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

tending and the good times she was
having. Feeling powerless to inter
fere any further, the husband shrugged
his shoulders and accepted philosophlc-
ally his present life. But when she
had been away for a fortnight he
was aroused from his p~lacidity Of
mind by a special-delivery letter
from his mother-in-law. 1t informed
him that Daisy had been taken sud-
denly i'll, that the worst was now over,
but that she had asked that he come
and take her home as soon as she
was well enough to travel. The next
paragraph In the letter stunned the
reader:
Il am sory," It ran, that neither
you nor Daisy thought 1t worth while
to inform me Of the true condition
Of affairs. Had you done so l would
have guarded the dear girl against
such o~ver-exertion as has eliminated
in her present illness. It followed
upon a long evening Of dancing. l
find it hard to excuse your reticence
and hers when / consider that, had we
been more careful, l should by next
summer have held my first grandbaby
in my arms"
The husband gasped and dropped
the letter. How could he tell his
mother-in-law that he, himself, had not
known the truth? Yet, when he knelt
beside Daisy's bed and felt her arms
about his neck, all resentment died
within him.
Don't be angry, Dan," she sobbed.
or course he kissed her and told her
not to cry. But" he queried, didn't
you know you should be taking care
Of yourself? Why didn't you tell me
everything, darling?" q
Because" she murmured, II knew
you would stop my going out, and
make me stay stupidity at home for
months. And l didn't want to do that
yet"
Didn't you think of the baby that
was coming to make us happy, dear?"
suggested the husband.
Yes" she declared, "of course l
did! And" her eyes OVERLOOKING
again with tears, II planned all about
the pretty things 1 would buy for it
ana now that's all over!"
Pity for her evident distress kept
the man silent on the subject during
the weeks and months that followed.
1t was this same motive that pre-
vented his uttering any objection
when, as SOC as she was we'll again,
Daisy returned to the social world
of which she liked to feel herself a
part. 1t helped her forget her disap-
pointment, Dan reminded himself.
Yet, in her heart, the wife longed
for greater liberty than she possessed.
Once she tried to break away from
what she felt to be her husbands
restraining influence and accepted an
invitation without waiting for his final
decision upon it. 1t was on a beauti-
full spring morning more than two
years after her illness that she re-
ceived an invitation for herself and
Dan to spend the weekend at a coun-
try place on Long Island.
Daisy's heart beat high with antici-
patton. Dan had already gone to his
office for the day-what about him?
He had said last fall that he hated
weekend parties, and hat the last
one of which he was a selfsacrihcing
part, and at which Daisy had had "a
perfect time," was "a miracle of stupid
tty." He did not play bridge, and
would not learn when asked to; he
did not dance, he had no small talk,
and in the huge house in which they
were guests there was, he complained.
nothing worth reading, even II the
people had been quiet long enough to
allow one to read" No more of that
kind Of thing for him! Daisy had
bitten her lip and said nothing. But
today she hoped he had forgotten his
decision. To make sure OF it she
would call him up at once. His voice
at the other end of the wire was so
perfunctory and dry that his wife felt
little shivers run along her spine.
But, summoning her courage, she ex-
planned the situation. There was a
moments silence, then her husbands
only reply was in the form of a ques-
ton:
"Well?"
ooh, Dan, didn't you hear what l
told your" exclaimed the nervous wo-
man. Il said that this morning I got
a letter."
Il heard all that" interrupted Dan.
But what do you want to know"
why, If you will 60, OF course!"
came the tremulous answer.
The wife knew by her husbands
tone that he was exercising all his
s~elf-coRtrol to speak patiently. "My
dear, l really have no time to consider
any trifing matter of that kind this
morning. am up to my ears in work
at present. We will talk the matter
over when I come home tonight. Is
there anything of any Importance that
you wish to speak about just now?"
Nothing else of any Importance"
snapped the wife.
All right! Good-by!" and he was
gone.
For a moment the angry woman
held the receiver in her hand, her face
flushed, her eyes full Of tears. Then
she made a sudden resolution and,
with a voice that still trembled, called
up the number Of the friend from
whom she had received the alluring
invitation. She explained that nar-