Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 159, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 July 1912 — A Plum Pie and a Personage [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A Plum Pie and a Personage

By Martha MeCulloch - williams

(Copyright, ISI2, by Associated literary i'i. Press.) ’ "Man has his will, but woman has —her way," Harleth quoted with elaborate mock deference, his hand on his heart, as he bowed himself away from Mrs. Austell. She . sent two looks after him, though others were crowding round her. In her way she was a personage, at least when she left herself be persuaded to giro one of her Intimate ■Talks on life and things, In somebody’s parlor. Critical folk said she could die with a happy consciousness that she must have advocated the eight things at least half her time, since she had a habit of believing everything—and going about proclaiming her belief of the time. Just now die was ardent for suffrage. Militancy seemed to her the finest thing In the world, a flame of pure martyr enthusiasm which was bound to lighten the world. Yet—that persistent Harleth had dared to laugh of her eulogies of window breaking instead of being converted to them. It was intolerable. She must somehow punish him, even If she had to g« to the length of captivating him. He deserved no less. Then, too, might it not be possible thus to win him over to the cause? Mentally she took stock of herself. She was still very beautiful, If a bit full-blown; She had fortune, position, the prestige of family. And though ahe had openly vowed herself to the cause, if she could win It bo eloquent an advocate by the sacrifice of her liberty, It was clearly her duty to do It. Votes for women might look differently to him through the vista of • wedding ring. And it should be a yellow wedding. On that she decided Instantly—with girl ushers and twenty bridesmaids at least. ■. The parson would have to be masculine. He must at least be a bishop; and the odious masculine injustice kept women from Oat high dignity. Yet, on the whole, ale was quite reconcife J to the bishop—he would give the Med acoent of contrast and so enhance the distinction of It aIL h ( Certaiply a strategist or diplomat of the firs! water was smothered In her by petticoats. She had come to Highview, Harleth’s aristocratic home suburb, to stay but a day and night. Yet she go managed matters that she appeared to be constrained against her will to stay there a week. Every day of the week brought her some touch with Harleth. Every day, also, in a manner deepened her determination to snatch him a brand from the burning of his unbelief. Too wise, (too feminine, to thrust herself upon

■Vtoo wily to bore him with her »> s , she showed herself simply HBanly charming, and so much so HEleth wondered no little how she Bould possibly want to be anything "m A seasoned celibate, be was in some (Ways even wiser and wilier than she. 'ln others he was a child, a lamb ready for the sacrifice. But be did not know be was ready. It Is doubtful if be would ever have found out In time but for the other woman. The other woman was, on the face es things, an antagonist Mrs. Austell had no need to fear, being pale, plump, shortish, quite undistinguished as to feature, with snapping blue eyes, and a temper of her ownr-w - Harleth liked the temper better than anything else about her. They were cousins, distant ones, and he had over her from the day of pigtails. lint in one way she had a gift—sher could cook as few women can. Moreover, she was proud, not ashamed, of the gift, and delighted to exercise it --- William Harleth dined with her once a week, whenever be was at home. In between he hada way of dropping in for five-minute calls, - derings of her pantry, or at least her fpfro box. Being thus a cook, heaven horn, she was essential to all the functions in honor of Mrs. AustelL Not in any paid capacity—she had money enough to live as ahe chose. It pleam* her greatly to help out former'cakes, they could

do no less than invite her to everything. More than half the time she stayed away, or rather went home after seeing everything was as good as it could be made. But to one afternoon company rather early in the game she stayed. "What she saw determined her to do several things. She ordered in haste, from the city, two frocks quite eclipsing' anything in Highview. Next she waved her hair, and after that she took her grandmother’s silver and Jewelry out of the' bank, filled her house with flowers, lights and people, and gave a final party for the advocate of suffrage. "A blow out" was her own phrase for it, she being of the sort that speaks straight as if thinks. All this meant, of course, that she would be very busy. Mrs. Austell was charmed at the thought of coming. The other woman’s name was Vanmere, her home a true colonial house, fall of antiques. Moreover, Edith Vanmere herself had appeared very receptive. It would be only a less triumph for the cause to convert her than to take Harleth captive for life. It annoyed her a trifle to find that Miss Vanmere laid-heavy commands on Harleth; also, that he obeyed them meekly, even when obedience took him from her presence. "Ed thinks she owns me—and I reckon she does come near it," be explained to the visitor, who did her best to mask discomfiture with an engaging smile. The smile might have faded had she been able to read the Vanmere mind. Edith had seen through her —Edith would have none of her sort in the family. Moreover, If William Harleth was by way of being a fool in some things, he was a gentleman, also helpless—being a man. Edith must save him. Shewas nearly as much interested to doing it as in the entirely new plum cake she was evolving for the party. Many schemes came to her. One 1 by one she turned them over in her mind and dismissed them as impractical. Then all in a flash the solution came—so simple it made 1 her blush to think she had overlooked' it: Two bodies cannot occupy the 1 same: space, not even when the bodies- areringers, the space a wedding, ring. The only real salvation for William Harleth, now that women were grown So bold, was a wedding ring; set fast’ by law and gospel upon the rightfinger. Harleth was bidden to dine with; her before the party. Notwithstanding Ha Imminence, notwithstanding Edith’s labors for it, the dinner wasas perfect as a dinner could be.- At-' the end there were samples of the’ delectable plum cake; The response it evoked from Harleth was a sufficient reward. • Later when the crowd had-gathered, a crowd that held the best of all Highview, it gasped a bit to see Edith in trailing cloth of silver, softened' with illusion and old lace, Jewels' gleaming upon a neck that was singularly smooth qnd white; and nodding above hair pulled in wavy masses above a smooth , brow. She looked what she was, a grande dame. But underneath the grandeur there was the same bubbling good humor, and sharp, clean-cut speech. Pinery was no bar to ber special ministrations when It made three of the richest men present wait npon Mrs. Austell under her own direct supervision. When it came to the plum cake Mrs. Austell exclaimed:

“This is not food—nectar, or maybe ambrosia, rather I Dear Miss Van* mere, life owes you something for it I feel you are going to be one of us. Pray, pray tell me, what we shall demand for you when we come tp our own in reward for anything so heavenly.” “Oh, nothing,” Edith said, laughing softly, "Nothing!” Mrs. Austell echoed. "You are unjust to yourself.” "I think not —you see I have my reward,” Edith answered saucily, though her color mounted. "You see, I told Billy—Mr. Harleth. —tonight I shouldn’t ever make any more of this cake until I made it for —my husband —and he proposed ak once.”

[?] Fortune, Position, the Prestige of Family.