Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-04

N
NU ed help, but where could she
V go for it? Not to Eileen, so
1 i absorbed in her ambitions, so
likely to resent any scandal
which might thwart them. And Kirby
was away again; not that she could
have told him, but he gave her strength.
For all his visions he was practical.
Talk? Why should we care? Well
not be here to listen"
The automobile factory was to be on
one of the Great Lakes. He was plan
ming to live there.
And when she had mentioned her
grandmother, he dismissed her as
easily.
THE world moves" he said. THE
time is coming when even she will see
divorce is more moral than marriage
without love, Missile dear"
But she felt that Sarah and her kind
were standing, in their own stiff necked
fashion, for something which had its
value for gentility, for that stoical pride
which carried its griefs in secret and to
the grave.
Missile thought of her grandmother,
in those long hours when she sat alone
and bewildered, of her thin white hands,
of her rigid back; of her refusal to see
that Aadlaide was mature woman, or
that Lambert was other than duti-
full son. OF that strange habit OF wash
ing her hands, which she had begun
when Cecily went away.
She had survived her husband, big
and strong as he had been. But women
did live. They had enormous reserves,
more reserves than men. They sur.
yiyed their men. All over the world
were the Sarahs, lonely old women who
had survived their men. Survived every
thing. She herself-She would live
forever. on and on She felt, for all her
slendernesS, a terrible memorable vital
ity in her. Her mother had had 1t too,
had seen ages of unbearable time
stretching ahead of her, and had re-
fused to face them.
1t made her desperate. that thought
She began to go to church again, seek
ing help there. But on her knees dur
ing the general confession, she would
find herself trembling again.
One day she dressed carefully
was still away-and went to see Mr.
Macdonald. She was shaking with
fear, pale under her black tulle hat and
ernine tippet. But there was nothing
formidable In the elderly man who sal
behind the desk, untidy, uncared for
desolate. His wife had died, and M
now lived by himself. She felt great
wave of pity for him, and when she
saw his eyes she had a burst OF en-.
lightenment. 1t was for the best that
was the greatest tragedy. They were
SO helpless. They looked out from
wrinkled faces with the eyes Of lonely
small boys.
No, women had to survive them. &c
take care of them to the last, to hold
tight to them at the end.
How could she talk TO him of her
own troubles, so trivial compared with
death? The very effort he made to be
casual made it harder for her.
well, we'll! And what can an ole
lawyer do Tor prosperous and happy
young married woman? How's Wesley
He looks well"
Il think he is. don't see as much
Of him as might"
well. that's to be expected these
DAYS, This drive for success-He's q
busy man. He'll &c far. Missile He
cleared his throat. Make him a goot
home, Missile. It's the woman who
makes the marriage. That was YOU
mothers mistake. She meant all right
but she nagged your father" HI
coughed again.
There ought to be more to q mar.
rage than that" she said, looking down
There ought to be-loyalty, MIR. Mac
Donald"
He lifted a pen, put it down.
You're young. BY and large, a gooC
many men wander a bit at first, bu
they settle down. They settle down
and they make the best husbands IN tn
end. You"
"And in the interval? I am not yer,
happy, Mr.. Macdonald"
That reused the Covenanter blood IL
| him