Show ahe 1 I h ir t u e nt t h C omma adment by RUPERT HUGHES copyright by e Brothe rei FOREWORD the thirteenth commandment man dment is an american story written by an american for americans it is according to a famous english critic american bone and to the marrow of the bone it deals with that eternal conflict between finance and romance it tells the story of what one lovable modern american girl did when she discovered how often the checkbooks groan drowns the love song in this story rupert hughes is at his best and that best cannot be surpassed by any american author of the present day if you start the thirteenth commandment you will finish it and w when en you have finished it you oil will b be glad that you started it CHAPTER 1 1 As usual nowadays instead of knocking at the door fate called up on the telephone though the bell shrilled almost in mrs kips ear she would not answer it she winced shook her lead agitated her rocking chair with petulance embroidered vindictively and hardly so much called out as sighed very loudly toward the hallway daphne nel 0 oh daphne the telephone again 0 on the the stairs there sounded a muffled scurry like the rush of an april shower chased down a hillside by the sun an allegory of april darted across the room and raised the telephone to her lips as it if it were a beaker of good cheer her mother was used to this humor of daphnes and paid no heed till a sudden frost chilled the warm tone of the girls voice the smile of hospitality wasted on the telephone had bad given place to alook of embarrassment i sirs mrs kip whispered anxiously who is it daphne motioned her not to interrupt and her voice grew deep and important it became what her brother bayard called her reception voice in her grandest contralto she said this is miss hiss kip yes I 1 have yes tes he be does I 1 beg pardon oh oh oh how do you do mr sir who her mother keened daphne whispered to quiet her A young man from new york friend of lii yards same office I 1 hav eilt got IN I li N 5 name yet into the telephone she was saying and flowing bowing and nodding the while with her politest face indeed ill try to be of course Clev elands not new york but by the way do you dance good right might as well be deaf if you dont now how long will mill you be in cleveland oh is that all well then you must cuine come out here and have tea with us chii very afternoon ill call for you at the hotel in my little car no its not no one of those its an electric I 1 run it myself afraid to risk it bra bruve re man ill be there in fifteen minutes and you might be on the steps goodby mr amb ani 1 this last was said in the fond tone of ancient friendship and she hung up the receiver with a gesture like shaking hands she turned to find her mother thinning her lips in a long tight line her cheeks checks bulged explosively daphne forestalled her lies iles a young fellow in the same firm as bayard says Ws aes here on business for ten days bayard told him to call me up and tell we me to be nice inice to him that sounds like by also sold said lie he time to write that sounds liker still bayard told him to kiss you for him so he must be all right 1 I was going to take him to the hotel to a tea dance but I 1 thought rd id better give him a look over first so ill roll him out here get out the nice china and the napkins I 1 mono crammed gram med and but daphne wait I 1 I 1 cant P 1 I time to argue with you mamma please do as I 1 tell you for once and dont fuss mr will pi pr ably have a lot of news to tell tel about your prodigal son I 1 a kiss on the forehead iad had turned to corduroy irs rs like another april the sun uphill she aln wili hat and nose erl eil it door gayly nd strode across ule tile electric car standing under the porte coc co chere liere the car was very large for a beetle but pretty small for an automobile CHAPTER 11 II the night train trona from now new york had deposited clay wimburn la in the grimy cavern of the station at an early hour ne ile had dawdled over his breakfast feeling lost without his new york morning papers when at last it grew late enough to telephone for an appointment with the in man an he had come to see he was disgusted g sted to learn that the wretch would nut not be visible till the next nest day it was then that bayard kips parting behest to call up his sister recurred to wimburn ne ile planned to compose a formal note of self intro but bayard had forgotten to tell him his sisters name or his fathers initials there were several kips in the telephone book and he could not tell chich would be which lie decided to call up each number and ask a maid or somebody if mr bayard kips people lived there the very first number he called brought daphne herself suddenly voice to voice with him voices are characters and it it was a case of love at first hearing with him she hid ill him smiling and aid cooing at the second phrase lie he felt that slie she was going to make his stay in cleveland pleasant lie ile formed all sorts of pictures of her while lie he waited on the hotel steps but when slie she stepped out of her car and looked about she was none of the misses kip he ha had d planned she was a i round pretty little thing amiable of eye and humorous about the lips and cunningly dressed she too looked kd e as if she would be a plucky tireless sportswoman yet she hada had a wistful tender hugg that a girl ought not to lose however well she plays tennis Is this mr she began lie was too nervous to notice her pause ile ho retorted Is this miss kip lie ile noted that she shook hands well with a boyish clench accompanied by an odd little duck of the head mighty nice of you to take no mo off tills this desert island lie he beamed mighty glad to have the privilege she said as she verified the fraternity pin on his overcoat mother ts lg dying to hear bear how bayard is mothers have little power left as guardians but the children find that the title has a certain value at times in n keeping order wont you get in said daphne pointing to her car she made him crowd in first then followed and closed the door and pulled the throttle he meditated aloud now how wonderful it really is that you should talk to me over the telephone and invite me to your home and come and get me like this so wonderful about that said daphne everybody does it everything that everybody does Is wonderful said wimburn Wlm burn cut but how especially wonderful it is to live in a city where there are no walls about the gardens look there arent even fences the lawns are all joined to 4 fa t Z I 1 4 P fa i already wimburn was a member of the household gether and the houses are arc mostly windows everything Is so open and free full of sunlight and frankness youre taking me home in this charming little glass showcase to introduce me to your mother I 1 tell you the world do move I 1 A woman of today has a lot to be thankful tor for you ought to be mighty happy 11 ought to be much to do with Is t daphne si sighed sigried weve got a lot to get yet and a lot to get rid of ne ire sank back discouraged the sex was still insatiable v after i short ride they turned into a driveway leading through a spacious expanse of grass dotted with trees and shrubs to a n homelike house beauty or ugliness a house that laa had grown with the personalities ot of the occupants the only ostentatious about the place were the cupola ot of an earlier day and the porto porte cocheres stuck out like a broken wing she led him into the house and waved him toward the hall tree when ite he had set down ills his hat bat and stick slick sho she led him into the drawing room mother were home yes dear said mrs KIP hip who called daphne dear before company mother said daphne 1 I want to present mr P mumble gulp she had riot not yet achieved his name her mother shocked her by saying delighted to meet you mr I 1 quite catch the name daphne blushed for her ber mothers query but was glad to overhear the strangers answer 1 I am mr air wimburn mrs kip clay wimburn at this moment a tall shambling man walked in ire he looked ns as if he looked older older than he was ills spectacles overwhelmed a rather unsuccessful nose daphne hardly needed to introduce him as her father she gave wimburn a name now and he felt called upon to explain his incursion 1 I know your son bayard very well im in his office we belong to the same fraternity different chapters of course we struck up a great friendship when he knew I 1 was coming to cleveland he said tell my sister to be nice to you and and wimburn paused in some embarrassment before the ballroom manner of mrs kip but the pompous disguises disguise s of timidity fell from her as she murmured and blushed in a motherly way i daphne told me he said for you to kiss his mother for him ye es well I 1 am his mother oh I 1 may I 1 will you ile he pressed his lips respectfully on her cheek but she closing her eyes to imagine him her son flung her fat arms arins about him and held him a moment lie ile kissed her again with a kind of vf vicarious carlous devotion id want bayard to deliver such a message to your mother she explained pla ined already wimburn was a member of the household he had bad been kissed and sympathized alth ith he turned to daphne with an apologetic look and saw that she was staring at him with softer eyes than he had thought she had definite anxieties engaged mrs kip for tea had come in tottering on a tray carried by a panic smitten cook as agile as a hippopotamus and as shy as a violet daphne and her mother and father went through the tea ceremony with the anxiety of people in an earthquake and the swedish dromedary stared at the unaccustomed sight as it the tea bibbers bibbens were drinking polson poison and she watching for the convulsions to begin clay wimburn talked altogether about bayard and his wonderful progress in business in spite of the hard times bayard lie he said was sticking to his desk like a demon and he let nothing distract t him I 1 it t must be e g glorious orious living in w new ew york daphne sighed why dont you come and pay bayard a visit wimburn suggested lie ile have time to take me anywhere and I 1 dont know anybody else there you 1 know now me and id be only too glad to try to repay your hospitality to me mrs kip looked on and listened with the fond alarm of one who has seen fatal courtships court ships begun with just such fencing when at length daphne suggested that there ther ewas was still time to rush down to the hotel statler for a dance or two mrs kip smiled at her Wil wimburn liburn did not know that lie he had been brought hodle on approval mrs kip kip realized that he was not to be returned as impossible iier her fancy gambled in futures wimburn was the victim of an onset of that delirium amans known as love at first sight lie ile was at the right age and lie he found something exotically captivating in this strange girl in the strange city ile he wits was poL poisoned with love and ills his opinion of daphne wa was s fantastic no one in the world equaled her no one ever had bad equaled her or could equal her in any future ever spring and love are the tha perennial miracles always new always amazing it was springtime in wimburne Wl Wi mburns years and in the calendar ot of the world and countless other youth of mankind animal kind bird and fish kind flowers and fruit trees and perhaps ot of chemicals in the ground were feeling the same mania daphnes cordiality was at first merely the hospitable warmth of tier her unusually cordial community hut but site she caught the fever from wimburn and decided that he was the final word in human evolution they be began to dread tile the society of others to resent the existence of a squatter population on their private planet the world was too much with them the little car was transparent even at night etiquette required them to light it up tip within wimburn did not return to new york so soon as he expected it seemed impossible to uproot himself from that pleasant soil one afternoon when he had already overstayed overstated over stayed his furlough daphne and lie he were riding in the little car through the outer suburb known as shaker heights a section rapidly evolving from fromia a sleepy religious community to a swarm swara of city residences the late afternoon moon had risen in a sky still the afterglow of sunset the air was with pleading suddenly wimburn cried aloud to his own surprise and liers hers daphne miss kip I 1 cant stand everything you know im only human after all the matter she asked in prosale prosaic phrase but with a poetic flutter of breath 1 I love you d n it pardon me but rin fm infernally in love with you im tormented I 1 came here on bustness business find and instead of my finishing it youve finished me im two days overdue in new york and ive had to lie ile to the office to explain why and all I 1 can think of now is that id rather resign and starve to death than go back and leave you here honestly she barely breathed desperately he moaned to become of me better go back I 1 suppose soon get over it and find somebody else to love lore theres nobody else in the world worth loving id die if I 1 gave you up I 1 id simply die ile he went on with aching anxiety could you care for me just a little it if you could love me or just pio promise nilse to try to I 1 could face my exile for a while do you think you could love me ever site she dropped her chin on her breast and sighed 1 I guess I 1 do now the miraculous felicity of this situation overwhelmed them both ile he her in his arms and she flung hers about him forgetting entirely the steering wheel the neglected little car promptly sc uttered off t the he road crossed a gutter into a vacant lot scooped up a n for sale sign and was about to tip over into an excavation when daphne looked up long enough to shut off oe the power then in a blind rapture she returned to where she belonged his embrace soon she was assailed with fears for the credibility of this wonder work and when he said when shall we announce our engagement gag ga gement she protested oh not till we are sure im sure now but we must be terribly sure its such a dangerous thing getting married so many people who think they love each other find out their mistake too late you dont know me very well you mean you dont know me very well im not afraid of you but for you id hate bate to disappoint you and I 1 dont really amount to much I 1 cant do anything except gad around and tire of me not in this world nor in the next its darling 7 of you to say it and you think you yo 1 mean it now but 1 I know it daphne honey now and forever I 1 dont want anybody but you life wont be life without you youve promised to be my wife I 1 hold you to your promise all right it was exceedingly satisfying to surrender her soul into his bis keeping she had reached harbor already after so brief and placid a voyage he ended a long cozy silence with the surprising remark 1 I suppose I 1 ought to ask your parents consent the daughter of the twentieth century t ry laughed parents consent I 1 you do read a lot of ancient literature dont you still I 1 imagine wed better break it to em cm you leave it to me to break it to em cm be glad enough to get me oil off their hands ill never believe that when they reached lier her home it was I 1 late ate and his hotel was so far that since lie he would be spending his last evening with her anyway she asked him to stay to dinner she broke that news to her parents ond and it caused them acute distress her father and her mother were deep in the battle that always broke out between them when the moul lily ily bills arrived daphne was so used to ibi this s that she hardly noticed it after dinner the parents re retired thred to the living room to read and sew and mumble over their mutual grievances while daphne and sat and the piazza which the moon turned inelo a blue portico 0 mystic spell CHAPTER CHAPTER ill III the next morning |