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Show I "I ought not to have said that. Just because he's not the sort of man I care about he said atammerlngly. "He's I quits all right It all dependa from jwhat point of view you regard him. I ; hope you will forget that I said thnt. Miss Shepstone. It It waa unpardonable." unpardon-able." "It's matter of complete indifference indiffer-ence to me what you say about Mr. Ashton,1 she told him. She stopped. They had been walking walk-ing along together. Which way are you going? she asked. Mickey flushed tin to the eyes; he kn-w this ws n dismissal. I was coming along to see Tun." hsild. A hnjtrd vou would sllnw ins fo walk along with you If I am not Intruding." Kath furred a sm!. but her Hps felt si iff. "Oh, but I am not going bnck " she isald. Her voire sounded as If It were 'cut In Ice. "So I won't detain you. Ooodbye.M I It was nearly supper time when' she rot In. Bhe paused for a moment In ! the hall and looked anxiously at the rows of coats and hats hanging I there. 8he thought she would know j Mickey's if she saw them there. She forceLJliat Jie might haYelakraUem. up lo .1 nne'a room. She turned away wi'h A little s'rh. The dor of the room opened before she reached the landing, and .Tuns ran- nut. 'Well. and what success?' June asked "You don't mean to sw that the old deir at the ggenov res IV had something to rffer you this time? Father nodded. Tell me.- she said. "Ho you know anv people named AsMon? "Ashton June wrinkled no her no 'I know some Ashtons who live In Rryanstone square." she said at last. "A mother and so. A very handsome womsn she Is, with white hair. "It most he the ame Mr. Ashton." sh- sa'd CRgerly. "This is her card Hhe ri" It to me today Mrs. Raymond Ashton. .Tiiwe glanced at the card and nodded briskly. "Hhe's a widow. Isn't she?" Esther said hesitatingly. "At least she didn't sav anything about a husband." "Yes. she's a widow right enough." . . a j.iil..J a) La t I frock. "He's auch a such j awful outsider," she added, unconsciously choosing the word Mickey Mellowei 1 bad used not half an hour ago, Kether sat very still. Twice she tried to speak but no words would come. 8he knew that It waa unfair to June to sit there and allow her ta go on talking about Raymond, but something In her heart seemed ta have set a seal on her lips. "He's that insufferable kind of creature crea-ture who thinks himself irresistible," June went on. "Mickey has often told me t he way he bra ga about h la aa called 'conquests.' Conquests indeed! What are they but a few poor Ignorant Igno-rant girls hoodwinked by his hand-joim hand-joim f.ice and sm.s'iili tungqeT? Dozens Doz-ens of girls he's had, my dear, literally literal-ly dosens! Only the other day some one told me that Mrs. Ashton had to threaten to cut him off with a shilling If he didn't give up some little person he wits supposed to be going to marry! mar-ry! I don't know how true it Is, mind you, but thst's the sort cf man he Is --I've no time for him at all," ahe finished vigorously. She went away, shutting the- door quietly, and Esther hid her face In her hands. 8he hardly knew why ahe waa crying, cry-ing, she only knew that she waa title, tit-le, Is uilsemMe. She took Ashton'a last letter from her dress and read It through again how could any one, reading it, doubt that he loved her? She kissed the signature passionately; passion-ately; nobody In all the world counted but this one man. 8he got up and went over to June's desk, which both girls used; ahe felt that she must write to him and tell him how much she wanted him. When she had finished writing she looked to the head of the paper on which aha had written for the address, ad-dress, snd then she saw a postscript scribbled in a corner which she had not noticed before. "Don't write to me here T shall hive left this hotel by the time you get my letter. I will write again as soon aa possible. It was like a door with Iron bars being closed In her face; she could not write after all! She could have no relief for all her longings and un-happlness; un-happlness; she must just wait, and watt, eating her very heart out, till he "Well, I'm thinking of taking your advice and going as companion to an old lady not that ahe'a very old." she added doubtfully, with sudden memory of Raymond's mother. "! wonder If It la likely to be any one I know. I have quite an extensive acquaintance ac-quaintance In London." "yes," said Ksther. "But I don't suppose sup-pose you will know these ,-eopie, anyway," any-way," ahe added with an unconscious touch of loftiness In her voice. "The name Is Ashton Mrs. Raymond Athlon." Ath-lon." "Ashton?" he said. ''Oh, yea. 1 know Raymond Ashton very well." He was watching her with Jealous eyes, and she turned her head sharply and looked up at him. Just for a moment a traitorous eager-Jnees eager-Jnees crossed her face: he could almost see the quirk question on her lips, then she laughed. j "Really! How funny! Rut, of course, j iSs you say. you must know a great j many people." . J "I have known the Ashtons for years. You will like Mrs. Ashton." j There waa a sort of quiet Insinuation Insinua-tion in the words, and Kather bit her, lip. "And the son T she asked. "I think you said you knew the son." "Yes. I know him he Is In Paris. I TpTIevrT Mickey wit conscious of a queer tightening about his throat: It waa a tremendous effort to force himself to j peak lightly. j , "And shall I like him as well, do, you think?" Esther asked deliberately. Mickey did not answer. "Io you like him?" she persisted. Mickey's restraint broke Its bounds. If he had died for It he could not have rherked the words that rushed to his dps. "I detest the fellow! he said. "He's a beastly outsider!" He dared not look at her. He held his breath, waiting for the storm to break, but if he had lost his aelf control con-trol she kept hers admirably. Really. she said. Her voire was ; a little breathless, but quite calm, j '"What does a man mean when he ca'lsj another man auch a name?" Her face was qnlto colortesa. even to the lips, and her hands were clenched In the shabblneaa of the cheap little muff she carried. He blunderingly tried to make amends. , wnue piii, She tore up what ahe had written and threw It Into the fire. She went back to June's couch and curled up amongst the mauve pillows: life wss so hard, so disappointing; It gave so little of all thit one desired: t h tears fell again and presently she cried herself to sleep. June csme back on tiptoe; sh stole serous the room and looked at Esther, then ahe went back to the hearthrug to keep Chsrlie company. The fire had died down and ahe re-plenlshed re-plenlshed It aa quietly aa she could, putting a knob on at a time with her fingers. ' As she leaned over tn poke them aoftly together she caught eight of a scrap of paper lying In the grate. It looked like part of a torn letter, and without thinking June picked It up the one word "dearest" stared up at bar in Esther's- writing. June looked at It for a long moment then she turned her head and glanced at Esther, atifl sleer'ng. June frowned;- she hunched her shoulders Impatiently. "More phantom lover, I suppose," she told herself crossly; ahe threw the little scrsp of paper Into the fire and watched It burn with a sort of vixenish vixen-ish delight. iTo be continued.) June sain. Ann nrnniwi i should think." sh ndded bluntly. "I never knew the departed spouse, but from all accounts he waa a perfect ter- I ror." Tsiher said nolhtnir. Ravmond had 'nlwnys sncken of b's father as belns a rrrn old snort," , f'er a moment , Thnr'e a son too." June said. "A kind of Adonis to took nf. beautiful ieyes and all that sort of thing." "Yea." aald Ksther. She tried to keep the eagerness from her voice. To you do you know the son, too?" she asked nervously. June gave a queer little laugh. "Oh. yea, I know him. That Is to say. I asy How d'ye do to him when I have the misfortune to meet him"' Kether's hands were clasped In her lap. why why misfortune T she asked. 1 .Tune Mason shrugged her shoulders. "Oh. I don't know It's hard to explain ex-plain he's never done me any harm, hut there are some people one hates by instinct, and Raymond Ahton Is one of the people I hnt." She smoothed a ciseJnJju skirt of her snged snd knsded "16" a pulp, trying tn ward off the tell-tnle lines with which time atsmps a woman's fsce. And In Hut they could get renults If thev gsve the name Amount of energy snd effort l cultivating sweetness of spirit, for life la a faithful srribe, and It atsmps gooti-nea, gooti-nea, and kindliness, and gentleness on a woman's face Jiift as surely ss it does tamper, snd irritability, and discontent. MORE THAN COLOR. Ma be a young man Just looks for ro'or and conlonr in s girl's face, but an old husrand loks for .something els-. iid to ninn whoee wife Juit grts dearer and eweeter every esr, and more suave and easv to live with, -ever find out that ahe hna lost her beauty. She looks belter to h!m every time he looks st her. And supt-oae a woman devoted ss much time and netf-denial to reducing her nsg-slng nsg-slng as she does to reducing her future. I Suppose she made ss great sn effort to. g-t ba-k the attitude she took toward her 'biisbsnd before tnMrrlsge as he does to rogations ner mirnwn naui-. , there be something tloit.g? Oh my, 1 ahould say, es. After sil. what does a mtrid'e aged man I rare whether his middle aged wife weighs j a fw pounds more or leaa? Nothing. A , man h got to be tied lo n woman bv i atoinelhing stronger than a corset string if she holds him. Whst counts wHh hun , it a peaceful home, and an eisy going. Irearonable wife, who ran St hs point j I of h w on things, and who is willing to a"ord him a reasonable amount of per-' per-' aortal liberty. of f ourse, it's all riaht for women to ItHke care of their beauty snd mke . j themselves ss nood looking ss they ran. ! Hut if th. y want to get action, let them? devo'e time nd ott-nllon to cultivating their minds snd souls. 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