Middletown transcript., 1917-05-05
Copyright 1915 The Bobbs.Merrill Company
CHAPTER VI-Continued,

her life before and since her marriage
to Rodney, about her friends, her
amusements-an that came into
her mind. But she fingered before
getting out Of the car, to say:
Il hope I haven't forgotten a single
word of your preaching. You said
SO many things want to think about
Don't trouble your soul with that,
child" said the actress. Cali the
sermon you need can be boiled down
into q sentence, and until you have
found it out yourself, you won't be-
lieve it,"
TRY me-" said Rose.
"Then attend. How shall / say it?
Nothing worth having comes as a gift,
nor even can be bOught-cheap.
Everything of value in your life will
cost you dear, and sometime or other
you'll have to pay the price of it."
1t was with a very thoughtful, per-
picked face that Rose watched the car
drive away, and then walked slowly
into the house-the ideal hOuse-and
allowed herself to be relieved of her
wraps by the perfect maid.
There was still an hour before she
need begin dressing for the Randolph
dinner; when Rodney came home this
vague, scary, nightmarish sort of feel
ing which for no reasonable reason
seemed to be clutching at her, would
be forgotten. She wished he would
come-hoped he wouldn't be late, and
finally sat down before the telephone
with a half-formed idea of calling him
up.
Just as she laid her hand upon the
receiver, the telephone bell rang. 1t
was Rodney calling her.
"Oh, that you, Rose?" he said. Il
sha'n't be out till late tonight. I've
got to work"
"But Roddy, dearest" she protested,
"you have to come home. You've got
the Randolphs' dinner"
"Oh!" he said. 81 forgot all about
it, But it doesn't make bit of differ
ence, anyway. l wouldn't leave the
office before l have finished this job
for anybody short Of the Angel Ga
briel"
"But"-it was absurd that her eyes
should be filling up and her throat
getting lumpy over Il thing like this
'eBut what shall 1 do? Shall l tell
Eleanor we can't come, or shall offer
to come without your
Il don't care! Do whichever you
ike. I've got enough to think about
without deciding that. Now do hang
up and run along"
"But Rodney, what's happened? Has
something gone wrOng?"
Heavens, not" he said. "What is
there to go wrong? I've got a big
day in court tomorrow and I've struck
snag, and I've got to wriggle out of
1t somehow, before l quit. It's moth
ing for you to worry about. Go to
your dinner and have a good time.
Good-by." The click in the receiver
told her he had hung up.
The difficulty about the Randolphs
was managed easily enough. Eleanor
was perfectly gracious about it and
insisted that Rose should come by her
self.
She was completely dressed q good
three-quarters Of an hour before it
was time to start and If she drove
straight downtown she would have
ten-mnute visit with Rodney and still
not be late for the dinner.
She found a single elevator in COM
mission in the great, gloomy rotunda
of the Office building, and the watch
man who ran her up made terrible
noise shutting the gate after he had
let her out on the fifteenth floor. The
dim marble corridor echoed her foot
falls ominously, and when she reached
the door of his outer office and tried
it, she found it locked. The next door
down the corridor was the one that led
directly into his private office, and here
the light shone through the ground
glass.
She stole up to it as softly as she
could tried it and found it locked,
too, so she knocked. Through the
open transom above it, she heard him
softly swear in heartfelt sort of way,
and heard his chair thrust back. The
next moment he opened the door with
jerk.
His glare Of annoyance changed to
bewilderment at the sight of her, and
he said: Rose! Has anything
happened? What's the matter?" And,
catching her by the arm, he led her
into the office. Here. sit down and
get your breath and tell me about it !"
She smiled and took his face in both
her hands. But it's the other way"
she said. There's nothing the matter
with me. came down, you poor old
boy, to see what was the matter with
you"
He frowned and took her hands
away and stepped back out of her
reach. Had it not been for the sheer
incredibility of it, she'd have thought
that her touch was actually distaste-
full to him.
you over the phone there was nothing
the matter! ~ Won't you be awfully
late to the Randolphs'?"
II had ten minutes" she said, land
thought :" She broke off the
sentence when she saw him snap
out his watch and look at it. Il know
there's something" she said. II can
tell just by the way your eyes look
and the way you're so tight and
strained. If you'd just tell me about
it, and then sit down and let me
try to take the strain away. :"
Beyond doubt the strain was there.
The laugh he meant for q good-humor-