The Washington times., 1937-03-02

/ know?" He handed his son the
newspaper.
There was Denise'S picture, in
the frock she wore at her debut,
and "Mr. and Mrs. Michael Rem
dale announce the engagement OF
their younger daughter, Denise
Evelyn" Odd, never to have known
Denise had a middle name. The
absurdity Of that thought struck
him, and he gasped.
His father said: SO"
No, not under that old mans
unkind amused eyes would he
show-anything, anything at all!
His face achieved, briefly, though
he did not guess it, grimneSS
that made him much more re-
semble Keith Sheldie, senior, than
long-dead pretty Mary Lane.
He said: "The picture flatters
Denise, rather. She's pretty, but
not as pretty as that. Do you
happen to have met her?"
His fathers laugh doomed
through the dining-room. That
unaccustomed sound held ap-
proval, but Keith did not notice.
He said, will you excuse me? I
have an appointment" and went
out without waiting for an answer.
But he went no farther than his
own room.
So she had made safe, had chosen
to let go their light happiness, the
laughter they'd shared, and the
hopes not spoken! She had been
wise, sensible, a realist. He could
not blame her, but only himself,
what he had become.
She had meant it, when she'd
said: mot tomorrow or ever" He
had not really believed she'd meant
it until now. Her hand within his
arm, her soft mouth against his
that was all there had been, or
ever would be: A beginning with
no ending.
"Soft," his father called him; a
weakling, he called himself. Yet
he could not remember that he
had shed tears, since boy 10
years old had shed them with
grief at his fathers dreadful an
ger. But there were tears now on
the thick lashes that he inherited
from Mary Lane.
He heard his fathers lame, un-
even steps along the corridor, stood
up, flung his head back. His father
knocked at the dor. That cour-
teous gesture was unusual!
He opened it. Very mildly his
father said: "There is some bust
ness you could do for me in Chi
cago, Keith, If you could spare the
time from your painting"
Keith stared at him. Spare the
time from his painting" that occu'
patton his father so constantly
scorned. Yet there was no sign
the old man was being tronic. He
looked perfectly serious. cts
rather confidential. I'd rather
send you than a lawyer"
AS if he were trying to make
him feel important!
Keith answered gruff1y: Ger
tainly, I'll go if you like"
So he did not see Denise again,
until very near her wedding day.
On the morning that the papers
held the announcement Of Denlse's
engagement, Felicia was breakfast
ing in bed, trying not to be an
noyed by the click-clack Of her hus-
bands riding boots up and down
her bare, polished modern" floor.
AS usual, he had breakfaSted early
and had ridden in the park, hours
before Felicia was awake.
He rode in the park, when he
could not ride in the country. He
rode in the country, when he could
not hunt. He hunted, when he
could not steeplechaSe. Occasion
ally he attended race meets, after
moons. He was large and blond,
amiable as a puppy-and with a
mind like a puppy'S too, his wife
sometimes thought when she was
especially bored, though she knew
the thought unjust. Eustace did
have a kind of simple shrewdness,
and odd flashes of insight that
occasionally SURPRISED her. Those
flashes were what made her mar
riage just bearable.
Though she had become Mrs.
Eustace Gardiner Dayne with her
eyes open, she thought with her,
heart in bits and pieces over
Duane Fenton who'd loved her,
but never enough to stop drink
ing) she had not been able to
anticipate quite how drearily long
the years Of marriage without love
could be.
(To be cOntinued)
Copyright by Ursula Parrott