Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1918-05-10
CHAPTER LXXIv.

home to dinner. l ate my solitary meal
then went up to my room. Celeste was
out. l could be as silly as l liked. SO
took down my hair and arranged and
rearranged it, in an attempt to find a
style which would be more attractive
in a picture. Then, too, | studied my
face more carefully than l had eye'
done before l would see in whaj | was
lacking. George never told me l was
pEstty, nowadays, although he had FIRE.
q~uently done so before We were mar
RED. Perhaps that was because he made
no comparisons, then, | thought. And
now he was comparing me with the
smart women of his old set--tO my dis.
advantage.
l looked into the mirror. Yes, | was
pref 81 As pretty, or prettier, than most
girls of my age. l had large eyes, lo',y
lashes, wavy brown hair, and a really
fine and delicate skin. l was apt to BE-
a little pale, but the slightest flush gave
me a lovely color. "Peach-blow" Mer-
ton Gray had once said. Perhaps George
thought me too young looking. But that
would improve with age. That thought
relieved my mind. As | grew older, I
would conform more nearly to his ides
of beauty.
l undressed and slipped into a COM
Portable dressing gown. Then l took up
a magazine, in which l had begun to
read an interesting serial, and cuddled
up on the chaise Tongue to wait for
George. l had not realized how lote it
vas until, hearing him come i'll, l glanc-
ed at the clock.
81 thought l had forbidden you to
sit up for me-" he said in a harsh
voice.
81 didn't know ii was SO late; my
story vas interesting. l had no inten-
ton of sitting up for you," l explained
trying to stave off a scolding.
"Well, go to bed at once. And don't
Let me find you up at his hour again,
when l am obliged to be out"
"OBLIGED to be out!" l thought,
Indignantly, as the clock struck two. l
knew only too well that he had remain
ed out because he WISHED to.
1t Is Terrible to Be Ordered
The next morning before he left for
the office, George said:
81 shall be at the studio, today, l
want you to remember that l expect
to see that you sit properly" then, at.
her a moment. "And l want you to I'll,
dcrstand onee for all, Helen, that | will
not be annoyed by finding you sitting
up when l come in. I am my own master
| have a perfect right to remain out, OF
come in. Next time 1 am detained, !
want to find you in bed and asleep when
l come in. Understand me, 1 will be
obeyed in this"
After he lefJ ran to my room and
fairly threw myself across the unmade
bed. The windows were open and the
cool morning air famed my hot cheeks.
1t was dreadful to be ordered, as |
was! | would not endure it, l declared
over and over, knowing all that time
that l would-that nothing l could do
would alter Georges disposition, or
make ME brave enough 20 stand up
against him. Yet, as always, after such
a feeling of embarrassment, there came
that determination to SHOW him, some
time, that | was his equal in poise-in
everything that he seemed to think
worth while; and ,hat he could not or
der ME, no telittle me in any way. l
was nc longer a child, to be told when
l should go to bed. l would NOT obey
him in that, but | would not remain up
quite so late, again. Then l remembered
that if | did not do as he babe me, he
would find means to compel me. Oh, yes.
l WOULD go to bed when he was out.
and L would PRETEND to be asleep.
Amy hing, wen deceit, to make him care
for me.
Yet even as | decided to do as he had
ordered, | wondered if l were not help
to destroy my chance for happiness.
If he shouldn't care for me in the end
| had made myself over to please
him, would l not have destroyed all
personality l now possessed and become
that minteresting creature-a woman
who has no mind, save as it is mirrored
in her husband's9
The Society Woman's Idea.
[, seemed to me that the women
knew and so admired had one
idea, and only one. That was to be out
all the time, to be seen, to be dressed in
the height of fashion, and to be sought
by all the men and envied by
all the women. They belonged not to
themselves, not to their husbands (those
who had h%usbands), but to society-to
men as a whole-and they were never
happy unless in the public eye, doing
what Evelyn called Stunts to attract
attention.
They seemed so c%allous, mos of them
Hard as nails, / thought. They were
United States employment service an