Evening star., 1930-12-17
The Secret of
MARGARET YORKE
By Kathleen Norris
1NsTALLMENT XIV.


n KARGARET and Stan decided, at
W Sss s8ssthsE s5 should ,,, Sssia .,;;S With !
bathed and dressed, before
lunch, and Margaret finish some small
ENDS OF packing and Immediately after
lunch they would all drive into the
city. Stanley leaving them at the Fair
mont Hotel. And after that they would
not see each other again.
Margaret decided upon this course
OF action resolutely; she seemed cheer
tul and strong this morning.
But her mood sobered, as time went
on. There was a strange and exquisite
Beauty about these last hours, spent
alone together and In the place they
both loved so dearly.
Stanley remembered that he did not
know when her birthday was; Mar
garet knew his, of course. She had
picked him out the fitted suitcase, in
his aunts day, and managed more than
one elaborate birthday party on the
fascinated with the thought Of her
own, and repeated the date in o
dreamy tone, dozen times.
my mothers birthday was In
April" he told her.
"And what was her nameg Stan? I
don't think ever knew"
MARY. Mary Burgess Crittenden," /"
Stan said.
"I'm Mary, too" Margaret said.
mother was Mary Rose. But she used
only the Rose She added. Her stage
name was Rose Irwin
Then you were Margaret 1rwin?"
"Oh, no, Margaret Yorke. Dads
name was Yorke. wanted-nothing
from my husband, not even his name" "
Margaret said, coloring. "You know,
years ago, when my mother used to talk
to me about the future" she said, "she
used to give me advice. She used to
beg me 10 be careful about marriage:
It's 90 easy TO make q wreck Of every
thing when you're young, she used to
say. And it's so bitterly hard to get
out Of the wreckp ALI youngsters hear
those things, STAN" Margaret added,
tfoughtfully, but why IL it--why Is
h--they can't seem to understand?
Used to listen to my mother, and nod my
head and say, Yes, mother and all
the time, In my heart, there was . sort
Of comfortable conviction that things
couldn't go wrong, with me, that
knew all my mother knew, and more
besides, and that, no matter how silly
I was, could always get outw
'I remember Aunt Hat talking to me,
two or three nights after I got engaged
to Shirley" Stanley unused. Everything
she said was true. She told r1e-or
rather she asked me, sort Of tin1idly,
II I didn't think Shirley was q little
worldly and not apt to settle DOWN.
All it did was to make me furious
Every word she said seemed to hit me
ON the raw. ! wanted to be rude TO her
and tell her that she was an old fusser--
Ma - NYPm
instant let myself think that it might
be truel I just listened, civilly, and
said, I understand, Aunt Hat, but you
don't get Shirley right, she's never at
her best when you're around and that
was all there was to it. listened Just
as I'd have listened to any other tire
some sort of stuff, saying to myself, "It's
only Aunt Hat--let her rave onI'"
Then the point iS," summarized
way that older people can reach younger
ones. The words Just don't registerI"
"1f Nature has gotten in her deadly
work." Stanley agreed. "She softens
them with some sort Of mental poison,
maybe, Just as they say q snake does
the bones Of his victim before he
swallows itI"
! zone moves in a sort Of dream" said
the woman; "other people talk, 90 about,
other things happen. But the one thing
in sight Is that rui1oUs, i11becile, reck-
less wedding, and until t11at happens
they can talk Of their airl"
After breakfast she and Jim and Stan
went for a long walk, beginning with
the familiar barn yards ard stables, and
wandering on up into the woods
After an hour of 1t, during which Jim
had been trilmphantly riding upon
STAINS shoulder for at least so minutes,
they sat down upon q dry log, in an
open sunny space, to rest and get their
breath.
The sun was hot, here, and the whole
world was bathed In radiance and sweet
ness. There was q good smell Of oaks,
and rotting wood, and damp earth.
There was not cloud In the pale blue
sky, the great grey-green mountain
ranges fell away, below them like the
opened fingers Of an enormous hand.
Far down, in the valleys, a lonely farm
here and there, sent up plume OF
EDUCATIONAL.