The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1915-01-04
|TTV7E Sn10K'
ldI(t$s,

(Co. right, 1914, by the News
cAper Enterprise AssociatioE.)

c~per Enterprise AssociatioE.)
81 am to go home from the hos
pital Monday, dear Margie. and I
wonder II you and Dick will not
come over and see me a little on
Sunday afternoon.
II am feeling fine, but miss my
friends, although they have been
very profuse in notes of inquiry
and flowers, yet being in a hos
pital Is almost like being in a
mausoleum.
II wrote both Dick and Mrs.
Waverly a note of coincidence
when l heard of the death of Mr..
Waverly. Wish could have
given my sympathy In person.
Please tell Dick. for me, that, for
an old friend, l think he has
treated me very unkindly and that
he can only make peace with me
by coming with you to visit me on
Sunday"
| This was an extract from a note
from Eleanor Fairlow which
handled to Dick at the dinner ia
BILE that night.
81 expect to go out of town
Sunday" was his only comment
but you are not going until
late Sunday night, and / do think,
Dick, you should go. Eleanor
Fairlow was fine to you when you
were hurt"
You know how I hate hos
pitfalls. Why, Margie. 1t was all l
could do to go to the hospital
when you were there. do think
Eleanor might wait until she is
in her home before she insisted
upon her friends visiting her."
dick, l think you are rather
selfish. You know very well that
Eleanor Fairlow is fonder of you
than she is of me-"
Dick stirred uneasily and
grunted: And it is no more
than reasonable that she should
do so. She has known you ever
since you were children, and me
only slightly since we we're mar
ried. Under the same circum-
stances l am sure that l would
| feel very mucn nurt.
"Oh, come, Margie, you go over
and see Eleanor yourself Satur-
day, tell her how | feel about 1t,
say that I'd dance and be glad
with her, but that I've enough to
make me sorry and sad without
seeing all the pain and hurt find
in a hospital.
ooh, Dick, you sometimes dis
appoint ME so. Just when think
you are not as selfish as other
men then you do something that
shows me that you are"
For Heavens sake, Margie,
don't try to make a saint or even
q near-saint out of me, for, II you
do, you will be doomed forever to
disappointment. My dear girl, I'm
just a normal man with all nor
NAL mans big faults and little
meannesses. /, like all my sex,
want to have my fun and let some
one else pay the piper. want to
suffer, If suffer l must, vicariously
when curiosity beckons or tempta-
ton calls. ! usually heed no ones
warnings. l am selfish and ego
tistical, proud of my physical
strength and careless of my moral
weakness. Margie, | sometimes
hate everyone in the world, even
myself, and | am sure that most
of the time l play this game of
life not only like piker, but a
He stopped abruptly and said:
Don't ask ME to go with you and
see Eleanor at the hospital. The
thought of physical pain turns me
sick"
Now here, little book, is the
queerest thing l have yet told you.
l found that l could go over to
the hospital Saturday morning,
instead of late in the afternoon,
as told Dick I would go. When
| was about a block away from
the big front gate am sure saw
Dick come out and walk away
down the street. l know | could
mot be mistaken in my own hus-
band, but when | went in Eleanor
lFairlow smiled and said: Poor,
lsilly Dick!" when / told her how
he felt about coming to hospital
even to see her.
Tell him." she said, that /
know he was not only lying to
you and me about not wanting to
come to hospital, but he was
also lying to himself. Other peo-
pies pain would not hurt Dick
She put out her hand across the
bed as If to touch mine and then
she drew it back and said rather
ruefully: Perhaps you know
more about men than / do--at
least you should know more, hav-
| ing married one - but / have
never yet seen one that could al
ways be true to even his God for
more than a few minutes at a
time"
"You must have met with some
! very bad men," l said.
No." she answered, soberly.
"The men | have known are the
best In the world. Remember one
of them is your husband"
CONTINUED Tomorrow