| Show the iwo ir SYNOPSIS acting in good faith in an effort to aid a neighbor ruth nuth ingraham in a busin si way edward patterson cashier ot or the chicago agency ot of a life insurance company 1 Is wrongly e suspected us ee ted by hla his wife julia of 0 anilde infidelity lity fr her e r accusation in a letter from a sum TOT mar resort unfit s him lor for business and be h to takes k 3 a short shor t vacation on his return he Is in deeply wounded by his daughter edith telling him his per onal belongings were in tile the spare r room having been removed from the room which v aich had been hla his and his wi cifes is 8 bedro bedroom om patterson accepts the of situation tua en aa proof of his cifes belief in his guilt edith seventeen Bov enteen years old I 1 Is a worried over the estrangement of he her parents her mother only partly succeeds I 1 in n her efforts to comfort her the son eon edward junior Is at college A business matter brings an inventor is james m mariner into pattersons Patter sons ilia life ma mariner ries or needs with which to push his invention an automobile choke and patterson is in interested after a brief anve investigation sti gatlon he decides to KO 90 in w with ith mariner larl n er without withof t informing h his to family he resigns from the insurance company devoting his whole time to the pushing ot of the invention an old friend albert willard Wll lard Is frankly frankl skeptical of the value alue of the choky choke patterson patters on tells his wife of the change he haj m made do she accepts the situation edith I 1 Is s rade made aware of the change in the family fortunes by her mother telling her she has decided to part with wit h the cook she and edith to do the th e housework bou odoric CHAPTER IV continued 6 after dinner in the sitting room when dad and mr mariner lighted cigars rind and sat ant together on the sofa talking business baby fastened herself on poor mother she again apologized for the mistake shed made in telling pet that of course he must dress for dinner it had been such a stupid mistake she quite understood and of course it was a perfectly foolish custom anyway really from where edith sat she caught snatches too of the talk between mr mariner and dad dad agreeing with mr air mariner once she saw him look startled do you mean they threaten to bring suit he asked and then with a glance around as it if he feared hed spoken too loud he lowered his voice and asked some more questions that mr air mariner seem to like to answer very well lie ile acted as it if his feelings were hurt and hla his voice sounded sulky ru cut t he act that way very long pretty soon he be was talking again as eagerly as ever about nine with the explanation that she had some studying to do edith said good night to their guests and went up to her room but when she heard them go she came down again in her bathrobe to talk over the evening with mother and dad she bhe the most awful woman you ever saw do you sou suppose hes really crazy about tier her or would he like ilke to kill tier her lies iles afraid of her I 1 expect mother made the conventional adult protest but only halfheartedly half heartedly then the she said what was pretty outspoken for mother well I 1 hope for his sake the does go to california soon but dad was really blue lie ile hardly seemed to be listening finally mother said she to be taken seriously la Is she ned 1 I dont know he said absently 1 I guess not I 1 been thinking about her I 1 got a rather new line on him tonight lie ile face facts unless they agree with his hopes but of course to be expected from a man of ills his temperament and I 1 suppose its natural that he be very scrupulous about keeping his word or fulfilling his promises lie ile likes to be allowed to forget that hes made them but ile he talked tonight for the first time to me about changing his design I 1 hope I 1 succeeded in persuading him out of it tonight but I 1 dont know rf it the things right as it stands he any argument ment the question everything ever thing comes down to if tile the things right well put it over mariner or no mariner pe ile rose stiffly from his easy chair and tossed the end of his cigar into the grate crate theresaa The there was another silence after that edith found it appalling she say eay anything an thing she bellee believe she could move and she knew that mother ft whose hose hand was clasped in hers felt the same way lie ile looked around at them at last and almost started ns its if hed forgotten they were ft ere there dont you ou worry you sou two he said im not really worried mi myself self ive seen nothing yet iet to make me think we arent right were going to make our fortunes yet christmas was coming find and editha heart beart sank whenever she thought of it in former years the weeks before the holidays hild had been a time of rapturous anticipation the other girls at school were like that now they talked endlessly about the letting out of school the round of parties filings they wanted for christmas and had hinted for and hoped they were going to get they made edith so blue when they talked that way that she could hardly stand it certainly there going to be any money to spare this year she could tell by the way dad looked when he be came home night after night for dinner and sat forgetting even to pretend to listen while she and mother talked talk about things that had happened during the day the only reference he ever made to christmas was to figure egure out once in a while how many days it would be before ed got home from college ed had been told she knew a little about the new business and that did had resigned his position in the insurance cn piny but how well he understood what the change meant to them she had no idea hed hardly mentioned it in his letters agatha willard would be coming home too in just a few days now agatha and ed were the only two people in the world besides father and mother whom she really loved yet she ehe found she dreaded their coming at least she dreaded the occasion of their coming it was all a part of her passionate wish that christmas this year with nil all its hollow galet gaieties les might simply be wiped out forgotten by everybody so that they could go on from day to day just as they were without having to pretend she kept these dark thou thoughts ilits to herself as long as she could but finally she burst and confided them to mother it was one afternoon when they were working up in her bedroom upon charles surfaces costume mother she managed to make her voice sound casual enough III 1 I dont i want any christ christmas mas present this year I 1 cant think of a thing after a silence she added still pretty shakily 1 I really mean that mother mother got up and came and put a pair of comforting firms arms about her it so bad as that ducky she said we cant do much this year of course but well manage to make it feel like christmas anyhow we must do that you know for eds sake tile the thing your father is worried about iles hes afraid if ed finds out how things look just now hell want to stay right here and go to work instead of going back to college and that would be terrible ed must have a college education you know it would make a difference to ills his whole life if he do that 1 I wish he coming home edith said passionately or agatha either mother understood all right which was a comforts comfort and but for something she said about sacrifices they might have to make edith would have felt a 10 lot t better for weir their talk it until hours afterward lying in bed trying to get off to sleep that she began wondering whether mother could really have been talking just about sacrifices in general or whether there was some special sacrifice that she foresaw so w she dare let herself think what it might be agatha got home two days before the performance of the play bu but t edith hardly had time to see her at all she almost felt hurt though perceptibly let down anyhow to find that agathas time was pretty well filled too she tried not to feel that way about it it was silly billy to wish that her hest best friend was dangling around forlornly with nothing to do but wait for her it have amounted to anything if she and agatha been such awfully good friends once it made her pretty melancholy when she ehe had time to think about it ed they learned at last was getting home on the very day of the perform once and not until dinner time just b before or just after they tell for his telegram was obscure they had ad an early dinner which edith was too excited to eat and then she dressed at home in her charles surface costume father was to drive her to the school and then come hick back for mother and ed if he came she kept hoping of course up to the very last minute that hed arrive before she left but tt it came time t to 0 start before anything had been heard from him she felt awfully hollow ns as she put on 0 n an old quilted black silk cloak of others mothers in which shed borrowed because it came way down to tier her ankles and went vent out to get into the car another car a great big one which she immediately recognize pulled up nt at the curb right behind theirs theara just as she opened the front door A man with ft ath a suitcase was getting out why it was nas ed edl I 1 she cried out the fact to her mother and new flew down the walk to meet him naturally she forgot all about charles surface for a moment and she had something better to do with her hands than to keep that silk cloak huddled about her legs she at first see why ed should stop to stare at her in that bewildered way then she remembered and explained im dressed for the play its tonight toight n 11 at that he came to and hugged tier her c enthusiastically sly my but it was good to have him back I 1 what an idiot shed been to wish he coming dad got out of their car of course and mother came hurrying hur down the walk the other car started to back away but a voice inside stopped it and another man got out hello edith he be said 1 I seen you in years I 1 it until he spoke that she knew who he was it was koger morgan she hardly knew him at all though the morgans lived in the next nest street lie ile was a grownup man three years older than ed and a senior with the recognition she remembered how she was dressed and felt horribly young oung and foolish the play lie he asked Is I 1 it t tonight she nodded its its just a sort of foolish play were having at school the school for scandal im im supposed to be a man it was vas impossible to disguise that fact as 1 the handshake the cloak had got away from her again what with the coll and her embarrassment tier her teeth were chattering so she was sure ho he could hear bear them wha what a perfect fool she must look to wall him I 1 A novel by henry Hit kitchell hitchell chill webster copyright by the bobba morrill co service dad rescued her by turning to thank arik roger for having brought ed home from town but she realized arsho as sho bolted into her car that mr morgan had been in the act of saying some thing else when dad interrupted him something about coming himself to see the play lie ile meant it of course but what an idiot he must think her to have dashed away like that without a word it was too late to do anything about it now ue avas saying good night in a very self pos hessed sort of way to motherland mot mother herand and dad and getting back bac kinto into his own car she was warm enough now burning she threw back her cloak and let down the window ue he boulant bould nt possibly have meant abathe that he really wanted to come and see the play could he oh well he certainly now eds looking well he be dad said as they drove off together and it fine to have him back she was guiltily aware that shed forgotten all about ed shed even forgotten tor for a few seconds about the im supposed to be a man it was impossible to Dis disguise guisa that fact as aa with the handshake the cloak had got away from her hep again play and here she was actually on the fay way to the performance I 1 suppose she were to forget her par when dad pulled up at the entrance w with ith a well good luck my dearl well see you after the show slie she was so paralyzed with misery that she could hardly get out of the car and though she have believed it possible she went on feeling worse and worse she discovered she speak in anything above a whisper iler her voice was gone altogether iier her feet and hands bands were numb shed thought and passionately hoped she was going to be frightfully III ind flud tier her unconscious there in her corner that would the play better that thin than disgrace she really believed something like that was going to happen perhaps shed better tell miss bliss bennett but miss bennett took her plight calmly she said an utterly unbelievable lie vable thing stage fright well a good sign the greatest actors they say always have it worst ive beard heard it said that hat john barrymore whenever he opens a new play feels just as bad as you lou do now she knew that possible yet there was a flavor of comfort in it the miracle happen until she hod had been some minutes on the stage she heard herself saying basing the first few lines but she was sure that nobody in the audience could hear but when they brought uncle oliver oilier onto the stage and moses introduced him something queer happened to tier her sh she e forgot that she had forgotten that speech she heard herself ing it in a new voice that hers at all I 1 it t was charles surfaces els light clear vibrant she made of wood any more she was made of air she felt rather heard a sort of electrical crackle of amusement it came from the audience she had made them do it she could make them do it whenever she spoke it was the most wonderful thing that ever happened in the world in the wings she kept away from the other girls she had a feeling that if she be talked or even listened to what they said tile the virtue would go out of her she went on feeling queerly remote almost disembodied after tile the thing was over triumphantly over an acclaimed success find and people came and hugged her or kissed her through th makeup and told tier her how perfectly splendid shed been it was delicious but it possible to realize that it was over that she would probably never be charles surface again it would have made her blue if she rhe could have realized that but she the one thing that really broke through was what miss bennett said youre a real actress edith and im proud of you they were going to have a short dance after the performance but edith want to el lay eay for it sha just wanted to bo be for a while and all alone alona so that silo she could go 06 on living it ed come home with them lie he and agatha were going to stay and dance a the house was still rather queer that was it be so BO awfully early since there was daylight in the r room 0 om but it possibly be late either shed lain awake most of the night and what sleep shed had had been a mere succession of naps disturbed by dreams was waa ed awake yet she coiled called to him not loudly enough to waken him if he were asleep but so that he could hear in the adjoining room tf he were awake it would be awfully nice to have him come in in hla pajamas and sit down on the edge of the bed and cave hare a good long talk before it was time to get up and dress shed earned a mornings morning s rest mother had said and to bother about helping with the breakfast ed answer ile he must have come home awfully late for she heard him come in she got up and shut the ivin window irindow dow and then topped tapped on his door no answer she opened it and looked in his bed was empty she padded out to the head of the stairs for a look at the hall clock half past bast ten it bel be I 1 the clock must have stopped last night but it was ticking away with an air of self conscious rectitude as it if it knew it was right she heard her mother coming up the stairs |
