The Benson signal., 1918-03-09

should not prove quite so simple and
manageable. There were breathleSs
days when the storm visibly hung in
the sky; there were strained, stiff, self.
conscious moments Of rigidly enforced
politeness. Things got said despite his
resOlute repression that had, as resO-
lutely, to be ignored. But in the inter
walls of these failures there emerged
a new thing-genuine friendliness
partnership.
It was just after Christmas that Abe
Shuman took her away from Galbraith
and put her to work exclusively on
costumes. And the swift sequence of
events within a month thereafter
launched her in an Independent bust
ness: the new partnership, with the
details of which, through Jimmy Wal
lace, you are already sufficiently ac-
quainted.
Her partner was Alice Perosini. She
Jew, beautiful-really a wonderful
person to look at, but little unac-
countable, especially with the gorgeous
clothes she wore, in the circle of wom-
en- who Ibid things" of which Rose
had become part. Rose took her time
about deciding that she liked her, but
ended by preferring her to all the rest.
But the fact that they had become
partners served, somehow, to divert a
relation between them which might
otherwise have developed into a first
class friendship. Not that they quar-
relied, or even disappointed each other
in the close contacts of the days work.
But at the end of the days work they
tended to fly apart rather than to stick
together. More and more Rose turned
to Galbraith for friendship that real
ly understood; gripped deep.
There were long stretches Of days,
of course, when they saw nothing Of
each other, and Rose, as long as she
had plenty to do, was never conscious
Of missing him. But the prospect Of
an empty Sunday morning, for in
stance, was always enormously bright
ened if he called up to say that it was
empty for him, too, and shouldn't they
go for a walk or a ferry-ride some
Wherei
All told, she learned more about
men, as such, from him than ever she
had learned, consciously at least, from
Rodney. She'd never been able to re-
gard her husband as a specimen. He
was Rodney, sui generis, and it had
never occurred to her either to general
ize from him to other men or to ex-
ground of his masculinity. She began
doing that now little, and the exer-
else opened her eyes.
| In a good many ways Galbraith and
her husband were a good deal alike.
Both were rough, direct, little re-
morseless and there was in both Of
them, right alongside the best and
finest and clearest things they had, an
unaccountable vein of chiIdishness.
She'd never been willing to call it by
that name in Rodney. But when she
saw it in Galbraith too, she wondered.
Was that just the man Of it? Did a
man, as long as he lived, need some
body in the role of-mother? The
thought all but suffocated her.
One Saturday morning, toward the
end of May, Galbraith called up and
wanted to know If she wouldn't come
o7ef to his Long Island farm the fol-
lowing morning and spend the day.
She aad visited the place two or three
tirses, and had always enjoyed it i'm
me1sely there. It wasn't much Of a
farm, but there was delightful old
Revolutionary farmhouse on it, with
ceilings seven feet high, and easement
windows, and the floors of all the rooms
on different levels; and Galbraith,
there, was always quite at his best. His
sister and her husband, whom he had
brought over from England when he
bought the place, ran it for him. Rose
accepted eagerly.
Galbraith met her with a dogcart
and fat pony, and when they had
logged their way to their destination,
they spent what was left Of the morn
ing looking over the farm. Then there
was a midday farm dinner, which Rose
astonished herself by dealing with as
it deserved, and by feeling sleepy at
the conclusion of.
| Coming into the veranda about four
o'clock, and finding her, Galbraith sug-
gested that they go for walk. Two
hours later, having swung her legs over
a stone wall which had comfortably
inviting fiat top, she remained sitting
there and let her gaze rest, unfocused,
on the pleasant farm land below them.
After a glance at her he leaned back
against the wall at her side and be-
gan filling his pipe. She dropped her
hand on his nearer shoulder. After
all these months Of friendship it was
the first approach to a caress that had
passed between them. you're a good
friend" she said; and then the hand
that had rested on him so lightly sud-
denly gripped hard. "And I guess I
need one."
He went on filing his pipe. "Any-