Evening star., 1931-06-27
INsTALLN1ENT XIX

shrewdly In the days that
Il followed
mo- like him." Gail
answered defensively.
Outwardly everything was Just as
usual, but Gail was conscious Of
changes in the air. Or perhaps they
were not changes, perhaps 1t was only
that she had come to see existing facts
clearly, facts that had been concealed
from her for q long time.
Gail had been asked by Van to din
ner UP at the Chips the night before,
and had declined. The thrilling pros
pect Of shabby quiet Dick Stebbins'
company at the Lawrence house had
made everything the Murchisons did or
did not do unimportant. Van, laugh
ing, tnconsequent had then asked Ariel.
But Ariel In q bored, cold voice had
amazed her family by declining, too.
Van, undaunted, had then suggested
that Ariel come with him and try the
Cafe de Paris, which was rather gay
on Saturday night and where they
could dance.
In the end 1t had been arranged that
Ariel and Van should go, to be back by
10 o'clock. At five minutes after 10
Van had returned her duly. He had
wanted to Stir up something" but Gail,
dreamy and ecstatic after q perfectly
commonplace dinner hour, at which
Dick had been a guest, had refused CO.
operation. and even Ariel had seemed
strangely Indifferent and weary. In the
end Van had departed, unsatisf1ed,
about half-paSt 10, and the girls had
gone to bed
Today, Sunday, Ariel had seemed
languid and depressed. and Edith and
Gail had been gradually infected by
her mood. Gail. in a cautious under
tone as they washed the breakfast
dishes. had reported to Edith that
Ariel had called Van Murchison on the
telephone about 10.
Edith's quick sensitive glance had
studied Calls face.
Gail, would you care?"
MY dear, I'd be perfectly delighted! |!
1t would get her away from this place,
which she hates"
But. darling" Edith had protested
lovingly, hes yours"
honest laugh. st think from what she
said at the telephone-she talked very
low" she had resumed, 1T think that
he wanted her 10 go on somewhere
to lunch with him."
Gail, II really thought you didn't
care, I'd pray about it'll" Edith had
said pasSionately.
II got a little fun out Of it." Gail
had then analyzed the situation mus
ingly. II mean, loved the excitement
and knowing persons like the Chipps.
But I never got-anything, really, out
of Van"
Abigail Lawrence. he adored you!'
mo, no-he liked me. 1 amused
him. We were like two boys Really
we WERE" Gail had persisted as Edith
began a significant smile
Now, upstairs in ArielS room, they
reverted to the subject.
Il like Van," Gail said, but he's ter
ribly giddy."
What would you want him to be,
a priest?" Ariel demanded unsympa-
thetically.
Il want to go away" Ariel presently
said quietly.
They looked at her sorrowfully. She
had said this many times before; she
had been saying it, indeed, since her
fourteenth Summer.
But this was serious. Ariel had re-
fused to return to school after the &C
cident. Phil, conceding her a week OF
holiday. had talked to Mrs. Tripp, the
principal. Mrs. Tripp. who had daugh-
| terS of her own, had put the case
plainly to Phil. Ariel Lawrence had
been going too fast and too far fol-
some time. A good boarding school, al
This had frightened Gail and Phil
They had no money for boarding
| school
In other ways the accident had borne
| fruit that might be Salutary. Buddy
Raisch and the Barchi boy had acted
| like the cads they were. They had dis
claimed all responsibility; Ariel would
never see either again. Buddy had
! been sent back to an Eastern school
| Larry had gone to San Francisco to
stay with an aunt and take special
coaching. Dorothy Camp and her
mother had disappeared; they were not
| involved.
But If all this was to sober and de-
velop Ariel, she gave no sign Of it
The events of the past week had
seemed to embitter her, to accentuate
| her familiar impatience with Clippers
vile and life in it. On Saturday after
noon Gail had found her toiling over
a typewriter letter, supposedly to some
moving picture concern. She had seer
Ariel enclosing snapshots, presumably
of herself.
Poor little butterfly: caught in the
| trap OF poverty. pettinesS. ShabbineSS
and general small-town ugiiness. ArieI
was only one of a thousand, a million
girls, all over the country who were
dreaming of Hollywood, ccntre cts, ad-
mfration, excitement.
Shed not mind marrying a man
like Van," Gail thought. Shed know
how to manage him. She wouldn't
want more than he could give!
I'VE seem to be growing up pretty
fast all of sudden" she thought.
| She. Gail, had grown up anyway
She was a woman now, because she
loved man. 1t made her feel solemn
consecrated. 1t was quite unlike any
feeling she had ever known before
There was no confusing this grave
sense of destiny, this conviction Of pos
seSsing and being possessed with al
the trivial love affairs of earlier years
| This feeling had nothing to do with
cases" and ''crushes." Deeply, eter-
nally, she was Dicks; for sorrow Of
| joy their two lives were tndissolubly
united.
They were still gossiping and idlinl
comfortably in ArierS room, and thu
old clock in the hall had struck three
In -, ell 49,