Show t A Mb ITHE THE ULTIMATUM MOTHER GRAHAM OFFERED DICKY Dicky squirmed uneasily chair I dont don't believe I 1 did mention the date of possession did I he said He was evidently sparring for time but It did him no good for his mother waIn was wa in a militant moo mood which had not been modified but but rather accentuated by Dicky's news of the proposed canoe trip from which the physicians physician's verdict had barred her She would not have gone under any circumstances but like map man mapother other elderly women it irritated her ex exceedingly ex- ex to think that she could not go if she Had lad to do soNo soNo so 50 No you didn't not so anybody could notice It So out with It When is It 7 1 I made them give In on some somo extra time Ume Dicky said virtuously They wanted it In a wed week weel but I wouldn't hear of that of course It would have cut short our stay down here A HOPELESS SITUATION In ln a week his mother shrilled I Have you jou ou gone gono out of your mindI mind I I sat silent apprehensive I 1 suspected that this preposterous mention of a a. week was only made to distract ur attention to to let us down easy as Dicky Picky was wasI no doubt mentally n a phrasing g It before e his l I f eo gw revelation v of a time which w would be o only a a. little less startling I told you I 1 made em cm give us more time he ho went on defensively You dont don't think Id I'd stand for that do you Lets hear what you jou Ou did stand for she retorted crisply I dont don't want any anymore anymore more fooling but the exact date when I weve we've got to be out of there Well Welt Well May first Dicky replied a bit I SUlkily the matter with that My Iy mother-in-law mother and I looked at each I other with utter despair in our faces The date gave us a bare three weeks to find a home dismantle a house and move our belongings And we were miles awa away Any housekeeper in the tho world will unde stand our feelings and we felt It would be useless to try to make anyone anyone anyone any any- one else comprehend them especially anyone belonging to the masculine side of humanity particularly Dicky Mother Graham found her voice first Inde Indeed d I resolved as I saw her face set setIn setIn setin In lines of battle that I would leave the contest to her For tor I realized better than she that If the date of possession already had been given as May first it could not be changed So I began to readjust my thoughts and prepared to gird myself for forthe forthe I the tho arduous task I saw before me I BOTH ROTH ARE DETERMINED his mother began in her most Impressive tones then paused asif she were too stunned for further speech But In n a moment she went on in scathIng scathing scathing ing haste S Sometimes I wonder what sin I 1 committed com corn In my youth her youth her voice held something of the sound one gets gets' in the filing of a saw saw that that Providence should see Bee fit to give me a child so absolutely lacking In common sence as you jou ou appear to be Dont Don't answer me her me-her her voice rose truculently as her son opened his eyes and mouth in tn ludicrous astonishment at ather ather her ber Indictment unless it Is to say that you are ready to change that date of possession t to let to-let let let me see see with with an air of the greatest magnanimity June magnanimity June ought to be about right Why mother Have you gone out of your senses Dicky plagiarized his I mothers mother's e outburst t of a minute n before ff I r The reason the tho man who hO Is buying I this Is willing to pay so much Is that he has hasto hasto hasto to move from where he Is May first andIs andis and andIs Is too busy a man to spend much time hunting a place Time Is worth more to him than money and he simply has to have tho the house May l first VI CI told y you u I wanted to hear nothing from you except that one assurance Until you can give me that I am gOing gome to my room Margaret you ou may come cometo cometo cometo to me and tell mo me when Richard lUchard returns to his l senses or whatever for jor h s passes for h them in his case case She rose and majestically swept out of or the room Dicky wiped his forehead with his I handkerchief and looked at me blankly eating her he demanded In Inthe Inthe inthe the slang r I detest Is there anything you jou OU can do with her Even as he ho put the question he ho looked at me sharply sprang to his feet and r threw r up al his r hands In dismay IS ISa that t had hada a touch of truth through Its burlesque Oh he groaned dont tell me you ou are on her side too tool |