| Show MM LAWI BY ROBERT ROBER T W. W CHAMBERS C AMBE S INSTALMENT 45 Rita Rita What are you sayIng saying say say- ing ink I scarcely know child I am tryIng trying trying try try- ing to save you from lifelong ness tryIng ness trying to tell teU you that that that-that that men are not worth it it- it How do you know There was av silence Then Rita very pale and quiet leaned forward resting her elbows on her knees and framing her face tace with her hands I I h had d my lesson she said You Oh my darling forgive darting forgive me me meI I did not know know- know s Rita suffered herself herselt to be drawn Into the younger girls girl's Impulsive Impulsive-em- embrace em- em brace they both cried a little arms around each other faIt faltering out question question question ques ques- tion and answer in unsteady y whis whis- pers 1 Were you married dearest No Oh I am so 50 sorry dear dear dear- So am am I I. Do you blame me for tor thinking a bout men as I do think t you love him love him 7 I th thought I did C I I I was too young to know It doesn't matter now now now- No no of course not You Tou made madea a ghastly mistake but It Is no more shame to you than it is to him Besides Besides Besides Be Be- sides you thought you loved him He could have made me I was young enough But he let me see how absolutely wicked he was S C I And then it was too late to ever love him Oh Rita Rita Then you haven't ever even had t the e happiness of loving have you you Rita did not answer Ha Have you vou darling Then Rita broke down and laid her head ort oo Valerie's knees crying as though her heart would break the terrible part of ot it she sobbed I really do love a man now C C C Not that first one And there is nothing to do about it nothing it-nothing nothing Valens Valerie Valerie Va Va- lerie lens nothing because nothing because even if It he ask asked me to marry him I cant can't now Because you you you- Yes x And If It you had not not not- God knows what I would do sobbed Rita I love him so so Val Valerie rie I love him so sol soi The younger girl I looked down at the blonde blond head lying on her knees looked knees looked at the pretty tear stained face gleamIng gleamIng gleaming gleam- gleam Ing through the fingers loOked fingers looked and wondered wonder d over the philosophy broken down beside the bowed head and breaking heart Terrible her plight with or without without with with- out benefit of clergy she dared not give herself Love was no happiness to her no confidence no sacrifices sacrifices- only a dreadful mockery mockery-a a thing that fettered paralyzed paralyze terrified Does he lie love lo you whispered Valerie Va Va- lerie iNo No I I think not If It he did he would forgive Do you think so so Of course Loye Love pardons everything everything every every- thing said the girl in hi surprise Yes Yea But never forgets That was the first confidence that ever had passed between Valerie West and RIta Rita Tevis And after atter it Rita apparently forgetting her own philosophical philosophical philo philo- collapse never ceased to urge upon Valerie the wisdom the ab absolute absolute absolute ab- ab solute necessity of ot self preservation In considering her future relations with Louis Neville B But t like Uke Nevilles Neville's logic Ritas Rita's failed before the Innocent simplicity simplicity simplicity sim sim- of ot the creed which Valerie had embraced Val Valerie rI was was' willing that their relations should sho remain as they were If It the little gods of convention were to be she had the courage to sever all re relations re- re lations with the man she loved if It anybody anybody anybody any any- body could convince her that It was better for tor Neville Marry him she would not because she believed It meant inevitable unhappiness for tor him But she was not afraid to lay her h hands in his forever ver QuerIda called caned on them and was very agreeable and lively and ad fascinating and when he went away Valerie asked him to come again He did and again after atter that She and Rita dined with I him once or VI t twice e and things gradually grad grad- slipped back to their old footIng footing foot foot- j ing tog and Querida remained on his be bet best t behavior I Neville Novillo had prolonged the visit to 1 th the tha parental roof He did not explain j to her why but the reason was that he had made up his mind to tell teU his I parents that he wished to marry anc and to find out once and for all what their attitudes would be toward such a giras girl gir as Valerie West Vest But he had not ye yet found co courage rage to do it and he was lingering lingering lin Hn- lin- lin gering on trying to find it and the proper moment to employ It His father was a gentleman so utterly utterly utterly ut ut- ut- ut terly devoid of imagination that he had never even ventured Into business business business busi busi- ness but had been emotionlessly content content content con con- tent to marry and live Uve upon an In Income Income income In- In come sufficient to maintain the material material ma ma- and Intellectual traditions of ot the house of ot Neville 7 Tall Tan transparently pale negative in character he had made it a life lIte ob obJect object ob ob- to get through life Ute without Increasing in increasing increasing In- In creasing the number of his acquaintances acquaint acquaint- ances legacies ances-legacies legacies In the second generation generation genera genera- tion left len him by his father whose father before him had left lett the grandfathers grandfathers grand nand fathers of these friends as legacies to his son It n was wag a pallid and limited society that Henry Neville and his wife frequent frequented fre fre- quent a d-a d a coterie of ot elderly Intellectual intellectual people and their prematurely ely dried out offspring And intellectual inbreeding was thinning it to attenuation atten atten- to to a bloodless meag meagerness in which they who ho composed It conceived conceived conceived con con- a mournful pride Old New Yorkers all aU knowing no other city no other bourne north o ot of Tenth street or west of Chelsea Chelsea si si silent lent serene drab toned people whose drawing rooms were musty with what wha had been fragrance once whose re religion religion re- re ligion science Interests desires were the beliefs nad motions o oa of ofa ofa a ago their colorless existence and passive snobbishness affronted nobody nobody nobody no no- body who did not come seeking a af af- front To them Theodore Thomas had been the the- thel thelast last st st. conductor his orchestra th the thelast thelast last musical expression fit for a cult cult- society the academy of music musi remained their last symphonic temple the last refuge of ot a drama now dead forever Delmonico's had been their northera northern north north- em ern limit Stuyvesant square their eastern old Trinity their southern and their west western rn Chelsea Outside there was nothing The blatancy ant and gilt of the million voiced metropolis fell feU on closed eyes an arid and on ears at attuned attuned attuned at- at tuned only to the m murmurs of ot th the past They lived in their ancient ancien houses and went abroad and nd summered In some simple old time hamlet hallowed hallowed hallowed hal hal- lowed by the tl-e headstones of ot their grandsires grandsires grandsires grand grand- sires and end existed as meaninglesslY and blamelessly as the old catalpa trees tree spreading above their dooryards And into this narrow circle LouIs Loul Neville and his sister Lily had be been 1 born X r Jo b I |
