Jasper County Democrat, Volume 7, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 November 1904 — Page 2

A Scientific Experiment

By Robert C. V. Meyers

HRS. VAN STYLERT heard her secretary's foot on the stairs. "I must keep it up.’’ she said. “It is a duty I owe her. I went to school with her mother.” That day she was specially hard with the young lady, who for neurly three months now hud been coining an hour each afternoon to write little notes and cast up troublesome accounts, an office which she also undertook for several of Mrs. Van Stylert's most intimate friends. It was on that same day that Mrs. Van Stylert, noticing the neatness of the girl's prim collar and cuffs, accused her of being cut out for an old maid. The secretary smiled, as cheerfully admitting the impeachment. Also that afternoon Tom Ha n oway stopped for 6 o’clock tea, as had been the case many days of late. As he sipped the cup that cheers, but not inebriates, his hostess expanded upon the charms of Charlotte Templeton. Harrowuy put his cup down laughingly. “You know enthusiasm has gone out,” he said. “Along with a good many other honest things,” she grumbled, “girlishness and all that sort of thing. Everybody Is too sophisticated nowadays; prettiness is swamped by so called artistic ideas, and so on. Look at this room. Everything is pink that can be made pink, and furbelowed and flouncy—not a bit artistic. The low tones in the furnishings of some of my friends give me the blues for a week after I have encountered them. I like brightness. I never will believe in hiding Light under a bushel of dingy mgs and draperies which began their existence in wretched oriental huts, half dwellings and half camel stables.” “Yes,” he laughed, “I have a rug that was a prayer carpet, covered all over with Syrian remarks in worsted that I am positive are wriggling expostulations against the dull reds and blues. It is delicious.” "And look how young women dress.” she went on, ignoring him. “That is, young women with ideas. For instance, Miss Sefton. Pardon the personality. Amy, but you are such an example. You come here day after day looking like a masculine nun in your severe tailor made black frock. I like flu ill ness in the street In daytime as well as under the awful electrics of ballrooms at night. Electric light! No complexion will stand it, and yet girls today brave it as though they intend some time to become unChristian martyrs.” The ormolu clock on the lace draped mantelpiece struck 5. The secretary dosed her desk. “There's another thing,” Mrs. Van Stylert continued. “You engage a person for an hour’s work. On the stroke of that hour the person vanishes—no Interest in the work, no appreciative gratitude.” The secretary’s face flushed. “Good evening!” she said, moving toward the door. , “Tomorrow afternoon,” her employer said crisply, "at 4, sharp.” The girl left the room. “Don’t you think,” Ilnrroway remarked. “you are a trifle—ah—severe with the lady. Mrs. Van S.?” “1 am sick of the status of employed people,” retorted Mrs. Van Stylert. “Everything nowadays is ‘respect for labor,’ none for those who employ it. No. Miss Sefton is alone in the world. She has Imbibed too many lofty notions. I am treating her as my mother might have treated a secretary, if secretaries had been a part of my mother’s miseries.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I know.” she said, “you do not admire her”— “Rather say.” lie interposed, “l have scarcely noticed her till the last month or so.” “When my ‘severity.’ as yon call it, attracted your attention to her,” she responded. "And she admitted only yesterday thut site had not uoticed you either.” •*’ He gave her a quick look. “Oh, yes,” she pursued; “I have told her that it has been a year since you left college and that uow you are a full fledged idle man of fashion. She curled her lip—they used to ‘curl’ their lips in the stories l read when I was young—and said the world is no place for idlers; that a man should do his best to achieve a position not already established for him by his father. Still, I like her. 1 went to sehool with her mother, and I feei a sort of responsibility for ber. That is why l am trying to make her reulize her true position. She can’t afford to give me up. I have bad her employed by my friends and could easily take that employment from her. She was quite helpless when abe came to me. She had nursed her mother for years, and her income died with her mother. I advised her to become a secretary. Hand me that fan, please; this heat is unbearable,” though the room was certainly not warm. She continued to fan beraelf after Harroway bad betaken himself to other scenes. “No wonder 1 am hot” she told herself. “I am an advanced woman, too, though I never discovered that till recently. However. I intend to Investigate the tendencies of today, to find ont if young men and young women are the earn# as they used to be in spite of all their superiority to the little things of life. Bnt bow vulgar scientific experiments make you feel! AU the same, Tom Harroway’s

father was one of Ay earliest beaus, and I went to school with Amy Sefton’s mother." Next day when the secretary came Mrs. Van Stylert was more difficult to please than ever. "Pardon me, Amy,” she said at one moment, when she had severely condemned the present mode of caligraphy, which, as she insisted, was too bold and energetic for any lady to employ, "It is all Tom Harroway’s fault Charlotte Templeton is the most beautiful girl in town, and no end of a catch, and yet he is letting Count Destaing have the innings. I am doing what I can, though. I am Interested in Torn; he is my heir—his fattier was one of my earliest beaus. Think what a match it will be! Charlotte Templet>n has a million in her own right and Tom will not have more than two thousand a year till 1 die.” The secretary arranged her pupers. “Here are three invitations to dinners.” she said. “Accept them all,” gloomily replied her employer. “I might as well kill myself that way as any other.” The secretary accepted for Mrs. Van Stylert the three efforts toward self Immolation. “Here,” then she said, “is a letter from the Society For Assisting Indigent Widows and Single Women.” “Not a dollar,” responded Mrs. Van Stylert. “I will assist no indigent single woman. And I am a widow myself.” Just then Harroway came in. “Won’t you spare me a cup of tea?” he asked. ' “By the way,” said Mrs. Van Stylert, “Isn't this the day of the Templeton reception? I don’t go to afternoon receptions. They are so unearthly. But you do.” “After my tea,” he replied. “I don’t begrudge you the tea," returned his hostess, “but I should think you would want to be with Charlotte a* much as possible now that the count is so terribly in evidence.” He caressed tbe flower in his buttonhole. “Charlotte and I understand each other,” he informed her. Whereupon she managed to overturn a teacup. “Then I am to congratulate you?” she cried. “No, no,” he hastened to say, “I meant nothing like that” “In my young days,” she said, “when a young man confessed that there was an understanding between him and a young lady, the inference was that there was—something between them.” “So there is,” he rejoined. “We are good friends, comrades, chums.” “Impossible!” and she shook her head. "No chumming among young people of opposite sexes. As for you, you don’t know what you are missing. Charlotte is just the wife for you. and— Really. Amy, you are in a great hurry; it is ten minutes of 5.” The secretary had risen. “I will make up the ten minutes tomorrow,” the young lady said, and left the room. Harroway looked after her. “No wonder you are critical,” said Mrs. Van Btylert “She dresses so stiffly. And she went away because she thought she had no right to hear our private talk.” “It seems to me.” he returned, oblivious to the latter part of her words, “that her costume is very well chosen for her work. What a fine face she has!” “She looks like her mother,” was the reply. “I went to school with her mother. There, now, run to the Templetons’—and Charlotte.” Thus dismissed, Harroway left the house. Outside, he saw the secretary going down the street. Now, the secretary was annoyed. Mrs. Van Stylert's manner was becoming atrocious. Before these last two weeks the lady had been kind nnd friendly.* But for Mrs. Van Stylert’s kindness and friendly interest she would not have got along so well. But all that was changed now. And what had she done to merit the slights to which ahe had recently been subjected? True, Tom Harroway had been frequently at the house of lute, developing a craving for afternoon tea that verged closely on dissipation, nnd all tbe time he was there his hostess was full of encotqjtams for Charlotte Templeton and as full of miserable fault finding for the girl who acted In the capacity of secretary. Harroway saw her going along in front of him. He made up his mind that he must Join her. She may have seen him, but she suddenly shot round a corner, aud when he reached the corner she had disappeared from view. “How unkind women can be to women,” he mused. “Mrs. Van is letting herself out. Maybe, though, she has been all along like this In private, and now I go there so frequently she is getting not to mind me. , And I am to blame!” And he went on to the Templeton reception. In her rosy room Mrs. Van Stylert felt more comfortable than had been the case for days. “After all,** she said vaguely, “scientific experiments are wonderful things." She rested her chin on her hands and looked into the flare of the grate with a reminiscent expression in her eyes. The secretary made up the ten minutes tbe following day. and, although Mr. Harroway did not put in an appearance, Mn. Van Stylert was quite difficult; said that the plain manner in which tbe secretary wore her hair was disgraceful and felt that she could tell ber so because she had gone to school with .her mother; qnite agreed with ber secretary, who, she insisted, had so expressed beraelf, that Tom Harroway was no nse in the world and £bat If ho had a grain of manliness ln'shls composition bo would attempt a business career. She said she felt she could so criticise tbe young man In bis

absence because his father bad been onfof ber earliest beaus. A few days later, and when this sort of medicine had been given In heroic doses. Harroway came for bis cup of tea. He was very cheerful. Mrs. Van Stylert was puzzled, but wisely watted for him to explain himself. "Well,” he said at length, “I have two confessions to make. One of them Is that I am going into business. John Templeton will have me for a partner. You know we were graduated together and have always been pals. The other confession is that his sister Charlotte and I” — “Oh,” fairly shrieked Mrs. Van Stylert, “so it Is arranged at last! It took a long time, I must say. And now you must tell me all the particulars. Miss

Harroway saw her going along in front of him.

Sefton, If you dotp't mind, we will defer our notes till tomorrow. I shall not need you today." The girl jumped up. "Stop!” Mrs. Van Stylert called after her. “Why not come this evening? I ■hall not go out till 10. Come at 9.” “But,” demurred the secretary, “I fear"— “At 9 o’clock!" loudly repeated her employer. “We can then finish today’s work. No objections, if you please.” The secretary took herself away, trembling in every limb. She hAd no Intention of going at 9 o’clock in the evening to do the work which she had contracted to perforin from 4 to 6 in the afternoon. And to be spoken to like that before Tom Harrowny! As for Harroway, he was furious. “Upon my word. Mrs. Van Stylert,” he said, “you have needlessly humiliated a lady," and went hastily from the house. If he expected to see the secretary outside he was doomed to disappointment, for when he reached the street ■he was nowhere in sight. Mrs. Van Stylert had her maid fetch her a cup of strong beef tea, she felt so used up. “Amy thinks I want him to marry Charlotte! And,” she said, “hereafter I shall sympathize with every scientific experiment I hear of.. And human nature is the same as it ever was! Hold, though! What shall I do when Amy comes tomorrow, for of course she will not come this evening? I suppose I must chance it. lam growing reckless. And Charlotte means to marry the count! Didn’t her mother hint as much last night?” As for the secretary, she had something to think about. And in the warp and weft of her thought was a thread of satisfaction that u young man had ■een the folly of being an idler and was about to become a useful member of society. It is always a satisfaction to know that our theories receive support. And, apropos of that young man, what sort of spirit did he think she possessed when she would put up with such treatment as he had witnessed Mrs. Van Stylert inflict upon her? And suppose he was flirting with Miss Templeton! She tossed her head. She had promised the lady with whom she boarded to go to the opera that night, the lady having had two tickets presented to her by a friend who was hastily called from the city and could not use them. The thought of Harroway’s possible flirtation with Miss Templeton made her feel that she should like to look her best that evening. Her hair was her first care, and she arranged it so as to set off its abundance and color. “As though it would be in good taste to wear it this way when I am attending to business!" she said loftily. Next she donned a white gown full of fleeciness and rippling with ribbons. She looked in the glass and was not dissatisfied with the reflection. It was then 8 o’clock, and she sat down and waited for the lady who was to escort her to the opera. Instead the lady had to go and tumble down the back stairs and received such contusions and abrasions as made it Impossible for her to stir from the house that night Of course the secretary conld not go alone, so she started to take off hgr finery. All at once the enormity of Mrs. Van Stylert’s treatment of her struck her more cruelly than ever. Should she keep on accepting that lady’s favors? “Not If I had a dozen mothers," she slid, “and she had been to school with every one of them!”She would Inform Mrs. Van Stylert tomorrow that she must decline to act as her secretary any longer. Tomorrow! It was not yet 9 o’clock. Mrs. Van Stylert had commanded her to come to her at 9. Why not go to-

[ night and tnl! her not to expect ber i next day and, just as abe was, let that arrogant schoolmate of ber mother see ber possibilities as a well dressed woman? It was all very foolish, very girlish, but she did not care to be considered k dowdy any more than she would accept gratuitous contumely. A maidservant was coerced, and, covered with a long cloak, the secretary went forth on an errand prompted by righteous indignation. At about the same time Mrs. Van Stylert was Issuing from her maid’s ministrations also in opera array. She seldom courted music until late in the evening, when, us she said, she reached Wagner’s agony and soon had it over. She looked up as tier secret..ry entered the rosy room, whose shaded caudles cast a most becoming light. Perhaps she bad never been so scared in all her life before. She had not expected Amy, and the brilliancy of the girl’s eyes and the bloom on her face told her that a battle was imminent. The secretary eased the clasp of her cloak—there was a pulse in her throat that hurt her. For when she stood in the presence'of her mother's old friend who had l>een of such signal service to her and noted that Mrs. Van Stylert's face now showed kindness and even admiration her courage seemed to ebb from her. Mrs. Van Stylert was the first to speak. “1 am so sorry, Amy. child,” she said, “to bring you out at night. I wasn’t in earnest.” Not in earnest! At that the secretary's courage flowed back again. Was she to be made sport of all around? “I came,” she said, “to tell you to look out for another secretary. I am no longer in your employ.” Mrs. Van Stylert regarded her in silence, knowing not what to say, admiring the girl’s well arranged hair, her face that was beautiful in its excitement, but, more than all, her spirit and vigor.Now, Harroway had felt uncomfortable all the early part of the evening. By the time he had dined at the club he was quite of-opinion that he should visit at Mrs. Van Stylert’s no more. He refused to be a further witness of the humiliation of a poor girl at the bands of the lady who presumed on the fact of his being ber heir and so making marriage arrangements for him. Confound the money! First, he must set Mrs. Van right with regard to Charlotte Templeton. She had cut him off when he had begun to tell her about Charlotte’s engagement to the count, taking It for granted that he himself was the happy man. A woman like that must not remain uncorrected in such a mistake. And if the secretary thought he was flirting— He wiped the perspiration from his brow. But why he go to Mrs. Van’s this evening, not waiting till tomorrow afternoon? By tomorrow some one or other might be already told of his primmed engagement to Charlotte Templeton. It Irritated him mightily to think of such a report being attributed to him, even though the mistake might be corrected later on. He went On the threshold of the pink room he paused. Inside the two women confronted each other. “Another thing,” the secretary was saying. “You tell me that you have Informed Mr. Harroway that I despise him for having no desire to make his way in the world. I never said so. I told you that every man. in my opinion, should do his best to carve out a niche for himself in the world”— Just then the speaker saw Tom Harroway. Her hand that had clutched the cloak at her throbbing throat faltered, and the long loose garment slid down to the floor, and she stood revealed in a fleecy white gown, a fair vision of girlish charm. Harroway took a step toward her, she looked so sweet and lovable. “I should like,” he said, “to—that is— I wish to correct something”— “Nonsense!” interrupted Mrs. Van Stylert in a loud voice, and refusing to let the girl use her as a shield. “I know you are not engaged to Charlotte Templeton. While you may not know it, 1 am a bit of a scientist, which accounts for my recent behavior toward you and Amy— Ah. I must see my maidl” She fairly tottered from the room, closing the door after her, noting as she went away that the secretary let Harroway take her hand, the young woman and the young man looking preposterously happy, if somewhat conscious. In her sleeping room she sank on the side of the bed as her maid ran to ber. “Beef tea!” she managed to say. “I experimented scientifically to see If they couldn’t be made to fall in love with each other,” and something about going to school with somebody’s mother and having somebody else's father for one of ber earliest beaus. At that time in the rose colored room Harroway talked with the secretary. "I came tonight to have it out with her,” be said. “Oh, did you?” she cried blithely. “I was waiting to see when you should do so. I should never have done it myself If I waited till doomsday, after”— "After yon thought I was flirting with Charlotte Templeton?” be asked admiringly. She shrugged her shoulders. “So much of the jest is gone," she ■aid. “Mrs. Van has been playing with os all tbe time, the mean old dear." Just then the “mean old dear" rushed into the room. She bad found it impossible to keep away. “Oh," she said, “Amy—Tom—all this has been a scientific experiment I designed to bring you two together” “And you succeeded,” responded Harroway, taking Amy by the hand, »fbr we have been married over a month!"

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