The Washington times., 1920-07-20
E WORLD AND HIS WIFE n11'1i xIM% l1" RUBESs c' ;'
THE RESTLESS SEX
A Romantic Film Drama With
MARION DA VLES
BY Robert w Chambers
BY Robert w. Chambers.

10 know whether you have TO de-
fend an action, civil perhaps, pos
sibly criminal. charging you with
INSTRUMENTATION ard illegal con-
version or trust funds. That's all
that worries you, isn't II? Well
worry then" she added venomously.
do / understand---"
NO, you don't understand, Mr..
Grismer. And that's another thing
Tor you to worry over. You don't
know what I'm going to do, or
whether l am going to do anything
at all You may find out in a week
you may not find out for years.
And II is going to worry you every
minute of your life"
She marched to the staircase hall:
"Meacham?"
"Maam?"
"Mr. Grismer's hat"
Jim, seated beside the bed where
Stephanie lay in the darkened room.
her tear-marred face buried in her
pillow, heard the front door close.
Then silence reigned again in the
twilight OF the house of Cleland.
Miss Quest peeped into the room,
then withdrew. II the young fell
low heard her at all he made no
movement, so still, so intent had he
been since his fathers death in
striving TO visualize the familiar
face. And found to his astonish-
ment and grief that he could not
mentally summon his fathers inn
age before his eyes-could not flog
the shocked brain to evoke the be-
loved features. The very effort was
becoming an agony to him.
II began to rain about 4 o'clock
ha rd al pipbf lnnU ba
resounding scuttle and roof over
head. Toward dawn the rain ceased
and the dark world grew noisy.
There was a cat-fght on the back
fence. The car wheels on Madison
avenue seemed unusually dissonant.
Very far away, foggy river whistles
saluted the dawn of another day.
There were a great many people
at the funeral. God knows the dead
are indifferent to such attroupe-
ments macabre, but it seems to
satisfy some morbid requirement in
the living-friends, a priest, and q
passing bell.
Hoe erat in more majorum: hodie
tibi: cras mihi.
The family-Jim, Stephanie, and
Miss Quest-sat together. as is Gus
| tomary. The church was bathed in
tinted sunlight streaming through
stained glass and falling over
casket and flowers in glowing hues.
The dyed splendor painted pew and
chancel and stained Stephanie's
, black veil with crimson. Behind
them a discreet but interminable
string of many people continued.
When the first creeping note OF
| the organ, ominous and low. grew
| out of the silence, young Cleland
felt Stephanie sway a little and re-
main resting against his shoulder.
After a moment he realized that the
| girl had lost consciousness; and he
quietly passed his arm around her,
! holding her firmly until she revived
| and moved again.
AS for himself, what was passing
before him seemed like a shadow
scene enacted behind darkened
glass. There was nothing real
about it, nothing that seemed to ap-
pertain in any way to this dead
father who had been a comrade and
beloved friend. He looked at the
casket, at the massed flowers, at
the altar, the surplices. All were
foreign to the intensely human
father he had loved-nothing here
seemed to be in harmony with
him-not the crawling vibration OF
the organ, not the resonant, pro
| fessional droning of the clergy; not
these throngs of unseen people be-
hind his back-not the black gar
ments he wore; not this slender,
somber, dropping thing of Grape
seated here close beside him,
trembling at intervals, with one
black gloved hand gripping his.
a sullen hatred for 1t all began
to possess him. All this was inter
| rupting him-actually making II
harder than ever for him to visual
ize his father-driving the beloved
phantom out from its familiar en-
vironment in his heart into unrec-
| ognizable surroundings full of cas-
kets, pallid, heavy scented flowers,
| surpliced clergymen whose cadenccd
phrases were accurately timed;
whose every move and gesture
showed the INTO be quite perfect in
the business of the act.
HELL" he muttered under his
breath; and became aware OF
Stephanie's white face and startled
| eyes.
Nothing" he whispered; only !
can't stand this mummery; want
to get back to the library where I
| can be with father. He
| isn't in that black and silver thing
over there. He isn't in any ortho-
doN paradise. He's part of the sun
light outdoors-and the spring air.
He's an immortal part OF
everything beautiful that ever was.
When these people conclude TO Let
him alone, I'll have chance with
| him. You think I'm crazy,
Steve?"
Her pale lips formed no"
They remained silent after that
i until the end, their tense fingers
interlocked. Miss quests head re-
mained bowed in the folds OF her
Grape veil.
ITo he Continued Tomorrow
Copyright, 1917. 1918, by the Internations