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Show ANTHONY'S TEMPTATION. 0njTicht. 191 l,V Channlng Pollock.) ' VlH7HAT ls U?" ,,ltluIl'9d stolln- lat-thcw, lat-thcw, slopping In tho middle B u of hcr tl'shWRshlnj; and "Tin; ,i Good Old Summer Time." W Is it? A check?" ; ttiiony. "h0 nnd come t0 b0 lc"0Wl ' fepubllihlng circles as "Stella Matthew's f:sband." did ot answer at once. Ills turned a shade redder and ho rsramel tho envelope which tho p03tman Ci given him into the recesses of hla In-Q4 In-Q4 pocket. Stella Hung down the dlah-' dlah-' , and thrust herself. Into tho doorway Wtseen tho kitchen and tho combination jijing-room and library- "DM you get a ti(Ck'" she persisted. -r I ever sot chocks?" Anthony re-h-Jd "vagel. yet with a note In his ii-e that Inspi'vd pity. " 'Returned with iirt! Rejection does ' not necesssarlly SrSrlruk ot merit;' that's the sort of Mie ih-S snd m. I wish I knew what they like about your stories." f-Wfcv nothing specially, dear," replied m ilfc She wippn ner arms on uer .rax that sho might put them about his ! without soiling Ills shirt. "You write : frft 'o much ltur lhaiv I. only I'vo been i! k ionrer. Ymi mustn't get discouraged. Too'll-striko it In time." -rim?' l'v" boon at 11 two 'ear3- : I guess it's a city losk and twenty-"a'tveck twenty-"a'tveck for mine ror the rest of my i f.' whit's tho r.ilds, anyway?" f . In the face of such hopelessness as thl3 ! t-riii felt her pn-aenco worse than use- w. She put up her rosy Hps to be kissed. Via went biuk to continue her struggle. i"A the coffee cups. She had seen Aq-itoy Aq-itoy "down ' very often of late, and she 1 'vffreognizrd In this heartfllckness tho ifliiaalady of which she might not cvon '(( fiTto cjre him Her attempts. Indeed. fffetKl enh tr Irrltato and annoy the big. I iinre-chlnnc ft How whose defeat was o much the lmrrter for him to bear be-uiw be-uiw of her sucr.-ss. , othony lovr-,; his wife, as a great many 'mry-day mrn s,t" do' ln P,lc oC tno IslM and Jrats of tho comic papers. Ho ua thought her the daintiest and brightest bright-est little wmrn whn he married her. iid his greaU-st delight had como with ft conicmplatlim of tho things he would 'fjforher whm hf "got there." That he ;vwU ultimately "pot there" he had never 'iwbte:l- Tho newspaper on which he nrkod had printed three or four of his raanccs. and cores of his friends had toaipllmcntrd him on their cleverness. 'Rrtl thf m.apazines ought not to be dlf- fcjlt Hfttr t'tle ts a matter i f fact they had proved not ely (hfflcult. 'but Impregnable. 'Manu-nrlpt 'Manu-nrlpt Mior mi- iperlpt was returned to L'a.nlwns "with thanks" and a printed ilp. Stella on the other hand received $5' Jtr h-r vrry first story, a fable Intended fir chl'dren and had sold nearly every-tihj: every-tihj: thrt had cmno from her pen since. Tils hail not horn so humiliating, for Antony An-tony imturn'lv looked upon fairy talcs iUh socio eorvtfmpt. but latoly Stella had Sjd-j n se ly market for humorous firw hT husband considered hlfi forte. fact tbm he was fond of her and hst'd hcr to. lie proud of him made her IM5TC-S mrrrh the more a reproach. It ,tu he who must he proud of, her now i Anthonv Mntih- w, six feet-one In.hlsu ittcStlngs Sm'h"v. those six feet were uVtrovrnliig .aggravnilon. ITbrn1 wns no denying that, notwlth-' 5i41nc his superior helpht. Anthony did M( write half ? well as Stella. His work 3itltf3 the graee and point of hers, and l!f (""c iod It A burlesque sonnet which pfha'l finished the night before lay on ttiitesk brsltlo a long envelope addressed iitho "Editor of The Decade." Anthpni'i hi rt.td tho v rse twice, and ho knew '.Cal II was better than anything he liad fordone. The Decade would print it and tie boys at the of tier would say: "Saw a jm of vour wife's this morning. T si-iiild think ou'd go In for magazlno jwk some yourself, old man." iiEHIa's fresh young voice made Itself Itin bove tho clatter of plat'es In the anJ6lnlng "Th Good Old Summer Jfc:" had plvon way to "nednlla." An-JtJny An-JtJny pauscll, holding the manuscript, to L-lin. . !"0h, lidalla. Dalia. 'Dalla, I Tve rrl'de up mv mind to stale ye; ; Oh, Bcdalla. Bedalla, dear." Jlerc association of words shot a' sudden farfiiolnto his brnln. The sonnet was In m bands, the addressed envelope was ! him. whv shouldn't this contribu-ftlon contribu-ftlon to to the Decade over his signature? Iv tvarancc as l"s composition would Vl'Lr t"c mature of ;i triumph, niul An-' An-' 'wh felt thai be had enrned a triumph i ? one kind or another. " saw a poem I if yours," they would be compelled to re-I re-I t?J,k al thc otlUc. And Stella? Why. I could gain nuthing by the nse of t j?r ram" xIth the verse nothing but a I dollars which he could easily make w to hcr In allowance. Anyhow, Stella 4 u.Ws wlfo a"d what belonged to hcr WOiscd to him. If she knew what he i Sowing to do she wouldn't care. She , WW h? glad that he had found a way to j. khappy ''il1011 selzPd the pen at his elbow and pf, Lf. th" poem In a firm, round hand, r Ja he folded thc uaper. plnced it In the gplow and scaled it Stella heard him S;a. the'sloor of the apartment, and came f'wafilc where he was going. "To mall tuff lo the Decade," he told hcr. I rlP!it back.- jwt ho didn't come "right back." Once t lJiiu ! nnd ,JOi?n dropped in the box. ' hFit tDrc,w away Its mask and rose to L kT11" He realized as suddenly as thc I .nS"lon hnd come to him that he was ijUUtL The paltrv excuses through -td- ii ,lilu" lok("d at his act melted ,r g'tflng eyes of an accusing con-and con-and he dared not return to the ten-fv5?a ten-fv5?a of hb wife "Great heavens. hii ivc 1 doner- ho asked himself as fi-Al01 tll(' corner, nnd "What havo I ; KS, kenl fepeaUng as the elevated fjui 7.h'm along to his work. fv. r0UKh tllP day new nhnsea of his St Rntly crovded Into hl3 inlnd. "in tdltor of the' Decade rccog- nl-vd Stella s style In the sonnet and wrote to usk questions? What If ho failed to Keep her from seeing thc especial number Zliu: i 1':z,nu in which the poem was published? In either of these fcvents. what would she think of him? Would he lose iter respect and her confidence altogether? Anthony wiped tho perspiration from his brow at the thought She might even censjo to lovo him. It was a hard eight hours for tho cilv editor of the afternoon paper which paid or the Matthews livelihood. It was a harder evening which brought Stella's jIVvm01?1?5 .k,fl3 aml ,u?r half-hurt incmlrv. What took you away bo suddenly this morning?" The Aveck that ensued waa hardest of all. He had become so morbid on the subject of tho sonnet that he was arrald to take the one backward course that suggested Itself to him. that of writing writ-ing the editor that a mistake had bc(;n made in- the signature lest that aslulo gentleman should ausDcct the truth. Ills eyes, formerly so frank and honerit, rarely met those of his wife, who soon discovered discov-ered that something was wrong. On the elevated station one afternoon when ho was going home AJtthony caw the August number of the Decade Onlv mwi .')-'r""'v"ns3n " tm mrf nine days had elapsed slnco ho had posted Stella's poem, yet he looked through thc magazlno with agonizing apprehension Suppose it happened ta have been used In that issue? Ills hands were shaking when he turned tho last leaf nnd he felt a hysterical hys-terical longing to laugh or cry. "This thing ls playing the vory devil with me!" he confessed to himself. "I can't stand it much longer. "I'm going to tell Stella nil about 1L" He fully Intended to do so when ho opened hla door nnd saw the lovo and solicitude so-licitude ln . tho face of tho little woman who met him. 'There' a letter ln the dining-room for you," she said. "It's from tho Decade. I didn't know you rfent them anything. You won't let It make you blue, will you, dear?" "No." said Anthony, shortly He strodo Into tho dining-room and shut tho door behind him. It had come at last. What should ho do with thc money? Nothing In the world could induce him to touch it. He wasn't that kind of,a thief. A few minutes later Stella finally resolved re-solved not to be angry nt anything Anthony An-thony did when ho was so plainly despondent, despond-ent, opened tho door and stared at him. "Why, Kiddle," sho said, "you look ao happy. Was It a check?" "No." he replied exultantly, dropping on the floor the bits of paper ho had held In his hand. "No! A returned manuscript manu-script thank God!" |