Show hill 1 fill IIII 1111 I 1 III III I 1 III nue eia airine b bubp la C e E by but ey franices Franc FraE ices rens parkinson kelee C francos frances parkinson keyei V service r SYNOPSIS at a dance a visitor in the community neal conrad young lawyer is impressed by anne chamberlain pretty daughter of a shiftless farmer fanner perceiving her fine character A few days later she accompanies him and his hostess mrs griffin on an a picnic at the end of the day neal declares his love at washington on their honeymoon the conrads meet clarence hathaway friend of neals young diplomat the young couple start housekeeping annes annei health begins to fail neal engrossed in politics becomes neglectful of be her happiness their son Is s born bom in ID the ensuing eight years neals law practice and his bis position in politics both mount A daughter has been born bom to anne but her beauty Is fading clarence hathaway visits the conrads he reproaches pro aches neal nea for allowing anne to stagnate and suggests neal nea end and anne take a holiday with him in france in paris anne is rejuvenated physically and sartorially hathaway long secretly enamored endeavors to win her from neal without success the tb governor of his state offers neal nea the appointment of senator in the united state slate senate at washington a junior senators wife anne finds her troubles begin with the selection of a home CHAPTER IX continued 21 another caller was coming up the steps and anne saw with relief that the new visitor was of a different type was indeed herself timid and ill III at ease in spite of her pretty clothes and air of unmistakable good breeding but this relief was short lived madame estabi the wife of the third secretary of the peruvian embassy was herself a newcomer embarking on her first round of calls she accepted the place by the fire so recently vacated and sat holding herself very erect with painful pauses which anne did not know how to fill in between her civil stilted little sentences in the midst of one of these pauses a fearful shriek rent the air and an instant later nancy with junior in hot pur pursuit sult tore wildly into the room tripped over the th rug and fell sprawling on the floor between the two ladies the astonished caller rose looking very much startled im dreadfully sorry anne said wretchedly really they dont often act like this junior go upstairs and wash that that whatever it is off your face and hands and stay there until I 1 send for you please madame badame estaci Es taril nut but madarah mad ame astari had quietly and effectively vanN vanished hed and there were more callers coming up the steps before the riotous and untidy children could be ellmin eliminated abed these callers were upon anne the dreadful afternoon wore on anne nervously keeping her eyes from the clock was nevertheless aware that neal would he be expecting her would be waiting for her and yet she could not escape and go to him at last the tele phone ran rang sharply f neal dear she whispered into the transmitter 1 I cant come for you I 1 im m sorry no I 1 cant speak any louder londer there are people here hear me no I 1 cant explain no im not sick no the children arent either she returned to the drawing room certain that site she had been overheard well that was bad enough hilt but at least it meant that these intruding stran gers would go would leave her in peace but it did not sensing that something was amiss and pager eager to know what it was they lingered to find out neal let himself in with his latch key banging the door after him and shouted to her from the hall why you tell nie me you vou were going to have company he roared 1 I waited and waited neither of them ever referred again to the next few minutes ile he strode into the little parlor halted and be came dumb introductions were mum bled but afterwards the silence deep ened one by one disappointed the th callers departed As the last one vanished from sight si ht and hearing anne turned on her husband with a rage such as he had seldom seen her display dont you ever dare speak to me that way again 1 she cried you ought to have realized I 1 was in some difficulty and helped me out instead of making things ten times worse than they were al already rendyl you ought to have known that senators wives have to re ceide on thursdays and make hun bun deeds and thousands of calls them selves other days dropping little dog eared cards from one end of washing ton to the other tomorrow im going to get all this straightened out by some one who does know and will tell me all about it ill find out what ive got to do and do it well why anne said noal neal gently im awfully sorry I 1 think his own annoyance had vanished into thin air at the sight of her ds distress tress which he did not minimize he spoke with unaccustomed and unexpected tenderness darling its nil all right get the ban hang of all this in no time anne dont cry at nine the anekt morning anne called up the vice presidents house and asked for mrs airs hammel I 1 A smooth purring voice that sounded somehow in spite of its smoothness as if it might upon occasion grow dreadfully hard answered miss but speaking this Is mrs neal conrad senator conrads wife I 1 asked for mrs hammel oh but you see mrs hammel never goes to the telephone mrs con rad you give me the mes sa sage e I 1 am her secretary you yoa know I 1 take all her messages every one who wishes to get in touch with mrs hammel does so through me again reproved again convicted of Igno ignorance rancel anne felt herself flushing alone in the little dark entry where her telephone hung bung but she gritted gritter her teeth 1 I wonder if she would let me come and see her today today really mrs conrad I 1 doubt whether that would be possible mrs hammel hamme would be delighted to see you of course but she Is very much engaged perhaps next week I 1 could give you an appointment wont y you on ask her whether she would see me its really urgent in that case what Is your telephone number mrs airs conrad I 1 will try to call you back a little later but bin of course I 1 cant promise mrs ham me mel always gives up her mornings to her correspondence we try not to let anything disturb her there are so many demands upon her you see anne bun hung up the receiver already regretting her sudden impulse to ap peal to the vice presidents wife As she lay in bed the evening before mis drably wakeful she had remembered a feature story that she had read about mrs hammel in the inquirer the sunday before this article was accompanied by a picture of the ladi herself smiling plump be jeweled ani and beed but bill there was a look of real tinman human kindness in the gentle eyes and soft mouth and there was a paragraph prini graph in the article which had arrested annes attention especially and which burned on her memory mrs hammel before tier ner marriage was a miss luiss sarah gown a school teacher in the great western stare which her distinguished husband has ha so rapidly put on tile the map when they first met he was a cattle herder the early days of their marriage were spent on a ranch sixty miles f from rom the nearest village mrs airs hammel of course did all her own work and in the evenings taught her tin husband shand who had had fewer educational opportunities than herself from the shabby textbooks which she had taken away with her from the mountain school there were other paragraphs after that describing the rise in the elam me mcl fortunes both political and financial but they did not matter so much what mattered was that mrs hammel had once been a little country school teacher like anne herself had bad suffered far more in her bridal days and she had married a man who possessed far fewer advantages of every kind than neal and she had won through but she must have had to learn too and perhaps perhaps she remembered how bitterly hard that learning was the telephone rang miss butters was speaking again her voice even smoother and more purring 0 thin than before oh mrs conrad agave I 1 gave mrs hammel your message and she will be pleased to see you at eleven she Is of course very much pressed very much occupied so I 1 am sure you will understand and make your call brief at eleven then it was miss aliss butters anne said to herself as she buttoned on her little hine blue and her small perky blue lint hat down over her curls who made up the last part of that message mrs airs hammel hamme never said it at al all 1 if she meant to he be kind she have said shed see me anne was right mrs airs hammel did mean to be kind she looked to the bewildered wild wil dered pred newcomer like a comfortable middle aged nn angel el her wings concealed by her perfect berfect worth gown of gray crepe de chine hut hill her halo almost distinguishable above the smooth ripples of her permanent wave there was something very homey about her in spite of the fact that she might have served as the personification of what the well pressed dressed woman with unlimited means will wear sh she almost patted annes hand as she shook it and nn an degree of intelligence shone from the beams of her kindly eyes so youre the wife of the new appointee to the senate bless me how young voting you look I 1 wonder it if youre the senatorial baby and pretty as a picture your husbands young too he mr air hammers hammels been watching his career with interest he believes theres a big future ahead of him yet and ahead of you yon too of course im pleased you wanted to run in and see me like this was there something special anne went straight to the point in a few brief sentences she had find outlined her brick background ground up upbringing brinzing and previous experience then with slightly more detail she related the events of the afternoon before mrs airs hammel listened attentively once or twice the corners of her mouth month twitched and when anne had finished she coughed a little behind a fine cambrie cambric handkerchief well well she said 1 I dont know when ive been so much interested and you thought of coming straight to me which im cm very glad you yol ZI did on account of that article in the in are you on good terms with the press yourself im afraid not you see anne plunged into inlo that story too tills this time mrs himmel hammel laii laughed glied outright yes ive read some of th these ILI articles and of course I 1 realized they hut but I 1 know lust list lay behind them well my dear the first thing for you to do is to get a picture taken of yourself that hat does you I 1 justice list ace severn several I 1 of them and then ring up lip miss aliss sharp and ask her to come and have tea and a little chat with you TO BIT BE l |