Beverly banner. [volume] (Beverly, N.J.) 1877-1964, 1924-08-29
.JOSSELYN'S WIFE

| unable to review the events of the day,
| or to anticipate those of tomorrow,
with any equanimity. There would be
a big daI@e tomorrow night, and ride
to the Red Lion" for lunch. Ellen did
not ride. Well, she would go with old
! Mr.. Josselyn and Mrs. Rose in the
closed car. Unless she had wire from
Aunt Elsie saying that Grandpa was
dead-ah, if only she might
But Grandpa was far from death,
and Saturday had to be endured. 1t
Rose was not going on the ride, after
all /; she and the aunt and the Josselyns
were going to play bridge. Lucia I'M
bent from her Indifference long enough
to urge Ellen to try to ride. But Ellen,
although she was eager to dare it, did
not like to risk the danger of making
herself absurd on horse.
There was another choice, but that,
too, Ellen did not see until long after
ward. She might simply have pleaded
indisposition, have begged to be left
quietly at home, and so have watched
the bridge, which interested her, and
have had another pleasant tea-hour.
But instead she let Lucia separate
herself from her friends to drive the
funny girl from Long Island in a small
roadster The roads were heavy, but
Ellen knew nothing of cars, and did not
know that really difficult driving was
angeringl the already exasperated Luz
cha. For perhaps fifteen minutes out
of the long two hours the girls talked
naturally.
They reached the RED Lion" an
hour after the others, and Immediately
had large and noisy lunch in sort
of club lunehroom, with stays antlers
and bearskins, a roaring open fire, and
exposed rafters of dark wood to give
rustic effect. After lunch skis were
brought out, and Ellen was dragged
several cold miles on a sort of combi-
nation walk, scramble, slide, and skate.
The boy called Red" drove her silent
ly home; he had had good many
cocktails before and after the walk,
and drove recklessly.
They got home none. too early to
dress for the dance, an experience that
Ellen never forgot. The young guests
in the house had been Indifferent to
her yesterday; today they actively dis
liked her, and she afforded them deli
cious material for laughter. No one
asked her to dance; she might have
been an invisible witness to the gayety,
as she heartily wished herself, for any
attention that was offered her. The
girls, perfumed. powdered, laughing,
pushed by her without a glance, and
the boys gathering eagerly about them,
saw her as little. AT twenty minutes
to one Ellen found herself watching
the bridge game. Mrs. Rose was play
ing with Mr.. Josselyn, and it was evil
dent that the luck was running against
them.
There's no bidding hands like
these / declare never saw anything
like it I"
II suppose we can't start another
we said we would stop at one," young
Mrs. Josselyn smiled. Ellen saw Mrs.
Rose give her venomous look as the
jeweled hands tumbled the cards idly,
and the army man earnestly and quick
ly added the various scores.
I'm going upstairs, now" Ellen put in
shyly. II ana sort of headache-
l think I'd really better! And Mrs.
Rose, will you tell me about trains to-
morrow think l had better-Aunt
Elsie expects me-"
She had nerved herself for opposi-
ton, but Mrs. Rose made none.
"I'm sorry you can't stay" she said.
Better stay and have little more
good time. Auntie will forgive you'll
Anyway, come down and have some
supper now !"
But Ellen murmured of her head
ache again. She slipped upstairs. And,
once in the safety Of her own room, she
began to undress automatically, with
scarlet cheeks aud heaving breast.
They had been rude to her, they had
been rude to her She had only want
ed to be innocently happy, she had
only asked that they be reasonably
kind, and they had turned her world
upside uOWu, anu SSuAACu NhS VIZ N~R
by confidence forever!
In Mrs. Roses room, beyond the
bathroom, a fire was burning, and
Ellen went in to it, and sat down. Hud-
died in her wrapper, she was dream
ing over the Goals, when the door was
pushed open, and she turned with a
smile, expecting to see her hostess
But 1t was young Mrs. Josselyn who
came in, wrapped in splendid orient
al robe, and with her thick, soft brown
hair hanging in loose coil between
her shoulders.
II saw the door open," said she,
dropping into the chair opposite Ellen.
"Lm tired to death, but l don't feel
like going to bed!'
She stretched her slippered feet to
the blaze, locked her hands behind her
head, and yawned, as unselfconscioim
| 80 a, oak ElIorr Stn6ip6 the l0yQlV