The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1921-09-22
REVELATIONS
OF A WIFE
Nv AnEI GAREiSnM
RY ApELE oARRlsoll.
A Tilt Of Wits Over the Telephone.
rs this Mrs. Graham?"

Is this Mrs. Graham!
The feminine voice that came over
the telephone was a strange one 70
me. clear musical, were it not for just
the suspicion Of hardness in its timbre.
Il am she" Unconsciously my voice
took to formal note. felt as If I were
putting myself in armour TO meet some
unlooked-for blow.
"Oh, 1 am so glad! have been try
ing to get you all the morning. Mr.
Graham left message for you with
me and made me promise to be sure
to deliver 1.-THE knows how forgetful
am, and / don't want to settle to
anything else until it's off my mind"
The voice was full of mischief.
am not so dull as not to recognize q
touch of malice when l hear it, and
linstinctively l knew that the unknown
woman at the other end Of the wire
was waiting for the answer should
make her as a cat would wait for
mouse.
I depressed every instinct to make
my voice and manner icy, and purpose
ly assumed a careless CHEEKY air.
1T is a trial to be forgetful, isn't
IT." asked and then added cordially;
Il am so sorry I happened to be out
when you called before. don't sup
pose 1t is a very important message
after ALL" I was firmly resolved not
to ask for it.
You will have to be the judge Of
that" the voice replied, and a hint of
tartness showed me thatI had scored
Mr.. Graham wished me to tell you
that he wasn't certain whether he
could attend Mrs. Underwood's dinner
tonight or not, but he wished you to
know that if he isn't there, he will
meet you and Mr.. Savarin at the Penn
sylvania station in time for the 1870
train.''
Wives Are Apt To Know.
THANK you so much for telling me-"
returned sweetly, although 1t really
wouldn't have made SO much differ
ence if you had forgotten it. Mr.. era
ham told me all that this morning be-
fore he left, but suppose that he
has been so busy he forgot what he
did say"
He must hold championship in
the forgetting line" the voice retorted.
"Now | wouldn't think that of Mr..
Graham. I always thought he never
forgot anything. But his wife surely
ought to know"
Yes, wives are apt to know" I re-
turned laughing. Then at her unex-
pected, rather snappy Good by" I
murmured a saccharine response and
hung up the receiver, thoroughly puz-
zled as to the identity of the woman
who was on sufficiently intimate terms
with Dicky for him thus to use her in
getting even," with me.
For that was the reason for the
ridiculous telephone message knew
that as well as if / had been privileged
to look inside of Dicky's brain while
he was evolving the scheme. He had
been so piqued by my reproof of one
Of his peculiarly atrocious slang ex-
pressions that he had gone into town
with Lillian on an early train leaving
Robert Savarin on my hands, and had
vaguely threatened that he might not
be able to attend the dinner Lillian
was giving in the artists honor.
That he would come to the dinner I
was certain, for he knew Lillian well
enough to stand in wholesome awe of
her rath. But both because of his
anger at my presuming to reprove
him, and of his ridiculous jealousy of
Robert Savarin. he had made up his
mind that he would cause me annoy
ance in some way. Hence the childish
some one else.
But who was the woman?
The curiosity which I flatter myself
was SO wholly absent from nv voice
as to pique the woman at the other end
OF the telephone wire now would not
be denied.
Which Friend Of DicEy's?
Ny thoughts went first to the south
ern girl, Edith Fairfax, whom I had
once seen with DiclSy in HambePs
millinery department buying an ex-
pensive hat Dicky had explained
away the incident, but the memory ~
the girls face in the cafe later as she
looked at Dichy, wholly unconscious
to ali who saw them that she loved
him, had haunted me ever since.
But / acquitted both her and her
sister Leila of the telephone message
Instinct told me that their voices were
not the calibre of this womans. and
that they would hardly lend them
selves to such a trick.
And then there came a swift memory
Of the other girl who had accompanied
the Fairfax girls to the restaurant on
that memorable night. the one who had
initiated the forty dollar hat so elev-
erly. The conviction struck me forcI-
bly, that she and no other was the
sender Of the telephone message. But
was she a friend Of Dicky's?
DR.. Arthur D. Little. Boston indus