3
_COPE IS "ENTERTAINED"_
Mrs. Phillips stepped to the front door to meet the half dozen young people
who were cheerily coming up the walk. Cope, looking at the fallen cushions
with an unseeing eye, remained within the drawing-room door to compose a
further paragraph for the behoof of his correspondent in Wisconsin:
"Several girls helped entertain me. They came on as thick as spatter. One
played a few things on the violin. Another set up her easel and painted a
picture for us. A third wrote a poem and read it to us. And a few
sophomores hung about in the background. It was all rather too much. I
found myself preferring those hours together in dear old Winnebago...."
Only one of the sophomores--if the young men were really of that
objectionable tribe--came indoors with the young ladies. The others--either
engaged elsewhere or consciously unworthy--went away after a moment or two
on the front steps. Perhaps they did not feel "encouraged." And in fact
Mrs. Phillips looked back toward Cope with the effect of communicating the
idea that she had enough men for to-day. She even conveyed to him the
notion that he had made the others superfluous.
Pages:
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37