Evening star., 1936-04-28
INSTALLMENT XXI.

' to get married?" Tam
-sked. The older Mary. who was
,ulling strawberries. looked up quickly.
when girl asks that" Mary said,
the young man is usually picked out
nd waiting"
Tam laughed again.
I'm afraid so," she admitted.
They were in the old grape arbor,
he Strawberries picked early that
forming were spilled on the table be-
ween them in a great mountain on a
'iece of thin Chinese mating.
You're sorry?" Tam asked.
"A little, TAM" Mrs. Hutton said
reluctantly. II shouldn't be-" she
aid. 1T ought to make me glad. The
!fe you're living isn't a normal life
or you; you don't get out Of the
tage what an actress should. It's
Il drudgery and routine; you're CIV
ing up your life for something that
doesn't matter to you"
The money matters" Tam said
simply.
Not much" the other woman said
With a smile. You know Mary's
AIKEN care of. You might have done
dozen other things that would have
yiven you living. But I suppose it's
lonely for you"
1T seems like fate" Tam observed,
'houghtfully. There seems to be
line when a certain man comes out
Of the crowd-meaning nothing to you
1ne week, meaning everything the
next. He's such a man. I thought
ior a while that he was the one who
cared. I know now that I am"
You've known him how long,
Tam?"
Almost year and half now"
"As long as that?" :.
"Yes; we know each other pretty
we'll. When you and Mary were in the
mountains last year we had supper
svery night together. Mother likes
him, and he's wonderful to her"
He isn't the George you're always
quoting?"
Yes. he is. George" Tamara said.
smiling on the name.
An actor"
mo, as matter of fact he's law
yer He's supposed to be one of the
finest criminal lawyers-among the
younger ones, anyway-in the United
States. But when first knew him he
was rather gone to seed-drinking and
gambling, that sort of thing"
THAT doesn't sound very safe,
Tam" Mrs. Hutton said with an
anxious look Are you pretty sure you
know him well enough to risk your
happiness with him?"
i've been pretty sure for months"
Tam said January was the time we
set to decide. and even in January I
knew. But I've been putting it of and
putting it of to be more than sure.
Now think am"
It'll change things" the other
woman said after a moment. It'll
mean Mary and see much less of
you!"
"Oh. no. Well be down almost as
often!"
"Ah, no. you won't, my dear.
You've" Mary Hutton's honest
square sunburned face flushed a little.
What about that, Tam?" she asked
You'll tell him?"
Il told him everything, months ago.
I told him just as soon as I knew how
important he was going to be to me-"
Tam answered quickly, with an an
swering flush on her own face.
You we're right"
And he only said" Tam added. in
dreaming voice, that 1t made me
dearer to him"
Yet afterward, sometimes. they feel
differently-they begin to resent
things"
I've thought of that. I've even
talked to him about it. I've told him."
Tam said, that. I'm Independent now,
busy and-and not unhappy. But, oh"
she broke off to say with little laugh
of sheer excitement. when I think
what it'll mean to be married to him,
to have the right to be with him al
ways, to have him coming home to me,
I feel as If I'd never known what hap
piness isl"
you'll give up your work."
For a while, anyway Wiley wants
to retire after Christmas. and don't
know what the arrangement would be,
anyway; my contracts up then. Mrs.
Quinn will probably take over the
company, but she doesn't approve at
all of Pete's methods, thinks we ought
to get all the New York hits. Which
means, Of course, that we'd pay nore
and have the competition of all the
big stars"
You're a stockholder, Tam?"
well, have little stock in it, but |
Ella Quinn would probably want to
buy it. And meanwhile, nibbles again
from Broadway" Tam said. smiling.
ut begins to feel as if changes were
In the air"
Il don't like changes" Mary Hutton |
said with little shake of her head. |
There was silence. But, my dear, if |
you were my own daughter couldn't |
wish you more happiness than I do,"
the older woman said with a sigh.
George Davis has had a strange
history. It's made him, it seems to |
me, different from most men-gentler |
and more tolerant and-finer." Tam,
after a glance at her wrist watch, |
presently said.
What time. is it, Tam?"
Half past A."
MARY" called the older woman,
"you can have your cookies now, you
and Doris and Rosemary"
Mary charged across the lawn like q
cantering colt, all legs and arms and |
blowing wild hair. She stopped to kiss
Tam. She smelled of tarweed and
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