The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1917-09-21

1ence, "then, If it's what you want m,
to do, Roddy, I'll come back to Chi
cago for good"
"Give up your bu<iness, you mean p
he asked quickly.
there" she said. "All the big produc
lions that there's any money in are
made in New York. I'll come back
and just be youx wife. I'll keep your
house and mother the children, and
maintain your status, if you don't
think I'm spoiled for that"
That last phrase, though, was said
with a smile, which he answered with
one OF his own. But with an instant
return to seriousness, he said: tive
not asked that, Rose. wouldn't dream
Of asking It,"
There's real job there" she per-
sisted, "just in being successfully the
wife of successful man. I can see
that now. I never saw 1t when it was
my job. Hardly caught glimpse of it.
l didn't even see my bills; let you
pay them down at the office, with all
your own work that you had to do"
1T wasn't me-" he said. "It was
Miss Beach"
she stared at that and gave short
laugh. eff I'd known that ="
she said. Then she came back to the
point. "It is real Job, and I think
1 could learn to do 1t pretty well.
And of course wife's the only person
who can do 1t properly"
Still he shook his head. But he
hadn't, as yet, any reasoned answer to
make, except as before, that 1t
wouldn't work.
"What will work, them" she asked.
And this he couldn't answer.
We've just got to go ahead" he
said at last, land see what happens.
Perhaps you can work it out so that
you can do part of your work at home
We could move the nursery and give
you Florence's old studio. And then
1t would do if you only came down
here for your two big seasons-fall
and spring."
"That doesn't seem fair to you" she
protested. "You deserve a real wife.
Roddy; not somebody dashing in and
dashing out"
don't deserve anything I can't
get" he said. I'D rather have a part
interest in you than to possess, lock,
stock and barrel, any other woman
can think of
She came back to him again and
settled in his arms. "a man told me-"
she said, John Galbraith told me that
ne couldn't be a woman's friend and
Ter lover at the same time, any more |
han a steel spring could be made soft
20 that it would bend in your fingers,
ike copper, and still be a spring. He |
aid that was true of him, anyway, and |
lie felt sure it was true of nine men out |
# dozen. Do you think it's truel
Have we got to decide which well
,e?"
1--WE can't decide" he said with an
inpatient laugh. ''That's just what
We been telling you. We've got to
axe what we can get. We've got to
work out the relation between our
elves that is our relation-the Rose
md Rodney relation. It'll probably
re little different from any other.
'here'H be friendship in it, and there'Il
e love in it. Imagine our deciding
hat we wouldn't be loversl But
uess that what Galbraith said was
70 fhaf Of |
ill be more or less at the expense
the other. 1t won't spring quite so
ell, and it will bend little"
After while he said: Heres what
eve got to build on: Whatever else ,
may or may not be, this relation be-
veen us is permanent thing. We've I
we'd with each other and without each ,
-her, and we know which we want. ,
we find it has its limitations and ;
-awbacks, we needn't worry. Just go :
head and make the best of it we !
In. There's no law that DEGREES
eve got to be happy. When we are /,
appy it'll be so much to the good
nd when we aren't :"
She gave a contented little laugh
Id cuddled closer down against him.
IOu talk like Solomon in all his So
mnity," she said. "But you can't
lagine that we're going to be un.
Ippy. Really?"
His answer was that perhaps he E
uldn't imagine it, but that he knew =.
just the same. "Even an ordinary ;,
arriage isn't any too easy; mar. =
lge, mean, where it's quite we'll I'm. :
rstood which Of the parties to ii =
all always submit to the other, and 9
lfch of them is the important one :
los always to have the right of way. :.
ere's generally something perfectly :,
escapable that decides that ques- :,
n. But with US there isn't. So the :.
estion who's got to give in will have =.
be decided on its merits every time =.
Inference arises" She burlesqued q
k of extreme apprehension. She -
S deeply and utterly content with U
, just then. But he wouldn't be di-
ted. There's another reason" he T
Mt on. tive notion that the thing
re after is about the finest thing
re is. If that's so, we'll have to
: for it in one way or another. But
fr-