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Show uinii;iii:;nii:iiit;;ii;iK:::t:i::;::i:!:u::::;::iii::::;i::::';!"":it:;:::;:t:::;ir;;:::::i:;a The Married Life of Helen and Warren t .. II 8 X tt T? 1T A DTTT Originator of "Their Married tt y MiJJlLJL Life." Author of "The Jour- il ;; HERBERT URNER " g II if : LAURA'S RECKLESS FOLLY PROVES THE FUTILITY OF 1 GIVING ADVICE . ittttKWK;ntw:itttitt;iiiJKniiiiiimssns38 (Couvriuht. 1M7. by tlie MClure Newspaper Syndicate.) "What has he to oll'cr you?" rea-soiiimI rea-soiiimI Hclc n. "lie's thoroughly irresponsible. He can't give you a holm, you admit he can hardly support sup-port himself." "Oil, I know all that and more," said Laura bitterly, bitter-ly, stabbing with a hatpin the vell- couldn't bear another scene just now." Through all the difficulties that had confronted Laura In her grim self-supporting struggle, Helen had stood loyally loy-ally by her. Iiut before the overwhelming overwhelm-ing disaster of this reckless marriage, she felt helpless. "The maid's out I'll have to go," stalling up at a peal of the door bell. Then at the sound of heavy steps. "Oh, Warreu's going. Who can it be; it's after nine," glancing at the dresser clock. Mumbling voices from the hall, and Warren called curtly: "Mr. Marstcn to see Laura." "Ed!" all the color left her face. "How did he know you were here?" whispered Helen. "Mrs. Burrows knew, but I didn't think she'd tell him. Oh, I can't see him I don't want to see him." "You'll have to, now that he's here." "Oh, he mustn't know that you know," excitedly. "He'd feel free to tell every one." "Then go in, quick, so he don't think we're talking about him." "Come in with me; you do the talking," talk-ing," dragging Helen after her. In the library Warren was making a desultory effort to entertain Ed Mar-sten, Mar-sten, whom he thoroughly disliked. With forced cordiality Helen greeted him. "I hope I haven't intruded," with easy grace. "They told me Miss Wilson Wil-son was here, and I thought I'd stop by and take her home." The next few moments would have been awkwardly constrained, had it not been for the inquiring entrance of Pussy Purr-Mew. "Oh, here comes that wonderful cat," he stooped to stroke her. Usually most diffident with strangers, stran-gers, she rubbed purringly against his hand. "There must be something good in him," thought Helen, "to attract animals." In a dark, foreign way he was undeniably unde-niably handsome. Tall, slender, faultlessly groomed, he carried himself him-self with careless assurance. Laura, still pale, was drawing on her gloves, tensely anxious to leave at once. She had hardly glanced at Mar-sten. Mar-sten. "Don't you think Laura's lookjng thin?" asked Helen pointedly. "I'm afraid she's working too hard," Marsten's dark eyes rested upon her. "But she'll never take a day off." "No, my landlady has an unreasonable unreason-able desire to have her board money every week," her laugh was gratingly grating-ly harsh. "That seems to be a failing of most landladies," commented Warren unconsciously. un-consciously. They were in the hall now, and the descending elevator hurried their leave-taking. "Thought you said she wasn't seeing see-ing him," frowned Warren as they returned re-turned to the library. "Looks like he's hanging around much as ever." "I think he's asked her to marry him," hesitated Helen. "Marry him ! Why he can't make enough to buy his cigars. Laura's a fool in some things, but she'll not throw herself away on a dub that's all front. I'm glad we gave it to her straight that night at Shanley's." Helen was at the window, staring down at the corner street light that blurred an orange haze through the darkness. Knowing his intolerance of any form of deception, she shrank from telling him the truth. And yet if she was to help Laura", if further complicatiors should arise, he would have to know. "Dear," twisting the shade cord, "she's so lonely she's had such a long, discouraging struggle. I can understand under-stand how she might be persuaded to marry, just for companionship, for some one to to hold to !" "Well he's got about as much stability sta-bility to lwld to " a contemptuous snort served for want of an adequate comparison. "And she won't get anybody any-body else while he's dangling around." "Oh, it's so hard to tell you," coming com-ing over to a low stool by his chair. "Dear, can't . you guess? Haven't you noticed a change in her?" "Eh? What're you driving at?" loathing any form of indirectness. "They've been married for four months." Without looking up, Helen waited for his caustic, merciless denouncing of Laura's reception. For several seconds he said nothing at all ; then he reached for his paper with a brief : "Bigger fool than I thougut her." "That isn't all," unhappily. "Thay are not living together. They haven't except for the first two weeks." "Only two weeks?" dryly. "I'd have given them a couple of months." "Oh, don't dismiss It like that. Talk to me about it I'm so worried. You know how fond I am of her and oh, I want to " "Well it's a mighty good time for you to lie low. She's made a blooming bloom-ing mess of it, and she'll have to work things out for herself. She'll not take your advice anyway they never do. That spiel we gave her didn't carry much weight, so what's the sense of butting in now?" Mabel UorbortUroof tl,',iI"'d Suilor hat she had thrown on the couch beside her. "You can't (ell me anything about him that I ilon'l: know. I've r.o illusions." "You moan you're going to marry .n i) in ii you can't even respect just because In a foolish schoolgirl way you think you're in love with him?" "I was in love with .him. I'm not sun1 oven of that now." "Laura, you're hopeless! I don't iimloi'slniid you any more. You haven't been yourself for weeks." "Longer than that four months, to I,e exact." Then with tense abruptness, abrupt-ness, "I've heard you say you don't expect women to be w'holly truthful, that they all resort to small evasions. eva-sions. But suppose some one you were fond of was untruthful In a big way, that her whole life was a lie could you still be'for.d of her?" "I don't think I understand," faltered Helen, with a rush of torturing suspicions. sus-picions. "Suppose you found that for months I've been deceiving you. Could you forgive that?" "Laura, you don't mean " "I've been married to Ed Marstein for over four months." Through the open window came the . .. rumbling street sounds, the lessening rumble of the early evening. Helen, sitting by her dressing table, was bending double a flexible nail file. Her pressure tightened and the thin steel broke. "Four months !" dazedly. "Then you were already married the night you dined here and he came to take you home?" "Yes." "And that evening you were with us -t Shanley's?" "No, we were married the next day." "The next day! The very day after both Warren and I had that talk with . you and I begged you not to see him :-!igain?" : Lau-a snapped her glove clasps in silent, hopeless admission. "It's rather late to offer congratulations." congratula-tions." Helen's voice was wlthdraw-ingly wlthdraw-ingly cold. "Don't ! I can bear anything but cynicism." "But why have you kept it a se-. se-. cret? Why" "Ho couldn't support me and it would hurt my work if it were known that 1 was married." "And he was willing for this se- crecy?" with swift scorn for the man who would take a wife under such con-- con-- dit ions. "Oh, no," wearily. "But what could ; lie do he hasn't worked three weeks in six months. His people give him $."0 a month it doesn't pay for his sclothe." "But, Laura, he's clever enough ; he -can work. Surely, he " "Oh, he speaks' three or four languages lan-guages and knows all the social tricks, but he can't hold down a steady job .t fifteen a week." v "You really mean you don't care as you did?" startled at the stinging note of contempt. "Sometimes I think I loathe him." "Yet you're living with him?" 'T lived with him just two weeks. You U-arti a lot about a man in two weeks, after you're married. Any infatuation in-fatuation I had for him well he's about killed all that. Now he's hounding me to come back to him," drawing a crumpled note from her waist, "lie sent this by messenger last night:" 8:30. "I'm respecting your wish not to come to the house, but you must come to me. I'm waiting here, at the Fifty-ninth Fifty-ninth street station, uptown side. Laura, I've got to see you! I saw Gardner today, and he's going to land that job for me at forty a week. I'll show you I can make good. Give me another chance. I swear I haven't drank a drop for' three days. But if yon fail me toulght weir you'd better come, that's all. ED." "The first part isn't so bad," discriminated dis-criminated Helen, "but I don't like that threat. Did you go?" "Yes, and he'd been drinking. Oh, if I could believe anything he tells me but It's all lies lies." "The position too you mean that isn't true?" "Oh no, he can get work anywhere, but he can't keep it" "Yet he seems to care for you," rereading re-reading the note. "That's the strange-part. He does love me, In his foolish way. He'll be at the house tonight I felt he would ; that's why I came here. I |