The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-09-18
TEMPER AND GREEN TULLE
by SARAH MCCONNELL.

her out of his MIND, sore put 10 ~ ~
| be free and his own man again. She
was capricious, inconstant. vain; sac
was self willed and full of wiles; sne
was-oh she vas Alexandra Lee he
| would not think of her.
| A great deal that had happened that
night was blurred to him. But the bang
| OF the carriage door as they started
| home reverberated in his mind lika tne
crack of doom. 1t had slipped from ms
hand and swung Win CRASH with
| exandra's laugh Knocked him. WIN
i any one else, George. I'd have said the
i door slammed"
Il He remembered how she looked IS ne
i turned, something strange In her eyes
i that matched in impression, the misty
| r.ultitudinous ruff1ings and biliowinss
! of her gown-that frivolous. fIutter-
Ing elusive green tulle he had watch
ed all evening as she danced with
every other man in the room--with
II Herbert Hartley, a dawdling, nans
/ ling derelict, a signpost to every pain
but those Of recitude-of all men IN
the world, Herbert Hartley!
/ From her carriage corner Alexandra
sighed. i've had such a good time.
and now I suppose there's the piper
to pay"
IF you mean there is Hartley to
settle for"
"Herbert? You've tone that hints
at thirdly and fourthly. brethren.
and poor Herbert! he's so much more
| of song than a. sermon.
That began it. He had never meant
to Quarrel, only to deal with her ir
a firm. prompt fashion, as man should,
FIRM. prompt he had been, with GER
tain ability of exposition that served
him well in courts of law, but Win
Alexandra
She bent down as he ended. Are you
I. I'D Of
floor. poor dear, there is nothing lett
to pick up. oh, I'm tired. tired! I'm
stified. 1 can't breathe. There, take
1t back" And she tossed the ring
&C ross to him. Now one can draw a
free breath"
alexandra" he begged.
But he had cut. and she meant he
should pay. And hers was pretty GIT
of table turning.
He held his anger down. No more
doors should slam by chance about
him, and 1t was only as they neared
the house that he interrupted.
I'VE haven't gained anything this
way. Discuss me again. The point Is
Herbert Hartley.
Then ] must put on my bonus
againT
But he hadn't the ring.
You had 1t last"
II laid it in your lap"
But 1t wss not in her lap, nor the
seat, nor the carriage. Alexandra
laughed. "Oh. thrifty George, are you
sure you've not taken it back for
safe-keeping?"
He stood a long moment at her 1oor.
And Hartley? he said
| Insistence was match to her powder
How can l answer unless were en-
gagged, and people can't be engaged
without rings, can they Georgef Iou
I haf
fail to remember. Bring 1t back to
ne, and-good-night!'
| After a week of wrath mingled with
Iain he got himself Under control and
wrote her. But the answer came back
the same absurd, maddening, almost
insulting reiteration--the ring, always
the ring. A perversity first, or a pre-
text; did she use 1t now as a weaponF
de hadn't the ring, she knew.
Life was turmoil once Alexandra en-
tered. and he remembered with what
perverse astuteness she had said her
self I'm like a mustard plaster on
your mind. You'd better take me Off
before l raise blister"
But she was in every wind that
blew. and without her nothing was
worth while that once had been.
So for a fortnight he had gone about
has accustomed ways, and though many
a flutter of familiar skirts had set his
heart a-jump. yet he never had met
! Alexa since that night. Then a case
of some Importance took him out or
town with such sharp demand upon
all his faculties that he had known
sort of respite.
But back in the town his work was
all to do again. He went his way
down to his office, he bowed to people
who drove past with swift hope that
Alexa would not be with them. And
then Unexpectedly with a group near
the Hurds-there was Alexa.
Yes, it was Alexandra and Evelyn
Hurd-and with thems Herbert Hart
ley.
The group stood until he had almost
reached them, when Hartley turned
and Evelyn went back to the house,
while Alexa stopped by the Hurds'
waiting carriage.
He knew she had seen him long be-
fore, butt was one of her insinceri-
ties he most disliked-she acted out
acute surprise. He put SITTER guard
. upon himself.
sitter guard! She hated him when
he was like that. How futile he made
her feel, how trivial, how vain. Well
at least she would make him feel
once more and betray It; she would
wiring out of him a protest.
And then her mind misgave her. Was
her hands2 Would he accept without
. protest? Would he never speak? She
: looked up and then down again to her
4 ungloved hand on which his eyes
4 were fixed. A seal ring of Herbert's
4 took the place of the one that was
lost A toke-a stupid joke-but stu
pidity lent her a stammering tongue.
George. George" she called after
a him. but she entreated only an in
flexible back. With Herbert's name
on her lips and Herbert's ring on her
. finger, she was indeed left, commit
ted to the situation the last OF her
desiring.
Alexandra Haunted Herbert Hartley
in Greenfield's lace, she waved him
abroad like a banner. If the town
hummed with rumors of her, she
helped the rumor wax, but helped it to
no explanation.
But with her family there was one
topic that, like the weapon used in
N committing a crime, seemed always i'm
possible to dispose Of The Nile green
n tulle; why don't she wear it? And
$ that was the one thing she couldn't
) do.
e 1t was their house dressmaker thai
K in a measure Yanquished her at last
"One, two. three" measured the wo-
g man. That's only once and a quar-