Show A BEAUTYS s I 1 PAU DAUGHTER of TER by kathleen nonis f kathleen norris VU service Ser ric mr CHATTER XV continued cerena sti still 11 wearing the pale rIder dressi dressing n g gown in which 41 her last night feay ky had bad first seen lying flat across the is g bribed bed the delicate pink taffeta arstill rs till were spread in their e position and flowed over dais in thick rich flouncing and lids kt at the top of the low wide A a half circle of finely pleated flows avs were the night ight table and 6 rose like a moon besides t pink lamps the pink and white le phone the book in a tooled vela cove cover that serena had been cading ing serena spencers better they ink he will live quentin wants teak lepeak to you silence the rooms mi mistress stress lay f she might have lain in a mom it t of sleep she was lying on her ick her beautiful hair loosened sd falling failing in a cascade over her ulder odder one arm hanging relax over the edge of the bed ks heart suddenly rose into ter r throat and she felt her knees hakea ken shi she dared not turn her back on room instead she backed slowly away cw fy heard the men eberg ing spencers room turned to show them on a shen ashen face and to clutch at quentina Quen tins arm oh quentin ashes only asleep I 1 guess ashes um but dont so go an dont ashes lying on hi her bed she go to bed I 1 spoke to her and she stir the matter vicky quentin asked surprised weary what did she say has she fainted he went toward Serc nas door vicky with a little gasp of fright followed along beside him again she looked at the rosy beauty of room the pink lights on delicate pink silk the litter of beautiful luxurious nothings with which serena had surrounded herself a rabbit skin rug silver frames and vases tortoiseshell tortoise shell fitting mounted in gold for the desk at which serena wrote only love notes wait a minute quentin said sharply he went to the bed touched the figure lying there gripped the unresponsive shoulder with a big hand and shook it serena he said and then turning to vicky and the other doctor look here what is it cudworth asked advancing into the room dead quentin said oh no quent vicky was clinging to his arm oh no who would do it ashes done it herself eh cudworth asked he stooped and picked from the floor something that glittered brightly in the soft light ye care for that investigation did ye my lady the old man queried staring down at the dead woman with witha a shrewd light in n his eyes suicide vicky whispered yes she did it herself quentin t in muttered look there eyes found the little round violet puncture of the bullet hole at the flawless marble temple Serc nas sleeping face was placid but the once scarlet mouth was wa s pale and flecked with blood and the beautiful pale gold hair was loosened into a careless cascade that hung in a web over the side of the bed there was a horrible sprawling relaxation in her position a dreadful mysterious in the colorless lips that made vicky tremble Is there anything to do quent not now he did not turn from his contemplation of the wreck of what had been so soft so lovely and alluring and fragrant and warm only a few hours ago no it was instantaneous vie vic he muttered killed herself she thought lie he was dead ayou a the older man supplied suddenly denly the clinese woman had come out of his room it was while we were all in the hall there awhile back when we all thought that poor morrison had no chance 1 I thought from the way you all talked quentin said 1 that he was I 1 was amazed when amah said he wanted to see me and certainly she must have thought so poor woman an hour later victoria and quentin walked across the mor side garden and through the gate into the lane and through their own gate A perfect spring dawn was strengthening over the world now it was four the east cast was flushed with exquisite delicate pink against which shoals and galleons gal leons of delicate silver and gray and paler gray made long bars 1 I feel reborn vicky said reborn im terribly grateful vie vic quentin said oh grateful if you knew what I 1 was thinking of all night long every horror that anyone can imagine seemed to be sweeping over me I 1 had you in jail I 1 had us all moving to some remote place perhaps you think I 1 vie vic while we were working over him perhaps you think I 1 have a chance to think how id taken my life and destroyed it with my two hands but thank god its all over now 1 I am tired quentin the tea for the vienna doctors and our lunch at the st francis seem longer ago than yesterday that yesterday he exclaimed all it was my god he said again struck she did do it she quent yes he said with a serious look 1 I guess she did H e r killing herself T h e idi i di 19 sounded so strange that vicky had to stop short and think of thern them he her r killing herself looked as if she did she mused she had that I 1 dont know what to call it A ruthless quality quentin said she went over any obstacle that was in her way she used to say that she had tartar blood she had a way of going berserk not wild but cold and revengeful and determined he roused the very worst in her he always did victoria mused he seemed to sit back and laugh at her and he never lot let her have enough money even to get away she told me she came to see me every few days you know that she had to charge even her lunches at hotels that day she seemed to tn me desperate she looked beautiful too she was in a sort of corn color and her eyes looked so blue mother said gifter aho ho left all dressed up and no here to go I 1 suppose it wis was beati in i liec to her to live in that duct country house quentin nodded listening youve beon been a trump all night long vie he said after a while if been bean like most women and refused to go over there we might be in bad trouble this morning in if you were like most women Y oud have kicked me out years ago I 1 dont know why you act the way you do but I 1 want you to know this sounds damn flat but I 1 want you to know that I 1 admire you and that im grateful I 1 owe everything ive got in the world to you im just beginning to realize that its an awful lot you know im not good at speeches but when I 1 think about you and this is what I 1 wanted to tell you I 1 get all choked up im im grateful thank you quentin vie vic said from the other end of the table well go on here and some day ml ill have a chance to show you that im changed quentin said its taken me a long to up ive been a fool I 1 did the rot I 1 enest thing to you a man can do to his wife its just my mv luck its mv incredible luck that youve veil ell I 1 arnt say sav forr aven me you vou dont forget those things th imps and you cant forgive them but that youve worked it out your wa way ly you dd something of which you are ashamed she said simply 1 I alliy hy should t ere bj bi any quest question i 0 forgiveness forgie ness if 1 I I 1 did sumet something hing something wrong tome now be sorry buti think a little the less of me but you be personally touched because I 1 forged a check your own honor would be just what it wasl was my life yours im me 1 I wish to the lord you would do something dumb quentin said with ineloquent force after a pause 1 I sound smug vicky said I 1 but im not and I 1 do dumb things every day thousands of them there were months there were actual years when your home life was nothing but mistakes nerves uproar my crying and be ing tired and sick the children going into mumps and whooping cough bills piling up but good heavens vie vic that the man said roughly in imp impatience patience all that compared to the other thing compared to hurting your pride and killing your love for me and putting the thought of another woman eternally between us why lots of the fellows go home to women who are extravagant and nagging and nervous nervo US and who dont have a houseful of gorgeous kids to show for it theres no comparison between the two 1 I think there is I 1 think nagging and and nerves are serious things too and I 1 think women who wont have children who hate home who are always running about with other men are just as bad even if they dont go to the limit even if they fool along getting every everything thin they can out of a man and then stopping short never giving givin anything it seems to me detestable vie vic said my own temptations are different she added 1 I think maybe im a mother first and a wife afterward ive never gone in for pink baby pillows and long legg ed dolls the words brought back with a moment of horror the memory of her last sight of bedroom and she was still serena loved you she said thoughtfully in the silence she never loved anyone but herself quentin said everything she said and did revolved about that she loved her own beauty and power she used them to get what she wanted I 1 knew it after a while morrison must have discovered it as soon as they were married her first husband tried twice to kill himself she was the woman he ended for whom I 1 broke your heart no you break my heart breaking a persons heart is a cheap way of putting it quentin said its sounds romantic when it anything but damn stupid and selfish you said what it really did a minute ago it made you think less of me the real price we never can go back of that never be able to trust me again therell always bel be that feeling somewhere way back in your mind that I 1 failed you vicky her elbows on the kitchen table her chin in her hands looked thoughtful 1 I suppose so she sa said id slowly but I 1 dont know that it matters youve seen me looking pretty horrible ugly and crying and frightened and only anxious to be let off pain it seem to make you like me any less when im all gotten up in my new paris I 1 clothes luckily people forget those things when under it all they love each other quentin answered her with a long look 1 I think you really believe that he said after a while youre not like anyone lose lese in the world vicky in her turn was thought 1 ful perhaps were both tired she said for that matter happened tonight is enough to throw us into nervous breakdowns we dont often talk this way but its only fair to tell you something quentin that may partly explain the way I 1 feel the way we were married eleven years ago I 1 talked about marrying for reasons about not being carried away by excitement about not falling in love 1 I told you my idea of marriage was as companionship home children you were a widower with a delicate youngster she laughed it seems funny now to think of gwen as delicate itt it she said women were making your life a burden and you needed just what I 1 had to give I 1 remember our talking of it once and your saying that whatever the agreement was before marriage however olev reasonable and dispassionate the feeling was no man could have a young wife around and not come to love her that is presuming that he come to hate her do you remember that vaguely 1 well wall 1 the poke was as on me vicky said for I 1 had it had it desperately the whole time I 1 trembled and got silly when you spoke to me I 1 thought of you all lay day long and lay awake dreaming of you all night I 1 was the love sickest woman who ever im knelt elt down and thanked god that the most moat marvelous man in the world had deigned to look at her I 1 never told you I 1 was too proud I 1 tackled the big house and the servants and gwen I 1 even went to the hospital and had your babies quent but I 1 never dared tell you you never asked me to you took me calmly for granted meals and furnace and gwen and babies and answering the telephone and buying you new shirts and that was the way I 1 wanted it to bo be I 1 want to be the one to introduce the silly the sentimental side of it cry when you forgot my birthday airth day and expect you to cornn compliment me every night 0 on the way nv mv hair was wa s done id said I 1 wanted a certain kind of marriage work and responsibility and companionship par panion ship and plenty of criticism if I 1 do my job and I 1 got it but ive loved you all the cimei quent when you come home tired at night and go to sleep with your big heays shoulder I 1 lie awake sometimes for joy juliet has nothing thor ing on me nor n beatrice nor nicolette she stood up smiled at him there she said my awful confession ive made you a speech quent took victoria I 1 in n his arms youve made me a speech vie vic ill never forget it THE END |