Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1917-09-04


got to talk. And if you go, l swear
I'll call up Eleanor's butler and talk
to him. You'll keep it to yourself,
anyway He added. as Rodney hest
tated, Il want to tell you about Rose.
l saw her in New York. you know"
Rodney sat down again. "Yes." he
said. $50 she wrote. Tell me how she
looked. She's been working tremen-
dously hard. and I'm a little afraid
she's OVERRIDING it."
"She looks" Randolph said very de-
liberately, "a thousand years old" He
laughed at the sharp contraction of
Rodney's brows. "Oh, not like that!
She's as beautiful as ever. Her skins
still got that bloom on it, and she still
fiushes up when she smiles. She's lost
five pounds, perhaps, but that's just
condition. And Vitality But a thou
sand years old. inst the same"
I'D like to know what you mean by
that" said Rodney.
"Why, look here" Randolph said.
"You know what a kid she was when
you married her. Schoolgirl! l used
to tell her things and she'd listen, all
eyes-holding her breath! Until / felt
almost as wise as she thought 1 was.
She was always game, even then. If
she started thing she saw it through.
If she said, Tell it to me straight
why, she took it, whatever it might
be, standing up. She wasn't afraid of
anything. Courage of innocence. Be
cause she didn't know. Well, she's
courageous now, because she knows.
She understands tell you-every.
thing.
"Why, look here! We all but ran
into each other on the corner, there,
of Broadway and Forty-second street;
shook hands, said howdy-do. If had
spare half-hour, would 1 come and
have tea with her here at the Knicker-
booker? She'd nodded at two or three
passing people while we stood there.
And then somebody said, Hello, Dane
and stopped. A miserable, shabby,
shivering little painted thing. Rose
said Hello and asked how she was
getting along. Was she working now?
She said no; did Rose know of any
ching! Rose, said, Give me your ad-
dress, and if l can find anything I'll
let you know The horrible little beast
told her where she lived and went
away. Rose didn't say anything to me.
except that she was somebody who'd
been out in a road company with her.
But there was a look in her eyes -. !
Oh, she knew-everything. Knew
what the kid was headed for. Knew
there was nothing to be done about it.
She had no flutters about it, didn't
pull long face, didn't, as l told you,
say word. But there was look in
her eyes, somehow, that understood
and faced-everything. And then we
went in and had our tea.
Il had thousand curiosities about
her. I'd have found out anything
could. But it was she who did the find
ing out. Beyond inquiring about you,
how lately I'd seen you, and so on, she
hardly asked a question; but pretty
soon l saw that she understood me.
She knew what was the matter with
me; knew what I'd made of myself.
And she didn't even despise me!
II came back here to kick this
thing to pieces, give myself fresh
start. And when 1 got here, 1 hadn't
the sand. / got drunk instead" He
poured himself another long drink and
slipped slowly.
Everybody knows" he said at last,
"that down-and-outs almost invariably
take to drugs or drink. But L know
why they do
That remark stung Rodney out of his
long silence. During the whole of Ran
dolph's recital of his encounter with
Rose he'd never once lifted his eyes
from the gray ash of his cigar. He
didn't want to look at Randolph, nor
think about him. Just wanted to re-
member every word he said, so that be
could carry the picture away intact.
CTO BE CONTINUED)