Mexico weekly ledger., 1921-12-29


he ever got to any, domestic matter,
and Isabelle eonhded to her almost all
her duties and cares. Nina, insatfably
curious, had gathered no more than
that Miss Harriet's father had been q
college. professor Of languages, and
that her only relative was a married
sister, Linda, much older, who had
four children. and lived In New Jer-
sey.
She was master of the art Of keep
ing silent, this young woman, and but
for her beauty she might have been
as inconspicuous as she sincerely
tried to be- But her simple gowns and
her plainly massed hair only served
to emphasize the extraordinary dis
tinction Of her appearance, and her ut
most effort to obllterate herself could
not quite keep her from notice. Old
Mrs. Carter, who for reasons perfectly
comprehensible in al old lady who
had once been handsome herself, de-
tested Harriet. and said to her
daughter-in-law that In her opinion
there was something queer about the
girl. ~
She was Of, that always-arresting
type that combines a warm dusky skin
with blue eyes and fair hair. The
eyes, in her case, were q soft smoky
blue, set, in thick and inky black
lashes. and the hair was brassy gold,
banded ca~relessly but trinity about her
rather broad forehead. Her mouth
was wide. deep crimson. thin-lipped;
1t was 8 rnputh OF secrets and Of myss
terry. OF character, q mouth that had
known the trembling Of pain and grief,
perhaps, but q firm mouth now, and
a beautiful one; 10.
Looking at her. an artist would
have fancied her a bold and charming
and boyish-looking little girl, fifteen
years ago, with that Greek chin and
that tawny name; would have her
sexless and splendid In her early teens,
with "A fiat breast and an unframed eye.
And a romancer might have wondered
what paths had led her, In the superb
realization of her beautiful woman
hood, at twenty-seven, to this subor-
dinate position in the home of a self
made rich man, and this conventional
tea table on a terrace over the Hud-
son..
Nearly half-past Ave, Nina" she
said, presently. "Go and change and
brush, that's a darling! You look
rather tumbled."
Nina, reaching for a maroon, obedi-
emily wandered away, and Immediately
the empty chair beside Harriet vas
taken by a newcomer, Richard Carter
himself, the owner Of all this smiling
estate, who had come up from the
little launch at the landing, had
changed hastily into white ~iannels,
Harriet saw ut a glance, and had IN
~expectedly Joined, them for tea.
~Tea. Mr. CarterT Harriet e n
tured. ,4
He was watching his wife with .
sort OF Idle interest. She had to re-
peat ACE LuNtlhhOus h.
IF you please. Miss Fieldl Tea
sounded right somehow. to me today.
IT'S been o., terrible day" -
" can imagine itw Harriet's voice
was pleasantly commonplace. But the
moment had its thrill for her. This
lean, tall, tired man. with his abstract
manner, his perfunctory courtesies, his
nervous. clever hands. doomed In oddly
heroic proportions In Harriet's life.
His face was keen and somewhat
lined under q smooth crest OF slightly
grazing hair3Ghe smiled very rarely,
but there was a certain kindness in
his gray eyes, when Nina or Ward
or his wife turned to him, that Har-
riet liked. Nr5 .
For Harriet; he had hardly q dozen
words a yearl He merely smiled
kindly when she thanked him for the
Christmas gtlft@ that bore his I'M
touched card siif she went to her sis
ter for a day or two, he gave her only
a nod of greeting when she came back.
Now and theH he asked with sharp
interest about Nina's teeth or his
mothers headache.
But Harriet had known other types
Of men, and for his very silences. for
his indifference, she had begun to ad-
mire him long ago. She had not been
born in this atmosphere Of pleasure
and ease and riches; she was not en-
tirely untitled to Judge a man.
Isabelle was Always breezily civil to
her husband; he had long ago van.
ished as completely from among the
vital elements of her life as If he were
dead, perhaps more than II he were
dead. She thought--if she thought
about him at all-that he never saw
her little affairs; she supposed him
perfectly satisfied with his home and
children and club and business, and
incidentally with his beautiful figure
head of a wife. They had quarreled
dfstressingiy, several years ago, when
he had bored her with references te
her duty" and her influence ovei
Nina, and her obligations to her true
self. But that had all stopped long
since, and now Isabelle was free t.
sleep late, to dress at leisure, to make
what engagements she pleased, to see
the persons who interested her. Rich
ard never interfered; never was there
q more perfectly discreet and gener
Gus husband. Half the women Isabelle
knew were attempting to live exactls
as she did, to cultivate .suitors." and
drift about In an atmosphere Of new
gowns and adulation and orchids and
softly lighted drawing rooms, and In
cessant playing with fire; It was thu
accepted thing. In Isabeile's circle
and that she was more successful Ii
It than other women was not at al