Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-08-13
THE EVENING STORY.
Tired.
Copyright. 1918. by W. werner.)

hardest Of the summer. bringing one heat |
prostration after another at the Morley |
iron works and serious accident to the |
occupants OF touring automobile. ana
tonight came Phillipa Morleys lawn fete
Phil and he were to be married In the
autumn. Naturally he would be her right |
hand man at the function. And he was
so tired. If only he might call her up
and beg off But he didn't dare. For
weeks he had noticed that Phil was be-
coming decidedly irritable over broken
social engagements. Only few evenings
before she had told him with frown
pickering her pretty little mouth that
she was heartily tired Of giving the ex-
cuse. DIR. Jeffrey is so busy and so tired
he could not possibly come She had
said also, Don't you suppose, Bruce,
that ] was tired on the night Of Mrs.
Preston's bridge? / had been motoring
all morning and standing in the receiving
line of most dreadfully crowded recep
ton all afternoon. Yet ! managed to
make the Preston bridge, and so could
YOU
Her eyes flashed furiously at his smile
of toleration-the smile one gives a child
who does not Understandable she had
turned from him angrily swhen he had
said: Tired? In all your petted young life,
Phil. you've never known work weari-
ness"
He stood a moment thinking of this tiff
and NUMEROUS others which had preceded
it. then he threw himself on the couch
and almost instantly was sleeping the
heavy sleep of utter exhaustion.
When he awakened he found the clock
with the hour hand almost at IL He was
on his feet in moment. Pills lawn
affair was a thing of the past. and he
had failed her, But then he had been
oh
would sympathize 1t would be all right
when he explained, and he would do so
now, late as it was.
Her voice came over the WIRE almost
Immediately. Phil he said, beseech-
ingly. I'm so awfully sorry-I don't
know what to say for myself
Nor was the reply, very coldly. Is
it necessary to say anything" Then the
getting used to Sights. Bruce, and the
queer little smiles which greet the tire
some excuse, DR.. jeffrey is so tired.
But tonight you've stepped over the line
marked patience. You did not even con-
slider it of sufficient Importance to let me
know you did not want to come. YOU
Phil, Phil" he cut in. don't talk
nonsense. Just listen to me, and
The banging of the receiver in the hook
interrupted him For an.instant he hest
tated Would he call her again and en-
deavor to complete his explanation? mo,
by George, / WON'T" he said aloud, the hurt
of being judged unheard coupled with the
fatigue that had got the best of him
crowding out the good nature that always
laughed at Phillipa's flames of anger
Phil must know the trouble there has
been at her fathers foundry today she
must know that I'm dead tired. So II
she wants any further explanation she
will come to me-
Next day the mercury was higher;
prostratiOns were more numerous ne
had sick babies on his hands. He never
nf hi Yo1 ~ l.
lipa Neither did he try to find time to
telephone. His resolution of the night
before had not weakened Pampered
little Phil must come to him.
He found a note from her on his desk
that evening. and his eyes glowed. All
day he had longed for her sympathy.
Now he would find 1t.
Her note did not cover half page. 1t
was curt in it's brevity. He crumpled 1t
up in a sudden passion and threw 1t far
from him. Then with a scowl he sat
down and stared at it. Gradually anger
left his face. fatigue and sorrow taking
its place. It's the best thing" he said.
after many moments land turned to pen
and paper.
'As you wish it, he wrote, II will try
to see. Phil, that the breaking of our
engagement is for the best. feel now
that l was wrong to ask girl who has
had life as easy as you have had 1t to
share one that must necessarily be life
Of constant sacrifice. My time is not my
own now as you THINK IL SnOuld De, II
could never be wholly yours.
Phillipa Morley stormed and cried over
that letter. She had not looked for 1t.
She had expected his voice to come over
the telephone In eager protest and she
had sent her note that he might receive |
it in the early evening. She had donned
a particularly charming gown that Bruce |
admired in the certainty that. after the
talk over the wire. when she would for |
give him with the right degree of con- |
hp .
on the Morley shaded veranda. Instead |
of which. sitting there alone. she saw
his electric runabout pass at o'clock |
and in the bright moonlight never once. |
she saw, were his eyes turned toward |
the Morley home. Then in the morning |
came his note, brief as hers had been.
Through the balance of the hot sum-
mer he never evinced the slightest in
clination to eat humble pie. but went on
his way as though she had never been'l
in his life. For the first time In her pet |
ted, sheltered existence she was finding
one who would not give In to what he |
had once termed her whims and fancies. |
And she began to love him as she never |
had in the days of their courtship. The |
constant round of gayety palled. She
missed Bruce's serious talks about the
life work in front Of him. though she
once had privately thought them tire
some. She longed for some break in what
came to be monotony. and finally she
had her desire in q way never dreamed
of.
Since early summer. when her brother
and his wife had gone abroad. she had
had their three children and their nurse
with her. She woke UP one morning to
find one of the children with beauti- |
fully developed case of measles. BY the
end of the week they were all down, and |
DIR. Jeffrey was away on a much-needed
holiday.
You must have a day and night nurse, |
Miss Morley" the doctor in attendance
told her. Il will wire UP to the city
and
Thank you very much. doctor; it is
can manage The thought OF DR.. JEFF
frey's letter had come. 1T will be
break in this easy life of mine," she
told herself
1t was more of a break than she
looked for. She learned what it was to
have every inch Of her ache. to be so
desperately tired that she felt she must
give in to her father and the doctor and
send for those nurses. But she kept on
doggedly. Its what Bruce is going
through all the time she often whis-
pered to herself.
1t was not until the eldest boy. gravely
i'll, was pronounced out Of danger that
WEAKNESS conquered. He had been rest
ing quietly all the evening. Phillipa watch
ing. waiting for the doctors night call,
when she would leave him in the hands
of his nurse. She must have sieepi In
forty-eight hours she had not had any
She looked yearningly at a couch. 1t
might be just as well to wait for the
doctor, resting there-she was so tired!
She opened her eyes slowly and re- |
luctantly. She seemed to see the room
and the sick child as in a dream. And
the figure by the bed? It was not father.