THIS OLD WORLD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20982, 19 September 1931, Page 6 (Supplement)

THIS OLD WORLD.

DREAMING ON. WHEN THE "LIGHTS GO DOWN. BY NINA KINQCOME WATTY. She dreamed on. The brightness of day faded and closed in. The room, with its ixia-grecn walls, and tho gold satin cushions and the Sheraton furniture, became a more blur to her eyes. , How she loved that room! Here she had spent her happiest years of youth with j one's best friends—her mother and her father. No more now would they play with her, tease her, love her, spoil her, and cherish her. In the churchyard a mile away they lay side bv side, those two whom/ she had never realised would one day leave her for ever arid for ever. Tears fell on her little, dainty, pretty hands l —those darling hands those two had ever loved to kiss and hold. Hands they had held when she had toddled uncertainly from chair to chair. w . . It seemed a long, long while ago to her now. The firelight played on the Sheraton chairs; shadows flickered as shadows do when the •fireshine is the only light. Long, slender shadows they ■ were that threw themselves across the ; Persian carpet, throwing up the exquisite colours that enlivened it; .a costly carpet her father a few years ago had brought from the old Homeland. Opposite her ,was her mother's favourite chair, a dainty «■> affair in yellow and black. The footstool, too, was there, though those little, >• charming feet never more would inveigle y the fancy of all who looked upon them. Above a console was an exquisite mirror that threw back her charming little self. Life is so pleasant when one is rich; * no bills to worry and wear out the spirit and deaden the mind to the joys of the : days; no/ lonely hours; no anxious awak1. enings. Instead, glowing anticipation of the hours ahead; the telephone calling to * one to plan and arrange all those charm- " ing little teas and meetings that fill in * the days. The odour of magnolias drifted .. to herefrom the table in the shelter of a stained glass window. A lovely window, * that —purple, gold, scarlet, emerald. . . . How she adored it! ... It was ever the rainbow in the sky foretell- ~ ing long, bright, happy hours —purple for splendour, gold for the sun, scarlet for . happiness, and emerald for joy. . * •. / Scarlet Petals. A gaudy ranunculus in a bowl on the grand piano shed its scarlet petals, and they fluttered, light as snow, upon the gleaming surface. Any moment she expected Stephanie Loring to arrive. Stephanie was her special friend in whom she found all those attributes one looks for in that -' special one. Stephanie had" been "at boarding-school with her, knew all her secrets, understood all her quaint vagaries, the charming fancies of an unusual./ though perhaps just a trifle erratic disposition. Dear Stephanie, who Scolded and. forgave, and scolded again. > . . She came suddenly, with the importance of a superior being. * ' "Darling—so sorry I'm late! Have .you tea'd ? Good! Oh, how I long for the cup that cheers! Let it be China, dear—l do so adore the flavour . . ." She peeled off her suedes and fixed her Jaunty little hat in the mirror above the console. Oh, Stephanie, what a duck of a hat! New, isn't it? And where did you get that suit ? How extravagant you are _ . . smiling and dimpling. " Oh, well,, what would happen to business if "the' public; didn't buy ? No, old thing, I believe when one has money one should scatter it—judiciously, of course « . . ." laughing prettily. ** Blue always suits you, Stephanie. ». . . It's just the colour of your eyes. Now, I look so really and truly awful in it . .... . and it's my favourite colour—the colour of the sky and the sea on a summer's day . . ." " Oh, I shouldn't worry. ... I'd give a lot to have your flaire and your golden "eyes.'.' Both laughed. They were very young, and the little things of life were all that mattered. Tea came in, borne by a maid in a smiling mood. Dreana's little baby hands playecf with the tea-pot of mandarin-blue and the tea-cups of eggshell china. . . . Life was so pleasant and so easy . . . the room so warm. By-aad-bye the dark blue car would come on silent wheels to bear her away to a cabaret, where her little feet in scarlet shoes would twinkle over the easy floor . . . and some really and truly nice boy would tell her she was so sweet and dear, and that her frock was the prettiest ever. . / •