CHAPTER X.
MRS. MARSTON.
In the last three years the beautiful little city of Roseland with its avenues of palms and magnolias had a boom. Large substantial brick and granite blocks were erected. Very many new and handsome residences were built, besides putting a new appearance on some of the old buildings. The commercial, professional and mechanical classes were all doing well, and living in expectation of doing still better.
Among those who had prospered by the rise in real estate was a Mrs. Marston, who owned one of the finest residences in Roseland. At the time that she enters our story her age was about forty and she had a son who was twenty years old, a month before he left for Paris, and he had been gone away four months. Why he had gone to Paris, the stories concerning his mission to that gay city did not quite harmonize. His father came to the conclusion ten years ago that his mother was too much like himself, in being a positive, dominant character; that she was a little too masculine in her makeup, and he thought he would prefer a lady for a wife who did not weigh quite as much, and one that was a little sweeter in disposition, and more playful. When he reflected that he was worth one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, he thought that some of the joys of having a sweet wife should be his, and particularly when he had seen Josephine Stearns, whom he thought would more than meet his most sanguine expectations, for to his mind, she seemed to possess all those very desirable qualities of disposition which he so much admired. In a very indirect way he made his mind known to Mrs. Marston, who pretended she did not like such a proposition, but if he would give her fifty thousand dollars and let her have the boy, she would consent to a divorce. Her husband thought it over in this way. He said, "I am not happy in living with my wife, don't like my home at all, and what good does it do a man to be worth one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, if he is not enjoying some of the greatest pleasures in life. Better have only a hundred thousand dollars with a pretty sweet young lady like Josephine, than a hundred and fifty thousand dollars with my present wife." Next morning he scratched his head, and said in a slow kind of a way, "I think fifty thousand dollars rather steep, but I do not wish to have any fuss or quibbling, and you can have the boy, and I will give you twenty-five thousand dollars in cash, and twenty-five thousand in real estate," which she accepted. To look at her you could not tell what her feelings were, but way down deep in her heart she was overflowing with gladness to think she was free.
The rise in real estate made her worth in all as much as her husband was when he left her. She was known in Roseland as being a lady that was fond of young people's company, and she was great on entertaining. She was one of those ladies who are proud, fond of dress and style, very particular about moving in the upper circles of society, but she had no interest or sympathy with plain, poor people. She loved to dress young for her years, was fond of going with young ladies and gentlemen bicycle riding. She generally had as guests one or two very pretty young ladies, and another of her fads was to make pets of a few sons of rich men. As she had a fine large house and loved to entertain, the leading young men in Roseland, and some of the prettiest and most stylish young ladies, were very often seen in her parlors and on her well-kept lawn. The lunches and suppers she served to her guests were the talk of the town. She had a sister who lived in Orangeville, but who was so different in her tastes and circumstances that there was nothing in common between them.
One day she was out driving, and her eyes caught the sight at a little distance of two persons walking on the sidewalk. She made the team walk slow when she saw them. They did not see her, but she took in at a glance what a clear complexion, bright eyes, and lovely form the young lady had. She said to herself, "How beautiful Stella has grown, but what plain clothes she has on." She reined the team towards the sidewalk and said, "Why, Stella, I did not know you had returned from school. Good morning, David," she said to her sister's husband. "Wont you both come to the house?" David said that Stella had just come in on the train and they had been doing a few errands and were expected back by Bertha at a certain time and could not stop now.
Mrs. Marston said to Stella, "I want you to come and make me a long visit. I will be out to-morrow at your house and arrange with your mother for your coming to visit me." She thanked her aunt for her invitation and said she would tell her mother.
Mrs. Marston had remarked on more than one occasion to her sister Bertha, that she would die if she had to stay in a place like Orangeville over night. As that lady did not feel she was ready to quit her material form with all its attachments and desires, she decided to leave Roseland at eight in the morning and that would give her ample time to have a long chat with her sister, and she could then be home by five in the evening in time to dress for dinner and receive whoever might call. She telephoned to her caterer to have ready next morning at eight, one quart of orange sherbet and one quart of vanilla ice cream, put into two nice dishes and packed in a box with ice, then put two wet sacks over the box and set it in another box with a cover. She telephoned to the livery stable to have her span of handsome chestnuts brought to her house next morning at eight. The next morning she was up bright and early and put on just a good plain dress, and was ready to take the lines promptly at eight from the man who had brought her team. She drove round to the caterer's and got her box, then she went to the meat market and told the man to put up six pounds of steak, she called at the bakery and had the man put in her buggy one frosted fruit cake, one plain cake, one lemon pie, and a peach cobbler, and one dozen fresh baked Astor House rolls. After she had got a little way out from Roseland she stopped at a Chinaman's garden and purchased a few early vegetables. When she reached her sister's home it was about ten, and after a few minutes' chat she said to her sister, "Bertha, I have come out to have a visit with you and Stella, and I did not want you to be giving yourselves a lot of work in the way of getting up a big dinner, so I bought a few things on my way out, and all they need is to set them on the table, except the vegetables and meat, and I will attend to the vegetables; the pies and rolls may need just a little warming."
Mrs. Marston was one of those ladies of skill and ability who could do anything in the kitchen equal to any hired help when she wished, and this morning she seemed to be so different to what she generally was, that her sister Bertha thought she either had improved greatly, or she had not judged her rightly. She seemed this morning so kind and thoughtful and so sisterly in her conversation and so ready to assist in getting dinner. Bertha said to Mrs. Marston, "Why, Helen, you have more steak here than we can eat in a week." To which Mrs. Marston replied, that she had brought lots of ice to keep it.