The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1931-12-18

POSITIVE JERK ana Looked at his
Wife. 1t Was Exactly as If She'd
Thrown Something at Him.
her and she felt personally responsible
for it, so she was immensely grateful
to dad, and proud Of him, too, for
taking it so comfortably.
AS soon as the introductions were
over he said to Mr.. Mariner, ~ swore
to my wife that I'd told you not to
dress. thought had. But it doesn't
matter. It only makes it more of
party. I'd go up and change now, but
I'm afraid it would spoil the dinner"
That ought to have made everything
all right; but somehow it didn't. Mr..
Mariner didn't seem to mind, espe-
cially, but his wife did, and she
couldn't stop talking about it. She
was unbelievably awful. She was fat
fish and smooth and simpery. She was
dressed up within an inch of her life
in bright green satin gown with an
imitation jade girdle. She wore green
stockings, too, and slippers that
were too tight for her fat feet. She
had her hair bobbed-its color was
too golden to be true-and all of her
skin that showed outside her dress
there were acres of twas simply
plastered with dead white powder.
Her voice was sweet-cloying and
sticky like honey-and it almost made
you sick.
Nobody got chance to say any
thing much, for she talked practically
all the time. When she spoke to her
husband she called him Pet, right
across the table. You didn't know
where to look over some Of the things
she said to him. You could feel your
face burn. His name for her was
worse; he called her Baby. Was it.
possible for people really to be as
sloppy about each other as that? Was
that how they talked and acted when
there was nobody else around? Be
fore the dreadful dinner was over she
decided that 1t was not.
While Norma was bringing in the
ice cream and under cover of some
long story that Baby" was telling dad,
by way of showing how crazy men had
always been about her, "Pet" began
talking to mother. He told her how
much he was enjoying the dinner, not
only the food but the home atmosphere.
"You don't know what it MEANS" he
said, ''to people who live in boarding
house"
He stopped on that word with
positive jerk and looked at his wife.
1t was exactly as If she'd thrown some
thing at him. Then, in a voice that
was just as treacly as ever, only now
It had something else in it-oil Of
vitriol or carbolic acid or something
in chemistry-"Baby" began to ex-
plain.
They'd looked for apartments until
they were simply discouraged, and she
was sick of housekeeping anyway with
the servant problem what 1t was. And
they'd heard Of this wonderful estab-
lishment of Madame Gerard's-it real
ly was too funny Of Pet to speak Of it
as a boarding house, because 1t was
frightfully exclusive and Of course
perfectly refined-and had gone there
temporarily. "Of course" she finished,
4it doesn't matter particularly to me
one way or the other, because I'm here
for so short time. I'm going to Cali
fornia in q week or two"
"Pet" didn't exactly look surprised
at that. He'd caught his breath as If
he'd meant to protest and then didn't
because he was afraid to. You could
see he knew what he was going to get
on the way home to the boarding
house. and that the more he said now
the worse it would be. Edith was
frightened herself. The woman was
simply a great big green beacon
strictor.
tro BE coNTINUzD.l