Cytherea

e diminishing tones to the grey horizon. Below, a stream held a cold glimmer in a meadow of brown, frost-killed grass; and the wind, the bitter flaws where Lee stood,

had married Lee's niece and was at least fourteen years his junior, had

rgy than he; personally he felt as old as-as Egypt. Ridiculous, Lee decided, trying to make up his mind whether he might continue playing or return, beaten by November, to the clubhou

y; and the stout figure in knickerbockers, rough stockings, a yellow buckskin jacket and checked cap pulled over a face which, he felt, was brightly red, surprised and a little annoyed him. In the abrupt appearance of this image it seemed that there had been no transitio

ttle pipes of lime. Worse than all that, his potency, the spirit and heat of living, met without any renewal its inescapable winter. This might, did, occur while his being was rebellious with vain hope. Today, in spite of the slight clogging of his br

of pale yellow and, crossed on the breast, a strip of black Spanish lace that fell to the hem of the skirt. It wasn't, of course, the clothes that attracted him-he only grew conscious of them perhaps a month later-but the wilful charm, the enigmatic fascination, of the still face. The eyes were long and half closed

he figure seemed diminished by a distance which yet left every feature clear. With this he grew satirical at himself; and, moving resolutely down the Avenue, treated his absorption with ridicule. But the vision of the face, the smile, the narrowed eyes, persisted in his mind; the truth was that they troubled him; and within three blocks he had

nd the doll-though Lee Randon no longer thought of it as merely that-left downstairs, ha

rring in plants and men. But in the shape above him it had been strangely modified from an apparently original purpose, made infinitely difficult if not impossible of understanding. His Cytherea bore the traces, the results, of old and lost and polished civilizations; there was about her even a breath of immemorial China. It mi

n advanced without answer by Cytherea was not confined to her, it had very decidedly entered into him, and touched, practically, everyone he knew, everyone, that was, who had a trace of imagination. Existence had been enormously upset, in a manner at once

ed, but the indefinable word love. Admiration, affection, passion, were clear in their meanings-but love! His brow contracted in a frown spreading in a shadowy doubt over his face when he saw that he had almost reached the clubhouse; its long steep-pitched bulk lay directly across the path of dusk, approaching from the east; and a ru

ry, of course, had tomorrow's task easily in hand, with another star for a day's good conduct in school; but Helena, shining in the gold and flush of her radiant inattention, would know nothing. Helena, Lee Randon acknowledged, spelled atrociously. If it weren't for the clubs and his spiked shoe

long divan before the open fire, he found Peyton Morris lounging with Anette Sherwin by a low tea table. The hot water, they informed Lee com

he couldn't be sure. They are going to begin rehearsing at any minute, and the

her for a scrappy dinner; she couldn't even wait for c

s moving pictures. He had met her a number of years ago, in Eastlake, but he retained no clear impression of her; and, admitting that he hadn't gone to se

s place; "you will realize that at once. She'

k hair," Ran

n," Anette replied. "Whom have you been meeting with

He had a vision of intense black hair swept about an enigmatic still smile, of an ol

one on the screen can touch her." He made these declarations in a manner both shadowed and aggressive.

must do your best. It's perfectly marvelous, with so much else, that she

?" Randon abru

his handsomely proportioned face, the clear grey eyes, the light carefully brushed hair and stubborn chin. Peyton was a striking if slightly sullen appearing youth-yet he must be on the mark of thirty-and it was undeniable that he was well thought of generally.

prieties; but Lee couldn't imagine Claire marrying or holding to a man so empty, or, rather, so dully solid. Claire he admired without reservation-a girl who had become a wife, a mother, with no loss of her vivid charac

looking as Claire, who at times was almost beautiful; but Fanny had a very decided kind of attractiveness which Lee Randon wished she would more bring out. She was a little too serious. He didn't actually want her to dr

wo splendid children? His house was as absolute in its restrained luxury of taste as was the unfailing attention to his comfort. It was purely for her own happiness that he wanted her to

g merely alive; after the tonic of the cold his nerves were strung like steel, his blood was in a full tide. Lee was aware of a marked sense of pleasure at the closeness to him of Anet

him? He was unable to say, he didn't know. It was something intangible, a charm without definite form; and his thoughts returned to Cytherea-if he could grasp the secret of her fascination he would be able to settle a

arching for something essential, he couldn't discover what; but, dismissing the problem of how he'd act if he found it, the profound conviction remained that when his hopeful quest was over then indeed he'd be old, finished, drained. Lee Randon secretly cherished, jealo

stopped, but the wind had increased and was blowing over the open expanse of the course in the high gaunt key of winter. His house, across the road, showed regular cheerful rectangles of orange illumination: he always returned to it with a feeling of relief and

thought of their families, only in the intervals of their tyrannical occupations. He, in reality, was rather better there than most, fo

ly back until after five. Nine hours absent daily through the week; and it was probable that he was in bed by eleven, up at seven-seven hours' sleep; of the eight hours left in twenty-four half

billiards. Lee Randon had never analyzed this before, and the result amazed him. With younger men, of course, it was different; they had more time and interest for

scriminate reading: sitting until morning with college men of poetic tendencies, he had discussed the intricacies of conduct in the light of beauty rather than prudence. This followed him shyly into the world, the offices of the Magnolia Iron Works; where, he had told himself optimistically, he was but finding a temporary competence. What, when he shoul

opher, nor read anything but the most current of magazines. At intervals Lee had found a woman who responded to the inner side of him, and together they swept into an aesthetic emotional debauch; but

ible that he might be doing her understanding an injustice. Fanny, generally, was a woman in whom the best of sense triumphed; Fanny was practical. It was she who saw that the furnace pipes were inspected, the chimney flues cleaned before

chaste embroidery, but nothing more. Neither did she use perfumes of any sort, there was no array of ornamental bottles on her dressing-table, no sachet among her handkerchiefs, her cambric was not laid in scented flannel. Her dressing, a little severe, perhaps-she liked tailored suits with crisp linen waists and blue serge with no more than a touch of color-was

ending the narrow stony road from the club-house to his gate, were an unavoidable part of her special qualities: her quick decisiveness, her sharp recognitions of right and her obdurate condemnation of wrong-these distinctions were never obscured in Fanny-necessitated a finality of judgment open

eme right. Beyond the porch was the square of the formal garden, indistinguishable at this season, and the garage, the driveway, were hidden at the back. He mounted the broad steps of field stone at the terrace, but, in place of going directly in under

r hands slowly clasp until he felt that they were rigid, and her mouth became pinched; her face seemed actually hard. Gregory spoke to her, with his fat fingers on her sleeve, but she made no reply, paid no attention to him. Lee could hear Gregory's deman

ded him still, he realized, a little withdrawn in the abstraction he had surprised. T

ive; and then, after a pause, she continued, more insecurely, "I was only think

," he spoke alm

nd to care less for them than I do for my one. It is exactly as though I belonged before the war and they came afterwards. It is true-I am old-fashioned. Well, I don't car

ght. "No one likes fun better than I do, but the fun now is so different," her voice had the sound of a wail, "it's nothing but legs and getting kissed by anybody b

n he assured her, in a specie

d their husbands' affections; actually that, as though it were difficult, necessary; the details were sickening, and reminded me of that old joke about leaving off your wedding ring. It was all too horrid! And, underneath, they were bitt

o that?" Lee asked,

ties with the sanctity of her bed. They all thought Claire was a fool to let Peyton see Mina Raff like that in New York-the way to avoid troub

ivan at the Club. "What if he is crazy about her?" he observed indifferently; "it can't c

lous years, Lee. It was plain that they envied us." She rose and came close to him, her widely-opened candid blue eyes level with his gaze. "No

such fatal mistake. The other, the errant fancy, was no more than a vagrant unimportant impulse. "Don't let these women, who cat around, upset you; probably they are th

r. I don't care!" Her manner bore a foreign trace of abandon in its radiant happiness; and, with spread fingers on his back, she propelled hi

d canopies and counterpanes stitched in a primitive design. He possessed an inlaid chest of drawers across from the graceful low-boy used by Fanny as a dressing-table; there was a bed stand with brass-tipped feet, a Duncan Fyfe, she

nt and unaccountable, uneasiness, a marked discomfort, at his heart. The burden of it was that he had a very great deal of which, it might well be, he wasn't worthy. In Fanny, he told himself, as again

latively unimportant. Could any more be required of a faith than its ability, like a life preserver on water, to hold an individual safe from sinking? Strangely enough, the one or

nly, it seemed to him that just that, the limitation of Fanny's determined attitude, was, perhaps, the most desirable thing possible. If it were possible of acquisition! Such a certainty wasn't his naturally-those two diverse strains in him again; but one, he added, had been practically obliterated. The first step in such a cour

cost, herself, it would be unreasonable in her not to recognize the same need in him. But Lee was obliged to add the old and familiar and increasingly heavy provision: any individuality of being, of desire, must not be allowed to impair

ad been unaware of the flight of time. Throughout dinner Fanny and he said little; their children had a supper at six o'clock, and at seven were sent to bed; so there were commonly but two at the other table. He had an occasional glimpse of his wife, behind a high centerpiece of late chrysanthemums, the color of bright copper penni

r size and blueness and prominence. She kept, too, the almost shrinking delicacy of a girl's mind: Fanny never repeated stories not sufficiently saved from the gross by their humor. Her private severity with women who did, he felt, was too extreme. The truth was that she regarded the mechanism of nature with distaste; Fanny

y was, fundamentally, enormous. He was glad that there was nothing hidden in his life which could seriously disturb her; nothing, that was, irrevocable. Which had he been-wise or fortunate, or only trivial? Perhaps, everything considered, merely fortunate; and he wondered how she would

ee you. Still, it's as well, I suppose, since you didn't ch

t make me so

ernoon, she said that she hated and distrusted all men; yet I'm sure no one could be mo

ed, "if I spent my spare tim

re a man could want? That's exactly what they were talking about; it's so-so idiotic. Those younger girls ought to b

ssing came in, that there was smoke without fire.... It was all devilish strange, the present day, disturbing. The young men, since the war, had grown sober, and the older men resembled Geor

to be quiet. The room was large, it filled that end of the lower floor, and Lee's gaze idly rested on the smoke of his cigar, veiling the grand piano in the far corner. There were no overhead lights, the plugs for the lamps were set in the baseboard, and the radiance was pleasantly diffused, warm and subdued: the dull immaculately white paint of th

rned to the United States. This projected trip to Cuba they had discussed for many Novembers; every year Fanny and he promised each other that, early in February, they would actually go; and preparatory let

n in Eastlake. Cuba, he made it seem, Havana and the colonias of cane, the coast and the interior, was a place with none of the drawbacks of a northern land or society; there were, certainly, conventions-the Spanish were a very punctilious people-but they operated in a conveniently definite, Daniel might almost say a

int smile. Her face wouldn't be greatly changed by old age, by death. She was like that, inside and out. Whirling ungracious fancies passed through his brain. He shook his head, and Fanny instantly demanded, "What is it, Lee, what is worrying you?" Nothing, he replied, but she continued to study him until, giving it up, she turned to the approaching dance; there would be a dinner a

ost sanitary bareness and two severe iron beds. There was a moment's stillness as he entered, the scrutiny of two rosy fac

on my bed," He

ou're there, father, you must sit here. Guess what I have with me." Lee Randon had

ee leaned forward; "Are those your feet?" he dema

ed by her firm body. In a few years, he thought with a constricted throat, Helena would be grown up, flung into the complex troubles of maturity. However, he knew,

poke slowly, giving the impression that the selection of words was a heavy business; where Helena's speech came in careless rushes. Gregory, too, Lee Randon told himself, would not be at a loss later. The two children actual

r sons and, in lesser degree, daughters. They were, in short, wholly absorbed, no more than parents; at the advent of a family they lost individuality, ambition, initiative; nature trapp

s; they had refused to be gathered into a definition as exact as ambition. Lee had moved to Gregory's bed, and was holding one of the small warm hands, inattentive to the eager clamor of voices. Perhaps his ambition

llowed with a full vigorous sweep; he was successful in convincing a large proportion of the people with whom he dealt that their e

part owner. But, with fresh resources, he tried fresh fields, investments, purchases, every one of which prospered. He owned or operated or controlled an extraordinary diversity of industries-a bottling works for nonalcoholic beverages, a small

e. He had accumulated nearly a million dollars and Fanny's affairs had benefited greatly; his administration of her money had been

voice threatened tears. "What is it?" Lee Randon a

alf dollar gold-piece finally taken from Gregory by his mother, was

e bank for him. I told him when he got it there would be a lot more, but h

y inquired, "h

ow, silly;

-seven d

in the bank," Lee instructed him. "If y

" Gregory hotly interrupted;

ask questions," Helena adde

If I don't put the light out you

that absurdity. He leaned over his son. "Kiss me!" Helena

ven their voices, were subdued. Fanny, apparently, hadn't moved; the light at her shoulder was reflected in the cut steel buckles of her slippers; she had slight

. She ought to teach you repose even if I can't." A swift concern shadowed her eyes. "Are you doing too much, do you think? It isn't necessary, you know

sion of malicious tenderness, if such a thing were possible, the pale seductiveness of her wrists and hands, the finger nails stained with vermilion. He tried to imagine a woman like that, warm, no-burning, with life. It seemed to Lee the doll became animated in a whisper of co

etween him and the piano. His wife settled contentedly in the curly maple roc

under ordinary circumstances, he accomplished the distance in twenty minutes. The road was good and lay through open rolling country, grazing and farmed land; he knew its every aspect thoroughly, each hill and turning and old stone house, in t

uddled against the rising winds. The smoke of a chimney was flattened on a low roof; and Lee, who had sometimes wished that he were a part of the measured countryside life, had a sudden feeling of revolt f

hey had drunk at the hotel bars, and driven home, with discordant laughter and the urged clatter of hoofs, to the silence of star-lit fields. The buggies had gone; High Street, on Saturday night, was

e primary facts of existence, the serious phases, and wanted, above everything, tinsel and laughter. If a girl passing on the street smiled boldly at such youths they were fired with triumph and happiness;

, should be swept away, and men acknowledged what they so largely were? A fresh standard, a new set of values, would have to be established. But before that cou

couldn't answer this finally. A road led over the hills on the right, beyond a horizon of trees. He knew it for only a short distance; where ultimately it led he had no idea. But it

is flourishing affairs-why, it was insanity! However, what absorbed him in his present state of mind, of inquiry, was its honesty; nothing could be served by co

an who, because of his light strength and mastery of horses, had spent a prolonged youth riding in gentlemen's steeplechases for the great Virginia stables; a career of racing silk and odds and danger, of highly ornamental women and champagne,

the past? Lee Randon wasn't looking back in a self-indulgent melancholy. Nor was he an isolated, peculiar being; yes, all the men he knew had, more or less, his own feeling; he could thi

ptains of steel, of finance, were old, spent, before they were fifty, broken by machinery and strain in mid-life, by a responsibility in which they were like pig iron in an open hearth furn

rooms, because life was pedestrian; they were sick of walking in an ugly meaningless clamor and wanted to move to music, to wear pearl studs and fragile slippers and floa

Fanny and he were having before the dinner dance at the Country Club. Peyton and Claire Morris, Anette and, if she came, Mina Raff, with two men, and the Lucians. Perhaps twelve in all; two quarts. The Country Club dances, principally made up of people who had known each other lon

failed to excite his imagination, but Alice Lucian's, graceful enough, were without interest for him. How stupid was the spectacle of women in tights! Short bathing skirts left him cold, but the unexpected, the casual, the vagaries of fashion and

eception room. Fanny, in a lavender dress with a very full skirt decorated with erratically placed pale yellow flowers, had everything in readiness. "Mina Raff came," she announced, as

have just heard stories from envious women." He was careful to say nothing about her

that you do so well, because really you are nothing but an impressionable old fool." S

e entrance at the back. It was the Lucians; and as he greeted them the whole small company swept into the house. Claire, with her narrow dark vivid face, wore diagonals of black and

with dull red stripes and a high collar of fox. He had been wrong in his remembrance of her, for her loveliness was beyond challenge. Yes, a wistful April moon described her

er he recognized that the sweetness was far from sugary; there were indications of a determination that reached stubbornness; already there were faint lines-skilfully covered-at the corners of her eyes, and she was palpably, physically, weary. It wa

n naval uniform with the insignia of a commander; Anette in a scanty sheath of satin from which an airy skirt spread to the left like a fan; Alice Lucian sittin

ed by a single unobtrusive lamp. "What a satisfactory fireplace!" she exclaimed in her faint key, as though, Lee thought, her silent acting were depriving her of voice. She sank onto the cushioned bench against the partition. "How did they feel, do you suppose-the people, the men and women, who belonged to such things?

ceful gesture of her hands up to where Cytherea rested. "Where did you get her? But

tly; "we can't do without her.

stible beauty." She gazed with a sudden flash of penetration at Lee Randon. "Are you sure it's your daughter's?

tably. "You seem to

e better off without her in your house; she might easily ruin it. No common infidelity could be half as dangerous. H

the

now what t

hey are put everywhere, sometimes in my bed; and last week a man killed himself because I wouldn't see him. You'd think that he had all a man

d for any of them?"

t; I really hate to hurt people. If it happens, though, what can you do? Which is worse-to damage others or yourself? Of course, underneath I am entirely selfish; I

der, for him. Together, slowly, deliberately, they would move away from the known, the commonplace, the bound, into the unknown-dark gardens and white marble and the murmur of an ultramarine sea. He was rudely disturbed by the entrance o

oll. "I have an idea the de

old her; "if you will get your cloak-"

damned rot ab

aff wan

, why

t's that?" The other failed to reply, but his remark had sounded remarkably like, "She can." Going, Lee looked back involuntaril

it was so nice at home, with the children, and plans-I intend to take out that yellow rambler and try a climbing American beauty rose there. What a lovely dress of Anette's; it must be the one she's been talking about so much, that Miss

n about Cytherea. It was queer, that; the more he considered it the more significant

looks almost wicked to me, with so many people needing just a little. But anybody could see

and, with the scraping of chairs, a confusion of voices, the places were filled. Lee found himself between Bemis Fox, a younger girl familiar enough at the dances but w

iked him was very evident; not desperately, but enough to dispose of most restraint; she repeated to Lee what sto

k answered a question in a decided manner. The dinner, Lee saw, was wholly characteristic of the club and its members: they had all, practically, known each other for years, since childhood; meeting casually on the street, in

into the delicate and rare flowers of a conservatory. Women to whom giggling was an anomaly giggled persistently; others, the perfect forms of housewife and virtue, seemed inte

nted all the popular forms of pleasure; it was their show, for the magnifying of their charms and the spectacle of their gay satins and scented lace; and the men came, paid, with a good humor, a patience, not without its resemblance to imbecility. Women, Lee continued, constantly complained about living in a world made by men for men; but the truth of that was very limited: in the details, the de

ry polite," Mrs

er," he replied, "or

she explained, "but y

swift speculative interest. "I hadn't realized you were so critical about your guine

ituted happy. Mrs. Craddock obviously was not interested in the change. "I get as tired of this as you do," she asserted abrup

he chance of catching a g

" Mrs. Cradd

ond. Anette rose, and Lee Randon, taking her into his arms, swept out from the doorway. "What was she talking about?" Anet

of the flavor of an acceptable flattery he didn't let this disturb him. "What a marvelous dance," she proceeded;

ty with no sign of marriage on the horizon. He wondered if she really had thrown her slipper over the hedge? It wasn't important, Lee decided, if she had. How ludicrous it was to judge all women, weigh their character, by the single standard of

t was here, even before he had come, he was out of key with it. The efforts of the people about him to forget themselves were stiff and unconvincing; their attitudes were no more than masks held before their faces; there wasn't a genuine darin

d that," she complained; "you don't like me. But you can dance, and with Peyton it's a little like rushing

es even ride in a public car; he said that mystery was a part of their value, and that people wouldn't pay to see them if they were always

d that about m

unbearable," she looked up, with a pointed

, I'm not sure; probably becau

posed to be more emotional. It's funny, and I don't pretend to understand. The trouble with me is that I have no life of

a nuisance

sometimes descended on him in crowds. Even Fanny, the thought of his children, could not banish it. Above the drum he thought he could hear the sibilant dissatisfaction of the throng striving for an eternity of youth. The glass about t

ressed thoughts and putting them into words. "Women," she went on, "spend all their money and hal

s it to make themselves seductive to men o

nt bits, but only of two: prostitute and mother. Not, of course, separately, or in equal parts; some of us have more of one, others more of the other. That girl across the table fro

th a glass of soda water? You see, often I think I'm like that, a thing for bright colors to pour through

d he dropped into a chair beside her.

didn't like her." Women, he reflected, were uncanny. "Three women are just plastered up in the dressing-room," she continued; "Sophie Tane ruin

Morris. "Peyton is simply fascinated," Claire asserted lightly. "This Mina ought to ha

tent, Claire," he insisted; "

t time in my life I am ready to leave a dance before the last flourish of the music. Fanny, we a

mile, her expres

cktails hidden under the seat." The girl who had sat at Lee's right was dancing with a tall fair-haired boy in a corner. Entirely oblivious of the rest of the room, they were advancing two matched steps a

was like a momentary release from deadly confinement, a respite that, by its rare intoxication, drove the participants into forms of incredulous cramped abandon. Positively, he thought, they were grasping at light, at color, at the commonplace sounds of a few ins

e asked him, in a murmurous warmth, if he liked her, at all. And, with a new and surprising, a distasteful, sense of lying, he replied that he did, tremendously. No, a feeling in him, automatic and strange, responded-not Anette! He wanted to leave her,

aid, using the word in a general sense rather than particularly, without an obvious condemning morality. Indeed, it might easily be converted into a term of praise, for what, necessarily

you thinki

ake years t

but I didn't mean to sa

t enough? It's really not necessary to hide ourselves behind a lot of pretentious words. And what we feel

yself tonight. What you think of me has to be big enough to guar

t's blowing colder and colder." She vanished up the stairs, to the dressing-rooms, while Lee stood waiting with Willard. He didn't especi

resses; and he used-with a show of humorous frankness-his long knowledge of

ce and George Willard were vaguely ahead; and, after a short breathless distance, they were in the protection of the shed. The Lucians' automobile had an elaborate enclosed body: shutting the doors they were completely comfortable, unobserved and warm. "No,"

clatter. A match flared and Willard lighted a cigarette. It was curious about Alice-only in the last year, and for no reason Lee could discover, had she done things such as this. Perhaps, with no children, and the money Warner had accumulated compara

in spite of so much, it was clear that he had begun to weary Alice. She was publicly indifferent to him, careless of his wishes; she had ev

distinguishable. "You took all the niceness out of our friendship and made it seem horr

Lee kissed her. She rested there for a moment; then, with her hands against his chest, pushed him away. "I can't, now," sh

plied irritably; "you brought that into i

like me," she s

that in y

he's hard

she's jealous

anny Randon couldn't be jealous of me. Good Lord, no

r. Suddenly the charm she had had for him was gone, the seductiveness dissolved, leaving only Anette, a fairly good-looking girl he had known for a great while. His warm response to her was dead; whatever she had aroused

. "I can't see much," he said, "but it is evident that you two have been fighting. Why don't you live in peace and happiness? The trouble's all

ft swept about their knees. "Not yet,

tears. What, what was it all about? It was Alice who decided that they should return together: "The bottle's e

er, the desire, out of his mind and blood! He wished that he might be absorbed into the night, the storm, become one with its anonymous force, one with the trees he heard laboring on their trunks. Instead o

fe; she had apparently not moved from the chair in which he had left her. Meeting her slightly frowning, questioning expression he told her simply, without premeditation or reserve, that he

, is what happens. I don't want women like Anette to have anything on you, or to think you'll come whenever they call you. I can't make out what it is in your character that's so-so weak. There simply isn't any other

ut that, he saw, was made vulnerable, open to disaster, through her love for him. It was necessary, for complete safety, to be entirely insulated from the humanity of emotions. That condition he instinctively put from his thoughts as being as undesirable as it was beyond realization. Lee, with all his vitality, drew away from a conception,

, but I am uneasy about Claire and Peyton. He hasn't left Mina Raff a minute this evenin

tato, career's the only thing in her head." Then he remembered what Mina Raff had t

and then says that she won't interfere with Peyton. Well, someone else will. Claire has too much reserve, she is too wel

we shall see. If Mina Raff fixes her m

t speak

til he first says something? And when that happens, as easily as not it may be a cable from Per

bled, her lips tightly compressed. "What time is it?" she asked sharply; "the ribbon o

uilt as an informal café before the era of prohibition, occupied by a number

d to Lee that the young man had actually aged since the cocktail party at his house, earlier in the evening. Peyton's mouth was ha

ll go too." He rose promptly, and, with his outer garb, accompanied Lee Randon. His s

get drunk again; but my dam' feet are all over the place. Thanks for h

ce, but, Peyton, in addition to the relationship, I am exceptionally fond of

en sunk in the North Sea,"

gazing about for him. "You've been an age," she cried to Lee; "and, Peyton, Claire is at last looking for

g. "Fanny, you are a darling, but you are

yton," she protested; "but

e begged. "That's what I want. A li

ed him; "I think I have been successfu

quickly. "Fanny is wonderful

eyton muttered; "yo

e talking about?" she as

ff," he admitted shortly, in a

you sure? Did he say so?

's worse than

you

thing you would bother about. But you'd be wrong. It's all in his

aire," s

ay," he agreed. "The man is alway

g to defend him?"

But, for heaven's sake, if either of them comes to you don't just be moral. Try to un

anyhow, Lee; and that is really all I care for. We are closer than others, different.

the children,"

had made such an admission, and it moved him profoundly. It a

" he protested; "you ought to t

an the way I do for you; and that's why I am so glad you are what you are: silly at ti

Lee Randon realized, however, that he would have to begin with the doll, Cytherea; and the difficulty, the preposterousness, of trying to make that clear to his wife, discouraged and kept him

erless to change was accentuated; and her hands managed to convey an impression of appeal. He had been, in the phrase now current, crazy about her; he was still, he told himself strictly. Well, he was ... yet he had kissed Anette; not for the first time, either; but, he recognized, for the last. He was free of that! A space, a phase, of his life was definitely behind him. A pervading regret mingled with the relief of his escape fro