| Show TOR TURNING NA I 1 W IR EQ aft A NEW tw L AF 49 46 9 0 0 0 ay DL dask sk ferree C 55 wn OGER featherstone FEATHERS TONE f g rose late oa on new now years jy morning with the barest lb suggestion of a headache that was the aftermath of the previous nights celebration memora bill of which were scattered all about the apartment in a weirdly incongruous way rogers coat was still brightly speckled with red yellow and blue confetti there was a battered tin hern protruding from one pocket and a parti colored tool fools a cop cap made of tissue paper was wa lt fiet rakishly askew on the bronzo bronze bu bust of beethoven on the piano plano in the hazily recalled rt called grotesquerie ot of last home comi ig R roser er bad denuded le himself asley beginning with his shoes tt the door 1118 hat and waistcoat beside e the tresser dresser trousers sers and lines s t the i foot mot of the be bed and last of all bis his scarf tied in a beautifully neat bow beneath tho the nob of the bedpost roger sat up regarding all this whimsically for some time and won doring dering dully how bow it Is that morning daylight always imparts a tiar gard aspect to the rodj violona cf 0 the night before he yawned and stretched prodigiously then made a bound for the washbowl and immersed his head in gratefully cold and refreshing water from the tap HeIgh bol new years morning and my fortieth birt birthday blay all in onel one the good lord knows that I 1 dont ael 1 that old but these periodic parties ites sure are beginning to pall upon me if it I 1 were to do the conventional thins thing now id begin the new year by making some amazingly moral resolution and then but after all shy by not ill make a resolution and not break it either im forty years old today and as comfortable a bachelor a as 1 1 any I 1 know hereby I 1 do solemnly aro 4 1 ow w a u placid life of celibacy no 1 v cc tiling bells for mel me rozer dressed tul burely not a little pleased with the positive formulation of the idea that really bad had been in the back of his hie head for months past he ile liked and admired girls of course what real man but it was INS wags she he forgotten about tiela old days in a detached impersonal sort of 0 way he ile enjoyed their chatty con as mentally restful after weighty bual bus ness conferences at the office all dai long he liked vivacious femininity across the table when I 1 j dined ou in the evening but nut as for actually burdening himself with ono one woman for life as for lunt arlly domesticating himself eschewing tho the good fellows at the tho club and as for systematizing his afe life into a humdrum routine no bol no not for roger ahl there went the telephone belli beill his ilia sister madge undoubtedly madge who bad had married phil barnes and taken out of the merry whirl of blaas as jolly a chap as ever hel delsol sol hello yes this Is in talking oh ob I 1 th tt lugh it might be you els sla hy by no o ol I 1 ive ve no particular appointment tor for tonight for dinner at Y ir house yea yes I 1 it come thank you eh eli you dont say betty hurling going to be there with you too well well of course I 1 remember her vve we used to be sweethearts back in kid days when did she he get back in town must bo be four or fire years cince once weve met all right til lit bo be over roger sighed as he be hung bung up the r celver then gr grinned lined tonight will ww be a EOV 4 time to t ll 11 them about my new now year tears resola don 0 the chiy little dinner n party arty W was albov over or slater sister madge and phil hub she patronizingly callett him 1 acre somewhere fuhere out in the back of the house they hod bad left roger and his blis old churn chum hetty betty alone tete a tete in the dimly lit it barlot how flow that girl had grown and lm im proved during tho ther five years the thal roger yeen her why she had bad developed into a positive little pacu pach 1 what a sensation she would malj mali at one of ot the club dance she hadn haan forg forgotten ottee about their old daya days together either recalled lots of little childish intimacies cles hat that had slipped even roger rogers memory why those fuzzy little tendrils of bair curl ing at the nape nave of her neck ere post lively adorable yes and 0 ase liquid mischievous eyes of horal berol deuce take it what waa was that elusive scent she used did it come from that fluffy hair ur or the gown or roger was in tha the midst of telling her about bis his resolution to eternal lie ile had intended to do it humorously nut but the warm physical proximity of th girl was an indubitably pe permeating thing wont went to ones head aej that little pink nailed rott soft hand lying paa pas give so near to bis his was so when I 1 got up and remembered that today I 1 Is a now years year a and my fir bieth birthday I 1 said to myself yes roger oh the dub dubble tle amused encouragement of that inflection it piqued mm strangely 1 I said to myself that yes roge 1 the man stared at her confusedly and all at once was accusingly con that somehow or other that sott soft warm little hand band of her ars nos ling comfortably within his own trem ulous grip you were saying roger that you told yourself that T that ive been needing you for ever so long dear mumbled the man red faced and she oh roger I 1 what a perfectly lovely new years resolution |
