Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-06-12
r,,,s STARTS THE STORY

Bt5 Btho. htl h,,tterly nsophisticdted. Her
guo 80" death forces her to make her
{es {e.n" nth Amy Ldnior, her sister A
sUmfth Month later Amy DIES OF ptomd,gne gas
poison h"u"sband. ""% Joe, aud the child,
amy,ie Ethel and Joe mdrry. she
Snsnoss 10 take votce culture from
arre"gyrjIs gyrrjsnd, "Dwioht" They plan to
gooScotsn IN Joe his genius at draft
,SS. But, fearing p,otgh,it ,i. may nig 9to oe zoo 1o
m,srisSiIs.e .mr,ns,iSIe, etc." " they are to continue
friends ,oxr,xurs
40 eur, had got out of that all right
S.nd had felt tremendously relieved 1t
not only that she liked the man he
w.. besides her only hope, the one who
ia bring friends to her. women
.OI.nds, That's what need! All this
so unsafe at times. Her husbands
s,s,,ess his two sides, Fanny Carr and
S.r scheming, Dwight and his blue,
,wlrkling eyes, Mrs. Grewe and her
smiling good ,fellowship-weres all very
nice, nice and exciting. But safeT On py
no pmt ,,,t1d today as Ethel walked on through
az narl she smiled to herself expec-
,avtly, 1 For Dwight had promised the
rsisi'I, noxt week to bring Sally Crothers to see
hSr' bsr III only can get on with her!
esns essf nv kind know she is--she's
Just exactly aSyXibipE msat wIld%not % Mrs. Grewe
70 70 y panny carr I want to be myself.
p mat ali, and happy with my husband y
She turned abruptly toward ner honle.
IN the meantime I'm going back to give
,bH baby his bath" she thought. She
sulsnsed ulls at the watch on her. gloved
Sistt wSTist And a man who looked like a
adjective, or a villain In the movies,
iooked after her in an envious way.
who's her date WITH ne won
'eIgT; The days dragged by. She had
.rrioys times. What would Sally Croth:
srs be like? And what in the world
vii she think OF me? II she doesn't
like me--very much--the very tirst time,
hsr life is fun of things-planning gar.
Ssns I and running about with her
bother tti,T her head % Ethel felt a dismal
sinking. In vain she strove to assure
herself Joe, Nourse and then Dwight,
before her. "Oh. that was very simple !"
she thought. They're only men - IT
would be woman this time, and one of
the most brilliant kind. what a dull
little fool she'll find me, in spite OF all
i do or say" 1t would be all the more
older. That will count against me.
No doubt she's beginning to show her
age and I'm young. and she doesn't
want any young things TO come snocp-
ing about her husband Then there's
Amy and the quarrel they had, and she'll
put me and Amy in the same class III
have all that to fight against! The
idea Of settling everything all In one
brief encounter. oh. it was too madden
Ing .
"Now, Ethel Lanier. for goodness sake
stop hdgetirIg like a nervous old maid
This isn't the minister coming to call :"
On the day before the expected call
Ethel was just on the point of going
out for the afternoon to do some shop
ping and shake off these silly fears,
when the telephone rang and a few
moments later the maid came In and
told her there was a visitor downstairs
In an instant with n rush of excitement
Ethel knew It was Sally at last. Dwight
IN his easy, careless way, had mixed his
dates and was bringing Sally a day
have on?"
Did she come up?" she breathlessly
asked.
No Mrs Lanier. she's waiting below"
Did she give her name?"
"Yes-MrS. Carr"
oh" Ethel gasped and sank down
IN heap. .'All right. ask her to come
up" she said. in tone of indifference.
called her back She did not want to
see Fanny Carr Still--why not? oh,
let her come. And in the two or three
minutes that followed. Ethel passed
from mood Of depression to one OF easy,
good-natured contempt. She was no
longer afraid of Fanny. for Ethel was
setting. Joe in hand.
q. And as soon as do" she reflected.
rand my husband makes a name as an
Tcnltect doing great big things, what
harm can Fanny do me?" AS she
tnought OF the brilliant people who We're
70 soon to be her friends, she looked
upon Fanny Carr and her like with no
more hatred but only compassion. What
stupid lives they We're leading.
:. And SO when Fanny came into the
room Ethel received her kindly
looked 100 DIT seedy as to her dress. and
yet she had a confident air. She took
10 the. fine clothes OF her handsome
young hostess. and Ethel's very gracious !
ar ana the almost plying tone OF her |
'"rITtCeUand 'rTv and then with a hard little smile,
~; Ethel frowned at her tone. This |
mignt be rather awkward
LOU mean. this way of doing NV |
nalri war she rejoined od-humoredly. Il
was snp hoping you would notice it,"
,nDes he?" asked Fanny.
s,hat Mhat do you mean? Oh, Joe
No Dwight, my dear" The hard
Son SoNe OF her visitor had become sud
eeeny low and clear. Ethel looked at
me woman then and slowly Redeemed
er her ears. And the consciousness of
O'uasS,lng aSIg made her all the angrler.
,. Mhat on earth do you mean?" she
ssrIa'I,haed sra n Her voice too was very low,
Snl sma II tremhled only a little but there
soN was glint IN her brown eyes. Fanny
eans tense little laugh.
vos,o took here she said. Don't let's
waste vast time. Joe may be coming home,
A.. Know and we must get this over
v,. wen soon getst over" Ethers voice
sSS as snaklng ominously. Fanny noticed
well then, It's just this" she said
M t, We made up your mind to cut Joe
pm ma IRON all his old friends, Including
he, ana | might have stood for
How kindw
VAIL l hadn't learned OF the raw des,
tJps giving him. Strip him Of
nnbbehas ~ and then treat him like this9
FsnnMWo Far no. mot not II ! can help it," Plainly
io amy my vas working herself into a rage
" ""'ch mat OF her hostess.