The Washington herald., 1922-10-20

great hittings of the wrong keys
and screwings up of his weary. un-'
matched eyes. laboring over his
trash far into those cheerless hours
when the fire dies down, and the
head Is swimming from the enect
of prolonged concentration-An-
thony. abominably drunk. was
sprawled across the back seat of
taxi on his way to the nat on
Claremont avenue.
The Beating.
As winter approached IT seemed
that a sort of madness seized upon
Anthony. He awoke in the morn
ing so nervous that Gloria could
fee: him trembling In the bed be-
fore he could muster enough vi
IslIty to stumble into the pantry Co.
a drink He was intolerabls now
except under the influence Of liquor.
and as he seemed to decay and
coafsen under her eyes. Gloria's
soul and body shrank away from
him; when he stayed out all night.
as he did several times, she not
only failed to be sorry, but even
felt a measure of dismal relief.
Next day he would be family re-
repentant and would remark in a
gruff. hang-dog fashion that he
guessed he was drinking a little too
much.
For hours at a time he would sit
in the great armchair that had been
in his apartment. lost In a sort of
stupor-even his interest in reading
his favorite books seemed to have
departed, and though an incessant
pickering went on between husband
and wife. the one subject upon
which they ever really conversed
was the progress of the will case.
What Gloria hoped in the tenebrous
depths of her soul. what she eN
pected that great gift of money to
bring about. is difficult to imagine.
She was being bent by her environ
ment into a grotesque similitude Of
a housewife. She who until three
years before had never made coffee.
prepared sometimes three meals a
day. She walked a great deal in the
afternoons. and in the evenings she
read-books. magazines, anything
she found at hand. II now she
wished for a child. even a child of
the Anthony who sought her bed
blind drunk. she neither said so nor
gave any show or sign of interest
in children 1t is doubtful IL she
could have made it clear to any one
what it was she wanted. or indeed
what there was to want-a lonely,
lovely woman. 80 now. retrenched
behind some impregnable inhibi-
tion born and coexistent with her
beauty.
One afternoon when the snow was
dirty again along Riverside Drive,
Gloria. who had been to the grocer's.
entered the apartment to find An
thony pacing the floor in a state of
aggravated nervousness. The fever
ish eyes he turned on her were
traced with tiny pink lines that re-
minded her of rivers on a map.
For a moment she received the i'm
preston that he was suddenly and
definitely old.
Have you any money!" he in
quired of her precipitately.
What? What do you mean?"
Just what 1 said. Money, Money!
Can't you speak English?"
She paid no attention. but brushed
by him and into the pantry to put
the bacon and eggs In the ice box.
when his drinking had been un-
usually excessive he was invariably
IN a whining mood. This time he
followed her and, standing in the
pantry door. persisted in his ques-
tion.
You heard what said. Have
you any money!
She turned about from the ice
box and faced him
why. Anthony. you must be
crazy. You know I haven't any
money-except a dollar in change"
He executed an abrupt about-face
and returned to the living room,
where he renewed his pacing. 1t
wa. evident that he had something
portentious on his mind-he quite
obviously wanted to be asked what
va. the matter. Joining him a mo-
ment later she sat upon the long
Iounge and began taking down her
nair. II was no longer bobbed, and
il had changed in the last year
from a rich gold busted with red
to an unrespIendent light brown.
She had bought some shampoo soap
and meant to wash II now; she had
considered putting a bottle Of per-
oxide into the rinsing water.
"-welI?" she implied silently.
That darn bank!" he suavered.
They've had my account for over
ten yesrs-tsn years. Well. II
seems they've get some autocratic
rule that you have to keep over
ave hundred dollars there or they
won't carry you. They wrote me q
letter q few months ago and told
me I'd been running too low. Once
| gave out two bum checks-remem-
ber: that night in Reisenweber's?-I
but made them good the very next
day. Well, I promised old Halloran
he's the manager. the greedy Mick
that Ia watch out. And I thought
was going all right: kept up the
stubs in my check book pretty reg.
ular. Well. I went in there today
70 eaak . check. and Hsiioraa came