Evening star., 1922-04-09

kissing the words into Kitty car as
she waited for Ray Lowrie to bring
back her dance card. 'Oh, Dudley,
dearest" returned his wife with per-
feet good humor. Its neither SO low
that settled that.
DUT in spite of A and and c and
- D and E. and in spite of DudIey's
evident misery at his wife's behavio Or
yes, in spite of all these, Dudley
Tenant kept right on playing colf
with Mrs. kilmarten. day after cay,
though it was seen that he paid her
no attention anywhere save on the
links. And 1 can't help thinking that.
if Alice had had one-tenth the knowl-
edge of life and experience she
thought she had. she might have de-
duced something from that very fact
But she didn't-she just kent On up
holding Kitty in her course and tell
ing her about the Russian novelists.
The month of September was
lengthening toward its end, AMI the
thought began to loom large in Kit
tvs mind that October l would be
her birthday. Always she and Dudley
had celebrated it with a jolly lille
picnic. Kitty wondered il Dudley
would want TO celebrate this yeac, he
was acting so queer. SO constrained,
SO unhappy, so much as if everything
was her fault, when, of course. every
bit of it was hist wasn't Just of
him, Kitty concluded, nor fair, nor
right And she almost worked her
self up to believe that she didn't care
whether he remembered her birth
day or not. Almost. ! said-ccrtainIy
not quite. She thought about it
good bit in the mornings, when she
was taking baby out, and in the
evening before dinner. and at nigh,
after she had gone to bed and was
pretending to be asleep Ard her
heart ached dreadfully They had
always made SO much OF their little
family festivals, and il had seemed
SO beautiful to Kitty, who had come
from such stepmothered family, Oh
dear-oh, dear-what tangled Heb
we weave when first we begin 10
neglect each others birthdays, to be
sure.
You all know that thrilling moment
OF suspense in the third act, when
the heroine cannot prove that she did
not steal the papers and it looks in
eVitable that she should be dragged
off to the prison cell by the cruel
detectives. Well. Dudley and Kitty
were playing their third act along
about September 2Sth.
But-on September 3Oth. let me tell
you, the fourth act begins:
On the evening of that day Dudley
Tennant came home and cast his bag
of golf clubs down on the veranda.
Let me say in parenthesis that he
had seen Ray Lowrie's car drive off
as he came up the street)
Never said Dudley Tenant.
never, SO long as l live. shall play
golf again" And he put his head
down in his hands.
kitty's first impulse was 10 jump
up and put her arms around his
neck. and she followed it. "oh. Dud,
darling" she cried, what is the mat
ter-are you sick?"
Dudley Tenant raised his head. He
sripped kitty's two arms and looked
straight into her eyes.
kitty" he demanded. do you still
love meat all?"
Kitty forgot to be sweet. yet re-
served. Dudley" she answered back
with equal earnestness, Il love YOU
with every breath breathe and every
thought L think. / never loved any
body but you, and i never shall love
anybody but you-I couldn't if 1
would. and l wouldn't if / could"
Then" said Dudley. pathetically.
cant We go back to our old life
you know what I mean-can't we be
like we were-last year-last
spring."
Kitty. as l believe l have mentioned
before. was purely feminine. She an
swered with another question.
Dudley" she asked. why have you
been spending all your time with Mrs.
Kilmarten?"
DUDLEY TENANT blushed and
looked foolish. The truth is."
he said hesitatingly. "the truth is.
Kits, she's going to marry a Scotch
man next month. and he's awfully
keen on solf-and she wanted to get
nm her came-she.s m auy,,I a,,l
at it. you know-and so-and So
Neil-she just plain hired me to
coach her-offered me two dollars
an hour. And we were so-well-
just so hard up and 1 hadn't a bit
of business-like a fool, 1 fell for
it."
But why why why" sasped
Kitty. didn't you tell me? nearly
went out of my mind thinking you
were in love with her"
'D'you suppose" said Dudley bit.
terly, that a man wants his wife
to know that he hasn't money to buy
her a-birthday presenter any,
thing? D'you suppose I want people
10 know I'm SO stony I have to give
golf lessons to silly old women? Well.
l don't"
The words silly old women" fell
like balm upon Kitty's ears.
You poor-poor dear" she said,
working your head off to buy some
thing for me, and l not knowing
and thinking you didn't care anything
for me any more"
Not care anything about YOU" said
Dudley. "Oh. Kitty"
Suppose We don't go any farther
with this scene. You get the idea, /