The Washington times., 1922-08-20

tlon, that so many men desert
their wives?"
She, frowned at the handbills
pinned to the cretonne curtains of
the dining-room; the portraits
which adorned the majority of the
slips frowned back. They were
frowning men, foreordained to
steal guiltily from their slumber-
ing responsibilities and to invoke
the energies of the law.
Jordan said nothing. In the
first place he was not interested
in Josephine's grisly quest, and
had long since ceased to protest
against her practice of using the
dining-room curtains as a rogues'
gallery. Accustomed now to the.
display of police notices concern:
ing deserters, larcenists, burglars
and house thieves, he could meet
even the portrait of an occasional
murderer at breakfast without
turning a hair. In the second
place
Jordan, Jordan! You're
asleep"
"Eh?"
Jordan Yeoman rumpled his
81 wasn't asleep, Josephine
honestly, / heard you, every word.
You said something about wives
getting their deserts"
'T said nothing of the kind"
said his daughter, severely. "fou
were asleep"
perhaps l was" admitted Mr..
Yeoman, and yawned. "Where is
Georgina?"
Josephine tilted her chin reso-
lutely. Jordan must be cured of
this habit of asking mechanical
questions. He was not bit con-
cerned in the whereabouts of
Georgina, or, if he was, he knew
that, ink-besplattered and wild of
hair, she was sitting in the garret
wrestling with her new play.
Georgina began writing a new play
every week. Sometimes it was
completed. More often than not,
it. went the way of other fulfill
ties.
"Where is Helen?" asked Jor-
dan, patiently persistent, as he
settled himself to a position Of
greater comfort in the deep chair.
Josephine did not answer. She
knew perfectly well that he had
been talking with Helen in the gar
den half an hour before. She had
both seen and heard, for Helen, in
her prim way, had been instructing
the bored Jordan in the chemistry
of farming-Helen came out first
in the agricultural class at st.
MargaretS.
Josephine gazed absently upon
the portrait gallery. Unwillingly
she confessed that the collection
was neither thrilling nor prom
ising one. The rewards offered
were fairly paltry and the men of
whom the police sought informa-
ton were curiously vapid.
Josephine had this weakness:
that she believed a day would
dawn when there would walk into
her ken a greatly desired criminal,
for whose arrest a fabulous re-
ward was offered. She pictured
him as a small man, her inferior in
physical strength. Between other
rehearsals she had practised, with
Helen's aid, the exact procedure
she would follow.
Helen, whose sporting instincts
had not been developed in the
course of her stay at st. Margarets,
entered a vigorous protest after
the third practice.
UDaon,, fotla~ 7 ek ILL., e.
oblige Josephine, but / do think
she is inconsiderate if she expects
me to be knelt upon three times
day and be mauled and gagged
with an awful dish-cloth every
time I come into the kitchen! Be-
sides, it hurts; kneeling on one,
| mean"
"Where does she kneel, ducky?"
asked Jordan indiscreetly.
'T'd rather not say, father" said
Helen in a tone which did not en-
courage further inquiry.
Josephine came to the table,
pulled out rush-seated chair, and
with an effort addressed herself to
the business Of account-keeping.
1t was a pleasant room, this in
which they were, the prettiest in
Crab Apple Farm. Spacious, airy,
sweet-smelling, the men and wo-
men who had chosen its furnish
ings had been dead these two hun
dred years. Through the big open
window you saw the corner of
garden, splashes of crimson and
claret, dapplings of gold and blue.
Beyond were the sloping meadows
and a flash of silver where the
river ran. Beyond, again, the
quarry-scarred hills, with a blue
and white sky atop.
Josephine was pretty, though no.
body had told her so, except Geor-
gina. But she insensibly discount
ed Georgina's praise, for George
was at heart a poet and given to
extravaganza of speech.
Helen, who had taken" ply
siognomy as part of her science
training at St. Margarets, said
Tosnnbino,S ooco uoo tnn chnrf anI