Show the th th thirteenth ir t bent h C commandment amman dm e nt RUPERT by A by HUGHES co FOREWORD the thirteenth commandment man mantI dment ment N an american story written by an american for americans it is 13 according to a famous english critic american to the bone and to the marrow of iho the bone it deals with that eternal conflict between finance and romance it tells the story of what one lovable modern american girl did when she discovered how often the checkbooks cheCkbook 98 groan drowns the love bong in this story rupert NOD is at his best and that best cannot be surpassed by any american author of the present diy daiy if you start the Thyleen chii th commandment you will finish it and when you have finished it you will be glad clad that you started it CHAPTER 1 I As awal st instead of knocking kno cLIng at the door rate called coned up on an the ui telephone though the shrilled almost in lire airs kips ups ear car ehe she not answer it it bhe she winced shook lier tier head bead ORI toted rocking cl air w m ith p ill tulance embroidered vindictively and hardly an antich called out as sighed very loud loudly ly toward the halfway raphuel Dap huel 0 oh daphne I 1 the telephone again I 1 on ho the stairs there so pounded a muffled scurry like the ruh ot of nn an april chased down a hillside by the nun sun at allegory of april darted across the room and the telephone to her lips Ls 13 it it a beaker of good cheer her iler mother aus etue used to this humor of 0 daphno and paid no heed till a frost chilled the warm tone of the girls voice the emile smile of 0 hoppl fallt wasted on the ho telephone had given 1 place to a look of embarrassment um kip whispered anxiously who 1 is it daphne daphno motioned her not to interrupt and her voice grew deep and important it became what her tier brother bayard cirild her reception voice in tier her contralto she said I 1 thle is 1 mav kip yea I 1 have yea bo be addes I 1 bee beg pardon I 1 oh 1 0 oh 1 ohl vow do you do sir Wili llwin 11 mr air mior 1 her nother mother keened daphne to quiet her A ronn man frota from kow now york friend of Ila ta yards ame office I 1 got ills name doing yet r into the telephone dha ithe waa was saying and and nod dirr the while with her face indeed III try to be of course Clove laide ids not riot new york but ily by the way wily do yon you dance rood good teats right night as biell ell ho be deaf if t you dont I 1 how ilow long ion m you be in CliT Ti dandl veland oh ob Is I 1 that all aall welt well them jhc thc b you must coma come out hero and bay havi ten tea with us thlu thi very ill III call for you it ibe the hotel in ay little car no ua its I 1 4 one of abose its ICs nn an el electric I 1 inai it iny self afraid to rl r it mant III bo ile there in minutes and you might be on the steps goodby mr this lot lost waa was eald said in the fond ton tono of f ancient friendship friende hip and ehe she lune bung av tho the relvia with a gesture like i 4 irking hands she turned to find tier ber mother thin line tier hertlia lips in to a lone long tight lino line her cheeks hulfred bulged explosively D ahne res hor her lie res a youns young fellow in tho tame same firm aa as boyard says hes here on bus luesa for ten tea days ilayan told him to call me up antl tell toe me to be nice to him film that sounds oy also said he lie time alra to writ fritot ol 01 that sounds liker aull WIL boyard told him film to ko kg kiss you for him BO so he must bo be P all 11 right I 1 wax was going to take him to the hotel to a tea dance I 1 ut I 1 thought rd bitter give lm him a acl over girat so ril 11 roll him out here get out th tha 2 dec alce china and tho the nap ins I 1 gram cra crammed mined med and P T tint bat I 1 cant I 1 1 I time to A argue with yon you Ii smoin nit aima please do ito as a I 1 tell you for 0 o nm and ont fum air Win bivin awill probably have alot ot 01 news to tell 1 you about your prodigal gul eon on biby GW r she poppa n lisa on thi for forehead thead hat that anxiety had hall turned to corduroy enil and ran like another april chasing the nun sun uphill she pt thee li down n acain wit hat and and with roq v 8 arft wy AL 0 1 til bu 0 14 0 across iati rj w alws iiii iii i to im ili bitle 0 c dietric car f 1 standing anding Bt under tinder the porte co coch chere cre the car waa was very large for a beetle but pretty for an automobile CHAPTER 11 II the night train from new york had deposited clay wimburn la in the grimy cavern of th station at an early hour he ile had dandled over his breakfast f cellos feeling lost without lt his 1113 new york morning papers ava ullen at last it crew grew late enough to telephone for an appointment with mith the roan nion he had bail come to see be he was g busted u ed 0 to O fiarn that the wretch would ost ble n not b be e Y visible till the next day it was uns then that hayard kips HIPS parting behest to cull call up his elster sister recurred to wimburn lie planned to compose a formal note of self introduction but vayard had forgotten to tell him his sisters name or his fathers InItIa initials li there were several KIN in the telephone book and he could not tell which would bo be which aich lie ile decided to call up each number and nek ask a mold maid or somebody it if mr boyard kipe people laed there tho very first number he called brought daphne herself suddenly voice to bolce with him voices are character characters an annl I 1 IL was nos a case of love at first hearin licar ln with him she site had him trolling d cooing nt at the biond 1 lie felt that slit eh un uni i going to limbo his h stai san ID in cleveland pleasant lie formed all corta torts of pic of her while m title he v altce on tha hotel steps but m when hen bhe she stepped out of her car anti looked about ahe she was nono none of the masca kip hip he had bad planned she was it round pretty thing amiable of eyo eye and humorous about the alp and cunningly dressed she looked as if eho she would mould be a plucky tire tireless leps yet the ho had a wistful tender duggal a jencsa that a girl ought not to lose however well eho she tennis Is this mr the she began begin lie ile was too nervous to notice her tier pause i he ito retorted ie Is this mise miss kapr 1 lie ile noted that she shook hands well with a boyish clench accompanied by un an odd little duck 0 of the head bead mighty nice of you to take ruts off this desert alund he blamed mighty aglid to have the privilege she aid said as he she verified ve rifled the fraternity pin pill on hie his overcoat mother Is dying to hear bear how Is mothers have little power left aa as guardians but the children find that the title hai haq a certitil cert itin value at clinet in keeping r wont you get in binl eald said daphne polo pointing ting to her car she made him crowd in first then followed and closed the he door and pulled the throttle ho ile meditated aloud how illow wonderful it really Is thit or talk to rue over the telephone cud nad invite roe me tn t your home end and evale and get me like thle this so wonderful about thail aid sold daphne everybody does it Every tl ing that does Is 1 wonderful sold wimburn but how especially wonderful it Is to live in a city where there are no wall walls about the gardens look I 1 there arent even fences the lawn lawns are all joined to KA J 4 11 C already wimburn was V a member ol 01 the household gether and tho the house houses are mostly win dows Is so to open tind fre free full of sunlight and frankness frnnk ness you re r taking me home in this charming annlot ch little gla tho thomaso cao caso to introduce me tc to your mother I 1 tell you the world dc do novel A wom in of today has a lol to be thankful for you ought to bf be mighty happy ought tobe to be bc hanl much to do witt with Is daphne sighed wove pot got a lot to get yet hind and a lot to get ret rid of lie ito ante sank bad discouraged the tho rex sex waa was still till insatiable after ft it eho rid ride they turned into a driveway leading lending through a spacious expense of grass dotted vi with ith trees and shrubs s to a homelike houe house without beauty or ugliness a 4 houf house that illat ld lad grown with the personalities s of ot the occupant occupants the only ostentatious about the place were the cupola of an earlier day and the porte stuck out like a broken wing ming she led him into nto the house and waved him toward the hall tree when he had find set down fits hat ami tick stick sho she led him into the drawing room mother were home yes deft den MM sir SIM kip KIN who called daphne dear before company mother bald said daphne 1 I want to mr mu mumble nible gulp guip she had not yet achieved his ills name her ifer mother shocked her by saying delighted to meet you mr I 1 quite catch the name named daphne blushed for her matheri mot heri query but was glad to the strangers st answer 1 I urn mr W amburn mrs lap clay wimburn Wl uburn at this moment a tall lu man walked in he ile looked as if it ho he looked older thin he was ills elec eucles overwhelmed a ruther rather unsuccessful nose daphne hardly to introduce him as her father she rave gave wimburn a name now and he felt called culled upon th explain his incursion 1 I know your son bayard very well im ila in his office wo we belong to the same different chapters of course wo we struck up a great friend ship when he knew I 1 vas was coming corning to cleveland he lie wild tell my sister to bo be nice to you and and 11 paused til tit some embarrassment before the ballroom manner of mrs kip rip but the pompous disguises of timidity fell from her as she murmured and blushed blu blied in ili a motherly IN way UY daphne told me ile cold raid aar you to kl lf i hia fits mother for him ye es III well ell I 1 am his fits mother ohi oh I 1 may blay irl 11 will III youl you lie ile pressed hie his lips respectfully on her check cheek but she closing her eyes to imagine him her son flung her fat arms bout him angheld and held him a moment he ile kissed her again ag aln with a kind of vien vicarious rious devotion levot lon td rd want bayard to driver such a to your mother ehe ex pla ined already wimburn was nas a member of the household he had been kissed and sympathized with ile turned to daphne with an apolo agetle look ai tit d 4 saw that she was staring at him with softer eyes than that be he had thought eho she had definite anxieties engaged mrs kip for tea bad had come in tottering on a tray carried by a smitten cook as agile as a hippopotamus and as shy na as a violet daphne and her mother and father through the ten tea ceremony with the annety of people in an earthquake aid ald the swedish dromedary stared at the unaccustomed sight ai as if it the tea bibbers were drinking poison and she watching for the convulsions to begin clay wimburn talked altogether about bayard and his wonderful ret in business in spite of the hard times bayard ho fie paid raid was uns sacking king to his desk like a den on and ho he let voth in distract him it must be gl glo klous olous living in drw york daphne sighed hy by dont you come and pay cayard a visit wimburn suggested lie ile have time to take tale me anywhere and I 1 dont know anybody else there you know me and id bo be only too glad to try to repay ybur hospitality to me ars kip looked on and listened with the fond alarm alarin ct of one who has seen fatal courtships begun with just such fencing whon at length daphne suggested ug that thare was still time to rush down to the hotel statler statter for a deace or two alm kip smile J at her wimburn did not know that ho lie had been brought home howe on approval mrs mm kip hip realized realta e d that he was not to be returned as tin poIl possible sible iler fancy gambled la in fu o 0 turk tuns wimburn was the victim of an onset of that delirium amans cnown a love at first sight lie ana at tit the liht rt ailt age and rind fie ic found Pon something exotically captivating in this strange girl in the strange city iio ito wa va poisoned wab ith lov and his opinion of daphne wa was tontA no one in the 1 world equaled her no one ever had hall equaled her or could equal her la to any future ever spring and lure juve are the perennial p miracles always nw neri always amazing it was springtime in Wiro burns years end rind in 11 calendar ct of the world and anti countless other youth of toan klut ail rani rial kind bird and fish kind flowers and fruit trees trem and perhaps of chemicals in tb ground vere were feeling tho the same mania daphne cordiality was at first merely the hospitable warmth of her on tin usually cordial community hut but the she caught th fester from Wi Wit uburn and decided that he was wits the de final 1 word in hul buinno liall evolution they ibey began to breed the society of la to roseal the eik ellace tance of ot U i qu atter on their plant L the world wai too much with mith them the little car wai ai transparent kven even nt at bight night etiquette required them to light it up within wimburn did not return to new nev york eo so soon as he lie expected it seamed impossible to uproot himself from that pleasant soil soft one after noan when he had already overstayed stayed his furlough daphne and nud he were rd rid ing in the little fillip car th routh the outer suburb known as shaker height a ft section rapid evoking evolving from front a 1 epy religious to a vana of city residences residence the late afternoon anoon had risen in a PL eby ply y still rosy with till the after afterglow glo of sunset the lr fr was with alth pla blading ding suddenly cried aloud to hia his own surprise and he hers daphne nel I 1 miss klel I 1 cant stand everything you know I 1 I 1 in only I 1 fiuman 1 1 union after at all V the matter matte r ehe she asked in prosaic phrase but with a poetic out flut ter of breath 1 I love you d n itt it t pardon me bat but im infernally in love will oil iia ini tormented I 1 came here on bua 1 ness and instead of my finishing it aue finished me lm wo day overdue in new lonc ota and ive lye I 1 ad to lie ile to the ali office to explain why and nil all I 1 can think of now Is that I 1 id d rattier resign and starve to biath than go back and ibave ou here I 1 honestly ehe she barely breathed desperately I 1 ho moaned to become of inel ine I 1 touti you d better go back I 1 suppose soon get oct oer it and find somebody elo el o to love theres elso else in the world morth v orth loving id die it I 1 gave you up I 1 id d dimply simply die 11 ho ile us at on with aching any anxiety lety I 1 could you care for me just a it little if you could love me or just promise to try to I 1 could face my exile for a alile a do you you could love wa acner she dropped her ber chin on her breast and sighed I 1 guess I 1 do now tho the miraculous felicity of this situation overwhelmed them both ile her la in bis his arms and ehe she huns flung hers about bun him forgetting entirely the steering wheel the neglected little mile car promptly sc scattered uttered off if the road crossed a gutter into a vacant lot scooped up a I 1 sale sam and m was as about lo 10 tip over into an excavation alien daphne looked up jong long enough to shut ott off the power then in a blind rapture ehe she returned to where ehe she 1 longed his embrace em braLe soon ehe she was assailed with fears for the credibility of this wonder work and when he eald said ien shall we announce our engagement ga ehe the protested I 1 ohl oh not till we are eure sure im sure now hut but we must be terribly sure its such a dangerous thing getting married bo many people who mho think they love each other find out their mistake toe too lute itt yoa you dont know me very well wella you yon mean you dont know m me 0 very well im not afraid of you but for you I 1 id d hate to disappoint you and I 1 don t really amount to much I 1 can t do anything noy thing exempt gad around and y itt u e tire of me ne net not in this world nor in the next 6 |