Omaha daily bee., 1920-01-12
What Harriet Braithwaits Asked oil
Madge. ~

need not have feared for Har-
riet Braithwaite's control of herself
Even 10 noticed the tears In her
eyes she swallowed hard, passed her
kerchief Lightly over her eyes, and
was once more the poised woman
Of the world / had known. Indeed.
she was apparently calmer than l,
for I was all agoR with curiosity as
to the nature of the something odd"
which she wished me to do fpr her.
"Do you ever see your little
friend, Mrs. Beckett" she asked
next, and there was not the slightest
trace in her voice of anything save
the most casual inquiry about an
acquaintance.
II have only seen her once since
she returned" replied quietly, but
my pulses had increased their beat.
Does she live near here!" she
asked next.
"No, over in Jersey. My cousin
has never fully recovered from his
injuries, and as his income is suffi-
Gent for them to live comfortably
IN the country. they have delight
ful little place about 90 miles from
the city, and are playing at farming
in desultory sort of way"
She pondercd my information IN
ten.ly with downcast eyes and tight
~ interlocked fingers. When she
looked up her face held an embar-
rassed flush upon it.
Would it be possible for you to
invite them out for weekend after
YOU come back and while we arc
still here? / would manage mother
so that we could make room tor
them. | would share her room. and
give the one am in to them. You
see, if il could be managed, / should
not like them to know we are here.
nor do I wish--Edwinzto know
they are coming until they get here
think my face was mofe flushed
than hers by the time she had fin
ished, for / had seen the reason for
her request in an instant and real
lied the humiliation she must be
suffering At thus betrayinR to me
the fear that was consuming her.
With ali her poise, her worldly
wisdom, the strength Of her charac-
ter, Harriet Braithwaite was obsessed
by the Nidea that her husbands in
fatuation for Katherine Sonnet, born
Of loneliness and illness, not rear-
ICED even by himself, might not be
completely cured. With a strategein
worthy of 4 melo dramatic. school.
girl she had planned this unexpected
meeting between the two that she
might see for herself what effect the
sight of Katherine Sonnet would
have upon her husband
But | had no time to indulge the
very real distaste I felt for the task
which she had so Unexpectedly inn
posed upon me. That this scheme
she had conceived was a most vital
thing to her, one upon which she
felt the decision of her future happi-
ness depended, / could see plainly. !
triedfo make my answer casual, and
made q pretense of arranging some
thing on the table so that l might
avoid looking at her.
why it would be entirely pos
sibae for me to invite themP
said cordially. "But whether they
would come or not is another ques-
-tior. Like many men who were
wounded over there, my cousin has
come back a--little-difficult-so-
cially-ard-temperamentally-l do
not know that can quite express it
II don't want you to think that he
is unpleasant, for that is not true,
but
II know all about it." Harriet
Braithwaite replied briskly, evident
" glad to be upon the firm imper-
sonal ground of generalization. mo
man went through that hell over
there without coming back changed
in some way. Some of them are so
restless that they want constant
change and excitement; others are
moody and shrink from any sort of
social life. They seem to want to
crawl into theft homes and, jhst
bask in the luxury of rest and quiet"
"You have described Jack Beckett
as if you had seen him." I said
quickly.
Il did see him." she returned
quietly, and was. afraid that he
would lose something by his expert
ence over there which would be long