Photoplay (Jul - Dec 1919)

< )». %^ The musicale ■was a success, at least from the assemblage and judging by the manner in -which Gina sang. Everybody of importance in Vanfield was there. When Gina finished the aria De Salvo, the impresario, clapped his hands delightedly. though?" she asked, curious. '"What's up now?" "Oh, nothing, nothing," Gina asked. "I only wish that I could look into a book and see what I'm going to be in five years." "You're so serious," Rita advised her. "Why don't you take life more easily? Do as I do. If you keep on worrying about things you'll get wrinkles." And she disappeared down the hall to make herself pretty for the evening's festivities. There were two guests at dinner, one of whom, Goring, came to hear Gina's answer to his proposal of marriage, and the other, Louis Anthony, the cashier of the Vanfield bank, to see if it were possible to interest Gina in him. After the dinner, Goring retired to the smoking room with Ashling, while Louis and Gina walked to the rose arbor. They stood under the trellis for, it seemed to Gina, ages. "Come," she said finally. "Some of the guests will have arrived. I must be there." "Marry me," Anthony said forcefully. "We can be very happy. You won't say no?" "Please, Louis," was the answer. "How can you forget yourself?" And with that she withdrew her arm from his grip, and walked toward the house. The musicale was what might be termed a success, at least from the assemblage and judging by the manner in which Gina sang. Everybody of importance in Vanfield was there, including Goring, who made it a point to be as close as possible to Gina, while De Salvo, the eminent operatic impresario, gave a piano recital. He, with his long, carefully brushed beard and tapering fingers, was an imposing figure, and as he glanced at intervals in Gina's direction, she could not help but feel flattered. But De Salvo seemed interested only in her voice. A great voice was his religion. He had discovered and placed several operatic luminaries, and on the Continent his 54 judgment was law. When he arrived in Vanfield a short time ago he saw only a small town, and had he not missed his train Gina would have been unknown to him. As it was, he had stopped in at church, heard her solo, and was offering her every inducement to journey to Europe — and a career. When Gina at length finished the aria that he asked her to sing, he clapped his hands delightedly. "Marvelous," he said. "I kiss your hand." Ashling carefully avoided De Salvo, even though the latter ran to him and embraced him. "Like the piano the person is but the instrument," the maestro continued. "It has a beautiful case, but without the sound it is merely a piece of furniture." "Is your admiration always so impersonal, Signor?" Goring queried sarcastically, overhearing the impresario. "You do not doubt my motives?" De Salvo questioned, his dignity wounded, ".'\lways my wife will be with her. She shall be treated as our own child." Kenneth, vho remained silent during the interval, suddenly stepped forward. "You grab it, Gina," he cried. "We can take care of ourselves. Don't waste your talents on this onehorse town. Paris! Gee! Take her with you, Seenyore." "Oh, Kenneth, if I only knew what to do," his sister said, as she buried her face in his shoulder. "]My wife and I sail the day after to-morrow." the maestro said laconically. "I require an answer to-night." To Peter Judson, however, in New York, the time was hanging heavy until he could return to Gina before he should leave for his work in Brazil. The conditions of the contract were satisfactory, his grip was packed, and he found himself in Grand Central Station, in a telephone booth. He was calling the Ashlings'. But at the Ashlings', as the guests were leaving, there were two who remained. Goring had had a hasty consultation with old Asa, in which he had learned that the decision would rest