The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1916-08-21
CHAPTER III.
DIR. Jim.

: CHAPTER III.
Il DIR. Jim.
i DR.. Wallace was waiting at tn,
stage entrance with a cab wheI
, Anne came out.
He had come East on a little
business and holiday trip com
bined, he explained. No. he
must be back tomorrow.
, Anne sank back against the
cushions with a sigh of content
Tired" he asked.
She smiled in reply.
you are tired. You work toe
hard. | mean it," he added. as
she laughed. You know what
I've told you about that heart OF
yours. You're going to. take a
good long rest this summer
aren't your"
In her handbag at that mo-
ment was contract calling for
ten-weeks' work with a summer
stock company at Maine resort.
So she answered him vaguely that
she hoped to get away from town
for a while.
| They dined at a quiet restau-
rant whose chief attraction, next
to an excellent cook, was the inn
probability that any of Anne,s
audiences would be there to rec
ognize her and stare.
Il haven't eaten so much for
weeks" she sighed luxuriously,
as she tasted her coffee.
MY dear Anne!'
"Oh, | don't mean it literallys'
not to open vexatious subject,
and then her old habit of confid-
ing in him won. I've been wor-
ried, too. Elsie insists on COM
ing East at once"
"Why worried?" Wallace asked.
Isn't that exactly what you We
been planning all along?"
Not now. I'm in the theater
ten hours out of the twenty-four,
to say nothing of the studying
and wardrobe getting l must do
outside. / couldn't be with her
two hours a day to save my soul.
II Aunt Phoebe could come with
her But that's out of the ques-
tion."
Wallace nodded. Aunt Phoebe's
throat trouble made the New
York climate impossible for her.
How about IA sort of gov
erness?" he suggested.
II can't afford that. Oh, !
know it sounds ridiculous" she
laughed shortly--"but listen!"
She pushed her coffee aside,
set her elbows on the table, and
STATED her financial situation with
bitter succinctness. Something
less than three hundred dollars
in cash, three or four weeks, at
best, of idleness to provide for
before her summer season began.
| IF l don't go back to the Met
ropolitan, it may be Thanksgiv-
ing before I see another salary
day. Having Elsie here would
double my expenses. l should
have to give up all thoughts of a
change, and sign with Brauer
again" she summed it up. "And
1t doesn't seem as if l could do
that"
You shouldn't try!" he said,
quickly. Write to Elsie and ex-
plain"
1--WE explained till / repeat like
a parrot, but she believes it's only
an excuse I'm making, and that
really don't want her to come. "
Don't let that trouble you,
Anne" he said. "She's only a
child now. You mustn't take her
too seriously"
Anne did not answer. but open
ed her handbag and gave him the
picture that had come that after
noon.
"Um-m. Very-er-very attrac-
tive. why! but it is you,
Anne! Not-surely not Elsie?"
| Anne nodded.
Doctor Jim, when this picture
came. Minna asked me who it was
and told her it was my sister"
"Your sister,"
"Abominable, wasn't it? Don't
ask me why l did it. l don't
know. The word spoke itself. l
suppose" she considered 1t with
a kind of imperial interest Il
suppose hated to admit that I'm
old enough to have a daughter
Is years old--rown-up like this.
Minna thinks I'm young. She
doesn't even know I've been mar
RED" 1fs ~
| Wallace stared at her. Anne
Houghton, whose master passion
had always been love for her
child-Anne. denying her mother
hood
Women are like that. they
say. They cling to the illusion of
youth always" ait
BLESS my soul! What have, you
eaten that disagrees with you
SOL" he interrupted. illusion of
YOUTH indeed Look In the
glass"
I'm thirty-seven. That's not
YOUTH" she said, somberly.