Evening star., 1923-04-04


alton had been brutal But her Sc
verify had been instructive. She had
no regrets for her frankness and ex-
pressed none at the breakfast table.
where her mother Joined hercxhow-
ing, as Cherry did, the indications of
their conversation. which had pc,
tentfalities for even greater spiritual
damage. 1T was her fear of this
which repressed Cherry's one impulse
to throw herself into her mothers
arms and plead with her for the dig
nifty OF the family. But the moment
Dassed Alicia was icily civil. :. She
had the mind of a child, with the
manners of woman Of the world.
and these had always served her wIth
to those who did not know her we'll
II was the attitude of ore. above re-
proach intended as rebuke to her
contumelious daughter. Cherry un-
derstood and was silent.
OF course Gherry's. conscience was
clear as to her visit to Davids rooms.
but that did not rob her mothers rev.
elation of any of its Significance Peo-
ple-men-were talking about her
vilely. What hurt her more even than
the knowledge that people were talk
ing was her mothers indifference as
to the facts of that visit. Amy weap-
on had served for Alcia's riposte and
she had chosen it blindly in her rage
Rather childish and Silly, but none
the less hurtful because of that.
In the old daTs ShesEy had done
dining, supping late, alone with boys.
staying out until all hours Of the
night, and her mothers protests had
never been at the most more than
2erfunctory. But Cherry had already
discovered that the change In their
fortunes had also changed her rela-
tlGhs wp5n her. arh % In ih the ha1eSon @ % days she
had bgen merely a spoiled child doing
what she pleased. Now she was, a
girl with . reputation to lose. Then,
she. had oAo sen>1er friends carelessly
and and s9rssfsa of exissenr sns @ Nox1he n worid @
seemed to weigh more heavily in the
scale against her. 1t shocked her to
discover herself rather conspicuous
against the background Of her pecca-
dilloes. With this choice morsel Of
gossip to their tongues, Cherry al
ready stood condemned.
Fate chose to be ironical Cherry
grinned into the bathroom mirror as
she washed out some underclothing.
1t would have been funny IL it
weren't so serious. John Chichester
had probably known of this for SOME
weeks. Perhaps! Cherry dropped
the garment with a splash, and
stared at. her surprised image. This
morsel of gossip had reached John
Chichester's ears! This now ex-
her.- The coincidence was startling.
His attentions had suddenly. ceased
shortly after that visit. And David
Sangree, she remembered, had fallen
at about the same time under, the ban
of his displeasure. OF course! She
was almost certain now. Poor
In her nature, relic Of some for
gotten Irish ancestor amenable to the
humor Of the paradox, a spark of
merriment burst forth into flame.
She sank to the edge OF the bathtub,
regarding her dripping hands ana
laughed.
Nature has It's safety appliances.
The SMALLEST capacity for humor
sometimes weighs heavily In the bal
ance against bitterness, tipping
perilously near the edge of despair.
in the sardonie picture OF her inno-
cence and Davfd's. He had been 30
startled when she had knocked at
his door. so disturbed about his cloth
ing, so austere in his kindness Sach
a lover! -.
And yet it was just those repres-
sions which Cherry liked in him-for
they seemed the index OF his char
acter and suggested by their negative
qualities a sense OF force in restraint.
He was 80 bOuIlQ, Do ndnc, anu ne uAQ
always helped her so much. She
would have liked nothing better than
to have gone to, him now and unbur-
dened herself of her new trouble. But
this, Of course. was impossible. She
could not speak Of her mother to any
enc. The conversation with Genie.
too, had made her feel Just a. little
awkward about talking to David, and
she wondered little at this. because
as far as She could remember she
had never been diffident-about any
thing. She was conscious of shades OF
seneitiveness with regard to David
with regard, to many OF her old con-
facts with life that she had never
remembered possessing. She was
learning to feel.
Her laughter, bitter as II was, gave
her courage. Youth and health were
in rebellion against despair. Until
the present moment she had failed in
everything that she had undertaken,
found the true level Of her incapacity
with personal problems at home
that seemed even more; 'atfnctat: than