When a Man Marries

w. Sooner or later, she would learn of the divorce, and-Just at that instant my eyes fell on Mr. Harbison-Tom Harbison, as Anne called him. He was looking on with an amused, half-puzzled smile,

y of us already-that he was contemptuously amused, and t

as too late. I was in for it, whatever was coming. It was Aunt Selina who was coming-along the hall, f

es she seemed to tower above us by at least a foot,

wife." That would have been a lie. No, Jimmy merely said, "Here she is." If Aunt Selina chose to think me Bella, was it not her responsibility? And if I chose to accept the situation, was it

Miss Caruthers," he said, with his best manner

carded slippers under the bed. I don't think it had been swept since Bella left it. I believe in sentiment, but I like it brushed and dusted and the cobwebs off of it, and when Aunt Selina put down her bonnet, it stir

ah was changing Aunt Selina's collar-her concession to evening dress-Anne wiped off the ob

she asked me sharply, when Anne

," I replied meekly. Every one

he live

re to dinner, she and her husband. Th

er brooch. When she was finally ready, she took a bead purse from somewhere a

ol-de-rol apron and that black henrietta cloth, and put on a calico wrapper.

she stared helplessly from Aunt Selina to the half doll

irs, "I sent those towels over from Ireland. Tell her to wash a

down, and her face was a curious mixture of guilt and hopeless wrath. Ove

na looked at Leila's bare shoulders and said she guessed she didn't take cold easily, and conversation rather languished. Ma

d you, Kit, to put yourself in such an equivocal position? Unless"-he

o make love to me. No matter what I do, Max always disapproves of it. I have always had a deeply rooted conviction

narrowing his eyes-a sig

I wh

to marr

gnity, "I haven't made up my mind

an's Suffrage in front of the fi

air on the mantel. It came to me as an inspiration that Jim had once said it was an ancestral urn, so I said without hes

elina

t looks like Cousin Jan

as a wedding present, Aunt Selina had examined the card. Then she glared across at me and, stooping, put the card in the fire. I did not understand at all, but I knew I had in some way done the unforgivable thing. Later, Dal told me it was HER card, and that she had sent the vase to Jim at Christmas, with

om the fireplace. "Soon the hand that rocks the cradle will be

having recovered some of his good humor, "but

d Mr. Harbison, who were sta

er done for the independen

ve until then. "We have at least remained unmarried

across the room to where I sat coll

ed the situation? There was such a noise that I did not hear your name, and I am only realizing now that you are m

nner if I had an opportunity; I honestly did. But the more I looked at him and saw how candid his eyes were, and how stern his mouth might be, the more I shivered at the plunge. And, of course,

nd Max took Anne. Leila Mercer was so excited that she wriggled, and as for me, the candles and the orchids-everything-danced around in a circle, and I just seemed to catch the back of my chair as it flew past. Jim had order

table, and in getting acquainted with me. She had brought a bottle of some sort of medicine downstairs wit

ing in the menage that Bella declared she had hated to leave. But he was doing t

bison asked me finally, when he

voice from the othe

high shrill tone, "do yo

side to Mr. Harbison. "See how his hands

ers have always given James the most fearful indigestion. And yet I see you serve them at

king his brain, and we sat staring desperately at each other across the candles. Everything I

t. "Really, I don't believe-" Aun

ater taken internally for cucumbers; baking soda and water externall

elina how much over-charge she had paid in foreign

nd when he did not appear again, Jim got up and went out to investigate.

glances. "One of the maids will co

nce and "fixing him up," as she pu

ial manner he had adopted toward her. "You don't know

. "I say, scarlet fever on a Mongolian-what color wo

I wish you people would remem

idering, no doubt, our subdued excitement as our normal condition. Ages afterward I learned that he thought my face almo

last, noticing my food untouched on my pl

ied feverishly. "I am never i

ridge tonight," he urged. "Miss Caruthers can be an excu

directly at him. "I am angry at myself. I have

mething else trite. The Harbison man lo

ate to undo

ned to be stout-the artist, not I-and with an Aunt Selina Caruthers who made buttons and believed in the Cause. But never, NEVER should he think of me as a silly little fool who pretended that she was the other man's wife and had a lump in her throat because when a real

be undone,"

candlesticks with filigree shades against the somber wainscoting; nine people, two of them unhappy-Jim and I; one of them complacent-Au

ame we were all playing. Finally, however, Aunt Selina, who s

. "I wouldn't be surprised if it's me

ffling?" Jim thr

," I said meekly, wh

ody, apropos absolutely of nothing. "It said on the box, 'ready cooked and predigested.

rmness with which the door closed behind us, I knew that Dallas and Max were bringing out the bottles that Takahiro had hidden. I was seething. When Aunt Selina indic

n the back, and pouring things out for him, and saying, "Poor old Jim" in the most madden

n them like a

now you, every one!" Mr. Harbison got up and pulled out a chair, but I couldn't sit; I folded my arms on the back. "After a while, I suppose, you'll slip upstairs,

Mr. Harbison didn't know the state of af

ely. "We're a selfish lot. If Miss Caruthe

ses down, and threw open the door. Dal's retort, "Whose?" was lost in the con

he said in an undertone. "He's a queer duc

rienced. Deceiving that Harbison man isn't so bad-he think

ally lovely tonight, Kit,

ady-well, thank goodness, it's nine

't and that'