The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-01-23

CHAPTER NO. 90.
Friends?
For an hour or more, as Freddie and
Estrelda drove together on the sunlit,
dusty, country roads their happiness
frank; unruffled by undercurrents'
Eleven O'Clock in the morning, even TO
youth, is seldom the hour for romance.
to the. picnic in the woods, Freddie
was thinking how nice Estrelda
looked, AS a matter of fact hers was
a beauty. that stood the day. Before
she had left her home she had pow
dered her nose" in obedience to that
mandate which of late years has APP
parently reached the very outposts of
civilization. But already the somewhat
sophisticated veil her puff had thrown
over her had vanished beneath the
warmth of the sun. Her skin shone
now, rudy and slightly moist and
and muscles. At the edges of her hair,
at the temples above her ears, the
dampness made little curlS. They
were dead black against her flesh. Nor
did the pitiless light make her teeth
less white nor her lips less red. And
smiled because she knew a smile was
becoming to her. Also the photographs
of moving picture actresses that she
admired always were smiling.
And as they drove she. too, saw him,
but through the eyes of her own ma
ture.. She saw his flexible, sweet-tem-
pered mouth; Il bet he can kiss she
said to herself. She saw his long
lashed, gray eyes; He's just be crazy
over a girl" she decided and felt
thrilled She was really pTetty sure
of him. She saw a rather finer model
ing in him than she was accustomed
to, and wondered about It. He's al
most girlish, somehow" she decided.
Il wonder If he's the 'softy'. kind?'
Then presently:
be there in another half hour and I'll
be glad"
They found themselves at the edge
OF a pine wood. A lovely. tobacco
brown carpet Of needles was spread
for them, The shade was so deep the
sunlight only filtered through it here
and there. Far above them the tops of
the trees sighed gently when the sum-
mer wind passed over them, A sweet
smell came to them, cool and balmy,
This" sad Freddie. as he tied the
horse and took down the luncheon bas-
ket; this is the life"
You're to sit still" said she, bus
Ting to a smooth bit of clearing. you
mustn't do anything. It's the Big
Chiefs place to rest while his squaw
does all the work. Honest-I mean it,
I'm awfully proud of this lunch. !
GIL ~ { IL all Jul lOl FyOu anu
surprise you"
Now. as a matter Of fact, it was an
exceedingly good lunch, from stuffed
eggs to sugar-coated cookies. Only,
Estrelda had no more prepared it than
had the girl in the moon. She had
ket, to he sure, Inc had seen that moth
ing for their comfort was omitted. But
that was as far as her ardor had
taken her. 70 tell the truth, it was a
constitutional quality Of hers never to
do anything more than she had to do.
Mapleville boys with whom she had
been going on a picnic, instead of
Freddie, she would not ever have raised
her hand to pack the haskell. And
had the youth she honored not liked
II he could II her own words, have ,
she was more than ordinarily anxious
to secure Freddie for her own. One
of her primitive laws always had been
feed the brute" So she had spent at
least an hour that morning seeing to
it tina this particular lunch was more
than usually appetizing.
Her lie concerning its actual prepa
ration was instructive. She no more
reasoned about 1t than about anything
else. She simply knew that in Maple
Vile, anyhow, the ideal girl was a good
cook and ~housekeeper, Only Estrelda
hated to cook and hated to do any
thing about the house. But, according
to her code. this need not make her
tell the truth about it. Moreover,
she was both awkward and bad at
either pursuit. And because she did
not like this kind of work she had
not the slightest intention of learning
to do 1t. But. then, why, should she
Her father had as much money as
any man in Mapleville. He kept the
big hardware store, He was a hard
headed, close-fisted gentleman with his
I'VE on the main chance. His one
weakness was Estrelda. His poor little
| wife had died these many years ago,
| When Mr.. Smithers thought Of her al
| all-which was roughly speaking per-
laps once a year-it was with a sort
of pity that would have been very hard
to distinguish from contempt. She
hadn't c~ounted-that was all. That
which he had mistaken for prettiness
| before he married her was only frailty
II hadn't taken long to snuff her out
A couple OF years of life with Mr.
Smithers and one lusty baby-Estrelda
had finished her. Life closed oveI
her in the Smithers household, az
| though she never had been.
Which left Estrelda and her fathe'
two very like each o~ther-quite con
tented with one another's society. Mr.
| Smithers made the money. Estrelda
| as she grew older, made the show.
| These were their respective roles. Ant
II Estrelda did not inquire too mi