The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1917-02-03
CHAPTER XVII.

n. was being very dense. For so
song had he considered Sidney as unat-
:ninable that now his masculine mind, u
little weary with much wretcllcdness,
refused to move from its old attitude.
cit was glamour, that was all, H."
said Sidney bruvely.
i bat, perhaps" said X, 'it's just be-
cause Of that miserable incident with
| Carlotta. That wasn't the right thing,
| of course, but Max has told me the
story. 1t was really quite innocent. She
tainted i'll the yard, and"
Sidney WAS cXasperated.
do you want HE to marry him, *. :"
f. looked straight ahead.
II want you 10 DE happy, dear"
They We're on the terrace of the
White Springs hotc. again. X. had or
dered dinner, making a great TODD
about getting the dishes 1hcy both
liked. But now that it WAS there, they
were not eating. X. had placed his
chair so that his profile was turned to-
ward her. Past KS profile Sidney
could see the magnolia tree shaped like
q heart.
ut seems to me-" said Sidney sud
denly, that you are kind to everyone
but me, X"
lie fairly stammercd his astonsh-
ment:
"Why, what on earth have done?"
You are trying to make me marry
Max, aren't yuu?"
She WAS Very properly ashamed of
that, and, when he failed to reply out
of sheer inability to think of one that
would not say too much, she went
hastily to something else: at is hard
for me to realize that you--lnat you
lived life Of your own, a busy life,
doing useful things, before you came
to us. wish you would tell me some
thing about yourself. If we're to be
friends when you go aWay,"--SEe had
to stop there, for the lump in her
throat--"I'il want to know how to
think of you-who your friends are
all that"
He made an effort. He was think
ing, of course, that he would be WIS.,
ualiZing her, in the hospital, in the lit
tie house on its side street, as she
looked just then, her eyes like stars,
her lips just parted, her hands folded
before her on the table.
II shall be working" he said at last.
$50 will you"
docs that mean you won't have
time to think OF me?'
IL believe I'm stupidcr than usual to-
night. You can think of Inc as never
forgetting you or the Street, working
or playing"
Playing! OF course he would not
work all tie time. And he was going
back to his old friends, to people who
had always known him, to girls
He did his best then. He told her of
the old family house, built by one of
his for"bears who had been kings
man until Washington had put the case
for the colonies, and who had given
himself and his oldest son then to the
cause that he made his own. He told
Of old servants who had wept when he
decided to close the house and go
away. When she fell silent, he thought
he was Interesting her.
But terrible thing was happening
to Sidney. Side by side with the won
ders he described so casually, she was
placing the little house. What an exile
it must have been for him! When X
trying his best to interest her and to
conceal his own heaviness of spirit
told her of his grandfather's old car.
riagc, she sat back in the shadow.
'Fearful old thing" said K.-''regu.
ar cabriolet. can remember yet the
family rows over it."
"When l was child" said Sidney
quietly, land carriage drove up and
stopped on the Street, I always knew
someone had died!'
There was strained note In het
voice. K, whose ear was attuned tG
every note in her voice, looked at hel
quickly.
my grcat-grandfather,"s said Sidney
in the same tone, ''sold chickens nj
market. He didn't do it himself; but
he facts there, isn't it7''
*. was puzzled.
What about it?" he said.
"Go on said Sidney duly. "Tell
the about the women you have known
your friends, the ones you liked and
the ones who liked YOU"
K. WIS rather apologize.
give always been SO busy" he con.
fcssed. II know lot, but don't think
they would interest you. They don't
do anything, you know-they travel
around and have good time. They're
rather nice to look ut, some Of them
But when you've said that you've said
1t ALL"
Nice to look at! OF course they
would be, with nothing else to think OF
in all the world but of how they looked.
Suddenly Sidney felt very tired. She
wanted to go back to the hospital, and
turn the key in the door of her little
room, and lie with her face down on
the bed.
"Would you mind very much If
asked you to take me back?"
| He did mind He had a denroaao6