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Show I 777 GIRL HE LEFT BEHIND HIM HI By Rayner Dean in Town Topics WITH untiring vigilance she had stalked her prey from one end M 1 of the terrestrial globe to the B i other, running him to earth eventually '1 in the Bahamas, whore ho succumbed H I to the inevitable after a flight that H " said much for his powers of endur- 1 anco. One of the precepts carried for- H jj ward from childhood was that a man 1 J may not marry his grandmother, and H f he held tenaciously to this belief when H ho reached the age of twenty-five. But H the lady thought otherwise and mar- H x ried him. Then she brought him back Hj li in triumph to America, where, tough H jj girded about with golden shackles, the H " worldly goods of his wife, ho entered H Into durance vile at her side. H They were at dinner. Bob Beresford H looked down the table at her. She had H hair of silky white, too silky. It seems M to recall something feline that was at 1 times the reverse of silky smoothness. H Her complexion was pallid, lifeless H' t like a pool that becomes stagnant H when cut off from a living current. H Beresford watched, as he had many H times before, her delicate mastication H of the food she conveyed to her mouth. m It was such an odd. mouth. Something 1 about it always led him to expect that ,. at the termination of the meal she M would dip her hand (but he thought Hj of it as a paw) into her linger bowl H I and pass it oyer her face. It was a Hi small, straight mouth wtihout curves, H . and looked as if it had been drawn to- H f gether by a thread. When she smiled H t It was with one side of her face only, H as if afraid of displacing the other. H 'For God's sake let us do some- H thing!" he exclaimed sudenly. "We sit H here like a pair of old fogies?" H The smile he had learned to loathe M n was at once in evidence. 1 d "Even you do not grow younger, H H Robert. At the Wellands the other Hj night you danced all evening as much HI i if not more than the unmarried men. H I hardly thought it dignified." H ' Beresford, who had been "Bob" from Hj I his cradlo to everyone but his wife, Hj. grinned broadly. H "The girls didnt seem to mind." H The crooked smile became more B crooked. H ' "Girls nowadays are not very dls- I criminating." H "Thanks. That's a doubtful compli-, H ment to me, you know." H ' "Compliments between old married H people. How foolish!" H Beresford recalled the cynical writ-H writ-H ing of a clever author: "These charm-Hi charm-Hi ing women. Even in the moment of a Hj tender caress from them one is con-H con-H scious of a catlike uncertainty about H it. When she tires of kissing she will bite." H There had been moments when he HL had been tempted to take his wife by M the throat and see if he could squeeze fl something human into her face. M "Yes," he said dryly, "we seem to H have been married, like the dead, a H , long time. But I arc still young H, , enough to come to life." . . H' ,' He drew out his cigarette case ,but I r before he could extract one an indignant indig-nant remonstrance from her stopped him. "Surely y ou are not going to smoke in my presence. Sometimes you seem to forget that you married a lady." Beresford put away the caso, replacing replac-ing the one he had taken from it. Only the Lord knew how great was his temptation to reply: "He wished he'd chosen a woman from the street instead!" in-stead!" Two Persian cats that had been reposing re-posing on silken cushions suddenly clawed their way onto her knee. A wave of emotion passed over her 'immobile 'im-mobile face. Beresford pushed back his chair from the table with an exclamation of shuddering disgust. "Now that you have your family with you, I'll ask you to excuse me," he said curtly. "Going out? 1 suppose an evening at home with your wife has no attraction attrac-tion for you. However, don't let any thought of me spoil your enjoy " But the end of the sentence was cut off by the door which, banged behind Beresford's back. He disappeared into the night. "Old man," said Bob, apostrophizing himself, "we will just drop into the club for a drink to take the taste of the cattery out of your mouth. Also we will commune with ourself as to some solution out of our present difficulties." diffi-culties." But the couple of drinks obtained there not being sufficiently inspiring, he jumped into a taxi and had himself driven to a cafe noted for its Bohemian Bohem-ian character. "Takes more than a couple of drinks to displace some things and people. What damn fools we men are! If we would beat our women now and then they would respect us more ,and wo would be more faithful to them." In the brilliantly lighted cafe a couple swayed rythmically to the music between the course of their dinner. din-ner. By a sign, imperceptible to the un-iniated, un-iniated, a handsome girl seated at a table alone drew Beresford to her side. "Do something for me, will you?" "Depends," replied Bob cautiously, bending over her. "Want a divorce from my husband. Play dummy lover to help me out? He's due here any moment." 'IWhat's he done? Why the divorce?" inquired (Bob, his heart warming to the absent man, whoever he was. She shrugged her shapely shoulders. "I'm just tired of him, that's all." Bob shook his head. "Line of complaint not good enough. Sounds too much like the idle rich. Sorry." "One of them yourself?" Smiling In appreciation of the joke. "Married to one of them," sighed Bob, moving away to a vacant table. A girl slipped into the chair oppo site to him; her delicate brows raised interrogatively. He nodded permission. Her face was full of immature beauty. Her eyes were still Innocent, her curved mouth fresh and sweet. Beresford suddenly discovered that he had become epicurean in his attitude atti-tude towards women. They must possess pos-sess that indescribable something that for want of a better name is called charm. The girl before him had it. She talked without embarrassment. He drew her reluctantly to tell him of her home. The home deserted through lure of the limelight. Poor little moth! It was in the country. A little farm with softly lowing catttle, clover-scented fields and songbirds; fields where flowers bloomed and rivulets trickled. Beresford glanced from one to another an-other of the painted, half-dyed women who surrounded them. The eternal feminine, their escorts, the sensuous music the glamour of the limelight- For this she had left behind her a life of peaceful calm; had left it without with-out regret for this tainted atmosphere. As yet she was only on the verge of the precipice, but it would take only a touch to push her over it. His thoughts drifted to his own affairs. Only one life served out to each of us to be lost, wasted or thrown on the scrap heap by stupidity or ignorance. More couples joined the dancers on the floor. Voices had risen a key higher as the wine circulated and night drew on apace. His own companion com-panion had refused to drink anything but water. Good little girl! But for how long? Life was nothing but a moving-picture show, and only the devil could have done justice to so perfect per-fect a screen. Outside the boys in the starlit street were crying: "Extry! Extry! War extry!" , Wars at home and abroad. One, man's work, the other Man's work. The solution the riddle rid-dle of his own difficulties answered, settled. With rejuvenescence he filled his glass and drank a bumper to a new life, a new self. He had come to life, as he had told his wife, young enough to do a man's work, not the bidding of a woman. He paid his check, forgetting forget-ting the girl, who rose as a matter of course to acompany him. Outside she slipped a hand into his. "Take me with you." He looked down at her. She little knew the distance he had that moment mo-ment determined to cover. "Take me with you," she pleaded. The warm, clinging fingers were distinctly dis-tinctly companionable; conveyed something some-thing to a heart that had been starved. When will women discover how much of herself the mother has imparted to the male in spite of the iron mask imposed im-posed upon him by life to hide it? Take her with him! Well, why not? She would be safer, better cared for with him than left to the hell that yawned before her here. She would amuse him on the voyage. If by any stroke of good luck ho could reach the front, he would make provision for her in case of accident to himself. All women really craved for was money, again money and still money. Creature comforts and furbelows. Why should men worry about their morals? Those who boasted any were like his wife. Again his gaze traveled to the girl at his side. Her eyes were uplifted to his anxiously but confidingly. Wonderful Won-derful readers of character are the frail sisters of the street. Their knowledge knowl-edge gained in a hard school is generally gener-ally infallible. By the light of the moon she looked a mere child ,a tired , child. Ho was fond of children. If he'd had any his married life would have been bearable. A revulsion of feeling took possession of him. And when again she whispered: "Take me with you?" "No," was his answer. The finality of that "No" was better understood by her than it would have been by his wife. It left no room for argument. Not for an instant did she think of combating it. Only when his hand tightened over hers she asked: "What are you going to do with me?" "Send you home!" She strained to loosen her grip, to escape from him. Then recognizing the futility of the struggle, she walked by his side, her eyes full of a great wonder . He called a taxi, and followed follow-ed her into it. Later ,as he put her onto the cars, he took a roll of bills from his pocket . "You will go straight home to the little farm with its flowers and songbirds, song-birds, and the God-Almighty-Peace we only recognize too late . You promise me?" "Yes I promise you!' ' She pushed aside the money gently. "But not that .please." A moment he hesitated, then returned return-ed the bills to his pocket, and bonding down, he pressed his lips to her brow. "Good-bye, little one!" She heard, but could not answer; her eyes were dim with tears. His interview with his wife was short but to the point. "Life together is Impossible, you know. When I get t o the other side I shall volunteer in some capacity or other. You will still have your cats!" In this hour of blissful separation nothing mattered. Dead or alive, this was his last appearance so far as his wife was concerned. "Of course, I quite understand. You are going to Europe with some female, Robert! This war is merely a seasonable season-able excuse. Peaceable as my views are, loving harmony as I do, I can still gather how killing and other hideous ., ' forms of a man's idea of enjoyment y will Meal to you." "Quite true. But I shall kill without with-out torture." "You must not expect that I shall divorce you, Robert. The woman who has reposed this misplaced trust in you must take the consequences, and lie on the bed she has made." "That's all right. I think she'll come out on top just the same. Just one word, for my time is up," with a grin. "If by any lucky chance you should be made a widow, it might be j to your advantage to get rid of those cats." History repeated itself. The closing door cut off the last word so dear to her. Even the most adamant of decisions are sometimes shattered by circum- 'j stances. It came about that Mrs. ' Beresford found cause to reverse her ultimatum as to a divorce. A fashionable person, in entire sympathy sym-pathy with her views genoraly and her large fortune in particular, had ) tentatively offered his hand and heart when she should be free from interfering inter-fering ties, as the months passed t without news of Beresford. y "I am not in accord with divorce," he murmured, "but the casualties on the fighting front are so frequent that it does not seem Providentially possible that your ahem that Mr. Beresford can have escaped. It would, however, be advisable that you make certain by careful inquiry. If, indeed, it should prove that he is still actively engaged ' in exterminating his fellow creatures, I shall, representing the Church, absolve ab-solve you from any fault in freeing your sweet, angelic soul from such f " thraldom by aid of the law.' i "I will go to Europe myself," an- nounced Mrs. Beresford, heroically farming out her cats. "I will find him if he is above ground or " And in the fulfillment of this decision decis-ion she investigated most of the hos-( hos-( pitals within reach of the war zone. But in vain. It was with the reassuring reassur-ing conviction that she had left no Stone unturned that she entered the IdFt of these. A nurse mel. her on the threshold. "You seek someone?" was the inquiry. in-quiry. "My huband. I cannot ascertain any reliable information as to whether he is alive or dead. It seems incredible incred-ible that he can have escaped. The nurse gazed at the woman before be-fore her in shocked surprise. Those who sought generally did so with the break of a heart in their voice. Before she could answer, a Btretcher that had been carried in, and was waiting her "f .attention, was pushed forward, and the occupant took the words out of her 1 moiith. "Is it really you, dear Jane? And r looking for me? (Why, where are the beloved cats? Ah, me! Both legs Jane! 'A damaged headpiece, and a broken shoulder. I fear I shall bo a dreadful burden to you!" i f Bob Beresford took a loved, season- ed pipe from his pocket with the hand that was uninjured. The nurse uttered t an exclamation of sympathy. Mrs, $ Beresford smiled crookedly. "You won't be any burden to mo, Robert. I am about to obtain a divorce and ally myself with a gentleman!" with a glance of disgust at the pipe. "Right you are, Jane. I could not expect you to put up with the pres- 1 enco of a sick man, much less a cripple. crip-ple. I shall make no defense." As she disappeared, Beresford rose with something of an effort, hut dis-played dis-played two sound legs and a hroad grin. "So, little one," he said, turning to the nurse, "you did not keep your promise to me you did not stay on the farm. But since you are here" laying his hand gently on the arm held out for his support "why, we'll see the fight out together!' Tom Nolan, the counsellor, for I years kept the Now York har laugh-1 ing at his drolleries. Once he was arguing ar-guing a case in behalf of some sailors, sail-ors, and in the midst of an exhaustive display of nautical lore he was interrupted inter-rupted by the court. "How comes it, counsellor, that you possess such vast j knowledge of the sea?" "Does your , Honor think," responded Nolan, "that I came over in a hack?" Passing through a military hospital, ! a distinguished visitor noticed a pri- M vate in one of the Irish regiments M who had been terribly injured. M To the ordorly the visitor said: M "That's a bad case. What are you go- M ing to do with him?" H "He's going back, sir," replied the M orderly. M "Going buck!" said the visitor in M surprised tones. M "Yes," said the orderly. "Ho thinks M he knows who done it."' M |
