OCR Text |
Show IP ILOVE and MASKED LIFE tou, the noted author Idah MSGicme Gibson IELIZADETH AND JOHN "Katharine, 1 really believe you're Jealous' said Alice mischievously a.- Karl came around the bed to lay the bnby in ray arnr. "No. I in not," I answered, but mv voice was so decisive that 1 almost felt i as though it did have a him of Jealousy, in it. "Kathr rlne will finil thai she has no occasion to be Jealous of mo," said Karl. "Although you may not know it, my dear, the baby knows you rciy well. She has been with you ev ry d ) ' We were hoping that her tender little 1 hands would help to bring you back. I . J She alwnvn knew and remembered vou. ! I Katherino. although you seemed to I have forgotten her." 1 He put the baby in my arms and H I her little molBl mouth wandered over H I my cheek. Sho did not offer to go H back to Karl and I was a little ashamed H to feel that I was jcry riad when she Just cuddled down a little closer and lk gave a Bigfa cl babyhood content and VI closed her eyes. , iHf "I really believe she's sleepy, poor 'V darling." I exclaimed. "No, It raeann," said Karl, "Ih.at she ia perfectly contented and Hek all con-. con-. tented animals, she hnr. gone to sleep." "Do you mean to call my baby an fj snlmal?" I asked In mock annoyance. Jj9 "3 es, can you deny It?" he answered, KB smiling "AH children are only anl- fm inalr, wliQH they are boru. It Is only fK : fter their eyes open to look Into the ;:re:u wells of mother love that they v B begin to grow souls." Ef "There, Karl," raid Mice, "at last I Aj believe it. Katherlne has been trying to toll me that vou Were D pod, but some way I could not r ';o my idea of you measure up Qui y r talnlv have paid Katherlne and nil the mothers of the world a very beautiful compliment." B "There is something about Kather- ine, Alice, that has always brought PB the best of mc to the surfnee From . B the very first night 1 rut her thit H night when Joi n brought her home Hfl from the wedding trip nd insisted B upon showing her to us before sh had B a chance to doll up, until now, I have B always found thai even the thought Of B her has brought me up to 0 plane of high thinking which has surprised my- Karl himself berlde my bed B as Alice came over and stco;l beside him, looking down nt me. W "You r'' ratht r -'.tinny. Katherlne,"' phe 6aid, tantallzingly. "and your eyes look too big for your face Vur mouth seems dlr tresslngly full of teeth and that pe-acbes and cream complexion which was the despair of BTcry one of US, has faded for the time being Dj'. my dear, do you know lhat there is something nndeflnable about you that makes you more beiutlful than ever" 'That's a nice compliment," I said, "and It will probably fortify mo when I'm obliged to look in the mirror and see all Die dire wreckage that you have described " ' Tfea," said Alice to Karl, just as though I! were not there, ''I've come to the realization of that indescribable thing which we call charm." I "Charm?" said Karl ignoring roc. "Why, Alice, surely you have always i known that a woman's charm is her sweetness and goodness." I "Huh!" said Alice contempluously, ,"I know nothing of the fort. Karl Shepard. for some of the women that I have known that have the greatest charms as well as the greatest charm-, i era of history, have been neither sweet j nor good." She stopped suddenly and there was an uncomfortble silence, leach one of ua was thinking of Eliza-; ;.. th More-land. It was I who rpoke . first. "No one can define or explain the I word 'charm' when it is applied to a woman, in fact, many of us have known 1 J women whose charm for oue person 'would be nil and for another superlative." superla-tive." j 'Toor Elisabeth, ' said Alice with a sigh. "Yes, I. too, was thinking oS Elizabeth," Eliza-beth," said Karl. I "For most men, I know that Elizabeth Eliza-beth Moreland had great charm, f".r me she had none." I I felt that I could no' ignore these! two dear friends by keeping filcnt; I could not pretend to them who knew my life like an open book, that there had bem nothing between v'hn and Elizabeth and that the tragedy of my life w?s not their deaths but their Uvea, tin ir Kvmg and iheir loving, i "I sometimes think." I said, ".hat, after oil Elizabeth was the woman that j John s hould have married and I am not BOre even now', (hat she war. nol the' woman ho loved the more, and cculd hae made him hnpniest." "But you. my dear." s;'id Karl, bending bend-ing over me. "were the woman who could have made him live the life hei should live 1 Tomorrow Plane for the Future. |