The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1917-08-10


"Rods been trying to get me to go
to Rose and say that it was all his
fault, and won't"
"Why not? said Harriet. "What
earthly thing does it matter whose
fault it is? He can have 1t his fault
If he likes"
"You know it isn't" Frederick NUT
tered rebelliously.
Harriet seated herself delicately and
| deliberately in one of the curving ends
of little Victorian sofa, and stretched
her slim legs out in front of her.
Certainly don't care whose fault
it is" she said. you never get any
where by trying to decide a question
like that. What I'm interested in is
what can be done about it. It's not
very nice situation. Nobody likes it
| at least l should think Rose would
be pretty sick of it by now. She may
! have been crazy for a stage career, but
she's probably seen that the chorus of
a third-rate musical comedy won't take
her anywhere. The things simply a
mess, and the only thing to do is to
|
as we can-and it can be cleared up if
we go at it right. OF course the thing
to do is to get her out of that horrible
place as soon as we can. And l sup
pose the best way of doing it will be
to get her into something else-take
her down to New York and work her
into a small part in some good com
4s,
that, so long as it wasn't music. Oh,
and have her use her own name, and
let us make as much of it as we can.
Face it out Pretend we like it.
don't say it's ideal, but it's better than
this"
"Her own name?" he echoed blank
ly. do you mean she made one up?"
toned it," she said, "but that was be-
fore / knew what she was talking
about And of course I couldn't go
back and ask. Daphne something, l
think. 1t sounded exactly like chorus
name, anyhow" And then: 'Well,
how about it? VIII you play the
gamer"
|
that surprised Frederick. "I'll play it.
1t comes to exactly the same thing,
what we both want done, and our rea-
sons for doing it are important to no
body but ourselves"
She turned to Frederick. you, too
Freddy?" she asked. "Will you give
your moral principles a vacation and
AL tn
5, though you may think it's QuixotiC
: nonsenseW
"rll see Rose myself" said Rodne.
quietly.
!
He was standing near the foot of tn
- stairs when she came down, with
= raineoat on and a newspaper twiste
T. up in his hand, and at sight of her,
&c took off his soft, wet hat, and crusht
Ne it up along with the newspaper. T
y moved over toward her, but stopp'
two or three feet away. Its We
lu good of you to come" he said
70 voice lacking a little of the ridiculo
stiffness of his words. not much.
e there some place where we can talk
little more-privately than here?
shan't keep you long"
H. "There's a room here somewhere
DC she said.
L The room she led him to was an a
T. propriately preposterous setting fl
10 the altogether preposterous talk thi
TO ensued between them. 1t had mosa
y floor with a red plush carpet on it, tW
lg stained-glass windows in yellow an
IS green, thanking an oak mantel whic
" framed an enormous expanse of mo
Y tied purple tile, with a diminutive ga
| log in the middle. A glassy-lookin
oak table occupied most Of the room
u and the chairs that were crowded
to around it were upholstered in highl
q polished coffee-colored horse-hide, wit
u very ornate nails.
OF ats dreadfully hot in here" Ros
IN said. You'd better take off your coat
She squeezed in between the table an
d. one Of the chairs and seated herself.
ne Rodney threw down his wet hat, h
y newspaper, and then his raincoat, G
the table, and slid into a chair opp
I'd site her.
OF Il want to tell you first" Rodne
said, and his manner was that of
Ou schoolboy reciting to his teacher 8
r apology which has been rehearsed
if home under the sanction of pattern
if authority-"I want to tell you no
er deeply sorry 1 am for :"
$! He had his newspaper in his hant
at again and was twisting it up. His ey
on didn't once seek her face. But tn,
might have done so in perfect safet
st because her own were fixed on b
hands and the newspaper they cruz
lid pied.
He didn't presume to ask her fc
i'm giveness, he told her. He couldn't e
pect that; at least not at present.
Il went on lamely, in broken sentence
repeating what he'd said already
H. still more inadequate words. He W
Mt unable to stop talking until she shou
say something, it hardly matter
Ter / what And she was unable TO saw an