Show im beautys DAUGHTER AUGHTER ali SYNOPSIS VI victoria e borts torts herrendeen a vivacious little eirl had been too young to feel the shock that came when her father keith herrendeen lost hla his fortune A j gentle unobtrusive bave bi ve soul foul he Is now employed as an obscure re ic h ernist in san francisco his aswan wife maeda ca cannot annot adjust herself to the chang chance e she its a beautiful woman fond of p pleasure I 1 assure and i p magnet for or mens attention amda magda and victoria viet 0 aja have been down at a summer retort resort and keith loins joins them tor for the weekend week weck en end magda leav leaves s tor for a bridge party excusing hers herself 1 if for or being being such a runaway the Herren 3 1 rr deens return to their small san francisco cis co apartment apar ament keith does docs not approve of magdas nad mad social we life and they quarrel frequently nily magda receives flowers and a diamond ud rom om ferdy manners a wealthy man from rom argentina whom hom she had met less than a week before manners arrives a few hours hour later magda takes victoria to nevada to visit a woman friend who has a dau daughter named catherine there she tells her she Is going to get a divorce victoria soon Is in boarding school with her friend catherine magda marries manners and they spend two years in argentina victoria has stud lied led la in europe and at eighteen she visits her mother when ferdy rents a 1 beautiful home magda Is unhappy over berdys drinking sand nd attentions to other women when her mother and stepfather return to south america victoria refuses to go with ith them because ot of berdys unwelcome attentions to her magda returns and tells vie VIC she and ana ferdy have separated meanwhile keith hm ha remarried victoria is 13 now a student with lu rim clue farmer a married artist while she and nd vie vic prepare for a trip to europe ferdy i takes a suite in their hotel the night be tore jore magda and vie vic are to sail magda elopes with luclus lucius farmer while nursing the children of dr and mrs keats vie vic meets dr quentin hardisty a brilliant brini ant physician much sought after by women who to is a w widower dower with a crippled daughter ts in a te tete a tete at the keats home he kisses vie vic several days later he invites her with other guests to spend a weekend week end at at I 1 his cabin vie vic Is enchanted with the cabin and with the dinner next morning the she and IQ quentin bentin go hiking and return ravenous the party Is disrupted sunday afternoon by the arrival of marian pool a divorced woman vie vic to Is jealous of mrs pool and a few days later tens tells mrs keats she Is going to honolulu in his office quentin questions vie vic about leaving he proposes to her she accepts him and they are married vie vic and quentin are happy in their home during six years victoria has hag tour four children CHAPTER VI continued 10 about an hour later when a party of six had bad just harmoniously settled to sundays cold supper there was an interruption it began with a ring at the doorbell but that was nothing in a doctors household nor was metas appearance a moment later what was unusual was the appearance of the woman who fol glowed meta the sound of her voice for a moment vie vic know the voice at all or the little tinkle of high laughter or the person in the lace edged hat and frilly silk coat frilly blouse frilly sweeping skirts who stood there then the whole world turned upside down and she got to her feet and tried to speak but hear her 0 own invoice voice and tried again with better luck Mo therl she said my dear the proverbial bad pen inyl mrs herrendeen laughed coming in to sit down at the chair quentin provided and looking about the ahe circle gayly well youre hav jang ing a Par party tyll I 1 she said she was introduced all the voices spoke together cordially vie looks antonis astonished shed and well she may mayl the newcomer said beginning daintily on her meal no no wine quentin she said easily to the son in law she had met only a moment earlier ill have coffee would I 1 be a horrible pest if I 1 asked for hot milk ive had my coffee for so long with hot milk that I 1 cant seem to get used to it any other way she loosened the frilled coat victoria noticed with a disturbed heart that her mother under the first impression of fussiness of frippery in in her clothes also gave a distinct effect of shabbiness the group broke up early they were all tired and magda especially so she took possession of victorias one small spare room gayly observing that she did not mind it at all her trunks often had to stand out in the hall victoria suddenly feeling flat and discouraged and that the long day had been too much for her and that it was a formidable thing to be managing a busy husband a houseful of chil 1 dren five servants and to be facing besides the prospect t of illness and fresh responsibility satisfied herself with only a few weary moments of conversation with her mother as the latter prepared herself tor for bed mrs herrendeen Her renden assured her laughter daughter that she would be asleep in ten minutes and must be awakened in the morning unless some boded bring me just the simplest breakfast but vicky was not so fortunate she lay awake most of the night trying to fit her mother into her so completely changed life wondering what would happen now disturbed by a hundred vague im pres and fears of she knew not what her poor faded mother so gallant in the laces and frills the outworn badly worn finery there was no alternative mother must be made a guest of honor in this already crowded house for as long as she chose to stay but even to nights glimpse of her had made mad vicky feel upset and unsure of herself if I 1 had any character I 1 do this she reproached herself things always look different in the morning nothing is as bad as it seems at night she really knew very little of oy by KATHLEEN NORRIS 0 kathleen norris service what her mothers life had been in the last ten or eleven years victoria vicoria had been too much absorbed in in her own affairs to think much of her mothers and mrs herrendeen had not written ver very y of often ten in th the e beginning vie vic remembered there had been a long luxurious explanation certainly not a confession but there at least had been a long explanatory plan atory letter gay and confident unashamed unapologetic magda and her lucius head been in a lovers paradise in tahiti then and their escapade had seemed to them justified by their complete happiness after a year of that they had traveled first to south america and then to europe and finally had found themselves divinely placed in some tiny german town with rosa taking care of them I 1 it costs us exactly nothing magda had written her daughter and that is the main consideration with beggars like ourselves lucius can paint to his hearts content and I 1 can at last catch on some reading and go on with my french which these hectic years have sadly interrupted paris is near enough for an occasional spree that had been the last heard from rothenberg just why or how this ideal arrangement had terminated victoria never had known but her mothers next letter had been from biarritz Biar ritz and not in that nor in any subsequent letter had she ever mentioned lucius farmer again she L mother she said had usually been with delightful friends or she had a tiny diggins in paris in florence to in monte carlo and always the cramped note of money shortage had been there once she had been selling darling sibyl Hudder stones divine things L giving them away rather 1 and once she apparently had had some sort of agency for powders and perfumes because one must make ones poor little 40 per cent if one can she had explained the last letters had quite frankly asked for financial help vicky was married now and if she could help h elp her mummy just a little it would be such a godsend for we dont count money here as you do darling magda had reminded her daughter what you spend on those frightful ice cream sodas and on movies would take care of a whole family here in the morning after she and quentin had shared their early breakfast and after the usual visit to the kitchen and to the surging and shouting nursery victoria somewhat wearily prepared a tray not forgetting the continental touch of a pitcher of hot milk and adding a tiny clear green glass vase in which sprawled three stiff brilliant nasturtiums mrs herrendeen Herr ondeen was awake when her daughter came in oh you darling child with all you have to do and the newspaper too tod but I 1 shall miss my paris paper these american papers never have anything in them did you sleep mummy vie vic asked with her kiss 1 I slept divinely I 1 always sleep divinely the other woman answered a n her cheerful voice and freshened face bearing witness to it 1 I meant to lie awake she went on beginning her breakfast and think what a smart child I 1 have and what a lovely home this is quentin liked her that was a great help magda had still the seret secret of pleasing and interesting men whatever it was faded fussily dressed affected and artificial yet there was something real and affectionate and nd clinging in her nature that all males liked about a week after her return quentin electrified his wife by suggesting that they make up a party for the first night of the opera stern had sent him a box stern was on the committee it might be rather fun quentin who never wanted to go anywhere fun I 1 vicky echoed excited and interested it would be the time of all times to return the perrys hospitality pita lity and for a sixth they might ask nice old musical dr ward CHAPTER VII it was at the opera that they first saw serena morrison not that vicky or anyone in her neighborhood knew who the woman was at first with four men she was sitting in the forward seat of 01 a box an ashen blonde in a black velvet gown with petal smooth bore bare shoulders and deep set umber shadowed eyes everyone in the house was looking at her when the curtain went down and the lights went up but if she was conscious of the admiration and curiosity she excited she gave no sign of it joe younger that stout fellow with her quentin said laying down his glasses after a frank inspection by gosh she is beautiful oh quent you know him vicky said eagerly leaning forward in her old chocolate lace to have another look you slip over and meet her no time now I 1 will in the next ent 1 quentin whispered as the house lights fanned down down and and the footlights went up but before the next act there was the familiar whisper in the back of the box vicky had resignedly expected it it always came somehow when they were daring enough to go to the theater dr hardisty the whisper said in the dark the hospital on the telephone doctor dr bruce he said it was urgent and then quentin was groping in the gloom for his hat and coat and off in full evening regalia for some hot odorous surgery with the val dyries wild scream interrupted halfway it was too bad but it the first time and be the last vicky reminded her mother philosophically when they were in in the car going home and lucky for you tooler tool magda responded lucky well he was perfectly mad about that blonde woman whoever she was he was going over to that box just to meet her but I 1 thought you handled that very cutely vie vic magda said handled what vicky was genuinely amazed oh saying she was lovely and like to know who she was that was smart vie vic there was nothing smart to that vicky laughed in generous amusement but she felt just t little chilled nevertheless A bleak breath of wind from an almost for gotten country seemed to touch her cheek quentin admires beauty she presently said but as far as it goes just the same ill bet you something vie vic that he finds out tomorrow who she is mother youre incorrigible lot they were at home now yawningly dragging themselves up the long stairs ill bet you a chocolate bar that he never mentions her again they were in the house the following afternoon when quentin came in to smile wearily at kenty and susan who were cavorting about in pajamas and to discuss the products of the argentine with gwen magda was playing solitaire by the fire oh listen vie vic remember the blonde venus in the box last night quentin presently asked magda looked up and vicky turned with a little color in her face from a minute inspection of susans reputedly burned finger ashes an english mrs harrison or morrison or robinson or something quentin said 1 I telephoned joe younger today I 1 wanted to ask him something about the golf club anyway her husband is an english officer attached to the foreign office or something they left today for china he tell fell to musing a half smile on his face that was certainly one beautiful woman he said if you want to hold a man like quentin you ought 0 to well flirt with him magda magd a said victoria laughed flirt with my own husband something like that not flirt exactly but interest him magda said a little at a loss for the exact words she wanted keep him busy unless a man is kept busy he gets into mischief especially a sheik like quentin with a voice all the women fall for 1 I dont know that all the women fall for his voice vicky said unalarmed and as for keeping him busy I 1 dont know what would keep a man busy it if an exacting profession five children four servants a wife and a mother dont oh lord not that kind of busy magda scoffed 1 I dont mean worrying about the furnace or it if the new electric light bulbs c acme a me an and d I 1 dont mean curvat curvature ure of the spine spin e either A mans got to have some play vie vic the sensible thing for a woman like you to do is cut out all this nursery stuff have a hairdo hair do every week get a new lipstick and some peau de je jeunesse unesse and lie around in the mornings reading fashion magazines magazin esl 1 I dont know where be today if cut out all this nursery stuff 1 vicky wanted more than once to say good natu but she never did I 1 TO BE CONTINUED |