New Britain herald., 1917-07-28

HOW tile Dinner PARTY t-nucu AZ tic
Scream of Il Frightened Child.
Mother please just a half hour
longer
mot a half-hour, not even five
minutes. You must come to bed now,
Lillian Underwood and her daugh-
ter Marion stood near the door in our
living room, a pretty picture of tender
maternal authority and childish pro-
crastination., Marion had been al
lowed to sit up for the dinner L had
given in honor of Robert SaVarln,
special dispensation. which the COM
bined entreaties of Dicky, ROBERT
Savarin and I had wrung reluctantly
from Lillian and like any other child
she wanted to prolong her freedom.
But Lillian was adamant, and SO
Marion reluctantly began her good-by.
She shook hands sedately with Mrs.
Durkee. Alfred Durkee and Robert
Sayarin. and then threw her arms
around my neck for the bear hug
she always gives me. AS she released
me she glanced at Robert SaVarln,
who was watching her with all the
hunger denied fatherhood in his eyes.
Something in the child's heart must
have responded to the unspoken ap-
peal of the man, for she dashed over
to him. clasped her arms around MS
neck, and put up her lips to be Kissed
The mans face was radiant as nc
kissed her tenderly, and then Win
unwonted shyness she ran. back TO ner,
mother.
We'll! I call that low down deal,
Marion!' Dicky said. "4 curve never
| given me a kiss and I've known you
Mr.. SaVar1n
| has
And then from the childish lips
came an answer which amused the
| Durkees and Dicky, but which startled
me into belief that child's intuition
! goes pretty generally straight to the
mark of things.
You don't need it," she said en-
phasizing the pronoun distinctly, and
turning, went out of the door with
| her mother.
Some Startling Contracts.
Lillian always put Marion to bed
| herself, tucked her in and "cuddled
her for little, SO that it was some
time before she returned to the living
room. And when she finally came
| back she was just in time to hear
Robert Savarin utter words through
which there ran all the poignant long
ing of strong, true man:
The greatest tragedy in the world Is
not to have child of your own
She stood still for "a minute, looking
at him, while the color slowly drained
away from her face, leaving it CHASTITY
pale. And her eyes! In them was
such bitter rebellion at the irony Of
fate that T shivered as I went toward
her, adroitly concealing her from the
gaze of. the others until she should
have regained her composure.
knew of what she was thinking,
and 1 shared her feeling. The utter
unreasoning cruelty of the fate which
controlled these two lives4 Here
Marion's own father had only cared
for her as a whip with which he
could scourge Lillian. And Harry I'm
derwood, whom Lillian had married IN
the desperate unhappiness following
the wreck Of her first marital expert
ence, had left her, brutally, because
after years of suffering she was given
the chance to have the little thing
with her. He had said that kinder
gartens" did not appeal to him, and
had taken himself out Of Lillan's life.
.Thank You, But-!"~
And Robert Savarin had married a
woman who had blasted his life, and
had caused the mental darkness
which had been his for SO many
dreary years.
Two lives spoiled! Why could not
Fate have directed Lillian's first ,ro-
mantle alteration for the artist in such
a way that he would have known Of
it? I had a shrewd suspicion that he
had loved her also in that long ago
time, but that his shyness or doubt Of
her feelings, had held his tongue.
I did not wish the Durkees or even
Dicky to guess Lillian's feelings, how
ever so l stood directly in front of
her as I asked casually:
Are you sure Marion has coverings
enough on her bed? I can get others,
you know at once"
AS I spoke, I warned her with a