~ TFeTH
COMM
b
CHAPTER XVIIL
we] un
Daphne scuttered {or the subway as
a fugitive rabbit to its burrow. But
she was not a rabbit and she felt suf-
focated in the tunnel. She could not
endure to be quiet in the presence of
so many goggle eyes like aligned but.
tons. She left the train at the next
station and walked rapidly to Fifth
avenue, and up it homeward.
She walked rapidly for the comfort
of the restlessness, but there was no
comfortable destination ahead of her.
She found Mrs. Chevvis at home with
her disconsolate husband. Daphne
dared not tell them just yet that she
had lost her place. She would tell
them when she got another one, For
fear that they might ask why she was
home so early, she went down to Bay-
ard’s apartment,
She wanted to tell Bayard and Leila
what had happened. It was safe, she
felt sure, Bayard would never attack
Gerst. He would be more likely to
rail at Daphne for bringing the trou-
ble on herself,
Leila let her in at the door, but she
was in a mili’ant humor. She sald,
“Hello!” grimly and stepped back foy
Daphne to enter. Daphne found Bay-
ard still aglow with interrupted quar-
rel. He said, “Hello!” with a dismal
connotation.
“What do you suppose that brother
of yours orders me to do now?" said
Leila, whirling Daphne toward her.
“I can’t imagine,” said Daphne, In-
credulous of Bayard's ordering Leila
to do anything.
put up a poor mouth and humiliate
self.”
jayard snatched Daphne to him
and stormed: “She bought the clothes,
didn't she, without consulting me?
She wouldn't send "em back as you did
yours; she wore 'em out, paraded ‘em
before other men there In
while 1 was slaving here.
that Dutilh Insists on
haven't got. and can't
even go explain it to him
I ask her—to plain it him an
ask him to be patient so that I won'
be sued. I can’t stand that, I've ha«
every other calamity but I've never
been sued for debt. [I ask Le
tell him my Inck and
fine prospects-—play with him-—
and with me. But will she do it? No!
She won't do anything for me.”
Daphne was swayed by his
She pleaded: “Why don't you,
You have such winning ways.
with you.”
Leila
$a
ii
ny
And now
that 1
won't
That's al
money
get, she
ex to
my
about hard
Falm
Aika
voy os 8
etd
ion
Leila
I'l go
hesitated,
p her 1 and
her head. 1 mused, t
again. and room,
fing her she
that In asking
one’s best appearances
cing siapg
it off
Wok
CO ghee went
= i A ML
avors one should
getting along at yon
Daph
own troubles
her shoulders
lie, the shrug.
“Hang on to your joh as long as you
can, old girl, for
us all, I guess,
us that can get a job or earn a cent.
That's the advantage of being a pretty
girl”
Daphne was almost moved to tell
him some of the disadvantages of be-
ing a pretty girl, but she felt that the
time was unfit for exploiting her own
woes, She ached for some one to dis-
close them to, but she withheld them.
Leila came in, arrayed in her very
finest. She was smiling in the con
tentment of beauty at its best. “When
you agk credit you've got to look as
if you didn’t need it,” she said.
They found Dutiih in a state of un-
usual excitement and exhaustion.
There were few customers in his place
and he left them to the other sales.
people. He advanced on Leila and
Dapline and gave a hand to each.
“Why, oh why in the name of Paul
Poiret didn't you come in a week ago?
The pirates have taken every decent
gown I had. The swing women are
working like mad to reproduce ‘em,
but there's nothing left fit to show,
except to Pittsburgh and Plattsburg
tourists. Where did you get that awful
rag you have on?”
“Here,” said Lella.
“Oh, of course, 1 remember. It's
beautiful. Sit down. I'm dead. Have
a cigarette? Have a cup of tea? Oh,
Miss Galvey-—tea for three, please, |
didn’t forget either of you when I was
in Paris, I have a siren gown for you,
Mrs. Kip, that will break your heart
‘with joy. You'd murder to get it. And
as for you, Miss Kip—well, you'll sim-
ply be indecently demure in the one I
call ‘Innocence,’ ”
Daphne was a trifle shocked, but
Lella’s eyes filled with tears at the
mockery of such talk. She moaned:
“I didn't come to buy. I came to
npologize and beg for mercy. I owe
you un lot of money, and I haven't a
cent.”
or
=
¥ folt
ne to
She
kind
of white
Il have to support
non
FENTH
HUGHES
“Who has? What of it? Nobody's
paying anybody.”
“But T had an urgent letter from
your bookkeeper, or somebody.”
“Don't mind her. She gets excited,
Nobody pays me. You come in and
get another gown and you'll catch a
millionaire with it.”
It was hard for Dutilh to keep his
clients clear in his memory.
“But I can't afford it.”
“And I can’t afford to have my chil-
dren going round in last year's rags.
You do as you're told and come around
next week, I'll get my money out of
you some day, Trust me for that”
Leila felt a rapturous desire to kiss
him and call him names of gratitude,
He was generous by impulse and pa-
tient, and nobody's fool at that. The
thoughts of tailors are long, long
thoughts.
Daphne sat thinking, but not of
clothes. The labor problem had al
most defeminized her. She was study.
ing the models as they lounged about
the shop. Suddenly she spoke. “Ob,
Mr. Dutith, how mueh money does a
model earn?”
“You mean what salary do I pay?
Common clothes-horses get fifteen or
dollars, etter lookers get
You're worth a thousand
Want a job?”
sixteen
better pay.
un week at least.
“Yes.”
His smile was quenched. He studied
her across his cup. He saw the anx-
{ety in her curiosity.
“What's the matter? he sald. “Has
he run off with another girl, or do you
a millionaire
in my pond?¥
“I need the money, T've had hard
nek.” Daphne said it
that he grew solemn, too.
“That's too bad! Well,
more girls now than I need,
$0 solemnly
I've
Nobody
“Oh, I couldn't think of that!™
“Nelther could I. Well, I'll squeeze
you in But 1
you as much as you are worth. Wouls
-umm--twenty dollars a week 1
“er
somewhere, can't
"»
“11
“All right, you're engaged.
next Monday”
“Do you want
would fascinate me,
, thank you!
fer eyes were blacker thar
and red-white
d with shame. She
her
could
herself
had
$
1 vat rail ¢ } nt
led thunderclo
wv 1»
gpeax,
wauty t f a storm
of
she and
marture, Le
I
sesh y
AMHR
ie on the way
ed not speak to her at all
*
ght ¢
utith had told
to wait for his money.
hallad
hor of
es 1 ¥ “3
ayard embraced
her as an ar When sl
Leila Felt a Rapturous Desire to Kiss
Him and Call Him Names of Grati.
tude,
ard what Daphne had done. She told
it simply, without emphasis, knowing
its effect.
“Daphne!” he roared. “You asked
Dutilh for a position among his
models? Great Lord of heaven, I'll tele
graph father to come take you home.”
“That's all right,” Daphne taunted.
“You'll send the message collect, and
bell never be able to pay for it, so he'll
never know what he missed.”
“But surely we are not such beggars
that"
“Who has any money? Who has any-
thing left to pawn?”
“But there must be other jobs.”
“Get me one.”
“Fhere must be some other way.”
“Bhow me.”
Olay Wimburn came In after dinner.
His protests against Daphne's project
were louder than Bayard's, with the
added rancor of jenlousy., But he had
na substitute to offor,
She forebore to tell him of the CGerst
affair. He was deep enough in the
mire, He went away a little later and
she returned to her cubbyhole with
the Chivvises.
Those were black days for all Amer-
lea, suffering under the backfire from
the sudden war and from the long fa-
tigue of hard times, There were weeks
of dread lest the United States be
sucked into the maelstrom at a time
when it was least prepared in money,
arms, or spirit, Never, perhaps, In hu-
man chronicle had so many people
looked with such bewlldered misery
on 80 many people locked in such
multifarious carnage,
At such a time, as In an epoch of
plague, there came a desperate need
of a respite from woe; soldiers sky-
larked im trenches; war widows
danced In gay colors; festivals were
held In the name of charity; frivoll-
ties and vices were resorted to that
good souls might renew themselves
for the awful work before them.
It was in such a mood of imperative
demand for cheer of some sort that
Tom Duane swam back into Daphne's
gloomy sky.
Daphne had come
morning of rebuffs, She was heart
sore and footsore, In shabby boots
that she could not replace. She was
called to the telephone, and Duane's
volce chanted in her ear with a tone
of peculiarly comforting melancholy,
“That you, Miss Kip? This is me,
Mr. Duane. Poor Tom Duane. Poor
Tom's a-cold. I came back to town
unexpectedly early, I have something
important to say to you. Will you
take a little ride with me In my car?’
“Why not? she said, with a laugh.
She was glad that he could not see the
tears that gushed across her eyelids.
“Three cheers for you! I'll be there
in a Jiffy. You couldn't arrange to
dine with me, could you? Or could
you?
Again she answered, “Why not?
Duane’s voice rang back: “Tip-top!
You've made me happy as a box of
pups. I'm half-way there already.”
home after a
CHAPTER XIX,
he greeted her with the beaming joy-
of a rising sun. He praised
her dnd thanked her for lending him
her time, The elevator that took thel
Bodies down took her spirits
noted that he had not brou
car with chanffeur,
her
two,
OUsnesSs
his
into a powerful roadster bull
But had n
The
they Be
she inclination
0
protest,
and
| with lyrical, wi
“The
" she cri
They had been
i
trees
ed.
And he sal
i After they
i entered the he
| riane to
told you the truth
$5 off
{to shake
£44
that
¢
Daphnitis
© int you out rn
long, or out of my heart at all.
sick . Miss Kip, a lovesick ms:
“Mr. Duane, you mustn't-I can't al-
WwW Sou--—re ily ™
god
man
“Oh, yes,
the car
| “You're
You ean
i to burt you.
| me a little,
1
you ean!” he said.
ahead with a
Wag to listen
help yourself.
fe
and
sont
g to me {or once,
t I'm not going
I just want you to help
I went up in the Berk.
put 1 couldn't! I couldn't even plas
{me crazy. I can't get interested
i anything or anybody but you.”
i
ih
to— I beg you. I have no right"
“Oh, 1 know you're engaged to Clay
| Wimburn., He's a nice kid. I'm not
i one-two-three with him. I'm not try-
ins to eut him out—l couldn't if 1
would. I like him, I'd like to help
him, and your brother, too. I don't
mean to be impertinent, either: bute
well, the main thing is, I want to beg
you to let me se¢ you once in.a while.
“I want to take you out riding and
dining and dancing and—you can take
Wimbura along If you've got to, but 1
want you to save my life somehow.
And, by the Lord Harry ! I think it will
save yours, You don't look well, my
dear—Miss Kip. It breaks my heart
to see it. No, I don’t belleve you're
getting as much fun out of life as you
ought to. There Isn't much fun In the
world any more, but what little's left
is very precious, and I want you to get
all that's going. Won't you let me help
you go after it? Won't you?”
They swung up to a height that com-
manded a vast reach of the Hudson.
Between its banks it semed to be a
river of wine, The western sky was
like a forest of autumn leaves with the
last sad red pitifully beautiful, since
it must turn so soon to rust.
In a spirit of haste the fleetly spin.
ning wheels murmured, “Why not, why
act, why not, why-notwhynotwhynot?”
Before the sunset had quite relin-
quished the sky the moon was over
the horizon-the harvest moon, huge
and close and of a meditative mein.
It paled and dwindled as 1t climbed,
but (ts power seemed to grow.
It left Daphne more alone with
r
Duane, a little afraid of him and of
the gloaming. They emerged above
the chain of Croton lakes and ran
across the big dam and wound along
the shore, crossing iron bridge after
iron bridge, till they came to a little
roadside inn whose lights had a yel-
low warmth,
“We're stopping here for dinner, If
you don't mind,” said Duane,
Daphne was a trifle {ll at ease, but
she was hungry, too, and the adventure
wns exhilarating. There were not
many people at the tables, and they
were of an adventurous cast as well,
When Duane had given his order he
asked Daphne If she would join the
rest of the diners who had left their
chairs to foxtrot. Bhe shook her head
and he did not urge her.
But by the time their dinner was
served and eaten the nagging, Inter
minable music had played away near-
ly all her scruples,
When Duane looked at her with an
appealing smile, she smiled back, nod-
ded and rose. He ldaped to his feet
and took her in his arms.
Somehow, It was not mere dancing
now. He had told her that he loved
her. There was In his embrace an
eagerness that was full of deference,
but full of delight as well. After all,
she was alone with him in a company
that seemed not to be very respectable,
and was growing less so every hour,
Her feet and all her limbs and every
muscle of her reveled in the gambol,
peed, but
a vista of
wheeled
i
a f
out of
yd opped
engine and
chuttering engi ang
{ the strenuous lights
the car, shut
the turned
sat utterls
Lis
They
shook ie ff the
not stay much longer.
wing cold and late.
He did not dare to look at Daphne
He did not quite need to. He could
imagine her pretty head and
drowsy, adorable eyes, the lips pursed
with childish solemnity, the throat
stem in the urn contour of her ghoul
ders, the vaseiike curves of her young
torso. He imagined these from meme
ory, for they now were swaddied in a
thick motorcoat. But without turning
ft could
i could
A
clasped idly at her knees, the little
gloves turned back at the wrist. He
thought that he would like to take
them in his—he would like to take all
of her in his arms, into his heart, Into
his keeping.
Yet he did not want to marry her.
He did not admire marriage in its re.
suits as he saw them in other people,
Like many another, he cherished
wicked ideals because the everyday
virtues worked out so imperfectly, so
unbeautifully.
Daphoe wns musing almost as
vaguely. On the river a yacht at an.
chor poised like a swan asleep. She
would like to own a yacht. On the
opposite side of the river along the
road she could se¢ motorcars like in-
quisitive crickets with gleaming eyes
and feelers of light. She would like
to own a motor or two,
If she were the wife of as rich a
man as this man at her side, how
quickly she could help her father aad
Bayard snd the wretched victims of
the massacre In Burope and #2 many
peopie-~yeg, and even Ciay, poor,
dear, hopeless. helpless Clay Wim.
burn, w wnom she had brought noth-
ache and torture.
Suddenly but quietly upon this enr-
rent of her thoughts a thought of
Duane’s was launched like a skiff con-
genial to the tide. He spoke almost
as softly as a thought, at first with a
quaint shock such as a boat makes,
Inunched,
“How often de you go to church?”
he said, whimsically.
“Why-—never, I'm
gasped In surprise,
afraid,” she
church?”
“Buch funny
course,”
“Why?
“Oh, it wouldn't be nice not to”
“You don’t believe in divorce, then?”
Oh yes indeed-—if people
don’t get along together, I think it's
in
questions! Yes, of
-yes,
they don’t love each other”
“It's love, then, that makes
ringe sacred?
“Yes. Yer, indeed! Of course!”
“Is it all right for two people who
are not Christians to live together ac-
cording to their creeds?”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, the people who lived before
there any Christians—or people
who never heard of Christianity—was
it all right for them to marry?’
“Of course”
“It's not any one formula, then, that
makes marriage all right?
“Of course not, it's the—the—"
“The love?
wy It's hard to explain.”
“Everything is, Isa’t It?"
“Terribly.”
There
a cigar
fore her
“wp ve
lease
mar.
were
think =o.
was more silence,
from his pocket, held it
for permission. She sald,
He struck a match. She
ginnced at his face in the little lime
light of the match. It was very hand-
A pearl of drowsy luster
gleamed the soft folds of his tie,
The hands sheltering the match were
splendid hands,
She watched the
the
bes
some,
in
cigar fire glow and
and little turbulent smoke
into the alr and die. One
formed a wreath, a strange,
ig circlet of blue filaments,
wast her and she put her fin-
her ring-finger by some
womanly instinct
“Now you're married to me,
float
“
eald
a sudden movement
if to seize upon her. She
little; his hands did not
They to the
and fierce.
from his eyes, but he
went back
clung to it
and she could feel
ii a
would you
oR
stirr there blush.
BE
ou loved ime, marry
5 <
» sald.
‘m going to marry-——
if you're not happy with him, will
SDY
with him.”
gaid that!
worked
sou leave him?”
Graor
i
: we
is very solemn to me,
I've been
trying to
% you ong time,
mind, and only
in my heart, 1 love
WR
#
a
you out of my got.
i
you deep.
ou.”
“1 don't believe it.”
“I know IL.”
“Then you oughtn't to tell me”
“Not tell a woman you
life and my own?"
“How wrecking my—her life?
“1 believe that if you marry Clay
Wimburn you'll be unhappy.
give you a home. He can't buy
| clothes, He can't support you."
{| “That's not his fault, just now
{ with the hard times and the war.
Please let's go home
“To my home?”
answer, or even to gasp at, or protest
against. It stunned her,
riedliy:
“You're not going to be one of those
i silly, old-fashioned idiot girls that a
iman can't talk to earnestly and frank.
ly, are you now? Of course you're
not. You're not one of those poor
things whose virtue consists in being
insulted every time anyone appeals to
their intelligences, sre you?! No, you're
a fine, brave soul, and you want to
know the truth about truth, and so de
L
"I'm a decent enough fellow at
heart. I want to do the right thing
and live squarely as well as the next
follow, I've got a sense of honor, too,
of a sort, and I take life pretty seri
ously,
“1 tell you, the world is all turned
topsy-turvy the last few years. The
old rules don't rule, They never did,
but people pretended to believe in "em,
Now we're not so afrald of the truth
in sclence or history or religion or
anything. We want to know the truth
and live by It.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
' The Way Our,
If a man or a machine is unable to
accomplist a task it should be turned
over to a woman and a bairpio.~Lon.
don Answers, :
Ability to Meet It Consists in Coun-
try's Productive Power Exercised
to the Limit
The pltimate factor in war financs
igre
in
what the d
when
moment
use iL
buy--af the
to The eo
born by
in rallroads,
banks, but by the productive
For war is
do.
When
estimatin the abil
financial
var a consid-
int toll
eration of her wealth dow the
story, just as a consideration of
which
POD
Intion, wonid Huseia the
place, would falne
it is the ability a nation | ger
and mobilize her dodiar werd
fight, that reveals her finan
as a military oation
preparation,
chinery,
ma
product
; alt
conscript ail
%s her eco
ily
poses, and mg
alinost as speed as
not being versed in
did not
economi
understand
resources
were n
v Hhilleod an
Mona Zed an
mce, but each government
chinery of production
became increasingly great
countries, with bulldog, but
determination, clung to t
“Business as usual.’
do Ky
if those countries bel
a8 there was plenty
Bedouin Bards.
HOW
i :
Gf
» poopie an
re ™aniard
the life o
of the elimi
8 of tawny brow flow.
picturesque
chargers and patient
We seem 3 be
of the date
jures up vision
ing beards, soft eyes tur
bans
pawing
dromed OR, there
ig the land
fountain, the os
and the
the simoon
tree and
airich and
alle the tent
of
aravan
the gi
It is
and
the mi-
F +
home
It is
and the stars
through
world of he desert
Hospitality waves her
the night the
wanderer to be a guest Cory
picture, embodiment. breath, blaze, of
all this is in the lyrics of the Bedouin
bards. The richness of their language,
and something of the character of the
people who use it, are shown in the
fact that it has 0 names for honey,
500 jor the lion, and a thousand for
the sword |~Willlam Russell Alger.
Take No Chances.
The following Interesting bit of In
formation Is from Safety Engineering:
“Not every one understands how
inflammable and explosive chlorate of
potagh is, One men jearned In a
pecnliar manner. He was carrying
chlorate of potash tablets in a small
bottle In his coat pocket: the cork
presumably became loosened and fell
ont. Entering a street car. he knocked
the ashes from his pipe. as he sup
posed, and put it In his pocket. In
a few moments there were spurte of
blue flame, and the tablets ‘went off’
For a time the man was in danger
of being mistaken for an enemy alien,
carrying bombs, The mystery of the
explosion was solved hy finding small
particles of ghiss wedged in the cloth.
ing around where the bottle had been.
Other than the shock to his own
nerves and those of the passengers
the only damage was to his clothes,
which were burned badly.” si 5 £
Ww Me .
the
to win
The