Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-25

pout, The anlaZement was now
transferred to her face.
Going! Why, Dan, what do you
mean? Would you want me to stay
here all through the awful heat. just
to cook your meals? And miss all this
wonderful time just because you have
to stay? Why, Danr'-her voice was
half reproachful, half Indignant
II never dreamed you wouldn't be
delighted that have the chance"
But. The gardeni You won't be
here for any of the Whatm be
the good of it now? And you know
we were going to get the awning for
the porch and those chairs and
fix the lawn all up. !. OF course |
want you/to have a nice vacation.
I'd counted on your being away a
month; but, Helene, this is all sum
meri"
They discussed it that evening;
Helene, petulant and eager by turns,
setting forth all the delights of the
visit Dan, listening, anxious, hurt,
then repeating again and again his
first amazed approximations.
In the end, however, Helene wept
bitterly, and Dan kissed away the
tears and said that of course she must
go; he would get along somehow.
But Dan lay awake for a long time
that night, thinking. There was some
thing wrong. Marriage was not what
he had dreamed it would be--a bliss
full partnership. There had been
growing, he knew it now, all through
the months, a vague feeling of some
thing lacking, something fine and
sweet and essential,
His loyal. loving heart had brushed
the thought aside before. How dared
he harbor il in connection with
Helenei The little dancing fairyi
Lovelier in his eyes than anything of
which he had dreamed! Helene, who
had consented-wonder past belief
to become his wife. 1t had been a
brief and ardent wooing, climaxed by
the respondent wedding of last Fall.
TT was not till The tender, blind wor-
= ship of the honeymoon was over
and they We're settled in the Dutch
colonial that Dan began to find a
small wistful feeling growing. He had
worked hard; he had put himself
through college; he had made a place
for himself in the world of business;
it looked as though some day there
might come real wealth. But never
since his boyhood had there been any
one to give him the little endear-
ments. the foolish solicitudes which
mothers give-and wives. He knew
what it was to be homeless; to be
very i'll in city boarding house, and
have nobody to care; to be weary and
discouraged when night came, and
have no haven of sympathy and cheer.
So, deep in his heart, as he gave
all the strength of his love to
Helene, he had kept certain shame
faced expectations, built upon what
he imagined wife would mean to
him.
But they were not fulfilled. Helene
seemed to assume that husbands were
made to serve and give and do, as
a matter of course. 1t never ap-
peared to enter, her pretty golden
head that there was such a thing as
reciprocity.
One February night, when Dan and
VIII Carson, a neighbor, had walked
from the station through a sudden
drenching rain, the yearning in his
heart had grown greater than ever.
Holy Mackerelr Will had sput-
over his face. Wont we be the cod.
died little boys when we get home?
Gee, Amy will have me in bed with
ASN-"ehSS1 OollACS IL uUlI clOp
Women are all alike-always fussing
over a fellowr'
Wills tone had in it the proper mas
culine contempt for such weakness,
but beneath it poor Dan caught the
triumphant note of a man who knew
he was loved! Who. in spite of his
loTdly disclaiming of attention, would
inwardly gloat over every precious,
foolish feminine fear for his health
and safety.
Helene on that occasion had not
thought Of the rain in his connection
at all, though she showed concern
later when she found his wet shoes
on the light bedside rug.
OF course, Dan stoutly maintained
to himself it was a mans place to
take care of a woman and be sofici-
tous about her. Any man who didn't
carry more than half the burden was
no man at all. Oh, he ridiculed him
self mercilessly. And yet--that long
ing, lonely corner of his hearti
5 AS Dan lay awake this Spring
night his heart was sore. This visit
of Helene's! How could she do such