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Show 'BlBrlVlP'V'VRB 'Bfl BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB I I M-BB I BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB I ' "I'll drive you liomol" Itlclmrd snlil, Instantly. "I've the small cnr., "Friday nluhtl" llnrriet smiled. For Friday night was the night for a men's dinner and poker gnme nt the country cltil). ami Itlrlmrd usually liked to lie there. "I can come back!" he persisted, suddenly caring more for this concet-slon concet-slon than anything else In the world. Without another word she agreed, bade her Frenchman what seemed to Rlchnrd n voluble gnod-by, nnd when the bowing ofllcer disappeared turned with a reminiscent smile. "And now what?" "Where did you learn to clintlcr French that way?" Richard said, leading the way to the line of parked motors. "Oh, we lived In Paris old .Mrs. Rogers ami I," Harriet reminded him carelessly. And reaching the little rlRe of ground that lay between the clubhouse nnd the parking field, she stood still, looking off ncross the exquisite ex-quisite spread of Holds and alleys, banded by great strips of woodi, and flooded now by the streaming shudows and golden lights of tho late after-noop. after-noop. "What n dayl" she said, filling her lungs with great breutlii of the sweet air. "What an hour I" "What 1 meant to say to you up there on the porch," Richard said, "when that that womnu Interrupted" Interrupt-ed" Harriet herself Interrupted vtlth a luugh. "You Miy 'thut woman' as If It was a hitter, deadly curse!" she said. "Well" They had reached the car now, and Richard was lnvctlgntlng the oil gauge and opurk plugs under the hood. "Welt, a woman like that breaks In nothing to her!" he said with scorn, strlghtcnlng up. "Yes. but nt a country rluh?" Harriet Har-riet offered, plucatlngly, as she got Into the front scat, and tucked the pongee robe snugly about tho saffron-colored saffron-colored gown. "I suppose so!" He got In beside her; there wus u moment f hacking uud wrenching before they glided out smoothly on the ' white driveway. "What I mount to suy wus this." he added, suddenly, with a sidewlse glance front his wheel. "I I want you to reiillsw that I appreciate the In-JUHtlce-Mlje rrudenpss of my rushing to you In New Jersey that Christinas d-ty. I realize that we nil hue lin PiimiI on jon we'e taken jou too much for granted I I was In trouble, and I couldn't think of any other way out of it. Hut for uny uuiii to pur a piopohltlou like that to any woman- " 'I hey were- driving cry ilowly. lie looked at her ngnlu. ami met a won deling look In her beautiful eje that "till further confused him. He had hcen iiucoiiifortaldy coiim-Ioui of an odd confusion lit- touching upon this s-il.Ject at all. Yet his mind had been full of It all day. "I never felt It so, I assure you!" I In i riot said with her lucid, friendly 3oi)'. Richard felt that there Wiir more to say, hut reall.ed thut he had selected mi unfortunate tlmo for these cmiMilenccs. "I'm ufruhl I've been extremely Mtiphl In the mnttor," he said, feeling for his words. "I'o gone about It .Imuslly, To tell you tho truth-What truth-What does thut boy want?" It wus Ward who was coining N-ward N-ward them across the green, with great sfiilngs and 'leaps, like some mountain animal. "CJe us a lift!" shrieked Ward, lllug'ng himself upon the car as Its Hpeeil decreased. "Something Is the malt cr with my engine engine pectin pec-tin Is Is- Whnt I call It! Father, .Mr. Tom (irant expects you to dine at his tnliln tonight, he said to remind you. Ami, Harriet, angel of angels, we will lie about six or seven about the groan. Ing hoard; Is that all right?" "I told Rottnmley six or seven." ljnirlet said, serenely. "Ward, get In or gel out," she added, maternally, "tlmi't hnng ocr tho door In that blood-curdling way!" She had put her arm about the boy to steady him; they began to discuss tern's scores with enthuMnsm. Rlchnrd Rlch-nrd dmvo the rest of (he way home almost without speaking. . lie planned to see Harriet again that owning, and left the club nt eleven o'( oel;. after nn 'ncredlhty dull gnme with the definite hope thnt the youngsters would dunce, or In soma other way pmlou-; (he summer evening eve-ning nt least until midnight. Ills heart sank when ho reached Crown-lands: Crown-lands: the lower floor showed only the .tempered lK'h'H that binned until the "iiie't memler of the family came In "t d IbittoiuW reported UwU the yiiiiii: rert.011 had gone upstnlrs nt about h-ilf past ten, sir. It was now I1 ilf-pfNf (lev ii, Itld ard delated sending Harriet a tre are M the effect that he would .'i fo v her for u moment. Tho Haw 'n this plan was that ho could lll'n'r of nothing jihnut which there was the slightest neceslty of sptlng her. He felt restless unil anything but sleepy, nnd glanced Irrcsolufery'at , the library door, nnd nt the stairway, i Suddenly uproar broke out upstairs'; i there were thumping feet, shrieks, ' wild Inughter, and slamming doors. With a suddenly lightened heart Ulch- "Amy Hawkes Amy Hawks Amy Hawket Come Into Court I" Warel Intoned. "Drunk and Dlsordsrlyl" ard run up the wide, square flight to the landing. His son, In pajamas that were more or less visible beneath his streaming robe or Oriental silk, was pirouetting about the upper hall with a siphon of sodn water. Subdued giggles and smothered gusps Indicated that the young ladles wero somewhere near. In biding. Young IIopier, under un-der Ward's direction, was Investigating Investigat-ing doors nnd alcoves. "Amy Hnwkcs Amy Hawkes Amy Hawkes come into court 1" Ward in-' toned. "Drunk and disorderly!" "Here, here, here!" Richard said. "What's all this?" Amy and Nina, with hysteric shrieks, Immediately forsook cover, and dashed down to him, clinging to him wildly. "Oh, Father Make them stop! Oh. Mr. Curter, save us!" screamed the girls In delicious terror, "Oh, they got poor Kruuccscn she's locked up In your room!. They climbed up our porch, nfter they swore to Harriet thnt they wouldn't make another sound " Harriet now appeared In the hallway, hall-way, her hn'r falling In n braid owr her shpulder, and the long lines of the black robe she wore giving her figure an imusuul effect of height. She did not see Rtehurd Immediately, for she had eyes only for Ward, ns she caught his shoulder, nnd took nwny the siphon. si-phon. "Now, Ward look here." she snld, sternly. "What sort of honor do you call this! Half an hour a,go I thought all this nonsense was stopped. Shame on you I Those girls promised me " She saw Richard, and laughed, the ter flooding her fact. "Ai-m't they simply shameless 1" sho said. "I had them all- settled 'down, once! Nina, Where's Francescn? You see." Harriet said, In rapid explanation explana-tion to Richard, "I gave the girls my room tonight, so Hint they could all be together, and this Is my reward 1" The girls, entirety unnlarmcd by her severity, had deserted Richard now, and were clinging to her with weuh' laughter and feeble explanations, explana-tions, ' "Frnncescu unlocked that door, and rushed Into Mr. Carter's rooml" Amy explained, wiping her eyes. "And then tho hoys locked her In there I" Tho composed rcuppenranco of Frnncescu Frnn-cescu nt this point, however, added to the general hilarity. "You did not 'lock mo In, Smnrtlcsl" Francescn drawled, childishly. "They climbed to the balcony, and ve wero well, we were undressing," sho said to Richard, "and here they were bniu-merlng bniu-merlng and yelling like like SI-washes SI-washes I We grabbed our wrappers, we wanted to" "We wanted to lock them out there I" Amy explained, laughing un-controllnbly. un-controllnbly. "Rut " "And I snapped off tho light" Nlnu Interposed, with deep satisfaction. satisfac-tion. "And, mind you" "And, Father" "And the wonder wns thnt wo didn't die of fright" "Now, look here," Harriet said, hi the babel, "I'll give you all exactly two minutes to quiet down, Never In the course of my life " Richard thought her maternnl Indulgence Indul-gence delightful; ho thought the young people who clung nhout her charming In their apologetic and laughing promises, Ward and Uriico Hopper mounted to their own region; Rlchnrd weal with tho girls nnd liar-rlut liar-rlut to the rooms thnt hud been at tacked. Pilgrim, the Hrcfes was already al-ready there, replacing pillows, straight- enlng beds, untwisting curtains. The girls, with reminiscent bubbles of Inughter, began to help her. After the hist good-nights, Richard nnd Harriet lind no choice but to cross ,thc hull again, nnd they stood there for n moment, lnughlng at tho recent excitement. ' "After twelve," Harriet snld. with ,a smiling shnl.e of her head. "Aren't they joting demons! However," she added In an undertone, "It's the best thing In the world for Nina! This sort of nonsense will blow cobwebs nwny 1" , Richard was onlj conscious of n desire to prolong this Intimate little moment of pnrcntnl consultation. "She doesn't speak of lllondlnr he asked. "Not at all. The birthday came and went placidly enough." Harriet nn-swered, nn-swered, suddenly Intent after her laughing. And ns he did not speak for a second, she looked up at him, Innocently. Inno-cently. "You don't think she's hiding an) thing?" she asked, unxlously. r "I no, I hardly think so," Richard answcreil, confusedly. Their eyes met. and he smiled vaguely. Then Harriet lowly crossed the halt to tho door of the guest room, where sho wns spending spend-ing the night, ami gave him nn only hnlt-amllhle good-ulght. Richard stood watching the door for n moment or two nfter it lind closed upon tho slender, dimly sien figure. Then lie went to his own room, und began briskly enough to move about between the mirrors mir-rors and diesslug room, windows nnd bed. Hut two or three times he stopped short, and found himself stnrlng vacantly Into space, all move-1 meat arrested, even thought nrrested for whole long minutes nt a time. j Harriet, entering her room, closed tho door noiselessly, nnd remained for; a long tjmu utundlng with her hands resting ugnlnst It behind her, her eyes alert, her breath coming us If she had been running. Theru was only a night light In the bedroom ; the covers were still tumbled back from her sudden flight toward the rioting youngsters In the hall. She got back Into her bed nnd opened her book. Rut for ,u long time she neither slept nor read; her eyes widened at the faintest sound of the summer night ; her heart thumped madly when the curtains whispered at the window, or the wicker chairs gnve the faintest creak. It Hid not been only for Richard that the midnight' hour of responsibility and Informullty shared had had Its thrill. , One o'clock. Harriet closed her book und snapped off her light. Rut first sho went to the w Indow und leaned out Into the sweet dnrkness. There wns shadow unbroken everywhere ; no light in all the big house was burning as late us her own. CHAPTER XVI. A1 After that life took olf ulnysterlous fragrance und beauty that made every hour of It an Intoxication to the muster mus-ter und mistress of Crownlunds. The fact thnt their secret was all their own was all the more enchanting. To tho domestic staff, to the children, to the outside world, life went upon Its usual smooth way. Mi-, Carter would ho In I town tonight, Mr. Carter was detained at the plllee, Mrs. Curter wus chaperoning chaperon-ing the young people, there were flow-Jers flow-Jers for Mrs. Carter. That was all Hot-itomley Hot-itomley und Pilgrim and Ward and Nl-'iia Nl-'iia fsaw. ' Wut to Harriet and Richard the delicious, de-licious, secret gumu uf hlde-uuil-go-seek I made everything else In the world Insignificant. In-significant. Harriet opened the boxes I of flowers he sent her with a heart suf-focntlng suf-focntlng with Joy. Rlchnrd consented to be absent from the dinner tuble 'over which she presided with un ag-ony ag-ony of renunciation that almost made thtm feel III, When he chanced one day 'to meet her with Nina, In a breezy, awnlnged summer restaurant, the tight of the slender figure thrilled hlro u he hud never been thrilled by any woman he had ever known, no wns to speak to her, to hear her voice! Ono day he bought her shoes', In the shop she looked nt him for approval. Ho thought the shoes, low shoes with buckles, thnt showed the sllk-clud un-kle, un-kle, very suitable and pretty. Ho wns thrown Into sudden confusion when the shoe clerk turned to him with a murmured mention of tho price. Ten dollars? Richard fumbled for bis purse Ho had met her walking alone In the Avenue; she had suld thnt she must get shoes. Hundreds of other men were presumably buying their wives shoes, up and down tho brilliant bril-liant street. Hut Rlchnrd found the adventure shaking to the soul. "They're lovely shoes," Hurrlet said, as they walked out into the sunshine. Sho told him thut she wus to meet Nlnu nt his mother's at five. Richard, with sudden eagerness, wondered If sho would spend the lutervul In having hav-ing tea somewhere, but Instead they went Into a bookshop, and sho carried a now hook triumphantly awuy. "It's a frightful day In town," Harriet said, "und If we're a little curly we muy all get away to the country that much sooper 1" (CeatlHaetf aext week i |