The Washington herald., 1922-07-29

ing well back In his chair. fixed him
with a peculiar glance. in which sew
eral emotions were cufiously and in
extricably mingled. He did not greet
Gloria except by rising. and he i'm
mediately resumed a conversation
with Richard Caramel about the in
huence OF literature on the motion
pictures.
The stark and unexpected miracle
Of night fades out with the linger-
ing death of the last stars ana the
premature birth of the first newsboys.
The flame retreats to some remote
and platonic fire; the white heat has
gone from the iron and the glow from
the coal.
Along the shelves of Anthony's
library. filling wall amply. crept
a chill and insolent pencil of sunlight
touching with frigid disapproval
Therese of France and Ann the Super
woman, Jenny of the Orient Ballet
and Zuleika the Conjurer-and Hoo
sier Cora-then down a shelf and
into the years, resting pityingly on
the over-invoked shades of Helen,
That's, Salome and Cleopatra.
Anthony. shaved and bathed, sat In
his most deeply cushioned chair and
watched it until at the steady rising
Of the sun it lay glinting for a mo-
ment on the silk-ends of the rug
and went out.
1t was ten o'clock. The Sunday
Times, scattered about his feet, pro-
claimed by rotogravure and editorial,
by social revelation and sporting
sheet. that the world had been tre-
mendously engrossed during the past
week in the business of moving to-
ward some splendid if somewhat in
determlnate goal For his part An
thony had been once to his grand
fathers, twice to his brokers, and
three times to his tailor's-and in
the last hour of the weeks last
day he had kissed a very beautiful
and charming girl.
When he reached home his imag gina
ton had been teeming with high
pitched. unfamiliar dreams. There
was suddenly no question on his mind.
noAeternal problem for a solution and
resolution. He had experienced an
emotion that was neither mental nor
physical. nor merely a mixture of the
TWO. and the love of life absorbed
MIN Tor the present to the exclusion
OF all else. He was content to let
the experiment remain isolated and
unique.
Almost impersonally he was con-
Vlnced that no woman he had ever
met compared in any way with Gloria.
She was deeply herself; she was i'm
measurably sincere-of these things
he was certain. Beside her the two
dozen schoolgirls and debutantes.
young married women and waits and
strays whom he had known were so
many females. in the words most
contemptuous sense. breeders and
bearers, exuding still that family
odorous atmosphere of the cave and
the nursery.
So far as he could see, she had
neither submitted to any will of his
nor caressed his vanity-except as her
pleasure in his company was a caress.
indeed he had no reason for thinking
she had given him aught that she
ala not give to others. This was as
1t should be. The idea of an entan-
clement growing out of the evening
was as remote as 1t would have been
repugnant And she had disclaimed
and buried the incident with a de-
clsive untruth. Here were two young
people with fancy enough to dis
who by the very casualness with
which they met and passed on would
proclaim themselves unharmed.
Having decided this he went to the
phone and called up the Plaza Hotel.
Gloria was out. Her mother knew
neither where she had gone nor when
she would return.
1t was somehow at this point that
The first wrongness in the case as
serted itself. There was an element
OF callousness, almost of indecency,
in Gloria's absence from home. He
suspected that by going out she had
intrigued him into a disadvantage.
returning she would find his name.
and smile. Most discreetly. He should
nave waited few hours in order
10 drlve home the utter inconseuuence
with which he regarded the incident.
What an asinine blunder, She would
think he considered himself particu-
larry favored. She would think he
was reacting with the most inept in
t'macy to a quite trivial episode.
He remembered that during the
previous month his janitor, to whom
he had delivered a rather muddled
lecture on the "brother-hoove man."
had come up next day and, on the.
basis of what had happened the
night before, seated himself in the
window-seat for cordial and chat
ty half-hour. Anthony wondered in
horror IL Gloria would regard him
as he had regarded that man. Him
Anthony Patchi Horror.
1t never occurred to him that he was
a passive thing, acted upon by an in
huence above and beyond Gloria, that
kNaa -A1.
which the photograph was made. Some
gargantuan photographer had TO-
cussed the camera on Gloria and snap!
the poor plate could but develop,
confined like all things to its nature.
GnnfinhIed Tom o,-ra.n