Evening star., 1941-01-01

dress like Wis whispering excitedly
to another in the group. He moved
away and after moment vi joined
him at the table.
Gale Suspects vi.
He didn't say anything to her
then, nor even later on when they
were dancing, about the dress. But
they talked of many other things
about the other guests, and how
lovely Brenda looked, and how
much fun it was, once in while, to
see the old crowd again.
But Gale didn't really think it
was much fun. There was some
thing kind of leaden inside of him.
He kept thinking about how swell
everything had been Christmas eve
and all day Christmas. He thought
of how he'd made sacrifice to give
vi the money to buy herself a good
dress so that she'd make a good
appearance at the party. He thought
they'd both had the same thing in
mind; that there'd b. talk about how
nice she looked, and how we'll Gale
must be doing to give her clothes
like these
And she'd deliberately sabotaged
that plan. She'd gone out and
bought a dress that most every other
woman there, with their hypocritical
socialite notions, wouldn't have been
seen anywhere in. Shed had the
money. She could have bought
nice dress, a good one. Instead
I / -hnlIOHt l.,
look a complete and wretched
failure.
He knew vi wondered why he
kept remarking about the lovely
gowns on other guests
Look at that black lace on Ellen"
he'd say. Gee, she looks nice"
And, How much do you suppose
that lavender job cost Ginny's hus-
band?"
vi seemed puzzled at first. and
later embarrassed and short in her
replies.
She asked for it, Gale thought to
himself. She pulled a dirty, rotten
trick just to make me feel like a
worm. Well, we'll both sQulrm as
long as that's the way it is.
Another Row.
He didn't slip off to the smoking
room as he'd planned Instead he
stayed with Vi almost all evening.
only dancing three dances with
other women. And those times only
because their husbands asked vi to
dance. And he was absent minded
all the while he danced those
dances, and the women didn't try
to conceal the fact each time that
they were glad the dance was over.
When they got home late that
night vi found Gale looking at her
several times with a grin that she
didn't understand.
Whats the matter, Gale?" she
asked at last. why are you looking
at me like that?"
Just trying to tell if you were
satisfied" he said.
What do you mean?"
You ought to know"
But don't know. darling" That
endearing word still slipped out
sometimes. vi scarcely noticed it.
You keep grinning, and I don't
know what you're grinning about"
Don't you?"
"Oh, Gale, for heavens sakel
Don't be so exasperating.
Gale laughed. For the technique
of being eXasperating III take les
sons from you any day"
"All right" vi said. "All right.
If you won't talk sense then let's
Just forget the whole thing. You act
like an IDIOT
81 am one. You've proved that
quite completely"
vi sat up straight on the edge of
her bed and stared at her husband
Her dark eyes were narrowed. in
thought at first and then in kind
of frustrated anger. will you please
tell me what you're driving at?"
she said finally.
I'm talking about the dirty trick
you played on me with that Christ
mas dress" Gale said fatty. turning
to look directly at vi. You went
and bought a cheap. crawlv looking
thing that you knew every one would
notice You wanted them to think
you'd say to know-that I was
practically down and out. That I
couldn't buy you decent clothes"
vi Refuses Explanation.
"Gale!" The word was so tight
and hard it was almost like it had
been said in fear. You don't really
think that. do you?"
"What else can think?" Gale de-
manded. 'I gave you money to get
a nice dress and you spent frac-
ton of it for cheap one. What am
I supposed to make of it? That you
suddenly got economical? That you
decided to save us lot of money?
Do you think I'm crazy?"
vi bit her lip, sitting there on the
edge of the bed, and her shoulders
dropped. After a moment she got
up slowly and pulled down the COW
ers and climbed in. And after she
was settled, with her face turned
toward the wall away from Gale,
she said: "One time I asked you to
explain something to me, Gale, and
you refused. Isn't 1t fair for me to
refuse once, too?"
Gale didn't answer for a moment,
but then he realized she was talking
about Mrs. Smith. For some reason,
when that thought occurred to him,
he was angrier than before. Sure"
he said, not trusting himself to say
more. "Sure, that's fair enough"
And then he got into his bed and
turned out the light.
There weren't dozen words ex-
changed between them during the
days that followed until Doug and
Brenda's wedding They hadn't
gone out on New Year eve. On
the morning of New Year Day,
vi, at breakfast, had said, Happy
New Year, Gale"
And Gale had looked up from his
newspaper long enough to smile
absently and say, Same to you, vi"
Gale Warns vi.
That was all, and the strain was
telling on them both. Gales hours