The Washington times., 1935-11-23
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He paid the check, put Fran.
cine into a cab and walked
away into the deepening dusk
feeling very tranquil and well
pleased with himself and the
afternoon and life in general
That, he told himself, was the
way things were arranged. you
knew a woman intimately for a
little while, then you forget her
completely. Eventually, you met
her again. and you were
friends. Rather special sort OF
friends, of course, but friends.
Being friends with Francine, he
decided, was going to be very
agreeable, very stimulating ..
exactly what he needed. she
could be no end Of help to him
with the book.
And reasoning thus he walked
rapidly, with long strides,
shoulders well back, heao up. A
dark young man, well If casually
dressed, a young man exceed.
ingly well pleased with himself
and his world. his world in
which there was a girl named
Ann to be loved, a novel named
Spectacle to be written. and
a person, a knowing. interesting.
slightly weary person named
Francine with whom to be
f.iends..
Ann said to Carlotta: What
do YOU do when a woman who
has been one of your husbands
former Big Moments asks you to
dine?"
Carlotta was eating candied
orange peel from a silver dish.
She said: "You go looking as
beautiful and tranquil as possible. "
Suppose" said Ann slowly.
looking over Carlotta's slim. sleek
shoulder, "thav you are fright
ened? Rather badly frightened?
Suppose you have been lying
awake nights wondering about
her?"
"You still co." said Carlotta,
her voice cool, tinged with flip
pancy, her eyes darkly compas-
Sionate.
Men" said Ann, "are so cruel
when they are tender. They go
to sleep quickly and leave you
to lie beside them and wonder
and wonder =. ="
Don't be a fool" advised Car
lotta brusquely. you're over
tired and you're exaggerating
things you must have known
that Kipp had known other
women that certain of thSm
would be bound to pop up now
and then. Why all this commo-
tion?"
But this one" protested Ann.
her voice small and curiously pene-
trating, sis different. She's older
and she's clever :. terribly clever,
Carlotta, full of tricks -.
"Well," said Carlotta sharply,
"you know few yourself, don't
you? Keeping a husband who is
as obviously in love with you as
Kipp is shouldn't be too difficult. "
Who" said Ann proudly, lift
ing her face, fixing her smoky
gray eyes on Carlotta, wants a
husband who is to be keptP"
"You do," returned Carlotta
grimly. ANY woman does {.
only sometimes they're fools and
don't find it out until it's too
late"
Ann sighed and pressed her
hands against her cheeks and
pushed back that dark, soft bang.
''Perhaps you're right, perhaps I
all just imagining things. She is
probably just an older woman
with whom Kipp had a brief love
affair. It probably wasn't import
ant to either Of them"
Exactly" said Carlotta, nib
bling furiously at candied
cherry. "Just keep concentrating
along those lines, child, and you'll
have the right approach.
"You think SOP"
''I know So"
Ann, dressing for Francine
Sayre'S dinner, pulling pale, silken
stockings over slim legs, looked
very young and childish. Kipp
struggling into his dinner jacket,
told her so. He said: "You look
about six years old" and went
over to her and muSSed up her
hair which had just been washed
and clung tenderly about her face.
Then he stopped mussing her
hair and kissed the
tender white hollow at the base
Of her throat. But when he
,ould have kissed her mouth, she
4 warningly, Better not, dar-
we've less than an hour. :. "
'p laughed huskily. 'I'Ve
known to take less time than
he told her and kissed her
v. Then he said, Dear"