Evening star., 1925-11-19
CHAPTER V.
In "Tile Drawing Room Only"

III Inc Drawing ROOfn Unly.
While the Limousine moved along in
the endless procession OF its kind. on,
of the neighborhood of the little furrier
whose experience OF life in his own
field had taught him that "furs for
maids" inevitably meant rich gentle
men, and into the beautiful shopping
avenue where the dreams of women
find reflection In the store windows
Joanna fought valiantly to assemble
her wits and her understanding.
She tried to plan-and couldn't. Her
brain. always in tune with events OF
the moment. things that went on
around her, was unaccustomed TO the
burden of anything that had to do
with tomorrow. or any deeper problem
than the discovery of some new zest
for today. Once John--funny old
John, who had loved her Tor such a
long time,-had taken her by the
shoulders, swung her around, put his
hand under her chin and forced it up
so that she had to look up into his
face. and had said:
Will you really marry me. Joanna 80
And she had said. sure
What else was there to say? What
else TO think about? Ready any time
he was. But John asked her. then:
What sort Of a wife will you be to
me. Joanna? And do you think I'll
be the kind of husband you really
want"
And that was Johns old-fa shioned
way. Mussing things UP. AS to what
sort of wife she'd be. how could she
explain she knew deep down inside
OF her, that she'd be Il darned good
one to him, but she hadn't. been spend
ing her time thinking up ways to ex-
plain why. Small chance. The wives
she knew We're the kind that men who
weren't their husbands We're always
buying red roses for. She had tried
to wonder, once, why men bought red
roses for other mems wives, but she
had given it up She knew why these
other mems wives drank more out OF
other mems hip pocket fiasks than
they did out of their husha nd's. but
she couldn't have put that into words.
either. And she knew, too that these
wives. whom she met at dancing
places, at the cheaper and gaudier cab
arets to which her boys could afford to
take her. and at occasional beach
parties in the Summer time. we're not
the kind she'd be to John.
But how IN the dev--the deuce.
could she get all that into common
sense words? SO all she could say to
John, that time. was:
"AW, you give me pain. You take
what you get, and I'll take what l get.
and whoever kicks first can take the
gate"'
Which made John say a thing or
two she didn't like and "a quarrel was
the outcome and SO that was that.
She knew, perfectly well, wha. she'd
do with $50 all at one time. With
$4,000 she WIS like n schooner at sea
with the maStS broken down With
1000, ,000-her head ached, Joanna
wasn't any good at figuring things
out.
Why? Who? What was the
strange. astounding. unbelievable
thing behind it? She'd always marvel
ed at the things people thought up
for the movies, and for the plays
Shed even thought of herself as mar
ried TO a Wall Street broker with an
apartment on Park avenue and but
Ter and a maid all her own. All girls
had crazy dreams like that. But shed
never heard Of thing such as had
happened to her. She didn't know
what to do about i, except to go to
Mrs. Adams. whore she roomed. and
somehow that was a waste of time
She ought to be out spending her
money. Eut whore should she begin?
Lets sec. First. now that she had
The coat. shed buy some-what?
Good Lord! with million dollars
everything she could thinl: Of seemed
cheap and useless. And Cohen. He
thought she'd fallen for At
Well. she'd get some flowers for
Mrs. Adams, who had been worrying
about her last weeks room rent, take
them home, sit down and see II she
could think it over. Then she'd try
to get that jazz mind of hers down
TO business and figure out what was
TO be what. She'd been let in for
something hy somebody Tor some rea-
son or other. and while the going was
good she'd go
Joanna didn't like the way the
chauffeur acted when she raped on
the glass that separated them, and
when he had stopped The car and put
his head in through the door rhe
told him TO stop at II flower shop. He
was cold. ana up in the air-llke
he knew things. Tie said that she
didn't need to rap on the glass: that
there was 4 speaking tube. And he
added:
That's one Of the things YOU must
learn since you've pulled the gears
into high speed" She knew what he
meant and she wished she knew how
TO give poison to some people. She
tilted her chin and told him she d
asked for a flower shop and not educa-
tion.
Roses? No, The last time she d
wanted "A day Off from the store, to go
on an automobile drive with fellow
who'd got "a csr from somebody she "a
told old Good Morning" that it was
her birthday and she was having "a
party. Good Morning" had sent her
q bunch of roses as d birthday remem-
bra nee of his plans upon her. and she
had to listen to his soft stuff for
week afterward-until she thought
the roses We're paid for SO she didn't
like roses.
Lilies? They were what she remem-
bered of her mothers funeral.
Geraniums' y long time ago. when
she was very little girl, she used
to go out in the morning and water
the geraniums in the front yard before
she went to SCHOOL, Gee That was
a. long time ago. If there was any
thing she hated at that time It was
geraniums, because they seemed to be
such utterly useless things for girl