Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1918-10-31
The Wife
By JANE PHELPS
F+++++t<++t t++++++++++++%+
MoLLIE is DANGEROUSLY SYM
PATHETIC.
By Jane Phelps.
CHAPTER LXxII.

hlh 10 atlenu TO business Tor the 1lrm
But, led on by Mollie's sympathetic
questioning, he made it appear to he
that he was thoroughly miserable ant
misunderstood. And Mollie, innocen
lof intent to wrong Ruth,-because sh,
thought Ruth cared nothing for Brian
lelsc she would not be so Indifferent
lmade Brian think of how much NOR,
comfortable it would have made thing
ihad Ruth been more like Mollie.
He did not go So far even in hi
Thoughts as to wish he had married
Mollie instead of Ruth, but he was dan
Igerously near such position. 1T wa,
so jolly to talk to Mollie. She al
ways understood fellow" he thought
as he talked away, saying more thar
he really meant, as men so often dc
under the same, or similar circum
lstances.
Mollie had reached over and laid
her soft, warm hand over his when he
told her how dreadfully lonely it was
to go home and sit alone all the eve.
ming. after grinding in the office all
day.
"It takes all the spunk out Of a
man, +" he had said. And Mollie had
sagely agreed.
Perhaps had Mollie known that Bri-
an had done better since his marriage
than before (but, even at that, he was
too indolent to do his best), she
might not have been quite so sympa-
thetic, not quite so tender in her man
iner toward him. But feeling him
abused, she took mothcrly sort of an
latitude which men always enjoy.
"Poor Brian,' she said more than
once during the evening. And she
thought "marry in haste, repent at
leisure, - but would not say it for fear
of hurting Brian's feelings.
Yet Mollie still admired Ruth, still
regarded her as quite wonderful in
many ways. She often thought of the
nice dinner she had given Claude Beck-
ly and herself; of what an easy, gra-
cious hostess she was. She envied
Ruth her poise, her easy manners even
under trying circumstances. Mollie
had realized that Claude Beckly's fas
miliartv was obnoxious to Ruth and
had taken him to task on the way
home for his impudence in calling her
by her first name.
"She is different from our crowd!
she doesn't call people by their first
names. The idea Of you telling her
to call me 'Mollie'. / was furiousl y
Then, "You should have been looking
at her when you called her Ruth'.''
s.Brian WASN'T if she was. /" Becky
had answered with hint of sarcasm.
"Brian is one Of us. She is not. "
Mollie had answered, and in that an
swer had expressed her feeling toward
Brian. Ho was one of them. They un-
derstood each other, were happy do
ing the same things, visiting the
same places. While Ruth was of a
different mould, although it is doubt
full if Claude Becky were able, like
Mollie, to detect that it was also a
finer mould.
''You don't understand, Claude. She
has been brought up in the most con
ventional way. Things We do in the
village, innocent as they are, would
shock her terribly. She wouldn I I'm.
derstand us any better than you seem
to understand her. You have queered
our getting asked up there to dinner
again, j Ii bet a nickel. y
~ hope notl" he had returned in
such a lugubrious tone that Mollie had
laughed heartily and twitted him with
caring only because of the ''good
feed" he might miss.
Mollic told Brian something Of this
conversation with Claude. She dweit
on the fact that Ruth did not under
stand any but the most conventional
people. Saying nothing disparaging,
rathor the opposite, but emphasizing
the feeling that Ruth did not care for
his friends.
81 don t sec how one so conventional
ever came to think she could go to bus
iness.n
"She didn't, for some timc,' Brian
answered, flushing little "But youl
see, Mollie, she had done a lot of such
work in her aunt 5 big house, won
derful home. Then she ism I bit do
nestle. She hates housework,o = he con
fused the hard work of the house, as
do many men, with domesticity. Yet
many of the most domestic, hoine-loy
ing women do not care to be in the
kitchen all the time.
81 suppose she earns big salary
IN that swell place. ("
Oh, fair
"She dresses beautifully.
81 don't believe she has bought a
new dud since we have been married |
She had clothes enough to last .Ife
Iiiae.
And / have two little, cheap dresses
> year, Mollie walled, pretending TO
be unhappy because of it and not car
Ing at ali.
. You are more attractive in them
Brian stopped. He must say nothing
of Ruth, 81 just love 10 sea
vou with your apron on, fussing around |
the studio, he finished, flushing cnd
1t the same time patting her aand.
"Come and see me often, then, Bri
an. = she said softly. 'sYou viii find
ne mat way most Of The time. >.
To Be Continued.