CENTRE HALL, PA. » SS = Clay in Wall street, Daphne meets Tom Duane, tracted to her. except for his salary. pectedly. Bayard is furious over the expense, with Clay. ment panies, gives her another chance. Sudden soled by Tom Duane. who seems greatly at- Daphne, seeing hard times ahead, illness of Miss Kemble, the star, CHAPTER Xil—Continued. eG Satan or Raphael had whispered to her an invitation to revisit the scene of her late humiliation with Clay. With Duane’s magie purse there would be no danger of a snub from the waiters; with his own car there would be no risk of footing it home. Then an imp of mischief spoke for her and said, “All right!” Duane told the chauffeur and the car shot like a javelin from the lighted street into the deep forest-night of Central park. What would Clay say? all, he had failed her in a crisis, Per- haps he had turned his heart else where. Men were impatient, vindie- tive, fickle, When Claremont was reached and Duane handed Miss Kip out he noted that her hand was hotter than his own and a little quick to escape, her face wns flushed and her lips parted as if But, after with excitement. He assumed that the speed of the ride and the tang of ddventure were to blame, i While the walters were serving the supper and while was attacking it with the frank appetite of honest hun- ger she recounted the evening's dis aster as calmly as if it were the story of somebody else. In facet, sh 18 standing off and regarding herself the an alien. We change so fast that persons day are already strangers, acts the acts of distant relatives, calm really the shock. anguish MOrToOW. “lI can't understand myself at all” | Daphne sald. *“l1 went through every of the but I coulda’t reach the audience once. singer 2 bad cold singing in a foreign language—you don’t know what the song is all about, but you know that it never quite gets on the key™ “You mustn't be discouraged.” “Oh, yes, I must! actress in a thousand years. terson told me so himself.” Duane felt the truth of this, but 1t| hurt him to have her feel it. It of- fended his chivalry to realize how im- | polite fate could be to so pretty a girl. He hated to see her reduced to the | hecessity of proving how plucky she | could be. He tried to find an escape for her. He said: “You're far too good for the stage.” “I don’t believe that for a minute,” | she protested. “But I've got to find something I ean do.” “May I help you to decide?” “If you only would! But I'm getting to be a nuisance.” "You ate a~a--to me you are g— well, you're not a nuisance.” He dared not tell her what she was, especially as the waiter had set the bill at his elbow and was standing off in an attitude of illconcealed impa- tience for the tip, which he knew would be large. Mr. Duane always gave the normal ten per cent and a bit extra. He tipped wisely but not too well, knowing that an extravagant tip wins a waiter’s contempt almost more than none atall, The head walter falrly cooed “Good night” and almost gave them a blessing. The starter had Mr. Duane’s car waiting for him at the curb and lifted his hat with one hand as he smuggled 8 quarter away with the other. He stepped in to lay the linen over their knees with reverence, closed the door exquisitely and murmured, “Good night 1” The ear waz an aristocrat: it float: ed from the cmb with a swaanllke sweep, Daphne thought of Clay sand herself plodding homeward. She seemed to see them or thelr wraiths staggering disconsolately along, She felt very sorry for them, Here was a chance to save one of them-—both of them, in fact; for In taking her financial bur den from Clay's shoulders she would be twice strengthening him. If she were to accept Duane as her hnshand then her problems would be solved and Clay would be free of her, with eyes of the Were yes their | Her i of | i to- i and Was numbness The would come one motions, with Mr. Bat- | * To be Mrs. Tom Duane; to step into the society of society ; to lift hor fathor ness in Cleveland to a post of distine- tion In New York: to solve at once all the hateful, loathsome, belittling rid- dles of money ; to be the bejeweled and feted and idolized wife and mistress of this young American grand duke: to buy that impossible trousseau, or bet- ter; to live in a New York palace in- stead of a flat; to go about in her own limousine instead of an occasional tax- icab; to be fortune's darling instead of a member of the working classes, struggling along with bent neck under & yoke beside a discouraged laboring man! When the car reached her bullding she was resolved to see Duane no more. She could not tell him so. After all, he had been everything that was fii, courtesy and charity. It would hardly indifference. Duane got down and helped her out and took her to as weed at thia late hour. While they waited for the door man to answer the bell she was pay- ing him his wages: “You are wonderfully kind. I had a gorgeous evening. You saved my life” She had said more than she intend- ed—if not more than he had earned. “Then may I call soon?” “Of course” “Tomorrow “I—well, I'll let you know.” “Fine! Telephone me at— I'll write it ont for you. I'm not often at the club where you found me, and my number isn't in the book.” He wrote on his card his telephone address and gave it to her as the doorman ap peared, He murmured, “Don’t forget” murmured, “I won't.” Both "Good night.” Then the doorman gath- ered her in and hoisted her to her lowly eyrie. It was very different from where she would have gone as Mrs. Duane, But when she was In her room she tore his card to pleces—after she had looked at it. She stared at her image in the mirror. She hated what she saw there, She vowed to break her promise to Tom Duane. She vowed to forget his telephone number, Bat it danced She closed her eyes. The next morning she overslept even beyond the extra hour the Chivyises permitted themselves and the stranger within their gates on Sundays. When Daphne appeared at break. fast, trying not to yawn, Mrs. Chiv- vis greeted her with a vole ag cold and dry as the toast, and as britile: “You were rather late getting In Inst night—or this morning, rather.” Daphne's answer was not an expla. nation, but it was better: “Oh, I know it, Mrs, Chiveis, but 1 lost my position last night. Yes! 1 played the prineigs part and killed it, and naw I'm not going oo the stage any more, Mrs. Chivvis was touched. “You poor child! It really is—just too bad 1” She pondered, then she brightened: “I'm sorry you're disappolnied, but I'm glad you're not to be In the theater. It must be very wicked.” “It's mighty difficult,” said Daphne, Mrs. Chivvis thought a moment more, then she sald: “Did I tell you? No, I don't be- lieve I did—you were away—but Mr. Chivvia gets his vacation next week. He's got to take it when his turn comes, Tuesday. can’t give you your meals. You can get your breakfasts in the kitchenette. Of course I'll allow off whatever ig right.” “Oh,” Daphne sald, I guess.” “I'll be all right, She was to be left alone at the very time when she was most in need of soclety, The whole world was forsak- ing her. CHAPTER XII, When the Chivvises had gone Daph- ne assailed the task of composing her letter of resignation from Reben's em- ploy. It was not easy to resign with dignity and the necessary haste, She sent it off by messenger, It was none too prompt, for Reben had al- ready dictated a very polite request for Daphne's head, When he received letter. In this he expressed his regret sign; the former understudy had come back from the road, he sid, and would resume her work. He begged Daphne to accept the inclosed check for two She She looked again, ever earned. ning of her great fortune, Late in the afternoon, when western sky was turning into a loom for cr a tapestries almost as rich rey FAM brother's apartment, Woman in the throes of finance. md brought her check book and her Her af- hie bank book to her husband. fairs were in a knot, He laughingly offered to help her. She was hurt by his laughter, but not ha f sn deeply as he was by his dis covery of fice on the altar of love. She had not cherished it, but scattered it And money was peculiarly Ie ssly, the hard times, when oniy the fittest of the fittest ‘could survive the last tests, Credit was the water cask, and ¥ boatload of survivors from a wreck. Land might be reached if they held out, but seif-denial was vital, Bayard gazed at Leila with wonder- ing love and terror. She was both divinity and devil in his eyes, He groaned ; “Are you trying to wreck me? You know how hard I'm working and how much I need money in my business She told about her failure and her future and Leila praised her courage and her optimism. They dined cheer. fully and Bayard decided that the best preparation for the hard work ahead of him would be an evening of gayety. He invited his wife and his sister to go with him to the Winter Garden, where the typical “Sunday concert” of New York was given. CHAPTER XIV. Then the Chivvises came back from their vacation unexpectedly early. They had found the hotels expensive nnd Mr. Chivvis was afrald that his Job would be snatched from him {I he were not there to hold it down. Clay called on Daphne that evening and the Chivvises retreated to their own room, Bot as they could be over- heard it was evident that they could overhear, and the lovers found no { chance to say any of the things that frightened their souls, One evening Daphne sald to Clay In as low a voice as he could hear: “Mrs, Chivvis is growing honey, ahout our being together every ning. I told her we wore engaged, but she didn't Perhaps uneasy, pr seem convinced, engagement ring again. to give it back to you. Or—" Clay blenched in “I—-I'm afraid I— You see, I hadn't paid {much on it; and last week 1 had an In- tter om the jeweler, threatened firm, and | ba k.” He swoered wi tall right, | After all, have each « “But we | way of living | 2 be May I have it | sulting le fr to & I—well, I had to send it Wis = nwneas ifs she TS . that And all rig times are ove commissions 0 «i wait, Con Hye on m “1 co if He CanEgn lently that she arms 80 vio his - firm | choice of noe {i tarning in really img { half of w one, Daphne eri room. Sh : ' 3 « and doliars again and | cried over that, There is test again into But the fact | 3 that be much fool ind futile pro. the woman who her is her business left the merely following i where new conditions have centralized and | oes home, it it. Her business sali home first it to the plac and inven: mechanized it, New co: have taken her distaff and her washtub ahd her cook. ery and gossip into the woolen mills and steanr laundries and restaurants and telephone exchanges. She has had to go thither to do her necessary work. Even the entertainers, the singers { dancers, of who used to stir the and the castle { halls have been gathered into opera i houses and theaters and into vaude- ville and moving picture palaces, Daphne, having no gifts for gpin- | ning, cooking, or laundry, tried the | theater. Her old-fashioned lover pro- ons litlons ®t coed sid LeTS stories, seraglios ing and burning my poor little earn- ings. We discharged a stenographer yesterday because we wanted to save her salary of fifteen dollars—and here's a check for a pair of shoes for you that cost sixteen. “But tell me one thing more before I'm carted off to Bloomingdale in a straitjacket. Why, In heaven's name, why—admitting yon just had to have that pitiful little pair of shoes—why, when you wrote the check, didn’t you subtract it from your balance instead of adding it? I ask you!" “Oh, did I do that?” she asked, look. ing over hig shoulder, “Bo I did!” and she put her cheek close to his and giggled, arms, when the maid let her in. She found Lelia resting in Bayard's lap. Bayard did not tell Daphne what his conference with Lella had been. He simply closed the check book and the cents and ask ‘em to close thelr ace count. They'll be mighty glad to do it.” “And so will 1.” sald Leila. “It was awfully hard work keeping track of every little penny. I'd much rather have a regular allowance in cash ev- ery week,” “All right!” sald Bayard. “We'll try that-next week.” . Daphne was not told what all this talk was about, but she made a fair guess, though she yretended not to, “Oh, Did | Do That!” She Asked, Looking Over His Shoulder, tested, and shiv went, nnyway. But the was not sulted to the theater, and she retreated with nothing to show for her expedition except her shattered pride and the fifty