| Show 0 1 mr E I 1 K E frances A N I 1 wo em reges LACE r S SYNOPSIS disappointed through her inability to put finishing touches to her costume for a dance anne anna chamberlain Is irritated by the stolidity of her escort george hildreth A visitor in the community neal conrad young lawyer to I 1 to be the sensation of the evening and hildreth antics annes suitor Is vaguely jealous con rad Is impressed by anne perceiving her fine character A few ew days day later she accompanies him mid and his hostess mrs griffin on a picnic dipping into her scanty savings to buy suitable finery tor for the trip from an old friend alend mr Col coldenberg denburg at tho the end of the day neal declare s his love anne has no doubt ol of her feelings and they become engaged the marriage is solemnized quietly but impressively CHAPTER V continued 12 A cloverleaf clover leaf of course and neal and I 1 will have martinis after dinner well go to the theater have you ever been to spain mrs conrad well you and neal must run over soon an enchanting country I 1 madrid 1 tie ile suggested it as casually as george used to speak of driving her into hamstead but anne steadied herself she betray her nervousness ous ness her provincialism and embarrass neal neal nea who was really twice as wonderful as this attractive stranger mr URt hathaway Uatha haway way did not after all make many conversational demands upon her it was only necessary that she should follow tits his dashing lead and this inwardly stumbling but outwardly sure footed she managed to do the two men plunged into politics neal was talking very frankly he was thinking seriously he said of running tor for mayor but it took so much money and he sure the mahie machine was friendly later while they were getting their hats before starting for the theater he and hathaway athaway II had bad a moment alone and hathaway athaway II asked a question where did you find her neal in a place called west hamstead vermont two months ago she taught the district school ashes the daughter of the village neer do wee weel are you in earnest never more so clarence hathaway whistled softly any more like her left behind theres no one said neal like her in the whole world clarence whistled again im inclined to think youre right he remarked however im glad theres one she shell do very well as you said in the governors mansion 1 I 1 say protested neal well you better allons aliens mon cher still later lying in the curve of neals arm anne thought it all over the strange meeting the stranger visions of new worlds to conquer which followed it how many worlds were there yet to be revealed to her she had bad already glimpsed so many of which she had never dreamed these last weeks and now it was their last night in washington the last night of their honeymoon and in the morning they would be going back to Hin to the little four room apartment to hard work and everyday existence yet there seemed something about this c encounter neo unter with clarence hathaway that was pregnant with meaning with promise with prophecy A when they reached nin IlIn they had to begin right away to economize they ba had d spent more money than they expected but that nal said with a laugh was or of course to be expected I 1 and anne laughed too when he sold sald it but after he had gone to his office she sat still with a pencil and a piece of paper in her hand and did sad little sums before she even washed the breakfast dishes or made the bed it had sounded huge the amount they could count on for housekeeping when neal first told her about it and here it was melting away to nothing in her careful hands just as those steaks and chops melted away in neals mouth the instant he be got homp hoine at night starving hungry my but youre a good cook honey i another helping please and lots of butter gravy just floods of it nil all around them the baked potato and stick a piece of bread in it too elsh in the pan we used to call that when I 1 was a kid neni did not complain about the bills and he praised her cooking as he pr praised aled everything else she did but once he drew money arom the savings dank bank where als account was already much depleted and once the bills were not paid when those of the following month came in and there were ugly little words account rendered at the top of her statements it was then that anne commenced to do her sad little sums she roused herself from them at last and began her days work for the first time without joyousness it was childs play for her after her long hard drudgery at the farm as far as actual labor was concerned she slipped out of bed in the morning while neal nea was still asleep put the clothes to soak swept and dusted chilled his orange juice steamed his cereal percolated his coffee at first he remonstrated with her he liked to find tier her there beside him to kiss when he woke up besides there was no need ot of it but gradually the mental satisfaction and deep physical comfort of rising in a warm tidy house bouse to a waiting breakfast perfectly cooked and served overcame tits his wa 1 M TP after dinner well go to the theater have you ever been in spain mrs conrad in the evening he came home to the same shining order the same complete refreshment there was never cool soup or lukewarm salad and half an hour after they had finished supper the dishes had been put away the gas stove was cold the kitchen dark and she was curled up against his shoulder in the big morris chair that was so hideous alde ous but which held them both so luxuriously one thing ill never fling in your face neal chuckled more than once when they were thus comfortably settled the bread that mother used to y y make why you can give bothel mothel cards and spades in housekeeping right now I 1 but those bills 1 the figures began to dance before her eyes anne who was neier never sick began to realize that their horrible cavorting their sinister leaping were giving her a headache that night when supper was over instead of curling up in neals arms she faced him with grave determination neal she said soberly ive been thinking things over our expenses weve got to make them less it makes me unhappy not to have bills paid promptly all right ill draw some more money out of the bank that makes me unhappy too goodness annel anne I 1 youre probably the unhappiest woman in Hin besides she continued relentlessly and without noticing his levity I 1 you cant keep on much longer drawing money out of the bank can you I 1 mean there such an awful lot left look here anne set you worrying about money I 1 earn it dont I 1 I 1 earn more and more all the time and ana I 1 kicked at its going im just as proud as I 1 car can be 1 I want to pay cash for everything i I 1 have plenty of time to go out and get things myself instead of having them delivered and its possible even to have nice suppers without any meat at all ive been studying food values macaroni and cheese and cocoa and grapefruit make a very nourishing meal good lord loral I 1 exclaimed neal besides went on anne were feeding too many people sunday dinner for your family costs as much as everything wea eat the entire week by ourselves and if we must pay ny back every time your friends ask us to their houses well have to stop going why annel I 1 never guessed you were so inhospitable im not inhospitable but rm cm honest it honest to feed one group of people with food for which we paid another group of people neal did I 1 no not answer 1 I want you yon said anne to give me thirty dollars the first arst of every month the rest of this winter ill do the best I 1 can with it if I 1 can save out of it in one month well have company the next if I 1 cant we wont in the spring if youve earned enough to put back all youve taken out of the bank and have enough left over to increase my allowance say to forty dollars we can have company every week if you want to first your family then some of your friends but of every increase you give me I 1 want you to put the same amount back into the bank anne ive been mistaken in your character I 1 see eee youre a cold calculating woman oh neal darling dar lingl 1 dont say that even in fun I 1 how can I 1 help it when you propose to starve me 1 I dont propose to starve you hardly know the difference the tears were very near her lashes her ups were trembling but she stood her ground even through neals onslaught finally without having given her a definite answer he absolutely refus refused ed to discuss the question any furt further Ler she could see that he as well as herself was hurt hurl perhaps she was making I 1 ng a mistake she was nothing but bill an ignorant inexperienced tittle little country girl presuming to dictate to him yet instinctively she felt though she did not know that she was right TO BE BB CONTINUED ii i I |
