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Show QQJEEN ri ANNE'S 'fe-LACE 'fe-LACE k r s - ' - - - CMAPTC R VIII Continued - Id - In I ho ilo.-i .-tilUi; tlli;;lit h,. h :lUi-4 Mul, truly to:ll hrr, tllul t'.iuif Im it riu h nt'out hrr. Thou, :.:.i!,!.mniS nil rr-iralnt, I,,. ks,..l I. or, I'lcr mi. I m or it : ,i I ii. on tlu-month. tlu-month. I'ho '!i-slon iiml lolrnro of th, riul'i iiri-. wlihout prrllin-liuirv prrllin-liuirv r.inx, Mrink. hrr llko n hlovv. Hut .t!i a aloliMlitli: lioliso of hrlf l-.orror .-!:o rr.i'.l.-r.l tli.it Klu Iniil f , Ir lu il."., rni:iu,l I'ffort tors,'ii.r fr. m it : t!:.u a'n li.iil, for a in,, tr. rut, ti,-t'i". r';.on,lr l to tt ; roal-UN,'. roal-UN,'. t:i.-lt I'hirr. t:l hohlln-h.r. hohlln-h.r. w::l ;.o.i,:ni; to hrr 111 ft ,!,-,. it'r.u.t i:!i truio.ii.h. "Vou mv,"- t hSj.or.-.l. "Anno, iir'-!::.. ot't ) on mliit't for oti '! no t' :lt ,MI lovr inc. Vou " ' ' t t IM' k.-, I . k If )o; t. 1 " t'.:a'.r rirri t:,:i or y . i f.-r on. :i'... :l V ,. ,-t.lhlroti it:'" I U t!..;t. Nr.il ,.:'. ):, t.,ko '. : r 111 f r. 'VI oil. Yoll kt',. .V ) oil .i:.: to :.i h.-ro i:h n.r, :i t:,. ! r.".:.;l I r .:M r :v. I , -r ),.:; ir ! ' . it to 1. 1 r for III.' tlrst t'.ri'.r. l'" . o w.-n ! i rr.. I rtrry ol.r wo I for.: t il'.l n! ottt '.!. If r S '" ".r Ati: r r, :., ' .1 t . r-o'.f 'r.r l!. r I n.-ro :,.ik.-. in wot: si I r- ( !t ; to ".rr::.. :, !' ''.' -i ;.'i or for,r .i!.om !.,-r : :i r '.".." ::-.! I .i t.. ;; .vn t. "I :. : loir I.. :.-' r ro.t.T.it. 1. ; r-',." 'y I :: j r i.' y. "I'tr 1. r:i Pr.t:r: .1 to yo i a;. . j,:,.!; : -. i:;. :n to . w! lt.it-1- :-' !. 1 .,.:..'ie . .I::y y.ri il t o ri -or-v '.: It l..i, ; r:i. I n I a-:'.. A:..! y : rr r..: t. I h ur ,,.) Voon nt'r:i : ! hy )oti. I'.r ! i; t.'.at w. it t:i t.'.r ti.o for t: o loo::..-:.! - k ; h t k s..:i;r:l.:r.; ro- .: :. rr ko'-s at--I fr: i:i:t:i o. Vo::-.rrt aro r.iiC.ir o!:;.'t'::iir an i'!l n r-rri. I i in-.ro ti.-";.lo wo:M r.v. ;! ':.' t:..it. It-it I ilott't l.oe ;..',. I;' 1 lovr. IM n:N-r g.t t-.i. k to Jl:r.!-or.. to nil t' .-.t i.'r : !.-.--y tin I s.:;tt:..n fit y.'U r.ill It to hri: .: n.-'rctr I ami for- -::.-n t'y h:m n jou've MntiM. bi lot.,; a I can w ith h:m, tl- m to ::-y h.-r In I'arl rtml all th.kt It rrra:. w'.th you, hront:- I ..r Mm. r.-au' I know ho holmi to rre. no niattrr wJirit he iI-m' or li-x-Mi't il '. r.."'auo I he!.. I.; to him. If he fa.. I'm . I ! I to fall with i Then, Abandoning All Restraint, He j Kited Her, Over and Over Again, I on the Mouth. him. And If he sticrfoils. lu the etui, I'm coins to he there to we It, even If I can't Hlmre It." I For one vlhrtint niomont of Bl- 1 lr-nre they lawl each (ithrr then he Lent his head, stricken hy the (oiifioiisnrs.s that he hud hoen very clnso to violating a Khrine j "From the holtoin of my heart," he .-aid. "I nsk y"ir for'ivenes.s." CropiiiK her way down the dark, wlndiiKC little corridor that led to ' hrr room.i, Anne wits middenly confronted con-fronted with n lare lozenge of li-ht. Neal had heard her ap-proarhlni; ap-proarhlni; fonlHleps he must have I,,.,.,, llHienliiK for theni-itnd had , the door of their little salon, with Its welcoming radiance, wide ! open And dashlnk' out to meet her, he Blmost Htnothered her In a bear' h""Oh Anne where have you been Sf) long? I tlmupl.t you'd never come' Io hurry! V'U cant Imaf," I,,,, what's hap.em'I. Anntr-Anne read that cahlrKi'am-" She nnatched at the flimsy hit of 1,1,.., paper which he was wavltut ' in her' face. It was shfieil hy ' Low j ,. governor of their stale. And It i read: ,,,,,,,1'iA' .7I:NI0K SKNATOlt i hVhm..n;;',,.;;-,!;-: I h i ATI'.S KKNATIJ." 1 CHAPTER IX 'P 'I'll: day of hrr ilrath Amir 1 I'onritd will rcinruihrr hrr tlthl winter In Washington iih a Menu-tot's Menu-tot's wife. Mm, ,1,-ivlnn liiNiHti'tire. She iiml Neu I illsrussrd the tpirs Hon of a temporary homo nil the way oer on (ho hoat coniltij; hark from Fails, and finally tlisltlod, on nroouiit of ihe children, that a Kinall honso would he iiri'frrahh. to an ai'iiriuii'iit. She went on lit onre to n-hliii;lon iilth Noitl to hr"ln hrr r:irrh for a dwrllinic place. It hhotihl not, hhe t holirht, hr very hard to tlnd eartly what they "iintrd. nn. I slie urrd Nral to follow fol-low h.s Impatient desire to hrln "'. ttiiii; hrith'd" In IiIk ipiartrrs at tin' Hrnatr oltlro. She n::ir.d with him perfectly when ho (old hrr that oi rryi hln-w.ih hln-w.ih In trrrll.le confusion, and thnl I hr illd liot 1s' how he was evrr o I: A t" i,-' t Mt.il,:litrnrd nut am ad . J lM.',l. So w . lit .'lit to look for Loll..-, hy hrl.rlf. The real estate ! a.-rnt to h she had applied led I 1.. r to aoirr.il tintrnanlrd inarhle ' i'.i'..i. r. Inn t with Inaliy taprs-I taprs-I tr .-H nnd finnNhed In rickety Kilt, a:;. I to a ho,,- v.i. -cession of tall narrow nar-row r,ll:i,e m.i.lr f hrl-ht red hr!. k. ioh ei'o t.n hath, nnd :hM.:ny "ha. k t .triors." she ro.Mr.l.-d tl i!oci:.-:y nt li rs t : then h. -an to .hj.st in.ldl). " I'.l toil 1 1 ' . -. i "' I'-.m hat I a-kol joii for In the hr'iimiii:: ; M .all holisrs, .!!, nh out rlht r.-on.s. coin riornt :y iirraii'.-d. and i at a r.n-o:i.ih:r r.-i-t.il? t'i:!,-si li N clear I" ton now hat I want. I th.t.k I I. .id letter to to nnother The n-eiit w.ih ero'Veil. It had not occurred to hlni that Mich u p'lii..', pr.-'.ty. nnd gentle lady would he it" unaui.-nahle tit Ion hliin-ilN!i!!irt::s. hliin-ilN!i!!irt::s. Allowing her to are that Ms f.-. llnt wre hurt, he h-d hrr from o:;e trniall tl.i.u'y dwrlhui; to nnothrr. They were nil dirty he-jo:i. he-jo:i. il.--. ript Ion, m.d In most of thrm loth pIiitnhinK anil heating plant were n.'ithptateil and In-ud.spiate. In-ud.spiate. Anne wei.t hack to the Will ard. dlrry with illsronr.'tjromciit, nnd Neal eprr..-rd curprise nt her lack of sucrrsi. "Ar.-n't you a little too fussy? We ought to he Kottllik- settled, yoll know, nnd having porn and the chil dren come down. Surely yen must he nhlo to net something. IM take a day off and help yni hunt, hut things arc so t.-rrihly piled up lit the othce " "I know, Nral. I'll try ngaln. I'.ut honestly. It's nwfully hard." The next morning she dismissed the agent and started out hy herself her-self on -foot, stopping hrfore every house that displayed In Its window a sign of "For sale or to let." At last she discovered turkrd nway between be-tween two handsome hrownstone "residences" a small house of yellow-painted brick. It was only two stories high; Its location was excellent. ex-cellent. Tremblingly, Anne sought out the agent. The house proved to contain a small hut sunny draw-Inc draw-Inc room opening Into a dark little dining room whose one window overlooked a diminutive lack yard, and a kitchen In the ell; on the second sec-ond story two largo bedrooms and one small one, and ft bathroom; In the basement, under the drnwlns room, a storeroom which might conceivably con-ceivably be used as a playroom. Anne felt, nt last, that she had found something which offered possibilities, pos-sibilities, at last. She asked the amount of rent. "Two hundred and fifty dollars a month, without heat or light, linen and silver, of course. Very reasonable." reason-able." Anne was aghast. Hut she was also desperate. "I'll let yoll know tomorrow. I think probably I'll take It." "I'm sure you couldn't do better, Mrs. Conrad." It was because Anne was so miserably mis-erably sure of this herself that she painted the little house In brighter colors than It deserved to Neal that evening. And, even with this effort at couleur-de-rose he was not enthusiastic. '"I'liaCa n to--',;,; price. Why, wo woul.l.i t have nny more room than we did In the cotlngo -mil iih much, really-and you know what that cost I And there'H no garage." It wan nn t Ixi tip of her tongue to urge him tu no nut and hunt for himself If hi. felt he could do bettor. bet-tor. Hut nhe managed to restrain lu'i-M.'ir, r inking only, "1 wish you'd mine and look at It In the morning." "1 really ought to get to the olllre In coed season. You see" "Yes, I know; hut It will take only a few minutes." Somewhat grudgingly, Neal run-sriitrd run-sriitrd to nrrompuny her; and e.iually grudgingly he signed I he lease n few days later, t veylng the Impression, though he did not aeiually nay so, that he could have done much hetler himself If the n rial I' of the nation had not weighed so heavily upon hint. Then Anno bought herself some cheap gingham drosses, a supply of scrubbing scrub-bing brushes, cleansing powders and sort cloths and began the process of cleaning house from top to bolloni. It was bacl.hrcaklng work; and her muscles were soft after her summer of physical Inactivity. I'.ut she did not know where to seek u scrubwoman; and she already saw, very plainly, that she would have to begin to save pennies again. She did not even have the satisfaction satis-faction of tlolng her hoiiserh-anlng lu unlnlririiplrd pnicc. The telephone tele-phone rang constantly. At first she answered It cohsolcutiouslv. hellev-lug hellev-lug that Its peal might portend tilings til-ings of Importance, to Neal. It usually proved, however, to he n photographer, who wished her to have her picture taken. When the same linn called three times In twriot-four hours shr hung up the rr.-elier with a bang, and answered the telephone no Inure. Thru, of ; course, a magnate from I'.elford. who had only a day In the city, called and received the report that "they dl.hft answ er." Mr w rnt home to I'.rlfor.l and wrote N.-al an Indignant letter, and spread the nrwH among his nrlghhors that "toiirud was grttlng n swelled head already." Neal was very nngry about It, and Anne felt that he had tt right to he. At the hands of the newspapers she fared even Worse. The society e.l tors, like the photographers, had trl.-plioiiid her; like the photor;. raphrrs. she had put thrni off. She could not hear the thought of giving giv-ing Interviews. I'.ut Miss Sharp, of the Fvcnlhg Inipilr.-r, decided to present herself nt the new senator'!, sena-tor'!, residence. nnd take her rhiinret, on hoinj: rebuffed, even though she went without an appointment. ap-pointment. Her ring at the doorbell door-bell rrmalued unanswered; and she turned for help to n young woman, hrr head enveloped In a mopenp, who wns vigorously washing window win-dow s. "Can you tell me whrther Mrs. Conrad Is nt home?" she nsked. The window-washer wrung out her cloth from the pall of steam ing suds by hrr side, and turned her head half-way nround. "1 am Mrs. Conrad," she replied calmly, nnd went on washing windows. win-dows. Miss Sharp fled; hut as she fled, she thought, nnd thought rapidly. Itefore the sun had gone down, Anne had b.sm surreptitiously photographed pho-tographed ln the act of washing her last window; and the following evening, this distorted likeness of herself, together with the heavy headline, "Senator's Wife Acts as Own Scrubwoman" surmounted two columns, more conspicuous for their Imagination than their accuracy, on the front page of the Inquirer. This wns such good "copy" that It was, of course, copied from one end of the United States to the other. Reporters Re-porters were sent to Ilnmstead and to lllnshoro, to dig up forgotten or unknown facts or fancies nhotit the new senator's wife. Photographs! of "Pupper and Mummer" with Sol nnd Sam on the front porch between be-tween them adorned the Sunday supplements. Anne was delineated bending over the wnshtub nnd milking milk-ing the family cow. Had Neal been a candidate for the Presidency no sort of publicity could have been more helpful; since he was Instead nn appointee to the senate, none could have been more disastrous. I'.y the time the nine days' excitement ex-citement had subsided somewhat, the housecloanlng was llnlshed, gro-' cerles and coal hud been Installed, nnd Anne had gone to llinshoro to help Dora finish closing the house there, nnd bring the maid nnd the children back with her to Washington. Wash-ington. Then Anne's daily round of work began. After an early breakrast, she walked over to the garage the nearest one they had been nhle to (lnd wan several blocks nway anil got the car, while Neal read tin, morning paper, for It was, of course, Important that he should keep himself thoroughly Informed about current events. Hy the lime she had taken tho children lo school he was, however, ready lo have her take him lo the senate olllce building; ami after she had loft him thrc she did the marketing, market-ing, for the "cash and carry" stores were much ehritpiT than the ones that "delivered." Hack at the little lit-tle yellow brick house, Hie cham-benvork cham-benvork awaited her, for Dora had agreed to take care of the furnace If Anne would do IIiIh. In no time 'I ho hands of the clock were pointing point-ing to the hour at which she must go nnd get the children; steer theui through their luncheon, plan for their aflernoon railing. Then Ihere weri' the simple homo lessons with which they iiiS'ded help, preparation prepara-tion for Sunday school on Saturday night, dancing school to dress them for ami take them to Saturday morning. There was supper to get for all of them on I lora's night out hourly supper, for Neal had (pilckly fallen Into the way of taking tak-ing a very light lunch, and came home hungi'3'. Anne found herself standing Inside In-side her bed at night pressing her hands against her throbbing temples, as If by the pressure she could push hack the pressing duties which '-i Pn ' WW "Can You Tell Me Whether Mrs. Conrad I at Home?" drove her forward. She was continually con-tinually hurried and hurried; her driving weariness threatened to annihilate an-nihilate her. For, ns she soon discovered, dis-covered, the demands made upon her time nnd strength by her home and family were as nothing compared com-pared vith tho outside demands made upon her In her nlhclul position posi-tion as a senator's wife. Anne had settled herself with an overflowing mending basket before the living room fire one rainy afternoon, aft-ernoon, comfortably conscious that she had an hour or more to herself before It would he time to go for Neal. She had on a rather shabby little serge house dress, because she found It easier, with running the car so much, to slip a big coat over such a dress, than to keep changing all the time to her smart Parisian tailleur. She knew, of course she knew, that she ought to put on something more suitable for afternoon, hut It hardly seemed worth while, when she must go out ngaln so soon In that driving rain. Hut oh. well she picked up her fourth sock. The doorbell rang. She went to the front door and Hung It open. Two very elegant ladies confronted confront-ed her. Hehlnd them, nt the curb, stood a shiny limousine with a man In livery nt the wheel. "Is Mrs. Conrad receiving today?" they nsked simultaneously, ln shrill, high voices. And ns they did so, they each extended their cards. Mechanically, Anne reached behind be-hind her for the silver card tray that reposed on the hall table, nnd set It down ngaln, the cards llut-tering llut-tering over the edge, before she answered. an-swered. Then, In spite of her bewilderment, be-wilderment, she spoke cordially. "Won't you come In? I'm Mrs. Conrad. ... I think you'll tlnd these chairs, here hy the lire, comfortable." com-fortable." "Oh, thank you. We didn't know whether you'd have begun your Thursdays yet or not, It's so early In the season. And It's early In the afternoon, too, of course wo know that. Hut perhaps you weren't quite ready to begin receiving, Mrs. Conrad? You must excuse us, but we've been so anxious to meet the new senator's wife. I'm Mrs. Itoper and this Is my friend Mrs. linngor. We always make our calls together, we're such friends." Anne's head was whirling. or Thursdays? Mrs. Itoper and Mrs. Hanger? She groped towards n light which she could not find, nnd her visitors were Instantly awnre of the fact. "Of course you know, Mrs. Conrad, Con-rad, that senators' wives receive on Thursdays? The Supreme court ladies on Mondays, the congressional congres-sional ladles on Tuesdays, the cabinet ladies on Wednesdays, the senatorial ladies on Thursdays, the diplomatic ladies on Fridays that leaves Saturdays and Sundays for the resident society, the cave-dwellers, you know. Hut of course I don't need to tell yon all this I How are you gelling on with your own visits?" !Tp UK CONTINUED.) |