A Question
Of Caste
....By MARTHA F1SKEL
Copyright, 1904, by Martha Fishel
IN the florist's window a bunch of
orchids of a rare green gray hue
flaunted their imperial beauty in
the face of a family of roses of
different complexions, white tulips and
yellow jonquils. Every head nodded
attentively on its stem. It was evident
the orchids hud something important
to impart.
"We've Just been bought for Ruth
Delorme. She's the only American we
would care to have own us," they
drawled. "She's the season's beauty,
which is the best we can expect in
this parvenu country, where there's
not a title in sight unless it's borrow
ed. "We will say goodby to you all
very soon. Xo doubt we'll be taken to
a dinner and the opera and perhaps
look in at a couple of dances. That's
the life we are meant for. It's so
vtupid here, ogled at through the glass
by people one couldn't really know."
'Oh, how lovely! And we are so
glad for you. But we wonder who
will buy us."
The orchids could not imagine for a
moment where the little sighing whis
per floated from, but after a surprised
circular gaze they saw resting against
the base of the Jade bowl which held
iho'.n a Imu'Ji of wood violets In a
goblet.
O.l'eiule-d suvpr
and, leveling the
only the socially
ie made them gasp,
insolent stare which
secure permit them-
?t.ils assumed scornful
selves, their
curve. -7.
"Well, upon my word! So much for
your moth eaten reputation for mod
esty! If this isn't uutVrbml familiar
ity, what is It? Wild, untrained crea
tures v ithout a cent.
"Some well meaning, badly groomed
clerk will dyr.'.tle.ns take you home to
his dowd of u wife," the aristocrats
continued.
"That will be nip if we can make
her happy." And the drooped blue
heads nodded wistfully.
"A plebeian ambition rightly suited
to your station," said the orchids.
"We'll be glad to leave this place," they
whispered to an American Beauty rose
in a tall cut glass vase. "The society
is so mixed! Think of thm daring to
address us! We're not at all in the
same set! Tho;e weeds are not even of
the EnylLsh species or the double sort.
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1 1 c$d& I
"OH, BUT, I SAr, WHAT'S THIS?"
They're not even distantly connected
with the Italian family. We know the
Farmas well."
"No: we make no claims at all," the
violets replied. "We were plucked this
morning on the banks of the Bronx."
"The Bronx! Heavens! It sounds so
bourgeois, suggestive of cheap table
d botes and suburban villas!"
"Oh, we know we're cheap," said the
violets, stung to revolt.
"Cheap? Well, rather! Twenty-fivo
cents for Low many of you?"
"A hundred."
The orchids laughed.
"And not very particular about the
counting, ih'i There are only six of
us, and we cost $3. Well, here's the
clerk coming for us. We're off, thank
heaven! Goodby, Miss Bronx."
: "Fetal proud things, I'm glad they
are gone," said one violet, angry dew lu
its eyes.
"So are we," saM the tallest Ameri
can Beauty in the jar. "Far be it from
me to decry f;mi!y. I'm proud of my
own branch, but those orchids talk too j
ii yen. we can aa cet I
an arternoon nap now."
They were roused by the door open
ing as a man entered. lie was hand
some and young, though somewhat
haggard, as if from loss of sleep. If his
clothes were somewhat shabby they
were well cut, and he carried them
with easy grace.
"I like his face," said each little vio
let to the other as they preened and
prinked their petals while eying the
stranger, who was fingering some loose
change in his pocket, a quizzical smile
on his lips.
"You florists are a species of high
way robber," he laughed to the clerk.
"Have you any violets not worth their
weight in gold?"
"Not a violet in the place. Every one
went before noon. The matinee girls
just made a raid on them."
The violets felt their hearts sink.
"I wonder what he calls us cab
bages?" murmured one of the little
bunch, still sore from the orchids'
taunts.
The young man regarded with a du
bious air the flowers heaped about so
prodigally.
"Oh, but. I ;-iy, what's this?" as lie
caught sight of the violets that seemed
to have deepened in hue in their efforts
to be seen.
"Oh, would you want those that is,
we hardly expect to sell them to our
patrons. We bought a lot of them as
a sort of charity from a little lame girl
In Bronxville and should probably have
given them away to a footman or other
servant of some customer just give
them away as a grocer does a chromo
with a pound of tea. If you want them
a quarter will pay for the lot."
When the violets saw the coin given
and felt themselves lifted from the
glass they breathed a sigh of content,
and when the clerk, wrapping them in
tissue paper, placed them In a pretty
box a fragrant breath of excitement
escaped them.
"This must be the padded brougham
the orchids spoke of to the roses.
Think how we were heaped in the
corner of a basket this morning! Oh,
exclusiveness has its charms!" And
they winked contentedly in their soft
wrappings.
The crackling of a wood fire for the
spring day was damp was the next
thing the flowers heard as they were
lifted out and put in water. At first
their eyes were dazed, but after a few
moments they absorbed the details of
the place.
The big, bare studio looked ratu'.v
eerie in the approaching dust, and with
its half finished canvases, its wails
covered with studies in glowing color,
it looked more a workroom proper
than a home. But it was the home
of youthful, ardent and dominating
dreams, and as Robert Dorset looked
about it in his eyes was a blending of
the enthusiasm of genius and the
steadfast fixity of purpose that an
nihilates all obstacles to reach a goal.
"I've always felt I must succeed,
even when the impolite and intrusive
wolf sat grimly on my door mat," he
thought "And now that Marchmont,
the magnate, has just ordered his por
trait I have little to fear."
He walked over to where an unfin
ished canvas on an easel showed a
girl's charming face.
"How different this winter is from
last!" he mused. "Then you were my
companion at the art classes, mv lit
tle friend from the country, studying,
oh, so faithfully, but painting so bad
ly; this year the protegee of your rich
aunt and chronicled in the papers as
Miss Delorme, the new beauty. I can
understand her ideas when she de
cided you ware worth chaperoning.
Ilor own girls are placed one the wife
of a consumptive lord, the oher of a
banker close to seventy. Now you are
on the auction block, going, going, but
not yet gone not yet thank heaven!"
And the eyes in his pale face had the
expression of a soldier in battle. "I've
taken Aunt Mary's polite and unmis
takable hint that I am to her an un
welcome worshiper at your shrine 'no
beggars or artists allowed' but I may
win yet."
He took a letter from his pocket It
showed signs of many readings. Now,
with his head thrown back as he
lounged in a big chair before the fire's
blaze, he read It again:
u vi nutn Delorme. I
"We beg your pardon," drawled the
orchids after a long stare, "but did !
you come 'from Brighton's? Are we
mistaken, or did we see you there to
day? It's so hard to tell exactly; you
lack individuality, you know."
Bustling with excitement at the
meeting, the violets nodded their fra
grant heads.
"The same," they answered bravely.
"Well, of all the luck I" broke in the
winged aristocrats. "But you'll be sure
to make some break and queer your
selves. That's one comfort."
Just then Ruth entered.
She was so daintily lovely in her
gown of white, filmy lace. The violets
were sure they saw an angel at last
Her eyes were Just like themselves,
they thought or as they might look if
a star lurked in the heart of each.
In the gloom of the flrelit room she
did not see the little blue worshipers
and carelessly picked up the small' en
velope beside the orchlda
"A small thing to secrete such
weighty, apoplectic adoration," she
thought, with a mutinous look, and
rapidly glanced over the lines, mum
bliug them half angrily:
"My Dear Miss Delorme Your aunt um
um given the privilege of speaking to
you tonierht. You know um um I would
say. Will be there at 8. You will be
alone umum before we leave opera.
nope you win wear tne nowers umum
"JAMES ARMSTRONG
wen, jeeines, sue mocKed, "come
an you will. No doubt you will have
fortified your usual brilliance with an
extra glass for the occasion. Your
burgundy blush will present the deep
er hue of the plum when you get my
answer. Ugh! Why can't they let me
alone?
The maid entered, bringing Ruth's
carriage shoes, and before putting
The clock struck 8, nnd a few min
utes later Mr. Armstrong was an
nounced. "Goodby!" cooed the violets as Ruth
was leaving the room. "So sorry you're
going to miss the opera. You'll be gone
before we get back or we'd tell you all
about it."
"All about what?" snapped the or
chids. "Why, the music, of course."
"That shows what country things you
are. No one listens to the music. It's
bad form. Besides"
But the violets lost the rest of the
sneer as they went down on Ruth's
white bosom to witness the discom
fiture of the man of millions with the
bibulous flush.
The orchids, left alone, learned the
lesson of humility hard.
"We'd rather be dead than lose
caste!" they groaned. "A tenement
house! Horrors!"
Had they been able they would have
given a human shriek when the foot
man, after tossing one to Ann, flung
the rest into a box.
In the morning as they looked at the
sick child, felt her hot fingers, saw the
expanse of factory roofs and clothes
lines beyond the windows, they grew
very blue. As the days went by they ,
grew bluer and bluer.
But the little girl laughed as the
stems were clipped every morning and
they were put In fresh water.
"Ain't they changed a pretty color,
mother?" she said. "They look almost
like violets dqw."
JoHt a Hint.
"John," she said softly, "have you
been saying anything about me to
mother lately?"
"No," replied John. "Why do you
ask?"
"Because she said this morning that
she believed you were on the eve of
proposing to me. Now, I do not wish
you to speak to mother when you have
anything of that kind to say. Speak to
me, and I'll manage the business with
mother."
And John said he would.
Not an Episcopalian.
When Bishop Codmau was appointed
to the Episcopal diocese of Maine he
made a tour of his diocese and hap
pened to stroll Into a woodman's cot
tage. Asking the woman of the houso
if there were many Episcopalians
around there, she replied: "Well, I
don't know. They caught some wild
thing out here In the woods a couple of
weeks ago, If that's what you mean,
but I think my husband said It was a
woodchuck."
Virtue may be Its own reward, but
some people make a trademark of It
The Kleker.
" 'Music hath charms to soothe the
savage breast,' " quoted the young
lady with a simper as she seated her
self at the piano.
"That may be," muttered a savage
bachelor, "but there are some of us In
this crowd who are civilized and de
serve a little consideration."
Practical.
He Do you think you could love me
in a cottage? She Possibly not, but I
might be able to put up with you till
you could make money enough to buy
n lart'pr house. Detroit Frep Proos
"Thia la the last ntsrht of the opra, my
friend. Why don't you go? I've discover
ed the ethics of Aunt Mary's campaign,
and I know why you come no more. In
fact, my visitors are now narrowed ex
clusively to those who know the merry
clip of the scissors as the coupons fall.
If I'm right, let's have our vengeance.
Go to the old place In the gallery tonlpht.
where I've so often sat nvlth you and Ted
and Mabel and will again. We can make
eye notes about Melba, with the horseshoe
sweeping between us. What fun to cheat
Aunt Alary! She thinks, foolish woman,
I'm easy to mold because I'm little; but.
although I've mado no fuss over her treat
ment of my old friends, I've my own way
of getting my own way. I've given aunt
her fling with me this wUnter to please
mother, ao for the nonce I'm pleasing
myself. RCTII.
"Does this mean anything more than
chumship? I'll find out tonight."
He took pen and paper and, having
written and destroyed several sheets,
finally appeared fairly satisfied with
one, which he kissed before folding it
his eyes heavy with love.
He put the note, with the Cowers,
back in the box, while the violets.
scenting a romance, fluttered excitedly
as they were taken from the studio.
On a table in a pretty boudoir on
Madison square a cluster of orchids In
an eastern vase and a bunch of wood
violets In a small jng waited the co:r-
"HE DAI1ED TO IT.' THE MAULING OH,
THE DAKLINU!"
them on she turned on the electric
light, which revealed to Ruth the vio
lets in the shadow of the orchids' vase.
"Where did these come from, Ann':"'
the asked.
"Oil, Miss Ruth, they came while
you were at dinner, not long after the
orchids. I hope you'll excuse me. I
quite forgot tiiem after putting them
in water."
"Where is the card that came with
them?" the girl asked more imperious
ly than she had ever before spoken.
"Why, there was a note. Oh, here it
is on the floor."
At sight of the writing Ruth's face
grew radiant. .She di.-jmissed the maid,
and, with lips trembling slightly and
fln-rers not ;ulte steady, she broke tlio
seal and read: j
"Ruth, you know all I would say to you j
If I dared. Th" words 'I love you' and
'Will you marry me?" so poorly express
r 11 I feel, but perhaps your own heart can
put the wltchi i-y upon them. Tonight I !
will bo in the cl place la the gallery and
look for my nr.swcr. If you wear these
little flowers It will tell mo that I have
not been a mad, rash dreamer and that
you lovo me. If you do not well, Ood
bless you, anyway but God help me.
"ROBERT."
Ruth gave a little shiver of delight as
she raised the note to her lips.
"He dared do it! The darling oh.
the darling!" she whispered as she
caught the violets to her heart
"Will I marry him? Ah, will I not?
And now, my dear aunt, trot out all the
ellgibles you wish. I'll scan them with
comfortable composure. Bob loves me
loves me loves me!"
Her fingers trembled as she pinned
the flowers securely upon her breast.
and the orchids looked at them with a
furious sneer, scarcely believing their
eyes.
"It's rank socialism, putting you out
of your place like that" they said !
spitefully.
"You'd like my place, I dare say,"
crowed a violet from Its vantage point
"What could one expect from a mere
ex-art student?" they retorted. "She's
not like us 'classy' people. What does
she mean to do with us, I wonder?"
As If In answer Ruth called In the
maid.
"Tell William to take these crehld
to my little sick girl on East Seven
teenth street, near the river; he knows
the place. Say 1 11 Ik? in to see her to
morrow. Tln-y will cheer her tonight J
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