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Show m fcOVE and MARRIED IIFEl M ! Ihj. the noted author J JrI j Idah MGlone Gibson III A QUESTION OF ETHICS. , Wm "i don't feel like rending that letter If now. John. 1 nm too heartbroken over II Helen's tragedy." II "Well, she made it hcrsolf," said W John. "And o all asinine proceedings, EE for Bob Gaylord to bring that woman Tpr here and expect his friends to receive ff jjcr, this takes the prize!" I ,1 looked up quostloningly. j "Why shouldn't they receive her?" "That's just the question I might June expected from you, Kathcrine. For a grown woman you have the least t respect for what might be considered : : respectability of any one I know." "That sounds very clever, John, but j I don't quite get the import of it." I ' Do you moan to tail me that after such an affair as this you would still I call Helen Van Ness your friend?" "Yes, dear, until I got her end of tho I story, and also Ruth's side of it," I "Well you can make up your mind I to one thing. You will not have the I privilege of choosing. As I said be-F be-F fore, 1 don't intend that you shall mix i up In the mess. I am sure that Alice will see the matter as I do, as will all ' the rest of tho women in town. Yott i are the only one who is standing out. Ilia The matter was talked over pro and Iff con at Alice's house the other evening, Itf and although no decision was voiced, I Irf could see that Helen Van Nesr, lias p cooked her goose so far as society in IW this town is concerned. The women Ifijf won't have her, my dear, and if I t should allow you to espouse her cause I ? you would only succeed in ostracizing I i ' yourself." i "Kavo tho men formed the same ? cabal against Bobby?" I asked- ; Took Lunch With Him. ; "Well, no! Dob's a good fellow! I ' took lunch with him yesterday. He's going into the manufacturing business ; on a largo scale and wo had a long conference on tho best mode of adver- ' tising his product. Ho a3ked about you and I told him you weren't well i enough to see any one or even take J notice of outside affairs yet. I am re- j ally sony that Cob's made such a fool of himself. You see the women will : not stand for Helen. You can't change ! a woman's edict against one of her own sex. There isn't one of the men who would not invite Bob to his house, 5 hut I don't think there )s a woman in ; town, wjth the exception of you, who f would have Helen." M "Do you know why, John? Do you W know why?" I asked eagerly. "It is m because women's husbands object. I I get ery tired of this talk about woman's inhumanity to woman. You men have built up that fiction yourselves. your-selves. If one of you would meet Helen on tho street tomorrow, you would be perfectly delightful and charming to her. In fact you would take her and her husband to luncheon you know that you would." John colored in a way that made me say: "You have probably been to luncheon with them already." "Yes, I have," he answered. Helen No Different Now. "Well, If that is tho case, why are you refusing me the privilege of meeting meet-ing my friend? Helen is no different now than she was when I visited hei last spring. You and I both knew that she and Bob were in love with eacli other. Nobody made any great objection objec-tion when Bob was with her continually continual-ly last summer! Just because they kept the affair under their hats, as it were, you mon affected not to sec iL But now that ho and Helen have come out boldly and said this passion is something for which they must brush aside all conventional ideas and mako the best of circumstances becauso they have both come out in tho open, I say, you object to your women folks having nnything to do with the woman in the cane! Mind. I'm nnt ovmisinir either of them, but I think that Helen Van Ness and knowing her as I do, I think I can speak knowingly is a more virtuous woman than Elizabeth Moreland." "Oh, you've always got to bring in Elizabeth, haven't you? Elizabeth has done nothing except to be a little in-discreet, in-discreet, that I can sec!" "You know," I replied, "as well as I, that Elizabeth Moreland has gone just as far as she dare and still keep" within the pale, with you and other men in this town." About Helen Van Ness. "I thought we wore talking about Helen Van Ness," said John, in his ugliest manner. "We aro talking of Helen Van Ness," I answered sturdily, "and I am trying to find out just the reason why she should be pilloried when Elizabeth Moreland and other women of her ilk are received." "Some tirao when you are well, Katharine, I may bo able to convince you I hat what the world doesn't know is never punished by tho world." "You mean, don't you, that what the world can ignore, goes Scott free?" I answered. Tomorrow Karl Shepard's Letter. |