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Show AI the noted, author g II ' Ruth Gives Consent I Alice picked up the telephone and I called up Ruth. "My dcrr,, I am going 1 home tomorrow," she said, "and 1 I I ' thought perhaps you -would like to I 1 hnve me take little Bobby for a visit I to hlc father." f Of course I could not hear what Ruth said at the otcr end of the line, but I had a pretty, clear Idea, from what Alice said, that Ruth was mak- ing all sorts of oxcuses In order to lf . keep Bobby' at home. J f "Now, Ruth, you know It will not bo J. any trouble at nil for you to get llttlo ijf' Bobby ready. He Is always the pink V of childish perfection and you can aond his governess with him if you After a-momont's silence she contln- ued: Why, of course, I know that I Bobby wants his boy for a visit. Ho wrote to Katherlno the othor day and j asked her to sound you out on the sub-! ' Ject. He is Just longing to see little Bobby, Ruth, and T think you ought to send him." There was another long silence and then: "I thought you were a bigger woman than that," came In tones of remonstrance remons-trance from Alice. "Can you not realise rea-lise that however much Is ninde of Bobby by Helen, it will not bo Quite like his own mother, especially as you have nlways made yourself so indispensable indis-pensable to your children. "I vonlure to say that poor llttlo Bob will be very homesick and very glad to see you when he comes back after a week or two." Another short silence, as though Alice was interested and then she exclaimed: ex-claimed: . "Why, of course! He will stay one week, lf not two, with his father, and f - you will got along all right. You will ' have the other children." "Yes, yes, I know," said Alice after r , she had listened for a moment. "I ' know that you "have always been very! Hr selfish in regard to your children,1 , Ruth, and I am sure this will do both LB llttlo Bobby and yourself a great deal Wk of good. You can not nlways keep jra your sons tied to your apron strings. I SH Can't Always Be Tied j jfl "Of course I am sure he wants him.j f!m Do vou think that I would take it upon' M myself to bring little Bob into Bob's lm and Helen's home unless I was sure B they wanted him very muchr1 JM "That's splendid of you, Ruth. I Vm will come over and call for little Bob about 10 In the morning. Don't send anything more than a suitcase with him." "There, that's done," said Alice as she hung np the rccel-er. "I never talk" to her unless my sympathy geca out to her and yet my common sense tells me that she was quite as much to blame as Bobby for tho unsuccessful unsuc-cessful outcome of their marriage. After the babies came you know how foolishly she acted, Tnero was nothing noth-ing for her In this wide world except children, and I am sure that had I been their father I would have gotten a little bit tired of the situation myself." "Then you thbk," I said, "that she should have tried to pick up tho threads of her life with Bob again, after 1 o told he was in love with some other woman, and tied them together?" to-gether?" "Oh, I don't know what I think, ' said Alice a little Impatiently. "Somo- . 1 T ' .1... IP T . .5 limes, 1 11 ni buru iiwii it 1 mm uuuh 9 Ruth I would havo turned my attontlon 1 to winning Bobby away from Helen I and then again I am not sure that shoj I did not do tho wisest thing after nil. j Sometimes I havo como almost to tho 1' conclusion that a woman gambles j everything and loses, or plays for 'safety und regrets it over more."' J Voicing Old Cry j "After all, Alice." I said, "you, aro jonly voicing the old cry that it Is the 'woman who pays and pays, and I think Ithat is a groat untruth. I do not be-Hevo be-Hevo tho woman nays oftener than the! man." . I was thinking cf Karl Shepard as I 'said this and his words: "What a rotten trick Destiny has played upon me, that I should wait all these years only to love hopelessly the wifo of ray oldest friend." 1 Instinctively I knew that out there on that moonlight ocean Karl Shepard .away from everyone that he cared for, jwas eating his heart out, because, as ho felt, Fate had played him this rot-Iten rot-Iten trick. Over there in John's home 'town Elizabeth Moreland was railing against Fate that tho man she thought she loved was not particularly happy with me. And I am sitting hero with I the" bits of dainty linen in my fingers I dreaming as 1 stitch . the tiny garment, gar-ment, of tho time soon to come when 'l, like Ruth, would havo something of my very own flesh and blood to care for me If Destiny plays me one of her scurvy tricks. Tomorrow Alice and' Katherlne discuss dis-cuss men. |