Evening star., 1923-01-07
>>AND HE WAS THERE!'

lously short of the desired attitude Of
sympathy.
AS one dowdy little woman put it
bIuntly. my dear, if my husband did
as we'll by me as yours seems to, /
could spare him all the time!
Or, as the tired mother of three
handsome children once said, Have
child or two, Mrs. Starr. and then
you will be too busy to be lonely"
Practical advice was not at all what
the beautiful young Mrs. Starr de-
sired. But with the men It was diff
ferent. ANY one OF them. looking into
Rosamund Starts wistful eyes and
seeing the droop of her mouth. un-
derstood Immediately how sad her
life was.
And it could have been so differ
ent," would sigh Rosamund. pressing
a side look at her companion to make
it personal.
Just unconscious pose, that was all.
Rosamund was really very fond of the
absent Mr.. Starr. More than that, she
would not have exchanged him for
any of those favored ones with whom
she carried on her delicate fiirtations.
Collectively, they supplied a definite
need; individually, she cared nothing
for them. They served her one and
all merely as an outlet for her taste
for dramatics.
Even for Rodney Thorne. with his
dark good looks, she cared nothing.
| "One of the serious ones" she
summed him up. and spared a wistful
thought for jovial Dicky Starr. voy-
aging up malarial rivers in the in
terror on a still hunt for coffee and
rubber products. Dicky didn't have
to be entertained and diverted. Dicky
never brooded over far-off things.
Dicky was always cheerful. Dicky
was--well, Dicky was Dicky to Rosa
mund Starr-a person who worried
over her habit of staying out in the
night air with unprotected throat
and who suffered during her brief
illnesses more than she did: a person
who knew her as she really was, and
with whom she did not have to pre-
tend. Altogether delightful to have
around was Dicky Starr, and she
wouldn't have had him any different
for all the world.
But Rodney Thorne was a wonder
| full conservatory companion. His
| darkly handsome face against a back
ground of palms fitted in perfectly
with. her idea of the romantic And
Rodney was such a tenderly sym
pathetic listener, saying little but
willing to listen indefinitely to her
pretty complaints about the climate
and the people and Dicky's long abb
| sences. Could she have known that
during his long silences he was think
stood that Rodney Thorne spent so
much time with her because in some
strange way she reminded him Of Eu-
! lalie, perhaps by reason of her very
difference. Rosamund Starr undoubt-
edly would have been very indignant.
But how could Rosamund Starr know
| that while her soft voice prattled on
in pretty condolences he was hearing
another clearer. eayer voice? Or that.
| when she artlessly slipped one small
hand into his to establish a closer
appeal. it was not her hand but an
other firmer, more vital hand he was
| holding?
90 from widely differing motives
| - they spent a great deal of time
together. And because no matter how
! innocent an association is. other as
| sociations not so innocent have gone
| before II, people talked. Eventually
they more than talked. and poison
| ously insinuating note went way
| down to where Dfcky Starr was
sweating away in a white drill suit
and sun hat. And after reading i;
Dicky Starr went strangely pale and
quiet and ground IL under his heel
like the poisonous thing it undoubt-
edly was Then he started back north
without an instant's delay, and dur
| ing the long hours of his journey he
had plenty of time for strange un-
wholesome thoughts to ravage his
brain. BY the time he got back TO
the big hotel he was in a sort of still
| frenzy of rage. And, of course, II
was the very worst time he could
have chosen to come back.
| Rosamund Starr and Rodney Thorne
were in the little palm corner
1
lightful hours together when he ar
rived. and perhaps because Dicky
Starr had been away an unusually
long time, or because the music was
unusually appealing, or because Rod
ney Thorne had been more than usu-
ally sympathetic. Rosamund Starr
was moved to tears by her own elo-
ouence. Then, quite naturally, she
required a shoulder to cry upon COM
fortably, and Rodney Thorne being
there-exactlyi And as. for Rodney
we'll, drying the tears OF other mems
wives is a dangerous pastime. but
what gallant gentleman could do
less? So altogether 1t was very
pretty tableau Dicky Starr walked in
upon. and, seeing his white face and
cleaning eyes, and knowing her
Dicky, Rosamund gave faint scream
and Strengthened with a jerk.
! 'Dicky" she begged, don't misun-
iderstand it. It doesn't mean any
thing" She put out her hands i'm
ploring1y.
\ And, hearing those words, 1t was as
il a shutter. long closed. opened in
Rodney Thorne:s brain, letting, in a
flood of light and letting out the
things which had festered away in
that closed chamber. Eulalie on that
long distant day had said those same
1 words and he had not believed! But
now-now he did believe, knowing OF
his own experience how harmless the
event which could constitute such
damning appearances. And from his
own lips in confirmation came those
same words Sidney Chadwick had
used.