New Britain herald., 1922-04-03

tician-"
 He broke off. T say. aren't I the limit, gassing away like this? l hard ly ever get off nowadays and when l do.-Why don't you stop me-" She made little gesture depreca- tory of his suggestion Because I like to hear you. I like to watch your funny old face when you're on one of your ideas. It gets red under meath. Marko and the red slowly comes up. Funny old face Go on. l want to hear this because I'm going to disagree with you, l think. think conventions most of them, are odious, I hateful, Marko. l hate them." He had been strangely affected by the words of her interruptions: d contraction in the throat--a twitch- ing about the eyes . But he was able, and glad that he was able to catch eagerly at her opinion. "Yes, yes, l know, odious, hateful, and much more than that, cruel--conven- tions can be as cruel. as cruel as hell. l was just coming to that. But they're all absolutely rightly based, Mona. That's the baffing and the lmaddening part of them. That's what interests me in them" . Look at this stuff there's been in the papers lately about what they call the problem of the unmarried moth- Icr Now there's brute of case for you: a girl gets into trouble and while she sticks to her baby she's made an outcast; every door is shut to her; her own people will have nothing to do with her; no one will take her in-so long as she's got the baby with her. That's convention and you can imagine cases where it's cruel beyond words. But it's no good cursing society about it. You can't help seeing that the convention is fundamentally right and essential. Where on earth would you be if girls with babies could find homes as easi- fly as girls without babics?" He smiled. You'd have babies pouring out all over the place. See it?"
 She nodded. ''I do think that's in teresting, Marko. Yes, cruel and hateful and preposterous. many Of them, but all fundamentally right"
 Presently she said, Yes. you do still think things, Marko. You haven't changed bit, you know.'
 He smiled. "Oh, well. it's only two years, you know-lcss than two years since you went away"
 II wasn't thinking of two years" {"
 How many years were you think ing of?'
 Ten"
 They just sat there
 VT.
 The insistent shrieking of a motor siren in tho street below began to penetrate their silence. What the devils that"
 An cNtravagantly long motor car was drawn against the curb. Lord Tybar, in a dust coat and sleek bowler hat of silver gray. sat in the drivers seat He was industriously and without cessation winding the handle of the siren. An uncommonly pretty woman sat beside him. She was massed in furs. In her ears she held the index finger of each hand her elbows sticking out on each side of her head.
 At Nona's call Lord Tybar ceased the handle and looked up with his engaging smile; the uncommonly pretty woman removed her fingers from her ears and also turned up- wards her uncommonly pretty face
 As they went down Sabre asked, | Who's that with him in the car?"
 One of his friends. Staying with us"
 Something in her voice made it. a'terwards--occur to him as odd that | she spoke of one of his" not one of "our" friends, and did not mention | her name.
 VII.
 Through the tlcv Sahre's thoughts, as man sorting through many docu-