Evening star., 1923-03-18

- X--
| her breathing was less difficult. To
aim the nape of her neck, under the
bobbed hair. was very white and
piteousiy vulnerable. so like child's
! beneath this weight of her woe.
please don't cry, Cherry" he re
I peated touching her arm with awk
ward fingers Il, can't do you no
I \ murmur came fr"n the sanctuary
! OF her arms
| Let let mo. It's what what
| I've wanted to do
Nd :" he sat inert 4 moment.
watching her. only t!r tips OF h,s
! fingers still moving timidiY on her
arm. After a while the spdSm p 5s-
cd and sine was silent and motlonless.
| though still bent away from him. He
wanted to say somtth ng that would
h"Ip her, but no words came. The
unexpected outburSt of self-revelation
| had taken him by Surpr So. At first
! ii had seemed to him that in the fun
! ness of her heart she might have
spoken thus to any ole whose visit
mad been opportune. But in mo-
ment he knew that he had been mis-
| taken, for she was not one who would
give freely. even under s'rrSS of emo
ton. OF WHIT WAS N her heart to
! those she did not value. Less
any other time. Her pride
l. 1t made him contented to
know that alone with him she could
throw her pride 20 the winds
! But he knew thar until the storm
I had passed it was best that he should
! say nothing. And soon she sat up
! dabbline her eyes with a handker-
chief while Sangree watched her. wait
! ns. il . saw her take a timid glance
at him. but what she saw in his eyes
! must have satisfied her. for the cor
! 0er of her mouth hickered in smile.
- Sh" raised her chm resoiutely. You
{ didn't think. did yen. RamSeS." she
/ said with touch of her old humur.
! hat when YOU "a led YOU We're in
! Tor thunder. lightning and deluge?
/ You think me silly little fool?"
/ NO. No. God only knows | don't"
I he blurted out.
| I'm not the 'weepy' kind. You
know that. don't You? hate girls
! don" il before. But I had to. some
how. II vas your sympathy. think"
! You know you have that. ] just
| wanted to help if could"
: She laid her fingers gently over his.
! then quickly took them away.
| You have helped. think. | don't
know why could let myself go ito
! you. Perhaps I thought you would
{ underSta nd
! Il do understand" :" he said slowly.
! "Eut can't see YOU blaming Yourself
! for som, thing outside Your power L"
p, help. That is merely prepoSt"r"uS."
NO" she said firmly. Il know. And
: I'll take the blame that's m'nc.
/ want your sympathy. | 'hinN. but not
pity-not pity"
She brushed her wrist across her
swollen eyes. All of Cherry's gestures
were Significant. This one had the un-
J conscious grace Of a childs.
! tered. Dad didn't like me driving at
night with boys and dancing In pub
lie places. He told n1e so often, but
! always laughed him oif-and did as
! | pleased Poor Dad. I didn't know
+ himself once in a while. He always
: ~ecfn"q 50 busy. Bu: ! oughtn't to
{ have gone against his wishes.
! 1t didn't matter 50 much about the
picky and Harold and YOU. Ram
! eseS. But did go-often. With-with
| Others" She bent her head 10 her
! hands again and breathed deep. low
ering her voice so that it was scarce
/ " audible. Why, the very night that
! father had his seizure I was out joy
! riding. dining, dancing with Bruce
! Cowan-"
"Ah-" said Sangree. "Cowan." And
| then calmly, And what Of that?
/ ''Oh, can't you see what | mean:
! she gasped. Dancins--jazz-not al
/ the Ritz or Biltmore-but at road
! house--the Red Horse. 1t wasn't what
he would have liked. And while | was
. me-or somebody who really wouid
/ understand him-to help him in the
hour Of his trouble-somebody Of his
! own. to -" She broke off with a
despairiug gesture ooh. not just this
! time only, but all the time-months
and months-When l might have tried
| TO understand something of the des-
| perate condition of his mtnd-of his
! body, instead of spending money
buying anything I wanted-all OF us
I II III
/ fearful expenses of my coming out
! the dances. suppers, the opera
! It's gone on for years-for years
! She bent forward, her chin in her
hands. staring at the portrait OF
Alicia Mohun by fashionable
painter which faced her on the oPpo.-
Site wall. ooh. Cod she half whis
pered. how l hate myself
Sangree couldn't resist the thought
that unconsciously Cherry had in
cluded Alicia Mohun in the denun-
ciation. For the portrait. stngularly
clever had been painted by man
trained to catch the superficial beau
ties Of his sitters, and Alicia Mohun
had possessed many. Of those: But
Sangree had read through Cherry's
! They had all been to blame, perhaps,
hut less than if the husband and
father had taken his family into his
confidence And briefly, Sangree had
told her so. 1t was the least that he
could do.
"Oh, you're trying to make things
easier for me-" she said. You would.
But I don't want things made easier
I want to look my life face TO face.
oh rye done some awful thinking
since this awful thing happened. It's
a pity | hadn't done so before. She
turned toward him brightly. You
know, RamesesC she said with a
short laugh. You did tell me once
that I had a mind to think if /
wanted to. Well. I've been thinking.
And there's more thinking to come.
For what the devil is going TO hap
pen to us all. | don't know. I'm
/, afraid things are pretty bad. You
don't know anything about the busi-
ness. do your