Evening Star Newspaper, January 2, 1930, Page 33

THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTOM y Missle stood in front of window and felt a hand on her D. C., THURSDAY, ‘The war was brief. “Not enough war | to go around,” somebody said. ‘When Missie learned that the local boys had not got to Cuba she breathed again. Harry was safe, after all. He was in a camp in the South—safe, But the news was not so good, at that. the Summer went on, typhoid was ravaging the camp. The bodies of men dead of it were brought back and JANUARY 2, 1930. however. In August she learned that he had died. She felt loss rather than any wild grief, a curious sense of emptiness. On the day of the military funeral she stayed in the house and closed the win- dows, lest some strain of martial music come to her ears. When Wesley came home he found her there in the hot | dusk, her work in her lap. Washington can’t overlook that. The country won't let them.” “But just what—" elbow. “war!” he bellowed. “Don't you{ "I thought it was you!” know what's going on in your country? | - It was Harry Sloane, looking down at ‘We’ll fight these Spaniards and lick the | her with his whimsical smile. pants off them!” “You don't look so well, “Warl” You're thin.” Another war. Men killing each other.| . I'm all right. “If you didn’t get them they got you.” It was dreadful. of course, but it was |far away. And it could not touch her. Carter’s This Strange Adventure Missie. I'm just surprised.” “And what do you think of all this?” He indicated a group of soldiers. “I suppose we have to fight.” By Mary Roberts Rinehart Copyrisht. 1920, by North American Newspaper Alliance and Metropolitan Newspaper Service. SYNOPSIS. Missie Colfex is married off at 20 to Wesley Dexter, gay, florid, 35. He soon tires of her, and she is_very unhappy. But she is ‘used to unhappiness. Her Jather, Lambert Colfar, had married Stella. a_burlesque actress, and Missie was their child. When he finally de- serted his wife she killed herself, and Missie goes to with her grand- mother, old Mrs. Colfaz, and her Aunt Adelaide. The dull, jormal atmosphcre of the Colfax home stifles Missie. She is cut off from her stepsister Ellen, and it is only after her marriage that she is able to sce Ellen again. She also lcses sight of Harry Sloane, whom she | hil loved, although he never guessed it. From her father's Uncle Archibald she learns a little family history. Her scape- grace father is old Mrs. Colfar’s favor- ile. Adclaide submits to parental tyranny, and Cecily, another daughter, has been disinherited. l beach, others of their particular coterie were scattered here and there. At certain hours they met, the women in long-skirted bathing suits, carefully corseted and stockinged. They bathed, dressed, drank cocktails to- gether and then lunched. In the aft- ernoons they slept, in the evenings they danced. Whole wardrobes were prepared for these outings, vast num- bers of trunks were carried. Anna Hem- ingway was reported to have taken a dozen. In this mileu Wesley was at his best. Missie was a little silent, a little aloof. Once she heard Anna Heming- way calling her the mouse. Anna was very polite to her after that, but the name stuck, and she knew it. Gus and she sometimes sat together. He was a short man, very ugly, but with a charming smile. He had in- herited money and now he painted cows, his studio was hung with cows and Anna had early named it the stable. Nobody took his work seriously but him- self; he would sit apart, saying little or nothing. Sometimes he watched his beautiful wife and she would say: “Now hush. Gus is jealous, and he'll beat me when I get back.” Years later he did, indeed, beat her, and for cause; but in those early days he only sat and, Missie guessed, suf- fered. She herself was miserable. She had not held Wesley, never would hold him now. Her little-gir] appeal for him was gone. If it was not Anna, it would be gomebody else. She grew T!!fzr than ever, her hands often trembled. One night Wesley brought matters to a head. She had been very silent all evening and her remoteness con- tinued after they got back to their hotel. Something had annoyed him, and he eved her irritably as she set about her undressing. “What are you sulking about now?” ”!Imintm' sulking,” she said. “I just quiet.” d why did you feel quiet? think,” she said honestly, “it’s all that n‘?ue‘ S0 much talking and every- “If you did some of it yourself, you'd add a little to’a party.” “I suppose I am not vain enough.” “And what do you mean by that?” *“You want their approval, don't you? You want them to think you're a good fellow, to admire you. Isn't that it? ‘Well, you see I don’t. Not that way.” He stared at her as thougn he had never seen her before. - She had struck him in his weakest point, his vanity. Ehe knew that his boisterous good na- ture in company was a part of that vanity, of his desire for approval. “You're a fine wife” he jeered. “Just because I like people—" “But do you?” She was not quar- reling. She stood by the side of their bed, her candid eyes fixed on his. “Wes,” she said, after a pause, “just why did you marry me? You knew what I was.” “Why does any man marry any girl?” he retorted. “The same old reasons, I suppose.” “But why do they marry one kind of woman, for certain qualities, and then ‘want her to change? I sometimes think the very things you liked in me are the ones that most annoy you now.” “Oh, if you're going to argue—" “I'm not arguing. I'm trying to think out loud, that’s all. Wes, do you sup- pose that if we had a baby we'd be happier?” “'Oh. you're unhappy, are you?” 1 don’t want our marriage to fall.” “It seems to me that's up to vou.” She had hurt him. She should not have said that about approval, about being thought a good fellow. Her im- puise was to go to him, to say she was sorry, to make overtures toward peace. But she was afraid. By the following Winter she knew that she was not holding him. He was away from home a great de: bser SEVENTEENTH INSTALLMENT. N August Missie and Wesley went to the seashore. The Gus Heming- ways had taken a cottage down the $3.50 Philadelphia $3.25 Chester $3.00 Wilmington AND RETURN Next Sunday, Jan. § L» Washington 7:40AM. Ar Philadelphia 10:45AM. RETURNING LvPhiladelphia 7:30 P.M. Lv Chester 7:50 .M. L+ Wilmington 8:10 PM. Same Day Consult Ticket Agent Baltimore & Ohio YR N > Check them quickly with the universal standard remedy for colds. It is dependable and safe. Grove’s ... Laxative BROMO QUININE 4 Tablets business deals took him about the coun- try. He came home, bathed and dressed, ate heavily, slept like a man exhausted. She dressed against these returns of his, watched anxiously to see if he noticed, found that he did not, and went dully through the routine of her days. She was young, she had an enormous capacity for love, and she was left to stare ahead at nothing. Life was to be always-like this; day after day, year after year, on and on for eternities of dreary time, until at Jast one foined the quiet sleepers on the In the daytime she sewed, read, took her aimless walks, received calls and made them. She was 22; her eyes and hair were still lovely, but her color had gone. There was a wistful look about her; once or twice she found herself sitting opposite Wesley at the table and staring at nothing. When he spoke to her, she seemed to come back from far away, yet she could not remember from where, Sometimes she looked at herself critically in the mirror, turning this |way and that; she must not do that. | It reminded her too much of Stella. | Stella Colfax, 1850-1892. Would she ever do that? Simply come to the end of the road and lie down? There must come a time in most lives when the tired spirit flagged and longed for rest, or when the scale tipped, and effort did not balance with result. Did any one ever lie down to die simply because there was nothing to live for? And she found herself crying, without knowing why she cried. Late one afternoon in February she went to see old Afchibald. She found him surrounded by newspapers, and in a state of great excitement. “Well, they've done it at last.” “Done what?” “They've sunk the Maine! That pusillanimous bunch of politicians in N » A Woman-like, that was her first thought. It couldn’t touch her. Then she re- membered Harry. Harry would go to this war. She went pale, but old Arch- ibald did not notice. His knotted old hands worked, his eyes flashed. Those dirty Spaniards had thumbed noses long enough at Uncle Sam. If he were 20 years younger, 10 years, even: INION which compares vantage of being case you want it, “Yes,” he said gravely. “I'm going, you_know.” She nodded. Her throat was tight. One night very soon after that she stood alone on a bridge over the rail- |Toad and saw the troop train pull out. The car ww;‘aowsmwere full of boys cheering. en the train d she still stood there. S TRETCONPINY DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA A 3% Investment You get 39, interest, compounded semi- annually, on your savings when you de- posit them in a Savings Account with the Union Trust Company—an interest-return favorably with that of many of the best investments. And at this institution you know the ad- able to get your money, in any business day or hour. Join our 1930 Christmas Savings Club Now Open . SOUTHWEST CORNER FIFTEENTH AND H STREETS NORTHWEST EDWARDJ STELLWAGEN PRESIDENT | military funerals wended their way up| the hill to the cemetery. The troepa‘ were dying like flies. There were no| facilities for handling the epidemic: | the field hospitals were unequipped for caring for its victims. Missie sat at home and waited. Harry was down with the fever. Something of | Stella’s fatalism had descended on her, like an oven.” “For heaven’s sake. is house is She looked at him strangely. “It's all right now. You can open the windows.” She saw him watching her at dinner, | puzzled. (Continued in Tomorrow's Star.) JUICY AND SWEET GOLDEN GIFTS FROM SUNSHINE-LAND FLORIDA ORANGES avo GRAPEFRUIT For Health Drink Orange and Grapefruit Juice . ¢ o SATURDAY YOU WILL SEE THEM PRODUCTS OF GENERAL MOTORS General Motors' lowest-priced eight. The car with superior performance. 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