The Washington times., 1918-07-28

remember this" His hands on the piano
repeated a phrase Of the music.
"of course remember II. But am not
Celia any more. I am Mrs. Owen"
"oh, no." said Haynes. laughing. when
one has called the child by her Christian
name, one calls the woman by her Chris
tian name. shall certainly call you
Celia"
"You can If you like"
'Now tell me all about it"
"An about what?"
"An about the last ten years of your
life"
What is there to tell? / have done
nothing. / was married when was eigh-
teen. Since then have gone on existing
Now you. on the contrary. have had
splendid"-
"Have you got any children. Cellar" be
asked suddenly.
She shook her head. perhaps 1t Is as
WELL" she said drearily. 81 don't think my
husband would like children. He is an
archaeologist. you know. That Is why we
are here. He is making rubbings Of
brasses in the cathedral He has a great
collection Of them, all beautifully cata-
logued."
How perfectly horrible" said Haynes
with conviction.
For the first time she laughed.
$50 you still laugh sometimes" he said
mot very often now. But I remember
what you mean. / believe behaved abom-
inably. / overheard something you said
about a cat. II was your own private joke,
and I did not know you, and had no right
to laugh at 1t. I don't know why, but jokes
about cats specially appealed to me then
Now don't think cats are any more anus
,ing than anything else, do your
"Yes-no-I don't know. Are you happy,
Cellar"
81 knew you were going to ask that"
well, are your
"Oh, Of course 1 am Perfectly"
And by way of proving it she added,
with a sob in her voice, that she must go.
that Harry would wonder where she was.
He let her CO..
At breakfast next morning Mr.. Maurice
Haynes very deliberately introduced him
self to Mr.. Henry Owen. Celia was not
yet down.
Mr.. Owen was pleased to be very gra-
cious. He said that Celia had told him
dDOuI MI. f1dyucS, anu IudI u was q plcde-
ure to meet so distinguished an artist.
''You gave my wife a little sketch you
made of her when she was girl, think?"
81 did"
well, / did a silly thing about that. 1t
was soon after our marriage. A friend Of
mine came along and offered mesa fVer
for 1t, and took it."
81 see. And your wife didn't like it,"
"Oh, she was angry enough; but that's
not what / mean II / had only known
then that you were the coming man, l
would never have sold that sketch for q
hver. What would 1t be worth now?"
"Oh, don't know" said Haynes; 'ft
would depend upon how much anyone
wanted it."
In the course Of conversation Haynes
learned a good deal about Mr Owen. who
was a gentleman without reticence. He
explained, for instance, that the redness
Of his nose was due entirely to dyspepsia.
and not to intemperance. He was rather
pathetic about it, posing as one misunder-
stood by the world. He entered into the
question Of dyspepsia generally, with more
detail than seemed TO Haynes to be abso-.
lutely requisite. Haynes changed the
subject
81 wonder If you would care to come out
in my car this morning?' he said-"you
and Mrs. Owen, of course. It's rather
jolly morning. and I've got nothing to do.
l would be glad to drive you anywhere"
Not for me, thanks. / have my work
to do at the cathedral. Take my wife for
a drive, by all means"
Thanks, l will. She will be down d.
rectly?"
YES; I'll send her to you. She has got
the bad habit Of keeping awake all night,
and sleeping in the morning. A great mis-
take. I'm always telling her about it"
An hour later Haynes, with Celia by his
side, drove out from the cathedral city.
Where shall we go?" he asked.
ITO the worlds end" she said fantas-
tically, laughing. She was in strangely
high spirits this morning.
A mile further on he stopped the car.
They got down and he picked her the wild
roses that she wanted. As he gave them
to her. he said in a low voice, What is the
good of pretending any more? You know
perfectly we'll that love you"
"Yes"
"You love me. too?" She bowed her
head. Then you are not going back to
him? You will come with me?"
ITO the worlds end" she whispered.
1t was quite late that afternoon when
she suddenly and irrevocably changed her
mind. 81 must go back" she said This
Is all very beautiful. but it is like my wild
roses-it falls to pieces. There is no ro-
nance left. The sordid legal business al
ways ends it. Besides, it is stolen happi
ness. / must not have it. have had
day of life, and l can go on living for a
while on the memory OF it. You come to
me too late, Maurice"
1t was in vain that he pleaded with her.
She admitted that she did not know
it was conscience or cowardice,