The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1914-09-05

the old love before one is on with
the new!" scoffed the man. Il happen
to know that you kept one man dan
Cling on your string until you had
landed another, then dropped number
one"
Daisy's eyes flashed. 80 you've
been listening to gossip about your
wife, have you'll" she burst forth.
And may l ask what business it is
Of yours or of anybody's what l did
before l was married?"
TITS a good deal of my business
what you did after you we're engaged
to me-" replied her husband, but the
m rushed on, needless of his re-
mark.
You taunt me with what you con-
slider the facts, and I'll give you truth
as 1t was!" she declared holly. II
was at school. Then l met you, and
l accepted you, for l knew--or
thought"-with cutting emphasis
that l loved you. And 1 wrote at
once to the other fellow-he was hard
ly than a boy-and discarded
him. There, that is the truth, and
more of 1t is that l was a fool to do.
1t. He at least was a gentleman"
With a sob OF rage she fed from
the room. Her husband stood looking
at the door she had slammed behind
her. TITS hell" he muttered between
set teeth. That's what 1t is, hell!"
Then, with a sudden chill, he ap-
%preciated that, though angry, he was
not wounded. Once such a scene with
Daisy would have wrung his heart.
Now he felt no tenderness Of pity for
her. Was his love dead? he asked
himself. And was hers, too?
After that episode the shams of mu-
tual consideration which each had
reared during the past years were Of
ten down. Daisy liked her ease too
much to quarrel unnecessarily, and, as
1t was more comfortable to be pleas
ant than unpleasant, she did not, un-
less already angered, seek cause for
quarrel, and her husband followed her
lead. But only those who are bound
to each other by law and the church
know how many inescapable causes
of friction occur in the family life.
1t is strange how certain traditions
hold when that for which they first
stood is gone, how those who deny
the spirit still cling to the form. This
is shown in nothing more strongly
than in the meaningless nightly kiss
exchanged in some households be-
tween the uncongenial heads. It
amused Dan that, Daisy kept up this
custom. She, not being of an analytic
or interpretive nature, retained the
habit Of pausing each night long
enough to drop upon his u%nrespon-
sive lips the perfunctory percussion
that had replaced the wifely kiss.
The irony of the situation caused his
nature to revolt on a certain night on
which, as he had a cold, he had gone
to his room early. II vas on the eve
ming Of the annual dinner of the
musical club, to which each mem
Der was allowed to bring a guest. AS
had been the unwilling victim
upon several of these occasions, he
found himself reconciled to the slight
bboSh "a VI OllIhlLio MulCn uldu6 Ills
at home on this particular
night advisable. Daisy declared that
she must go If he was we'll enough
to be left, and, she added as an
afterthought, II Dan did not mind.
Dan did not mind, he assured her, see
ing in her unusual Difference to his
wishes a happy mood produced by
~pleasurable anticipation of an eve
ming of gaiety undarkened by the
shadow of his compulsory presence.
At heart he knew that Daisy would
not let a little thing like his wishes
stand in the way Of the jolly dinner
at Delmonico's with the set which she
enjoyed, and of which he inwardly dis
approved. He had voiced this disap-
proval long ago, but his remarks
were met with such outbursts Of We
hement protest from his wife that
he had not, since then, ventured to
utter any further criticism on this
subject. He did not care enough to
court a scene by interfering.
So this evening, after he and his
boy, who was now I'VE two years old,
had had their accustomed romp, Dan
took his solitary dinner, and went to
his room. He lay in bed reading
when his wife returned from the Del
monico dinner at eleven o'clock and
stopped to tell him good night. AS
she approached him the acrid odor of
cigarette smoke reached his nostrils.
"Whew!" he calculated, what "a
smell of tobacco! Have you had a
he demanded s~uspiciously,
for he was 81 old fashioned that he
of women's smoking and
drinking in public places.
NO" was the soft reply, but all
the men were smoking, and ! sat near
Nash, who had an awfully strong
That's why my hair and dress
smell of It,"
Her eyes did not meet her hus-
bands, and he knew she was evading
the truth. To prevent further ques-
she bent hurriedly and gave
him the usual good night kiss. He
roughly.
And l suppose Tom Nash had been
drinking. and the reason your breath
smells of liquor is because your lips
so near hist" he Knocked.
For a moment the wife was stag
gered by the cool brutality of the
speech, then a wave Of anger, made
more intense by the champagne she
had been drinking. swept away her
self-control.
you brute!" she exclaimed.
"Only your husband, remember"
suggested the man coldly.