Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-10-31

gay little air as he pulled
out bureau drawers and found
Il dress shirt and studs and
collars and white ties. Most
men object to dress clothes, particu-
larry full-dress clothes. and only yield
TO them because they are afraid of
their wives. Harry didn't feel that
way. He was a tall. lean young man
with fine ShOulderS-the kind OF man
who looks well In a swaloWtail coat or
riding breeches or anything else with
touch Of Swaziland he liked par
Ties. Particularly he liked going to
The first annual ball of the Greenfield
County Hunt Club.
Harry was an automobile salesman.
He sold that great car. the Hurstwood
Eight. He liked driving a Hurstwood
Eight--as who does not? He liked
the kind of people who bought the
Hurstwood Eight. He liked doing the
Kind of thing the kind of people who
bought the Hurstwood Eight did-rid-
Ing to hounds, for instance. Harry
was not q hOrseman, but he fully In
tended to he. He had ridden enough
the previous Summer to dare this Fall
to ride with the hunt and jump a
dozen stone fences Of that solid and
forbidding kind that the Puritan
fathers raised in Connecticut.
When he had tied his white tie to
the last perfection Of neatness and
given it the very slightest pull--the
pull that takes the curse off the care
fulness-Harry stood we'll back from
the mirror and looked himself up and
down. His mind was full of pleasant
thoughts. He thought that his face
looked strong and that the dress coat
Tabler's had made for him was beau
tifully cut and that the evening dress
a hD6 n Hx,ffo ,;,t- hat
day in New York was the best evening"
'lress she had ever had in her life and
That she was the prettiest woman in
EairhaVcn, or in the whole of Green
field County-where was she?
lie was suddenly aware that all
sounds in the room next his had
ceased. He opened the door. She
wasn't there. She had come upstairs
tn dress at the same time he had.
She couldn't have finished dressing so
soon. He called "Linda"' There was
no answer. He ran downstairs. She
WAS in the living room bending over
"A long fat box. the kind of box in
which evening dresses come from the
shop. She had laid the box on the
sofa and she was busy tucking tissue
paper around something in the box.
She wasn't dressed.
What s the matter?" Harry asked.
Somehow or other It is given to
women to put the fear OF something
the hereafter, perhaps: or lightning.
or just the dark--into men and to do
II with no more than a word and q
look. Linda had neither height nor
weight to give force to a blow. She
was pretty and slim and girlish as she
stood there and looked at Harry.
When she spoke she spoke three words
in a quiet voice. But Harry fiinched
as If she had hit him with something
the family Ratchet, say.
I'm not going" she said.
Harry sat down In the nearest chair
He knew he was in for it. But he was
q brave man as men go, and Linda
was not the kind Of young wife who
makes scenes. She had never in the
five years Of their marriage made a
scene. She had a, singularly even and
agreeable disposition, and in that
subtle struggle for supremacy that oc
Ours In every marriage, however low
ing, her method had always been that
of letting Harry have his way.
IN his dull masculine fashion. Harry
was half aware that her gentle sub
he got what he wanted. He had sew
eral times been on the verge Of per-
ceiving that It was no particular good
winning an argument with Linda Il he
was reduced to the state OF mind in
which he couldn't bear to take the re-
wards of winning.
Linda proceeded to finish her task
Of tucking tissue paper around the
things In the box, to put the lid on
aud to tie it there. The moment she
finished Harry had a thought.
rs that your new dress you're pack
ing up" he asked.
Linda ave him a grave look, with
40 slight lift Of her eyebrows that he
could not be sure she had lifted them.