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Show ) JCT(D(D5E M;JNI JACKSON ST J fA'tSZS&CX COPYRIGHT. S TVt-&Z M 60BBS-MERRILL ca his youth and scanty advantages. Marriage Mar-riage had changed him very little. He was, perhaps, somewhat more inflammable, inflam-mable, but he took Ernestine and the life with her most naturally and without with-out self-consciousness. They went on to Pastano's, entered an unmarked doorway and climbed broad wooden steps with double doors at the top which opened upon light, music, beat and the sound of happy voices. The big room was airy, Its excellent ventilation a surprise to Ernestine, and an important factor in every one's pleasure and good appetite. Mr. Poole came to meet them, and Ernestine Ernes-tine gnve him her hand and her nicest schoolgirl smile. She wished Mrs. Bennett had not said anything to her about this man. She did not have to heed any warnings except those her husband gave her! Following Mr. Poole among the tables, Ernestine thought about the many things Will had told her of this man, until she felt that she knew him perfectly. Mis remarkable gifts, his value to his paper, bis carelessness careless-ness of himself, his small vanities and prejudices, his indolence and drunkenness drunken-ness and his great charm, she knew. He was as natural and straightforward straightfor-ward with every one as a child with other children. Yet he possessed also the authority and autocratic manner of the man of established reputation. He drew Ernestine's hand within the curve of his arm, and led her to a table reserved for their party. All the places were filled except theirs, and the men rose to greet Ernestine. There was only one other woman, Mrs. Wiston, the wife of the syndicate editor of the Sun, a small beautiful woman with the face of a diiTerence. Fapa really would like to let us struggle along. He feels pretty disappointed in me. But mamma can't bear it. She is determined to take care of us, whether we will or no." "Cut how can she, if Will does not change his employment?" Ernestine's face grew firm. "She can't. I won't let her. I've made up my mind to have nothing but what Will can give me. I don't mind being poor." "You must resist poverty," Mr. Poole said. "It is the deadly enemy of marriage." Ernestine's small face was scornful. Poverty was not so black as it was painted, she observed. He looked at her. "You do not believe me? Wait, then, and see." "But we are poor now. It's fun to be poor." "You poor!" His amazement was so genuine that Ernestine looked at him in surprise. "My darling child," he reasoned with her, "you dou't know what the word means. You two still in the flush of first love, without children, without a house to burden you, without a responsibility ! One bed will do for both of you, one room will hold two hearts together. Xou are well, you are eager, you are fed and clothed and housed. You have a trunk full of pretty clothes, an adoring ador-ing mamma begging to do things for you. You do not know the cold and odious breath of poverty at all. I could show you Its dark face: slums, little children with great heads and emaciated bodies, houses held together to-gether by strings shambles ! I'll show you pale girls, and prostitution, and bare shelves, and empty cupboards, cup-boards, and pride bent double. Lack is a cruel witch. Pray that you may never know her." "Yet you just told me to wait!" "Ah, but that was nonsense. Life will never be cruel to you." They ate the excellent food put before be-fore them, and talked, the men arguing argu-ing among themselves about a technicality tech-nicality in some one's work, Will and Underwood and Mr. Wiston deep in it, Mr. Poole and Tommy competing for Ernestine's attention. Presently Tommy Tom-my was drawn into the men's talk, and Mr. Poole leaned close to Ernestine Ernes-tine and became very confidential. "Will tells me you are going to have a child. I think that is the last perfection. per-fection. I always knew that he was gifted, but his marriage with you has established the certainty of his future. Such things are not accidents. He is the chosen of the gods, or one of their finest gifts would not be his. He has all the elements of success. And a wife and children will do the forging." Ernestine's cheeks burned. She could not understand how Will could have told his still precious secret to Mr. Poole. But she exercised great self-command to be quiet and responsive respon-sive to him. He went on praising Will, and assuring her of the brightness bright-ness of his future, until, after a little, she forgot her confusion and told him her own feelings about Will. The party grew very gay, and Ernestine Ernes-tine joined in .the general happiness. Without warning the tight little man with the powerful shoulders was on his feet. He bowed to Ernestine, and he bowed around the room, and everywhere every-where hands began to clap and there were shouts of joyous approval at sight of him. With a gesture Indescribably complacent, com-placent, he held up his hand for silence and got it instantly. Standing so, his chest pushed out like a pouter pigeon's, his body rocking back ononis heels, his napkin in his hand, which he flourished from time to time, he began to sing. It was Siegfried's cry of joy, when he passed through the flames and found the sleeping Brunhilde. Ernestine Ernes-tine recognized it, as she recognized the man. He was Mostane, one of the world's greatest tenors. And she had criticized his manner! But now, all else was swept away, and she lived only through her ears, on which fell each perfect note. She knew in de- llghtful anticipation what his golden voice would do next, and her heart soared with his voice. He stopped abruptly, rocked a moment mo-ment on his heels and then gently, softly, poignantly he sang without accompaniment ac-companiment : Still wle die Nacht Tief wie da3 Meer ' Sol deine Liebe sein. The tears rained down Ernestine's cheeks. He sat down In a storm of excited applause. Ernestine could not stop crying. She leaned on Will's shoulder, for he came and sat beside her and put his arm about her. When at last she could breathe steadily she rose and went around the table to Mostane and took his fat face In her two hands and kissed him. There was a cheer from all the tables, and Will gleamed at her with approval for her spontaneity. "Nothing else was adequate," declared de-clared Mr. Poole. The hours passed In a trance. The i patronage in the dining room changed, grew noisier, more turbulent. Girls came and went on the stage, and. danced and sang, and twinkled pretty feet, and flicked bare knees. It was all an unreal blending of sight and sound and color, and Ernestine's heart was far away, in some lonely space with Will. Her being still trembled with that last swelling note. Dimly in her mind she felt an awakening of artistic comprehension, a spiritual understanding un-derstanding of the strength and power of perfect performance. Will had latent in him some such force, but it was far from impulses to such finished authority. Her thought was not that clear, but groping. It was time to go home, and Ernestine Ernes-tine wanted Will to take her away from the others. But she saw that Mr. Poole was not himself at all any longer. Will always took him home, from the office, from such affairs as this, to his flat. Ernestine felt that she could not bear to be parted from Will tonight. She became conscious of a man standing behind her, a little to one side, regarding her gravely, quietly. She glanced up at him but did not know him. He was a huge man, with a great dark head and clear dark skin. He wore a sack suit, and his narrow tie glittered with a ruby of enormous size, set In a gold circle. On one of his big brown hands, which were covered with coarse black hair, was another such gem. Ernestine remembered re-membered with a feeling of faintness all the wild stories she had heard about Pastano's place being so disorderly. disor-derly. Will, at least, was sober, as he always was. Mr. Poole now saw the stranger, greeted him and called him to the table. "And this is Mrs. Todd, my young friend's wife. You know Will, of course, and the others. Ernestine, this is Ruby Pastano, jewel merchant, ward boss, and the owner of this dive. A bad man a terrible man. Shake hands with him." : Mr. Poole was enjoying himself and looked up at Pastano with glee. Mr. Pastano did not smile. He still fixed ', on Ernestine that queer solemn look. He bowed above her. "Sit down, Ruby, sit down !" commanded com-manded Mr. Poole thickly, and motioned mo-tioned for a waiter to bring a chair, which was produced instantly. Mr. Pastano sat down between Mr. Poole and Ernestine, and she felt I1I3 gravity spreading about the table, so that all were a little quieted. "This is my birthday," Ernestine explained ex-plained graciously. "I am twenty-one years old today, and Mr. Poole was kind enough to have a party for me. Now that you have come, it is more charming." "Your voices " he said, his own tone soft and silky. "Where are you born?" She told him, naively, the address of her mother's house. (TO BE CONTINUED.) 1 I iff Infill "You Are Lovely," He Protested as Though She Had Denied It. THE STORY Renewing a childhood attachment, attach-ment, Krneatlne liriceland, of a I wealthy family, la attracted by Will Todd, newspaper artiat. Her slater, Lillian, urg-es her to break off the affair, but Ernestine re-1 re-1 fuses. A runaway marrlago fol-1 fol-1 lows. LorJntf Hamilton wins LH-lliwi's LH-lliwi's consent to become his wife. CHAPTER III Continued i I "I hope you dliln t get up on our' account, mother," she said gently, "but I'm glad yon are bolter." The woman looked up at Ernestine, her faded eyes, under the drooping brows, regarding this strange bird that had slipped so easily Into hf.T nest, llow old she looked, thought lOrnestine. She was a generation beyond be-yond mamma, for she was old with a gentle humility and meekness that Ernestine had never met before. There was not In her even the stubbornness stub-bornness that sometimes the msek can use so effectively. Will's father Ernestine could uuOer- ,slund. A carpenter, with a gift for woodcutting, he was a skilled and able workman and had a great pride in his trade. He was a tall, thin, stocped man, with a clean-shaved, heavily furrowed face and brightly saturiune, black eyes, which regarded Ernestine with a kind of grim humor. He made her realize without saying so, that he disapproved of their marriage as much as her people did, but that he was not the man to cry over spilled milk. U'hey could count on his kindness. At breakfast In the bright kitchen, Ernestine and Will made plans. "Y'ou are welcome to stay here as long as you like," said Peter Todd, but the two shook their heads. They liad already decided to be independent at once. "We might just as well go today, and find a place to board until we can get an apartment," said Ernestine, looking very young and earnest. "I'll get my trunk from mamma's, as soon as we have found a residence. It's awfully good of you to want us here, but the house is small, and mother is really not well enough to have us." Mrs. Todd said nothing, and Ernestine Ernes-tine felt that she had never seen so dispirited a creature. ! "If we get near town, mom," Will said, "we can save money on carfare. I know a place on Erie street one of the fellows told me about, where you can get a room and two meals, at a reasonable price, and it's in walking distance of the office. Anyhow, I think we ought to live alone." i "That's right," said Will's father. "It's the only way for young married people. If you need any money when you go to fixing up a flat I can lend you a little. I always have a few lumdred dollars tucked away for emergencies," emer-gencies," he explained to Ernestine. "I can let Will borrow, without interest, in-terest, if he needs It. I own a house on Troy street that you could have if It wasn't leased. But the location is iiot good for you." "We'll manage,'' said Will confidently, confi-dently, and Ernestine admired him. They exchanged bright looks, and Mr. Todd said heartily: "Well, come and visit us sometimes, anyhow." It was soon time for them to go. Ernestine, in her squirrel coat and Bcarlet hat. bade her new relatives good-by. She felt that there were tears in the air, realized a little that these people were losing Will more 'definitely than she would ever be lost to her family. He was their only son, but they said good-by to him with ,quiet dignity. Ernestine admired their restraint, and was grateful for their good taste. They offered neither ad--Ice nor counsel, but allowed the Voting ones to go forth about their 'own affairs. The house on Erie street 'brought to Ernestine her first shock ,of reality. It was an ancient, smoke-iblackened smoke-iblackened dwelling place, not far from ,the lake. Across the street from the house a five-story machine shop reverberated re-verberated with activity. A secret-looking secret-looking brown-stone house, with drawn "blinds, stood on the corner. Ernestine Ernes-tine felt that the apartment they spoke ;of so glibly was not so near. A sense of the Irrevocable nature of the step jehe bad taken swept over her. She vas now Will's, and, as he had said to her father, his roof was her roof. iHis home was hers, and this was it. jShe had definitely abandoned her old j-way of life and set her feet In a etrange country. The future was as Jremote from the past as though 'she .were following him to a great distance. dis-tance. 1 Hand in hand they ran up the stone Btalrs and met a small plump woman, 'called Mrs. Beunett, with whom Will 'discussed rooms and prices, while lErnestlne stood to one side, burnlngly Iconscious of the gold band on her !third finger. 1 I Ernestine was too good a sport to bemoam thtiis conspicuous lack of money. Fresh from the rigors of a line school, It was not hard for her to accustom herself to simplicity. Will discovered that she had a most practical nature. The forces which had driven her Into marriage had not ell been romantic. In adjusting herself her-self to living on Will's pay, she was able to exercise some of her native Ingenuity and shrewdness, and In that capacity she found a certain pleasure. It was fun to put herself on a basis of having no money to spend and then discovering how much she had grown accustomed to spending in the months since she had left school. Her trunk was full of pretty clothes. It was an element she did not at first appreciate. appre-ciate. CHAPTER IV A Party at Pastano's Mr. Poole was having a party for Ernestine and Will, and, according to prearrangement, Ernestine slipped downstairs ahead of time to show herself her-self to Mrs. Bennett. She could not help but be proud of the evening dress mamma had given her for Christmas, Christ-mas, and which she had not worn before. be-fore. The yellow chiffon lay about her slender limbs delicately, subtly. She appreciated the illusive cobwebby hose that had come with the dress and the gold cloth slippers. The string of small real pearls which had come to her from her Grandmother Langley's estate, the pearl ring which daddy had given her to match her necklace, were the last touches of a perfect toilet. Will had appreciated her, this evening, eve-ning, his fine eyes glowing with admiration. ad-miration. "You are lovely," he protested, as though she had denied it, and she swung herself about in the narrow room and gave him a languishing, mocking look. But she went down the carpeted stairs in a glow, her squirrel coat over her arm. Mrs. Bennett got up with an admiring ad-miring exclamation when Ernestine closed the door behind her. The latter advanced to the center of the room and pirouetted on her toes. A little, round, weary body, with tired eyes beneath a fringe of gray hair, Mrs. Bennett had long outworn personal egotism and was generous with praise and sympathy. "Youth is the time to live, darling," she said to Ernestine. "My life is an old story, but you are young and glowing, glow-ing, and things are happening to you. It is better for you to have your hard times now, and grow old rich and strong, than to have the hardships in old age, as I have had them. But tell me, aren't you excited to be having a birthday party given In your honor by a great cartoonist?" Ernestine laughed. "He only wants to be nice to Will. He" thinks It will please Will, and of course it does." Mrs. Bennett maintained a discreet silence, and Ernestine turned to the mirror over a chest of drawers and looked at her reflection, running her hands over her sleek soft hair. She was a little thinner than she had been when she was married, and her eyes were big and dark In the delicate whiteness of her face. She was lovely with a breath-taking quality, her face shining with an inner spiritual excitement. excite-ment. It seemed to her as she stared that she looked too happy, too thrilled for every-day use. She must learn to dissemble. "Sometimes, darling," Mrs. Bennett chided Ernestine gently, "I think you fail to realize what an effect you have on the people here on the men. You are so different from the other girls these, boys know. Y'ou bloom. Y'ou wear the face of love. It's hard on them. I want you to be very wise with Mr. Poole. It would be an easy thing for you to. disrupt his friendship with Will. Will admires him, and his patronage means so much, just now." "Will won't be jealous of any attention atten-tion I pay to Mr. Poole, or that he pays to me," Ernestine said indifferently, indiffer-ently, "if that's what you mean. It won't hurt Mr. Poole to admire me. He's a nice old man, and he loves to admire women, and men, too, as far as that goes. It's part of his big heart, Will says. Anyhow, Will wouldn't be jealous of me now." Her small face was so shining that Mrs. Bennett threw her advising instinct away with a gesture and came and kissed her young friend. "Have a lovely time, darling. Pastano's Pas-tano's has the distinction of being the very toughest place in all Chicago. It is beautiful, and not so dangerous as Mr. Pastano likes people to think. He is really very careful about the police. And then, too, you will be with Mr. IPole, who is a close friend of Ruby." Will was at the door, grinning at them, his mobile mouth twisted into a kind of sardonic look that he wore at times, and that made him like his father, lie had a great deal of poise, Ernestlna often thought, considering siren who can never forget her role. She had been married twice before she had met Wiston, and Ernestine knew that back in New England were the wife and child Wiston had set aside for her. Ernestine was conscious of the indignation common to married women against such an Impostor. Wiston himself, a tall academic man with a ribbon to his glasses, Ernestine had met at the office, and John Tucker, called -Tommy by every one, who was Will's rival for honors in the art room. The third man who was presented pre-sented to her Ernestine did not know and she failed to catch his name. He was a small powerful looking individual, indi-vidual, with a dark mustache, bright gray eyes and a vain and elaborate manner. The other two men, Underwood Under-wood and Harrison, were from the Sun staff, and happy to be at any party, any time, any place. They all sat down, Mr. Poole with one of the women on either side, and Tommy Tucker next to Ernestine, the pompous little man next to Mrs. Wiston, Wis-ton, with the others grouped about the big table. Ernestine by now had forgotten her self-consciousness and became radiantly happy. She wished Will were beside her. She was only a half, and Will was the other half, and he ought always to be beside her, breathing as she breathed, turning as she turned. The idea delighted her, and she laughed at herself but felt still a deep joy in their unity. Mr. Poole turned to Ernestine and told her softly that her youth and beauty were sweeter than sweet night itself. He took his glass in his hand. "And more intoxicating," he said, "than this for which I have wasted half my life and most of my talents." Ernestine, looking up in his kind face, knew instantly that in spite of his flowery words, and in spite of Mrs. Bennett's conventional fears, -this great man had no predatory impulses toward her. He knew that she was deeply In love with Will. But to watch her, to speak to her, to listen to her voice, gave him pleasure. It was all he would ever want of her. Her instinct in this matter proved true, during the years of Will's association with Mr. Toole. "And what have you two young pieces of Impudence been doing since last I saw you?" "We have dined In state at mamma's," mam-ma's," said Ernestine, smiling mischievously. mis-chievously. "Will missed the significance signifi-cance of it entirely. Papa has, under duress, forgiven him. He offered Will a job in his office." "And what does Will say?" "He didn't even pay any attention to It. He just said that he was satisfied satis-fied with the job he had, thanks just the same, and went on talking to mamma." Mr. Poole laughed with delight. "Doesn't he know what papa wants?" "I don't know whether he docs or not. But anyhow, papa knows that, now he has decided to forgive Will, Will doesn't Intend to let It make any |