The Mena weekly star., 1917-11-15

ana mahogany above her tOpSides slid up to the float and two women came at dignified pace along the path to the house. Stella had met Linda Abbey once, reluctantly under the citcum- stances, but it was different now-with the difference th2t money makes. She could play hostess against an effective background, and she did so graciously. Nor was her graciousness wholly as- sumed. After all, they were her kind of pople. Linda, fair haired, perfectly gowised, perfectly hammered, sweetly pretty: Mrs Abbey, forty-odd and look ing thirty five, with that calm self as- surance which wealth and position con fer upon those who hold it securely. Stella found them altogether to her lik- Ing. It pleased her, too, that Jack hap pened in to meet them He was not 8 scintillating talker, yet she had noticed that when he had anything to say he never failed to attract and hold atten- tion. His quiet, impersonal manner never suggested stolidness. And she was too keen an observer to overlook the fact that from a purely physical standpoint Jack Fyfe made an impress sion always, particularly on women. Throughout that winter it had not dis turbed her. It did not disturb her now when she noticed Linda Abbeys gaze coming back to him with a yelled ap- praisal in her blue eyes that were so like Fyfe's own in their tendency to twinkle and gleam with no correspond ing play of features.
 We'll expect to see good deal of you this summer" Mrs. Abbey said cor dlally at leave taking We have few people up from town now and then to vary the monotony of feasting our souls on scenery. Sometimes we are quite a jolly crowd Don't be formal Drop p when you feel the inclination
 When Stella reminded Jack of this some time later, in moment of bore dom, he put the Panther at her dis posal for the afternoon. But he would not go himself. He had opened up a new outlying camp and he had direc- tiOns to issue, work tO'lay out
 You hold mp the social end of the EdIlts Ht iiuSIth. | II huSltt tDEH.
 So Stella invaded the Abbey -Monohan precincts by herself and enjoyed 1t, for she met a houseful of young people from the coast, and in that light heart ed company she forgot for the time be- ing that she was married and the re- sponsible mistress of house.
 She had the amused experience of beholding Charlie Benton appear an hour or SO before she departed and straightway monopolize Linda Abbey in his characteristically impetuous fash ion Charlie was no diplomat. He be- lieved in driving straight to any goal he selected
 "So that's the reason for the out ward metamorphosis," Stella reflected. "Well?"
 Altogether she enjoyed the afternoon hugely. The only fly in her ointment was a greasy smudge bestowed upon her dress-a garment she prized high ly-by some cordage coiled on the Pan ther's deck The black tender had car ried too many cargoes of loggers and logging supplies to be fit conveyance for persons in party attire. She exhib- tied the soiled gown to Fyfe with due vexation.
 'I hope you'll have somebody scrub down the Panther the next time want to go anywhere in decent dress" she said ruefully. "Thatll never come out And it's the prettiest thing I've got too"
 "Ah, what's the oddsl" Fyfe slipped one arm around her waist You can buy more dresses. Did you have good timer That's the thingp
 That ruined gown, however, subse- quently produced an able, forty foot cruising launch powerfully engined, easy in sea and comfortably, even luxuriously fitted as to cabin. With that for their private use the Panther was left to her appointed service, and in the new boat Fyfe and Stella spent many a day abroad on Roaring lake They flshed together, explored hooks and bays up and down its forty miles of length, climbed hills together like the bear of the ancient rime, to see what they could see. And the Water bug served te put them on intimate terms with their neighbors, particularly the Abbey crowd. The Abbeys took to them wholeheartedly Fyfe himself was highly esteemed by the elder Abbey, largely, Stella suspected, for his power on Roaring lake. Abbey pere had built up a big fortune out of timber. He respected any man who could follow the same path to success. Therefore he gave Fyfe double credit--for making good and for a personality that could not be overlooked.
 Summer slipped by. There were dances, informal little hops at the Ab- bey domieile, return engagements at the Fyfe bungalow, laughter and mu- sic and Japanese lanterns strung across the lawn. There were tea and tennis and murmuring rivers of small talk. And amid this Stella Fyfe fitted gra- ciously, esteeming it her world, fair measure of what the future might be. Viewed in that light it seemed passable enough.
 Later. when summer was on the wane. she withdraw from much of this activity, spending those days when she did not sit buried in book out on the water with her husband. When Octo- Der ushered in the first of the fall rains they went to Vancouver and took apart ments. In December her son was born.