The Washington herald., 1922-10-15
The Beautiful
And Damned
Confined from Yesterdoy.
By F. Scott Fitzgerald


humping tumultuously. Terrible.
wasn't it?'
Did you mind it," said Mr..
Debris. smiling blandly. did 1t
seem hard?' 1 can't tell anything
about it until I have it run or"
''Of course not" she agreed. try
ing to attach some sort of meaning
to his remark-and falling. 1t wa,
just the sort of thing he would have
said had he been trying not to en-
courage her.
few moments later she left the
studio. .Bloeckmsn had promised
that she should hear the result of
the test within the next few days.
Too proud to force any definite COM
ment she felt battling uncertainty
and only now when the step had
at last been taken did she realize
how the possibility OF a successful
screen career had played in the,
back of her mind for the past three
years. That night she tried to tell
over to herself the elements that
might decide for or against her..
Whether or not she had used enough
makeup worried her. and as the
PoAN was luot VI - RlEl VI twenty,
she wondered II she had not been
just a little too grave. About her
acting she was least of all satis-
fed. Her entrance had been
abominable-in fact not until she
reached the phone had she displayed
shred Of poise-and then the tesl
had been over. II they had only
realized. She wished that she could
IA aOafn rIo
up in the morning and ask for a
new trial took possession of her.
and as suddenly faded. II seemed
neither polite nor polite to ask an
other favor of Bloeckman.
The third day Of waiting found
her in a highly nervous condition.
She had bitten the insides of her
mouth until they were raw and
smarting, and burnt unbearably
when she washed them with lister
inc. She had quarreled SO persist
emily with Anthony that he had lef.
the apartment in a cold fury. But
because he was intimidated by her
exceptional frigidlty. he called up
an hour afterward. apologized and
said he was having dinner at the
Amsterdam Club. the only one in
which he still retained membership.
1 was after l o'clock and she had
breakfasted at IL, so. deciding to
forego luncheon. she started for a
walk in the park. At 3 there would
be mail. She would be back by ).
1t was an afternoon OF premature
spring. Water was drying on the
walks and in the park little girls
were gravely wheeling white doll
bugsies up and down under the thin
trees while behind them followed
bored nursery in two's, dis
cussinC with each other those tre-
mendous secrets that are peculiar to
nursery ma ids.
Two o'clock by her little gold
watch. She should have new
watch. one made in platinum
oblong and incrusted with diamonds
but those cost even more than
squirrel coats and of course they
were out OF her reach now. like
everything else-unless perhaps the
right letter was awaiting her
In about an hour fifty-eiGht
minutes exactly. Ten to get there
left forty-eight =. forty-seven now.
Little girls soberly wheeling their
buggies along the damp sunny
walks. The nursery-maids chatter
ing in pairs about their inscrutable
secrets. Here and there a raggedy
man seated upon newspapers spread
on drying bench. related not to
the radiant and delightful afternoon
but TO the dirty snow that slept ex-
hausted in obscure corners. waiting
for determination.
Ages later. coming into the dim
hall she saw the Martinique elevator
boy standing anonymously in the
light of the stained-glass window.
rs there any mail for u.s." she
asked.
'Up-stays. madame"
The switchboard squawked abom-
inably and Gloria waited while he
ministered to the telephone. She
sickened as the elevator groaned its
way up-the floors passed like the
slow lapse of centuries, each one
ominous. accusing. significant. The
letter. a white leprous spot. lay
upon the dirty tiles of the hall.
My Dear Gloria:
We had the test run off yester-
day afternoon. and Mr. Debris
seemed to think that for the part
he had in mind he needed a younger
woman. He said that the acting
was not bad, and that there was a
small character part supposed to be
a very naughty rich widow that he
thought you might
Desolately Gloria raised her
glance until 1t fell out across the
areaway. But she found she could
not see the opposite wall. for her
gray eyes were full of tears. She
walked into the bedroom, the letter
crinkled tightly in her hand, and
sank down upon her knees before
the long mirror on the wardrobe
floor. This was her twenty ninth
birthday. and the world was melting
away before her eyes. She tried to
thing that it had been the make