Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-04-06
These days were perfect. 1t was

These days were perfect. 1t was
only when the outside world entered
their paradise that anything less than
perfect happiness entered. too. RAJ
chael's old friends-Judy Moran,
Elinor and the Villalongas-said. and
said with truth, that she had chang
ed. She had not tried to change, but
it was hard for her to get the old
point of view low, to laugh at the
old jokes. to listen to the old gossip.
She had been cold and wretched only
a year before, but she had. had the
confident self-suf1ciency Of a gypsy
who walks bareheaded and irresponsi-
BILE through a world whose treasure
chael. tremulous and afraid. was the
guardian of the great treasure. she
knew now what I've meant, and she
could no longer face even the thought
of a life without love.
Tirelessly. and with increasing sat-
isfaction. she studied her husbands
character, finding, like all new wives.
that almost all her preconceived
ideas of him had been wrong. Like
all the world. she had always fancied
Greg something of an autocrat, posi-
tive almost to stubbornness in his
views.
Now it "a amusing to discover
that he was really a. rather mild per-
son. except where his work was Ion
cerned. rarely taking the initiative in
either praising Or blaming anybody or
anything, deeply Influenced by the
views Of other persons, and content
to be rather a listener and o%nloo.ler
than an active participant in what
did not Immediately oncern him. Ra-
chael found this. for some subtle rea-
cNnS IF hor 0uyn hioh1y nlooc1no II
made her less afraid of her hus-
bands criticism, and. spared her
many of those tremors common to
the first months of married life. Also.
1t gave her an occasional chance to
influence him.. even to protect MIN
from his own indifference to this is
sue OF that. "
She laughed at him, accusing him
OF being al impostor. Why. every
n thought Dr.. Warren Gregory,
with his big scowl and. his fir1n-set
ulted, when as a matter >of fact he
was only a little boy afraid of his
wife! He hated, she learned, tt be
uncertain as to just the degree OF
k%dressing expected of him on different
Occasions. he hated to enter hotels
by the wrong doors. to hear her dis.
praise an opera generally approved, or
find good in a book branded by the
critics as worthless. With all his
pride in her beauty. he could not
bear to have her conspicuous: II her
laughter or her unusual voice at
tracted any attention in a public
place, she could see that 1t made him
uncomforti ble. These things Rachael
might have considered flaws in an
other man. In Warren they were on
ly deliciously amusing. and his re.
lance upon her, where she lac ex
pected only absolute self-possessior
from him. seemed to make him more
her own.
adventurers. had a thousand times
more nee than he. In her Sc.
cret heart h had no regard for any
social law; society a a tool to be
used, not a. weight under which one
struggled h~elplessly. She dictated
where he followed precedent: she
laughed where he was filed with ap.
p%rehension. Seriously, she set her
wits and her love to the task Of nc
%customing him to JOY. and day by day
he flung off the old. half-defned re-
entered more fully into the delight.
of the .care-free. radiant hours that
lay before them.
His wife saw the change In him,
and reioiced. But what she did not
see. as the months went on, was the
no less marked change in herself. As
(Warren's nature expanded. and as he
began to reach quite naturally for the
various pleasures all about him, Ra-
chael's soul experienced an alteration
almost directly opposed. +
She. became. thoughtful, almost re-
served. she began to show a certain
respect for. convention-not for the
social conventions. at which she had
always laughed. and still laughed. but
for the fundamental laws Of truth.
simplicity. and cleanness, upon which
the ideal. OF civilization. at least. Is
based. She noticed that she was be-
ginning to like good" persons ever
komely. dowdy, good persons. like
Alice and George Valentine. She lost
her old appetite for scandal. for ugly
stories, for reckless speech.
Warren, freed once and for all
from his old prejudice. found nothing
8tronbleao1he nov In the thought that
she had been another mans wife: IL
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