New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1917-08-10
CHAPTER XIV.
CouIeur.de.Rose


CouIeur-de-Rose.
1t was altogether fortunate for Rose
that she had attempted no prepare
ton, because the situation she found
herself in when she'd opened the door
for her husband, shaken hands with
him. led him into her sitting room and
asked him to sit down, was n which
the widest cast of her Imagination
would never have suggested as Il pos
sible one for her and Rodney.
1t was his manner. she felt sure,
that had created it his rather formal
attitude; the way he held his hat. 1t
was the slightly anxious. very deter
mined attitude of an eStilnahle ana
rather shy young man making his first
call on Il young lady upon whom he Is
desperately DESTROYS of making Il fa-
vOrable impression.
And he was Rodney. and she was
Rose. 1t was like an absurd dream.
won't you smoker" she asked sud-
denly, and hurried on when he hesi-
lIltu. upll L wv = his'tii' oo' we
of my friends do, and | keep the
things" From IL drawer in her writing
desk she produced n tin box of ciga-
rettes. "Thcy're your kind-unleSs
you've changed" she commented, and
went over to the mantel-shelf for an
ash tray and Il match safe. Thu match
safe was empty and she left the room
to get II fresh supply from her Kitchen.
On the inner face of her frout door
was Il big mirror, and in it, us she
back through the unlightel pas
sage. she saw her husband. III" way
sitting Just as she'd left him, n rs
his face was partly turned away from
her. it could not have been from II
expression of it that she got her re'ela-
ton. But she stopped there in h
dark and caught her breath and leaned
back against the wall and squeezed
the tears out of her eyes.
He stayed that first evening a little
less than an hour, and when he got
up to 60 she made no effort to detnin
him. Tho thing had been, as its I'M
surface could satisfy, a highly
successful first call. Before she let
him go, thclgh, she asked him how
long he was going to be in New York,
and on getting Il very indeterminate
which offered u minimum of
Two or three days" and IL maximum
that could not wen be guessed 1T, she
said:
81 hope you're not going to be too
lrcadfully busy for us to g II lot of
each other. | wish W. might manage
it once every day.
That shook him for II moment,
she thought the lightning was going
to strike, and stood very still holding
her breath, waiting or it.
But he stcndied himself. said he
could certainly manage that If she
could. and, as the elevator am up in
response to her ring, said that he would
call her up in the morning at her office.
As she cuddled her cheek into the pill
that night, Rose smiled her old,
vide smile. She VAS the happiest "sr-
son in the world.
That nj of Rodney's lasted 20
.urred, ut least, whenever Rose and
he were together-almost unaltered. for
whole days. There was Il visit
If his to her workshop. where he lis
-ened intently to her explanations OF
Ter tools and her working methods.
There was a luncheon, at which, I'M
vincing, he made her tell him the
whole story of her success; and II
Inner and theatcr. after which he
brought her home in Il taxi. and, hav.
ng told the chauffeur to wait, formal.
With the last of the neXt days light.
he ice broke up and the floods came,
She had taken him to a studio tea
n the upper sixties just off West End
the proprietors of the studio
,eing Il tOusled, bearded, blond an
lrchiSt of a painter and his exceed
ngly pretty, smart, notwithstanding
wife.
The two men had instinctively drawn
swords almost at sight
u eucH OtleE, anu lOI tHc uouI uuu Il
lalf that they were together the COM
'at ragged nightly, to the unmixed
abstraction of both participants. The
ceilings of the bystanders were per-
more diverse, but Rose. at least,
njoyed herself thoroughly, over seeing
Ter husbands big. formidable, finely
'oised mind in action again. The talk,
# course. ranged everywhere: social
SIN. feminism, law and its crimes.
lrt, and the social mind.
1t was hnlf-past six or t%hereabouts
When they left the studio. and the late
lay afternoon was at its loveliest. II
vant to walk" said Rose, "after that
ca, If I'm ever to want any dinner"
lie nodded a little absently, she
bought, and fell in step beside her.
here was nc mention at any time Of
heir destination.
CTO BE CONTINSEDD