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

was any less attentive now than he.
fore they We're married.
In the end, Dan wrote a check for
the wardrobe that made him vince a
little, and the price of the awning and
the porch chairs went into Helene's
beaded bag to pay for the trip and
provide spending money during the
Summer.
Then, toward the midle of May,
there came to Dan hot. hard day in
the office, a binding headache, with
the heavy weight still on his heart
and the long, lonely Summer fore.
shadowing him. He knew when he
got home that something more than
ordinary WEAKNESS was the matter
Even Helene was startled. But her
cry, "Oh, Dan, you're not going to
get sick now!" somehow did not ease
the pain.
The doctor came. pronounced it
Summer flu. a light attack week in
bed, possibly-not longer. Helene
fiuttered about. She told the doctor
nervously. appealingly, about her trip.
The old man, falling under the spell
of her blue eyes. as most men did,
patted her shoulder reassuringly.
Now, don't you worry, little girl!
Wen have him out of here in few
The doctors medicine was effica-
cious. In a weeks time Dan, rather
pale and shaky. was out of bed.
Helene had been a careful If some
what distracted, nurse. There thad
been an afternoons shopping and a
vast amount of planning, and deli
cate stitching on this and that. One
day as she hurried past the bed with
a collar and cuff set she was work.
ing on, he reached for her hand and
laid 1t across his eyes. Her cool, soft
little palm!
But Helene only said, IF your head
starts to ache, I'm to give YOU one
of the white tablets"
On the Doctors last visit he pre-
scribed for the patient plenty of eggs
and milk, with a round of golf each
morning before Dan started for the
office, and very light work for some
time to come.
Dan felt weak. He hated himself
for hoping. but each day, as he came
home from his short experimental
walks and threw himself down YEARLY
on the davenport he hoped that
Helene would come to him, would say
the words that would knit their hearts
together, establish the perfect bond,
lift the barrier.
But Helene was busy working on a
hemstitched wolfe dress. She left it
those days only to prepare their hasty
meals.
As May moved brightly on its way
n to June Dan grew more and more
quiet, as Helene grew more busy and
nervous and irritable over her prepa.
rations. After his first day back in
the office he was exhausted. 1t was
hard to make himself eat. What
would 1t be in restaurant?
Helene he said slowly one eve
ming, its going to be pretty hard
without you. You don't suppose you
could wait a few weeks longer, till i
get a little bit more on my feet?"
Helene'S blue eyes went wide with
distress. why, Dan, now when I'm
all ready! You know Aunt Marcia
wouldn't like 1t. She's having Maud
Warren there the first two weeks for
me. 1t would be awful for me not TO
so when she has everything planned.
And it would just break my heart to
miss Maud. Why, Dan!' The voice
was full of anguished reproach. "If
you were really M But the doctor
said all you needed was to get out
more in the fresh air and not work so
harfr'
So Dan went on keeping his own
counsel. Each morning he drove duti-
fully to the public golf course In Lock
wood Park. He tried to get back some
of his old energy, his enthusiasm for
the game, but he had to stop after
three holes. He worked as little in
the Office as his conscientious soul
would permit. and reached home each
evening as dead tired as he had been
the night before. He was not gaining
strength. And in his dispirited heart
he felt that no one in the world cared.
One frail hope alone occasionally
projected itself: Dan wondered in his
earnest, just.seeking soul. whether he
might be nisjudging Helene. Was 1t
possible that far beneath her careless
exterior there lay tenderness asleep?
Could 1t be that the petted, spoiled,
carefree years of her girlhood had
imposed upon her merely a veneer of
selfishness for which she was not In
truth responsible?
But this hope always fiickered and
went out in the face of the daily
facts.