Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 123, No. 3 — page 101: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

PRIDE OF TY SON. After he was gone her assumed coolness disappeared, and she fell into a tremor. -She went to the wardrobe arfl turned on the light and looked over the array of gowns and dresses and coats which. Ed- ward had insisted upon for her. She had put it off from day to day until he com- pelled her to go shopping. She Aad to be properly dressed when she entertained some | of those formidable associates of her son. The result was that she fell into the hands ‘of an enterprising clerk who fitted Mrs. Garth out from head to heel. The prices were right enough, but the gowns ranged through filmy things which might have be- ceme a débutante to singularly colored cre- ations such as are usually worn by women ‘of “‘a certain class.” Mrs. Garth had no great liking for such clothes. But she felt that since the outlay in money had been so great she must not neglect any of the gowns. So she wore them in rotation, one after the other, with a religious regularity. As she looked them over now she squint- ed her eyes and strove to imagine what ‘Miss Tyson would be wearing. All that she could think of was the picture, with the ‘suggestion of a very low neck. Mrs. Garth, by~instinct, set about look- ing for a dress with a high collar attached, following an unvoiced thought which bade her put the newcomer in her place. She wanted something sufficiently severe and also sufficiently impressive. What she chose was a black gown thickly spangled. Over the arms and shoulders and bosom it was a heavy lace, and a tall lace collar propped up her head. It wasn’t an easy dress to get into, but Mrs. Garth _ managed to labor and reviewed herself with some complacency in the glass. The waist- fine was quite high, and the dress fell off . Into a sweeping, abbreviated train effect. Mrs. Garth, when she turned suddenly, found the cloth swishing silkenly around’ her legs, and the picture was very much like pictures she had seen in magazines— of actresses and others of renown. She decided that dress would do—plain, but just rich enough, and full of style. She gave her hair another approving pat, tossed ber shawl over the spangled shoulders, and Digitized by Go ogle 888 went to look at the bedroom. It was not the corner room of which Edward had spoken. That was her room of state, and certainly should not be wasted upon any sprig of a girl. She chose, instead, one of the side rooms, an ample apartment. ‘Moreover, the furnishings struck the eye gers impressively than did the corner room of state. The heavy blue carpet figured with red roses seemed to Mrs. Garth quite . the most cheerful pattern she had ever seen upon a floor. The walls were yellow and brown—dquite different from the carpet— but a success in a different way. Moreover, Miss Tyson, even if she did come from New York, could search the world over before she’d find another chair more imposing and comfortable than the Morris in the corner with the cushions of bright green plush. Mrs. Garth was par- ticularly partial to. green. She had read somewhere that it was good for the eyes— rested the optic nerve. Yes, the room was quite all right in every way, except that Miss Tyson must not be left to think them an unliterary house- hold. Mrs. Garth hurried back to her own room and brought forth an armful of her favorites. There was a volume collected ‘from the minor English poets entitled: “Gems of the Hearth and Home.” There was a book called: “ Self-Control, and How to Practise It.” Stanley’s ‘“ Darkest ‘Africa ”” gave a cosmopolitan touch, and a Bible finished the little group. If Miss Tyson wished to read in her bed in the morning—that was probably her fashion—she would have plenty of suitable books for the purpose. Mrs. Garth cast a final glance at the room to make sure that all was as it should be, and then went down to ‘her son. — She found him pacing the living-room in great agitation; he cast a troubled glance at her, and then fumbled among some scarlet flowers in a tall, yellowish vase, putting them in order. She watched him sadly, and it seemed to Mrs. Garth as if she were looking upon her boy just before he went upon a long journey from which he might never return. A brisk wind setting up the valley of the Chiluah had turned the night cool, and*the JOO Original froma a mim Rt coorae 1 OhOUL AL KG THE OHIO STATE U ney : iy ‘ AL, S C@