New-York tribune., 1919-05-18

ant to sit there untl his berth ..
made up. us
Then, take that affair of the b.r,
son, young Gratiot it was, whom -
knew we'll even now here in C ~
Gratiot did not know that he kn.r
or did ne? Perhaps he was still w..
ly with ldelle, although she dep;ea :.
You could never really believe her ~
1t was, according to her, who had c.a. ~
ured her fancy with his fine a;rs -,
money and car when she was on,v
enteen, and then robbed her for cor,,
you call it robbery in Idelle's cs..
seeking, restless creature that -.
was y Of her Indifferent innocence
Those fascinating coke ovens b,c.:.
in the dark beside the track, mile oft..
mile!
Somehow her telling him these tb;nr,
at first, or rather shortly after tber
'@Ao i"s'A iSo anu WHEN She was goinv
to make clean breast of evervth;rs
and lead better life, had thrown
wonderful glamour over her past.
"Gay Stories"t What name for
mugaSine' And that stout old travclyns
man reading it!
What strange thing it was ia bs
girl like that-with passions and y.
lusions like that. Perhaps, after all,
life only came to those who sought II
with great strength and natural oft.
But how hard 1t was on those who
hadn't anything of that kindl Nevsrl
theless, people should get over n.
follies of their youth-Idelle shou,dl
anyhow. She had had enough. eoodI
ness knows. She had been one of +hA
worst-hectic, vastly excited about life
irresponsible-and she should hsvx
sobered by now. Why not? Look 1t al,
he had to offer her! Was that not
enough to effect a change? While Il
made her interesting at times, this left.
over enthusiasm, still it was so ridden.
lous, and made her desirable. TIM
as either wife or mother. Yet na
doubt that was what had made her "a
fascinating to him, too, at this lats
day and TO all those other men IN
B and elsewhere that blazing
| VOlYf n fl1lr1occ
seem, he could condone Idelle's dread.
tul deeds even now. just as her mother
could, if she would only behave her.
self, if she would only love him and
him alone-but would she? She seemed
so determined to bend everything TO
her service, regardless.
No use! He couldn't stand th.m
travelling men an this smoking rooml
He mast haze the porter make up ha
berth!
And then had come j C. the
one who was still hanging about her
now, the one with whom she had had
that dreadful affair in B, that al.
ways depressed him so much to think
about. Of course. there was one thing
to be said in extenuation Of that, il
you could say anything at all-which
you couldn't really-and that was that
ldelle was no longer good girl then,
but experienced and with all her blsz-
ing disposition aroused. She had capt.
ured the reins of her life then and wes
doing as she pleased-only why couldn't
he have met her then instead of j.
c.? His own life had always been
so empty. When she had confessed so
much of all this to him afterward l.
not this j affair exactly. but
the other things hadn't he left
her then? He might have and saved
himself al this agony-or could he
have then? II was twice her age when
he married her and knew better, only
he thought he could reform her-or did
he? Was that the true reason? Could
he admit the true reason to himself?
"Yes, make 1t up right omny, if you
a0iU!" No1g he Uould haze TO wcit about
and be borcdl
But TO come back to the story Of
i C and all that hectic life in
B. j C, it seems, had
been one of four or FIVE very wealthy
young managing vice-presidents of the
lverson- -Centelal Frog and Switch
Company, Of B, and Idelle, because
her father had suddenly died after her
affair with young Gratiot, never know
ing thing about it, and her mother,
not knowing quite what to do with her,
had because Idelle seemed to wish it)
sent her to stay with a sister in B.,
only the sister having 10 lcavs fnr o
time shortly after Idelle reached tasrI,
a girl friend who had moved from
C. to B had, at Idelle's sugges-
ton apparently, suggested that she
stay with her until the aunt's return.
and 1delle had then persuaded her
mother to agree to this.
That tail, ,a,,ky girl having to sleep
IN that upper berth opposite! Euro
pean sleeping cars socrc so much bet-
teri
Her girl friend was evidently some
thing like Idelle, or even worse. A!