The Press., 1918-07-18

most. But as he sat down and thought it over 1t crossed his mind that per haps after all he wasn't reaching the desired end.
 q think I'll be a hermit" he said came over to him at the sound of his voice. Nobody loves me now" The dog licked his hand by way of con- tradiction. Dave laughed a little more cheerily.
 A knock on the door at the foot of his stairs announced the arrival of the suit. Dave opened the parcel and took out the suit. It wasn't so bad, he de- cided, but it was certainly different from the class of clothes he was ac- custOmed to wearing. What would clothes matter anyway, when there was no one to admire them? He would give all his money to charities, and be a martyr in the true sense of the word. The more he looked at the suit the more the thought of what Hester would think of it cropped up in his mind. It didn't look bad from a dis tance, but a close inspection showed the poor quality of the goods, he saw when he tried 1t on. It wouldn't be likely that Hester would ever get close enough to him to see it's defects. That was the worst of it.
 He could not help stopping to ad- mire his stalwart figure as it appeared in the mirror. The thought crept into his mind that it would not be so hard to find girl to take HeSter's place, but he quickly dispelled it. No, no girl could ever take Hester's place. Un- consciously his hand went into the wide pocket of the coat. His fingers touched stiff piece of paper and he brought out an envelope. Very uncOn. cernedly he looked at it. His name was written on it. He opened 1t quickly, for it was HesterS writing. He took out the short note and read it hurriedIy:
 Dave Dear-I am sorry. It was all my fault and l can't do without you. When l said you couldn't come to the party l didn't mean it at all, and I'll be heart-bEOken if you don't come. With kisses. HESTER"
 Dave glanced at the date hurriedly. It was two days old. She had written 1t the day before the party. He hur- ried to the telephone and was talking to Hester before he had time to think twice.
 Hester, will you ever forgive me? I just got your nOte," he said.
 Just got it now, Dave-hOw can that be? Why, 1t was posted two days ago. I can't forgive you. You made me so miserable that my party was a failure. The girls all noticed your ab- sence and whispered about 1t. You did 1t just to punish me, didn't you, Dave?" There was the same dOubting tone that had been the cause of nest of their quarrels, but Dave didn't mo- tice 1t. '...
 'Tm coming right up,' he said, and hung up the receiver before she had an opportunity to refuse him the priv ilege.
 Hester was at the door to meet him. ''I know it all now," were the words she greeted him with after they got inside. But how did you get that letter? Did Walter Mitchell find it and give it to you? gave the note to fathers new secretary to post for me. He remembered that he left 1t in the suit of clothes he was wearing at the time, and has since returned the suit to MitchelTs because it was a poor fit. Walter found it?"
 But Walter didn't find It," laughed Dave. 'I found 1t in the pocket of this suit-a $16.45 one. How do you like it?"
 'It's the one dads secretary had 1" she gasped. "What in the world are you doing in $1645 suit2"
 Do you think look terrible in it ?" he asked with a smile.
 "You look nice in anything" she smiled back; "but hope they'll take 1t back, for you look better In your other ones."
 ''Well, before do think I had bet ter empty the pockets. The first thing I'll take out will be this marriage license. I secured it on the way here. We had better not wait much longer. Goodness knows what our next quar- rel will lead to!"
 She looked over the license, then looked up with smile and said:
 stT'm throuCh with nnarroIaD