 my wife was, at that juncture, in her cradle, which I venture 
 to predict is the present status of the future Mrs. Henry 
 Sumner. Come, my dear boy, luncheon is ready." 
 
 Too much stirred by the boldness of his own perform 
 ance to take close note of his uncle s speech, Henry was 
 moving mechanically toward the dining-room when he be 
 came conscious that his aunt had put her hand through his 
 arm to detain him, and he heard her exclaim : " Henry and 
 I will follow you directly. There is something which I 
 wish to say to him." 
 
 Gentle and even deprecatory as she appeared in every 
 day life, Mrs. Chippendale, where her offspring were con 
 cerned, could be uncompromising as a lioness. Henry s 
 declaration of his attachment for Miss Avery had made an 
 
90 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 immediate decision in the other matter imperative, and 
 between the two claims she had promptly decided in favor 
 of her daughter. Her tone was highly conciliatory, but 
 her jaws were obstinately set. "As to those invitations, 
 Henry; I am so sorry," she began. "Perhaps you don t 
 know that ours is to be an unusually small ball. Georgiana 
 has been obliged to leave out a number of girk of her own 
 acquaintance, and She felt him start and look at her. 
 She was prepared to be condemned by him, and she did 
 not wince, but after her pause set forth kindly and con 
 cisely the excellent reasons which she had for her refusal, 
 dwelling on the point that the girls would not know any 
 body except him. "Of course," she said in conclusion, 
 "if you were engaged to her I take for granted, Henry, 
 dear, that you are not engaged to her?" 
 
 "I have not that honor." 
 
 "In that case she would be virtually one of the family. 
 But as it is I do hope, Henry, that I make our position 
 clear to you and that I don t seem to you unkind." 
 
 "Perfectly clear that you don t want her, Aunt Margaret." 
 
 "We do want her; we haven t room for her for them. 
 Remember there are two. Two extra girls at a small party 
 are an incumbrance, and there there s where you ought 
 to trust, if I may say so, my greater social experience." 
 
 "They were the only friends of mine I asked you to in 
 clude. I can t help feeling He stopped, but his voice 
 proclaimed his suspicion. "Then I shall have to tell 
 them " 
 
 "You don t mean to say that you have already asked 
 them?" broke in Mrs. Chippendale with a gasp of dis 
 may, for to her socially trained mind the supposition re 
 vealed an embarrassing predicament. 
 
 "I told Miss Avery the other day that I should ask you 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 91 
 
 for an invitation and I took for granted that it would 
 include her step-sister. I admit that she didn t seem 
 elated at the prospect, and I don t suppose she ll care 
 much but I ve got to tell her something. She ll expect 
 me to refer to it again." It was clear that this point was 
 already on his conscience. It was clear, too, to his aunt 
 that he thought she had excluded them solely because they 
 were not fashionable enough. 
 
 Mrs. Chippendale was also exercised by the plight in 
 which he had placed her. "It s very awkward," she ex 
 claimed, her temper rising fast. " You ll have to tell her, 
 Henry, that the list was closed that you spoke to me too 
 late. I can t run the risk of spoiling Georgiana s ball by 
 inviting them merely because you have placed me in a 
 false position." 
 
 Having spoken thus to the point and clinched the situa 
 tion, the lioness looked a little as if she were going to weep. 
 "Try to understand, Henry," she said. "You seem to 
 see only your side. But I have a side Georgiana s side. 
 I can t bear to have you think that we are unkind." She 
 put her hands on his shoulders and looked up into his face 
 which was doggedly severe. 
 
 "I hadn t strictly the right to say anything about an in 
 vitation until I had spoken to you," he felt impelled to 
 state. "Yet I did suppose 
 
 The speech was dismal and left no room to doubt that he 
 was still perplexed and sore. But Mrs. Chippendale knew 
 that the worst was over and she was rejoicing that she had 
 not been persuaded against her will. She hurried her 
 nephew along toward the dining-room saying soothingly, 
 with the desire of smoothing the matter out for him: 
 
 "I wouldn t refer to it to her if I were you. She will 
 think you have forgotten to ask." 
 
92 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 He stopped short. "She ll know I would never have 
 forgotten," he exclaimed impetuously. "Besides, it s my 
 duty to tell her." 
 
 "Duty?" echoed his aunt. Then after a moment, she 
 added, "There is such a thing as being over-conscientious 
 in dealing with small social matters. For instance, a lady 
 may be lawfully in when her servant says she s out." This 
 was a primary truth in a social education, but Mrs. Chip 
 pendale felt that she had to deal with a social ignoramus. 
 
 "Therefore there s no danger of my explaining to Miss 
 A very and Miss Burroughs the real reason why they were 
 not invited." 
 
 This was so much less direct than Henry s usual style 
 almost enigmatic, in fact that Mrs. Chippendale, in try 
 ing to conjecture what he did mean held her peace until 
 they reached the dining-room. There, during their cous 
 in s absence, the youthful members of the family had ex 
 ploded. Whatever else the girls thought of Henry s per 
 formance, they agreed to Chauncey s assertion that it was 
 a tremendous joke. They kept smiling afresh to the edi 
 fication of their brother Arthur, who was at the age when 
 boys are apt to regard all girls as silly things. Chauncey 
 evidently considered that he had been provided with the 
 means wherewith to make his cousin s life miserable. He 
 chuckled with delight; but the renewal of these sounds, 
 after he had ventured to repeat dramatically under his 
 breath, "She s my ideal of all a woman ought to be," 
 evoked a frown from his father who declared the affair to 
 be sheer nonsense and Henry s utterance mere impulsive 
 ness. "I ll nip in the bud any present ideas which he has 
 of marriage as soon as I have the opportunity to talk to 
 him alone," he stated majestically. His daughters, whose 
 hearing was a little more acute, put a finger to their lips for 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 93 
 
 their cousin was at hand. Margaret, who had a conscien 
 tious aptitude for bringing up topics for conversation at 
 family meals, hastened to introduce the morning sermon. 
 But Chauncey was in too radiant a mood to let his victim 
 off so easily. When the dessert was being served and the 
 dangerous subject appeared to be forgotten, he suddenly 
 lifted his glass of claret and cried: 
 
 "Well, here s to Mrs. Henry Sumner, whoever she 
 prove to be." 
 
 His sisters betrayed again their inward amusement, 
 while his mother murmured : 
 
 " Chauncey, you are irrepressible!" 
 
 "That s a harmless sentiment, surely," said Mr. Chip 
 pendale blandly. " Whoever she prove to be. 
 
 Henry, whose spirit had crept back into its shell, and 
 who was blushing inwardly as the result of scrutinizing in 
 cold blood his recent elocution, now turned externally red 
 again. He realized that he had supplied the formidable 
 Chauncey with an inexhaustible store of ammunition. He 
 was proud of every sentiment which he had uttered; he had 
 no desire to recant or to apologize for his fervor; but he 
 did not know how to get started again. The words for 
 which he sought did not cleave to the roof of his mouth, 
 for they did not come at all. Or came so scantily that they 
 sounded futile. He blushed rather than spoke inarticulate 
 thanks for the toast and was conscious of looking, as he 
 reflected, like a disconcerted owl. He was glad to find 
 himself presently alone with his uncle in the library. 
 
 The last special interview between uncle and nephew 
 behind closed doors and out of earshot of the family- 
 had taken place at the end of Henry s sophomore year 
 when Mr, Chippendale had felt constrained to warn his 
 sister s son against the dangers of developing into what he 
 
94 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 termed an "off horse." At that time he took occasion to 
 point out that his nephew s course had scarcely been nor 
 mal, indeed had been almost antagonistic to that pur 
 sued by most college men. He had studied hard, which 
 was well enough, highly creditable indeed in the abstract, 
 though Mr. Chippendale was secretly of the opinion that 
 the study of human nature, as he termed it, closely fol 
 lowed by his son Chauncey, was more valuable. But his 
 chief fault was that he never seemed content to let well 
 enough alone, and on one plea or another, was continually 
 objecting to the established order of things. As a result 
 so Mr. Chippendale had been informed he was far from 
 popular and had been elected even into the large college 
 societies only by the skin of his teeth. Chauncey had re 
 ported that the boy had even given up hunting and fishing 
 on the ground that he objected to taking life. 
 
 Mr. Chippendale continuing had remarked, "You know, 
 my dear Henry, there is no one more in sympathy with 
 true idealism than we Chippendales. But a state of mind 
 which breeds factious opposition is liable to become chronic 
 and in order to be effective in this world one must over 
 look much, for one cannot tilt at; everything. Your 
 father " 
 
 The sudden change in his nephew s expression from re 
 spectful and grateful mildness to critical attention at this 
 point had checked the speaker. What he had in mind was 
 to intimate with delicacy that the late Colonel Henry Sum- 
 ner had sought danger literally in the cannon s mouth, and 
 might have been living at the moment had he not rushed to 
 destruction when discretion would have been the better 
 part of valor better especially in the case of one with a 
 wife and three infants. Mr. Chippendale had been almost 
 an eye-witness of the occurrence, and was fond of ponder- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 95 
 
 ing the ethics of the situation, in chapter and verse. His 
 brother-in-law had died like a hero but there were other 
 heroes who had lived. The desire to express his meaning 
 without giving offence for he was well aware that the 
 son was sensitive where his father s memory was con 
 cerned caused him to pause a moment before he said : 
 
 " Your father was the bravest of men, but if he were alive, 
 I am sure he would counsel you to be less censorious er 
 in regard to trifles, and to reserve your ammunition for 
 the big abuses of life. You look thin, my dear boy. You 
 ought to eat more, and you will not misunderstand me 
 when I say that an occasional night of er relaxation 
 does no young man any harm. One may be a man of 
 ideals without ceasing entirely to be a man of the world. 
 There is a motto which it will do you no harm to bear in 
 mind In medio tutissimus ibis. " 
 
 Henry had shaken his head and smiled. "If you only 
 knew how often I bite my tongue, Uncle Harrison. But 
 at the time the trifles are apt to seem large as elephants. 
 It s my nature to be thin my father was, you know and 
 as to the rest of it, I never could be popular like Chauncey. 
 He s the most popular man in college." 
 
 Mr. Chippendale accepted this tribute to his son with 
 the serenity of one conscious of the fact. "I expect to see 
 Chauncey make his mark in life. I understand that he de 
 claims well." He was thinking of the public life from 
 which he felt himself debarred. In his mind s eye, he be 
 held his boy as a member of Congress, a United States 
 Senator, and finally a Minister at the Court of St. James. 
 "That reminds me," he added, "Have you made up your 
 mind yet, Henry, what you wish to do?" 
 
 " Not wholly. Professor Paton said to me the other day 
 something about devoting my life to higher scholarship, 
 
96 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 and I gathered that if I do well until I graduate, they may 
 invite me to remain as an instructor." 
 
 "I thought very likely that you would go in for some 
 thing bookish." Mr. Chippendale s comment was com 
 placent, for the factory stocks had not yet passed their 
 dividends, and he regarded a professorship at Harvard as 
 a berth well adapted to the not entirely practical abilities 
 of his nephew. It was a dignified post and would be an 
 excellent supplement in family honor to the political 
 laurels in reserve for his own son. 
 
 This conversation between them had taken place two 
 years earlier. In the interval the situation had so far 
 changed that Mr. Chippendale felt his nephew was enti 
 tled to know, first that the family income was no longer 
 what it had been, and secondly that nearly everything cost 
 more than it used to. How these data would affect Henry s 
 choice of a means of livelihood was a matter of conjecture 
 Mr. Chippendale himself had been doubtful what to 
 advise. He had been doubtful, but this possibility of a 
 hasty, impecunious marriage absurd as it was on the face 
 of it was the final factor in leading him to the conclusion 
 that, all things considered, his nephew had better go to 
 work, and that it was incumbent on himself to tell him so. 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 SAVE for a certain eagerness to go to work forthwith, as 
 though retrenchment implied more than a slight tem 
 porary curtailment of his mother s income, Henry proved 
 in his uncle s eyes, and rather to Mr. Chippendale s sur 
 prise, a most amenable and passive auditor. Instead of 
 being obliged to lead tactfully up to the point of advising 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 97 
 
 that he renounce the teaching of Greek, Mr. Chippendale 
 found himself listening to the statement that Henry had 
 decided to do so. This was welcome, though it irritated 
 him that his nephew, while inviting him to suggest the best 
 kind of opening down-town, should display quite such a 
 " Horatius-at-the-bridge " manner. 
 
 "Lo! I will stand at thy right hand 
 And keep the bridge with thee." 
 
 The figure of speech and quotation had emanated from 
 Chauncey, of course a style of humor which was very 
 different from his own. But Mr. Chippendale, in observ 
 ing his nephew s tense demeanor, was reminded of this 
 facetious description of it previously indulged in by his 
 jocose son. Moreover, he felt it wise to caution Henry on 
 the spot that progress in any vocation must necessarily be 
 slow, and that State Street was not to be carried like a 
 fortress at the point of the bayonet. "It will be several 
 years, in all probability," he added, "before you are earn 
 ing your salt. And of course you must complete your col 
 lege course like a gentleman." 
 
 Henry looked a little crestfallen at this prediction, but 
 he remained becomingly meek. It was only when his 
 uncle in order, doubtless, to emphasize the fact that there 
 was nothing in the situation which demanded unseemly 
 haste suggested that very likely his mother would desire 
 him to spend a year abroad before putting his nose to the 
 grindstone, that he demurred. But Mr. Chippendale did 
 not think it necessary to dwell on this point. He was agree 
 ably surprised to find that they were in accord on the main 
 proposition, and gratified that Henry should show himself 
 so alive to his responsibilities as a son and so rational in his 
 point of view. The greater portion of their interview was 
 
98 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 consumed in an endeavor to satisfy Henry s newly awak 
 ened curiosity in regard to the family investments, con 
 cerning which he was glad to furnish the fullest particulars. 
 When his nephew had departed, Mr. Chippendale remem 
 bered that the subject of matrimony had not been broached 
 except in a general admonition by him to the effect that a 
 young man with his way to make could not think of such 
 a thing for a long time to come a remark which had 
 failed to elicit contradiction. He concluded that just as 
 every cloud has its silver lining the reduction of the divi 
 dend in the Warrior Mills had been the means of saving 
 one of the family from an unwise match. 
 
 Mr. Chippendale was correct in his surmise that is, so 
 far as his nephew s purpose was concerned. Henry left the 
 house with two thoughts in mind. He must inform his 
 lady-love that he had been unable to obtain an invitation 
 for her to his cousin s coming-out ball, and he would ex 
 plain that he was no longer in a position to ask her to be 
 come his wife. Obligatory as the first seemed to him, the 
 second was, of course, the soul-absorbing necessity. When 
 he had requested an interview the night before, he had 
 supposed himself able to marry. Now it was obvious, as 
 his uncle had pointed out, that several years might elapse 
 before his income was sufficient to enable him to do so. 
 In the meanwhile assuming that she reciprocated his 
 love would Priscilla be willing to wait for him? This 
 was the point which he was eager to ascertain. He was 
 prepared to wait for her, if necessary, to the end of time, 
 a state of mind which he intended to make clear to her in 
 the course of the afternoon. 
 
 He was shown into the drawing-room on Dartmouth 
 Street, and almost immediately Priscilla came down. Evi 
 dently they were to be left to themselves, which seemed to 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 99 
 
 Henry a straw in his favor, though the words of the ap 
 pointment did not necessarily presage an offer of marriage. 
 Yet he had emphasized gently the word "particular" 
 "something particular which I wish to say to you." 
 
 Priscilla, as she sat and looked at him, was wondering 
 why she had consented to the interview. To have an 
 swered that she would not be at home would have been so 
 easy. Was she not self-convicted again of a sort of incon 
 sistency in her attitude toward this Beacon Street admirer ? 
 " Again," because in spite of having systematically spoken 
 ill of him to her family and abused him to herself, she had 
 suffered him to continue his attentions and to draw her 
 into lengthy arguments. She had no difficulty in treating 
 Professor Paton composedly. Why should she not be 
 equally calm in the presence of his disciple in Greek un 
 less it were, to be sure, that he provoked her more ? As to 
 sanctioning the present interview, there was this to be said 
 he was plainly bent on making sooner or later a definite 
 proposal and would never be satisfied with anything short 
 of a very unequivocal "no." Besides, there would be a 
 certain satisfaction in throwing over so high and mighty 
 a suitor. It would surprise him infinitely; he would never 
 be able to understand how it could happen. 
 
 Yet, as she thus reassured herself, Priscilla was con 
 scious of excitement, of a certain curiosity, let it be called, 
 which she promptly ascribed to the credit of a first pro 
 posal. The preliminaries of dialogue were over. Why 
 did he not begin ? It was obvious enough from his embar 
 rassed manner that the particular thing which he had to 
 say was of such moment that he had become tongue-tied. 
 Yet he was looking at her with an intensity which brought 
 back the night when he had been Hafiz that delusive 
 hour of romance. 
 
100 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "When I spoke to you last evening, Miss Avery," he 
 began, "I believed that I was coming here this afternoon 
 to ask you to be my wife." 
 
 So succinct were his highly charged words that he pro 
 duced the effect of having endeavored to compress into 
 compact form a statement which should be exhaustive. 
 To be sure, from his own self-conscious point of view it was 
 only preliminary; he had no suspicion even that he had 
 put the cart squarely ahead of the horse in the train of 
 amatory logic. But to Priscilla his speech seemed amaz 
 ingly definite in a sense, mortifying, too, though egre- 
 giously mirth-provoking. So he was not going to offer 
 himself, after all. Did his pause and appealing stare mean 
 that he was waiting for an answer ? She felt the blush of 
 mortification rising to her temples, but it had a close com 
 petitor in her desire to laugh. 
 
 "You mean that you have changed your mind?" 
 
 The blunt suggestion was appalling ; a lightning- 
 flash in an instant illumined the dark passages in poor 
 Henry s labyrinth, so that his dire clumsiness dawned on 
 him. 
 
 " Oh, no oh, no ! " he protested in confusion. " You do 
 not understand. I I meant " Then, as he shrank 
 back from the bog of explanation, he exclaimed with pite 
 ous earnestness, "Let me go on, Miss Avery." 
 
 "Please do" urged Priscilla, whose eyes were sparkling 
 with amusement. She was mistress of herself now, and con 
 fident that this pseudo offer of marriage was to prove far 
 more edifying than the genuine article could possibly have 
 been. Yet she threw back her head a little impatiently, as 
 a lily sways on its graceful stem. 
 
 Henry s lips were dry. "What I should have said," he 
 resumed relentlessly, "is that you are my ideal of all a 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES ; 2G1, 
 
 woman should be " (a repetition of what he had already 
 uttered an hour before, but was it not comprehensive?) 
 " and that I love you devotedly. Whatever happens, noth 
 ing can change this." 
 
 The genuineness of his feeling was unmistakable; there 
 was a breathless ardor in the last sentence which, in spite 
 of the humor of the situation, was not lost on Priscilla. 
 If she did not thrill, at least she restrained her caustic 
 impulse to interrupt. 
 
 "I was going to tell you this to-day I am telling it to 
 you and am ready to continue for ever and ever. But 
 but when I went home last night after leaving you, I found 
 that my uncle my uncle, Harrison Chippendale, who is 
 the trustee under my father s will had been there to say 
 that what I had believed to be the case is no longer so. I 
 have been brought up to suppose it seems I took too 
 much for granted that so far as money in moderation was 
 concerned, I was independent that I was free to marry 
 whenever I chose. But it appears that recently the family 
 investments have not done well I blame myself now for 
 not understanding better about my affairs and there is 
 only enough income for my mother and sisters. So" he 
 lingered a moment on the word as if he desired to make 
 sure this time of putting the pitiful situation exactly before 
 her. "So it has become imperative that I abandon my 
 plan of becoming an instructor at Harvard and earn my 
 own living down-town." 
 
 Sacrificed to his sisters again! Was there ever such a 
 man? Priscilla s amazed attention pounced on this edi 
 fying allusion as a cat upon a mouse. 
 
 "Why did you feel that you must tell me this?" she 
 asked demurely. 
 
 How disconcerting to a lover who believed that he had 
 
/4Q2. THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 been manfully explicit! But Henry was not given time to 
 explain. 
 
 " You were afraid I should be disappointed if you did not 
 clear the matter up. That was very considerate of you. 
 When I think of how near I came to impoverishing your 
 mother and sisters, I cannot be too thankful that you have 
 been so frank." 
 
 He looked at her doubtfully. The satire, if genuine, was 
 so excruciating that, shrinking from the truth, he sought 
 to extract some comfort from her final remark. 
 
 Priscilla, perceiving his plight, laughed gleefully. 
 "You are prudence itself, Mr. Hafiz Sumner!" 
 
 "Oh!" he gasped in his dismay. "You are offended." 
 
 "Only disappointed. You have clearly demonstrated 
 to me with New England conscientiousness that no other 
 course was possible. You had to throw me over." 
 
 Though painfully conscious of her mockery, Henry 
 snatched at the precious possibility which her words, dis 
 dainful as they were, disclosed. 
 
 " Do you mean ?" he began, with ecstasy in his eyes. 
 
 "If I did, it is too late," she interrupted, in her delight 
 that he had yielded to the lure and thus assured her only 
 possible vengeance. 
 
 "Priscilla, forgive me," he cried. "I have expressed 
 myself clumsily, but 
 
 " How dare you call me by my Christian name ?" Will 
 ing as she was to fool him to the top of his bent, this was 
 more than she could put up with. What a strange com 
 pound he was of shyness and audacity! 
 
 The rebuke was disconcerting. Henry was visibly 
 abashed. Yet he persisted in his infatuation that on ac 
 count of wounded pride she was concealing her real feelings. 
 For whether this were so or not, the hope that she would 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 103 
 
 care for him in the end was one he intended to cherish in 
 definitely. He gnawed his lip in his distress, for her deri 
 sive smile seared his soul like an iron. At the same time it 
 aroused his spirit of contradiction. He had apologized for 
 his lack of tact; he was ready to be condemned on the 
 score of awkwardness, but he took issue with his scornful 
 tormentor concerning the merits of the case. She resented 
 his throwing her over, as she called it, on account of his 
 mother and sisters. What other course was open but to tell 
 her the exact truth that he was unable to support a wife ? 
 Therefore, though his agitation disclosed that he was do 
 ing penance for calling her Priscilla without leave, he said 
 as soon as he found his tongue : 
 
 Seeing that I loved you, Miss Avery, and was deter 
 mined that you should know the fact, I wish you would 
 tell me what else I could have done." He paused for a 
 moment to let the words sink in, then added a little plain 
 tively, "Would you have married me just as I am, if I 
 had asked you?" 
 
 His entire mental attitude from the first word to this be 
 lated perception of his fault now soberly tendered her 
 like a wish-bone on a platter for her to seize and pull apart 
 with him in argument tallied so thoroughly with Pris- 
 cilla s preconceptions regarding him that she could have 
 cried with joy. Was she not now completely justified in 
 her judgment that he was exactly the sort of man she 
 would never marry? In response to his query her first 
 impulse was to answer " Certainly not"; but to do so 
 would spoil the fun. It was incumbent on her to punish 
 him effectively by leaving the question open, and yet at 
 the same time rebuke that strain of obstinacy that pride 
 of opinion which had cropped up in him as usual. As she 
 watched him sitting there, abashed yet earnest, solicitous 
 
104 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 yet expectant, with his lips closed and his eyes gleaming, 
 she rejoiced in the opportunity he had given her to enlighten 
 him as to what he really was the conventional, critical, 
 cold type of Boston man which she abhorred. 
 
 Accordingly, she bent on him deliberately her fine, soul 
 ful eyes. Was not a little coquetry permissible toward 
 such a lover ? As salve to her conscience, if any were nec 
 essary, there was this that but for his being the antipodes 
 of everything she admired in man, she might have learned 
 to like him. 
 
 "That is something which you will never know," she 
 declared. 
 
 He drew a deep breath. The ambiguity was intoxicat 
 ing, and it occurred to him that here was the opportunity 
 when a man of a different temper both his cousin 
 Chauncey and the Avery s new boarder arose before 
 him as examples would have swept away her scruples 
 by taking her in his arms. But in the same breath he 
 was subconsciously aware that he was restrained from do 
 ing so by the dread that she might not like it. Aware both 
 that he did not dare and that his limpness was a heritage 
 from a long line of strait-laced, self -scrutinizing, unemo 
 tional ancestors thus he stigmatized his family tree in 
 the bitterness of the moment. Their influence seemed to 
 him, like that of so many old men of the sea, to dampen his 
 spirit until it mildewed, so that he remained capable only 
 of exclaiming dramatically: 
 
 " Then I shall infer that 
 
 But Priscilla cut him short. "Do not interrupt me. 
 You have requested me to inform you what else you could 
 have done, and I was about to do so. Besides, whatever 
 your inference, everything now is settled both for the pres 
 ent and the future." No one should be able to accuse her 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 105 
 
 of being infirm of purpose; she could ply the dagger re 
 lentlessly at the proper moment. 
 
 Henry was thankful now that he had restrained himself, 
 and he winced a little before this disdainful ultimatum, but 
 he answered firmly: "Yes, I wish you to tell me." 
 
 It was Priscilla s turn to draw a deep breath before she 
 spoke. This was the sweetest moment of her life. Such 
 an opportunity was one she had never dreamed of. Fate 
 had delivered him into her hands and thereby sanctified 
 her prejudices. 
 
 "You might have left it to me. Given me the chance." 
 
 "The chance?" 
 
 "The chance of deciding. But you took it into youi 
 own hands. You decided the question for both of us like 
 a true, cautious Bostonian. You had counted the cost. 
 We could not afford it; we might be poverty-stricken all 
 our lives; I might be obliged to do the housework and 
 you to clean out the furnace. And so" she, too, in her 
 turn, lingered on the word to emphasize her scorn 
 " and so before you introduced me to the wingless starve 
 ling which you call your love, you solemnly sacrificed him 
 on the altar of consummate prudence." 
 
 Henry had become crimson; but he protested: 
 
 "On the contrary, I came here to pour out my soul to 
 you and to implore you to wait." 
 
 She made a gesture of impatience. "Wait after you had 
 told me that you could not afford to marry me? Listen. 
 Is this what Hafiz would have done ? What any one would 
 have done who really loved a woman as she demands to 
 be loved? Let me tell you" she threw back her head 
 imperiously, throbbing with her theme. "The man for 
 whom I would wait would come to me breathing his devo 
 tion as a flame, inspired to fall upon his bended knees, 
 
106 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 eager, if any one but I demurred, to clamber to my lattice 
 window at dead of night and claim me as his bride without 
 a penny. Ready in order to win me to risk all, forsake all 
 mother and sisters even though starvation, and ob 
 scurity yes, and social ostracism stared him in the face. 
 That is love. You offered me instead a pitiful apology." 
 
 "It was out of consideration for you. It never occurred 
 to me " he stammered. 
 
 It was plain from his expression that he was mortified 
 that her words had lacerated him; but no less so that he 
 still insisted on defending himself. 
 
 "That s just the point it never occurred to you," she 
 cried with a triumphant inflection. "It never occurred to 
 you that a man should feel like this; it never occurred to 
 you that a woman might be ready " She left the rest to 
 his imagination, leaning forward from her chair in her en 
 joyment at plunging to the hilt the dagger of her disdain. 
 
 "I took for granted that you 
 
 "No man should take anything for granted with a 
 woman where love is concerned." 
 
 "Then you mean that if 
 
 "I mean that because you are you it was impossible 
 from the first." She spoke with meditated precision. 
 This was to be the finishing stroke. 
 
 A fresh wave of color rose to Henry s gaunt cheeks. 
 Hope for the moment had departed, but with it self-con 
 sciousness. He sat confronting the horizon of a lonely 
 manhood. So much for the past and for the future. As 
 for the present, tingling as he was, he was unable to forget 
 that a principle was involved. 
 
 "I was ready to fall on my bended knees. I am still," 
 he declared with simple dignity. 
 
 "That would be absurd," she retorted, and she did 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 107 
 
 not resist the temptation to add, " You would not do it 
 well." 
 
 Henry could not deny this. He was only too conscious 
 of its truth, for it was one of the things which, in previous 
 watches of the night and on his way to her house, he had 
 wondered if he ought to do had asked himself anxiously 
 if men did nowadays. 
 
 "I agree," he replied, smiling wanly, for his sense of 
 humor was stirred. 
 
 Priscilla smiled back. She was beginning to be a little 
 sorry for him. If he were sufficiently crushed and really 
 contrite, she could afford to apply some ointment to his 
 wounds. 
 
 "And you agree with the rest? You are convinced?" 
 
 His smile did not vanish, but it altered to that of the 
 martyr ready to die for his cause. "I am convinced that 
 I was clumsy lukewarm in expression, unimaginative, 
 what you please but I still think that it would not have 
 been honest; that it was right to tell you my er real cir 
 cumstances before I spoke." 
 
 Priscilla listened spiritually aghast. How obstinate he 
 was ! His quiet determination was positively nettling in its 
 quality. It came over her that her irony had spent itself 
 in vain, and that in spite of her lashing in spite of the en 
 lightenment he had received he was still the same man 
 as before; an irritating conclusion to her ambitious spirit. 
 Yet, though he spoke resolutely, it was with a wistful 
 courtliness which suggested to her that he hoped she would 
 not regard him merely as pig-headed. So artless, so gen 
 uine was his concern that even in her resentment it passed 
 through her mind that in other circumstances he might 
 almost have appeared charming. 
 
 But this only instigated her the more to compress into 
 
108 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 a dignified phrase one final retort which should be also a 
 sentence of dismissal, for, as he finished, she had heard the 
 voices in the hall of Lora and Mr. Blaisdell returning from 
 a long walk. She wished to have done with this exasper 
 ating lover and to begin life afresh. 
 
 "You are an impossible man, Mr. Sumner. You are 
 hopeless." 
 
 She meant that her words should have just that metallic 
 ring, just that touch of airiness which they expressed. She 
 rose as she uttered them. 
 
 But once more she perceived that, like Antaeus when he 
 touched mother earth, her visitor gained fresh force from 
 opposition. Was he, too, becoming a little airy ? At least 
 he was smiling again. Priscilla did not realize that this 
 was because he was about to play upon her phrase. 
 
 "I am not hopeless, at least, of making you marry me 
 some day." 
 
 Such a presumptuous challenge was amusing, at any 
 rate. It was too absurd to require an answer; but fidelity 
 like this in the face of such severe, though condign, pun 
 ishment merited some appreciation. 
 
 " Good-by," she said, putting out her hand like Majesty 
 seeking to be gracious, and she held his firmly, if only to 
 show that the blood in her veins ran red. 
 
 Then, to her surprise, and far more to his what will not 
 Boston men do when goaded ? he bent forward and im 
 printed a respectful but ardent kiss on her wrist. 
 
 The joy that he had ventured this, the surprise that it 
 had really happened, and the agitating wonder whether it 
 were an atrocious liberty which would never be forgiven 
 combined to confuse his senses, so that he backed out of 
 the room completely in the dark as to how she had taken it. 
 At least she had not reproached him audibly, screamed or 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 109 
 
 fainted. But Miss Avery was not of the fainting kind, and, 
 though she might have screamed, would she not presum 
 ably at the same moment have boxed his ears ? So he re 
 flected when, having found himself on the sidewalk, he 
 turned sharply to the right in order that he might collect 
 his faculties and revise his scheme of life by means of a 
 walk toward the South end before returning home. One 
 of the first things which he remembered as he proceeded 
 on his way was that he had neglected to inform Priscilla of 
 his inability to obtain an invitation for her to his cousin s 
 ball. But considering all the circumstances this now seemed 
 to him unimportant. He was dismissed and he had been 
 proved ridiculous; but was he not right ? Besides, he had 
 demonstrated at the last moment that she had misjudged 
 the depth of his feelings. Was he really cold and captious ? 
 Incapable of the transport which should animate a lover ? 
 Her words had sunk deep, yet in spite of his abasement, he 
 reserved to himself the right of private judgment as well 
 as that of dogged hope as he settled into his long, nervous 
 stride. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 As General Langdon had informed Blaisdell, the firm 
 of Delano & Kurd was short-handed. His partner s 
 sudden death had thrown Delano too exclusively on his 
 own resources. It had occurred at the end of a period of 
 stagnation just as the market had begun to rise rapidly 
 and the public was coming in. Hurd had been the office 
 man; who, besides overseeing the books, interviewed the 
 customers and advised them what to buy. Delano was not 
 
110 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 ready to take another partner. Bookkeepers were plenti 
 ful as berries on a bush; what he needed was a wide 
 awake, energetic, sociable assistant in the outer office who 
 would be on hand to inspire confidence and answer ques 
 tions when he himself was in the " board." It was not easy 
 to find just the right man. He had taken Blaisdell on ap 
 proval, not because he expected him to satisfy the require 
 ments, but because he had no one else in view and General 
 Langdon had stated that he fancied the young man s looks. 
 He needed some one immediately, for he was doing a rush 
 ing business. 
 
 It was one opportunity in a thousand. Delano, who was 
 not quite forty a nervous, excitable man with a thin, pale 
 face and eyes keen as a ferret s, but a wag in his way, and 
 popular had served his apprenticeship on State Street 
 and set up for himself on the strength of a small capital 
 but a considerable fund of experience. Blaisdell threw 
 himself into the breach with an enthusiasm which never 
 flagged. What he did not know was appalling, but he 
 glossed over his ignorance when customers were in the 
 office by means of his affability, and applied himself assid 
 uously to mastering the lingo of the street and familiariz 
 ing himself with the speculative properties most promi 
 nently in the public eye. His employer was agreeably 
 disappointed from the first. Within a very short time, 
 Delano discovered that he had unearthed a treasure; at the 
 end of three months he realized that his assistant was an 
 extremely able man; by the close of the first year he sus 
 pected that others were reaching the same conclusion; 
 whereupon, apprehensive of losing him, he offered Blais 
 dell a small share in the business conditional on his bind 
 ing himself to remain for three years. 
 
 The broker felt no doubts as to the wisdom of his action. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 111 
 
 Most young men might require a five years training down 
 town before they were fit for responsibility, but here was 
 an exception ; and the reasons were apparent. Not merely 
 did this novice revel in hard work, but he had such a 
 ; pleasant and convincing way with him that the customers 
 already hung on his words. Also he showed unmistakable 
 signs of being a "mouser" the possessor of the happy 
 faculty of finding out things in advance of others, an emi 
 nently valuable qualification for a business consecrated to 
 buying at the bottom and selling at the top. Most im 
 portant of all, Blaisdell never seemed to lose his head, but 
 was endowed with what he Delano glibly referred to 
 as reserve force. "I watched him during the last flurry," 
 he would say, "and he didn t turn a hair, though it looked 
 for fifteen minutes as if the market were going to ballyhack. 
 That s not my temperament. I wouldn t dare to bet that 
 in a real panic I shouldn t appear like a galvanized jump- 
 ing-jack. Mark my words, the fellow has lots of reserve 
 force." 
 
 How swiftly a good reputation often spreads by word of 
 mouth! All of a sudden it became current on every one s 
 lips in banking circles that Delano s new partner was a 
 wonder some one distinctly out of the common in point 
 of ability and discernment. The rumor presently reached 
 the ears of General Horatio Langdon, who experienced a 
 passing regret that he had let so promising a youth slip 
 through his fingers. It was repeated from one to another 
 that the advice to buy stocks on the break when to the 
 timid it appeared as if the height of the- bull movement 
 had been reached had emanated from him, and also that 
 it was he who had suggested the purchase of a certain low- 
 priced manufacturing stock just before it rose twenty 
 points in as many days. Who was he? Where did he 
 
112 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 come from ? Who were his forebears ? The current answer 
 to these interrogatories was that he came of good Maine 
 stock, was a graduate of a fresh-water college and was at 
 present boarding at the house of a Cambridge professor 
 on Dartmouth Street. This proved at least that he was no 
 confidence man in disguise; therefore he was permitted 
 to take his place on State Street as a promising financial 
 stripling, one who had won his spurs so quickly as almost 
 to excite suspicion concerning his staying powers, but 
 whose future would bear watching. Already, however, 
 several of the younger customers of the office had become 
 disposed to aid him socially. Would he not like to join 
 the Suburban Club where he could play golf and tennis 
 and enjoy an open-air holiday now and then? Two of 
 them insisted on proposing him for membership. Some 
 one else took him to a political caucus, where, at the right 
 moment, he made a few sensible remarks. Everybody 
 present was curious to know who he was, and later in the 
 evening he was named as an alternate delegate to the 
 convention for the choice of a member of the Governor s 
 Council. 
 
 Blaisdell accepted this progress mainly as a matter of 
 course. He was too busy to analyze how much it was due 
 to merit, how much to fortune, and such speculation would 
 have seemed to him futile. Striving from day to day with 
 all his might to make the most of his opportunity, he was 
 elated but not surprised by the offer of partnership. He 
 had proved efficient and had raised himself by one bound 
 from the lowest round of the ladder to a point from which 
 he could survey the heads of the crowd. But was not this 
 just such a result as he had intended ? It did not occur to 
 him to decline Delano s proposition, but he was agreeably 
 conscious that it had been broached more or less in self- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 113 
 
 defence. He had made himself indispensable and was reap 
 ing the legitimate fruit of his assiduity. 
 
 At the same time he was making progress of another 
 kind, which may be denned as deciding which of Mrs. 
 Avery s daughters he preferred. Yet he had no real doubts 
 on the subject. On the contrary, the presence of Priscilla 
 served constantly as an argument in support of his first 
 impression a fine creature, but not exactly his sort. She 
 might be clever, was possibly deeper than her step-sister, 
 but she was not cosey enough for a wife. She struck him 
 as an exotic in womanhood some splendid, but half -ripe 
 fruit. Whereas Lora, with her trig plumpness and gay, 
 practical ways, hung like a golden pippin ripe for the 
 touch of a modern Hercules. 
 
 This did not signify that he was planning anything des 
 perate. But by the end of twelve months he had reached 
 the stage not merely of being certain that he intended to 
 marry Lora, but of asking himself how soon he could hope 
 to do so. Therefore Delano s offer was doubly welcome; 
 it gratified his ambition and opened the door to wedlock. 
 He considered himself practically engaged to her already; 
 he had said enough to let her divine his ulterior purpose 
 without committing himself in precise terms; and the 
 manner in which she continued to accept his devotion sat 
 isfied him that she understood. It had seemed to him ab 
 surd to be tied to a girl by the string of a long engagement. 
 Suppose either of them wearied of the ordeal or fell in love 
 with some one else, what an awkward situation! On the 
 other hand, now that he was able to support a wife, he was 
 eager to be married at once. On the same afternoon when 
 she agreed to become his wife, he consulted Lora as to the 
 feasibility of concealing the matter for a week and then of 
 going out to be married some fine morning unknown to 
 
114 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 any one. That would avoid all fuss and feathers so he 
 dubbed the nuptial preliminaries. 
 
 Lora uttered a little outcry of dismay. To be married 
 without a wedding dress and a wedding cake, without time 
 to prepare a trousseau and take some lessons in domestic 
 economy such a summary programme was not to be 
 thought of for a moment. But she agreed with him as to 
 the desirability of a short engagement, and if he were in 
 a hurry, she was ready to be married in the spring. It 
 being now December, Blaisdell promptly bargained for 
 March. Lora fixed upon May, which, she assured him, 
 was a whole month sooner than he had any right to expect. 
 Were not most brides married in June ? Finally they com 
 promised on April. Blaisdell would have had her appoint 
 the date, especially after she had admitted that it might 
 be any day except Friday; but there Lora was obdurate. 
 
 "I must leave myself at least that loophole of escape," 
 she lisped gleefully. "You know I might change my 
 mind." Then, as if she feared that even this transparent 
 feint might convey the impression that she was in earnest, 
 she buried her head on his shoulder. 
 
 "I m the happiest girl OIJL earth because you love me," 
 she murmured. 
 
 Blaisdell hugged her closer with his big arm and kissed 
 her ardently. They were seated on the divan, and were 
 all alone in the house, for Priscilla had gone to the theatre 
 with Mr. and Mrs. Avery. He had taken advantage of the 
 first favorable opportunity since the formation of his part 
 nership. 
 
 "It was love at first sight for me at first sight and for 
 ever," he answered. "At the beginning I guess I tried to 
 resist, but your blue eyes and golden hair and dear little 
 dimples were too much for me, sweetheart." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 115 
 
 She lifted her head in her quick way and looked at him 
 archly. "It was love at first sight for both of us, then. 
 But I didn t try to resist. I gave right in. There! Tell 
 me you don t think the worse of me for saying so. Was it 
 unmaidenly, you clever man?" 
 
 " Unmaidenly ? " he echoed. "Is it ever unmaidenly for 
 a woman to love with all her soul the man who adores her ? " 
 
 The plausible enthusiasm with which he uttered these 
 intoxicating words made them seem a complete refutation 
 of her doubts. How masterful he was so full of energy, 
 so sensible and solid-looking, with his full, pleasant face 
 and keen, discerning eyes. He was better than handsome. 
 It would be blissful to entrust herself to a man like this. 
 What joy to try to make him happy and to worship him. 
 She would spruce him up a little; she noticed that his 
 necktie was slightly frayed and that his trousers needed 
 pressing. Otherwise he was perfect. She blushed under 
 his searching gaze and sought refuge again on his firm 
 shoulder. 
 
 "Where are we going to live?" she inquired as she 
 nestled. 
 
 " On the water side of Beacon Street, of course." 
 
 Blaisdell had scarcely given a thought during the twelve 
 months to social considerations. His business and his 
 courtship had so monopolized his attention that, though 
 his eyes had noted intelligently many other externals than 
 the gilded grasshopper on Faneuil Hall, he had not in 
 dulged in philosophizing. But while his reply was in a 
 measure parrot-like, the 1 recollection of Lora s desire 
 awoke in him a resolute, if slightly amused purpose to 
 gratify it. 
 
 "You foolish boy," she said. "You don t forget any 
 thing, even my ridiculous speeches. You will see; I in- 
 
116 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 tend to be one of those thrifty housewives who draw the 
 purse-strings tightly your purse-strings." She laughed 
 musically, but it was evident that she wished him to realize 
 how practical she could be even in the hour of her trans 
 port. 
 
 "Pooh!" He took one of her small, plump hands and 
 patted it fondly between his. "You little frugal fasci 
 nator! I intend you to have everything there is to have, 
 faster than you wish for it. To begin with you see I ve 
 been mapping out our future during the past week we ll 
 take a little house in Brookline or Milton or Dedham any 
 of the suburbs you prefer just for a starter for a year or 
 two. Then if things go right and I intend they shall 
 we ll move in town and you shall have any house any 
 house, mind you which you select. We won t spend any 
 more money than I earn, of course, but if I make a lot, you 
 won t have any excuse for economizing unless you re 
 wilful." 
 
 "But I shall do so all the same; it will be good for us, 
 Hugh. And I can be wilful, and very firm, if necessary. 
 Not a cent to-day, sir, except your car-fare, that s what 
 I shall say." 
 
 "And I shall stop your mouth with pearls and diamonds, 
 young lady. I dare say that a frugal soul would not be 
 proof against a necklace of real pearls." 
 
 She gave one of her explosive laughs. "No, it wouldn t 
 be." 
 
 "And as for the diamonds here s just a sample of what 
 you will have some day." So saying, he drew from the 
 pocket of his coat a jeweller s box and held it out open. 
 
 "Forme? Hugh you are an angel." She clapped her 
 hands in her delight as she gazed at the sparkling solitaire. 
 It was a fine stone, though gaudily set. Blaisdell lifted the 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 117 
 
 ring from its case and slipped it onto her finger. Lora 
 dropped her eyes and when she lifted them her cheeks were 
 flushed. 
 
 " You brought it with you ; you felt perfectly sure then ? " 
 
 There was a touch of piteous protest in her tone. 
 
 "Yes, I did. I had made up my mind to marry you. 
 I didn t intend to let you escape. How could I, if I wished 
 to be a successful man?" He looked like an indomitable 
 cherub uttering a good-humored but unanswerable plea. 
 
 "I don t care if you did because I love you so." 
 
 He caught her to his breast. Presently she held up her 
 ring finger and surveyed the lustrous diamond. "I don t 
 see why you didn t fall in love with Priscilla instead of me. 
 She would be a splendid wife for a successful man." 
 
 "Excuse me for differing with you, young lady. For 
 marrying for marrying me, she isn t to be compared to 
 my Lora." 
 
 The answer was on the tip of his tongue, as if he had 
 pondered the question already and decided it to his com 
 plete satisfaction. 
 
 She nestled closer to him. " Of course I m glad that you 
 chose me, Hugh. But isn t she a glorious creature?" 
 
 " Glorious ? Yes, she s glorious." 
 
 Somehow the lavish phrase seemed to disconcert Blais- 
 dell a little. Did he resent such eulogy of one whom he 
 had seen fit to pass over ? " But " He hesitated; it was 
 evident that for once he was momentarily at a loss for the 
 words to express his conviction. 
 
 "I may be pretty, but Priscilla is handsome; statuesque, 
 mama calls her. And she has such spirit and is so 
 tremendously in earnest." 
 
 Unconsciously Lora had supplied her lover with his cue. 
 
 "Too tremendously in earnest. Too much so for the 
 
118 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 peace of mind of a hard-working man of affairs who, 
 coming home tired at night, desires loving arms around his 
 neck rather than problems. Yes, she s handsome and 
 spirited, but she s too high-strung for me. Her spirit 
 might run away with her. She would insist on my eating 
 some particular kind of breakfast food." This concluding 
 sally struck Blaisdell as a happy bit of justification and he 
 laughed exuberantly. 
 
 Lora echoed his merriment, but she suggested at once 
 "Or make you economize against your will." 
 
 Then, inspired by commiseration which was pardonable 
 in one so exceptionally happy, she murmured, " Poor Pris- 
 cilla! If things had only gone as we hoped, she would be 
 in the way of becoming a great lady." She rounded out 
 her meaning by adding, " She was intended by nature to 
 wear pearls and diamonds and to shine in the best society." 
 
 "Not any more than you," Blaisdell saw fit to remark, 
 like one who resents a comparison. "Why, then, didn t 
 she accept that diffident, obstinate scion of aristocracy who 
 was haunting the house when I arrived here?" 
 
 Lora looked mysterious. It had been understood in the 
 Avery household that Priscilla had snipped off the bud of 
 hope with the scissors of fate the figure of speech was Mr. 
 Drake s like a haughty gardener. At least, the young 
 man from the water side of Beacon Street had vanished 
 from the scene, and sundry melancholy confidences on the 
 part of his landlady had produced on BlaisdelPs much- 
 occupied mind the impression that her step-daughter had 
 thrown away an opportunity out of sheer caprice. But now 
 that there could be no secrets between them, Lora felt jus 
 tified in saying : 
 
 "I m not perfectly sure he ever offered himself to her. 
 Priscilla declares that he didn t. But she always laughs 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 119 
 
 when she says it. She declares, too, that he s too poor to 
 marry which, of course, must be sarcasm. Priscilla can 
 be sarcastic, you know. I rather expected she would tell 
 me all about it, and the evening after it happened for 
 something did happen she started to while we were un 
 dressing, but she broke down laughing; and she ended by 
 saying that his point of view merely proved that she had 
 been right in her opinion of him from the beginning and 
 that she wasn t going to talk about the matter further. So 
 I really don t know much more than you, Hugh. But she 
 persists that he never offered himself to her." 
 
 Blaisdell contracted his small eyes thoughtfully. It was 
 clear to him that the shrewd little woman at his side was 
 nursing a theory. "If I had nerves, the young man from 
 the water side of Beacon Street would have got on them 
 the evening I saw him; but I believed that he was in 
 earnest; I didn t suppose that he would back out. Do 
 you mean you think she is sorry now?" He asked the 
 question somewhat searchingly. 
 
 Lora put her head on one side and glanced up at him 
 with admiration. " What put that into your mind, I won 
 der ? How clever you are ! You know she has always de 
 clared that she couldn t abide him." She paused a moment 
 and twisted contemplatively the new ring on her finger. 
 "I feel sure, anyway, that she would have liked him to 
 offer himself what girl wouldn t after he had been so de 
 voted? and I really think, Hugh, she misses his atten 
 tions, though it would make her angry if she supposed we 
 thought so. There s all I know and I may be all wrong 
 on that. I will tell you something else about her," she con 
 tinued, rejoicing in the privilege of confiding all her se 
 crets to the man she loved. " She is determined to earn her 
 own living, and she s going to leave the Art School as soon 
 
120 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 as she finds the right sort of place. Mama has assured her 
 a dozen times that she counts on her staying at home until 
 she marries; but Priscilla replies that she doesn t ever ex 
 pect to be married, which is too silly to talk about. And 
 yet " 
 
 "Exactly like her," interrupted Blaisdell. "A woman 
 ought always to take for granted that she is going to be 
 married, just as a man should assume that he is going to 
 get ahead. What s the use of being pessimistic at the start ? 
 It shows a screw loose somewhere." 
 
 Lora nodded. "But the point about Priscilla is that 
 she intends to be tremendously particular; I don t mean 
 that most girls necessarily snap up the first man who asks 
 them, as I have; but Priscilla is different from most girls. 
 She would prefer to die an old maid rather than marry the 
 wrong person." 
 
 The naivete of this utterance entertained Blaisdell, but 
 he chose to add a colloquial moral. " Women of that sort 
 do not always recognize a good thing when they see it. 
 Consequently they are liable to be stranded." 
 
 "But her taste in men is good; I m certain she admires 
 you immensely," said Lora, without the slightest insinua 
 tion. 
 
 Blaisdell had suspected as much, but was glad to have 
 his impression confirmed. "We are great friends, of 
 course." He was not fond of being critical; he preferred 
 to be generous. "You were saying that she had given up 
 her art?" 
 
 " Oh, yes," resumed Lora, with a protesting gasp. " She 
 is giving it up because she fears she hasn t great talent, be 
 cause she thinks she has discovered that she can never be 
 a genius. She says there are enough third-rate pictures 
 and statues in the world already. Now, even if she s cor- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 121 
 
 rect, it seems to me take my case for instance; I could 
 never be a prima donna; we were told that some time ago. 
 But if you hadn t come along, I should have gone right on 
 training my voice and sung in concerts or in church choirs 
 
 and and " 
 
 "And now instead it will be a constant delight to your 
 adoring husband. It was your voice which finished me on 
 the spot. 
 
 It will not do 
 I m sorry for you* 
 
 Take my case for instance." He mimicked her lisp en 
 dearingly. " You sensible little being." 
 
 Blaisdell was in radiant spirits. All he heard of Pris- 
 cilla served to convince him of the wisdom of his decision. 
 "Why doesn t she stay at home then and be a comfort to 
 her father in his declining years, like any normal daughter 
 of the house?" he asked, not because he was hostile to 
 woman s progress, but because he was so firmly convinced 
 that the pinions of his future sister-in-law needed clipping. 
 
 " You may well ask. But she has a definite reason. She 
 regards her father as a failure financially, I mean. And 
 I suppose he is, poor man. She isn t willing to be depend 
 ent, as she calls it, on mama any longer. As if the little 
 she eats why, the house won t be the same without her, 
 and mama tells her so with tears in her eyes. But she s 
 obdurate; she says she has made up her mind her mighty 
 mind. And now that you insist on carrying me off too so 
 soon, you naughty man, I don t know what mama 
 
 Blaisdell smothered this feeble reproach by a mighty 
 hug. He had no doubts as to Mrs. Avery s acquiescence 
 even her frank satisfaction after a short outburst of 
 tears. He felt sure that she liked him, and that she would 
 
122 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 reerard the match from an optimistic standpoint as soon as 
 she had recovered from the disappointment which any 
 mother is likely to feel when the news is broken to her that 
 her only daughter is not going to marry a rich man. 
 
 The event proved that Blaisdell was right. The happy 
 pair made a clean breast of their betrothal to Mrs. Avery 
 that night on her return from the theatre. They took the 
 opportunity to follow her when she had gone into the 
 dining-room for a moment, and Lora bubblingly broke the 
 news. Notwithstanding Mrs. Avery had permitted the 
 affair to go on under her very nose without an effort to pre 
 vent the natural consequences, she was manifestly aston 
 ished. 
 
 " Engaged? Engaged to be married? You two chil 
 dren?" She put her hand to her breast to control her 
 agitation. 
 
 "Yes, and we have come for your blessing," exclaimed 
 Blaisdell, confronting her smilingly with his protecting 
 arm round Lora s waist. 
 
 Mrs. Avery s eyes were like saucers from excitement; 
 she, too, appeared all smiles for a moment, but suddenly 
 she looked as if she were going to sneeze, which meant, as 
 Lora well knew, that she was on the verge of tears. 
 
 " Oh," she cried, "it s too bewildering. I think I m go 
 ing to faint." 
 
 Blaisdell handily placed her in a chair and for a few mo 
 ments she mopped her face with her handkerchief. Then 
 presently her smile broke forth again like the sun after a 
 shower; yet she whimpered lachrymosely, " My little Lora! 
 It never occurred to me that such a thing could possibly 
 happen for the next five years." 
 
 "I couldn t resist the cleverest man in the world, mama, 
 could I ? And you know that Hugh is a partner now and 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 123 
 
 we are going to take a small house in the suburbs and be 
 very economical." 
 
 "I know I know," answered Mrs. Avery (Blaisdell 
 had told the family a few days before of his advancement) 
 "I m not saying a word against Mr. Blaisdell person 
 ally. On the contrary, I ve felt sure from the first day I 
 set eyes on him that he was smart, and I wouldn t be a bit 
 surprised no, not a bit, as I was saying to Mr. Drake the 
 other day if he made a tremendous success. But but I 
 can t get used to the idea that any one should have my 
 little Lora so soon. Why, Mr. Blaisdell Hugh she s a 
 mere child." Mrs. Avery, though she had clearly capitu 
 lated, began to weep softly again. 
 
 "I m nineteen, mama." 
 
 "And we shan t be married before April," said Blaisdell 
 with the air of one who is magnanimously yielding some 
 thing. 
 
 * Perhaps if he is very nice to you, mama, in the 
 meantime." 
 
 Thereupon Blaisdell, to show how nice he could be, put 
 the finishing touch to the situation by stepping forward 
 and embracing his future mother-in-law. 
 
 "It s all right. I ll take the best of care of your little 
 girl mama." 
 
 Such heartiness was the most bracing of tonics to Mrs. 
 Avery s reviving spirits. 
 
 "I dare say. I guess so Hugh. Well, I give her to 
 you." 
 
 As soon as these decisive words were out of her mouth, 
 Mrs. Avery s accustomed buoyancy began to reassert 
 itself. She was not really sorry to have her daughter en 
 gaged. She, also, had heard that there were two hundred 
 thousand more women than men in Massachusetts, and 
 
124 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 while she would naturally have preferred what the world 
 terms a brilliant match, she had ignored the growing 
 intimacy between the two young people. Blaisdell was 
 what she called her sort. There was no nonsense about 
 him; he was uncommonly forcible and full of push and 
 good nature. In the lottery of husbands whose future was 
 not yet assured, she believed that he would prove to be a 
 prize. Under the influence of these comforting reflections 
 her spirits were rising every minute. 
 
 "That is what comes of taking boarders. And in a little 
 more than a year, too. Married in April ? This house will 
 be a perfect desert for Priscilla, foolish girl, has got a kink 
 into her head that I don t want her." Thereupon Mrs. 
 Avery was seized by a burning impulse to impart her news 
 to the rest of the household. 
 
 "Gideon Gideon! Priscilla Priscilla ! Come here at 
 once. What do you suppose has happened?" Her exu 
 berance negatived any possibility of a calamity; but she 
 did not wait for her husband and step-daughter to hasten 
 to the scene. Throwing open the door into the parlor, she 
 cried : 
 
 "Lora and Mr. Blaisdell are engaged to be married. 
 They ve just announced it to me. Isn t it thrilling?" 
 
 In the congratulations which followed, gentle Mr. Avery 
 was free to confess that he was completely surprised. But 
 Priscilla could not allege such ignorance. On the con 
 trary, she had realized for several months that they would 
 marry some day. What delighted her now was their 
 promptness in becoming engaged in not waiting for their 
 love to cool because they were too timid to face a possible 
 wolf at the door. This thought was uppermost as she 
 threw her arms around Lora s neck, and then turned to 
 shake hands eagerly with the jubilant Blaisdell. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 125 
 
 "It s splendid ideal a genuine love match! I con 
 gratulate you both equally. I can t deny that I detected 
 signs of what was coming and it s just glorious that it has 
 come now. Thank heavens, it s exactly what it ought to 
 be a genuine love match." 
 
 Her enthusiasm overshadowed that of Mrs. Avery. 
 She was determined to let herself go. Was it not exactly 
 the occasion to show her feelings unreservedly? Too 
 many people at such a time failed to come up to the mark. 
 There was her father, for instance, evidently pleased and 
 wishing to say so, but practically tongue-tied from dread 
 of seeming to presume. 
 
 "You must be my bridesmaid, Priscilla, dear." 
 
 "And you must consider our house yours free to come 
 to as often as you like and stay as long as you like, and the 
 longer you stay the happier we shall be, Miss Priscilla." 
 
 Lora clapped her hands ecstatically, with an admiring 
 look at her lover. 
 
 " That s just what I wanted to say and just what I mean. 
 But it must be Priscilla and Hugh henceforth no Miss 
 and no Mr. You re relations that is, going to be in 
 May." 
 
 "The middle of April, not a day later, young lady." 
 
 "Mercy!" ejaculated Mrs. Avery. "It s almost as 
 hasty as an elopement. I don t believe we can get her 
 ready." Her gaiety, though tremulous again for an in 
 stant, belied her words. 
 
 "It came near being an elopement. I was ready," 
 asserted Blaisdell. "It was only the wedding dress the 
 loss of the opportunity to " 
 
 " I will break it off if you don t stop at once," lisped Lora. 
 
 Blaisdell with a beaming smile thrust his hands in his 
 pockets and tactfully obeyed orders. 
 
126 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "I think elopements are rather fine," said Priscilla by 
 way of consolation. 
 
 "Which proves for the hundredth time that you are a 
 young lady of great discrimination, Priscilla. If it ever 
 happens that I am free 
 
 Again it seemed superfluous for him to supply the ellipsis. 
 Everybody laughed, though Lora made a pretence at 
 pouting. The prompt use of her Christian name only 
 served to heighten Priscilla s conviction that the speaker 
 was a very human person, and she hastened to meet him 
 half-way. 
 
 "It will be privilege enough to be your step- sister-in- 
 law, Hugh. That s the relationship, isn t it?" 
 
 Lora indulged in one of her musical laughs. "Now 
 you ve both broken the ice." 
 
 "There is always the chance of divorce," suggested 
 Morgan Drake, following the other thread of the dialogue. 
 Mrs. Avery had summoned him from his room in the top 
 story, and he had come down in his dressing-gown under 
 the impression, so he declared, that the house was on fire. 
 
 The remark, though jocose, was liable to be misinter 
 preted, unless treated in the proper spirit. Blaisdell rose 
 to the occasion by showing himself completely alive to his 
 responsibilities as a lover. 
 
 " Even at the risk of disappointing my future step-sister- 
 in-law, I solemnly declare that divorce is not one of the 
 possible contingencies in this case." 
 
 "If, then, I remain unmarried to my death, you will all 
 understand who is responsible." 
 
 Though she knew that she was simply throwing back 
 the ball of raillery, Priscilla was conscious of flushing as 
 she spoke; consequently she felt annoyed with herself. 
 It was all a jest; even Lora was mirthful at the harmless 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 127 
 
 badinage. What excuse was there on her own part for 
 embarrassment ? 
 
 Blaisdell, noticing first the sparkle of her dark eyes as 
 she flashed the words at him, thought nothing of the blush 
 except that it was becoming. Therefore he was at a loss 
 to understand why she should suddenly frown as though 
 a pin had pricked her. He ascribed it to the idiosyncrasies 
 of her skipping spirit. Moreover, he reflected that he had 
 never seen her look handsomer. Yes, her beauty was of 
 the statuesque order. If any man would undertake the 
 task of training her, she had the makings of a wife of whom 
 one might be proud. As an engaged man serenely content, 
 he was ready to admit that he might not have done his 
 step-sister-in-law entire justice. 
 
 By way of condoning his cynicism, Morgan Drake sat 
 down at the piano and struck up Mendelssohn s wedding 
 march with pedal accompaniment, much to Lora s confu 
 sion. But when he had finished, she immediately took his 
 place and with meaning glances at Blaisdell proceeded to 
 play the bars from "The Mikado," which had sealed his 
 fate. Though she sang the words at him with exaggerated 
 jauntiness, she did not attempt to conceal that her heart 
 was overflowing with joy. 
 
 While the singing was going on, Mrs. Avery, to whom it 
 had occurred that after such a surprise every one s nervous 
 system needed to be toned up, was making the requisite 
 preparations for a Welsh rabbit. When the ingredients 
 were ready she summoned them all to the table, where 
 presently the health of the engaged couple was drunk in 
 foaming lager. The successful suitor acknowledged the 
 courtesy by a few easy remarks in the course of which he 
 made an apt allusion to every one present. His speech 
 caused Mrs. Avery to whisper audibly to Morgan Drake, 
 
128 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 who was sitting beside her, that just that sort of man was 
 Jiable to be chosen President of the United States. Lora, 
 who overheard, threw a kiss at her mother from the other 
 end of the table. 
 
 "I didn t suppose any one else had thought of that, 
 mama, except me." 
 
 Mrs. Avery had completely recovered her equilibrium. 
 Indeed, her flow of spirits led her at the first favorable 
 pause to disclose a conjugal secret. 
 
 "This seems to be a momentous day in our establish 
 ment. There s another member of it who is entitled to 
 our congratulations." 
 
 So saying, she raised her decorated stone beer-mug. 
 "Yes, I will, Gideon; you re much too modest," she con 
 tinued by way of silencing her husband, who, having per 
 ceived too late what she was up to, showed signs of pro 
 testing. " Here s to the new invention! Mr. Avery be 
 lieves he has discovered the missing link." 
 
 There was a general shout of satisfaction, after which 
 every one, having drunk the toast, turned toward the in 
 ventor for confirmation of the statement. 
 
 "I m so glad," exclaimed Lora rapturously. But Mr. 
 Drake, whose face had become alert with sympathetic in 
 terest, raised his hand to enjoin silence, for Mr. Avery was 
 preparing to rise. 
 
 "I thank you," he said with old-fashioned courtesy, look 
 ing round the table. "Mother has been a little prema 
 ture, but I thank you. I will say this, however" he 
 nodded his head with wistful satisfaction as he weighed 
 his words" that if I am able to repeat successfully the ex 
 periments of the last week, I shall arrive at valuable prac 
 tical results. In any event, I am sure that I am on the 
 right track sure of this." Thereupon he sat down. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 129 
 
 This deprecating announcement fell so far short of her 
 own dramatic assertion that Mrs. Avery was moved to 
 expostulate. 
 
 " But you know, Gideon, you told me last evening 
 
 " Yes, I know, Olive," interposed her husband quickly. 
 " But it is not necessary on this occasion to say more." His 
 voice, though gentle, indicated plainly that he was issuing 
 a command. He rarely did so, as she well knew. Ordi 
 narily he gave her her head or more exactly, the unbridled 
 use of her tongue; but there were occasional moments like 
 this when his word became law. 
 
 " Oh, very well, dear, I can keep a secret as well as any 
 body," she responded with good-humored emphasis. 
 
 "There is no secret there is the difficulty. There is 
 nothing definite. I was merely confiding to you my hopes." 
 
 As he spoke, however, his fine face lighted up as if, not 
 withstanding, he entertained an entrancing vision. To 
 Morgan Drake, who was watching him, his expression was 
 that of one who believes that he has wrested at last a truth 
 from nature. But to Priscilla it signified only that he was 
 nursing once more was it not for the hundredth time ? 
 a delusive hope. She had known him to talk like this to 
 look almost like this often before. She pitied him, she was 
 almost annoyed with him for his unwillingness to recognize 
 and submit to the inevitable. As she thus reflected, her 
 eyes chanced to meet those of Blaisdell across the table 
 and she read his thoughts, perceived that he felt the same 
 that he was good-naturedly but utterly sceptical as to 
 the practical results of her father s experiments. The 
 strong desire seized her to change the subject so as to hide 
 his nakedness from further parade, for which filial pur 
 pose she had the means at her command. Indeed, she had 
 been waiting for the proper moment at which to spring 
 
130 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 one more surprise upon the household a small one and 
 yet a confession which sooner or later must be made. 
 
 She knocked on the table. "Ladies, gentlemen, and 
 lovers" Priscillawas surprised at her own sprightliness, 
 which struck her as germane neither to her preparatory 
 thoughts nor to the coming announcement " On this even 
 ing of almost universal confidences, listen to mine. The 
 fact that I am shortly to leave this house in order to er 
 follow my own peculiar bent is known, I believe, to all of 
 
 you." 
 
 Her pause was just sufficient to allow Mrs. Avery to in 
 terject a protesting groan and for Morgan Drake and 
 Blaisdell simultaneously to bang their mugs on the table 
 and cry: 
 
 " Hear hear." 
 
 As she resumed, Priscilla suddenly realized that she was 
 addressing her future step-brother-in-law, but she did not 
 alter the direction of her gaze. She hoped and believed 
 that he, at least, would sympathize with her practical de 
 cision. Was it not in the line of his own energetic inde 
 pendence and self-reliance? But the interruption had 
 checked the current of her speechifying, and she suddenly 
 decided that such a small matter did not justify further 
 circumlocution. 
 
 "It s only this I m engaged " 
 
 As the words slipped out of her mouth, Priscilla could 
 not resist the momentary roguish impulse to hesitate long 
 enough to permit any one who chose to fall into the im 
 promptu trap. Her step-mother proved the sole but easy 
 victim. 
 
 "You too?" she shrieked. "Not to " 
 
 "Miss Georgiana Chippendale, an elderly lady who 
 lives on Beacon Street not far from the State House. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES m 131 
 
 I m to be her companion. I answered her advertisement 
 this afternoon and and so far we suit one another. 
 That s the whole story." 
 
 In the hubbub of remarks and inquiries directed at her, 
 Priscilla distinguished first Blaisdell s glib words of en 
 couragement "I wish you success and I admire your 
 grit." He understood, at least, and appeared to sympa 
 thize with her. Secondly, her step-mother s amazed after 
 thought following a previous ejaculation of dismay. 
 
 "Advertisement? Chippendale? Why, then it must 
 be some relative of Mr. Sumner s. Mr. Henry Chippendale 
 Sumner, of course. That s on his card." 
 
 Lora exploded convulsively. She knew the blue book 
 well enough to assert : 
 
 " She s his aunt." 
 
 Priscilla felt herself at bay, but she was in a measure 
 prepared for the emergency; the family must enjoy its 
 little joke. "Yes, she s his aunt," she answered doggedly. 
 "I don t see what difference it makes if she is; but if it 
 will make you feel any better, I hereby announce that I 
 didn t know it until after I had answered the advertise 
 ment. Only the number of the house was given. I don t 
 see really, though, what difference it would make if I had 
 known." She surveyed the mocking faces defiantly. For 
 a moment no one seemed disposed to break a lance with 
 the haughty maiden on the point involved, and then the 
 resonant voice of Mrs. A very was heard to exclaim: 
 
 " You didn t know ? Then I should call it fate, my dear." 
 
 Manifestly absurd as this sally was in her opinion, 
 Priscilla felt herself the butt of plausible merriment. It 
 was Blaisdell who came to her rescue with a phrase the 
 epigrammatic quality of which reminded one of Morgin 
 Drake. 
 
132 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "Fate or fiddlesticks!" he said with sententious em 
 phasis. 
 
 Priscilla s eyes sparkled with gratitude. The alliterative 
 phrase furnished just the proper antidote to her step 
 mother s ridiculous insinuation. Leaning forward on her 
 elbows with clasped hands, she looked into his face. 
 
 "That s it exactly: fate or fiddlesticks! And in saying 
 so you ve proved, Mr. Blaisdell Hugh, I mean that 
 you re better even than a step-brother-in-law; you re my 
 avenging angel." 
 
 "Which proves conclusively," said Mr. Avery after a 
 pause, in his demure way, "that it must be fiddlesticks." 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 SAID Harrison Chippendale to his son Chauncey, one 
 morning after breakfast about five years later: "Who is 
 this Hugh McD. Blaisdell mentioned in the circular rela 
 tive to the reorganization of the Warrior Mills?" 
 
 There had been a period when Mr. Chippendale felt 
 that he knew everybody in Boston worth knowing. That 
 this was no longer so, was among the most disconcerting of 
 all the rapid changes to which he had been a witness. The 
 mere physical expansion of his native city, including the 
 twelve-story office buildings and the thundering "electrics" 
 which were replacing the time-honored congested horse- 
 car service, was astonishing, yet not to be marvelled at by 
 one who did not expect the world to stand still. But not 
 to know who people were to see strangers forcing their 
 way into prominence without being more explicitly vouched 
 for was disturbing to one who was accustomed to hear the 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 133 
 
 men at his dinner club either discuss the heroes and bat 
 tles of the Civil War or reverently recall anecdotes of those 
 prodigies Daniel Webster and Rufus Choate. A casual 
 mention of BlaisdelPs name at one of these functions had 
 first opened his eyes to the existence of such a person; and 
 here it was cropping up again. 
 
 " Hugh McD. Blaisdell ? " Chauncey s interrogation was 
 an echo of his surprise. " If it were any one but you, father, 
 I should reply that ignorance as to who he is argues your 
 self unknown. Down-town, that is. He s one of the rising 
 luminaries on the State Street horizon; some people say 
 the rising luminary. He moves quickly when he does 
 move, I ll say that of him. It was he who bought up the 
 stock of the Puritan Gas Company when it was kicking 
 round under par and sold it to Cogswell and his gang at 
 175. It was he who conceived and syndicated the Bay 
 State Hotel, so there is now some prospect that all the things 
 you eat at a public restaurant in Boston won t taste alike. 
 Lately he has turned his attention to reorganizations; 
 he has galvanized and put new blood into several financial 
 corpses. And now he is trying his hand at resuscitating 
 the old Warrior Mills." 
 
 "By new blood do you mean water? Horatio Langdon 
 said I was lucky when he sold ours at 40." 
 
 " I know, father. Everybody thought so at the moment. 
 The mills are old-fashioned and require new machinery 
 throughout and up-to-date buildings. But of course the 
 good will is valuable; Warrior is an excellent trade-mark. 
 There s where the cleverness comes in. Blaisdell has 
 formed a pool to raise the necessary capital by an issue of 
 bonds with a bonus of new stock; and I understand that 
 he has the whole thing underwritten." 
 
 Mr. Chippendale was silent a moment. Though he had 
 
134 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 consistently avoided any further contact with commercial 
 transactions than was necessary for the protection of the 
 family inheritance, as the son of one of Boston s leading 
 merchants he deemed himself thoroughly conversant with 
 traditional business methods and standards. Doubtless 
 he had been; but he himself was the first to acknowledge 
 his ignorance of this modern finance syndicates, under- 
 writings, reorganizations as well as to shake his head 
 over it. To him most of this seemed gambling, but 
 Chauncey had strenuously pointed out that there was no 
 logical moral distinction between buying stocks on an ample 
 margin and borrowing on bills of lading, as the old-fash 
 ioned merchants did and had cited as examples both his 
 grandfather Chippendale and his grandfather Baxter who 
 had dealt in merchandise cargoes of sugar, hemp and mo 
 lasses, instead of certificates of railroads, electric-light plants 
 and industrial corporations. 
 
 "As to knowing people down-town, Chauncey, it is I 
 who am practically unknown." Mr. Chippendale in 
 tended that this magnanimous admission should illustrate 
 appallingly the degeneracy of the business world. "I am. 
 not much beyond my prime," he continued, laying down 
 his newspaper to mark the seriousness of what he was 
 about to utter, " and yet I can remember when Boston was 
 a city of less than a hundred thousand inhabitants. To 
 day it has a population of nearly half a million. My father 
 was one of the few people they could be counted on the 
 fingers of one hand who kept his own carriage. He dined 
 at half-past two o clock. I was, I think, the first person 
 in Boston to advance my dinner-hour to five o clock, and 
 I was characterized as ultra-fashionable because of it. 
 Now we try to stick to seven, but since your sister Georgi- 
 ana came out our dinner-parties, as you know, have been 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 135 
 
 at half-past, and only yesterday your mother intimated 
 that unless we were content to be regarded as old-fashioned, 
 we must have them at eight henceforth. No one can ac 
 cuse me of undue conservatism; your uncle Baxter, for 
 instance, and your Aunt Georgiana continue to live on 
 Beacon Hill and both still dine at half-past two; I have 
 always sought to keep abreast of the times. But with all 
 these innovations social and financial in manners and 
 men balls which cost several thousands and fortunes 
 amassed over night, I do not see where we are coming out as 
 individuals or a people. And as to national politics 
 
 "I m a bull on this country for a long pull, father; the 
 man who goes short of it is sure to come out at the small 
 end of the horn," interposed Chauncey, who in his capacity 
 as an embryo banker and a loyal member of the Repub 
 lican Club felt moved to resent these strictures. He knew 
 almost by heart his father s unfavorable estimate of both 
 the great parties. " By the way, I heard Blaisdell the other 
 day make exactly that reply to a doubting Thomas who 
 was predicting financial disaster. That fellow has a mag 
 netic way of stating things. The same words in another 
 man s mouth," he continued with a smile, "don t sound 
 half so convincing; but I believe that the remark is true 
 just the same, though I understand perfectly what you 
 mean, father, and I sympathize to a certain extent with 
 your criticisms." 
 
 Mr. Chippendale s lip trembled. Pessimistic as he was 
 regarding the political outlook, he had not renounced 
 the hope that his son might succeed in the line where he 
 himself had been disappointed might some day win dis 
 tinction in public affairs. If Chauncey could conscien 
 tiously sit on either party platform, so much the better for 
 him, though he himself could not. "I am glad, of course, 
 
136 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 to see that you are patriotic," he said fervently, and then, 
 by way of obviating the necessity of more compromising 
 euphemisms, he inquired: "So you know this Mr. 
 Blaisdell?" 
 
 "I have met him in a business way. He s a perfect 
 wonder both at anticipating what the public needs and at 
 putting things through. He would interest you, I think. 
 He has been only six years on the Street, yet every one who 
 has a new scheme to float takes it first to Blaisdell. If he 
 goes in, there s sure to be good money in it." 
 
 Mr. Chippendale winced a little both at the renewal of 
 the lingo and because he was unpleasantly reminded that 
 while every one else appeared to be growing rich, he was 
 steadily becoming poorer. How long it seemed since he 
 had listened -to Ralph Waldo Emerson s lectures and re 
 solved to obey the injunction to hitch his wagon to a star ! 
 
 "It is not probable that we shall ever meet," he said 
 dryly. 
 
 "One can never tell nowadays, father. He s not our 
 sort exactly, I admit, but he s making money hand over 
 fist, and a few people who count are taking him up. I 
 heard a rumor the other day that he s looking for a house 
 on Commonwealth Avenue. At present he lives some 
 where in the suburbs, I believe." Then uttering the 
 thought which suddenly occurred to him, Chauncey ex 
 claimed, "You might let him have ours. He wouldn t 
 mind paying a good price, if it happened to suit him." 
 
 Mr. Chippendale shuddered, but it was because his 
 secret had been suddenly exposed. He knew that Chaun 
 cey knew that he was spending more than he could afford, 
 and that he was harassed by the increase in the cost of 
 living, but he had never confided to him that he had for 
 the past six months been considering the very mortifying 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 137 
 
 step of putting the Commonwealth Avenue house into the 
 hands of a broker for sale. But he answered like one re 
 solved to set up every available obstacle. "We must 
 stay here at least until your sister Georgiana is married. 
 After she and you have left us, we should not need so large 
 a house. Besides, where should we go?" 
 
 "That s easy. Remain on the North Shore all winter. 
 All you would need is a larger furnace. The girls could 
 make visits and mama and Georgiana might take apart 
 ments at a hotel for a month or two during the dancing 
 season." 
 
 "At a hotel?" groaned Mr. Chippendale. "Your 
 mother would not fancy that." Indeed, the entire pro 
 gramme was bewildering to one who could recall the time 
 when no good Bostonian went to the seaside earlier than 
 the 2oth of June, and every one planned to return before 
 the equinoctial storm traditionally due the last week in 
 September. 
 
 "There s no use in trying to keep up appearances when 
 we haven t got the money." 
 
 There was an unequivocal frankness about this state 
 ment which caused Mr. Chippendale s lip to tremble again 
 with approbation. He was proud that his son had been the 
 first to betray sensitiveness on such a point. "Certainly 
 not, Chauncey; you know me too well for that," he said, 
 and each looked at the other understanding that no fur 
 ther words were necessary. 
 
 But Chauncey chose to philosophize on the situation. 
 44 It s rotten to be poverty-stricken nowadays," he declared. 
 " One needs so many things." 
 
 "Poverty-stricken? We are very far from poverty- 
 stricken," answered Mr. Chippendale with stately empha 
 sis. "You must not forget, Chauncey, that when my 
 
138 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 father died I was regarded as one of the wealthiest men in 
 Boston." 
 
 " Yes, sir, I know. But we are paupers now relatively 
 speaking, of course, yet to all intents and purposes pau 
 pers according to the standards of the day. I doubt if you 
 realize, father, what stacks of money some of your friends 
 and many others all around us have been accumulating in 
 railroads, mines and industrials." 
 
 "How you young people of both sexes love to exag 
 gerate! The standards of the day are responsible for that, 
 too; extravagance in expenditure goes hand in hand with 
 extravagance in speech. As an example, take one inde 
 corous word which you use girls as well as men the 
 word rotten. Everything of which you do not entirely 
 approve is rotten; the most inappropriate subject a rainy 
 day, a woman s dress, an inartistic building, a dull book 
 or sermon is rotten. Up- town the favorite slang is rotten ; 
 down-town it appears to be industrial. " 
 
 Chauncey laughed appreciatively. Every now and then 
 his father showed himself unexpectedly discerning in re 
 gard to ordinary mundane matters. He was wont to think 
 of him as more or less on a pedestal absorbed in the larger 
 philosophies of life, but occasionally he revealed that he 
 had been cognizant all the time of what was going on 
 under his eyes. "It s no worse than beastly among the 
 English, is it ? Simply a case of what Professor Paton used 
 to call poverty of language." 
 
 "Exactly, and therefore a social blemish." 
 "And as to the other word we are an industrial nation. 
 But it s true, father; compared to other people, our par 
 ticular branch of the family is hard up." Chauncey thrust 
 his hands in the side pockets of his well-fitting sack coat 
 and rocked himself on his heels, as if to imply that further 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 139 
 
 argument on that point would be wasted on him. "But 
 that reminds me, speaking of the very rich, I saw by the 
 list of stockholders that Uncle Baxter and Aunt Georgiana 
 still have their Warrior Mills shares." 
 
 "I know," said Mr. Chippendale with a sigh. "They 
 could afford to hold them. Your Uncle Baxter never sold 
 anything in his life." 
 
 "And he can t spend more than one quarter of his in 
 come. They say on the Street that he is nearly fat enough 
 10 kill, just rotten with money excuse me, father rolling 
 in accumulated riches, reams on reams of municipal bonds 
 and gilt-edged certificates which have quadrupled in value 
 since he bought them. He doesn t speculate in the modern 
 sense, but all his investments keep hatching eggs. Aunt 
 Georgiana must ante up more or less for the diffusion of 
 culture and for charities, but," he added with a chuckle, 
 " the story is she makes it up in wildcats on the sly." 
 
 Mi . Chippendale frowned, but it was from doubt as to 
 the mv^aning of the last word. He knew that no disrespect 
 was intended by these colloquialisms and mixed metaphors. 
 He was familiar with the free and easy language of the ris 
 ing generation, even where their elders were concerned, 
 dissimilar as it was to the mode of address when he was 
 young. 
 
 "Low-priced mining shares, brand-new inventions, 
 things in which there may be a fortune, but which generally 
 prove wa^rte paper," Chauncey explained. "I know she 
 had Telephone from the start. Mr. Langdon told me so." 
 
 "Did she really?" said Mr. Chippendale soberly. 
 Telephone was one of those marvellous cases in point 
 which had "hatched" many "eggs" for people he knew. 
 "Yes, with their exemption from extraordinary expenses, 
 they must be wealthy by this time." 
 
140 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "And both are wonderfully well preserved; look as if 
 they were good for ninety." 
 
 Mr. Chippendale frowned again, this time from disrel 
 ish of the insinuation, although he knew that it was merely 
 jocose and emanated from that current lack of reverence 
 which was liable to indulge in humor even beside the open 
 grave. This appeared to be one of the privileges of the 
 young in a democratic country. 
 
 He said, "You remember your Aunt Georgiana did not 
 approve of your becoming a stock-broker, and your Uncle 
 Baxter is er a peculiar man." 
 
 Chauncey laughed and responded, "Oh, yes, I m quite 
 prepared to see Harvard and the Tech and the Massachu 
 setts General Hospital get it all so far as I m concerned. 
 That makes it the more imperative for me to grow rich on 
 my own account." 
 
 "It is one thing to be a stock-broker, another to buy 
 stocks for investment," said his father. "Aunt Georgiana 
 merely was desirous to see you emulate the er standards 
 of the Chippendales and either become a merchant or fol 
 low one of the learned professions, displaying incidentally 
 a proper interest in civic affairs. You know, Chauncey, 
 that while Langdon s offer was flattering, of course, I 
 myself have never been entirely reconciled to your choice 
 of an occupation. This and the circumstance that you 
 were selected from the foot-ball squad rather than the 
 rank list were two of the great surprises of my life. 1 1 
 know what you will answer," continued Mr. Chippendale, i 
 putting up his hand to prevent any interruption on the part 
 of his smiling, immaculate-looking son. "You will say, as 
 you have a dozen times already, that it s the fashion the 
 correct thing, as you call it for a young man who desires 
 to make money quickly to go into a broker s office be- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 141 
 
 come a broker of some kind, stock-broker, note-broker, 
 cotton-broker, real-estate broker, but a broker of some 
 kind; generally and preferably, it seems, a stock-broker." 
 
 "Because it s the surest way to make money quickly, 
 don t you see, father? We have to in order to get married 
 before we re fifty; otherwise we can t give the girls what 
 they are accustomed to." 
 
 Chauncey rose as he concluded and, buttoned his coat, 
 for it was time to go down- town. 
 
 " An aristocracy of stockholders is an anomaly." It was 
 on the tip of Mr. Chippendale s tongue to enlarge upon this 
 pungent statement, but he refrained. After his son had 
 departed he did not at once return to his newspaper. It 
 was becoming more and more apparent to him not only 
 that the spirit of the times had changed lamentably for 
 the worse but that his son had become inoculated with it. 
 Yet, on the other hand, he could not deny that Chauncey 
 had taken hold of his work with ardor and was now at 
 the end of five years occupying a responsible position with 
 his employers, Langdon & Company, who held out hopes 
 of a junior partnership in the dim future. This was some 
 thing to be proud of, and, of course, he was proud of him. 
 But, at the same time, the whole trend of society was so 
 repugnant to his traditions, that he found himself con 
 tinually in a state of bewilderment. 
 
 Mr. Chippendale sighed once more and picked up his 
 newspaper again, which he read carefully for half an 
 hour, at the end of which he cast it aside with a grunt 
 evidently dissatisfied with the contents. At ten o clock 
 he started to walk down-town, by way of Commonwealth 
 Avenue, the Public Garden and Beacon Street. In the 
 Public Garden he scrutinized the trees to make sure 
 that the city forester was attending to his duty, and de- 
 
142 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 plored to himself the garish horticultural taste displayed 
 in the embellishment of the flower-beds. Secretly he rather 
 admired the general enlivening effect, but he had been in 
 formed by certain critics that the place was a hotch-potch 
 of heterogeneous trees and shrubs; moreover, he cherished 
 suspicions that the public official in charge supported an 
 army of cousins and other political retainers in caring for 
 them. Half-way up Beacon Street he turned into the 
 Common in order to observe the squirrels. It was one of 
 his pet grievances one more sign of the changing times 
 that most of the squirrels had disappeared. At one period 
 when he was a young man they were a feature of the 
 mall, sleek, aristocratic-looking fellows, with long, bushy 
 tails, who frisked unmolested among the elms. He had 
 habitually carried a few nuts in his pocket with which to 
 entice them though they had stood in no need of his 
 bounty. There had been two so tame that they allowed 
 him to scratch their heads. But the number had been 
 steadily diminishing so that now there were only two on 
 the entire mall, and these were timid and draggled-looking. 
 On this particular morning not one was in sight; from 
 which Mr. Chippendale mournfully concluded that some 
 cat or dog or ruthless boy must have killed them. His in 
 dignation rose at the thought, for twice within the past year 
 he had sent a communication on the subject to the Tran 
 script, signed with his initials, in which he had urged pro 
 tection of the squirrels on the score that they sucked the 
 eggs of the English sparrows and so might be made effi 
 cient allies against these prolific pests. But thus far the 
 authorities had failed to act on his suggestion. Not infre 
 quently on his way down-town he called on his sister 
 Georgiana, and the hope of interesting her in his grievance 
 moved him to do so now. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 143 
 
 Miss Georgiana Chippendale was a woman of wide 
 sympathies and abundant energy, who invariably lent a 
 sympathetic ear not only to the wrongs of the oppressed, 
 but to every philanthropic, educational or aesthetic novelty. 
 She made liberal contributions to many charities, but her 
 moral support was no less valuable than her money, for 
 in whatever cause she happened to be absorbed and 
 there was at least one new one each year she showed 
 herself an indefatigable partisan and fertile in resources. 
 
 As has been indicated already, she still clung to Beacon 
 Hill not far from its crest, in the vicinity of the State 
 House. Her brother Baxter lived on Park Street, scarcely 
 more than a stone s throw away. Hers was the old family 
 mansion, the windows of which commanded the Common. 
 Its stoop was guarded by an old-fashioned iron railing 
 which curved away on either side of the steps until it 
 wound itself into two circular posts each surmounted by a 
 shining brass knob. The glass over the front door was 
 fan-shaped, the door itself white, with a ponderous handle 
 of the same metal as the bell and the solid, carefully pol 
 ished door-plate on which the name "Chippendale" was 
 engraved in script. 
 
 Miss Chippendale s equipage, a brougham with two 
 horses, was in front of the house at the moment her brother 
 rang. When there was sleighing, she substituted for this 
 vehicle a booby-hut, so called the same which her mother 
 had used and one of the last of its pattern a closed car 
 riage on runners attached to a curving framework and 
 sunk so low that the bulky body almost touched the 
 ground. As the servant opened the door, she was stand 
 ing in the front hall dressed to go out, and evidently not 
 disposed to linger, for her welcome/though sisterly, was 
 incisive. 
 
144 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "Well, Harrison, what is it?" 
 
 In the next breath, as if she could not resist the tempta 
 tion to exult, she added: "I told you not to sell your War 
 rior Mills. I knew they wouldn t go begging long." 
 
 "With my expensive family I couldn t afford to take the 
 risk. If I had been you or Baxter, I would have held on." 
 
 " The trouble with you, Harrison, is that instead of con 
 trolling your expenses you let your expenses control you. 
 Those girls of yours are eating you out of house and home. 
 Why don t they get married?" 
 
 Like her brother Baxter, Miss Chippendale was portly, 
 but she was taller than he and not so stout, an advantage 
 which she ascribed to taking what she called regular exer 
 cise and avoiding water between meals. Her features were 
 rather plain, but strongly marked and individual a good- 
 sized roman nose, a firm, pleasant though large mouth, and 
 quick-moving, humorous eyes which, though they probed 
 the person she was gazing at, were also the mirror of her 
 own emotions. She was a fine-looking woman for sixty- 
 five, and she habitually stated that she was strong as a 
 horse. Certainly she looked so. Her feminine contem 
 poraries were apt to declare that she was more nearly 
 handsome than ever before in her life. This was an exag 
 geration, of course, though she had not been what could 
 be termed a pretty girl. Moreover, at twenty-one she had 
 been stiff and a sufferer from the self-conscious conviction 
 that the young men who paid her attentions were attracted 
 by her money. Now she knew that no one wished to marry 
 her, and she was equally sure that she did not wish to 
 marry any one. But she had her five nieces a little on her 
 mind. 
 
 "Georgie has several young men devoted to her, I be 
 lieve. I stopped to speak about the squirrels." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 145 
 
 As he spoke, Mr. Chippendale drummed lightly with his 
 cane on the tiles of the vestibule. He was standing on the 
 brush mat between the doors and his way appeared to be 
 blocked, for Miss Georgiana, who was on the threshold of 
 the inner door, attended by a maid carrying the carriage 
 rug and some parcels, showed no disposition to let him in. 
 But whatever the upshot might have been had not Miss 
 Chippendale suddenly remembered something, it hap 
 pened that she wheeled about and, abandoning her posi 
 tion, walked sturdily back to the hall. 
 
 "Miss Avery?" she cried at the foot of the staircase. 
 Thereupon Mr. Chippendale took advantage of the oppor 
 tunity to step inside. As he glanced at the familiar ob 
 jects in the high-studded but narrow hall, at the marble 
 bust in one corner and the ornamental card-receiver on a 
 stand in another, and at the gilt clock on the frame under 
 the looking-glass, he listened for the pleasant voice of his 
 sister s factotum. He thought well of the young woman in 
 question. During the five years of her employment as sec 
 retary and companion, she had conducted herself with 
 such propriety and tact as to win the approbation of the 
 entire family, each one of whom had come more or less 
 in contact with her. Was she not bright, spirited and 
 energetic, with plenty to say for herself, yet ladylike in 
 deportment? Just the person Georgiana needed to an 
 swer her correspondence and attend to the details of the 
 thousand and one things she was interested in. And he 
 judged that she had displayed sense in the matter of her 
 relations with his nephew Henry Sumner. If there had 
 ever been anything serious in that affair, evidently it had 
 blown over; which was to her credit, for a designing 
 girl might have taken advantage of such youthful infat 
 uation. 
 
146 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Priscilla came tripping downstairs in response to the 
 summons. 
 
 "You may send the cheque for fifty dollars on my desk 
 to the Treasurer of the Home for Superannuated Actors. 
 He wrote a week ago that their accounts for last year show 
 a deficit. Those poor little widows have driven everything 
 else out of my head." 
 
 Miss Chippendale continued, turning toward her brother 
 after giving this direction, "Just fancy, Harrison, being 
 married when a mere child to a man old enough to be your 
 grandfather and then being ostracized, treated as the scum 
 of the earth, because you don t insist on lying down on his 
 funeral pile and being cremated with him although it is 
 forbidden by law. Bisesa Dass says it s all true. She lec 
 tures, and has come out from India to raise money to 
 educate the poor little things and help change public sen 
 timent out there. She has brought letters to me, and 
 and here are four tickets." Miss Chippendale, having 
 fumbled for a moment in the little reticule she carried, 
 produced them. "I ve agreed to be responsible for fifty. 
 You needn t pay anything, but I expect your girls to be 
 present at this house next Wednesday at four and 
 Georgiana to pour tea. Miss Avery has been sitting up 
 at night getting out the circulars. We can t afford to fold 
 our hands in Boston and let persecution like that continue, 
 especially now that this wonderful telephone is going to 
 bring the whole world within speaking distance. The 
 Emancipation of the Suttee, that s the title of the lecture, 
 and I ve got all my patronesses a stunning list. People 
 are curious to see Bisesa Dass in her Hindoo costume." 
 
 "She s a suttee herself was a widow at twelve, Mr. 
 Chippendale," explained Priscilla. "Only think of that." 
 
 "And there will be lantern-slides illustrative of other 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 147 
 
 oriental superstitions and of oriental scenery," added Miss 
 Chippendale majestically. 
 
 "Under the personal supervision of Mr. Henry Sum- 
 ner," added Priscilla by way of completing the programme, 
 and because that feature of it amused her a little. 
 
 "Which will atone in some measure," said Miss Chip 
 pendale, "for his conduct about his wall-paper. He has 
 looked pale lately, Harrison, and I was convinced that 
 there was arsenic in his wall-paper. I offered to have it 
 tested and to pay the expense of a new one. But he 
 wouldn t consent. He declared it was only a Boston fad. 
 It appears some doctor or other had told him people in 
 New York never have arsenic-poisoning from wall-paper. 
 As if that made any difference." 
 
 Mr. Chippendale shook his head disapprovingly. "It 
 was just like Henry. If he is not careful, his positive views 
 will blast his future career. No one admires independence 
 more than I do, but a young lawyer should cultivate tact 
 if he desires to get ahead." Apart from the merits of this 
 particular instance, Mr. Chippendale was glad of an op 
 portunity to keep the balance even, so far as his sister s 
 favor was concerned, between his son and Henry. She 
 might disapprove of Chauncey s choice of an occupation, 
 but it was only fair to point out that her other grown-up 
 nephew was not perfect. 
 
 "Well, Henry has his faults like the rest of us; but I 
 admire a man who s not a mush. And there s one thing 
 about him, he s a regular Chippendale." 
 
 " Of course he s a Chippendale; his mother was a Chir> 
 pendale." It was clear that he regarded his sister s re 
 mark as superfluous. "I only meant that I should like to 
 see him a little less er uncompromising." 
 
 "Well, there s some one who agrees with you," she said, 
 
148 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 indicating Priscilla. "She professes to believe that he s 
 obstinate as a mule." 
 
 "Not quite so bad as that, Miss Chippendale," an 
 swered Priscilla with a laugh. The fact that she was sud 
 denly appealed to made her aware that she had not for a 
 long time asked herself squarely what she did think of her 
 impecunious lover. She had somehow taken for granted 
 that her opinion of him had remained unaltered in every 
 particular since the day when he had naively explained 
 why he could not offer himself to her. And yet, as she 
 hastily collected her wits in order to meet her employer s 
 embarrassing challenge, she became conscious that the in 
 tervening five years had thrown new lights on that partic 
 ular charge; conscious that she knew now not merely that 
 he had really been impecunious from the standpoint of his 
 family and friends at the time of their ridiculous interview, 
 but had been actuated during it solely by delicate consider 
 ation for her. In other words, that he had been faithful to 
 an ideal, though wofully clumsy. She must not deny or 
 begrudge him this justice, whatever else she thought of 
 him. 
 
 "I see so little of Mr. Sumner that I have not much op 
 portunity of judging how obstinate he can be," she said 
 pleasantly. 
 
 "And whose fault is that, I should like to know?" re 
 torted Miss Chippendale, who, even where matters of the 
 heart were concerned, was likely to be blunt. 
 
 "Of course he is very much occupied with his profes 
 sion," replied Priscilla glibly. 
 
 "Gammon," ejaculated Miss Georgiana. 
 
 But the explanation impressed Mr. Chippendale and 
 caused him to offer Priscilla moral support. Perhaps he 
 did not like to hear his sister even in jest encourage a ro- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 149 
 
 mance of which she must profoundly disapprove. "I 
 fancy that a young lawyer who desires to succeed must 
 give his entire mind to his business." 
 
 "I m sure it must be so, Mr. Chippendale," said Pris- 
 cilla with a laugh. 
 
 "But young men s employments have changed since 
 my day," he resumed. "When I first went down-town I 
 was expected to be there at eight o clock and my duties 
 were menial to build the fire, sweep out the office 
 and clean the inkstands. I fancy the experience did me 
 good." 
 
 "I doubt it, Harrison," exclaimed his sister. 
 
 Priscilla might have taken advantage of Miss Chippen 
 dale s attention being thus diverted to avoid further ref 
 erence to her relations with Henry Sumner. Until re 
 cently she had assumed that her employer, like the rest of 
 the family, was grateful to her for having nipped his youth 
 ful hopes in the bud. They had never discussed the matter 
 openly, but she had gathered both that Miss Chippendale 
 was aware of what had happened, and was disposed to 
 make fun of Henry s matrimonial intentions. But she 
 thought she had detected lately signs of a purpose on her 
 part to throw them together. More than once when his 
 name had been introduced Miss Chippendale had made ex 
 cuses for him though decidedly annoyed by his attitude 
 regarding the ravages of arsenic. These were merely 
 straws which might mean nothing. But if, on the other 
 hand, they were taken as indications that Miss Chippen 
 dale was disposed to aid her nephew s cause, ought she 
 not, since she had been treated practically like a daughter, 
 to make clear from the start that such an attitude would 
 only be a waste of time and result in disappointment? 
 Plainly it was her duty to do this, and the present seemed 
 
150 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 a favorable opportunity for showing how little real sym 
 pathy there was between herself and Henry. Therefore 
 she said: 
 
 "I must admit that when we do meet we are very sure 
 to disagree." Then she added staunchly, "And, besides 
 being a little uncompromising, the pet bone of contention 
 between Mr. Sumner and me has always been that he is so 
 inclined to pick flaws in the things which other people are 
 trying to accomplish." The summary pleased her; she 
 felt that she had stated her case succinctly. 
 
 "The reason is obvious, dear because he is so full of 
 enthusiasms," responded Miss Georgiana. 
 
 "Obvious? Enthusiasms? Enthusiasms?" Priscilla 
 gasped in her dismay. "I consider him one of the least 
 enthusiastic persons I ever met in my life." This might 
 sound like a liberty, privileged as she was in the house 
 hold, but she could not refrain from expressing her 
 astonishment and dissent. 
 
 "Then you can t know him very well, after all not so 
 well as I hoped you did," said Miss Georgiana, with a toss 
 of her head. "If you don t believe me, wait and see 
 wait and see." 
 
 " But Henry does strike one at times as a little too vi 
 sionary in practical affairs," remarked Mr. Chippendale, 
 drumming gently with his cane. 
 
 "Come, Harrison, make yourself useful and give me 
 your arm down these slippery steps. What was that about 
 the squirrels?" 
 
 "The last two have disappeared. They have not been 
 there for two mornings. You saw my second letter in the 
 Transcript: 1 
 
 Miss Chippendale frowned solicitously. "It s an out 
 rage. Miss A very," she added, "write to the Society for 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 151 
 
 the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and say that my 
 annual subscription of fifty dollars will not be continued 
 unless something is done and done at once about the 
 squirrels on the Common." 
 
 "Thank you, Georgiana. That ought to produce re 
 sults if anything can," said Mr. Chippendale, and he 
 offered his arm to his sister, who had reached the vestibule. 
 She took it, but judging by the resolute manner in which 
 she trudged down the steps, it may be reasonable to 
 assume that she had invited his assistance because she had 
 something private to say. For, as she clutched his sleeve, 
 she drew him toward her and whispered : 
 
 "Buy Electric Coke, Harrison." 
 
 "What?" 
 
 "Buy Electric Coke." 
 
 "What s that?" 
 
 " A stock a newly patented invention. You didn t have 
 any Telephone, you remember. I did and it has treated me 
 uncommonly well. This may be another." She spoke 
 eagerly, as though thrilled by the possibility. 
 
 So Chauncey was right; Georgiana was speculating. 
 The entire social order seemed bewitched turned topsy 
 turvy. "I know. But I never speculate." There was a 
 plaintive note in Mr. Chippendale s voice the severity of 
 high principle chastened by constant bewilderment. " But 
 it was very kind of you to speak of it." 
 
 She paused with her foot on the step of the brougham, 
 whispering so that the coachman should not overhear, 
 "Don t be a fool. Buy it. Don t you ever change your 
 investments?" 
 
 "Occasionally," he said, with the dignity of one who 
 feels himself again on firm ground. 
 
 "Then what s the distinction? If an investment goes 
 
152 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 wrong it s a speculation, and if a speculation goes right it s 
 an investment." 
 
 While her brother was weighing this specious proposi 
 tion she climbed into her carriage, but as soon as she was 
 seated she put her face across the window, still close to his. 
 
 "Mr. Blaisdell says it s going up." 
 
 Her mysterious tone indicated that she named an author 
 ity which would be deemed indisputable. It disclosed 
 also delight at the possession of secret knowledge. 
 
 "Mr. Blaisdell?" Mr. Chippendale s amazement and 
 disgust were so great that he involuntarily asked, "Who is 
 he?" But in the same breath he added, "Yes yes, I 
 know. But where have you met him, Georgiana?" It 
 did not seem credible that this newcomer, however omni 
 present, had succeeded in invading the privacy of so ultra- 
 conservative a spot as Beacon Hill near the State House. 
 
 But he was doomed to experience just this shock, ad 
 ministered with gusto, for his sister was burning to furnish 
 the final proofs of her sagacity. 
 
 "I met him here. He came to call on Priscilla my 
 Miss Avery. He s her brother-in-law. We got talking 
 and he explained it all to us and in the most convincing 
 way. Electricity manufactured out of coal a brand-new 
 process. If it succeeds, commercially as he calls it and 
 Mr. Blaisdell thinks it s bound to be a success there may 
 be a fortune in it. The stock has only just begun to rise." 
 Miss Chippendale s eyes gleamed as the result of the 
 vision they beheld. "It s a risk; you may lose all you put 
 into it; I won t deny that, Harrison." But, after empha 
 sizing the word, she tapped him on the sleeve and putting 
 her lips still closer to his ear continued triumphantly, 
 "But when I inform you that the man who invented the 
 process is Miss Avery s own father, and that Mr. Hugh 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 153 
 
 Blaisdell is his son-in-law, you ll see that I m not stark, 
 staring crazy. Now do as you like." Thereupon Miss 
 Chippendale said imperatively to the coachman, "You 
 may drive on, Thomas," and sat back against her cush 
 ions. Before her brother had time to comment appropri 
 ately on what he had heard, her brougham was under way. 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 MR. CHIPPENDALE resumed his walk down-town in a 
 perturbed frame of mind. The fact that his sister Geor- 
 giana had confirmed by her own words the suspicion, 
 which Chauncey had awakened, that she had a secret 
 habit of risking money in hazardous ventures, was discon 
 certing, but not so much so as that she should be on fa 
 miliar terms with this Mr. Blaisdell. As^ for the money, 
 she was a spinster and had more than she could spend. 
 He did not approve of the propensity; it was contrary to 
 Chippendale ideals and the sound business principles of 
 the Baxters; but his sister appeared to be shrewd or at 
 least lucky had she not made a ten-strike in Telephone ? 
 and evidently she had confided in him in order to do 
 him a good turn. But her acquaintance with Blaisdell 
 stuck in his aristocratic crop. 
 
 Nor was the shock caused him by her reception at her 
 own house of this rising luminary of State Street a man 
 on whom he himself had never set eyes entirely neutral 
 ized by the coincidence that Blaisdell happened to be Miss 
 Avery s brother-in-law. It was to be expected that his sis 
 ter Georgiana in the course of promoting the live move 
 ments of the day should be brought in contact more or less 
 
154 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 with persons in a different walk of life foreigners like 
 Bisesa Dass, major or minor celebrities who presented let 
 ters of introduction, and pioneers in aesthetic or philan 
 thropic reforms. As one who stood in the van of progress 
 himself, although not an active worker, he understood 
 that this must be so. But the present case was essentially 
 different. Blaisdell desired a permanent footing in Bos 
 ton, and had been in business there but a short time. It 
 behooved such a man to be modest; yet he had been mak 
 ing abnormally rapid progress. This was well enough on 
 State Street, but it appeared that he had social ambitions; 
 at least, Chauncey had intimated that certain people were 
 taking him up. The mental picture which Mr. Chippen 
 dale drew was of a plausible upstart, who, as he chose to 
 believe, had gained his sister s confidence, if not admit 
 tance to her house, by thrusting himself forward unduly. 
 That this judgment was not supported by actual evidence 
 that it might, indeed, be the product of a kink in his own 
 brain Mr. Chippendale was subconsciously aware; nev 
 ertheless, he felt convinced that he was right. He had no 
 intention of buying Electric Coke; to do so would be con 
 trary to his principles. A more serious concern was that 
 he might be tempted to sell his Commonwealth Avenue 
 house to this forth-putting person. 
 
 His spirits were not improved by stopping at the Ath- 
 ena um Library, for he found that every new book which 
 he wished to read had been taken out. Having mentioned 
 the fact at the desk, he was informed that in order to be 
 certain of obtaining anything new, it would be necessary to 
 be there as early as the library was opened. Until re 
 cently he had been accustomed to find something desir 
 able left. Mr. Chippendale deplored the extension of 
 modern enterprise to literary haunts and mournfully re- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 155 
 
 fleeted that there were beginning to be too many people in 
 Boston. 
 
 He still maintained a small office where he employed a 
 single clerk. This venerable retainer, who had been in his 
 father s service and who continued to believe that the 
 name of Chippendale was the barometer of local opinion 
 in all matters commercial or social, kept the books of the 
 Chippendale estate, an elaborately neat if solemn process. 
 Chauncey referred to him occasionally as a fuddy-duddy, 
 and advised pensioning him, a suggestion which struck 
 Mr. Chippendale as flippant and almost heartless. The 
 latter relied on his subordinate for all routine information. 
 He himself merely looked the ledgers over casually once 
 a year and endorsed the dividend cheques of his factory 
 shares as they became due. Mr. Chippendale s habit was 
 to visit his office twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays. 
 What he had to do there, including the perusal of another 
 newspaper and the feeding of some tame city pigeons who 
 flew down to the window-sill from their shelter in the eaves, 
 ordinarily occupied him less than three-quarters of an hour. 
 After this it was his custom to drop in at Horatio Lang- 
 don & Company, the bankers. He had done so for years, 
 long before Chauncey had been summoned from the foot 
 ball field to a position there. The practice was analogous 
 in his mind to what in his father s time had been termed 
 going on Change the days when the old-fashioned mer 
 chants dropped in about noon at the marine insurance 
 offices to underwrite maritime risks. Chauncey had in- 
 . quired once in a perverse mood what wagering that a cer 
 tain vessel would not founder at sea was if not gambling. 
 This remark, too, had appeared to him flippant. He him 
 self was no social censor, no moral ascetic; there was 
 plenty of sporting blood in his veins, and he had always 
 
156 THE CHIPPENDACES 
 
 been regarded as the progressive member of the family. 
 He comprehended perfectly that the man who could make 
 two dollars grow where there was only one before was no 
 less to be revered than he who could do the same with 
 blades of grass; but was there not a wide difference be 
 tween this and modern wholesale speculation? His half- 
 weekly visits to Horatio Langdon s office were ostensibly 
 for the purpose of hearing how this or that mill was doing 
 and of inquiring the price of cotton, the staple on which 
 their profits were based; incidentally he heard the current 
 gossip of the day, how large a property this acquaintance 
 had left and how rapidly the country was going to the devil. 
 It may be truly said of Mr. Chippendale that while he 
 was musing the fire had burned. While he had been pot 
 tering in and out, content to know what dividends his 
 manufacturing shares were earning, he had been practi 
 cally deaf to the lingo, as he called it, concerning the new 
 enterprises seething around him. The siren voice of 
 speculation had whispered in his ear from time to time, 
 but he had not listened. Why should a man of his means 
 and standing take unnecessary risks of which he under 
 stood nothing? What his son Chauncey would have de 
 scribed as "straight tips" had been given to him more than 
 once by Horatio Langdon himself, who had even assured 
 him that he was neglecting a great opportunity, but he had 
 shaken his head. Mr. Chippendale had in some respects 
 the memory of an elephant; he kept stored in his mind the 
 names of prime ventures which had failed, though he might 
 overlook those which had prospered marvellously. Con 
 sequently when he was twitted with such things as "Tele 
 phone," he could retaliate by naming certain railroads 
 which had gone into the hands of receivers, and mines 
 which had become mere holes in the ground. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 157 
 
 He had been mentally blind also, to all intents and pur 
 poses, to the wonderful physical changes in the banking 
 and brokerage business which had been taking place under 
 his very nose. When he had first begun to drop in at 
 Langdon & Company s, their offices were cramped, the 
 facilities limited and on a small scale. Since then the firm 
 had twice enlarged its quarters, and latterly had trans 
 planted itself to the entire ground floor of a spacious mod 
 ern building. Here an army of accountants, clerks and 
 stenographers had replaced the single bookkeeper and two 
 or three office assistants of former days. The constant 
 squeak of electric bells competed for everything savored 
 of competition with the noise of the ticker and the dis 
 tant clicking of numerous type-writing machines. Lang 
 don & Company was now a great hive of industry subdi 
 vided into departments, each with a competent head who 
 received a liberal salary. 
 
 All these innovations had occurred during Mr. Chippen 
 dale s manhood. He had been sensible, of course, of the 
 gradual changes, but their commercial significance had 
 been lost upon him. While he was proud of the growth of 
 his native city, he fondly recalled the low and dingy office 
 buildings without elevators, and the more deliberate busi 
 ness methods. When he entered the offices of Langdon & 
 Company, people who did not know him looked at him 
 twice, for obviously he belonged to the old school. He was 
 always scrupulously dressed, and, in spite of his out-of- 
 date tall hat, he had the effect of a man both of breeding 
 and of fashion. If the clerks smiled at one another occa 
 sionally behind his back because his orders were so insig 
 nificant, his courteous, ceremonious bearing ensured him 
 the freedom of the banking-house, which was felt to be a 
 gainer in respectability through his presence. 
 
158 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 It was his habit not to leave without exchanging a few 
 words with the head of the firm. On this particular 
 morning, as General Langdon happened to be disengaged 
 when he entered, he^went directly to his desk. The banker, 
 looking up, forestalled what he supposed was on his friend s 
 tongue by saying, with the readiness of the duck which 
 dives at the flash or the boxer who projects his forearm to 
 ward off an anticipated blow : 
 
 "Good morning, Harrison. I suppose you ve come to 
 haul me over the coals because I advised you to sell your 
 Warrior Mills. All I can add is that I let mine go at the 
 same time and at a slightly lower figure." Some brokers 
 endeavor to lead away the conversation from painful top 
 ics by brisk pleasantries, others rush in and hypnotize the 
 victim by virtuous or pathetic justification. 
 
 "I know," said Mr. Chippendale gently. "I don t 
 blame you, Horatio. Chauncey explained to me that 
 every one supposed the mills were completely run down. 
 It seems to have been er the fortune of war." 
 
 "Ah, Chauncey explained it, did he? They were com 
 pletely run down. Exactly that the fortune of war. For 
 it didn t occur to any of us that it would be possible to 
 raise the necessary capital to build them over again. An 
 extraordinary individual that man Blaisdell. Have you 
 met him?" 
 
 Mr. Chippendale shook his head. He may have frowned 
 slightly, though he did not intend to, for General Langdon 
 added : 
 
 "Not exactly our kind, Harrison, but a new and inter 
 esting type." 
 
 "Chauncey has told me something about him." 
 
 "Chauncey thinks him extraordinarily able. By the 
 way, speaking of Chauncey, he is doing better even than 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 159 
 
 I believed he would. I will tell you in confidence that we 
 shall raise his salary again the first of January." 
 
 Mr. Chippendale bowed and his lip quivered. 
 
 "Yes," continued the banker, "he is justifying the 
 opinion which I formed the first day I set eyes on him. 
 That young man, I said to myself, has grit and sterling 
 principle of course he has, for he s a Chippendale. 
 There s nothing like thoroughbred stock, is there, whether 
 it be in horses or men? I tell you, Harrison" leaning 
 forward, he tapped Mr. Chippendale s knee as he spoke 
 "you ve got a devilish manly, capable son a son to be 
 proud of. Now shut up and forget all about Warrior 
 Mills." 
 
 At this moment the telephone bell rang. Picking up the 
 receiver from his desk, General Langdon became immersed 
 in conversation. The telephone was still a comparatively 
 new appliance. As a man of progress, Mr. Chippendale 
 had recently yielded to the entreaties of his family and put 
 one into his house. But in doing so he had acted contrary 
 to what he called his better judgment. Was not the tele 
 phone an abettor of slovenly living in that its use encour 
 aged the young to put off everything to the last minute? 
 He knew that his sister Georgiana and his brother Baxter 
 accused him of moral cowardice for having given in. 
 Commercially speaking he could perceive that it was a 
 great time-saver; yet would it not be distasteful to be 
 obliged to think so quickly on the spur of the moment? 
 Such was his reflection as he heard the sprightly replies of 
 the banker to the person at the other end of the line. Then 
 he delicately tried to think of other things in order not to 
 listen. His position, though forced on him, was too much 
 like eavesdropping or looking at a man in his bath. He 
 recalled with a glow of satisfaction what he had just heard 
 
160 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 concerning his son. He remembered also that his wife, a 
 few weeks before, had let fall the remark that Chauncey 
 seemed to be attracted by General Langdon s second 
 daughter. But, in spite of this effort to close his ears to 
 what was being said, he found it so difficult not to over 
 hear that he was on the point of moving away, when the 
 conversation ceased. 
 
 "That was the man of whom we were just speaking 
 Blaisdell." General Langdon hesitated a moment, then, 
 thrusting his hands into his pockets and leaning back in 
 his chair, he shot this remark at his visitor: " Would you 
 like to gamble?" 
 
 Mr. Chippendale s first emotion at hearing the name of 
 Blaisdell was one of wonder at the latter s free and easy 
 conduct in having called up on the telephone the head of 
 the banking-house of Langdon & Company merely be 
 cause he wished to talk to him. Before he could bring 
 himself to answer the rather startling inquiry, the banker 
 did it for him. 
 
 "I know you never do. And this time you might lose 
 every dollar you put in. On the other hand, there may be 
 big money in it. Blaisdell" and here he dwelt on the 
 name for an instant like one citing an oracle " is sure there 
 is. He thinks that it is likely to prove one of the great com 
 mercial successes of the age." The banker s mouth visibly 
 watered as he repeated the prediction. 
 
 " Is it Electric Coke?" 
 
 General Langdon started with surprise. "How the 
 dickens did you ever hear of Electric Coke ? I didn t sup 
 pose Chauncey 
 
 "It wasn t from Chauncey." Mr. Chippendale felt that 
 he could not give his authority. He did not wish to betray 
 that his sister was speculating at the instance of Blaisdell. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 161 
 
 It was pleasant, nevertheless, for once to show himself 
 alive to what was going on financially, however little he 
 might be tempted by the lure. 
 
 "WasitfromAvery?" 
 
 "I haven t seen Avery since we were in the army. I 
 doubt if I should know him. He never attends the reun 
 ions." 
 
 "He hasn t been able to afford it, poor chap. He has 
 had to practise strict economy, for his experiments have 
 swallowed up every dollar he could lay his fingers on and 
 more, too. I ve helped him a little loaned him money on 
 his future patents money I never expected to see again. 
 Now he has got his patents and organized a company or 
 rather, Blaisdell, who married his step-daughter, has. 
 How did you happen to know they were connected?" he 
 asked, noticing the other s nod of acquiescence. 
 
 A plausible explanation, which he hastened to avail him 
 self of, occurred to Mr. Chippendale. "My nephew 
 Henry Sumner, used to know one of the daughters Mr. 
 Avery s own daughter, I believe." 
 
 "I see I see. Queer lad, that Henry Sumner. A little 
 shy, isn t he? A trifle cranky, too, perhaps. But he ll 
 work out of that presently, I dare say. His father was a 
 brave man." 
 
 "Henry is his father s son," replied Mr. Chippendale, 
 wishing to stand up for his kinsman and yet state nothing 
 inconsistent with his own mental reservation. "But ex 
 cepting the daughter, the families are not otherwise 
 acquainted." Having made this point clear, he saw no 
 reason for divulging that Miss Avery was his sister s com 
 panion. 
 
 General Langdon, surmising that the Averys were indi 
 rectly the source of Mr. Chippendale s knowledge of Elec- 
 
162 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 trie Coke, did not probe further but said: "We re placing 
 the invention on the market this house and Blaisdell s 
 and from the point of view of a speculation, it looks to me 
 pretty attractive. There are to be underlying bonds and 
 a single kind of stock. The subscriber to every block will 
 get $10,000 bonds at 95 and a bonus of 100 shares of 
 stock. I don t guarantee, Harrison, that it s the chance of 
 a lifetime, but you can see for yourself that if we succeed 
 commercially in manufacturing electricity out of coal, the 
 profits may be fabulous. Now it s up to you to say 
 whether you ll come in or stay out. You re just in time, for 
 the subscription list opens to-morrow." General Langdon 
 sat back again in his chair, conscious that he had made an 
 irreproachably candid statement. If the venture proved a 
 failure, it could not be claimed that he had minimized the 
 risks. In case it turned out a gigantic success, his friend 
 would not be able to say that he had appeared luke 
 warm. 
 
 " Manufacturing electricity out of coal." Mr. Chip 
 pendale, having finally ascertained what Electric Coke sig 
 nified, repeated the words by way of meditating on them. 
 
 "Yes, from ordinary, every-day coal. Sounds a little like 
 extracting gold from sea-water, doesn t it? If it ll make 
 you feel any better, I ll confide in you that the thing is 
 virtually underwritten already. " Blaisdell," he added, " is 
 simply crazy over it, though he always supposed, as I did, 
 that his father-in-law s invention would never produce 
 anything more practical than moonshine." 
 
 Mr. Chippendale shook his head and rose. "I ve no 
 doubt Electric Coke will be a great success. I hope so, 
 Horatio, for your sake." Then, in response to his friend s 
 look of disappointment, he said simply, "I should have to 
 borrow the money in order to go in." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 163 
 
 "We should be glad to carry the subscription as long 
 as you like. Give us a few bonds as a margin and we 
 will always arrange the rest." 
 
 "But if Electric Coke went down instead of up 
 
 " You would have to pay up, of course. We shall peg the 
 price for a year, anyway." Such lack of business knowl 
 edge made the banker feel a little impatient. 
 
 Mr. Chippendale s hypothesis was a statement of possi 
 bilities, not a symptom of doubt. He shook his head and 
 put out his neatly gloved hand. "Thank you very much, 
 Horatio. I m old-fashioned in my ideas; moreover, I 
 know nothing about syndicates." Then as his glance rested 
 on a familiar figure absorbed in the perusal of the current 
 quotations in the outer office, he pointed with his cane and 
 said, with a twinkle in his eyes: 
 
 "There s your man." 
 
 "Baxter?" The banker s tone was one of amusement, 
 and yet of horror, as if by the mere suggestion an idol had 
 been desecrated. " If I were to ask him, he would be liable 
 to fall down in a fit. He isn t progressive like you, Harri 
 son. Everything he saves he salts down into gilt-edged 
 securities. Baxter must be a very rich man by this time," 
 he added contemplatively, "and if he lasts another ten 
 years, as he bids fair to, he will be one of the richest men 
 in Boston. The secret of which is plain as the nose on 
 your face he doesn t spend anything from one year s end 
 to the other." 
 
 "While I am spending all the time. The moral is that a 
 progressive man who desires to grow rich must run specu 
 lative risks." 
 
 General Langdon did not dispute this morbid philoso 
 phy. On the contrary, he accepted the challenge. "He 
 must take certain chances. That s right. In other words, 
 
164 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 when a good thing is shoved under his nose, he must make 
 the most of it." He was inclined to be provoked. Princi 
 ples were all very well. He respected Mr. Chippendale for 
 his. But it must have been apparent that he desired to be 
 friend him. Had he not done everything except get down 
 on his bended knees and offer to guarantee the proposi 
 tion ? This would not have been business ; besides, it would 
 have been insulting. He had suspicions that his friend s 
 finances were troubling him a little, and this had seemed 
 the opportunity to do him a good turn to do more than 
 wipe out the depreciation on Warrior Mills. To be sure, 
 there was an element of risk but, as he had just inti 
 mated, unless a man took an occasional chance in this 
 world of competition, he could not expect to lay up any 
 thing. He, too, had gathered, not without satisfaction, 
 that Chauncey and his second daughter were intimate. 
 The family connection was eminently safe and was unex 
 ceptionable. His remarks in regard to Chauncey s uncle 
 led him to reflect that, though the young man s patrimony 
 would be slender, he would presumably inherit from 
 other sources. But, cognizant as he believed himself to be 
 of Mr. Chippendale s attitude and affairs in general, the 
 banker was not prepared for the response which his mild 
 protest evoked. 
 
 "That reminds me you don t happen to know of any 
 one who would like to buy my house?" 
 
 "Your house ? On the North Shore ? " 
 
 "No on Commonwealth Avenue." 
 
 "Your new house?" 
 
 "It isn t so very new; I ve been there ten years, and 
 er it has increased considerably in value. In a short 
 time now I shan t require so large a house." Mr. Chip 
 pendale, metaphorically speaking, was whistling to keep 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 165 
 
 up his courage. He evidently hoped that the reason he 
 alleged would prove convincing. 
 
 But General Langdon showed his incredulity by a snort. 
 While putting these questions he had looked searchingly at 
 his friend. Intimate as they were, he now recognized that 
 they were on delicate ground and that what had been 
 uttered so casually was the confession of a proud and sen 
 sitive nature in the clutch of circumstances. But, being 
 an impulsive man, he followed his ordinary method of 
 investigation. 
 
 "What put that damn-fool notion into your head?" In 
 the next breath he inquired solicitously, "What s the mat 
 ter, Harrison? Have you lost money which I don t know 
 about?" 
 
 Mr. Chippendale stood buttoning his glove with one 
 hand and holding his tall hat in the other. He was one of 
 the few frequenters of the office who, when he sat down to 
 talk with a member of the firm, did not regard the re 
 moval of his hat as a superfluous courtesy. He would 
 have preferred to leave without explaining, for the con 
 fession had slipped out almost against his will. 
 
 "Not directly," he answered. "The things I inherited 
 have shrunk in value somewhat." He hesitated a moment. 
 " No, the trouble is it costs so much to live. I am spending 
 more than my income, and and the deficit isn t tempo 
 rary; it gets larger every time I draw a trial balance. My 
 expenses are eating me up. That in a Boston man is the 
 next thing to dishonesty, you know." 
 
 "I m not sure that it isn t worse, my dear fellow," Gen 
 eral Langdon could not resist remarking. He was glad that 
 the dialogue had taken a semi-humorous turn, which re 
 lieved the awkwardness of the situation. But he realized 
 that the witticism was virtually true. His sympathies had 
 
166 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 been deeply stirred by what he had just heard. How did 
 people manage to live nowadays on what used to be a 
 comfortable income, unless they had proper facilities for 
 increasing it? He was exceedingly sorry for his friend. 
 But what was there to do? He would gladly loan him a 
 round sum; but such an offer, if not an impertinence, 
 would certainly be refused. He knew the temper of 
 Mr. Chippendale s spirit. The latter must be aware 
 how his affairs really stood and, if it were true that 
 he was falling appreciably behind year after year as 
 seemed extremely probable now that it had been men 
 tionedwhat better could he do than realize on his house, 
 which could be sold at a profit, mortifying as this might 
 be? General Langdon reflected that if it had been his 
 own case, he might have preferred a large mortgage and 
 to trust to luck for the future. But on the other hand, as 
 had just appeared, Mr. Chippendale never did trust to 
 luck. For such a man as this what could the future do ? 
 
 As these considerations filtered through his mind, Gen 
 eral Langdon put out his hand, for Mr. Chippendale had 
 buttoned his overcoat and under cover of the smile which 
 his last remark had brought to his lips, was turning to go. 
 General Langdon knew that anything which savored of 
 emotion would be distasteful to his visitor. But he was 
 determined at least to express his sympathy by a strong 
 hand-clasp. Yet all he said was: 
 
 " You know best, of course. I m concerned to hear it- 
 much concerned." 
 
 u lt s precautionary in a sense but er under all the 
 circumstances unavoidable." 
 
 "I ll bear your house in mind. If I hear of any person 
 who is looking for one, I ll recommend it. Real estate is 
 rather a drug on the market just at the moment, but the 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 167 
 
 right man may come along." The banker appeared to be 
 running over in his head the possible purchasers. 
 
 Mr. Chippendale, as he walked away, felt a sense of re 
 lief that BlaisdelPs name had not been suggested. He had 
 half expected that it would pop out of General Langdon s 
 mouth the moment after he had admitted that his house 
 was in the market. Though the possibility of selling it to 
 him loomed up as a dire necessity, he hoped that it might 
 be any one else. He was not sorry that he had spoken, but 
 he felt the pangs of mortification. He knew that the item 
 would be whispered from one to another until by the end 
 of forty-eight hours it would become the talk of the Back 
 Bay, and all his acquaintance would be exclaiming, "Have 
 you heard the news? Harrison Chippendale s Common 
 wealth Avenue house is for sale." 
 
 As he passed through the office, he encountered his 
 brother Baxter, who looked up from the figures he was 
 studying in order to remark: 
 
 "Didn t I advise you not to sell your Warrior Mills?" 
 
 As has been intimated, Baxter Chippendale favored his 
 mother s family in appearance. He was rather chunky, 
 with reddish side-whiskers. His blue eyes were small and 
 imperturbable, his heavy face decidedly impassive; but he 
 never hesitated to speak his mind, especially to his rela 
 tions, and his speech, like his sister Georgiana s, was liable 
 to be tart. He and Harrison were on familiar terms, but, 
 as they had never agreed on any subject since reaching 
 manhood, it could not be said that they were sympathetic. 
 Baxter was a confirmed old bachelor, set both in his ideas 
 and in his habits. Though he did not serve in the Civil 
 War, its memories rendered him what Harrison termed 
 a hidebound partisan, and he was utterly intolerant of 
 his brother s Mugwump propensities. They belonged to 
 
168 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 different clubs, and also to different churches, for Harri 
 son s wife and daughters had persuaded him to follow 
 fashion and attend Trinity, although the Chippendales as 
 well as the Floyds and Baxters had been Unitarians for 
 two generations. Baxter still lived under the shadow of 
 the State House, still occupied the high, box-like family 
 pew at King s Chapel, still made liberal contributions to 
 the Republican campaign fund, and still added a certain 
 portion of his income to his principal as he had done for 
 the past thirty years. In his eyes, Harrison s propensity to 
 live beyond his means was merely the logical result of such 
 radical steps as moving to the Back Bay, frequenting the 
 Episcopal Church and coquetting with the former advo 
 cates of negro slavery. These were all moral lapses in his 
 estimation, and as such to be frowned at by those who 
 wished to foster conservative traditions. He was a direc 
 tor of several banks, institutions for savings and estab 
 lished railroads, a trustee of Mt. Auburn Cemetery and of 
 the State Hospital, and had at one time been a member of 
 the Governor s military staff. In early middle life, he had 
 owned a fast horse or two, which, in sleighing time, he had 
 pitted against other trotters on the Brighton road, and he 
 had been active in the local militia; but now he led a re 
 tired existence, the boundaries of which were State Street, 
 his box in the Safety Deposit vaults, his club and his pew 
 at King s Chapel. 
 
 "You did, Baxter. It was a mistake from the point of 
 view of what we know now. But as a family man, I didn t 
 dare to take the risk." Mr. Chippendale, though crest 
 fallen, was no craven. He was willing to admit the superi 
 ority of his brother s judgment in this particular case, but 
 not to eat humble-pie. 
 
 "Never sell anything; it s always a mistake." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 169 
 
 After this sweeping assertion, Baxter abruptly resumed 
 the perusal of the figures he was examining, and Harrison 
 proceeded on his way. The speech was one of his brother s 
 favorite maxims. He had heard him utter words to the 
 same effect many times before. But somehow this morn 
 ing the trenchant remark seemed a little like the blow of 
 a club, following as it did so closely on Chauncey s after- 
 breakfast aphorism as to the fate of the man who was not 
 a "bull" on this country. As he walked up State Street, 
 Mr. Chippendale found himself suddenly repeating with 
 a chastened spirit the lines "Unto him who hath shall be 
 given and he shall have abundance; but from him who 
 hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath." 
 The next moment he almost ran into Henry Sumner s 
 arms, or rather, his nephew, who was hurrying along in the 
 opposite direction, just missed running into him. Henry, 
 as he recognized his uncle, beamed with satisfaction, but 
 instantly cried with a gasp of excitement 
 
 "Uncle Harrison, have you heard the news? They pro 
 pose to take a slice off the Common." 
 
 In the scarcely appreciable interval before Henry s ap 
 palling statement drove every other consideration from 
 his head, Mr. Chippendale was conscious for the first time 
 in his life of something very like fellow-feeling for his 
 nephew. His philosophic mind caused him to ask himself 
 if they were not both more or less the victims of an age 
 which was indifferent to ideals. In the next instant, how 
 ever, he inquired: 
 
 "Who do?" 
 
 " The people who demand a subway for the electric cars. 
 I ve seen the plan. It appropriates the sidewalks along the 
 Common, on Tremont and Boylston Streets, on the pre 
 tence of widening the street." 
 
170 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "But it would kill the trees those superb trees." 
 
 " Certainly; and it would desecrate the old cemetery 
 where people s ancestors are buried. The subway will 
 plough right through the time-honored tombs." 
 
 "This must be stopped!" 
 
 "That s why I was on the way to your office, Uncle 
 Harrison." 
 
 "It s an entering wedge in a scheme to parcel out the 
 Common. We must not yield one square inch of the 
 Common." Mr. Chippendale brought down the ferrule 
 of his cane so firmly that the threshold rang. "They de 
 molished one historic landmark the Hancock house on 
 the plea of progress, and the community has been sorry 
 ever since. We must get up a petition, Henry. Every one 
 will wish to sign it." 
 
 "I ve started one already. I ve got several names, and 
 I want you to head it." Henry produced a paper from his 
 pocket which he held out to his uncle. 
 
 "I ll go back to the office with you." 
 
 "There s no need of that; it will only waste time. I m 
 devoting the day to getting names. Step in and sign it 
 here," he said, indicating the office building in front of 
 which they were standing. As he spoke, he whipped out 
 a fountain-pen from his waistcoat pocket. 
 
 Mr. Chippendale looked suspiciously at the contrivance. 
 "Do you use one of those things?" he inquired. Never 
 theless he consented to step into the corridor and to com 
 promise his dignity so far as to write his name, while his 
 nephew held the paper against the marble wall. He ex 
 pected every moment that the pen would leak, but it did 
 not, so he contented himself with remarking: 
 
 "That s not one of my best signatures." 
 
 "But it will help a lot," exclaimed Henry eagerly, as he 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 171 
 
 folded up the document and thrust it into his pocket. 
 "Progress," he continued, as they walked to the door, "it s 
 the same plea this time the progress of the city. That s 
 what Miss Avery asked me to consider. As if sentiment 
 and ancient landmarks had no claims against the march of 
 material progress the spread of encroaching bricks and 
 mortar." His words had the effect of a pent-up outburst, 
 and were, indeed, the overflow of a volcanic soul racked 
 by the throes of contradiction. 
 
 "Miss Avery?" inquired his uncle, who, not unnat 
 urally, was puzzled. "Your Aunt Georgiana will help us, 
 of course. She was a tower of strength when we saved the 
 Old South Meeting-house. Let me see, that must have 
 been nearly fifteen years ago." 
 
 "I called there, on my way, but she wasn t at home. 
 I saw Miss Avery, though, and she takes the other side. 
 It appears that she has been talking with Mr. Blais- 
 dell." 
 
 Mr. Chippendale stopped short. "That man seems to 
 have a finger in every pie," he said dejectedly. 
 
 "He s one of the promoters of the subway, Uncle Har 
 rison. Naturally she sides with him, for he is her brother- 
 in-law, and he has the gift, if he chooses, of making black 
 appear white. But Miss Avery takes pride in thinking for 
 herself. If it s true that all they really intend is to widen 
 the street to the extent of the sidewalk, without encroach 
 ing on the surface of the Common, and that the tombs will 
 be protected " 
 
 "Sacrilege," interjected his uncle. "And the trees 
 the trees. A tunnel underground will inevitably kill those 
 beautiful elms; it will mutilate their roots." 
 
 "That s enough in itself to make one s blood boil," I 
 agree. "I m merely trying to be reasonable endeavor- 
 
172 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 ing to see the other side of the question. You remember, 
 Uncle Harrison, it was you who warned me once against 
 being impractical tilting at trifles instead of saving my 
 energies for the big things of life." 
 
 Mr. Chippendale stared at his nephew in amazement. 
 "This is one of the big things of life; it s a matter of er 
 principle." 
 
 "I m glad to hear you say so, Uncle Harrison, for that s 
 what it seems to me. And yet " He paused, then said 
 laughingly, "I m well aware that the family thinks I m 
 visionary almost a crank. Chauncey once told me as 
 much. Well, I suppose I do get worked up over things, 
 and probably always shall you see I m not apologizing 
 exactly for my shortcomings, but in this age of the world, 
 a man can t afford to be a mere obstructionist unless he s 
 sure he is right. And I suppose there is such a thing as 
 being too sure you re sure." 
 
 Henry regarded his uncle wistfully. He still wore his 
 round felt hat, and his face had not lost its hungry look; 
 but its expression was less delicate and his eyes, though 
 luminous with his interest in the crusade which he was con 
 ducting, evidently invited a word of caution from what 
 was to them a highly conservative tribunal. But the ap 
 peal was made in relation to the wrong subject; and, 
 whereas Mr. Chippendale would, on a less absorbing occa 
 sion, have noticed with satisfaction this new note in his 
 nephew s development, he feared for a moment that 
 Henry was showing a lack of moral courage on the one, of 
 all others, when a Chippendale ought to stand firm. Like 
 the discerning man he was, he put two and two together 
 and jumped to the conclusion that his nephew was again 
 in the toils of his sister s companion. Not for a minute 
 that he blamed Miss Avery; it was simply Henry s obsti- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 173 
 
 nate infatuation. But the opportunity was not ripe to put 
 this into words. Instead he said : 
 
 "When the issue is one which concerns the landmarks of 
 the city, the men and women of our blood are not accus 
 tomed to hesitate or listen to specious argument. Your 
 father would have been the first- 
 Mr. Chippendale knew that this shibboleth would serve 
 as a veritable trumpet-call. Before he could finish, his 
 nephew was shaking his hand and saying, so emotionally 
 that he felt embarrassed, for he abhorred scenes anywhere, 
 and most of all in the street: 
 
 "He would have been the first; he would have been the 
 first. I agree with you, I agree with you, Uncle Harrison. 
 I simply wished to be absolutely sure that I was not car 
 ried away by my feelings. After I get a few more names 
 I m going straight to the Sphinx Club to stir up Morgan 
 Drake and the other fellows. We ll educate public senti 
 ment." 
 
 Henry s face was aglow, and, in spite of his own embar 
 rassment, Mr. Chippendale s heart warmed toward him. 
 He might be in love, but was he not a true Chippendale 
 when it came to the scratch ? As he thus reflected, he sud 
 denly saw a queer change come over his nephew s expres 
 sion as the result of bowing to some one who was passing. 
 In another moment he heard him whisper : 
 
 " Talk of the devil ! Did you notice who that was ? " 
 Mr. Chippendale gazed at the back of the receding fig 
 ure, which was that of a man of sturdy build and energetic 
 tread, and shook his head. 
 
 "Hugh McD. Blaisdell the villain in our piece the 
 man we were just speaking of." 
 
 Mr. Chippendale instinctively stiffened; nevertheless, 
 he strained his eyes. 
 
174 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "I do not know him by sight," he said indifferently, 
 though secretly he regretted that the opportunity to satisfy 
 his curiosity was lost. 
 
 " People say he s the most enterprising man of his years 
 in Boston." 
 
 "So I have been given to understand." Mr. Chippen 
 dale frowned. Had even the uncompromising Henry 
 fallen a victim to the spell ? 
 
 "His very bow is contagious. I might have been his 
 nearest friend. That s an art in itself. My destiny seems 
 to be to tread on people s feet, and often the feet of those 
 I like best," and again Henry laughed wistfully. 
 
 Mr. Chippendale, though he realized that his nephew 
 was metaphorical, evidently believed him capable of the 
 physical act, for he immediately altered his position. But 
 he felt that the moment had come to speak plainly and 
 protest against the general infatuation. 
 
 " As I have just told you, Henry, I do not know the indi 
 vidual who has just passed, by sight. I admit he is highly 
 progressive which, within proper limits, is a virtue but 
 from what I have heard and read of him, he is not the sort 
 of man I admire the sort of man whose standards I would 
 have you and Chauncey imitate. Some people might call 
 that a prejudice" Mr. Chippendale could always be his 
 own critic. "It may be I am old-fashioned. But that is 
 my opinion." He augustly blew his nose with his silk 
 pocket-handkerchief. "Mark my words, a man of this 
 stamp, if not watched, is liable in time to undermine the 
 whole social structure of Boston." 
 
 There was a sympathetic gleam in Henry s eyes as he 
 listened to this anathema. "Then we will watch him; 
 watch him and fight him, if necessary, just as we are going 
 to fight him on this subway business," He put out his 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 175 
 
 hand again. "I agree with you entirely, Uncle Harrison. 
 That s exactly the idea I have of him and I scarcely know 
 him. We seem to agree on everything to-day, don t we ?" 
 Having indulged in this exuberant outburst, Henry 
 darted away, leaving Mr. Chippendale, though gratified 
 at the moral support accorded him, to reflect that his 
 nephew was certainly a queer stick and a greater enigma 
 than ever. He was especially perplexed by his concluding 
 remark, which seemed to him Delphic, and to suggest that 
 there had been previous differences of opinion between 
 them. Having mulled over this for a few moments, he 
 sighed and, like the knowing man he was, decided that it 
 was only the random utterance of a nervous youth persist 
 ing in a foolish attachment and not a sign of sly, diabolic 
 disrespect. 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 BLAISDELL, at the time he passed Mr. Chippendale and 
 Henry Sumner on State Street, was on his way to General 
 Langdon s office in order to confabulate further in regard 
 to Electric Coke. On the afternoon of Christmas Eve 
 which was about three months subsequent to this he 
 closed his desk and started for his suburban home a little 
 earlier than usual. He was making lordly gifts to the 
 members of his family circle this year, to which he had 
 already attended; but, after presenting each of his clerks 
 with double the sum which they had ever received from 
 him at this season, he now gratified his bounding impulse 
 toward generosity by various spasmodic acts of bounty on 
 his way to the station. He pressed a five-dollar gold-piece 
 into the palm of a bewildered apple-woman at the corner, 
 
176 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 and gave three times that amount to a pedler who had 
 lost one leg and was offering shoe-laces for sale. He 
 bought from several newsboys their entire stock of news 
 papers and dismissed them radiant, bidding them keep 
 their wares, instead of thrusting them down the nearest 
 sewer as a more subtle public benefactor might have done. 
 But Blaisdell had no inclination toward subtlety. So 
 far as he recognized the meaning of the quality, he looked 
 askance at it. Did not indulgence therein detract from 
 heartiness ? But no such sophistries disturbed his present 
 mood. On the contrary, he was solely bent on action as 
 an outlet to the beneficent feelings occasioned by the fact 
 that to-morrow was Christmas, and the subconscious 
 knowledge that he was in excellent health and had had a 
 wonderfully prosperous year. He was pleasantly aware 
 that though he was not so sprucely dressed as many an 
 other, he could even now buy out almost iny one of 
 those he met as he had just bought out the newsboys; and 
 as for the future, it disclosed golden visions. He was in a 
 minor sense a capitalist in disguise, and he enjoyed the 
 ecstasy of the secret knowledge. People knew, of course, 
 that he had done well that his eggs had hatched but 
 they were in the dark as to the size of even the bird in 
 hand, his immediate prosperity, and he would choose his 
 own methods of enlightening them. The agreeable re 
 flection caused him, metaphorically speaking, to hug him 
 self, and when he reached the railroad station he promptly 
 purchased every Christmas picture-paper in sight and 
 bade the attendant at the counter keep the change. As he 
 walked down the platform with a big roll of magazines 
 sticking out of either pocket of his fur-trimmed overcoat, 
 and carrying several parcels, he was not altogether sur 
 prised when some one at his elbow accosted him with 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 177 
 
 11 Hullo ! Santa Claus." At least, it struck him as a not in 
 appropriate comparison, for, to tell the truth, he felt de 
 cidedly like his conception of that genial patron-saint, in 
 that he was aglow with good will toward all the world and 
 was able to manifest it practically. Turning to ascertain 
 who the discerning friend might be, he discovered that it 
 was Morgan Drake. 
 
 " Hullo, Drake. Merry Christmas! Come out and 
 take dinner with us." 
 
 "I m dining with some fellows at the Sphinx Club. It s 
 fortunate, for otherwise I should have accepted your invi 
 tation, and your wife wouldn t want me. She will be busy 
 with the children s stockings. It takes a bachelor to point 
 out that." 
 
 Blaisdell realized that Morgan was correct in his deduc 
 tion that his room would be better than his company on this 
 particular evening, but the remark struck him as exactly 
 in keeping with the writer s habitual point of view, which 
 he considered to be on the verge of saturnine. Were not 
 the quips which were so invariably on the tip of his pen as 
 well as his tongue the reason why his books did not sell 
 better? 
 
 "Nonsense, we d dress you up and pretend you were 
 Santy and the children would be delighted. We re going 
 to have a Christmas tree, and the Averys will be there. 
 By the way, old chap, we re sending out as Christmas 
 cards several copies of your new volume of essays. Lora 
 was tickled to death at receiving an autograph copy from 
 the author." Although he had not finished, Blaisdell, to 
 whom his companion did not look very prosperous, paused 
 to regret that it had not occurred to him to buy out se 
 cretly two or three editions of the volume in question. He 
 promised himself to do something of the sort another year. 
 
178 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Then he felt impelled to complete his line of thought by 
 saying, "I don t know much about the literary market, but 
 I should suppose the secret of success there, just as every 
 where else, would be to give people the things they want 
 at the time they want them. Why don t you bring out next 
 year a rattling Christmas story with plenty of action and 
 a lot of sentiment? Take my word for it, just the right 
 thing, illustrated by a leading artist and attractively 
 printed details like that count nowadays would sell like 
 hot cakes. I ll agree to take a thousand copies for the 
 firm as a starter, to send out to our customers with the 
 compliments of the season." 
 
 "Something to match the plum-pudding and the mince- 
 pies and the mistletoe, along the lines of grandmother s 
 receipt. I can see that there might be a gold-mine in it. 
 But I m afraid it s not in me, Blaisdell," said Morgan with 
 a laugh. 
 
 "Confound the fellow; there goes his tongue in his 
 cheek again!" reflected Blaisdell. He had reached the car 
 he intended to take and paused with his hand on the rail. 
 "It s in you provided you don t start with the assumption 
 that this isn t a pretty good world. One trouble with 
 you literary fellows is that you are apt to forget that a 
 man who comes home tired at night from his day s work 
 needs to be uplifted and encouraged, not let down and 
 depressed." 
 
 BlaisdelPs inward comment, if audibly expressed, would 
 have suggested irritation, but his words, though obviously 
 intended as friendly advice, were delivered with his charac 
 teristic affability and persuasiveness as if he yearned to set 
 an erring brother straight by an indisputable summing up 
 of the obstacles between him and success. It so happened 
 that Morgan Drake, who was on his way out of town to 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 179 
 
 make an afternoon call on the girl of his heart a Rad- 
 cliffe college graduate whom he desired to marry and 
 could not because of his limited income, had come down 
 to the station chanting to himself semi-lugubriously that 
 plaint from Lycidas " Alas ! what boots it with incessant 
 care to ply the homely, slighted shepherd s trade?" The 
 moving cause of this was an offer from a magazine editor 
 to whom he had sent a short story, to make him respectable 
 remuneration for two or three others of a quality indicated 
 in the letter. These would interfere with his sustained 
 work which was to be the production of a poem, novel 
 or play (ultimately all three) of pronounced and original 
 merit, whereas the stories would be so handicapped by the 
 conditions that they must unavoidably prove "pot-boil 
 ers." What answer should he send ? While pondering this, 
 he had caught sight of Blaisdell s figure ahead of him and 
 observed his magnetic air of prosperity. This dumb show 
 in itself was almost a mandate in the name of pure com 
 mon-sense to subdue his caustic and unconventional style 
 to the current requirements of magazine fiction. What 
 Blaisdell said the moment after was so convincingly in 
 point as to savor of pure genius. Morgan could not resist 
 pointing this out. 
 
 "My last story was sent back with a text: the editor 
 thought I had talent, but what they desired were love 
 stories with a hopeful note. Now your advice comes as a 
 sort of Christmas supplement to his." 
 
 Blaisdell was never without suspicions as to what Mor 
 gan Drake was secretly thinking. But whatever sinister 
 thought might be behind the frank admission of this coin 
 cidence, the statement in itself was a testimonial to his own 
 sagacity which sent the Christmas spirit coursing again 
 through his veins. Was not advice often the best present 
 
180 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 one could give a friend at merry Yule-tide? He eagerly 
 put this philosophy into words. 
 
 "I hit the nail on the head* that time, didn t I? I 
 shouldn t wonder if this Santa Claus" and, now being 
 comfortably seated, he tapped his fur-lined bosom "had 
 given you the most valuable present you ll find in your 
 stocking, whatever the real old boy may bring you." Blais- 
 dell s small eyes gleamed with humor, animated by the belief 
 that this was the best of his Christmas Eve benefactions. 
 
 Indeed, so overpowering was this mood that Morgan 
 Drake, unaccustomed as he was to refrain from paradox 
 even when convinced, realized, as he left the train a few 
 minutes later, not only that he had suffered this compla 
 cent assertion to go unchallenged, but that he was so far 
 hypnotized that he had neglected to inquire whether the 
 reports which he had recently heard concerning Mr. Av- 
 ery s invention were true. He was still a lodger in the 
 house on Dartmouth Street and he had been jubilantly in 
 formed by his landlady that the long-talked-of discovery 
 was on the eve of becoming a commercial success under the 
 name of Electric Coke. Morgan hoped that this might be 
 true, but remembering the broker s previous scepticism 
 concerning the invention, he would have liked to know his 
 opinion. 
 
 It passed through Blaisdell s mind in the course of his 
 beneficent glow to suggest to his companion to buy a few 
 shares of Electric Coke, but he abstained because of the 
 following reasoning. Morgan s available cash, if any, 
 would pay only for a few shares a mere bagatelle of profit 
 in case they went up; and to explain to an impractical lit 
 erary chap the process of being "carried" on a proper 
 margin would be just like elucidating it to a woman, with 
 out the compensating advantages. The writer would in- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 181 
 
 evitably fail to understand and have spasms of misgiving 
 as to the consequences, if not irresolute scruples. No, the 
 most satisfactory way to assist him would be to buy an 
 edition or two of his next book at one fell swoop and let 
 him imagine the public were the purchasers. 
 
 During the six years he had been down-town, yet chiefly 
 as the result of his marriage, Blaisdell had also developed 
 socially. He dressed better, and, strong as he still was in 
 his democracy, people no longer all meant the same to him. 
 He had not only ceased to take off his hat in an office- 
 building elevator as a mark of elegant deportment when 
 women entered it, but he had in a minor degree begun to 
 understand and take an interest in the social structure of 
 the community in which he had become prominent. Lora 
 was mainly responsible for this, as will appear. Her sen 
 sitive and keen appreciation of what was going on in so 
 ciety had roused in him a new ambition, which, if still some 
 what languid, was constantly stimulated by her happi 
 ness when he gratified it for her sake. If he showed him 
 self less apt at digesting the information which his trig little 
 wife poured into his ears than in other things, it was merely 
 because their social progress under her leadership had 
 been thus far so smooth. He had been content to antici 
 pate her desires by a constant series of golden surprises, 
 and to trust to her clever guidance. Yet, while he still pro 
 fessed to be amused by her chart-like knowledge of the 
 various urban and suburban social sets, he had fallen more 
 and more under the spell of an intention that his wife 
 should have everything which money could provide. Wher 
 ever she wished to live she should live " reside " was his 
 actual word, just as they always " retired" at night and, 
 as a corollary thereto, she should belong to whatever set 
 she preferred. 
 
182 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Consequently, as he was carried swiftly home in his gay 
 new sleigh with its high, curving dashboard and its equip 
 ment of jingling bells, he glowed with the secret knowl 
 edge that the most princely of his Christmas benefactions 
 was still in store for him. His present for Lora had al 
 ways been some article of jewelry, that of each year being 
 more splendid than the last, so that she had clapped her 
 hands with fresh and increasing delight. In order to pre 
 serve the tradition, he had now in his pocket a handsome 
 bracelet, which would also serve to make the surprise 
 which he was about to spring upon her more complete. 
 
 Blaisdell had taken his mother-in-law into his confi 
 dence. It was she who, having listened for the sleigh-bells, 
 met him at the door. He conveyed to her by a trium 
 phant nod that a threatened hitch in the programme had 
 been removed. Mrs. Avery reached out her hand for the 
 package which he produced from his inner pocket, and 
 indicated by dumb show that she wished to decorate it 
 with red ribbon. Thereupon she stole away, while the 
 beaming husband and father, who divined that his wife 
 had been decoyed up-stairs so that the coast might be clear 
 for the conspirators, announced his presence in the house 
 by calling her name with resounding cheeriness. 
 
 Lora came running down-stairs at the sound of his voice 
 and was at his heels as he was in the act of lifting his four- 
 year-old daughter from the rug in the sitting-room. 
 
 "Mama thought she heard baby crying, and I felt sure 
 I d be back in time," she expostulated, reaching up her 
 face to share his embraces. 
 
 "Forgiven, little woman, because it s Christmas Eve. 
 Peace on earth and good will toward men not excluding 
 women women who allow their toiling husbands 
 
 " Pooh ! We don t mind him, do we, Dorothy darling ? 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 183 
 
 Especially when he fails to notice that the daughter of his 
 house has a lovely new dress on a dress which would 
 make other mothers green with jealousy." 
 
 Blaisdell held up his tiny offspring at arm s length. 
 " White, with frills that s all I see. It s lucky she has 
 a father who is able to stand these wild extravagances. 
 Perfectly lovely there, I ve said it." 
 
 "You men are all alike. How s Electric Coke? Mama 
 has been doing sums in imaginary profits at short intervals 
 between tying up the presents." 
 
 "They are liable to be large enough in the end to give 
 her softening of the brain," he answered good-humoredly. 
 "No change to-day; everybody was getting ready to play 
 Santa Claus. The market closed a little soft for most 
 things, but Coke was firm at 81 bid, 82 asked. It s resting 
 until after the New Year. A rise of twenty dollars in thirty 
 days has taken away its breath for the time being. By 
 next Christmas I expect to see it selling at 160." 
 
 Lora hugged the four-year-old Dorothy to her breast as 
 if she were listening to the awe-inspiring prediction of a 
 good fairy. "Why, you re making the child out an heir 
 ess, Hugh," she lisped. 
 
 "That dire fate is in store for her, Coke or no Coke." 
 
 "160! Why, wouldn t Mr. Avery be almost a million 
 aire?" 
 
 "Almost, when he owns outright one third of the stock? 
 I consider your mother justified already in beginning to 
 spend like the wife of a multimillionaire." 
 
 " Do you hear that, daughter ? Your step-grandfather is 
 likely to be a multimillionaire. And Priscilla, Hugh if 
 it proves true, I shall be gladdest of all on her account. 
 She ll be sure then to make a brilliant match. At present 
 she has no opportunity to meet anybody available." 
 
184 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "Who knows but the effect of being an heiress won t 
 encourage her to remain single?" Blaisdell suggested as 
 he warmed his back at the fire. 
 
 "But Priscilla has always intended to marry; she s 
 a marrying girl. I m positive of that." 
 
 "Think how restless she would be with an income of 
 twenty-five thousand dollars a year. The freedom, as 
 they call it, of the bachelor maid would attract her. She d 
 begin by going round the world alone or with some other 
 single woman, and when she returned she d try to found 
 something anything except a domestic hearth. Haven t 
 you told me many a time that the Boston girl expects per 
 fection in man and never finds it?" 
 
 Lora laughed. She had set Dorothy down among her 
 toys on the rug and was making the tea. "I just wish 
 Priscilla could hear you. That s exactly the kind of Bos 
 ton girl she has always intended not to be. There are 
 such, of course, who, as Morgan Drake once said, lack the 
 caloric capacity to fall in love, and so congeal into old 
 maids. But Priscilla despises women like that." 
 
 "Why doesn t she get married, then ?" 
 
 "She will now. I don t see why you should begrudge 
 the poor, dear thing a trip abroad." 
 
 "In the last five years, I mean." 
 
 "What chance has she had? Whom does she ever see 
 except Henry Sumner? And she only sees him occasion 
 ally. I m not certain even that he doesn t avoid her. I 
 did think once upon a time," she continued pensively as 
 she handed her husband his cup of tea, "that she might 
 sooner or later learn to fancy him. But I ve no reason to 
 think they agree any better than they ever did." She 
 shook her head mournfully. "Now, who else has there 
 been?" 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 185 
 
 Blaisdell shrugged his broad shoulders. " Marrying 
 girls get chances all the plain ones even, and Priscilla is 
 better-looking to-day than she ever was." 
 
 "I m glad you admit that, Hugh." Lora smiled to her 
 self and was silent for a few moments. "If I tell you 
 something which I oughtn t to tell you, will you promise 
 to forget it?" she asked mysteriously. "And never to 
 speak of it to any one?" 
 
 "About Priscilla?" 
 
 "Promise first. Some women in my place would not 
 dare to tell their husbands for fear of spoiling them. But 
 I m not afraid. Now don t try to guess, you clever man. 
 Promise." 
 
 "You re dying to tell me, anyway. Well, I promise." 
 
 Lora looked round to make sure that no one could 
 overhear. "It s merely this; I suppose Priscilla would 
 have accepted you if you had asked her. Now, Hugh, if you 
 ever breathe this to any one else, I shall never forgive you." 
 
 Blaisdell beamed with amusement. "That s a terrible 
 secret to impart to a modest, domestic husband on Christ 
 mas Eve." 
 
 "I don t mean she ever said a word; and I dare say she 
 never knew. But then you never asked her." 
 
 "You dear little logician! And what does that prove? 
 For I can see it proves something." 
 
 Lora put her head on one side. "It explains lots of 
 things. It proves, to begin with, that you re wrong in think 
 ing she s not a marrying girl." 
 
 "You mean that she is waiting to marry me?" 
 
 Lora made a pretty face at him. "If you talk like that, 
 I shall be sorry I told you. Why weren t you more sur 
 prised? I expected that you would be tremendously 
 surprised." 
 
186 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "I ve something to confide, too." Blaisdell stretched 
 his legs apart and looked down at her indulgently over his 
 tea-cup. "I can t honestly pretend that I was completely 
 in the dark that you were cutting her out." 
 
 "Oh, Hugh." Her mild protest was on Priscilla s be 
 half, but she did not try to conceal her happiness. They 
 both laughed, and Blaisdell, bending forward to return his 
 cup to the tray, cemented the mutual avowal by kissing the 
 lips which she held out to him. 
 
 "Where is she, by the way?" he inquired. 
 
 "Miss Chippendale needed her. She and Mr. Avery 
 are coming out just in time for dinner. Her father s 
 success has been a positive shock to her. It has dazed her; 
 she can t be tender enough to him. But even you didn t 
 believe that his invention would ever amount to any 
 thing." 
 
 "See what I have brought for her," Blaisdell said, tak 
 ing from the mantel-piece and undoing one of two small 
 packages. 
 
 "A bracelet!" Lora clapped her hands. "How dear of 
 you! It s perfectly lovely, Hugh. Your bark is always 
 worse than your bite. I ve half a mind," she said, as she 
 fastened the clasp around her wrist and examined the 
 braided pattern of lapis lazuli and gold, "to keep it my 
 self. Bracelets are beginning to come in again." 
 
 "Take your choice, then," he answered, opening the 
 other jeweller s box and displaying a second bracelet of 
 somewhat similar workmanship but in malachite. 
 
 Lora looked from one to the other. "My Christmas 
 present?" she ejaculated. 
 
 Blaisdell did not contradict her. He was delighted at 
 the success of his ruse, and he believed that he knew ex 
 actly what was passing through her mind. Was she not 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 187 
 
 vainly trying to conceal her disappointment that his pres 
 ent was less magnificent than any which he had recently 
 given her? 
 
 11 Why didn t you save it for the tree?" 
 
 " Because you showed covetous designs on Priscilla s." 
 
 "I see. Then I must choose," she answered, and she 
 examined the bracelets in silence for a few moments. 
 "I ll take this," she said at last and it was the lapis lazuli 
 which she selected. "I think it s prettier, on the whole 
 but there s not much to choose." Then she suddenly in 
 quired, without looking up, "Was it so difficult to choose 
 which of us you would marry?" 
 
 Blaisdell could scarcely restrain his laughter. The jeal 
 ousy which had evoked this taunt was plainly not of Pris- 
 cilla as Priscilla, but of the fact that there was so much 
 similarity between the gifts. Yet to tell her now would 
 spoil all; he would persevere in his strategy even at the 
 risk of allowing her to believe for an hour or so that he had 
 been stingy. Would not the reaction which would come 
 when she was undeceived convince her forever that there 
 was no husband who wished to be more generous than he ? 
 He was even disposed to tease her a little; so he replied: 
 
 "I will admit that for the first few weeks after I became 
 a boarder at your mother s house it was nip and tuck be 
 tween you." 
 
 Lora looked into his eyes imploringly, as if even this were 
 more than she could bear. Just then Mrs. Avery ap 
 peared at the door, carrying the one-year-old son and heir 
 fresh and crowing from his afternoon nap. This broke the 
 slight tension. In another moment Lora had realized 
 again that she was the happiest woman in the world, and, 
 by way of amends or to show how contented she was, she 
 sat down at the piano while the others guarded the chil- 
 
188 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 dren. She was apt to play or sing for Hugh at that hour: 
 he said it rested him, and the children seemed diverted by 
 the music. 
 
 The happiest woman in the world one of them cer 
 tainly. Poor Priscilla! Hugh was correct; it was high 
 time for her to marry some one time for the right person 
 to turn up. 
 
 "Then be not coy and hard to please 
 But while ye may go marry, 
 For having lost but once your prime 
 You may forever tarry." 
 
 She was singing it laughingly by way of making up to 
 Hugh for letting him see that she was miffed. Boston girls 
 were prone to be hard to please. But what chance had Pris 
 cilla really had? However, even now she didn t under 
 stand why he had given them presents so much alike. The 
 year before last hers had been a superb set of furs, and 
 last Christmas a pearl necklace. At this point she bit her 
 tongue and said that she ought to be ashamed of herself. 
 If she were not careful, that which befell the woman in the 
 old fairy tale, who imposed once too often on the bounty of 
 the generous flounder, would happen to her. Some day 
 Hugh would be justified in saying, with a stormy face, 
 "That s the last straw. Go back to your pig-sty again." 
 Lora laughed to herself at the analogy. Justified but he 
 never would. He loved her too much for that, even if he 
 had economized on her Christmas present. Perhaps he 
 was too busy; though this was not really an excuse. And 
 after all, in the fairy tale there had been both a husband 
 and a fish, and in her case the fish was her husband. 
 
 What did the greedy woman ask the fish which angered 
 it so ? Lora paused in her singing just long enough to re 
 member that it was to make her husband lord of the sun 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 189 
 
 and moon and stars. An audacious request surely ! Com 
 pared with that woman, her own desires had been exceed 
 ingly moderate. It was not as if she had importuned fort 
 une to make her husband President of the United States. 
 The fish had been generosity itself, of course, but they were 
 still living in the suburbs. And were the suburbs, socially 
 speaking, so very superior to a pig-sty ? At least, it would 
 seem as if a woman with superb furs and a real pearl neck 
 lace would be justified in requesting the fish to let her 
 move to town; especially as Hugh had promised that 
 they should as soon as he could afford it. Now that Elec 
 tric Coke was going up so fast, was there not every reason 
 to suppose that he could afford it ? 
 
 Pleased with this conceit, Lora, as she strummed gaily, 
 nodding from time to time at the group in front of the fire, 
 surveyed critically her surroundings. It was a dear little 
 house, but not imposing. She had remembered to be 
 thrifty and yet had done her best to make it cosy, and she 
 flattered herself that she had succeeded. There were 
 shiny silk curtains, bright-colored cushions in abundance, 
 potted plants and all the magazines; the florist had orders 
 to send violets twice a week, and there was always a box of 
 bonbons on the table but her resources had come to an 
 end. The parlor was like her mother s glorified, and there 
 was little opportunity for entertaining. They knew a few 
 of the neighbors, but the people she wished to know were 
 those in town whose names and whose festivities she read 
 of in the social gossip columns of the Sunday newspapers. 
 Did all those women have necklaces of pearls? She 
 doubted it, and she felt sure that no one had handsomer 
 furs. She would like a large house with spacious drawing- 
 rooms upholstered in the latest fashion where, as soon 
 as they were settled, she would give a large ball in honor of 
 
190 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Priscilla. " Mr. and Mrs. Hugh McDowell Blaisdell " she 
 would have the cards engraved "request the pleasure of 
 your company on Thursday evening, January loth, to 
 meet Miss Priscilla Avery." Yes, if ever they were going 
 to move, the time seemed opportune; Hugh must certainly 
 once more invoke the generosity of the fish. 
 
 "Flounder, flounder in the sea 
 Prithee, prithee come to me. 
 For my dear wife Lora (not dame Isabel) 
 Wants strange things I scarce dare tell." 
 
 And when the fish popped its head out of the water and 
 inquired, "What will she have now?" answer boldly, 
 "She would like a house on the sunny side of Common 
 wealth Avenue or the water side of Beacon Street." 
 Surely surely the fish could not fail to reply, "A very 
 reasonable request, and she shall have it right away." 
 
 Lora ran her fingers along the keys in a gay final flour 
 ish and rose from the piano. Her figure was larger than 
 five years before, but it had filled out symmetrically and 
 was still trim. Even the ample outline of her stylish tea- 
 gown was not too trying. She wore a bunch of violets at 
 her waist the perfume of violets was her specialty. 
 
 As she joined the others, she heard her mother, who, 
 with the baby on her lap, was listening spell-bound to 
 Hugh, exclaim, "It sounds like Monte Cristo." She 
 recognized that they were still discussing the possibilities 
 of the successful invention. 
 
 "Monte Cristo?" echoed Blaisdell. "How much do 
 you suppose Monte Cristo was worth?" 
 
 "I had always supposed that he was fabulously rich 
 too rich to count," answered Mrs. Avery. 
 
 "I heard some men discussing that the other day Gen- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 191 
 
 eral Langdon, the broker, was one of them and it was 
 proved by computation that the wealth of the really big fel 
 lows of to-day, the half-dozen industrial kings any one of 
 them makes Monte Cristo s look like thirty cents. It s 
 difficult to realize the accumulations of the last twenty years 
 in this country in steel, in railroads, in sugar, in oil. A 
 rich man of a generation ago is practically a poor man to 
 day. And it s on the cards, as I was saying, that Electric 
 Coke may prove to be one of those fountains of wealth 
 one of those financial geysers which produce a genuine 
 modern fortune. It s in its infancy at present, but every 
 one of the big industries, the big inventions, the big mines 
 which this country has produced has had its infancy. I m 
 not letting my imagination run riot because it s Christmas 
 Eve, Mrs. Avery. No, I tell you I look to see your hus 
 band the proud possessor of a second-class fortune before 
 the end of another five years. There are first-class fort 
 unes and second-class fortunes Just as there are first-class 
 battle-ships and second-class battle-ships. Boston has 
 more second-class fortunes than any city in the country, 
 but it hasn t a first-class fortune. Perhaps it never will 
 have." He spoke the last words reflectively, as if he were 
 stating a philosophic truth a condition of affairs which 
 he deplored, but which he intended to do his best to alter. 
 
 Lora promptly showed that she fathomed his thought, 
 for, dandling her precious daughter, she addressed her 
 thus: "We know better, don t we, Dorothy? Some day 
 Boston will have one." 
 
 Blaisdell caught the prophetic aside and smiled at his 
 wife in amused appreciation of her quickness. But Mrs. 
 Avery, who would at any other time have inquired why 
 Boston was to be denied this privilege, was too much en 
 grossed by the flattering prospect of possessing second- 
 
192 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 class wealth to pay heed to anything but the personal 
 equation. 
 
 "As rich as Monte Cristo?" 
 
 "Richer than Monte Cristo." 
 
 In spite of her son-in-law s disparagement, this assur 
 ance was plainly stupefying to Mrs. Avery. "To think 
 of it to think of it!" she said. "And the strangest part 
 of it all is that Mr. Avery won t care he doesn t care. 
 The only change I have got him to consent to so far is to 
 have cream thick cream with his porridge for break 
 fast. He would be content to go on living just as he is 
 for the rest of his days. That s his New England con 
 science, as Priscilla says. But fortunately, for him, he has 
 a wife." 
 
 "Who won t permit him to hide his light under a 
 bushel. That s right," said Blaisdell. 
 
 "My first husband s ambition was to be President of the 
 United States. But I m no* sure not sure that I wouldn t 
 rather be as rich as er Monte Cristo. I ve always said, 
 you know," she added, addressing her daughter, "that 
 Hugh was likely some day or other to become President." 
 
 Lora smiled and nodded. " If he wouldn t rather be one 
 of those industrial kings he spoke of and make a first- 
 class fortune." 
 
 They both turned to Blaisdell for a response. He had 
 resumed his position with his legs apart at the mantel 
 piece. "Thanks, ladies, for the choice. Any free-born 
 citizen can be President provided he gets the necessary 
 votes. That s the privilege of every good American. But 
 those other fellows" he paused a moment, evidently 
 fascinated by his idea, "don t they make the rest of us 
 possible? Take the poets William Shakespeare the 
 philosophers, college professors, lawyers and doctors it s 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 193 
 
 been the fashion of the world to put them above the suc 
 cessful business man. Don t they owe their prosperity, if 
 not their opportunity, to the fact that a few master minds 
 over the world and particularly to-day in this country 
 are making this and that commodity cheaper by gigantic 
 combinations? Isn t the genius for it is genius which 
 enables more men to get a decent living, the most useful 
 kind of all ? I repeat, don t they make the rest of us pos 
 sible?" 
 
 The sound of sleigh-bells broke in upon Blaisdell s argu 
 ment. Mr. Avery and Priscilla had arrived, so that the 
 party which had gathered for the children s Christmas tree 
 was now complete. Priscilla required a private inter 
 view in the hall in regard to certain parcels which she had 
 brought with her; but the inventor, whose wife had taken 
 on herself all responsibility for their gifts, was free to enter 
 and offer his Christmas greetings. As Mrs. Avery had 
 stated, he showed no outward signs of worldly prosperity. 
 But Electric Coke was, nevertheless, on the tip of his 
 tongue. He began eagerly to explain to Blaisdell the mer 
 its of an improvement almost perfected, which would sim 
 plify and increase the efficiency of his apparatus. 
 
 "We shall be able to cut the cost in two," he said, and 
 his dreamy eyes kindled. 
 
 " Good. But we mustn t lose sight entirely of the stock 
 holders when the time comes to cut. The great public 
 benefited by such an improvement would not be entitled 
 to the whole of the profit." 
 
 Mr. Avery looked a little disappointed. "Wouldn t it? 
 I dare say not. I m not a business man, Blaisdell, as I ve 
 told you frequently before." The personal satisfaction of 
 success had already been forgotten in the purpose of per 
 fecting his discovery. Such were the habits of a lifetime 
 
194 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 such were the ruts formed by his temperament that he 
 was already seeking new fields to conquer for the benefit 
 of science. 
 
 This attitude struck Blaisdell as lacking in humanity; 
 it was too frosty, too typical of that Puritan spirit which, 
 in former generations, frowned sternly on all pleasures and 
 now both was indifferent to modern comforts and had lost 
 the capacity to enjoy. Yet it was his natural impulse to 
 say the complimentary thing whatever his secret thoughts, 
 unless he might hope, as in Morgan Drake s case, to point 
 the better way; for he knew that Mr. Avery was beyond 
 his help. "I don t know about that. You were sensible 
 enough to hold on to one-third of the stock." 
 
 "Yes, I did that. It was only fair to the people who 
 believed in me." Then seeing that Priscilla was standing 
 at his side, he smiled on her and added: "And now ap 
 parently it will serve to keep the wolf from this young 
 woman s door in case anything should happen to me." 
 He spoke as if, on the whole, this was important, but 
 chiefly as a concession to the modern point of view that it 
 took more money to live than formerly. That his daugh 
 ter was safeguarded from want was evidently a satisfac 
 tion to him; but what reason was there to think that he 
 took any interest in the knowledge that she was an heiress ? 
 
 "What an old fossil!" was BlaisdelPs silent judgment. 
 The malachite bracelet had been removed to be done up 
 for the Christmas tree. He looked at Priscilla with the 
 eye of an appraiser. His wife s confidence had reminded 
 him afresh that as a boarder in his landlady s house he 
 had deliberately chosen between the two. Her develop 
 ment was one of the things which interested him when they 
 met, though he did not dwell on it at other times. As he 
 noted the glow in her cheeks which the sleigh-ride had 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 195 
 
 heightened, he did not refrain from remarking, "There 
 are wolves and there are wolves. Will she be entirely 
 secure from being gobbled up by one of the other variety ? " 
 
 For an instant Mr. Avery did not comprehend. Then 
 he nodded. "A fortune-hunter? Eh, Priscilla?" He 
 appealed gaily to his daughter as if the pleasantry struck 
 him as peculiarly happy, and added: " Behold, a new live 
 peril, my dear." 
 
 " Oh yes, you re both right I shall henceforth, like a 
 true Boston girl, suspect that every one is trying to marry 
 me for my money. And I shall just despise myself for it." 
 
 She spoke with whimsical despair, but looking un 
 flinchingly from one to the other. It was clear to Blaisdell 
 that she had reached this state of mind through fierce 
 mental processes. But gloomy as her argument was, it 
 was equally clear that the cup of life which she held up to 
 the light contained not one drop of real murkiness and 
 that her self-commiseration was virtually mock. Was she 
 not bubbling over with vitality and almost radiant with 
 content ? 
 
 It suited Blaisdell so well to observe this that he said: 
 "I can see, however, that you intend to make the best of 
 your appalling hereditary discoveries." 
 
 The remark pleased her; it seemed like most of his ut 
 terances, discerning and to the point. "Oh, yes," she 
 cried, "I have even weighed spinsterhood in the balance 
 with domestic bliss alongside of of Professor Paton, and 
 beheld myself, without dismay, an irredeemable old 
 maid." 
 
 " Do not make sport of an honest man s love, Priscilla," 
 exclaimed her father. Even genius is liable at the spur 
 of parental solicitude to have recourse to a prosy saw. 
 
 " On the contrary, father, I wish I could fall in love with 
 
196 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 him; I do, indeed. Then he would feel justified in offer 
 ing himself to me, which he never has in all these years. 
 He wishes to be sure first and I am sure. He is painfully 
 persevering, but sagely silent. So there we are victims of 
 destiny. And I m nearly twenty-five. I mentioned him 
 merely to illustrate my plight my infirmity. No, dear 
 father," she cried with sudden gaiety, as though she were 
 rejoicing in her predicament instead of deploring it, "I 
 intend to try and make up to you for having been a thorn 
 in your side all these years. I m prepared to accept grace 
 fully the lot which fate evidently has in store for me." 
 
 She threw her arm round her father s shoulder as she 
 spoke, and touched her cheek to his. The greatest surprise 
 of her life had been her father s vindication the discovery 
 that he was right and she utterly wrong; and the first re 
 sults of the chastening which her spirit had received from 
 the success of Electric Coke had been a wave of tender 
 ness. She had been eager to abase herself; and yet she had 
 soon recovered sufficiently from the shock of self-reproof 
 to become susceptible to the new dread lest, like most 
 inventors, he should throw away the legitimate fruits of his 
 years of patient research. He had been on her mind at the 
 time of the formation of the company, and she had been 
 impelled for his protection to confide her fears guardedly 
 to Lora s husband. She had been informed after the 
 meeting, to her intense relief indeed, her father had told 
 her of his own accord that he remained a large stock 
 holder. Not that she cared for the money so she argued 
 to herself but it would have mortified her deeply had he 
 been allowed to ignore the practical side of the transaction. 
 Her filial perversity threw the credit of this escape chiefly 
 on Blaisdell. She could not help believing that but for 
 him her father might through indifference or cajolement 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 197 
 
 have parted with all his interest in the patents for the lure 
 of a pitiful sum in ready cash which would ensure him 
 modest comfort for the rest of his days. Instead, there was 
 a prospect of his being the possessor of millions. One- 
 third of the capital stock! She had not known the exact 
 amount until she overheard it a few minutes before; and 
 her heart warmed again toward the man whom she con 
 sidered responsible for this fortunate condition of affairs. 
 The right person had never yet presented himself, but it 
 was something to feel that her step-brother-in-law was win 
 ning new laurels every day. 
 
 "You mean," said Blaisdell, "that you are leaving Miss 
 Chippendale are coming home to live?" 
 
 It was Mrs. Avery who, entering the room with Lora to 
 announce that the candles on the tree were all lighted, an 
 swered the inquiry. "Yes, her highness has graciously 
 consented to accept board and lodging from Monte Cristo 
 while she s deciding what she will do next. She feels at 
 last that the bread and butter she consumes will not be toe 
 severe a drain upon our resources." 
 
 All laughed at the appellation which she thus fastened 
 on her husband, and Priscilla in her delight could not for 
 bear to exclaim: "Monte Cristo! It s perfect. I shall 
 never call you by any other term of endearment, father. 
 Now it s no use for you to assure us that there were never 
 two people in the world more unlike than you and he." 
 
 "On the contrary," said Blaisdell, "the comparison fits 
 you like a glove, Mr. Avery like the paper on the wall." 
 Then turning from the somewhat startled inventor, he 
 accosted Priscilla with "But you haven t told us what you 
 are going to do next." 
 
 "The tree is ready and Lora is waiting with the chil 
 dren," interposed Mrs. Avery, with an air of bustle. But 
 
198 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 she added authoritatively: "She ought to go to Europe to 
 begin with, and make a completely fresh start. By the 
 time she gets back with lots of Paris clothes, our new house 
 will be ready." This last assertion was evidently intended 
 as a matrimonial feeler, for she glanced in her husband s 
 direction and then smiled meaningly at her son-in-law. 
 
 "It s a terrible responsibility to have money." The 
 words slipped out so involuntarily that Priscilla hastened 
 to declare: "There, I ve said it. Who else but a Boston 
 girl would be capable of such a speech just after she had 
 discovered that her father was a second Monte Cristo? 
 You see, I m incorrigible, struggle as I will. It s the hered 
 itary poison working in my blood." She paused a moment 
 in her gay yet rueful speech, then flashed an appealing 
 glance at Blaisdell. "I do wish to go to Europe and and 
 to buy things, but though I m coming home to live I m 
 not ready to abandon Miss Georgiana just yet to drop 
 all the matters we are interested in. On my own ac 
 count, I mean. I m just beginning to believe that I m 
 of a little use in the things which are actually going 
 on right here in Boston the practical things. That 
 is, I m anxious they should be practical. You ought to 
 sympathize with me in that, Hugh, and and stand up 
 for me. For instance, Miss Georgiana, as you know, is 
 still fearfully agitated about the Common. She is anxious 
 to spend large sums of money to save the Common. I am 
 trying to convince her that this is one of the cases where 
 sentimental considerations should not be allowed to block 
 great public improvements, and that a few old tombs and 
 an occasional tree are nothing compared with enabling 
 busy citizens to be carried quickly to and from their offices 
 almost your very words, you may remember. I m serv 
 ing just at present as a sort of buffer a counter-irritant to 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 199 
 
 Henry Sumner and now that I have money and can act 
 independently," she continued, putting her arm through 
 BlaisdelPs as they followed the others, "I m inspired to 
 organize (it s always organize; you see, I m becoming in 
 that respect as bad as the rest) a rival coterie, even if it 
 is another old maids movement. We ll call ourselves the 
 apostles of common-sense, and you shall come and make 
 us an address on the duties of the progressive citizen. Our 
 motto shall be, Don t kick against every new thing. 
 I shouldn t be a true Bostonian if I didn t try to start some 
 movement; but this will be different from the others, even 
 if I have to be the only member. So that s why I don t 
 wish to go abroad at present." 
 
 "I m the last person to wish you to go abroad. I like 
 too well to have you here," said Blaisdell. "I like to have 
 you to look at and and when you re at home I can buy 
 you a Christmas present," he added, though it did not 
 convey his real thought, which was that he was in no hurry 
 to have her belong to some one else. As she pressed close 
 to his side in her enthusiasm, he reflected semi-humorously 
 that were he a Mormon he would propose to her on the 
 spot and that there was something to be said in behalf of 
 judicious polygamy. Might not a man become deeply 
 attached to two totally dissimilar women without absolute 
 disloyalty to either? 
 
 They were at the door of the dining-room and Priscilla 
 drew apart from him at his words, exclaiming eagerly: 
 "I m just in the mood for something lovely; I m sure 
 it is." 
 
 For the next few minutes both her and Blaisdell s atten 
 tion was absorbed in observing the effect produced on the 
 children by the glittering Christmas tree. As soon as the 
 glut of presents which it held for the little ones had been 
 
200 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 bestowed, Lora made a round of distribution among the 
 elders. When she approached Priscilla, she held out two 
 packages of the same size. 
 
 "Hugh has given us both the same thing this year this 
 is yours." She intended that her husband should under 
 stand from her words that he was forgiven, but that he 
 was not to take the same liberty again. 
 
 She passed on and Blaisdell watched while Priscilla un 
 did the parcel. 
 
 " Jewelry!" she exclaimed, as she caught sight of the 
 velvet box. "It behooves the daughter of Monte Cristo 
 to wear jewels. A bracelet! I adore it. Malachite, is it 
 not ? And green for jealousy. Yes, I am jealous. I envy 
 you the ability to make splendid presents. It is delightful 
 to have money. Will you fasten it on, Hugh, and wish 
 me success in my crusade in behalf of common-sense 
 sense where the Common is concerned?" 
 
 "I will be an annual subscriber a life-member of the 
 organization." He slipped the glittering hoop around her 
 wrist and secured the clasp. "What a beautiful arm you 
 have!" he said, as if it were a discovery. 
 
 "Now that it is set off by fine gold. What is Lora s 
 bracelet like?" 
 
 "Ask her to let you see it and then tell her that it is not 
 her Christmas present," he said eagerly. 
 
 "You are teasing her?" 
 
 "I take my oath that she ll forgive me." 
 
 Priscilla turned and waved her arm. "See what I ve 
 got, Lora. Yours can t be any prettier." 
 
 "I ve scarcely looked at mine," retorted Lora. Never 
 theless, she opened the box, which was still in her hand, 
 and put on the other bracelet. 
 
 Priscilla glided to where she was standing. " One s as 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 201 
 
 pretty as the other. There s absolutely nothing to choose 
 between them," she said after a moment. 
 
 That s what I told Hugh," responded Lora, a little 
 dryly. "He showed them to me for a moment before you 
 came. If you prefer mine 
 
 "If I did," interjected Priscilla and she looked a little 
 queer "I d make you exchange, for it isn t your real 
 Christmas present and it is mine." 
 
 "What!" 
 
 The others in the company had been listening to the 
 dialogue. " Lora," cried Mrs. Avery, " there s one package 
 which you ve overlooked; that big bough concealed it." 
 Whereupon, stepping forward, she detached from the 
 tree a large envelope. "It seems to be addressed to 
 you." 
 
 "It s Hugh s handwriting." The bubbling laugh con 
 tended with a gulp of contrition. Silently she untied the 
 pink ribbon and broke the seals. She stared for a mo 
 ment at the document which she drew forth. 
 
 "It s a deed," prompted Priscilla, who was looking 
 over her shoulder. " I ve seen one at Miss Chippendale s." 
 
 " Of a house in Boston ? " she cried in a flash. "Tell me 
 it is, Hugh." 
 
 Blaisdell enjoyed her ecstasy. " Of a house on the sunny 
 side of Commonwealth Avenue," he said with measured 
 triumph. 
 
 "Oh, you darling! It s the only thing in the world I 
 wanted which I haven t got." She ran forward and threw 
 her arms about his neck. "Do you hear that, mother? 
 a house on Commonwealth Avenue! Ah," she cried, 
 looking at the smiling faces around her, "you all knew 
 about it. It s a plot a lovely, wicked plot. And you con 
 trived it, you naughty, clever man, and it succeeded. But 
 
202 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 I don t care, because it s true it s true. The flounder is 
 a duck." 
 
 "The flounder?" ejaculated her mother. 
 
 "That s what is called on the stage an aside. A little 
 private joke between me and my ha! ha! Western con 
 science." 
 
 "I wasn t in the secret, for one," said Priscilla. "Hugh 
 used me as a catspaw beguiled me with this," and she 
 help up her decorated arm. "But I love surprises and 
 and this fairly takes the breath away." 
 
 "I ll give you a ball, Priscilla, next winter it shall be 
 our house-warming." 
 
 "But I haven t told you whose house it is," said Blais- 
 dell, and he paused like one holding back a choice bit of 
 news. "It s the residence of one of Boston s most er 
 consequential citizens, a gentleman whose name is familiar 
 to you all, a member of a family which is supposed to be 
 endowed with uncommonly blue blood, Mr. Harrison 
 Chippendale." 
 
 Mrs. Avery hastened to crystallize the thought which 
 occurred to every one. "Mercy! Why does he wish to 
 sell?" 
 
 "I was told indirectly that his circumstances are a little 
 straitened that he can t stand the modern pace the pace 
 which kills if you try to run several establishments with all 
 the comforts of home on an old-fashioned income. He has 
 been wool-gathering, I suppose, and hasn t realized how 
 fast the world is moving, until he suddenly found himself 
 hard up." 
 
 "Hard up?" echoed Mr. Avery. "I had been brought 
 up to believe that the Chippendales were among the rich 
 est people in Boston. You amaze me. It won t suit him 
 at all, poor man. The world seems turning topsy-turvy. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 203 
 
 He hard up and I a a Monte Cristo. Their ancestors 
 were merchant-princes." 
 
 "I d rather have his house than any one s," said Lora. 
 
 "I went all over it the other day, from top to bottom," 
 said her mother, "and you re to have it just as it stands, 
 furniture and all, except the pictures. Hugh tried to in 
 duce him to sell the family portraits through the broker, 
 of course but I guess they re not quite destitute enough 
 for that. They still have their place on the North Shore." 
 
 "What beggarly pride to refuse!" cried Priscilla. She 
 spoke like one suddenly roused from a trance by a jarring 
 sound, for she had been standing in a brown study since 
 the announcement of Mr. Chippendale s necessity. In the 
 wake of her surprise had come the thought What will 
 Henry Sunnier say to this? Will it not gall him to the 
 quick? Be wormwood to his aristocratic spirit? She 
 could not refrain from reflecting that the whirligig of time 
 was bringing its revenges. Yet in the ne.xt breath she 
 found herself listening to Mrs. Avery s recital. When she 
 had uttered the sarcasm she realized that the others were 
 looking at her inquiringly, as if they were not certain of her 
 meaning; but she caught an amused gleam in her father s 
 eyes. 
 
 "I suppose it s a question of price even where family 
 portraits are concerned. Naturally they come high but 
 there is a price." So stated Blaisdell with philosophic as 
 surance, and evidently for her benefit. 
 
 "Oh, no. The Chippendales never would sell theirs 
 at any price. I don t admire some of their qualities, as you 
 know, but I m positive of that. If you imagine otherwise, 
 you don t understand them, Hugh." Priscilla was flush 
 ing from astonishment at her own earnestness. 
 
 Blaisdell noticed her demeanor and squared his jaw. 
 
204 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 " Not understand them ? " he said benignly. " They would 
 hate to sell them, of course. They would never part with 
 them for a song. But suppose just suppose that some 
 one with a first-class fortune, a man to whom a million 
 dollars more or less was a bagatelle, were to offer one of 
 them that young civic reformer Henry Chippendale 
 Sumner, for instance a million for his family portraits, if 
 he has any? A rich man s whim took an inordinate 
 fancy to them, was bent on having them at any price. 
 Would he or any Chippendale feel justified in refusing? 
 A hundred thousand dollars, possibly, yes; but how about 
 a cool, comfortable million?" 
 
 "No one but an insane man would offer that for family 
 pictures," murmured Mrs. Avery. 
 
 "I don t know, mother. As Hugh says, an obstinate 
 multimillionaire, who hadn t any of his own, might pos 
 sibly set his heart on some which were awfully old and real. 
 He just might. And then 
 
 "It would be exactly like him to refuse exactly like 
 him. And the larger the sum offered, the more firmly 
 would he stick to it." Blaisdell s allusion to Henry Sum 
 ner had flustered Priscilla for a moment; it seemed too 
 much like mind-reading. She had caught her breath, but 
 now the words flowed defiantly. "I grant that you under 
 stand everything and everybody else in the world, Hugh; 
 but I m sure you don t understand the Chippendales. 
 I m sure I don t; they re made up of inconsistencies. And 
 as for Henry Chippendale Sumner" she laughed as she 
 spoke "he s a Chippendale incarnate stiff and narrow 
 unornamental self-righteous a chronic objector and 
 frightfully proper. But it has been slowly dawning on me 
 lately that under it all he may be an idealist an idealist in 
 disguise stunted in the growth by his own inherent frosti- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 205 
 
 ness. I used to think that he was a haughty time-server, 
 and hadn t a drop of red blood in his entire system, and- 
 and I hated him. As it is, I pity him. There s a differ 
 ence. Yet I can t be called exactly prejudiced in his favor. 
 And I know you re mistaken completely mistaken." 
 
 " There s no danger of his being tempted," answered 
 Blaisdell, "so we shall never know." 
 
 "But it wouldn t tempt him; that s the very point," 
 Priscilla flashed back. "That s the inhuman the irritat 
 ingthe tantalizing part of it. He s made that way. The 
 best thing which could happen to him, in my opinion," she 
 continued pensively, "would be some moral downfall to 
 be swept off the pillar of his strict propriety by something 
 or somebody vicious or forbidden, so that he would have 
 to wear sackcloth and ashes for six months at least. That 
 might possibly cure him." 
 
 "I don t see how he was able to resist you," lisped Lora, 
 "for there used to be a terribly vicious look in your eyes 
 while he was talking to you in the old days on Dartmouth 
 Street." 
 
 " But he was able, my dear he was able. A lofty moral 
 principle kept us apart so far as he was concerned, though 
 I didn t understand it at the time. And the saddest 
 part is so far as I am concerned that I have since 
 discovered that he was right convincingly, painfully 
 
 right." 
 
 But Mrs. Avery was unwilling to let the precise point at 
 issue be obscured without a final word. "A cool, com 
 fortable million! If it comes to right and wrong, I should 
 call it a moral downfall to refuse a million a foolish, sen 
 timental flying in the face of Providence. For, after all, 
 one does need so many things nowadays more than family 
 portraits. I used to be rather sorry, Priscilla, that you 
 
206 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 didn t marry Mr. Sumner. But, as he appears to be far 
 from practical, I dare say it was just as well, even if he 
 does live on the water side of Beacon Street." 
 
 "I am sure of it," assented Priscilla. "But I wouldn t 
 have looked quite so vicious if I had realized at the time 
 that he was a stunted idealist." 
 
 "I will go farther," remarked Blaisdell as he slipped 
 into his pocket the deed of the Commonwealth Avenue 
 house, which his wife had handed him for safe keeping. 
 "In the present age of the world it is really a moral down 
 fall for any man not to hold on to what he has, and, if he 
 has a million, not to leave two. And as for the practical 
 qualities of your friend Sumner, I may as well inform 
 you, Priscilla, that the committee on the Subway has 
 decided against him. I was told so confidentially this 
 morning." 
 
 "My friend!" repeated Priscilla. "I used to be his 
 only enemy in this family." She fingered her bracelet for 
 a moment, then threw up her head and looked at Blaisdell 
 with an air of challenge. "If he only would not continue 
 to wear that little round felt hat, I think I should be rather 
 proud to be his friend." 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 "HAVE you heard of the engagement in high life?" 
 asked Morgan Drake as he unfolded his napkin at the 
 luncheon table of the Sphinx Club. 
 
 The Sphinx Club was an aggregation of artists, writers, 
 musicians, men of science with a large sprinkling of doc 
 tors, and a certain number of unlabelled spirits who were 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 207 
 
 chiefly good fellows. It was a brotherhood as well as a 
 club, for the members were intimate, and their distinction 
 as a body was their devotion to whatever they undertook, 
 be it a dinner in honor of some one who had merited the 
 world s praise, a public cause which required to be fer 
 vently abetted, or their own more private social rites at 
 which they relaxed most humanly. To foster and protect 
 the arts, to protest against Philistinism and humbug, and 
 to let down the barriers between soul and soul was the 
 bond which held them together, though the words of the 
 Club s printed constitution left almost as much to the 
 imagination as its name. The Sphinx! symbol of inscrut 
 able mystery and silent power. Now the Sphinx Club 
 fostered mystery, but its power was genial rather than 
 silent. Everybody felt at home there. At luncheon, the 
 favorite meeting-time, those who came sat comradelike, 
 touching elbows at one large round table. 
 
 On this particular day the number of those still at table 
 had been reduced to half a dozen, for it was late. No one 
 spoke in answer to Morgan s inquiry, but all looked ex 
 pectant, so he had the satisfaction of stating : 
 
 "Miss Beatrice Langdon to Chauncey Chippendale." 
 
 The announcement was interesting. Most of the men 
 knew one or both of the engaged couple. General Horatio 
 Langdon was a member of the club and often took an ac 
 tive part in its festivities. 
 
 " General Langdon s second daughter?" queried some 
 one. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 There was a pause and then Professor Paton said: 
 "That young man has fallen on his feet again." No one 
 seemed disposed to dispute this declaration. On the con 
 trary, the faces around him suggested that he had ex- 
 
208 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 pressed the general thought. "From the foot-ball field to 
 the counting-room, from the counting-room via the stock 
 exchange to the banker s daughter, from the banker s 
 daughter to solid citizenship and capitalistic compla 
 cency," he continued. Every one laughed at the summary if 
 lengthy epigram. Chauncey Chippendale was not a mem 
 ber of the Sphinx. 
 
 "How these capitalists abuse each other," retorted 
 Morgan Drake. "I detect sheer envy in Fuzzy Wuzzy s 
 remarks." 
 
 Professor Paton had won this nickname not from his 
 heavy, piratical mustache, which might have justified it, 
 but from his predilection for reciting Kipling s verses of 
 that title. Some student had given it to him, and the 
 Sphinx Club had perpetuated the epithet. Morgan s accu 
 sation was based on the general club knowledge that the 
 professor was the owner of a block of Electric Coke, and 
 consequently had become able to commit all sorts of finan 
 cial indiscretions. 
 
 The professor ignored the taunt, or rather he defended 
 himself indirectly. "Chauncey Chippendale is a good 
 fellow in the modern sense of the word, and it s evident 
 that he is going to be a very successful fellow in the mod 
 ern sense of the word. But what has made him so ? What 
 is his stock in trade? An agreeable exterior, a muscular 
 personality, humorous horse sense, and the ambition to 
 make a lot of money quickly. And he s supposed to be 
 the flower of Boston youth a Chippendale. Everything 
 which savors of scholarly interests bores him. His con 
 versation is complacently limited to the stock market, ath 
 letic sports and humorous stories. He s manly oh, yes, 
 he s manly; but he isn t educated." 
 
 "But you are, Fuzzy," replied Morgan. "Educated, 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 209 
 
 I mean and envious, too. You re envious of him, and 
 I m envious of you. Your coffers are bursting with Elec 
 tric Coke, you ve brought out your magnum opus, you 
 may be raised any time to a full professorship, and, com 
 paratively speaking, you re a devilish eminent member of 
 society. As for me, I m poor as a church mouse, and no 
 one will buy my books because I persist in trying to tell 
 the truth as I see it instead of writing love stories with a 
 hopeful note." 
 
 "Yes, I am educated and I m proud of the fact. But 
 what, pray, do I envy Chauncey Chippendale?" 
 
 "The fact that he is engaged to be married that his 
 best girl has accepted him." 
 
 "What has matrimony to do with the question?" 
 
 "Everything. It s the civilized woman s privilege to 
 pick out the father of her children by the process of elim 
 ination. She gives the mitten to the man she doesn t fancy. 
 You re eminent in your way, as I said just now, but where 
 the mating girl is concerned, you re a side show compared 
 with a person like Chauncey Chippendale. The hero of 
 the modern mating girl is the man who does deeds which 
 can be measured in dollars and cents the man who inci 
 dentally will give her everything she desires and deck her 
 with jewels. You are we are, figuratively speaking, mil 
 dewed too much sicklied o er with the pale cast of intro 
 spective thought. And she s right." 
 
 "Who s right?" 
 
 "Woman. If we were geniuses, she d jump at us as of 
 yore; but she knows we re not; that we re merely left 
 overs. She knows that Boston has ceased to be a literary 
 centre and and become only a second-rate industrial 
 hive. Ichabod, thy glory has departed. There were 
 giants in those days. How many men in Harvard College 
 
210 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 would know where those quotations come from? No, 
 Fuzzy, turn your critical eyes on your introspective soul 
 and acknowledge that, matrimonially speaking, we are 
 bargain sales the aftermath of a fashion which has spent 
 itself. Cheer up, old man," he continued after the laugh 
 ter had subsided, "I don t mean that we may not be mar 
 ried some day. There are women, remember, in the same 
 predicament as we mildewed. But the fresh-faced 
 daughters of the morning star are not for us." 
 
 Everybody smiled, for it was currently reported that 
 the frowning professor, by way of recognizing that his long 
 devotion in a certain quarter was hopeless, had recently 
 begun to make frequent calls on the younger Miss Sumner, 
 one of Henry s sisters. 
 
 "And if so and if so, are we tamely to submit? Are 
 we to gnash our teeth, but utter no protest? Become 
 fawning fags of the illiterate money power?" 
 
 "Fawning fags is beautiful. What we you and I, 
 Fuzzy need," interposed Morgan, resting his head on his 
 hands and gazing across the table contemplatively, "to 
 make us appear respectable to redeem us in the eyes 
 of the illiterate money power is a cause, a burning 
 cause. Wanted, a cause to take the place of Brook Farm 
 and Transcendentalism and the Anti-Slavery movement 
 and the Civil War something to fuse our doubts in the 
 crucible of fiery action 1 No true Bostonian was ever 
 happy without a burning cause ever happy or ever really 
 useful." 
 
 "Are you hankering after another war?" asked one of 
 the men. 
 
 "Heaven forbid! Are not half the Club members of 
 the Society for the Perpetuation of Peace? Only some 
 great impulse to make us forget our doubts." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 211 
 
 " Our doubts ? " queried the professor doggedly. "What 
 doubts?" 
 
 Morgan indulged in a sardonic smile. "Oh, so many. 
 But first of all our great doubt whether democracy is not 
 making a mess of things." 
 
 "Democracy tiresome, overworked word," groaned 
 Paton. "A specious excuse for mediocre standards all 
 along the line. I am proud of being a critic no less than 
 of being reasonably well educated." 
 
 "We are in the same boat, Fuzzy. We avert our eyes or 
 hold our noses, and feel ordained to pick everything to 
 pieces. We re so sad while the others are so glad; and 
 the most hopeless thing for you and me," he went on rue 
 fully, "is that I shrewdly suspect there is a burning cause 
 right under our noses just like Electric Coke only we 
 shut our eyes to it because because we don t wish to 
 recognize it; and it s no other than that self-same tire 
 some, overworked democracy." 
 
 The professor gave a vicious twist to his moustache and 
 said audibly to his neighbor, "Drake is sometimes taken 
 this way; he s half a socialist." 
 
 Morgan nodded. "Intellectually I m a radical; tem 
 peramentally, I m a carping, over-sensitive aristocrat. 
 But really, you know," he exclaimed wistfully, " what I was 
 just saying is true. Boston s burning causes in the past 
 have been ideals liberty, the freeing of the slave, the 
 saving of the Union, the uplifting and refining of the indi 
 vidual soul by the white light of Concord philosophy. Our 
 ancestors breathed an upper air or thought they did. 
 We would fain do the same and lo ! the yellow newspaper, 
 the huge department store, the toiling mass, the vicious 
 professional politician, and, last and greatest the flower 
 and quintessence of it all the exuberant captain of in- 
 
212 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 dustry, overflowing with efficiency, prosperity and opti 
 mism, come trooping by and we fail to thrill to the music 
 of the latest world-movement the march of the common 
 herd. Not only do we decline to illuminate our houses in 
 honor of the procession extinguishing every light and 
 pulling down the blinds but we squat on the roofs and 
 shy missiles at the transparencies." 
 
 "Hear hear," cried several voices, as Morgan paused 
 for breath. 
 
 "We do," said the professor stoutly. "We will remain 
 Concord minute-men to the last. Let them hang us to the 
 lamp-posts if they choose." 
 
 " But they won t. If we decline to sympathize and co 
 operate, they ll simply ignore us crowd us out. It s the 
 march of destiny; the Celtic pick-and-shovel men of the 
 North End have become rich contractors in Roxbury; 
 their tenements are in possession of the Italians, Poles and 
 Jews; there isn t a decent morning newspaper in what 
 was once the literary centre of America, and Hugh McD. 
 Blaisdell is in the seats of the mighty on Commonwealth 
 Avenue. We are out of date, out of step, Fuzzy. We 
 were born too late in a Boston grown too big and easy 
 going. And here comes the most uncompromising of us 
 all" he added as Henry Sumner strode into the room. 
 
 "Have you heard the news?" asked Henry eagerly, as 
 he took a seat at the table. 
 
 "Your cousin s engagement," said several at once. 
 
 Henry looked aghast. "It isn t to come out for three 
 days yet." 
 
 "That s what three different people informed me at the 
 time they informed me," said Morgan. "But they knew. 
 It s all over town, dear boy." 
 
 "But the notes announcing it don t go out until to- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 213 
 
 morrow and most of the relations haven t been told yet," 
 replied Henry with concern. "I haven t breathed it to a 
 soul." 
 
 "These are degenerate days, Henry," remarked the 
 professor. "Our most sacred usages are being violated; 
 there is no longer a New England conscience." 
 
 " So it seems in more ways than one. What do you 
 suppose that man Blaisdell proposes to do now? Erect 
 a towering building on the slope of Beacon Hill. Bache 
 lors apartments, story on story an eyesore to the 
 neighborhood." 
 
 "Blaisdell!" ejaculated the professor. "A case which 
 cries to heaven. And yet, when you came in, Morgan was 
 berating us for our lack of sympathy with triumphant de 
 mocracy invoking us to cease to be mere obstructionists 
 and to extend the right hand of cooperation to the exult 
 ant and progressive money power. And he cited Hugh 
 McD. Blaisdell as the flower and quintessence of the new 
 world movement." 
 
 "I have tried to cooperate with him; be lenient toward 
 his point of view," cried Henry tensely. "And just as I 
 begin to calm down and to hope that he really intends to 
 be a public benefactor after all, he does some other mon 
 strous thing like this. Are mere huge rentals," he added, 
 turning toward Morgan Drake, "a legitimate civilized 
 excuse for ruining the symmetry of a picturesque neigh 
 borhood? Or put it this way is the man who shuts his 
 eyes to every sentimental and aesthetic consideration to 
 be allowed to usurp leadership in a city like this without 
 protest? I don t wish to be a mere obstructionist; I be 
 lieve in democratic progress, but but is nothing to con 
 trol but mere dollars and cents?" 
 
 "Don t glare at me, Henry," said Morgan. "I glory in 
 
214 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 being an obstructionist though I may starve in conse 
 quence. So does Fuzzy, notwithstanding he is in Electric 
 Coke. So do you in spite of having been told you are a 
 crank. That s our constitutional defect. Consequently, 
 we become mere flies on the chariot wheel of progress. 
 Blaisdell will tell you, of course, that he owes a moral duty to 
 his syndicate, his cestuis, or whomever he represents to de 
 velop the property for all it is worth. Be grateful if he 
 doesn t let the roof space for a huge signboard to advertise 
 a breakfast food or patent medicine. It s within the law, 
 but I don t believe he ll do it. Blaisdell is a moral man in 
 his way." 
 
 "That s the infernal part of it," said Henry who was 
 making pellets of his bread as he listened. "He always 
 has a plausible argument for whatever he does. My imme 
 diate impulse was to apply for an injunction; but the first 
 person I encountered it was er a friend of his, and I 
 spoke my mind defended him as you have and had the 
 argument pat. Oh, I see, I see. We re powerless. He 
 stands transfigured, morally vindicated, I dare say. Only 
 what are we coming to ? " 
 
 "He has just subscribed ten thousand dollars to the 
 Harvard athletic fund," said Professor Paton gloomily. 
 
 "But give the devil his due, Fuzzy he presented 
 twenty thousand to the Art Museum and fifteen to the 
 Maternity Hospital," retorted Morgan. 
 
 "And he bought two of Burton s pictures just like 
 a real Mecsenas. I have been advising people to buy them 
 telling them they were dirt cheap every time Burton 
 gave an exhibition, but they were afraid. They wanted a 
 lead. They ve got it, and now Burton s prices will go up." 
 The speaker was one of the artists. 
 
 "I know. And all Boston was at his wife s ball last 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 215 
 
 week," admitted the professor. "They listened to Melba 
 sing, consumed his champagne and terrapin, and apologized 
 to themselves for being there." 
 
 "I had to go for personal reasons," said Henry solici 
 tously. "I am intimate with Miss Avery. Lots of people 
 didn t go people whom they didn t know and whom they 
 invited. For instance, neither my Uncle Harrison nor any 
 of his immediate family were there." 
 
 "And I dare say the Blaisdells didn t understand why 
 buying a house from a man doesn t constitute him a social 
 acquaintance," said the professor. "When a woman s 
 motto is, don t wait to be invited by the people you wish 
 to know, her husband s bowing acquaintance in an ele 
 vator will serve as an introduction. The opportunity to 
 hear Melba sing free during the supper hour was too much 
 for the average New England conscience. We three all 
 went of course, as old acquaintances social relics of the 
 merry Saturday nights when Lora sang Gilbert and Sul 
 livan, and Mrs. Avery cooked Welsh rabbits. It was gor 
 geously done a little too gorgeously; and save that she 
 didn t know the people, Lora Mrs. Blaisdell was equal to 
 the emergency. As for Miss Avery" he lingered on the 
 word and lit a cigar before proceeding to finish these criti 
 cal memories of the late entertainment " she gave an air 
 of distinction to any part of the room in which she ap 
 peared. And it s a comfort to remember that her stock is 
 the old stock generations of low living and high think 
 ing." The Professor had renounced personal hopes, hut 
 he could be manfully magnanimous, and this might have 
 been termed a swan song. 
 
 "An intelligent and not too atrabilious summary, 
 Fuzzy," said Morgan. Then, putting his arm around the 
 shoulder of Henry, who was sitting next to him eating in 
 
216 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 silence, he whispered, "Was it she who defended Blaisdell 
 about the apartment house?" 
 
 "It was." 
 
 " How she does stand up for him! That in itself ought to 
 show there s lots of good in the man." 
 
 Henry was silent a moment. "I repeat, I m not such a 
 crank that I glory in being chiefly an obstructionist," he 
 said presently. "I tell you I m not," he asserted, since 
 Morgan began to blow rings of smoke which he ascribed to 
 sardonic doubt. "I m endeavoring to reform." 
 
 "I admit you re becoming almost a dandy in your 
 dress," observed Morgan. "Your neck-tie the other day 
 had a dash of color that was positively hectic. And I no 
 tice you ve banished the little round gray felt hat. How 
 many years have you clung to that?" 
 
 "It was comfortable. Well, those are the outer mani 
 festations of a spiritual change. A man grows older, and 
 sees things in a different light. But when, as Fuzzy says, 
 our most sacred usages are violated, how is one to avoid 
 being a crank sometimes?" 
 
 Morgan put his arm around his friend s shoulder again 
 and whispered, "Did she request you to burn the little 
 round gray hat?" 
 
 " She did not. You know as well as I do that she does 
 not trouble herself about my exterior." 
 
 "A woman invariably keeps her eye the corner of her 
 eye on a persevering man. Yet I do agree that she is 
 more bent on convincing your uncompromising soul than 
 on rectifying your ungainly person. Why don t you put 
 the question to her instead of to me ? " 
 
 " It s a matter of character, not of sentiment. But since 
 you ascribe my realization of my shortcomings to some 
 one in particular I have asked the question of her sub- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 217 
 
 stantially more than once. And invariably sooner or 
 later, she has referred me to the same model. Not in 
 exact words but her intimations have said only too 
 plainly, that is the man to imitate. I have tried to see 
 him with her eyes, and, though outwardly resolute, I have 
 gone away almost pentinent certainly conciliatory. But 
 a week later finds me fuming again over some such thing 
 as this apartment house his handiwork. All the while 
 the model prospers flourishes like the bay tree; he stands 
 the embodiment of genial common-sense; but I seem to 
 remain as I began though, confound it all," he added 
 with a doughty nod, "I do think I ve improved." 
 
 The others had left the table. He and Morgan were 
 alone. They were close friends, and what Henry had just 
 said was virtually a confidence an unbosoming of his 
 perplexities, which he knew might be treated whimsically, 
 but would not be abused. 
 
 "All this comes of wooing a proud beauty." Morgan 
 stirred the sugar in his black coffee. "Who is going to 
 tame her, I wonder? She has only the corner of her eye 
 on you, Henry. Her full gaze is fixed on 
 
 He paused and Henry answered without hesitation, 
 "The ideal man." 
 
 "I believe you re right. And suppose she doesn t find 
 him? Stick to her, Henry. Girls like that can sometimes 
 be tired out. Blaisdell is happily married. Or shall I say 
 happily is married?" 
 
 Henry made an impatient movement. "I don t choose 
 to believe that she would marry him if he were free. That 
 may be fatuous but Miss Avery is to me the ideal 
 woman." 
 
 "Bravo I introspective, thin-blooded Bostonian. And 
 now she is an heiress to boot." 
 
218 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "Yes. That will broaden her life." 
 
 "But your slightly gloomy tone suggests that it does not 
 help your individual chances. Hasn t your spiritual change 
 overcome your congenial tendency to shy at a rich girl? 
 I was predestined to fall in love with a poor one. But if 
 you let your New England conscience conjure up an im 
 aginary barrier between you because of Electric Coke, you 
 deserve to lose the ideal woman." 
 
 "But but I shall have to explain to you that I er 
 implied to her once that I couldn t afford to marry her. 
 I don t mean by this," Henry hastened to add, "that she 
 cared for me in the least. In fact, she assured me to the 
 contrary in unmistakable terms. I had been on the point 
 of offering myself to her, but discovered that I had to earn 
 my own living. I was in no position to support a wife, 
 and so 
 
 "You told her so. A case of conscience. I see it all." 
 Morgan could not restrain his mirth. "You played into 
 her hands, Henry. And I perceive your predicament 
 you would naturally feel a little hesitation about implying 
 to her under her present opulent circumstances that you 
 are ready now to run the risk." 
 
 "I merely wished you to understand that it was not an 
 ordinary case of shying at a rich girl." 
 
 Morgan put his head on one side reflectively. "Henry, 
 since you are bent on spiritual change, why don t you try 
 flirting desperately with some one else ? If you have scru 
 ples against endangering another heart, you might let the 
 victim into the secret. Or sow a few belated wild oates." 
 
 Henry shook his head. "I can t make believe. She 
 would detect the imposture provided it interested her suf 
 ficiently to notice it." 
 
 "Yes," said Morgan with a sigh, "I dare say you would 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 219 
 
 cut a very unconvincing figure. Your virtue, Henry, is 
 your worst enemy. You re constitutionally unfitted for 
 the part." 
 
 " Don t I know it? Don t I know, too, that she regards 
 me as incapable of passion a sort of crawfish lover. 
 There s from her point of view my most unpardonable 
 defect. And while I don t admit for a minute being 
 much worse than morally clean and a little shy, there s 
 just a scintilla of truth which justifies her. One of the 
 chief consequences of introspection is the ability to submit 
 one s own shortcomings to the microscope. I m painfully 
 aware that she believes I have no red blood in my veins. 
 Oh, yes, there lies the crux of the whole situation." 
 
 Morgan had listened appreciatively to the almost im 
 passioned harangue. "You were always intelligent, 
 Henry. But your own recognition of all this puts a new 
 face on it. And any one can see the change. You no 
 longer take your glass of wine and smoke your cigar as if 
 under protest. Any mother would still trust her daughter 
 with you on a dark night, but you. have ceased to be a 
 walking rebuke to immorality. Even she must have no 
 ticed that your virtue no longer sticks out so obtrusively 
 as formerly. Your perseverance is a part of your destiny 
 to go plodding along year in and year out in pursuit of the 
 same woman after she has persistently refused you on the 
 score that you are constitutionally cold and unromantic; 
 for whatever you may be inwardly, the leopard can t 
 change his spots. You always will be what you are, thank 
 God. (I say thank God advisedly). You always will be 
 sighing for the stars with the manners of a Puritan, just as 
 you always will be thin and exceedingly anxious to do 
 right. Stick to her, Henry." 
 
 Henry rose. " There s the very point the leopard can t 
 
220 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 change his spots. He can change his habits, but not his 
 besetting nature. And there s where we are. And nothing 
 else would count. Besides, I ve temporarily reached the 
 limit of my spiritual progress." 
 
 "You mean that it s the turn now of the ideal woman 
 to make concessions?" 
 
 11 1 mean that a man cannot afford to sacrifice every con 
 viction merely because he is in love." 
 
 "How like a Bostonian to say merely when weighing 
 love in the scales with moral duty. And yet you demur at 
 not being mistaken for a fiery furnace." 
 
 Henry tapped his breast. " The furnace is there just the 
 same. It seems always to be my destiny, as you call it 
 to have this doubted. Oh, yes," he added, pulling the 
 brown drooping mustache which now shielded the severity 
 of his mouth, "I admit that merely was just like me. 
 But as to sticking, you know equally well, Morgan, that I 
 not only intend to persevere, but but, that in my inex 
 pressive way, the issue means life or death to me. And 
 no one would ever guess it. That s what you re thinking, 
 isn t it? I must be going." 
 
 Morgan wrinkled his brow, then hooking his arm 
 through Henry s, he walked with him to the head of the 
 stair leading down from the dining-room. " You address me 
 as a philosopher and as a friend. Why should your ardor 
 be so unconvincing ? I can see from the worried look in 
 your conscientious eyes that you fear you may be late for 
 an engagement, but," he said, detaining him by the button 
 of his coat, "you have sought counsel and you must listen. 
 Suppose, Henry, that you were to hear to-morrow that Miss 
 Avery the ideal woman was married. What would you 
 do ? Something desperate blood-curdlingunseemly 
 spectacular? No, you would submit sadly but decently; 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 221 
 
 drop ashes on the fiery furnace, cherish her image, maybe, 
 to the grave for I agree that you are the embodiment of 
 faithfulness and settle down again to what you would 
 term the serious work of life. That is so, isn t it ? " 
 
 Henry s brow clouded and he drew back instinctively 
 like one seeking to evade answering categorically an em 
 barrassing question, but the inquisitor clung tenaciously 
 to the button. " Do ? What could I do ? " Then, seeing 
 that Morgan was still expectant he added, "Necessarily 
 I should submit." 
 
 " Exactly." Morgan s tone was mournfully triumphant. 
 "And you admit it. The other lovers the civilized world 
 over the Frenchman the German the Italian the 
 most conservative of them, the Englishman Blaisdell, 
 yes, Blaisdell every one but a simon pure Bostonian would 
 do the same submit and settle down. But they wouldn t 
 be aware of it in advance," he cried eagerly. "They 
 would declare when confronted, as I have confronted you, 
 that they were liable to blow their brains out in the event 
 of losing the ideal woman. If you had only said liable, 
 Henry!" Morgan let go the button with the finality of a 
 physician who has clearly diagnosed a case of cardiac lesion. 
 
 "To blow one s brains out in this age of the world 
 
 " Would be incompatible with the highest type of man 
 hood. Indisputably. But to be certain in advance that 
 one wouldn t there s the crucial point, my dear fellow." 
 
 Henry flushed. Yet what was this but a reiteration in 
 another form of what he had previously admitted? He 
 threw up his head. " It is sorry comfort to be informed on 
 the verge of middle life that it is the lot of the introspective 
 Bostonian not to know that he is not in love. Has the 
 philosopher and friend the antidote?" 
 
 "You know that the truth is more precious to you 
 
222 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 than anything else, Henry. What do we live for you 
 and I except the truth? There is no antidote." 
 
 4 Yet it was you who urged me to stick to her." 
 
 "I do still, unhesitatingly. You do not comprehend my 
 full purpose, Henry; which was to be encouraging dis- 
 criminately stimulating. Mind you, if she belonged to any 
 one of the foreign nationalities were any one in fact but 
 a Bostonian your case might be hopeless; she might 
 never be able to discover how much you really do care 
 for you do care a lot, Henry. And domestically you would 
 be the salt of the earth. But she is a Bostonian not one 
 of the mildewed kind, but one of the daughters of the 
 morning and she glories in having flung off the shackles 
 of introspection. Can one thus escape destiny ? At least," 
 he continued eagerly, and reaching out he seized once more 
 the button of Henrv s coat as if to make sure that this es 
 sence of his counsel should not be missed, "at least it be 
 hooves us as introspective spirits to ask and ponder that 
 question. Can the leopardess change her spots? She is 
 single still and past twenty-five. Think of that. She has 
 not yet found the ideal man. Think of that. Suppose 
 she does not find him?" Morgan put the hypothesis in a 
 dramatic whisper and pausing, with his whimsical face 
 aslant, looked at Henry. 
 
 " Quit your nonsense. This heritage of turning people 
 inside out it is one thing to apply the process to me, an 
 other " 
 
 But Morgan waved away the remonstrance as trivial. 
 His knowing countenance scintillated with sophisticated 
 conviction. " Be on the alert," he exclaimed; "watch for 
 the moment when she discovers that he does not exist. 
 Go to her then, and she may fall with a dull, sickening 
 thud into your arms." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 223 
 
 Henry almost blushed. This violent metaphor so viv 
 idly portrayed the act of self-surrender that, although the 
 prophecy was an illuminating confirmation of his own 
 secret hopes, he stood momentarily flustered. Doubtless 
 Morgan misinterpreted this as dismay at the outlook, for 
 he declared almost defiantly: 
 
 "It s your only hope." 
 
 Henry hastened to mollify him by absolute acquiescence. 
 "I ve realized for some time that if she does so turns 
 to me, it will be as a last resort." 
 
 "If? It s a foregone conclusion that she will," he cried 
 with trenchant conviction. " Properly handled it becomes 
 a perfect cinch." 
 
 Then, as Henry lingered, gasping at this other bold 
 figure of speech, Morgan pushed him down the staircase 
 exclaiming: "If you re not careful, you ll be late for your 
 engagement and duty will have been sacrificed to that 
 wanton handmaiden mere love." 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 HENRY S engagement was with his mother. He had 
 promised to devote his Saturday afternoon to her, and 
 he now proceeded to hasten homeward. During these 
 occasional outings together they were apt to make the 
 round of the new sights of interest; visit some current ex 
 hibition by a rising artist at the gallery of one of the local 
 picture dealers; look in at the bric-a-brac or new Japanese 
 stores with an eye primarily to aesthetic cultivation, but 
 also in the hope of seeing just the right thing for a wedding 
 present (for Mrs. Sumner invariably had a prospective 
 
224 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 wedding present at the back of her mind); scrutinize the 
 aspect of the new Public Library in Copley Square, and 
 finally, bring up at the Art Museum, where, in addition to 
 the pictures, potteries and casts with which they were 
 already familiar, there was certain to be some artistic nov 
 elty, lavishly purchased as a masterpiece with the precious 
 funds of the institution, around which the currents of 
 counter criticism played bewilderingly. In her circle there 
 were invariably, to begin with, people who denied that the 
 masterpiece was an original; others who disputed its 
 merit; and everybody with an artistic New England con 
 science felt obliged to inspect it in order to have an 
 opinion on the subject. 
 
 Once in a while the mother and son would vary the 
 programme by a trip to the suburbs. There was Colonel 
 Sumner s grave at Mt. Auburn to be tended, and in the 
 same cemetery, not far from this, the family vault in which 
 several generations of Chippendales reposed, marked by 
 a tall, commanding shaft of plain granite. It was Mrs. 
 Sumner s wish to be buried beside her husband out of 
 sentiment for him, but she approved of Henry s eager in 
 tention to be cremated as sanitary and sensible. On the 
 way back they were apt to stop at Harvard to look at 
 some new building or to revisit the wonderful collection of 
 glass flowers in the Agassiz museum. Indeed, it may 
 fairly be said that Mrs. Sumner s vision as a cultivated 
 woman was bounded on the north by Harvard College, on 
 the east by the dome of the State House and by Boston 
 Common, on the south by the Boston Art Museum, and 
 on the west by Mt. Auburn cemetery. And latterly 
 might be added, on the north, north-east by the Associated 
 Charities, and on the south, south-west by the Boston 
 Symphony Orchestra. Whatever affected these land- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 225 
 
 marks stirred her deeply, for they seemed to her to repre 
 sent individually and to embody collectively the spirit of 
 enlightened human progress. Her husband s glorious but 
 untimely death had deprived him of the privilege of help 
 ing to safeguard these spiritual points of the compass, but 
 she had successfully endeavored to transmit to Henry her 
 own allegiance. And naturally, for it had become almost 
 a heritage of the Chippendales to be loyal to them in an 
 official capacity. Her father had been an Overseer of 
 Harvard College. Her brother Harrison was an Overseer 
 and also a trustee of the Art Museum. Her sister Geor- 
 giana was a liberal and willing contributor to the subscrip 
 tion lists constantly in private circulation for purposes 
 connected with one or the other of these institutions, and 
 her brother Baxter was a member of Mt. Auburn Ceme 
 tery Corporation. She herself was on the Board of Asso 
 ciated Charities, to the funds of which she made a gener 
 ous annual donation, and in the practical philanthropic 
 work of which both her daughters took part. And from 
 the establishment of the Symphony Orchestra all of the 
 family, except Baxter, had been assiduous season ticket 
 holders. In short, Mrs. Sumner prided herself on being 
 a thorough-going Bostonian, and would have resented 
 being mistaken for anything else. She cherished the city s 
 traditions, and she desired that her children should be 
 associated with and help to preserve those social institu 
 tions which she had been taught to venerate. 
 
 At the time of depreciation in the shares of the Warrior 
 Mills she had felt obliged to retrench to look more 
 closely after her expenses and cut off superfluities, but 
 there had been no question of moving from their Beacon 
 Street house. She had approved of Harrison s conduct in 
 accepting a large price for his and retiring temporarily to 
 
226 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Beverly for the winter. It had been a family humiliation, 
 of course, this forced acknowledgment that her respected 
 brother s expenses had outrun his income. But what else 
 was there for one with Chippendale standards to do ? She 
 could sympathize if she could not exonerate him from ex 
 travagance. There was so much more elaboration in liv 
 ing, and the temptation was constantly present to try to 
 do for one s children as much as other people were doing 
 for theirs. Her sister-in-law had been possessed from their 
 dancing-school days with a nervous fear lest her daughters 
 should become old maids. Counting her own two, there 
 were still five unmarried marriageable girls of Chippendale 
 stock, which was, of course, when viewed dispassionately, 
 rather appalling. But Professor Paton was certainly very 
 attentive to her own Barbara. Mrs. Sumner hoped there 
 might be something in this, for their tastes were similar 
 and an engagement would be likely to dissipate the some 
 what morbid tendencies of her daughter. That is, Barbara 
 was tormented by over-conscientiousness in petty matters, 
 For instance, if she claimed that the ball was on. the line 
 at tennis, she was haunted by the fear that she had been 
 inaccurate; and she was constantly correcting her decisions 
 of this sort or else worrying over them, which was trying 
 to her own and other people s nerves. But though Mrs. 
 Sumner believed that it would correct itself in time, and 
 that it was indicative of character, she hoped that Pro 
 fessor Paton would propose soon. 
 
 For three years now Harrison and his family had been 
 spending the winter at Beverly a sort of Spartan exile. 
 By means of putting a furnace into the house, they had 
 managed to live sufficiently comfortably. He had been true 
 to his principles as a Chippendale, and what had been the 
 result ? The girls had been constantly invited to stay with 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 227 
 
 friends in town during the dancing season. Moreover, 
 Georgy had been as much of a belle as ever; two or three 
 young men were said to be anxious to marry her. Strangely 
 enough, too, though Harrison had felt obliged to part with 
 his Commonwealth Avenue house, he had recently seen fit 
 to refuse one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the 
 place on the North Shore those dozen acres well wooded, 
 yet commanding the sea, which he had bought for less than 
 a fifth of the sum twenty-five years before. And people 
 who ought to know were confident it would become even 
 more valuable. Certainly the chances of real life were con 
 stantly proving stranger than any fiction. Finally Chaun- 
 ceyhad made what might fairly be termed a brilliant match. 
 The Langdons were people of character as well as people of 
 substance. The moral of these reflections Mrs. Sumner 
 imparted to Henry as she left the house. 
 
 "One can truly say, still, that it makes no difference in 
 Boston whether people have money or not. Provided they 
 have position and are acceptable in themselves, no one 
 asks the question. Your Aunt Margaret and I may not 
 be entirely in accord as to methods of education as to 
 what is best worth striving for in life but she has a 
 right to be gratified indeed, we all have, Henry that 
 the reduction in their father s income and the publicity 
 resulting from the sale of their house has not affected in 
 the slightest degree the social standing of your cousins. 
 But though the changes which have taken place in Boston 
 since I was a girl are simply amazing from the point of 
 view of an older generation, it is comforting to be able to 
 feel that whatever its shortcomings, and in spite of the fact 
 that the names of more than one-half of the people who 
 have bought houses on this street mean absolutely nothing 
 to me" at the moment they were crossing Commonwealth 
 
228 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Avenue by way of Dartmouth Street "Boston is not a 
 plutocratic city. Something continues to count here besides 
 mere money. The sight of your Uncle Harrison s house 
 reminds me, Henry, to ask if what I heard yesterday is 
 true, that the people who bought it the Blaisdells have 
 bought the one adjoining in order to have a music room. 
 That they are going abroad for the summer and that the 
 two houses are to be thrown into one while they re away ?" 
 
 "Oh, yes, it s true. The deed has passed. Money 
 doesn t seem to count with them, does it?" 
 
 "Especially as they remodelled and redecorated the 
 house from top to bottom before moving in less than two 
 years ago. It suggests a restless spirit. Don t suppose 
 that I do not realize, dear boy, that it will be a constant 
 fight to preserve the traditions. You in your way and 
 Chauncey in his. There s no reason why Boston, because 
 it is becoming a big city, should cease to be a discriminat 
 ing one." 
 
 "No one will ever discriminate against Chauncey." 
 
 Mrs. Sumner, though puzzled, was too discerning a 
 woman to murmur, "why should it ever occur to any one 
 to discriminate against Chauncey?" She divined that her 
 son must be indulging in hyperbole, and a moment s re 
 flection caused her to reply, "Nor against either of you. 
 In the event that discrimination becomes necessary, you 
 both will be among those whose duty it will be to practise 
 it he in his way and you in yours, as I just remarked. 
 The proportions of that building grow upon me," she 
 added, stopping to shade her eyes and gaze critically at 
 the recently completed Public Library. "I have definitely 
 decided that it is not too low. Do you object, dear, to drop 
 in at Sagasaki s before we go to see the new Rembrandt ? I 
 must select a wedding present for Marian Eckley this week." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 229 
 
 Taking for granted that Henry would acquiesce in her 
 proposal, Mrs. Sumner turned the corner and proceeded 
 along Boylston Street. She walked with stately but un 
 assuming leisureliness, as if proud of doing the things 
 incumbent on her as a cultivated Bostonian in the com 
 pany of her only son. Her bonnet had receded a little 
 from her brow as if not securely fastened, and her black 
 mantle edged with jet was old-fashioned in its style 
 and had the effect of having been put on hurriedly. Yet, 
 though another woman in the same attire might have 
 looked dowdy, her air was one of distinction. At a gentle 
 angle over her shoulder she carried a large fringed parasol 
 of antiquated pattern. 
 
 "What I meant is that Chauncey is like a cat; throw 
 him off the roof of a ten-story building and he will light on 
 kis feet," answered Henry. "He is adaptive; he knows 
 the art of putting himself in harmony with reconciling 
 himself to existing conditions without er losing his self- 
 respect. I quite agree with you, mother; he has done 
 splendidly. He is in touch with the new order of things, 
 and is, consequently, in the position to do exactly what 
 you wish him to do in the way of discrimination." 
 
 "I wish him to do?" asked Mrs. Sumner, laughing ner 
 vously. She put her hand in her son s arm and drew him 
 toward her exclaiming: "As if I were comparing Chaun 
 cey to you! Don t you realize that I am thankful you are 
 different from Chauncey? Chauncey is a Chippendale, 
 but he is also a Baxter, and more especially a Floyd. 
 Whereas you, I am proud to be able to boast, are an un 
 adulterated Chippendale, to say nothing of being your 
 father s son. Oh, yes, I know, dear Chauncey compro 
 mises and you never can. I would not have it otherwise 
 with you. But granting this 
 
230 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "It s odious of me to seem to suggest that sort of a com 
 parison. What I had in mind was that I don t think you 
 appreciate how rapidly the old order is passing away; and 
 that when a person doesn t change won t change, he 
 ceases to be effective. That s my case, and that s why I 
 said no one would ever discriminate against Chauncey; 
 for he belongs to the old and yet is able to keep step with the 
 new. He can be a real power in Boston if he chooses to be." 
 
 "In deciding what may and what may not be done in 
 society ? From that point of view I agree that he is in a 
 position to be listened to rather than you. Our branch of 
 the family has never gone in for precisely that sort of thing, 
 whereas your Uncle Harrison always has and your Aunt 
 Margaret even more so. My interests and consequently 
 yours, have been first of all, intellectual; and yet at the 
 same time, it is absolutely important that some one should, 
 do it stand on guard, I mean; see that people who would 
 force lower standards upon us are not allowed to make 
 undue headway socially. And to tell the truth, Henry" 
 but here Mrs. Sumner paused, arrested by something 
 which had attracted her eye in a shop window. "Brass 
 andirons!" she soliloquized. "Why wouldn t brass and 
 irons be just the thing?" For a moment she stood spell 
 bound, yet irresolute. Then the happy look faded, and, 
 shaking her head, she murmured with a sigh, "It s so late 
 I m afraid she has some. There s been a run on andirons. 
 What I started to say," she continued as she resumed her 
 walk, "was that when I used the word discriminating in 
 connection with you and Chauncey just now I did have 
 something particular in mind. Mrs. Staunton Townsend, 
 while calling yesterday, told me in confidence that the com 
 mittee had voted not to invite the Blaisdells the people 
 who bought your Uncle Harrison s house to the Puritan 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 231 
 
 balls next year. The wife is considered pushing. I hear 
 that she wrote to Mrs. Percy Weston, who is managing the 
 Wednesday afternoon dancing class this year, that she 
 would like to put down her eight-year-old daughter s name 
 for two years hence. Naturally Mrs. Weston wrote in re 
 ply that by that time somebody else would be getting up 
 the class. This is gossip and you know I hate gossip, 
 Henry. At the same time it s a straw, and does suggest 
 they re pushing just as buying the adjoining house does 
 suggest they re restless. And, as Mrs. Townsend said, 
 why should we open our drawing-rooms to people merely 
 because they entertain lavishly and are anxious to enter 
 them? Yes, dear, you are right, the old order is passing 
 away in the sense that the old families in society the 
 people I knew as a girl are in the minority to-day in the 
 proportion of two to one. And yet this remains signifi 
 cantly true about Boston I trust it will always continue 
 to be true that once in, confessedly in, a family remains 
 so to the end. Barring a murder or financial irregular 
 ities, of course, the members may live as unostentatiously 
 as they please, bury themselves indefinitely, dress unfash- 
 ionably, and yet be sure of a welcome when they do emerge. 
 The year Lily came out I had not been to a Puritan 
 ball for fifteen years; yet I was accused of being the belle 
 of the occasion. And there was a scintilla of truth in the 
 statement." Whereupon, with a smile of self-respecting 
 gaiety evoked by this recollection, Mrs. Sumner entered 
 Sagasaki s and, advancing slowly, bent her gaze on the 
 array of Japanese bric-a-brac screens, vases, dragons, 
 elephants exposed for sale. 
 
 "I heard one of my contemporaries referred to the other 
 day as dowdy a woman whose mind is so absorbed by the 
 higher responsibilities of life that she is liable to neglect her 
 
232 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 personal appearance," she continued. "I admit it is a 
 blemish; and and I dare say there are those among the 
 younger generation who would make the same charge 
 about your mother." As she spoke, she deftly pulled her 
 bonnet forward and tightened the ribbons. "How is one, 
 Henry dear, to feel sure that these things are genuine?" 
 she asked, holding up a delicately suffused vase. "The 
 color is exquisite but is it real peach-blow? Marian 
 Eckley would never know, but one hates to be imposed 
 on. The dreadful thought sometimes assails one that, 
 artistically, Boston is brimming over with fabrications. 
 How much is this?" she inquired of the salesman. 
 
 The price asked was not exorbitant and the gesticulating 
 salesman was emphatic as to the authenticity of the color 
 ing process. But Mrs. Sumner s mind hung fire. Then a 
 happy thought occurred to her. "I will come in again in 
 a day or two," she said, restoring the vase to its position. 
 But she whispered in Henry s ear as they passed out of the 
 store, "I will write a line to Mr. Moore of the Art Museum 
 and get him to step in and pass on it. It would be on his 
 way, for he comes across the Public Garden every morn 
 ing. And then we shall be certain." 
 
 "But the point I was leading up to," she resumed as 
 they retraced their steps along Boylston Street with the 
 purpose of visiting the new Rembrandt, "is that we who 
 have the power or can have it cannot afford to let down 
 the bars too freely at the call of every newcomer." 
 
 "I heartily agree with you, mother, in the sense in which 
 I assume that you mean it." 
 
 "In no narrow, snobbish sense, of course. For re 
 member, society is one vast whole. Nothing can affect 
 it injuriously at one point without being felt through 
 out. And, as human nature is constituted, the favorite 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 233 
 
 line of attack of those who would consciously or uncon 
 sciously vulgarize it, is through ceaseless endeavors to 
 make social headway. There are junctures when, if one 
 had not relations to do it for one, it might become one s 
 individual duty to emerge. You remember your Dante: 
 * For sitting upon down or under quilt one cometh not to 
 fame. " (But Mrs. Sumner quoted the Italian " Seg- 
 gendo in piuma in fama non si vien ne sotto coltre.") 
 " There s where Chauncey and Chauncey s wife may be 
 useful. But there is one matter, Henry, in which I should 
 like your active personal cooperation. Is it possible or 
 put it this way I should be immensely pleased to do 
 something socially for your friend Priscilla Avery, if, by 
 so doing, I should not seem to be opening my arms to 
 the entire family." 
 
 Mrs. Sumner had led up to the subject. It was not a 
 tabooed topic a neglected one, rather. Neglected by 
 Henry and his silence had been respected, especially 
 since her casual tentative mention of her name had failed 
 to elicit any further confidences. With the earlier passages 
 in his courtship Mrs. Sumner had long been familiar. Her 
 daughters had promptly heard from their cousins of the 
 passionate avowal made at the Commonwealth Avenue 
 house of his intention to ask the girl to marry him infor 
 mation which, at the moment, had filled her with dismay. 
 Not long after it was during one of their afternoon walks 
 he had spoken briefly and she had gathered from his 
 words that he had been rebuffed and was miserable. 
 While her heart bled for him, immediate balm was pro 
 vided by secret satisfaction that he had not, while virtu 
 ally a boy, engaged himself to some one outside their cir 
 cle. Presently it had come over her that he had abstained 
 from pressing his suit out of consideration for her and the 
 
234 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 girls, and she had endeavored by her tenderness to let him 
 perceive that she understood. 
 
 It had chanced that until Priscilla went to live with Miss 
 Georgiana she had never seen her the girl who would 
 have refused her son if he had asked her; for this was the 
 way, Henry had insisted, that the incident should be left 
 in her mind. Beforehand, Mrs. Sumner s private belief 
 had been that, if the young woman had actually been given 
 the chance, Henry would not have escaped. But the first 
 sight of her had been rather dazing. To begin with, she 
 was surprised at the existence, in Boston, unknown to 
 her, of so handsome and aristocratic looking a girl. Hen 
 ry s taste was vindicated; he had fallen in love with a 
 person of neither the handkerchief box nor the untidy blue 
 stocking variety, as she had dreaded. But granting the 
 attractive personality and as an idealist, Mrs. Sumner, 
 though bewildered, admitted it there was presumably 
 a flaw. She had instinctively bent her critical faculties 
 on discovering it. Her sister s companion possessed dis 
 tinction and beauty; her voice was neither nasal nor high- 
 pitched; what she uttered was spirited and intelligent: but 
 but (the illuminating phrase came to her in a flash) 
 did not the girl lack intellectual modesty? Yes, this was 
 certainly it; she was too self-confident, too exuberantly 
 positive that she was right; in short, forth-putting a 
 dreadful word in Mrs. Sumner s vocabulary. And along 
 the lines of this discovery though overt behavior was 
 temporarily lacking it was not far to reach the conclu 
 sion that she was the kind of girl who, when alone with 
 young men, would encourage them to address her by her 
 Christian name on brief acquaintance and play fast and 
 loose with the established conventions on the plea that 
 they promoted social stiffness. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 235 
 
 Mrs. Sumner had shuddered at the thought. It had 
 been a source of constant self-congratulation that her own 
 daughters had been guarded from the microbe of informal 
 ity, which, in her opinion, was turning so many of the girls 
 of the rising generation into mere boys unromantic, ath 
 letic "good fellows." 
 
 The impression which she thus derived at the outset had 
 served to confirm her maternal idea that Henry had had 
 a fortunate escape; and though she was not blind to Miss 
 Avery s surface attractions, she had chosen to think of the 
 affair as a boy and girl episode which had blown over. 
 Did not all the outward indications point to this ? What 
 she hoped was that they might become merely capital 
 friends. With sentiment eliminated, Priscilla s rose- 
 colored, if too positive, views would provide an excellent 
 foil to Henry s relentless tendencies. So she had let mat 
 ters drift. But Henry had seemed to avoid the topic. 
 
 She had begun to suspect the truth that he did care 
 some time before the success of Electric Coke pre 
 sented Priscilla in the new light of an heiress. Money of 
 course was money; but Mrs. Sumner did not need or seek 
 to exonerate herself from the imputation of sordid motives 
 because of regarding her sister s companion with fresh in 
 terest. The interesting thing to her was not the possession, 
 but the opportunity. What use would Priscilla make of all 
 this wealth ? Mrs. Sumner had at times pictured herself as 
 inordinately rich and indulged in the spiritual luxury of 
 a series of chimerical splendid donations. And now, here 
 was a girl on the threshold of life, the only daughter of a 
 man who had suddenly acquired a huge fortune, who 
 could do just that if she saw fit build a new dormitory for 
 women under the shadow of Harvard College, buy an ex 
 pensive old master for the Art Museum. And with this 
 
236 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 girl her only son was in love she would never believe 
 hopelessly. Naturally she regarded her with a new eye. 
 But as for the money itself it would inevitably be a for 
 midable barrier to Henry. As his mother she divined this 
 the moment she heard that Priscilla had become an heir- 
 tess. She realized the mental plight in which he must be 
 assuming that he had never, in so many words, asked her 
 to marry him before her father had acquired his fortune. 
 Up to the time when the girl had given unmistakable signs 
 that she was not going to fritter her life and money away 
 on mere pleasureable excitements was, in short, keenly 
 alive to her opportunity, Mrs. Sumner had regarded this 
 new barrier with equanimity. But one motive for leading 
 up to the subject on this afternoon was that she might 
 make sure that Henry was not eating his heart out in con 
 sequence of deeming it unsurmountable. Another was be 
 cause she genuinely desired to do something by way of 
 letting her son perceive that she had revised her first esti 
 mate of the woman he would like to marry. In this con 
 nection it was a satisfaction to her to be able to feel that 
 some time before she had ever heard of Electric Coke she 
 had begun to be drawn toward Miss Avery and to recon 
 cile herself to the possibility of having her for a daughter- 
 in-law. 
 
 Henry was silent for a moment, following his mother s 
 proposal, then he replied: "Do you think she needs us? 
 I m sure she is not conscious of the need." 
 
 Mrs. Sumner, misinterpreting this lukewarm reception, 
 said eagerly, "I am glad of the opportunity to tell you, 
 dear boy, that your Priscilla has won me over completely." 
 Thereupon she smiled benignly at her son. 
 
 Henry returned her smile. "I am glad, of course, that 
 you have ceased to disapprove of her. What I meant, 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 237 
 
 though, mother, had nothing to do with that. As I said a 
 few minutes ago, I don t think you realize how little we of 
 the old order really count." 
 
 " But surely" Mrs. Sumner paused. She wished to be 
 circumspect, for she knew that Henry still harbored idio 
 syncrasies. "For instance, I made Mrs. Townsend prom 
 ise to send her a card for the Puritan balls." 
 
 "That was considerate of you, but I doubt if Miss 
 Avery will be alive to the greatness of the honor." 
 
 Mrs. Sumner was silent for a moment in her turn. 
 "Then some one should enlighten her. She will be a dis 
 tinct addition ; for, besides being ornamental, it is evident 
 that she intends to stand for something to identify her 
 self with social progress. Her idea of a club which should 
 not condemn everything at the start was an inspiration, 
 half truth though it was. And so we I, at least, desire to 
 recognize the fact." 
 
 "I give you carte-blanche, mother. But," he added, 
 "how can you expect her to desert her friends for ours?" 
 
 Mrs. Sumner had evidently anticipated this objection, 
 for she answered promptly, "Her father is an elderly man. 
 He would scarcely expect to be invited at this period of his 
 life for the first time, especially as her step-mother knows 
 nobody." 
 
 "And her step-sister is to be deliberately excluded." 
 
 "Merely not invited. That is the decision of the com 
 mittee, not mine. But have I not heard you constantly 
 inveigh against the husband as an evil force in the com 
 munityall the more dangerous because he seems to pos 
 sess unusual ability?" 
 
 "That is my opinion still. But Miss Avery does not 
 agree with me. She admires everything her brother-in-law 
 does; has complete confidence in him. She is certain to 
 
238 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 side with them, and to feel that their friends are good 
 enough for her. They will be invited to plenty of balls 
 and dinner-parties." 
 
 "Ah, but they will not be the same," murmured Mrs. 
 Sumner. "I was merely trying to help her for your sake. 
 Tell me, Henry you speak of her formally as Miss Avery 
 are you at odds ? Have you given up the idea of marry 
 ing her ? I do not wish to probe." 
 
 " No, mother; I love her more than ever." 
 
 "Have you asked her recently?" 
 
 "There are certain things of which one is sure without 
 asking. I haven t a chance of succeeding at present. 
 I am only too well aware of the fact." 
 
 Mrs. Sumner shook her head. "I believe you are too 
 modest. You have a great deal to offer a girl like Miss 
 Avery position, character, intelligence, no bad habits." 
 
 "A Boston certificate of excellence. It does not happen 
 to appeal to her. She yearns for something racier." 
 
 "Yearns? Racier? I do not understand you, Henry." 
 
 "She is haunted by the ideal of some one less cut and 
 dried, less critically cold-blooded, less highly moral. Seri 
 ously, mother" he stopped short at the street crossing 
 facing the Art Museum "maternal prepossessions elim 
 inated, what is there about me to attract a high-spirited, 
 girl with half a million to spend ?" 
 
 "Less highly moral?" Then instantly recognizing that 
 there was a surface truth in the accusation, she asserted 
 quietly: " She ought to know you better by this time. As 
 to the money, Henry, you wished to marry her before she 
 had a penny. So it would be Utopian yes, wrong, to let 
 that separate you. As for high spirit you possess the 
 best spirit of all public spirit; the willingness to stand up 
 and fight for what you believe true and just and honorable 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 239 
 
 in the teeth of easy-going conventional opposition. That is 
 the part of a real Chippendale and a Sumner. I do not 
 like to praise you to your face, but really, my son, your 
 morbid point of view compels it." 
 
 " Miss Avery does not see me with your eyes, mother." 
 
 "They are the eyes of the public." 
 
 "Let us assume that she is prejudiced against me. I 
 think she is a little. So much the worse for me." 
 
 "Then what do you intend to do?" 
 
 "To wait to trust to time. To play the part of the 
 persevering Boston man in the hope that some day- 
 There was no need of supplying the elipsis; and Mor 
 gan Drake s phrase which rose to his lips "she will fall 
 into my arms with a dull, sickening thud" would inevi 
 tably appear grotesque to his mother, who was apt to com 
 plain that the phraseology of the rising generation was 
 lacking in reverence. "But we must not patronize her," 
 he hastened to add. 
 
 "I surely have no wish to do that. But if there is any 
 way in which you think I can help, you must not wait for 
 me to divine it." Mrs. Sumner had ascertained the prin 
 cipal point which she wished to know that he was still 
 absorbed in Priscilla, and she was not disposed to take 
 umbrage because he saw fit to distort her intentions. The 
 important thing was to leave off where he could resume his 
 confidences hereafter with no sense of constraint. 
 
 On Saturdays and Sundays admission to the Art Mus 
 eum is free; on the other days an entrance fee is charged, 
 except to the holders of season tickets the certificate of 
 an annual subscription of ten dollars. Mrs. Sumner had 
 been an annual subscriber from the outset, and she had so 
 thoroughly inoculated her children with her own loyalty 
 that each of them regarded this claim on the purse as 
 
240 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 paramount to all minor charities. They fastidiously but 
 correctly argued that the less discerning the many- 
 would give to hospital, animal rescue and pure milk funds 
 in preference to this great educational cause. 
 
 The door-keeper knew them well; it was never necessary 
 to produce their tickets. But this was Saturday a free 
 day and as they reached the narrow turnstile, a party of 
 Italian laborers with their picturesque women had just 
 preceded them. Mrs. Sumner smiled significantly at Henry 
 as she relinquished her parasol to the custodian. To be 
 able to witness the proletariat taking advantage of the 
 opportunities for culture was the great compensation for 
 not inspecting the new Rembrandt in stillness and isola 
 tion, as was their preference when passing judgment on a 
 new work of art. Mrs. Sumner could never forbear to 
 make a short tour of the cast rooms on the ground floor 
 before ascending the staircase. She liked to refresh her 
 mythological memory and to be brought face to face with 
 the life-size reproductions of the great classical and Egyp 
 tian masterpieces. As she paused in front of Rameses 
 the Second she put into words the thought which had been 
 harassing her since her entrance. 
 
 "Why is it that our native working-people do not come 
 here of their own free will from a genuine love of it like 
 the foreigners ? Shall we ever produce great art until our 
 masses kindle with the instinct for beautiful things? I 
 hate to confess it, Henry but there are moments when I 
 wonder if that day will ever come, and I ask myself whether 
 a nation which is artistically barren whose art has to be 
 forced down its throat like medicine can be truly great." 
 
 As she turned for the sympathy which she expected 
 yet desiring to be contradicted and to be assured that the 
 attendance was more universal than she feared she no- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 241 
 
 ticed that Henry s gaze was fixed on the doorway as if it 
 were following some one whom he knew. 
 
 "Who was that? Remember that I wish to see Mr. 
 Moore." 
 
 "It was not he, mother. I suppose the answer is"- - he 
 spoke a little like one who felt suddenly impelled to stand 
 up for his country "that we cannot expect to live down the 
 Puritan lack of imagination in a single century. Besides, 
 is not great art wont to follow in the wake of great pros 
 perity? As a nation we have been comparatively poor 
 until the last thirty years. Now that a Macaenas is be 
 coming possible in every city, we may have great masters." 
 
 Mrs. Sumner shook her head doubtfully. "The Puri 
 tans had imagination think of the Scarlet Letter. And 
 it required imagination for those marvellous inventions 
 the cotton gin, the sewing-machine, the telephone yes, 
 even for our superior plumbing. But art" she sighed as 
 she spoke "art is different. We must try to be grateful, 
 I suppose, for our past, for our Stuarts and our Copleys, 
 and hope for the best. It may not be too soon even to hold 
 our breath and think of both Sargent and St. Gaudens as 
 geniuses. But what you said reminds me; Mrs. Townsend 
 also stated that the name of the anonymous donor of the 
 new Rembrandt has leaked out; it is Mr. Blaisdell." 
 
 "We might have guessed so. And he has made George 
 Burton the fashion by buying two of his pictures. Then 
 it was she," he added to himself. 
 
 They had completed their survey of the cast rooms as 
 they talked and were now on the large staircase. As she 
 finished her speech, Mrs. Sumner paused reverently, as 
 one might stop at a shrine, to look up at the (headless) 
 Winged Samothracean Victory which seemed to hover 
 superbly above them. Then they passed on to the gal- 
 
242 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 leries, lingering for a moment to glance appreciatively at this 
 or that favorite, and yet pursuing a definite course toward 
 their goal. Mrs. Sumner never beheld without disfavor 
 the vast canvas by Copley which depicts a huge shark 
 turning on its side in the act of seizing a boy. Her aesthetic 
 sensibilities were offended both by its bulk and by its 
 theme. On this occasion, as was her habit, she sailed by, 
 looking straight before her, although the group of Italians 
 which she had previously noticed was studying the picture 
 attentively. In a few moments more she and Henry were 
 standing before the new Rembrandt. It was the portrait 
 of a full-faced Dutch burgher with deep-set eyes and dew 
 lap cheeks and a slight curl to his mustaches which gave 
 almost an air of sprightliness to his otherwise strictly com 
 mercial countenance. 
 
 There were several other people in the room, but, fortu 
 nately for their purpose, no one else was before the picture 
 at the moment, so that they had the satisfaction of gazing 
 at it unreservedly in complete silence. Mrs. Sumner was 
 the first to break this. 
 
 "It s an original; I suppose there can be no doubt of 
 that. That s one comfort. The face looks out at us as if 
 it would speak and after all these years. One can t deny 
 that it s fine technically, very fine." 
 
 " It s superb," said Henry. He was surprised at his own 
 vehemence, which he was already conscious was partly the 
 result of a determination not to discover defects if possible. 
 
 "Yes, artistically, it s satisfying," Mrs. Sumner answered 
 slowly, "but ethically I feel a lack. Compare a face like 
 that with Emerson s, for instance. It is deficient in soul. 
 I ask the question I admit that it is debatable can any 
 work of art be considered great satisfying in the highest 
 sense into which the spiritual quality does not enter?" 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 243 
 
 "Ah, mother, mother, I was trying to stifle the same 
 thought. We seem fated to be eternally searching for the 
 moral in whatever we see and hear." 
 
 The agitation in Henry s voice aroused his serene moth 
 er s wonder. She stared at him, more than ever convinced 
 that he was over-wrought; but before she could speak and 
 point out that such a vision had its compensations, they 
 both became aware that they were no longer alone. A 
 graceful, animated young woman was smiling on them 
 a young woman whose brisk, gracious approach seemed 
 unmistakably modern to Mrs. Sumner, yet affected her 
 pleasantly like a west wind, and in whom at a second 
 glance, she recognized her son s Priscilla Priscilla 
 arrayed in all the faultless witchery of the latest fashion. 
 
 "What do you think of the new Rembrandt? This is 
 my second visit. I promised my brother-in-law to tell him 
 this time if I am satisfied with the frame. He thinks it 
 should be more ornamental." 
 
 Mrs. Sumner raised her lorgnette on its flowing chain. 
 "I had not observed the frame. It is very well, I think. 
 As to the portrait, we were admiring it but Henry more 
 than I. I am transcendental enough to feel the need of 
 an ethical quality to awaken my enthusiasm. It is life-like, 
 undeniably, but when we stop to think, what an essentially 
 stolid countenance." 
 
 "But they were like that" responded Priscilla "just 
 like that, stolid, fat, unimpressionable, if you will. There s 
 the marvellous skill the power to fix those very qualities 
 so that the canvas seems about to breathe." 
 
 Mrs. Sumner nodded. "I admit all that; nor do I 
 deny that the art is consummate of its kind. They were 
 like that. But," she added in her gentle voice, "they 
 ought not to have been." 
 
244 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Priscilla listened in amazement. The disparaging words 
 which fell like trickling water on her enthusiasm were 
 such a surprise that her first impulse was toward mirth. 
 Yet in the next breath she realized that it had been damp 
 ened. Then as she looked again at the portrait with the 
 eyes of one conscious of having received a quiet rebuke, 
 she understood in a flash the point of view wonderful as 
 it still appeared to her. Stranger still, she found herself 
 for a moment under the spell of it the mild but relentless 
 seeking for perfection of this faded but stately lady his 
 mother. His mother and how exactly like him! There 
 was the source the fountain-head of his censorious spirit. 
 Yet with this distinction: the quality which in him had 
 always tended to arouse her antagonism appeared in the 
 other a subtle grace, like old lace or china the savor of 
 a soul naively true to itself. Instinctively she looked from 
 mother to son, comparing them. 
 
 "And is that the impression the portrait produces on 
 you, Mr. Sumner?" she asked, as one in a reverie. 
 
 Henry noticed the absence of contradiction from her 
 voice. Addressed to an ardent admirer of the donor, must 
 not his mother s criticism seem bald, almost ungracious ? 
 Yet when he looked Priscilla in the eye, he forbore to shirk 
 the truth, though he flushed at the necessity. 
 
 "There s no use in my pretending; I m just the same. 
 That s the thing we look for demand the symbol, the 
 ethical meaning. We re made that way; it s a limitation, 
 I suppose. It makes us too blind to the technical beauties. 
 We fail to bestow due emphasis of praise on the painter s 
 gift." 
 
 For the first time in her experience Priscilla thought him 
 humble. Instead of interrupting she waited for him to go 
 on. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 245 
 
 "You approach a picture like this in an entirely different 
 spirit I know you well enough for that, Miss Avery. 
 You don t knit your brows searching for the things eter 
 nal verities which are not there. You rejoice in what you 
 actually behold the superb color, the masterly delinea 
 tion, the convincing reproduction of a picturesque past. 
 You sympathize with the dead artist are grateful for- 
 envy him. Unlike my mother and me, you do not turn 
 your microscope upon his soul and judge him pitilessly by 
 its shortcomings. But we we cannot help it." 
 
 It was the light of interest, the lack of scorn in her ex 
 pression which encouraged him to set forth the antithesis 
 and led him to a genial close. As he finished he turned 
 playfully toward his mother, inviting corroboration. 
 
 Gratified as she was that he had remained faithful to his 
 ideals, Mrs. Sumner instinctively shrank from the sem 
 blance of exaggeration. 
 
 "Microscopes? If you are not careful, Henry, you will 
 give Miss Avery the impression that we approach art 
 merely from the standpoint of entomologists." 
 
 Priscilla shook her head. " I have been virtually a Bos- 
 tonian all my life but I think I may be just beginning to 
 understand what that really means." 
 
 Mrs. Sumner looked relieved and appreciative, 
 means so many different things, my dear." She paused 
 a moment. "May I not," she added, "call you Priscilla? 
 We have met so frequently at my sister s you are such an 
 old friend of my son s, and and I have observed that you 
 are interesting yourself in the things in which we are inter 
 ested." 
 
 "I wish you would, Mrs. Sumner." Priscilla spoke ra 
 diantly, notwithstanding her sense of humor told her that 
 she was being admitted to Boston s inner circle and that it 
 
246 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 was her duty to regard this as a complimentary and precious 
 privilege. Then she turned on Henry a glance made up of 
 triumph and raillery. She would fain have swept him a 
 low courtesy. 
 
 Their eyes met. It was revealed to both of them that, 
 through this delightful intermediary, they had suddenly for 
 the first time in their intercourse reached a footing of ami 
 ability, or at least of mutual forbearance. 
 
 "And perhaps, Mr. Sumner, the eternal verities demand 
 a certain type of frame." 
 
 The gaiety of her smile disarmed her satire. But before 
 he could answer, the pleased yet tense ejaculation of Mrs. 
 Sumner revealed the presence of Mr. Moore of the Mus 
 eum staff, an inscrutable looking young man with a short 
 blonde beard, who had approached them unperceived. 
 
 "Why, Mr. Moore, you are just the person I was hop 
 ing to see. To begin with assuming that it is a Rem 
 brandt, and I suppose, of course, it is I wish to hear your 
 candid opinion of its merits." 
 
 In another moment the two were absorbed in contem 
 plation of the portrait Mr. Moore with wrinkled brow 
 and his head a little on one side, she gazing wistfully and 
 searchingly through her lorgnette so that the others 
 found themselves apart. 
 
 " I would leave the frame as it is. To be able to make a 
 royal gift like this must be an immense pleasure," said 
 Henry, moved to cater to the satisfaction which he felt 
 sure she must be experiencing from the knowledge that 
 BJaisdell was the generous donor. 
 
 "I was in the secret. My brother-in-law confided in 
 me. It cost ever so much. Yes, it must be an immense 
 pleasure. I used to think that money a lot of it didn t 
 matter much; that one could be just as happy on very 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 247 
 
 little. So one can, of course. But, as you suggest, it must 
 add enormously to the enjoyment of life to be able to en 
 rich a place like this to see one of the treasures of the 
 world, ask the price and say, I ll take it, just as if it were 
 a spool of thread or a skein of sewing-silk. It must be 
 entrancing." 
 
 Her dark eyes sparkled under the spell of her vision. 
 She looked about her as if desiring to re-examine her sur 
 roundings. "What an interesting place this itl I must 
 come here oftener. I ought to know every corner of it, but 
 things have changed since I was an art student and dis 
 covered that I was not a genius. It was a bitter discovery, 
 but I did discover it in time. And now" (obviously it 
 was her theme that interested her, but, poor worm though 
 he might be, it seemed a triumph to Henry that she no 
 longer glowered at him) "perhaps I may be able to help 
 a little; contribute my share toward buying beautiful 
 things for the Museum. I dare say you know that my 
 father s invention has proved a great success; that we are 
 no longer poor." She made the announcement with frank 
 simplicity. 
 
 "Every one has heard of Electric Coke." 
 
 " Yet I was one of the last persons to believe in it. That 
 was a bitter discovery, too to find that I had been so slow 
 in realizing that my father was a genius. Now we are to 
 have a new house. I am to live with them it was all de 
 cided yesterday on Commonwealth Avenue, not far from 
 Lora s. So I seemed fated to go back, if only to make 
 some amends as a dutiful daughter for having failed to 
 appreciate him." 
 
 Could he believe his ears? She was looking brightly 
 straight at him yes, this was clearly personal as if to 
 enjoin upon him not to fail to notice her confession of f alii- 
 
248 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 bility. Evidently it had been dwelt upon for his special 
 benefit. Then Henry heard her say : 
 
 "It was very nice of your mother to suggest calling me 
 by my Christian name." 
 
 Was not this a veritable peace offering? Nay, more. 
 Rather a goblet brimming with happiness suddenly held 
 out for him to quaff by the living presence of the angel of 
 his earthly hopes. With trembling hands for his awk 
 wardness was not proof against such a delicious surprise 
 Henry was in the act of raising it to his lips when sud 
 denly it was ruthlessly snatched away and only the echo 
 of her mirth was left. For this was what she demurely 
 added : 
 
 "Was it not a sort of reward for being interested in the 
 things in which she is interested?" 
 
 Henry flushed and glanced instinctively at his mother. 
 Plainly she was not listening; but was still engrossed by 
 Mr. Moore and the immediate burning question of the 
 new Rembrandt. The taunt was audacious, the taunt was 
 pitiless; but it was arch and not disdainful. The living 
 presence of the angel of his earthly hopes was smiling at 
 him, but not in scorn. His first thought was one of grati 
 tude that his mother had not overheard for she would 
 never have understood; his second one of satisfaction 
 that, though badly upset, he did understand, and that for 
 once in his social career he was about to prove adequate 
 to the occasion. 
 
 "To tell the truth, I think it was, Miss Avery," he 
 answered. 
 
 "I felt sure of it." 
 
 Her manifest enjoyment was a rich reward for his pene 
 tration his bold capacity to take a joke, though it might 
 be akin to laughing in church. Henry felt like a knight 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 249 
 
 who has at last won his spurs. Yet he hastened to 
 assert : 
 
 "But my mother admires you immensely that was the 
 real reason. She admires you and er she approves of 
 you; and my mother s approval is not easy to win." He 
 felt it incumbent on him to vindicate the maternal dignity, 
 even though his ladylove should make light of the sincere 
 compliment. 
 
 This time Priscilla did sweep him a courtesy, but it simply 
 was gracious. 
 
 " Easier to win than her son s, however." 
 
 "You know " 
 
 The syncope of confusion cut off Henry s protesting 
 thought, so that she had time to spare herself and him. 
 She felt that the time had come to go, and she had been 
 made aware by the movement of Mrs. Sumner s lorgnette 
 that the latter had detected the courtesy and been subcon 
 sciously reminded of her presence. 
 
 "It will be difficult to convince me of that. There are 
 certain convictions of mine my most cherished ones 
 which remain unaltered. Yes, I must be going. Let me 
 slip away so as not to interrupt Mrs. Sumner s argument." 
 
 Henry s eager impulse was to accompany her. Again 
 he glanced at his mother piteously this time, for he al 
 ready realized that he could not go. It had been his sister 
 on the other occasion; for there was just enough parallel 
 in the situation to recall the hideous past. Somehow his 
 duty to his relations was perpetually blocking the pathway 
 of his romantic affections. He flushed at the suspicion 
 that Priscilla remembered. Did not her saucy, splendid 
 mien indicate that she was rejoicing in his plight, and pass 
 ing judgment on him again because he lingered? But 
 what could he do ? 
 
250 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Then suddenly to his relief, and yet to his infinite em 
 barrassment she declared, "Of course you cannot desert 
 your mother." To have his secret thoughts plucked out 
 and exultantly, roguishly exhibited was mortifying and 
 likewise paralyzing to the faculties. But, though there 
 was a twinkle in her eye, at least she exonerated him. So 
 much was clear to his agitated vision ; consequently he was 
 spurred to exclaim, to forestall the possibility of the slight 
 est doubt : 
 
 "But you surely realize that I would much prefer to go 
 with you." 
 
 The platitude emphasizing his conscientious reluctance 
 to leave anything to the imagination was one of those 
 dire speeches which Priscilla had learned to expect. She 
 was dimly aware that she had become hardened to them in 
 that she had ceased to jump away as from an electric 
 shock. But she was moved to shake her head resolutely, 
 willing that he should be left in doubt by this dumb show 
 whether she was not secretly displeased by his filial con 
 duct. She intended thereby also to reiterate the adaman 
 tine conviction which she had just uttered, that she could 
 never hope to win his approbation. Continuing, she said 
 explicitly : 
 
 "We have disagreed again, as usual, about the picture. 
 Though, as you remarked," she added after a moment s 
 pause, "it seems this time to be your misfortune rather 
 than your fault." 
 
 This qualification of a statement designed to inform him 
 plainly that he was not to deduce from her milder manner 
 and her self-reproach anything but wholesale discourage 
 ment of any starveling personal hope seemed to her emi 
 nently harmless a sort of laying on destiny the blame 
 which she had hitherto ascribed to more deliberate proc- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 251 
 
 esses. He was welcome to derive heart comfort from it if 
 he could. Accordingly she felt justified in showing her 
 amiability again to the extent of saying : 
 
 "So, if you choose, you may come and see me at 
 the new house. But we don t move in for two months 
 yet." 
 
 Was not this the refinement of cruelty ? Such was Pris- 
 cilla s not altogether mournful reflection after she had 
 fixed the postponement, the need of which had come to her 
 as an afterthought. As she looked at Henry, he reminded 
 her of a hungry yes, a faithful and well-meaning dog 
 on his hind legs, watching for scraps which she dangled 
 before his nose, and just when he thought one of them 
 was his, jerked away. She felt almost like stroking him. 
 But if she were to do so, would he not be certain to bite 
 her in his clumsy efforts to lick her hand ? 
 
 The simile amused Priscilla by its aptness. Evidently 
 she had puzzled him so completely by her alternate meth 
 ods that he was absorbed in studying her lips. She had 
 meant to go at once, and yet now that she dallied, she re- 
 remembered that there was something at the back of her 
 mind which she had intended to say. She would say it 
 now whatever construction he might choose to put on her 
 words. 
 
 She hesitated a moment before beginning which was 
 unusual with her. "I m really going but it may edify 
 you, Mr. Sumner, to hear one thing more. Your mother 
 was right; somehow or other I don t know how I have 
 become interested in the things in which she is interested. 
 For instance, I might, under my new circumstances, have 
 chosen to travel abroad indefinitely, be a brilliant social 
 success, or marry a foreign title do all sorts of interesting 
 things." She spoke a little airily as if illustrations were as 
 
252 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 plenty as blackberries. " But .what do you think ? Instead; 
 I am about to settle down to a humdrum life as a confirmed 
 Bostonian, the scope of which must sooner or later include 
 the Associated Charities the protection of the Common 
 and er a tomb at Mt. Auburn. In short, I am inter 
 ested in local monuments these and others. There s an 
 other confession admission whatever you choose to 
 call it, Mr. Sumner." 
 
 Priscilla paused in her vagary, for this was all she had 
 intended to say. Yet uttered it seemed to demand some 
 justification of a kind adapted to confound the bewildered 
 yet manifestly gratified approval of the faithful dog. 
 "This being the case, it appears to me highly probable 
 inevitable, in fact that our ideas concerning these sacred 
 institutions I agree with you that they are sacred will 
 clash. We have never agreed yet. I intend yes, I intend 
 to dispute with you the control of these symbols of power 
 in the hope that the New England conscience may be 
 eliminated from the face of the earth." 
 
 She was gone. Even the faultless swirl of her retreating 
 skirt suggested energy and grace. It was his mother s 
 voice which recalled the triumphant yet nonplussed 
 Henry to himself. 
 
 "She is a sweet girl and charmingly dressed, but what 
 was that she said about the New England conscience? 
 It is the fashion to disparage it as if there were much 
 left nowadays. But if the pendulum swings much 
 further toward general tolerance of everything under 
 the sun, we shall be wishing some of the old intolerance 
 back." 
 
 "It was merely that she was a little irritated at finding 
 that she has one herself," answered Henry with pensive 
 delight. Presently, while he and Mrs. Sumner retraced 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 253 
 
 their steps through the galleries he joyfully chanted to 
 himself these lines from his favorite Emerson : 
 
 "Heartily know 
 When half-Gods go 
 The Gods arrive." 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 His wife s remark that he had discarded the ambition 
 to become President often recurred to Blaisdell. Was it 
 not just like the shrewd little woman to discern it ? In the 
 lexicon of youth this had been his text the crowning pos 
 sibility of a successful career, dazzling but not beyond the 
 reach of his capabilities. Now he could contemplate the 
 high office without blinking. 
 
 This did not mean that he would not accept the position 
 if it were offered to him. Any patriotic American would, 
 of course. Politically, it was the highest position on earth. 
 But it never would be offered to him for the excellent reason 
 that, on arriving at the parting of the ways, he had delib 
 erately chosen between that leading to the White House 
 and one which led to something better. He had no ambi 
 tion to be President just as analogously he would positively 
 decline to be Mayor of Boston, or to fill any office in the 
 gift of the people. The power which he was on the high 
 road to attain was much more complete, much more subtle, 
 and, popular cant to the contrary notwithstanding, much 
 more enviable. 
 
 There had been a time, of course, when public office 
 was the great avenue to fame and usefulness as an Ameri 
 can. He knew himself still to be second to none in his 
 
254 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 political enthusiasm in his fervent belief that the insti 
 tutions of his native country were tending to produce a 
 higher type of civilization than any which had hitherto 
 existed; and incidentally anew and superior type of rulers. 
 Human society which had been governed successively by 
 dorni gods, emperors, priests, doges, warriors and constitu 
 tional statesmen was now under the sway of the money 
 market, a current euphemism which to the initiated was 
 a patent of nobility eighteen carat fine. 
 
 To the initiated, for not every one was shrewd enough to 
 recognize this, and more who, through prejudice or what 
 they termed principle, refused to open their eyes to it. Al 
 though the clergy and the demagogues still comforted the 
 mass with the delusion that humble means was a blessing 
 both as a life estate and as a future spiritual asset, was 
 not the secret desire of every level-headed man in the 
 United States to make a fortune? In whom did the 
 public evince a keener interest, though they might seek 
 to disguise it by newspaper abuse, than in the few who, 
 by superior intelligence, had managed to accumulate 
 many millions in a lifetime? These were the un 
 crowned kings the legitimate, lineal product of un 
 trammelled democracy. The money power had come to 
 its own at last, no longer to be robbed and brow-beaten by 
 priests or by princes, no longer to be sneered at with im 
 punity by inferior types of brain. "A nation of shop 
 keepers" had ceased to be a term of opprobrium. Out of 
 the retail store had grown the partnership; out of the part 
 nership the emporium; out of the emporium, the corpora 
 tion with branches stretching from the Atlantic to the 
 r.u ilk-; and thcnre had sprung, through the fertile imag 
 ination of this Qr that master mind, those various combina 
 tions of capital which, either in the form of trusts or of indi- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 255 
 
 vidual proprietorship, had revolutionized in a single gen 
 eration the financial methods of the world. 
 
 Read along the printed page this may sound metallic 
 even against the sounding-board of democracy. But 
 spoken with the confident good humor and clear-headed 
 enthusiasm of which Blaisdell was capable, it lost the ring 
 of mere materialism for he not only had a winning 
 way, but had thought things out, and had reassuring 
 answers for those in search of ideals. For instance, 
 against those who believed in socialism the elimination 
 of competition from human affairs the taunt might well 
 be brought that the imagination was liable to be starved in 
 the model tenement of dead-level mediocrity. The tastes 
 of the modern ruler were not to be ascetic or humdrum, 
 but adapted to preserve the traditions of all previous aris 
 tocracies; and, while cherishing unswerving common-sense 
 and fostering vitality, to surpass them in splendor and 
 enlightenment. Briefly, democracy in the saddle Blais 
 dell liked to think of himself as a self-made man was to be 
 robust, generous, hopeful, enterprising, slow to cavil, 
 patriotic and far-seeing. It was to be clear cut and ener 
 getic in its mental processes, not visionary and hair 
 splitting. It was first of all to be healthy-minded. He 
 had heard the phrase somewhere and appropriated it as the 
 keynote of his philosophy of life. The successful American 
 of the new order was to be a whole-souled, pleasant-spoken 
 individual, and also a picturesque one. Not picturesque in 
 his appearance necessarily. His apparel was to be sober 
 as formerly save for white flannel relaxation in summer 
 but picturesque in his domestic surroundings. There 
 were to be no palaces in name, but more than palaces in 
 comfort, spaciousness and magnificence. And not only 
 were his apartments to be on a large scale with plenty of 
 
256 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 air to breathe and a separate bath-room for everybody 
 the externals of life but there was to be nothing cramped 
 in his spiritual outlook. 
 
 Applying this locally for all of us in the end obtain 
 from our environment the best material for our philosophic 
 yardsticks Blaisdell suddenly found himself in the pos 
 session of definite convictions regarding Boston. Not 
 having had time to philosophize, he had accepted Boston 
 at first as a fact and made the city serve his purpose without 
 inquiring closely into cause and effect. But now a million 
 aire at thirty-five he good-humoredly deplored that Bos 
 ton was behind the times, that Boston was too self-conscious, 
 and as a result of these failings that Boston sentimentally 
 preferred the narrow ruts worn by puritanic and provincial 
 custom to the macadamized avenues of cosmopolitan 
 urbanity. Moreover, he had every intention (he flattered 
 himself that he had done much in this direction already) 
 of trying to correct these shortcomings. As regards the 
 first of them, he saw signs that the business men were be 
 ginning to realize there was danger the city would be side 
 tracked and that, unless she bestirred herself, Boston must 
 inevitably cease to be the "hub" of the universe and end 
 by performing that function for the lumbering vehicle 
 familiarly known as an ice-cart. To this contemporary 
 satire of the cheery kind he felt that heed was being paid. 
 But the other shortcoming the narrow self-consciousness 
 was more elusive. It was not peculiar to trade methods, 
 but was characteristic of everything which was said and 
 done in Boston. In short, it was a social defect, and as 
 such to be reached only by social remedies. 
 
 But here he had a wife to help him; a wife who divined 
 even more shrewdly than he the deficiencies and the 
 opportunity. He had ignored social life as such from force 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 257 
 
 of circumstances, but fortunately she had not. Indis 
 putably a modern industrial magnate would be handi 
 capped by a retiring, hard-featured or unsophisticated 
 wife. Lora did not need to be urged; on the contrary, she 
 cleverly anticipated his sumptuous purposes. Did not 
 Boston that element which prided itself on its exclusive- 
 ness and aspired to set an ethical example to the rest of the 
 world still hang back from large and luxurious social 
 effects as inconsistent with what it termed character? 
 Did it not persistently spoil its own enjoyment, like a 
 valetudinarian feeling his pulse, by remembering that 
 scarcely more than fifty years ago the Brook Farm experi 
 ment was in full operation as a lesson in ideal community 
 life? Consequently he was only too ready to shock 
 these good people and at the same time demonstrate by 
 successive ornate innovations that in cherishing their tepid 
 conceptions of enjoyment they had missed and still con 
 tinued to miss half the zest of existence. But he wished 
 his manifestations to be free from the slightest reproach of 
 vulgarity in excellent taste as well as princely and for 
 this he relied on Lora s intuitions to supplement his own 
 free-handed impulses. In other words, he longed to see a 
 new aristocracy of large-hearted and spontaneous emotions 
 turn to confound the strait-laced, frigid and picayune stand 
 ards of the moribund yet complacent society which claimed 
 the right to examine his wife s credentials. 
 
 After he had acquired sufficient breathing space by 
 knocking the two houses on Commonwealth Avenue into 
 one, there was a variety of other little things to do things 
 at which the thorough-going Bostonian would look askance 
 until some one set him the example. To provide his stable 
 with stylish equipages and innumerable horses, including 
 blooded stock for exhibition at fashionable horse shows; 
 
258 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 to purchase a farm in the suburbs from which fresh vege 
 tables, cream and flowers could be forwarded daily in 
 profusion; to engage a house secretary and stenographer 
 for his wife; to buy a steam yacht and a share in a salmon 
 river; to have both their portraits painted by a foreign 
 artist these were a few of what might be called the imme 
 diate incidentals. Although they were merely what the 
 wealthy in foreign countries were accustomed to have, he 
 was conscious that people were peeping at him from be 
 hind their Beacon Street houses and wondering what he 
 would do next. This amused and spurred him on. By 
 means of superintendents higher priced and more dis 
 cerning factotums than mere underlings he aimed to excel 
 splendidly in everything he undertook. In a single season 
 his horses captured nearly every blue ribbon at the local 
 competitions, his dogs and his roses took first prizes, and 
 his racing thirty-footer won the Transatlantic cup against 
 all comers. 
 
 On Sunday morning it was BlaisdelPs habit to take an 
 account of stock, as he termed it; ascertain how he stood 
 not merely in dollars and cents, but sociologically. Occa 
 sionally he accompanied Lora to the Episcopal Church 
 (they owned one of the most expensive pews), just to 
 show that he approved of religion as an institution. The 
 remaining Sunday mornings he would pass in his li 
 brary, or, if the weather were fine, in visiting his outly 
 ing greenhouses, farm or stables, and cogitate. He was 
 well aware that the conservative latter-day Bostonian did 
 not believe half of what he heard at church and went 
 mournfully in order to criticise the sermon. Why not have 
 the courage of one s convictions and stay away? But 
 when he did go, Blaisdell preferred a fervent spiritual dis 
 course to a moral lecture. Religion was essential to the 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 259 
 
 masses and it did no harm to any man to listen now and 
 then to an eloquent clergyman. It would not be wise for 
 the modern magnate to proclaim his inmost convictions on 
 religion any more than it would to state openly his private 
 opinion on many subjects. In his secret soul, for instance, 
 he sympathized heartily with the utterance of the late 
 William H. Vanderbilt, "the public be damned"; it 
 pleased him anew whenever he thought of it. In his actual 
 dealing with reporters, however, butter would not melt in 
 his mouth. 
 
 Similarly, although he knew the catchword, "the plain 
 people," to be merely a synonym for certain political high 
 waymen waiting to be bribed, to say so would bring the 
 whole legislature like a hornet s nest about his ears. An 
 indignant press would expostulate, whitewashing resolu 
 tions would be passed with an apostrophe to the white- 
 robed goddess, and what would be the upshot ? Simply 
 that he would make himself unpopular and accomplish 
 nothing. For what did he employ a special legislative 
 clerk except to deal with these gentry? No, in Bos 
 ton as in other American cities where people, were busy 
 and had numerous axes to grind in order to be ef 
 fective one must speak pleasantly or, at least, temper 
 ately of everybody and everything, and pat all men genially 
 on the back in the hope of being patted in return. It be 
 hooved a modern magnate to cultivate an atmosphere of 
 continuous social sunshine. If he were censorious or un 
 accommodating, vital measures might be held up indefi 
 nitely by the plain people and great public improvements 
 be frustrated. Therefore, as a large owner of stock in 
 several Boston newspapers, he approved of the euphe 
 mistic temper of the local press from which irony was 
 utterly excluded as an enemy to democracy and circula- 
 
260 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 tion. If any one were to purloin a hundred thousand dol 
 lars in broad daylight on the Common, who could justly 
 complain if it were caustically stigmatized as a "misap 
 propriation"? But the more comfortable, yes, Christian 
 custom was to avoid censure and to throw little " bou 
 quets" in type at everybody on the smallest excuse, and 
 thus make all leading citizens happy at least once a year 
 by newspaper titillations. 
 
 These private reflections Blaisdell kept to himself in his 
 capacity as leading citizen and capitalist. They appealed 
 to his sense of humor somewhat and yet only faintly, for 
 he had no desire to be a spoil sport. Live and let live 
 struck him as, on the whole, a felicitous motto for democ 
 racy to bear in mind, and he desired that the existing era 
 of good feeling should last his lifetime. Wars the great 
 enemies of magnates might not cease for a century or 
 two, but it was something that every one from the Mayor 
 to the saleslady should be joining hands in the social 
 merry-go-round of mutual forbearance and accumulation. 
 The only people who annoyed him were those who held 
 aloof coldly and disdainfully with their noses in the air. 
 Whenever these people tried to prove anything the 
 inquiry invariably proved a fizzle, and as to their objec 
 tions they were chiefly moonshine. Fortunately (and yet 
 even up to this point BlaisdelPs sense of triumph was 
 essentially amiable) he was now in a position to challenge 
 those who prided themselves on their superior philosophy. 
 As a director in more corporations of one sort and another 
 than any man in Boston, as the owner of large blocks of 
 local securities organized under his leadership gas, 
 electric light and street railway companies as the holder 
 of stock in railroads, mines, patent rights and manufac 
 turing industries in various parts of the country he was 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 261 
 
 zertainly a person to be reckoned with in his native city. 
 Already he was, in a commercial sense, hand-in-glove 
 with the large men in New York and Chicago, and in a 
 position to feel the undercurrents of high finance, while 
 the smaller fry were still beguiled by surface appearances. 
 Barring some unforeseen disaster, he would, at the present 
 rate of increase, be a very rich man at the end of ten years, 
 without taking into account Electric Coke and Electric 
 Coke was an unqualified success. 
 
 This stock was selling at 185 ex "rights" worth twenty- 
 five dollars a share. It had proved itself a bonanza already, 
 and he was watching the business closely in confident faith 
 that the present price would some day seem very low. Of 
 the 70,000 shares now issued, 12,000 stood in his firm s 
 name, which, with Mr. Avery s 16,000 shares, was not far 
 short of a controlling interest. His firm s original invest 
 ment had been 5,000 shares. He had added to this by 
 quietly picking up stock in the open market on all reces 
 sions and by recent purchases of " rights" some of them 
 his step-father-in-law s for it had seemed wise to Mr. 
 Avery to realize a portion of his profits in this way to pay 
 for his new house and avoid having all his eggs in one 
 basket. Of the other holders, Langdon & Co. and their 
 following, were by far the largest and the most tenacious. 
 Blaisdell had tried various ruses to induce them to reduce 
 their holdings, but rumors of patent litigation and rival dis 
 coveries had failed to dislodge any appreciable amount of 
 their stock. Moreover, his chief competitor in the purchase 
 of the "rights" lately on the market had been a broker on 
 the floor of the exchange who sometimes made secret pur 
 chases for that firm, and Blaisdell had been informed that 
 Chauncey Chippendale, whose wedding to General Lang- 
 don s daughter had lately taken place, had signalized his ad- 
 
262 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 mission to partnership by announcing himself as a ram 
 pant "bull for a long pull on Electric Coke." To be sure, 
 the market position of the stock was much strengthened 
 by this rivalry, but Blaisdell was one who looked askance 
 at disputed mastery. If Electric Coke were going to be 
 worth five hundred dollars a share, it was his purpose to 
 control its finances. Moreover, was it not far more likely 
 to be worth that price, if he did ? But this was a matter of 
 future consideration. For the moment the current market 
 price and his own large ownership were the brightest 
 feathers in the cap of his Sunday morning cogitations. To 
 conclude, he had been accorded several public tokens of 
 his growing civic importance. One mayor had invited him 
 to become a Sinking Fund Commissioner, the next had 
 requested him to serve as one of the trustees of the new 
 Public Library. Both of these honorable positions with 
 out pay he had felt obliged to decline "on account of the 
 magnitude of his other interests. " 
 
 But for the social side he relied on Lora. One evening, 
 about a year after they had moved into their new house, 
 she left the piano and sitting on the arm of his chair 
 pressed down his newspaper. 
 
 " Listen to the calendar of an ambitious woman : Janu 
 ary, balls and dances. February, musicales and recep 
 tions." As she proceeded, she ticked the months off on 
 her fingers, pausing archly when temporarily at a loss. 
 "March, Lent and dinners. April, the Opera. May, the 
 Horse Show and the Dog Show. June, the Country 
 Club races. July and August, Europe. September, house 
 parties. October, shopping and theatres in New York. 
 November, Thanksgiving and dressmakers. December, 
 the first ball of the season and getting ready for Christ 
 mas. You see what s in store for you, Hugh. That s 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 263 
 
 what is expected of us now that we ve moved to town. 
 And you can t say that I didn t warn you. I always told 
 you that I was socially ambitious, and wished to live on the 
 sunny side of Commonwealth Avenue." 
 
 " You certainly did. And here we are." 
 
 Lora sighed. " Oh, yes. But it may not be quite so easy 
 as I expected; making just the friends we wish, I mean." 
 
 Blaisdell laughed sceptically. He fancied her dazzled 
 by her new surroundings and ascribed her passing melan 
 choly to the dread of not being able to compete with their 
 wealthy neighbors. Don t let that trouble you," he 
 replied. " I know you re a thrifty little soul, and so there s 
 no danger in saying to you, as it might be to some women, 
 if there s anything which you think we ought to have or 
 do buy it, do it. Don t let money stand in the way. 
 I ve plenty, I guess, for any wild extravagances you may 
 be tempted to commit in Boston. Don t stint yourself, 
 little woman." 
 
 "Thank you, Hugh." She stooped and kissed his 
 broad forehead, from which the hair had begun to recede. 
 She saw that he had not divined her lurking doubt, 
 but at any rate he had provided her with the means of 
 convincing herself how groundless it had been. People 
 could not help noticing her, for she would attract their 
 attention. 
 
 Lora had adhered faithfully to her calendar. Any 
 deviations were in the line of extra activity. After their 
 gorgeous ball for Priscilla, she was thrilled with delight for 
 the time being because so many people came. Later she 
 found herself wondering why so many others had stayed 
 away. She let slip no opportunity to rivet the gaze of the 
 social world. Her toilettes were lavishly exquisite, her 
 jewels superb. Theirs was the highest premium paid for 
 
264 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 seats at the symphony concerts; their season tickets for 
 the opera were the most desirable in the house; besides 
 carrying all before them in blue ribbons at the horse show, 
 her box was the most conspicuous and consistently occupied 
 of any; and they arrived with a party of friends on the 
 scene of the Country Club races in a new coach drawn by 
 four prancing prize animals. 
 
 Meanwhile their circle of acquaintance was constantly 
 widening. Delano, BlaisdelPs partner, was of great assist 
 ance at first. Knowing theatrical people was Delano s 
 hobby, and what was called polite society bored him. His 
 idea of enjoyment was to frequent the play, and, having 
 exchanged signals of recognition across the foot-lights 
 with theatrical stars, entertain them at supper after the 
 curtain fell. Mrs. Delano humored her nervous, ferret- 
 eyed husband in this; accordingly their large house 
 also a new one was a Sunday evening resort for actors 
 and actresses and for devotees and Bohemian patrons of 
 all the arts. 
 
 "It was I who started those informal evenings in Bos 
 ton Saturdays, not Sundays and I was really the one to 
 continue them." Such was Mrs. Avery s plaint on her way 
 to the first of Mrs. Delano s evenings which she attended. 
 She had felt some compunctions on the score of desecrating 
 the Sabbath, but her son-in-law had convinced her that Sun 
 day evenings in Boston were needlessly dull. After arriv 
 ing she was sure that she ought to go home. But the fas 
 cination of actually beholding women smoke held her 
 spell-bound. Her hostess has stolen her thunder with a 
 vengeance. What a wide departure from angel cake and 
 ice cream, from lemonade and beer, from anything one 
 happened to have on (for the men), and a simple toilette for 
 the women to this Parisian affair! Her stigmatizing adjec- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 265 
 
 tive was solely because of the few elegantly dressed dare 
 devils in conscious attitudes with cigarettes between their 
 lips or poised, advertising their freedom. On Sunday, too. 
 Mrs. Avery could scarcely keep her eyes off them, and, 
 conscious of being red from excitement, she fanned herself 
 vigorously. She believed herself a Bohemian by tempera 
 ment, she was accustomed to a social atmosphere of smoke, 
 but smoke emanating from one sex. What would the Puri 
 tan fathers say? This was a mere involuntary mental 
 ejaculation while trying to find her bearings. She was re 
 pelled, yet fascinated. Will the coming American woman 
 smoke ? She had heard the question recently debated at 
 her Woman s Club and decided confidently in the nega 
 tive. Now she was not quite so sure; for was not this an 
 up-to-date house? She sighed and stole another look at 
 two of the most fashionable younger women, when sud 
 denly her* glance fell on Lora her little Lora in the act 
 of puffing a cigarette. 
 
 Mrs. Avery s impulse was to stride across the room, 
 snatch the defiling weed from her daughter s lips and 
 trample it under foot. But how could she ? Such a pro 
 ceeding in this company was out of the question. It would 
 undo them socially. She grew redder still and plied her 
 fan assiduously, trying to nerve herself for some defiant 
 action. When at last they were in the carriage, she cov 
 ered her face with her white, gloved hands, to the peril of 
 her diamond sun-burst, and began to weep. 
 
 "How could you, Lora?" 
 
 " I only smoked one, mama. Besides, it s the thing to 
 do, if one wishes to get on." 
 
 "Do you mean to tell me that American women Bos 
 ton women are going to justify smoking?" 
 
 " If it happens to suit them if they feel like it. Just as 
 
266 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 they do in Venice and Paris and London. Some will and 
 some won t. It will be just as the individual woman 
 chooses. I haven t smoked for years; but Priscilla and I 
 tried it once in Dartmouth Street after you had gone to 
 bed, and we both agreed that we might take it up some 
 day." 
 
 "Thank heavens, I m old-fashioned. But I shall never 
 get used to it never." 
 
 " Oh, yes, you will, mama. Didn t I do it daintily ? " 
 
 Mrs. Avery s tears welled up again at the recollection. 
 "I turned my head away I couldn t bear to look at you* 
 But the others the others were odious. I do not believe, 
 Lora, that Hugh will approve of this." 
 
 " I shall tell him at once. If I explain to him that it will 
 help me to make friends, he won t care. Hugh is always 
 sensible." 
 
 Blaisdell was in New York on business over Sunday. 
 On the evening of his return, Lora chose a cigarette from 
 the large silver box on the library table and revealed her 
 new accomplishment. He watched her with an amused 
 air supposing it to be a tricksy experiment beside the 
 domestic hearth. But she showed herself undismayed 
 by the smoke and jauntily invited him to tell her how to 
 blow rings. He, too, had taken for granted that the 
 American woman his mother his sister, if he had one 
 would never smoke. But he merely smiled at her audacity 
 and waited for the delayed explanation. 
 
 " So many women do nowadays. At the Delano s I saw 
 Mrs. Homer Ward, Mrs. George Mayberry and several 
 others. So I just thought I d be in the new fashion." 
 
 At this point Lora began to cough violently, for the smoke 
 had stuck in her throat. The names which she had men 
 tioned were those of two women who went everywhere in 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 267 
 
 Boston. The tears were in her laughing eyes, but she was 
 glad to observe, as she struggled to recover her dignity as 
 a smoker, that her husband s judgment was suspended. 
 She hastened to strengthen her argument by recalling his 
 own words. 
 
 "It s one of the things I ought to do, Hugh. Smart 
 women smoke in all the capitals of Europe. It s sociable 
 to do what other women in society are doing." 
 
 " Provided you like it." It was of the essence of healthy 
 mindedness not to do things unless one enjoyed them. 
 But assuming a woman did like it, presumably the modern 
 wife of a modern magnate should be free to include the mod 
 erate use of Turkish tobacco in her social outfit. If any 
 one had asked him the question the day before, he would 
 have shaken his head decisively, but the personal equation 
 put the matter in a new light. 
 
 "Of course I like it well enough. And and I like to 
 shock the people who don t smoke. That coughing was 
 just an accident." 
 
 "I never in my life saw a woman smoke before you 
 lighted that cigarette; but I am not going to put my foot 
 down and say you shan t, for I can see that it s just one of 
 those things which a fond husband must let his wife his 
 emancipated wife decide for herself. So puff away, little 
 woman, if you enjoy it, or think you ought to do it." But, 
 having issued this broad license, Blaisdell suddenly asked, 
 "Does Priscilla smoke?" 
 
 Lora read into his voice that he had qualified his per 
 mission by a reference to her step-sister as an arbiter. 
 
 "Priscilla has smoked; I ve seen her," she exclaimed. 
 A moment later she added deliberately, "That was years 
 ago. Very likely she wouldn t now. But I really don t see 
 what that has to do with my smoking." 
 
268 THE CKIPPEXDALES 
 
 "I was merely wondering," answered Blaisdell. The 
 inquiry which had come to him as an after-thought inter 
 ested him and made him deaf to his wife s petulance. In 
 spite of his former prejudice, he realized that Lora looked 
 entertainingly bewitching as she toyed with her cigarette, 
 but that it would not suit Priscilla s style. 
 
 Lora was not long in perceiving that the Delanos did 
 not entertain the people whom she most desired to know. 
 She met there the Bohemian, artistic world, and ultra 
 fashionable women like Mrs. Homer Ward and Mrs. 
 George Mayberry, who yearned for social variety and 
 dropped in now and then for an hour or so in order to be 
 diverted on Sunday. She said one evening at Mrs. Dela 
 no s to Morgan Drake out of a clear sky: " Why is it that 
 the other people don t come here?" 
 
 Morgan was not phased by the ambiguity of the term, 
 but answered promptly: 
 
 "Meaning thereby the highly respectable, eminently 
 hide-bound, elegantly correct element of society?" 
 
 "I suppose so. Any of the Chippendale connection or 
 the Langdons or Mrs. Staunton Townsend, for instance." 
 
 "I doubt if Mrs. Delano knows them to begin with." 
 Perhaps Morgan divined what was working in her mind. 
 
 " Why shouldn t she know them ? I m certain she told 
 me that she had sent Henry Sumner and his sisters 
 cards." 
 
 "I saw Henry here last week. I nearly fell over back 
 ward at the sight until I divined that he was on a still hunt 
 for your sister, who didn t appear." 
 
 "Priscilla took it into her head not to go last Sunday 
 because she didn t choose to meet Freda. It wasn t neces 
 sary to be introduced to her. Besides, no one knows any 
 thing definite." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 269 
 
 "You are almost as pathetic as Mrs. Delano, who assured 
 me that all the stories in circulation were absolutely false. 
 And why, forsooth ? Because Freda had told her so her 
 self." 
 
 Lora pouted at him prettily over her lace fan. "I sup 
 pose that s intended as a hint to me; and means that you 
 side with Priscilla." 
 
 "I was simply endeavoring to answer your conundrum 
 about the other people. Can you imagine for one minute 
 that when Henry reports to his mother who were here and 
 what he saw, either of his sisters would be allowed to 
 come ? You can scarcely expect conservative Beacon Hill 
 to swallow all its prejudices at one gulp in a single gener 
 ationstrict observance of Sunday evening, smoking by 
 women, gambling at cards and sensitiveness in polite society 
 as to the morals of the sex which should be above suspicion. 
 As for Mrs. Harrison Chippendale, I doubt if she ever heard 
 of Mrs. Delano s existence; and none of her children visit 
 the houses of people she has never heard of." 
 
 " All of which goes to prove as Hugh constantly says 
 that Boston is about fifty years behind the times." 
 
 Morgan gave her one of his quizzical looks with his head 
 on one side. "Yes and I m inclined to think it always 
 will be. I dare say that s Boston s salvation." 
 
 "But the world is such a small place now. The ocean 
 cable and the ocean greyhound and the telephone and er 
 the big fortunes are everywhere rapidly rooting out 
 mere provincialisms." 
 
 Morgan recognized the source of this ringing aphorism 
 and his sardonic tendency got the upper hand of his desire 
 to be tactfully suggestive to his groping friend. 
 
 "All things are possible, it seems, to Electric Coke." 
 As he spoke his glance took in for the first time his com- 
 
270 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 panion s magnificent jewels a double necklace of pearls 
 and two diamond stars. 
 
 Lora knew that he was indulging in irony, but she looked 
 pleased. "I do wish Hugh had put you into it at the 
 start," she cried with genuine commiseration. "If only 
 you would write that Christmas story! Hugh could use 
 the right sort of one as an advertisement in his business 
 in Electric Coke, very likely and you would sell thou 
 sands and thousands of copies." 
 
 "So he has told me. Some day I shall be frightfully 
 hard up and get round to it." 
 
 Lora gazed at him meditatively. "You are a funny 
 person." After a moment she added: "I saw you talking 
 to Freda yourself." 
 
 "I am a man an adaptive, inconsistent man." 
 
 " Of course you are inconsistent. I thought you would 
 say that you were studying her for a novel. Why shouldn t 
 the highly civilized woman do whatever the highly civilized 
 man does? That is the subject of the next debate at 
 mama s Woman s Club. Do you disapprove of my 
 smoking?" 
 
 "Some highly civilized women do smoke. Answer me 
 a question in turn. Are you trying to get into Boston 
 society?" 
 
 Lora shuffled her fan. "If you weren t an old play 
 mate, you wouldn t dare to ask such a peculiar question." 
 
 "Perfectly true. But I am an old playmate and fond 
 of you." 
 
 "Well, then, of course I am. There are a number of 
 women in society here this evening who do smoke." 
 
 "Ah, but you don t understand. When one is in society 
 in Boston, one is in for all time. But, as you just remarked, 
 Boston is behind the times; the difficult thing is to get in." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 271 
 
 "Even for Electric Coke," flashed Lora. 
 
 " Since you have said it, even for Electric Coke. Mere 
 multi-millions are an entering wedge, but up to date I am 
 credibly informed that they have never proved an Open 
 Sesame. " 
 
 "I see. Then you advise me not to smoke ? " 
 
 "I am confident that it will not help you with the people 
 you spoke of the other people," answered Morgan. 
 
 Some one joined them at this point. Otherwise Lora 
 might have pressed her inquiries further on the spur of the 
 moment. The conversation was not of a kind to be re 
 opened in cold blood even by so practical and undaunted 
 a housewife as Lora. But she pondered Morgan s remarks 
 and amiably recognized that he had intended to do her a 
 good turn. For the future she attended Mrs. Delano s 
 Sunday evening receptions in a less jubilant frame of mind. 
 
 She was absorbed in trying to discover what she required 
 besides many millions. She could not well put the 
 blunt question to any one else, and it preyed upon her. 
 What was the matter with them ? Why were not her hus 
 band and she qualified for admission to any house or 
 entertainment in the city? Was it envy or thin-blooded 
 formality which kept a certain set aloof ? To be sure, she 
 was a little different from these people she appreciated 
 this; but in what did their superiority consist? Their 
 methods were freezing; their outlook was limited; their 
 scale of expenditure much less liberal than hers. Acute as 
 she was shrewd as she was, her easy-going optimism 
 presently found solace almost fierce solace in the thought 
 that -Hugh and she, not they, were the true leaders. Why 
 should she bother her head about them ? Why should she 
 heed what Morgan Drake had said ? He was friendly, but 
 he was poor, he was unimportant, and he was unenterpris- 
 
272 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 ing; he failed to recognize that the social standards which 
 he had been taught to revere were antiquated and inade 
 quate. She would proceed as she had begun do what 
 she chose, as she chose; continue to electrify the Back Bay 
 by her lavish donations, and sooner or later they would be 
 compelled to take her in. 
 
 Yet six months later, when the nuptials of* Chauncey 
 Chippendale and Beatrice Langdon were described in the 
 newspapers, Lora turned to her husband after perusing 
 the names of the guests at the wedding breakfast and said 
 abruptly : 
 
 " Everybody except ourselves appears to have been at 
 the wedding. I thought, Hugh, that General Langdon 
 and you were quite intimate." 
 
 It had already occurred to Blaisdell that it would have 
 been civil of the Langdons to ask them. It would have 
 gratified him to appear with his wife at the reception and 
 to be given the opportunity of sending a princely wedding 
 present. For almost the first moment in his life he had felt 
 a little slighted, and Lora s mournful remark aggravated 
 this impression; nevertheless, he said suavely: 
 
 "We are business friends and associates. I see him 
 about town constantly. We invited them to our ball, and 
 they came." 
 
 "He came. Mrs. Langdon did not come. She had a 
 cold or a headache, I forget which. She left cards when 
 I was out." Lora recited these bitter facts as though she 
 knew them by heart. 
 
 "I frankly admit that I am surprised we were not asked. 
 I would have sent a handsome present." Blaisdell tried 
 to speak dispassionately and to suggest that after all they 
 were not the real losers. "I do not think that it is worth 
 regretting, however. It may even have been an oversight." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 273 
 
 " Was it an oversight that we have not been asked to the 
 Puritan balls?" 
 
 Blaisdell had only a hazy notion as to the identity of the 
 Puritan balls. He remembered now, however, that he had 
 heard Lora make two or three casual allusions to them as 
 something out of the ordinary. In view of the variety of 
 entertainments of all sorts open to them, why should she 
 have set her heart on these particular balls? They were 
 not public functions; otherwise, of course, they would 
 have been asked. Yet it was evident she had; moreover, 
 the omission in question was one which concerned her 
 special domain. 
 
 "What are the Puritan balls?" he asked with the air 
 of one who felt that the time had come to concentrate 
 his faculties on this social matter as he would on a new 
 business proposition. 
 
 " Oh, the balls which have been going on for years the 
 balls to which every one in fashionable society are invited. 
 If you re not invited, you re not in society that s the test. 
 You mustn t think I m silly, Hugh. It s because I know." 
 Resting her elbows on the expansive shining oak table, she 
 leaned eagerly forward telling her grievance. " We ve en 
 tertained enough to be asked; we know enough people to 
 be asked; and I thought that perhaps this year they d ask 
 us. But they haven t." 
 
 " Who are the people who manage them?" 
 
 " Mrs. Harrison Chippendale and Mrs. Horatio Lang- 
 don are two of the lady patronesses. Then there s Mrs. 
 Staunton Townsend, Mrs. Paul Dudley about a dozen 
 in all. 
 
 "And the invitations are out?" 
 
 "I know they re out. Priscilla received one a fortnight 
 ago. She showed it to me before she put it in the fire." 
 
274 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "Priscilla?" 
 
 "Yes, she is asked and we are not. She is asked and 
 mama and Mr. Avery are not." 
 
 "Why did she put her invitation in the fire?" 
 
 "Because when she discovered that the -rest of the fam 
 ily were left out she didn t choose to accept. I m not sure 
 I m not sure, but I have a suspicion that she may have 
 called Henry Sumner s attention to the fact that we were 
 not included." 
 
 "Priscilla has lived in the neighborhood of Boston all 
 her life and her father before her. Besides, she has become 
 acquainted with some of those people through her associa 
 tion with Miss Chippendale. As for your mother and Mr. 
 Avery " 
 
 "It might be argued, of course, that they were too old," 
 broke in Lora, "Though Morgan Drake admitted that 
 lots of people of their age were on the list. But you and I 
 are not too old." 
 
 Although Blaisdell had instinctively made use of mollify 
 ing arguments, he was listening with increasing sympathy 
 to every word his wife said, and the defiant manner in 
 which she enunciated her last statement caused him to 
 fold his arms as he sometimes did at a directors meeting 
 when the situation had become tense. 
 
 "And it isn t only the Puritan balls and the Langdon 
 wedding," continued Lora, "it s everything. When I ap 
 plied two years ago, to have a place reserved for Dorothy 
 in the dancing-class, I was put off with the flimsy ex 
 cuse that some one else would be getting it up at that 
 time. I ve thought about it tried to make out what we 
 could have done to justify their leaving the child out in the 
 cold that and the other things and I shouldn t be a bit 
 surprised if Mrs. Harrison Chippendale were at the bot- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 275 
 
 torn of it. She has never forgiven us for buying their 
 house." Lora paused a moment, with a toss of her chin 
 to emphasize the shrewdness of this conjecture. Suddenly 
 she exclaimed: "Aren t these people, the Chippendales, 
 the Langdons the whole crowd under great obligations 
 to you, Hugh ? Haven t they made lots of money in Elec 
 tric Coke and everything else through following your 
 lead?" 
 
 Blaisdell nodded. "Some of them have, certainly." 
 
 "Then why should they be permitted to insult your 
 wife ? Couldn t you ruin them if you chose ? " 
 
 "Ruin them ? " Blaisdell s echo was by way of marking 
 time, for Lora s succinct sentences were summary as pistol 
 shots. "If necessary, yes yes, I could," he answered in 
 his large way as the tragedy of the situation dawned on him 
 and he found himself confronting this superb draft on his 
 "resources. With a large paper-cutter fashioned from an 
 ivory tusk he involuntarily made the gesture of sweeping 
 any possible enemies from the financial chess-board. But 
 his ensuing words showed that he still harbored a less 
 violent alternative. 
 
 "Insult you, Lora? These people cannot insult you. 
 The mistake you make is to care a button what they say 
 or do. Ignore them; go your way, and let them go theirs 
 and presently far sooner than you think it is you who 
 will be setting the fashion in Boston, not they. Social 
 leadership? Suppose the Mayor of Boston were to give 
 a dinner in honor of the visiting son of a foreign potentate, 
 would not we be among the very first persons selected ?" 
 
 Lora made a wry face. "I don t care a picayune about 
 dining with the Mayor of Boston, and I do wish to be in 
 vited to the Puritan balls. You re a man, Hugh, and so 
 that may not seem comprehensible to you so important 
 
276 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 as it really is. But just because you re a man it may be 
 that I know better than you what is desirable for us both 
 socially. The trouble is, these people are the leaders at 
 present and they don t choose to let us in. What is more, 
 I doubt very much if they will until you make them." 
 By the way in which she moved her defiant little chin and 
 by her emphasis on the last two words, Lora imparted to 
 this dejected sentence a minatory close. 
 
 "You are the best judge of that, of course. I have al 
 ways left such matters to you; they are woman s province. 
 Since they persist in excluding you from the entertainments 
 where you rightfully belong, I shall certainly interfere. It 
 is still my impression that you exaggerate the influence 
 which these old-timers exercise; their pose has become 
 fossilized. But it is enough for me that you have called 
 my attention to their snobbishness, and that you are dis 
 tressed by it, little woman." 
 
 Blaisdell spoke as a magnate reluctantly aroused, yet 
 like a man who intended to act none the less vigorously. 
 
 Lora was wiping her eyes. The consciousness that her 
 champion was girding on his armor had removed the ten 
 sion from her nerves, and her satisfaction took this femi 
 nine form. It was comforting to feel that if these people 
 continued to turn a cold shoulder, she was certain to be 
 avenged. Such was her first reflection ; but after the glow 
 of elation had subsided a sigh revealed revealed to her 
 self that her satisfaction was not complete, and presently 
 she said, as if thinking aloud: 
 
 "I wish I understood why they asked Priscilla and not 
 me." 
 
 Although he noticed the mournful inflection, Blaisdell 
 let Lora s monologue pass without comment. Had he not 
 already mentioned one or two excellent reasons ? And yet 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 277 
 
 a little later in the evening he realized that he was putting 
 the same question to himself why had they asked Pris- 
 cilla ? She was very different from his wife she always had 
 been. Was this the reason ? And in what exactly did that 
 difference consist? He remembered, too, that she had 
 burned her invitation, and he mused complacently on the 
 loyalty which this implied, a portion of which he appro 
 priated to himself. 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 HAVING declared her intention to settle down as a con 
 firmed Bostonian and to renounce for the time being 
 foreign travel with all which might result from it, Priscilla 
 had scarcely set her desk in her father s new house in order 
 before the correspondence flowing from the numerous de 
 mands on her time and sympathies assumed such propor 
 tions that she decided to engage a secretary. "A modern 
 executive woman has no right to squander her vitality on 
 clerical or household drudgery if she can afford to pay some 
 one to do it for her." This sentiment was her step-mother s, 
 uttered several times before Priscilla heeded it, but in the 
 end she allowed one of the rooms of her suite to be appro 
 priated to the use of a stenographer. 
 
 "We shall both find her very useful," purred Mrs. 
 Avery. "So far as house-keeping is concerned, it is still 
 a pleasure to me, thank heaven, to go into the kitchen, if 
 only to mouse round so I shall never abdicate the respon 
 sibility of ordering the dinner however elaborate my estab 
 lishment. Lora leaves it to her chef and it must be a satis 
 faction at times not to know what is coming next. But I 
 can t exactly reconcile it with marrying for better or for 
 
278 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 worse. With letters it s different. I can pass over to youi 
 Miss Murdoch the appeals for charity and the invitations 
 to be a patroness and take tickets for this, that and the 
 other, and whenever I do write anything for my club, I 
 shall be able to know how it sounds type-written. But the 
 most interesting thing about it all to me is," she added, 
 " that only the other day you were Miss Chippendale s sec 
 retary, and now you are employing one yourself at a higher 
 salary, and are already almost as important in the philan 
 thropic, educational, artistic line as she. That s the way 
 things go in this country even in Boston." 
 
 In brief, Priscilla had suddenly become the fashion. 
 With three sponsors so prominent, so individual and repre 
 senting such different points of view as Miss Georgiana 
 Chippendale, Mrs. Sumner and her brother-in-law, it was 
 not surprising that she should find ready outlets for her 
 newly aroused energies. Who is she ? Where does she come 
 from ? The ladies who put these leading questions to Mrs. 
 Sumner when informed that Priscilla was no stranger, but 
 had lived in Boston or its vicinity all her days, first opened 
 their eyes in mild surprise and inquired: "Why have we 
 never heard of her?" No satisfactory answer being pro 
 vided, they invariably added: "She is charming." This 
 signified that they admired her good looks, were attracted 
 by her spirited address, and approved of her air of distinc 
 tion. 
 
 On the other hand, she commended herself to the circle 
 in which Miss Georgiana moved by the interest she 
 evinced in the issues of the day. Her suggestion of a club 
 which should not condemn everything at the start was re 
 garded as both clever and salutary. It passed from lip to 
 lip, and presently a committee of earnest women waited 
 on her to intimate that it was desirable to issue a call for 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 279 
 
 a meeting in order to organize. " Don t agitate against 
 every new thing" her very words, except that "agitate" 
 had been substituted for "kick," so as to avoid a collo 
 quialism which might be considered vulgar was to be the 
 motto of the new club, so she was informed by the spokes 
 woman. It would be a piquant and practical rallying cry; 
 indeed, all questions involved had been thoroughly 
 threshed out; and would Priscilla head the list of names to 
 the call and consent later to serve as vice-president? The 
 president was to be one of the younger professors of 
 Wellesley College. 
 
 "It would be a good motto for all clubs; but are there 
 not far too many clubs in Boston already ? I couldn t ven 
 ture to assume the responsibility of helping to found 
 another." 
 
 Having given these reasons for her refusal, Priscilla for 
 an instant became conscious of qualms. Was she not hin 
 dering instead of aiding? Pouring cold water on a good 
 cause instead of putting her shoulder to the wheel ? But 
 the next moment these rear-guard doubts vanished. 
 Another club for the purpose would be an absurdity. 
 "But I shall be glad to help to inoculate the clubs we 
 already have with the new spirit," she hastened to add. 
 
 The committee seemed disappointed at first, especially 
 the spokeswoman Miss Winston a delicate, refined- 
 looking woman with hair on the verge of gray, and a very 
 gentle but somewhat worried voice. 
 
 "Too many clubs?" She looked at Priscilla over her 
 eye-glasses as one doubting yet evidently contemplating 
 a novel idea. "I had not supposed so. Too many clubs ? 
 It is possible that we have. I am not sure that we have 
 not." 
 
 "We ought to debate it at the Mother Eve s Club, " 
 
280 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 said another of the committee. "Question is there 
 a superfluity of clubs already in Boston?" 
 
 "I am positive that there are too many men s clubs," 
 said the third member. "I know of men who belong to a 
 dozen and that doesn t include the dining clubs and er 
 the poker clubs." 
 
 "That reminds me," said Miss Winston, and she took 
 from her black reticule an envelope which she handed to 
 Priscilla. "I take pleasure in informing you, Miss Avery, 
 that you have been elected a member of the Mother Eve s 
 Club. It meets every Saturday forenoon and is devoted to 
 the discussion of topics of vital current concern. I am the 
 secretary. If you accept you will have an early opportunity 
 to take part in the debate to lead it if you prefer on the 
 very interesting point which you have just raised have 
 we or have we not in Boston too many clubs of all kinds ?" 
 
 By means of this suggestion Priscilla scored a success no 
 less signal than her first. Her new criticism spread like 
 wildfire. "Have you met Priscilla Avery? She has 
 ideas," was on the tongue of every woman in the commu 
 nity interested in social progress. And the most know 
 ing added, when they felt sure of their audience, "She 
 dresses well, too, and is decidedly handsome." 
 
 The support of her third ally was chiefly moral, and 
 might be said to consist at first in her own determination 
 to imitate his ways. She was resolved not only to be busi 
 ness-like, energetic and alert for opportunities, but to do 
 things on a large scale. 
 
 When she found that she was succeeding, she derived 
 fresh incitement from his approval. It was obvious to her 
 that her brother-in-law was interested a little surprised 
 by her progress. She was conscious now and again that 
 he was looking at her with new eyes, as if he were taking 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 281 
 
 a fresh survey of her qualities. When, as occasionally 
 happened, she asked his advice, he let her perceive by his 
 half bantering yet incisive comments that he realized she 
 was making a distinct place for herself in the community by 
 her own individuality. This. was flattering, and in return 
 she was not unwilling that he should gather from time to 
 time that she was aware of the source of her inspiration 
 and grateful for having been taught to cultivate spontaneity 
 and a liberal outlook. She endeavored to make her apart 
 ment and, so far as she could, the entire house express her 
 revolt from asceticism and her sympathy with space and 
 color. She rejoiced to believe that the day of cramped 
 and sober dinginess was over. Hereafter her surroundings 
 should exemplify the joy of living. It was well to be rich 
 if only that the picturesque tiles in her bath-room, the 
 exquisiteness of her boudoir, the spacious distinction of the 
 whole establishment should bear witness to the creed that 
 it was not wrong, but one s duty, to enjoy beautiful things. 
 It should be one of her privileges as a wealthy woman 
 to patronize the best dressmakers, wear costly stuffs and 
 precious gems. For for who could tell at what hour the 
 bridegroom might not come? It was, perhaps, her duty 
 at her age to renounce all hope, but recognition of the 
 possibility should continue to be a part of her enthusiasm. 
 And she was willing even to incur the reproach of dressing 
 for the bridegroom. 
 
 That she might get a glimpse of him the bridegroom- 
 was one of her reasons for going into society. This and 
 the opportunity a reciprocal pleasure of going under 
 Lora s wing. Though her days were busy, she went from 
 beautiful house to beautiful house in the evening, entranced 
 no less by the untrammelled flow of her own spirits than 
 by the consciousness that she was admired. She walked at 
 
282 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 first as one walks through a mazy, illuminated garden 
 fascinated by the dreamy festal atmosphere, scarcely see 
 ing, scarcely hearing, simply enjoying, without desire to 
 discriminate or impulse to criticise. She walked as one 
 who sleeps. When she awoke it was with a start. The 
 bridegroom had not appeared. This was to be expected; 
 but Lora did not seem to her happy. 
 
 Mrs. Delano s Sunday evening receptions were the 
 definite awakening cause; or rather, the three which she 
 attended. She had gone on the first occasion with a cer 
 tain sense of jubilation. Why was not Sunday evening an 
 ideal time for people to meet informally and agreeably? 
 Men were less apt to be fatigued or preoccupied. The 
 kernel of this argument had been supplied by Blaisdell and 
 it fitted in with her own desire to register her sympathy 
 with the enemies of social stiffness and monotony. Her 
 first sight of women smoking had begotten the thought, 
 "how horrified Henry Sumner would be if he could only 
 see me puffing a cigarette! I should never be the same in 
 his eyes again." As Henry was not present, Priscilla had 
 abstained, chiefly from lack of practice. Her memories of 
 the midnight cigarette with Lora years before were not 
 provocative of confidence. But she straightway conceived 
 the plan of startling Henry the next time he came to call 
 by lighting one with an inveterate air. 
 
 Many of the women were smoking, and many of the men 
 musicians, actors and artists had foreign countenances. 
 After the novelty wore off, and she found herself sitting 
 between a German violin player whose fingers were deeply 
 stained by cigarette smoking, and a long-haired Russian, 
 who performed marvellously on the piano, she was beset by 
 chagrin at not being able to speak French and German 
 fluently. Most of the foreigners spoke English; but here 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 283 
 
 was she barely able to articulate a few stammering sen 
 tences in any Continental tongue ! Why had she not gone 
 abroad and completed her education ? 
 
 The second evening at Mrs. Delano s was a repetition 
 of the first save that there was a rumor current Morgan 
 Drake was responsible for it that Henry Sumner was 
 coming coming to see her. 
 
 "Coming to carry you home, dear," whispered Lora. 
 " This is no place for any woman worthy to become my 
 wife. Can t you hear him?" 
 
 "I m not altogether sure that it is," she responded, look 
 ing her sister in the face. "For me, I mean," she added 
 with an imperious toss of her head, as she realized what she 
 had said. " Bother his wife. I doubt very much if I shall 
 be worthy to tie the shoelaces of that very superior person." 
 
 Lora ignored the familiar protestation, being momen 
 tarily much more interested by Priscilla s implied stricture 
 on the quality of the entertainment. 
 
 "I agree that it s rather dull to-night. The celebrities 
 are very small potatoes," she said. " But next week Freda 
 has promised to come." 
 
 "Freda?" 
 
 Priscilla dwelt on the final syllable with a rising inflection 
 at the remembrance of diverse dismaying social scandals 
 associated with the name of this noted actress of foreign 
 antecedents. It was not the moment to discuss the matter, 
 for what Lora had said had been whispered in passing and 
 they were virtually within earshot of other people. But 
 each recognized the unsympathetic attitude of the other, 
 and when they were in the carriage alone together for 
 Mrs. Avery had been kept at home by a headache each 
 was prepared to resume the subject. Lora was the first to 
 broach it. 
 
284 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "Mrs. Delano happens to know that the stories about 
 Freda are grossly exaggerated. She may, in the course of 
 her life, have er done things which people off the stage 
 wouldn t do, for the temptations of an actress especially 
 those with temperament must be tremendous. But the 
 convincing argument is that the rest of the world refuses 
 to apply the same strict standard to people who have done 
 something great the limited few, as Hugh said, to whom 
 they are under great artistic obligations which they do to 
 the every-day person like you and me. There are individ 
 uals who are bigger than conventions." Feeling that she 
 had expressed herself with a pungent reasonableness, 
 which her sister could not gainsay if she did not wish to 
 impair her reputation for intelligent liberality, Lora leaned 
 back and buried her face in the bunch of roses which she 
 had brought away with her. Her husband was in New 
 York again, and she had been asked by Mrs. Delano to 
 fill a place at the dinner of eight which was the invariable 
 prelude for a favored few to the Sunday evening gatherings. 
 
 Lora had evidently discussed the point with Blaisdell 
 such was Priscilla s first thought and he had declared it 
 to be a case of common-sense triumphing over uncom 
 promising conventions for the sake of the world s 
 enjoyment. She could almost hear him say the words. 
 But at least he had not said them to her. If she had 
 been swept off her feet by them, she would almost have 
 been grateful for the sake of not differing from him. As it 
 was, she recognized, to her own surprise, that she remained 
 not only unconvinced, but was already resolute in her in 
 tention not to compromise in the smallest degree in regard 
 to this particular matter. But though her pulses were 
 stirred, she desired to appear no less dispassionate than her 
 sister. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 285 
 
 "What becomes, then, of social standards? Isn t there 
 such a thing as refined, elegant society?" 
 
 "Abroad, if people are distinguished and very clever, 
 one does not make invidious inquiries." 
 
 "But that is in Bohemian society. The men go, but 
 their wives usually stay away. There s a real society in 
 all foreign countries to which er courtesans, however 
 gifted, have found the gates barred." 
 
 "I should prefer Bohemian society. It would be much 
 less dull," answered Lor a complacently. 
 
 "But the one is genuine, the other spurious, however 
 lively. They can t be mixed. They never have been 
 mixed." 
 
 "Perhaps in this country we shall show that they can be 
 mixed without injurious consequences er in the case of 
 real genius. There s the point, Priscilla; when it comes 
 to genius, American real society, as you call it, will have 
 the sense and the courage to let the bars down er and 
 not use such nasty epithets," said^Lora, and she tapped her 
 little foot on the carriage floor. 
 
 "In Boston? Never. There are people who would die 
 first." Priscilla was surprised at her own warmth. It 
 came across her that she was speaking as Henry Sumner 
 might have done, and she was inwardly appalled. 
 
 "Those are the people who never come to Mrs. Delano s 
 Sunday evenings, I suppose. Many of them merely be 
 cause it s Sunday. The day may dawn in Boston when 
 those people will not be invited to the entertainments to 
 which they would like to go." 
 
 Priscilla noticed the touch of asperity imparted to this 
 speech, as if Lora had certain individuals in her mind s 
 eye. It was the first intimation to her that her sister was 
 not socially content. But she evolved this later rather than 
 
286 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 at the moment, inasmuch as she was still rubbing her eyes 
 after her sudden awakening to the need of discrimination. 
 She was spurred by the desire to make clear that whatever 
 the future might have in store for her as the result of such a 
 threat, she was ready to take a definite stand now. 
 
 " Each woman must judge for herself. You re married, 
 Lora; I m not. Possibly that makes a difference. I ve 
 not many scruples, as you know but one must draw the 
 line at something; and I draw it at meeting Freda socially. 
 And I m inclined to think that I don t care to accept invi 
 tations from any hostess who receives her socially." 
 
 "Not to accept invitations for the other evenings would 
 simply be like biting your own nose off, dear." This was 
 so very clear to Lora that she disposed of it in this sum 
 mary fashion as irrelevant. "I don t think being married 
 makes much difference," she continued. "It isn t neces 
 sary to be introduced to her, and it seems to me a pity to 
 draw the line on so harmless and interesting a thing as 
 watching her from the other side of the room. I know 
 that Mrs. Delano expects there will be a crush." 
 
 " Then my room will be better than my company. This 
 is one of the few occasions, Lora dear, when you and I 
 must agree to differ." 
 
 One of the effects of this decision of Priscilla s was he: 
 moral inability to light a cigarette in Henry Sumner s 
 presence when he next called. It seemed to her as she sat 
 and looked at him that they had changed characters; that 
 she was a Puritan maiden and he almost a dare-devil. Not 
 entirely, but almost. Not only had he been seen at Mrs. 
 Delano s on Sunday evening, but on that Sunday evening 
 of all Sunday evenings when Freda was present. To light 
 a cigarette would be wasted on such a gay Lothario to be 
 gin with and in the next place she was face to face with 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 287 
 
 the dismaying reflection that she was responsible for his 
 downfall. Dismaying because a year ago she would have 
 gloried in the fact, whereas now, having prevailed upon him 
 to swallow his minor scruples for her sake, she was shrink 
 ing from the imputation on herself which this implied. 
 She had ceased to be she never had been the sort of per 
 son she had led him to believe ; moreover, she wished him 
 to know it. Yet there was no denying that it was her beck 
 oning hand which had lured him from his frosty pinnacle, 
 and that if he had consented to be introduced to the compro 
 mising Freda, it had been in order not to appear narrow- 
 minded in her eyes. At this rate of progress, who could 
 tell that it might not become presently her Christian duty 
 to endeavor to stay his downward career? For, as the 
 result of processes which continued to baffle her, she had 
 become not far from prim; for the moment, as it seemed, 
 primmer than he. 
 
 The idea of his degeneracy was entertaining for a mo 
 ment, then she shuddered. Not from concern for him but 
 for herself. What mattered it to her what became of this 
 exemplary young man compared with the importance 
 of understanding, if not resisting, these baffling processes ? 
 Whither was she drifting, and why was she drifting? 
 Here she was taking back water again where she had con 
 fidently assumed that she knew the channel and taking it 
 so soon. For her admissions at the Art Museum had sa 
 vored to her of generosity quite as much as of justice. She 
 had obeyed the impulse to throw her faithful dog a bone. 
 She had let him know that while she had no desire to 
 mould herself upon his mother, she appreciated her worth 
 and the value of the traditions for which she stood. And 
 so far as he was concerned, she had intimated ^that, though 
 her estimate of his personal qualities continued far from 
 
288 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 flattering, she had exonerated him in her mind from certain 
 indictments. She had glided away from the interview in 
 high spirits, believing that she had displayed praiseworthy 
 magnanimity, and she had accepted the first-fruits of her 
 behavior namely, the straightening out of her strained 
 relations with this Boston Brahmin as a legitimate re 
 ward. He had taken her at her word and come to see her, 
 and what might be termed an intellectual truce had been 
 established between them. 
 
 It was the sequel which worried her. She could not 
 shift to his shoulders the blame for the state of mind in 
 which she found herself at present. During the ensuing 
 months he had plainly sought for once in his life not to 
 figure as an irritant, and without sacrificing his principles 
 to avoid topics which might ruffle the halcyon aspect of 
 their mutual forbearance. She had done the same, and by 
 way of compensation for her previous magnanimity she 
 had felt at liberty not to prevent him from following in her 
 social wake, which he seemed bent on doing. She had 
 argued that it would broaden his outlook and improve his 
 manners. She would let him see that she had no sympathy 
 with asceticism or rawness. If he insisted on pursuing her, 
 he must keep pace with her proclivities and tastes those 
 of a modern rich man s daughter even if this entailed 
 ceasing to wear gloves a size too large for him and restrain 
 ing the angle of his inartistically arranged evening tie. 
 
 She flattered herself that, as a result of thus dancing 
 attendance on her, he had improved a little on the score of 
 personal spruceness. Hitherto he had appeared almost 
 obtrusively clean, as if recently soused with soap and 
 water; his hair was apt to be too long or too short, and the 
 trousers of his evening clothes were prone to bag for lack 
 of pressing. Though it could not be said that he had be- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 289 
 
 come irreproachable in this respect, these inelegancies 
 were less noticeable than formerly. The right not to be 
 valeted was one of the few points on which her father had 
 insisted under the stylish regime inaugurated by her step 
 mother after their removal to Commonwealth Avenue, 
 just as he had clung to his subscription to the Nation dur 
 ing the domestic innovations which followed his second 
 marriage. But her step-mother had surreptitiously man 
 aged to renew and enlarge his wardrobe with such success 
 that he had lately become addicted to wearing a dark-blue 
 fancy waistcoat with red dots as a foil to his sober morning 
 coat. Henry Sumner had thus far condescended to nothing 
 so frivolous as this; but he had made distinct progress. 
 To be sure, the nap of the silk hat which he now wore on 
 Sundays and holidays was apt to be rubbed here and there 
 the wrong way and had lost its lustre. Soon it would have 
 lost its style also, for she opined that it reposed in an old 
 bandbox the rest of the week and was expected to last the 
 rest of his life. On the whole, however, he had gained per 
 ceptibly in finish without losing his self-respect, whereas 
 she, having pointed the way like a will-o -the-wisp, was 
 suddenly out of conceit of her own leadership. It had been 
 educational to him to see her surrounded by other men, 
 the chief social asset of some of whom was their exquisite- 
 ness. Two of them had been suitors; each more present 
 able than he. Even though they were seeking her money, 
 would that she could have fallen over head and ears in 
 love ! Was not the hour ripe for such a contingency ? In 
 stead she was heart-whole and in the mortifying predica 
 ment of being obliged again sooner or later to eat her own 
 words as the consequence of playing the mentor out of 
 sheer philanthropy. 
 
 Sooner or later, but why immediately ? If possible, she 
 
290 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 would leave him to discover for himself that she had 
 doubled on her course like a bewildered hare and sought 
 sanctuary. As it happened the occasion lent itself to delay. 
 Henry was preoccupied. As was customary with him 
 when he had something on his mind, he was not sensitive 
 to outside impressions. He had come to tell Priscilla of 
 his younger sister s engagement to Professor Paton. 
 Therefore he never got an inkling that her thoughts were 
 oscillating between the brink of confession and the alterna 
 tive of reaching out her hand for the cigarette box by way 
 of hanging for a sheep instead of a lamb. It is engrossing 
 to any woman to learn that a man who has once loved 
 her has found solace elsewhere. Such is the inconsist 
 ency of human nature, she sometimes entertains pass 
 ing regrets. But the announcement invariably puts 
 everything else for the time being into the background. 
 Priscilla proved no exception. She experienced not the 
 slightest pang, but she was so completely absorbed by the 
 news that she forgot her state of mind. Now that Professor 
 Paton was betrothed to another, his good points stood out 
 in relief and she found herself listening eagerly to the de 
 tails of the affair. 
 
 "We feared Barbara s over-conscientiousness might 
 cause her to distrust whether she cared for him enough 
 though the family felt sure she did," Henry was saying. 
 " My mother is very much pleased. My sister and he have 
 many tastes in common, and it means a fresh bond with 
 Harvard. They will have to live very simply, of course." 
 His pause and the almost furtive glance which he cast 
 around the sumptuous drawing-room indicated plainly as 
 words to Priscilla that he was thinking: "Fm well aware 
 that it wouldn t suit you at all." Then he added: "But 
 they are prepared for that." 
 
THE CHIPPEXDALES 291 
 
 Priscilla could not resist saying: "I know that Professor 
 Paton owns some Electric Coke. I saw his name recently 
 on the list of stockholders. If it sells some day at $1,000 
 a share, as some of the insiders expect, their programme 
 will be ruthlessly interfered with." 
 
 Henry shook his head. "I m willing to admit that it 
 costs more to live than formerly which Uncle Harrison 
 says is due to the tariff. But barring necessities, they will 
 not care for money. That is where 
 
 "I fail to do justice to your sister and her future hus 
 band?" 
 
 " I was not claiming credit for them. I was merely stat 
 ing their individual point of view." 
 
 Priscilla s mobile face quickened. "It s the real thing, 
 
 isn t it ? I recognized so the moment you told me the news." 
 
 Henry looked puzzled, for there was amusement as well 
 
 as earnestness in her tone, and she was such a chameleon 
 
 in her moods with him. 
 
 "A typical intellectual Boston marriage," she declared 
 with obvious satisfaction. 
 
 Henry colored a little. "I assure you they are very 
 much in love." 
 
 Priscilla bit her lip to avoid contradiction. To dis 
 pute the assertion in terms would be a liberty, since the 
 woman was his sister. "I ve no doubt that they are very 
 much attached to one another." Priscilla plumed herself 
 on this phrase as she uttered it. "But it s essentially a 
 mating of minds a union of mental processes as well as 
 of hearts if you like. A rising Harvard professor and a 
 daughter of one of Boston s first families! Of course it is, 
 Mr. Sumner. You must certainly admit that." 
 
 Her smiling eagerness was like a long wave from a 
 roused yet sunny sea which sweeps upon an interposing 
 
292 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 rock and submerges it with creamy spray. "I suppose it 
 may be termed so," he replied unflinchingly after a 
 moment, confessing yet undaunted. Then he added: 
 "It may interest you to hear that Mr. Paton has been 
 made a full professor." 
 
 Priscilla s eyes sparkled. "How delicious and appro 
 priate and inevitable." 
 
 Henry tried to ignore the medley of adjectives. "Nat 
 urally we are gratified. But why er appropriate?" 
 
 "Wasn t it the logical outcome the reward of mar 
 rying a Sumner and a Chippendale ? Harvard recognized 
 the bond." 
 
 "Mr. Paton is a scholar. His promotion was inevitable 
 if he had remained single." 
 
 "In the dim future, doubtless. But this clinched the 
 matter, didn t it? You know it did," she cried gaily. 
 Then before he could frame a thoroughly truthful retort 
 to her charge she continued, "I told you not long ago, you 
 remember, that I had become interested in Boston inter 
 ested in understanding the old Boston which your people rep 
 resent. This engagement is a genuine bit of old Boston." 
 
 "Old? "he queried. 
 
 "Old but fossilized. The self-conscious philosophy 
 which it stood for is dead. What is left is merely auto 
 matic like your booby huts and your lawyers green 
 bags. The Boston to which they and you belong per 
 forms its old-fashioned functions solemnly as ever, blind 
 to the fact that decomposition has set in. It s like it s 
 like the Wonderful One-Hoss Shay, which went to pieces 
 all at once. Do you remember ? 
 
 That was built in such a logical way 
 It ran a hundred years to a day, 
 And then of a sudden it 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 293 
 
 That s what will happen, Mr. Sumner, to the Boston to 
 which you belong drop to pieces all at once." 
 
 A more engulfing wave this. The smiling sea in pity 
 yearned to explain that its onslaught, though vital, was not 
 vicious. "I m immensely interested in all this sociolog 
 ically, if that s the term. Boston has had a glorious past. 
 It is to have a glorious future." She threw back her 
 shapely head like a princess, but it was plain her antithesis 
 was meant to convey that, though the community s redemp 
 tion was to be accomplished by others, she realized that her 
 visitor was a victim of atavism and not a free agent. To 
 cement this graciousness she yielded to a further impulse. 
 "I seem to be amused. Don t think I m laughing at you. 
 It s at the philosophy. If there was a time when I did 
 laugh at you, please forget it; I shall never laugh at you 
 again. It s not your fault what you stand for; and I 
 frankly admit that it has a certain picturesqueness of its 
 own like the old andirons and hall clocks. Shall we be 
 friends real friends ? " 
 
 She put out her hand as she spoke. The clasp which 
 she exchanged with Henry was that of a seeker after truth 
 and justice. 
 
 " There is nothing which I desire more," he answered. 
 His words of joy were mumbled from surprise, but Pris- 
 cilla had taken his acquiescence for granted. Her tender 
 of amity was the forerunner of a no less signal declaration. 
 
 "It follows as I told you that day at the Art Museum 
 that we must alway look at things from totally different 
 standpoints. We belong to separate camps, I and my 
 people, you and your people." 
 
 In the shock of personal contact had her hand been a tea 
 cup, Henry might have let it fall, for his own was trembling. 
 Despite her strictures, his heart was full of joy, for there 
 
294 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 was no room to doubt her sincerity, no question that at 
 last a gleam of genuine sunshine had pierced the cloud- 
 bank of their relations. Before their meeting at the Art 
 Museum she had disdained him; since then she had tol 
 erated him ostensibly because she admired his mother 
 and had become interested in the ideals which the latter 
 represented. Now, although she declared that the philos 
 ophy in which he had been nurtured was outworn, she had 
 paused in her academic discussion of Boston wedlock to 
 flash at him this ray of personal regard. Though her con 
 cluding words had been martial, they negatived in no sense 
 her previous assertion that he and she had become friends 
 again at last. They never had been friends since that fate 
 ful interview so many years ago when she had weighed 
 him in the balance and found him wanting. Weighed his 
 soul, as she thought; but was it not his body ? His wooden 
 body, in sheer defiance of which he had grotesquely kissed 
 her lily white wrist ? Now this same hand had lain close 
 in his own again in pledge of reconciliation. Did not this 
 merit some return on his part, even though it might in 
 volve a temporary lowering of his flag ? His introspective 
 soul could not deny that there was some truth in her ani 
 madversions. If concrete proof were needed, the still 
 abiding consciousness of that self-same wooden body pro 
 vided it. 
 
 " I protest against belonging to separate camps," he said. 
 "K our points of view are different, I must try to adopt 
 yours." 
 
 The contraction of Priscilla s eyebrows left room for 
 doubt whether from an eleemosynary standpoint such 
 wholesale capitulation was to her liking. 
 
 "How can you if you are true to yourself?" was her 
 comment. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 295 
 
 "Even rats desert a sinking ship. May not one warned 
 seek an antidote to fossilization endeavor to improve?" 
 "Oh, you have improved," she exclaimed with prose 
 lytizing promptness. Was it candor or the dread of elicit 
 ing a personal note which led her to add, "I doubt if they 
 are more than surface changes. You cannot help being 
 the same at heart." 
 
 "At heart?" In pensive rhapsody Henry ruffled the 
 nap of his silk hat the wrong way, intending to smooth it. 
 But the untoward gesture did not interrupt his speech. 
 "You have said I am self-conscious. I presume that my 
 other faults in your eyes are my deadly earnestness and- 
 er my narrow-mindedness." 
 
 Priscilla listened in amazement. Not only was he deftly 
 holding out his cardinal sins like sizzling apples on a fork, 
 but more wonderful still by the use of the word "deadly" 
 he had shown that he was capable of laughing at him 
 self. 
 
 "How did you find out?" she asked. . 
 "Am I not right?" 
 
 Priscilla drew a deep breath. The opportunity was one 
 of a lifetime, and he had brought it upon himself. More 
 over, he had his statement pat as if he had worked it out 
 in the watches of the night. " You have always appeared 
 to me self-conscious and narrow-minded. I used to think 
 you carped simply for the sake of carping. But I was mis 
 taken; I admit your seriousness your deadly serious 
 ness." 
 
 "Thank you," said Henry, emulating the well-trained 
 English servant s reply to overwhelming orders. "I have 
 known your opinion of me for a long time. And strange 
 to think they are all really virtues run to seed." 
 
 She pondered a moment. "So they are so they are. 
 
296 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 And yet a virtue run into the ground is worse than a vice. 
 It lacks dignity, for it is merely futile." She enjoyed her 
 characterization, and under the spell of it bent her gaze 
 archly on her antagonist, desiring to enforce it. "That s 
 just what those old Bostonians are futile," she said to 
 herself. 
 
 "Very likely," he answered. "But it explains things. 
 It s a heritage a respectable heritage." 
 
 Priscilla could not help smiling. This new vein of 
 irony at his own expense was a revelation. Why had she 
 never detected it? "Of course it is; I see what you 
 mean; it s a case of the virtues not the sins of the fathers 
 being visited on the third and fourth generations." 
 
 Henry hesitated a moment. "After all," he said, "it is 
 actions which count. You see I know my faults. It would 
 be the part of a friend to tell me what I have done lately 
 of which you disapprove. Will you not accept me as a 
 pupil?" 
 
 The invitation recalled to Priscilla s mind her previous 
 humiliation of spirit. Yet it was plainly not the time to 
 meet abnegation with abnegation. If he were so absorbed 
 in contemplation of his own shortcomings that he had 
 failed to be duly shocked by hers, so much the better for 
 her from a tactical standpoint. Wherefore bite the dust 
 save to break the force of censure ? Might she not even be 
 justified in saving her self-respect and rehabilitating her 
 character behind the formidable screen of school-mistress ? 
 Her alert thoughts sped along this pathway to considera 
 tion of his more pressing inquiry. He had improved, but 
 she had told him that he was unchanged at heart. It ought 
 to be a simple matter to put her finger on a line of conduct 
 or individual acts of which she disapproved. She sought 
 to do so; yet, as she sought, an irritating sense of failure 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 297 
 
 succeeded her endeavors. Irritating because, though pre 
 cise convicting instances eluded her, she remained positive 
 fiercely positive that they existed. 
 
 "Why do you distrust throw cold water on everything 
 which my brother-in-law does?" 
 
 This reply was offered as a stop gap to gain time. But 
 as she finished Priscilla became suddenly aware that it 
 embodied the kernel of what she wished to say that it 
 was her true grievance. She realized this with surprise; 
 yet at the moment she did not shrink from it; on the con 
 trary, she rejoiced in the singleness of the charge. 
 
 Henry stiffened a little. Apparently he had been pre 
 pared to hear that this was the sum and substance of his 
 offending, for his reply was immediate. 
 
 "Lately. What have I said or done lately?" 
 
 She ignored the qualification. "But you do distrust 
 him still?" 
 
 There was a touch of appeal in her voice, accusatory as 
 it was. It seemed to Henry s listening ears to say "this 
 is the crucial difference between us; your other conces 
 sions are of no avail if you are obdurate here; yield and 
 our truce is cemented." She had taken him up onto a 
 mountain, as it were, and exhibited to him the kingdoms 
 of the earth. 
 
 "I have every desire not to distrust him." 
 
 This was the limit of his denial; his lips refused to mus 
 ter more. It was equivalent, he knew, to an admission 
 that what she had alleged was true. In a single breath he 
 had undone the progress of months. But though the 
 temptation to recant had been luring, his t old tenacity of 
 opinion, which had seemed obligingly dormant of late, 
 had reasserted itself commandingly. 
 
 "But you do." 
 
298 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 t 
 
 "Blaisdell and I look at things from opposite stand 
 points. We always have; I fear we always shall." 
 
 "Exactly; just as I said; you belong to different camps. 
 And I belong to his." 
 
 Cognizant that the trenchant coldness of her conclu 
 sion had caused their resuscitated friendship to droop 
 like late flowers at the touch of frost, Henry remained 
 silent for a moment musing on the havoc wrought in 
 what had been just now a smiling garden. But Priscilla 
 seemed to negative regret on her part by the eager 
 words : 
 
 "Hugh Blaisdell is the most public-spirited man I know; 
 the most generous, the most broad-minded, the most 
 effective." 
 
 She lingered on the final words as on a bugle blast. 
 Often as she had formulated an estimate of her brother-in- 
 law in her own thoughts, this was the first opportunity she 
 had ever had to proclaim it as his champion. So convinc 
 ing did it sound to herself that she mistook for an instant 
 Henry s hesitation for the recoil of a censorious nature 
 before the clarion of truth. 
 
 " Yes undeniably yes effective. The important word, 
 isn t it ? He makes one feel from the first that he is that. 
 Effectiveness in the modern sense comprehends everything 
 else. But one can be effective for good as well as for evil. 
 I am unable to regard Blaisdell s influence as other than 
 a menace to the community." 
 
 Death knell as this might prove to his hopes, Henry felt 
 the necessity of being thus explicit. Up to a certain point 
 he had been, willing to compromise even though he 
 might be obliged to wink at degenerating ethical results. 
 But to equivocate here would be treason to his soul. 
 As a social factor Blaisdell was the antipodes of himself 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 299 
 
 the prosperous ogre to whom he yearned to play a Jack 
 the giant-killer. 
 
 " A menace to the community menace to the commun 
 ity?" Priscilla was unprepared no less for the quality 
 than for the directness of the charge. In view of the 
 recent course of events she had nattered herself that 
 Henry would mince matters. Had he proved a mush here, 
 his subjugation would have been complete and she could 
 have ridden away with his scalp dangling at her saddle 
 bow an d dismissed him forever. "Do you realize what 
 this community owes to him ? " She paused a moment that 
 he might realize the enormity of his injustice. "I will tell 
 you a few of the things. He has revolutionized business 
 methods and helped to transform Boston from a provincial 
 town into a city; he has developed rapid transit; en 
 dowed the Maternity Hospital; enriched the Art Museum. 
 He has given right and left from the wealth acquired by 
 his own unaided talents to promote deserving causes, and 
 foster struggling genius." 
 
 So fluent was her eulogy that it had the effect of being 
 . by rote; but to show that her recitals were only extracts 
 from an ampler record she repeated "These are a few 
 of the things." She sat upright with her hands clasped on 
 her lap, tense in every fibre. The desire to testify, which 
 had succeeded her amazement, was yielding to a more 
 caustic emotion. "I do not understand, Mr. Sumner, 
 what you can mean." 
 
 "His generosity and public spirit are in his favor, I 
 admit." 
 
 "Yet you have done your best to thwart them whenever 
 you could." Her words supplied the click of flint inter 
 cepting steel. The flash from her eyes emulated the spark. 
 
 "And have been invariably worsted. I admit this, too." 
 
300 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Priscilla frowned at his concessions. They reminded 
 her of the gifts of the Greeks. 
 
 "Of what do you accuse him?" she asked more delib 
 erately. 
 
 "Accuse him?" The iteration was the echo of his own 
 sudden perplexity. He was in a position only to generalize 
 and she was certain to demand had a right to demand 
 concrete instances. "Of lowering all our standards; of 
 debauching public sentiment," he added. 
 
 This was exactly what he had in mind, but he was 
 almost sorry that he had yielded to the temptation. He 
 was not sure that it was not cowardly for he was obliged 
 to stop there. He knew his indictment by heart. "I 
 accuse him" (he said to himself) "of accomplishing his 
 purposes by plausible underhand methods of manipu 
 lating legislative bodies, of subtly controlling the press; 
 of keeping his fingers on all the stops in the organ 
 of public utility and making them pipe what sounds he 
 pleases. I accuse him of dulling the public conscience by 
 the hypodermic of his contagious plausibility, so that 
 every wrong is made to appear a right." But the proofs? , 
 She would ask for his proofs, and alas ! he did not possess 
 them. He knew that his stricutres were true, but he 
 lacked documentary evidence. 
 
 "I wish that you would mention some instances," ex 
 claimed Priscilla, with defiant calm. 
 
 Henry did not answer for an instant. He no longer 
 regretted that he had spoken, for what was to be gained 
 by a postponement or evasion of the issue which she had 
 forced upon him ? Strong as his innate antagonism to her 
 brother-in-law had been, it was something of a revelation 
 to him that this difference of opinion was the real chasm 
 which separated them. Having bridged it, she had handed 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 him an axe, and with a fell stroke he had cut in two the 
 plank by which she had sought to bring them closer. 
 Proofs? He should have had them ready. But was not 
 the true fabric of his criticism made up of substances im 
 palpable as air? Of substances which would dissolve if 
 fingered, yet which, to sensitive eyes and ears and nerves, 
 were convincing testimony ? He saw with the eyes of a long 
 line of truth-seeking ancestors his heritage, as he was still 
 proud to boast. If only she would see as he saw, no formal 
 proofs were necessary. 
 
 "It would not be worth while," he answered. 
 "Not worth while? But you have accused 
 "I know. If you do not see for yourself, I should not 
 succeed in convincing you." 
 
 Priscilla s face was a study, for the significance of this 
 parry was not lost on her. " But at least 
 
 "I am unable to cite indisputable facts. It would be 
 simply my word against his." 
 "You made a definite charge." 
 
 "You asked my opinion why I distrusted him and 
 I told you." 
 
 "But why have you nothing to base it on more tangible 
 than er introspection ? " 
 
 Henry winced slightly at the aptly chosen term; then 
 his observant eagle look melted into something quizzical 
 as he deduced an explanation which seemed to play into 
 her hands. 
 
 "I suppose that is a part of what you style my our 
 futility." 
 
 Though she realized that after the first assault he had 
 withdrawn his forces without striking another blow and 
 left her mistress of the field, Priscilla instead of pressing 
 the retiring foe, as an unexhausted victor should, remained 
 
302 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 pensive. "If you do not see for yourself, I should not 
 succeed in convincing you." These were insidious words. 
 They contained a reflection on herself; they were an inti 
 mation of a superiority which she had always resented in 
 the abstract, but which, in the form of a definite instance 
 and on the lips of this stubborn yet serenely confident 
 opponent, negatived the effect of his pusillanimous retreat 
 and already made her victory a barren one. Thus musing 
 she mechanically looked at Henry as if to discover from 
 a fresh inspection the secret of this hypnotism. She 
 noticed again his austerity, his large nose and prominent 
 cheek bones. Though his face was a trifle fuller than 
 formerly, his air of earnestness still gave it a hungry, 
 almost hawk-like expression. His mouth was partially 
 concealed by his drooping mustache which had thick 
 ened, but Priscilla was sure of its asceticism. She 
 noticed, too, that the nap of his hat had been rubbed the 
 wrong way, and that his standing collar gaped a little. 
 The pin in his expansive Lord Stanley cravat his Sunday 
 neck-tie which was in the form of a gold horse-shoe (a 
 present brought him from Europe many years before by 
 his Uncle Harrison), was sadly in need of burnishing. 
 Yet with all his lack of finish, it could not be denied that 
 he looked a gentleman. The delicacy of his finely chiselled 
 features and their responsiveness to what was passing 
 through his mind left no room to doubt his intelligent re 
 finement; and his penetrating eyes they were his best 
 feature were still luminous with the sardonic remark 
 which he had just directed against himself. After all, she had 
 failed to turn the tables* on him. He had managed to shift 
 the issue. It was no longer Blaisdell s, but her own charac 
 ter, which was challenged and held up to scrutiny. While 
 her glance still rested on him, Priscilla heard him continue : 
 
THE CHIPPENALES 303 
 
 "What you state is true; I have nothing tangible to 
 offer at present nothing that I can point to and say, 
 look at this, read that. But I reserve the right, if I may, 
 to come to you and say, here they are, the proofs, the 
 requisite proofs. " 
 
 It was an appeal; bravely though it rang at the close, it 
 was still an appeal. Evidently he felt that he had put him 
 self in a position where he had need to crave her indulgence. 
 He had merited a rebuke and the hour was ripe for admin 
 istering one. Yet as she opened her lips to reply, Priscilla 
 realized that, though she was seeking to obey a logical 
 impulse to inflict chastisement, she had lost her zest in that 
 feature of the situation. His futility (she stiU clung ^ to 
 this consoling word) was immaterial in comparison with 
 the insinuation that her own spiritual vision was de 
 fective. 
 
 "It seems to me strange," she said, "that you should 
 unable to offer at the present time a single proof of your 
 remarkable statement." Thereupon she frowned to cover 
 her own consternation. 
 
 Henry mistook this knitting of her brows for genuine 
 severity. "If I had believed that I could make clear to you 
 what I mean, I would try to do so now." 
 
 Priscilla did not avoid his Delphic utterance. "You 
 mean that the fault is in me?" she said with a withering 
 smile. As she spoke a servant appeared with the tea 
 things, which he proceeded to arrange on a little orna 
 mental table in front of her. 
 "Fault?" echoed Henry. 
 
 "Misfortune I should have said, of course." A foot 
 man is at times a convenient background for irony. 
 
 "If you put it that way in a certain sense, yes. But I 
 hope some day to " 
 
304 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "It is the present which interests me. If I am color 
 blind, I wish to know it at once, not in the dim future." 
 
 Henry sighed. That slight involuntary signal of distress 
 reached Priscilla s ears above the clatter of her preparations 
 to serve tea. It signified to her that as usual self-absorp 
 tion had prevented him from guessing the true state of 
 affairs, and that, misled by her air of raillery, he had failed 
 to grasp the secret of which she had just afforded him 
 a glimpse. He was rising to depart. 
 
 "No tea, Mr. Sumner?" 
 
 "I never take it in the afternoon." 
 
 "Ah, yes; it keeps you awake, I believe." 
 
 Henry lingered for a moment. She was crushing him 
 and he was once more the victim of his own inherent want 
 of tact. 
 
 "I have been clumsy again," he murmured. "I fear 
 I have shattered our newly-established friendship, which 
 meant so much to me." 
 
 What a good soul he was and how guileless! Such 
 was Priscilla s thought as she surveyed him from her 
 vantage ground behind the tea tray. He was not looking 
 at her as he spoke. Instead, he was trying to smooth out 
 with his coat sleeve the nap of his hat, the ruffled surface 
 of which his shy glance had just detected. Could any 
 place but Boston produce his counterpart ? Why had she 
 ceased to be indignant ? He had certainly given her just 
 cause to be. If she were sure that he bored her, now was 
 the time to terminate their intimacy forever. But she 
 would hold on to him, if for no other reason, to vindicate 
 her own clear-sightedness. 
 
 "We have been pointing out each other s faults like two 
 school-girls," she said. "The obligations of friendship are 
 reciprocal. If there is some essential failing which one 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 305 
 
 does not recognize color blindness, for instance is it 
 not the part of the other to be persistent?" She was well 
 aware that he was capable of entangling his foot in her 
 tea table and upsetting it, but he was sometimes mentally 
 agile in understanding her when she talked in parables. 
 
 It proved so here. Henry s face changed in a moment. 
 "Ah," he cried, "then you are not hopelessly offended?" 
 
 Priscilla pursed her lips. She had no intention of being 
 too good to him. Moreover, the direct question caused 
 her to feel some qualms on the score of loyalty to her 
 brother-in-law. 
 
 "That depends. I am giving you time the time you 
 asked for to vindicate yourself. If you fail, and I feel 
 morally certain that you will," she said with emphasis, 
 looking at him steadily over her tea cup, "why, then we 
 can never be friends again. I should have the right to 
 to despise you, wouldn t I?" 
 
 "You would. But if I succeed?" Henry retorted with 
 characteristic eagerness. 
 
 "Succeed?" she repeated. Then, as if she were talking 
 to herself, and were facing for the first time an appalling 
 possibility, she added: "In that event I shall be a very 
 unhappy woman." 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 As has been stated, Henry Sumner s arraignment of 
 Blaisdell had occurred some six months prior to Lora s 
 appeal to her husband on the subject of the Puritan balls. 
 It was not without its direct influence both on Henry and 
 on Priscilla. It enabled him to dispense with the check- 
 rein by which he had been endeavoring for her sake to pull 
 
306 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 up his prejudice. His mouth had spoken out of the ful 
 ness of his heart, and he could no longer hope to win her 
 favor by modifying his opinion of her favorite. His only 
 chance of reestablishing himself in her good graces was to 
 prove to her that he was right. During the moments of 
 their conversation when he had eagerly sought to name 
 instances which should speak for themselves he had de 
 sisted from a sudden sense of a lack of practical informa 
 tion, and he had been forced to content himself for the time 
 being with glittering generalities trenchant, but none the 
 less generalities. He had gone from the interview resolv 
 ing to probe more deeply into the affairs of the body, social 
 and politic, so that, when challenged hereafter to support 
 his statements, he would not be convicted of futility. 
 
 He said to himself as he strode away from her house 
 that he could not afford to be content with the plea that 
 Blaisdell was so hedged about with privilege and bul 
 warked from close observation that his secret actions 
 could only be surmised. That he fervently believed him to 
 be an enemy of society from the standpoint of the best 
 citizenship which was the only one with which he and 
 Miss Avery were concerned might be a justification for 
 saying so in the heat of discussion, but did not excuse him 
 from promptly taking steps to verify what would otherwise 
 become calumny. Two results of their argument were 
 obvious: He must smoke Blaisdell out or henceforth he 
 must hold his peace; and, secondly, his avocation his 
 taste for taking part in public affairs had received the 
 fillip of a private cause; for his personal happiness had 
 become dependent on his demonstrating that his accusa 
 tions were true. At the same time his conscience was free, 
 for he had stigmatized Blaisdell in his own heart long be 
 fore the issue had become a personal one. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 307 
 
 As he pursued his way through the Public Garden and 
 across the Common the rays from the afternoon sun were 
 falling on the gilded dome of the State House. This con 
 spicuous and cherished landmark had associations for him 
 apart from ordinary civic pride, since it sheltered the bat 
 tle-flags of the militia who had served in the War of the 
 Rebellion. It was his wont not infrequently to visit the 
 rotunda to gaze upon the tattered, war-stained remnants 
 of the colors of his father s regiment. As his glance rested 
 on the familiar building he sighed, for envy of his father s 
 lot assailed him. A splendid yet because the appeal had 
 been so direct was it not a comparatively easy solution 
 of the battle of life? He had often envied the martial 
 glory, but hitherto it had chiefly served as an incentive to 
 noble deeds of his own contrivance, the opportunity for 
 which would not be long delayed. 
 
 Now as he followed the horizon line in an arc, his 
 mind s eye reproduced beyond the tree-tops and the busy 
 boundary of Tremont Street, the panorama of a new, 
 smoky heterogeneous city the almost mushroom-like suc 
 cessor of the town of his ancestors and of his own boyhood . 
 The little orbit in which he had been nurtured and in 
 which they had revolved had become almost a side cir;:uit 
 in comparison with the swaths of life v, T hich swept daily 
 through those thoroughfares beyond i riches of high 
 finance buttressed with great trust companies, and capil 
 laries of retail trade guarded and advertised when the 
 sun -went down by a cordon of electric light along which 
 surged a new population, Italians, Poles and Portuguese 
 in whose favor the quondam Irishmen of the North End 
 had renounced their monopoly of the pick and shovel. 
 On his left hand, through the elms, he could detect 
 the white door and old-fashioned curled railing of the 
 
308 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 family mansion his Aunt Georgiana s and a bee line 
 would lead him face to face with the brass knocker 
 of his Uncle Baxter s solitary residence on Park Street, 
 around which real estate agents metaphorically hovered, 
 like vultures over an aged lion, ready to appropriate 
 it for shops the moment the owner was safely interred 
 in Mt. Auburn. Everything else was changing, almost 
 everything else was gone. Yes, Priscilla was right, the 
 old Boston was moribund, and the new, with its whir 
 and its glare and its bustle offered a fresh set of problems 
 to the hungry spirit; new, and infinitely puzzling. His 
 opportunity was at hand to smoke out Blaisdell. But 
 how was he to seize it ? How was he to become a force in 
 this easy-going democratic Boston? For democracy, as 
 Morgan Drake was constantly pointing out, was the mod 
 ern watchword even in Boston; while he, a futile aristo 
 crat, was bent chiefly on refining his individual soul by the 
 white light of Concord philosophy. He yearned to die at 
 the head of a regiment, but he shrank from soiling his 
 hands with the muck of common life. 
 
 To the taunt in which he thus indulged Henry retorted 
 swiftly in self-defence, "Am I not active in the Associated 
 Charities ? Have I not been a watch-dog of the Common ? " 
 Though these virtues were not to be gainsaid, they seemed 
 to him then and there to dwindle until they became of pig 
 my size. In order to prevail, he must no longer stand aloof 
 in the isolation of conscious superiority; he must no longer 
 refuse to lend a hand because those who would welcome his 
 aid did not aim at absolute perfection. He must not always 
 be in opposition. His gospel must henceforth be a broader 
 sympathy with his fellow-man. The brotherhood of man. 
 Deeply in earnest as he was, the phrase brought a wry 
 taste to his palate. How could men be his brothers unless 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 309 
 
 they raised themselves to his standards? Must he sacri 
 fice his ideals, his principles, his birthright by lowering his 
 to theirs ? As he faced the anguish of this alternative for 
 spiritual clap-trap or equivocation were not among his 
 faults he found himself murmuring aloud: "Are buying 
 and selling and amusing themselves for the sake of amuse 
 ment all they care for? Is the old Boston spirit really 
 dead?" 
 
 It was the involuntary cry of one eager to believe the 
 contrary, yet appalled by the odds. While he sought a 
 consoling answer to his murmur he beheld on the mall 
 a few yards ahead a propitious sight. A nondescript but 
 amiable-looking individual by his appearance an every 
 day citizen had gathered around him in a circle a score 
 or more of the fowls of the air the city pigeons and was 
 feeding them with grains of corn from a side pocket. 
 Other passers attracted by the spectacle had become by 
 standers. Henry stood still on the outer fringe of this 
 group and watched the tame birds compete for and peck 
 at the desired kernels. They revealed a certain leisurely 
 dignity even under the spur of excitement. A few of them 
 looked draggled, but most were plump, with here and 
 there a glossy iridescent breast and a mien as if the pos 
 sessors knew themselves to be proud denizens of Beacon 
 Hill. 
 
 The sight served as a rainbow of promise to Henry s 
 eyes. His earliest associations were with the ancestors of 
 these same birds. One of his first childish memories was 
 of feeding them on the window-sill of his father s counting- 
 room. It served also as an antidote to what he had been 
 forced to witness on balmy spring days in recent years 
 the Common desecrated by the prostrate forms of unkempt 
 loungers many of them in stupor; by scattered news- 
 
310 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 papers and costermongers colored wrappings. There was 
 still some delicacy of sentiment left some reverence for 
 the trees and turf and creatures in this historic enclosure 
 which had become a people s park. 
 
 As he mused he caught sight in the near distance of 
 two squirrels scampering up the trunk of one of the elms 
 on the Beason Street mall large fellows with bushy tails. 
 Here was another favorable omen. He had heard lately 
 that the squirrels were being better protected as the result 
 of his Uncle Harrison s and Aunt Georgiana s protests. 
 The news that he had seen these would gladden his rela 
 tives. 
 
 Henry rang at the door of his aunt s house with a lighter 
 heart and a sense of fresh determination. The old Boston 
 spirit might be dormant, but it could be counted on to re 
 assert itself. It might be stifled for a time, but it never 
 failed to crop out anew. At whatever the cost he would 
 battle to preserve its essence; and, in spite of the odds, he 
 would justify having shaken his fist in the face of the new 
 and speciously false ideals. 
 
 "I have decided to take up politics," he could not 
 refrain from informing his aunt whom he found at home. 
 
 Miss Georgiana had opinions to express and questions to 
 ask on a variety of subjects. After Henry had promised to 
 remain to high tea her Sunday function at which quince 
 marmalade and waffles invariably formed the complement 
 to cold chickens and ham she gave him an opportunity 
 to tell her about the squirrels, and to relate the incident 
 of the pigeons. But he did not get another chance to 
 broach his confidence until she had run the gamut of 
 the diverse burning topics in which she happened to 
 be most interested at the moment. How did he like 
 the new Public Library now that it was finished and 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 311 
 
 what did he think of the Sargent decorations? Had he 
 heard that Mrs. Merrivale, the medium of the Psychic 
 Society, was under a new and more articulate control? 
 He would never put any flesh on his bones until he adopted 
 the latest regimen raw eggs between meals; one before 
 breakfast, five during the day, and one at night. Mrs. 
 Everett Farrar had gained twenty-five pounds in three 
 months on the diet. The first was difficult to swallow, but 
 the others slipped down easily, just like oysters. 
 
 When finally she paused and, looking searchingly at 
 her nephew, inquired: "Well, how have you been getting 
 on of late?" Henry gave the answer which has been 
 stated. 
 
 " Politics. I m glad of that," said Miss Georgiana with 
 an approving nod. "So far as I can see," she continued, 
 bridling, "you re the only one of the family in the younger 
 generation the boys, I mean; girls don t count who 
 cares to do anything public-spirited. You were pig 
 headed about the arsenic, but you did your best to protect 
 the tombs and to save the Common. Priscilla Avery s 
 brother-in-law was too much for us there. He never 
 convinced me but he s smart, that Mr. Blaisdell. I 
 consult him now and then about my investments, and 
 they ve not done er badly." Miss Chippendale winked 
 slyly as she spoke. "But you needn t tell anybody. And 
 that reminds me," she added imperatively, "don t go 
 away after tea until I draw you a cheque no matter if it 
 is Sunday. It may come in handy while you re in training 
 to become Mayor of Boston. But what I began to say was, 
 I m glad there s one of the family who s interested in 
 something besides money-making and muscular sports. It 
 hasn t been your Uncle Harrison s fault poor man that 
 he was never sent to Congress, and he always intended 
 
312 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 that his eldest son should go into the diplomatic service. 
 Although your Aunt Margaret is extravagant, I m sure 
 he would have pinched himself to accomplish this. But 
 no your cousin Chauncey chose instead to go into a stock 
 broker s office on the strength of kicking foot-ball (I ve 
 never seen one, but I m told it s a brutal game), and now 
 I hear he s on the high road to great wealth. They tell 
 me too that his good-looking wife is easy-going and athletic 
 like himself that all she thinks of is how to amuse herself 
 in smart society, and that she doesn t care a button for the 
 things which have made Boston what it is. Heaven knows, 
 I m not above being thrifty, but there s something in this 
 world worth cherishing besides dollars and cents." 
 
 Having delivered this philippic, Miss Chippendale sat 
 back in her easy-chair and proceeded to cool herself with 
 a large peacock feather fan which she habitually used to 
 screen her eyes from the fire. 
 
 "Most people think Beatrice charming," Henry gallantly 
 asserted. "She is the President of the Columbine Club." 
 
 "I dare say; she naturally would be. That s the club 
 where the well-bred girls ape the ballet dancers do ath 
 letic stunts, as I heard my nephew Arthur call them the 
 other day. There s another case your Aunt Margaret 
 couldn t understand why I refused to go to see my name 
 sake do a shadow dance kick her feet higher in the air 
 than any of the others. I don t understand these modern 
 ideas of education. Will it help Georgie to obtain a hus 
 band ?" she inquired sharply. 
 
 "Very likely it would, if the men were permitted to look 
 on," said Henry with a laugh. "It s hygienic according 
 to the doctors. Besides, it s a part of the joy of living the 
 modern protest against stifling one s emotions." He uttered 
 the last words wistfully. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 313 
 
 "Look at me, I m strong as a horse; but I never kicked 
 my heels higher than my head in my life, and I enjoy life 
 tolerably well, thank you." Miss Chippendale spoke im 
 pulsively. Reflection prompted her to add: "But I was 
 discussing the boys, not the girls. I m an old woman. If 
 it s the modern way of getting married, let them suit them 
 selves. I m not abusing them or Chauncey either. Didn t 
 I send him and Beatrice a handsome wedding present an 
 old solid silver soup tureen ? But if any one pretends that 
 they have an ounce of what I call public spirit between 
 them, I know better." 
 
 " Georgie is sure to marry; she has had lots of chances. 
 Simply the right man hasn t come along." 
 
 "It s her fourth winter. She can t afford to be too par 
 ticular." 
 
 "Perhaps you don t know that Miss Avery has been 
 elected into the Columbine Club?" Henry continued, pre 
 sumably in further defence of his cousin s wife. 
 
 "Priscilla?" Miss Chippendale mused an instant. 
 "She s modern, too I admit it. What was that you 
 called it the joy of living? But if she should kick up her 
 heels it would amount to something in after life; she d 
 kick over the traces. She wouldn t execute a pas de seul 
 before she was married in order to show how supple and 
 emancipated she was, and then settle down to be a clog on 
 her husband s spiritual aspirations. She wouldn t expect 
 to be decked with jewels and to have three in-door men at 
 the start." Thereupon Miss Chippendale saturated her 
 handkerchief with cologne from an elongated cut glass per 
 fume bottle and rubbed it against her strong nose. 
 
 " I know she s very fond of jewels," Henry found himself 
 saying. "She d expect handsome ones sooner or later." 
 
 " Well, she would be worth it. When did you see her last ? " 
 
314 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 He smiled at his aunt s disregard of logic. "I ve just 
 come from her house." 
 
 " So it is she who is spurring you on to become Mayor of 
 Boston." 
 
 "On the contrary, I am the last person Miss Avery 
 would like to see in that position. She would think of me 
 as perpetually picking flaws." 
 
 "And that s what you would do, Henry. Would you 
 have it otherwise ? That s one of the responsibilities of the 
 Chippendales to pick flaws. Men of their sort used to be 
 Mayors of Boston. When your Uncle Harrison tells me, 
 as he sometimes does, that the country is going to the devil, 
 I say to him, { Harrison, you re a croaker; shut up; I know 
 better. But as to the city if I stop to consider that when 
 I was a girl, the Irish were busy laying the sewers and 
 water pipes and the only Italians were the organ grinders 
 I don t know exactly what to think." 
 
 "Perfectly true, Aunt Georgiana. But it s the duty of 
 the younger generation to try to look on the bright side of 
 things." He glanced involuntarily as he spoke at the win 
 dow, for her words brought back the glittering tide of life 
 which lay beyond the tree-tops. But it was no moment for 
 entertaining such qualms or perplexities. Besides, had he 
 not banished them both from the lexicon of his youth and 
 resolved to put his shoulder to the wheel? "You partly 
 guessed the truth," he continued. "Miss Avery is respon 
 sible for my decision to enter politics ; but not for the rea 
 sons you suppose. I intend to prove to her in that way that 
 a great friend of hers a man in whom you also have con 
 fidence is er an over-estimated person. I intend, 
 sooner or later, to show that Hugh McD. Blaisdell is doing 
 his best to contaminate Boston." 
 
 Miss Chippendale sat up straight in her easy-chair. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 315 
 
 11 Don t tell me, dear, that Blaisdell is a scamp. We know 
 nothing as to his antecedents I ve always said that." 
 
 "Not in a money sense. It s not the proper word in any 
 sense. I ve no reason to doubt that he is an excellent per 
 son to consult as to your investments." 
 
 " Thank Heaven for that. You gave me a scare. Only 
 the other day I heard him quoted as saying that Electric 
 Coke will soon sell at $1,000 a share." She rubbed her 
 nose again with her saturated handkerchief. "What is 
 the matter with him, then?" 
 
 "He is lowering all our standards." 
 
 Miss Chippendale frowned. "We can t let an outsider 
 do that. Tell me exactly what you have discovered," she 
 asked, folding her arms. 
 
 Henry regarded her almost piteously. "I know you 
 believe in ideals, Aunt Georgiana." 
 
 "Naturally, child. All the Chippendales even Baxter 
 are idealists at heart." 
 
 "I knew you did and that s why I say please don t ask 
 me now. I could tell you little things but they re all little 
 things at present. I can t prove anything definite. But 
 it s true fundamentally true. Priscilla Miss A\ ery and 
 I Lave been at odds over the matter all the afternoon. But 
 she has given me time to prove what I have said, and you 
 must." 
 
 His worried yet exalted earnestness was of the sort which 
 his listener prized ; it savored of her most precious associa 
 tions. "You ought to know, Henry. On the surface the 
 man has impressed me as er almost a public benefactor, 
 and Priscilla swears by him; but if it s true that he is under 
 mining our standards, it must be stopped, and stopped at 
 once. I shall keep my eyes open." 
 
 "Undermining is the very word," he cried joyously. 
 
316 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 His enthusiasm was contagious, and the inherent faith 
 which she had in her kinsman was rapidly transforming 
 Miss Georgiana into a zealous ally. "Til back you up, 
 Henry," she declared. "And I shan t be surprised a bit if 
 you re right." 
 
 Henry beamed. "That s just like you, Aunt Georgiana. 
 Most people would think I was nothing but a crank. But 
 I was sure you d understand." 
 
 She deprecated his gratitude by a brusque nod. "It 
 sometimes takes a Chippendale to understand a Chippen 
 dale. But if I m not to ask questions which I m burning 
 to have answered, you must promise me to try raw eggs." 
 
 Henry agreed to do so. At this juncture high tea was 
 announced, and not long after this repast was over, his 
 aunt gave unmistakable signs of falling asleep in her chair. 
 Now and then, however, she would rouse herself with the 
 air of hastily wishing to conceal something, and during one 
 of these waking periods he managed to slip away without 
 awakening her suspicions that he knew. A false step, as 
 he was aware, might have ruined all. So much experience 
 had taught him. He carried away in his pocket-book a 
 cheque for one hundred and fifty dollars. The amount was 
 larger than ever before, but it was no new experience. 
 Miss Chippendale was in the habit of making what might 
 be termed surreptitious gifts to the one or more of her 
 nephews and nieces who happened to be her favorites at 
 the moment. 
 
 Henry had not thought it necessary to explain to his 
 aunt that she had given a narrower construction to his use 
 of the word "politics" than he had intended, and that what 
 he had in mind was a closer touch with the practical affairs 
 of the community rather than that sort of activity which is 
 crowned by office. Yet he had made clear that his objective 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 317 
 
 was to show up Blaisdell in what he believed to be his true 
 colors. It was a personal surprise to him, however, that 
 the residuum left from the conflicting emotions of that 
 Sunday afternoon should be the reverse of an impulse 
 toward compromise. He still dwelt on the necessity of a 
 wider knowledge and a broader sympathy on his part; but 
 not at the cost of the faith in which he had been nurtured. 
 He rejoiced that an outward breach between himself and 
 Priscilla had been averted, through what he admitted to 
 have been her magnanimity; but he realized with growing 
 yes, with glowing satisfaction that the clash had clari 
 fied his own vision and thereby put an end to the series 
 of equivocations by which he had hypnotized his con 
 science in order to win her favor. The plausible plea in 
 both their minds had been his own regeneration, and up 
 to a certain point it had been justified. But the limit had 
 been reached; latterly had been over-stepped. Hencefor 
 ward, right should be right and wrong wrong, and he would 
 cease to juggle with eternal principles. His only hope of 
 propitiating his late preceptress now was by domination, 
 not by yielding. 
 
 On her side Priscilla continued to wonder why she 
 had let his denunciation of Blaisdell pass without more 
 serious consequences to their personal relations. Instead 
 of bitterly resenting his vague aspersions as an unpardon 
 able offence, which rendered further intimacy impossible, 
 she had allowed herself to dismiss him on the under 
 standing that he would be free to return on a friendly 
 footing during the period in which he was endeavoring 
 to make good his anonymous charges. Indignation 
 prompted her to terminate the established truce. But 
 such a change of front would expose her to the taunt of 
 not knowing her own mind of not being able to act con- 
 
318 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 sistently on the spur of the moment, a trait on which she 
 prided herself. Reflection revealed to her though her 
 first impulse was to stifle it as uncanny that curiosity 
 was really the agent which held her wrath in suspension. 
 The accusation, though lacking utterly in essential detail, 
 had fulminated a charge which was dumbfounding in its 
 directness. It was outrageously false and yet the remem 
 brance of the censor s tense, almost impassioned, delivery 
 lingered and demanded tribute of her candor. Was such 
 a diatribe to be dismissed without investigation ? If she 
 were cherishing a delusion, why should she wait to be en 
 lightened by Henry ? On the other hand, the interval for 
 which he had stipulated would afford her also an oppor 
 tunity to accumulate proofs wherewith to refute this mon 
 strous calumny. Surely a more watchful attitude of mind 
 toward her brother-in-law would imply no lack of loyalty. 
 As for her own shortcomings, they had been thrust in the 
 background. Moreover, Henry had appeared to be blind 
 to them. She could not enjoy even the melancholy pleasure 
 of self-defence, and without this tonic there seemed to be 
 no escape from her previous postulate, that she had been 
 treading on thin ice and that it behooved her to retire to 
 firmer social ground. In this connection it was convenient 
 on the whole that no breach had taken place in her rela 
 tions with Henry Sumner, for such a state of affairs 
 would have cut her off from opportunities (which she was 
 beginning to covet) of further association with his mother s 
 circle. Since their meeting at the Art Museum the social 
 olive branch tendered by Mrs. Sumner had blossomed not 
 only in the form of two invitations to dinner at the Beacon 
 Street house, which she had accepted, but by more cir 
 cuitous signs of approbation chiefly notice from more 
 or less interesting people which she had ultimately 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 319 
 
 traced to the same source. Neither of the dinners was so 
 dull as she had chosen to believe would be the case. The 
 first was ceremonious, comprising a company of twelve. 
 Having been delicately given to understand by her hostess 
 that the entertainment was virtually in her honor, Pris- 
 cilla had assumed that she would be obliged to sit next to 
 the son of the house, but she had found herself between 
 a leader of cotillons and a rising local novelist. Later it 
 had dawned on her that this self-denial on Henry s part 
 was another piece of delicacy, to save the feelings of one 
 to whom he was so manifestly devoted. Mrs. Sumner had 
 obviously (yet still delicately) intended to afford her a 
 comprehensive glimpse of Boston at its best fashion and 
 literature, social elegance and high aims side by side at the 
 same table. The second dinner had been almost a family 
 affair, the only other guest being Mr. Moore of the Art 
 Museum staff. The so-called informality of the latter 
 occasion was dignified by discussion which, starting with 
 the elective system at Harvard, had terminated in a plain 
 tive inquiry by her hostess as to why the rising generation 
 neglected to read Scott. 
 
 "Tell them, dear Miss Avery, that you are still faithful 
 to Sir Walter," Mrs. Sumner had exclaimed, clasping her 
 hands with playful yet genuine fervor. 
 
 Neither entertainment had been hilarious, but each was 
 diverting in its way. Chauncey Chippendale and his bride 
 had been among the exponents of fashion at the first. 
 Priscilla had gone home on each occasion distinctly 
 conscious of atmosphere. The general conversation, 
 though slightly subdued in tone, so that, in spite of Chaun 
 cey, it might be styled at times august, had a flavor of its 
 own; a something which she recognized to be akin to dis 
 tinction and in keeping with the Copley and Stuart por- 
 
320 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 traits on the walls, the handsome cut glass and solid old- 
 fashioned silver. She had noticed the heavy curiously 
 bent forks and spoons and the quaint decanters in one of 
 the most venerable of which the family Madeira was passed 
 around after dessert. Mrs. Sumner invited Henry to spec 
 ify the date, which he did with becoming reverence. Two 
 or three of the men politely held up their glasses to the 
 light and spoke of the rain-water flavor. But Chauncey, 
 having sipped his, shook his head and whispered in 
 a loud aside: "A bottle of that wouldn t hurt a kitten. 
 No one ever drinks Madeira nowadays except from po 
 liteness." Though the upholsteries and much of the furni 
 ture dated back only to the time of the purchase of the 
 house twenty years before, they were supplemented by a 
 host of ornaments and knick-knacks of earlier date, 
 which gave to the rooms somewhat the aspect of a gay 
 museum when compared with the space and large effects 
 aimed at by the architects who had furnished her father s 
 and Lora s establishments. But the atmosphere was not 
 to be denied. While breathing it she felt that she was in 
 touch with an historic, if somewhat dusty, past, and on a 
 footing where she was entitled to express opinions con 
 cerning the highest functions of the soul and intellect, and 
 to guess who would be the next president of Harvard Col 
 lege. She had not been bored; on the contrary, she had 
 been edified and stimulated in spite of herself. Indeed, 
 humorous as the condescension still seemed to her, she was 
 ready to own that she was grateful for her admission to 
 this inner circle. Had she and Henry quarrelled, would 
 not the upshot have been her expulsion? Happily this 
 catastrophe was averted, and, thanks to her own forbear 
 ance, she could continue to enjoy the privileges which had 
 been thrown open to her. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 321 
 
 If only Lora seemed happy, she felt that other matters 
 would take care of themselves. The restoration of her 
 own self-respect could be accomplished under cover of the 
 definite issue drawn between herself and Henry, Even to 
 stigmatize him in her own mind as a worm until he had 
 been afforded a chance to vindicate himself would be 
 contrary to the spirit of their understanding. Her brother- 
 in-law was amply able to look out for himself. He did 
 not require a mentor or to be put on his guard. Having 
 succeeded in stifling her wrath and later, her mirth, at 
 the absurdity of the issue was it not incumbent on her 
 in the interests of fair play to fold her hands and become 
 an observant but neutral spectator until the day of reckon 
 ing arrived ? Clearly so, save for Lora s discontent. The 
 growing evidence of this had been apparent for some 
 time, but the fundamental cause of it was not made 
 plain until she happened one day, late in the following 
 autumn, to mention to her sister that she had received 
 a card to the Puritan balls. Then, in a flash, sundry 
 suspicions of hers were confirmed and the true solution 
 revealed. Priscilla had noticed that the morning post 
 which brought her own invitation did not contain cards 
 for her father and mother; but she had taken no 
 umbrage at this. They were elderly people, and doubtless 
 the managers had assumed that she would accompany her 
 sister. It was for the purpose of stating that she would be 
 glad to go under Lora s wing that she broached the matter 
 next day, and when she heard that no invitations had been 
 received by the Blaisdells, her first thought was that there 
 must be some mistake. She assured Lora that the cards 
 would arrive by a subsequent mail. The latter shook her 
 head ; it was plain that she was discomfited, but she waited 
 thirty-six hours before admitting the slight. She had come 
 
322 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 to take luncheon with her mother and Priscilla, and almost 
 her first words were to ask to look at the engraved invita 
 tion. Having examined it for some moments, she passed 
 it back to her sister with the words : 
 
 "It s just as I supposed; they ve left us out." 
 
 The optimistic Mrs. Avery still avowedly cherished the 
 hope that the cards had miscarried, but Lora sternly re 
 torted, "That s ridiculous, mama. It s perfectly clear 
 that we were deliberately excluded. You and Mr. Avery, 
 too. Priscilla is the only one of the family who appears to 
 be good enough for them. I d set my heart on being asked 
 I don t care if I do say so." 
 
 Priscilla flushed, for the allusion to herself had an unde 
 niably bitter sound, and this was the first time in their ex 
 perience as sisters that Lora had shown envy of her. At 
 the same time the genuineness of the disappointment re 
 vealed by the naive concluding words made her heart 
 bleed. But her step-mother sprang into the breach, 
 seeking instinctively to pour oil on the troubled waters with 
 one hand and to anoint her daughter s wounds with the 
 other. 
 
 "Mr. Avery would never go to a ball unless he were 
 dragged by main force, so an invitation would have been 
 wasted on me. And the probable reason why a card was 
 sent to Priscilla is that her friend, Henry Sumner, asked 
 for one. Of course she knows some of those people like 
 the Chippendales rather better than you do, dear." 
 
 "I m aware of that; you needn t rub it in, mama. 
 But these are subscription balls, and and seeing that 
 they must have known I would like to go and that Hugh is 
 one of the richest and most influential men in the entire 
 city " 
 
 Lora bit her lip to stay the tears welling into her eyes, 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 323 
 
 a drop from which suddenly falling on the front of her 
 electric-blue waist caused her to pause and wipe the silk 
 facing. She was wearing a brand new costume of the lat 
 est cut and very becoming. So her glass told her and the 
 dressmaker had declared. The jacket was gaily set off with 
 silver braid, which reappeared in her blue velvet bonnet 
 in which two snowy plumes waved jauntily. 
 
 Mrs. Avery stared in disconcerted surprise. She had 
 hoped her words would prove a triumphant panacea, and 
 it did not now occur to her not to persevere along the same 
 line of thought. " Since you feel so strongly, dear and it 
 is certainly very peculiar and unjust that Hugh and you 
 should not be included I dare say Priscilla will be willing 
 to ask Mr. Sumner for a card. She could say that we sup 
 posed it was an oversight." 
 
 In her eagerness to obtain the boon which the hitherto 
 generous fish had capriciously withheld, Lor a grasped at 
 this straw by turning her eyes toward her sister as if to 
 ascertain what the other thought of the suggestion. 
 
 The idea of applying to Henry, of all men, for an in 
 vitation for Blaisdell was necessarily appalling to Priscilla. 
 But she endeavored to conceal her confusion by replying 
 immediately: "It wouldn t do at all. I feel sure that Mr. 
 Sumner didn t ask for a card for me and had nothing to do 
 with its being sent. I doubt very much if he will go he is 
 very busy and large balls are not much in his line 
 and I m positive that he has nothing to do with the man 
 agement of these. But the real point is that, if you re not 
 invited, I m not going. They can t have me and leave you 
 out. I can t imagine why they have left you all out but 
 since this appears to be the case, you surely don t wish to 
 ask for an invitation, as if it were a favor. If I ve a right 
 to go, so have you and Hugh, and since you re not included, 
 
324 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 that settles the matter for me. Your friends are my 
 friends." 
 
 Priscilla had been talking very rapidly, like one sure of 
 the course which she was bent on following. As she fin 
 ished she picked up the invitation card which lay beside 
 her on the table-cloth and tore it deliberately into little 
 bits. Thereupon she rose and threw the pieces into the 
 fireplace. 
 
 This was done so summarily that for a moment there 
 was silence. As Priscilla resumed her seat her step-mother 
 murmured: "Have you really burnt it up? Your new 
 yellow satin would have been just the thing. And it might 
 still be an oversight. But of course, you girls should stand 
 together." 
 
 "It was splendid of her, mama, and the only thing to 
 do. She doesn t care to go if I can t, and I don t wish her 
 to go without me." Lora s voice quavered, but Priscilla s 
 speech had given her the moral support which she needed. 
 She wiped her eyes with her little lace handkerchief, and, 
 compressing it into a ball, continued: "As you just said, 
 Priscilla, they must take us all, or they can t have any of 
 us, and if they don t choose to do it now, the day will come 
 when they ll have to." 
 
 Priscilla gravely considered for a moment this truculent 
 assertion. The note of defiance which she had evoked was 
 so entirely out of harmony with her own purpose in de 
 stroying the invitation that she could not forbear to 
 exclaim : 
 
 "My idea was that we should do without them alto 
 gether. Let us stick to our friends, and and form our 
 own society." 
 
 "That s the wise and sensible thing," ejaculated Mrs. 
 A very. " I often tell Lora that there are lots of people who 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 325 
 
 are just dying to come to our house whenever we ask 
 them." 
 
 "We will henceforth," said Lora with emphasis. But 
 her elation was only momentary. As she sat in silence, her 
 countenance clearly disclosed that the restorative provided 
 had not brought back her equanimity. Suddenly she 
 looked at her step-sister and said : 
 
 " But for me you would have gone to the Puritan balls, 
 wouldn t you?" 
 
 "If we could have gone together very likely." 
 
 "Leave me out of the question; that s not the point. 
 And why would you care to go?" 
 
 Priscilla, momentarily nonplussed, recognized and for 
 an instant shrank from the directness of Lora s mental 
 processes. The latter took advantage of the slight hesita 
 tion to supply the stark answer. "Isn t it because they 
 are the most fashionable in the city? The ones to which 
 people who are not in society are not invited ?" 
 
 "I had not thought of them in that light. The people 
 who get them up may think them so. But in a city as 
 large as this an American city there are various sets, 
 and each set has its entertainments and each has a right, 
 if it chooses, to think that its entertainments are the most 
 select." 
 
 Priscilla had started off famously, sure of her footing, 
 but she had already begun to be conscious of floundering 
 when Lora s relentless logic cut her short. 
 
 "According to that reasoning you ought to be just as 
 eager to attend the annual ball of the United Order of 
 Washerwomen as any other." 
 
 "That would be going too far, Lora," interposed Mrs. 
 Avery. Yet some compunctions on the score of an appar 
 ent faithlessness to democratic ideals doubtless led her to 
 
326 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 add: "I knew of a case, however, before I came east, of a 
 very rich man who did marry his laundress, and I believe 
 the match has turned out remarkably well." 
 
 "If they happened to be my friends, I should be more 
 than eager. That s the one I should pick out first of all," 
 answered Priscilla, so intent for the moment on defending 
 her improvised philosophy that she did not realize until 
 too late that she was merely providing Lora with a fresh 
 opening. 
 
 "And suppose you wished them to be your friends and 
 and they excluded you ? Excluded you and invited your 
 sister instead? If Henry Sumner didn t suggest your 
 name, somebody did, and you agree that if we had both 
 been asked you would have accepted gladly. But the same 
 people, whoever they were, distinguished between us and 
 these happen to be the balls which I had picked out to go 
 to. You know that perfectly well, Priscilla, and there s 
 no use in beating about the bush and talking about wash 
 erwomen or even salesladies." 
 
 Priscilla found herself blushing at this retort. To beat 
 about the bush was the reverse of her habit of mind, and 
 she realized that, in her effort to be consoling, she had been 
 convicted by Lora of indulging in amiable platitudes and 
 of having failed to bring down even a sparrow for the sus 
 tenance of her hungry sister. Moreover, in her secret heart 
 she felt not only wounded because the others had been 
 left out, but regretful on her own account. The difference 
 of opinion with Henry Sumner had left matters substan 
 tially as they were, but this fresh discord being in the 
 nature of an overt act of hostility threatened to separate 
 her from her new friends. She recognized that it would be 
 inconsistent with Lora s characteristics to submit tamely to 
 being deprived of anything on which her heart was set. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 327 
 
 It would have been such a small matter to invite them. 
 Why had they been excluded ? But for the circumstance 
 of Henry s avowed antipathy, it would have seemed the 
 natural thing to ask him for an invitation and to assume 
 that her request would be granted. Yet it was scarcely 
 fair without more evidence to charge their exclusion solely 
 to his account. The unpleasant thought insinuated itself 
 that his opinion must be shared by others others whose 
 point of view was more or less similar to his own. What 
 was there in the Blaisdells or her step-mother which justi 
 fied the cold shoulder ? Priscilla, as she put this question 
 to herself for a second time, took a critical look at both of 
 her companions. Undeniably there was a certain dif 
 ference between them and women like Mrs. Sumner and 
 Miss Chippendale. In what did it consist? Lota and 
 Mrs. Avery were certainly more stylishly dressed; more 
 cordial and spontaneous in their manners. And even 
 if they had a tendency to overdress perhaps Lora, at any 
 rate, was too conspicuously elaborate in her toilette this 
 was scarcely an unpardonable fault, especially as the 
 younger generation, women like Mrs. Staunton Townsend 
 and Chauncey Chippendale s bride, were much smarter in 
 appearance than their elders. 
 
 Yet she could not claim that her relatives exactly re 
 sembled these women either. Mere surface differences. 
 Priscilla clutched at the phrase. These were superficial- 
 unimportant. Was too much cordiality of manner an un 
 forgivable social blemish? Not they so she chose to 
 decide were seriously at fault, but Blaisdell, if any one. 
 Henry Sumner had not spoken of Lora; he had directed 
 his entire charge against Blaisdell. It was his standards 
 and his alone which were contaminating Boston. For an 
 instant her confidence in her brother-in-law quickened 
 
328 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Priscilla s pulses. If it were solely on his account that the 
 invitation had been withheld, there could be no doubt 
 that either envy or narrow-mindedness had inspired the 
 slur. She rejoiced for a brief moment, in the next she 
 stole a second glance at her step-sister. Her gaze 
 lingered on Lora s gay plumage her many rings and 
 rather ostentatious lace handkerchief; she recalled her 
 cigarette smoking. Could it be that Blaisdell was the vic 
 tim the unwitting victim of his wife s lack of social deli 
 cacy? Priscilla stared at the thought and somehow- 
 startling as it was she found it comforting. If true, it 
 explained many things. Then suddenly she remembered 
 again that the uncompromising Henry Sumner had not 
 opened a single crack for the entertainment of such an 
 hypothesis. It was she herself who had chosen to discover 
 and peep through this door and to imagine that she saw 
 something. It was obviously her sisterly duty to close it 
 firmly and to throw away the key. For otherwise she 
 would be between two fires. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE suggestion that they were not accorded free admis 
 sion to the society where his wife desired to figure cast a 
 shadow over BlaisdelPs ordinary serenity. It was the first 
 check he had ever received, and it rankled none the less 
 because he was personally indifferent to the privileges 
 which had been withheld from them. Social prominence 
 was one of the logical results of success; and in encourag 
 ing the partner of his hearth to cultivate it, he had taken 
 for granted that the fruit of this tree when ripe would fall 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 329 
 
 into her apron as often as she shook the boughs. He had 
 later perceived, as he supposed, that her lap was already 
 overflowing, and it was a shock to him to be informed that 
 what he had believed to be a genuine product were nothing 
 but dead sea apples. But Lora had made clear to him his 
 misapprehension, and, as was characteristic of him when 
 ever anything became of paramount importance, he began 
 to cast about in his mind for ways and means to ameliorate 
 the situation. There were certain situations which could be 
 remedied by prompt, drastic methods a pouncing down 
 on the refractory or a fastening of the thumb-screws on the 
 ungrateful; but Blaisdell, after forty-eight hours of cogi 
 tation, sensibly decided that this was not one of them. 
 Nothing could be done here on the spur of the moment or 
 by a sudden show of superior force. He must bide his 
 time and keep his temper. He must even for the moment 
 conceal his feelings and display toward those whom he 
 held to blame his habitual urbanity. 
 
 For Blaisdell this was an agreeable conclusion. By 
 nature he deplored discord in any form, and, though he 
 realized that the time had come to take account of stock, 
 as he termed it, and ascertain who were his friends, or 
 rather, his secret enemies, he was relieved to feel that a cir 
 cumspect instead of an openly aggressive policy was de 
 manded of him. To pull any one s nose would simply 
 result in scandal. Such things were out of date, like duels. 
 And as for vengeance the modern Monte Cristo could 
 not afford to imitate the sensational one-two-three meth 
 ods of his predecessor. And yet this did not signify that 
 he had rejected Lora s hint of retaliation. Slights of the 
 kind instanced by her were not to be endured. Some sure 
 means must be found both to confound those who had 
 affronted her and to obtain for her all which she desired. 
 
330 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 But he would prefer to bring this to pass with a smile on 
 his face, as if it followed logically and neither violently nor 
 disagreeably from what had gone before. The natural se 
 quence of events should justify him the survival of the 
 fittest. What would it be but this? He rolled the stock 
 phrase over on his lips, for it seemed trebly illuminating 
 now that it fitted his individual case. The days of pistols, 
 foils and arsenic were over. What surer weapon of ven 
 geance than the power to take advantage of industrial 
 opportunities, the boa constrictor-like triumph of enlight 
 ened common-sense garnished with good nature ? 
 
 The affair of the Puritan balls, now that he understood 
 the matter, had the appearance of a slight and doubly so- 
 in Lora s eyes because Priscilla had been invited. Blais- 
 dell recalled with satisfaction that the latter had torn her 
 card to pieces. She had sided with them but neverthe 
 less, she had not been excluded. The explanation which he 
 had offered to Lora had seemed satisfactory at the time. 
 He had recalled since that, though Priscilla was remotely 
 of the stock of these old families who had preferred her 
 to his wife, she had never courted their recognition; on 
 the contrary, she had appeared distinctly scornful of her 
 birthright. She was so little like them that it seemed 
 improbable that the attraction had been this remnant of 
 her inherited qualities. Unless, to be sure, it was because 
 Lora was his wife, why should they discriminate between 
 them. 
 
 As he pondered the inquiry, BlaisdelPs acumen halted 
 suddenly before this disturbing thought: Could it be that 
 Lora on her side lacked something which Priscilla pos 
 sessed. Was this the obstacle ? He revolted instinctively 
 at the impish suggestion. His gallantry and pride sprang 
 forward as champions of his wife. With a flash of his 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 331 
 
 mind s eye he reviewed her social behavior and scrutinized 
 her personality. He was able to detect nothing. Neverthe 
 less, the next moment he found himself placing her and 
 Priscilla side by side in his mental gallery. It was not a 
 new proceeding on his part. From the first hour of their 
 acquaintance he had known which he preferred, but ever 
 since he had felt the impulse occasionally to compare them. 
 Shortly after his marriage it had been for the purpose of 
 applauding his own judgment, and subsequently from 
 time to time he had paused deliberately to note the differ 
 ence between them and congratulate himself on the sound 
 ness of his choice. But the very habit of placing them side 
 by side had been a semi-conscious admission that each 
 was admirable in her way that but for the one he would 
 have chosen the other. Hence the second impish ques 
 tion which popped out at him like a jack in the box : If 
 it had been Priscilla instead of Lora, would the social 
 consequences have been different ? 
 
 Again Blaisdell recoiled. But the very practical thought 
 that he was the husband of the one and not the other, en 
 abled him to confront the retreating imp with the brow 
 of a philosopher. They were the antipodes of each other 
 certainly. A woman like that and as he gazed he called 
 before him Priscilla s glowing yet stately presence had 
 undeniably certain qualities to recommend her; qualities 
 which, to an ambitious man of the modern sort, eager to 
 conquer the world at every point, might prove invaluable. 
 Comfortable in the sense that Lora was, she never could 
 be; and yet having granted this, he deliberately faced again 
 for a moment and the experience piqued him a little 
 the surmise that were this throbbing being in Lora s shoes, 
 the gates, which now were barred, would have swung open 
 at his nod. Here was one of the covert thoughts of life; 
 
332 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 a discovery from which Blaisdell in his capacity of chal 
 lenger of destiny did not shrink, but one which his tem 
 perament the next moment made the best of. Were he 
 to choose again it would still be Lora; he went so far as 
 to assert this to himself, and at the loyal words the imp 
 vanished. Then he added staunchly that, if his wife 
 lacked the art to enforce their mutual rights, he would do 
 it for her If he had fallen short in his mastery of fate, 
 fate should never suspect that he knew, and in the end 
 the result would be just the same Lora triumphant, and 
 all the dearer because she owed it to himself. 
 
 As the matter thus shaped itself in his mind and he 
 turned again to consider who were his enemies, he speedily 
 came to the conclusion that Lora s shrewdness had not 
 been at fault in laying the responsibility for the slight at 
 the door of the Chippendale connection. What was the 
 motive of their hostility? For a cold shoulder was equiva 
 lent to this. Lora insisted that Mrs. Harrison Chippen 
 dale had never forgiven them for buying the Common 
 wealth Avenue house. The idea was rather amusing, if 
 true. He had never seen Mrs. Chippendale and he knew 
 her husband only by sight a slim, dignified, elderly gen 
 tleman with an unfashionable hat brim and a leisurely 
 walk, as if time were no object. He had been pointed out 
 to him as one of the Brahmins of Boston but obviously 
 a decayed Brahmin. Whatever his past, he was no longer 
 important except as a relic; he had ceased to count as a 
 real force, for he was too old to begin with, and he had 
 lost most of his property. According to modern standards, 
 it had never amounted to much in his palmiest days. 
 Unless these people resembled a vindictive clan, retaliation 
 for such a cause could scarcely have been carried so far. 
 Was he not on joking terms with Mr. Chippendale s 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 333 
 
 sister, Miss Georgiana ? And in the habit of meeting the 
 other brother the more level-headed, taciturn one at 
 directors meetings on State Street ? As for Mrs. Sumner 
 and Henry, Lora had assured him that they were not to 
 blame in this instance. They belonged to the clan, but 
 the entire clan was moribund. There was only one live 
 person in it live in a practical, modern sense Mr. 
 Chippendale s son, Chauncey. 
 
 On the surface, at all events, Chauncey was not hostile. 
 He was invariably smiling and affable down- town. When 
 they met it was apt to be Hugh and Chauncey. They sat 
 at various financial boards together, and were addicted to 
 rallying each other chiefly on the subject of Electric 
 Coke. Banter was this young man s social asset, and he, 
 though his senior, had met him half-way. But Chauncey, 
 though a little light, and somewhat dandified in his dress, 
 had worked hard and shown himself capable of holding 
 on to the little he had and increasing it. He had had the 
 sense or the luck to marry a daughter of the head of the 
 firm another Brahmin, elderly too, but by virtue of his 
 occupation still in the running. What was the motive which 
 had induced General Langdon and his son-in-law to ex 
 clude him and his wife from the nuptials and emphasize 
 the discrimination by the later more direct affront ? What 
 could it be but sheer envy ? Envy of his capacity for con 
 trol, envy of his great wealth. It might be that the old peo 
 ple could not forget that his roof had once been theirs; 
 but with Chauncey Chauncey, the man of the world, son 
 and heir this could not be the real reason. He and his 
 coterie, no longer the mere clan, but all their tribe were 
 afraid of being dispossessed in a wider sense if they let him 
 in. And so the word had been whispered from mouth to 
 mouth that their caste must be protected from invasion. 
 
334 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 It was a case of decaying Brahminism with its pride and 
 narrow prejudices seeking to stem the current of new and 
 redder blood. Did not any excuse suffice for envy ? They 
 could be friendly to him down-town and let their wives con 
 demn his on some trivial point of dress, speech or manners; 
 even plead ignorance of it if appealed to. He had no in 
 tention of appealing to any of them. His triumph and 
 Lora s should be like the inevitable march of the tide, the 
 slow but certain sweep of the glacier. 
 
 It was clear to him now; his wife and he were the vic 
 tims of a social cabal. Lora, shrewd little woman as she 
 always showed herself, was right. The conspirators were 
 not one but many. His enemies were a social order; but 
 when the reckoning came, it would be with a few individ 
 ualswith but one or two. From a Chippendale he would 
 receive the passport which now was withheld, and the 
 bestowal would not be made grudgingly or in secret. 
 He had no intention meanwhile of altering his previous 
 methods. To draw his purse-strings and cease to play the 
 benefactor to Boston would suggest that he was piqued. 
 He would continue to dazzle if not shame them with 
 princely contributions to their charities and their aesthetic 
 institutions, which they could not afford to decline. 
 
 Whatever Blaisdell undertook was initiated by pressing 
 an electric button in his inner office. Through it and the 
 telephone he aspired to rule the world. Sooner or later 
 there appeared his financial factotum, his political man of 
 all work, or whichever one of his salaried agents he desired 
 to consult. They were like so many stops in an organ; he 
 had but to finger them in order to test and play on public 
 sentiment. Through them he had out feelers in diverse 
 directions. His agents kept henchmen on the lookout for 
 promising investments, henchmen whose duty it was to 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 335 
 
 see that accommodating candidates were elected to the 
 Legislature, henchmen charged with the discovery of im 
 pecunious noblemen desirous to part with artistic master 
 pieces. 
 
 Blaisdell sitting in his inner sanctum was in virtual 
 touch with many corners of the earth. He was still a mem 
 ber of the firm of Delano and Blaisdell, but younger part 
 ners now attended to the brokerage portion of the business. 
 The firm s quarters filled one entire wing of the ground 
 floor of a new towering building in which Blaisdell owned 
 a controlling interest. Blaisdell s trust company occupied 
 the other wing. His own private offices communicated 
 with both, yet were in a measure isolated. The Cerberus 
 who guarded the approach to them was a tactful and 
 discriminating secretary, the pleasant notes of whose 
 voice lacked the nasal shrillness typical of most American 
 women educated at the public schools. No one saw 
 him whom he did not wish to see, but no one pecun 
 iarily deserving or intrinsically important was ever turned 
 away. The edifice itself was the most modern and spa 
 cious of its kind; its elevators rose and fell with well-oiled 
 swiftness; every appurtanance to the building had been de 
 signed to prevent friction and promote despatch. Those 
 who entered it for the first time were apt to exclaim, "this 
 reminds one of New York." So it did, approximately; the 
 architect had been directed to produce just this effect. 
 Blaisdell could complacently reflect that other so-called 
 modern offices like Langdon & Company s, for instance, 
 barely six years old were already antiquated in com 
 parison with his own. 
 
 Such examples as his were contagious. But for his 
 immediate frame of mind he would have* been glad to 
 sun himself in the light of this reflection others emulat- 
 
336 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 ing his example, by striking out for themselves and 
 avoiding old-fashioned, conservative ruts; in short, Boston 
 ceasing to continue a "one horse" city; himself easily, 
 indisputably first, but provoking rivalries rivals whom 
 he was ever luring on to larger undertakings. Until 
 yesterday he would have been content to bask in the 
 warmth of such an outlook. Good-humored still, he in 
 stinctively sought to distil from this glamour something to 
 answer his new need, and suddenly he found it. Already 
 there were rivals two or three in particular. Not to 
 desire their success and not to spur them on would be 
 foreign to his temperament. But every one could not 
 hope to succeed. Some must inevitably go to the wall, for 
 the pace was swift and demanded a steady brain all the 
 more steady as responsibilities grew. The modern mag 
 nate was like a huge ship setting sail on sail. There 
 was a point where another stitch of canvas meant dis 
 aster. There was such a thing in high finance as "pyra 
 miding"; known to the colloquial as biting off more than 
 one could chew. Who was the most ambitious of his 
 would-be rivals? Clearly Chauncey Chippendale, in his 
 way. Despite a certain jauntiness which might suggest 
 flippancy to the uninitiated, it was evident, now that he 
 scanned the situation, that this blithe young man had not 
 only condescended to borrow a leaf from his book, but was 
 fast approaching a frame of mind which might lead him to 
 aim at ultimate leadership. There had been unmistakable 
 signs lately straws, yet under the circumstances, highly 
 significant of an intention to go him one better, as the 
 phrase is, whenever the occasion offered. He recalled cer 
 tain recent syndicate underwritings to which Langdon & 
 Company s subscription had exceeded his own. At the 
 last auction sale of Symphony Concert tickets there had 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 337 
 
 been spirited bidding for the first choice of seats, and it 
 recurred to him now that Mrs. Chauncey Chippendale 
 had been reputed at the time to be the unsuccessful undis 
 closed competitor. He had been told that Chauncey within 
 a few months had paid a very large sum for a pair of car 
 riage horses expecting that they would be the handsomest 
 in Boston. And there was always Electric Coke. Chauncey 
 never lost sight of or relaxed his hold on that; but was 
 perpetually bidding it up as if it were a matter of pride 
 with him not to run the risk of letting any one else acquire 
 control. Clearly it would not be necessary to egg him on. 
 All he himself had to do was to pursue the even tenor of 
 his way initiate this, subscribe generously to that, pro 
 mote, or purchase the other, according to his fancy. And 
 if this would-be rival was really anxious to dispute with 
 him the financial mastery of Boston, the issue would be 
 fate; there would be no malice in it. 
 
 Here was a programme which appealed entirely to his 
 conscience illustrating again his favorite apothegm, the 
 law of the survival of the fittest. The struggle was none 
 of his seeking. But if this scion of the Chippendales were 
 bent on locking horns with him in an industrial death 
 grapple, at least it behooved him to prepare for it. 
 
 Therefore Blaisdell, to begin with, summoned and was 
 closeted with one of his lieutenants who dealt in financial 
 paper, and who, by virtue of knowing the inner secrets of 
 banks and trust companies, had, at his fingers ends the 
 names and necessities of borrowers. When this confabu 
 lation was over he sent for the general superintendent of 
 Electric Coke and questioned him more minutely than 
 usual as to every phrase of the business; after which he 
 paid an unheralded visit to all the plants. Six weeks later 
 the "tape" began to indicate some announcement of in- 
 
338 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 terest to the shareholders; the stock rose rapidly from 325, 
 at which price it had been stable but inactive, to 460 in the 
 space of a fortnight, discounting the subsequent action of 
 the directors who advocated an issue of new stock on the 
 basis of one new share for every two old to be paid for by 
 the subscribers at par of one hundred. It was rumored 
 that there had been dissensions at the meeting, and that 
 the vote passed was in the nature of a compromise. The 
 lieutenant who dealt in financial paper, had the correct 
 story which he confided to a select few. 
 
 It appeared that, despite the huge earnings, Mr. Avery 
 had been opposed to a further stock dividend, on the 
 ground that a reduction in the price list of the machines 
 manufactured by the company was a duty owed to the 
 public. He threatened that if the proposal of the Langdon 
 following that the capital stock be doubled and given as a 
 bonus were adopted he would resign and air the subject 
 at the stockholders meeting called to ratify the action of 
 the directors. So far as the necessary votes were con 
 cerned, it would have been an easy matter to overrule the 
 wishes of the mild-mannered inventor. Besides, the latter 
 the board comprised General Langdon, Blaisdell, Delano, 
 Coldthurst, who was chairman of the executive committee 
 of one of the largest trust companies, Chauncey Chippen 
 dale and a rising railroad lawyer named Spencer. Blais- 
 dell s geaial disdain for his stepfather-in-law s vagaries 
 was well known, and the others had expected him to thwart 
 tactfully this startling ultimatnm. 
 
 To their surprise, however, he began by making a little 
 speech in support of the old gentleman s policy. He said 
 that in these days of popular hostility toward so-called 
 monopolies it was desirable for a corporation to court the 
 friendship of the great public, and that Electric Coke was 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 339 
 
 now in a position where it could afford, without injustice 
 to its stockholders, to make a slight reduction in the price of 
 its machines. He went on to state that, while the volume 
 of business warranted a considerable addition to the capi 
 tal stock, the community in his opinion would be further 
 conciliated if the new issue were offered to the stockholders 
 at par instead of given away. Would not the premium 
 which the stock commanded in the market insure to the 
 shareholders a sufficiently handsome profit? Although 
 Electric Coke was a New Jersey corporation, and there 
 fore not amenable to the local statutes, would it not be 
 more sensible and prudent in the long- run to adopt a 
 happy medium between the new strait-laced Massachu 
 setts law, which forbade the issue of new stock except at 
 price fixed by a commission, and an absolute " melon" ? 
 
 There was no attempt on the part of the remaining di 
 rectors to combat this argument. BlaisdelPs attitude was 
 a surprise, for it was contradictory to the position which 
 he had assumed in regard to former stock issues. But the 
 emphasis which he laid on the importance of keeping on 
 good terms with the public was not to be gains; id. Both 
 Coldthurst and Spencer were impressed by what they 
 termed, in talking to others, his sagacity. General Lang- 
 don, after inquiring a little savagely what inducement 
 would presently remain to the capitalist to risk money in 
 new enterprises if all the profits were to be whisked away 
 by loose legislation, blurted out suddenly: "it s right, 
 though, on principle, may be; and whether it is or not, 
 that fellow Blaisdell has a long head on his shoulders. 
 It ll strengthen the stock in the long run." 
 
 The only member of the board who took a rueful view 
 of the decision was Chauncey Chippendale, and his ani 
 madversions were reserved for his wife s ear. 
 
340 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "No new pearl necklace for you this Christmas, Betty. 
 You ll have to worry along on the old one, even if you do 
 think the color of the pearls a little cloudy. The stock 
 dividend on Electric Coke hasn t come off. Or rather, 
 instead of selling a small slice of the "melon" for your 
 personal adornment, I shall be obliged to scratch round for 
 spare cash wherewith to subscribe to a block of new stock 
 at par. That s what comes of there being too many envi 
 ous and radical farmers in the Legislature." 
 
 His wife uttered a melodious wail of dismay. "But, 
 Chauncey, I had picked out a perfect beauty. Phipps and 
 Henderson are altering the clasp. They will be frightfully 
 disappointed." 
 
 Chauncey frowned. He had the American husband s 
 dislike of refusing anything to the woman for whom he was 
 educated to slave. " Their disappointment won t be equal 
 to mine. Get it, if you choose; but I can t settle for it until 
 the spring. It won t do to take any chances with Elec 
 tric Coke; I must grab all I m entitled to, or somebody 
 else will gobble it up. I needed all I have in the bank 
 to meet my subscriptions to two or three other promising 
 things. I dare say Phipps and Henderson won t mind 
 waiting six months." 
 
 Beatrice shook her head. "I don t want it so much as 
 that, of course. But," she added firmly, "I want one 
 some day." She had inherited the Boston tradition that 
 it was fundamentally wrong to buy anything for which one 
 could not pay from one s income, but she cherished as a 
 corollary to this the expectation that her husband s in 
 come would be large enough to provide her with every 
 thing she desired. Chauncey had never been a disap 
 pointment in this respect and she believed he never would 
 be. His explanation appealed to her moral sense; at the 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 341 
 
 same time, she wished to leave the matter in such shape 
 that he would not forget it. 
 
 The most significant result of Blaisdell s stand was its 
 effect on Mr. Avery. The inventor s health, never robust, 
 had shown signs lately of breaking down, and he had be 
 come aware that, in order to perfect certain experiments, 
 he must husband his vitality. His son-in-law s speech, 
 though it fell short of his own theories, was so encouraging 
 an indication that the affairs of the corporation were not 
 to be conducted henceforth along purely selfish lines, but 
 with some regard to the public weal, that at the following 
 meeting he resigned as a director and intimated that here 
 after his voice in the company s management was to be 
 expressed by Blaisdell. 
 
 Although an elderly man yields grudgingly to nature s 
 importunity, the first step in the process of divesting him 
 self of responsibility is the only trying one. Having tasted 
 of relaxation, he yearns for more, and presently hastens to 
 strip himself of every vestige of harness. Mr. Avery proved 
 no exception, and, save for the conduct of his scientific 
 experiments, he speedily put everything else into the 
 hands of Lora s husband. 
 
 There had always been, dating back to the Dartmouth 
 Street days and Priscilla, who observed her father closely, 
 had not failed to notice it a certain suspension of judg 
 ment on his part in regard to Blaisdell; not amounting to 
 positive distrust, but in the nature of a spiritual interroga 
 tion point, as much as to say, " You are undeniably clever, 
 but " No word of stricture had ever been uttered, and 
 yet, through all the years of Blaisdell s waxing success the 
 posture had not changed. Now of a sudden all was 
 changed. The scales had fallen from her father s eyes 
 and he saw his son-in-law as he was in his true colors. 
 
342 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Such was Priscilla s immediate interpretation of what had 
 taken place, and the development gratified her no less 
 than her father s renunciation of his superfluous duties. 
 It was the first skirmish since the opening of the cam 
 paign; what would Henry say now? For the only other 
 critic had capitulated owned that he was wrong. Her 
 memorable mistake had made her chary of deciding what 
 was best for her father, but she had been asking herself if 
 the time had not come when he should cease to attend 
 to practical business details which were never much in 
 his line. His handing all those over to Hugh seemed to her 
 eminently wise, and she rejoiced both on her father s ac 
 count and on her own; for was not the act in the nature 
 of a testimonial ? 
 
 The abdication was made easier by the suavity of the 
 beneficiary. As has been indicated, a desire to obtain the 
 resignation of his father-in-law had not been the ulterior 
 purpose behind BlaisdelPs change of policy. He had not 
 expected that this could come so soon, and like a fisher 
 man who, having baited his hooks for a certain shy variety 
 of fish, finds that he has landed a stray leviathan, he felt it 
 incumbent on him for the moment to desert his trawls and 
 devote himself to rendering the last moments of the dying 
 monster as comfortable as was consistent with his own 
 necessities. On a certain spring day which happened to 
 be the twelfth anniversary of the incorporation of Electric 
 Coke a family party visited the works in BlaisdelPs pri 
 vate car. Nearly a year had elapsed since Mr. Avery had 
 been there, and neither of the three women had made the 
 expedition since the early stage of the company s existence. 
 
 The weather so far lent itself on the occasion to the 
 amiable purpose of the organizer that, after the tour of 
 inspection, the open-air luncheon provided on a hillock 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 343 
 
 commanding a view of the valley appealed to the sensi 
 bilities of all. They sat and ate under a rustic arbor which, 
 as Blaisdell explained, was a trysting-place for the younger 
 element of the working population. Did not the rude 
 initials cut in the wooden benches attest to its democratic 
 popularity? Below them at the base of a gently sloping 
 landscape lay the factory buildings the latest two dwarf 
 ing the rest breasting the water power; and from their 
 vicinity an imposing town the growth of yesterday yet 
 with its schools, churches and department store, spread 
 itself in the spring sunshine like a metropolis on a map. 
 Already that morning had Mr. Avery been gratified by 
 receiving flowers from the school children and an address 
 of welcome from the chairman of the Selectmen, who had 
 saved until the last his secret that the town which had 
 hitherto clung to the name fastened on it when a straggling 
 village Porterville had voted to call itself henceforth 
 Avery. But, though touched and gently protesting, the 
 somewhat dazed inventor did not seem to grasp the full 
 import of what his patient labors had accomplished until 
 he looked down from the height on this panorama of indus 
 trial activity. As he sat visibly moved, it was Blaisdell 
 who felicitously summarized the thoughts which were in 
 all their minds. 
 
 " This must be a proud day for you, sir. Your life-work 
 lies crystallized in this throbbing valley, but with radii 
 which are rapidly reaching out over the civilized world. 
 And it isn t every inventor," he added, "who can eat his 
 cake and have it, too ; live to realize the dream of his man 
 hood and reap a golden harvest into the bargain. We 
 wicked capitalists haven t been able in this instance to 
 appropriate all the pecuniary profits." 
 
 "You haven t tried," answered Mr. Avery, wiping his 
 
344 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 eyes, and grateful that the emotion which the opening 
 statement had aroused had been relieved by the utilitarian 
 close. Otherwise he could not have found his voice. 
 
 Far from uttering a disclaimer, Blaisdell replied: "Let 
 it be set down to our credit, then; the credit of the modern 
 financial world." He looked around him as if to make 
 sure that every one was listening. " But I will not deny that 
 you were astute, sir." Then, as his glance fell on Priscilla, 
 he concluded: " You did not forget that you had a daugh 
 ter." 
 
 "Who needed the money, and who enjoys immensely 
 the privilege of being rich," Priscilla exclaimed with ex 
 uberance, as if excoriating some pallid previous doubt. 
 
 "And a wife and step-daughter," chimed in Mrs. Avery. 
 "Money s money, there s no denying that. But we man 
 aged somehow to get along cheerily on Dartmouth Street; 
 and you mustn t forget, Hugh, that it was there you met 
 Lora. Only think how different things would have been 
 if you hadn t happened to apply to us for lodgings!" 
 
 The underlying presumption that her husband would, 
 in such an event, have married some one else, prompted 
 Lora to insert her arm through his as if seeking an assur 
 ance that he was there. 
 
 "And I don t believe it s going too far, is it, Gideon," 
 continued Mrs. Avery breathlessly, "to say that in case 
 Hugh had gone elsewhere Electric Coke might never have 
 existed. The sickly children which live never really know 
 how near they were to death." 
 
 For an instant there was silence, which Priscilla broke 
 by exclaiming: "You forget, mama, that neither Hugh 
 nor I believed in papa s invention. It succeeded in spite 
 of both of us. I have always envied and loved you be 
 cause you had complete faith in him." She smiled fondly 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 345 
 
 at her father as she spoke; to bear testimony how truly 
 wise he had been was to be her tribute on this day of days. 
 
 " Mercy, child, I thought we all believed in him." Mrs. 
 Avery, doubtless, had intended her retrospective survey to 
 be merely in the nature of a loose, kindly reciprocation of 
 the apostrophe which Blaisdell had addressed to her hus 
 band, but this averment of her more than frank step 
 daughter was genuinely surprising. 
 
 If Blaisdell had been willing to appropriate the credit 
 in question, he did not delay, now that he was challenged, 
 to admit his incredulity. "You are right, Priscilla; but 
 I wasn t aware at the time that you suspected it." She 
 saw him fix her with his small eyes, smiling pontifically, as 
 much as to say, "I didn t contradict your mother because 
 I was loath to disturb the serenity of this occasion by intro 
 ducing a discordant note; but since you have thought best 
 to do so, there is nothing to conceal." This was what she 
 read plainly on his lips; then, as he turned his eyes from 
 her she heard him continue and this time he was address 
 ing her father : 
 
 " Perhaps, after all, it is fortunate that I was in the house, 
 and Mrs. Avery is in a measure right; I was lacking in 
 faith, but when I learned to believe I think you will agree 
 that no one was quicker to realize and to assist you to 
 make the most of the commercial possibilities of your 
 revolutionizing discovery." 
 
 "There is no doubt of that, Hugh no doubt of that 
 whatever," assented Mr. Avery graciously. "Besides, all 
 my experiments had seemed to be failures up to that point. 
 I was sure, but it was natural" he lingered on the word 
 "for every one else to doubt." 
 
 "Which is only another way of saying," continued 
 Blaisdell, "that it takes two kinds of men to give the 
 
346 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 world the full benefit of a great invention. Your part is 
 done; you have earned your repose; this flourishing town 
 below us is a monument to your genius and society s appre 
 ciation of it. But on the rest of us and by force of cir 
 cumstances on me in particular, rests the responsibility 
 for the future the duty of placing your gift to humanity 
 within reach of everybody, but without crippling the 
 property rights in this instance, the magnificent property 
 rights which make successful manufacture possible. 
 Your sympathies are with the consumer and with the arti 
 santhe under dogs of industry, as I have heard you call 
 them. So, sir, are mine. Our only difference can be as to 
 what will be for their best interest in the long run." 
 
 Mr. Avery s countenance, which had looked a little 
 chilled by the reminder that only repose was in store for 
 him, lighted up at the humanitarian allusion. "The re 
 sponsibility is on you must be on you," he said. "I am 
 too old, I dare say, even to conjecture what is best. Let 
 me tell you, Hugh, on my side, that I feel safe in leaving 
 everything in your hands." 
 
 There was no question as to the sincerity with which 
 Mr. Avery thus sealed his abdication, though it was ob 
 viously a sad as well as a proud day for him. His wife as 
 usual was prompt in providing an antidote. 
 
 "It s lucky, Gideon, that you ve got some one like him 
 to step in and run the business." 
 
 This brisk encomium restored the spirits of everybody 
 and might have served as a benediection had not Blaisdell 
 chosen to re-open the theme. Everything had played into 
 his hands; he had merely to accept with a smiling face what 
 fate had bestowed and keep silent. But his convictions 
 were rampant at the moment and he craved the oppor 
 tunity to win over the economic sympathy of the keen in- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 347 
 
 telligence which had just shifted its burden to his shoul 
 ders. He pointed again toward the valley. "This town 
 these factories are only a beginning, Mr. Avery. We who 
 stand here lack the imagination to forecast the future of 
 your invention. You were brought up in the days when 
 every man was the arbiter of his own small business; 
 those days are over over forever. Our time is to be the 
 era of gigantic combinations which will swallow up and 
 combine rival and kindred industries. A few great cor 
 porations will succeed the struggling many, and instead of 
 every man his own master, the business world will ac 
 knowledge, like an army, its small group of generals, its 
 field officers under orders, and the remainder rank and 
 file. The world will struggle against it legislate against 
 it, but in the end I see I shock you, sir, but wait in the 
 end this process must prevail for the reason that everything 
 will cost less and mankind will thus be enabled to live 
 more cheaply and happily." 
 
 The vigor of Blaisdell s manner was tempered by its 
 persuasive calm. He spoke with earnest fluency, yet with 
 out excitement, as if he felt that what he was saying was 
 too indisputably true to leave room for contradiction, al 
 though purposely prophetic. His concluding words were 
 almost jocund, suggesting that there could be only one 
 logical answer to the plea of cheapness of production. His 
 physical attributes his solid compact figure, his full cheeks 
 and broad brow, his firm, amiable mouth and shrewd 
 eyes contributed to enhance his effect of reserve power. 
 
 "How true everything which Hugh says sounds," re 
 marked Mrs. Avery in a hoarse aside to her daughter. 
 
 Mr. Avery was evidently interested ; caught like a fly in 
 the molasses of the final appeal; but likewise a little be 
 wildered. 
 
348 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "And how does this effect Electric Coke?" he inquired. 
 
 "Because Electric Coke must, sooner or later, like every 
 other corporation, swallow up the other fellow, or be 
 swallowed up. Our task will be to swallow up the other 
 fellow." His smile was that of a good-humored but carniv 
 orous anaconda. 
 
 " But what becomes of the individual of the rank and 
 file, as you call them?" It was Priscilla who asked the 
 question. She had listened with fascinated ears to his ex 
 position; but now, as she spoke, there was the solicitude of 
 dismay in her voice and she rested her hand upon her 
 father s shoulder almost in the guise of a protector. 
 
 BlaisdelPs eyes twinkled with appreciation of her 
 quickness in reaching the root of the matter, and his reply 
 was intended to be in the nature of a reward a final an 
 swer to that pertinent inquiry and on the same mental 
 plane. "There are no higher laws in the world than the 
 economic laws, because they like the tides and the sea 
 sons are inevitable." As he spoke, as if to illustrate his 
 reason, he tossed a stone which he was balancing on his 
 palm down the declivity on the edge of which they were 
 sitting. They could hear it rattle down the gorge. Then 
 before Priscilla had ceased to muse upon his meaning, he 
 exclaimed: "There is no denying that the most enviable 
 will be the handful of generals and their families. 
 You, for instance, are the daughter of what is called now 
 a captain of industry. Your husband, whoever he may be, 
 through the power which you will be able to give him, 
 ought to become a general. Do not wrinkle your brow, 
 Priscilla. You would have made a highly ornamental 
 princess. I merely mean that the generals of to-morrow 
 are to take the place of the monarchs of yesterday." 
 
 "And meanwhile the every-day individual " 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 349 
 
 "Will be better off than ever before in his life." 
 
 "But if he doesn t think so?" 
 
 "He will try socialism, and in the end flee from it in dis 
 gust." 
 
 "Socialism!" ejaculated Mr. Avery. "That means the 
 death of the individual, too." He shook his head with the 
 instinct of the man who believes in the triumph of energy 
 and revolts from being confounded with the common herd. 
 
 At this point the bubbling laugh of the practical Lora 
 intervened and her distinct voice was heard to utter: 
 "What Hugh really means his moral is that we must all 
 hold on tight to what we have and try to increase it, for the 
 people who fail to do so will soon be nobodies even in 
 Boston." 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 IT was Sunday, just after morning service. For the 
 past ten minutes people had been gathering in the cloister- 
 like arcades which surrounded the inner court-yard of the 
 new Public Library slipping in, as it were, for the occa 
 sion was a select one. Those entering had been bidden to 
 a private view of the bronze fountain which had recently 
 been offered as a central ornament for the court-yard. 
 Before formal acceptance of the gift, the trustees of the 
 library had seen fit to take certain competent minds into 
 their confidence, though the invitation contained no hint 
 that an expression of opinion was sought for. And yet it 
 could be safely taken for granted that such a gathering of 
 the leading citizens of Boston would not approach an ob 
 ject of art in other than a tensely critical spirit. 
 
 The list had been made out with discernment, for 
 
350 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 fashion no less than technical knowledge, Cambridge as 
 well as Boston, unfaltering moral worth and travelled 
 scepticism were each in evidence; individuals might be 
 missing, but every point of view was represented, including 
 two clergymen and a bank president, who, spiritually 
 speaking, might be regarded as an offset to certain mem 
 bers of the Sphinx Club whose shibboleth was known to 
 be "art for art s sake." In all the members of the various 
 groups aggregated about fifty. Standing in the centre of 
 the court-yard, the spot selected for its location, the statue 
 was still concealed by draperies which were not to be re 
 moved until the psychological moment arrived, which 
 would not be until certain persons whose idiosyncrasy it 
 was to be tardy had been waited for a reasonable time. 
 The interval thus afforded was beguiled by Mrs. Sum- 
 ner s two daughters with a discussion begun on the way 
 from church at King s Chapel as to whether it was obliga 
 tory to seek out a conductor who had neglected to collect 
 a fare. Marriage had so far tempted or should one say, 
 relaxed? Mrs. Paton s point of view that she was dis 
 posed to throw the responsibility of collecting it on the 
 company, unless the omission could be rectified without 
 the slightest personal inconvenience; but her sister fer 
 vidly declared that the money would henceforth burn in 
 her pocket, and that, at all events, she would feel obliged 
 to give it away in charity. So eager was the controversy 
 that they, as well as Professor Paton, who, in the capacity 
 of judge, stood listening to the dialogue, were so far oblivi 
 ous to their surroundings, that an agitated " Girls girls, 
 pay attention," on the part of their mother was the first 
 indication to them that the statue was about to be uncov 
 ered. 
 
 Professor Paton squared his shoulders and gave his 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 351 
 
 curving mustaches a nervous downward pull. He was be 
 ginning to be regarded as a rising authority on art one of 
 the younger men who might be relied on to fill the place 
 of Professor Slater, whose fearless critical judgments had 
 long been a purging mainstay to the generation to which 
 Mrs. Sumner belonged. Professor Slater had, of course, 
 been invited, but a cold had kept him at home, so a greater 
 responsibility than usual was imposed on his junior. The 
 latter s work on the Greek poets had necessarily brought 
 him into close communion with the plastic monuments of 
 the ancient classical world, and his marriage to a Sumner 
 had given just the requisite touch of solidity to his charac 
 ter in the eyes of those disposed to ascribe his occasional 
 diatribes to a lack of sober purpose. As the coverings were 
 removed and the statue stood revealed, he gave a start and 
 ejaculated under his breath, "Caesars Ghost! The tone 
 in which he uttered this expletive was one of amazed enter 
 tainment immediate foresight indeed of the yawning 
 chasm of difference of opinion shortly to rend Boston as 
 by an earthquake. 
 
 What those present beheld was the youthful figure of a 
 Bacchante in the very act of dancing. Poised on one foot 
 with nude airy grace, she impersonated the poetry of brisk, 
 joyous motion, while her jocund upward glance rested on 
 an infant huddled on one shoulder before whom she gayly* 
 dangled a bunch of grapes. For a brief moment there 
 was silence, an occasional gasp as in the case of Pro 
 fessor Paton, but virtually no sound. Some began to cast 
 sheep s eyes at their neighbors, for, in spite of the intensity 
 of their convictions, it is typical of Bostonians as doubt 
 less of many others that novelty strikes them aghast in a 
 sense, and they instinctively seek support before venturing 
 to approve or even to blame. To over-praise to like a 
 
352 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 thing one should not, is almost a cardinal sin, and not to 
 recognize what is excellent nearly as bad. So Boston is 
 liable to wabble on the spur of the moment until those in 
 whom she has confidence point the way. Even her ap 
 plause is always frigid, for her enthusiasm is a product of 
 the brain, not the spontaneous tumult of the heart. 
 
 A light murmur of conversation now arose for the differ 
 ent groups were beginning to compare notes. Mrs. Sum- 
 ner, who had been gazing fixedly at the statue, turned 
 away abruptly. "What do you think of it, mama?" in 
 quired Mrs. Paton anxiously, forecasting, perhaps, a 
 diversity of opinion between her mother and her hus 
 band. 
 
 "How can you ask, Barbara / What could any one 
 think but consider it er immodest?" interposed her 
 sister. It sometimes seemed to the elder Miss Sumner that 
 she and Barbara had suddenly changed places. Formerly 
 Barbara had been the over-conscientious the strictly 
 sensitive one. Her lack of moral nicety on the subject of 
 the conductor s fare had been a distinct shock. Could this 
 be the result of matrimony ? If so, it was high time that 
 she should be brought up with a round turn. 
 
 "But hasn t it real artistic merit? If it hasn t that, of 
 course, there s nothing to be said," answered Mrs. Paton, 
 turning toward her husband for support. But Mrs. Sum 
 ner did not wait for her son-in-law s verdict. 
 
 "No wonder they felt that the thing needed draperies. 
 In my judgment they should never have been taken off." 
 
 Apparently oblivious of this incipient family feud, Pro 
 fessor Paton continued to gaze at the fountain, chuckling 
 now and then softly to himself. At last he said: "It s 
 clever infernally clever, and original. Grace joy 
 movement, they re all there." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 353 
 
 "I told you so," exclaimed his wife triumphantly. "If 
 it weren t artistic, I should hate it, too." 
 
 "Don t tell me," said Lily Sumner with sad sternness, 
 "that you approve of it, Fuzzy." The family had adopted 
 the professor s college nickname. 
 
 "Approve of it? Certainly I approve of it from a 
 purely artistic standpoint. The question is, the really 
 amusing question, will Boston stand for it?" 
 
 "Here in the central court-yard of the Boston Public 
 Library, a spot which of all spots should be consecrated 
 to high moral and educational aims? Never; certainly 
 not," said his mother-in-law, speaking with stately delib 
 eration, but evidently feeling deeply. "Clever yes, the 
 statue may be clever in a pagan er Latin quarter sense; 
 but it is essentially frivolous in conception. If there are 
 people who admire it, I should not object if it were to be 
 placed in a corner of the Art Museum, though I should 
 never care to look at it again myself. But here, in our 
 Public Library? I shall protest against that with every 
 fibre of my being. If necessary, I shall write to the 
 Transcript on the subject and get my brother Harri 
 son to do the same. It is utterly inappropriate to the 
 place." 
 
 Professor Paton nodded. "I m not sure that I don t 
 agree with you. I m inclined to think you ve hit the nail 
 on the head. The thing is almost a masterpiece in its way, 
 and devilish bold and inspiring technically. But I can see 
 what you mean. The spot selected is not appropriate." 
 He turned to his wife and sister-in-law. "Your mother is 
 right, girls. In a museum, yes; but here it s scarcely the 
 place I admit. In fact, if the trustees consult me, I may 
 have to vote against it, brilliant as I think it is." 
 
 But Lily was not satisfied. " How can you admire it so, 
 
354 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Fuzzy ? We know nothing of that young woman s history. 
 What does that unfortunate child symbolize?" 
 
 "She s a Bacchante. They were all er like that," 
 her sister hastened to explain. 
 
 "It s the movement the unconscious rapture with 
 which she dances that are so admirable, Lily," the pro 
 fessor answered. "Artistically the thing is very convinc 
 ing; but when it comes to eternal fitness" he paused and 
 chuckled softly again "there are difficulties undeniably. 
 Where that is involved, I would sooner have your judg 
 ment, Mrs. Sumner, than that of any one I know." 
 
 Firm as she already was in her opinion, Mrs. Sumner 
 was pleased by this tribute, for her son-in-law would be a 
 valuable ally, and she was well aware that he was capable 
 of disagreeing with her. Her glance strayed across the 
 court-yard to another section of the arcade where she knew 
 that her son was standing. "I wonder," she said, "what 
 Henry thinks of it." There was just a touch of solicitude 
 in her tone, for she had noticed his companions. But 
 people were beginning to move, and at that moment a little 
 group consisting of her sister, Miss Georgiana Chip 
 pendale, Mr. Moore of the Art Museum, Morgan Drake 
 and Miss Winston, secretary of the Mother Eve s Club, 
 drifted toward them. 
 
 "What do you think of it, Eleanor? To my eyes that 
 young woman is little better than a saucy minx a trollop," 
 exclaimed Miss Chippendale. "But," she added and the 
 color of her large nose indicated that she was agitated, 
 "these people are all crazy about her." 
 
 Mrs. Sumner surveyed the group with serene decision, 
 though the sight of Mr. Moore in opposition was inwardly 
 disconcerting. 
 
 "We are all agreed here not to like it at all." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 355 
 
 "What did I tell you?" cried Miss Chippendale tri 
 umphantly. 
 
 "Professor Paton, too?" exclaimed Mr. Moore in some 
 distress. 
 
 " Crazy does not exactly define my attitude," said Miss 
 Winston in her gentle, worried tone, looking over her 
 glasses. " But I think Mr. Blaisdell was right when he said 
 just now that what we need in Boston is more joy in living. 
 It was a new thought to me, and that fountain does ex 
 press joy. Perhaps we are too solemn in our artistic pref 
 erences. No one can deny that er the main figure 
 dances as though intoxicated with joy." 
 
 "Joy? She looks to me a little tipsy," remarked Miss 
 Chippendale promptly. 
 
 "So she does," assented Morgan Drake highly enter 
 tained. "I couldn t quite make out what was wrong 
 about her. Still, I like her all the same; she s so clever 
 graceful free unconventional. Her presence would do 
 Boston good in the long run." 
 
 "She doesn t belong in the main court-yard of the Pub 
 lic Library; there s the point, Morgan," said the pro 
 fessor. 
 
 " But that s the location which the donor of the fountain 
 has selected. Should one look a gift horse in the mouth ?" 
 
 "Assuredly, if necessary," said Mrs. Sumner, seizing 
 her opportunity. " From the standpoint of high art and 
 the highest art must always be ethical she s a degenerate 
 person. In this spot dedicated to the people, for the peo 
 ple, by the people she would lower not raise one s ideal 
 of womanhood and maternity." 
 
 Mrs. Sumner breathed more freely, feeling that she had 
 probed the subject to its depth and uttered what would be 
 for her the final word. 
 
356 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "I said she was a minx; a minx is the only term for 
 her," asserted Miss Chippendale. 
 
 "You consider her decadent, Mrs. Sumner? I admit 
 that she s modern ultra-Parisian, possibly. But I am 
 not prepared to agree that she is decadent," said Mr. Moore 
 turning to look at the statue once more and shading his 
 brow with his hand. 
 
 "I refuse to think of her as decadent merely graceful, 
 free and unconventional, as Mr. Drake just said," protested 
 Miss Winston, "and I fail to detect the slightest sign of 
 tipsiness, only joy." 
 
 "There were plenty of people around us enthusiastic on 
 the subject people of various affinities," declared Mor 
 gan. "Mrs. Staunton Townsend was praising it to the 
 skies, and I heard your nephew Chauncey Chippendale 
 state to Mr. and Mrs. Blaisdell that it was a masterpiece. 
 Let us hope that this will not be a case where Boston will be 
 shaken to her solid centre. I m ready to listen to arguments, 
 but, as at present advised, I m in favor of letting the little 
 lady stand where she is." 
 
 This was his parting shot. He and his associates con 
 tinued on their way. The reference to her nephew was 
 not lost on Miss Chippendale. It was one more sign of 
 depravity to mark down against Chauncey in the mental 
 ledger wherein she registered the faults and merits of her 
 nephews and nieces with an eye to a final trial balance. 
 Nor did she overlook the mention of Blaisdell. She was 
 glad to find him on the opposite side, for it served to con 
 firm the new opinion which she had formed of him. As 
 Morgan turned to depart she nodded her head sturdily 
 and said: "I m not surprised to hear that certain persons 
 are in the wrong, as usual." 
 
 But Mrs. Sumner s thoughts were busy elsewhere. "It 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 357 
 
 is time to go," she said, "and I don t see Henry anywhere. 
 As Mr. Drake just remarked, if people are obstinate, this 
 may become a very serious matter." 
 
 "Considering that he went with Priscilla A very, he is 
 not likely to join us so long as he can be with her," said 
 Lily pertinently. " I caught a glimpse of them both across 
 the court-yard while you were all discussing the Bacchante. 
 Most of her family were with him. Surely, mama, you 
 haven t any fear that Henry will like the little lady, as 
 Mr. Drake calls her? Mr. Drake is clever, of course, but 
 he s liable to be flippant at the wrong time." 
 
 " Ordinarily I should take for granted that he would see 
 the fatal objection to it which we all see; but for the very 
 reason which you have just indicated, child, I do not con 
 sider that Henry s convictions for the time being are what 
 can be called er stable." Thereupon Mrs. Sumner 
 sighed gently; but accepting the intimation that further 
 delay in the hope of meeting her son was likely to be futile, 
 she proceeded to lead the way toward the exit. 
 
 At that very moment the object of her concern was 
 standing at an opposite angle of the arcade, just out of 
 range of the family vision, listening to some very good- 
 humored but explicit arguments why it would be " a crime 
 yes, an unpardonable crime," to reject the gift of the 
 new fountain. Henry had come with Priscilla, but natural 
 chance had finally brought them both into the company of 
 the Blaisdells and Mrs. Avery. Although the acquaintance 
 of the two men dated back to the Dartmouth Street days, 
 their meetings since then had been casual, and in spite of 
 Henry s intimacy with Priscilla, they were little more than 
 bowing acquaintances. On his part, Blaisdell was glad of 
 the opportunity for some time he had been hoping for 
 one of endeavoring to rectify the erroneous impression 
 
358 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 which he was well aware that this scion of puritanical, 
 aristocratic Boston had formed of him. Glad to take pains 
 to demonstrate with complete amiability that of their two 
 attitudes toward public affairs his own was the sound and 
 salutary one. From Priscilla he had not gleaned a word 
 of Henry s distrust, but he had divined it long ago. At 
 first it had amused him, then irritated him slightly. Lat 
 terly he had felt some inclination to correct what he deemed 
 an unjust prejudice, for though from the point of view of 
 large affairs Henry, in his opinion, was of no account, it 
 could not be denied that the latter was a vigilant individual 
 who never lost sight of what was going on locally. To win 
 him over at least, to make clear that they were both 
 really seeking the same end, if by slightly different meth 
 ods the good of Boston would be a personal gratifica 
 tion (triumph would be too large a word); and, moreover, 
 it would be convenient to be on friendly terms with a man 
 whose attentions to his sister-in-law were so tenaciously 
 persistent. He had even ceased of late to laugh at her per 
 severing admirer in her hearing for the reason that, though 
 Priscilla appeared to agree with him by never contradicting 
 his animadversions, she still allowed Henry to dance 
 attendance on her, which argued presumably that this 
 captious suitor was not altogether distasteful. 
 
 Ever since the statue had been uncovered Blaisdell had 
 been making what might be called a jubilant tour of the 
 arcade. He was so far in the secret of the donation that 
 he had been one of the three or four persons, besides the 
 trustees, vouchsafed a preliminary peep at the fountain 
 a few days previous, on which occasion his enthusiasm 
 had been instant and unstinted. Could any one for a mo 
 ment doubt that this spirited figure was exactly the central 
 ornament which the new court-yard required ? When the 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 359 
 
 draperies were removed he had taken for granted that there 
 could be but one opinion as to its merit, and he had turned 
 at once to express, right and left, his unqualified admiration 
 of the dancing figure. If he noticed that some of the replies 
 which his enthusiasm drew forth were more negative than 
 the merits of the conception demanded, he set this down 
 to what he termed habitual Boston reserve; and some 
 time elapsed before it dawned on him that the sentiment 
 was not all one way. The first person to bring home to 
 him this knowledge was Mr. Coldthurst, the bank presi 
 dent one of his closest business associates who re 
 marked in response to an eager inquiry whether he did not 
 consider it a delightful creation "on the contrary, if it 
 remains here, our sons and daughters will be brought into 
 daily association with immodesty. Mr. Leonard has just 
 told me, Blaisdell, that he considers both figures positively 
 indecent, and in my opinion that is not putting it too 
 strong. 
 
 This from a man of Mr. Coldthurst s position was dis 
 turbing, especially as he spoke with unaccustomed energy, 
 for in ordinary daily life he was sluggish in his demeanor. 
 Blaisdell had tried to convert him on the spot by amazed, 
 incredulous urbanity. Did he not recognize the grace and 
 spontaneous beauty of the design? What could be more 
 appropriate for a fountain than a youthful mother dancing 
 with her child ? It would give the rather sober court-yard 
 just the requisite touch of joyous animation. But the 
 bank president had shaken his head doggedly and mut 
 tered something about "naked figures," whereupon Blais 
 dell, recollecting that Mr. Coldthurst was a parishioner of 
 Mr. Leonard s and the denomination to which he be 
 longed, believed that he had unearthed the basis of the 
 entire opposition. 
 
360 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "Ah," he exclaimed with the slightly superior air of one 
 who recognizes that further argument would be a waste of 
 time, u you object to the nude in art." Such a point of 
 view was to be laughed at when out of earshot of the pru 
 rient souls who entertained it, but was essentially a stone 
 wall so far as converting the individual was concerned. 
 
 Blaisdell was bubbling over with the absurdity of this 
 as he well had a right to be when he encountered Chaun- 
 cey Chippendale and his wife a few minutes later. Lora 
 was with him and the four stopped to talk. Doubtless 
 it seemed a favorable opportunity to Beatrice to take a little 
 more pains to be civil to the Blaisdells a suggestion which 
 her husband every now and then made to her when he 
 came home more than usually impressed by his rival s 
 growing prestige down-town. Beatrice was a little obsti 
 nate, especially in social matters, and she clung to the 
 theory that the newcomers belonged to a different set and 
 had plenty of friends of their own. In deference to Chaun- 
 cey s desire, she had made up her mind to invite them to 
 her next large entertainment, but she had never been able 
 to make them "fit into" any of her small ones. "Of 
 course, the real reason why they don t get on faster socially 
 is his wife," she would remark occasionally in self-defence. 
 "She s pretty and she has lots of pretty clothes, but er 
 she s different. A man can be different, but a woman 
 can t." 
 
 Beatrice, however, was sensible as well as amiable, and 
 she had gathered lately that she had put off being civil long 
 enough. So she shook hands with Lora graciously as 
 people know how to do at the nick of time when it costs 
 them nothing. Happily they found a common bond in 
 the new fountain. Her melodious declaration that she 
 "loved it" not merely delighted Blaisdell, but thawed the 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 361 
 
 ice of Lora s disinclination to be appeased by such a minor 
 attention, who also made a mental note that she would 
 "love" henceforth in every-day speech inanimate things of 
 secondary importance. Chauncey likewise was exuberant. 
 "It s a gem a perfect gem. She s running over with 
 sportiveness just as a fountain ought to be. If the Puritan 
 fathers can see her, they ll wriggle in their graves a little, 
 but she ll do dear, old, sober Boston good." He added 
 somewhat quizzically, "She looks as if she might have 
 been an artist s model at one stage of her career." 
 
 A more sensitive person might have found this encomium 
 not altogether satisfying; but Blaisdell did not stop to 
 analyze it; enough for him that his opinion was reenforced 
 from such a prominent quarter. He rejoiced, too, in the 
 thought that this partial tender of the olive branch was an 
 indication that his new policy was working. He hastened 
 to repeat the Reverend Mr. Leonard s objections to the 
 nude in art, and to jest pleasantly on the subject. He 
 found his listeners sympathetic. He felt convinced when 
 he left the Chippendales that the only people who objected 
 to the design were those who, if they could have their way, 
 would put clothes on every statue in the world; and this 
 thought had been uppermost in his mind when he joined 
 Henry and Priscilla. 
 
 The first shock to this serenity came from an unex 
 pected source, for when he gaily asked his sister-in-law 
 how she liked the statue her reply was, "I haven t made 
 up my mind." Blaisdell noticed that the words were 
 spoken without hesitation, as if she wished to define this as 
 her exact attitude. In the next breath, however, she said 
 no less explicitly and she chose to designate Henry with 
 the tip of her parasol "Mr. Sumner doesn t like it at all. 
 He thinks it oughtn t to be there." 
 
362 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Blaisdeli looked from one to the other. It was obvious 
 that the pair had been engaged in a tense discussion of the 
 merits of the fountain, and he realized that he had arrived 
 just in time to bring his jubilant arguments to bear on 
 Priscilla s side to prevent her from being over-persuaded 
 by her censorious admirer, extraordinary as it appeared to 
 him that she could fail to be enthusiastic. 
 
 "Disputing? Disagreeing, as usual, you two?" ex 
 claimed Lora. She also had been nonplussed of late by 
 the continued tolerance of a suitor with all of whose opin 
 ions her sister professed to be at odds. Then, with a glance 
 at Henry "Not like the Bacchante? How can any one 
 help liking her ? I just love her." 
 
 "There has been no dispute, for I haven t said yet that 
 I like her," replied Priscilla by way of refuting Lora s the 
 ory. She chose to add, " I intend to like her if I can." 
 
 "And I m by no means sure that I dislike her, Mrs. 
 Blaisdell," said Henry. "All I maintain is that the library 
 is not the proper place for such a figure." His mother 
 would have rejoiced to hear the unqualified conclusion. 
 
 "The proper place? If one has objections scruples 
 against the nude in art I can understand that he would 
 think so. But, otherwise, this would seem to be the ideal 
 spot for a decorative, not too serious, fountain." Taking 
 Priscilla s concluding words at their full value, Blaisdell 
 believed that he was giving her exactly the assistance 
 which she required by focussing the limelight, as he called 
 it, on the crucial point. He said to himself that he might 
 have guessed that Sumner would be prudish on just that 
 score. 
 
 "I haven t the remotest objection to the nude in art. 
 The finest sculpture must necessarily be nude," Henry 
 answered quickly. Then, as the enormity of the unlocked- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 363 
 
 for charge grew on him, he turned to Priscilla and said 
 solicitously: "I hope I made this perfectly clear to you." 
 
 Priscilla hesitated a moment. "I m sure you believe 
 that you have none." As she finished her lips wore a slight 
 smile. The earnestness of Henry s inquiry had not been 
 lost on her. If her answer was in a measure roguish, it 
 was no less in a measure true. Was not this the precise 
 doubt lurking in her own mind ? Was not the moment ripe, 
 too, for bringing these two men together the two men she 
 knew best in the world ? Surely each should learn to appre 
 ciate the other. Here was an opportunity to listen to them 
 both side by side; as a result, she would be able to decide 
 as to the Bacchante and, perhaps, in regard to various 
 other things. 
 
 The equivocation filled Henry with dismay, but to 
 dwell on the precise point was awkward. Surely the pos 
 session of a New England conscience could not be synony 
 mous with rank Philistinism. He felt impelled to say, 
 "Pray do not confound my objections with those of the 
 people who take such a stand if there are any." 
 
 This protestation fell on deaf ears so far as Blaisdell was 
 concerned. Lora s remark which he had listened to with 
 joy had furnished him with the correct solution and con 
 firmed his own belief; the ascetic Sumner was blind to the 
 true nature of his own inability to admire. At the same 
 time Blaisdell did not forget that he desired to make a good 
 impression. He must convince or convict, whichever it 
 should be, so as to leave no shadow of offence, and over 
 whelm his antagonist in such a masterly fashion that the 
 other s distrust would be turned to admiration out of 
 sheer gratitude. 
 
 " But what other good reason can there possibly be for 
 condemning it, Mr. Sumner? We have here" and he 
 
364 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 indicated the statue with a sweep of his gold-headed walking- 
 stick " a genuine work of art modern undeniably a 
 little bold and unconventional, if you will but all the more 
 masterly on that account; more masterly and more desir 
 able for the reason that the design is for a fountain please 
 bear this in mind a fountain the spray from which will 
 be scarcely more, innocuous than the innocent mirth which 
 we see here symbolized. All conscientious scruples are 
 entitled to respect; but surely it would be straining at a 
 gnat were we to throw back this masterpiece in the teeth 
 of the generous donor on the ground of shall we say im 
 modesty? My dear Sumner, I think too well of your in 
 telligence, too well of your good taste and love of the 
 beautiful, too well of your common-sense to believe that 
 you are serious in your opposition. I heard you say not 
 many minutes ago that you were not sure you did not 
 like it. Come, confess now, that it is graceful and beau 
 tiful." 
 
 Blaisdell s smooth-shaven, still cherubic face, and hu 
 morous mouth reflected closely the inherent reasonable 
 ness of this argument. So engagingly was it delivered that 
 Henry acknowledged the magnetism of the appeal by a 
 genial laugh. "I do confess at least that it is very grace 
 ful," he said. He realized that Blaisdell was trying to show 
 himself egregiously friendly, and he was for a moment 
 conscious of the traditional coals of fire; but, curiously 
 enough, the final effect of this gracious effort to sweep him 
 off his feet was to intensify his sense of the wideness of the 
 gulf which separated them. If he had not been aware that 
 Priscilla s eye was on him and that he must first of all be 
 human in order to remain just, he would have been tempted 
 to evade further discussion out of sheer hopelessness of 
 being understood. But this would never do; he must rise 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 365 
 
 to the occasion and meet affability with affability or be 
 condemned as tactless if not worse. Yet the essential thing 
 of all was to convince her; this was the stake, and she was 
 waiting to decide between them. " My scruple," he added, 
 endeavoring to continue sprightly, "is not the one you 
 mention, Blaisdell, but it is conscientious. It isn t the 
 statue I object to, but the location. In an aesthetic a 
 moral sense I find it unworthy of being the central orna 
 ment of this fine court-yard. It is out of place. Put it 
 elsewhere and I would say, how clever and graceful and- 
 from the standpoint of what the artist has attempted- 
 beautiful. " 
 
 " Unworthy? And is not calling it unworthy in an 
 aesthetic and moral sense only another way of saying that 
 you are offended by the nude figure of a young woman 
 dancing with a baby in her arms?" 
 
 " Yes and no. I am not offended by the mere fact that 
 she is nude nor that she is dancing." 
 
 "And to what, pray, do you object then?" Blaisdell s 
 shrewd small eyes shone with merriment. Such sophistry 
 seemed to him the contortions of a mind seeking to evade 
 the inevitable consequences of its own logic. 
 
 "To the artistic unworthiness of the entire composition 
 as a key-note to the place where we stand a place in an 
 educational sense sacred, and which should be reserved 
 for a work of art intrinsically noble." 
 
 Blaisdell appeared to weigh this response as if seeking 
 to state his position in a few vital words. Both men con 
 tinued to smile, each obviously bent on remaining imper 
 turbable, however much their opinions might clash. 
 
 "But doesn t that come to the same thing in the end? 
 If the Bacchante were not a dancing girl were something 
 different from what she is, you might consider her educa- 
 
366 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 tional and worthy ? Excuse me, Sumner, but you seem to 
 be arguing in a circle." 
 
 "Ah, but you don t understand him you don t under 
 stand him." It was Priscilla who spoke. She stopped 
 suddenly as if the eager words had sprung from her lips 
 involuntarily. But, after an instant, she continued with 
 unabated conviction: "I see exactly what Mr. Sumner 
 means, and I agree with him. It doesn t belong here." 
 
 Henry turned a grateful, glowing look upon her. "I 
 felt sure that you would think so in the end." 
 
 Priscilla appeared to ignore this tribute. "I hate to dis 
 agree with you, Hugh, but the longer I look at it, the more 
 certain I am that it isn t worthy of its surroundings." Al 
 though she echoed his own exact phraseology, Henry 
 appreciated that her solicitude lay elsewhere. 
 
 "Worthy? Educational? The idea of using such sol 
 emn language about such a lovely, harmless thing!" lisped 
 Lora. "I don t pretend to understand you two. I never 
 knew before, Priscilla, that you had a Puritan conscience." 
 
 "Is this a proof of it?" asked Priscilla with a rueful 
 laugh. " Perhaps I have. Now that you speak of it, that 
 same dreadful thought has haunted me occasionally of 
 late." This time she glanced at Henry, as if seeking for 
 some one on whom to cast the blame, after which she 
 turned her eyes again toward Blaisdell who had not yet 
 spoken. Content with his wife s acute speech, he stood 
 with a Delphic smile on his countenance, obviously (to 
 Priscilla s mind) passing judgment on her. In the inter 
 val he had swallowed his surprise, his surprise and his 
 pique, though, self-analyst as he was, he was barely con 
 scious of the latter. Realizing that further argument was 
 useless, he chose to accept their conclusion his inability to 
 understand without a murmur and at the same moment 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 367 
 
 to slit the thin fabric of their temporary triumph by a ra 
 pier-like thrust a practical reference to the power of 
 majorities. Including both Priscilla and Henry in a sweep 
 of his brow he said : 
 
 "I venture to predict that after this masterpiece has 
 been in place a year or so, those who condemn it now from 
 conscientious motives will be among its most ardent ad 
 mirers, and I expect some day to be personally exonerated 
 by you both." 
 
 The slight jocularity of the closing words threw a cloud 
 of dust for an instant around the gratuitous assumption 
 that the fountain was to be a fixture. The two replies came 
 simultaneously : 
 
 "But nothing has been decided yet, Hugh. The Art 
 Commission and the Library trustees are at variance. 
 We were invited here on purpose to say whether we wish 
 it to remain or not." 
 
 "Your major premise is at fault, Blaisdell. Boston will 
 never tolerate the fountain." 
 
 "Excuse me one at a time, please," said Blaisdell, 
 making a show of backing away in mock alarm at their 
 mutual eagerness. "The same answer, however, will do 
 for you both. Nothing has been actually decided ; but the 
 fountain will remain because most people like it are en 
 thusiastic over it. The Art Commission had only seen a re 
 duced model of the group. I ve been counting noses ever 
 since it was uncovered, and I can confidently assure you 
 that you are in a hopeless minority. You two and Rev 
 erend Mr. Leonard are practically the only malcontents." 
 
 "There may be more than you think. I never heard 
 anything so cool, Hugh, as your taking for granted that 
 the whole thing is settled. And we object distinctly to 
 being classed with Mr. Leonard." 
 
368 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Priscilla s fine face was radiant with the spirit of revolt. 
 Everything had faded into secondary importance beside 
 the galvanizing force of conviction. 
 
 "Wait and see," answered Blaisdell blandly. "Wait 
 and see." He observed her beauty kindle under her gay 
 yet resolute mien, but he reflected that he had been correct 
 in his original diagnosis that she possessed a restless soul, 
 which, in a woman, might be troublesome. Thus the 
 foxes in this earthly vineyard console themselves for the 
 loss of the grapes. But his moment of musing was cut short 
 by Henry s rejoinder: 
 
 "I m positive that you underestimate the opposition to 
 the statue. I ve lived in Boston all my life and this is 
 just one of the cases where she is certain to be aroused, if 
 it is forced down our throats before we have had time to 
 consider the matter carefully." 
 
 In spite of the gravity of this retort Priscilla was proud 
 of her ally s staunchness. 
 
 "Aroused?" exclaimed Blaisdell. "Surely its oppo 
 nents will not pull it down." 
 
 "They threw the tea chests into Boston harbor, remem 
 ber," Priscilla interjected. 
 
 "No; but the public will insist on its removal." 
 Blaisdell had not failed to notice the insinuation that he 
 was virtually a stranger, and he welcomed the opportunity 
 it afforded him. "As you say, you have lived in Boston 
 all your life, Sumner, and you represent old Boston the 
 Boston of culture, conservatism and respectability. I am 
 a newcomer, and I represent the new the Boston, if I 
 may say so, of unconventionally and progress. It will be 
 the old Boston against the new. We shall see who will 
 win." 
 
 "Progress? If there is one thing that old Boston, as 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 369 
 
 you call it, has always stood for, it is progress. It is in the 
 interest of the highest progress that I intend to do all I 
 can to prevent the perpetuation of this decadent foun 
 tain." 
 
 Although BlaisdelPs unruffled demeanor had already 
 reminded Henry that he had suffered his zeal to get the 
 better of his equanimity, he was unable to refrain from this 
 protest. Was he never to learn the art of tempering his 
 emotions ? Was it not one of the characteristics of a prig 
 to be terribly in earnest about everything? He checked 
 himself and said: "Very well, then, it shall be the old Bos 
 ton against the new; I accept the challenge." Then look 
 ing suddenly at Priscilla he added: "But I rely on your 
 assistance, Miss A very. Will you help me to win ?" 
 
 " If you need me, yes." There was no hesitation. If he 
 had spoken like a prig for a moment, she had overlooked 
 it. So spontaneous was her animated assent that it almost 
 seemed as if she felt this to be one of the few occasions 
 when it was permissible yes, imperative to show how 
 deeply one felt. 
 
 "An alliance, eh!" exclaimed Blaisdell, and he looked 
 from one to the other with a shrewd smile as if infinitely 
 amused, while Lora gave one of her bubbling laughs. Life 
 being full of surprises, he would have acknowledged this 
 to be one of them but for his ancient conviction of his sis 
 ter-in-law s inherent flightiness. He drew out his watch 
 and said: " Before hostilities proceed further, isn t it about 
 time for a truce ? It isn t far from our luncheon hour." 
 
 "And as you have assured us, Mr. Sumner, that if the 
 statue remains, old Boston will not feel obliged to pull it 
 down with ropes," added Lora, reenforcing her husband s 
 suggestion, "you must take lunch with us. You haven t 
 been to the house for ages, and now that we are to be ene- 
 
370 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 mies, who knows when we shall be able to ask you again. 
 Needless to say, there will be no attempt to separate the 
 allies." 
 
 Henry was glad of an opportunity to redeem himself on 
 the score of affability. He felt sure that Priscilla would 
 like him to accept in spite of the opinion which she knew 
 that he entertained concerning his host. " I will come with 
 great pleasure, Mrs. Blaisdell," he replied. A moment 
 later he and Blaisdell were walking side by side toward the 
 exit. The latter had already changed the subject, but was 
 conversing graphically on a kindred theme Boston s 
 great opportunities if she did not neglect to u gird her 
 loins," and the danger that she would be " pocketed" by 
 the rest of the country if she failed to "keep abreast of the 
 times." 
 
 Lora, taking Priscilla by the arm, which she proceeded 
 to pinch, led her a little in advance of the men. "You 
 have always said you hated him," she whispered. "If you 
 take him," she added with one of her musical laughs, " what 
 relation shall I be to Mrs. Chauncey Chippendale?" 
 
 Priscilla was too absorbed by her own emotions to pay 
 heed at the moment to this last inquiry, but she recalled it 
 later with concern. " It does look a little suspicious, doesn t 
 it, dear? For this is the first time in our lives, I believe, 
 that we have ever agreed about anything." She paused a 
 moment, and her manner, though buoyant, suggested that 
 she was fully alive to the incongruity of the phenomenon. 
 "What is much more gruesome, Lora, is that this is the 
 first time I have ever disagreed with Hugh." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 371 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 FOUR days later when Henry Sumner entered the Sphinx 
 Club at the luncheon hour he realized that it had become 
 a storm centre. 
 
 "Wait until you read to-night s Transcript!" 
 
 "Wanted, a pair of Plymouth Rock pants for the 
 Bacchante!" 
 
 "Opposition to the nude in art makes strange bed 
 fellows Henry and the Reverend Ashby J. Leonard!" 
 
 The last of these diatribes proceeded from Oliver Spin 
 ney, the poet, who revelled in relentless paradox, and who, 
 as the hubbub subsided, continued with mournful irony, 
 "Now is your opportunity, Henry, to prove yourself not 
 guilty. I have stoutly maintained from the first that it was 
 a forgery." 
 
 "The letter to the Transcript? I certainly wrote it. 
 Moreover, I have spent this forenoon in getting signatures 
 to a petition to the trustees," answered Henry as he un 
 folded his napkin. Here and there as he glanced around 
 the table he encountered aggrieved or quizzical glances. 
 It was clear that the sentiment of most of those present 
 was swayed by three or four whose artistic sensibilities had 
 been irritated by his attitude. 
 
 A groan followed this announcement, and Spinney, 
 clasping his lean fingers, bent forward melodramatically 
 and said: "What has induced you, Henry Sumner, to con 
 demn a thing of beauty like the Bacchante the first sym 
 bol of emancipation from the hydra of Boston respecta 
 bility?" 
 
 "You know my reasons if you read my letter." 
 
 "Burton has answered it in to-night s Transcript. There 
 
372 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 will be other replies, if necessary. It ought to be sufficient 
 that the Art Commission has reversed its decision and has 
 given its approval." 
 
 " Overpersuaded before the extent of the opposition was 
 realized." 
 
 "It s a burning question already," murmured Morgan 
 Drake, next to whom Henry had seated himself. " Some 
 of these fellows are dreadfully worked up, and I gather 
 that you re not exactly calm. I m against you, Henry, but 
 somehow I can t rouse myself to the proper pitch of excite 
 ment. I should not object to a real war, if necessary, but 
 this is liable to become opera bouffe if it keeps on." 
 
 "It isn t as important as the slavery question; but a 
 principle is at stake just the same." Henry drew a paper 
 from his coat pocket and, looking across the table at Oliver 
 Spinney, exclaimed, as he tossed it within his reach, "You 
 will find there are plenty who agree with me." 
 
 "Oh, the lack s in me, I admit," whispered Morgan. 
 "You ve found a burning cause, for the time being, at any 
 rate you and the rest of them. I envy you." 
 
 Spinney let the paper lie where it had fallen, but some 
 one next to him presently deigned to examine it and an 
 nounced for the general information " General Langdon 
 heads the list of we the undersigned in opposition to the 
 Bacchante." 
 
 This announcement was so amazing that it induced com 
 plete silence; while Henry looked around him with eager 
 triumph. 
 
 " All I can say is the City of Boston is going to the devil," 
 said Spinney at last with mournful truculence. There 
 upon, having finished his luncheon, he stalked from the 
 room in order to digest the disconcerting intelligence while 
 playing billiards. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 373 
 
 Henry well knew that this was not a signal of defeat, but 
 of an intention to brood and retaliate. Yet the advantage 
 was temporarily his, and the exit encouraged one of the 
 other members to exclaim: "Fuzzy Paton is against the 
 fountain; so are Bell and Mason." The two latter were 
 artists, though of less local repute than Burton. 
 
 "It isn t a one-sided affair by any means," said Henry. 
 "You have only to read that list in order to realize so." 
 
 "It s a regular mix-up; families hopelessly at odds on 
 the subject," said Morgan Drake, who had been scrutin 
 izing the names. "A house divided against itself cannot 
 stand." 
 
 Henry s last speech had been addressed to the table, and 
 George Ware, one of the executive committee, felt impelled 
 to answer it, using Morgan s quotation as a text. "I don t 
 consider the Sphinx divided against itself. The opposition 
 to the Bacchante is er a scattering vote. There s Henry, 
 Fuzzy, Bell, Mason and counting General Langdon, who 
 is a very busy man, as we all know, and may not have given 
 the matter sufficient thought 
 
 " Chauncey Chippendale stood by imploring him not to 
 sign," interposed Henry. 
 
 "Very well, then, counting him there s only five. Who 
 else is there ? Call it seven or eight in all, or ten at the out 
 side. It s a free country, so you ve a right to your opinions, 
 of course; but how any man who believes in art for art s 
 sake can take such a position is more than the rest of us- 
 can understand." 
 
 This sentiment received audible signs of approval, and 
 two enthusiasts cried in the same breath: "The Club 
 ought to stand by the Art Commission." 
 
 Henry looked, as he felt, imperturbably resolute and 
 a warrior who wore, though invisibly to the casual 
 
374 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 eye, his lady s colors wound about his helmet. On the 
 previous evening Priscilla had agreed to take an active 
 part in the movement against the fountain, and had thus 
 cemented her promise given at the library. This had im 
 parted fresh vigor to his spirit and made all opposition 
 seem trivial. On this first morning of his crusade his feet 
 had seemed to bear wings and his soul to be charged with 
 an electric current which sparkled in his eyes and animated 
 him to his fingers tips. "It s a moral question," he re 
 torted. "If you fellows don t feel it, there s no use in 
 arguing. You ve read my letter. It s because we who do 
 feel it are trying to protect art for art s sake that we are 
 determined to have the Bacchante removed from where she 
 stands." 
 
 Burton groaned. "A moral question! What is there 
 moral in half the beautiful statues of the world ? On the 
 same principle, presumably, you would banish the Capi- 
 toline Venus from the court-yard if Boston were fortunate 
 enough to get her." 
 
 "No, I wouldn t Burton, any more than you would." 
 "But how about your ally, the Reverend Ashby J. 
 Leonard ? She would be a naked woman to him first, last 
 and all the time." 
 
 "I am totally independent of Mr. Leonard and you 
 ought to know it. The great masterpieces of sculpture are 
 moral because in their presence one is never conscious of 
 anything but their beauty. One feels in looking at the 
 Bacchante that apart from the cleverness, she is really a 
 guttersnipe." 
 
 Burton shrugged his shoulders in eloquent protest and 
 puffed at his pipe. He was ordinarily a man of few words 
 and had said his say. But George Ware, who had a sen 
 tentious style when the occasion called for one, responded, 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 375 
 
 "Everything which is beautiful and not a masterpiece is 
 liable to be condemned as immoral. So no one but a su 
 preme genius can venture to delineate the nude. On that 
 theory all modern sculptors must have recourse to clothes 
 or starve." 
 
 The sardonic laughter which this evoked relieved the 
 tension, for, though no one had lost his temper, the situa 
 tion was on the verge of becoming strained. "Speaking 
 of allies," remarked Morgan Drake, "I don t know whether 
 it s more surprising that Henry should be keeping com 
 pany with the Reverend Ashby J. Leonard or that the 
 Sphinx Club should find itself in the same boat with Hugh 
 McDowell Blaisdell. I hear he s infatuated with the 
 Bacchante and doesn t brook the suggestion of giving her 
 the cold shoulder." 
 
 The club as a body had hitherto found itself on the 
 opposite side of public questions from the rising magnate, 
 whose name had almost been a by-word at the round table 
 for utilitarian indifference to ideals. Nevertheless, Burton 
 with a grunt removed his pipe to mutter. "He generally 
 does what he sets out to accomplish." Gratitude to his 
 Macaenas would permit at least this semblance of a 
 tribute. 
 
 The reminder of this one virtuous deed prompted Mor 
 gan to add: "That s a fact, he bought two of your pict 
 ures and he wanted me to write a Christmas story which 
 would sell like hot cakes." 
 
 "Yes, he does," answered Henry, as if he were eager to 
 face just this argument. "Fortunately in this case he 
 hasn t a Board of Aldermen or a Legislature to deal with, 
 but a Board of Trustees men whom we know, men who 
 will impartially hear both sides and whom he will find it 
 difficult to control however subtle his processes." He spoke 
 
376 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 with nervous directness, and as he glanced around the 
 table he realized from the silence that no one was disposed 
 to challenge his insinuation. "If any one wishes to sign 
 this petition," continued Henry, rising to go, "I ll leave a 
 copy on the notice board down-stairs. I feel sure that 
 some of you men, if you will take a second look at the 
 fountain, will come over to our side." 
 
 There could be no doubt that Boston was in the throes 
 of a fresh agitation. Henry s letter to the Transcript had 
 been the bellows which had stirred the smouldering mass of 
 public opinion, so that it had suddenly flared up fiercely 
 into two hostile flames. But the material on either side 
 lacked merely a tangible excuse to ignite so thoroughly 
 had it accumulated heat during the few days which had 
 passed since the meeting at the library. 
 
 Henry s action had not been precipitate. He had left 
 the court-yard rejoicing in his alliance and confident that 
 Blaisdell, despite his resources, would find himself in a 
 pitiful minority on this clear issue. No revolt was neces 
 sary, for surely the trustees would of their own accord 
 reject this clever but degenerate design now that it stared 
 them in the face. His mother s sigh of relief she had met 
 him in the front hall was the first intimation to him that 
 responsible opinion could be divided after having had 
 time to reflect. Later it dawned on him that she had 
 feared the influence of Priscilla, but by this time he had 
 been shocked by the news that his Uncle Harrison was 
 among the admirers of the fountain. Mrs. Sumner dis 
 covered this over the telephone in the course of the even 
 ing, hearing her brother state from his own lips, "It s a 
 little French, of course, and it has a certain piquancy which 
 may offend old-fashioned notions; but you know I always 
 am progressive in my sympathies." Eleanor Sumner 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 377 
 
 sighed again and said to herself: "Harrison can never 
 forget that he once spent six months in the Latin Quarter." 
 
 Before the end of the next two days both mother and son 
 had received other sad surprises. The infatuation of Mr. 
 Moore and Miss Winston was confirmed, and Mrs. Staun- 
 ton Townsend was found to be in the van of the enthusi 
 asts a deplorable defection, for Mrs. Sumner regarded 
 her as one of the few younger fashionable women with 
 definite standards. Most serious of all, the Art Com 
 mission, whose consent was a prerequisite, had withdrawn 
 its disapproval. Was Boston going to swallow this 
 specious gift for lack of some one to make a vigorous pro 
 test ? The same thought had quickened and grown in both 
 their minds unuttered, but when Henry, at the breakfast 
 table, had handed his mother the letter, her proud reply 
 was: "I hoped you would. I had made up my mind to 
 write myself in another twenty-four hours if no one else 
 did. I have always relied on your Uncle Harrison to take 
 the proper stand on important public questions." 
 
 Henry had burnt the midnight oil over his composition; 
 moreover, he had evolved a scheme of action, in case one 
 proved necessary after attention had been openly called to 
 the lurking danger a swiftly and widely circulated peti 
 tion. He himself would devote his personal energies to 
 obtaining signatures. But in order to cover the ground 
 thoroughly, cooperation was necessary, preferably a wom 
 an s ; two minds were often better than one. He canvassed 
 a mental list of names. His Aunt Georgiana was energetic 
 and downright; but she was elderly and would be apt to 
 reach much the same audience as himself. The desirable 
 person would be some one who would appeal to a little 
 different element penetrate the heart of the enemy s 
 camp, if possible; and thus reasoning, he suddenly thought 
 
378 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 of Priscilla. Why was she not just the woman ? Henry s 
 heart leaped into his mouth. He had not forgotten her 
 glorious promise; he had every intention of asking her to 
 redeem it. But it had not occurred to him until now that 
 they might cooperate side by side he and she alone as 
 protagonists in a vital movement. Why not ? She was a 
 Bostonian by birth, and by virtue of her charms and her 
 new position in the community she would be listened to 
 and followed if her enthusiasm was aroused. Had she 
 not just the infectious qualities suitable for a leader? 
 All the tact and fervent optimism which he himself 
 lacked? 
 
 Henry did not inform his mother of his choice. He fore 
 saw that she would not regard it as an ideal one; would 
 consider that he had snatched at this opportunity for 
 courtship, whereas his selection had been governed solely 
 by the belief that no one was comparable to Priscilla as 
 an ally. He was so certain of this when he called on 
 her the following evening the day on which his letter to 
 the Transcript appeared that the customary woodenness 
 which he displayed during the preliminaries of conversa 
 tion vanished in the fervor of his desire to tell her that 
 no one else would do so well. And yet which was 
 awkward he had been obliged to ask for a private inter 
 viewto request her mysteriously to grant him a few mo 
 ments conversation apart from her step-mother and Lora, 
 for the Blaisdells were dining there. He had interrupted 
 a family gathering, but his cause burned so within him 
 that he felt it would not brook delay. He sought to state 
 his errand concisely (Lora had already divined it and 
 had lisped, "I m sure it s something to do with the Bac 
 chante"); he referred to his letter and found that she had 
 read it; he reminded her of her promise to help and of the 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 379 
 
 likelihood of the need; he told her that to canvass for sig 
 natures adroitly was an art in itself and that she would 
 succeed where he might fail. He scarcely realized until he 
 was in the street how easily the obstacles which she inter 
 posed had been overcome and how almost eagerly she had 
 consented. 
 
 He was not fatuous enough so he argued to himself 
 to believe that it was a personal triumph; it was 
 merely that she had become a thorough convert to the 
 cause in spite of herself, and was ready to throw herself 
 into it heart and soul. He remembered that at the close, 
 just after he had offered a few hasty suggestions as to 
 practical details, she had made a remark which was wholly 
 unlike her. " But will there not be very powerful influences 
 opposed to us ? Are there not so many people in favor of 
 the fountain already that we shall be apt to lose?" Yet, 
 before he could answer her, the idea of defeat, the very 
 quality of doubt in a matter where her pride was at stake, 
 was evidently so repugnant that she exclaimed : " But now 
 that we have joined forces, we won t let them win." He 
 remembered the light in her dark eyes as she spoke, the 
 enthusiasm in her rich voice. "It s a queer alliance, isn t 
 it?" This she had added with an air of amusement, as if 
 she were inviting him to share the humor of it. "Yes, it 
 is," he replied. "We ve never agreed in our lives before. 
 But our being the antipodes of each other that will make 
 us all the more formidable a combination." And then he 
 had felt his features, which had relaxed to reciprocate her 
 mood, grow stern with the same thought which he had 
 uttered at the Sphinx Club on the following day. "The 
 influences will be very powerful, as you say, but this is a 
 petition to trustees men who cannot be moved except by 
 proper influences." 
 
380 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 She had looked at him in silence. He saw that she knew 
 he was thinking of Blaisdell the ubiquitous Blaisdell 
 seemingly where they two were concerned. His self-anal 
 yzing conscience swiftly told him that it was his turn to 
 retract before her grave almost sphinx-like expression had 
 passed judgment on him. What he had insinuated might 
 be uttered anywhere except to her until he held the proofs; 
 this had been their compact. "I beg your pardon I beg 
 it humbly. I had no right no right whatever to drag 
 that in," he said. 
 
 The color had risen to her cheeks. It was plain that she 
 had no wish to conceal either that she understood or that 
 she appreciated his self -denunciation. His foot had slipped 
 again but she had seen fit to take mercy on him, for she 
 replied: "Both sides will rejoice, I m sure, that only 
 proper influences are possible." 
 
 What he did not know was that Priscilla had stood pen 
 sive for some moments after he had gone. Then her look of 
 amusement had returned and lingered. Now that she had 
 burned her bridges she, too, wondered at the ease with 
 which her assent had been won with which she had be 
 come his antipodal partner. What was responsible for 
 this? Who but Blaisdell now smoking in the library 
 with her father, and unaware of the conspiracy which had 
 just been formulated? Her face grew keener at the 
 thought. It was he who, on his arrival before dinner, had 
 inquired a little patronizingly if she still clung to the delu 
 sion that the Bacchante ought to go, and who, when she 
 nodded and replied: "I feel more strongly than ever on 
 the subject," had shown her Henry s letter in the Trans 
 cript which the sharp eyes of Lora had detected. It was 
 he who, while she stood reading the article under the light, 
 had watched her from the hearth-rug with the expression 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 381 
 
 of good-humored tolerance savoring of reserve power 
 which she knew so well, and who, when she looked up and 
 said unhesitatingly: "It s admirably put, and right to the 
 point. I agree with every word of it," had waited a mo 
 ment before he replied: "As a literary production, it is 
 very creditable. Our censor has shot his bolt and I fore 
 see that his example will be imitated by others and on 
 both sides signed Pro Bono Publico, Veritas or 
 Senex ; and while the long-suffering Transcript bristles 
 with communications from the Back Bay and Cambridge, 
 the people who act while others write letters may be 
 counted on not to remain idle. My dear Priscilla, a clever 
 woman like you, one who seeks to keep abreast of the times, 
 ought to be aware that the men who accomplish the 
 things they undertake in this modern world don t work in 
 precisely that style. A letter to the newspapers is about as 
 effective practically as a pop-gun." 
 
 This was an appeal to her intelligence; she recognized 
 it as such, and also that he had deliberately afforded her 
 a glimpse behind a curtain in order that she should not 
 fail to understand. His manner insinuated more plainly 
 than his words something, which though intangible, ar 
 rested her attention for the first time in their intercourse and 
 brought Henry s criticisms trooping into her brain. 
 
 " How do they work the men who accomplish the things 
 they undertake?" she asked abruptly. 
 
 Blaisdell compressed the end of his chin with his hand 
 and smiled enigmatically. "Methods change as the 
 necessities change." He had desired to afford her an 
 illuminating peep behind the curtain, but even a clever 
 woman should be content with generalities. He had 
 wished her to know that labyrinths existed, familiar to a 
 few, but he had no intention of supplying a key to th^> 
 
382 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 maze. " Nowadays the affairs the vital affairs of every 
 large city are really controlled by a few big men." 
 
 "What will the big men do in this case?" Her manner 
 of asking was serious yet arch. 
 
 "You can scarcely expect them to disclose the details of 
 their campaign to an enemy." 
 
 "Yes, I am an enemy, for this special occasion. I m 
 squarely on the opposite side. Who knows that some of 
 the big men won t agree with us? And I m not convinced 
 that the time has come when a strong letter to the Trans 
 cript won t affect public opinion in Boston. I m inclined 
 to think, Hugh," she had added with a laugh, "that you 
 don t know Boston so well as you think you do." 
 
 "That s a leaf out of Henry Sumner s book. He said 
 the same thing, you remember." 
 
 "A leaf! So he did; and he ought to be a much better 
 judge than I." 
 
 Such had been their dialogue. Yes, it was he who had 
 egged her on, whose serene self-confidence had added 
 fresh fuel to the fire of conviction. That look when for a 
 moment he had lifted the veil as if he wished to reveal and 
 share with her his inmost secrets had thrown a shadow on 
 her soul a shadow which had deepened as she listened to 
 Henry s sinister insinuation, and then had faded away be 
 fore the specific comfort which the same speech provided. 
 Whatever the current methods influences which her 
 ally deplored, he, their strongest censor, had not only spon 
 taneously admitted that he would be unable to derive 
 proofs of their existence from this special encounter where 
 she had taken sides, but also that in this case, if relied on, 
 they must necessarily prove unavailing. Therefore her 
 final words to her antipodal partner (she rejoiced in the 
 phrase) had been those of relief. She had heard from his 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 383 
 
 own lips that she might relax for a little the vigilance 
 which he had forced her to maintain since the day when 
 she had listened to his nameless unproved charges. Not 
 that she believed for an instant a single one of them to be 
 true, but she rejoiced in the license to give herself up to the 
 new-found joy of this prospective game of battledoor and 
 shuttlecock without a cloud on the horizon of her feminine 
 ardor for the fray. 
 
 Priscilla awoke three days later to find that the labor of 
 conviction to which she had thus pledged her energies was 
 no sinecure. The artist, Burton s answer to Henry s letter 
 in the Transcript, was supplemented by two other replies 
 from independent scources, and in the same issue appeared 
 a fierce denunciation of the fountain on the score of im 
 propriety signed by Reverend Mr. Leonard. As Morgan 
 Drake had predicted, the Bacchante had become a burn 
 ing question, and Boston was shaken to its solid centre by 
 the convulsion of two contending forces which sought 
 supporters in every direction. A counter petition was in cir 
 culation engineered by a committee of which Oliver Spin 
 ney was the chairman, and no time was to be lost so 
 Henry informed her over the telephone. A house-to-house 
 canvass in her most becoming frock and with her most en 
 gaging manners this was what she suddenly found herself 
 committed to; and when she was not thus employed, it 
 was necessary to be closeted with Henry in order to com 
 pare notes and circumvent the activity and wiles of their 
 opponents. Priscilla had scarcely bargained for such 
 prominence; yet it was clearly no time to withdraw. 
 Moreover, alas! (she insisted on the interjection), she had 
 no wish to; every day increased her ardor, and every fibre 
 of her being was tense with the certainty that they were in 
 the right absolutely in the right. But, though she had 
 
384 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 scarcely time to breathe, she recognized that the spur 
 which was driving her on was the despised New England 
 conscience. Yes, she and Henry were tarred with the same 
 brush. He was still infinitely the worse but they had be 
 come pals through sheer destiny. It was fate her heri 
 tage, her cross, and she must make the best of it. And the 
 best for the time being appeared to be to follow its behest 
 and eat every word which she had hitherto uttered against 
 those who chose to be censors and to clog the wheels of 
 progress. Oh, the humor of it! But was not her downfall 
 lamentably sad ? 
 
 Meanwhile the contest waxed in intensity every hour. 
 Numerous recruits were at Priscilla s beck and call, and 
 she had sage counsellors at her elbow. Miss Georgiana 
 Chippendale pledged not only her time, her horses and her 
 money, but sacrificed her principles by having a telephone 
 put into her house in order to be in constant touch with 
 the two leaders. She wrote notes and made personal vis 
 its; she fumed against her nephew Chauncey, and she 
 declined to receive her brother Harrison when he called, 
 declaring that, like the action of waves upon a rock, his 
 life-long habit of catering to radical ideas had eaten away 
 his moral tissue. From Mrs. Sumner Priscilla received 
 daily suggestions over the telephone, and twice she went 
 to the Beacon Street house to talk over the situation with 
 her and her two daughters. Both of the latter were solicit 
 ing signatures. Mrs. Paton was covering Cambridge, 
 arguing that questions of eternal fitness knew no local 
 boundaries. Her sister Lily had joined forces with their 
 cousin Margaret, the only one of the Harrison Chippendale 
 family who had remained true, so Mrs. Sumner phrased 
 it, to the family traditions. Margaret and her sister 
 Dorothy were canvassing as rivals among their common 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 385 
 
 acquaintance; and one day at luncheon at the house Pris- 
 cilla found her allies agog at the news that Georgy 
 Aunt Georgiana s namesake and the beauty of the family 
 had not only inaugurated the plan of an indignation 
 meeting of the admirers of the fountain, but had ar 
 ranged a personal interview with Mr. Blaisdell and per 
 suaded him to preside. Margaret, who, as we know, 
 had a conscientious aptitude for bringing up topics 
 for conversation at family meals, disclosed the facts with 
 an air of triumph, certain of the sensation they would 
 create. 
 
 " Only think," she said, " Georgy called on him, though 
 mama doesn t know Mrs. Blaisdell, and she says he s 
 charming. Chauncey knows him down-town and thinks 
 he s the best possible person to be chairman because of his 
 energy and resources. I don t know exactly what re 
 sources means. I wonder what Aunt Georgiana will say. 
 You know she chopped round not long ago and hasn t a 
 good word now for Mr. Blaisdell. Oh, I forget; he s a re 
 lation of yours, Miss A very," she suddenly exclaimed 
 aghast, warned by a strong pressure of Lily s foot. "I m 
 dreadfully sorry." 
 
 "Yes, he s my brother-in-law and I admire him greatly. 
 But on this occasion we don t agree. He s a great card, 
 I fear. His enthusiasm is contagious, and is certain to 
 rouse the meeting." 
 
 Mrs. Sumner sighed majestically. "I wish he were on 
 our side." This from her was indeed a concession. That 
 which she added in the next breath was well calculated to 
 shock those who knew her to be a scrupulously law-abiding 
 and temperate woman. " If it weren t undignified, I would 
 like to break up the meeting." 
 
 The failure of her daughters to administer a reproof was 
 
386 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 the best evidence of the tensity of the situation. "The 
 first citizens, disguised as Indians, threw the tea chests 
 overboard once." It was Lily who spoke. 
 
 "I found myself saying the same thing the other day," 
 Priscilla could not refrain from remarking. 
 
 Doubtless the reminder that a comparative stranger 
 was a witness to her hint at violence and disposed to be 
 come an accomplice caused Mrs. Sumner to recollect what 
 she really stood for. "It s out of the question," she said. 
 " We must be aggressive, but moderate. They have a right 
 to organize as well as we. But," she added, fingering ner 
 vously the long gold chain which confined her glasses, 
 "we must watch and meet every move on their part, Miss 
 Avery Priscilla. Did you read, my dear, the editorial in 
 this morning s Harbinger ? Henry believes that it was in 
 spired, as he calls it paid for. Oh, I despise with all my 
 soul a sheet which utters one sentiment in its news columns 
 and nullifies it on the editorial page. 
 
 "Who dares think one thing and another tell 
 My heart detests him as the gates of hell." 
 
 Priscilla was thrilled by the spirited dignity with which 
 her hostess uttered the quotation. Was it Pope? The 
 people with New England consciences at least were sure 
 of their quotations. So she reflected and at the same mo 
 ment replied: "Your son called the editorial to my atten 
 tion. He mentioned no names, did not even hint. But I 
 taxed the person who I thought might have inspired it 
 my brother-in-law. He didn t write it, but he didn t try to 
 conceal that he knows who did and that he can pull other 
 er strings if he chooses as if we were so many pup 
 pets." Priscilla quailed before the ring of her own phrase- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 387 
 
 ology. Could it be possible that she was speaking thus of 
 Blaisdell? She had taken pains also to exculpate Henry 
 from partnership in the charge. 
 
 Mrs. Sumner shuddered. "It is the time for all people 
 who can see straight to stand shoulder to shoulder. I am 
 glad that the clergy are roused and have organized." 
 
 "I wish we could do without them, mama," said Mrs. 
 Paton. "They are likely to misrepresent us." 
 
 "The important thing, my child, is to get rid of the 
 fountain. It will be time enough then to analyze the 
 causes which led to that result." 
 
 "Besides, I tell everybody," said Lily, "that we do not 
 object to the little lady because she is nude." 
 
 "A great deal will depend on the result of the discus 
 sion at the Mother Eve s Club," said Mrs. Sumner, laying 
 her hand gently on Priscilla s sleeve. " Miss Winston, of 
 course, has many followers; but I shall speak myself, and 
 you must certainly do so." 
 
 Priscilla found herself consenting like clay in the 
 hands of the potter, as she afterward reflected. If she 
 chose to believe that the promise had been extracted from 
 her, she knew as she faced the meeting four days later, that 
 she was tasting the joys of combat, as well as fulfilling 
 her pledge. On the occasions when she had spoken at the 
 Mother Eve s Club she had been conscious of listeners. 
 She coveted the art of speaking well on her feet; it was so 
 eminently practical. She would say what she had to say 
 in no diffident, mealy-mouthed manner; she would make 
 herself thoroughly audible; every one should feel at all 
 events that she harbored no "ifs" and "buts," and that she 
 had complete faith in her cause. Blaisdell had taught her 
 this at least. There she ought to have the advantage of 
 Miss Winston, whose voice was feeble from recurring 
 
388 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 laryngitis and who always qualified her utterances from 
 a constitutional fear of over-statement. 
 
 It could be said fairly of exciting debates at the Mother 
 Eve s Club that it was in order for every one to talk at once. 
 More strictly speaking, it was out of order, but the habit. 
 No one forbore to talk or felt constrained to listen because 
 some other woman appeared to hold the floor, unless the 
 spirit moved. And the spirit rarely moved except in the 
 case of a few individuals who towered rhetorically above 
 the rest. Mrs. Sumner and Miss Winston were both 
 among these privileged speakers, the former as a woman 
 of aristocratic traditions who cherished lofty ideals, the 
 latter as a subtle thinker capable of nice discriminations. 
 Yet habitually privileged as they were, so intense was 
 the feeling on this occasion that neither escaped inter 
 ruptions. At the moment when Mrs. Sumner was ex 
 plaining in her stately way why the statue was intrinsically 
 unworthy, no less than three other members forgot them 
 selves so far as to address those nearest them in excited 
 tones. In the case of Miss Winston, who depended largely 
 for her effect on closely reasoned logic, the noise was even 
 more disconcerting. If Mrs. Sumner had looked affronted, 
 she appeared distressed. The secret sense of the meeting 
 was that neither had done herself justice; that the question 
 was left just where it had been before they began to 
 speak. 
 
 Priscilla had scarcely opened her lips before there was a 
 lull, which became complete as she proceeded. Those who 
 listened, if they sought a reason why their regular orators 
 had seemed labored, must have concluded that in com 
 parison with her they were old-fashioned. She spoke so 
 simply, so forcibly, so clearly, so enthusiastically, and so 
 briefly. Every woman in the room could hear each word 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 389 
 
 without straining her ears, and she showed no affectations. 
 Even those who purposed to scoff or to interrupt were 
 spellbound and held their peace; she had finished and 
 resumed her seat before they had recovered from their 
 fascination. Then the hubbub was renewed, but with 
 a difference. The tide had been turned; the waverers had 
 been won over. When the vote was taken five minutes later 
 the Mother Eve s Club had committed itself against the 
 Bacchante by the vote of 56 to 41 one of the largest 
 meetings in its history. For Priscilla it was a personal tri 
 umph. Her confederates flocked around her to press her 
 hand, and Mrs. Sumner whispered, "When they treated 
 me so rudely, child, I feared that the day was lost, but you 
 were a host in yourself. I have never seen the club so agi 
 tated over anything." 
 
 So much was gained, and somewhat, Priscilla could feel, 
 by her personal efforts. But the Mother Eve s Club was 
 only one of many forces. On the same side were most of 
 the clergy, half of the art critics, and many representative 
 citizens; against these were arrayed other representative 
 citizens, the rest of the art critics and the majority of the 
 Sphinx Club. Every day some new body male or female 
 in its membership put itself on record for or against. 
 Every one of any importance and hundreds of none had 
 been canvassed to express an opinion. If they "hedged," 
 like Mrs. Paul Dudley, for instance, they were pilloried in 
 the minds of both factions. Each side had its monster 
 petition, the result of many comings and goings by a well- 
 organized if hysterical staff. Priscilla herself was the cus 
 todian of the one and Oliver Spinney of the other. Thus 
 far the trustees had given no indication as to their probable 
 action; presumably they were waiting for these formidable 
 documents which were known to be nearly ready for sub- 
 
390 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 mission. Certain people were on their way from Europe, 
 or were in too deep mourning to be approached for a few 
 days hence the delay. Meanwhile those most interested 
 were on tenter hooks, and cudgelling their brains for fresh 
 ammunition, while the buzz of the controversy was begin 
 ning to be heard in every ward of the city. It was currently 
 reported that Mr. Blaisdell and Mr. Coldthurst had 
 fallen out at a meeting of the directors of Electric Coke 
 because of their opposite views regarding the Bacchante, 
 and that the latter had lost his temper and threatened to 
 resign. To cap this climax, one of Miss Georgiana Chip 
 pendale s fat carriage horses dropped dead on Beacon Hill 
 as a direct result of overwork in pursuit of signatures. 
 
 Henry s congratulations on her brilliant performance at 
 the Mother Eve s Club were lavishly bestowed on Pris- 
 cilla. Did it not more than justify his belief that she would 
 be the most effective of leaders? He did not conceal his 
 delight; but, literally, this was no time for love affairs; 
 success hung in the balance and the evenings were not long 
 enough for necessary discussion of the constantly changing 
 aspects of the situation. But in this daily intercourse they 
 had begun to talk with a frankness which spared no indi 
 vidual, provided he or she were an enemy, and which at 
 last found itself tracing most clews to the same source. 
 There was no longer hesitation on the part of either of 
 them in mentioning Blaisdell by name. Direct proofs of 
 complicity in this or that machination were usually miss 
 ing but suspicion almost invariably pointed in the same 
 direction. Yet, though Henry, when it came to the point, 
 did not mince his words, the accusation most frequently 
 proceeded from Priscilla, and generally in consequence of 
 virtual admissions by the chief enemy himself. And 
 strangely enough for it puzzled her these thinly-veiled 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 391 
 
 smiles and knowing insinuations of responsibility were not 
 wrung from him by taxing, but were deliberately proffered 
 to her as if to repeat his good-humored warning that her 
 cause was doomed to defeat and, like a juggler brimming 
 over with affability, to let her see the cards disappearing 
 up his sleeve. Did he control certain newspapers? Un 
 questionably; why not? Were certain organizations of 
 which he was the financial mainstay clamorous for the re 
 tention of the fountain? So it seemed; he gloried in the 
 fact. Was the uglier rumor true that certain impecunious 
 individuals both down-town and up were giving their whole 
 time to canvassing signatures ? His twinkling eyes did not 
 deny the soft impeachment; was not the laborer worthy of 
 his hire? 
 
 Priscilla refrained from stopping to think. If her former 
 champion refused to disclaim responsibility for certain re 
 sults, she was exonerated from doing so for him. If it were 
 no time for love affairs as surely it was not it was none 
 for passing judgment, simply time for accepting live facts 
 and endeavoring to counteract or minimize their influence. 
 Thus she not only found herself able to listen calmly to 
 the evidence which Henry accumulated down- town, but she 
 did not shrink from formulating for his ears the hints which 
 Blaisdell let fall. If she needed a stimulant, Hugh s con 
 tinuous serenity, which never wavered, provided one. He 
 seemed to regard them both as children. 
 
 A week after the vote at the Mother Eve s Club 
 Henry came in one afternoon for his daily confabulation 
 with a light in his eyes which told her that he had some 
 thing important to divulge. 
 
 "I have challenged your brother-in-law," he said, "to 
 a joint debate before the trustees of the library." He 
 waited a moment evidently expecting the surprise which 
 
392 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Priscilla did not attempt to conceal. " My only fear is that 
 he will not accept." 
 
 "Why shouldn t he accept?" 
 
 " Because he professes to make fun of the opposition; 
 to think us especially me, of no importance." 
 
 Priscilla drew a long breath. "That has been his con 
 stant attitude and a very provoking one." 
 
 "My only hope is that, realizing his inability in this 
 case to manipulate the strings, he may decide that to 
 crush me in the presence of all Boston is his best oppor 
 tunity." 
 
 " I see." There was just a shade of consternation in her 
 tone which, far from resenting, he deliberately catered to 
 by adding, "I am fully alive to the risk the inequality 
 between us. I am only David with a sling and he is a 
 modern giant." 
 
 "You do look like David; you certainly do." The 
 comparison evidently entertained and appealed to her. 
 "And to tell the truth, Hugh has in this instance behaved 
 like a Philistine a modern Philistine." 
 
 " I think so, of course." A moment later he said : " You 
 would present the case more effectively than I; I know 
 that perfectly well. But I couldn t make up my mind to 
 abdicate; for even if this were the occasion on which a 
 woman should take the leading part, I covet this particular 
 opportunity." 
 
 He, the prudent, was throwing prudence to the winds; 
 he, the conventional, was staking their cause on a single 
 chance; he, her ally, had acted without consulting her. 
 "I? I should remain tongue-tied before the magnetism of 
 this modern Goliath. On what do you rely for a sling, 
 David?" Priscilla did not disguise that she had become 
 the doubter now. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 393 
 
 "On the mere truth. The time has never been when 
 Boston would not listen to and heed the truth clearly 
 stated." 
 
 A Puritan David truly! His expression recalled to her 
 the statues of the minute men of Concord, the old-time 
 photographs of the young volunteers of 61 in their regi 
 mentals; there was the same ascetic, resolute ardor, the 
 same wistful austerity. His observant eagle profile was 
 radiant with a familiar poetry a poetry to which she had 
 chosen to be blind. He stood like his forbears for fighting 
 for the truth as he saw it, and strange irony of destiny 
 that transfigured gaze bade her plainly understand that the 
 image of her, the despiser of his creed, was imprinted on 
 the fabric of his cause. It bade her understand that for her 
 sake he had risked all even the truth for which he stood 
 on one hazard. A desperate hazard truly, of which he 
 would make her the scapegoat, if all were lost. Priscilla 
 smiled to herself; then, as she regarded her suitor, this 
 verse long dormant her father had taught it to her when 
 a little girl stole into her thoughts. 
 
 "Though love repine and reason chafe, 
 There came a voice without reply 
 Tis man s perdition to be safe 
 When for the truth he ought to die. " 
 
 It was not for her to interfere or criticise. It was all of 
 his doing; he had issued the challenge without consulta 
 tion and of his own free will. If he and her cause their 
 cause were doomed to defeat, she had at least this to 
 comfort her that he had shown himself unjustifiably rash 
 but commendably human. 
 
394 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 IT was Blaisdell s abiding conviction that, had he not 
 been summoned hastily from the meeting where he and 
 Henry had agreed to lock horns in joint debate, the Bac 
 chante would never have been removed from Boston. 
 
 His speech had been nipped in the bud at the critical 
 moment. All Boston was present. Henry, the challenger, 
 had spoken for three-quarters of an hour, and his turn to 
 reply had come. He had begun by classing his opponent 
 with those who deemed the fountain " unworthy" because 
 of the nudity of the central figure and who would fain 
 clothe all masterpieces. At this point Henry had sprung 
 to his feet and lost his temper, as he had hoped. 
 
 "You know better, Mr. Blaisdell. I have more than 
 once explained to you that Mr. Leonard s objections to 
 the fountain and ours those of the citizens whom I rep 
 resent have very little in common. 
 
 This had given Blaisdell the opening which he desired. 
 The censorious Sumner could always be counted on to 
 display sooner or later a lack- of tact. "You have inter 
 rupted me," he resumed, "though I never once interrupted 
 you during the course of your eloquent peroration. But 
 I welcome the interruption; for, if I do not mistake the 
 murmurs which your last remark has called forth. An 
 other interruption ? Certainly; I yield the floor for a mo 
 ment with pleasure to my friend, Mr. Coldthurst, whose 
 voice I recognize." 
 
 "I rise merely to state that I hold in my hand a petition 
 signed by over 4000 men and women of Boston who are 
 not afraid to put themselves on record as opposed to the 
 nude in art if this statue is to be recognized as a master 
 piece. That s all." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 395 
 
 "I see I am not mistaken. I see, too, that the gentle 
 man my friend who has just sat down has the complete 
 courage of his convictions which it seems that his allies 
 have not. A house divided against itself cannot stand." 
 Blaisdell had been looking over the heads of Henry s ad 
 herents to that part of the hall occupied by the faction 
 to which Mr. Coldthurst belonged. Turning now so that 
 he squarely faced the trustees he had continued with 
 telling emphasis. "But I have the boldness to assert 
 if it be boldness that there is no division between them. 
 The reason for the opposition of each is identical, though 
 one of them may call it by a different name. There is 
 such a condition as self-deception honest, but none the 
 less palpable self-deception. I intend to analyze the argu 
 ment of my predecessor and to make clear to you beyond 
 the shadow of a doubt that it is because this masterpiece 
 I do not shrink from the word represents the nude with 
 convincing but unconventional freedom that it is repug 
 nant to these gentlemen and ladies from the Back Bay as 
 well as to the 4000 signers who condemn it openly on 
 that score. I will make this so evident before I finish that 
 I shall not be surprised if some of these true lovers of art 
 as I believe them to be ask permission to sign our 
 petition in order not to remain longer in the same boat 
 with my friend Mr. Coldthurst." 
 
 As he paused Blaisdell had turned an amiable side 
 glance in Henry s direction as if he expected perhaps 
 hoped for another ebullition of temper, and at that very 
 moment some one had plucked his sleeve and he had been 
 informed of the imperative summons from home; Lora 
 was gravely ill and he must come at once. 
 
 His wife had been ailing for several days, and during 
 the last twenty-four hours she had suffered considerable 
 
396 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 pain. Attendance at the meeting, to which she had been 
 gaily looking forward, had been tabooed by the physician 
 who hinted at appendicitis. Her mother had remained at 
 her bedside to keep her company, and though Blaisdell 
 suspected when he read the note which the messenger 
 brought that Mrs. Avery had magnified the gravity of the 
 case, he could not disregard the mandate to the effect 
 that Lora must be operated on that night and he must 
 come without delay. It was very unfortunate, for who 
 should take his place? There were half a dozen of his 
 confederates bubbling over with enthusiasm. He ran 
 through their qualifications hastily in his mind. Burton ? 
 Spinney ? Chauncey Chippendale ? No one of them had 
 seemed to him exactly the man. He himself was the only 
 person thoroughly prepared ; he had been looking forward 
 to toying with and finally crushing Priscilla s ally as a cat 
 disposes of a mouse. And yet, as a generous antagonist, he 
 was ready to admit that Henry had acquitted himself more 
 convincingly and less like an amateur than he had ex 
 pected. So much the more reason for endeavoring to 
 make him lose his temper. So much the greater need of 
 an adequate presentation of their case. Postponement? 
 It was imperative to strike while the iron was hot, for they 
 could never hope for another such crowded meeting. An 
 adjournment to enable him to complete his argument 
 would put a damper on their cause. So reflecting, he had 
 made his excuses to the trustees, and on the spur of the 
 moment had suggested to his flustered associates, "Why 
 not Chauncey Chippendale?" The latter was as likely as 
 any of the others to make a creditable showing. If the 
 effort were a success, Chauncey would owe the opportunity 
 to him. If the Bacchante were banished from Boston, 
 Chauncey s prestige must inevitably suffer. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES N 397 
 
 The Bacchante had been banished from Boston. Even 
 the poignant distress of the last month had not rendered 
 Blaisdell impervious to the smart of defeat failure in car 
 rying out what he had set his heart on performing. Indeed, 
 the decision of the trustees had not been rendered until 
 after the first agony of his bereavement was over and he 
 had lifted his disconsolate head to face the world alone. 
 Lora his little Lora, was dead buried in Mt. Auburn, 
 and one of the consequences of her fatal illness in his eyes 
 had been the triumph of the narrow-minded element in 
 Boston over those who, like himself, were striving to eradi 
 cate provincialism. 
 
 Death was one of the forces of life which Blaisdell hither 
 to had disregarded. Not only were his affections grievously 
 wounded, but destiny had dealt him a buffet between the 
 eyes and his relations with her were strained. It was no 
 comfort to him to be informed that no human power could 
 have saved his wife;, that, although one of the most skilful 
 of surgeons had performed the operation within an hour 
 after his hurried return from the trustees meeting, the 
 abscess had already broken and blood poisoning begun to 
 set in. As he looked at Lora in her casket Blaisdell pre 
 ferred a casket as being less funereal and stiff than "cof 
 fin," just as he fancied the phrase " floral tributes" he 
 shrank from the appalling knowledge that his gay-hearted, 
 sensible, practical little wife would never speak again. 
 How devoted she had been to him! She worshipped the 
 ground he trod on; and he had idolized her. How she 
 loved life ! And how cruel, how incomprehensible that she 
 should be snatched away just as her ambitions were about 
 to be realized and her complete happiness assured. 
 
 Blaisdell brushed away the tears which welled into his 
 eyes at this reminder that Lora s last days had been em- 
 
398 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 bittered yes, embittered by that same Boston provin 
 cialism. There were scores to be settled when she had 
 been laid to rest. But for the moment the last sad rites 
 must be considered ; he wished her to have a lavish funeral 
 a beautiful funeral. When his mother-in-law inquired 
 whether he desired to have inserted in the newspaper notice 
 friends are kindly requested not to send flowers, "he al 
 most fiercely answered: "Buried without flowers? The 
 darling delighted in flowers, as she did in everything bright 
 and joyous and wholesome. There shall be flowers every 
 where, and the more who send them, the more she would 
 be pleased." 
 
 "I told Priscilla so. She had a notion that Lora might 
 like it the other way or as is usual now on the Back 
 Bay." 
 
 "Because they are all so bent on stifling their emotions 
 so afraid of letting the milk of human kindness have full 
 sway. I shall be glad if every one in Boston who knew 
 Lora feels impelled to testify by floral tributes what a dear 
 little woman she was." Then after a pause, he inquired 
 suddenly: "Priscilla suggested that? I don t understand 
 what has come over Priscilla lately. One would suppose 
 that she would like to have the final leave-taking as bright 
 and beautiful as we can make it and the dear one would 
 have us make it." Blaisdell s heart ached. His step 
 sister s manifest and freely proffered sympathy had already 
 been a great comfort to him. But this discord gave a fresh 
 wrench to his nerves. What had possessed her to take such 
 a distorted view ? 
 
 "She said something," continued Mrs. Avery, "to the 
 effect that when every Tom, Dick and Harry sends them, 
 flowers become an intrusion. I guess, though, that even 
 Boston exclusiveness can t dam up human sympathy." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 399 
 
 "Amen!" murmured Blaisdell, for his mother-in-law 
 had condensed his own sentiments into an epigram. 
 
 Boston had risen nobly to the occasion. At least, it 
 seemed so to the sorrowing husband and mother. "How 
 shocking the death of poor little Mrs. Blaisdell with every 
 thing to live for and two children of the age when they 
 most need a mother s care; and she was just beginning to 
 be known socially! Isn t it sad ?" such was the commis 
 erating comment which ran from lip to lip among those 
 who heard the tidings. One touch of nature makes the 
 whole Back Bay kin; and even to those who looked askance 
 at Lora s aggressiveness, the circumstances seemed unu 
 sually pathetic. She was so young and pretty, and if she 
 had lived, there was no knowing what her husband s mar 
 vellous capacity for money-making, combined with her own 
 clothes, might have secured for her. Hers was one of the 
 cases where people went out of their way, as Morgan 
 Drake put it, to send flowers. In saying so he recalled how 
 he had shuddered some years previous when Blais 
 dell, speaking of the death of a common acquaintance, 
 had said: "I didn t know him well enough to go to the 
 funeral, but I sent some roses." Well-bred Boston did 
 not thus overstep the mark, but some, who felt in their 
 hearts that they had been, perhaps, a little hard on Lora, 
 decided to do both after making sure from a perusal of the 
 Transcript that they would not be taking a liberty. On 
 the other hand, Blaisdell s intimate friends down-town his 
 partner Delano and Mr. Coldthurst and Mr. Spencer for 
 instance ordered elaborate floral designs. They wished 
 to do the handsome thing and they knew instinctively that 
 Blaisdell, who had been their benefactor on many occa 
 sions, would expect it on this day of great tribulation. 
 
 The roses sent by Mr. and Mrs. Chauncey Chippendale 
 
400 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 were in perfect taste but the most exquisite of their kind. 
 Miss Georgiana had temporarily dismissed her prejudices 
 and sent a wreath of ivy on the plea of her affection for 
 Priscilla. Trinity Church was crowded. Reporters, all 
 of them known personally to Blaisdell, were present with 
 their note-books. The chancel was a mass of color the 
 work of professional decorators supervised by Priscilla, 
 and the singing was a conspicuous feature. There was a 
 moment when BlaisdelPs mood inclined him to dispense 
 with every form of mourning. "She has a smile on her 
 lips she looks as though she were asleep. We will have 
 no dirges only joyous music," he said. Then he broke 
 down before the silence of the dead and suffered the con 
 ventionalities to be observed. It was an impressive funeral. 
 The newspapers gave space to it and mentioned the names 
 of those present from diverse walks of life. That portion 
 of Boston which had never heard of Mrs. Hugh McDowell 
 Blaisdell surmised that some one out of the common had 
 died, and among that portion which had there were some 
 who, after a decent pause, ventured to wonder out loud in 
 the privacy of their homes how long her husband would 
 remain single. "I give him two years at furthest," said 
 Mrs. Harrison Chippendale. " A man so rich as he is re 
 puted to be, with two young children, is certain to marry; 
 ought to marry, perhaps. But I only hope for the sake of 
 Boston that he will wait a year." 
 
 Harder to bear even than the days prior to the obsequies 
 had been those immediately following them when at every 
 step Blaisdell encountered some new reminder of his wife. 
 But it was characteristic of him to endeavor from the mo 
 ment Lora was buried to throw off the incubus of sorrow 
 which destiny had laid upon his spirit. Everything must 
 go on just as before; everything must be done just as Lora 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 401 
 
 would have wished it. Her jewelled work-box, her port 
 folio and other personal possessions must not be touched or 
 removed. A death mask had been taken; he would have 
 a charming bust of her features, and her portrait should 
 be painted by the greatest living artist, for nothing which 
 he possessed did her full justice. He talked of her freely, 
 and directed that the children should be encouraged to do 
 the same. So far as was humanly possible he would be 
 cheerful confront the inevitable with fortitude. Lora 
 would wish him to mourn her profoundly there had 
 been almost a touch of greediness in her desire to be loved; 
 but she would be the first to recognize that what must be 
 must be and to bid him to renew valiantly the struggle of 
 life. It would be a struggle; existence had lost its zest. 
 Yet it was his duty for the sake of the children not to 
 let his grief sap his energies. 
 
 The children ! How ambitious she would have been for 
 them. Dorothy was nearly fourteen; the boy not quite 
 twelve; just at the formative age. Their education would 
 be an absorbing interest. There was the dancing class; 
 Blaisdell recalled Lora s solicitude her indignation at her 
 failure to have Dorothy included. Here was one matter 
 to be rectified promptly or there would be trouble 
 trouble down-town. And the dear little woman had never 
 been invited to the Puritan balls, on which her heart was 
 set. Yes, there were, indeed, scores to settle and the chil 
 dren s future to be made secure. The boy should go to 
 Harvard and to Europe afterward ; travel, learn languages, 
 and have every advantage which great wealth could com 
 mand; and he would see that there was no house in Bos 
 ton so exclusive that Lora s daughter was not welcome. 
 She should have the handsomest coming-out ball ever 
 eiven in the city, and her marriage portion should match 
 
402 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 that of any princess. Lora was in the grave, but in her 
 children, flesh of her flesh, spirit of her spirit, she still 
 survived. 
 
 As he thus lifted his stricken head to face the future, the 
 first impression which Blaisdell received was that his sister- 
 in-law understood his purpose and was silently tenderly 
 abetting it. She had stepped into the breach and been at 
 his right hand from the hour when death had entered the 
 house, looking after the children and taking charge of the 
 minor arrangements, for Mrs. Avery was limp and dumb 
 from grief. From the moment when she had come to him 
 with outstretched- hands and eyes which revealed the 
 depths of the sorrow and sympathy which she forbore to 
 put into words he knew that she yearned with all her heart 
 to help and to spare him. He understood that she was 
 there to do, and, if possible, anticipate his bidding; she 
 asked no unnecessary questions, she shielded him from 
 minor responsibilities; she moved noiselessly yet alertly 
 about the house, giving needed instructions, and now that 
 the funeral was over, maintaining the domestic routine, 
 until such time as he should choose to assume control. 
 She had disciplined her grief; her face wore an aspect of 
 hardy brightness as if her thought were, "I cannot hope to 
 console you, but life must be taken up again in the old 
 grooves and I am here to aid you to be cheerful." Did she 
 not divine his willingness to speak of Lora? Second 
 his wish that nothing should be changed and everything go 
 on as if his wife were still mistress of his house ? She sat 
 with him every evening in the large, lonely library, and 
 they talked of the dead of the sort of monument he should 
 erect to her memory a hospital? a training school for 
 girls ? of the marble bass-relief which he hoped to have 
 executed by St. Gaudens and of the bust he intended 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 403 
 
 to order. Usually Mrs. Avery was in the room, but her 
 habitual loquacity seemed stayed, as if her well-spring of 
 life had been frozen at the source by the icy hand which 
 had robbed her of her only child. 
 
 And yet it was his mother-in-law who presently had 
 reminded Blaisdell that this interregnum could not last, and 
 who forced the sternly practical on his attention. Some 
 thing definite must be arranged about the children. Ought 
 they not to have a governess a superior person who would 
 care for them when she and Priscilla were not at hand ? 
 She herself and Priscilla would see as much as possible of 
 the poor little darlings, but at best they must necessarily 
 be without a suitable supervising eye many hours of every 
 day. And the right sort of woman should combine the 
 qualities of house-keeper and be able to save Hugh the 
 worry of looking after the servants and ordering dinner. 
 
 This suggestion was broached by Mrs. Avery one even 
 ing after she had been sitting for over an hour without 
 speaking. Blaisdell had forgotten her presence in the 
 large room which was lighted only by two shaded lamps; 
 her voice issuing from a remote corner in shadow broke in 
 upon his dialogue with Priscilla beside the embers of the 
 wood fire. 
 
 "Something definite ought to be decided about the 
 children." 
 
 Having thus broken the spell of silence, Mrs. Avery 
 became tearfully verbose; but though her phrases issued 
 jerkily, their purport as a whole was unmistakably definite. 
 
 When she paused Blaisdell did not answer for a moment. 
 "A governess? A house-keeper? There must be some 
 one to look after the children, of course; but the right indi 
 vidual or no one. It may take months to find her. I do 
 not feel like considering the matter just yet." 
 
404 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "But when Priscilla goes the motherless dears ought to 
 have some one besides the servants, even though you are 
 obliged to change. As their grandmother, I think you 
 should advertise immediately. It s a painful idea having 
 any one er new in the house; but you yourself, Hugh, 
 keep saying that everything must go on just as Lora would 
 wish; and I m sure the poor child would wish you to en 
 gage some superior rather elderly person right away, even 
 if she isn t perfection. Otherwise the darlings will be 
 terribly lonely. A man doesn t know, Hugh a man 
 doesn t know, no matter how clever he may be. I leave it 
 to Priscilla." 
 
 Mrs. Avery had never taken so firm a stand against her 
 son-in-law during the whole course of his married life, and 
 her sudden change from a state of mental coma to one bor 
 dering on garrulous opposition prompted Blaisdell to turn 
 toward the authority appealed to. He judged her impor 
 tunity to be the result of disordered nerves. But if Priscilla 
 agreed that the matter was urgent, he might be willing to 
 consider it further. 
 
 "I am in no haste to go home again; I m ready to re 
 main with the children so long as Hugh desires if he 
 wishes me to stay. Sooner or later he will find the proper 
 person." 
 
 Priscilla s offer was not made on the spur of the mo 
 ment, but was the culmination of a thought which had 
 possessed her ever since the first shock of Lora s death had 
 spent itself who was to look after those poor children ? 
 Who better than she ? What more useful work could she 
 turn her comparatively idle hands to than this labor of love ? 
 Was it not the most suitable of all employments for an old 
 maid or rather, to save her from the rigidities which be 
 set old maids, especially in Boston ? And it was fortunate 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 405 
 
 that she was no younger for had she been a girl of 
 twenty, the conventional might have demurred at her resi 
 dence under the roof of her step-brother-in-law. As it was, 
 this would be the most natural of arrangements. Her other 
 interests were insignificant in comparison with the privilege 
 of guarding and helping to guide these motherless children. 
 Who else would fill the place if she did not ? She could 
 almost hear Lora s voice appealing to her from the grave. 
 
 Mrs. Avery gave a joyous gasp. " Of course, there s no 
 hurry if you re willing. I had taken for granted you were 
 anxious to get back to your studies, clubs and charities. 
 But if you re ready, Priscilla dear, to stay until the proper 
 person is found, why, that s the ideal arrangement, isn t 
 it, Hugh?" 
 
 Despite all the evidences of his sister-in-law s sympathy, 
 this possibility had never occurred to Blaisdell. Not that 
 it was too much to ask; on the contrary, now that it was 
 suggested, he wondered that they all had not hit on this at 
 once as the obvious, natural thing. As he felt the glow of 
 satisfaction which this sane solution of many difficulties 
 brought with it, he asked himself eagerly why there should 
 be any limit to her stay. 
 
 "The proper person? No one else can ever be the 
 proper person in comparison with Priscilla. She is the 
 natural protector of Lora s children if she will consent to 
 remain; the one our dear Lora would have chosen for 
 Mrs. Avery s place is beside her husband. Why should 
 there be talk of any other person, if Priscilla is ready for 
 their sake to make this house her home? I ask you, 
 Priscilla, to remain indefinitely." 
 
 " Indefinitely ? Permanently ? I hadn t thought of that. 
 It s better still; but isn t it asking too much of dear Pris 
 cilla?" Mrs. Avery, visibly startled by the sweeping char- 
 
406 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 acter of the invitation, could not refrain from wavering 
 comment. "It s for her to say, though." 
 
 Priscilla did not ponder her reply. She had long ago 
 weighed the pros and cons. "As you intimate, Hugh, my 
 place for the present seems to be here. My father has his 
 wife and your Lora s children need some feminine sub 
 stitute for a mother s tenderness when you are not at home, 
 We won t talk now of dates or details; but if you like, 
 you may consider my stay permanent until er I change 
 my mind or you do. As to my avocations they will not be 
 altogether interrupted. Or, if they are, what will it really 
 matter? Boston s crop of spinsters could be decimated 
 without interrupting the progress of philanthropy or 
 philosophy." 
 
 " It s settled, then. It s too good to be true." Such was 
 the final fruit of Mrs. Avery s perturbation, and thereupon 
 her feelings found further relief in tears. 
 
 Blaisdell rose from his seat and approaching his sister- 
 in-law, put out both his hands as she had done to him in 
 the hour of his anguish. " It s generous of you and nat 
 ural, too. You have my everlasting gratitude. While you 
 are in this house, consider your slightest wish to be the 
 law." 
 
 "Thank you, Hugh. I trust we shall always agree as 
 to what is best for Lora s children; but, if we don t of 
 course, your wish must be the law." 
 
 He looked her in the eyes as if he would fain challenge 
 her insinuation. Had not her will until within the last six 
 months always been dominated by his ? " We have gener 
 ally agreed in the past about everything," he said. 
 
 " Have we ? I hope we have. I am not sure." 
 
 "There have been trifles" She raised one of her 
 hands, which he held, to check him. "Yes, trifles," she 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 40? 
 
 interrupted. "We needn t discuss them. But no two 
 people can expect to agree about everything. You may be 
 sure, Hugh, that I will do my best for Lora s children." 
 
 Trifles. But were they trifles ? Priscilla asked herself 
 the question after she had gone to her room that evening, 
 as, looking out from her window over the tree tops of 
 the Commonwealth Avenue park at the bright heavens, 
 she composed herself to reflect on the new turn in her 
 affairs. It was a beautiful night. Rain in the forenoon 
 had terminated in a dense fall of snow. This had ceased 
 just before sunset and had been followed by a sharp fall 
 in temperature which had frozen the laden boughs so 
 that the white landscape glittered like an arctic fairy-land 
 and every twig was a spear of ice, while overhead the full 
 moon rode high, playing hide and seek among the rem 
 nants of the clouds which a vehement northwest wind was 
 banishing. For, in the course of twelve consecutive hours 
 in Boston it may thaw, rain, snow, blow and freeze again. 
 
 She had scarcely given a thought to her own past since 
 the sudden tragedy of her sister s death had made every 
 thing else appear unimportant and she had hastened to her 
 brother-in-law s side, seeking to share his burden of sor 
 row. Their minor differences had seemed to vanish as if 
 they never had existed, and even in the harrowing days 
 which followed she had been subconsciously thankful 
 that they met once more on the old terms of concord. 
 Yet now that the pressing question of her immediate 
 future was settled, and she was free once more to think 
 of the living rather than the dead, her mind reverted 
 to the evening of the debate before the trustees of the li 
 brary and to her own enthusiasm on that occasion. The 
 Bacchante! Should the fountain be banished or remain? 
 Although no decision had yet been rendered on the merits 
 
408 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 of that burning question, somehow the controversy seemed 
 to have dwindled into secondary importance and become 
 dwarfed beside the greater issues of life, for one of which 
 she, in common with all which believed itself to be Boston, 
 had momentarily mistaken it. Had the agitated sensi 
 bilities of the rest simmered down? she wondered; or 
 was the dark shadow of her sorrow responsible for her 
 own present indifference ? 
 
 Yet how roused how tense with excitement she had 
 been! And how angry with Hugh when, rising to reply, 
 he had wilfully misconstrued Henry Sumner s opposition. 
 She had never in her life been so indignant with her 
 brother-in-law never felt so completely at odds with 
 him. A trifle ? Even now, as she dwelt on the scene, the 
 blood gathered to her cheeks and her pulses quickened. 
 Why had he said this? He knew that it was false; had 
 appeared to introduce it solely to irritate Henry and con 
 fuse the issue. She had herself felt at the moment a fierce 
 desire to spring to her feet and contradict him. How 
 proud she had been that Henry had lost his temper! No 
 one but a saint or a sage would have failed to do so even 
 though he played into his opponent s hands. Now, the 
 entire incident seemed very far away; and yet an explana 
 tion was still lacking. Presently, when Hugh had in some 
 manner recovered his spirits, she would call him to account 
 for this, and ascertain what excuse he had to offer, if any. 
 
 What a strenuous meeting it had been from first to last ! 
 Henry s opening argument had been delivered with a lucid 
 energy which had surprised her. She had never before 
 heard him speak in public. His voice was a little harsh 
 and nasal; he displayed not much variety or humor, but 
 she realized that his strength was the conviction which he 
 produced of believing every word he uttered that his en- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 409 
 
 thusiasm was not of the lips but of the soul. No wonder 
 that the applause when he sat down was overwhelming; 
 he had omitted nothing; he had stated their case with a 
 thoroughness and force which, because of his righteously 
 indignant faith, became magnetic. And Chauncey Chip 
 pendale had answered him. With lightness, gaiety, appo 
 site sardonic sallies, and a final plea based on reason and 
 liberality, as he had called it. "New York will welcome 
 the Bacchante with open arms if we reject her, and Boston 
 will become ridiculous in the eyes of the nation. Such ar 
 tistic squeamishness is enough to make the sacred codfish 
 at the State House laugh." 
 
 And this had not been the end. Priscilla, as she watched 
 the flying clouds overhead, recalled the aftermath the 
 breaking up of the meeting; how, when it dissolved, many 
 voices continued to agitate the question in little groups all 
 over the hall. How Miss Georgiana Chippendale, in high 
 dudgeon against her nephew for his part in the proceedings 
 and remarking explosively for the benefit of those she met: 
 "Sacred codfish! That boy hasn t the least conception of 
 what we stand for. He makes fun of everything " worked 
 her way gradually to where he was standing in order to 
 exclaim: "I m ashamed of you, Chauncey. You are 
 deficient in moral stamina." 
 
 Priscilla remembered, too, her own brief passage at 
 arms with Miss Winston who had stopped to state with 
 unwonted asperity: "I passed an hour yesterday in care 
 ful inspection of the Bacchante for the fifth time and I 
 consider the position of those who condemn this joyous 
 creature as meretricious to be absurd simply absurd." 
 On the spur of the moment her retort had been: " None are 
 so blind as those who will not see," a ferocity at which she 
 subsequently blushed. But, like every one else at the time, 
 
410 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 her emotions were at fever heat. Miss Winston s nose had 
 trembled so that her eye-glasses fell to the ground, and 
 they had bumped their heads in a mutual endeavor to 
 pick them up. Indeed, the only person who appeared to 
 be reasonably cool was Morgan Drake. He had joined her 
 in the corridor as they passed out, and whispered: "A 
 social historian, if he had lived to be a hundred, would 
 never have a better chance to see Boston worked up to a 
 fury over nothing"; which, not being to her liking, she 
 had instantly replied: "On the contrary, Mr. Drake, a 
 moral principle is at stake; and anything is preferable to 
 remaining on the fence." Decidedly as she reviewed 
 them now her recorded remarks had been tart if not 
 peppery. Thereupon Mr. Drake and this was her reason 
 for exonerating him from the prevailing state of tension- 
 had ignored her crushing speech and said: "I know. 
 Whichever way it s decided, there are a few people on 
 either side who will carry a bitter remembrance of this pro 
 digious controversy to their graves." Thereupon he had 
 recited she had looked them up afterward and found 
 them to be Coleridge s these lines to which, in spite of 
 her impetuous mood, she had deigned to listen attentively: 
 
 "They stood aloof, the scars remaining, 
 Like cliffs which had been rent asunder. 
 A gloomy sea now flows between. 
 But neither heat nor frost nor thunder 
 Shall wholly do away I ween 
 The marks of that which once hath been." 
 
 How all these Bostonians of a certain class could quote! 
 Was she one of those whom Morgan meant? Assuredly 
 not; for she had cooled off; was almost ready to apologize 
 to Miss Winston. Priscilla smiled, then sighed, and she 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 411 
 
 put her hands to her cheeks aware that they were glowing 
 with the awakened memories of the prodigious contro 
 versy. She pulled down the shade and walked away from 
 the window. What a tangle of inconsistencies life was 
 proving to be! A genuine Boston girl! She was just like 
 the rest of them it appeared. A modified specimen with 
 modern redeeming points, but with the same unmistakable 
 substratum. And an old maid into the bargain; a well- 
 preserved, but well-defined old maid. 
 
 Priscilla smiled again and glanced around her at the 
 handsomely furnished spacious chamber "the best spare 
 room," as Lora used to call it bright with gay chintz and 
 the latest elegancies which make for comfort and cheeri- 
 ness; a little too elaborate, perhaps, like the rest of the 
 house; but a few touches would render it homelike. How 
 much better off she was than most old maids with these 
 dear children to watch over. She had health, an 
 abundance of money, and, better still, friends. Men 
 friends, too. What woman of her age could boast of two 
 more devoted, interesting friends than her brother-in-law 
 and Henry Sumner? Decidedly she was to be envied. 
 How unlike they were, yet how individual! What a pity 
 that they were not congenial! She promised herself that 
 when this unfortunate episode of the Bacchante was finally 
 settled, she would make another determined effort to over 
 come their prejudice against each other. For necessarily, 
 now that her home was with Hugh, Henry would be con 
 stantly encountering him when he came to call. The 
 friendship of both of them was very precious to her; and, 
 assuming that Henry had made up his mind to take no for 
 an answer and let well enough alone, she was willing to 
 admit that she was not perfectly sure which of the two, on 
 the whole, she liked best. "There I go," she said to her- 
 
412 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 self, " analyzing my emotions just as I have always vowed 
 that I never would do." 
 
 Upon this Priscilla hastened to get into bed and put out 
 the light by way of dismissing the intruder. As she com 
 posed herself to sleep she was conscious of feeling what she 
 termed settled. Poor Hugh needed all the companionship 
 and consolation she could spare him, and as for the other 
 if he would only continue sensible, they might have many 
 delightful interests in common. 
 
 Two days subsequent to this Priscilla was summoned 
 from her luncheon with the children by a telephone call. 
 
 "Is this Miss Avery?" She recognized Henry s voice 
 at the other end of the wire. "I ve some news for you. 
 The trustees have decided in our favor. The Bacchante 
 is to be removed; the donor has been requested to with 
 draw his gift. Isn t it glorious?" 
 
 The transport in his tone was contagious; she felt the 
 thrill of victory. After all, she was less indifferent than she 
 had supposed. 
 
 "I congratulate you." 
 
 "It was more than half your doing, for you made con 
 verts by the score and formed public opinion when it was 
 wavering." 
 
 "Nonsense. It was your resolute speech which con 
 vinced the trustees that we were in the right. What will 
 the other side say?" 
 
 "I ve just come from the Sphinx Club where Oliver 
 Spinney accosted me with, I hope you re gratified, Henry 
 Sumner, at having organized the damnable conspiracy 
 which is going to retard Boston s artistic growth for 
 twenty-five years. " 
 
 "How absurd!" Was Morgan Drake s prophecy about 
 to become true, she wondered. "I can t escape respon- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 413 
 
 sibility as a co-conspirator and we ve won. I do hope, 
 however, that Boston as a whole will simmer down until 
 the next great agitation." 
 
 He paused for an instant, then resumed : " I suspect from 
 your tone that you think we were a little er hysterical, 
 now that you have had time to simmer down. The precise 
 issue was a small one, but we have a right to remember 
 that a vital principle was at stake." 
 
 "We comforted ourselves with that all through the cam 
 paign," she answered with a laugh. "I cling to it still, 
 fellow-conspirator. 
 
 "I m sure you do. And what I would really like to say 
 is that but for the inspiration I received from you 
 
 "Good-by." Priscilla cut him off abruptly and hung 
 up the receiver. To her practised ear his voice sounded 
 decidedly ominous. It would be too bad, she reflected, if, 
 now that she felt comfortably settled, he should take it into 
 his head to become troublesome again. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 "ALLOW me to congratulate you on the good looks of 
 your stenographer," said Chauncey Chippendale to his 
 Cousin Henry. "She s a peach." 
 
 "You mean Miss Brackett?" 
 
 "I haven t the remotest idea what her name is, my dear 
 fellow, but you know perfectly well the one I mean. The 
 other is homely as a rail fence. Such coyness on your part 
 merits investigation." Thereupon, observing the sem 
 blance of embarrassment which his words produced, 
 Chauncey bent a rallying glance on his cousin. 
 
 Henry had recently moved into more spacious offices. 
 
414 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 His practice was growing. Certain notable victories in the 
 line of what might be called legal forlorn hopes had drawn 
 attention to him. He had attacked with success a railroad 
 lease deemed to be invulnerable, and won a suit involving 
 an easement of light and air, the decision in which had re 
 quired the demolition of the upper stories of a towering 
 office building. As counsel for certain minority stock 
 holders, he was engaged at present in endeavoring to in 
 validate the sale of a certain electric light company, and it 
 was in regard to this last matter that Chauncey had dropped 
 in the first time he had done him the honor of a visit 
 since Henry had been called to the bar. 
 
 "She s a nice girl," said Henry. "She s been with me 
 now over a year. Since I moved in here she has done work 
 occasionally for Uncle Baxter, whom I succeeded in con 
 vincing one day that shorthand and the type- writer are 
 not absolutely fatal to accuracy." 
 
 Their Uncle Baxter Chippendale occupied a room at 
 the opposite end of the same corridor in which Henry s 
 offices were located. He had literally been driven out like 
 a rat by the pulling down of the old-fashioned structure 
 where he had pored over his ledger and cut off coupons for 
 half a century. "If I had known what they were up to, I 
 would have bought the building and prevented it during 
 my lifetime," had been the old gentleman s frequent decla 
 ration while the process of destruction was going on, but 
 he grumblingly admitted that his new quarters, which were 
 approximately in the same spot, were nearly as comfortable 
 as the old. 
 
 The reference to his uncle caused Chauncey to forget 
 his interest in Miss Brackett. "I suppose you ve made 
 his will by this time. Taking offices in the same entry 
 savors of undue influence." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 415 
 
 Henry shook his head. "He got me to draw a deed 
 once when his regular lawyer whose name I don t know 
 was out of town, for which I charged him two dollars. 
 That s the limit to my knowledge of his private affairs." 
 
 "You always were over-conscientious, Henry. Uncle 
 Baxter must be a very rich man; he s one of the kind who 
 hives and never spends. Gilt-edged things every time; or, 
 if by chance he gets a bad egg, he sits on it until it hatches, 
 as it always does in the end. Take Warrior Mills, which 
 the rest of the family sold against his advice; it sells to-day 
 at one hundred per cent, higher than when my father 
 tipped his out. I ve heard he bought reams of Western 
 railroad stocks when they were on their uppers in the dis 
 mal days of the seventies, and tucked them away into his 
 safe. Aunt Georgiana has done well with telephone and 
 Electric Coke, but for steady Dec. 3ist trial balance big 
 profits, year in year out, she isn t in the same class with 
 Uncle Baxter. Some of her favorites have turned out the 
 veriest wildcats. Well, treat the rest of the family fairly if 
 he consults you as to the disposition of his money." 
 
 Chauncey was now virtually the head of Langdon & 
 Company. The retirement of General Horatio Langdon 
 from the firm of which for a generation he had been the 
 controlling spirit was the most important change on State 
 Street which the first of January following the agitation 
 over the Bacchante disclosed. Of the five men whose 
 names were appended to the new articles of partnership 
 published in the newspapers of that day two were the 
 seniors of his son-in-law both in age and experience; but 
 every one in touch with affairs down-town had surmised 
 that this genial but ambitious young man would, like the 
 Turk, brook no rival near the throne. These elders were 
 good office men so Chauncey had intimated privatell N> 
 
416 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 those who shared his confidence, which was taken to sig 
 nify that he and the two juniors both pupils of his own, 
 and one of them like himself, a former foot-ball player- 
 would direct the policy of the new firm, which was to be 
 enterprising. Not that Langdon & Company had ever 
 been lacking in enterprise. On the contrary, Chauncey 
 had always heard that the General as a young man had 
 been noted for his capacity to lead and for his foresight. 
 The old war horse had built up the business at first, 
 strictly an old-fashioned commission business; but he had 
 kept up with the times and had learned the art of under 
 writing bond flotations at say 92 and disposing of them 
 to his customers at from 99 to 101 a very neat, clean 
 transaction. In case the bonds hung fire the banks would 
 carry them; but during his administration they rarely if 
 ever, did hang fire, but had gone like hot cakes been 
 over-subscribed for. 
 
 But an elderly man is not like a young one. He falls into 
 ruts without realizing it; his perceptions grow near-sighted 
 so that he distrusts everything which is not close to his nose 
 so Chauncey generalized. Chauncey, moreover, plumed 
 himself on having helped to keep his father-in-law out of 
 the ruts, as a consequence of which the firm had not merely 
 held its own on the Street, but prospered; nevertheless, he 
 felt that certain opportunities had been neglected, only to 
 be availed of by their competitors, for the sole reason that 
 General Langdon was less quick than formerly to perceive 
 the drift of commercial transactions, and more prone to 
 be appalled by their magnitude. Chauncey s programme 
 was to enlarge the underwriting branch of the business. As 
 the country grew, the number of new enterprises increased, 
 and the directors of old ones were compelled sooner or 
 later to enlarge their facilities all of which meant bor- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 417 
 
 rowing money. He would welcome pursue a liberal 
 attitude toward the numerous railroad, industrial and 
 electric light and water power companies in the market for 
 funds; scrutinize their securities carefully, but refuse to be 
 deterred from negotiating them merely because the enter 
 prises were new or in the far west or the south. Langdon 
 & Company would continue to be conservative and at the 
 same time let their customers in now and then for a good 
 thing something really worth while. In the case of most 
 of these remote public service corporations the right of 
 subscribing for the underlying bonds brought with it a 
 bonus of common stock ; and these shares thus given away 
 often proved so valuable as to wipe out the original cost of 
 the investment and leave the firm and its customers hand 
 somely on velvet. 
 
 A year had passed since Chauncey had found himself in 
 a position where he could thus enlarge the firm s outlook 
 without encountering frequent reluctance which at times 
 became a positive refusal on the part of his father-in-law 
 to participate in this or that syndicate If figures and an 
 enlarged circle of customers were a test, the broader policy 
 of the new leader had been vindicated. Chauncey was cer 
 tainly himself on the surface the embodiment of prosperity. 
 Time in conjunction with good living had enlarged slightly 
 both his cheeks and his waistband ; but the tendency to cor 
 pulence was not unbecoming; it emphasized his amiability 
 and deepened the humorous lines around his mouth without 
 detracting from the nicety of his personal appearance. He 
 was debonair as ever, and, though he lived up to the latest 
 fashion, was still a walking rebuke both to slovenliness and 
 ostentation. It seemed the obvious thing to Henry to retort : 
 
 "I don t see what use you can have for any more money, 
 Chauncey." 
 
418 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Chauncey s brow contracted slightly. "Don t worry 
 about that, dear boy," he said. "I could find use for an 
 extra million any minute." 
 
 "But you must have done exceedingly well. Take 
 Electric Coke alone. Report credits you with owning a lot 
 of it." There was no envy in Henry s tone. He appeared 
 interested solely in demonstrating that his cousin was in 
 disputably prosperous. 
 
 "It sold at $1,000 a share this morning." Chauncey did 
 not conceal his satisfaction, yet he sighed and added: "The 
 stock will sell at double the figure some day, if I obtain the 
 control. At the same time, every share locks up a lot of 
 money and you fellows who aren t married haven t the 
 smallest conception of how much it costs nowadays to live." 
 
 "Very likely not. But I should be able to worry along, 
 it seems to me, on about a fifth of your income as I sup 
 pose it to be and fancy myself abnormally rich from my 
 point of view." 
 
 "Your point of view doesn t include all sorts of things." 
 Chauncey did not think it worth while to enter into details, 
 so obvious were the number and variety of them. "And 
 it doesn t include also having a finger in every financial pie 
 being down for a hundred thousand slice of this, a fifty 
 thousand slice of that, a hundred thousand slice of the other 
 which, of course, argues excellent credit. But a good- 
 sized inheritance of ready cash would establish me on easy 
 street, and I don t mind saying this is the only really envi 
 able residence for a citizen of my multifarious tastes and 
 generally ubiquitous desire to keep up with everything 
 that s going. Which reminds me of what I wished to ask 
 you: When everything is running smoothly and everybody 
 appears to be happy, why disturb the universal harmony 
 by inserting a cog in the wheel of progress? You always 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 419 
 
 were a devil of a fellow for that, Henry. Why not occa 
 sionally instead put a penny in the slot and help things 
 along? Those fellows in Saxonville Electric would have 
 quieted down if you hadn t egged them on." 
 
 "They came to me for advice." 
 
 "And you picked a technical flaw in the sale." 
 
 "They said the property was being sacrificed sold for 
 much less than its value, and that the directors of the two 
 boards were identical." 
 
 "Why not prove the value, then, instead of harking 
 back to Noah s Ark and raking up an infernal defect in 
 the articles of incorporation, which both sides supposed to 
 be perfectly sound ? As a consequence, the stock has fallen 
 fifty per cent, in the last fortnight, and of course, the banks 
 have to be protected. Yet you have the hardihood to in 
 quire what I could do with any more money. I bought 
 a hundred thousand for a quick turn and now, I suppose, 
 I m liable to stay with it for the next ten years. What I 
 really wish to know is whether you ve a good case or are 
 simply bluffing. I won t give it away. It would be a cous 
 inly act to let me know." 
 
 Henry s impulse to resent this cool inquiry was mollified 
 by the appeal to kinship. He could detect behind Chaun- 
 cey s nonchalance symptoms of solicitude. "I m not 
 bluffing; that s not my style. The legal point is a genuine 
 one, but is doubtful; no one can feel sure until we get a 
 decision; and my clients declare that they will go to the 
 Supreme Court of the United States if necessary to test it." 
 
 " Which means a lifetime financially speaking. There s 
 one more nail in the coffin of capitalistic enterprise. I m 
 beginning to agree with my father that this country is going 
 to the devil. A man no sooner gets a fairly good thing but 
 some one else conspires to get it away from him." Chaun- 
 
420 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 cey drew himself up. Different as his figure was from that 
 of his father for he resembled the Floyds he reminded 
 Henry of Mr. Harrison Chippendale by his air of wounded 
 and despondent dignity. "Those fellows were simply dis 
 gruntled. Full value is being paid for the property to my 
 personal knowledge, and the effort to obtain more by delay 
 is nothing but a species of blackmail. On their part of 
 course, not yours," he hastened to add, for he noticed a ris 
 ing gleam of resentment in Henry s eyes. "It s your bread 
 and butter; I recognize that. But isn t one of the logical 
 consequences of being a constitutional obstructionist that 
 one is continually helping to pull down instead of build up ?" 
 
 Henry had long ago schooled himself not to allow 
 Chauncey s invariably patronizing attitude to annoy him. 
 Despite the concluding saw, it was plain that his cousin 
 had taken pains to exonerate him from complicity in the 
 more serious charge. "You see," he replied with a twinkle, 
 " my clients are just as positive on their side that they have 
 been er imposed on. They used a stronger word just 
 as you did. So, if their position is sound, it behooves me, 
 doesn t it, to do my best to pull down, as you call it, in this 
 particular instance? And carrying that argument to its 
 logical conclusion is not helping to pull down in a right 
 eous cause really helping to build up?" 
 
 Chauncey stared a moment with growing amusement, 
 then rose. " I give it up, my dear fellow. You re the same 
 old sixpence, aren t you?" He glanced around him to 
 take in the details of the unostentatious but comfortable 
 quarters; at the high shelves lined with law reports and 
 the walls relieved here and there by an etching of some 
 old legal luminary a lord chancellor or some national 
 master of jurisprudence. "You seem pretty well fixed 
 here," he continued in the tone of one rather surprised to 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 421 
 
 behold surroundings so little open to stricture. He had 
 expected to find them cramped, or at least fusty, despite 
 Henry s recent iconoclastic successes. "You ought to be 
 getting married." 
 
 "After hearing from you how much it costs to live?" 
 
 Chauncey nodded in appreciation of the pertinency of 
 the retort. "I ll confide to you," he said, "that a man in 
 my position doesn t need a lot of the things he has. It s 
 getting used to having things which counts; if you once 
 have them, you can t get rid of them, and other people will 
 expect you to have them. I belong to sixteen clubs, for 
 instance; I was counting up the other day. Half of them 
 I never enter. How often do I use my steam yacht ? About 
 a dozen times in the season. What use have I for two- 
 thirds of the horses in my stable ? There you are. And in 
 return for that confidence," he continued, pausing to light 
 a cigarette which afforded him a moment to choose his 
 words, "I would like to know if you are at liberty to 
 say who is behind your crowd in Saxonville Electric?" 
 
 "Behind them?" 
 
 "Footing the bills. There s a rumor on the Street that 
 Hugh McD. Blaisdell is putting up the requisite dough." 
 
 The suggestion seemed so absurdly incongruous from 
 Henry s standpoint that he answered placidly: "He hasn t 
 paid me anything, if you mean that. My retainer was sent 
 me by the client who consulted me. Besides, I m about 
 the last person in the world whom Mr. Blaisdell would 
 select as a legal adviser." 
 
 " Oh, yes, I remember, you were at loggerheads over the 
 Bacchante. But that idiotic row quieted down long ago. 
 Indeed, he would employ you quick as a shot if he 
 thought you knew the combination which would open 
 the safe." 
 
422 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 " One would think he were a burglar from your metaphor, 
 Chauncey." Since his cousin appeared unaware of the 
 chasm of distrust which yawned between him and Blaisdell, 
 why refer to it ? 
 
 Chauncey rocked himself on his toes contemplatively. 
 "He is a burglar in the sense that he d be extremely glad 
 to see the contents of my tin box transferred to his. We re 
 very chummy when we meet we re interested in lots of 
 the same things; but all the same, I ve a sneaking feeling 
 that Blaisdell would be tickled to death if he heard I was 
 down and out; burst wide open financially. That s the 
 way he s constituted. It s dog eat dog in the lexicon 
 which he has studied ever since he began raking in the 
 stuff, and he intends, if he can, to remain the biggest dog. 
 Natural, if you think of it. I m not complaining. Per 
 haps he will, perhaps he won t. I only wished to inquire 
 if you know whether he is nosing along this particular 
 trail. It seems you don t, Henry, so good day." 
 
 After this monologue, much of which in Henry s ears 
 savored of enigma to which he did not possess the key, 
 Chauncey restored his straw hat to his head and turned on 
 his heel; but as his hand reached the door knob he looked 
 around to add quizzically: "To most fellows I would say 
 be good ; but to you, Henry, it s safe to say, be bad! " 
 
 As, pleased with this witticism, Chauncey walked breez 
 ily through the outer office his glance lingered again appre 
 ciatively on Miss Brackett who was busy type-writing a 
 fair young woman of about twenty-five in a cool costume 
 of summer with becoming ribbons. He realized that she 
 was even more comely than he had supposed. What a 
 pity, he reflected, that she should be wasted on Henry; 
 shut up in a law office when she might adorn his own, for 
 she was pretty enough to help to keep customers stable. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 423 
 
 She seemed modest, too; she ignored his presence as he 
 passed. Recalling Henry s tell-tale embarrassment at his 
 reference to her attractions, he wondered with amusement 
 what it might signify. Henry was no gay Lothario, 
 judging from his blameless past. Would it not be just 
 like him, if he were interested in the girl, to throw 
 practical considerations to the winds and make her an 
 offer of marriage ? His affair with Miss Avery had hung 
 fire so long that he must have given up hope even if he 
 still hankered after the heiress. How would the family 
 feel if it should wake up some morning and read in the 
 newspapers in large head-lines, "Married to his own sten 
 ographer 1 A scion of Boston s bluest blood makes a ro 
 mantic match!" What would Uncle Baxter and Aunt 
 Georgiana say? At least, Henry would bear watching; 
 there was no telling what these visionary, aescetic fel 
 lows would do when it came to a pinch; and all the 
 opposition in the world would do no good if he once made 
 up his mind. Thus absolving himself from responsibility 
 and inwardly entertained by the picturesque if dire possi 
 bility which, in a sense, would be a logical outcome of 
 his cousin s numerous vagaries Chauncey returned to his 
 own haunts, stopping first at his bank to make good the 
 deficiencies in his collateral caused by the shrinkage in 
 Saxonville Electric. 
 
 Although Henry s confusion had been genuine, Chaun 
 cey s interpretation of it was wide of the mark. Far from 
 entertaining a romantic interest for Miss Brackett the re- 
 verse was true; she was or had been enamoured of him. 
 The growing consciousness of this had been troubling 
 Henry for the last six months. Modest soul that he was, 
 he had shrunk from the truth until to be blind to it longer 
 was impossible. That a pretty young woman should fall 
 
424 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 in love with him out of a clear sky without the slightest 
 provocation on his part struck him as so extraordinary that 
 he shut his eyes to and refused to credit the accumulating 
 manifestations of it. No girl would be so unmaidenly, 
 and he would not be vain goat enough to believe it; there 
 must be some mistake some gross exaggeration on the 
 part of his own faculties. 
 
 What made the matter more embarrassing was that she 
 had been recommended to him in the first instance by 
 Priscilla; she had been one of a family in whom the latter 
 had become interested as a social worker. Mabel Brackett 
 had been trained at Priscilla s expense to become an accom 
 plished stenographer, and at the time when she was fitted 
 to earn her own living he had, at Priscilla s request, given 
 her employment in his office. Naturally, he had been kind 
 to her. The result had been that she had made an idol 
 of him and presently had begun to show it. Her eagerness 
 to do his bidding was accompanied by glances of thinly- 
 veiled admiration which could not be interpreted as mere 
 coquetry. Flowers appeared at intervals upon his desk 
 traceable to no other source; he strongly suspected her 
 of having sent him a sentimental valentine. He tried 
 coldness by way of tacit reproof, and her large blue 
 eyes had filled with tears; she had construed it as dis 
 satisfaction with her work, and the tone in which she 
 declared, "I would do anything in the world to please 
 you, Mr. Sumner," plainly suggested that she wished him 
 to understand that if he sent her away she would die. To 
 dismiss her find a place for her somewhere else was the 
 obvious solution; but what explanation could he offer to 
 Priscilla ? She would be disappointed at the failure of her 
 prote ge e; yet to endeavor to reveal the astounding truth 
 could not fail to expose him to ridicule. Could she be 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 425 
 
 blamed if she secretly believed that he had mistaken co 
 quetry or zeal for sentiment ? Difficult as it had been to 
 convince himself his shame-faced self that Miss Brack- 
 ett s conduct could be accounted for on any other theory, 
 he foresaw that Priscilla would laugh in her sleeve at him 
 to the end. 
 
 Relief it was literally this had recently come from an 
 unexpected quarter. Miss Brackett had suddenly begun 
 to cool off; and of her own accord. A change in her man 
 ner became distinctly noticeable. It was distant, and sug 
 gested a person whose pride has been wounded. Henry 
 realized that she gazed at him, when she looked at him at 
 all, coldly instead of admiringly, as if to let him know she 
 understood that her devotion had been spurned. He felt 
 profoundly relieved; at the same time he experienced 
 unpleasant emotions, for it seemed to him that he must 
 have bungled the affair shown himself unduly severe 
 to produce such a radical change. Would not his Cousin 
 Chauncey in his place have managed to keep the girl at 
 arm s length and yet avoid lacerating her feelings ? 
 
 Her resentment if it were such had proceeded no 
 further, however. She had not left his employ, and after 
 a few weeks her half-mournful, half-frigid expression had 
 changed to a slightly haughty if studied indifference when 
 in his presence. But Henry gathered from what he ob 
 served of her demeanor in the outer office that she was 
 recovering her spirits. She showed signs of an increasing 
 interest in dress. Her appearance, though always neat, 
 had lacked those touches which girls who take an interest 
 in personal adornment know how to impart to their daily 
 toilette. She began to wear gayer ribbons, more stylish 
 bows and minor trinkets; her gowns emphasized the pre 
 vailing fashion; she indulged in more starch and some 
 
426 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 perfume. She had evidently become much more sophis 
 ticated. Could it mean that she was going to the bad ? 
 Guiltless though he felt himself to be, Henry recognized 
 a responsibility to observe the girl more closely. He failed 
 to detect, however, anything to suggest either evil company 
 or desperation. 
 
 It was useless now to ask himself whether if he had 
 "jollied" her a little instead, she might not have been 
 satisfied and have continued to worship at a respectful dis 
 tance until she recovered from her infatuation. He had 
 succeeded in affronting her, and her chagrin must work 
 itself out. Apparently, its secondary effects had led her to 
 have recourse to embellishment, and it could not be denied 
 that these endeavors were becoming, provided they went 
 no further; her blonde type of beauty had been set off by 
 the more deliberate attention which she paid to her attire. 
 Further observation had convinced Henry a little later that 
 she was also more assiduous in her work, as if greater 
 proficiency were a part of her programme, and he breathed 
 more freely. If her ambition had been aroused, might 
 not the unfortunate episode even prove an advantage 
 after her disappointment had died out ? In his eagerness to 
 atone for the distress of which he had been the unwitting 
 cause, Henry raised her salary, and shortly after moving 
 into his new offices he had offered her the chance of earn 
 ing extra compensation by doing occasional clerical work 
 for his Uncle Baxter. Miss Brackett thanked him. Her 
 manner was still distant, indicating that she desired to 
 maintain the most strictly formal relations with her em 
 ployer; but whatever her repugnance, she showed no 
 signs of wishing to leave his service. Such was the con 
 dition of affairs at the time of Chauncey s visit, which 
 accounts for his momentary confusion when compliment- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 427 
 
 ed by this fastidious judge on the attractions of his sten 
 ographer. 
 
 On this same day, after leaving the bank the Massa- 
 soit National where his block of Saxonville Electric 
 bonds and stock were pledged, Chauncey had proceeded 
 but a few hundred yards before he came face to face with 
 Blaisdell. Stopping to exchange greetings, each con 
 gratulated the other simultaneously on the price at which 
 Electric Coke had sold that morning. 
 
 "On its merits, too," added Blaisdell with suavity. 
 "Every shareholder must feel satisfied, and yet no one 
 can deny that we have managed a good thing conserva 
 tively." 
 
 "Conservatively? I should say we had. We 
 Chauncey paused abruptly, fearing that his enthusiasm 
 might defeat his purpose. He was sufficiently extended, 
 already; the time was not so convenient as he could wish; 
 but if Blaisdell were ready to sell, he could not afford to 
 let the opportunity slip. "After all, we are dependent on 
 patents and where patents are concerned, I suppose no 
 one can feel absolutely safe." 
 
 "One thousand dollars per share is a good round price 
 for the stock. You ve always been a bull on it and must 
 have done exceedingly well. About three hundred shares 
 came out this morning; from what source I do not know. 
 I m not in the market at that figure; for the moment, it s 
 high high enough. On the other hand, if there is any 
 large interest desirous of realizing, I wouldn t mind adding 
 to my holdings for a long pull." 
 
 This was dispassionate. Blaisdell was willing to show 
 his hand to the extent of intimating that here was a chance 
 to reap a handsome profit and retire from the field, if hie 
 would-be rival were so disposed. If done promptly and 
 
428 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 with good grace, it might be the first step toward a peace 
 able settlement of other scores. His tone was the confi 
 dential one of a man ready to do another a good turn; if 
 the other were sane enough to take advantage of the 
 offer. 
 
 " For a long pull ? That has always been my argument. 
 Curiously enough, I was just on the point of asking you 
 the same question whether you feel like selling out. That 
 is, I assume that mine was the large interest you had in 
 mind." There was a touch of his father s formality in 
 Chauncey s bland assertion. 
 
 "It had occurred to me that you and the various 
 branches of your family who hold stock might think it 
 was high enough and feel disposed to realize." 
 
 "But it s almost a family stock, Blaisdell. Uncle Bax 
 ter I put him in one day five years ago almost by main 
 force never sells anything; and if Aunt Georgiana were 
 to close out on my advice and the stock went up, where 
 would I be ? She hasn t forgotten the leading part I took 
 on behalf of the Bacchante. Where did you get your hat, 
 Blaisdell? It s a dandy." 
 
 The straw hat in question was a Panama of finest texture 
 at that time rarely visible on the streets of Boston. 
 Beneath its ample curling brim BlaisdelPs eyes were in 
 shadow, and his round face looked exasperatingly cool. 
 
 "It ought to be; it cost $500. I have those fads occa 
 sionally." He took the Panama off and twirled it round 
 on his index finger for Chauncey s inspection. "Think it 
 over, Chippendale, think it over. No hurry; the same 
 offer is open for six months. By Jove, it is hot," he ex 
 claimed, replacing the hat on his head which was becom 
 ing bald at the crown. "Step in out of the sun or you ll 
 bake, for there s another matter I wish to speak to you 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 429 
 
 about." They were on Congress Street. Hooking his 
 arm through Chauncey s he led him into a door-way. 
 "I ve been poaching on another of your preserves, for I 
 take it Massasoit National might be called one of your 
 family stocks. Electric Coke started in my family, but I 
 dare say my desire to control it is er an expensive fad. 
 In the case of Massasoit, my dear Chauncey, I feel that 
 I am performing a public service in proving to the present 
 owners that it is worth more than it has been selling for, 
 and at the same time saving an old Boston property from 
 rusting out." 
 
 Chauncey was listening for a clue to what his companion 
 was driving at. Irony was not Blaisdell s usual method, 
 but this sounded very much like polite, withering satire, 
 though the speaker seemed in the best of humor. "What 
 is rusting out? If you refer to Massasoit National, it is 
 solid as a rock." 
 
 "Relatively speaking; but it s a small bank and there 
 are too many small banks in Boston. What I wished to 
 say is that, for the shares owned by you and your relatives, 
 I am prepared to give one hundred and thirty-two, which, 
 as you are aware, is fifteen dollars more than the market 
 price." 
 
 So firmly and glibly were these words spoken that they 
 presaged to Chauncey s ears a mastery of this particular 
 situation, whatever it might prove to be. The Massasoit 
 was a family property in the most desirable sense Chaun 
 cey could borrow money there whenever he wished; 
 although an old-fashioned institution, his collateral was 
 never questioned. About one-quarter of the small capital 
 stock was owned by kinsfolk or people with whom he was 
 closely affiliated. He was a director and hand-in-glove 
 with the management who were glad to have the firm s 
 
430 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 account in return for reasonable favors which were not 
 abused. 
 
 Chauncey freed his arm and faced him. 
 
 " Our stock isn t for sale, thank you. " 
 
 "Not when I tell you that I and certain other financial 
 interests already own a controlling interest?" 
 
 Chauncey thrust his hands in his pockets and smiling 
 grimly sought to appear unruffled. It was certainly a very 
 hot day. The narrow rim of his flat straw hat seemed a 
 feeble visor against the sun, and despite his London suit of 
 thinnest India flannel, he was perspiring uncomfortably. 
 He realized out of the corner of his eye that the flower in 
 his button-hole was already wilted. "What s up? Have 
 you been organizing a still hunt?" 
 
 " Only what I ve just told you, man. We ve bought up 
 a controlling interest in order to merge the Massasoit 
 National with the Marine National. Every business man 
 knows that there are too many small banks in Boston 
 and yours happened to come in our way. We had to 
 organize a still hunt, for if we had gone to you in the first 
 place and you had declined to sell, the price would have 
 soared. It wouldn t have been business. You re getting 
 fifteen dollars more than the stuff is worth at present 
 which you can put into Electric Coke for a long pull; and, 
 as for accommodation, we ll try to make it worth while for 
 you and your firm to stay with us." 
 
 "I ve just come from the bank and they didn t know 
 anything about it there." 
 
 This was in the nature of an ebullition of surprise, not a 
 challenge of the facts which Chauncey painfully realized 
 must be exactly as the older man had stated. 
 
 " I was on my way to the bank with the papers when I 
 met you," replied Blaisdell, indicating the small leather 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 431 
 
 hand-bag which he carried. "After ordering the transfers 
 made I was going to call at your office to offer you the same 
 terms as those the majority interests accepted. We are 
 willing to buy the whole capital stock; and it will facilitate 
 the process of liquidation if I may send cheques as soon as 
 possible to the people you represent in order to clean the 
 matter up." 
 
 Chauncey mused for a moment. "He has us pinched," 
 he said to himself. "We left the gate ajar and he slipped 
 in." There was really no excuse for virtuous resentment; 
 control was control and included the right to wind up the 
 bank or merge it in the larger concern. He himself could 
 have had it at any time during the last ten years without 
 very much outlay, and, as Blaisdell had stated, to have 
 approached him first would have put him on his guard. 
 
 "As a matter of sentiment I hate to see the old land 
 marks swept away," he replied. "My grandfather kept 
 his account at the Massasoit." This was as much as to 
 say that to surrender was the only course open to him. 
 
 "All old landmarks have to go in time except those de 
 liberately preserved for historic purposes. And some of 
 them have no cash value. I realize your attachment to the 
 venerable institution; but cold cash is a salve; it always 
 comes in handy." 
 
 Chauncey could not deny that the truth of the last re 
 mark was exemplified by his own necessities. Apart from 
 the annoyance of having been dispossessed summarily, the 
 cash would come in handy. He almost fancied that he de 
 tected a twinkle in the depths of Blaisdell s sharp eyes as if 
 the cheery consolation proffered masked a well-cherished 
 suspicion that it would. 
 
 "I ll think the matter over for a day or two and write 
 you," he answered. 
 
432 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "And think the other matter over, too. It s just a fad 
 of mine, as I told you, that I wish the field to myself." 
 
 Chauncey s features broke into a knowing smile. " Oh, 
 yes, I ll think it over," he retorted in a tone intended to 
 convey an ultimatum. 
 
 Chauncey, whose summer home was at Pride s Crossing 
 on the North Shore six picturesque acres of woodland 
 and lawn, fronting the sea, about forty minutes from Bos 
 ton by the fast trains had promised his wife that morning 
 to bring from their town house a trinket which she had 
 overlooked. As later in the day he drove down Beacon 
 Street and through the deserted Back Bay with its rows of 
 closed houses, tenantless save for caretakers who protected 
 them against rust and moths and washed the family linen 
 transplanted weekly to and fro in straw hampers, he aired 
 his thoughts in the one-horse cab, for he was safe from 
 being pried upon. Why not take Blaisdell at his word and 
 realize on Electric Coke? He had made a magnificent 
 profit; and the ready money would wipe out his obliga 
 tions and leave him free to engage in new enterprises. 
 Would not the huge cost of modern living, to which he had 
 referred feelingly to Henry that morning, justify a prudent 
 man in readjusting his affairs by means of such a hand 
 some deal ? He was one of the rich men of Boston, his 
 credit was of the best, and his father-in-law was behind 
 him. But he was borrowing a quantity of money and most 
 of his financial canvas w^ls spread. Nearly everything he 
 owned looked well was almost sure to be profitable in the 
 end if the times continued good ; for the moment, however, 
 to increase his sail area further would expose him to the 
 risks of kiting. To sell out would be in a measure a relief 
 but it would be a grievous blow to his pride. 
 
 For would not State Street argue, if he disposed of his 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 433 
 
 holdings and shortened sail, that he was content with 
 second place ? Would it not be tantamount to an admis 
 sion that he had been crowded out of the race, and that 
 this smooth-spoken, prosperous newcomer was to be the 
 ruling force in local financial affairs henceforth? There 
 was where the shoe pinched. He aspired and his wife 
 aspired for him to leadership both down-town and up; 
 to an ascendency which should safeguard and enhance 
 the glamour associated with the name of Chippendale, so 
 that it might stand even more significantly than in the past 
 for irreproachable social distinction. He had set his heart 
 on securing the control of Electric Coke; and why? Was 
 it not chiefly that by so doing he might checkmate the too 
 exuberant ambitions of Blaisdell? Prevent this would-be 
 autocrat from dictating to him and to everybody what 
 should and should not happen on State Street ? It was the 
 Boston of the past for which he stood the Boston of fine 
 social and commercial traditions, of conservatively pro 
 gressive instincts and discriminating point of view, as op 
 posed to the Boston of yesterday and from nowhere in 
 particular, with its ostentatious lack of distinction and its 
 social obtuseness. It might be desirable for him presently 
 to take in sail in order to avoid any possible danger from 
 running too close to the wind; he would do so at the first 
 favorable opportunity. But not to give way at this im 
 portant juncture appeared to him, now that he had a 
 chance to weigh the matter, as an obligation which he owed 
 both to himself and to society. His personal pride was in 
 volved, for to give up the control of Electric Coke would be 
 virtually equivalent to an admission that he had been 
 forced to let go. 
 
 Chauncey had reached this spirited conclusion before 
 alighting from the cab. He paused a moment to scan the 
 
434 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 outside of his carefully closed residence, and having noted 
 that everything was as it should be, he glanced up and down 
 the deserted avenue, reflecting that, save for the loneliness, 
 Boston was not such an undesirable abode in summer. 
 How comparatively cool and how very quiet it .was. A 
 faint easterly air was stirring. He observed here and there 
 an occasional person sitting on the benches of the park 
 which divides the driveway, enjoying the grateful shade of 
 the trees which were planted when he was a boy. How 
 they had spread, and how, during the same period, Boston 
 had grown. At the time they were planted, and at the 
 later date when his father s house was built, he could have 
 told the name of every one who lived there. Nearly twenty 
 years had passed, and in the interim the family fortunes 
 had waned and had been reestablished after vicissitudes. 
 His father s place on the North Shore originally bought 
 for a song was now a fortune in itself. It had pulled 
 them through while he was sen-ing his apprenticeship 
 down-town, before his business success and marriage had 
 made his own position enviable. The principal shadow 
 resting on the family escutcheon at present was that his 
 sisters had not married not even Georgiana, whose pi 
 quancy and beauty were undeniable. He had almost come 
 to the conclusion that it was not well for a girl to be too 
 fastidious. As for Arthur, his younger brother, who was 
 physically the image of their father, there was room, 
 too, for a little concern on his account on the score of way 
 wardness. He had offered him, on leaving college, em 
 ployment in his office, but Arthur had shown himself 
 more interested in leading cotillons and collecting first 
 editions than in work. A slight coolness between them 
 had been caused by his inquiry how his brother could 
 afford to be the owner of a complete first edition of 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 435 
 
 Thackeray and to possess nearly all of Dickens; and a 
 few months later Arthur had thrown up his position 
 with Langdon & Company, declaring that business was 
 uncongenial. 
 
 This had occurred four years before. Ever since then until 
 recently Arthur had been ostensibly idle, of which condi 
 tion of affairs Chauncey had found his father unduly tol 
 erant. When he had inquired what was to become of 
 Arthur if he failed to follow some money-making occupa 
 tion, Mr. Chippendale hinted fondly at diplomatic life or 
 literature. But whether from goading, lack of pocket 
 money or change of heart, his brother had, within the last 
 six months, obtained employment with the firm of Stod- 
 dard, Kent & Company, a young firm of stock-brokers, 
 the moving spirit of which, Jack Stoddard, formerly an 
 underling of Delano s, BlaisdelPs partner, and brought up 
 in that office, had recently started in business on his own 
 account. Jack Stoddard had the reputation of being 
 quick-witted, but he was loquacious and apt to be noisy. 
 Rumor reported that he was trying to make friends among 
 fashionable people, and an ugly rumor had already reached 
 Chauncey that Arthur s post was the result of a tacit com 
 pact to obtain invitations to balls and dinner-parties for 
 his employer, for value received down-town. For a Chip 
 pendale there could be only one graver breach rank com 
 mercial dishonesty; but to probe the insinuation would be 
 a difficult, not to say ticklish, undertaking. Arthur had 
 always shown a tendency to pick up unorthodox acquaint 
 ances; this intimacy was only another instance and harm 
 less on the surface. Nevertheless, the suspicion rankled 
 in Chauncey s breast. He forebore to believe that a Chip 
 pendale could fall so low. He felt convinced in his heart 
 that the report was baseless. But was not the incongruity 
 
436 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 of Arthur s likings for strange company directly responsible 
 for its origin ? 
 
 A few days subsequent to this decision not to sell his 
 holdings of Electric Coke to Blaisdell, his wife handed 
 Chauncey a note on his return from Boston. It was from 
 Priscilla inquiring if there were room for Lora s daughter 
 Dorothy in the dancing class. 
 
 "I thought that was settled long ago that there wasn t 
 room," said Chauncey, who happened to remember that 
 the matter had been broached in the dim past. 
 
 "That was the younger class, the Wednesday evening; 
 this is the Friday. There probably wasn t room. There 
 never need be if the applicants, especially the girls, are ob 
 jectionable," answered Beatrice Chippendale. "I suppose 
 that the women who were managing the class at that time 
 decided that they didn t fancy the mother. But Miss Avery 
 is a very different person; the girl, who is very pretty I be 
 lieve, is likely to be well looked after. Why," she added, 
 realizing that she was going out of her way to frame explana 
 tions, "I showed it to you because I thought you would be 
 pleased to hear that I was doing something for Mr. Blais 
 dell, and to prevent you from complaining how snobbish 
 we wives always are." 
 
 "Blaisdell is getting on fast enough without our assist 
 ance," replied Chauncey oracularly. " I m very glad, dear, 
 that there s room." 
 
 " But there isn t unless I decide that there is. How mys 
 terious you are, Chauncey! Have you and Mr. Blaisdell 
 had a falling out down-town?" Beatrice asked with loyal 
 solicitude. "I have merely to write " 
 
 "I wouldn t offend Miss Avery for anything. She s a 
 fine woman and a thoroughbred." Chauncey suddenly 
 stopped rocking in the piazza chair in which he had seated 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 437 
 
 himself to enjoy the refreshing sea breeze after a wilting 
 day in the city and slapped his knee. " It would be a mas 
 ter stroke for Blaisdell if he could induce her to marry 
 him." 
 
 Beatrice waved aside this interjection on which at any 
 other time she would have been glad to speculate. "But 
 what has he been doing to you, Chauncey?" 
 
 "The last time we met he was smooth as silk." 
 
 Beatrice stamped her pretty foot imperatively. "Tell 
 me what he has been doing." 
 
 "Three days ago we met on the street and each tried 
 politely the anaconda act on the other. Neither succeeded, 
 but I m bound to admit to the wife of my bosom that he 
 came nearer to swallowing me than I did to swallowing 
 him." 
 
 This was enigmatical. Beatrice gave a slight shudder. 
 Chauncey always told her of his troubles in the end, but 
 his method was sometimes sardonically roundabout. Since 
 he persisted for the moment in ambiguities she decided to 
 curb her impatience and to change the subject in her turn. 
 "Your mother was here this morning," she said, "and 
 informed me that your cousin Lily Sumner is going to 
 practise Christian Science take an office and earn her liv 
 ing by healing people, as she calls it." 
 
 Chauncey sighed. Despite his habitual optimism and 
 his prosperity, life especially family affairs seemed to 
 be a little frayed at the edges. "I m not surprised," he 
 said with obvious calm after a pause. "It appears to me 
 not unlikely that one of that versatile branch will bring up 
 sooner or later at McLean Asylum. I don t pretend to be 
 able to state which one." 
 
 His wife smiled, knowing that his cousin Henry was 
 specially included in this animadversion. "Your mother 
 
438 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 also told me," she went on, "that your sister Dorothy is 
 taking a course in chewing her food very fine and very 
 slowly so as to reduce her weight. She has lost five pounds 
 in three weeks, she takes an eternity over every mouthful, 
 eats next to nothing, and never felt better in her life." 
 
 Diverting as this announcement was, it served to in 
 crease Chauncey s mental perplexity. "But she wasn t 
 stout," he protested. 
 
 "No, but she thought she was," answered his wife, "and 
 that for a woman amounts to the same thing." 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 "MRS. CHAUNCEY CHIPPENDALE will be very glad to 
 have Dorothy," said Priscilla. She had reference to the 
 dancing class, and, as she spoke, she passed that lady s 
 dainty note to her brother-in-law. 
 
 Blaisdell smiled appreciatively. The ease with which 
 she had arrived at this desirable result impressed him as 
 another proof of the efficiency and tact with which he had 
 learned to credit Priscilla during the year and a half since 
 his wife s death. It was she who had suggested the im 
 portance of obtaining Dorothy s admission to the class 
 thus confirming Lora s own solicitude; it was she who had 
 offered to take the steps to procure this. How readily 
 she had accomplished it! How civil gracious, indeed, 
 was Mrs. Chippendale s reply. Even if the concession 
 had been partially inspired by his own show of power 
 down-town, there was no denying that the attitude toward 
 Priscilla of those able to grant social favors was very 
 different from that toward his own wife. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 439 
 
 Nevertheless, Blaisdell handed back the note with a sig 
 nificant nod, and said: "I didn t believe she would refuse 
 this time. How poor Lora s heart was set on it! She 
 never could understand why the door was closed upon 
 her. Neither could I," he asserted a little sternly. "But, 
 thanks to you, the child will no longer be boycotted." 
 
 He intended this to be a personal tribute and Priscilla 
 felt it to be such. It was not the first sign of his appro 
 bation which she had received of late. As for the imme 
 diate topic, which the harshness of his phrase forced into 
 fresh prominence, why dwell on it? Without treason to 
 Lora she could refuse to be a party to reviewing the bit 
 terness; refuse to probe for the precise causes of the 
 refusal. 
 
 But Blaisdell chose to make his point plainer. "Per 
 haps Lora did not set about it in quite the same way. 
 You understand these things better than she did." 
 
 It seemed simpler to Priscilla not to disclaim this dis 
 crimination between herself and his deceased wife. Per 
 haps the past consciousness of sundry contrasts to her own 
 disadvantage drawn by him while Lora was alive helped 
 her to let it pass without comment. 
 
 Blaisdell, however, construed her silence as an indica 
 tion that, though she forbore to utter a word of disparage 
 ment, she comprehended his meaning. As he looked at 
 Priscilla it came over him that the reason for his growing 
 admiration of her was that she invariably comprehended 
 his meaning; that her mind kept pace with his, and stimu 
 lated it, which was the essence of companionship. Her 
 riper beauty made her girlish charms pale by comparison. 
 She had become a woman of the world the big world, 
 just as he was a man of the big world. They understood 
 each other. How her society had ameliorated his lot! 
 
440 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 The months of her stay had slipped away without the 
 slightest friction. She had looked after his children and 
 presided over his house so naturally and engagingly that 
 before he realized it his spirits were restored. There had 
 been no differences of opinion between them; no signs of 
 the restlessness which he had always ascribed to her. 
 
 He had sought to show his gratitude and appreciation 
 by an open purse. Not coarsely, for she had more than 
 enough money of her own; but by endeavoring to anticipate 
 her wishes. And the delightful, engrossing part was that 
 her tastes inclined her toward the very things in which he 
 had always wished to become interested and to be given 
 the proper lead. Dear Lora, who loved him so lavishly, 
 had been more than anxious to fulfil this part; but had she 
 not in the last years of her life lacked the requisite knowl 
 edge? Her chief social resource had been display. But 
 Priscilla subordinated this to delicacy and imagination. 
 
 Blaisdell did not seek to evade this discovery. On the 
 contrary, he hastened to apostrophize it as the crowning 
 contribution of woman to the partnership of modern life. 
 Here Lora had fallen short loving little soul. Why shut 
 his eyes to it? Her merits were a thousand; her fail 
 ing only this. But to the mate of a leader like himself, 
 how indispensable! Lora had been quicker than he to 
 realize the need, and knowledge of the lack of it had em 
 bittered the cup of the darling s happiness. It was Pris 
 cilla who had drawn his attention to the increasing vogue 
 of the impressionist school, enabling him to buy up all the 
 Claude Monets in the market while the majority were still 
 challenging the vividness of their landscape. She had 
 taken him to see one of these and he had trusted to her 
 enthusiasm so far as to purchase it on the spot, though his 
 eyes were startled by the staring greenness of the grass and 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 441 
 
 the purple hues imparted to the tree trunks. At her 
 suggestion, he had renounced allegiance to Faust and 
 Fra Diavolo in favor of Richard Strauss and the Rus 
 sian school. When in mourning one could go to the sym 
 phony concerts; besides, he liked. to feel himself in touch 
 with the most modern expression of every art. Priscilla s 
 obvious intention had been to distract him from his sor 
 row. It was a double debt which he felt that he owed her 
 and one which he was eager to repay. They had made 
 many visits together to the studio of the sculptor who was 
 moulding the bust of Lora, but Blaisdell had not yet 
 decided who should paint his wife s portrait, cherishing 
 the hope that Europe might be explored for the purpose. 
 A trip to Europe in his sister-in-law s company might 
 become a revelation also, and he would thus satisfy his 
 desire to do something at once by way of showing his 
 gratitude. 
 
 "I ve a plan to propose which may appeal to you, Pris- 
 cilla. Why shouldn t we go abroad, until the late autumn ? 
 I can get away now, and who knows when I may be able 
 to again ? When we return we can leave Dorothy to spend 
 a year in Paris, to improve her French accent; you have 
 advised that, you know. As for Hugo, if he insists on staying 
 at home in order to sail his thirty-footer, he may remain 
 here if he prefers and be monarch of all he surveys." 
 
 Blaisdell, standing on the lawn of his estate at Man- 
 chester-by-the-Sea, moved his hand expansively so as to in 
 clude both the sixty acres, part woodland, part promon 
 tory, which his gardeners had transformed into a paradise, 
 and the stretch of blue water reaching far as the horizon 
 line veritable ocean which sparkled in the afternoon 
 sun and broke in gentle waves on the rocky shore but a 
 few rods beyond his feet. He had purchased this point of 
 
442 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 land, which was situated further along the North Shore 
 than the Chippendale and Langdon properties, six years 
 before, at what had seemed to the community a staggering 
 price. At vast expense, he had redeemed it from the 
 grasp of wildness, uprooting here, blasting there, clearing 
 away the tanglewood which concealed the picturesqueness 
 of its boulders, and fertilizing the irregular soil between, 
 so that roses bloomed luxuriantly just out of reach of the 
 salt spray. A huge white colonial house and stables almost 
 as large dwarfed the architecture of the neighborhood 
 this gold coast of New England though most of the orig 
 inal plain brown cottages of the Boston merchants who, 
 a generation back, had built summer homes at Beverly, 
 had been replaced by ampler villas. It had been Lora s 
 wish to follow fashion and build there. He could congrat 
 ulate himself on his discernment, for he had already been 
 offered as much again as he had paid for the site. 
 
 As Blaisdell concluded, Priscilla, sitting in the shadow 
 of a shrubbery at a tea-table on the velvety lawn, reached 
 out for a packet of letters the evening mail which lay 
 beside the tray. Blaisdell liked his afternoon tea hot or 
 cold according to the atmosphere and Priscilla was apt 
 to be on hand to prepare it for him on his return from Bos 
 ton. He had made a long day in town and the mail, includ 
 ing Mrs. Chippendale s reply, had been delivered shortly 
 before his arrival from the station. 
 
 " Europe? Four months in Europe? It sounds excit 
 ing, Hugh. But how very sudden ! " She seemed to ponder 
 for a moment as if lured by the proposal. Then she shook 
 her head with smiling resolution. "I couldn t; not this 
 year." 
 
 "We should be able to decide on some one to paint 
 Lora s portrait. Why not this year ?" 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 443 
 
 "I have too many things to do." 
 
 "But the children are to go with us." 
 
 "Other things, disconnected with the dear children, 
 strange as it may seem." 
 
 "Of course you have; I did not mean that. It s be 
 cause you ought to have a vacation a genuine vacation, 
 that the idea occurred to me. I wish to do something to 
 show you how deeply I appreciate all you have done for 
 the children and done for me, Priscilla. And I thought 
 that a trip to Europe might be just the thing do you good. 
 It should be a real vacation; we will take Mrs. Avery to 
 keep an eye on the children. We will go wherever you 
 wish to go, see everything you wish to see; visit all the gal 
 leries, and you could help me to pick out first-rate things 
 to bring home." 
 
 "It sounds very tempting and is very thoughtful of you, 
 Hugh. Another year, perhaps. Curiously enough " Pris 
 cilla smiled as if inwardly amused by what she was about 
 to state "I am thinking of taking a vacation a very 
 short one a fortnight at the beginning of September." 
 She drew one of the letters from its envelope as she spoke. 
 
 "Where, if I may ask?" 
 
 "I m just looking to see. The name is Camp Natis- 
 gouche somewhere in the wilds of Canada. It s a camp 
 ing out party. I never have camped out in my life." 
 
 "Who has invited you?" 
 
 "Another of my friends Mr. Sumner. The same 
 party has been going there for several years. His sister, 
 Mrs. Paton, and her husband, were the pioneers. This 
 year they ve done me the honor to include me." 
 
 Blaisdell glanced from her face to the open letter 1 in her 
 hand. "You have just received that?" 
 
 " I accepted a fortnight ago. These are the directions as 
 
444 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 to what I shall need to take and wherewithal I shall be 
 clothed." 
 
 He paused for a moment silent from dismay. " What do 
 you expect to do there? Fish, I suppose." 
 
 "Undoubtedly." 
 
 "If you would prefer salmon fishing to Europe," Blais- 
 dell began eagerly, "I am sure that I could" Priscilla 
 shook her head, and the previous look of amusement 
 showed itself in her eyes. "In this particular party you 
 may be sure that fishing will only be a pretext. I expect to 
 live in a short skirt and do my own work. We shall tramp 
 and picnic all day, and at night, by the big camp fire, tell 
 ghost stories and discuss the problems of the universe. 
 I know what it will be like; besides, I ve been warned." 
 
 "Then why are you going?" Blaisdell had felt baffled 
 by the definiteness of her refusal, but this playful irony 
 was more encouraging. Bending forward to deposit his 
 empty tea cup, "he added expansively: "You had much 
 better come to Europe." 
 
 Again Priscilla shook her head. "I should like to try 
 er cooking my own food and discussing soul problems 
 just for once. Perhaps I may like it; who knows?" 
 Smiling, she bent her head to adjust the bunch of nastur 
 tiums in the front of her spotless white frock. " Besides, I 
 have promised Mr. Sumner." 
 
 The thought that she was planning to desert him even 
 for so short a period, and at the bidding of this man above 
 all others, warned Blaisdell that he had been living in a 
 tool s paradise a paradise the gate of w4iich he had re 
 frained from closing because he was so happy and lest he 
 frighten its inmate by premature captivity. 
 
 "Suggest to him to invite you next year instead; that s 
 what you said to me." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 445 
 
 Priscilla looked up with quick solicitude at this display 
 of pique. "It was as a sop to his feelings that I agreed to 
 go. Now don t tell me, Hugh, that I have hurt yours." 
 
 "A sop to his feelings?" Blaisdell was conscious of a 
 sudden desire to probe her relations with this disturber at 
 whose instance she was threatening to leave him. What if 
 he were unreasonable ? The time had come when he was 
 willing that she should suspect that he demanded a mo 
 nopoly. Sumner was constantly at the house; but, despite 
 the episode of the Bacchante, he had taken for granted that, 
 however intimate their footing, Priscilla s attitude could 
 not fail to be unequivocally Platonic. He had no grounds 
 for thinking otherwise now, and yet the possibility gave 
 a new aspect to the intercourse between them which stirred 
 his blood and cleared his brain as on those occasions when 
 all his powers were concentrated on carrying out a vital 
 purpose by striking hard. He knew exactly now what 
 course he intended to follow. His chief concern was that 
 he had refrained so long from making his ultimate object 
 unmistakable. 
 
 "Why, yes." Priscilla showed her readiness to explain. 
 "It was this way. In those first months after dear Lora s 
 death, when it seemed impossible that her clear-cut per 
 sonality had been snuffed out like a candle, it occurred to 
 me that, if there were anything in spiritualism, Mrs. Mer- 
 rivale, the medium, might be able to get a clew and estab 
 lish communication. It was a forlorn hope; I was a scep 
 tic myself. I knew you didn t believe in psychic control, 
 for I had sounded you. I decided to speak to Henry Sum 
 ner. It wasn t that he discouraged me; it was the intoler 
 ant way (as it seemed to me at the moment) in which he 
 declared that not the slightest reliable evidence existed of 
 any communication with the dead that every alleged utter- 
 
446 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 ance was a sheer triviality. He was so positive that I lost 
 my temper. Among other things I told him he was essen 
 tially narrow-minded. And we hadn t had a real disagree 
 ment for over a year." 
 
 She paused as if she wished before proceeding to impress 
 this last fact on Blaisdell by way of extenuation. But, 
 knitting his brows, the latter did not hesitate to exclaim: 
 "He was tactless, as usual; you asked for bread and he 
 offered you a stone." 
 
 "Exactly." Priscilla s countenance brightened. "But 
 the interesting part is that he discovered that for himself; 
 wrote me next day the most contrite of letters, apologizing 
 abjectly for having let his interest in the subject blind him 
 to the fact that what I really needed was sympathy, not 
 dogmatism. Only think, he found that out for himself. 
 Wasn t it a master-stroke of self- analysis ? A seven league 
 stride toward self-knowledge?" Priscilla paused again as 
 if she expected some recognition of the sparkling interest 
 which she displayed in this phenomenon. "Ah," she cried 
 suddenly in the face of BlaisdelPs deliberate silence, "I be 
 gin to despair that you two will ever be sympathetic. You 
 never seem to make allowances for one another. You are 
 both such good friends of mine and I have tried so hard 
 to bring you together." She sat back in her chair with her 
 hands clasped in her lap, dismayed by her melancholy 
 conclusion. 
 
 Blaisdell leaned forward solicitously across the tea-table. 
 He felt that the time was ripe for iconoclasm. If he fore- 
 bore longer to disclose the clay feet of this grotesque idol, 
 might not her strange readiness to pardon become infatu 
 ation? "You might as well expect oil and water to mix, 
 Priscilla. Henry Sumner and I look at everything from 
 politics to er love from a diametrically different stand- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 447 
 
 point. I have tried to propitiate him constantly you 
 must have realized that for your sake, and when I fail, 
 I flatter myself that the fault is not wholly mine. My motto 
 is live and let live ; no two men think precisely alike; and 
 so the world advances. But this man" Blaisdell shook 
 his compressed hands to enforce his argument " is what 
 the world calls a stiff pardon the word. He is so self- 
 righteously unbending that he can t see more than a few 
 inches beyond his own nose. I rarely abuse anybody, as 
 you know. The inexplicable thing to me has been how 
 a whole-souled, warm-blooded woman like you has been 
 able to hope that he and I could ever become friends. I 
 have kept silent until now because it is the habit of my life 
 to avoid enmities." 
 
 If Priscilla heard with wonder this show of rancor so 
 unusual in her brother-in-law, remembrance of Henry s 
 freely-spoken prejudice inclined her to listen without 
 immediate protest. 
 
 "It was because you were both such dear friends of 
 mine," she replied, "that I hoped for the impossible, I 
 suppose." 
 
 "If I had been in his shoes obviously a persistent 
 suitor would I have been capable of such density, such 
 self-absorption and lack of consideration for comprehen 
 sion of you as he exhibited in the case you just cited? 
 I would have let you consult Mrs. Merrivale and derive 
 any comfort you could." 
 
 "Yes, you would, Hugh." Vaguely troubled as she was 
 by the introduction of this personal note, and by his open 
 reference to Henry s courtship, Priscilla postponed analysis 
 of their significance in favor of the response which rose to 
 her lips and animated her features. "Don t you see that 
 it was because he is so jealous for the exact truth cannot 
 
448 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 bear to have it deviated from or juggled with in the small 
 est degree that he was so uncompromising ? In the letter 
 he wrote me he went on to explain at length why he thought 
 that psychic research had failed to reveal anything of real 
 value. I agree with him but he lacks imagination; I 
 wrote him so in reply. At the same time it dawned on me 
 that it was because no one would have welcomed genuine 
 results more eagerly than he that he is so relentless toward 
 the er trivialities offered by self-delusion. He would 
 love to believe them true." 
 
 "The wonder is he does not. I should have supposed 
 such visionary, flimsy material would appeal to him," 
 blurted out Blaisdell. 
 
 Priscilla regarded her companion with amazement. Was 
 this her imperturbable, diplomatic brother-in-law? Alas! 
 it seemed inevitable that the mention of the name of either 
 should affect the other as a red rag a bull. Why should 
 Hugh the tactful Hugh go out of his way both to ignore 
 the palliation which she had just revealed and to seek to 
 impeach the merit which Henry possessed ? She shook her 
 head saying: "You do not understand him a bit better 
 than he does you. Constituted as he is, it would have 
 been er even more impossible for Henry Sumner to 
 believe it than for you. Yet," she continued and as she 
 spoke she rose, looking not at him but at the sparkling sea 
 with the wistfulness of one investigating a tantalizing 
 problem "if he had been constituted just a little differ 
 ently, he would have been one of the first to believe. That 
 is one of the interesting things about these people they have 
 differences of administration but the same spirit. Did 
 you know that his sister Lily has decided to practice Chris 
 tian Science ? Henry cannot bear the thought because he 
 is so clear-sighted. And yet they two have so much in 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 449 
 
 common. These people?" Laughingly reproaching her 
 self for the use of the phrase she looked at Blaisdell. " One 
 would think from the way I speak they were an alien 
 tribe; whereas they are the aborigines; it is I who am 
 different. At least," she added, and her qualification 
 savored of doubt "I have always prided myself that I 
 was different." 
 
 "Different? You are as different from them as light is 
 unlike darkness as a whole-souled, glorious being is 
 unlike a narrow-minded, ascetic one." BlaisdelPs words 
 vibrated with protest; at the same time their exuberance 
 was caressing. Masterful still, the truculent air so for 
 eign to him had vanished. For, gazing at her spirited 
 profile at her graceful yet abundant figure glowing with 
 health and luscious energy, an absorbing need of imme 
 diate possession, electrified by an insidious dread of losing 
 her, had seized on him and fused in a twinkling all other 
 emotions his dislike of Henry and his impatience at her 
 tolerance of him in the fiery crucible of passion. What 
 mattered anything except his own ability to demonstrate 
 the ardor and wealth of his devotion and her own readi 
 ness to reciprocate it? "You and I, thank God, bieathe 
 a totally different atmosphere, Priscilla," he added. 
 
 The purport of his words was not unexpected; but the 
 fervor of their language and of his manner were not lost on 
 Priscilla. What had restored and exalted his habitual 
 urbanity ? Her hands had strayed to the back of her head 
 to replace a loosened comb, and she paused involuntarily 
 with lifted arms to challenge the mystery of his demeanor. 
 Her fine eyes were alert with the double perplexity of the 
 current problem and of this conjecture. A sea breeze 
 drawing across the lawn lightly stirred the wealth of wavy 
 dark-brown hair which rose from her broad fair brow. She 
 
450 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 looked, as she stood there, revealing her full stature, the 
 embodiment of entrancing, intelligent womanhood, ripe 
 for the arms of a lover. 
 
 She shook her head smilingly in query of his claim so 
 far as it included herself " Sometimes I think " 
 
 Blaisdell, swift to divine the doubt, due, as he believed, 
 to a waywardness which was more than half mockery of 
 herself, stifled it with the voice of amiable command. 
 " Don t be absurd, Priscilla. Do you think any one knows 
 better than I what you are really like ? What an exquisite 
 evening it is ! The sunset will be glorious. Shall we stroll 
 to the Point ?" 
 
 The desire to utilize his opportunity, plus the impulse 
 to dispel her mood so that he might have her undivided 
 attention, bade Blaisdell mask his fires. What more inno 
 cent and more likely to appeal to her than this walk along 
 the shore one which they often took together at night 
 fall to that limit of his estate which encroached most on 
 the sea? 
 
 Priscilla had risen with the intention of going into the 
 house, but she acquiesced willingly. "Isn t it beautiful?" 
 she murmured as if she had failed to take heed until now 
 of the lucent softness of the landscape. She led the way 
 along the gravelled path which bordered the lawn and 
 wound along the shore. It was the hour when both hat 
 and sunshade could be dispensed with, and yet a wrap 
 appeared superfluous. The gentle breeze, still wooed by 
 two belated sailboats which crept toward their moorings, 
 was falling every minute with promise of a complete calm 
 ere the radiance of sunset should suffuse the sky. 
 
 A short cut led from the gravelled path through a piece 
 of woods already dusky with the menace of the approach 
 ing twilight. The soft brown carpet they trod was strewn 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 451 
 
 with pine needles; the gnarled roots of the tree trunks 
 wore a fringe of fungus deep orange in hue. Priscilla, 
 spellbound by a recent ardor for ferns, spied constantly on 
 either hand, stooping now and again to examine or pluck 
 one of her favorites. Blaisdell held his peace content for 
 the moment to stroll protectingly at her side and enjoy the 
 glamour of her presence. Who could compare with her in 
 charm and dignity ? With her as a wife his social future 
 that of Lora s children would be so completely assured 
 that he could banish all concern forever. For magnifi 
 cently as he held out to his dead wife the promise of social 
 leadership on the very strength of their isolation, and 
 sought to comfort her by insisting on it, she had been more 
 discerning than he. His loss had made clear to him beyond 
 doubt that a barrier existed between him and the people 
 whom Lora had wished to know. However invidious this 
 discrimination whatever its precise cause if he married 
 Priscilla, this barrier would fall once and for all. Here in 
 itself was a reason for making her his wife, if no other ex 
 isted. "Know thyself!" Blaisdell had always prided 
 himself on self-knowledge, and he did not shrink from it 
 now, even though acquired late and grudgingly. How 
 completely Priscilla eclipsed in beauty and fascination the 
 feminine flower of the Chippendale family, the only one of 
 that arrogant stock whom he had had the opportunity to 
 observe closely Chauncey s sister Georgiana. For it was 
 a part of his self-knowledge that the visit of this aristocratic 
 young woman to persuade him to preside over the meeting 
 of the friends of the Bacchante had flattered him in spite of 
 himself. She had sat and talked with him for a quarter of 
 an hour. He remembered vividly her bird-like head and 
 soft eyes, her extreme daintiness of manner. There was 
 something about her which he had recognized to be dis- 
 
452 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 tinction. But she was not to be mentioned in the same 
 breath with Priscilla. If the latter accepted him he would 
 be able henceforth to snap his fingers at the Chippendales 
 and all their tribe. 
 
 Egress from the short stretch of woods brought them 
 near their destination, the extreme projection of the irreg 
 ular headland composing BlaisdelPs estate. The site of 
 the house was at the highest point, behind them but fur 
 ther to the east. What lay in front sloped to the coast, but 
 was still commanding. Its basis was the solid rock. Nev- 
 theless, the thin covering of earth which had settled in its 
 crannies had proved sufficient for the nurture of the hardy 
 vegetation which at the time of Blaisdell s purchase cov 
 ered it almost to the water s edge. His architect had 
 cleared away the lesser growths, leaving only a single group 
 of sentinel trees to lend themselves to his scheme of an 
 oasis by providing picturesque shade. An undulating hol 
 low in the rocks had been transformed to a rose garden, on 
 one side of which stood a low summer house of artistic 
 design dominating the shore in either direction. No other 
 spot in the neighborhood afforded a more comprehensive 
 view. Across the water to the right lay historic Marblehead, 
 the harbor of which was now the favorite rendezvous of 
 yachts big and small; and in the remoter distance, the 
 peninsula of conventional Nahant, lair of the reappearing 
 but mysteriously elusive sea serpent. (Mr. Harrison 
 Chippendale as a young man had seen it off Egg Rock and 
 sent an account of the experience to the Transcript). Far 
 to the left was the fishing city of Gloucester and that long 
 range of picturesque coast culminating in Cape Ann, a sea 
 mark too remote for the naked eye save on the clearest 
 days or when aided by the magic of mirage. 
 
 Priscilla was invariably fascinated by the combined 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 453 
 
 beauty and freedom of this retreat, for, though so promi 
 nent, the Point was virtually isolated. The intervening 
 stretch of woods shut out the summer house from the scru 
 tiny of the nearer eastern shore and a trellis of vines screened 
 it from the powerful predatory telescopes of the dwellers at 
 Beverly Farms. Here were wildness and the swish of the 
 ocean, with a background of luxuriant verdure that allur 
 ing combination of sea-side and country which renders 
 this part of the New England coast so priceless in its 
 charm. 
 
 To-night, in coloring, both sky and water were excep 
 tionally beautiful. During their stroll the sun had dropped 
 below the horizon and bathed the clouds in vivid hues now 
 settling into a broad band of lucent saffron glory arched by 
 delicate purples and grays, which is, perhaps, the crowning 
 effect of twilight in this region. They had arrived at the 
 very acme of the parting between day and night and Pris- 
 cilla, with a murmur of rapture, seated herself to enjoy the 
 too short pageant. The breeze had died completely away; 
 the surface of the water was so smooth that it mirrored 
 here and there the changing colors; the gentle lapping of 
 the recurrent ocean on the dark-brown matted sea-weed of 
 the barnacled rocks was the only sound which nature 
 uttered. In the left hand of the two small bays, which this 
 projection of the headland formed, BlaisdelPs large steam 
 yacht rode at her moorings, and along the offing on either 
 side were other craft of varying sizes, some at anchor, two 
 or three becalmed with drooping canvas. Upon one of the 
 latter Blaisdell levelled the spy-glass which lay close to 
 his hand. 
 
 "It s Hugo, the rascal and all alone. It won t please 
 him to be obliged to row ashore," he remarked with a 
 chuckle. "Only yesterday he was imploring me to put an 
 
454 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 auxiliary motor in his thirty-footer so as to provide for 
 dead calms, and I suppose I shall have to." 
 
 There was something in his parental satisfaction which 
 chimed in with the current of Priscilla s reverie. " You are 
 certainly to be envied, Hugh; this is the most exquisite 
 situation on the shore. You were very wise to buy it. One 
 could never tire of it. And when one thinks," she went on, 
 as if eager to account for a sentiment which might other 
 wise seem stale, "that all of this wonderful coast has been 
 transformed in our lifetime I will not say redeemed, for 
 it must always have been superb; but its sternness has 
 been subordinated to beauty by such men as you; and its 
 stern spirit also, so that we who sit here spellbound by 
 this lovely panorama of villas, lawns and gardens forget to 
 think of the reef of Norman s Woe and of 
 
 1 Old Floyd Ireson for his hard heart 
 Tarred and feathered and carried in a cart 
 By the women of Marblehead. 
 
 The old New England is slipping away." 
 
 Despite the enthusiasm of her tribute, there was just a 
 touch of melancholy in this last statement. Time s obse 
 quies, like the leaves of autumn, touch the reverent heart. 
 But Blaisdell, though he listened, was virtually deaf, for her 
 opening words had provided him a cue and he was merely 
 waiting for her to finish. 
 
 "The world, indeed, might envy me the possession of 
 everything here if I had one thing more." 
 
 His tone was significantly amorous, yet she remained 
 puzzled. "What is that you lack, Hugh?" 
 
 "You. You as its real mistress. No limited tenure 
 but my wife in fee and forever." 
 
 "Your wife, Hugh? Your wife?" In her consternation 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 455 
 
 Priscilla spoke below her breath as if she feared that the 
 boulders might prove eavesdroppers. She turned crimson 
 and rose to her feet. Was she seeking to escape from the 
 pavilion ? 
 
 If such her purpose, Blaisdell barred the way. "You 
 must listen to me. I am terribly in earnest." He pushed 
 her back gently into her seat. 
 
 Priscilla covered her flaming face with her hands. She 
 appreciated that she had reached a crisis in her life which 
 she was powerless to evade. 
 
 "Have you not realized that I was desperately in love 
 with you?" she heard him ask. 
 
 Blaisdell saw her shake her head. He paused a moment. 
 "What is more, I have loved you from the day we first 
 met." 
 
 She removed her hands and looked up at him. "How 
 can you say a thing like that? It cannot be true." 
 
 Blaisdell had been willing to risk shocking her. The 
 important consideration was to convince her of the genu 
 ineness of his passion; to sweep her off her feet by his un 
 mistakable ardor. Was not this the surest method to win 
 a woman of her nature ? The way she would prefer to be 
 wooed? He was prepared for the painful thought which 
 visibly harassed her. 
 
 "It sounds like effrontery; but it is not; neither toward 
 you nor toward the dead." He saw her wince with repug 
 nance at the definite allusion to Lora. "How do I explain 
 this? I was not conscious of my love at the time; I even 
 struggled against it. You always piqued me; but I did 
 not understand. We were boy and girl then. We have 
 both developed since; and with growth comes self-knowl 
 edge. The best of mine is that I know for certain now 
 and can declare without treason to anybody that all the 
 
456 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 time and from the very first you were my affinity. " He felt 
 as he uttered this last word that it was felicitous that it 
 clarified the situation so far as he was concerned. " Yes, 
 my affinity," he repeated. Quick to detect from her 
 troubled gaze that its import was not lost on her, he reached 
 for and grasped her hand and bending forward whispered: 
 "I have been frank with you, Priscilla; so frank that you 
 were horrified repelled at the outset. Search your own 
 heart, dearest; be frank with me. If I had offered myself 
 to you years ago when we were in Dartmouth Street, 
 would you not have said yes ?" 
 
 Blaisdell was satisfied with the cumulative effect of his 
 audacity, for though Priscilla started and flushed vividly 
 at this overwhelming question, she did not free her hand 
 as indignant self-respect might have momentarily prompted, 
 but sat with downcast eyes seemingly fascinated by his 
 plea and his inquiry. Did not her willingness to tolerate 
 his boldness presage victory? He had been politic as well 
 as truthful in demonstrating to her that she was the only 
 woman he had ever truly loved. She had been appalled 
 by what she might have deemed his lack of delicacy in 
 exalting her at the expense of Lora; she might demur a 
 little still. But instinct assured him that she was a woman 
 who would brook this more readily than consent to be his 
 second choice. 
 
 The thoughts had been surging swiftly through Pris- 
 cilla s brain. Genuine astonishment, not unmixed with 
 dismay, at his declaration had been succeeded by willing 
 ness to listen born of feminine pride. Whatever answer 
 she might make, such words from Hugh were sweet to 
 hear. The next instant the comparison with Lora had 
 distressed her by its lack of delicacy. Then while she still 
 listened, his subtle but fervent explanation had procured 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 457 
 
 his pardon. She, his affinity? Here was a condition of 
 soul which he was justified in divulging, if it were true; 
 and such a thrilling phrase merited scrutiny on her own 
 account. So far had Priscilla followed him when his 
 direct challenge rang in her ears, bidding her turn a search 
 light on her heart. A search-light? She did not need to 
 do so. Had not his accusation almost a taunt revealed 
 the truth to her ingenuous spirit? She was ready to con 
 fess both to herself and to him the detected secret of her 
 youth. The imperative need was to know if what had 
 then been true remained so still. So the words sprang to 
 her lips. 
 
 "And if I might have then, does it follow that I will 
 now?" 
 
 Coming so close on the shock of his insinuation, this 
 counter-question was far more propitious than he had dared 
 hope. "Why should it not be true now as well as then? 
 I have more to offer you, Priscilla." 
 
 "Have you?" The inquiry had the sound of being 
 addressed to herself rather than to him. "We were boy 
 and girl then ; we have both developed since, as you your 
 self have said, Hugh." What did the secret garden of her 
 youth resemble now that its latticed wall had fallen and it 
 lay exposed to the rash gazer s eye? Did its roses still 
 rival those in the rambling rock hollow close by, the fra 
 grance of which reached her, or did they hang black and 
 withered on their stalks ? She knew, yet hated to look, and 
 sought refuge in temporizing. 
 
 "I fully expect to die an old maid," she added. 
 
 Blaisdell did not seek to conceal his revolt from such 
 a possibility. "How monstrous, Priscilla monstrous and 
 absurd. You, an old maid? You, in the ripeness of 
 splendid womanhood designed by nature to be a wife 
 
458 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 and mother?" It was no time to mince his words. Such 
 a repudiation of sex was a moral affront to a vital universe 
 which no healthy lover could tolerate. "That mildew on 
 the heart savors directly of the thin air of Boston." 
 
 Priscilla looked him searchingly in the face. "You 
 would not have me marry you unless I loved you, Hugh." 
 "But if you loved me once, am I not the same? How 
 have I altered ? Do you not see that we are made for one 
 another, you and I? Without the other each is incom 
 plete. You will add to my life just what it needs to make 
 us both supremely fortunate. You are the only woman 
 I ever met who understands to whom it is not necessary 
 to explain. Think what I can give you, Priscilla." His 
 brow and hand seemed to recognize no mortal limit. 
 "Think what we could both together accomplish." 
 
 "I know, Hugh." She did not seek to deny the force of 
 his burning language. The future which it depicted was 
 irresistible save for one deplorable lack. "But if I do not 
 love you?" There was melancholy in her tone. Alas! 
 the roses hung lifeless on their stalks. And what had 
 caused them to perish ? 
 
 "How have I changed, Priscilla?" he repeated insist 
 ently. 
 
 Great wealth power good riddance to a single life, 
 all these were within her reach. But she must encounter 
 the scorn of Henry Sumner. The shadow of his disap 
 proval lay directly across her path. Why had he inter 
 fered to blight her happiness ? What had his vague insin 
 uations proved ? Her soul rose in its wrath but faltered, 
 for the essential truth stared her in the face; murmur as 
 she would, he had succeeded in blighting it, and the secret 
 garden of her love had become a waste. 
 
 "It must be I who have changed," she said gently. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 459 
 
 "You changed?" Blaisdell stared for a moment, then 
 enlightened, as he thought, cried: "Let me implore you, 
 darling, for both our sakes not to imitate the horrible mis 
 take of the women in this community who test their love by 
 a thermometer and, unless it records fever heat at once, 
 stifle it out of existence. Many a life two lives have been 
 wrecked in this way. A woman who suspects that she 
 loves a man will learn to love him a hundredfold more 
 
 when " 
 
 Priscilla rose with a little shiver. She was suddenly con 
 scious that she was cold. The silver grays of the sunset 
 had become dark purples and night was descending. 
 "O Hugh, I am so sorry," she said. 
 
 "You will not consent?" he exclaimed aghast. Was it 
 possible that he could not prevail? 
 
 "I cannot. Not now; not at any time, I believe." 
 
 Blaisdell snatched at this semblance of doubt. "Be 
 lieve ? I shall never take no for an answer." 
 
 She shook her head. " I must go in now. I do not love 
 you, Hugh dear. It would be cruel to us both to pretend 
 
 that I do." 
 
 The firmness in her tone, as if her resolution had gained 
 strength from utterance, struck Blaisdell to the heart and 
 recalled his abhorrent suspicions. 
 
 "There is no one else?" he queried. 
 
 "No one." 
 
 The answer was prompt and explicit, but something in 
 her expression was it annoyance or self -distrust ? led 
 him to add : 
 
 "You are sure?" 
 
 It was evident that Priscilla disdained the repetition, for 
 she made him stand aside and let her pass before she re 
 pliedreplied with a briskness which was an antidote to 
 
400 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 sentiment: "I love no one, Hugh. As I told you, I have 
 made up my mind to remain an old maid." 
 
 Blaisdell gave an ejaculation of disgust at the renewal 
 of this absurdity; nevertheless, as he started to follow her, 
 he protested: "Preposterous as that idea is, I could bear it 
 better than that you should belong to some one else who 
 ever he may be." He emphasized the final words in the 
 hope that she might guess the unendurable possibility which 
 he had in mind, one which made spinsterhood alluring by 
 comparison. 
 
 But if Priscilla understood, she ignored his allusion. 
 The consequences of her refusal were already beginning 
 to assert themselves and must be met one in particular. 
 Looking back at him she said: "I can t blame you for 
 speaking, Hugh, but I wish you had kept silent for another 
 reason. You will appreciate that after what has passed 
 between us I cannot possibly remain in your house. I 
 shall miss the dear children horribly, but when I leave for 
 the camp I shall not return. Even you will agree that this 
 is necessary for us both." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 WHY had Miss Avery left her brother-in-law s house and 
 returned to her father and step-mother ? Boston had under 
 stood that the arrangement under which she was to take 
 the place of a mother to the late Mrs. Blaisdell s children 
 was to be permanent. What had occurred to interrupt 
 its continuance? The simple might believe themselves 
 mistaken in having assumed that it was to outlast the time 
 when the bereaved widower might fairly be expected to 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 461 
 
 take notice and find some suitable governess to succeed 
 her. There were others who whispered that they knew 
 better declaring that in the eyes of a woman so su 
 perior as Miss Avery no other interest could vie in 
 importance with the protection of these motherless chil 
 dren, and that something startling must have happened to 
 terminate so felicitous a guardianship. Had her brother- 
 in-law offered himself? And was her retirement to the 
 seclusion of her father s house merely preparatory to capit 
 ulation? This was their shrewd suspicion. Presumably 
 she had delayed announcing her engagement from delicacy 
 in order that the conventional two years might elapse. 
 Even Mrs. Harrison Chippendale was of opinion that m 
 the due course of events a marriage between them would 
 be both logical and becoming. 
 
 This mooted question was but one of the lesser ripples 
 on the surface of current events. Indeed, Mrs. Harrison 
 Chippendale s interest in it would have been languid 
 save for the circumstance that her youngest daughter s 
 caprice brought the presumptive bridegroom directly 
 under their eye shortly after the time when Priscilla left his 
 house. Where Georgy was concerned Mrs. Chippendale 
 might be said to be clay in the hands of the potter. Geor- 
 giana and her brother Arthur were devoted cronies, and 
 whatever the latter desired, his sister zealously abetted. 
 Seeking to cater to his employer s social ambitions and thus 
 help to feather his own nest, Arthur had been harping in 
 his mother s ears on the proposition of inviting Jack Stod- 
 dard and his wife to dine. When Mrs. Chippendale finally 
 assented she was plunged in dejection over the question 
 whom to invite to meet them. To ask them alone would 
 be no solution, but an insult so she explained. Who 
 should it be, seeing that they knew nobody and nobody 
 
462 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 knew them ? Arthur in dudgeon threatened to join forces 
 with Georgy and ask them to dine at the club instead, 
 whereat his mother showed signs of weeping; but Geor- 
 giana came to the relief of the situation by the proposal, 
 "Why not invite Mr. Blaisdell and Miss Avery?" Then 
 in reproof of her mother s consternation she added: "He 
 is beginning to go everywhere. I thought him most agree 
 able the day I went to see him at his office." 
 
 "Yes, I remember; that harum-scarum expedition!" 
 murmured Mrs. Chippendale. Her children were contin 
 ually disappointing her by strange unexpected develop 
 ments instead of following the barnyard treadmill of pro 
 priety. It was no girl s fault that she remained single 
 though three unmarried daughters stuck in her maternal 
 crop; but that one of them should stray outside the coop 
 as a so-called Christian Science healer had been a bewil 
 dering experience. And lately both Arthur and Georgy 
 had been revealing symptoms of insubordination. From 
 the point of view of the eternal fitness of things, Chauncey 
 was certainly the most satisfactory of her children. She 
 flattered herself that he had much of the sound conserva 
 tive sense of the Floyds. She proceeded to point out that 
 Mr. Blaisdell had never been bidden to one of Beatrice s 
 dinner parties. It was one thing to ask Jack Stoddard out 
 of kindness, and another to show a social attention to 
 so conspicuous an individual. 
 
 At this Arthur took up the cudgels in support of his 
 sister s astute suggestion. What a happy idea! In the 
 eyes of Jack Stoddard, Mr. Blaisdell was a social star of the 
 first magnitude, and to be one of the same company at 
 dinner at the mahogany of a Chippendale would in his own 
 estimation exalt him to the zenith of fashionable contem 
 plation from which he could look down patronizingly on 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 463 
 
 the climbing myriads. Arthur met his mother s objection 
 with the startling statement: 
 
 "Chauncey s a bloated bondholder; he can pick and 
 choose. The rest of us are paupers, so we can t afford to 
 be too particular." 
 
 " Paupers?" ejaculated his mother. "What do you 
 mean, Arthur?" When she understood their figures of 
 speech at all, she was never confident that her children 
 were not quizzing her. And yet Arthur was supposed 
 to have literary taste. Seeing that the North Shore prop 
 erty had increased so much in value and that they were 
 reestablished suitably in town, his cynicism, if the words 
 were to be interpreted at their face value, was unintelligible 
 and invidious. 
 
 "Comparatively speaking, he means, mama," mur 
 mured Georgiana, who was a proud young person in her 
 way. 
 
 But Arthur was eager to point a moral. " All we possess 
 in the world is scarcely enough to supply Mr. Blaisdell 
 with breakfast food," he asserted. "He could swallow us 
 at a gulp. And in my opinion he wouldn t have to strain 
 very hard to make a square meal of our plutocratic 
 Chauncey." 
 
 His mother set this down to hyperbole, as she did most 
 of his statements. But Mr. BlaisdelPs enormous wealth 
 appeared to be unquestionable. To one of her own 
 fashionable friends who had casually described a charity, 
 he had handed a cheque for ten thousand dollars on the 
 spot. Such off-hand munificence savored of the fabu 
 lous. Since both her younger children were bent on 
 asking him to dinner, the easiest way was to submit 
 get it over and done with. "If your father has no objec 
 tion, I will ask them," she finally said. "Every one con- 
 
464 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 siders Miss Avery charming, and if, as people say, he is 
 certain to marry her, I shall be glad I paid them the atten 
 tion." 
 
 What Mr. Chippendale believed to be his own congenital 
 readiness to adopt a progressive point of view came to 
 Georgy s support when this matter was broached to him. 
 Blaisdell? The man who had bought his house? His 
 first impulse was repugnant. He listened gravely, finger 
 ing his goatee, while his wife informed him that the children 
 had set their hearts on it, and made as plausible a case as 
 she could out of the magnate s glittering benefactions and 
 down-town prominence. But her husband s frown ree n- 
 forced her own antipathy, and she reminded him that 
 Chauncey still continued to draw the social line on the 
 individual in question. 
 
 Nothing could illustrate the peculiarities of the Chip 
 pendale temperament more significantly than the result of 
 this reminder. Mr. Chippendale mused for a little. He 
 was egregiously proud of his eldest son s success, and yet 
 he felt the responsibility of being watchful on Chauncey s 
 behalf. The aim of his own life had been to avoid the coils 
 of hide-bound conservatism. Was Chauncey sufficiently 
 heedful of this vital necessity? This newcomer, Blais 
 dell, was not to the manner born; his methods were indis 
 putably open to criticism on the score of er taste, at any 
 rate; but taking everything into consideration (and here 
 Mr. Chippendale congratulated himself on having as an 
 elderly man one eye open when he was supposed by 
 the younger generation to be asleep), had not Blaisdell so 
 far won his social spurs as to make it incumbent on him 
 self as a citizen of Boston the Boston which counts to 
 let down the bars? He was the social head of the family; 
 such an act on his part would be a hint to Chauncey not to 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 465 
 
 forget that the world was moving. His eldest son was 
 unquestionably wide-awake where money making was con 
 cerned, but perhaps he needed to be reminded now and 
 then that sympathy with well-behaved democracy is the 
 watchword of republican institutions. 
 
 Thus communing with himself, Mr. Chippendale re 
 leased his goatee and assented. When the invitations were 
 issued Blaisdell sent an acceptance, but Priscilla pleaded 
 a previous engagement. Having committed herself to the 
 entertainment, Mrs. Chippendale decided to enlarge its 
 scope. Jack Stoddard and his wife were obscured and 
 thrust into the background by a smart company which in 
 cluded Mr. and Mrs. Paul Dudley and the Staunton 
 Townsends. Partly from curiosity, but mainly from the 
 desire to do a distasteful thing handsomely, Mr. Chippen 
 dale, after the ladies had retired, invited Blaisdell to occupy 
 the seat next him, and when the family Madeira was 
 passed and tasted, sought to draw him out on the issues of 
 the day. Blaisdell happened to have at his tongue s end 
 the results of a recent investigation concerning the trans 
 mission of malaria that bugbear of Bostonians by 
 which it appeared that the germ is carried by mosquitoes. 
 The other men hung on his graphic account of the experi 
 ments conducted, part of the expense of which had been 
 borne by him. 
 
 " A remarkably well-informed man; I am not surprised 
 at his success," whispered Mr. Chippendale to Paul Dud 
 ley as they walked together toward the drawing-room. 
 As for the loquacious Jack Stoddard, he was overawed, hyp 
 notized into ornamental silence for once in his life, so 
 Arthur put it, by the dazzling company in which he fig 
 ured. Arthur calculated that the success of the entertain 
 ment ought to serve as an entering wedge to a junior part- 
 
466 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 nership for himself. And not only he but Georgiana was 
 satisfied, but for a different reason; Blaisdell had made 
 a bee-line after dinner for the small sofa where she was 
 sitting and resumed the threads of conversation at the very 
 point where she had dropped them on leaving his office. 
 
 A few months subsequent to this dinner party the entire 
 Chippendale connection was plunged into mourning. 
 Baxter Chippendale was dead; carried off in three days by 
 pneumonia, that dread foe of the elderly. On State Street, 
 which heard the news early in the forenoon, busy men 
 paused for a moment to wonder how much the old gentle 
 man would prove to be worth and to whom he had left his 
 money. Every real estate broker in Boston said to himself 
 that the house on Park Street would at last be for sale. 
 Death had triumphed over individual obstruction to the 
 march of progress. Some of them did not wait for the 
 funeral to be over before ringing up customers on the tele 
 phone and privately calling attention to the opportunity. 
 
 It was recognized that his death had removed another of 
 the few survivors of the old school. The following at 
 Langdon, Chippendale & Company s (as the firm was 
 now styled) and those who frequented the few other places 
 where the deceased was accustomed to drop in with the 
 regularity of clock-work, recalled anecdotes bearing on his 
 idiosyncrasies notably his downright tendency to dis 
 agree with his brother Harrison, and his surreptitious 
 habit of keeping a tiny piece of tobacco under his tongue. 
 The Republican party had lost one of the most reliable 
 contributors to its campaign fund; Baxter Chippendale, 
 unlike some of its younger constituents, took everything on 
 trust and never asked questions. Of late years it had been 
 a sufficient reason for him that his brother was a Mug 
 wump to increase the size of his subscription. Surprise 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 467 
 
 was expressed at his demise by those in the way of meeting 
 him, for they had not failed to notice a recent change in 
 his personal appearance a decided sprucing up of his 
 wardrobe. They argued that he had passed the danger 
 point of old age and was good for another seven years 
 might very likely live to over ninety and disappoint his 
 logical heirs. 
 
 Baxter s taking off was the first break in the family circle 
 which had occurred for years, and it came as a great 
 shock to the older generation. The funeral took place at 
 King s Chapel. His two sisters and brother as chief 
 mourners found themselves in the tall box-like square pew 
 under -the pulpit where the deceased had worshipped for 
 a generation. Leading the way down the aisle, Kfarrison 
 Chippendale realized with distress as he reached the door 
 that the narrow sidewalk was crowded with sight-seers. 
 He became conscious, too, of the vicinity of the new huge 
 department store which towered across the way, inviting 
 an obstruction of traffic. The incidents savored to him of 
 personal affront; he frowned and drew himself up. The 
 crowd peered, jostled and pressed upon him despite the 
 efforts of ushers to preserve a path. Where were the 
 police? How different from the dignified quiet of many 
 well-remembered visits to this historic sanctuary before his 
 wife had ceased to be a Unitarian. There was a moment s 
 delay in the arrival of the carriage reserved for him, and, 
 as it halted before the porch, one of the horses reared. 
 Mr. Chippendale slipped on the curb-stone and would 
 have fallen into the gutter but for Chauncey s timely suc 
 cor. The latter surmised that his father was unmanned 
 by his uncle s death. Or was this sudden lack of coordi 
 nation between the legs and brain a sign that his dear old 
 governor was beginning to break up ? Chauncey decided 
 
468 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 to take the vacant seat in the carriage opposite to his father 
 and mother. Harrison Chippendale had proposed, on the 
 score of sentiment, that his two sisters and he should drive 
 out to Mt. Auburn together, but Miss Georgiana had de 
 clared that she was unwilling to trust herself to any other 
 coachman and horses but her own, and there were only 
 two seats in her brougham. She had only just acquired 
 confidence in the mate bought to replace the fat horse 
 which had died. 
 
 When all was over the father and son drove back to 
 gether from the cemetery. Mr. Chippendale had insisted 
 on remaining to make sure that the family tomb was prop 
 erly closed, though the three nephews begged him to dele 
 gate that duty to them and return with his wife. It was the 
 last sad tribute he could pay the dead and, after all, was he 
 not nearer to Baxter than the next generation could pos 
 sibly be ? Until they passed the Mt. Auburn gates there 
 was silence; presently Mr. Chippendale said: 
 
 "Remember, Chauncey, when my turn comes, I am to 
 be cremated. I wish what remains of me to be consumed 
 by clean fire." 
 
 "Yes, father." 
 
 After another brief silence, Mr. Chippendale said: 
 "Your Uncle Baxter was a man of spotless commercial 
 integrity, and eminently sagacious. We were not er in 
 accord on minor points, but underneath the surface 
 each had an abiding affection for the other." He wiped 
 his eyes gently as he spoke. "Baxter was a character in 
 his way, and like most characters, he had a forcible way 
 of stating what he believed to be true. But his bark was 
 always worse than his bite." 
 
 Chauncey made no immediate response to this fraternal 
 estimate. If he reflected that his father was idealizing 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 469 
 
 a little, he felt eulogy to be becoming at this moment. His 
 Uncle Baxter had always seemed to him, ever since he 
 could remember, what he might have termed a queer old 
 guy. But he must have been shrewd in his time worthy 
 of reverence; otherwise how had he managed to lay up the 
 fortune attributed to him? Chauncey s curiosity in regard 
 to this matter led him to say but deprecatingly, as if he 
 did not wish to pry into the dead man s box prematurely: 
 "He must have been a wonder in his day. General Lang- 
 don used to chaff him on being one of the richest men in 
 Boston; he rather seemed to enjoy it protested, but 
 never denied it. Have you any idea, father, what dis 
 position he has made of his property?" 
 
 Mr. Chippendale shook his head. "Not the remotest. 
 Your uncle was a secretive man in many ways; he never 
 made a confidant of me in money matters. On the con 
 trary, he pretended to believe that I was extravagant be 
 cause I had large expenses and held that the best contribu 
 tion a well-to-do man could make to his family and society 
 was to keep abreast of the times. Harrison, I have heard 
 him say, you re a spendthrift. If you re not careful, you ll 
 land in the poor-house. He never liked my detecting, 
 years ago, that he chewed tobacco in secret, and reproving 
 him for it. He always stuck to it that he didn t." Mr. 
 Chippendale sighed. "Well, he s in Mt. Auburn and 
 we re not destitute yet. Poor Baxter! If he has left you 
 children a comfortable slice of this world s goods, I fancy 
 it will not come amiss in this age of extravagance, though 
 personally I fear that our growing habits of luxury are 
 tending to hamper the spiritual growth of the new gener 
 ation." The next moment, as if his homily had led him to 
 make a survey of the entire family, he added : 
 
 "By the way, what is this mention I see in the morning 
 
470 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 paper of Henry as a possible nomination for Mayor of 
 Boston on the Citizens ticket?" 
 
 "The people responsible for that movement are talking 
 of him, I believe. They can t get any one else to run." 
 
 Mr. Chippendale disregarded this lack of enthusiasm. 
 Musing, he answered with kindling eye: "Stranger things 
 have happened. Besides, you remember, one of my ances 
 tors was a mayor of Boston." 
 
 "Boston was a village then, now it s a wicked metrop 
 olis. The Citizens candidate has no more chance of win 
 ning this year than the traditional snowball in." But, 
 realizing that his father could not be familiar with the 
 simile, Chauncey did not complete it, but went on to say: 
 "They ve offered the nomination to several people, I 
 understand. They put it up to General Langdon with 
 honeyed words on a silver salver; but he pleaded ill-health 
 and gray hairs. They thrice presented him a kingly 
 crown, which he did thrice refuse. Learned that in 
 English 17, father. I can t imagine wishing to be mayor 
 if one were elected. It s the most difficult office in the gift 
 of the people with a big P. Kicks and curses from every 
 one with an axe to grind, if you re economical and try to 
 make a record. Otherwise, you re a rascal." 
 
 "But some one must be mayor, and public spirit in 
 Boston can t be dead." Mr. Chippendale turned inquir 
 ingly toward his son and his lip trembled. "I m proud 
 that I have a nephew ready to come forward and throw 
 himself into the breach." 
 
 Chauncey ignored this indirect reflection on himself. 
 He was anxious to make plain that his father took what he 
 regarded as a visionary view of the situation. "He s a 
 dead cock in the pit before he starts. Henry will get the 
 support of the Back Bay and a complimentary vote in 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 471 
 
 Dorchester and Jamaica Plain; all the otner wards will 
 plunk on one of the regular party candidates. Of course, 
 father," he continued, warned by the tapping of Mr. 
 Chippendale s foot that these utilitarian morals were 
 deemed deplorable, "I believe, as you do, theoretically, in 
 non-partisan politics in municipal affairs; but they re not 
 practical; and, according to the masses, when the candi 
 date comes from the Back Bay, they re not democratic. 
 Every now and then when things get too bad when the 
 thieves become too bold there s a reaction; the public 
 gets busy and some Republican is elected. As I told you, 
 father, Boston isn t what it used to be; it s a full-fledged, 
 wicked city. Take the man with the most axes to grind, 
 the most favors of one sort or another to ask from a city 
 government your friend Blaisdell, f or instance I wouldn t 
 care to bet my bottom dollar that he wouldn t knife 
 Henry in the back if there were any chance of his elec 
 tion." Then noticing that they were passing through Har 
 vard Square within sight of the college yard and buildings, 
 he added: "Henry is all right public-spirited, as you 
 say but he s the same old sixpence at heart as he was 
 fifteen years ago when we were all out here together. What 
 makes me sore at the moment is that he wore a pot hat 
 with his frock coat at the funeral. Did you notice that? 
 Couldn t find his silk hat, he told me. Only Frenchmen 
 indulge in that get-up. I will say for him that he recog 
 nized that he wasn t properly dressed. And, by the way, 
 I wonder why his pretty stenographer took it into her 
 head to come to the cemetery; and in black, too. I m 
 sure I recognized her. She used to do work for Uncle 
 Baxter the last year or two of his life." 
 
 There was so much in these animadversions which he 
 desired to answer that Mr. Chippendale was dumbfounded 
 
472 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 and nearly held his peace. " Mr. Blaisdell is not my friend, 
 Chauncey," he felt constrained to state. "I asked him to 
 dine er because I thought er the time had come." 
 
 "That s all right, father," said Chauncey good hu- 
 moredly. 
 
 Vindicated on this point, Mr. Chippendale felt encour 
 aged to add: "I still think that Henry has done remark 
 ably well quite sustained the traditions of our family for 
 public spirit and conscientiousness er in spite of an 
 occasional lack of tact. As for the general tenor of your 
 observations, they tend to confirm my own belief that both 
 in state and national politics we are steadily going back 
 ward." 
 
 This speech happened to strike an answering chord in 
 Chauncey s bosom. " Those fellows in Congress," he 
 responded, "are doing their best to get us into a war with 
 Spain. No sooner does the business of the country seem 
 to be on a firm footing when some politician throws mud at 
 a foreign power and unsettles credit." Chauncey spoke 
 feelingly and as if the reminder worried him. 
 
 But Mr. Chippendale was off on another tack. "Ah, 
 those pitiful reconcentrados horrible! Such an abom 
 ination ought to be stopped. But I have always said that 
 I hope not to live to see another war. As you wisely 
 remark, the politicians of both parties," he added, nod- 
 ding his head, "are fully capable of dragging us into one." 
 Father and son had reached a comparative unanimity of 
 opinion, though from a different angle. 
 
 During the forenoon of the following day, Baxter Chip 
 pendale s box at the Safe Deposit Vaults was opened in 
 the presence of Mr. Chippendale and Chauncey and of 
 Henry Sumner, who had been sent for by the two others. 
 When no will was found among the papers in evidence en 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 473 
 
 top, it looked for a short time as though he might have died 
 intestate. Further search revealed under the packets of 
 securities a file of old documents among which was found 
 an uncancelled will bearing date twenty years back. Chaun- 
 cey s impulse was to peruse the contents on the spot, but 
 his father resented this lack of ceremony. 
 
 "Your Aunt Georgiana will expect to be present at the 
 reading of the will," he stated. 
 
 Accordingly the family met an hour later at Miss 
 Chippendale s house on Beacon Hill, where Harrison, as 
 its head, read aloud the terms of the instrument in the 
 large drawing-room. These were simple and normal. 
 Remembrances of five thousand dollars apiece were given 
 to his brother and two sisters; bequests of one hundred 
 and fifty thousand apiece were made to the Harvard Medical 
 School and the Sailors Snug Harbor; and after the payment 
 in full of these legacies, all the rest and remainder of his 
 estate was divided among his nephews and nieces, share 
 and share alike. His legal adviser an elderly lawyer who 
 had since died was appointed the executor. 
 
 For a moment after Mr. Chippendale resumed his seat 
 no one spoke. Uncle Baxter s intentions sounded gener 
 ous; at the same time the charitable bequests were so large 
 as to leave room for doubt whether the residuary clause 
 was more than a hollow gift. Was he not capable of play 
 ing just such a grim joke on his expectant heirs-at-law ? 
 If this suspicion kept the older generation tongue-tied, 
 Chauncey was able to be reassuring. While rummaging 
 the contents of the safe deposit box, his sharp eyes had 
 made a sufficiently shrewd inventory to justify the convic 
 tion that the residue, after paying the Harvard Medical 
 School and the Sailors Snug Harbor, would be very sub 
 stantial his own portion enough to relieve the straightened 
 
474 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 condition of his finances and enable him to purchase more 
 shares of Electric Coke. If Uncle Baxter had purposed 
 twenty years before to play a joke on the family, he had 
 merely hoodwinked himself, so greatly had everything he 
 owned increased in value. There were eight to divide 
 among seven besides himself and, having done the 
 arithmetic, Chauncey, as spokesman for the residuary 
 legatees, said aloud : 
 
 " That s very generous of Uncle Baxter. If I m not mis 
 taken, it will mean er quite a respectable sum for each 
 of the nephews and nieces." As he spoke he glanced 
 round the room so as to serve congratulatory notice of the 
 fact on those who were present two of his sisters, Henry, 
 and one of the Sumner girls. 
 
 "How much?" inquired Miss Georgiana bluntly, rub 
 bing her nose. 
 
 "From the hasty examination which we made while 
 searching for the will, I should expect it to be in the neigh 
 borhood of three hundred thousand apiece." 
 
 It was Miss Georgiana s turn to do a mental sum. 
 "Mercy," she ejaculated, "was Baxter a millionaire? 
 That means nearly three millions." She seemed to be a 
 little disconcerted by the amount, which argued that her 
 brother had got the better of her in their life-long contest. 
 "Well, he nearly starved his servants," she murmured 
 under her breath. 
 
 "Baxter was eminently sagacious always a sound 
 investor." Such was Harrison s tribute. 
 
 "What a stupendous sum of money," said Mrs. Sumner 
 with gentle amazement. But, though she sighed, she rap 
 idly adjusted her mind s eye to the advantages of a 
 larger income. She cared nothing for money in the ab 
 stract; but she had been conscious for the last fifteen years 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 475 
 
 that her purse did not carry quite money enough to go 
 round. Each one of her offspring would be happier and 
 better equipped for successful endeavor by becoming well 
 to do. The Patons were just a little pinched; and now, 
 perhaps, Henry would feel more free to marry. Mrs. 
 Sumner sighed again. Her children seemed fated in the 
 natural order of events to prove dripping pans; and yet, 
 as they were earnest souls, why was not this the working 
 of a wise Providence ? 
 
 Her brother Harrison interrupted this reverie only to 
 chime in with it. "Well, Henry," he said, laying his hand 
 on his nephew s shoulder, "I am glad that your uncle has 
 remembered you so handsomely. You have made what 
 may be called an uphill fight er financially, and I con 
 gratulate you." 
 
 "It won t be any too much for him if he s to be the next 
 Mayor of Boston." 
 
 This remark proceeded from Miss Georgiana, who, 
 under cover of her peacock feather fan, had appeared to 
 be absorbed in watching her elderly butler pass a silver 
 tray on which were cake and a decanter of sherry. Why 
 had she not been notified the day before so that she might 
 provide a more bountiful collation ? 
 
 "Is it true, Henry, that you have been asked to run?" 
 asked Mr. Chippendale. "I heartily approve of your 
 public spirit. Even if the chances of election are slight 
 as I fear they may be er you are certainly a credit to 
 the family." 
 
 "Who says he won t be elected? What do you know 
 about it, anyway, Harrison?" 
 
 Mr. Chippendale had gone out of his way to sing his 
 nephew s praises in the presence of the family circle, and 
 was inwardly congratulating himself on the fulsome Ian- 
 
476 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 guage which he had employed when this harsh rejoinder 
 grated on his ears. 
 
 " I was merely arguing on general principles, Georgiana," 
 he replied with dignified meekness. "What chance has a 
 gentleman to please the ears of groundlings?" 
 
 Miss Georgiana gave a snort. "He would have a 
 better chance, I agree, if his name were Fitzpatrick or 
 McCarthy." 
 
 "I hoped they would select some one outside the Back 
 Bay; I recognize my limitations," said Henry. "But I 
 shall do my best to win," he added, with so electrifying 
 a lift of his head that Chauncey was prompted to ask : 
 
 "What are the odds ? I ll bet you six to one that you re 
 not elected; and, as father says, I m merely arguing on 
 general principles." 
 
 Chauncey s methods were well known, and this was 
 recognized to be chiefly banter which did not require a spe 
 cific response. The cousins gazed at each other with 
 mutual forbearance. 
 
 "I hope you ll vote for me, Chauncey. Every vote will 
 count." 
 
 "As often as I m allowed. Moreover, I ll contribute 
 liberally to your campaign fund. I impose only one con 
 dition." 
 
 As Chauncey paused and did not continue, Henry said : 
 
 "Name it." 
 
 "That you send round that pretty stenographer of 
 yours to get the cheque." 
 
 "Miss Brackett? Unfortunately she left my employ 
 about four months ago." 
 
 "How very careless of you! She was at the funeral yes 
 terday at the cemetery." 
 
 Henry did not conceal his surprise. " She has done work 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 477 
 
 for Uncle Baxter, as I think I told you, and prooably wished 
 to show appreciation of his kindness. I have lost sight of 
 her. I understood when she left my office that it was to 
 take a more advantageous position in New York." 
 
 Chauncey did not impugn this statement further than 
 to nod his head gaily and remark, "You must find her. 
 I still insist on my condition." 
 
 There were various details to be settled before the family 
 conclave separated. It was agreed that Chauncey and 
 Henry should be appointed administrators in place of the 
 deceased executor. 
 
 "There may, of course, be debts obligations of which 
 we know nothing," Chauncey saw fit to state by way of 
 caution; but the cheerful expression of his countenance 
 belied his presumption. 
 
 "Debts?" exclaimed Miss Georgiana. "Baxter could 
 not brook them. He had his faults, but his motto was pay 
 as you go. He invariably paid every bill before the tenth 
 of the month, like most of the Chippendales." As she 
 spoke, the old lady directed a meaning glance at her sur 
 viving brother as if to question whether he had invariably 
 lived up to this exemplary family tradition. 
 
 Chauncey s rising spirits prompted him to take up the 
 cudgels in behalf of his father, and throw prudence to the 
 winds. "Ours is the wicked branch of the family," he 
 asserted gleefully. "Our motto is order anything you 
 need and pay for it when you get ready." 
 
 Mr. Chippendale hastened to deprecate this rash utter 
 ance saying: "Don t give your aunt an exaggerated im 
 pression of er our foibles." His son s independence 
 reminded him of his own, but there was such a thing as 
 flying in the face of Providence. "I do not owe any man 
 a penny in the world, Georgiana," he said proudly. 
 
478 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 But Miss Georgiana disregarded this assurance, intent 
 on rebuking her nephew. "The standards of the stock 
 broker are happily not the standards of this community," 
 she said, agitating her peacock feather fan. 
 
 Chauncey could not resist, even at the risk of disinheri 
 tance, a sly allusion to her own talent for speculation. "I 
 caught a glimpse of a certificate of Electric Coke in Uncle 
 Baxter s box," he said in a low tone. "So you haven t a 
 monopoly of all the good things, Aunt Georgiana." 
 
 Miss Chippendale seemed a little dismayed at the intel 
 ligence. "Well, it only proves that Electric Coke is a gilt- 
 edged investment." 
 
 " Of course it is." 
 
 "Is it going higher, Chauncey?" she whispered. 
 
 "I ll give you eleven hundred for all of yours." 
 
 His aunt shook her head. " Then it s going up. Baxtei 
 never sold anything; and he was right." 
 
 Chauncey turned from this private dialogue to say 
 aloud for the edification of all concerned: "Talking of 
 city politics, I heard Mr. Blaisdell say the other day that 
 twenty-five years hence Puritan Boston will be a Roman 
 Catholic city. What chance has a Citizens candidate 
 against statistics?" 
 
 While the family circle was weighing this prophecy, 
 Chauncey took his departure. As he reached the door he 
 heard his aunt declare, "One comfort is I shall be dead." 
 He returned to State Street in excellent spirits. He had 
 deliberately made a very conservative estimate of his 
 uncle s wealth. If his eyes had not deceived him, and no 
 liabilities existed, he had little doubt that the share of each 
 nephew and niece would be nearer half a million than the 
 three hundred thousand dollars he had predicted. This 
 sum would tide him over the present stringency in his 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 479 
 
 affairs, even if the disturbing flamboyant speeches of the 
 politicians of the country should involve the country in 
 a war with Spain. The important thing was that the 
 estate should ^be settled as rapidly as possible. There 
 must be no delay in taking the necessary legal steps. 
 
 Indeed, Chauncey was so much set up by his inheritance 
 that he made another purchase of Electric Coke on the 
 strength of it which caused a new quotation 1,125 for 
 the stock. It was good collateral. He would borrow on 
 it at the bank, and pay off the loan when the residue was 
 divided. Moreover, he counted on securing eventually 
 the shares which stood in his uncle s name. And if the 
 question of corporate control arose, was it not reasonable 
 to assume that whatever his Aunt Georgiana s prejudices 
 concerning stock-brokers, she would be likely to prefer 
 him to the omniverous Blaisdell ? 
 
 Chauncey had been obliged to swallow the affront of the 
 purchase of the Massasoit bank. He had finally handed 
 over the family shares with feelings akin to those which 
 a traveller experiences when ordered to hand over his 
 valuables by a gentlemanly highwayman; there was no 
 recourse but to submit. Only civil words were spoken, but 
 the incident rankled. He was more than ever determined 
 to dispute with Blaisdell the leadership of State Street, and 
 what would constitute more effective retaliation than to 
 wrest from his rival the management of Electric Coke? 
 This would be a Roland for his Oliver with a vengeance. 
 
 The two cousins duly qualified as administrators with 
 the will annexed. A few days later and some three weeks 
 subsequent to Baxter Chippendale s death Chauncey 
 remained down-town unusually late. It was nearly six 
 o clock and dark when he left his office. His affairs were 
 on his mind. The new securities of sundry enterprises to 
 
480 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 which he and his firm were committed were practically 
 unsalable at the moment, because of the feverish condition 
 of all the markets due to the war-like speeches in Congress 
 inspired by Spain s attitude in regard to the belligerent 
 Cubans. What was to be the outcome of this inflamma 
 tory talk ? Chauncey was fain to believe that, as usual, it 
 was merely bluster, for the manufacture of political capital. 
 But was there not danger that the smouldering resentment 
 caused by the destruction of the battleship Maine would 
 be fanned by the persistent bombast of the legislators 
 at Washington into a genuine conflagration which all 
 the buckets of the administration would be unable to 
 extinguish? And if so, what was to become of the poor 
 business man ? In the interval he was kept on pins and 
 needles. 
 
 As he walked along the streets, comparatively de 
 serted at this hour, thus chewing the cud of perplexity, 
 he suddenly came upon Blaisdell. It was at a point 
 slightly at an angle across the way from the large building 
 in which was the office occupied by his late uncle. The 
 two men had not met since Baxter s decease, and Blaisdell 
 succeeded in imparting to his greeting that happy com 
 bination of condolence and congratulation which was the 
 other s due. It was too soon for words, but a handclasp 
 in the case of Blaisdell could be made to speak volumes. 
 
 "Working overtime I see," said Chauncey. 
 
 Blaisdell shook his head. "It s nothing extraordinary 
 for me to be kept at the office until half-past six. I m just 
 on my way there now." 
 
 "I suppose when those patriots at Washington have 
 nearly ruined the business of the country we shall wake 
 up some fine morning to discover that the two governments 
 have come to an agreement and that there never was any 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 481 
 
 chance of war." Chauncey revealed what was uppermost 
 in his thoughts, and he was sufficiently nonplussed himself 
 to be ready to hear an outsider s opinion. 
 
 "I doubt it very much. I am prepared for war have 
 been for weeks. We have been drifting steadily in that 
 direction ever since the blowing up of the Maine. I under 
 stand on the best of authority that the members of both 
 branches of Congress are in daily receipt of scores of let 
 ters from the West egging them on to avenge the insult to the 
 nation and er incidentally annex Cuba. We may 
 possibly escape it. But perhaps the time has come to 
 shake the bough and permit that isolated rosy pippin to 
 fall into Uncle Sam s market basket." 
 
 Blaisdell spoke with his wonted assurance, and, though 
 graphically, with the calm of one who has put his house in 
 order and is waiting to see his judgment vindicated. The 
 speech was obnoxious to Chauncey for two reasons. It 
 ran counter to his own opinion; consequently he became 
 more set in his belief that there was nothing but bunkum 
 behind the diatribes of the politicians. In the second place, 
 the cool intimation that the opportunity was favorable for 
 misappropriating the island of Cuba disturbed his ethical 
 equanimity. To be sure, in discussions with his father, 
 who had lived for years in constant political dread that 
 the government would find, sooner or later, an excuse for 
 gobbling up this fertile but turbulent island, he had taken 
 the stand that its possession by the United States was 
 merely a question of time, the proposition emanating in 
 cold blood at this moment from Blaisdell struck him as 
 synonymous with stealing. 
 
 "I have expected and still fully expect to see the poli 
 ticians come to their senses and this affair blow over," he 
 replied. "I am loath to credit an ulterior purpose; to be- 
 
482 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 lieve that this great nation is capable of taking advantage 
 of Spam s predicament in order to grab 
 
 At this moment Chauncey s curiosity was so arrested by 
 a sight across the street that he negected to complete his 
 sentence. From where he stood he beheld his cousin, 
 Henry Sumner, issue from the office building opposite, 
 and, in company with a young woman dressed in black, 
 enter a carriage which had evidently been waiting for them 
 at the curb-stone. What fettered his attention to the ex 
 clusion of every other thought was that in the young woman 
 in question he had recognized his cousin s former stenog 
 rapher, Miss Brackett. He remembered the name and he 
 was sure of the identity. It was dark, but the electric light 
 had shone on her face, and Henry s figure was unmistak 
 able. Chauncey craned his neck after the retreating vehicle 
 and uttered an exclamation of amused astonishment. What 
 did this departure together import ? In denying knowledge 
 of her whereabouts Henry had apparently been throwing 
 dust in his eyes. The episode was open to one of two inter 
 pretations. Was his notoriously moral cousin a gay Lo 
 thario after all ? Diverting as such a possibility appeared, 
 was it not far more probable much more like him that, 
 being now, on the strength of his inheritance, free to 
 choose a wife, Henry had fallen a victim to the charms of 
 this daughter of Heth and married her ? 
 
 "Can t you let me into the joke?" Blaisdell ejaculated, 
 seeing that Chauncey, oblivious of everything else, and con 
 vulsed with mirth, continued to gaze after the disappearing 
 coupe*. 
 
 " It s my cousin, Henry Sumner. I was trying to fathom 
 why he should be driving off in a hack at this hour of the 
 day with er a beautiful young woman." 
 
 "Our reform candidate for mayor?" 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 483 
 
 "The very same. 
 
 "Some client, doubtless; let us hope so. At any rate, 
 may we not assume that the young woman is reasonably 
 secure?" 
 
 Chauncey laughed gleefully. "Ordinarily we might. 
 But there s a mystery here. I recognized her and it s his 
 stenographer. He took pains to tell me the other day that 
 she had left his employ and that he had lost sight of her. 
 I begin to smell a rat." 
 
 Blaisdell remained humorously impassive, but he 
 pricked up his ears. "What do you suspect?" he asked 
 casually. 
 
 Chauncey enjoyed the opportunity to give rein to his 
 imagination at Henry s expense. 
 
 "Nothing perfidious; quite the contrary. In the case of 
 any one else, we er might feel concern on the lady s 
 account, as you pointed out. But it s of my puritan cousin 
 I m thinking. It is within the bounds of possibility that we 
 have just pried upon the ostrich-like proceedings of a newly 
 married pair." 
 
 "Married her, you believe?" Imperturbable as Blais 
 dell intended to appear, this was more startling than he 
 had hoped. 
 
 Chauncey realized that he had gone too far. He felt the 
 desire to retract. Blood was thicker than water; and, if 
 the family linen had to be washed, Blaisdell was the last 
 person whose confidence he would seek. 
 
 "I don t really know a thing. They may be going to 
 take some dying person s deposition for all I can say. 
 Or," he added gaily, shifting deftly the boot to the other 
 leg, "who knows but we are all mistaken in our reform 
 candidate, and he may be under the rose er a devil of 
 a fellow?" 
 
484 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "Quite so," said Blaisdell. "But the incident seems to 
 be shrouded in mystery?" he added. 
 
 "I cannot deny that." 
 
 Blaisdell seemed nonchalantly entertained. "And 
 what did you say her name was, Chauncey?" 
 
 "Brackett so he told me once. And I ll do Henry the 
 justice to say that his taste is good. She s pretty as a 
 peach." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 "A ROLLING stone gathers no moss." Such was Mrs. 
 Avery s comment when she heard that Priscilla had re 
 solved to forsake the labor of love, to which she had spon 
 taneously dedicated herself, and return home to live. Pris 
 cilla recognized the innuendo that if she were not less ca 
 pricious, she would never get a husband. No wonder her 
 step-mother indulged in insinuations. She could not 
 bring herself to reveal the exact truth, and there was 
 no denying that the explanation offered Hugh s and her 
 decision that the temporary arrangement had lasted long 
 enough was flimsy. The decision was so sudden like 
 lightning from a clear sky when everything seemed most 
 serene. And the worst of it was she was conscious that 
 even Lora s mother, after a brief protest of tears, would 
 have accepted her marriage to Hugh as the best thing 
 which could happen for all concerned. 
 
 If she had not flinched from the discovery of her own 
 secret, she was no less honest in facing the bitter truth 
 which confronted her that she had failed to rise to the 
 occasion and throw herself into her lover s arms. How 
 glorious such a solution would have been ! The shame of 
 having loved unawares would have been richly atoned for. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 485 
 
 Instead, she had failed and had let him go; dismissed 
 him with no hope save what he might extract from the 
 definite assurance that there was no one else. Night and 
 the opportunity to reflect had merely set the positive ad 
 vantages in higher relief. She and Hugh were the best of 
 friends; she admired his great ability, she was very fond 
 of him, and they would get on admirably; power and 
 wealth were his to bestow, and it would be false humility 
 to deny that she would be able to help him. He was right 
 they would make an effective couple. But why had she 
 lost the capacity to thrill in his presence* as if he were a 
 demi-god now that she was free to yield to that emotion? 
 She was growing old, and had lost forever, it might be, 
 the illusion of youth; but as to testing her love by a 
 thermometer, as he had charged, she knew better; the 
 thrill had been unmistakable and she felt it no longer. 
 One course was to give herself to Hugh by virtue of his 
 credentials and on the strength of the past, the other was 
 to seek the reason for the change. 
 
 She had sought the reason at the fateful moment when 
 the yearned-for transports had failed, and had received as 
 a reply from her intelligence that it was the fear of the 
 scorn of Henry Sumner. That this other friend of hers 
 was responsible she had no doubt; she had accused him 
 to herself on the spot almost with indignation. She had 
 felt like going to him and saying: " Restore to me the hap 
 piness of which you have robbed me." The opportunity 
 to ponder had also warned her not to confound cause and 
 effect. If this other friend had traduced him intemperately 
 and falsely, if the proofs were admittedly lacking, and im 
 palpable as air, what then? Could she fairly lay the 
 responsibility on his shoulders ? Must she not scrutinize 
 her own heart for the sources of the change? Her own 
 
486 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 heart? Her mind, rather; the mind of the typical Boston 
 girl. It was she who had changed. The reason she could 
 no longer thrill at her lover s coming was because his feet 
 were of clay. There were no proofs still; his faults were 
 impalpable as air but, alas! she had detected them. The 
 thin atmosphere of Boston had atrophied her soul and 
 and saved her from a horrible mistake. Like a true Boston 
 girl she had put on moral eye-glasses. 
 
 The responsibility was hers. It was she who had 
 changed. But, though she might not hold him to blame, 
 she looked at Henry with fresh curiosity when they met on 
 their Adirondack trip. What manner of man was this that 
 even the winds and the seas obeyed him ? Lank, tactless, 
 self-righteous and socially self-absorbed, what was the 
 secret of his power? It was not merely his desire for the 
 truth at any cost, his relentless impulse to strip bare and 
 protest against every deviation from the right as he saw it, 
 but his unfaltering faith in the existence of the right and 
 that there were truths which could not be explained away. 
 What could not the others what could not Blaisdell and 
 the joyous democracy for which he stood, explain away? 
 When brought face to face with the disagreeable or incon 
 venient, how speciously he could evade the responsibilities 
 of the situation. At the touch of his assuring logic every 
 standard yielded, and the firm foundations of principle 
 crumbled smoothly as the landslide under the feet of the 
 climber. So much, alas! had her moral eye-glasses made 
 plain to her that to be easy-going and tolerant-of every 
 thing, to believe in nothing save money making and material 
 comfort sufficiently to form enemies on account of it was 
 a creed which had lost its charm. And shrink from it as 
 she would, was not her brilliant brother-in-law the protag 
 onist of this very creed ? 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 487 
 
 That first night beside the camp fire was much as she 
 had pictured it. There were a dozen in the party, and 
 while the big logs blazed and snapped, they reclined in 
 shadow discussing a problem if man or woman should 
 cease to exist, which? Still conscious as she was of the 
 humor of the situation, she felt that she belonged there. 
 Henry lay nearest her. Her thoughts were far away, 
 revisiting the blighted garden and planning for her future 
 life. But she was conscious of him there at her side like a 
 faithful watchdog. He was not obtrusive. He seemed (for 
 once) to have divined that she wished to be let alone. 
 Every now and then in the dark she would steal a meta 
 phorical look at him when he loomed up in the direness of 
 the contrast between him and Hugh. These looks were 
 repeated on the following days, during the long tramps, 
 the luncheons of hard boiled eggs and water, and the com 
 munion with nature in pairs. There was abundant oppor 
 tunity for this new-fledged curiosity, since Henry was 
 obviously the Jack to her Jill. Literally if a pail of water 
 had to be fetched, they were expected to fetch it together. 
 Yet from time to time a delicate hand Mrs. Paton s 
 intervened and deliberately separated them for an after 
 noon lest the association seem too marked. 
 
 Priscilla was conscious, too, of resenting this interfer 
 ence. It suited her to climb at Henry s side up a moun 
 tain, or follow him single file through the woods, wrapped 
 in her reveries, and let him do the talking. She heard what 
 he said and listened or not as she saw fit. A word or two 
 occasionally on her part sufficed and the experience was 
 restful. Henry was in a poetic mood, but a subjective one 
 so far as outward manifestations were concerned. The 
 ozone of the pine trees appeared to have stimulated his 
 imagination, for he was fain to quote the poets by the 
 
488 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 yard sonnets of Wordsworth, the splendid sweep of 
 "Paradise Lost," the classical metres of Clough, and 
 from other wells of verse. He recited clearly, as if the 
 background of the hills were the sounding-board he loved, 
 and the pastime did not bore but soothed her. With others 
 of the party Professor Paton and Morgan Drake, for 
 instance it was necessary to converse. They were sure 
 to suggest a problem and not to be content with monologue. 
 She had been invited chiefly on Henry s account, but also 
 because they all expected to be edified by her conversation. 
 And she did not feel in the least like talking. Moreover, 
 Henry showed no signs of exhaustion of being talked out. 
 Therefore on at least two occasions Jill managed to upset 
 the precautions of Mrs. Paton and escape with her Jack, 
 which caused sly remarks beside the camp-fire. Pro 
 fessor Paton proclaimed himself a tease; which might be 
 the revenge of an unrequited love grown cold and trans 
 ferred. Priscilla preferred this as an alternative to the 
 indiscriminate discussion of problems with people who 
 would not let her alone; and fortunately Henry showed 
 no undue exultation. "I do not feel like talking," she had 
 explained to him when inviting his complicity "I just 
 wish to tramp and you may recite poetry." This was 
 uncompromising surely, and if. he were still foolish enough 
 to weave romance out of it, she would have to run the risk 
 of being obliged to undeceive him again. There was 
 always the possibility that he might feel constrained to fall 
 on his knees amid the silence of the woods and kiss her 
 hand but she would trust him. 
 
 Gratitude for this forbearance caused her to take an 
 other metaphorical look at him an actual sidelong glance, 
 in fact. At the moment they were reclining side by side, 
 but with considerable space between, against a fallen tree 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 489 
 
 trunk on the borders of a sequestered, placid lake, the goal 
 of a long walk. 
 
 " You have not told me anything about yourself lately," 
 she said to explain her glance. 
 
 This brought Henry from the clouds. She had thrown 
 the poor dog a bone. It had fallen between his paws, hit 
 ting him on the nose, so to speak, recalling him to this dim 
 spot which men call earth. He had been spouting poetry 
 and propounding metaphysics for the past ten days in 
 apparent disregard of it so far as concerned him personally. 
 Consciousness of the aroma of the hemlock in his nostrils 
 and that she was constantly within easy reach not seek 
 ing to escape from him, had been sufficient to detain him 
 in the seventh heaven. But reminded of finite considera 
 tions, he had more or less to tell her. The Bacchante had 
 found a niche in the Metropolitan Museum in New York; 
 her protegee, Mabel Brackett, had left his employ for a 
 position at a higher salary in New York; and the advocates 
 of non-partisan municipal politics were hoping that General 
 Langdon would accept a Citizens nomination for Mayor. 
 
 Had not Henry and she always maintained that the 
 comparative seclusion of an Art Museum was the fitting 
 place for the meretricious statue? She must ascertain 
 Mabel s address and keep a protecting eye on her in a 
 strange city, now that she had so much time on her hands. 
 So Priscilla treated the first two items of news. As for the 
 Mayoralty, it opened up again and threw further light on 
 that struggle, appreciation of which had helped to keep 
 her silent all these days the struggle for perfection of a 
 handful of souls against easy-going optimistic democracy. 
 Divine discontent a constitutional tendency to pick flaws 
 in the existing order of things behold the two poles of 
 nomenclature ! 
 
490 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "Are both the regular parties so bad that you can trust 
 neither?" she inquired, not hostile to non-partisanship, 
 but impelled to break one more lance in behalf of joyous 
 democracy. 
 
 Henry showed himself eager to explain. "We were 
 anxious to avoid a third candidate," he said. "We be 
 sought the Republicans to nominate an unexceptionable 
 Democrat and promised our full support. With the right 
 person we could overcome the large democratic majority. 
 But they were too hide-bound; the rank and file demanded 
 a mediocre party man; would not stand for any other in 
 the caucuses. It was a choice of evils. So what could we 
 do? Surely we are right to register our protest. That s 
 what our nomination of General Langdon means, if he 
 accepts. I wish I were young and inexperienced enough 
 to believe that he can be elected. Only a miracle could 
 accomplish that." 
 
 It was clear that he wished first of all to exonerate him 
 self from the imputation of being either an obstructionist or 
 visionary. At the same time his kindling eye betrayed that, 
 despite his disclaimer, he still cherished the hope that the 
 miraculous might happen. 
 
 Priscilla mused a moment. " Democracy s constant peril 
 seems to be that it idealizes second-rate people and 
 standards." 
 
 "This from you? You lay yourself open to the charge 
 of being an aristocrat and a malcontent." 
 
 "I know it," she murmured with a sigh. 
 
 "But you hit the mark when you said idealize, " he re 
 sponded brightly. "The cynic contends that democracy 
 prefers the worst; which isn t true. It invariably yearns 
 for the best; but it doesn t recognize it when it sees it. 
 The world used to look up to its rulers because they were 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 491 
 
 superior to the mass. Now they prefer to have them as 
 nearly like themselves as possible a little smarter, per 
 haps, but otherwise just the same. That s at the root of 
 our trouble in municipal politics. The multitude would 
 rather have one of their own sort whom they know and call 
 by his first name than General Langdon with whom they 
 have little in common." 
 
 "You mean that our democracy is self-complacent?" 
 "You couldn t have chosen a more accurate word. In 
 toxicated, it might be said, with its joy in loose living. The 
 people who say you was and excuse me, illustrate simply 
 our happy-go-lucky tendency in everything from politics to 
 manners. Each set asserts its own standards. Our com 
 placent public is sensitive, too; it resents even tacit strict 
 ures. In the circles where women chew gum those who re 
 frain are liable to be criticised as snobs." Henry paused. 
 Priscilla realized that he had purposely not minced his 
 words, and was speaking more satirically than his wont be 
 cause he wished her to know that, however tolerant he had 
 become, he had still the courage of his convictions. Never 
 theless, despite the olive branch which he had extended to 
 chronic doubt, he evidently felt that his bold irony required 
 some justifying antithesis, for he continued: "The few 
 who set themselves against the tide are certain to be 
 sneered at and submerged. They are styled cold and cen 
 sorious; often they are narrow and too conventional. But 
 the impulse which governs them is not self-righteousness, 
 but patriotism. With all their shortcomings their excuse 
 for being is that they represent an appetite for perfection 
 and abhorrence of looseness." 
 
 Why had Henry chosen this moment to reaffirm and 
 crystallize his philosophy? Why had he seen fit at this 
 juncture to put down his foot and define the boundaries of 
 
492 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 his moral independence? After ten days in the woods 
 together it was as though he had suddenly stopped short 
 and said, "thus far I have followed you, but I will go no 
 further." Was she a luring will-o -the-wisp lighting a good 
 man to destruction? These tart questions mingled them 
 selves with Priscilla s consciousness that he was merely 
 setting before her in concise terms the equation which had 
 been haunting her own soul ever since her arrival. He was 
 repeating what she had discovered for herself. But he was 
 almost dispassionate; he had not even invited her to 
 choose between the conflicting poles of life. He had sim 
 ply, as it were, drawn a ring of fire and planted himself 
 within it. Could her self-respect endure such presumption ? 
 
 Whatever reply feminine waywardness might have dic 
 tated, Priscilla was spared the necessity of speech. While 
 her emotions clashed a magnificent stag with spreading 
 antlers stepped from the shelter of the wood two hundred 
 yards away from where they sat, and, sniffing the air with 
 the wariness of graceful wild things on the alert for dan 
 ger, dipped his nose in the lake. 
 
 "Look. The pretty creature," she whispered, while 
 Henry reached for his camera. He had brought a gun with 
 him to camp, but had not used it, and only the night be 
 fore had recited to her Emerson s lines on the delights of 
 the woods without slaughter. What would an Indian 
 squaw think of her brave ? Blaisdell would have coveted 
 the antlers. So she reflected such are the vagaries of the 
 feminine mind as Henry took two careful snaps shots at 
 the stately animal ere it scented some peril and bounded 
 into the thicket. 
 
 The original topic was not resumed and camp was broken 
 two days later. Priscilla s first need was to gather up the 
 threads of life where she had dropped them in order to 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 493 
 
 assume the care of Lora s children. Her sojourn in the 
 Adirondacks had merely served to strengthen her decision 
 as to BlaisdelPs offer. But their friendship must suffer as 
 little as possible. A woman in such circumstances can 
 always be trusted to desire this; and, to preserve it, Pris- 
 cilla felt at liberty to leave Hugh free to convert her if he 
 could. Indeed, if he could succeed in reproducing the 
 telepathic spell, would not her hand be his reward ? It was 
 his due to let him try, and she could afford to run the risk. 
 
 Priscilla found Blaisdell accommodating. Far from 
 taking umbrage at his rejection and avoiding her society, 
 he made it plain from the moment they met after her 
 return that he had no intention of accepting her answer as 
 final, but proposed to win her if he could and to spare no 
 endeavors to do so. Her virtual admission that she had 
 loved him once there was surely a loophole large enough 
 to encourage a disconsolate lover. He did not obtrude 
 this vantage point, but he kept it in the foreground by way 
 of letting her know that he had not forgotten it, and that 
 he relied on it as compelling in the long run. He made 
 plain, too, that he considered it gave him the proprietary 
 right of inquiry as to her attitude toward all comers. 
 Toward Henry Sumner in particular. He insisted on 
 specifying Henry as a rival; and ridiculous as he evidently 
 regarded the latter s pretensions on grounds of congruity, 
 he refused to credit altogether her disclaimer. Why had 
 she gone to the Adirondacks? Was it not he who had 
 poisoned her mind against him? Assuredly the source of 
 her change of heart toward himself was to be found in her 
 partiality for this hair-splitting reformer. 
 
 Urbanity, as we all know, was Blaisdell s invariable cue. 
 Even when the depths of his nature were stirred, as now, 
 he did not indulge in contumely. Doubtless he realized 
 
494 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 that at the present juncture the disparagement of mild dis 
 dain which he had always bestowed on Henry would avail 
 him little. What he now sought to emphasize was his 
 conviction that, by gazing through the eyes of Henry, Pris- 
 cilla had learned to look askance at himself. Though he 
 shrank from the possibility that she could ever marry this 
 pseudo-rival under any circumstances, he foresaw that she 
 would remain obdurate toward himself so long as her faith 
 in this other quarter remained unimpaired. 
 
 This was the point which he went out of his way to im 
 press upon her. Such was the state of mind in which Pris- 
 cilla found him on her return. A maddening policy this, 
 the insinuation that logic demanded that she must be 
 enamoured of a definite person because she had refused 
 him. It could be treated only with becoming dignity. 
 They were both dear friends, nothing more; and the 
 obvious solace to her sensibilities she uttered this in his 
 presence to hear how it would sound was that she would 
 retain her faith in both and marry neither. 
 
 How destroy her faith in his pseudo-rival? How, at 
 least, minimize his influence so that his own would again 
 become paramount? Blaisdell did not quail before the 
 consciousness that he had indirectly been aiming at this 
 ever since they had first met. The answer which his opti 
 mistic nature provided was that the real necessity had 
 never arisen until now. Hitherto Henry Sumner had been 
 a side show so far as concerned his personal welfare; but 
 now his dearest ambition was bound up in the need of re 
 moving the scales from her eyes and enabling her to see 
 him as he really was. 
 
 Yet it was repugnant to Blaisdell that another enmity 
 had been introduced into his life obliging him to meditate 
 and have recourse to hostile measures to bring to pass 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 495 
 
 what he desired. Wide apart as the two cousins, Chatm- 
 cey and Henry, were, in temperament and point of view, 
 they had managed to antagonize him, each in his particular 
 way, until the time had come when, for the sake of his own 
 self-respect, it was incumbent on him to annihilate them 
 eat em up, as the current phrase was. So far as Chauncey 
 was concerned, matters were shaping themselves toward 
 such a finish; he felt no solicitude as to the ultimate result. 
 But the problem of how to dispose of Henry, involving as 
 it did the discovery of some flaw or inconsistency in the 
 obnoxious traits which the latter displayed to the world, 
 made him pause. Remembering that none are so blind as 
 those who will not see, he recognized that, to shake Pris- 
 cilla s faith in him, he must be able to confront her with 
 irrefutable evidence to his discredit. Where was the anti 
 dote to this catalogue of virtues? Hypocrisy. This was 
 what Blaisdell had always been fain to believe from the 
 early days of their acquaintance. Though he had pro 
 fessed to take small account of Henry, he had been 
 on his guard to catch him tripping. Was not one so 
 notoriously self-righteous certain to possess some under 
 hand besetting sin? The ordinary philosophy of life 
 encouraged him to believe so. But thus far Henry, if 
 precedent was to be trusted, had managed to elude him. 
 As an alternative he had succeeded in consoling himself 
 with the conclusion that his rival was an irreproachable 
 sexless ascetic with pessimistic proclivities. But this felici 
 tous estimate was of no avail in the present emergency. He 
 must abandon it in favor of a further search for hidden 
 weaknesses a decision which caused Blaisdell to knit his 
 brows in true perplexity for one of the few times in his 
 experience. Paradoxical as his felicitous estimate sounded, 
 his acute mind had adopted it as the real truth. 
 
496 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 The death of Baxter Chippendale was a temporary set 
 back to BlaisdelPs still hunt for Chauncey. The inheri 
 tance of so considerable a sum of money must inevitably 
 protract the contest for supremacy between them; for, 
 while his rival on State Street might spread his wings on 
 the strength of this large nest egg and indulge in fresh 
 financial flights, this addition to Chauncey s resources 
 could not fail to postpone the day of reckoning, even though 
 hastened by an opportune foreign war. But tenacious as 
 Blaisdell was of any ambition on which his mind was set, 
 he bore with equanimity this temporary check by destiny 
 for the reason that it had become overshadowed by his 
 absorbing love affair. There would be time enough to 
 settle with Chauncey when Henry was out of the way. 
 And the problem of how to get rid of Henry was no less 
 urgent than puzzling. The dangers of delay stared him in 
 the face, and the feelers which he had put out through 
 various channels of information brought back no results. 
 Scrutinize closely as he would his rival s record, the 
 reliable report in every instance was substantially the same 
 a visionary enthusiast, but, so far as any one could de 
 tect, immaculate in his private life. 
 
 To state that it occurred to Blaisdell at this juncture to 
 weave a plot in which to enmesh this blameless antagonist 
 would do him wrong. He went no further than to philoso 
 phize on how easily the rich and powerful of a not remote 
 past were able to get rid of those who sought to frustrate 
 their designs, and take some credit to himself for humane 
 forebearance. Was not the progress of the world toward 
 a higher level of morality thus signally illustrated ? Never 
 theless, when he listened to Chauncey s edifying words 
 and watched the retreating vehicle in which he had just 
 been assured that the hitherto immaculate and visionary 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 497 
 
 was ensconced with a nondescript young woman, Blaisdell 
 experienced difficulty in controlling his exultation suffi 
 ciently to ask the proper questions. At the twelfth hour 
 fate had delivered his rival into his hands fully bound. 
 For whichever horn of the dilemma were correct, Henry s 
 discomfiture was assured. Married if his cousin s words 
 were to be taken at their face value! A moment s sweet 
 thought told Blaisdell that this was preferable to the con 
 viction of rank hypocrisy for which he hankered. Such 
 a consummation would not only leave the field clear to 
 him forever, but save his own skirts from complicity in 
 spreading scandal. He must proceed expeditiously but 
 with caution. When were they married and by whom? 
 Very likely the Citizens candidate desired to conceal the 
 interesting circumstance until after election. Provided the 
 ceremony had already taken place, he could afford to 
 humor this preference. The essential thing at the mo 
 ment, Blaisdell reasoned, was to shadow the happy pair 
 with the least possible delay and ascertain the true condi 
 tion of affairs. 
 
 Three weeks later Boston was in the throes of a municipal 
 election. But what would be the result of the triangular 
 contest for Mayor was scarcely in doubt. Every well- 
 informed person knew that the easy-going, unscrupulous 
 Democratic candidate would be chosen by a comfortable 
 majority. The excitement of the canvas centred on 
 whether the broken-winded party hack nominated by the 
 Republican machine or the so-called Citizens candidate 
 would get the most votes; a real issue because of the point 
 of dispute involved. The stalwarts of the minority party 
 contended that it was Henry Sumner s duty to withdraw 
 and throw his strength to their candidate, who, though not 
 an ideal choice, perhaps, was far preferable to his Demo- 
 
498 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 cratic opponent. Unless they joined forces defeat was in 
 store for both. Let the Citizens candidate, who did not 
 stand the ghost of a chance to win, retire in the nick of 
 time in favor of ex- Alderman Barnard (the broken- 
 winded hack), and victory was probable. Was not this the 
 part of true civic patriotism? 
 
 A certain portion of the community especially the 
 Back Bay was at loggerheads over the question. A 
 large contingent of "solid business men" living on or in 
 the neighborhood of Commonwealth Avenue, who believed 
 in non-partisan politics in municipal affairs, except when 
 it involved voting against a party candidate, shook their 
 heads gravely and declared that Mr. Sumner s attitude 
 was indefensible and Utopian. He was playing the dog in 
 the manger; could not be elected himself and yet stood in 
 the way of one who might. Ex-Alderman Barnard had 
 promised a business administration. As business men 
 themselves, they considered the refusal of the Citizens 
 candidate to retire as Willy-boy politics a disparaging 
 term. What else could be expected of a Mugwump ? 
 
 On their side the supporters of Henry Sumner declared 
 that the boot was on the other leg. A party Republican 
 could not hope to overcome the normal majority unless 
 there was a split in the Democratic ranks. The with 
 drawal of ex-Alderman Barnard would give a filip to the 
 non-partisan movement which would sweep the Citizens 
 candidate into office, and deal a staggering blow to loose 
 Celtic methods. 
 
 What? Withdraw after formal acceptance and prove 
 false to those whose suffrages at the convention had made 
 him the standard bearer of the party ? A quixotic notion 
 surely and worthy of the source from which it emanated. 
 Such was the rejoinder of the regulars. The agitation 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 499 
 
 waxed fast and furious. There was wide and intemperate 
 difference of opinion. A clergyman and Grand Army man 
 declaimed against the obstinacy and lack of public spirit 
 displayed by the Citizens candidate. If the city was handed 
 over to the tender mercies of a gang of thieves, no one else 
 would be to blame. Even in the Sphinx Club, which 
 might be termed the hot-bed of Sumner proclivities, there 
 was an occasional doubting Thomas who inquired anxiously 
 whether, inasmuch as the other wouldn t retire, it had not 
 become Henry s duty for the sake of the general good, to 
 go over to him. Wasn t a pretty good man preferable to a 
 rascal ? 
 
 "A pretty good man is like a pretty good egg he 
 destroys the .appetite for perfection." 
 
 The retort was Morgan Drake s, yet it failed to con 
 vince the doubter. "But this is a democracy," he began, 
 " and if we don t compromise 
 
 "Compromise? My dear fellow, modern life in once 
 Puritan New England is a perpetual compromise. What 
 opinions have we to-day which we are not ready to whittle 
 away because we re afraid of hurting some one else s feel 
 ings and wish to make everything pleasant ? Toleration is 
 a favorite mare whose back has become sore from exces 
 sive riding." 
 
 Prominent among those who thus shook their heads 
 gravely and spoke with plausible eloquence concerning 
 Henry Sumner s refusal to reenforce the regular candidate 
 was Blaisdell. 
 
 " A flagrant case of lack of true public spirit to adhere 
 to a lost cause from Utopian motives. A dog in the man 
 ger instance of self-righteous and obstinate personal 
 ambition masquerading as patriotism." He had his cues, 
 the stock phrases of the controversy at the tip of his tongue. 
 
500 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "Utopian" he liked especially. The dog in the manger 
 analogy had been a contribution of his own to the amen 
 ities of the canvas. The speech was now addressed to 
 Priscilla. The days of good-humored, but contemptuous 
 ridicule of Henry were over. It was due to himself to bring 
 to bear more stringent criticism, if only to let her see that 
 he regarded him as the stumbling-block which stood in the 
 way of his own happiness. He could see, too, that this 
 nettled her, as if she were ashamed of the imputation. 
 But Blaisdell had realized of late that it behooved him 
 to be careful that his criticisms were sound, lest they prove 
 boomerangs. There was something in Priscilla s manner 
 of listening which admonished him that she was weighing 
 every word and that her intelligence was not to be trifled 
 with. On this occasion Blaisdell felt he trod firm ground. 
 Whatever his prejudices might be, this case was plain, the 
 charges just. How often in the past had he and she agreed 
 that virtue which ceased to be practical became futile. And 
 Blaisdell had a further secret reason for complacency. He 
 was calling on her at the moment had come to see her on 
 purpose to press his argument on the strength of what lay 
 at the back of his mind. They had discussed the merits of 
 the campaign on two occasions before the issues were less 
 clearly defined and it had become apparent that the regular 
 party candidate was doomed to defeat unless Henry with 
 drew. She had sided with Henry at the outset he had 
 expected this but her remarks had shown that her mind, 
 as usual, was open to argument. He had endeavored now 
 to compress into a few pregnant sentences the unanswer 
 able logic of the situation. Smiling affably, though his 
 speech had been pungent, Blaisdell leaned back in his 
 chair with the air of one who, believing his position unas 
 sailable, welcomes opposition. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 501 
 
 Priscilla, who was making tea at the moment when he 
 began his neat summary of Henry s shortcomings, paused 
 in her preparations in order to resent one statement. 
 "You misjudge Henry Sumner if you believe him to be 
 actuated by personal ambition. Whatever the merits of 
 the case, the nomination was forced on him. He appre 
 ciates the honor, but he is the last person to let mere egotism 
 govern his conduct." 
 
 "Unconscious egotism, let us call it," replied BlaisdeB 
 with a twinkle of the eyes. 
 
 "Not egotism of any sort. He was not eager for the 
 nomination, he is not eager to be Mayor; but he is enthu 
 siastic about the movement." 
 
 "Not eager, but tenacious. I am familiar with the 
 sophistries of these reformers." 
 
 Priscilla flushed. Despite his unruffled mien, this 
 thrust, following his severe premeditated condemnation, 
 seemed to her unwarrantably hostile. "But you are also 
 aware, Hugh, that I know him very well well enough, 
 I think, to vouch for him on this particular point. The 
 rest," she added, with a toss of her head which indicated 
 that compared with the other she regarded it as a second 
 ary matter, "admits of a difference of opinion. But if it 
 comes to practical politics, I fail to see why Alderman 
 Barnard is not the one to recognize the obligation by 
 withdrawing. It is rather doubtful if he could be elected; 
 it is practically certain that Mr. Sumner could." 
 
 Blaisdell held up a protesting hand in the face of this 
 spirited retort. Her dark eyes were positively flashing. 
 What mattered it ? He was not averse under the circum 
 stances to arousing her ire. "Your premises might be 
 right if your statistics were not all wrong," he said indul 
 gently. "Ex-Alderman Barnard has hosts of friends in 
 
502 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 the Democratic party. All he needs is the moral support 
 of a Citizens nomination. As for your candidate, a major 
 ity of the voters of both parties would cast their ballots 
 against him and deservedly so in my opinion for the 
 reason that he is not only a hide-bound aristocrat, but 
 both narrow-minded and unpractical." 
 
 Urbane in manner as Blaisdell still appeared, the asperity 
 of the closing words was so marked that Priscilla asked: 
 "Why so belligerent, Hugh? It is not your wont to be so 
 er bitter. Your view of Henry Sumner s character is 
 neither just nor novel. You have conveyed the idea to me 
 many times before much more agreeably. You see," she 
 pleaded, as she handed Blaisdell his cup of tea, "you are 
 simply forcing me to be his champion. Mr. Sumner is my 
 friend. I am well aware that you dislike him. Why is it 
 necessary that you should so pointedly remind me of the 
 fact?" 
 
 While he stirred his sugar Blaisdell seemed to ponder 
 this outburst which had ended in a virtual plea for mercy. 
 He might have been the traditional cat playing with a 
 mouse. "What I wish to remind you of," he said pres 
 ently, "is that your friendship for him stands between me 
 and you. But for this I have every reason to believe that 
 I should be the happiest of men." 
 
 She shook her head decisively. "You deceive yourself." 
 
 "You cannot deny that the change in your feelings 
 toward me dates from the beginning of your intimacy with 
 him." 
 
 "I am intimate with you both. Surely you are not so 
 ungenerous, Hugh, as to begrudge me the privilege of two 
 close friends?" 
 
 She had dodged his question, but in so doing had brought 
 the conversation to the point which he desired, and he had 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 503 
 
 come primed. " Perhaps you do not know him so well as 
 you think you do?" 
 
 There was nothing aggressive in the remark save its 
 unexpectedness and that he seemed to wait for a reply, 
 with his penetrating eyes fixed on hers and just the sus 
 picion of a smile about his mouth. 
 
 "Possibly not. I cannot always fathom even you." 
 
 The blithe response was almost propitiating, but did not 
 deflect his purpose. "You used, I believe, to be inter 
 ested in a young woman afterward in his employ as a sten 
 ographer? Miss Brackett was her name, if I m not mis 
 taken?" 
 
 " Mr. Sumner. Yes, I recommended her to him." 
 
 "Have you heard from her lately?" 
 
 "Not since she moved to New York." 
 
 "If you inquire, you will find that she is at present in 
 Boston." 
 
 At this point of the concise dialogue Blaisdell rose. He 
 had disclosed all he wished to say at the moment. He had 
 no desire to be in at the death and could trust to her keen 
 intelligence to make the most of the scent he had provided. 
 He started to take his leave as if their last interchange of 
 words had been simply casual. 
 
 "Wait a moment, Hugh." 
 
 She was looking at him searchingly and appalled. She 
 seemed to him suddenly to have become pale, like one 
 whose faith in human nature had been rudely shaken. 
 
 " You wish me to understand you insinuate by what you 
 have just stated something discreditable to Henry Sumner ? " 
 
 "Discreditable, Priscilla? The adjective is yours. I 
 doubt if it is discreditable in the strict sense of the word. 
 My chief insinuation was that one rarely fathoms one s 
 friends so completely as one thinks." 
 
504 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "I fear that I have discovered a new side of you, to-day, 
 Hugh. I " 
 
 "Do not judge hastily. Wait until you hear the truth." 
 
 "I m waiting to hear it now. I am not afraid of it." 
 She drew herself up proudly. She had risen and was fac 
 ing him. The pallor still lingered on her lips, and was it 
 scorn which slightly curled them? "I hate mystery, and 
 you know it, Hugh." 
 
 Though she had never gazed at him like this before, 
 Blaisdell remained the embodiment of good humor. It 
 suited him to have the poison work. The greater her re 
 vulsion, the more complete the shock to her self-confidence 
 and pride, the more probable and sweeter his ultimate 
 victory. 
 
 "The trouble is, I m not perfectly sure what the truth is. 
 I m still in the dark as to the precise facts. When I know 
 them I will enlighten you. It will be time enough after 
 election. If they are as I believe, everybody must know 
 them sooner or later." 
 
 This was explicit so far as it went, but it left her tanta- 
 lizingly at a loss. Her wits were buzzing with cruel con 
 jecture. Henry involved with Miss Brackett? Such was 
 the unit of Hugh s insinuation. Nothing discreditable? 
 There was only one construction which could be put on 
 this assurance that he was seriously devoted even en 
 gaged to her. Engaged ? Why not married ? For a mo 
 ment Priscilla stood spellbound by the amazing thought. 
 This was what Hugh meant married. A wave of crimson 
 mounted to her eye-brows and she tingled hotly with the 
 fell surprise. He the long-suffering, he, the eternally 
 faithful, had succumbed. She had exhausted his pa 
 tience, worn out his fealty. Or had he tired of her? 
 Priscilla felt like gasping. Should she laugh or should she 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 505 
 
 cry? While she stood thus paralyzed by the shock of 
 bewilderment, she became aware that BlaisdeU was 
 regarding her with an expression where triumph and 
 covetousness were mingled, as though he felt that the right 
 to exult had already given him fresh license to woo. Im 
 probable as it was that a man so able and shrewd as he 
 would have hinted at such a revelation if it were void of 
 truth, her mind repelled the conclusion that Henry had 
 been playing fast and loose as something too incredible for 
 belief. If he, the faithful dog, had gone astray, her trust 
 in human nature was indeed shaken forever. It would be 
 like the wandering of the fixed stars from their courses. 
 Not that she had a claim on him; it was the dire incon 
 sistency with his own consistent self the self she supposed 
 she could now read like a book which she deplored. 
 Loyalty, pride, and above all, the instinctive refusal of her 
 positive nature to acknowledge itself deceived in her long 
 cherished conviction bade her exclaim: 
 
 " I understand now what you mean. But I do not believe 
 it; it is impossible. He would have told me himself, if it 
 had been true." 
 
 The far-fetched assurance of the closing plea betrayed 
 the dauntlessess which shuts its eyes and stuffs its ears with 
 cotton wool. If she runs amuck was BlaisdelPs reflection 
 it will be into my arms. " Unfortunately for that view 
 of the case," her tormentor answered suavely, "the cir 
 cumstances appear to admit only one other alternative- 
 one of which he would presumably have been the last to 
 inform you." 
 
 Priscilla stared a moment before she grasped his mean 
 ing. Then she started; but she did not pause to choose 
 between the horns of her dilemma. Was it dread, or indig 
 nation or sheer obstinacy which impelled her? Her 
 
506 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 mind was on the rampage and recklessness had become 
 the spur. 
 
 "In that event," she asserted with defiant lips and 
 heightened color, "you will at least no longer be able to 
 taunt him with not being a man." 
 
 Here was a cavalry charge in the teeth of the guns with 
 a vengeance. The astounded Blaisdell could not restrain 
 his mirth. "True, Priscilla, true," he said, while his 
 humorous mouth acknowledged the desperation of her 
 sally. "Certain apologies might then be due to our puri 
 tanical friend. But what concerns me much more deeply," 
 he added and as he spoke he stepped forward and 
 grasped her two wrists "is, that whichever alternative is 
 true, you will no longer have an excuse for saying that you 
 do not love me. None whatever." 
 
 Holding her arms apart Blaisdell bent his gaze upon her 
 ardently and compellingly. If for a moment Priscilla 
 seemed to feel that this liberty was the logical penalty for 
 so rampant an indiscretion, she recovered her wits just in 
 time to divine that it was preliminary to an attempt to 
 embrace her. This she eluded by drawing back. At the 
 same moment she vigorously wrenched her hands free, but 
 without temper. Anger seemed superfluous; was not his 
 very argument a justification in a sense for his advances ? 
 She felt beset by curiosity the need of knowing. 
 
 " Cease to speak in riddles, Hugh. What does all this 
 mean? Is Henry Sumner married?" She was calm 
 almost matter of fact. 
 
 "I am unable to answer that question categorically." 
 Blaisdell paused a moment. " Mabel Brackett, is, however." 
 
 "Married?" 
 
 He nodded. "I have her own word for it; hearsay, but 
 definitely reported to me." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 507 
 
 "To him? To whom?" 
 
 "She failed to tell my informant; and I admit that the 
 records at City Hall disclose nothing. Evidently for the 
 sake of secrecy the happy lover, whoever he may be, 
 avoided the local jurisdiction." 
 
 Priscilla knit her brows. She was asking her questions 
 with the prosaic coolness of a cross-examining lawyer. 
 
 "And you believe him to be Henry?" 
 
 "The evidence certainly points that way. It either is or 
 it isn t." 
 
 She winced a little under his air of exasperating elation. 
 "Is this all you have to tell me?" 
 
 "All at present all I know at present." 
 
 She drew a deep breath. "Until it is proved, I shall 
 regard it as er an impossibility." 
 
 "I can t blame you for that, Priscilla. Such loyalty 
 does you credit." 
 
 "When do you expect to find out?" she inquired hastily. 
 
 "Any day. To hasten disclosures of this sort on the eve 
 of election might savor of malice." 
 
 "I should like to know what there is to know as soon as 
 possible," she replied steadily. "In any event I seem 
 doomed to be mistaken in to lose one of my friends. Both 
 perhaps." 
 
 Blaisdell did not flinch before the menace of her grave 
 suggestion. "I am ready to stake my fate on the out 
 come," he declared meaningly. Though he had come 
 primed, he was not quite ready to have his hand forced. 
 Yet her impaitence demanded a response and he was not 
 loth to hasten the hour of self-vindication. He reflected 
 a moment. "Let me see," he said slowly. "Day after to 
 morrow comes the torch-light parade in honor of the 
 Citizens candidate, I believe. Naturally you will wish to 
 
508 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 see it at various stages of its progress. If you will allow 
 me to be your escort on that evening, I may be in a position 
 to supply the lacking information." 
 
 "It will pass this house. I shall illuminate, of course. 
 Why can you not 
 
 " That will not prevent. We can view it here first, if you 
 prefer. You hate mystery, I know. But in this particular 
 instance, Priscilla, I invite you to trust me. Will you play 
 follow my leader for this occasion only? Yes or no?" 
 
 The plan which he had in mind had formulated itself 
 with such rapidity that clear-eyed satisfaction lent per 
 suasion to his tone. The old fascination the magnetic 
 voice of command seemed to possess her for a moment 
 and exorcise both repugnance and scruples. He was in 
 viting her to inspect the proofs. That was more than 
 Henry had ever done in an analogous situation. Why 
 should she refuse? Had she not proclaimed her total 
 disbelief ? Was she not tremulous to know ? 
 
 " Very well," she said. " Since you deem mystery essen 
 tial, I will not stand in your way." 
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 CHAUNCEY CHIPPENDALE drew from his pocket the keys 
 of his Uncle Baxter s residence on Park Street and opened 
 the front door. As he walked up the mall of the Common 
 opposite, having been detained down-town unwontedly 
 late, the gathering crowd had reminded him that this was 
 the evening of the torch-light parade in honor of the Citi 
 zens candidate, and he had smiled sardonically. His 
 cousin Henry in the limelight! Why not step in and view 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 509 
 
 the procession from his uncle s windows? What more 
 advantageous spot could be found than the old-fashioned 
 iron balcony which stood out high above the sidewalk on 
 a level with the drawing-room and commanded the street 
 from the State House to Park Street Church ? He would 
 find company, too, for had not Blaisdell only the day before 
 asked permission to utilize the vacant premises for this 
 very purpose ? 
 
 The servants still remained in the house, but it pleased 
 Chauncey in his capacity as executor not to ring. He 
 happened to have the duplicate front door key in his 
 pocket had fastened it to his own bunch in order that 
 he might exhibit the house the following morning to one 
 of his personal friends who was thinking of buying it for 
 improvement. A speedy sale was desirable, but at the 
 highest possible price. The brokers were competing 
 against one another, and scarcely a day passed when he 
 was not telephoned to on the subject. 
 
 As he stepped beyond the inner door into the rather 
 bare hall, Chauncey paused to look about him. He had 
 been an infrequent visitor during the last fifteen years. 
 His uncle, never a sociable person, had become more and 
 more of a recluse. Except for Thanksgiving day, he rarely 
 took a meal in the houses of his brother or sisters, and 
 though he entertained with old-fashioned stateliness when 
 his year came round to give the family dinner-party, he 
 never encouraged his next of kin to rely on. casual hospi 
 tality. Yet to Chauncey the surroundings were familiar 
 from old association, for nothing had been changed in 
 forty years. Save for the dinginess apt to infest the belong 
 ings of the best preserved old bachelors, everything was 
 exactly as it had been when in early childhood he had been 
 brought by his father to visit his uncle every Sunday after 
 
510 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 church and partaken of seed cake. Some of the quaint 
 objects which met the eye mainly of East Indian and 
 Chinese origin had impressed his youthful imagination. 
 They still retained their hold on it; and he paused fasci 
 nated to renew his acquaintance with the pair of parti 
 colored vases, in the guise of gaping dragons, flanking the 
 hall mirror and the long-handled spear affixed to the wall 
 which tradition declared to have been brandished by a 
 South Sea Island cannibal. In the adjacent dining-room, 
 the door of which was closed, were to be found no less entic 
 ing chattels, notably two squat bronze idols on either side 
 of the hearth, the carved ivory elephant on the mantel 
 piece, the octagonal mahogany wine-cooler, and most 
 interesting of all the circular revolving tray occupying 
 the centre of the dinner-table, to twirl which occasionally 
 had been the favorite ambition of his childhood. As he 
 turned the glass knob of the door he almost expected to 
 behold the bald head and reddish brown whiskers of 
 his eccentric uncle and to hear him ask brusquely, though 
 not unkindly, as he helped himself by rotary process to 
 the vegetables: 
 
 "Well, what brings you here, I should like to know." 
 During his preoccupation Chauncey had been aware of 
 voices. He was prepared to encounter some friends of 
 Blaisdell; but he halted before the identity of those occu 
 pying the room his Cousin Henry, Miss Brackett, the 
 pretty stenographer, Miss Avery and Blaisdell, all closeted 
 together and obviously engrossed. What did this portend ? 
 Had they all met by appointment, and, if so, why ? Chaun- 
 cey s ordinarily alert faculties were befogged; he could not 
 get his bearings. It flashed on him, however, that the 
 conversation which his entrance had interrupted might 
 very well concern Henry s relations to the fair stenographer. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 511 
 
 He observed that she and Priscilla were seated at opposite 
 sides of the round dinner- table. The former s back, which 
 was turned to him, was rigid and her hands were inter 
 locked in front of her. She was still in mourning. Pris- 
 cilla s countenance was tense with haughty gravity. Behind 
 her chair, resting his arm on the mantel-piece so that it 
 hid from view the carved ivory elephant, stood Henry, look 
 ing like a martyr eager to go to the stake in behalf of his 
 convictions. The only one of the party who seemed at his 
 ease and as if he were enjoying the situation, whatever it 
 might be, was Blaisdell, who had been in the act of speak 
 ing when he opened the door. 
 
 Surveying the group Chauncey cast a searching quizzical 
 glance at his cousin. "I beg your pardon. I fear I am 
 interrupting," he said somewhat pointedly, and he made 
 a show of withdrawing. 
 
 But Blaisdell with cheery accent restrained him. " Your 
 arrival is most opportune, Chippendale. We were discuss 
 ing a matter er which concerns your family. I have 
 had the misfortune to ask an impertinent question of 
 Sumner, and you come in the nick of time to pave the way 
 to a reconciliation or further discovery." 
 
 "There is no offence," said Henry, yet his looks belied it. 
 At least for some reason the words evidently came hard. 
 
 "But the difficulty is," continued Blaisdell blandly, still 
 addressing Chauncey, "that I don t know exactly how to 
 frame my apology. My offence consists in having con 
 gratulated your cousin on his marriage to this lady" - 
 Blaisdell indicated Miss Brackett "and my excuse for 
 doing so must be common report and the circumstance 
 that Miss Avery and I found them here together on our 
 arrival; a circumstance which I freely admit, now that I 
 realize my mistake, was not conclusive, but was extenuat- 
 
512 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 ing in a way for the reason that I happened to be aware that 
 they have passed several evenings together of late under this 
 roof. Hence, I incautiously jumped to the conclusion that 
 our Citizens candidate had become a Benedick, and I 
 yielded to the impulse to rally him on the interesting epi 
 sode. Pardon this repetition"; Blaisdell interjected, turn 
 ing toward Henry, "but your cousin should hear my appar 
 ent justification before he can hazard an opinion." 
 
 "I see no reason to discuss the matter further. There 
 is no marriage." Again it was Henry who spoke; and a 
 dead pause followed. So brief was the denial, despite its 
 definiteness, that Blaisdell was content to let it speak for 
 itself before he replied with a laugh. " Exactly what you 
 said before, my dear fellow. I accept the fact, of course; 
 there is no marriage as yet. But you stop short there; 
 and I noticed that each time the lady has said nothing. 
 Moreover, I noticed the first time that you looked at the 
 lady before you answered as if to afford her the opportunity 
 to speak if she preferred. I ve no wish to pry into your 
 affairs, Sumner; neither has your cousin, I am sure; 
 neither have any of us. But please remember that this is 
 almost a family party. Miss Avery is one of your closest 
 friends. I appeal to you if we are not justified in refusirg to 
 be convinced that you and Miss Brackett are not contem 
 plating matrimony, are not at least engaged, and in asking 
 whether my congratulations were not merely a little pre 
 mature?" 
 
 Blaisdell had never felt gayer in his life. He was ac 
 complishing his purpose, and yet he had kept the in 
 vestigation on the harmless level of high spirits and law 
 ful matrimony. The worst he could be accused of was a 
 lack of taste in forcing personal inquiries. From the corner 
 of his eye he could observe that Priscilla s expression, de- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 513 
 
 spite an effort to seem amused, was grave almost to the 
 point of austerity. Could she be otherwise than humiliated 
 and disgusted at heart ? She could not have failed to notice 
 Henry s telltale glance to which he had called attention, 
 and which clearly demonstrated that there was some com 
 plicity between the pair. " Pardon my insistence," he con 
 tinued. " All is said to be fair in love and war, and our ex 
 cuse jf we need one must be that you are a public char 
 acter and we are deeply interested in having the cat let out 
 of the bag. You may pledge us all to inviolable secrecy." 
 
 It was difficult not to respond to such contagious, plau 
 sible badinage. Chauncey rose to the occasion at once. 
 Rocking himself on his toes, he exclaimed gleefully: 
 Come, Henry, you are the one to apologize for keeping 
 us so long in the dark." 
 
 Even Priscilla, though her soul felt limp and her pride 
 at its lowest ebb, could net refrain from the ghost of a smile. 
 
 "This must stop right here." 
 
 The voice was Miss Brackett s. Though she still sat 
 rigid with her hands interlocked before her, her expression 
 as she listened to BlaisdelPs deadly pleasantry had gradu 
 ally changed from the wariness of one expecting attack to 
 highly amused appreciation of what was being said. The 
 unprotesting smile on her lips gave color to the suspicion 
 that she enjoyed the soft impeachment that there was 
 something between her and Henry. At least such was the 
 interpretation which Blaisdell put on it. Moreover, as he 
 proceeded, he had derived fresh confidence from the de 
 tection of a plain gold band among several jewelled rings 
 which sparkled on her fingers. Priscilla also had detected 
 this with dismay. She had observed, too, that Miss 
 Brackett s eyes from time to time had strayed from the 
 speakers to her own face as if she were curious to observe 
 
514 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 the effect on her former benefactress of these salient in 
 sinuations. 
 
 Miss Brackett, though her tone was mandatory, still smiled 
 as if much edified, and even loth to correct a misappre 
 hension. " The appearances are against us, I admit," she 
 continued. "Mr. Sumner and I have met privately; but 
 there was a reason why. Since he doesn t choose to excul 
 pate himself and relieve your anxiety, I must for his 
 sake. No, we re not engaged or married. There is a 
 secret here" she looked full at Blaisdell as she spoke 
 "but it s not what you suspected. Oh, yes, I m married" 
 she unlocked her hands and held up the finger on which 
 was the wedding ring "but it s not to Mr. Sumner. You 
 were on the wrong scent. My husband is dead and to 
 save you the trouble of guessing, I ll tell you. I m Mrs. 
 Baxter Chippendale." She pronouced the words slowly, 
 anticipating the sensation they must provoke, before the 
 glare of which she decorously dropped her eyes. "His 
 lawful widow," she added. "I was married to him a year 
 before he die(J." 
 
 A blonde young woman with light hair inclined to curl 
 and blue eyes, she was the opposite of Priscilla in appear 
 ance. She looked very pretty, though not in the best of 
 health. Her mourning was becoming in spite of a super 
 abundance of jet. Secure rather than aggressive, she 
 awaited the effect of the bombshell which she had cast 
 among them. 
 
 For a moment not a word was spoken; there was no 
 sound. The statement was so appallingly explicit that no 
 room was left for incredulity provided that she were in her 
 right mind. But Priscilla felt her heart beating rapidly 
 as after a peril which has passed, and what she had just 
 heard had become for her an anticlimax. Instinctively 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 515 
 
 she looked at Blaisdell, not to enjoy his discomfiture, but 
 to proclaim her own relief. He was sufficiently master of 
 himself to conceal his astonishment. His cherubic counte 
 nance was still unruffled; it reflected even the egregious 
 humor of the situation from the non-personal point of 
 view; but he avoided her glance. His only hope, mani 
 festly, was to nullify in some way the effect of this over 
 whelming disclosure by cross-examination. Bending his 
 brows searchingly on Miss Brackett, he slipped into the 
 late proprietor s arm-chair at the head of the table, anxious 
 for the moment to resign the part of protagonist to one of 
 the family, in order to listen and observe. To look at 
 Henry, who stood behind her chair, Priscilla must have 
 turned her head. Besides, though she felt certain that his 
 record was clear, would it not be well to hear this strange 
 story to the end before revealing her satisfaction ? 
 
 The exuberant Chauncey was the first to find his tongue. 
 "Uncle Baxter s widow? Married to him for a year? 
 What do you mean, madam?" As an executor and resid 
 uary legatee of his uncle s will, did it not devolve on him 
 to press the inquiry ? 
 
 "If you don t believe me, ask Mr. Sumner." 
 
 Chauncey turned to his cousin. "Is this .the fact, 
 Henry?" 
 
 " Exactly as she states it." 
 
 " Humph ! How long have you known this ? " 
 
 "About ten days." 
 
 "He did not know it until I consulted him as my 
 attorney," Miss Brackett, or, as she should now be 
 called, Mrs. Chippendale, saw fit to remark by way of 
 exoneration. 
 
 "Your attorney?" queried Chauncey. 
 
 " I wanted to know my legal rights. I knew Mr. Sumner 
 
516 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 would tell me er honestly. I was employed for some 
 time in his office." 
 
 "I remember you very well," said Chauncey. He 
 would fain have added that it is a strain on the imagination 
 to find that a pretty stenographer has suddenly become 
 one s aunt. 
 
 "There were many things to discuss and this house 
 seemed the most secret place to discuss them. That ac 
 counts," she said with a covert smile, "for our evening 
 meetings. I had to convince him, to begin with, that my 
 marriage certificate was regular." 
 
 "And it seems you have suceeded," said Chauncey 
 gravely, with an interrogative glance at his cousin. 
 
 "There s no possible doubt, Chauncey, that this is 
 Uncle Baxter s lawful widow. They were married outside 
 the state. Uncle Baxter for some reason of his own con 
 cealed it from the family. I have investigated the matter 
 thoroughly; the license is perfectly regular. We have 
 threshed the affair out, and I am bound to add that Miss 
 Brackett I mean, Mrs. Chippendale has shown a wish 
 to act magnanimously toward the family." 
 
 "Magnanimously?" echoed Chauncey with a touch of 
 haughtiness. 
 
 The light of relief was shining also in Henry s eyes, if 
 Priscilla had but turned her head. His lips had been 
 sealed until Mrs. Chippendale should speak, and, as he 
 listened to the taunts of Blaisdell on the score of an engage 
 ment, he had realized that he was at her mercy. In view 
 of her edified expression and of certain remarks which she 
 had let fall during their recent association, who could fore 
 see what she might not say ? The evening meetings here 
 had been at her suggestion. He had yielded to her reluc 
 tance to come to his office. Only a few moments before 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 517 
 
 Priscilla and Blaisdell had invaded their fancied seclusion, 
 she had indulged in a thinly-veiled reference to the future 
 which let him understand that she desired to share her 
 newly-acquired wealth with him after a decent period of 
 mourning had elapsed. While she did not tell him in so 
 many words that her former foolish infatuation regarding 
 him still endured, her solicitude at depriving him of his 
 inheritance had been unmistakable. She had suggested 
 accepting less than her widow s share of the estate until he 
 checked her, and then she had indulged once more in the 
 tender hint which, though demanding no answer, had left 
 him appalled. What was more, she had previously taxed 
 him in sly words with his pusuit of Priscilla. Her senti 
 mental mood, egged on by jealousy, might readily have 
 seized the opportunity afforded by Blaisdell to dash his 
 hopes forever. 
 
 He had escaped; hence he had become light-hearted on 
 his personal account. Yet he was conscious that the un 
 pleasant responsibility rested on him to disclose without 
 delay certain dire consequences for the family resulting 
 from the new situation which confronted it. 
 
 "It isn t necessary to go into details," he responded. 
 "I have made clear to her that the Chippendales and 
 Sumners are not at liberty to accept pecuniary favors; 
 nothing but what the law allows." 
 
 Whatever Chauncey s emotions on the score of seeing 
 his legacy dwindle, here was a proposition to which his 
 aristocratic soul spurred him to subscribe with dignified 
 alacrity. He displayed a touch of his father s grand man 
 ner as he said: "If, as I assume, you are speaking of the 
 property under the will, there is no room for difference of 
 opinion. Whatever share Uncle Baxter s widow is entitled 
 to receive under the law must remain hers and hers only." 
 
518 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "Uncle Baxter s will was revoked by his subsequent 
 marriage," replied Henry. " That is the law in this state. 
 It is as if there were no will. He died intestate." 
 
 Chauncey listened with bated breath to this terse state 
 ment. The will revoked? The information was indeed 
 bewildering. Was his legacy cut off? For a moment he 
 was at a loss; then his quick mind reasserted itself . What 
 if the will was revoked ? His uncle having died intestate, 
 the family would surely inherit everything which this 
 inconvenient widow did not. Half a loaf would be better 
 than no bread, even though enjoyment of his own portion 
 were postponed until after his father s death. 
 
 " I understand," he said with the aplomb of a ready man 
 of business. "The widow takes her share and Uncle 
 Baxter s lawful heirs, whoever they may be, the residue." 
 
 In his absorption Chauncey had taken for granted that 
 Henry s pause after this fell announcement that the will 
 was mere waste paper signified that the worst had been 
 disclosed. Was it not the last straw, designed to break 
 the camel s back ? The burden of it was painful, yet like 
 a true-hearted gentleman, he refused to wince. The sur 
 reptitious marriage appeared to him a family disgrace; 
 but here, as so constantly in life, his point of view was col 
 ored by the fact that his own withers had been wrung. All 
 family skeletons are hideous, but we endure some better 
 than others. Had Henry, for instance, proved the offender 
 even fallen a victim to the epidemic then rampant in the 
 community and married a chorus girl Chauncey s sense of 
 humor would doubtless have enabled him to view the blot 
 on the escutcheon with comparative equanimity. But to 
 have this grotesque skeleton pop out at him from the cup 
 board of the older generation was galling to his pride no 
 less than to his pocket. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 519 
 
 "The lawful heirs, whoever they may be." Henry re 
 peated the phrase which his cousin had guilelessly uttered, 
 because it corresponded exactly to his need. Far from 
 being final, his statement as to the effect of matrimony on 
 a previously executed will was a mere preliminary. He 
 had paused because he stood on the brink of a chasm to 
 the bottom of which he must consign the immediate pecun 
 iary hopes of the family. 
 
 "And in the event that Uncle Baxter has left a post 
 humous child, that child would be his lawful heir and in 
 herit to the exclusion of every one else all which his widow 
 does not." 
 
 Again for some moments complete silence was produced 
 by this conscientious endeavor on Henry s part to epitomize 
 the complete truth. It was broken simultaneously by two 
 sounds the first a gasp on Chauncey s part accompanied 
 by the ejaculation, "A posthumous child? Why, Uncle 
 Baxter was nearly eighty"; the other an irrepressible 
 laugh. 
 
 The laugh proceeded from Blaisdell. It was the sound 
 of mirth, not of insolence; there was nothing offensive in it, 
 though, on the face of the situation, it might appear to 
 savor of merriment at a funeral. Its essence to every ear 
 was chiefly a sincere but involuntary tribute to the never- 
 failing irony of life. To behold this haughty lineage bite 
 the dust was partial compensation to Blaisdell for his own 
 defeat. Dame destiny had played into his hands to this 
 extent, even though she had proved perfidious in respect 
 to the main issue, and his philosophic sense of humor bade 
 him doff his cap to her. 
 
 "But such things happen, and such is the case here." 
 Henry s reply was addressed to Chauncey, but the laugh 
 had not escaped him. Indeed, it served to remind him of 
 
520 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 BlaisdelPs presence, which, under the stress of the family 
 predicament, he had temporarily overlooked. Pausing, 
 he turned in his direction and said: "This is essentially 
 a family affair, Blaisdell and Miss Avery is a friend of 
 Miss Brackett s, I mean Mrs. Chippendale s. Having 
 proceeded so far, I had better finish. But I shall rely on 
 your honor not to speak of this delicate matter elsewhere 
 until it becomes generally known." 
 
 There was no escape from the conclusion that the caution 
 was deemed necessary, yet it recoiled from BlaisdelPs 
 equanimity as from india rubber. "I appreciate the privi 
 lege of being the only complete outsider, and I shall be 
 discretion itself," he answered. 
 
 The retort was intended no less for Priscilla s ear than 
 for Henry s. Though he had not yet relinquished the hope 
 of detecting some flaw in the mechanism of this extraor 
 dinary family skeleton which was careering about the stage 
 with all the variety of a modern mechanical toy, Blaisdell, 
 with his inherent faculty for meeting the inevitable, had 
 already begun to face the serious possibility of utter frus 
 tration. The first symptom of this was the query which he 
 was putting to himself whether the grapes for which he 
 had lately hankered in the vineyard of hope might not be 
 sour. Sitting silent and vigilant in his chair, on the alert 
 for some means of deliverance and detecting none, he had 
 allowed himself to wonder whether happiness were possible 
 with a woman capable of sympathizing so freely with this 
 eccentric scion of Beacon Hill. Would allegiance to the 
 latter ever be compatible with perfect comradeship with 
 himself? Thus speculating, he was not averse to admit 
 the taunt that he was the only outsider present. 
 
 "What I mean is that Uncle Baxter s widow expects 
 before long to become a mother," continued Henry. " The 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 521 
 
 child, if born, will be the legal heir to the remainder of his 
 estate." 
 
 Once more there was silence. In the face of Henry s 
 plain-spoken language both the women lowered their eyes. 
 No one could doubt that from the Chippendale standpoint 
 the worst had now been uttered, for the catastrophe was 
 manifestly complete. Yet Chauncey, like one dazed and 
 expecting the lightning again to strike, held his peace and 
 waited. There might be something still in reserve. And 
 after all, what was there to say? It was Blaisdell who 
 spoke first: 
 
 "If Baxter Chippendale has left a child, no one can dis 
 pute that legal proposition. Which only goes to prove that 
 truth is liable to be stranger than any fiction." 
 
 What appeared at the first sound to be merely a sage 
 comment calculated to serve as oil to the troubled waters, 
 arrested, nevertheless, Chauncey s attention by the form 
 in which it was couched. Chauncey in his dire need was 
 longing for a loophole of escape from the plight to which 
 the family had suddenly been reduced, and for an instant 
 he was tempted by the doubt thus subtly presented. He 
 had somehow become conscious that Blaisdell was speak 
 ing for his benefit. What proof was there that the child 
 was his Uncle Baxter s? This was what the other had 
 intended to convey. And, if not his uncle s, who was the 
 father of this infant still unborn ? The only proofs of pater 
 nity were the widow s downcast eyes and Henry s say-so. 
 
 Chauncey pictured momentarily the scandal of a contest 
 over his uncle s fortune based on such a claim. Instinc 
 tively he shrank from it as too flagrant a breach of taste 
 to be seriously entertained; but though all his preposses 
 sions were shocked by the lure, the thought came to him 
 unbidden that, if it had been anybody but Henry, Blais- 
 
522 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 dell s cunning insinuation might have merited belief. 
 Where Henry was concerned such an alternative was 
 simply impossible. Chauncey smiled grimly at the re 
 flection, and turning suddenly to the widow, said, by way 
 of dismissing the specious temptation forever as unworthy 
 of the notice of a Chippendale: 
 
 "Allow me to congratulate you. The matter seems very 
 plain. We the family, bow to the fortune of war." 
 
 Before making this chivalrous announcement Chaun 
 cey, however, had paused just long enough to communicate 
 the true import of BlaisdelPs utterance. If the widow 
 fathomed it, she gave no sign, but almost simultaneously 
 its real significance dawned on both the others. Henry 
 started angrily and clinched his fingers in his palms. He 
 saw red and the indignant words, "I am prepared to 
 vouch," had already gathered in the roof of his mouth in 
 readiness to hurl, when Chauncey s magnanimous behavior 
 rendered their use unnecessary, and left Henry presently 
 thankful; for, come to think of it, what would his affidavit 
 be worth save to vindicate his own personal reputation ? 
 
 The effect on Priscilla was less dramatic, for her reluctant 
 soul refused at first to credit her intelligence. Was that 
 what he had meant? Surely not; he could not have de 
 scended so low. She bent an appealing gaze on Blaisdell 
 to reassure herself and read only too clearly the guilt which 
 he not merely took no pains to conceal, but on which he 
 obviously plumed himself. His answering look told her no 
 less plainly than speech could have done that he had delib 
 erately staked everything on this last demeaning hazard 
 and gloried in it. While she repelled the base insinuation, 
 Priscilla, remembering her own wanton retort at their last 
 interview, began to be dimly thankful that Henry s austere 
 virtue, like an angel s aureole, bade defiance to every doubt. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 523 
 
 It was its own searchlight to the miasma of slander, though 
 the steadiness of it compelled her to eat her own words. 
 In this moment and by this beacon she was conscious sud 
 denly that she was taking the measure of them both, and of 
 a feeling which was almost repugnance for her former idol. 
 He stood revealed to her at last in all the urbane compla 
 cency of a spiritual opportunist whose plausible vitality was 
 constantly employed in obliterating the landmarks of the 
 soul. With a discerning shudder, she shrank enlightened 
 from the easy-going democratic philosophy whose concep 
 tion of excellence was to raze every mountain peak to the 
 level of the plain with no more concern than it removed 
 any other obstacle in order to erect a new apartment house. 
 
 But Blaisdell was again speaking. He was ever a good 
 loser, and he was never certain that he had lost. He had 
 partially fathomed Priscilla s gaze and deduced therefrom 
 both some of her repulsion and that his cause was tem 
 porarily hopeless. Yet in proportion as his prospects of 
 success diminished, the healing voice of consolation waxed 
 louder. Perhaps he was to be congratulated after all that 
 she had seen fit to reject his princely offer. Was it not well 
 that she had let him see to what limits caprice would carry 
 her before it was too late? Caprice, restless caprice, had 
 been her besetting weakness from the first hour of their 
 acquaintance. 
 
 "Hark," he said, "I hear music. It must be the pro 
 cession. We must not forget what we came to see." 
 
 This reminder was felt by all to be timely. A diversion 
 was welcome, for what further could be said at the present 
 moment which would relieve the situation for any one of 
 them ? The new Mrs. Chippendale did all she could to 
 relieve it by taking her departure in the cab which was 
 waiting for her at the door. There are certain surprises 
 
524 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 in life for which the only palliatives are time and silence, 
 and this was one of them. But Blaisdell s bonhommie did 
 not fail him. After the widow s departure he took 
 upon himself to lead the way up one flight to the iron 
 balcony overlooking the street. The procession was close 
 upon them when they arrived, and the sloping descent from 
 the State House was alive with a glittering body of march 
 ing torch-bearers who made up in enthusiasm for what 
 they lacked in numbers. They bore transparencies with 
 magnified portraits of Henry and pithy, semi-humorous 
 mottoes inciting the citizens to do their duty. An old- 
 fashioned, antediluvian parade, so Blaisdell said to him 
 self; the same outlay applied quietly in various directions 
 would do much more good. He entered gaily into the spirit 
 of the occasion and at the proper moment, when no one 
 was observing him, despatched a messenger to inform the 
 advancing column that the balcony had been transformed 
 into a reviewing stand by the presence of its candidate. 
 
 A sudden halt on the part of the torch-bearers, followed 
 by a fresh and more concerted outburst of Roman candles, 
 attested that this news had spread promptly and rapidly. 
 Park Street was one blaze of light against a background of 
 tree trunks and wide spreading branches on the Common. 
 Certain of the residents had become prodigal of Bengal 
 lights and other fireworks. In another moment there were 
 loud cheers and calls for Henry, who had believed himself 
 incognito. "Come, Sumner, this is not the occasion to 
 hide your light under a bushel," cried Blaisdell, and even 
 Chauncey, whose feelings were almost too deep for words, 
 derived a temporary fillip from seizing his cousin by the 
 arm in order to drag him forward. Recalcitrant for a mo 
 ment from awkward diffidence, the candidate advanced to 
 the front of the balcony and, lifting his hand to stay the 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 525 
 
 furious applause, proceeded to make a brief address to his 
 constituents. He was no orator; there was no denying 
 that. But Blaisdell had forgotten how well he could speak 
 how clearly and completely to the point, with a touch of 
 proselytizing, intemperate zeal such as is liable to make 
 converts. Might it not have been just as well to let sleep 
 ing dogs lie? Blaisdell, turning, saw by the light of the 
 torches, Priscilla s profile, and realized that she was intent 
 on the performance and proud ofit. 
 
 While his cousin was still speaking, Chauncey managed 
 to slip away. He was in no mood for small talk, pleasantry, 
 or political enthusiasm. Elastic as he was by temperament, 
 he knew that fate had dealt him a stunning blow. The 
 loss of the money meant the total disarrangement of his 
 financial programme at a moment when he had deemed 
 himself exempt from further anxiety. To be despoiled 
 in so extraordinary and summary a fashion of the re 
 serves on which he had counted as a buffer against the 
 chances of war and wherewith to recoup his previous 
 losses was a depressing catastrophe for any man. And 
 besides the pecuniary loss, there was the notoriety and 
 family disgrace. Other old men might become the prey 
 of their stenographers, just as other young men might 
 rush into matrimony with chorus girls and the like, but 
 the Chippendales had always been exempt. That was 
 the sort of thing they never did; their record was con 
 spicuously clear; and now one of them had done it. How 
 terribly -his father would feel; it would gall him to the 
 quick, for the family reputation was his dearest hobby. 
 The most desirable presumption was that his uncle was 
 crazy; but this did not wipe out the mortifying episode. 
 What material for the yellow newspapers when they once 
 got wind of it ! And ultimate concealment was out of the 
 
526 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 question. A posthumous son and heir born to that Boston 
 blue-blood, Baxter Chippendale, by a child-wife whom he 
 married in his dotage there was the blatant truth in all 
 its grisly compactness, which a merciless press would pres 
 ently vie in exploiting for the entertainment of a carrion- 
 loving public. 
 
 And what would his Aunt Georgiana say? He had 
 already wondered, and he asked himself the question again 
 when, having passed the State House, he reached her front 
 door. She had not gone to bed. On the contrary, the lights 
 were still burning on every story, showing that she had 
 been illuminating in honor of Henry. As he glanced 
 upward he discerned dusky figures behind the white 
 shades in the act of extinguishing the row of candles in 
 the drawing-room windows. Climbing the stairs at a 
 bound without ceremony he found Miss Georgiana super 
 intending the process. A dread of fire was among her 
 foibles, and only her intense ardor in behalf of Henry had 
 induced her to run the risk of burning down the house 
 through contact of the candle flames with the draperies. 
 Ascribing Chauncey s appearance at this late hour to a 
 desire to congratulate her on her loyalty, the old lady 
 beamed upon him. 
 
 "Well, Chauncey, it was a great success, wasn t it? 
 Did your father illuminate?" 
 
 "I feel confident that he did, Aunt Georgiana." 
 
 "It isn t often nowadays that one of the family does 
 something public-spirited. They re all too intent on mak 
 ing money. I shouldn t be surprised if he were elected. 
 I wonder where he was this evening. Thank heaven, we ve 
 escaped a conflagration," she added, for the last candle 
 had just been put out by the superannuated maid. 
 
 Disregarding this dig at himself, Chauncey proceeded to 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 527 
 
 inform her that he had just left Henry perorating to a 
 throng of admirers, and the servant having by this time 
 withdrawn, he disclosed to her the news which had brought 
 him. "I ve something serious to tell you, Aunt Georgiana. 
 So prepare yourself to be startled. Uncle Baxter has left 
 a wife, who has just turned up. Moreover 
 
 "What? A wife?" she gasped. "What do you 
 mean ? " 
 
 "A lawful wife. Moreover" Chauncey leaned for 
 ward and whispered the rest in her ear as if he felt that 
 her sensibilities as a maiden lady would be in some meas 
 ure spared by this consideration. 
 
 For an instant Miss Chippendale looked as if she were 
 about to have a stroke of apoplexy. But anger and curi 
 osity soon got the better of her agitation. "A child? 
 Baxter a child? Why, it s improper, Chauncey!" she 
 almost shouted. 
 
 "Far be it from me to disagree with you. And there are 
 er legal consequences which make the matter even 
 worse." 
 
 "Worse? How could it be worse? Improper is the 
 only word to express it." She was sitting bolt upright now, 
 plying her peacock feather fan. "Who told you? Who is 
 the woman? What does it all mean?" 
 
 Chauncey imparted the complete details with fluent 
 brevity. When he had finished his aunt lay back in her 
 chair as if familiarity with the scandal had made her 
 limp. "Why, Baxter you old rat," she murmured; after 
 which she declared, "We ve never had a family skeleton 
 before." 
 
 "And the peculiarity of this one is that before long it 
 will be alive and kicking," Chauncey could not refrain from 
 suggesting. 
 
528 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 < The humor of this remark pleased him the only foil to 
 a dark outlook, and he rose to depart. There was his 
 father still to be informed of the catastrophe, and subse 
 quently the suppressed mirth of the city to be encountered, 
 not to mention the worry of his finances. As he walked 
 down Beacon Street his aunt s allusion to his lack of public 
 spirit and absorption in money-getting lingered in his 
 mind. She was fond of badgering him about his want of 
 culture and had never reconciled herself to his having owed 
 his start down- town to prominence on the foot-ball field; 
 but her tartness was apt to leave his buoyancy unim 
 paired. 
 
 To-night, in his chastened condition, he found himself 
 admitting that for a member of one of the first families of 
 Boston he was imperfectly educated and probably a little 
 selfish. Somewhat deficient, too, in reverence? It had 
 seemingly been otherwise with the older generation; they 
 were not daft on athletic prowess and money-making. 
 Henry was more like them but Henry would always be 
 a crank; and his own father had never been a crank, though 
 he still knew his Horace and Daniel Webster by heart. 
 Why was he only half educated ? What was the trouble ? 
 He could hardly throw the blame on Harvard College 
 for he had not given the college a chance. There had been 
 plenty of facilities for study, but it was not the fashion of 
 his set to take advantage of them. Perhaps his ignorance 
 was in the air; the desire to make money was, at all events. 
 It cost so very much more than formerly for the first 
 families to live. 
 
 One thing, however, he was muscular and healthy, and 
 not afraid of work. At least he could claim that the younger 
 generation were manly and knew how to enjoy life. Chaun- 
 cey braced himself with this more comforting thought and 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 529 
 
 squared his shapely shoulders. He shared, too, with the 
 older generation the family pride and it was grievously 
 touched. Confound Uncle Baxter why had he defaced 
 the ancestral tree ? He would be able to hold his head up 
 for family disgrace was no longer potent in the world 
 as once and every tub stood on its own bottom but the 
 lustre of the Chippendale record was indisputably tar 
 nished by this senile marriage. By one of that older 
 generation, too an eccentric all his days, but nevertheless 
 a Chippendale. 
 
 The lights in the paternal mansion were still burning. 
 Chauncey found his father in the library with the latest 
 volume relative to the disputed military operations of the 
 Civil War open on his lap, but his head was nodding. He 
 appeared a little mortified at having been caught napping, 
 and held up the volume for his son s inspection. . 
 
 "I ve always maintained that McClellan was not backed 
 up by the civilians at Washington, but this book demon 
 strates that he was a great procrastinator." 
 
 It was typical of Mr. Chippendale s progressiveness that 
 he was capable of owning up to error even at the expense 
 of a pet theory. Something perhaps in his son s expres 
 sion led him to inquire: "But what brings you here so late, 
 my boy ? Your mother has retired. You have seen Hen 
 ry s cohorts, I assume. I may say it is one of the regrets of 
 my life that er circumstances have not shaped them 
 selves so that public life was open to me." 
 
 Chauncey was glad to hear that his mother had gone to 
 bed. Her horror at the news which he had to tell would 
 have served merely to heighten his own perturbation. His 
 father might take it hard but after all, he knew that he 
 could rely on his father s dignity, and he felt the need of 
 guidance. Had he been too precipitate in congratulating 
 
530 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 the widow on her good fortune and, so to speak, legitimatiz 
 ing his uncle s unborn heir ? 
 
 He began by cautioning his father as he had his aunt to 
 be prepared for a sensation, but it was evident from Mr. 
 Chippendale s violent and distressed start when the news 
 was revealed that secret matrimony on his brother s part 
 was one of the last contingencies the listener would have 
 imagined. 
 
 "My brother Baxter married? And to whom? Hen 
 ry s stenographer? My dear boy, you are surely dream 
 ing." 
 
 "Unfortunately, father, it s the gospel truth. What s 
 more, there s a baby coming." 
 
 Mr. Chippendale looked aghast at his son in horrified 
 blank amazement. He said no more at the moment, but 
 joining the tips of his fingers he waited to hear the rest. 
 His refined features wore a pained flush, but he was obvi 
 ously intent on schooling himself to face the bitter blow 
 with becoming fortitude. Was he assisted in so doing by 
 the reflection that his brother s life had to all intents and 
 purposes been a sealed book to him: and that they had 
 virtually been estranged since middle manhood ? Yet the 
 responsibility could not be wholly evaded; it clamored for 
 recognition; for were they not of the same hitherto irre 
 proachable stock ? 
 
 He sat listening while Chauncey narrated the details, 
 interrupting now and then to ask a question and revealing 
 his further concern on learning that the legacies of all his 
 children had been cut off by the revocation of the will. At 
 length he uttered the commentary: "I have lived to see 
 many strange things happen in Boston, but this is the 
 most unexpected of all. I do not question your uncle s 
 right to choose a wife, but er for one of his social stand- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 531 
 
 ing, with a foot in the grave, this surreptitious marriage 
 was certainly unseemly." 
 
 " Call it an ugly mess, father, and be done with it," cried 
 Chauncey, throwing overboard for the occasion his half- 
 formed purpose to cultivate reverence. 
 
 Mr. Chippendale mused a little. "Apparently there is 
 nothing to be done to better the situation," he remarked 
 tentatively. 
 
 "Henry assures me that he has made a thorough inves 
 tigation and that the marriage was perfectly regular." 
 
 His father inclined his head, and pondered the matter in 
 silence for a moment longer. "And this lady the bride" 
 Mr. Chippendale pronounced the word with the reluctant 
 resolution of one nerved to swallow castor oil "where is 
 she staying?" 
 
 Chauncey, who had neglected to inquire, hazarded the 
 opinion that presumably it was at the South End. 
 
 "Find out for me as soon as you can," continued his 
 father. "I shall feel it my duty to call on her." 
 
 "To call on her?" Though Chauncey spoke inter 
 rogatively, it was not by way of challenge. His laugh ex 
 pressed not merely personal solace but admiration. His 
 father was going him one better as regards magnanimity. 
 
 " She is my brother s wife, and as such I feel it incum 
 bent on me to pay her my respects, however distasteful 
 the association on er abstract grounds," explained Mr. 
 Chippendale quietly. 
 
 "You won t be disappointed in her looks, I ll say that 
 for her," was the answer, after which the exuberant 
 Chauncey indulged in this philosophic tribute: "When it 
 comes to a tight place, what a game sport you always are, 
 father." 
 
 Mr. Chippendale sighed and his lip quivered, but he 
 
532 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 did not disclaim the filial tribute. "No other course is 
 open to us," he said gravely. "We cannot afford to wash 
 our dirty linen in public, even if there were reasons for so 
 doing. Good-night, Chauncey," he added rising. "Your 
 news has left me a little shaky, and I ll go to bed." 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 THE city election resulted in the choice of the easy-going 
 Democratic candidate for mayor, as nearly everybody had 
 expected. The surprise of the ballot for most people was 
 that ex-Alderman Barnard, the broken-winded hack of 
 the minority party, was third in the race a poor third- 
 receiving several thousand less votes than the despised 
 Citizens candidate. Here was a moral victory for inde 
 pendence in municipal politics; also for Henry personally, 
 in whose honor the Sphinx Club gave a complimentary 
 dinner. Some of the solid business men, while deploring 
 a continuance of loose methods at City Hall, comforted 
 themselves with the reflection that an accommodating 
 and eloquent Celt might be less trying and more prac 
 tical than a stern and unapproachable Puritan who 
 would poke his nose into everything without tactful dis 
 crimination. 
 
 The election took place in December. During the fol 
 lowing April Congress declared war against Spain, and all 
 minor controversial problems in Boston became over 
 shadowed by the burning question are we trying to steal 
 Cuba? The martial clamor of the masses elsewhere, 
 whose humanitarian instincts were stirred and who "re 
 membered the Maine," had forced the hand of the govern- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 533 
 
 ment while Boston was still flattering itself that the oratory 
 at Washington was merely bluster. Half of surprised Bos 
 ton shook its head disapprovingly and believed in an 
 ulterior purpose. The forbidden fruit was ripe, and though 
 the tree was being shaken in the name of liberty, Uncle 
 Sam could be relied on to see that it fell into his basket- 
 such was the sinister prediction which many worthy people, 
 our friend Harrison Chippendale among the number, 
 indulged in. A war for the sake of humanity was laudable 
 if sincere and necessary; but was not the freeing of the 
 Cubans merely a subterfuge to conceal subsequent spoli 
 ation ? 
 
 Some color was given to this conscientious dread by the 
 attitude of a portion of the community. Blaisdell was a 
 case in point, a shining, persuasive exemplar. He was one 
 of those who, having referred to the war as both righteous 
 and necessary, would wink knowingly at the proper mo 
 ment. " What else could we do ?" he would inquire. " We 
 had to interfere; and old mother Spain is a proud nation. 
 The psychological moment had arrived, for common hu 
 manity demanded that we cleanse our back-yard and 
 guarantee the independence of long-suffering Cuba. If 
 you inquire as to the final outcome, the reply may fairly be 
 that we may leave this to destiny." Here it was that the 
 wink came in. "When we consider how wealthy the island 
 is and how very close to our shores, and of what highly in 
 flammable material these patriots are composed, is it not 
 conceivable is it not probable that, in order to save the 
 cutting of more throats, they themselves may invite us 
 some fine day to annex this fair aspirant for freedom to 
 our galaxy of states?" 
 
 " Which means, I see, the sooner the better from your 
 point of view," answered Priscilla, who happened to be 
 
534 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 listening when Blaisdell was thus exploiting the theme in 
 the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Avery, for the inventor was 
 among those who harbored solicitude on the subject. 
 
 "Certainly; the sooner the better. Why not? If des 
 tiny not greed is responsible, the national conscience re 
 mains clear. And as for the welfare of the islanders, can 
 any one doubt, apart from ethical considerations, that 
 annexation would be by far the best fate in the long run ?" 
 
 "But we mustn t reason it out in cold blood like that 
 there s the point, Hugh. It s wrong. Our whole justifi 
 cation for going to war with Spain is to secure them their 
 complete independence, and to remain unconscious of 
 anything else." 
 
 "Which I should be the first person to offer them and 
 the last to withhold so long as they desire it." Thereupon 
 Blaisdell, who seemed to be brimming over with amiable 
 candor, turned to Mr. Avery and said: "Priscilla insists 
 that it is incumbent on us to shut our eyes tight so that the 
 left hand cannot possibly know what the right hand is 
 doing." 
 
 Not having been behind the scenes on previous occa 
 sions, Mr. Avery did not know the secret of his daughter s 
 impetuosity. The idea had for some time been germinating 
 in his mind, planted there through sundry hints from his 
 wife, that her marriage with Hugh was probable and the 
 best thing which could befall her. Ascribing what seemed 
 to him the slightly exaggerated conviction of her tone to 
 a kink of the eternal feminine growing out of some lover s 
 quarrel, Mr. Avery said : 
 
 "I sympathize with your scrupulousness, my dear. But 
 Hugh simply means that the best intentions on the part of 
 our people and government are liable to be set at naught 
 by ethnological considerations beyond our control." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 535 
 
 " Exactly. One would think that very plain. But now 
 adays Priscilla seems to discover signs of an ulterior pur 
 pose in nearly everything I say." 
 
 Though he claimed to feel injured, Blaisdell s dogged 
 speech had as a mainstay his growing readiness to declare 
 that the grapes were sour. His tone was meant to convey 
 to the initiated that the logical punishment of her open 
 tendency, ever since that fateful evening on Park Street, 
 to challenge most of his statements, was that it depreciated 
 her fitness as a wife. 
 
 On her side, as she listened, Priscilla asked herself what 
 better occasion she could have to enlighten her father in 
 regard to the state of her heart. For she had guessed that 
 he had entertained the hope of her marriage. At the 
 same time she would be able to define to Blaisdell more 
 clearly than she had found the opportunity yet to do the 
 deep distrust which his conduct had inspired in her. Nei 
 ther of them had seen fit to allude directly to the circum 
 stances of that meeting. The sensational facts were still 
 a secret save to those to whom they had been divulged. 
 The press had not yet unearthed them, and Mrs. Chippen 
 dale s child was still unborn. But Priscilla felt that the 
 chief outcome of the episode for her was the light thrown 
 on Blaisdell s character a light which gave a new inter 
 pretation to every action almost to every word of his in 
 their past relation. Comrades, in a sense, they might still 
 remain for the sake of that past, but lovers impossible 
 henceforth. 
 
 "Yes," she rejoined. "It s melancholy but true that 
 Hugh and I have agreed to disagree on all the fundamental 
 questions of life." 
 
 The vast scope of this protestation led Mr. A very to 
 continue to believe that he was privy to a lover s quarrel. 
 
536 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 But his wife, detecting its genuineness, indulged in a per 
 plexed murmur. 
 
 "Yet I remember the time, Priscilla, when every one of 
 Hugh s opinions was as good as law to you. You thought 
 them such common-sense, and uplifting, too." 
 
 "Yes, mother. But I was much younger then. It is 
 never too late to learn to think for one s self." 
 
 The air of simple finality with which she said this nettled 
 Blaisdell, though he congratulated himself in the same 
 breath on being well rid of her. The eyes which he felt 
 searching him brought vivid reminders of the restless 
 unbalanced Amazon whose vagaries he had ever distrusted. 
 Such a one was no mate for him. It even flashed on him 
 with a sort of joy that she would be a bride well suited to 
 the flawless Henry. Yoked together in the bonds of matri 
 mony, could any couple be more typical than they of all 
 which was narrow and self-righteous in Boston ? 
 
 "You must remember also," he said, addressing the 
 others, "that when Priscilla gets an idea into her head, it 
 is useless to try to stop her. She might seem to listen to 
 wise precepts, but she has always insisted on having her 
 own way ever since she was born. I leave to you Mr. 
 Avery, if that is not the case." Thus Blaisdell retired from 
 the field, carrying his shield with him. His supple spirit, 
 twisting even as he spoke, put him in the right before the 
 world and bore away the palm of sympathy. 
 
 It thus appears that these straws, illustrating the 
 counter currents of the public temper concerning the war 
 with Spain, led to certain direct results far removed from 
 that issue. But Boston never fails in patriotism, even 
 though her better judgment be offended. Now that hos 
 tilities had actually begun, no lack of public spirit was 
 displayed. Her citizens became lavish of their time 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 537 
 
 and money. Maisdell was one of the first to inform the 
 authorities that he could be relied on for energetic further 
 ance of the various methods by which it was proposed that 
 the Commonwealth should manifest its zeal and for liberal 
 subscriptions. His Trust Company threw itself into the 
 breach as a collection agency to solicit and receive indi 
 vidual contributions. In response to the demand for re 
 cruits, so that Massachusetts might furnish, as she had 
 ever done in the past, more than her quota of troops, there 
 was no dearth of fighting men. The Back Bay bristled 
 with volunteers eager to take part in the fray, who solicited 
 commissions some post of responsibility on land or sea; 
 anything which offered the chance to serve one s country, 
 while it catered incidentally to the spirit of adventure and 
 possibilities for glory. 
 
 Who should come into the Sphinx Club early in this 
 demonstration, declaring that he had enlisted, but Morgan 
 Drake. He had received a commission as captain in one 
 of the new regiments and was to proceed to camp at once 
 for purposes of drill preparatory to departure for the seat 
 of war. While down-town earlier in the day he had en 
 countered Blaisdell, to whom, in his ardor, he communi 
 cated the information. 
 
 " Good work good work." Such were the magnate s 
 approving words of congratulation. Slapping the recruit 
 on the shoulder he had added graphically, as though reveal 
 ing glowing possibilities, "And what a boost to your writ 
 ing, my dear chap. The theatre of war there s material 
 for you! Cavalry charges and torpedo boats; perpetual 
 color. No chance for introspection or morbid doubts, but 
 rapid fire action all the time. Come back a general and 
 give us something snappy and robust in the style of Kip 
 ling with an American touch." 
 
538 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "What was the use? He wouldn t have understood," 
 was Morgan s reply when asked at the club what his answer 
 had been. "After all, Blaisdell damn him was right. 
 It is introspection that kills my books. Wanted a burn 
 ing cause! I ve found one; not the genuine article; but 
 a pretty fair imitation. And the fellow was right again, too, 
 in saying that when I return from Cuba I shall have some 
 thing to write about. He thinks that s the chief reason 
 why I m going. But, oh, lord, what a hopeless specimen 
 he is when it comes to anything in life not written in capi 
 tal letters." 
 
 Morgan became forthwith a hero at the Sphinx. His 
 enlistment was plainly a gratuitous response of his spirit 
 to the bugle call, for his forty years and want of physical 
 robustness were a certificate of exemption in themselves. 
 Perhaps the examining physician who passed him discov 
 ered the furnace in his soul. His example proved contagious 
 among the younger men, though at the outset there was no 
 uniformity of sentiment at the club as to the necessity for 
 the conflict. Of his contemporaries in age there were sev 
 eral who betrayed signs of envy of the opportunity. 
 
 Morgan Drake and Henry passed the evening together 
 on the night previous to the departure of Morgan s regi 
 ment for the south. When war became a reality, Henry 
 had instinctively cast sheep s eyes at his father s sword. 
 Though not wholly free from the family doubt voiced both 
 by his mother and Uncle Harrison are we trying to steal 
 Cuba ? he felt the glow and recognized that, had he been 
 younger and the need more imperative, he would have 
 enlisted also. But for the moment his hands were tied. 
 He was not merely the mainstay of his mother and sisters; 
 it would ill become him to grasp at glory and desert the 
 family in its hour of adversity when scandal was brewing 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 539 
 
 a bitter cup for them all to drink. His immediate duty 
 was plain and he acknowledged the reasonableness of his 
 mother s plea. "There is no dearth of recruits younger 
 men. The country does not require you yet. Wait and 
 er let us see what happens." Eleanor Sumner had never 
 begrudged to the cause of freedom her husband s life; he 
 had fallen in the service of the state for a great cause. But 
 the issue here seemed more obscure to her exacting mind 
 at least for the present. 
 
 Though he did not deem himself at liberty to reveal to 
 Morgan the family secret, Henry felt no need of apologiz 
 ing. Theoretically he, too, was among those who envied 
 his friend this opportunity, but it was taken for granted 
 between them that Henry must stay at home. Yet in one 
 of their pauses Morgan hazarded what was clearly his only 
 doubt. "How does she take it?" he asked, as if he feared 
 that his friend s mistress might not be equally discrimin 
 ating and love s labor thus be lost. It was a proud moment 
 for Henry to be able to reply, " She volunteered the other 
 day to tell me that she recognized my place was here, and 
 gave me at the same time to understand that she realized 
 how much I longed at heart to go." 
 
 "Bravo!" cried Morgan. "That sounds perspicuous 
 at least. My prophecy may yet prove true that she will 
 fall some day into your arms with a dull, sickening thud." 
 
 Among the spectators who watched Morgan s regiment 
 as it marched past the State House and down Beacon Hill 
 the following afternoon was Harrison Chippendale. He 
 had been calling on his sister Georgiana, who was ailing, 
 though she protested stoutly to him that she was strong as 
 a horse and he came down the front doorsteps just as the 
 militia were abreast of the house. Martial music invari 
 ably stirred him. It brought back his own youth the 
 
540 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 days when he, too, was a soldier. That had been a deadly 
 conflict, no flash in the pan war. He was one of the few of 
 those lining the sidewalks who lifted his hat as the stars 
 and stripes were carried by him. He felt that the govern 
 ment had been precipitate but these recruits were cer 
 tainly a fine lot of young fellows. His lip trembled at the 
 sight of them as they tramped by to the tune of "Marching 
 through Georgia." 
 
 When the regiment had passed Mr. Chippendale crossed 
 the street and descended the steps of the Common that he 
 might walk home by way of the Mall and observe the squir 
 rels. They were certainly beginning to increase again no 
 doubt about it. He had noticed a number with bushy tails 
 only a few days previous, and here they were again. It cer 
 tainly looked as though Miss Georgiana s and his pro 
 testations were bearing some fruit. This might be a sign 
 that the institutions of the country were beginning to im 
 prove. He hoped so, in spite of this untimely war and the 
 haunting secret of his brother s unsavory marriage. Chaun- 
 cey had told him by telephone that morning of the baby s 
 birth the night before. His visit to his sister had been 
 partly for the purpose of imparting this news to her. She 
 had repeated her stricture, which Chauncey had passed on 
 to him, that it was improper. Mr. Chippendale as a pro 
 gressive man could not subscribe to this. Nature was con 
 stantly harassing hostile even, but never improper. The 
 infant must be faced like the rest of the episode with be 
 coming fortitude. Its arrival had clinched the situation 
 by disinheriting his children, and disclosure of the morti 
 fying circumstances could not long be deferred. He con 
 soled himself with the thought that he had called on the 
 widow without delay. He had tried to be gracious, and she 
 had reciprocated his affability. She was an unformed per- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 541 
 
 son, but extremely pretty. A young man might have been 
 pardoned for the infatuation, but for Baxter unless he 
 were senile there was no excuse. 
 
 Thus communing with himself Mr. Chippendale passed 
 from the Beacon Street Mall to the Public Garden and 
 pursued his way along Commonwealth Avenue. As he 
 turned to mount the steps of his own house he was accosted 
 by a young man, who, as subsequently appeared, had been 
 waiting for him. 
 
 "Mr. Chippendale, I believe?" 
 
 " Harrison Chippendale; yes, that s my name." 
 
 The tone was distant. A challenge on the owner s part 
 of the right to claim acquaintance was clearly suggested. 
 At the same time Mr. Chippendale was passing through 
 a mental struggle whether in case of an appeal for alms it 
 would be his duty to refer the applicant empty-handed to the 
 Associated Charities or he would give him a quarter to be 
 expended inevitably in drink. Like the "game sport" his 
 son had depicted him to be, he was in the act of feeling in 
 his pocket when the individual, whose hands were behind 
 his back, glibly remarked: "I called at your residence 
 fifteen minutes ago, but was told that you were out walking. 
 So I ve waited to see you." 
 
 "What is it you wish?" was the reserved, dignified in 
 quiry. Leaning on his cane at the foot of the steps, Mr. 
 Chippendale barred the way, though it was obvious that 
 the stranger was expecting an invitation to enter. 
 
 "I desire your opinion on a certain matter." The 
 speech was virtually feline in its gleeful deference. 
 
 "Pray state your errand, sir." 
 
 The would-be visitor removed his hands from behind his 
 back. In one of them he held a newspaper which for the 
 moment he thrust into a side pocket in order that he might 
 
542 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 produce a card which he presented with a flourish. "I 
 represent the Boston Mercury, and desire the honor of a 
 personal interview." 
 
 The Mercury was the most sensational of all the local 
 newspapers. Mr. Chippendale knew it only by repute; 
 he had never set eyes on a copy. He stared at the card, 
 but did not take it. "A reporter? I have nothing to say 
 to the press on any subject. I m a private citizen whose 
 views are er unimportant. The public would not be 
 interested in any opinions which I might express." 
 
 This was intended as final. Mr. Chippendale with a 
 bow turned about and began to ascend the steps. But the 
 reporter keeping pace with him exclaimed: "Pardon me, 
 sir, you are one of our first citizens. As such every opinion 
 of yours carries weight with this community." 
 
 For an instant Mr. Chippendale was caught in the honey 
 of this appeal. "Not at my age. It may have been so 
 once;, but is no longer. Times have changed in Boston." 
 By this time he had reached the vestibule and was fumbling 
 for his keys. But his complacent companion stood at his 
 elbow. 
 
 "Times have changed; but I assure you that the readers 
 of the Mercury " 
 
 "It will be impossible, sir. Good afternoon." 
 
 "Stop a moment, Mr. Chippendale. Have you seen 
 this?" As he spoke the pertinacious but unruffled scribe 
 produced and exhibited the newspaper which he had 
 thrust into his pocket. " I was about to say that, interested 
 as the readers of the Mercury would undoubtedly be by any 
 public utterance of yours, I apply to you in this instance 
 as the fountain-head of the information desired." 
 
 Ignoring the proffered newspaper, Mr. Chippendale 
 wiped his feet on the mat and opened the front door. His 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 543 
 
 courtly instincts restrained him from closing it summarily 
 in the face of the intruder, who in the interval of time thus 
 afforded managed to insinuate himself inside the hall. 
 
 "This concerns your immediate family. This evening s 
 Mercury contains an exclusive account of Mr. Baxter 
 Chippendale s marriage, together with the interesting 
 item of the birth of a posthumous heir, a son of which 
 last fact you are possibly not cognizant, Mr. Chippen 
 dale." 
 
 He was a slim, hatchet-faced, rather seedy young man, 
 with sharp eyes and a drooping mustache. The butler, 
 who happened to be turning the lights on, advanced to 
 receive his master s narrow-rimmed silk hat with an air as 
 though he expected to be called on to interfere. 
 
 "A child was born last night, I am fully aware. What 
 of it, sir?" 
 
 "In that case my mission is simply to ascertain the atti 
 tude of the family. The Mercury desires a statement of 
 the affair from your point of view. There are two sides to 
 every question of public interest." 
 
 In the face of this homily Mr. Chippendale acted like 
 one hypnotized. Primarily, to discuss such a matter be 
 fore his man-servant was out of the question. He had but 
 to speak the word and the interloper would be denied a 
 further audience cast out bodily. At the same time he 
 was vaguely sensitive to the thought that the press had 
 certain rights which a progressive citizen could not afford 
 to ignore utterly. He was conscious, too, of a certain mor 
 bid curiosity to examine the obnoxious journal which had 
 been exhibited to him. In another moment, though he 
 suspected himself to be a craven, he had led the way into 
 the library and was confronting his visitor from the depths 
 of an arm-chair with the tips of his fingers touching one 
 
544 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 another. At least they were out of earshot of Miles the 
 butler. 
 
 The reporter seemed to divine, partially at least, the 
 working of Mr. Chippendale s mind; for without heeding 
 the gesture of invitation to sit down he unfolded the news 
 paper and proceeded to force the contents of the front 
 page directly on the attention of his host. 
 
 Mr. Chippendale received it mechanically and put on 
 his eye-glasses. The reporter was pointing to huge capitals 
 in the midst of which he discerned his brother s name. 
 His head swam before the revolting headlines surrounded 
 by hideous cuts which he recognized as family portraits- 
 Baxter s, his son Chauncey s, his nephew Henry s, and the 
 widow s. He read with growing horror the text setting 
 forth the sensational tale with ghoulish extravagance. 
 Nothing was suppressed and no one s sensibilities were 
 spared. On the contrary the writer, indulging his imag 
 ination, had managed both to exult over the discomfiture 
 of an aristocratic stock and at the same time weave a cheap 
 romance for the benefit of the ignorant masses. Such was 
 the sum of the impressions which Mr. Chippendale s out 
 raged brain derived from the perusal of the sheet which he 
 held in a hand trembling with indignation. 
 
 "And have you seen fit," he asked, "to invade my pri 
 vacy in order to show me this disgusting screed?" 
 
 While Mr. Chippendale s eyes were on the newspaper 
 his visitor reproduced the card which he promptly pre 
 sented in response to these fiery but august words. As Mr. 
 Chippendale ignored the outstretched hand, he laid it on 
 a little table which held an electric lamp and stepped back. 
 " These are my credentials. My name is Bliffel; on the 
 staff of the Mercury: 
 
 "Are you responsible for this outrage?" 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 545 
 
 "It came to us from an authentic source," replied Mr. 
 Bliffel, misinterpreting the inquiry. " We ve the only 
 evening paper which has it; so naturally we want to make 
 hay while the sun shines." 
 
 "The private citizen in this country has absolutely no 
 protection from disgusting notoriety." There was a sad 
 dignity in the words which should have carried its own 
 reproach. "I suppose, sir" Mr. Chippendale picked 
 up the card beside him "Mr. Bliffel, I believe that this 
 is what is known as journalistic enterprise?" 
 
 Mr. Bliffel appeared to disregard the stately sarcasm as 
 a symptom of a return to reason. 
 
 "We re no worse than the others," he responded with 
 genial glibness. " The newspaper must live. Its business is 
 to circulate news, not suppress it. The story is true, isn t it ? " 
 
 "My brother left a widow, who was once his stenog 
 rapher, if that s what you mean." 
 
 "Formerly in the employ of your nephew, Mr. Sum- 
 ner, the late candidate for mayor on the Citizens ticket. 
 And there s a posthumous child you admitted that." 
 Standing on the hearth-rug with his hands in his side 
 pockets and his legs apart, the visitor was obviously 
 making a magnanimous endeavor to point out to his auditor 
 that he had nothing to complain of. Did not this first 
 citizen stand in need of enlightenment on the score of what 
 every freeborn citizen of a democracy was expected to put 
 up with? "That s all we ve said," he continued, "though 
 of course, we had to put it picturesquely. An octogenarian 
 blue-blood marries his typewriter and her posthumous son 
 becomes the heir to millions. Rather striking for conserv 
 ative Boston. King Cophetua and the beggar maid are 
 back numbers to the general public, but it ll want to read 
 about this." 
 
546 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Mr. Chippendale groaned and made an impatient pass 
 before his eyes as if he would obliterate from his memory 
 the abhorrent headlines. 
 
 - a And what I am applying to you for on behalf of the 
 readers of the Mercury persisted Mr. Bliffel, captivated 
 by his own lucid reasonableness, "is to ascertain the atti 
 tude of your family on the subject. We have no axe to 
 grind; it is our duty to be impartial. Perhaps you will be 
 good enough to tell me," he added, adopting a business 
 like briskness, "whether you concede the legality of the 
 marriage and the paternity of the child, or whether you 
 and those you represent intend to put up a fight to retain 
 your brother s millions." 
 
 There was a pause. Mr. Bliffel believed that he had 
 convinced his hearer. 
 
 "I have called on my brother s widow and she has re 
 ceived me. My brother s child will inherit its share of my 
 brother s property and presumably bear his name." The 
 calmness with which Mr. Chippendale uttered these delib 
 erate words resembled that which proceeds a storm, but Mr. 
 Bliffel in his eagerness failed to detect this. The reporter 
 whipped out a note-book and found a pencil behind his ear. 
 
 "Called on the lady? And when was that, if I may in 
 quire, Mr. Chippendale?" 
 
 Mr. Chippendale rose in high dudgeon. He had been 
 goaded to the point where his patience was exhausted. 
 "This interview must cease," he said, with stately decision. 
 
 Mr. Bliffel, pencil in hand, stared. 
 
 "What s up?" 
 
 "You must go, sir." 
 
 "Turn me out? Just as we were getting on so finely? 
 Just as we had reached the nub of the interview?" A 
 wounded spirit who can bear ? Mr. Bliffel was visibly hurt. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 547 
 
 Mr. Chippendale waited, trusting that he would depart 
 of his own accord and not oblige him to press the bell and 
 summon Miles. 
 
 "What have I done to offend you?" the reporte 
 
 quired. 
 
 "To begin with, you forced your way into my 1 
 unbidden. That is an effrontery in itself according 
 civilized usages." 
 
 " Democratic usage sanctions it. A sensible man s h 
 can t be his castle where the newspapers are concerned. 
 The people demand the news." 
 
 "I waive that complaint. I am ready also to assume 
 that democratic usage sanctions the printing and dissem 
 ination of the scandalous material contained in that news 
 paper. It appears to be so. Otherwise, why do such 
 newspapers exist ? But that s not the point." 
 
 "The Mercury is only stating the truth," retorted Mr. 
 Bliffel doggedly. "Wait and see how the yellow journals 
 treat you before you get your back up." 
 
 Mr. Chippendale paused again. The sequence of his 
 thoughts had been interrupted. "The bare facts are 
 mainly correct. The grossly sensational and offensive 
 method in which they are presented, with rude cuts, anc 
 insulting, maudlin conclusions emanating from the brain 
 of him who wrote it, constitutes a libel. But I repeat- 
 that s not the point. I put up with all this. I listened to 
 you and asked you to sit down. It s democratic usage, I 
 dare say, to offer a reporter a cigar or a glass of wine; but 
 I m not progressive enough for that." Mr. Chippendale 
 when roused could be vicious. He enjoyed the satiric 
 thrust. It was a breach of hospitality; but such a chance 
 to speak his complete mind would never be afforded him 
 again. "But when, having wormed your way to an inter- 
 
548 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 view," he continued, "you take it on yourself to indulgt 
 in foul insinuations regarding the legality of my brother s 
 marriage and the paternity of his infant child, my forebear- 
 ance ends. I 
 
 "The public wants to know how the family feels about 
 the matter what stand it s going to take," broke in the 
 amazed reporter. "That s all." 
 
 "Don t interrupt me, sir." But the protest served 
 slightly to deflect the current of Mr. Chippendale s tirade. 
 "The family? Why should the family be dragged into 
 it?" 
 
 "The report is in circulation that the heirs intend to 
 fight, as I told you in the first place, but you wouldn t 
 listen. I came here to-night to find out whether it was true 
 or not, and I was just jotting down from your own lips that 
 everything was harmonious and that there wouldn t be a 
 row, when lo! behold, you invite me to get out. I m not 
 looking for cigars or bottles of wine, but it s fair to expect 
 common-sense." 
 
 Mr. Bliffel thrust his note-book in his pocket, rammed 
 his pencil behind his ear and buttoned his coat. 
 
 "It all comes to the same thing." Mr. Chippendale, 
 who prided himself on being an eminently just man, felt 
 a trifle confused. But he had no intention of letting the 
 opportunity slip. "There s something you don t grasp 
 and I d like to point it out to you. It seems to you incred 
 ible that a family shouldn t choose to drag its skirts in the 
 gutter for the sake of dollars and cents; that it should hold 
 its head too high to demean itself by washing its dirty 
 linen in public, though ten millions were at stake instead of 
 two, and no matter how convincing the proofs. It s an in 
 sult to ask such a family whether it is ready to foul its own 
 nest by scrabbling for an inheritance. Do I make this 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 549 
 
 clear at last, sir?" Mr. Chippendale s lip trembled from 
 the sincerity of his emotion. 
 
 Mr. Bliffel listened attentive but unmoved, with a slight 
 sneer which his drooping mustache did not entirely con 
 ceal. Pricking up his affronted ears at the close he re 
 marked : 
 
 "Then there s something behind the scenes, after all?" 
 
 Mr. Chippendale gazed at him a moment, comprehend 
 ing slowly; then the enormity of the statement overcame 
 him. 
 
 "Only an impertinent rascal, sir, would make such an 
 inquiry after my direct assurance to the contrary." 
 
 " Go it," exclaimed Mr. Bliffel. " Don t mind me." He 
 was pleased at keeping his own temper so admirably. 
 "I should judge from the general flavor of your remarks 
 that you are not much in sympathy with democratic insti 
 tutions. You d better go live in England, if you re not 
 satisfied." 
 
 "My patriotism is not at issue. I was sufficiently proud 
 of my country to risk my life for her at your age." 
 
 Mr. Chippendale, who took but a mild interest in the 
 war with Spain, intended nothing sinister by this speech, 
 but the reporter chose to regard it as a reflection on himself. 
 
 "I m hoping for orders to go to the front any day," he 
 answered, and then he lost what advantage he possessed 
 by indulging in the hackneyed utterance, "Folks in your 
 position don t seem to take into account that reporting is 
 a business like any other business, and that a reporter has 
 to live. He s a human being and liable to have a wife and 
 children same as you are. We don t relish all our jobs; but 
 if we were to handle them the way you kid-gloved gentry 
 would have us, we d be bounced before the first pay day." 
 
 The pathos of this appealed to Bliffel as unanswerable. 
 
550 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "Very possibly," said Mr. Chippendale dryly. He was 
 not moved, for his mind was still occupied with the taunt 
 that he had better Jive in England. He believed himself 
 to be second to no citizen on the score of true patriotism; 
 and as a part of that patriotism he reserved to himself the 
 right to cavil at the shortcomings of his countrymen when 
 they merited reproof. His ire was still rampant and 
 he had only partially spoken his mind. The moment 
 seemed ripe for this young man to hear before he de 
 parted home truths which no one else would be apt to 
 tell him. 
 
 "You spoke of sympathy with democratic institutions. 
 No one believes in public spirit more firmly than I do. I 
 the Chippendales for several generations have ever been 
 proud to foster and er make sacrifices in behalf of the 
 best institutions of our native city and country. It is be 
 cause I love them that I deplore the visible loosening of 
 our moral ties, the degeneracy of our modern manners. 
 We are fast ceasing to have either convictions or culture. 
 You ask me why ? Because our standards are being swept 
 away one after another by an insidious undertow of flabby, 
 easy-going optimism which would substitute mere oppor 
 tunism for stable principle and haphazard social ease for 
 reverence and high breeding. The newspaper? The 
 modern newspaper is but a symbol. In the seventy years 
 during which I have lived in Boston it has been trans 
 formed from a respectable medium of the political and 
 commercial news into a daily eyesore. Yes, sir, an eye 
 sore," Mr. Chippendale paused to press home the heart 
 felt indictment. Then to point his moral more completely 
 he added: "And I pride myself I have always prided 
 myself on being a progressive man. No one has greater 
 sympathy with genuine progress than I. The Chippen- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 551 
 
 dales" he stopped short "I see, sir, you are amused at 
 the idea." 
 
 Bliffel had been listening to the harangue with emotions 
 akin to those of one caught in a pelting shower without an 
 umbrella. Instead of turning up his collar he folded his 
 arms and let it come down, waiting for an opening. After 
 all, he reflected, there was something picturesque about 
 the ancient aristocrat, venomous as he showed himself. 
 There might be also a shade of truth in the charges, ante 
 diluvian as they sounded. The world certainly was be 
 coming pretty easy-going; though doubtless this was in 
 order that it might run faster and more smoothly. But the 
 reference to progress was too much for his risibilities. 
 
 "To my benighted intelligence," he said in response to 
 Mr. Chippendale s challenge, "it would seem about as 
 rational to call the inmates of McLean Asylum yonder "- 
 and he jerked his thumb over his shoulder to indicate the 
 far distance across Charles River "progressive." As a 
 journalist and a loyal citizen of Boston he could not, how 
 ever diverting the old gentleman s eloquence, suffer such 
 wholesale calumny to pass without a fitting rebuke. 
 
 Mr. Chippendale flushed at the affront, then frowned. 
 It was a matter of pride that none of his family had ever 
 been an inmate of this institution. But it had been one of 
 the secret dreads of his life that he might some day be put 
 there. Was not insanity said to be on the increase, without 
 distinction of person? The impertinent intimation that 
 here was where he belonged put him on his dignity and 
 reminded him that he had parleyed with this intruder long 
 enough. He had freed his own mind and taught him his 
 lesson, and it was time for the interview to close. He 
 walked to the fireplace and pressed the button of the 
 electric bell. 
 
552 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "It wasn t necessary to ring. I know my way out," 
 exclaimed the reporter, prompt to recognize the hint. 
 Then disappointed doubtless that his previous insinuation 
 had not elicited a more striking display of wrath and de 
 sirous to have the last word, he added: "Progressive? If 
 the fitting phrase were left to me, I d say a mossback." 
 
 Mr. Chippendale stared haughtily. "I am not familiar 
 with the expression," he said. Straightening his spare 
 figure to its full height he pointed toward the door, which 
 the next moment was opened from the outside, to admit 
 not the man-servant, but his son Chauncey, who entering 
 briskly, exclaimed: "I just looked in, father, to tell you" 
 Perceiving the reporter he halted. "Why, it s Mr. Bliffel. 
 Then, of course, you ve seen this already," he added, hold 
 ing out to his father the newspaper which he had brought 
 "The fat s all in the fire." 
 
 Mr. Chippendale nodded. "I ve seen it and have just 
 declined to be interviewed by this er reporter." 
 
 Chauncey had no need of his father s doughty words in 
 order to grasp the situation. "Mr. Bliffel and I are old 
 acquaintances. He lets me in for an interview every now 
 and then, and I m bound to admit that he generally uses 
 me pretty well." He wheeled upon the reporter with a 
 propitiatory smile. 
 
 "And you ll give me credit, I believe, for getting out 
 when I m invited to?" answered Bliffel, grinning signifi 
 cantly. 
 
 "My father isn t accustomed to reporters. You should 
 have come to see me. What can I do for you ? Sit down, 
 Mr. Bliffel. Miles," he added, turning to the butler who 
 stood waiting in response to the bell which Mr. Chippen 
 dale had rung, "bring Mr. Bliffel a cigar." Thus by a 
 happy display of genial tact Chauncey soothed the feelings 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 553 
 
 of the visitor and at the same time put him slightly on the 
 defensive. 
 
 "I was down this way, and I thought a few words from 
 the older generation 
 
 "You can t blame a man of my father s years for object 
 ing to notoriety. This article" Chauncey held up the 
 obnoxious newspaper "is necessarily distasteful to all of 
 us." 
 
 "I didn t write it." 
 
 "And the Mercury had to print it. It s business. I 
 understand that. But you couldn t expect a member of 
 the family who didn t know you to receive you with open 
 arms. How did the Mercury get wind of this?" 
 
 "I m not at liberty to disclose," said Mr. Bliffel puffing 
 at the cigar provided him by Miles. " Mr. Harrison Chip 
 pendale has already stated that you do not dispute the 
 facts." 
 
 " How could we? My uncle did marry his stenographer 
 and has left a child born yesterday. Consequently his 
 previous will is of no effect." 
 
 Chauncey spoke with business-like suavity. He, too, 
 had lighted a cigar. Every one was seated and Mr. Bliffel 
 had reproduced his note-book. Mr. Chippendale listening 
 in his easy-chair, with the tips of his ringers touching one 
 another, felt a little crestfallen. Possibly he had been 
 somewhat peppery. The ways of the younger generation 
 were invariably past understanding; but this object-lesson 
 was interesting. Save for the cigar, Chauncey had not 
 placed him in a false position; on the contrary, had vir 
 tually defended him. Yet he seemed to be getting on with 
 the fellow to understand how to handle him. Appar 
 ently, though, a private citizen s house had ceased to be 
 his castle where the newspaper press was concerned. To 
 
654 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 protect one s self and curry favor it was necessary to be 
 obsequious to individuals one would enjoy throwing into 
 Charles River. Yet his son was one of the leading bankers 
 of Boston, accustomed to consideration and to impose his 
 will on others. Thus musing, Mr. Chippendale heard 
 Chauncey continue: 
 
 "The local color is lurid and the pictures superfluously 
 grotesque from a Back Bay standpoint; but we re not in 
 a position to deny anything. The essential statements are 
 correct. What we wish now is to be let down as gently as 
 possible." 
 
 Bliffel nodded. "It s merely the attitude of the family 
 I m after," he said deprecatingly. When one of the mag 
 nates of State Street showed himself capable of recognizing 
 that a reporter was also a man and a brother, he was glad 
 to be accommodating. "The Mercury would like to know 
 if there is to be litigation. Will there be a contest regarding 
 either the child or the money?" 
 
 "None whatever. Nothing of the sort," replied Chaun 
 cey with emphasis. "There s not a particle of discord on 
 either side. You may say, on the contrary, that the attitude 
 of the family toward the widow and her son is absolutely 
 cordial, and that there is no possibility of litigation. Get 
 that straight, Mr. Bliffel." 
 
 The reporter scribbled away with manifest satisfaction. 
 What a contrast, he reflected, to the crusty progenitor in 
 the arm-chair, whom it was a pleasure to have witness the 
 method in which two modern men of affairs conducted 
 business. Pencil in air, he looked up to add with a shade 
 of exultation, "And Mr. Harrison Chippendale has called 
 upon the widow to acknowledge her as his brother s wife." 
 
 "My father told you that, did he? I don t see but you 
 pumped him, after all." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 555 
 
 Bliffel grinned. "It was like extracting teeth, though," 
 he answered by way of a parting shot at Mr. Chippendale. 
 He closed his note-book and rose, for his stay had been 
 far longer than he intended. But he had got what he came 
 for. "I m much obliged to you, sir/ he said with a bow 
 at Chauncey. 
 
 Mr. Chippendale, convinced that reverence had van 
 ished from the world, gripped the arms of his chair and 
 quivered in silence. But Chauncey, stepping forward, 
 said, in his most engaging confidential manner, though not 
 without dignity: "Now I rely on you, Bliffel, to treat us 
 decently, and tone down everything as much as possible. 
 You must appreciate that to a family like ours this notoriety 
 is horribly distasteful. It galls my father it galls me. 
 We re up against it; but you can help us, though. We 
 don t want any more publicity than is absolutely necessary 
 and we don t want to be misrepresented. And fix the 
 other newspapers, like a good fellow, so that they won t 
 indulge in offensive personalities or sensational flights of 
 the imagination." 
 
 "You may rely on me, sir, I ll make it a personal mat 
 ter. I ll see that no mistake is made as to how the family 
 stands on the main question, and I ll ask the editor to blue 
 pencil anything you wouldn t like." 
 
 Mr. Chippendale, who had risen as an habitual act of 
 courtesy to speed his sparting guest, gathered that the latter 
 was decidedly flattered by his son s condescension. It 
 appeared to be necessary, however, for Chauncey to escort 
 him to the library door and, having shaken hands with 
 him, to volunteer did his own ears hear correctly ? satis 
 faction that he had called. Nevertheless, the moment Mr. 
 Bliffel had left the room Mr. Chippendale beheld his son 
 drop on the sofa with a sigh and, supporting his cheeks on 
 
556 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 his hands, stare moodily at the fireplace until they heard 
 the door slam, when he indulged in this soliloquy : 
 
 " What else can one do with a beggar like that but treat 
 him civilly? He s bound to print something; that s what 
 he s paid for. If one is peevish, he slangs you and nothing 
 is gained. But it s rather trying to have to play the sun 
 shiny host to a fellow whom you are itching to throw out 
 of the window." 
 
 This pseudo-justification resembled so closely an apology 
 that Mr. Chippendale was encouraged to remark: "He 
 waylaid me at the foot of the front door steps or he would 
 never have got in. I mistook him for a needy tramp." 
 
 Chauncey sighed again. "Bliffel is better than most of 
 them. He s a white man according to his lights. If you 
 refuse to talk, he s liable at a pinch to invent an interview; 
 but if you treat him civilly and he gives you his word not 
 to roast you, I ve never known him to break it. So it pays 
 not to be ugly to him." 
 
 Having uttered these words of opportunist wisdom, 
 Chauncey happened to notice the copy of the Mercury 
 which had slipped to the floor beside his father s chair. 
 Stooping, he was in the act of consigning this to the flames 
 of the wood fire when Mr. Chippendale exclaimed just in 
 time to stay his hand, "What are you doing, Chauncey?" 
 
 " I was going to destroy this filthy lucubration. I didn t 
 suppose you would care to have it about." 
 
 "You had better save it for the moment. Your mother 
 might like to see it," faltered the old gentleman. 
 
 Chauncey laughed. "All right," he said, and nodding 
 in the direction of the library table on which he had laid his 
 own copy, added: "I m taking mine home to Beatrice for 
 the same reason." He spread out the newspaper in his 
 hands and scrutinized the contents for a moment ruefully. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 557 
 
 "It s about the limit of indecent journalism," he remarked. 
 ."But one bright spot, father, is they didn t print your 
 picture." 
 
 "No, they spared me that indignity." Then after a mo 
 ment he asked: "What is a er mossback, Chauncey?" 
 
 " A mossback ? " Chauncey chuckled respectfully. " It s 
 vernacular, I believe, for any one on whom the moss of 
 ages is supposed to have accumulated. A person," he 
 continued, observing that his father still looked puzzled, 
 "who has lived a long time and cherishes fixed opinions. 
 Why do you ask? Did Bliffel call you one?" 
 
 "Yes. Only a moment before you came in." 
 
 " The impudent villain. I wish I d overheard him. It s 
 invidious, however, not strictly opprobrious." 
 
 "I see. Behind the times. An old fogy. A back num 
 ber, I think you would call it," Mr. Chippendale added 
 complacently by way of showing that his phraseology was 
 not altogether archaic. "Well, I suppose I am at my 
 age. I m glad to be if the contrary means refusing to stand 
 up for one s principles," he remarked stoutly. 
 
 "You re all right, father. I wish there were more men 
 nowadays like you. We re all so infernally afraid of giving 
 offence." Chauncey sat down on the sofa again and re 
 lapsed into his former attitude of staring moodily at the 
 fire. It was obvious from his expression that he was out 
 of sorts. "It s been a gruesome day down-town," he re 
 sumed. "The bottom has been dropping out of every 
 thing I own. Electric Coke has been the weakest thing 
 on the list. It fell twenty points on top of twenty yesterday; 
 nearly two hundred off from its highest of three months 
 ago. It s cheap dirt cheap, if I had only had the spare 
 cash. If only I were flush, I d make the people who are 
 marking it down very tired. But this surprise party of 
 
558 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 tingle Baxter s has tied me up tighter than a drum." 
 These remarks in the nature of a soliloquy would explain 
 the absence of his customary flow of spirits and also give 
 an inkling to his father that his affairs were not so rosy as 
 they appeared. 
 
 Mr. Chippendale showed himself becomingly sympa 
 thetic. "One of the most unfortunate features of the 
 whole episode has been your legitimate disappointment." 
 
 "I suppose on general principles it s a good rule not to 
 invest a legacy until it s in the box." 
 
 Mr. Chippendale did not gainsay this conservative 
 proposition. After musing a moment Chauncey continued : 
 "I wonder if it could have been Blaisdell who gave away 
 Uncle Baxter s marriage to the Mercury. " 
 
 " After dining at my house, I can scarcely believe it." 
 
 "He s at the bottom of most things nowadays," re 
 sponded Chauncey gloomily. "Though when one tries to 
 prove it, it s next to impossible to put one s finger on him." 
 
 Miles appeared at this moment with a note on a silver 
 salver which he presented to his master, saying that the 
 messenger was from Miss Chippendale s. 
 
 Opening the missive Mr. Chippendale read and uttered 
 an exclamation of alarm. "It s from the nurse. Mary 
 Higgins" (naming the old house-keeper) "asked her to 
 write. Georgiana is much worse. The doctor fears it 
 may be apoplexy." Mr. Chippendale sat like one stunned. 
 "And when I left your aunt not more than an hour ago, 
 We thought her decidedly better." 
 
 It was one of Chauncey s regrets for the rest of his days 
 that, in spite of this distressing news, the thought stole un 
 bidden into his mind that the requisite money might be 
 forthcoming in the nick of time. Thus do the necessities 
 of those who stand at bay in the world struggle for great 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 559 
 
 possessions, obtrude their sordid claims at the most sol 
 emn moments of life. Simultaneously he heard his father 
 exclaim piteously with trembling lip which he sought to 
 keep firm, " Chauncey, my boy, it looks as if the elder gen 
 eration were breaking up." 
 
 Falling on his knees in an access of filial tenderness, 
 Chauncey put his arm around Mr. Chippendale s shoulder. 
 Though he was in the strength of his manhood, his warm 
 heart responded to the poignancy of the cry the cry of 
 age deploring that the silver cord must soon be broken. 
 "My dear old father," he said, "I m terribly sorry for 
 you." 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 Miss GEORGIANA CHIPPENDALE died that night. She 
 never regained consciousness and passed away in the 
 small hours. The sight of crape on the shining metal bell- 
 handle of the old-fashioned white door caused grief to 
 many hearts. She had been eminently a public-spirited 
 woman this was what every one said of her of a kind 
 peculiar in a sense to Boston. One whose concern in recti 
 fying wrongs and promoting every sort of human progress 
 was so intense that her sympathies were easily aroused. 
 She gave freely both of her time and her money; gave 
 with loyal zeal which never wavered, but burned brightly 
 until superseded by a fresh enthusiasm. Some of these 
 enthusiasms were fads; so rapidly did they succeed one 
 another, they needs must be so. But as the Transcript 
 (the columns of which she perused every evening of her 
 mature life) justly stated in a brief editorial on the day of 
 her funeral, she had by virtue of her high aspirations. 
 
560 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 receptibility to new ideas and tireless energy made herself 
 a moral force in Boston which would be widely missed. 
 
 Her many annual benefactions embraced numerous 
 minor as well as major charities. Who exactly would take 
 her place? Give, that is, with so liberal and unexacting 
 a hand? Once a subscriber, Miss Chippendale always 
 remained one. In the face of her life devoted so largely to 
 the public welfare, her peculiarities and eccentricities 
 dwindled into insignificance from the obituary standpoint. 
 But after she was laid to rest, there was general curiosity 
 as to what she had done with her money. It was surmised 
 that she was very wealthy, though few were privy to her 
 talent for speculation. Just as Boston was in the throes of 
 surprise and interrogation over Baxter s secret marriage 
 and the disinheritance of his nephews and nieces, every 
 one paused to wonder as to the terms of Miss Georgiana s 
 will and how much she had left. Were the family her prin 
 cipal beneficiaries, or had she made her nephews and 
 nieces modest bequests and enriched her favorite chari 
 ties? 
 
 A new sensation was in store for the community. The 
 instrument, executed about a year before her death, dis 
 closed a vigorous purpose. To all her incorporated hob 
 bies the testatrix bequeathed sums within a range from 
 five hundred to ten thousand dollars. The annual income 
 from five thousand was appropriated for the housing of the 
 squirrels and the protection of the birds on the Common. 
 Her coachman and maids were given pensions and a few 
 aged contemporaries suitable pecuniary remembrances. 
 Her personal effects were apportioned with careful detail. 
 For example, to her niece and namesake was bequeathed 
 her jewelry, all of which proved to be old-fashioned; to 
 her friend and former companion, Priscilla Avery, was left 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 561 
 
 the gilt clock and two bronze figures which had graced 
 immemorially the mantel-piece in the drawing-room. To 
 her seven nephews and nieces living at her death the sum 
 of one hundred thousand dollars apiece was given, but in 
 trust without power of anticipation and free from the control 
 of any wife or husband. All the rest and residue of her 
 property and here was the feature which made Boston 
 marvel and set tongues wagging was devised to her dear 
 nephew, Henry Chippendale Sumner but on one condi 
 tion, that he change his surname to Chippendale. Other 
 wise the residue was to be divided equally between Harvard 
 College, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the Society 
 for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. 
 
 Why had Miss Chippendale preferred this special 
 nephew and, having preferred him, inserted this remark 
 able proviso? What was the amount of the residue and 
 would the chief beneficiary fulfil the condition ? Such were 
 the questions which rose at once to many lips. Ready 
 answers were forthcoming for all but one of them. It was 
 a peculiar will; but Miss Chippendale was a peculiar 
 woman; a woman of intense likes and dislikes. Her 
 nephew Henry had of late years been her favorite. She 
 was proud of his stern, uncompromising morality and 
 public-spirited proclivities, qualities which she associated 
 with the Chippendales and which he alone of the younger 
 generation appeared to her to possess. He was a Chippen 
 dale by blood and poor as a church mouse. She would 
 make him one by name and rich as well. She had left her 
 other nephews and nieces competences as much as was 
 good for them; this was doubtless the way she justified 
 herself. She was of the kind who, when strongly pos 
 sessed by an idea, are able to arrive at justice to their 
 own satisfaction. Henry Sumner would be true to the 
 
662 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 ideals for which the Chippendale family had invariably 
 stood; and the Chippendales had always been wealthy to 
 boot. 
 
 Such was the reasoning of Boston. Mark, too, it con 
 tinued, the shrewd way by which the testatrix had made it 
 impossible for Henry generously to renounce the magnifi 
 cent gift, and by so doing, divide the residue share and share 
 alike with his sisters and cousins. If he refused to change 
 his name, the fortune would all go to noble benevolent 
 uses outside the family. To put them all on the same foot 
 ing was manifestly impossible. A less scrupulous person 
 might change his name and, having secured the money, 
 make a division; but it could be taken for granted that a 
 rigorous soul like Henry Sumner would feel in honor 
 bound not to whip the devil round the stump. As for the 
 amount, Miss Chippendale s lawyer, who drew the will 
 and was familiar with her affairs, had expressed the opinion 
 that the residue would foot up certainly half a million. 
 Henry was quixotic by nature; but seeing that he could not 
 benefit his kinsfolk by refusal, what else was there to do 
 but place the injustice, if any, on the shoulders of his aunt 
 where it belonged and submit to her strange caprice. She 
 evidently cherished a deep sentiment for the name; so 
 much so, as some one declared, that she had clung to it 
 herself so long as she could and then claimed the right to 
 select a worthy successor. In short, she had made him her 
 son by adoption to the tune of five hundred thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 At the close of the reading of the document in Miss 
 Georgiana s drawing-room by Mr. Saunders, the lawyer, 
 one could have heard a pin drop. The purport was so 
 astounding that Harrison Chippendale, in common with 
 Mrs. Sumner and all the other feminine members of the 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 563 
 
 family, were unable to take it in. Mr. Chippendale broke 
 the awkward silence to request that the residuary clauses be 
 read a second time. The only ones who really compre 
 hended were Henry and Chauncey; but the former was 
 struck dumb by bewilderment, the latter by unpleasant 
 realization that fate had dealt him another blow between 
 the eyes. All he would receive was a paltry hundred 
 thousand; and what was this out of what he guessed to be 
 at least two millions ? There was a ripple of astonishment. 
 Again it was Mr. Chippendale who spoke. 
 
 "Your aunt appears to have left you the lion s share, 
 Henry, my boy." 
 
 "It s simply amazing; the greatest possible surprise to 
 me, Harrison. I hadn t the remotest conception that Geor- 
 giana was contemplating anything of the sort," murmured 
 Mrs. Sumner in a flutter of solicitude. 
 
 "She has always approved of Henry," declared her 
 brother unflinchingly in an effort to elucidate the conduct 
 of the deceased. 
 
 "But of course I couldn t accept it." The words were 
 Henry s. All eyes had been covertly resting on him, and 
 every ear had been waiting to hear what he would say. 
 Though he had kept silent for a moment, as if battling with 
 himself, the speech was unhesitatingly explicit. 
 
 "Of course not," echoed his mother with an exalted 
 sigh of relief. "You might be sure that Henry would feel 
 that he must be generous; that he could not afford to better 
 himself at the expense of his sisters and cousins." 
 
 "But as I understand the will, generosity wouldn t do 
 the rest of us the least good," interposed Chauncey. "If 
 Henry refuses the money, it goes to Harvard College, the 
 Art Museum and the Animals." 
 
 "That s it," explained Mr. Saunders laconically. "As 
 
564 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 I figure the estate, the residue will probably slightly exceed 
 six hundred thousand dollars." 
 
 " A lot of money. Bless me, I had no idea that Georgiana 
 had been able to er accumulate so much," Mr. Chippen 
 dale could not refrain from remarking. 
 
 Chauncey s clear-headed criticism had put a damper on 
 the equitable solution hinted at. 
 
 "The matter isn t so simple as I thought," murmured 
 Mrs. Sumner. 
 
 "Of course the money must not go out of the family, 
 whatever happens. Since it was Georgiana s wish that 
 Henry should inherit the lion s share, I don t see but he 
 must keep it," said Harrison. 
 
 "But you don t seem to understand. I can t accept 
 because of the condition. I would not be willing to change 
 my name," said Henry with unequivocal clearness. "It 
 was my father s name." 
 
 There was another pause of general surprise. 
 
 "Your father s name. That s a different question," 
 observed Mr. Chippendale. 
 
 Mrs. Sumner flushed from guilty consciousness of a 
 moral lapse. Why had not this occurred to her as one of 
 the crucial difficulties? She had heard the proviso dis 
 tinctly enough change his surname; but somehow the 
 glamour of coming into all this money had obscured every 
 other obstacle save the necessity of treating the rest of the 
 family fairly. A Chippendale herself before marriage, 
 the enormity of changing to one in name had not dawned 
 on her at first; but she now perceived with agitation the 
 genuineness of the problem confronting her son and how 
 great was her own responsibility. For the sake of her girls 
 for the sake of the family fortunes, she must not let Henry 
 be led away by a too fine-spun sophistry if this were one; 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 565 
 
 on the other hand, it was imperative that she should not 
 stand in the way of his remaining true to his best self and 
 to Chippendale and Sumner traditions. Against the alter 
 native of the loss of a great sum of money in an age of the 
 world when money was, perhaps, as never before, service 
 able to family advancement, stood the danger of disregard 
 ing that spiritual vision which was the most precious asset 
 the family possessed. 
 
 "I had not considered that phase of the matter," she 
 said earnestly, approaching Henry. " It will be best, dear, 
 to decide on nothing hastily." 
 
 "But, mother, I could never look my father s portrait in 
 the face again. His name is my name. How could I give 
 it up? No amount of reflection could alter my opinion as 
 
 to that." 
 
 Eleanor Sumner quailed before his relentless certainty. 
 "Very possibly. But there are practical considerations 
 which should be talked over weighed. All I urge is that 
 it is not requisite to decide to-day. It is your aunt s ex 
 pressed wish, and it is not as if you were not already half 
 a Chippendale." 
 
 "But my name is Sumner. I m surprised, mother, that 
 you should countenance the idea for an instant." Henry 
 spoke proudly a little theatrically, as if proclaiming that 
 the unexpected opposition had constituted him the sole 
 protector of his father s lineage. 
 
 " Doubtless you are right." She despised herself for in 
 sisting. But part of Henry s obstinacy had been inherited 
 from her. "I am not sure this is not a case where, if your 
 father were alive, he would feel that you owed it to your 
 selfto us all to make the change." 
 
 " But he is not alive. And I do not believe he would." 
 
 Though conscious that she had been overruled, Mrs. 
 
566 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 Sumner thrilled with maternal pride. She had done her 
 duty; pointed out and smoothed the easier path so that he 
 might avail himself of it if he would. He had chosen in 
 stead that of filial sentiment and loyal family honor. What 
 should she in her heart but exult? He had simply been 
 true to the fearless vision of his ancestors. 
 
 But Harrison Chippendale was not so easily convinced. 
 "Your sentiment for your father s name is highly praise 
 worthy. But is not what you propose a little quixotic? 
 You have a leaning that way at times, if you will pardon 
 my saying so, Henry. I reverence sentiment deeply. But 
 is the course you have in mind wholly practical? Take 
 your mother s advice and think it over. It is no small con 
 sideration that over half a million dollars of Chippendale 
 money will, if you persist, pass out of the family." 
 
 Henry gazed back at the group of near relatives, his sis 
 ters, aunt and cousins, and realized that this plea gauged 
 more or less accurately the family opinion. Obviously they 
 had their doubts. His sister, Mrs. Paton, looked troubled. 
 Apparently she was susceptible, as a rising professor s wife, 
 to the social value of so large a fortune. Even in Lily s 
 eyes he did not find that animating gleam which would 
 indicate complete approval. Was she inviting him in the 
 name of Christian Science to maintain a sweet reason 
 ableness ? All this he discerned in a flash, and then sud 
 denly he felt the pressure of his mother s hand on his own 
 in sign of her capitulation. Not for an instant had he fal 
 tered; but this cleared his spirit s horizon of its only worry. 
 
 "Yes, I am quixotic at times, Uncle Harrison. Some 
 people will think me so in this case. But that is the way 
 I am constituted. I could never forgive myself for doing 
 otherwise. As for the money you must lay the respon 
 sibility on Aunt Georgiana if it passes out of the family." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 567 
 
 "Keep your father s name and give up six hundred 
 thousand dollars! That s living up to one s principles with 
 a vengeance ! I don t claim I d do it proud as I am of the 
 name which belongs to me; but I take my hat off to the 
 man who is capable of it. I ll say this for you, Henry, 
 you re a thoroughbred in your own way." 
 
 The encomium was from Chauncey. He had been 
 moved to speak out of the fulness of his heart. Depressed 
 by this new freak of destiny, his aunt s favoritism, he had 
 taken no part in the conversation since the moment when 
 he had pricked the bubble of premature generosity. As 
 he listened, gloomy dismay had given place to incredulous 
 astonishment and this at last to a sudden wave of enthusi 
 asm for the cousin whom he had long secretly despised. It 
 was such a simple matter to change one s name; such ex 
 cellent arguments existed for doing so; yet here was a kins 
 man ready to turn his back deliberately on more than half 
 a million out of sheer family pride and devotion to his 
 father s memory. " Magnificent, but it is not war," he re 
 flected, enjoying the quotation. But his lips for the first 
 time in his life spontaneously paid a fervid tribute of 
 admiration to his cousin s sincerity. Though slightly con 
 descending still, the words were clearly an admission that 
 he had never done his qualities justice and was eager to 
 make amends. 
 
 As such they were gratefully received by Henry. Res 
 olute as he could be when they differed, in the presence of 
 Chauncey he was still humble at heart as in their college 
 days and was painfully conscious of his own deficiencies. 
 His cousin was such an aristocratic, tactful fellow, with such 
 engaging manners and such a happy faculty for getting on 
 with people. Even at this proud moment his reply proved 
 half apologetic: 
 
568 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "I can t help seeing it that way," he said with a quizzical 
 smile which lighted up his lean countenance. "It s the 
 nature of the beast, I suppose; I m made so. Other people 
 might see no wrong in it. And I m disappointed, too, 
 Chauncey," he added, "that there doesn t appear to be 
 any method by which you and the others could have the 
 money instead of me." Then, as he paused, he suddenly 
 continued like one making a confession, "And you mustn t 
 think that I wouldn t be glad to have it myself. I ve learned 
 to appreciate the value of a lot of money and how much 
 more a man may accomplish if he is rich." 
 
 This counter admission prompted Mrs. Harrison Chip 
 pendale to remark: "Don t you think it would be wise, 
 Henry, before you definitely refuse, to consult some thor 
 ough-going, responsible business man as to what is really 
 right under all the circumstances? You see how your 
 uncle and Chauncey feel on the subject; they admire your 
 filial sentiment, but they question the necessity. Since, as 
 you agree, money is such a power, will you put it beyond 
 your reach and the reach of all of us without first testing 
 your opinion by the judgment of some modern men of 
 affairs?" 
 
 Margaret Chippendale had the reputation in the family 
 of being sagacious in spite of her social narrowness. It 
 had offended her that Henry should be preferred to her 
 own children, and she would have welcomed any loophole 
 by which the disparity between them might be counter 
 acted. But all the business instincts of the Floyds caused 
 her to shudder at such financial suicide. Hence her at 
 tempt to provide a rational antidote, which sounded so 
 plausible that it inspired her youngest daughter to supple 
 ment it by the inquiry: 
 
 "What would Mr. Blaisdell do under similar circum- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 569 
 
 stances, I wonder. Why wouldn t he be a good person to 
 consult?" 
 
 There was no malice in Georgiana s speech. It never 
 occurred to her that she was waving a red rag in her cous 
 in s face. On the contrary, she was entirely sincere in her 
 desire to know what view such a leading citizen would take 
 of the matter. Mr. Saunders, the lawyer, had departed 
 some minutes before, leaving the family to its own devices. 
 But whatever Henry s emotions, he was spared the necessity 
 of protest by Chauncey s instantaneous retort: 
 
 "Blaisdell? Can any one doubt what Blaisdell would 
 say or do ? He would regard any man who let six hundred 
 thousand dollars slip through his fingers rather than change 
 his name as fit only for McLean Asylum." 
 
 "Chauncey Chauncey," murmured his father, shrink 
 ing at the final allusion. "It isn t necessary to be so 
 extravagant." 
 
 But Chauncey s ears were closed. His sister s words 
 had produced a peculiar effect on him. "And the very 
 certainty that he would take just that stand and stigmatize 
 any other as a lack of common-sense," he continued, 
 speaking with obvious feeling, and looking around the 
 circle as if to emphasize his statement, "is a strong argu 
 ment with me for sympathizing with Henry. 
 
 "But everybody agrees that Mr. Blaisdell is a very able 
 man and that his opinion carries weight in the commu 
 nity," Georgiana responded dauntlessly. Time had slightly 
 amplified this young lady s figure, but without impairing 
 her beauty or air of breeding. The grace of her well-poised 
 bird-like head, and the allurement of her soft eyes still dis 
 tinguished her in any drawing-room, though maturity had 
 conventionalized her voice and manner to a point where 
 the desire for elegance imposed a constant check on spon- 
 
570 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 taneity. But she relaxed in the presence of her family, 
 who also recognized that beneath her social reserve she 
 nursed a tendency to know queer people and advocate 
 startling doctrines. Had she inherited her father s pro- 
 gressiveness ? Such was her mother s inner plaint when 
 she sought to fathom why the only beauty of her three 
 unmarried daughters still hung fire matrimonially. And 
 voluntarily so, for Georgiana had received several satis^ 
 factory offers. A brilliant match was desirable and her 
 due, but a girl might shake her head too often at the gift- 
 horse opportunity. Meanwhile, as her sagacious mother 
 reflected, the feminine heart grew less susceptible to illusion. 
 Mrs. Chippendale felt that she had a right in the face of 
 these conditions to harbor despondency. 
 
 "Able? No one denies his ability. Give him time and 
 he can prove to any one conclusively that black is white." 
 So answered Chauncey, and then added this unbrotherly 
 taunt, "We all know how thoroughly he has hypnotized 
 you, Georgy." 
 
 His sister coolly showed no umbrage. "I like him, of 
 course I like him. He always has something interesting 
 to say. We asked him to dinner, and I m glad of it, for I 
 was tired of dining with just the same people all the year 
 round. The real reason you don t fancy him, Chauncey, is 
 that he s so clever down-town. You wish to be the head of 
 everything and he won t let you. But Boston is a large 
 city now and there s room for divided authority on State 
 Street." 
 
 "No, he won t let me; you re right there." Chauncey 
 indulged in a wry smile at this bitter truth proceeding from 
 such a naive authority. He was highly amused both by 
 his sister s radical outlook and by her perspicacity. "It s 
 partly envy on my side, Georgy, I admit," he continued 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 571 
 
 mirthfully. "But it isn t all envy. Ask Henry what he 
 thinks of Blaisdell. You can t accuse him of being en- 
 
 "I m not so sure about that," she replied instantly with 
 a saucy glance at her cousin. Georgiana was both aware 
 of Henry s antipathy and confident that she knew its 
 cause. 
 
 Chauncey stared a moment. "Oh, I forgot," he said 
 with a laugh. "It appears then that neither of us is a dis 
 passionate critic. Which only proves how difficult it is to 
 corner Blaisdell. He invariably comes up smiling, or 
 proves an alibi." 
 
 The fervor of this dialogue frustrated Mrs. Harrison 
 Chippendale s attempt at mediation. Though nothing 
 further was said the family parted, realizing that Henry s 
 decision was unalterable. He himself for his mother and 
 sisters drove walked down Beacon Street alone, dwelling, 
 not on his refusal, but on the references to Blaisdell which 
 it had called forth. It was obvious what Chauncey thought 
 of that successful individual. By separate mental processes 
 Chauncey had arrived at the same unflattering estimate as 
 his own. The discovery was an agreeable surprise, nor 
 was its value materially lessened by Georgiana s insinua 
 tion of rivalry down-town. He felt himself nearer to 
 Chauncey than ever before in their lives. But the lat- 
 ter s final statement in response to Georgiana s champion 
 ship was what chiefly possessed him as he walked along 
 that it was impossible to corner Blaisdell. Chauncey had 
 discovered this, too ; or, rather, Chauncey s discovery invoked 
 the question whether he himself had made the slightest pro 
 gress in fulfilling his own pledge. On what could he put his 
 finger and say, "here is something definite of which I 
 accuse you." Verily his cousin s epigram that Blaisdell 
 
572 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 always came up smiling or proved an alibi seemed mourn 
 fully true. As Georgiana herself declared, Blaisdell was 
 rated an interesting personage; his opinion carried weight 
 in the community. What better indication of this than his 
 hypnotism of her, by virtue of which he had won the social 
 preferment of a seat at the fastidious Harrison Chippen 
 dale s dinner-table ? Straws these, but straws which indi 
 cated how the wind on the Back Bay was blowing. 
 
 It was a perverse thought that he had so far proved noth 
 ing; Henry was conscious of this as he pursued his way, 
 but his mood encouraged it. Georgiana s hint at prejudice 
 stuck fast in his memory, too, and demanded a reckoning. 
 Had his love made him intolerant and lacking in justice? 
 Often enough previously he had asked himself the same 
 question and received glowing assurance to the contrary. 
 But now the sudden contact of Georgiana s jibe with 
 Chauncey s epigram had set him thinking. He had 
 pledged himself to produce convincing evidences of his 
 rival s lack of moral fibre, and he had not one shred of defi 
 nite testimony in support of his boast. He had asked for 
 time, and ample time had been allowed him; yet he was 
 no nearer the visible proofs than the day when he had 
 spoken. 
 
 What did this demand? A frank acknowledgment. 
 Henry was fairly revelling in his own perversity. It had 
 begun to drizzle, and the pavements after twenty-four hours 
 of soft weather, which had extracted the last remnants of 
 winter from the soil, wore an ample covering of liquid 
 mud. He managed in crossing to the Public Garden to 
 smear one of his boots conspicuously. How like himself, 
 he reflected, to do this just when he had decided to pay 
 a call ! If he expected others to condone his lack of social 
 grace, his habitual self-consciousness, his uncompromising 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 573 
 
 prig-like rectitude and all his other faults, why should he 
 not make allowances for Blaisdell? Had not Priscilla 
 always maintained that they were simply different each 
 with redeeming qualities, and antagonistic merely because 
 he insisted on it? Blaisdell from the first had been eager 
 to sink their differences and shake hands. But he had 
 held out obstinately; from righteousness he believed; or 
 was it from jealousy ? 
 
 Henry had never felt so humble in his life. It was as 
 though a new window had been opened in his soul. Was 
 he not self-convicted of jealousy? The refusal of his 
 aunt s fortune had suddenly become a speck beside the 
 need of bearing testimony that he was no longer at least 
 so narrow-minded as he had professed. But the incident 
 provided the latest instance by which to test his guilt. Not 
 for a moment had he doubted as to the course which he 
 should pursue; his duty still seemed clear as daylight. 
 And Chauncey was correct Blaisdell would condemn his 
 conduct as Utopian. Sheer common-sense forbade that 
 money should be put beyond one s grasp save for a tan 
 gible reason. He could almost hear him say it. Rank 
 materialism in his own eyes; but the point was, there 
 remained room for a difference of opinion. Had not his 
 own family questioned the wisdom of his decision ? Even 
 his spiritually exacting mother for a moment doubted ? 
 
 It was plain now. He had exaggerated everything from 
 the first and seen through the lenses of jealousy. It be 
 hooved him to make amends. Thus rejoicing in his per 
 versity, Henry, who had reached the head of Common 
 wealth Avenue, paused suddenly in his onward stride. 
 Reviewing the furrowed relations between himself and 
 Blaisdell with an eye to future amity, he had recoiled 
 involuntarily before the prospect and found himself in the 
 
574 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 grip of an unmistakable aversion which turned a deaf ear 
 to reason. But that which made him halt halt as before 
 treasure trove was the exultant thought which sprang 
 from this: Why did he hate so relentlessly? Because he 
 loved so much. Since this was true and it was desper 
 ately true there was this great comfort in it: He was at 
 least a human lover and no longer the abstraction of one; 
 he had ceased to be the high priest of ethics wooing on 
 behalf of a frosty principle; he detested Blaisdell because 
 he was his deadly rival. This self-knowledge should be 
 his consolation while he promptly paid the penalty of his 
 former blindness. 
 
 When having sped down the avenue through the drizzle, 
 he reached Mr. A very s house, Henry, in his eagerness to 
 confess, stubbed his toes against the lower step which 
 sobered him, for it recalled his damaged boot. Happily 
 Priscilla was at home. He would have chafed at postpone 
 ment. She sailed into the drawing-room with a radiant 
 welcome which confused him by its cordiality. To his sen 
 sitive appreciation it seemed almost as if she were tender 
 ing wordless congratulations. There was a sparkle in her 
 eyes which would have rewarded a volunteer in the current 
 war, but she had already sanctioned his remaining at home. 
 There was something in her manner which ignored his 
 sable garments. Certainly she had been much more pro 
 pitious since that interview in Park Street when the family 
 catastrophe had transpired. The succeeding weeks had 
 been crowded with events the publicity of his uncle s 
 marriage, the breaking out of the war, and finally his aunt s 
 death. They had both been very busy, but he had gath 
 ered from their occasional meetings that she thought 
 better of him than before that last passage at arms 
 with Blaisdell. But she had never greeted him so unre 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 575 
 
 servedly as this. What was it she was longing to tell him ? 
 Ostensibly he had come to thank her for her note of con 
 dolence on his aunt s death. There was a reminder to her 
 in his black gloves, one of which he had on; the other he 
 had squeezed nearly into a ball in the process of proving 
 himself culpably but gloriously jealous. He begrudged the 
 eclipse of that radiantly wistful expression; but he must 
 needs express his gratitude. 
 
 "I came to thank you for your note." 
 
 The eclipse followed. "Dear Miss Georgiana! You 
 will miss her immensely. She took so deep an interest in 
 everything you did; was so proud of you. I was very 
 fond of her, too." 
 
 "She has left you a remembrance. I have just come 
 from hearing her will read." 
 
 The radiant expression returned, a little subdued by the 
 proprieties, but eager. "Is it true?" she asked. 
 
 "True?" 
 
 "That she has made you her residuary legatee? Left 
 you the larger portion of her property?" 
 
 "How do you happen to know?" Henry felt impelled to 
 inquire. 
 
 "My brother-in-law told me this morning that he had 
 heard it; and that your aunt was very rich; and naturally 
 I was interested." 
 
 "Blaisdell? I might have guessed. He seems to get 
 first news of everything." 
 
 "Very likely. But no matter about him. I am hoping 
 for your sake 
 
 "It is upon a condition which I have refused. I must 
 give up my father s name; change it to Chippendale." 
 
 Priscilla gasped with astonishment. "Change your 
 name?" 
 
576 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 11 Otherwise the residue goes to charity." 
 
 " I see. And you say you have refused ?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 She sat back speechless. Involuntarily she glanced 
 around the splendid room, as if measuring the sacrifice of 
 six hundred thousand dollars. "What an eccentric pro 
 vision!" 
 
 "Aunt Georgiana was an eccentric woman." Henry 
 had fathomed Priscilla s mercenary glance. "There are 
 some people who will think my refusal eccentric." 
 
 She nodded acquiescence, but a soft light shone in her 
 eyes which he failed to detect. 
 
 "You must remember," he continued, "that I adore my 
 father s memory. Worship the very ground he trod on." 
 
 "Are you apologizing to me for your decision?" 
 
 " I believed you would understand. I am sure you do 
 even if you cannot agree with me. Your brother-in-law, 
 for instance, will think I m crazy." 
 
 "Why do you persist in dragging in my brother-in-law ?" 
 
 "Because I came also to talk about him." Henry had 
 found his opportunity for confession. "I felt certain you 
 would understand and that he would not. You mustn t 
 think I do not realize what half a million signifies and 
 what an aid it would be to any one s life. There are two 
 sides to the question and you you are broad-minded 
 enough to comprehend my side no less than the other. 
 There are two sides to this as there are two sides to most 
 questions. I am apt to see only one; I fear I see only one 
 still." He paused a moment then continued abruptly: 
 "You will remember that I asked time to prove that your 
 brother-in-law is a demoralizing influence in the com 
 munity." 
 
 "More than three years ago," she answered with the 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 577 
 
 p-omptness of one who has kept close tally in expectation 
 of ^-reckoning day. 
 
 " I have had ample time, but I am unable to produce the 
 jlon t v i C an point to nothing definite in support of what 
 ]. donned, go e r in justice to him, I have come to tell 
 
 mean that you have altered your estimate of Hugh 
 Blaisdell?" 
 
 "I did not say that." He paused a moment, then re 
 sumed, throwing up his head, "In a measure, yes. For if 
 I lack the proofs, does it not follow that I must be prej 
 udiced?" 
 
 Instead of answering the question she let fall her eyes, 
 realizing that he would go on. "I have not been wholly 
 just to him," he said. "We are the antipodes of one an 
 other you always told me that. The very fact that we 
 were so different saw everything from diametrically 
 opposite poles, ought to have put me on my guard to make 
 the most of his good qualities and they are conspicuous 
 rather than dwell on and emphasize his defects. I owe 
 it to you to admit that I have from the first pursued the 
 illiberal policy and shut my eyes to his merits. My limi 
 tations were to blame; but that does not excuse me." 
 
 "When did you discover this?" Priscilla asked gently. 
 
 He could not see her expression for her face was lowered. 
 Her eyes were fixed on the carpet directly in the line of his 
 muddy boot which, with a self-conscious fidget, he endeav 
 ored to shield behind its mate. "I should have recognized 
 it long ago. I never did with full force until to-day." 
 
 "To-day?" she echoed. 
 
 "This afternoon when, although it was so clear to me 
 that I could not accept my aunt s fortune, the contrary 
 view appealed to others and some one said, Blaisdell 
 
578 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 carries weight in the community and he would be sure, to 
 accept. " 
 
 "Yes, Hugh would accept. There is not the sm-r * 
 doubt of that." Her speech resembled a monologue.nced 
 Henry s ears it sounded as a Greek chorus to hi^e of 
 abasement. P r - 
 
 "I said to myself that he did carry weight in the com 
 munity; was looked up to with admiration even by some 
 of my own relatives. Then I remembered that I was not 
 able to furnish a single concrete proof in support of my 
 charges, and and I saw that I had been narrow and 
 unjust." 
 
 "Then you can be friends after all." Priscilla s head 
 was still lowered. Her voice might have been that of the 
 priestess at a sacrifice. 
 
 "Friends?" 
 
 The revolt in his voice caused her to look up. 
 
 "Blaisdell and I can never be friends," he continued, 
 regarding her steadily and speaking with an intensity 
 which he made no effort to control. "We are completely 
 uncongenial. In spite of all I have said he remains repug 
 nant to me. I dislike him greatly." Then as he saw the 
 color rise to her cheeks in response to this animosity, he 
 added: "It may pain you to hear this, but you should be 
 able to guess the reason." 
 
 He rose to go, but her demeanor baffled him. At least 
 she was not indignant. Her lovely eyes were sparkling 
 with a refulgence which almost suggested merriment. 
 But Henry was bent on drinking the cup of humiliation to 
 the dregs. "I have failed to keep my compact with you 
 to bring you the promised proofs; and so you are justified 
 in despising me. May I add that you have been very fore- 
 bearing with me?" He bowed and turned to depart. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 579 
 
 "Don t go," she said sweetly. 
 
 Starting he faced her. 
 
 "I found the proofs long ago. Do you think that I 
 don t know by this time what Hugh is do you think that 
 I don t know what you are? Do you believe me still so 
 blind, Henry?" 
 
 For an instant he stood dumfounded. 
 
 "Found the proofs long ago?" he echoed. But what 
 other interpretation could be put on her words than their 
 literal meaning? More glorious still, she had called him 
 by his Christian name. Standing there with glowing 
 cheeks and parted lips, more beautiful and winsome than 
 he had ever beheld her, why did she look at him so 
 strangely? Was she mocking him, or could it be that 
 Morgan s prophecy had come true and that she was ready 
 to fall into his arms with a dull, sickening thud? The 
 whimsical phrase floated across his swimming brain; 
 springing forward he clasped Priscilla to his breast just in 
 time, for as she laid her head upon his shoulder she cried: 
 
 "Were you going to oblige me to offer myself to you, 
 Henry?" 
 
 "Dull, consistent idiot that I was," he began, but she 
 stopped his mouth with a kiss. 
 
 "Yes, I know," she said. "You are a typical Boston 
 man; you have no real enthusiasm, no red blood; only an 
 acute moral sense. And yet I love you. Think of that." 
 
 "Wonder of wonders!" he exclaimed. To hold her cap 
 tive in his arms at last after all these years taxed Henry s 
 faith in his own senses. "Is it true? Really true? Tell 
 me I am not dreaming." 
 
 "Love you, dearest, to my joy, my pride, my glory!" 
 Priscilla s voice became almost a sob in the fulness of her 
 glad confession. Lifting her head she freed herself and 
 
580 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 dropped him an adoring curtesy. " Henceforth you are my 
 lord and master, if you will." 
 
 Was she teaching 1 him to woo ? Where was his place 
 but at her feet? "If I will? And I feared I had lost you 
 forever, Priscilla darling." Falling on one knee, Henry 
 clasped her hand and covered it with kisses. Clumsy and 
 inarticulate though he might be, his posture at least 
 should proclaim the transport in his soul. "I have wor 
 shipped you all these years," he said, "as you well know. 
 I loved you from the hour we first met. You are the only 
 woman I have ever loved. Believe me that my love shall 
 never die 
 
 Till the sun grows cold 
 
 And the stars grow old 
 And the leaves of the Judgment book unfold. 
 
 Sweet as were the ardent phrases, Priscilla looked down 
 at him archly. 
 
 "You threw me over for your sister. Do you remember 
 Mr. Hafiz Sumner?" 
 
 "Ah, do not remind me of it." 
 
 "And apologized for not asking me to marry you." 
 
 "But tell me that I have improved a little," he implored. 
 
 "A little yes, just a little," she mused joyously. "But 
 you are substantially the same. Yet are you not my own 
 true love?" 
 
 There was that in the inquiry which bade the transported 
 Henry spring to his feet and spread his arms for a fresh 
 embrace. But Priscilla gaily drew back and, laying her 
 hands upon his shoulders, she held him at arm s length, 
 crying: 
 
 "Yes, you have loved me for years in your crawfish 
 way; but you have not really changed. Even now as you 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 581 
 
 look at me you re realizing that I am virtually an old maid 
 and are picking out unconsciously the weak points in my 
 personal appearance. Yes, you are," she continued, gazing 
 into his ecstatic but still bewildered eyes. "You can t 
 help it you can t help it. It s you it always will be you. 
 But it s no matter for I have tested you, my lord and 
 master, and you are the truest of them all." 
 
 Thus by this glad surrender was Morgan Drake s 
 prophecy justified and Priscilla s troth plighted. But even 
 in the presence of these blissful but promising nuptials, 
 the student of human nature must perforce admit that not 
 the doughty deeds of a Bostonian but rather the things he 
 will not do are his highest title to distinction. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 HENRY SUMNER S renunciation of more than half a 
 million rather than change his name stirred Boston to its 
 depths. All the newspapers published his decision in 
 flaring headlines, and the Mercury, in its Sunday edition 
 of the following week, printed a symposium by well-known 
 citizens of both sexes with the caption, "What would you 
 do under similar circumstances?" 
 
 But the Back Bay was the storm centre of agitation. 
 At the last meeting for the season of the Mother Eve s 
 Club the topic was fiercely debated behind closed doors. 
 According to rumor, Henry s action was approved, but by 
 a less conclusive majority than his admirers had looked for. 
 The opposition owed its strength to a speech by Miss 
 Winston, who earnestly pleaded that it was incumbent on 
 him for the sake of his future children to disregard senti- 
 
582 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 ment and keep the money. While the inner circles of Bos 
 ton were revolving the question whether this frankly utili 
 tarian view was not, after all, fundamentally sound, the 
 breath was, so to speak, suddenly knocked out of Miss 
 Winston s argument by the announcement of Henry s 
 engagement to Priscilla Avery. Manifestly the children 
 born of this union would not lack an abundant share of 
 this world s goods. 
 
 Those who regarded Henry s conduct as Utopian sought 
 to belittle it by the insinuation that he was already engaged 
 at the time his decision was made. Positive denials to the 
 contrary were still rife when the marriage ceremony itself 
 took place in Trinity Church, but in the presence only of 
 the near relations; and the happy pair sailed immediately 
 to pass their honeymoon in Europe. 
 
 Their wedding was in the nature of a compromise. 
 Mrs. Avery, who hungered for an elaborate function, solici 
 tously pointed out that the arrangements for the wedding 
 dress, the wedding cake, the wedding invitations and the 
 various other details demanded three months rather than 
 three weeks. Henry, on his side, proposed slipping out 
 some fine morning and being made man and wife off-hand. 
 Priscilla demurred at this and also at the idea of being 
 married in a travelling dress. However few the witnesses, 
 her wedding garment should be worthy of the occasion 
 the most fateful moment in every woman s life, when she 
 ought to look her loveliest. Was not one of the opportu 
 nities of wealth to deck the bride? The veil of choicest 
 lace, the lustrous diamonds, were but symbols; yet if 
 woman were to abdicate her office as the high priestess of 
 beauty, what would befall a workaday world ? She had 
 no intention of becoming dowdy or even of modelling her 
 self on a New England school-ma am, because she was so 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 583 
 
 fortunate as to be about to marry a man with a sensitive 
 New England conscience. Was not a wedding in the 
 presence of kinsfolk and dearest friends despite occa 
 sional mercenary display one of the few picturesque 
 ceremonies remaining in an age given over to short cuts 
 and colorless informalities ? 
 
 At the same time Priscilla acknowledged the perfect 
 accuracy of her lover s further plea gingerly expressed to 
 save her feelings, but none the less potent that so much 
 of their youth had already been consumed in finding out 
 that they loved each other, it behooved them to be 
 married as soon as possible. There was no blinking the 
 fact that she was already an old maid; why tolerate fur 
 ther delay ? Moreover, the summer vacation was at hand. 
 So Priscilla fixed the day arbitrarily and the arrangements 
 were made to conform thereto. Henry, haunted by the 
 fear that he would misplace the wedding ring, fingered it 
 nervously in his waistcoat pocket. Yet as he walked 
 proudly down the aisle with the bride on his arm, for whom 
 he had served more faithfully than Jacob for Rachel, even 
 Blaisdell, who was congratulating himself on not standing 
 in his shoes, was forced to admit that the groom could cut 
 an aristocratic figure when his mind was set on it. Some 
 good genius had prompted Henry to order a new frock 
 coat, not rely on the ancient article reserved for use on 
 Sundays and at afternoon teas. But Mrs. Sumner s eyes, 
 as the couple came abreast of her, though they keenly 
 noted externals, solved the wrapt expression on her son s 
 face with the phrase 
 
 "He for God only, she for God in him." 
 
 The sweetness of her surrender still lingered on Priscilla s 
 brow and her loveliness wore the glorified charm of the 
 
584 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 bride who has no doubts. So it seemed to her mother-in- 
 law, who forthwith forgave her for belonging to the Epis 
 copal Church Mrs. Sumner s only remaining grievance. 
 Priscilla s repudiation as a girl of the Unitarian faith in 
 which she had been brought up by her father was part of 
 her protest against the New England conscience. Might 
 not Henry be relied on to be true to the religious convic 
 tions of his ancestors every other Sunday? Might not 
 even Priscilla consent in time to worship regularly at 
 King s Chapel, where, though the doctrine preached was 
 Unitarian, an expurgated text of the Church of England 
 service was in use ? 
 
 Nor was the radiant beauty of the bride lost on Blaisdell. 
 Despite his self-congratulations he winced a little as she 
 passed. But though he did not have the satisfaction of 
 observing that she looked pale, his conviction that he was 
 well rid of her as a wife was reaffirmed by the expression of 
 her nostrils which still indicated to him the fiery, restless 
 steed. He had made her a superb present a necklace of 
 the finest pearls to show how genuinely sentiment had 
 subsided into friendship and sisterly regard. Moreover, 
 save for this one instant of involuntary regret, BlaisdelPs 
 mind was busy with other thoughts thoughts which 
 shaped themselves at the wedding breakfast still more 
 definitely, for he found himself at one of the small tables 
 for four with Chauncey Chippendale s wife and sister 
 Georgiana. He forgot the bride s existence in his enjoy 
 ment of the consciousness that they both were being delib 
 erately civil to him, and that the civility of the one differed 
 from the civility of the other. Mrs. Chauncey had been 
 coached by her husband to try her fascinations on him as 
 a last resort this was clear. As for Georgiana, it was she 
 who had engineered that he should occupy this table with 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 585 
 
 them. There was one at least of the Chippendale family 
 on whom he had made a favorable impression from the 
 time when they first had met and she the only beauty of 
 the stock. Blaisdell enjoyed the triumphant sensation of 
 sitting between two such fashionable and handsome women. 
 The efforts of Beatrice to cajole entertained him and at 
 the same time were flattering. The accomplishment of 
 one of his two great ambitions was close at hand; but it 
 had ever been his policy to avoid scars. If the abdication 
 of his rival on State Street might be bloodless, so much the 
 better. He listened graciously to the inquiries which Mrs. 
 Chippendale was making concerning Lora s daughter. 
 How old was Dorothy now? And how long before she 
 would "come out" ? Then some one rose it was Chaun- 
 cey to propose the health of the bride. 
 
 The bride ? She had been his other ambition the most 
 engrossing of the two at one time. Fortunately it had be 
 come unattainable chiefly because he had changed his 
 mind. However great the obstacles he would have over 
 come them at last had not his ardor cooled. The midday 
 glass of champagne of which Blaisdell had already par 
 taken gave new zest to this comforting reflection. He had 
 never failed yet in attaining anything on which his heart 
 was tenaciously set. His only regret was that his house 
 lacked a mistress and Lora s children a mother. 
 "The health of the bride!" 
 
 Blaisdell raised his glass with gusto and drank. Chanc 
 ing to shift his glance slightly, he surprised the eyes of 
 Georgiana fixed on him in covert scrutiny. She turned 
 away with lady-like composure leaving him to contemplate 
 only her finely cut profile and well-poised head. He gazed 
 for a moment, then drained his champagne to the last drop 
 in exultant recognition that a stealthy thought lately enter- 
 
586 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 tained by him had been galvanized into a dominating 
 purpose. 
 
 Not long after the small company of guests was de 
 parting. 
 
 "Don t forget your box of wedding cake, Hugh," cried 
 Mrs. Avery, who was in the best of spirits, having been 
 hand-in-glove for an hour with the entire Chippendale- 
 Sumner connection. She hoped it might continue for the 
 rest of her life. She had been so bold already as to confide 
 to several of the family her shrewd criticism on the match 
 that so far as she was able to discover, Henry and dear 
 Priscilla might just as well have married fifteen years 
 sooner. 
 
 ^ Possessing himself of one of the boxes Blaisdell bided 
 his time so as to escort to their carriage the two ladies 
 whose companion he had been at breakfast. He was in 
 the act of closing the carriage door when Georgiana ex 
 claimed with dismay: "I ve forgotten my wedding cake." 
 It was plain that she had been reminded by the sight of the 
 box which Blaisdell held. "Take mine," he responded 
 instantly, and he thrust it into her hands. " Thank you 
 very much, Mr. Blaisdell. I wanted some to dream on. 
 Don t forget your promise to call some Sunday afternoon." 
 
 One morning about three weeks subsequent to the 
 wedding Chauncey Chippendale sat at his desk in the 
 spacious offices of Langdon & Company lost in melancholy 
 thought. He was expecting a visitor and he was wonder 
 ing what the upshot of the interview was likely to be. So 
 far as outward appearances the world had no reason to 
 imagine that any one on the Back Bay was more prosperous 
 than he; and yet he stood on the brink of catastrophe. Not 
 only was his commercial prestige on State Street in jeop 
 ardy, but he was financially crippled. If his notes to the 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 587 
 
 banks which would become due in the next sixty days were 
 not renewed his private fortune would be virtually swept 
 away, and his firm be able to escape embarrassment only 
 by that most mortifying of expedients, an appeal to his 
 father-in-law. General Langdon on his retirement had 
 allowed a liberal sum to remain on interest with the new 
 partnership. To apply to him further in the face of this 
 would be equivalent to an admission of incapacity and 
 failure. 
 
 Was it his own fault ? Had he been rash ? Chauncey 
 had put these questions to himself frequently of late, and 
 he asked them now again. He must admit that his course 
 in life had not been in strict conformity with precedent; 
 he had certainly overstepped the limits of that traditional 
 Boston conservatism which hived half of its annual income 
 and left a strong box crammed with Boston & Albany, 
 C. B. & Q. and other gilt-edged securities. His excuse 
 his justification was that times had changed. It was a pro 
 gressive age and the most signal change of all was that 
 the younger generation had difficulty in living on three or 
 four times more than it cost its fathers and mothers. 
 There was where the shoe pinched; the older generation 
 was able to save because it had such few expenses cared 
 for so few things and everything cost so little. It was 
 necessary for the ambitious man of the present day who 
 desired to grow rich to take chances the risks of modern 
 business enterprise. He had merely taken these chances 
 and circumstances had combined against him. But for 
 the series of untoward events following in quick succession 
 which fortune had arrayed against him, he would not have 
 been worsted. 
 
 His judgment had been good. He had picked out Elec 
 tric Coke as a winner from the start and clung to it. He 
 
588 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 had no doubt that its intrinsic value to-day was greater 
 than ever. Whoever obtained absolute control would reap 
 eventually a still more splendid harvest. But the stock 
 had been the weakest on the list of late; purposely de 
 pressed, he had every reason to believe, for the purpose of 
 accumulation of forcing out weak holders. And he was 
 powerless to avail himself of the opportunity for lack of 
 ready money. Even the one hundred thousand dollars 
 left him by his aunt would be needed to replenish the 
 depreciation in value of his collateral in case the banks 
 were ready to renew the loans. 
 
 Yet Boston was richer than ever. The huge safety 
 deposit boxes now held private fortunes compared with 
 which the wealth of those who had died in the previous 
 generation dwindled into insignificance. His own father, 
 once considered rich, lived almost in genteel poverty. 
 His uncle and aunt had left large estates, yet inconspicuous 
 if measured by the standards of the new plutocracy. If 
 luck had not been against him, he might have become one 
 of the geniunely rich, and, keeping pace with the march of 
 events, maintained the social leadership of the Chippen 
 dales. Instead an interview must presently be under 
 gone which would either mean the sacrifice of family pride 
 eating humble pie or comparative ruin. 
 
 Chauncey sighed and bit his lip. One thing which he 
 ever prided himself on was that he was a good " sports 
 man." He had played the "game," and he must play it 
 to the end with all the courage and also with all the intelli 
 gence which he possessed. If it came to the worst, must 
 he not for his wife s sake take General Langdon into his 
 counsels and be tided over his immediate necessities? 
 Humiliating as this would be, it would only be common- 
 sense. Yet it would mean the loss of his position as a 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 589 
 
 leader down-town and a death blow to his ambition as a 
 financier. Trying instinctively to think if there were not 
 some one else to whom he could apply, his mind con 
 jured up Henry. Henry was abroad, so it was out of 
 the question. Besides, the money belonged to Henry s 
 wife. 
 
 Nevertheless he lingered on the reflection and with 
 amusement. Henry was disgustingly rich; a dripping-pan 
 in spite of himself and of having always been indifferent to 
 money. Was it not the irony of fate? Henry needed so 
 little, and he so much; yet Henry and Priscilla had more 
 than they knew what to do with. They would be able to 
 live sumptuously on a modern scale and yet continue the 
 dynasty of worthy public-spirited Bostonians who sub 
 scribed to every deserving cause, made liberal benefactions 
 to Harvard College, and saved up part of each year s in 
 come. Priscilla, to be sure, could be counted on to temper 
 Henry s asceticism, but their ultimate aims would be iden 
 tical, and the Puritan impulse leavened still remain a ruling 
 power in Boston. 
 
 Chauncey smiled at the mental picture which he drew. 
 He could not deny that Henry had deserved his good for 
 tune. His only stricture was that it was wasted on his 
 cousin. There appeared to be, after all, he reflected, a 
 sort of alliance between thrift and righteousness in such 
 instances which fostered dripping-pans. He glanced at the 
 small clock on his desk. It was almost on the stroke of 
 noon the hour of his appointment. BlaisdelFs letter of 
 the previous day "May I come to see you to-morrow at 
 twelve o clock? I should like to confabulate on certain 
 matters" lay before him. His mind had dwelt on the 
 contents ever since. They savored of mystery. Confabu 
 lation was a word of easy-going import, but he knew that 
 
590 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 it would be characteristic of Blaisdell to hand him a cup 
 of hemlock with a propitiating face. 
 
 He heard steps and turned. His visitor, punctual to a 
 moment, was being ushered in. Chauncey noticed his 
 quick, business-like tread, and the breezy yet alert urbanity 
 with which he exchanged a few words with the junior who 
 had piloted him. There was that in the combination of his 
 medium height, thickset figure, round face and small, 
 observant eyes which suggested to Chauncey s sensitive 
 apprehension success personified. He had no nerves, no 
 harassing sensibilities, and adversity flowed off him like 
 water off a duck s back. Was he not able at necessity to 
 dive at the flash and come up smiling in another spot? 
 
 "I wrote to make sure that you would be disengaged. 
 . have been hoping some time for the opportunity to dis 
 cuss certain matters with you, Chippendale. But I m 
 glad," he added with an odd smile, "in the light of er 
 what I know to-day that I was dilatory." 
 
 Blaisdell had seated himself. "Can you give me half 
 an hour alone?" he asked. 
 
 Chauncey rose and closed the door. "I have already 
 given orders that we are not to be disturbed." 
 
 Blaisdell sat back comfortably in his chair with his 
 hands resting lightly on its arms. He looked Chauncey 
 squarely in the face as if to demonstrate his frankness. 
 "Pll come straight to the point to begin with and then 
 we ll consider the pros and cons. I think I spoke to you 
 once, Chippendale, about an idiosyncrasy or fad of mine. 
 I didn t seek to justify it then on strictly rational grounds; 
 I don t now. But it still exists obsesses me, as they say 
 nowadays, and I ve come to make you an offer." Blaisdell 
 paused to draw out an envelope from his inside pocket. 
 "I ve put it in writing, and it stands good for the next sixty 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 591 
 
 days I am ready to pay you one thousand dollars per 
 share for the entire holdings in Electric Coke controlled by 
 you and your following. The whole or none. My figure 
 is a liberal one nearly three hundred dollars per share 
 above the current nominal market price. Look this over 
 at your leisure, but it simply formulates what I have just 
 
 told you." 
 
 Chauncey took the paper and glanced at it mechanically 
 to gain time: The offer was not unexpected; the price 
 named was conspicuously generous. He could scarcely 
 have demurred as a business proposition to terms of 
 slaughter at what his visitor had appropriately calk 
 current nominal price. 
 
 "I remember perfectly your offer some two years ago 
 buy me out, and that you described your desire for control 
 as a fad. Electric Coke is worth more than $1,000 a share, 
 
 Blaisdell." 
 
 -Unquestionably, yes intrinsically Aat is. 
 I should not be making you this offer." 
 
 " And the recent depression in the stock is artificial. 
 
 "I have already intimated so. My figure implies 
 But the future value is, in my opinion, largely contingent 
 on the management. If the control of the company 
 continues to be divided, I shall expect to see the stock 
 sell considerably lower than the present market quotation 
 
 Chauncey flushed. The suave rejoinder was appallingly 
 explicit, yet provided no ground of offence. The offer was 
 open for sixty days; if not accepted, his loans would 
 called on the plea that the securities of his various new 
 enterprises were no longer acceptable ; and then Electric 
 Coke would break sharply. The sequence of events was 
 clearly foreshadowed; and he was left to choose between 
 two alternatives, either of which would involve a crushing 
 
592 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 blow to his pride surrender or disaster. Why should he 
 not choose the lesser of these evils ? 
 
 But why, if Blaisdell was prepared to crush him if he 
 refused, had he made an offer so much above the market ? 
 The query suddenly forced itself on his mind and became 
 predominant. A Chippendale accept mercy? Such a 
 proposition would be the worst sort of affront. In his 
 swift resentment of the possibility that he was being 
 treated as an object of charity, Chauncey realized how 
 much he was growing to resemble his own father. What 
 reason had prompted Blaisdell to stay his hand ? Chaun- 
 cey s suspicions were awakened; yet for the moment 
 there was nothing tangible to pounce on. Instead, he 
 sought to relieve the entire situation by grasping at what 
 he realized to be a straw. 
 
 "Have you ever considered, Hugh," he said, "that if you 
 and I were to combine forces in Electric Coke instead of 
 trying perpetually to outbid and oust the other, the stock 
 would sell at any price we two chose to set for it?" 
 
 A flag of truce from a Chippendale. A trifle late in the 
 campaign, but, to a philosophical mind like Blaisdell s, 
 diverting. The moment was one of the sweetest in his 
 life, and his infinitely good-humored mouth revealed be 
 neath its stiff mustache a shade of exultation. 
 
 "We two? I doubt it, Chauncey. You and I are very 
 differently constituted. We approach almost everything 
 from a different standpoint ; consequently our views in 
 regard to the management of a big corporation could hardly 
 fail to be dissimilar. We ve been brought up in different 
 schools." He paused a moment, then resumed with a 
 twinkle in his eyes: "I m a stranger in Boston a stranger 
 by birth and antecedents. In some ways this has been a 
 handicap possibly; in others I flatter myself that it has 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 593 
 
 proved to be an advantage. Any success which I have 
 achieved may be partially due to a keener appreciation of 
 modern business methods than those born and bred here 
 possess, and er by my lack of familiarity with certain 
 provincial customs to which they choose to remain sub 
 servient. All this explains why I d rather continue to 
 paddle my own canoe and avoid what might prove to be 
 entangling alliances." 
 
 "He deliberately dares to show and glory in the cloven 
 hoof at last," said the amazed Chauncey to himself. His 
 nerves tingled with the desire to show his visitor the door 
 in response to the smooth impertinence by which his pro 
 posal of cooperation had been rejected. But his dire 
 necessities bade him sit still and even apply the salve of 
 satire to his ire; for the audacious plausibility of the 
 homily invoked his sense of humor. 
 
 "I appreciate what you mean, Blaisdell. You have a 
 hold on Boston, I admit, which is partially due, as you 
 suggest, to your lack of familiarity with many things which 
 seem important to the rest of us. In view of that hold- 
 in view of the fact that for the time being, at any rate, you 
 seem to have an advantage down-town which has led you 
 to make me an offer, I m curious to know before I consent 
 to sell out my interest in Electric Coke why you offer me 
 three hundred dollars a share more than the market price? 
 Frankly, that puzzles me and I m provincial enough still 
 to wish to inquire the reason of it." 
 
 Blaisdell regarded him blandly. " Do you suspect me of 
 premeditated philanthropy?" 
 
 Chauncey frowned at this penetration of his solicitude. 
 "Scarcely," he said somewhat haughtily. "But such a 
 sacrifice, unexplained, would seem inconsistent with those 
 modern business methods to which you referred just now." 
 
594 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 BlaisdelPs smile broadened. "That illustrates, if I may 
 say so, your ignorance of those methods. I have always 
 been ready to give you a fair price for your stock, Chaun- 
 cey. I wanted it and you knew that I wanted it, and the 
 surest way to get it was to make you a liberal proposition. 
 To offer you the current market price crowd you, so to 
 speak would have antagonized you, and stood in the 
 way of a harmonious deal. I should have made an enemy 
 of you to no purpose in the long run." He paused a mo 
 ment, then resumed: "I don t say that a week ago I would 
 have begun with an offer of one thousand dollars a share. 
 But the situation has changed since then. I want the 
 stock just as badly as ever and my relations toward you are 
 altered. I was speaking just now of entangling alliances. 
 There is one in favor of which I am about to make a glit 
 tering exception to my general line of conduct. Chauncey, 
 I ve also come to tell you of my engagement to your sister 
 Georgiana." 
 
 The dumfounded Chauncey stared, then sprang for 
 ward in his chair echoing the words : " Engaged to Georgy ? 
 My sister Georgy." 
 
 "She did me the honor to accept me two days ago; and 
 I think I appreciate the extent of my good, fortune." 
 
 "It s one of the biggest surprises of my life I can t con 
 ceal that, Hugh." 
 
 Chauncey certainly looked as if the world had suddenly 
 been turned topsy-turvy. Yet he hastened like the man 
 of the world he was to play the acrobat and rise to the 
 emergency. "I congratulate you old man," he continued 
 putting out his hand. " Georgiana is usually referred to 
 as the flower of the family." He could not refrain from 
 adding: " Does my father know ?" 
 
 "I have just come from an interview with Mr. Chippen- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 595 
 
 dale at his house. The idea was evidently novel to him 
 as it was to you. But I thought I detected signs that he 
 would get used to it." 
 
 Used to it? They must all get used to it. Cool as the 
 phrase was, it had struck the key-note of the situation. 
 Georgiana was no green or flighty girl, but a young woman 
 of mature experience. In taking the bit between her teeth 
 and ignoring the traditions of the family she must have 
 acted with deliberation. As BlaisdelPs wife she was cer 
 tain to become an important personage. His wealth, 
 power and energy were indisputable. That phase of the 
 new alliance was not to be ignored. Moreover, there was 
 nothing to demonstrate that Georgy had not fallen in love 
 with him. 
 
 "You ve managed cleverly to keep us all in the dark. 
 How long has this been going on?" Chauncey asked 
 indulgently. 
 
 " Actively, only for a few months; in a passive sense, 
 I feel justified in saying that each of us was interested by 
 the other from the first time we met; this was when your 
 sister visited me at my office to enlist my services ontbehalf 
 of the Bacchante. I think we may fairly ascribe the rest 
 to fate." 
 
 " Still waters run deep. I was on a different track. I 
 had an idea " But Chauncey tactfully forbore to com 
 plete the sentence. Fate ? If destiny were an accomplice, 
 there were certain compensating advantages to be weighed; 
 advantages affecting himself. Would not Blaisdell, as a 
 brother-in-law, even though unwilling to brook a rival on 
 State Street, become a bulwark to the family? Galling as 
 would be for the time being the sale of his interests in 
 Electric Coke, his own swift financial recuperation was 
 assured. His sister s husband would cease to plot against 
 
596 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 him. Chauncey s spirits rose as his mind s eye depicted 
 the ultimate consequences of the match. It was virtually 
 a compromise. Blaisdell would be taken into the family, 
 and, on the other hand, their individual enmity would ter 
 minate; a reign of amity, or at least, neutrality where 
 the other s interests were concerned, would be inaugu 
 rated. Was not all life a perpetual compromise? 
 Thereupon Chauncey put his rainbow-like conclusions 
 into speech: 
 
 "You ve been a remarkably successful fellow, Hugh. 
 You re entitled to a handsome and attractive wife; and 
 Georgy is both. As I ve said, she s the flower of our 
 family. She s clever, too. Before you know it, she ll be 
 making your house the social centre of Boston. She has 
 a taste for lions; foreigners who come here and that sort of 
 thing." 
 
 Blaisdell nodded affably in acknowledgment of this 
 graciousness. "I shall have a sponsor, too, who will en 
 lighten my ignorance of matters peculiarly Bostonian 
 which is something to be profoundly grateful for, I fully 
 appreciate." 
 
 Was this the last flicker of expiring independence or a 
 caveat for the future? Blaisdell s bantering manner pro 
 vided no definite clew. Chauncey measured him for an 
 instant, then said quietly : 
 
 "It s certainly not to a girl s disadvantage in Boston 
 that she happens to belong to one of the oldest families. 
 That s one of the er peculiarities which -still exist here. 
 Georgy will be able to go about everywhere with your 
 daughter." 
 
 "I had considered that, too. It seems to be a happy 
 arrangement from various points of view. Among other 
 things, it ought to bring you and me closer together." 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 597 
 
 Specious as was this tender of the olive branch, Chaun- 
 cey could not refrain from pointing out what seemed an 
 inconsistency. 
 
 "It ought," he said. "Yet, my dear fellow, you begin 
 by depriving me of Electric Coke." 
 
 Blaisdell laughed. "We ve settled that. It s as good 
 as a part of the marriage contract." 
 
 So the thought of compromise was in his mind also. 
 Chauncey smiled inwardly at his own shrewdness. Mean 
 while Blaisdell was saying: "Besides, a large sum in 
 ready cash is always convenient. I am giving you a fancy 
 price, Chauncey." 
 
 "Then it was premeditated philanthropy?" 
 
 Blaisdell sat back with a demeanor of mock cherubic 
 despair. "What a fastidious fellow you are. First you 
 blow hot and then you blow cold. You protest against 
 parting with Electric Coke and in the next breath you 
 accuse me of trying to do you a good turn. The stock is 
 worth intrinsically more than a thousand dollars a share 
 and you know it. My offer is a strict business proposition. 
 It isn t strict in the sense of trying to pare down my pur 
 chase to the lowest possible figure. But taking into con 
 sideration the fact that I m going to marry your sister, I ll 
 leave it to you whether you ought to insist on my endeav 
 oring to cut your throat. It wouldn t be human to begin 
 with; the members of the family should stand together. 
 And it would be poor business policy, as I have previously 
 intimated." 
 
 The argument sounded indisputable. Yet Chauncey 
 was unreasonable enough to reflect, "In other words, he s 
 propping up the honor of the Chippendales, confound him! 
 and getting a good thing at the same time." But what he 
 said was: 
 
598 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 "All right. Seeing that you re virtually one of the 
 family, I accept." 
 
 "The old order changeth, yielding place to new; 
 And God fulfils himself in many ways, 
 Lest one good custom should corrupt the world." 
 
 And how concludes our drama? The marriage of 
 Georgiana, youngest daughter of Harrison Chippendale, 
 Esq., to Hugh McDowell Blaisdell, the prominent banker, 
 philanthropist and patron of the arts, was the leading social 
 event of the autumn following the announcement of their 
 engagement. Incidentally the personality and success of 
 the fortunate bridegroom were the theme of various epi- 
 thalamic articles in the columns of the press. These pointed 
 out that the reasons why he invariably accomplished his 
 purposes were that he made friends with everybody, never 
 stood on points or took captious attitudes, was willing to 
 live and let live, and believed profoundly in the future 
 development of the country. With such authority to speak 
 for him, we will leave to stern censors like Henry Sumner 
 to insist that democracy runs a danger in carrying easy 
 going optimism to the point where, from fear of giving 
 offence, or in order to remain comfortable, no conviction 
 endures the test of opposition. It is for us merely to scan 
 the passing show and record the annals of a changing 
 civilization. There are no more important people in Bos 
 ton to-day than the Hugh McDowell Blaisdells. Georgiana 
 is a changed woman, so the world says. It was just the 
 opportunity which suited her a huge fortune and a hus 
 band with brains and she has made the most of both. 
 The "coming out" ball given for Lora s daughter two 
 years after their marriage surpassed all former entertain- 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 599 
 
 merits in the elegance of the appointments and the costli 
 ness of the viands provided. There were " bridge" tables 
 in the ante-rooms for the dowagers, and the special cars 
 which carried Harvard College back to Cambridge ran by 
 broad daylight. Georgy s hand is on the throttle of soci 
 ety; she intends to manage it and her power is already 
 acknowledged. Was she not a Chippendale? Her step 
 daughter Dorothy was one of the few "buds" invited to 
 the Puritan balls of which, of course, Georgiana is one of 
 the patronesses. So the whirligig of time brings about its 
 
 revenges. 
 
 Are there not Puritans enough still in Boston ? 
 are people who would rid the world of them altogether, 
 claiming that they are forbidding and awkward; have 
 " customs but no manners." But these would-be exter 
 minators must reckon with the baby carriages on the 
 sunny side of Commonwealth Avenue, where rosy-cheeked, 
 tiny dripping-pans with their nurses still hold sway, 
 obstructing the daily forenoon walk of old Mr. Harrison 
 Chippendale, who, hale though tremulous, has avoided 
 the comforts of McLean Asylum. Prominent among them 
 ride Priscilla s boy twins one the living image of his 
 father while their first child, a daughter, with the eyes 
 and the dash of her mother, trips gaily beside her brothers. 
 But let the exterminators take heart. There are rumors 
 that Henry s sister, Mrs. Paton, smokes an occasional 
 cigarette; not for audacity s sake, but because she 1 
 and insists that most civilized women do. The social his 
 torian must not forbear to state facts, though philosophy 
 and ethics languish. 
 
 Beatrice Chippendale contests the palm of society with 
 Georgy, for her husband Chauncey is abundantly pros 
 perous. His fortunes are rehabilitated; most of his new 
 
600 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 ventures have proved profitable with time; and his firm 
 has regained its reputation for conservatism. People refer 
 to it already as an old-fashioned house. Everything is 
 comparative in this moving world; so the rashness of one 
 decade becomes the prudence of the next. But Chauncey 
 is a power down-town largely by reflected light, though the 
 Chippendales are to-day, by virtue of their money and their 
 connections, more signally than ever the leading family of 
 Boston. Chauncey is growing a little stout. Beatrice 
 would like him to retire presently, and devote more per 
 sonal attention to their children, who are to be taught to 
 speak foreign languages fluently with a view to diplomatic 
 careers. With this in view, and Chauncey out of business, 
 could not the whole family spend two years in Europe 
 delightfully? Beatrice has recently inherited from her 
 father, General Langdon, an additional half million. 
 
 Hugh Blaisdell, almost immediately after his marriage, 
 withdrew from the firm of which, for so many years, he 
 had been the head in everything but name, in order to 
 devote himself more closely to the affairs of Electric Coke. 
 BlaisdelPs senior, Delano, also retired at the same time, 
 and to the reorganized partnership both Jack Stoddard and 
 Georgy s brother Arthur were admitted. The new broker 
 age firm transacts BlaisdelPs dealings in the market and 
 is believed to be more closely in touch with what is going 
 on down-town than any of its contemporaries. Electric 
 Coke is one of the great industrial corporations of the 
 world. Not long ago Blaisdell swallowed up and merged 
 all competitors in a huge trust, in which he owns a con 
 trolling interest and of which he is the active president. 
 Its new stock sells at a figure which represents a value for 
 the old stock of more than double the price paid by him 
 to Chauncey; its profits are reported to be fabulous. 
 
THE CHIPPENDALES 601 
 
 Boston can point to Hugh McDowell Blaisdell as the 
 possessor of a " first-class" fortune. 
 
 Morgan Drake, convalescent from a fever contracted 
 during the war with Spain, has written a successful play 
 with a touch of melodrama. He is said to be rather 
 ashamed of it, but he collects the royalties. Rumor re 
 ports that an engagement between him and Lily Sumner 
 is not improbable at this late day, in spite of the lady s 
 devotion to Christian Science-. Georgiana BlaisdelPs sis 
 ters seem doomed to a single life; but that lot is borne 
 philosophically by both of them. The elder has recently 
 been chosen a Back Bay member of the State Board of 
 Charities, and the younger is in close touch with the new 
 Emmanuel healing movement. Lora s son is at Harvard 
 in his sophomore year. His father would like to see him 
 "make" one of the leading clubs; but college students are 
 independent spirits, and a large allowance is by no means 
 a passport. For the moment the young man s most 
 absorbing interest is his high-power touring car, m which 
 he careers about the country, and, like Jehu, the son of 
 Nimshi, he driveth furiously. 
 
 But what of the New England conscience? What of 
 Henry Sumner ? It will not expire while he is left to guard 
 it. Alert he stands, as the angel with the flaming sword at 
 the gate of Paradise, to detect and repel the foes of civic 
 righteousness. Reverence for the exact truth is his watch 
 word; he palters not with principle. Graceless and a little 
 grim he still tilts at windmills; but prompted by the wife 
 of his bosom, he tries to temper his rampant zeal with the 
 gospel of joyous toleration. Yet even as the leopard 
 changeth not its spots, so it is with the true Bostonian. 
 
 But the would-be exterminator of the Puritan is likely to 
 have his way, despite Priscilla s twins. Already the social 
 
602 THE CHIPPENDALES 
 
 type for which Henry Sumner stands is waning fast before 
 the pressure of foreign and visible forces. Let whoever 
 doubts this face Boston from the region of the west when 
 the setting sun transfigures the landscape of the Back Bay 
 fens and ponder. On what does the eye linger ? On the 
 commanding dome of the Christian Science temple, on the 
 Saracenic top of the Hebrew Synagogue, on the official 
 roof of the Roman Catholic See. Beyond this vanguard of 
 conflicting old-world doctrines, reincarnated on New Eng 
 land soil, lies an already cosmopolitan city, proud of its 
 traditions and its glory. Richer than ever in the fruits of 
 its industry and thrift, seething still seething with all 
 the problems of the universe, will it hold its distinction as 
 a moulder of thought and a quickener of conscience when 
 Henry and his like slumber with the mastodon and the 
 buffalo ? That is for posterity to answer. Or, if you are 
 impatient to know, ask Blaisdell. He can tell you anything. 
 
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