The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1917-08-24

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adequate material comfort which the
unwonted physical privations of the six
months that preceded it made seem
like positive luxury.
For several months after she came to
New York to work for Galbraith she
found him a martinez. She never once
caught that twinkling CLEAN Of under
standing In his eye which had meant
so much to her during the rehearsals
of 'The Girl Upstairs" His manner
toward her carried out the tone Of the
letter she'd got from him In Chi
cago. 1t was stiff, formal, severe. He
seldom praised her work, and never
ungrudgingly. His censure was rare,
too, to be sure, but this obviously was
because Rose almost never gave him
an excuse for 1t. Working for him in
this mood gave her the uneasy sensa-
ton one experiences when walking
abroad under sultry, overcast sky,
with mutterings and flashes in 1t. And
| then one night the storm broke.
| They had fingered in the theater
after the dismissal of a rehearsal, to
talk over change in one Of the num-
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 a 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: II don't know. / don't
know what you've been talking about.
l don't know, and don't care" And
then, confronting her, their faces not a
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 demanded: "Can you see
what's the matter with me? Haven't
you seen it yetT"
OF course she saw it now, plainly
enough. She sat down again, man
aging an air of elaboration about ii,
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
grown absolutely uncomfortable, she
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 machine. But why haven't
you? You're woman. If ever saw
woman in my life, you're one all the
way through. Why couldn't you see
that was man? 1t isn't because I've
got gray hair, nor because I'm fifty
years old. l don't believe you're like
that. But even back there in Chicago
the night we walked down the avenue
from that store-or the night we
had supper together after the show
:"
81 suppose ought to have seen," she
said duly. sought to have known that
that was all there was to it. But
didn't"
"Well, you see it 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. ST 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't
been able to answer him as she did
] without hesitation or stammer, ant
with straight gaze that held his I'm
til she had finished.
"The only person in the world" sh
. said, 'who ever has mattered TO me, o
. ever will matter, is my husband.
. fell in love with him the day met hin
j / was in love with him when l lef
: 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 kneN
i it. And every failure is just somethin
] hope / would make him understan
4 and not despise me for. It's month
. since I've seen him, but there isn't
) day, there isn't an hour in day, whe
, 7 don't think about him and-war
!. him. don't know whether I'll ever Sc
+ him again, but if I don't, it won't max
# any difference with that. That's why
didn't see what might have seen abor
II you. 1t wasn't possible for me TO SCI
d I'd never have seen it if you hadn
/ told me in so many words, like this. d
p you see nowi"
N He turned away from her with a ao'
II and put his hands up to his face. Sh
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