Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1919-1980, 1922-05-26
Toye's Se"~s'
IL Masquerade
By Idah McGlone Gibson
Drifting

Dave, don't get worked up ov-
er him." said DR.. Milton to calm
his friend. "If Glendening is ex-
aggerating he'll hang himself
with his own story before he's
through. If man will only talk
enough the truth will come out.
Go ahead with the reading, Jim"
Clavering looked from one man to
the other as though measuring
the effect of GIendening's story,
then proceeded:
| sometimes think that my
wife was perfectly willing and
happy to have gone through those
long months Of physical torture
because at the end she was told
that she could never have a child.
To me it was a death knell to
any hope of real happiness that
might have with her
My debts began to swamp me
as her hospital bills piled up. 1
did not know which way to turn.
! She was perfectly Indifferent to
this merely remarking that the
world owed her its best and that
it was up to me to increase my in
come to the point where she could
do as she wished.
Poor woman! I sometimes
thought that she, as we'll as l, suf
fered the torments of the damned
but she never referred to our
marriage as mistake. 1t was Of
ten on the tip of my tongue to
tell her this.
At last another position was
offered me on a large magazine
where the salary was fairly good.
managed to borrow money
enough to pay my debts In the lit
tie town before we left.
The idea of moving was better
than medicine for my wife She
recovered miraculously. She SEEM
ed very glad to get away from any
one we had ever known and l
do not think she was ever hap
pier in her life than the morn
ing we left our first home.
She stood apart from all those
who came to the station to bid
us goodbye and she openly express
5ed her surprise when my two wo-
: men friends, who had known me
and loved me all my life, came up
to shake my hand.
She did not even attempt to ex-
tend her hand to them. There was
no reason why she should not.
she knew perfectly that these
kindly, gentle women were only
comrades and nothing more to
me.
We took an apartment in the
new city. and, of course, went in
to debt for its furnishings. After
! while the affairs of the house
| nold went on in the same old slip
,hod fashion.
= My wife was still beautiful wo
man, and although she seldom
went anywhere except to the
theatre or to the big hotels to
teas where she might be seen and
not heard, she hated to play host
| ess-she had to have the guads
and baubles which would enhance
her beauty.
l used to notice that my friends
would take great pains to avoid us
! when we were together and
grew to take this as a matter of
= course. / have often lunched at
noon with men and women and
carefully avoided them at tea
: simply because my wife was with
me.
t 1 entertained my friends and
they entertained me during the
day, for had again arranged
, my life on the old-time schedule
2 My evenings belonged to my wife
Although my salary was bigger
than any 1 had ever earned it did
1 not cover my expenses and I was
2 always in debt.
When / was not working-that
is in the evening" was always
dancing attendance to Doris.
l ordered the groceries, I did
little shopping errands, 1 took up
on myself, all her neglected dut-
r les even to the extent of buying
the household necessities.
- Sometimes l used to smile when
would meet some woman friend
-ah, yes 1t might be very dear
friend-at the time, and she
would march around with me to
the market and talk to me OF
household affairs. while order
ed the food for dinner.
= can see the humor in that
now although 1t did not seem in
congruous to me at the time.
guess l was mentally numb.
never stopped TO wonder what my
wife was doing while I, in the
company of some other woman
whose name my wife had probably
never heard. was attending to her
work.
Doris read a great deal-she has
: clever mind. She never got up
} lin the morning until long after
: l had gone to my work. She kept
up the polite fiction of invalid
ism and yet she was strong
enough to do anything she really
wanted TO do although always to
+ III TO do anything that did not
= lappeal to her.
Jim. you know enough of hu-
,,,ap - af,,ra ~ -ealiRa that fha sit =