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Show f - 1901 A6UiUTCHUi50K VA-1- BK;! TTKKK TODAY. , After eight years of married life, Mark Sabre 1 omi-s to realise that hs Is neither understood h his prosaic and snobbish wife, Mabel, nor by hl.s colleagues In the firm of Fortune, Ka.it and Sabre. A promised partnership part-nership In the business has been denied de-nied him end promised to Twynlng a Jealous r.ssoclnte. Suddenly an old sweetheart, Nona, now the wife of the dashing Lord Tybar, returns after af-ter two year of travel MobH becomes be-comes Jealoii" of Nona, who visits Sabre at his bffiCS. Something makes Sabre suspect that Nona Is not happily hap-pily married Bhf says She U just drifting, flotsam ' .f ON AVTTHTHI. STORY. She said swiftly, as though shs were stirred. "Oh, Mnrko, ves, that's mysterious Do you know Horn-times Horn-times I've seen drift like that, and I've felt oh I don't know. But I've put out a stick and drawn In a pleci of wood Just &s the stuff was moving off. Just to save it being earrled nway Into well Into that, you kaor." "Have you, Nona?'' She answered. "Do you think that's What life le, Marko" "Its not unlike,' he said And he added. "Except about someone coming com-ing along with a stick and drawing a bit Into Afety I'm not sure about that. Terhaps that's what we're all looking for " He suddenly realized that he was back precisely at tho thoughts his mind had taken up on the morning he had met hor. But with a degree more of Illumination Two feeling came Into his mind, the second hard upon the other and overriding It. rs a fierce horseman might catch and override one pursued He said, "It s rather Jolly to have someone that can see Ideas like that." And then the overriding, and he said with astonishing aston-ishing roughness. "But you you aran't flotsam! How can you be flotsam the llfo you've taken"" And. lo, if he had struck h.-r. and she been bound. defenseless and with hor eyes entreating not to be struck again, nho could not deeper have entreated him than in the glance she fleeted from her eyes, the oulver of her lids that first released, then veiled It. It stopped his wordn. It caught his throat. III. lie got up qulcklv. "I say. Nons never mind about thinking I'll tell you what's been doing. Rotten. Happened Hap-pened Just aer I met you the other day " "Th dust on these roads'" she said She touched her eyes with her handkerchief "What, Marko?" "Wrll old Fortune promised to take me Into partnership about an age ago." "Marko, he ought to hav done It an age ago What 'a there rotten about that'" Her voice end her air were as gay a when ehe had entered. en-tered. 'The rotten thing la that he's turned It down. At least practically has. He " He told her of the Twynlng and Fortune incident. "Pretty "Pret-ty rotten of old Fortune, don't yon think ?" "Old fiend!" said Nona. "Old trontl" Sabre laughed. "Good word, trout. The men hero all nay he's like n whale ThSy rail him Jonah." a nd he told her why She laughed gaily "Marko' How dleguailng you are' But I'm sorry I am. Poor old Marko Of course It doesn't matter a horse-rari-Ish wha.t an old trout like that thinks ibout your work, but H does matter, doesn't It? I know how you .!." Sho was at the shelves, scanning tho books Her fond, her ulinost ten der sympathy made him, too, CSS that II was rather fine-. Her light words In her high, clear tone voiced exactly his feelings towards tho books. Talking with her was, in the reception and return of his thought-, nearer to reading a book that delighted de-lighted him than to nnythtng else with which he could compare It. Thsrs wax tho ,amo Interchange of ideas, not necessarily expressed, the saro creation and plav of fancj, Imagined, not stated. IV. She sat briskly forward in the big armchair In which she faced him, m.iklng of the motion a movement as though throwing aside a turn h conversation had taken "Well, go on, Marko. I'm not going to let yiu stop talking yet. I love that about how people get success nowadays. It's Jolly true. I never thought of It before be-fore Yes, you're still a terribly thlnky person, Marko. Go on. Think some more Out loud " Caressing drawing him on Just as of old lie said thoughtfully. "I tell you a thing I often think a lot about, Nona. You bolng here like this puts It In m mind. Conventions She smiled toaslngly. "Ah. poor Marko I knew you'd simply hate it my coming like this Does It seem terrlbl) unconventional, Improper, .0 you shut up with me In your office?" of-fice?" He shook his head "It seems verj nice That's all It seems Look h. r. Nona, this really Is rather Interesting Interest-ing " Yes," she said. "Yes." Just so he used to bring Ideas to her; Just so. with "Yes yes," she used to receive them. But he i'.ent on 'Why conven tlon. you know, It's the most mysteri ous extraordinary tnlng It s a code society has built up to protect Itself and to govern ltsU, and v. hen you go into it it's the most marvelous rode that ever was Invented. All sorts of ihlngs that the law doesn't give, and couldn't give, our conventions conven-tions shove in on us in the most amazing way Anil all probably originated orig-inated by a lot of Mother Grundv-lsh old women, that's what's bo extraordinary. extraor-dinary. You know, If all tho greatest great-est lugal minds of all the ages had laid themselves out to make a soda code they could never have got anywhere any-where near the rules the people h o c built up for themselves And that s what I Ilka, Nona that s what I think so Interesting and tho beat thing In lif the things tho pooplo do for themselves without any state Interference. That's what I'd encourage en-courage all I knew how If I were a politician ' Ho broke off. "I say. aren't I the limit gassing away like this? I hardly ever get off nowadays and when I do! Why don't you stop me ?" She mado a little gesture deprecatory depreca-tory of his suggestion. "Becan 1 like to hear you. I like, to watch your funny old face when you're on one- of your Ideas. It g. t n-i under-neath. under-neath. Marko. and tho red slowly comes up. Funny old face! Go on. I want to hear this because I'm going to disagree with you. I think. I think conventions most of them, an j ohvlous, hateful. Marko. I bate them." V. He had been strangely affected bv the words of her Interruptions; h contraction In the throat a tv. itching itch-ing about the eyes But he was ble. and glad that he was able to cAich eagerly at her oDinLon- "Tor- yes, I know, odious. hateful, and much more than thnt, cruel conventions conven-tions can be an cruel, as cruel as 1 hell 1 was Just coming to that. But they're absolutely rightly ba.sed, Non:i That's the baffling and the maddening part of them That's what Interests me In them." "lxok ot this stuff there's been In the papers lately about whit they call the problem of tho unmarried mother. Now there's a brute of a case for you. a ;lrl gets Into trouble and while ho sticks to her baby she's mat'e an o st: every door is "One r 111- Friends, staying With Vs." I shut to her: her own people will have I nothing to do with her; no one will take her in so long as she's got the I bab with her. That's convention land you can Imagine .i.scs where Its cruel beyond words. But it's no good cursing society about it You can't help seeing that tho convention 1 fund un. nt.Lllv right and essential. Where on earth would you he If girls with babies could find homes as easily eas-ily as girls without babies"" He smiled. "You'd have babies pouring out nil over the place. See it''" She noddod 1 do think that's inter. in-ter. Ming, Marko Yes. cruel and hateful and preposterous, many of them, but all fundamentally right ' Pi ently she said, "Yes, you da still Ihlnk ihlngs, Marko. You haven't changed a hit. you know." He smiled. "Oh, well, it's only two years, you know loss than two years since you went away.' I wasn't thinking of wo years" "How mans years were you thinking think-ing of"" "Ten " They Just sat there. 1 The Insistent shrieking of a motor siren in the street below began to penetrate th?lr silence. "What the devil s that?" An extravagantly long motor car waa drawn against the curb. Wd T.vbar, In a dust coat and a sleek bowler- hat of silver gray, sat in the nlT1' Ha WM Industrious! and Without cessation winding the handle of ,he siren An uncommonly prettji woman sat be.d() him Bhn w'V, m:1""''1 ,n fu". In her cAr, SL held the index finger of each hand o he,rbhWead':tlrklng Ut " "?h St At Nona's call Lord Tybar ccasri the handle and looked up wlthTS! ngagfng smile: the uncommonly Pretty woman removed her b2re from her ears and also turned ur7 ' wards her uncommonly pretty far" P WK ..h?yw Wont down Sabre askid Vv hat's that with him in the car-! u.;;pne Gf W- StaynV vVi,h ' Something In her voice made It ! ofterwards occur to him u ToSJ ,u ' she spok.. of one of "his" 1 of "our" friends, and did not mJ m"6 her name. not mention 1 Through the day Sabre's thoughts as a man sorting through mill v Picture o?hlmiSlonrwilhW5Pd- a here, there were three Vhk. Lk ffiSi aa ass be Continued In Our Next rfsuo ) ' |