The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1925-12-18

his rather Sheraton chair at the Cor
pitts Jovial bright table, Beelsby had
no inclination to talk to either Of the
ladies' beside him-Or to nybOdv-thoug
he thought of a few more things he wished
ne mad said to his wife before their arrival
upon TINS hOSpitable scene. And even il
ne mad been in the mood to talk. some
appearance of deferring to the principles Of
hygiene must have withheld him from di-
rectly and frankly addressing anybody.
for, as he but too plainly demonstrated
ne was perilOusly explosive. If he was not
coughing, he was being inevitably re-
charged ana d1Stended in preparation for
another sneeze; and when it came. his
wife, at the other end of the table. would
Dreak into her gayeties with the red faced
most long enough to send the disturber an
annoyed glance; to which his dark ana
DrOOdlng eyes would smOulderinglv reDly.
lou had your way and this is it."
lie sent other lurking glances at her
from time to time, as she was aware
though she did not seem to be. She
cnattered yociferOusly, accompanying the
dld the host and hostess and the eight
Other guests simultaneously, so that their
VlVaclty produced one of those continuous
vocal uprOarS OF which an diversified cock
tan shaker is usually a more ardent nro-
vOcative than is wit. Henry Beelsby had
not partaken Of any of the three capaciOus
company before dinner; his head already
Ielt enough like a boil" he had ungra-
ciously Informed the hospitable Corbitt;
ana he decided it felt more like one than
ever as ne sat fiddling with the silver be-
side his successive plates of untouched
food. The cocktail hilarity rang brassilv
in ears prosecuted by his cold, and he had
taken an overdose of Quinine. so that some
where near the central interior point Of
his head a busy little engine room seemed
10 be in full operation.
"Pigs!" he muttered, referring to the
merry company about him. "Doggone
selfish pigsi'
Across the table a vOciferous man leaned
backward to shout behind the intervening
guests an uproarOus narrative for the
DeneIlt OF the popular Mrs. Beelsby
IWnere upon the lady upon his right imme-
diately bent her head to that of the lady
at his left; and they quickly began one
of those low voiced dialogues i'm which
women sometimes seem to confess that
they participate in f~estivity not whole
heartedly and actually, but in pretense.
as actresses play roles upon the stage.
Conferences in the wings take place be-
tween cues.
Have you noted Mr.. Henry Beelsby
killjOy OppOsiteI' the first of the two
ladies inquired.
My dear! Have 1 noted anything else .'
the other exclaimed. ELLA tries to cover
1t up, but have you ever seen anything so
aWtulf lie just sits and swears at her
with his eyes! How long can she keep on
standing that man? If my husband treated
me the way he does, Ella
I'D leave my husband" the first de-
lclared vehemently, lin a minute! She told
me in the other room she positively had
to go on her knees to get him here tonight.
At the last minute, he absolutely swOre he
wouldn't bulge"
"She told me-, too. And look at him, now
he has come! Sulking to show he didn't
want to, and glaring at her like Il panther,
and sneezing mt everybody so that the
people on both sides of him don't dare
turn their heads that way and are half
scared to DEATH l must say / wouldn't
blame her if she left him just for the way
he's treating her tonight"
My dear, this kind Of thing isn't the
half Of it! He never gives her a thing She
told me herself, except those imitation
sapphire earrings, he hasn't given her one
single thing in almost two years! She
asked him last summer if he wouldn't let
her have a maid this winter, and he
wouldn't even do that! And a month age
1 told her ia put them up for the new
/. country club; she was crazy to join u.
- Not he! He gave her fits for even think
ing Of it,"
" Eyes, she told me. And look at the car
ad he makes her driVe-if you want to call it
IS. a car! And She has to take all the care
ed Of it, except on Sunday; she told me that
he much, herself. Ella says what hurts her
1t most is he makes her suffer because he's
to afraid to face his partners like a man
What's more, 1 believe every word she
il. says about it."
nj $50 do L. You can tell it's so by the
.eI way he's behaving tonight. My dear, if my
tc husband ever dared to treat me like that
for just one half hour"
so would /! In a minute
- But here the intervening gentleman
tilted himself forward again, demanding
to be told the meaning of this cOllOQuy
he was being slandered about something
~ 1850 $3.50
had to be abandoned. There was one CUES
present, however, who had OWNED its pur
III port and could even have repeated certain
ii phrases of the conversation, though he ha'
III overheard none of it.
This was the unfortunate Henry Beels
by: he needed TO glimpse but once a sur
TN reptitiOus turn of eye toward Ella anC
then toward himself, and thencefOrwarC
he well understood that the gOssipers' tall
was Of his wife's sufferings under hi
tyranny. He had been given clues enough
to the significance of such talks, for no
infreQuently did Ella begin her infOrma
iii ton to him, when she was emotional
Mrs. Compton says if her husband eve
iii treated her" or Mrs. Selfbridge tOl(
me herself if she ever had to endure iron
tail preliminaries in the other room b.
had seen his wife engage in hasty aside
with the two ladies now opposite him. III
guessed, with an accuracy not Difficult
Itwhat she had told them.
"Al right" he thought, not quite muir
iii muring the words, though his lips moves
slightly. Go on about me, If you thin
Hit does you any gOOd! This was addresses
Il to the two opposite, though he looked no
at them but at a porcelain basin of tulip
upon the table between them and himself
Go on! See what care! III show you
l For him just then, the universe con
sisted Of but two component parts; on
was a single point Of suffering conscious
ness, himself, the more incarnation Of
i cold in the head and throat and brOnchis
I'LL tubes while all else was a cOnglOmeratiO
lin of various manifestations of selfish happi
ness. And the most selfish Of all the selfis
happinesses in the world was that Of hi
wife; her laughter rang the lOudest an
so necessarily that his feeling about
was partly an amaZement.
"DOggOne If / believe women are reall
human beings at al! - For, as with man
other husbands his wife was women I
him; and her ways sometimes appeare
to be supernaturally alien, opposed to a
that could or should be expected to aril
out Of the nature Of mankind.
He lOnged to punish her, and at u
same time dreamed Of dazzling her. Il
built beautiful and bitter air castles, SCI
ing himself push his chair back from Il
table, rise abruptly, and address her
tOnes that would awe the merry cOmpan
and frighten ella into a staring paralysi
II have just one thing to say to you b
fore / leave you for good. One year as
Hi invested a thousand dollars in an ok
hOma oil corporation. Today K sold m
holdings for exactly one million, Gig.
hnndrad thousand. Give hun0red and seVe