Evening star., 1934-06-03

| one-someWhere - but which now
formed a rather incongruouS back
ground for the contents OF the one
small packing case that had accom-
panied Roses trunk from the railway
station.
Out of this box had come the few
possessions she had acquired during
her short life with Harvey Therrold,
with which she had hesitated to part,
A folding tea table of teakwood and
ebony. The dragon-scr that had
shielded the tiny Kitten from the
draughts of the Shanghai Winter
nights. An altar cloth, set With IN
Vulnerable tiny mirrors in gorgeous
welter of saffron, green and gold.
which had been Billy Scalminini's
Wedding gift Cfilched from who knew
what forgotten temple )-and which
Larry promptly hung on the living
room wall The ory-backed brushes
on her fimsy dressing table. The
plaque of miniature death-masks that
Harvey had so valued the amber
frame, holding Kittens baby face i.
IncongruouS they were indeed, rub
bing elbows with the dingy walnut
table-desk and rusty Franklin stove
which dominated the living room.
Even Lottie, arriving in the stupefy-
ing splendor of new pair of red
and -green-striped pajamaS, was moved
to audible wonder.
Il declare now! It does look real
foreign, don't it? Say. I'll bet even
the Therrolds amt got grander
place. It's a real home! Amt you
the lucky grill"
Lucky! Turning slowly in the bed
room doorway, the limp body of her
arm. Rose Therrold looked somberly
about the shadowy room. Home {.
Only Larry, from his perch near the
ceiling, saw the expression that for a
moment fiared and died in her eyes.
Walking YEARLY through the quiet
house after her guests had gone, Rose
regarded the opened boxes of un-
packed garments that Uttered the
bed room floor. Tiredly she surveyed
the space in the narrow closet half
inclined to start hanging them away
From the topmost pile in her opened
trunk she lifted the folds of high
collared coat of violet silk, gay in its
brave glitter of gold needlework and
| spraying wistaria bloom. 1t was the
| Mandarin coat that had been her one
! extravaganza bought with the
! first money she had earned In Shang-
hal All of her beauty starved soul
had gone out to its loveliness. Even
| in its shabbiness her hands caressed
it now.
Without definite impulse, she flung
! it about her, slipping her arms into
its wide Silken sleeveS-and, fumbling
in the trunk tray, brought forth the
fiat, embroidered slippers and the tiny
jeweled fan she once had worn In
| her hair
Moonlight drenched the little gar
| den as she threaded her way down
the overgrown path to the warm. en-
veloping perfume of the mignonette
bed that lay beside the fence. From
across the river the lights of the
Country Club pricked palely through
the gloom. Muted by distance came
| the faint syncopation of its orchestra
The Saturday night dance, in full
swing
How quiet it was here in the garden
No tinkling bells, no dangerous voices
no restless infnity of people under
the hot, insistent stars Only
the pale glimmer of the moon on the
river, and the sigh of the weeping
willows that fingered the waters
edge.
Slowly retraCing her steps to the
porch, sound brought her startled
gaze to the doorway. A man had
come quietly around the path from
the front of the house, a tall man,
seeming, in the uncertain light, oddly
| familiar and assured
May I speak with you-for a mo-
ment?"
Jeffrey Therrold, standing before
her in the moonlight. turned without
waiting for her answer, and as Rose
came slowly toward him, held open
the door for her to pass.
(TomorroW-The Storm Breaks.)