Evening star., 1922-08-13

his chair.
well, but darlinx!" Jep was begin
ming. A thousand times had he seen
her settle down with the same gentle
evaporation to an argument.
I'm going to bed" said Clauson:
and went.
Next day they drove out to look at
the bungalows in the new addition.
1t had been a terrible day at the
office, appointments broken, big
contract lost and Miss Rickson at
home i'll. When he picked up Jep
waiting on a corner. Clauson was in
no mood to like house on street of
pearl.
Yes the bungalows were undeniab-
ly nice. Jep was in ecstasies. See
darling. Oceans of pantries." She
put the thought distastefully, white
tiling and an outside door for the
iceman above every wifely considera-
ton But even he was forced to ad-
mire the closet-room, the loaded
windows, the compact kitchen.
mo corners though" he growled.
mo corners. don't smoke unless
there's corners. I tell you Jep,
don't want to move"
all the way there Jep was absorbedly.
and aloud. imagining furniture into
that bungalow. Clauson sat silent,
ihunched at the wheel He was think
ing how frightfully used he was to
Jep's enthusiasms.
Miss Rickson." he thought. now
she'd be so different. So still and
and .considerate. Thinking of a mans
comfort instead Of the closets" And
now for the first time he let himself
! think of her without reproach.
While he was hanging up his coat,
Jep called to him from her room:
Darling she said, when we
came in the house just now did I
kiss you?"
why yes, think So" said
Clauson. "Why?"
"Oh, nothing. didn't think I'd for
gotten" she answered. Il never
, mean to- forget" 4
Clauson thought: Good heavens,
| have we come to this?'
When he joined her she was bend
ing over the living-room table. all
heaped up again with whatever II
was and she was saying absorbedly
that these looked just as notify as
the others did. He wondered dis
contented1y IL any other woman on
earth found moths in everything. the
way Jep did,
.'I'll bet you'll find moths in the
new bungalow he told her. I'll
| bet you'll find moths in paradise
~
THROUGH dinner she talked OF the
new bungalow, and Clauson
going in by the fire groaned. He
filled his pipe and thought about the
fireplace which drew so well and the
old brown tile and the book shelves
near enough to reach from his chair.
, But it wasn't these things which
held him. 1t was their glorious ac-
customedness.
IT don't want to leave this place"
he insisted. I'm used to it'll tell
you. Jep, I'm so used to it that I'm
I'm rooted. I'd be miserable any
where else
"I'm used to it. too" she admitted.
Truly, for all my talk. I'm homesick
already"
Then let's cut talking about it,
| for now" said Clauson.
The evening passed as all even
ings passed. They considered the
theater and gave up going. They
considered telephoning for somebody
to come in and make up a table and
gave that up too. Clauson lighted
the fire and smoked and Jep read
aloud. Then, they sat talking' once
they disagreed. Then they slipped
into silence. And Clauson fell to
thinking of Miss Rickson. He had
heard her say incredibly little and
vet he could feel the zest. the laugh
ter, the thrill which talk with her
could conceivably hold. But he and
len had nothing to say to each other.
really. which they had not already
said.
He rose abruptly. I'm going out
for a little while, Jep." he said.
"where on earth are you going?"
she rejoined, as always.
This time, as he went he did not
| reply.
At a chemists he called up the
SCARED boarding house and asked for
! Miss Ruth Rickson.
"rve something I want to talk over
with you" he told her earnestly. Are
YOU well enough to have bite of
supper with me-"
"I am not thank you" came back
at him crisply. Wont this wait till
morning. I'll be down at work
then"
'It will not watt" said Clauson, just
as crisply And then she said that
the landlady sometimes let her use
her own sitting-room and she would
see. Ten minutes and Clauson was in
the landlady's sitting-room and Ruth
Rickson sat before him. She was in
her office-dress and she waited primly
and as If she were about to take die
tation; but with a faint puzzled frown.
1t was a terrible room. this in which
| they were seated. The colors fairly
locked horns Above Miss Rickson's
head depended a bright oil Of dog
| much too large for his kennel The
| light swooped down from the naked
gas Jets. There was an odor Of cold
storage.
| "I can't get you out Of my mind"
| Clausoh began abruptly. 'Look here:
I want to help YOU"
Help me?" She looked still more
! puzzled. Her somewhat wary presence
! was not as Clauson had imagined it.
| She made it a bit difficult for him to
| go on. He was not very sure what she
! intended to say, anyhow. had not been
! sure. any Of the time. He had de-
pended on inspiratio and her manner
was not inspiring him.
Eyes. Help-help you somehow to
l