I w 9 vi Margaret Garrett S Sitt rr itt By JANE PHELPS A J CHAPTER 1 1 In the Beginning When I 1 met Robert Garrett his mother had just died She had gone to New Haven to see him graduated had dad caught cold coM and two weeks after alter had passed away aay I I 1 met Bob at New Haven the week I 1 he finished I was there with a girlfriend girl girlfriend friend whose brother was stroke on I the same team with Bob Garrett I liked him at once Perhaps like Is not nota a a. strong enough word for the feeling I he awakened in me He lie seemed ut utI utterly utterly ut- ut I terly Indifferent But when he came camo cameto cameI I to New York after his graduation he hei i looked me up Then when his mother I died I r. r of course sent a a. little note of i condolence and told him I should be r glad to see him when he felt equal to toi i paying calls i That noto was a masterpiece I II I know It now as I look back Bob had almost worshiped his mother and was inconsolable after her death His Ills father was a a. strict stern just sort of a man I but he and Bob never seemed to get along well together to understand t each ch other Perhaps they were too much alike though Bob always de declared declared declared de- de I I he was like the mother whom he so dearly loved So Bob Dab being lonely and sad cameto came cameto cameto I to see me I was three years older than he an only daughter of plain people and had been brought up to toI know how to keep house louse to cook and I do the thousand and ono one things which mean making a home comfortable I but haven't much to do with making individuals happy happ i From the first Bob seemed to like to come to see me me to stay to dinner and then to sit on the broad veranda i and tell me of his mother I forgot to mention that we Ve had gone down to I our summer cottage on Long Island A tiny place but all father could af afford afford afford af- af ford and all mother desired All AlI that summer Bob spent much time with us He lie owned a little roadster road road- ster eter and after arter business hours would drive drle down don In time for dinner AIwas AIwa's Always Always Al Al- ways was he spent the week ends with us We Ve played tennis or went In swimming swimming swim swim- ming but mostly we sat on the piazza I and talked That Is is Bob talked and andI I 1 listened And always he spoke of ot hit his loneliness his ling fee of loss his I regret that he did not feel more at home borne with his father Often when he came I would be busily at work either making the house attractive helping mother cook or working In the kitchen garden our boast and pride We 0 kept no servant senant and Bob often praised me telling me how capable I was was what a good housekeeper housekeeper house house- keeper etc I Sometimes I resented this thin and wished he would talk to me as theother the theother other young oung men I knew had had end and I I sometimes still did I wanted him to to tell me that I was wan pretty pretty really really I was waa inot Inot i not at all bad that looking looking that I had lovely lovely lovely love- love ly eye eyes that he be admired my wavy way hair I one one of my chief attractions or or some other nonsense But he seemed only to think of m my making homemaking qualities of at my ray sweeping dusting and cooking j I often said angrily to myself though I II iI I never by word or took look let him know I I I resented his bla hi attitude I was too anxious to have him bun with me Bob with al his bl business ability was waa was extremely temperamental He was apt to be either very ery enthusiastic or I Ivery ivery very depressed But I came to love I him that summer with all the love of oft I which I Iwas was capable though not one word Of love lore did cUd be he bred breathe the to me not note i ilo lo once one ca show that I 1 stirred the slightest slightest I In hb him I was just a corn com Cotta bl a girl to b ba with He lie myri my r. i I J. J him liim but mother I suspected how I felt That I was older made no difference to me 1 I never gave It a thought Three years is is' is isso so little 1 had to learn that it IS little in a mans man's life lite but much in a womans woman's The week we were to go in was cold and raw yet Bob came as usual 1 I had built a roaring fire of hickory logs in the fireplace and we sat at talking talking talk talk- ing long iong after father and mot mother er had bad gone to bed Then all an suddenly we fell silent Bob stared into the coals as if he were reading his fate fail in the glowing cm em bers hers and I surreptitiously stared at Bob trying to read my fate in his face For a long time we remained thus then Bob spoke I I niss mother more every day Margaret home is almost unbearable to me now I wonder wonder wonder- As he hesitated I muttered some words of at sympathy words I was sure he did not hear I wonder he picked up his speech where he had left off oft If you will viii marry me Margaret and make a home for me Will Wilt you Yes Bob I answered a almost as quietly as unemotionally as he had spoken though I was In a very tumult of at revolt He lie had not once spoken of at love or asked me If it I cared for him Simply would I make a home for tor him But I loved him so entirely so passionately passionately pas pas- that I was happy to marry him on any terms And as he kissed me goodnight before I went upstairs I 1 thought When he ceases to grieve for his mother he will love me as I want him to to Yet in spite of these thoughts and my happiness that I was to be bo his wife my pillow wa wa- wa wet with tears teara when at last I fell tell asleep CHAPTER 2 Back Back to Town The next week we returned to town Bob came to see me often otten but of ot course he did not remain over night as he had in the country Ho lie usually spent about three evenings a week with me and on Sunday we motored out Into the country country- If It It were pleasant pleasant pleasant pleas pleas- ant and had dinner at some roadhouse roadhouse roadhouse road- road house then drove home lie He seldom came In after one of these rides as he cared for his own I car Bob while quite prosperous was not what is called a rich man At least not In New York Ills His mother had divided her pe personal nal f fortune between be- be tween him and his sister so making father and Bob Independent of his allowing him to start in business Ho lie I had o opened ned a real e estate tate of office rice and W was S doing well It seemed strange for Q a man with Bobs Bob's temperament to sell real estate lie He was literary I almost a bookworm and artistic to hl his hi finger r tips Yet I sup suppose all this het helped him to sell property as It its It added to his personality I As Aa the days passed I thought 11 II detected a different quality In Bobs Bob I manner toward me He lie seemed more mor more i although at no time was waa he Particularly demonstrative Yet let Iwas Iwas I Iwa J wa was happy so happy that sometime sometimes the f fear ar that my wouldn't wouldn t fIut j f jIa Ia last Iut t frightened me I said something j i jat of at this tl to him once Just a hint oft hint of of the way wal I t felt lIe He took me In Ma hisk assured me t arms arm and kissed me and a that be lie would do all a at II in his power t to o malt mak mab me tae happy happ Of or course coarse I believed him What That girl ns as much in love as I Ij wa i not t A As 1 I look back I 1 wonder how IC I C believe Id that a man tram like Bob could 11 be no so cold COM Jo Ju Just t let e tbd over ft k book a picture n and lb would l be j tiu c. c d ors My been a ay y iI of of I 4 t book or story technique he only knew when they touched him Father and mother were delighted Continued on olY page ace b. b j