Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1917-09-11

bers Rose had been working on. 1t re-
fused to come out satisfactorily. Rose
thought she saw way of doing it that
would work better, and she had been
telling him about it. Eagerly, at first,
and with limpid directness which,
however, became clouded and troubled
when she felt he wasn't paying atten-
ton. 1t was a difficulty with him she
had encountered before.
But tonight, after an angry turn
down the aisle and back, he suddenly
cried out: 81 don't know. don't
know what you've been talking about
don't know, and / don't care" And
then, confronting her, their faces not q
foot apart, for by now she had got to
her feet, his hands gripped together
and shaking, his teeth clenched, his
eyes glowing there in the half-light of
the auditorium almost like an ami.
mails, he demandeds "Can you see
what's the matter with me? Haven't
you seen it yetf'
OF course she saw 1t now, plainly
enough. She sat down again, man
aging an air of deliberation about it,
and gripped the back of the orchestra
chair in front of her. He remained
standing over her there in the aisle.
When the heightening tension of the
silence that followed this outburst had
no
spoke. But the only thing she could
find to say was almost ludicrously in
adequate.
mo, 1 didn't see it until now. I'm
sorry"
"You didn't see it." he echoed. 81
know you didn't. You've never seen
me at all, from the beginning, as any
thing but a machine. But why haven't
you? You're a woman. If 1 ever saw
a woman in my life, you're one all the
way through. Why couldn't you see
that was a man? 1t isn't because I've
got gray hair, nor because Pm fifty
years old. 1 don't believe you're like
that. But even back there in Chicago,
from that store-or the night we
had supper together after the show
ST suppose ought to have seen," she
said duly. fought to have known that
that was all there was to it. But
didn't"
well, you see 1t now" he said saw
agely fairly, and strobe away up the
aisle and then back to her. He sat
down in the seat in front of her and
turned around. 81 want to see your
face" he said. There's something
I've got to know. Something you've
got to tell me. You said once, back
there in Chicago, that there was only
one person who really mattered to you
want to know who that person is
What he is. Whether he's still the one
person who really matters. If he isn't
I'll take my chance"
Remembering the scene afterward
Rose was a little surprised that she'd
been able to answer him as she did
without hesitation or a stammer, and
with a straight gaze that held his IN
til she had finished.
"The only person in the world" she
said, "who ever has mattered to me, or
ever will matter, is my husband.
fell in love with him the day met him
was in love with him when 1 left
him. I'm in love with him now. Every,
thing 1 do that's any good is just some
thing he might be proud Of if he knew
it. And every failure is just something
hope 1 would make him understand
and not despise me for. It's months
since I've seen him, but there isn't q
day, there isn't an hour in a day, when
l don't think about him and-want
him. / don't know whether I'll ever see
him again, but if don't, it won't make
any ference with that. That's why ]
didn't see what might have seen about
you. 1t wasn't possible for me to see.
I'd never have seen it if you hadn't
told me in so many words, like this. Do
you see now?"
He turned away from her with nod
and put his hands up to his face. She
waited a moment to see whether he
had anything else to say, for the habit
of waiting for his dismissal was too
strong to be broken even for a situa-
ton like this. But finding that he
hadn't, she got up and walked out of
the theater.
There was an hour after she had
gained the haven of her apartment
when she pretty well went to pieces
SO this was all, was it, that she owed
her illusory appearance of success TOT
The amorous selishness of a man old
enough to be her father! Once more
she blissfully and ignorantly unsuspect-