Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1927-09-16

Maisie's presence barished effeceually
further attempts at introspection,s as well
as the roses and the blue waist Mary had
whipped together that. morning from an
old scarf Of her daughters. With her
first furtive, gesture, she hid these evil
dences OF crime. That proud dignity Of
hers a taken alarm at an appalling
thought: what If Neil and Maisie should
think her foolishi
But she could not forbear behind
locked doors. trying on the waist. 1t was
not the pertwinkle blue the doctor had
prescribed, but blue. enough to deepen
her eyes and to lift several years from her
Swallowed face. Looking at herself, Mary
felt again that battling, tingling sensa-
ton OF power, Of reckoning adventure, Of
eagerness to live.
Outward1y she went about the inter
ventng hours until evening with her cool
remoteness untouched. Only she knew
that her heart pounded at every unex-
pected footstep. When, however, his came.
measured, ABSURD. she fed to her own
room and stood leaning against the door,
trying In hat last moment OF reprieve to
decide how she was to meet him, what
she was to say.
1t was Maisie, as usual, who determined
her course. Ten minutes after DR.. Suth-
erlc- rs arrival. just as Mary with shak-
ing fingers was slipping of her black
waist, Maisie. precipitated herself into
The room. For once she regarded her
mother with wholly approving eyes.
For the love of Mike. mother, is Mrs.
Johnson right? Is that doctor person In
there really the Park avenue suther-
land?"
At Mary's assent she executed an ex-
cited pas seul in the middle OF the room.
II certainly hand 1t to you," she o
graduated her parent with unwonted
graciousness. ITO think that you, Of all
people In this world, alone and single
handed, could lasso anything like that
Observation-Disclosures Of money ibid you
note that nmousine?) oh, boy!-good
looking and. though ancient. well pre-
served. / don't believe he's out Of his
~forties, do you? To think that I've been
combing Florida for him. n all the time
he was sitting in Neils' room. II Id
known that the world would lave wit
messed the most beautiful case Of sisterly
devotion on record. I'd have boarded the
train the. hour Neil was taken sick"
What do you mean2" Mary asked her
family. Already she had a sure and ter
rible precedence what Naisie was mean
ing,
Il mean that's the kind of husband
I've been looking for.p Nobody could
ever accuse Maisie of beating about the
bush. Now I've met him, the next
tnlnR 10 to- get him. Prepare to be
shocked, mother. There's going to be
some heavy vamping in this apartment
tonight
After she had gone Mary examined un.
hinchingly the new angle to which the
situation had incredibly 'veered. Tit
sharpness of her pain bewildered her
She did not love this man; the children
would still have their glowing future.
White with shame. she traced stead
lastly to its ignoble source that fiam'
Of fierce and resentful bitterness which
had scared her with Maisie's words. /
lay in the thrill Of that blazing momen
which had burned its way across tn
grayness Of her life, intolerably drab nov
in contrast. She was no better then. sh'
told herself, than these middle ago
Circes h had fitted 80 often, listenfhl
with Inward scorn as they gossiped witt
one another of f%irtatiqns. %suitors, rem
! devious. Had they nothing better t
think OF at their agel" She had won
dereo. Couldn't they find excitement
| enough In their children without look
ing for them In these silly tributes :
1 their vanity2"
| And now abe, worse than they, We
J grudging passionately the future che hb
7 80 often prayed might be granted Maisi'