Evening star., 1909-02-28

NO%N somehow,-he had known that
Ey2R2iSW when he came back to New York.
&NSSTSNS1 but to be pitchforked into that
Il4&6NIGIfW meeting in this abrupt way and in
kESS&SHJ1 the presence of forty or fifty people
NSASGfSS at Watch Night dance He
faced round suddenly, savagely
CRY with himself for that traitorous thump of the
heart, presenting full view of his back to the rest
of the gathering and devoting himself wholly to his
hostess.
But the soul that hungers for strong meat cannot
be put off with whipped cream and sugared violets-
and Yes 1 suppose sos to Mrs. Anstruther, he
turned the other way again and his gaze travelled
back over the shining room to her.
She hadn't changed much, so far as he could
from this distance, in the three years since he last
saw her. But that was hardly to be expected for
she still the right side of thirty years.
on the right side of it, he recalled with startling
actness,-and one does not look for woman to
show anything of the ravages of time at that period
Still, it rather hurt his amour propre to discover
that there was so little alteration in her He
scarcely knew why; but it did.
At any rate. it is not very fattering to a mans
vanity to realize that his wife can kick the
matrimonial traces and get along for three years
without sight of him, and come through
the ordeal showing signs of wear and tear. Lus-
terless eyes and careworn countenance were the
things usually associated with that state of affairs
And here a face as radiant as June morning!
How abominably pretty she looked in that pale sea-
green frock with those pink in her yellow
hair! How we'll she carried herself with that air
of distinction that always sat so charmngly on her
and made all other women appear commonplace in
her presence!
IT was natural with her, that air,-as natural
the blue to the sky or the scent to the rosebud.
She had it in those old "potboilng" days,
when he couldn't sell canvas once in blue moon
and they had to rub along together as best they
could, and, in her little homemade evening
affairs and carry herself like Duchess,-and make
all the other fellows wives look like frumps, and
the chairman would always single her out and parade
round the rooms with her And how they would
laugh it all when they went home to Grubb-
St afterward and wound up the night with supper
of bread and cheese! And she would let him have
only one pipe because that fool of a doctor" had
said his lungs weak and tobacco was bad for
them and he ought to go to the south of France or
to Davos Platz for few years
Heigho! If it hadn't been for that cursed idiot of
a doctor-and for her scrbblng Propensities, and
her criticism OF his pictures Oh, we'll 1t was no use
crying split milk especially when they had split
it deliberately and then smashed the Jug between
them At the least, he had justified himself in spite
of those potboilng early pictures she used to crti
enough market these days and at astonishing prices
And she? What had she done? Not very well,
he fancied; for keener scrutiny told him-even
at that distance the width of the brightly
lit room-that the frock she wearing had been
good many times before; and she hadn't
Jewel her. she who childishly fond of
Jewels that in the old days she would stand with
him before the shop windows and admire and clutch
his and say ecstatically, 'Oh, Dollops if ever
get rich shall just cover myself with emeralds,
l love them sol
And here she was tonight in the rooms of the
most noted Tuft Hunter in Gotham, wearing a
passe green frock and few pink roses, and gloves
that even near-sighted man would have spotted
as cleaned"
Something within him seemed to wake and cry
Poor little Ju! Poor pretty little Ju! But there!
she might have known it. Fancy woman with a
face like that-with fondness for jewels and all
that sort of thing-attempting to be Buestocking!
And the irony of it, The guest of honor tonight
that big brute of John Lefingwell, the fellow
whose books sold bv thousands.
The awakened Something" cried louder and it
Copyright. w. Iianshew.