Show queen era A ansons arsons alne S lace by fi frances ances parkinson Park isison reyes D rr francea artees parkinson mayes kayos WITO servia SYNOPSIS disappointed through her inability to put finishing touches touche a to her costume cot turoa tot for ft a dance anne anna chamberlain is I 1 irritated by the stolidity of her escort george If hildreth ildreth A visitor in the community neat neal conrad young lawyer li Is to bo the sensation en atlon of this evening and ha chr th A annet aas as suitor ts is vaguely jealous conred conrad la Is impressed by anne perceiving her fine character A few days daya later she fhe abc acc him and his hi hostess mrs mr griffin on a picnic f into to her scanty savings to buy suitable finery for the trip from an old friend mr coldenberg Col denburg at the end of cf the day neal declares declare his love anne anna has ba no doubt of her feelings and they become engaged the mar riago ariage Is I 1 solemnized quietly but impressively CHAPTER V continued 12 A cloverleaf clover leaf of course and neal and I 1 will have martin ls after dinner well go to the theater have bave you ever been to spain mrs conrad well you and veal neal must run over soon nn an enchanting coun country tryl I 1 madrid he suggested it as casually as george used to speak of driving her into Ham hamstead steRa but anne steadied herself she betray her nervousness ous ness her provincialism and embarrass neal neal who was really twice as wonderful as this attractive stranger mr hathaway Hatli awny did not after all make many conversational demands upon her it was only necessary that she should follow hla his dashing lend lead and this inwardly stumbling but outwardly sure footed she managed to do the men plunged into politics neal was talking very frankly he was waa thinking seriously he said of running ning for mayor but birt it took so much money and he sure the machine was friendly later while they were getting their hats before starting for the theater he and hathaway had a moment alone and hathaway asked a question where did you find her neal in a place called west hamstead vermont about two months ago she taught the district school ashes the daughter of the village neer do weel are you in earnest never more so clarence hathaway Hath awny whistled softly any more like her left behind theres no one said neal like tier her in the whole world clarence whistled again im inclined to think youre right he remarked however im glad theres one shell do very well as you said in the governors mansion 1 I say protested neal well you better allons nion mon cher still later lying in the curve of neals arm anne thought it all over the strange meeting the stranger vis ions of new worlds to conquer which followed it ilow how many worlds were there yet to be revealed to her she had already glimpsed so many of which she had never dreamed these last art weeks and now it was their last night in washington the last night of their honeymoon and in the morning they would be going back to Hin to the little four room apartment to hard work and everyday existence yet there seemed something about this encounter with clarence 11 hathaway athaway that was pregnant with meaning with promise with proP prophecy heu 4 when they reached nin Ilin they had to begin right away to economize they had spent more money than they expected but that neal SAW said with a laugh was of course to be expected I 1 and anne laughed too when he be said it but after he had gone to his office she sat still with a pencil and a piece of paper in her hand and did sad little sums before she even washed the breakfast dishes or made the bed it had sounded huge the amount they could count on for foi housekeeping when neal first told her about it and here it was melting away to nothing in her careful hands just as those steaks and chops melted away in neals mouth the instant he got home at night starving hungry my aly but youre a good cook coonc honey another helping please and lots of butter gravy just floods of it all 9 round around tho the baked potato and stick a pie piece C e of bread in it too fish in the pan we used to call that when I 1 was a kid neal did not complain about the bills and be praised her cooking as he be praised everything else she did but once he be drew money from the savings bank where his account was already much depleted and once the bills were not when those of the following month came in and there were ugly little words account rendered at t the be top of her statements it was then that anne commenced to do her sad little sums she roused herself from them at last and began tier her days work for the first time without joyousness it was childs play for her after her long hard drudgery at the farm as far as actual labor was concerned she slipped out of bed in the morning while neal was still asleep put the clothes to so soak swept and dusted chilled his orange juice steamed tits ills cereal percolated his coffee at first he remonstrated with her he liked to find her there beside him to kiss when he woke up besides there was waa nu need of it IL but gradually the mental satisfaction and deep physical comfort of rising in a warm tidy house to a waiting breakfast perfectly cooked and served overcame tits his in the evening he came home to the sanie same shining order the same complete refreshment there was waa never cool soup soul or lukewarm salad find and half an hour after they had finished supper the dishes had been put away the gas stove was cold the kitchen dark and she was curled up against his fits shoulder in ID the big morris chair that was so hideous but which held field them both so luxuriously one thing ill never fling in your face neal chuckled more than once when they were thus comfortably settled the bread that mother used to make why you can give bothel mothel cards and spades in housekeeping right now bowl I 1 but those bills I 1 the figures began to dance before her eyes anne who was never sick began to realize that their horrible cavorting their sinister leaping were giving her a headache that night when supper was over instead of curling up tip in neals arroa arms she bhe faced him with grave determination neal she said soberly ive b been een thinking things over our expenses weve got to make them less it makes me unhappy not to have bills paid promptly all right ill draw some more money out of the bank that makes me unhappy too goodness annel youre probably the unhappiest woman in Hin besides she continued relentlessly and without noticing his levity 1 1 u is t after dinner well go to the theater have you ever been in spain conrad you cant keep on much longer drawing money out of the bank can you I 1 mean there such an awful lot left look here anne set you worrying about money I 1 earn it dont I 1 I 1 earn more and more all the time and I 1 kicked at its going im just as proud as I 1 can bep be P 1 I want to pay cash for everything I 1 have plenty of time to go out and get things myself instead of having them delivered and its possible even to have nice suppers without any meat at all lve l been studying food values macaroni and cheese and cocoa and grapefruit make a very tery nourishing meal good lord loidl I 1 exclaimed neal besides went on anne were feeding too many people sunday dinner for your family costs as much as everything we eat the entire week by 0 ourselves ur selves and it if we must pay back every time your friends ask us to their houses well have to stop going why annel anne I 1 I 1 never guessed you were so inhospitable im not inhospitable but im honest it honest to feed one group of people with food for which we paid another group of people neal did not answer 1 I want you said anne to give me thirty dollars the first of every month the rest of this winter ill do the best I 1 can with it if I 1 can save gave out of it in one month well have company the next if I 1 cant we wont in the spring if youve earned enough to put back all youve taken out of the bank and have enough left over to increase my allowance say to forty dollars we can have company every week it you yo u want to first fir it your family then some of your friends but of every increase you give me 1 I want you to put the same amount back into the bank anne ive been mistaken la in your character I 1 see youre a cold calculating woman oil oh neal darling 1 dont say that even in fun 1 I how can I 1 help it when you propose to starve me 1 I dont propose to starve you hardly know the difference ference dIr I 1 the tears were very near her lashes her lips were trembling but she rho stood her ground even through neals onslaught finally without having given her a definite answer he absolutely refused to discuss the question any barther she could see that he as well mi herself was hurt perhaps she elie was making fl mistake she was nothing but an ignorant inexperienced little country girl presuming to dictate to hinl him yet instinctively she felt though she did not know that she was right TO continued 1 |