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Show i LOW andMARRlIDXIFEl Ihj. the noted author L II 1 Idah MQlone CSibaon j JI Iff CAN A WOMAN LOVE TWO MEN? ajm "Has Karl Shepard gone?" I asked 'HF quickly after Helen had given me his j H message. "Yes, he went back on the next n train," she answered. K "It was like him," I murmured. Bl Helen came forward and with her M Bf arras on my shoulders looked me IfiSf straight In the eye, but she did not ask nKl a question. I knew what she wanted HBf to say. It was Just what I was asking IH myself. Did I love Karl Shepard, and IE was I sure that he loved me? II In all ages men have said that it is HtM4- perfectly possible for a man to love two women devotedly at the same time Poets h.ne made it a subject or1 I their verse and innumerable plays and novels have been written around it. Indeed I have heard many men declare de-clare that no one woman could be all things to one man, but no one has ever intimated for a moment that one man could not meet all the requirements ot one woman. And yet I questioned It this liking or loving, if you may call .it so, of certain people for certain attributes attri-butes making it possible to I6ve two or oven three people at the same time, is not a very human quality and nol confined to cither sex. Soul Feels the Consolation. My whole bruised soul felt the con solation of Karl's sympathy, silently i but beautifully expressed. I loved his selflessness. It seemed to mo I had never encountered a man who was sc perfectly willing to mako me happy ai whatever cost to himself. On the other hand, just to look intc John's eyes -when they, were smiling Just to feel the touch of his hand on my shoulder, just to brush his coal sleeve with my hand made me tingle from head to foot. He was my man. I knew it. The only thing that I was not sure about was that I was his woman. Right at this moment, I think. I lost all belief In that foolish theory that in all the world there Is just one man for one woman and woman for one man. If that were so, nature is a great bungler and we poor mortals are most of us doomed to earthly unhappiness. "What shall I do with these violets?" said Helen. "Do you want your mother to have them?" "Yes," I answered. "Put them all about her, except this one little bunch which I am going to take with me to my room." Pall for the Casket. "There are enough, you know," said Helen, "to make a pall for the casket , Shnll I have a florist come and make them into one?" ' "Yes. and when he is finished have , him tie a cluster of Melmalson roses i in one corner." I Helen said nothing more, but went to the phone to give the order to a ' local florist. ' I wanted to get away and be alone, , but I was not sure if I went to my j room that I would not be disturbed immediately by Alice and John, and 1 did not feel that I could stand their bickering. It never entered my mind, however, after what John had "said to me that he would have any objection jto my staying with Helen. I thought, ,of course, he understood what she had done for me and was willing to let me i keep my friend. My mind was (lis-j (lis-j abused of this rather rudely when, be-i be-i fore Helen left the telephone, she said, . "Someone is calling for you." "Ask who it is," I answered. "Who is speaking?" said Helen . Immediately I saw her face suffused with crimson. "I Ihink it is your husband," she j said, turning to me. "He will not give his name." Makes No Excuses. I knew that John had said something some-thing insulting, or at least rough, to Helen over the phone, but I made no excuse as I took the receiver from her. "Is that you. Katherine?" came In brusquo tones. "Yes," I answered, nonchalantly. "Do you think it quite the thing to mako social visis under the circumstances?", circum-stances?", he asked sarcastically. "No, and I am not doing so." I answered an-swered as calmly as I could. "Are you not in Mrs. Gaylord's rcom?" was his query. "Yes. John." "Then I think you had better come Immediately to your own." (Copyright by National Newspaper Service.) TOMORROW JOHN'S CODE. oo |