Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1913-04-29

How should l know whe her her
hair was bleached or not?" he said
sharply That's very silly question. "
Berry was taken aback.
Il don't see that it is" she said
with unusual and somewhat stammer-
4 ing mildness. Most blonde-haired
women, even if they haven't bleached
their hair, have had it restored
Dominick did not answer her The
servant presented dish at his elbow
and he motioned it away with an inn
patient gesture.
] Berry, who was not looking at him.
went on.
What kind Of clothes did she wear
They say she's an elegant dresser,
gets almost everything from Paris,
even her underwear. | suppose she
didn't have her best things UP there.
| But she must have had something.
because the papers said they'd gone
! prepared for a two weeks trip"
Il never noticed anything she
wore
W Gil, 1911 I ina. Juob inv yO0t 0OlA4-
mick Ryan," exclaimed his wife, I'M
able. at this unmerited disappoint-
ment, to refrain from some expression
Of her feelings. "And you might know
I'd be anxious to hear what she had
on"
I'm very sorry, but I haven't an
idea about any of her clothes. think
they were always dark. mostly black
or brown"
Did you notice" almost pleadingly,
what she wore when she went out :?
Mrs. Whiting, the forelady at Hazel's
millinery, says she imported a set of
! sables, muff, wrap and hat, for her
this autumn. Hazel says it was just
the finest thing of it's kind you ever
! laid your eyes on. Did she have them
up there?"
81 couldn't possibly tell you. don't
know what sables are. saw her once
with fur cap on. but l think it be-
longed to Willoughby, an Engiishman
who was staying there, and used to
have his cap hanging on the pegs in
the hall. It's quite useless asking
me these questions. l don't know any
thing about the subject. Did you wind
| the clock while / was away?"
He looked at the clock, a possession
Of his own. given him in the days
when his mother and sister delighted
| to ornament his rooms with costly
gifts and in which he had never be-
fore evinced the slightest interest.
"Of course, l wound it." Berry said
with an air of hurt protest. Haven't
I wound it regularly for nearly three
| years? ?"
This brought the subject of Rose
| Cannon to an end and she was not al
luded to again during the dinner. The
conversation reverted to such happen
ings in the city as Berry thought
might interest her husband, and it
seemed to her that he was more
pleased to sit and listen to her chat
ter of her sisters, the bank, the thea
ters, and the shops, than to dilate any
further on his adventures in the
snow-bound Sierra.
When the dinner was over, they re-
turned to the front of the fiat, where
| next to the parior there was a tiny
ballroom fitted up as smoking
room and den. 1t was merely a con-
tinuation of the hall, and the coy
corner" which Berry had had a Polk
street upholsterer construct in 1t, oc-
cupied most of the available space,
and crowded such visitors as entered
it into the corners. 1t had been Ber-
ny's idea to have this room lined with
books" as she expressed it, but their
joint possessions in this line consist
ing of some twenty-five volumes, and
the fact that the contracted space
made it impossible to accommodate
both the books and the coy corner,
Berry had decided in favor of the lat
ter. She now seated herself on the
divan that formed the integral part of
this construction, and, piling the pill
lows behind her, leaned luxuriously
stuffs which was supported by two
formidable-looking lances.
Dominick sat in his easy chair. He
always smoked in this room and read
the papers, and presently he picked
them UP from the table and began to
look them over. The conversation
languished, became spasmodic, and
finally died away. Berry, leaning back
on the cushions, tried several times
to revive it, but her husband from
among the spread sheets of the eve
ming press answered her with the in
articulate sounds of mental preoccu-
patton, and sometimes with no sound
at ALL till she abandoned the attempt
and leaned back under the canopy in
a silence that was not by any means
the somnolent quietude of after-dinner
torpor
The clock hands were pointing to
half-past nine when a ring at the bell
was followed by the appearance of the
Chinaman at the door, stating that the
expressman had come with Mr.. Ryan's
yalises. Dominick threw down his pa
pers and left the room. AS Berry sat
silent, she could hear the express
mans gruff deep voice in the hall and
the thuds of the valises as he thumped
them down at the stair-head. Domi-
few more remarks, followed by the re-
treating sound of the mans heavy
feet on the stairs and the bang Of the
hall door. She sat looking at the clock.
waiting for her husband to return, and
then as he did not come and the hall
seemed singularly quiet she leaned
forward and sent an exploring glance
down its dim length. Dominick was
not there. but square Of light fell
out from an open doorway of his room
'Dominick," she called, what are
you doing?"
He came to the door of the room in
his shirtsleeves, tall figure looking
lean and powerful in this closer-fitting
and lighter garb.
I'm unpacking my things, and then
I'm going to bed"
obi" she answered with a falling