Evening star., 1936-11-15

marital establishment. She tried to
laugh the idea out of her mind.
But suddenly, within two weeks,
there were four evenings when George
telephoned at five O'Clock and said he
would be late and Mary was not to
wait dinner for him. The first time he
offered no excuse, but the second.
third and fourth were due. he said. to
a directors meeting. an old school
friend whom he would not inflict upon
her. and a fraternity get-together
which he had stupidity forgotten. The
excuses were 50 patiently trumped up.
so threadbare from careless. constant
usage, that their import was obvious.
George. George of all people, dear.
sweet. shy George, apparently had a
lady friend on the string!
Mary found herself behaving in a
way that. a few months before. never
would have occurred to her. Suddenly
she forgave all the wives she had de-
tested. Pauline Hubert became a tragic.
misunderstood figure. Women. in order
to cope with men. had to resort to base
feminine practices. She had thought
men were 90 much more honest. 50
much fairer than women. Now she
knew men were cheats and that they
forced women to degrade themselves
into suspicious spying.
Oddly enough. the idea of divorcing
George never occurred to Mary at
this stage. in spite of the fact that she
had once loudly proclaimed she would
never cling to a man who was tired Of
her. Marriage, she decided, altered
your ideals. your point Of view.
Instead she said casually one morn
ing: George, I need some money"
She waited for his reaction. expect
ing him to hedge. Instead he asked:
''How much. darling?"
She thought of a reasonable figure.
then quickly multiplied it by five.
Five hundred dollars, if you don't
mind" She would stoop to no explana-
tons. Just, Five hundred dollars. If
you don't mind" Like that.
She felt sure he would want to
know what the money was for. In
stead he took out his pen and check
book. wrote her check and handed it
to her. Sure that 3 enough?" he asked.
Mary was on the point Of jumping
up and throwing herself in his arms.
thanking him, telling him that it was
far more than she needed. that she
had been mean. suspicious woman.
when she checked the impulse. Il
wonder" she thought, IF he's not
giving me this outrageous amount be-
cause he feels guilty." So she sat very
still. folded the check carefully.
Thank you, George. 1t will do"
She had three days of riotous spend
ing. buying more purely personal
things than she had ever purchased at
one time in her life.
On the third day. she happened to
be near Edith Garvey's Office and
asked Edith to have lunch with her.
''I've been out on spending spree!
Let's 60 to Roberts, shall we7"
You must be mad" Edith cried.
But of course Ill Co."
They decided to make it a gala
affair and ordered two champagne
cocktails before lunch. 'I'll sleep all
afternoon" Edith declared. But I
don't care. I've got 50 l can sleep
sitting up with a manuscript before
me. Thank the Lord don't snore. III
did I'd have been fired ten years ago"
They were just savoring the jellied
soup when Edith, who faced the en-
trance. leaned across the table and
said, Don't tell me that's George
coming in with that redhead?"
1T can't be-" Mary said, not daring
to look. mot at noon. With his Office
downtown how would he ever get up
here? Besides, we don't know any
redheads."
Maybe Us DON'T" Edith remarked
knowingly. But it's pretty obvious
George does. She's stunning"