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Show L BUGS J jj fr A Story out of n everyday Hf. f j; By ElixaMh Markt, !! . . i l.ll.AAAAAJ.XAAJ.AJ.JL . ...... ' Those eyes ccrtainly hftd deep impression on Dora L thought of them whUe ttL the little dinner fo Em J I thought of them while "rw he table, very conventionally offer-ng offer-ng dishes to her husband. She bed. until sleep started to henumh her senses. Then when she heard Erail snore it ran thru her mind that we re-ally know very little about each other. Here she was as close to a man as she could be. and yot she was miles and miles away from him with another man. And ajrain the stranger came u? like a vision. It appeared to her that he had carried a leather bag. Ter-hap3 Ter-hap3 he was going away. What a pity! She might never, never see him airain. On one of the following mornings, after her husband was gone. Dora wrote a note to Curtis Taylor. This was to act as a sort of antidote a-?ainst a-?ainst the poison that had entered her system. She wanted to rid herself her-self of the vision of one man by comfmunicating with another. But no antidote was of any avail j' (Continued) ! njjtbermorfl, she did not get up Injure breakfast, as she hereto r j,ad always done, saying that not feeling well. But even -U stunt did not work. Emil, the blooded villain, showed not the i-'-itest sympathy. He said he'd ' breakfast down-town and off yvent. unconcerned. J gis indifference only encouraged in dinging to her plans, so dcl-ijlely dcl-ijlely sar?e3ted by Madam z Har-"I Har-"I i What was there to do for her borne? Sit there and mob about Ujt brute of a husband? Indeed Cfvrould not Or cook something for him? Indeed, she was not to be such a fool. Ha could lit from the delicatessen stove, liko f-ast of the husbands of the womor bd recently met with. She wa. l-i longer oing to be the slav.j for ?isan. She had found a purpose 'a her life. This was to enjoy her-iflf her-iflf and to tret out of life what sht 'Bold. All the while she wns watch-lit watch-lit for the fulfillment of the j.re-'cclions j.re-'cclions of Madame Harriot. And ib i certain extent they wore comin? . hit. j Dora had made two very intcrest-acquaintances, intcrest-acquaintances, and both of them j in visits at the opera. with Dora. The more Dora saw of her stranger, the more her thoughts were absorbed by him. In her mmd she connected him with the rrrand opera, and during the following performances per-formances she looked and listened for him only on the stage. She sat, her opera glasses tightly to her eyes, but she .could never make quite sure. Yet she was firm in the believe be-lieve that he was one of the great artists. The only thing that mystified, was the fact that he always carried a leather bag. If he belonged to the staff of great singers, he certainly would not carry his own paraphernalia. parapher-nalia. Yet, artists are often freakish, freak-ish, she reasoned with herself. One never knew what they might do. Hia resemblance with the great Caruso Car-uso certainly was baffling. He might be the stage doctor, she sometimes some-times surmised when the leather-bag leather-bag wanted a definition. Well, whosoever he might be, he inspired her. It went so far, that she could not do the smallest trifle without connecting it with him. Sha was most certain that he was a man of great importance, for he carried a stronjr personality in his appearance. Several times, she was tsmpted to sneak to Mrs. Vande Walle of the handsome stranger who always waited outside of the theater, and who looked so much like Caruso. But she always discarded the idea ?or Mrs. Vande Walle had a way of ooking fun at people, and ihe did not want all the wonderful romance taken out of this little taW.cn. After all, it might be sweeter to keep it secret. A few weeks of distant mutual admiration had . gone by. and Dora j made urher mind to bro abou ! One was a lady, who had subscriD-j subscriD-j td to the seat next to Dora's and who to at the play house as regular as ;c!ock work. Her name was Vand jlalle. and she had started the ac-.puintance ac-.puintance in a casual way. which i rith every meeting grew into a sort I of friendship. The two women always al-ways looked forward to meulin? Jtacb other. T Mrs. Vande Walle was one of those cloiioos blonds, on whom the lave-I'er lave-I'er of diamonds does not look too fashy and the almost yellov hair toes not look fast. She was a whole-I whole-I some type. There waa something soothingly refreshing about her, the charm of which Dora couM not es cape. With cucumber salad on a lot summer day, Dora compared her tor friend, who was so entirel J feient from the "Hatch type '. Sht- 1 often wished to see more of her than just to exchange a few words in thcttre. But after the perfov.ran-i perfov.ran-i ccs were over, the thrones gener-j gener-j ally divided the two ladies. Several times though. Dora had gotten a glimpse of Mrs. Vande Walle beinz ushered into a limou-: limou-: sine by a footman. The other acquaintance was a man. For the present, we will call the mystery man, for. so far Dora did not even know his name The meeting came about this way: In leaving the opera, after seeing Lohengrin, Loh-engrin, Dora had a collision with a wan who evidently belonged to the r theatre crowds, but who was push-" push-" ing the other way. On this rather forcible introduction, introduc-tion, both had laughingly apologized The man, who had lifted his hat i had kent it in hi Vinnd for several just as good and as cheap as one can at home. So why bother? They would not celebrate Christmas very much, this belonged to her new life. Of course, if she would get to speak to her "singer" next week after af-ter the opera, this might change the program ontirely. She would invite him to the house of course, when Emil would be home. And then, they would plan a wonderful Christmas celebration celebra-tion in this new world of hers. Heretofore, she had always gone where others had wanted her to go, now she was going to please herself first. This was the only way to j reach her goal. EmiFs mother had to be second consideration. Dora locked the letter in her desk. She was not going to show .1 tn JOniil unt'1 a.t r d nuot. And then, while he would be reading it she vjii run do v i i Mrs Hau l, for a few minutes, giving him any ple time to digest his emotion, which might cause him to suggest going to Standardville. That evening Emil came home with his old and long-deserted cheerfulness. cheer-fulness. Whats up? thought Dora, but she did not let on. While he was eating the desert, he looked at her several times, like a man who is about to address someone. some-one. But he did not seem to know just how to approach his party, and in silenee ho again munched over his desert. What a man! thought Dora. "Her singer" would surely not do like this. He was a real man, who knows how to handle a woman. Finally, Emil came out: "Dora," it was the first time since the quarrel quar-rel that he called her by her name and it som,ewhat pleased her "Dora," "Do-ra," he repeated, "I've found a house. It's a peach and a bargain too." She had looked forward to Christmas Christ-mas to bring her something entirely new, and there it brought her only a letter from mother Snyder. It read : "My dear children: I want youse' to .come, home for the holidays. Holidays are not holidays if I can't see youse around me like in olden times. I am awfully lonely for you. Since Emil don't chop my wood any more for me on a Sunday, the fire don't burn, so bright any more. Jimmie Wilkins chops it all right, but he don't care whether the pieces pie-ces are too big for my stove or not. And he ain't bringing it in like you used to do, my Emil. I guess youse are glad to be away from all this worry about an old woman, for youse must live swell in New York, as Dora wrote me. But I think them kitchens and electric ranges must be too small. There ain't no place to put in half a pig as you always did here, and it costs much to buy e-verything e-verything by the pound. Annie Miller Mil-ler came to see me the other day and she said that they charge fancy prices pri-ces for pork chops in New York. How would it be if I sent you half of my pig? The whole pig is too much for me. I don't have much company since youse are gone. Dora Do-ra always brought so . many young folks and I had somebody to cook for. Do you want the pig? Let me know. Now, what I really want to write today, is that I want both' of youse to come home for Christmas. My birthday is two days after Christmas, Christ-mas, and youse always give me such big presents. I don't want anything. any-thing. I want you two. I want to hug my bte boy and I want Dora tc fix up my dress. It's gotten too big. I fell awav theTr- last montriS The dress makers charge so much and don't do it as good as Dora. Take the money for my present and come to see me. Much love from mother Snyder." A lump rose in Dora's throat ar she read the letter, yet she did not want to go. She co la'dered herself her-self Icing at the dawn of many new things, which might slip from her an opportunity for roe y " take her home her car an offer had .Zt that Dora could not retuse appearing rude. m his i ace. w the same intention as she? j seconds. It occured to Dora that j Lohengrin when greeting Elsa, had j lifted his hat with the same peculiar mannerism, and suddenly the strange resemblance of this man with the great tenor Caruso flashed upon hen ! So great was her excitement created , by this discovery, that she felt herself her-self blushing. The man smiled. It was that wonderful won-derful melancholic "pansy-velvety" smile of the Italian tenor, who 8eemed to let his eyes rest on her J with visible pleasure. "A house?" asked Dora drawing the words long in real surprise. "A house? I didn't know that you were .ooking for a house." "We are surely not going to stay in this apartment forever? Our furniture will soon be here, perhaps before Christmas " "I had no idea you were considering consid-ering buying a house," said Dora, not at all elated over the idea of having her not up-to-date furniture so soon. "Why not?" "Why shouldr' we?" she counter coun-ter asked. "A house means a great investment and then, besides, a lot of work." "You would not be contented in a cage like this longer than you have to?" "Why not? I am perfectly satisfied sat-isfied to have less work." "If this is all you are looking for, it's a different case. But here you have no sewing, room, and I know you like to sew and fix for yourself." your-self." "I don't need a special room for the little sewing I have to do." Then he came out: "And I have no experimental room. You know I like to fuss with tool3 after dinner." "Oh,. I see " replied Dora rather tartly. (To be continued) - . forever if she left now. Ana ami. would hardly want (to go either. They had been away only a little over four months. What good would it do after all? The parting would only beso much harder for mother Snyder. Yet. this letter brought to her mind more than ever the thought of how they would spend Christmas. In Standardville there had been great preparations about this time, much secretiveness, much whispering whisper-ing and hiding of bundles when BOmeone entered the oom unannounced. unan-nounced. And besides this, the smell of annis cookies and other delicious pastry. Gee, those things were good! It made her mouth water just to think of them. Dora had to energetically banish these recollections. She was I not going to make preparations for the holidays. Emil would not appreciate appreci-ate what she did anyway, and besides, be-sides, it would only be a waste of money to bake much cake. It would get stale. Mrs. Hatch had told her Ihat in the delicatessen store they Uei cookies and other "goodies next time would ;gdic: perhaps, Madame BjnyU JP an invitation to a house party. The word ''house something ' ov always visualized Ut le ic8. A mansion, costly carpets, VU J tists, women in dazzling h men to be dazzled. - tnwin" alarming-Christmas alarming-Christmas ' ,'cu.t.med though, v-ith Emil st.ll on the sulk and sho peevinz with 1 tarn. " town, andythe Purpose poning their tin8j onUl after he holidays. Dora did not . know vet that the holidays ereXly t an intension to the doings of th regular pursuers of pleasure, re mining Vhem of their home-toe.. (She wanted; to discard the home-toes. j All this had happened within a j few seconds. Then the throngs j pushed between them. Some great j Di? footman, ushering a party to a j car, almost threw Dora over. Her i hat tumbled to the' side,' and she Just caught her purse from being I I torn from her. When she recovered, her "Lohengrin" had disappeared. Dora, presuming that he most . likely had jumped into a limousine, tad gone her way. her thoughts j 8tiU absorbed by the handsome I danger. Yes, he surely was a I handsome chap, . whoever he might be. and well clad. Coat with fur collar. .' Grey Suede gloves, clear "kin. A little grey mixed with his dark heavy suit of hair, and large velvety eyes of indefinable color. When she was rushing homeward to the roaring subway, she closed her. eyes to think.- Unexpectedly the vision of the stranger's deep eyes returned to her. in them con- 7 centrated the fulfillment of the in-..definite in-..definite prophesy of Madame Harriot. |