Evening Star Newspaper, June 28, 1931, Page 90

ras THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., JUNE 28 1931. he Inevitable Consequence—2B8y Cosmo Hamilton OME into a' nice apartment in a house on Every street. It is lunch time, but breakfast is on the table. These two have been married a little less than a month. Darling—and she is a darling— is sitting at the table, alone. You can hear his grampus-like splashings in the bath room near at hand. Everything on the table is cold as ice. When the door is flung open she holds out her arms to the husband by whom she has been deserted for a very long time. Ten minutes at least, that is. “Darling!” “Darling!” Her golden head goes awfully well with his blue and white dressing gown. “What an age I've been away.” He is tall and square and young and simple, with a kink in his hair. “It's awful. I shall have a speaking-tube put into the bath room if this goes on,” she says. “Great notion! You can read the stock quo- tations to me while I'm using the soap. And now for breakfast. You must be starving. It's a rotten trick to have made you wait. . , .” He sees that she has finished and that every- thing is cold. He used to be extremely fussy a month ago about everything being hot. “I was so frightfully lonely I've had mine,” she says. “I'll heat another for you.” “Oh, no, that's all right.” “But the coftee’s gone sulky, “Yes, but I love it like that.” “And the toast is like yesterday’s paper.” “That’s all the same to me.” “But let me cook just one hot thing.” “Why should I care about hot things when I've got you?” He sits at that chilly table with genuine cheerfulness, she says. NTO her warm heart at this there steals a new sense of gravity and a certain touch of fright. The great fact comes upon her that he has got her, that all the days of her life are his to make or break. “Will you think this way this time next year?” “Next year and always, until the crack of doom. Have you forgctten what today is? It's the 1st of May.” “Oh, darling, it's your birthday!” “No, it isn’t. It's yours.” “How perfectly wonderful of you to know so nfuch about me.” She gives a little cry. “You've bought me a present! Can I believe my eyes?” “You don't think, do you, that I shall ever let today go by without some little thing?” It's a string of amber beads. “But this lovely thing must have cost a frightful sum.” He squares his shoulders. put it on.” And when it is round her little white neck “It did. Let me she rushes to a mirror to see how it looks. “I should have been equally happy if you had just remembered,” she says. HE same room again. You will notice that some of the pristine freshness of the fur- niture is gone. The passing of a year has told its tale, you see. But the silver on the break- fast table is all delightfully clean. There is a different breakfast air about Mr. Darling now. With more than a suspicion of irritation he glances at the clock. It points to half-past 8. He calls “Darling! Darling!” sharply be- cause business calls him. He is no less in love than he used to be, but he has been mar- ried for a year. Money must be earned. The little house, the little wife, her hats and frocks and pleasures depend upon his exertions. A man cannot begin the day well when he has breakfast alone. She is as pretty .as ever, as you will see at once. Better than merely pretty, because she wears a charming air of having found herself. She has realized that life is something ‘more than a lingering romance. “Darling.” She puts her arms around his neck. “Yes, darling, yes.” He is not irritable. He is without temper. She is merely late for breakfast and he must get to work. If instead of eyeing the clock he had looked into her eyes he would have seen scmething in them that would have made him catch his breath. Her voice, however, is just as delicious and equable as it always is. “I haven't seen you for hours.” She tucks herself into a napkin, takes the proffered sausage and gets down to it. “Why can’t you have your bath at night and be punctual in the morning? I loathe be- ginning the day on everything gone cold.” “But it's a lovely warm day.” ER unexpected answer awakes an enormous laugh. What a darling she is! But he's the busines man and the wage-earner and breakfast is one of his best meals, after all is said and done. “What are you doing today?"” “Marking the new towels, sewing on all the buttons which the laundry has taken away, picking the dead leaves off my dear geraniums and lying down in the afternoon in order to be fit for tonight.” “Are you dining with some one, then?” His voice is rather sharp. “Yes—at the Plaza—with you.” “At the Plaza with me? With Steel more like old scrap iron than it's ever been before?” “Then you're taking me to the theater, where we shall get up an excellent appetite for sup- per at the Savoy.” “You can't be feeling well,” says he, after the usual dramatic pause. “I was feeling fine”—but her littlz laugh was hyphened to a tear. “Have you noticed today’s paper by any chance?” dc“vea, of course. Why? Money, golf, mur- . “Then you know the date?” “Yes, the 1st of May. That's why you're taking me to the Plaza and the theater and then to the Savoy—even in these hard times.” “What is the matter with you? I shall call up the doctor ., . .” Like a little girl who's been badly hurt, she bursts into tears. - ling, what is it? What are you crying about?” “You've forgotten—you've forgotten, and only a year ago you said you'd never forget. I don’t want dinner and the theater and supper after- ward. I only want you to remember, and you don't.” “Oh, what a brute I am! I'm afraid I had forgotten because things aren’t going so well. I'm so frightfully sorry. I'll never forget again.” Through her long, wet eyelashes there comes an extraordinary gleam. Triumph, exultation, amazement . . . “No,” she says, “you’ll never forget again. This is the 1st of May—a day we shall both remember as long as we're alive.” OME with me once more. There are many drastic changes in that pretty little room. There's a rattle on the floor, a baby’s woolen stocking over the back of a chair and, in an attitude of assurance, bang ig the middle of the sofa, a large brown teddy bear. Husband and father comes in. His step is very brisk. He's deeply disappointed when he finds an empty room and he throws a look of resentment at the one from which his son and heir now dominates the place. He tries to drink the coffee, but it is much too hot. He goes sharply to the door, but he doesn't knock. He taps. He taps again and still there is no response. Then his patience goes. “Darling, for goodness sake, come and have breakfast. I loathe having it all alone every blessed day. Everything’s so beastly hot, too. It's enough to make one sick.” The door opens softly and there is wife and mother, her finger held up. “Ssh, darling, ssh!™ He catches hold of her. the noise I like. or am I, I should like to know?"” “Oh, please, you'll wake him up.” “Why not? He ought to be awake. Youll start him off with bad habits—sleeping as late as this.” “If you must shout—whisper, if you love me, do.”, He continues his angry outburst, but very “I shall make all Is he paying for this house much under his breath. “I won't be deserted. I came first. Be fair. Am I never to see you alone? Come and have breakfast with me.” She submits to being pulled. “Oh, be careful about the door.” E is careful. Even she couldn’t have shut it more softly if she’d tried. “You were my darling first, you know. And when I go off after breakfast without seeing you I have s pain in the solar plexus all the rest of the day.” Even in his present state he is bound to own to himself that her smile would light the darkest tunnel up. “When I kissed him just now he knew me— I'm perfectly certain he did. And I'm perfectly certain he understands every ‘word I say. Isn't it wonderful?” “Why? His parents are far above the aver= age intelligence.” “Listen!™ “What is it?” There is anxiety in his voice. “I'm sure I heard him sigh.” “No, it's nurse blowing her nose.” “I think I'd better go.” i “All right. But don't forget, you're dining with me at the Plaza tonight.” “Oh, but I daren’t leave the boy.” “Then you're going to the theater and have- ing supper at the Savoy, where we're going to dance.” “What would he say when I got back?” she asks aghast, “Nothirng. He can't speak yet. Don't you understand? This is the 1st of May. Have you forgotten what that means to me?” “Forgotten? Because it's the 1st of May I'm not going out tonight. I'm going to stay with my boy.” “Our boy!"” “And with the money you would have wasted on dinner and all that you're going to buy something that would be very useful for him.” “Oh, you think I am?” “Yes, I know you are. First, because you love me, and then because my birthday only matters now because it's brought him to us. See?” She kisses him, goes to the door on tiptoes, blows him a dividend and creeps into the room. With a high head and a proud heart he watches her disappear and then gives the ime pertinent teddy a punch in the chest. What? . . . But that tactless teddy stands for more than a mere stuffed thing. It makes life doubly worth the living, good and purposeful, And so he picks him up by the paw, and, with great politeness and friendship, to say nothing of gratitude, seats him in the empty chair which is opposite to his own. “Have a sausage, old boy?” (Copyright, 1931.) & 7 = O = Q. 7 Sunday Morning Among the Cros ACROSS. 1. Southern State. 8. Go by again. 14. City of Palestine. 21. Entertains royally. 22. Game of cards. 23. Metrical foot. 24. Pigmies. 25. Regular. 26. Notwithstanding. 27. Piece of furniture. 28. Japanese coin. 29. Insane. 31. Grief. 32. An Athenian of + the fifth century called “Misan- thrope.” $5. Pertaining to a mystical specula- tion cf philosophy. 39. Wealthy Anglo- Indian. 43. Combining of oil. 44. Tibetan gazelle. 45. Equine hybrid. 46. Deity. 48. Utter wildly. 49. Perch. 50. Covering of se:zd. 51. Period of time. 52. Ramble. 54. Make lace. 55. Roman emperor: 212-217. 58. Extremely roor. 60. Loved devctedly. 61. Apparatus for ex- hibiting the rela- tive movements of planets. 66. Hard and glossy coating. 67. British money of account. 68. Hinders. 69. Spanish definite article. 70. Enliven. 74. Inducing sleep. 5. Iranic. 79. Musical compcsi- tion; French. 80. Sacred river of India. 81. Seminole chief. 82. Have. 83. Rising slope. 84. Book of Psalms. 85. Suffix forming ad- Jjectives and nouns from names of cities and coun- tries. form 86. Wzited upon. 88. Part of verb to be. 89. Avenge. 94. Public way; ab. 95. Stops again. 100. Wooden shoes. 101. Shrill cry. 102. Chart. 105. Evergreen tree. 106. Among. 110. Reverberate. 111. Craw of a bird. 114. Greek god cf love. 116. Transg:< ssion. 117. Withered; var. 118. Consume. 119. Quantity of medi- cine. 120. Street arab. 122. Pertaining to cer- tain continent. 125. Intermission. 126. Priest of Apollo. 128. Flimsiness. 129. Norwegian author. 130. Free. 131. Domestic animal. 133. Entrance, .Mantle of Mi- nerva. . Before. . Playing card. . Scotch historian and philosopher. . Fastening cord. . Performs. . Color. DOWN. . Constellation. . Permit. . Past. . Shrubby grass. . Foreign. . Well deserved re- ward. . Burro. . Feminine personal name. . Thrift. . Equivalence. . Fortify. .One who brands. .A word used in the Psalms. . Melancholy. . Again, . Stcne worker, . Seem. . Brazilian coin. . Suffix denoting agent. . Greek goddess of mischief. 28.Open hoat used on rivers. . Wander. . An opera by Puc- cini. . An ancient Greek epic poem. . Combining of measure. . Labor. . French novelist. . Document written on a palm leaf; var. . Dove’s ings. . Port on Black Sea. . Egg shaped. . Climbing species of pepper. . Presents in a se- ries of degrees. . Indefinite. . Needle pointed. . Island of Balearic group. . Fragrances. . Usurps. . Those who abhor. .Pendant orna- ment. . Meal. . Makes evident. .Source of reflex action. . Purpose. .Symbol in Greek indicating t h e rough breathing. . Slip-knot. . Implant. . A letter of the al- phabet. . Explosive sound. . Insignificant parts. . Vigilant. . Nostrils. . Emaciate. . Diminished. .Bronze coin of Rome. . Infold. . Wading bird. . Town in British India. . Believer in the doctrine ,of Arius. . Lease. . Tatter. . Printer’s measure. . A town in Greece. Pertainiug to cer- tain Mahomedan people. form murmur- - HEEARL WRLENL 0| Q EEEERENEKELREERNREREENEKER N PN N SEENE TTNNHL EENEL WEn SHEESLES 99 I[N N T N 104. Ointment. 106. Pertaining tostars, 107. City of Mexico. 108. Belonging to Per- N o 3 T 1 L LTSN AEER \BELLN NB D o N AN TN S NN HHEEEE\SEELENL NN T AN T WWHEENNAEHEEEEREE\\EREEE N 0 N S D HEEEENEEEEENE\EEE \EEL NEEN\HEEL HEmRL HENLENEE\EEE\\EEEE\BEA &\ LRRL GHE LENL UERNNENLE WAEEM N 113. Fancied; poet. 115. Title of respect. 119. Engineering strue- ture, A LEER ENNEL\LENEEE NN N PN TSN TS - iHi HENEEER LEEEL WNHEENEEN\ HENAAENN\HEEER\EEL EERNNNEEEEERE NN\ LN HER\EL i EEERSL UEENE GEEEE EWR HEEE\ LLEEE BE\EE EEL\H 127. French ccin. 129. Urge to action. 132. Form of to be. 135. Proceed. 121. Nearly. 123. Musical note. 124. Part of to be. 125. Way.