Evening star., 1921-12-16

heroine, in that when he was
good he was very. very
good" When he was good he was
indeed good,
Merriam Lindsay, crimson with en-
barrassment. stood waiting for Rich
ard as he tried in vain to keep their
opponents, the Putnam Grahams. from
quitting the foursome. He was gen.
timely distressed that Putnam and
Leila's quarrel had left Merriam in
such an awkward situation.
"Leirs a scorpion when she gets
soine-' he drawled with tact
when he came back to her. sEnough
to make a confirmed old bachelor like
me gloat over his single blessedness'
Ell? Which shall we ,,.1 do-PIsy Pc yesa1oed T. eosi
at his watch. Seems a pity to stop;
He made things seem so normal
that Merriam breathed sigh OF re-
Lets play" she assented. And
then, honest soul that she was, sne
looked straight at him. But l wish
why Mr. Trowbridge is so worried
about where dad is. I couldn't sleep
at all last night" her voice trembled.
II was a Brute" Richard was
contrite. Il didn't mean to frisaten, 81,
travellers checks when he started.
and merely left two or three ad-
dresses with approximate dates when
Trowbridge could get letters to him.
He's stayed three months longer than
his original plans. Which. naturally.
bothers even so good lawyer as
Trowbridge, because he didn't really
give Trowbridge full powers to act in
case of emergencies.
"Are there any,
"Heapsw Richard was grave. Your
respected dad is about as business
like as you are" he srinned boyishly
Merriam managed a wan smile
She had gone on with her game au-
tomatically: she vas was REACHING each sn iof saa
wrists steady; she holed her ball
neatly.
Richard bung1ed.
Seven for me; honor's yours.
She gestured toward a bench In the
clearing beyond.
T guess can't play after ALL" she
decided. Lets send the caddies back
and just keep driving irons and balls
to play back with
1t seemed to Richard he had never
seen her in a more amazing mood. He
had expected Mysteries from the high
strung little creature, not this gentle
perplexity. He pulled the bench into
the shade for her: he leaned forward.
poking at the turf as he talked: try
Merriam herself stared straight
ahead at the lovely woodsy stretch
before them.
'T suppose your dad never talked
you'd never have to bother your little
head with such things. But I do
think he ought to have explained his
principal Investments to you. I sup
rose they looked like dead certain
things to him."
And they're not?
Richard shook his head.
Some of them look like split milk
right now. It's no use crying over
them. Some of them will probably
come out all right in the end. But
Trowbridge Is in a devil of 4 hole.
He's hard put to to dig out the house
hold checks to send to your aunt.
That house Of your dads
Costs enough to keep fifty like
mine going" Merriam was unconsci-
ously bitter.
thought was this. That if we didn't
get some word from your dad soon
the only thing to do was to put the
house in the market for rental"
Dad would hate that!'
He'd hate debt more" Richard
was concise. Don't worry. Probably
old Fredsy will drop In some day
when we least expect it and laugh
at his split milk like the dear old
sport he is
Merriam's throat contracted sharp
4 ly. A sudden wave Of longing for her
father and homesickness for his dear
old house swept over her.
"Rich," she said. what q piggy
I've been!' Her impulsive words
began to tumble recklessly. 1--WE
scarcely thought about dad all these
months since I've been married. I've
been a horrid. neglectful, nasty. mean
daughter to let him go trailing of all
alone to the ends Of the earth! Do
you know how I feel? AS though
I'd been floating along in some sort
Of dream. as though were just
waking up"
'Unfortunately," Richards voics
was hard. I've been ghastly wakeful
while you were dreaming" He hur-
ried into safe channels as she looked
quickly away. what Trowbridge
wanted was this. He thought maybe
you'd run up and explain things to