The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1931-10-01
THEY
ADOPTED
TRIPLETS
g 50
By FANNIE HURST
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(@. 1891. Mcclure Newspaper Syndicats.l
WNU Service.

pickering of large family Of children,
and a good husband.
Strangely enough, she achieved
them all at time when, to the casual
observer, she was just about to be-
come middle-aged and welded to the
destiny Of her position as chief Op-
orator in a telephone exchange.
It all happened with the velocity,
the glamor and the dramatics Of a
fairy tale. One evening, walking
home from the telephone exchange to
the crowded apartment she shared
with her parents, two married sisters,
a brother or two and some growing,
squalling nieces and nephews, she ran
into one of her brothers-in-law stand
ing in front Of a large commercial
hotel talking to a man to whom he
had been trying to sell life insur-
ance policy.
That was how Helen met Fred
Sloan. After Fred caught one glimpse
of Helen,' who had reddish hair and
reddish eyes and a pleasant up
turned nose, her brother-in-law sold
him the life insurance, but only after
Fred Sloan had succeeded in getting
himself invited to the home of the
Doughertys for dinner.
Six weeks later, after whirlwind
courtship, Fred and Helen were mar
ried in the parlors Of the hotel in
front of which they had met and in
vr,h;a tho HftnoO
years of his bachelorhood. In a jiffy,
as it were, leaving her friends, her
family, the girls at the telephone ex-
change astounded, Helen Dougherty,
who had worked since she was four
teen, found herself with the four req
uisites of her dreams-leisure, mod
fish, up-to-date surroundings, sure
income, freedom from the pickering of
a large family of children, and
good husband.
Fred was not rich man in the
modern sense of that word, but he
had an income that would enable them
to live as all her life Helen had
dreamed Of living. They were able to
afford, without encroaching on their
capital, modern, well-furnished
suite of rooms in an apartment hotel
that faced the park. For the first
time in her life, Helen Dougherty, who
was a tailor-made type Of person that
had always been obliged to wear
"ready-mades," blossomed forth in
svelte, chic suits designed especially
to her figure. The rings on her fingers
were good diamonds mounted in plati-
mum. Her wrist watch was jeweled
and her silver fox the best that money
could buy.
The Sloans could afford to spend
three months a year at Atlantic City
in one of the pretentious hostelries
overlooking the ocean. Fred loved
the sea, and the boardwalk gayety Of
the pleasure resort amused him. He
was proud of Helen. He liked to
walk with her into the gaudy dining
rooms or ride beside her in the wicker
rolling chairs up and down the beach.
They were a contented pair, living
comfortably on their income, coming
and going as they willed, occasionally
willing to take trip to Niagara Falls
or Chicago, or a boat ride to Boston.
Helen had married well.
1t was pleasant to be in position
to help her family. To see to it that
a warm new coat replaced her moth
er's shabby one, that her father, after
his long, dull day as Waterman in a
warehouse, could come home to the
solid comforts of radio, easy-chair
and good cigars. The nieces and
nephews came in for their share, too.
Fred was generous.
1t seemed to Helen that there was
a constant paeon Of thanksgiving 60
ing on in her heart over this blessed
delivery from the wrangling, over
crowded, niece-and nephew cluttered
environment Of the stuffy little fiat she
had called home up to the day Of that
momentous meeting with Fred Sloan
in front Of the commercial hotel.
It became inevitable, after a while,
that Helen and Fred, living the care
free lives of pair Of carefree nomads,
should sink into the pleasant routine
of hotel life. More and more, the
holiday aspect Of Atlantic City at
tracted the pair. Fred's philosophy Of
life was an easy-going one. Were
here today, gone tomorrow. Get all
you can out Of 1t today"
The Sloan suite in the gaudy hotel
overlooking the ocean came to mean
home. The gay, transient holiday
crowds came and went, but the SlOans
remained, meeting lobby civilization,
as It poured in and out. Every eve
ming at eight, Fred climbed into his
dinner clothes and Helen powdered
her white neck, dressed herself in
modish chiffons or taffetas and de-
scended en- decollete to the dining
room. 1t was unbelievably pleasant,
eating to the strains of good music,
surrounded by well-dressed people,
deferred to by walters. The Sloans
fattened a little with well-being.
1t seemed to Helen, so quickly does
the human mind accustom itself TO
new formula of habit, that the old
noise-and-nerve-racked days belonged
to another era of her consciousness.
She used to snugge her hand under
hor IuShoDI'S IN their twilight chair