Hyder weekly herald., 1932-01-30


 the erudition of her twin, Marion was sorely lacking Life had turned out that way for her. In the beginning, the two sisters, hand in hand, neck to neck, so to speak, had begun what was to be their four years course at the state university for which they had both qualified with honors.
 Of the two, 1t is probably true that during the first year, Marion's college standing was a peg ahead or her sis ter's. Not that 1t was scarcely worth recording. Marion would have been the last to encourage that. For all practical purposes, the two sisters ranked about on a level. Super in- teliigent girls, carrying on the tine intellectual traditions of their father, whose geographical textbooks were in use throughout the country.
 It was at the beginning of her sophomore year that Marion, sudden ly, and like a bolt out of the blue. threw over her academic career with out so much as an ounce of apparent compunction, and returned one eve. hing to the modest fiat she shared with her sister, married to 8 young automobile salesman she had met at & charity function.
 For the first, the incongruity of this marriage seemed apparent to every one but the young pair most concerned. Pale, thoughtful, studious, and even precious Marion Studdiford, married to the ruddy young man Tom Ford. whose shoes were so glossy, whose hair was so glossy, whose linen shone with even separate Splendor and whose use of English in a man with whom she was not in love, would have caused the erstwhile Marion Studdi- ford's ears to shudder.
 It was a matter, however, of full three years, before the veils of illu- sion began to tear themselves from the eyes of. Marion, and she began to awake gradually, terrifylngly, to the strange truth that in marriage. this vigorous. boyish. refreshing young man of her ideals, had become no more than the too corpulent, slightly vulgar, blatant young salesman whose horizon was bounded by rubber tires.
 It was not the kind of realization that came over night. Slowly, like a reluctant tide, it crept upon her. wash ing misery into her soul, drenching her waking, and even her sleeping hours, in tumble of regrets. Regrets fnr tNhof ynirht hnUn hnnn t0 for freedom that was gone. Regrets for the birthright which she had for Teited so blindly, and into which I.uelia had meanwhile come in full prime.
 Not that she would have exchanged with Luella. After all, to be dean of women in a large college, portentious as 1t might seem. was scarcely the destiny that even Luella, at thirty. must have planned for herself.
 Marion wanted more than that. And yet-had it been in her power to choose. over and over again she would have selected for herself the destiny that was Luella's, rather than her own as the stagnating wife of her ruddy yulgarian.
 At least to Luella's life there was dignity of achievement and congenial- ity of environment.
 From her own kind, almost Over- night. as it were, Marion, after her marriage became Outcast The friends who had know2 her, university col leagues, the members of her social group, simply did not speak Toms idiom.
 Fool! Fool! Nature had trapped Marion. At twenty-three, the entire course of her life had shifted away from the fine true course of her sls- ter's. At thirty, Luella, all on her own, mind you, and with a mind no better than Marlon's, had achieved position.
 Not, as she told herself again and again. that she would yearn for the rather frlgid dignity that went with Luella's position as dean of women, but Just the same, life could be no more barren for Luella, unmarried, than 1t was for Marion, married to Tom.
 On the contrary, for the freedom that was Luella's 1t seemed to Marion that she would be willing to sacrifice actual years of her life. And the horrible part of it was Toms inno- cence of all this dismay. He was like a small boy, content with his lot; con tent with his wife; content with his piaytoys of cheap automobile and ex- pensive radio. Life was good; Ma rion was good; automobile tires were lucrative. All was well in his world.
 He was killed outright while demon strating, to customer. the perform. ance of set of his own tires.
 To Marion. who had repeatedly, throughout the years of her life with him, contemplated the hour when she must destroy his house of cards, by revealing her state of mind, his death came as release, and yet, at the same time filled her with sense of recti-