Evening Star Newspaper, January 13, 1930, Page 21

This Strange Adventure By Mary Roberts Rinchart ©opyright, 1929, by North American Newspaber Alliance and Metropolitan Newspaper Service. SYNOPSIS, Missie Dezter’s life has been one of tragedy and sorrow. Her father, Lam- bert Colfax, a member of an aristocratic Jamily, married Stella, a burlesque ac- tress. When Missie was a little girl her father deserted her and her mother, and Stella, after futile attempts at rec- onciliation, killed herself. Missie went to live with her grandmother, old Mrs. Colfax, who adored her son, Lambert; tolerated her daughter; Adelaide, and had disinherited another daughter, Ce- cily. When Missie was 20 she was mar- ried off to Wesley Dexter. She did not love him, and his affection for her was short-lived. Only the birth of a son, Ed- die, kept their marriage from _going completely on the rocks. Kirby Phelps, who Missie met several years after her ‘marriage, was deeply in love with her and she returned his feeling, but be- cause of the boy she determined to for- get Phelps. Dexter's infidelities and brutality caused her to leave him, but her love for Eddie brought her back. After the death of her grandmother and Cecily, Adelaide made her home in the Dexter household, where Missie was trying to forget her unhappiness by de- voting herself to her son. Kirby Phelps, after hoping for years that Missie would decide to obtain her freedom, had final- 1y married. Missie tried desperately 1o keep ' word of Dexter's escapades Jrom Eddie and had succeeded. But every one else knew of them, particu- larly Missie's stepsister, Eileen, and Tommy Wilkins, her husband. But Dexter’s excesses finally cause a long illness that emds in death. During his last days he tries to tell Missie that he regrets his treatment of her. She for- @ives him freely. / TWENTY-EIGHTH INSTALLMENT. OR weeks after Wesley's death Missie seemed unable to rally herself. Eileen was impatient with her. “Why on earth should she miss him?” Eileen demanded of Tom- my. “Youd think it would be a relief. He dissipated himself into his grave. He treated her like dirt for 20 years. And just because he soft-soaped her at the end she misses him! I'm going to talk to her.” “I wouldn't if T were you.” “Why not? “Facts don't mean anything to her.| are Let her alone.” “Let her think Wes sprouted wings at n'm end. And so go on grieving for- ever!” He turned on her almost savagely. “For heaven’s sake let her have something. Let her have her decent grief, anyhow.” He was rather silent after that. He had been a faithful husband to Eileen, and a loving one, an indulgent father to Clare, but sometimes he wondered about them. Was he anything more to them than the source of all good things, the “good provider” of his early days? He gave them everything they wanted, paid their innumerable bills without question, and in return they gave him something. But just what was it? It was not love; it was even at times faintly condescending. Early that Spring Missie made a jour- ney to see her father. Lambert was in his seventies now, with a frail old body which hardly lifted the bed coverings, but he managed a certain jauntiness when he saw her, “Don’'t be too optimistic, Missie! I'm good for 10 years yet.” But his lips were blue and his breath- Ing difficult. She stayed a few days, living at a hotel. Adelaide was nursing him with rfect frenzy of s:if-abmegatiom, but ie saw that she worried him. Before she left Missie installed a Eret'.y ynung nurse, and—the incorrigi- le youth of the man—he sent her out to buy him some silk pajamas, When the nurse had been there rather less than an hour iissie overheard him telling her that she had beautiful eyes. Adelaide cried when the went away. “It's dreadful to see him like this" she said. “He was always so gay and 80 happy.” So gay and so happy! Going deliber- ately down the street, leaving Stella to worry about the f and- the rent. Going blithely out of the house for good. “I'll send an express wagon around.” Playing poker that night on the train, when Stella lay dying in the back room. Cheerfully leaving Eileen and herself to starve. Neglecting his dying mother. And now living—and dying—contented- 1y on Missie’s bounty, trying to flirt with the nurse. ! 8o gay and so happy! And while she called the roll of his sins she was sorry for him. She went back home again, and even Into her seclusion there penetrated the prospect of war. She tried to shut her ears to it, but it penetrated through the walls into Wesley's study, where she #at writing her letters to Eddie. “I'm afraid I have no news.” She would sit and think. What would interest him? ‘What would he want to hear? “I saw Mary Elizabeth the other day, and she asked for you" Mary Elizabeth was one of the little girls who telephoned, a slim quiet girl with big eyes, very soft, very feminine. “She looked quite pretty, I thpught. Now about your having a car there—" She would write, and through the walls would come the growling of an angry nation. She could not shut it out. Often it made her hand shake %0 that she had to take a fresh sheet and begin again. When war was de- clared she watched Eddie’s letters. She thought they showed constraint. But she still had hope. He was not yet 18, and now that America was in, the war would be quickly over. Six months, @maybe. Things were moving fast; Con- | ess voting a war credit of seven bil- ions, lending three billions to the allies, passing a draft act. Ten million men to be drafted. They would not need What would they want with One day she found Mary Elizabeth ] tried various treatments for RHEUMATISM without much relief. Then Moun- tainValleyMineral Water brought much benefit and great improve- ment’/—says a recent letter. Another says “’Mountain Valley Mineral Water without a doubt banished Rheumatism for me’’, And another “The pains of Rheumatism are gone. Five weeks of Mountain Valley Mineral ‘Water brought me refief”’. Take hope, Rheumatic sufferer — this famous mineral water should do for you what it has done for thousands of others. Physiologi- cally balanced, Its action is nat- ntific—it helps Nature to neutralize the lrritating uric acid and by inducing elimination % Ghrough all four natural channels tends to preventthe accumulation of trouble-making toxins end waste products of digestion. Phone for our booklet today. MOUNTAIN VALLEY * MINERAL WATER O R o bRNGS ARk, WashingtonOice,215Dist.Nat.Bk.Bldg. - Enn:.M:h'!nlfllu.M waiting for her. The girl's eyes were swollen, “They won't take Eddie, will they, Mrs. Dexter?” “No, indeed. He's too young.” But soon a letter came. He had lied about his age and had already enlisted. When she received this he would be on his way to camp. She sat still for a long time, with that letter in her hands. So this was what it had come to; all this living and suffering, the tremendous sweep of one human life, its endurance, its weaknesses and its strengths, now nar- rowed down to a pin point, to one boy in ten million men. Camps sprang up over night, cheer- ful camps, filled with boys. War was a new game, life had been reduced to its elements, was carefree. They were fed, drilled,’ cared for. They had no responsibilities, and the regular life and the exercise agreed with them. They resented the discipline, but thrived under it. Eddle was very happy. He ate enormously, slept on his narrow cot the heavy unbroken sleep of youth. In the daytime he dug trenches on imitation battlefields, practised bayonet drill on imitation enemies. Missie was very quiet that Fall. She seemed unable to adapt herself to war. Other women were doing it, she knew: telling themselves that war was noble, heroic; putting on pititul little airs of pride: “Yes, Jim's gone. He was one of the first to volunteer.” Then going home to sit alone in some upper room, perhaps with childish garments on_their knees, old forgotten toys. But she could not do that. There was a terrible revolt in her, bitter, im- placable. War was useless, damnable. Sometimes she sat in the rocking chair in the old nursery and rocked doggedly back and forth. One day, when Eddie had been three months in his camp, the parlor maid announced a Col. Phelps calling. It took Missie a moment to realize that it was Kirby, another moment or two to still that ridiculous shaking of the hands. Just what he felt she did not know, standing there in that room where once he had held her in his arms. ‘When he heard her on the stairs he shook himself, threw away his cigarette. “Well, Kirby! And how fine you in uniform!” “Bit of nonsense, really,” he sald. “I'm a non-combatant, you know.” How little these unawakened women changed! There, in that dusky room she was the Missie of years ago. How still she was, too. Eleanor was never still; she made him feel tired and old by_comparison, But he was not a sentimental ma: not any more. He was & business mad, & business man in a uniform. “I've only just learned about Eddle, Missie. He's t00 young, isn't he?” “Yes. He said he was older.” He made an impatient gesture. “It's ridiculous. This war doesn't want boys. It's man stuff. If you want him back, there may be some way to arrange it. I don't know, but I could try.” Her heart leaped, then settled down with heavy painful beating. She made a small gesture, as if she were putting something away from her. “I couldn’t humiliate him,” she said. “He would hate me for it. And maybe it will be good for him.” She colored faintly. “He has my father's blood in him, and ago—" she stopped. “Also mine.” “Yours.” “I'm weak, I've just drifted. I'm no mother of kings.” She smiled at him. “His father was strong; not always right, perhaps, but strong, and Eddie knows that his father would have wanted him to go.” He stared at her. Did she believe that? Had she built up a defensive wall against the memories she must have of Wesley, or was she 1 up to all this propaganda about mo in war? Take their boys, if it had to be done, but why demand that they smile? “That is, of course, the proper at. titude.” He picked up his cap. “Onl don’t think you're weak. You're strong, . Quiet and strong.” “¥Ybu don't know.” “I think I do.” He laoked around the room, back to her. “Missie, sup- pose I had kept you? Never let you come back. Made a fight for Eddle. Have you ever thought about that?” “I would not change- my life, as have lived it, in any particular, Kirby.” “It has satisfied you, then?” “I have had a great deal. Toward the end Wesley changed, Kirby. He Andrew Zeis of 3722 Ward S Chicago, and his cousin, Jack Horth, “pal around” together. And they aren’t the sort of boys who want to nu::pend outdoor play even during a Chicago winter. it isn't strange that once in a while they get laid up with coughs and colds. As Mr. Zeis himself sa; “My son, Andrew, gets the uluy:i bad-weather coughs like all boys do. He's out in all sorts of weather, THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 1930. began to care for me; I know that He gentle, very de) lent.” Her . “When he died I missed him. missed him - fully. And now my father is dying.” Suddenly he was possessed by a dreadful impatience. ~He knew all about Lambert Colfax. What was the matter with this woman, that she could forget wrongs these two men had done her, and mourn for them? She was weak, after all, weak and sentimental; a pale woman in a black dress, tend- ing the graves of people who had ruined her life, shedding tears over them! And he did not know that his anger was jealousy, jealousy of these dead people for whom she had wept and prayed. Jealousy of that past of hers, marked like milestones with its graves. They had left their mark on her, all of them. Only he, who had loved her long and well, had failed to mark her, His vanity was hurt, his sex pride outraged. When he reached the street he found that he had left his gloves behind. He swore and went on . . . Tommy managed to learn when Eddie's division was sent to the port of embarkation, He had a way of knowing things. .He was in with the government now; very thick with the government. He could walk into the office of the Secretary of War with an easy air; “Good morning, Mr. Secre- tary—" 8o it was Tommy who told her one day to go to New York, and managed to get leave for Eddle, to coincide. Mary Elizabeth was there, small and very feminine. Sometimes Missie saw him lowering his head to the girl, whispering. adore you.” “Don’t. I'm afraid Il cry.” It was time to go. Mary Elizabeth was shaking; her face was very white. A great wave of pity for her swept over ML;:I('. How young she was to have to suffer. She talked feverishly in the cab.; Mary Elizabeth was staying with friends, and she and Eddie dropped Missie at her hotel. Missie had hoped that his last farewell would be to her. But they were young and desperately in love. Let them have those last few moments _together. Good-by, mother dear.” 'Good-by, Eddie. God bless you.” ‘T'll be all right, mother.” “I know you will. Don’t worry about me. “Good-by, dear.” He kissed her. She smiled up at him, then she turned and went in. Inside the doorway she staggered, and the porter caught her. “Better sit down a moment, lady.” “I'm better now, thanks.” She packed that night, and at last she crawled into her bed. It was done, irrevocable. He was gone. Nothing could call him back now. But at mid- night there was a knock at her door. She got up, turned on a light, threw on her dressing gown, and opened it. Eddie was in the doorway. He was in full equipment, with knapsack and blanket roll, with a steel helmet on his head and a rifle in his hand. She put her hand to her throat. “Took a chance on your still being here!” he said gayly. “I had to do an errand for the captain, £o I though I'd come up and show off. We're sailing tonight.” She backed off. Suddenly she began to cry, terrible crying. She coyld not control it. It frightened Eddie. “Stop, mother! For heaven's sake! I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, mother.” At the distress in his voice she stop- ped. Perhaph nothing else would have stopped her. She sat on-the edge of her bed, drying her eyes, trying to smile at him. He picked up his gun. She forced herself to look at it, at the helmet, at the whole equipment for killing, and, having looked, she could not take her eyes from them. “It seems such a lot to carry, Eddie!” “I'll tell the world.” Her calmness satisfled him. He walked to the mirror, gave his helmet a tilt, came back to her, “Sure you're_all right?” “Of course, I'm all right. ¥You sur- prised me, that's all.” “I'll be back, you know. With bells on.” “Of course, you'll be back.” At the door he stopped, turned and looked back at her. “You'll sleep now, won't you? Sure?™ “Yes, I'll sleep. Good-by, and: bless you, mv son. My dear son.” (Continued in tomorrow’s Star.) Organized Responsibility Ui Yellow Cabs and Black and White Cabs Owned and Operated by Brown Bros. CHICAGO COUSINS GET COUGHS WHILE AT PLAY 3 4 ik and we do have all kinds here in Chicago. Some time ago he had & mighty bad cough that stuck to him till Istarted giving him REM. T'd seen it advertised, and it helped him fine. My nephew, Jack Horth, hasalsoused it too, and with results, for his mother gives im REM whenever he gets a cough. It’s certainly a good co rgm'e;i‘i'.” Thousands of other lighted users agree with Mr. Zeis, REM's exclusive formula explains its splendid results. Economical, too! Rem s quicker. Clings to the throat. Starts relief immediately REM'S easy to take, too. Children and parents can | both appreciate that G street at Eleventh OYAL Telephone District 4400 Dress Coats—Sport Coats in a Drastic January Reduction Many Less Than 14 Original Prices Some of the prices are cut sharply in half—in every case there's a substantial cut from the original price. Yet each coat is a 1930 style, to wear with the new frocks. It will pay you to drop everything and come in tomorrow to try them on. A chance like this doesn’t come every day: Smart, beautifully tailored and furred coats at a fraction of their value. 1 $59.50 Black Broadtail Fabric Coat, kit fox collar 19 50 and cuffs. Size 36. No .o . 1 $59.50 Blue Broadcloth Coat, skunk collar and cuffs. 90 50 Size 38. Now .. .. s 1 $69.50 Blue Suede Cloth Recently $49.50. Now .......... 1 $75 Black Broadcloth Coat, marmink trim. 38. Recently $49.50. NOW ............... 1 $139.50 Plum Venise Cloth Coat, beaver col cuffs. Size 36. Recently $69.75. Now . 1 $145 Gray Broadcloth Coat, kit fox collas Size 36. 1 $135 Gray S cuffs. Size 36. Recently $98.50. Now . 1 $145 Red Broadcloth Coat, kit fox col Bize 34. Recently $115. Now 1 $79.50 Gray Mixture Sport Now a5 . 1 $165 Tan Broadcloth Coat, dyed Civet cat collar 98 50 Size 36. Recently $129.50. Now ........ & Size 40%%. and cuffs. - 1 $59.50 Black Broadtail Fabric Coat, dyed Civet cat 29.50 collar and cuffs. Size 14. Recently $39.50. Now.... (8 1 $59.50 Black Broadcloth Coat, seal trim. Size 12. 29 50 Recently $39.50. NOW ....cecvevennns = 1 $59.50 Gray Broadcloth Coat, wolf collar and cuff: Size 18. Recently 1 $59.50 Gray Broadcloth Coat, wolf collar and cuffs. Size 16. Recently $39.50. Now . 1 $59.50 Blue Broadcloth Coat, skunk collar Size 18. Recently $39.50. Now ... 2 $59.50 Red Broadcloth Coats, ci 12 and 14. Recently $39.50. Now 1 $59.50 Tan Broadcloth Coat, cari cuffs and border. Size 18. Recently $39.50. Now.. 1 $50.50 Black Broadtail Fabric Coat, Size 18. Now 1 $59.50 Blue Broadcloth Now .. and cuffs. Size 16. Warm, clinging rayon for Winter wear Sunbeam Rayon Vests Regular size 100 Extra size 125 Bloomers Regular size 1.50 Extra size 175 Sunbeam rayon is a specially pre- pared yarn of more than ordinary strength. It makes these very nice bloomers and vests, tailored to fit, generously cut for comfort. They’re very attractive to behold and will give long and faithful service. Rayon is the ideal fabric for Winter under- wear because its clinging qualities keep in the body’s heat. PALAIS ROYAL—Main Floor The answer to that corset question Carter’s Mouldette 3.95 The 1930 founda- tion garment that achieves the cor- rect silhouette at maximum com- fort and conven- ience. A slender, well defined waistline and slim, tapering hips without the aid of a single bone—that’s what this lovely, magical lit- tle garment will do for you. It's made of flesh-color glove rayon, with detachable arters, and will wash like a handkerchief. 5omfort, freedom, the consciousness of having a trim figure—no corset could do more. The sizes grade from 32 to 38 bust, thus assuring a perfect fit. Carter's Mouldette is exclu- sive with the Palais Royal in Washington. PALAIS ROYAL—Corsets—Third Floor Now WOMEN’S COATS &, wolt trim. " Size 36. 39,50 59.50 72.50 86.50 * 98.50 69.50 MISSES’ COATS " 29,50 29.50 29.50 29.50 29.50 baby seal collar 29.50 29.50 $30.50. Now ......... Palais Royal Makes Dollars Stretch When Grandma Was a Girl In the fabled ’eighties, when a little Englishwoman on a throne set the world's stand- ards in dress, in furniture, and deportment, and her influence extended even to Washington, the aisles of Palais Royal were thronged with billowing skirts that floated from counter to counter, investi- gating the latest thing in bombazine, bustles, and those harness-like contraptions known as corsets. In those days, as today, economy was every ‘woman'’s watchword, whether she arrived clad in taffeta that “could stand alone,” and had a groom at her horse’s head, or whether she had trudged on foot from ’way over Southeast. When a shopping tour was contem- plated (and it was no mere off-hand jaunt, either), it was understood that Palais Royal would be the objec- tive. For at Palais Royal the deflated dollar of those days could be ingeniously stretched and stretched. Today, a fact that has survived unchanged through all those decades, is that Palais Royal is one’s ultimate destination when shopping bent, and smartness must be achieved with economy. Today’s dollar, here, is just as elastic as it was when grandma was a girl. January Specials for Thrifty Shoppers Little Lamps In Color 1.00 Friendly little lamps that fit on the radio, n}; your desk, or on the bedside table. They're light weight, neatly de- signed, and come in red, green or bronze. - Fioor Women’s Novelty Pajamas 1.19 Of broadcloth, or crepe, and enlivened with dots, stripes, floral and conven- tional designs. Bright, colorful pat- terns. Cut generously full, and have slip-on jackets. Third Floor Smart Imported Gloves 2.95 In the tailored pull-on style that's so popular. Piquge sewn, Paris point 'self stitching. In brown, mode, beav- E er, moderne, eggshell and black. Main Floor Little Girls’ 1.58 Gay prints, demure dimities, sturdy silkettes. Cute pockets, quaint collars, pretty sashes. Panties, 2 to 6; bloom- ers, 7 to 14; and straightline dresses, TN Third Floor Wardrobe Bags 1.59 They're made of gaily flowered fabric and hold eight garments free from dust. You owe it to your nice frocks to protect them thus. And keep your closet neat. Main Floor Size 16. Size 16. 1 $59.50 Black Broadcl cu:u Size 17. Now fi?.?&.&?’.fi?&fl 29.50 1 $59.50 Red Broadcloth Coat, caracul trim. OW ¢ovsesesceccssrsaceionsencacassacaseencaseane 1 $79.50 Red Broadcloth Coat, caracul trim. Sise Recently $59.50. NOW ...ccccoceseessanaccscan 1 $79.50 Tan Broadcloth Coat, seal trim. Size Recently $59.50. NOW ....ccvecvecsesceasccsscnne 4 $59.50 Red and Blue Broadcloth Coats, caracul col- lar and cuffs. Sizes 14, 16, 18. NOW.........0 . 1 $59.50 Tan Broadcloth Coat, skunk collar and cuffs Recently $25. Now ....... 1 $89.50 Black Broadtail Fabric Coat, skunk collar 69 50 and cuffs. Size 16. Recently $75. NOW.....cceeeue - 1 $89.50 Tan Broadcloth Coat, bear collar and cuffs 69 50 Recently $75. NOW «.cccevvrecocacicanonss o 1 $110 Black Broadcloth Coat, beaver collar 3 Size 1412. Now .. - v 98'50 1 $115 Black Now . e 1 $175 Blue Broadcloth Coat, Jap mink trim. Sise 98.50 Recently $120.50. NOW ...ceeccecraacsccccsscasnens . 1 $225 Gray Velvet Coat, Civet cat trim. Size 16. Re’:ent.ly uiuo. Now ".1.‘ 118.50 1 $139.50 Plum Broadcloth Coaf iver collar St Bise 18, NOW orrenrotremeeeserereeenes 118.50 49.50 49.50 49.50 19.50 98.50 SPORT COATS 2 $195 Green Diagonal Cloth Coats, Olvet eat rim. 7950 Sizes 14 and 16. Recently $89.50. Now.. - 1 $98.50 Tan Mixture Sport Coat, caracul eollar, Size 69.50 18. Recently $79.50. NOW.....cececesenns 5 1 $65 Tan Camel's Hair Coat, raccoon collar. Size 16. 29.50 Recently $39.50. NOW ...ccccconcsssvens o 1 $35 Tan Camel's Hair Coat, teflored. Size Recently $29.50. NOW ...cccorncocatecnsascoassces PALAIS ROYAL—Third Floor 25.00 From the Toilet Goods Section You'll be glad to avail yourself of these $4 De Vilbiss Perfumizers " $1.00 You'll like one for your own dressing table or for a gift to some one else. In three attractive shades. All guar- anteed. PALAIS ROYAL—Main Floor January Sale of Silks and Velvets Plain and Fancy SILKS of the Better Kind Six fashionable types, all marked far be- low what you would expect to pay for such excellent quality fabrics. PP All-Silk Crepe Satin, in 20 Colors Black Crepe Satin, a Special Purchase Printed Flat Crepe, an Excellent Quality Printed Chiffons, in a Variety of Patterns Plain Rough Weave Sports Silk Permanent Finish Celanese Moire Another Offering of Prime Importance Plain & Fancy Silks th?’;:rp;;‘lsf:fly 1 39 Yd. Low Price of All-Silk Flat Crepe, 40 colors All-Silk Printed Crepe All-Silk Printed Georgette All-Silk Printed Chiffon All-Silk Oriental Damask Plain and Fancy Silks 209 Yd. A splendid group of high-grade silks. 39-In. Transparent Velvet 3.79 Yd. Rich rayon face with cotton back. 12 colors. 42.In. All-Silk Chiffon Velvet 4.65 Yd. Twenty-five colors, also black. 39-Inch Printed Velvet 4.65 Yd. In all the new smart color combinations. PALAIS ROYAL—Second Floor