Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-06
INsTALLMENT XII.

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INEVITABLY, that day marked a
turning point in Peters relations
with Martha. They'd been intimate
before, but there was a new quail
ity now about their intimacy. She
had now the sovereignty over him that
q woman always does have over de-
clared lover and more and more she
exercised Though Peter had an idea
that she'd begun by being very resolute
In her mind that she wouldn't.
He saw no more Of her than he had
been seeing; that would in any case
have been difficult. In fact, their tetes-
a-tetes became actually rarer. She was
less ready than she had been to have
lunch with him at Romi'S, or tea; she
broke appointments with him more
oftener; she was capricious and little
autocratic. She assumed, perhaps I'M
consciously. a certain re-empttve right
to dispose of his time.
AS for him, more than ever, day in
which he didn't see her become one TO
be struck from the calendar. Their
be a daily rite, and invariably the con-
versation came to include question as
to whether he was going to see her.
More and more often, she was in
definite and vague in her reply.
ST don't know" she'd say. 81 can't
tell, yet. Call me up later"
Then, as often as not, when obeol-
emily he telephoned again, shed have
gone out, leaving no word as to Where
or of when she'd he home again. He
became pretty difficult himself, socially;
he wouldn't make dates ahead, lest they
deprive hir1 of a chance to see her.
And, insensibly at first, but later with
his full knowledge, that sort OF thing
preyed upon his nerves, stretched ms
patience with aae4 toward the breaking
point.
He tried hard to be fair and reason
able about it, but it wasn't easy. He
was able, in his Saner moments, to I'M
derstand exactly what had happened; TO
analyze her SubconsciouS mental proc
esses. And he knew when he did that
that he had really no just grounds for
complaint against her. Shed been per-
fectly frank with him; she'd told him
that, for her, Ross came first. She was
doing, after all, with him exactly what
he did with other people. She wouldn't
commit herself to seeing him II there
was a chance that she might see Ross
instead.
Yet it was one thing to work all this
out, logically, in his mind, and 1t was
quite another to control his emotional
reactions. He had perfectly human
and normal fits of jealousy; he lost
Ills IEI1pGIS 0GC1dCOS 1AA4 cAAN SAG0NAAAs
that the game wasn't worth the candle.
Only-he never quite dared to tell her
50. That was because he knew he was
in the position of a man who BRAN
dishes an unloaded pistol. He loved
her so much, seeing her even for fve
minutes, dancing with her once or twice
around the crowded floor Of a night
club, meant so much to him that he
simply didn't have the courage to risk
~, - hxy oYyyfk1fn0
in the nature of an ultimatum.
And, besides, there were tremendous
conversations. There were times when
she turned to him; days when he had
utterly delightful hours with her, over
which the shadow of Ross didn't lie at
all. Those were the times when it
seemed to him that she was escaping
from the queer, unhealthy hold that
Ross had on her imagination and her
heart-for, more and more, he was COM
ing to feel and to be encouraged by the
feeling, that Ross appealed only to one
side Of her, and that the side that was
least definitely a permanent part OF her.
It was a phase of her that was Just
now, to be sure, in the ascendant, but
1t seemed to him that her background,
her essential character, her deepest
mental and emotional traits, were all
in conflict with it. He had sense
enough to know that on that score his
Judgment wasn't trustworthy; that 1t
was fatally easy in such matters for
the wish to be the father of the thought.
Yet It was, after all, the whole founda-
ton of the structure of hope that, being
human, he had to build up to sustain
him in his struggle.
She did gradually begin to talk to
him about Ross; that was one fortu-
nate outcome, 1t seemed to him, Of the
showdown they'd had.
IF I had any pride" she said
stormily. why haven't ], Peter? Twice
now, I've fallen in love with men who
don't really care about me First Tack
now Evan. oh, can make them
care, in way-for a while. But"
IT know" he said. "Pride-well, it
Just doesn't matter, guess, when you're
in love with some one. It gets hold Of
you, when you're alone, and you rave
a bit, and then-weI, you forget all
about it the first time you're sent for"
81 am beastly to you, Peter" she
said, remorsefully. "Heavens-I needn't
make you listen while I kick and
scream!'
"Oh, go aheadI he said. Don't you
worry about me. I can stand It,"
Thor