Show avy p th NN ea NUB A novel hy by iffeney kl Kit kitchell it eliell webster Y copyright by the bobba merrall co service il A SYNOPSIS acting in perfectly good faith in fit an effort to aid a nelph bor ruth ingraham in a business bual nen way edward patterson orBon cashier of the chicago agency of a life insurance company in wron wrongly 1 suspected impacted ty by hla his wife julia of infidelity CHAPTER I 1 continued 2 aluth had been a revolutionary phenomenon to him from the beginning shed let him see sec made him believe anyhow that she admired him had bad long admired him as a man she soon began confiding to him matters that were entirely out of the range of her business affairs she told him how unhappy shed been with tier her husband how hed neglected her and been unfaithful to her she said that at the tim timo o of tits his death shed been upon the point of leaving him she told him these things desperately forlornly under the stress of what he had believed to bo be a profound emotion she put him under the seal of confidence ile he to tell anybody she say eay in so BO many words that he to tell his wife but he knew that was what she meant it had thrilled him to be trusted with intimacies cies eles like alko that enormously it set him up in his own estimation ile he must be something more than a dull middle aged failure when this charming rather worldly young woman could turn to him as her friend the tha time came when on wishing him good night she held up her face for a kiss as simply as a child been something almost unbelievable lie vable to him about all this that to him married and forty six years old it should come unsought ills ilia response to her caresses was it a passionately made promise to himself that he would not betray tier her trust in him that she should never find him anything but the faithful high minded friend she took him for might the thing have worked out better beiter had lie he been less high minded about it if hed been simply a predatory male taking as much as ag lie he could get rather than a quixotically chivalrous fool k As far as his present relation with julia was concerned hed be no worse on off now he grimly reflected had the episode with ruth taken its natural course there were gusty furious moments when he wished it had worked out that way A straightforward masculine sin would be a preferable thing to 0 o feel guilty about if he must feel guilty alt with that on his conscience he could go back to julia and tell her he was sorry ile he would be sorry all right hed feel no doubt like tho the very devil but as a sort of background to his repentance there be a comforting sense not of achievement exactly but of regularity anyhow he be obliged to think of ruth laughing at him now 4 0 whatever buoyancy hed found in the act of running away the sense of adventure of truancy evaporated when lie he got on the train to go home again it did no good to run away he reflected unless one could keep on running lie ile coul ant ile he had to turn around and come back there was his job his stale unprofitable job waiting for him at the tha end of the trip ruth thank god be waiting shed have gone by now having made mada the discovery that he quite the abject thing she had taken blip for there was some satisfaction in that he rubbed his eyes and wondered why hed tortured himself about her so BO long but julia with the children would be waiting for him ile he tried to imagine her a reVen repentant tant julia ed on going back to buttermilk brook would have told her that ruth had sold bold her house and was going away and that his father known irown of the plan that would have convinced her that she ehe had done him it a gross injustice lie he imagined her passionately regretting that she had written that savage letter he had answered it an hour before he took the train to california and had bad felt at the time of writing pretty well satisfied with what hebald he said sald hed told her he was taking a little run out to california by way of A a vacation and hi har expect to get home until a few days daya after atter slie ehe did the substance of her letter he dealt with in ina a single sentence pretty carefully care hod had he be felt satis satisfactorily fac or fly thought out xouy have learned no doubt from ek ed that the ground for your objection to re to lako lake side aide ti no longer exists 1 that was dignified he ebelt felt and sufficient fici ent julia had bad told him not to try to justify himself and hed refrained from doing so it what she wanted of course she wanted him to grovel grovef to promise her that he would got get rid of ruth whether held hed have done that it 1 ruth of her own accord packed up and ancl gone away wax wa an ac academic question she had done aone it and his cifes grievance w s left so fw 01 as he could xea aea without a leg to stand on OIL but auf during the last day of his bis trip t were not so comfortable thiemo of his meeting with julia r obies obsessed lied him how would y ff axi ay a faw f aw 1 i A A i 1 1 10 A A A 1 4 1 1 1 she took look what would she say what would she do the logic of his position was all right 40 st dut but logic was no panacea for the trials of marriage hed found that out long ions ago should have found it out at least julia would never have written him that letter except in an agony of humiliation and despair whatever the rights and wrongs of the case might be she had been sorely woun ded dad and his reply cold curt contemptuous had rubbed salt into the wound hed known it at the time it was what he had meant to do hed ailed been hurt and angry indignant rather under an accusation that was outrageously unjust hed got to remember that lie ile go crawling back and ask to be forgiven shed never believe in his innocence if lie he did that lie ile might have told her though in that letter that he seen ruth ingraham in weeks and never expected to see tier her again that have compromised tits hla pride too much and would have been restorative stora tive to jullas julias As things stood now shed keep her grievance alive to balance hla his an arid hopeless sort of way of living that would be for two people who had to share the same house the same children the same bed bedl I 1 how long would it go on like that he see any end to it ills home would be a dead thing just as tits his job was lie ile had telegraphed julia that he was getting home sunday morning but told her the exact hour or the name of the train they could figure this out of course if they wanted to from the sending point of ills his telegram but it likely that this would occur to any of them there was a possibility that hed be met but the chances were against it on the whole he was rather relieved when he found that he ile he have labeled his feeling either its as dread or anticipation whatever it was it turned him limp and breathless it occur to co him that anyone but julia might open the door hed forgotten he had bad any children but it wits was his seventeen year old daughter edith flushed and bright eyed with excitement prettier and more grownup grown up looking that shed been hed last seen tier lier in june who came flying down the stairs to meet him film she cried out dad I 1 I 1 knew it was you youl ill and hugged him there was warm reassurance in that hug however julia felt about him she had not he decided given anything away to the children ile he said well twell its good to be home again 10 it are you glad to be she said she was but he felt sure that there was something more than a mere welcome on tier her mind does it seem natural he persisted everything all right about the house and so on oh yes she said sure weve been here quite a long time you know since thursday morning ile he felt his throat stiffen as he asked the next question wheres your mother ashes at home she oh ashes here edith told him but ashes gone to church E ed d took if 1 4 r dad 11 she asked why did you go to california you really old did go there you the car about ten minutes ago to meet ll 11 her r and bring her home be here any minute embarrassment was piling up between them thicker and thicker she went to the window and looked out to self see if the car ansin was in sight it but there was quite a long moment before she turned again and faced him 11 dad she asked blurting out oui the w words is as if they had burst from her why did you gc to cilla california orala you really did go there you of course I 1 did he be said 1 I dont know why exactly mostly for the ride on an the cars I 1 guess what made you yau ask if I 1 really went oh I 1 dont know she said uneasily 1 I meau anything in particular cular only it seemed sort of funny well weil he be sald eald after another td lence 1 I guess I 1 look as aa if id spent 4 f ra 0 A A A A A A A A A 1 44 A A I 1 A the last three days on the train I 1 think ill take my bug bag upstairs and freshen up a little before your mother gets home lie ile had said it for the sake of saying something doing something breaking the ice fee which ho he reminded himself always formed after the first moment of greeting but she take it with the relief hed expected she gave him film an odd quick look started to say something but checked herself ile he waited an In instant instasi then turned away and picked up tits his bag ile he was standing with it nt at the foot of the stairs when for the second time she burst out find your trunk and the rest of your things in the spare room she sha said she turned away quickly under hla his stare but he knew shed been looking at ac him when she said it with that same excited curious expression hed noted in tier her face a moment earlier lie ile felt his own face growing hot ile he doubt but the girl know knew what it meant ile he managed the he words thank you edith and with his bag started up the stairs here they are she cried mother and ed back from church she flung open the front door and cried out mother dads come home ile he descended the stairs again and set down the bag ile he could see his wife and tits his son eon coming up the walk the resultant of the conflicting forces playing upon him was precisely nothing at all the things he wanted to do contradicted each other good G d why had he come home to a in mess s like tl this s ile he supposed because he had nowhere else to go me lie litta nothing but his home and tits his job nothing I 1 CHAPTER II 11 edith of course a birthday was just like any other day it was a silly little girl idea that you woke up that morning different older and bigger edith sat epand up and craned around for a look out the window of course it really matter what kind of a day it was since her birthday treat depend upon the weather she and her mother were going to a matinee to see a play that sounded rather jolly captain applejack the original idea dads for the celebration of her birthday had been a dinner party four couples they could play cards afterward or dance it had tempted her it ill wits was so eo satisfactorily grownup grown up and dignified it would have been perfectly slick allek if ft things had been right at home or even not so horribly wrong there was nothing to show from the outside that anything was wrong except for eds being away at college there was nothing about the household to make it look different to an outsider from what it had always been but if she brought any of her friends home with her she was sur sure i e guess eyen and mother refrained as they probably would at a party from getting into ona one of their terrible rows just the way things felt would give everything away she even be sure that the girls going upstairs to lay aside their wraps discover that all dads things were in the spare room and that mother was living alono alone in the room that had always been theirs draw their own conclusions from that th atmos most likely but what would those conclusions clu be the intolerable thing was that edith lve bo sure aure she been able to draw any herself and she even have talked to her best friend agatha willard Wll lard about that she was almost glad that agatha had gone away to boarding school in the east it made it easier somehow to keep up the bluff only what was the use oh dear what was the use of anything she felt her throat getting stiff and abruptly she turned beat up her pillow and lay down again it was nowhere n near ear time to set get up she had better go back to if possible ner mothers voice called to her from the next room the communicating door stood open opec as it usually us bally did these days you awake edith happy now new yearl come coma in and give in me 0 a L kiss d S s edith sprang out of bed and without stopping stepping tor for bathrobe or lor slippers for the cold floor felt good under ller her feet and the chill air d delicious elic ions as it bathed her hoy body padded into her mothers room after the tb kiss kisi edith sat sai for a moment stroking her mothers birin smooth arms arins but at the question how does it feel to be seventeen she desisted resisted des isted 1 I dont know she said 1 I was enst thinking about that of course ive been practically seventeen for quite a long time and tm tin not sure that that nicer having it to look forward to I 1 mean what sot got to look forward forwar a to now Is ig eighteen and that ahat to la not oo 00 60 thrilling tl rall I 1 mean this Is practically all the beadli enax of well of growing up Iloth erV stu aft I 1 AAS N AAi 41 AA A A i A A A i i I 1 it be nice it if you could pac pick the age you wanted and just stop there what age would you pick to go back to you mean yours nour 9 I 1 guess some change in ili the quality of the voice caught the girls girl ear then she turned a puzzled look on tier her mother but if stopped then id never havo have been born would IV I 1 1 I say I 1 wanted to go back her mother reminded tier her then briskly she added seo see that big box over on the window sent scat go and open it and see inside it was an enormous green box mother alother I 1 it for niel the girl cried as she struggled with the string hut but I 1 thought the matinee was my birthday present she pulled the cover on off the box and caught a glimpse of tan color it was a lovely fleecy polo coat with a satin lining light as a feather and warm warin as toast almost exactly like one shed envied corinne baldwin the possession p os of up at the brook last bummer yet as she bho shook out the folds of it and slid her cold bare arms into its sleeves site she was in terror lest she should cry mother how perfectly darling I 1 she hoped her voice sounded all right its just ex exactly acely the its the only thing in the world I 1 wanted mother she flew back bac k to the bedside for or a kiss then turned back for a look at herself in the long mirror already the spasm of disappointment was passing from tier her heart this thing was real and it was really hers it did look lovely on tier her too the girl slipped out of tier her coat laid it across the back of a chair where it if be lost to view and crept in beside tier her mother if Ws a nice day I 1 can wear it to the theater this afternoon she said 1 I think going to be perfectly great the show I 1 mean dont you mother arent you glad were going She thought her mother mean to answer the question hardly called for it certainly for nothing more than an inarticulate murmur of assent she w was s startled when at atthe ae en end d of a pretty long silence her mother smother said im glad it if you are but are you sure you rather have had the birthday party of course im sure id lots rather go to the show somehow she felt she quIte leave it at that and she added 1 I care about the party particularly she lad had tried to make that sound indifferent and casual but she knew she brought it off her voice had betrayed her she was getting frightened after the silence had spun itself out a while she asked why not because she wanted to but because she help it why did you ask mother |