Omaha daily bee., 1919-05-14
The Way Madge's Partner Man
aged to Place the Evenings
Peace in Danger.

! Peace in Danger.
l had no time to reflect upon the
startling comment Alice Holcombe
had made to me concerning Mrs
Stockbridge's sanity, for the door
bell pealed again, this time in real
ity heralding the arrival Of "the
Prices" with their friends, the
Bishops" Both were typical ST.
burban couples, the husbands evil
IDENTIFY prosperous business men, the
wives slender, middle aged women
with a. sort of preserved prettiness
which they evidently spent much
time in protecting.
Mrs. Stockbridge FASTENED for
ward to greet them, her husband re-
appeared from his self-imposed ban
ishment, and all six went upstairs to
the rooms where the wraps were
laid. Alice Holcombe turned to me,
knocking little smile on her lips.
There are only left to appear the
cavaliers Milly has selected for Bess
and me-" she said. They're worth
a careful inspection. Bess draws
the village medico, a bachelor, who
somehow didn't get to the war, and
who divides his time when with
Bess between fearing and hoping
that she will bedevil him. Mine, a
widower of substance, is frankly
afraid of my aging charms, and
SHES palpably whenever he sees me.
But Milly has made up her mind
that he would be nice prop for my
declining years, so she religiously
pairs US off whenever she has
party"
Madge Looks Around.
Her voice, despite its mockery,
held tinge of bitterness, which /
understood when later / was intro
duced to the pompous man whom
Mrs. Stockbridge had impertinently
assigned to Alice Holcombe, by far
the cleverest woman in the room.
His name, as l caught it, was
Donkers, and l could not help the
thought that if the twenty-fifth
letter of the alphabet had been sub
stituted for the last two of his
name it would have suited him far
better.
A more self-satisfied, assertive
man I have seldom met, and l
could see that beneath the mock
ing mask behind which Alice Hol-
combe hides all feeling, she was an
noyed and Inundated at the patent
fear of being inveigled into matri-
mony which the widower betrayed
when he was with her. A dozen
times during the evening ! heard
him refer to his dear departed
wife" as if he were invoking a pro-.
tecting angel, and l also heard him
make the assertion at least twice
that Second marriages were most
unwise."
Despite this sepulchral note the
dinner really went off very well.
Alice Holcombe is an unusually wit
ty woman, Dicky and Bess Dean are
both to be depended on to make
dinner conversation sprightly, while
Kenneth Stockbridge-whose spirits
seemed to rise with his wife's alb
sorption in Dicky's nonsense-kept
the management of the conversation
unobtrusively but firmly in his own
hands, throwing out little side re-
marks that mana ged to include the
rest of us Listeners" and keep the
affair a general discussion instead
of series of monologues and dia-
logues as so many dinner converse
tons are apt to be.
If the dinner could only have end
ed the EVENING" But unfortunately
a large number of guests had been
invited to the reception following,
and of course, Dicky, the lion of the
evening, could not be kept dancing
attendance upon his hostess, palpa-
bic as was her attempt to keep him
in just that position. Bess Dean,
fame of color in her gown of scar
let chiffon, with single spicy car
nation Of the same shade stuck care
lessly but most effectively in her
wonderful brown hair, made sec
ond determined effort to secure
Dicky's exclusive attention, but
Alice Holcombe unobtrusively sum-
moned her TO one side, and l saw
by the younger girls face that the
older woman was. laying down the
law in militant fashion.
whats the real answeS% Miss
Dean drawled bit unpleasantly.
Her voice, though low, reached me
distinctly, as | had a shrewd suspi
cion she meant it to do. "Friend
Husband-to-be tagged Hands Off
Why didn't you warn me before?"
l found it hard to keep my facial
muscles under control upon hearing
the catty little speech, but I think
the wary widower to whom l was
talking had no suspicion of my emo
ton; instead, thought l was giving
most fattering attention to the SOL
emn philosophy of life which he was
expounding to me. But / strained
my ears for Alice Holcombe's an
swer.
"You know better. Bess Dean"