'FHE 'FERRACE
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to.rium. "But why should Miss
Sli~gsby
want the insane people
to dance?" she wondered.
The attorney finished the reading and rose, ready to take
his leave.
As
the door opened the parrot cried out: "Come
again." The maid ordered him to be quiet, her finger on her
lips. Then she looked at the others and asked:
"What new phrase shall we teach him?"
Lowering her eyes, the cook proposed a pious theme:
Rest
in Peace.
Herbert suggested a patriotic one:
Viva Massachusetts!
which was Miss Slingsby's native state although she had always
lived in Cibola.
The cook was resting her elbow on the table and meditating
on why Miss Slingsby obliged her to dance once a month. with
the insane in the sanatorium. She did not know what meaning to
give this wish of her mistress. She stood up, sighed, took the small
box from the mantle with both hands, as one holds a sacred
object, and prepared to leave. In the street she met a priest who
asked in a pained tone
if
the body of the poor lady was still in
the house. The cook pointed to her pocketbook and said: "No,
poor dear, I have her here."
She walked to the neighborhood church still pondering:
" Forgive me, God, but why do the insane need to dance?"
Half an hour later when she returned home, she surprised
the maid sitting on the chauffeur's knees, his anns around her
waist. The startled maid jumped up, began screaming and,
covering her mouth with her hand, ran off in the direction of the
garden. The chauffeur went after her, pleading, and after him
the dog Merlin, barking.
Herbert and the maid were married three weeks later. The
cook thought: "This would have pleased Miss Slingsby."
Two months later the first dance in the sanatorium was
held. The director Dr. Smith presented the estimate before the
party and Arner wrote him a check. The only expenses were for
an orchestra .and the cold buffet supper served the guests. Miss
Slingsby's will was being carried out. Mr. Amer figured .that the
