THE BEE: OMAHA, SUNDAY,. MAY 8, 1921.
THQR OUGHB R
Wherein Fate Plays a
Whimsical Prank or Two,
and, for Once, Gets the
Worst of It.
rOTT. ln momenta of enthusiasm, would
boast that hi wife was a thorough
bred. He had once been Interested in
breeding horses, and the terms had retained
a plaoe In his vocabulary. He was a good
natured, easy going individual, not particu
larly brilliant, and, above all. neither keenly
analytical in his thinking processes nor fin
icky In his use of words. When he called hia
wife a thoroughbred he meant it for a com
pliment. The trouble about it was that he
was right and never knew Just how thor
oughly right he was.
Those who know horse will tell you what
splendid qualities ensue from long and care
ful breeding, such as strength, beauty, en
durance, spirit, and vitality. Tour poor,
stodgy work horse has none of these. Tet
the work horse is patient, and plods and
drudges, takes things as they come with a
sort of fatalistic philosophy, accepts the good
of life while he stoically endures the bad, and.
while he never rises to great heights, has the
compensating consolation of never sinking t(
great depths. Whereas the thoroughbred,
keyed to a high tension, is startled by his own
shadow, jumps at a sound, trembles under
restraint, and spends practically most of Ills
life in a state of quivering nerves.
Mrs. Mott was a thoroughbred. Sensitive,
proud, and refined, her life had, fortunately,
been sheltered from every disturbing influ
ence. Fate had dealt gently with her, ' She
had not the faintest idea of how she would
act under the stress of powerful emotion, for
the reason that the depths of her emotions
had never been stirred.
The Motta had been married six years, and
had a single child, Lucille, who was five years
eld, the idol of her parents. It had been a
happy marriage, or, rather, to be exact. It
had been a tranquil and contented marriage.
Mrs. Mott was as devoted to her husband as
she felt a woman could possibly be. She
loved his cheerful disposition, his kindliness,
and his tenderness to herself. Probably, if
you had asked! her what she admired most In
her husband, she would have told you that It
was his trustworthiness.
From which ens might have deduced that
Mrs. Mott was inclined to be selfish, the qual
ity which appealed to her most being the one
which gave her the greatest comfort. Of her
devotion to her child, however, there was no
Question. It must, furthermore, be added
that Mrs. Mott was twenty-elx years old, slen
der, and exceedingly pretty.
It n fcegan upon an evening when Mott,
detained: by an engineering problem at the
office of the steel company by which he was
employed, telephoned to his wife that he
would not be home until late and suggested
that, after Lucille had been put to bed, his
wife call upon a friend of hers who lived in
the neighborhood." It happened that this
friend Mrs. Morriswas giving a party
that evening, and there Mrs. Mott, for the,
first time, met Franklin Elder. .
Even as he clasped her hand Mrs. Mott
discerned the manner of man he was hand
some, charming, selfish, unscrupulous, and
Indiscriminately amorous; His ' adroitness
amused her. He held her hand Just long
enough and pressed It Just tenderly enough
to convey to her the 'Impression his eyes
aiding and abetting the communication thatt
she appealed to him. A whole volume can
be expressed In a single handclasp. She
smiled charmingly, and promptly dismissed
him from her mind.
It was nearly an hour later when, seated
alone upon a sofa, she "saw him approaching.
He seated himself at her side and plunged'
headlong Into an amusing tirade against
social functions which soon had her laugh
ing. Then her "husband came to take her
home, and she Introduced him to Franklin
Elder. ' ' , ,
The Elder type Is too Common to merit
many words of description. Men who pur
sue their Illicit diversions methodically, with
out even passion as an excuse or pretext; to
whom no human ties appeal, and who, often
under a pleasing exterior, conceal the ruth
lessness of a beast of prey, are, unfortunate
ly, familiar to every community.
It was Just two days after Mrs. Morris'
party that Mott came home quite excited.
"Do you remember that chap Elder we
met the other night? " he said. " Well, today
he was elected a director of our company.
He came into the office and shook hands with
me. I'd like to hive him up for dinner some
night" . , t
Within a "few weeks Elder had become a '
frequent visitor at the Motta' household.
Mott, who was entirely without guile himself,
liked him exceedingly. Through Elder's In
'fluence he had been promoted to more lu
crative position, and he felt under deep obli
gation to him. Often, when he called, he
found Mrs. Mott alone, and yet, In looking
back to it all in after years, she could never
remember that he had by word or act openly
avowed the feelings toward her which 6he
always knew he entertained.
She found him congenial and attractive,
and ns long as he kcpt his thoughts and de
sires to himsej? she had no fault to find with
him. Lucille, her little daughter, was devoted
to him. ' Elder had managed to Ingratiate
himself into the child's affections. Once he
brought her a doll.
"The day before your birthday," he sold,
- " If you'll remind me, you and I will go shop
ping and buy the doll new clothes. But you
mustn't tell anybody. That'll be our great
secret."
And now Fate, probably feeling that the
married life of the Motts had been entirely
too serene, decided capriciously to take a
hand in their affairs. Andrew Mott tele
phoned to his wife that he woud not be home
for dinner.
"But we've asked Mr. Elder for dinner to
night," protested Mrs. Mott.
"Awfully sorry, Katherine, but I'm up to
my neck In things," replied her husband.
" I'll get home as early as I can."
TA rtetiver fM horn her gratp. Th walls of thm room
smf to rtvolv in disxy circUi btfor htr tytt.
It never occurred to her to inquire why he
could not come home. She took It for
granted that his office work required his
attention. The Idea of dining alone with
Elder did net appeal to her, and she decided
to Invite Mrs. Morris. She was unable to
find Mrs. Morris' telephone number, and, re
membering that her husband kept a list o(
the telephone numbers of all their friends, she
called up his office. 7
" Mr. Mott has gone forthe day."
For a long time she sat beside the tele
phone receiver thinking. Her husband's
work had never taken him outside the office
before. Where could he have gone? If some
thing unusual had arisen, why had he not
told her? She did not like It Furthermore,
she made no other attempt to obtain Mrs.
Morris' telephone number. '
That night Elder made strenuous efforts to
create a pleasing Impression, and succeeded
admirably. The picture that he drew of his
loneliness touched her sympathy. Had he
cried aloud, "It Is you whom I wart; only
you can fill the void In my life!" he could
have made no clearer to her what was actual
ly In his mind. If not in his heart But his
behavior was beyond reproach. And while
she disapproved of his moral standard she
could not help liking the man.
Mott gave his wife no explanation of his
absence that evening, nor did she ask any
questions. What she noticed, however, was
that he seemed worried and ill at ease.
"Are you feeling all right?" she asked.
"Fine," he replied. "Only I've got a few
things on my mind."
The fact that her husband had thoughts
which he was keeping from her annoyed Mrs.
Mott, or, rather, she was annoyed because he
had told her that he had such thoughts with
out telling her what they were. She was not
accustomed to being annoyed, and it made
her restless. - And then came the second
prank of Fate.
The following night after dlnrfer, Mott
went to his room, saying that he had some
. work to do. His wife remained In the sitting
room reading the evening newspaper.' The
telephone at her side tinkled faintly, and,
thinking it was about to ring, she put the
receiver to her ear. She heard her husband's
voice speaking from the extension in his
room. '
"Are you there, Alice?"
" Tee. We were cut ofT," replied a woman's
voice. ,
"Now, I want you to listen carefully," she
heard her husband say. " This business has
got to stop" " ,
Mrs. Mott listened no further. She re
, stored the telephone to its hook and sank
bffck in her chair. She felt sick. She tried to
think, but her faculties were benumbed.
" When Mr. Mott comes down," she said to
the maid, " tell nun I've retired. I have a
headache."
All that night she tossed about her bed,
wondering what it was all about worrying
because her husband had secrets which he
did not share with her, fearing the worst
realizing for the first time In her life how
much she loved him, suffering all the pangs
of Jealousy, and, above all and that la what
happens to thoroughbreds all a-qulver with
the rage that is born of outraged pride.
' The details of his entanglement her Intui
tion told her that it was an entanglement
she did not want to know. Whether it was
the remnants Of an affair antedating their
marriage or some liaison he had contracted
recently made no difference to her. She felt
deceived and humiliated, and she was accus
tomed to neither deceit nor humiliation. '. To
reproach her husband or to demand an ex
planation from him never occurred to her.
He had chosen not to discuss the matter with
her; consequently she must maintain a digni
fied if somewhat painful silence. The stress
of her emotions wore upon her and showed
In the pallor of her countenance and in dark
shadows under her fine eyesx
"Don't you think," suggested her husband
one morning, " that you had better run off to
the country for a little while you and Lu
cille? You're not looking particularly rugged.
Not worrying about anything, are you?"
" He'd like me to go away!" was her imme
diate thought. She told him, however, that it
was but a passing Indisposition and that she
would be all right In a few days. And then
Fate, which seems to love dramatio effects,
threw a bombshell into Mrs. Mott's life.
"The cleaner come for Mr.-Mott's suit" ex
plained the maid, "and I give It to him.
And be Just brought back a paper as was in
- the pocket"
It was a bit of pink letter paper that the
maid laid In Mrs. Mott's outstretched hand,
and it reeked of cheap perfume. ' The writing
swam before her eyes. In the twinkling of
an instant, the opening line, and then the
signature seemed to leap from the paper to
her brain.
" Tou poor, silly boy," It began, with Just
because you're married " close upon It
And it was signed " Alice."
Almost mechanically Mrs. Mott handed It
back to the maid.
" Tou had better leave It on Mr. Mott's
desk," she said. And then'the whole bottom
dropped out of her world, and she felt that
she was an entirely different creature a
being who had never existed before, exactly
like Mrs. Andrew Mott to all appearances,
but different inside, absolutely different. To
her overwrought mind it seemed that her
husband's perfidy had changed her whole
nature. He had secrets from her. Very well.
She would have a great secret of her own.
She dressed herself with great care, hum
ming a gay tune the while. She felt that her
mind was unusually clear and that, fo; the
Oxst Ums la her life, ih saw things In their
IE
" v ( Blue
A (Ribbon)
A' J
true light As a matter of fact the was so
entirely distraught that she had not the
faintest conception of her real self or her
real mood. She had already dismissed her
husband from her mind. He was to play no
further part in her life. The curious part of
it was that she did not bestow any thought
upon Eider. She merely intended to go to
him. '
It was a surly-looking Japanese who
opened the door of Elder's apartment No,
' Mr. Elder was not In. But If the honorable
lady would step into the sitting room his
master would probably arrive In a few
minutes.
The room In which Mrs. Mott found herself
was furnished with exquisite taste. Perhaps,
had Elder known that she was coming, he
might have removed a dozen or so of the
photographs of pretty women tht stood
upon the table and the mantel. The Japa
. nese servant bowed before her.
" I think maybe Mr. Elder with gentleman
friend across the street I go tell him."
Left alone, Mrs. Mott sat beside the table
idly drumming upon Its edge with her finger
tips, a faint smile upon her lips. She felt no
sensation of excitement It seemed to her
that her mind was unusually alert and clear.
Her husband had deceived her that one fact
stood out beyond, all others and she was not
one of those to brook deception calmly. She
must teach him a lesson. Whatever hap
pened, he would never deceive her "again.
She did not even think of Elder. - In a
physical way he possessed absolutely no
attraction for her. As a matter of simple
fact, she thought of nothing and no one but
her own self. It was her self that had been
outraged, andlt was her self that must wipe
.out the stain. Wipe It out perhaps, with a
greater stain. She smiled at the thought,
but It was a purely mechanical smile. The
shock of this unaccustomed blow to her pride
had In some unaccountable way dammed the
flow of her natural feelings, cast a spell of
lethargy over her sensibilities, and, for the'
moment, changed her entire nature.
The telephone suddenly rang. Mechanical
.. ly, absent-mindedly, forgetting entirely where
she was, she placed the receiver to her ear.
"Hello!" . '
"I want to speak to Mr. Elder' came a
childish voice over the wire. '
For an Instant it seemed to Mrs. Mott that
her heart had stopped beating.
"Who Is it?" she asked faintly, and she
knew the answer beforehand. .
. " I'm Lucille. Tomorrow's my blrfday, and
he's going to take me out to get clothes for
my dolly."
The receiver fell from her grasp. The walls
of the room seemed to revolve in dizzying
circles before her eyes. All that she saw
clearly was the figure of her child kneeling
upon a chair to reach the telephone In her
sitting room. For a moment she felt the
child's arms around her neck, and the pres
sure almost suffocated her. Tht tension
By Brun o Less ing
snapped. Torrentlike, the pent-up force of
feeling and instinct swept through her con
sciousness and almost overwhelmed her.
"My God!" she cried. "What am I
doing?"
Groping her way as If the room were dark,
she staggered from the apartment A low
moan escaped her lips.
"0, Andrew! Andrew!" she murmured,
half sobbing. She never remembered Just
how she reached the street. - There was a
taxlcab passing, and he hailed it She
almost stumbled into It, gasped her address
to the driver, and it started off Just as Elder,
with his Japanese servant running to keep
pace with him, reached the door. He recog
nized her, gazed -4 stupefaction at the de- .
parting taxlcab, and hastened to his apart
ment.. Perhaps she had left a note for him.
He found the telephone receiver hanging
over the edge of the table. Beside it lay Mrs.
Mott's handbag. He gazed at it for a long
time, and then he smiled.
"Here. OtamI," he said. "Wrap this up
In paper and take It to Mrs. Mott's house."
It had been a narrow escape. By the time"
she reached her home Mrs. Mott's faculties
had returned to their normal state. Theten
sion had relaxed, her vision had cleared, and
the unrealities which had filled her mind had
vanished. In their place, however, had come
a realizing sense of the enormity of her con
duct which filled her with horror. She felt
ashamed, humiliated, and afraid. Afraid that
she had within her the possibility Of such an
outrageous outburst as the one which had
nearly swept her away.
" I must be crazy! " she kept repeating to
herself, over and over again. She felt an im
pulse to throw herself at her husband's feet
and implore his forgiveness. 'At that moment
he could have confessed to her that he had
twenty mistresses, and she would not have
cared. She felt that she had stultified herself
to such an extent that, no matter what he did,
he was vastly her superior. For the first time
In her life Mrs. Mott tasted a sense of humil
ity. Which is very disagreeable to thorough
breds. She decided that it would be folly to tell her
husband. He could have his Alice, could have
all the Alices he wanted, but It would surely
make him unhappy to know that his wife was
such a weakling. No, she would not tell him.
What had ever possessed her, anyway? He
could never understand ehe could hardly
understand it herselfand it was much better
to try to forget it all. She would strive in
every way to make him happy, she would
devote the rest of her alife to atonement for
that terrible impulse.
OtamI, the Japanese servant refused to
give the package to the maid who came to
the door. He Insisted upon placing it in Mrs.
Mott's hands. And when Mrs. Mott gazed
Into his surly face and saw, or thought she
saw, a laughing gleam In his eyes, she shud
dered. She tasted fear.
Of Elder she never thought What he
might say or think did not interest her. In
a vague, wordless fashion, she felt that, no
matter how bad he was, he must surely have
sufficient chivalry in his nature to remain
quiet If he should presume upon the Inci
dent and make advances to her she would
know how to conduct herself when the time -came.
All that Mott observed when he came home
was that his wife had recovered her former
gayety and was more gracious than ever.
Her nervousness and the after effects of the
- strain she had been through, escaped his ,
notice: He remarked upon her improved
color, and Mrs. Mott with a sigh of relief,
felt that the episode had ended. And that '
night when it came time for Lucille to go
to bed her mother almost smothered her with
kisses. It was Lucille who had saved her
from herself.
Fate, however, seemed to take a fiendish
delight in keeping the ball a-rolllng. The
Motta household had returned to Its normal
status; Mott's worries seemed to have dis
appeared, and his wife had become accus-
tomed to forgetting her episode. She was no
longer afraid, even, of Elder. From time to
time he came to the house, and Mrs. Mott
faced him without embarrassment
She had made up her mind that If he ever
referred to the incident she would say that
she had called upon him for advice In re
gard to an Investment The trouble was that
she could not bring herself to volunteer that
explanation to her husband. Elder, however,
never referred to the matter. He was some
thing of a fatalist: If she wanted to come to
him she would come there was nothing to
be gained by talking about it
And so matters stood until one day the
maid handed her a note. It was from OtamI,
the Japanese servant asking for $10 to send
to his parents.
The letter was badly written. " Honorable
. Lady," It began. " My father and mother Is
In poor poverty circumstances In Japan, and
I must got to send them money. Ten dol
lars will be enough this time. I am a good
friend. Very respectfully, Otaml. If you
give it to the door servant I call for it"
The surly face of the Japanese, with a
malicious gleam in his eyes, rose before Mrs.
Mott's mental vision and made her tremble.
Almost instinctively she gave the money to
the maid to be handed to the Japanese. Was
this to be the end of It or was she to be
subjected to steady blackmail by a servant?,
Had she better tell Elder of It? Would It not
be best to make a clean breast of the whole
matter to her husband? For a week she wor
ried over It, and then came another letter
- asking for 110 more, which threw her Into
a panic.
Mott observed his wife's agitation, but
attributed It to physical nervousness. His
kindness to her and his solicitude for her
welfare filled her with a sense of shams
which she could hardly bear.
"O, what a fool I've been!" she told her
self, over tr.d over again; " He never couli
possibly deceive me as wickedly as I'm de
ceiving him!"
And then came Fate's last prank, which
upset her completely. Her maid announced
a woman visitor. -
"She says you don't know her and she
wants to see you personal."
The visitor was young, rather pleasing in
appearance, and seemed Intensely nervous.
"I am Mrs. Armstrong." she explained.
" I'm terribly worried, and I've come to you'
because you're a woman, to ask you if you
won't help me out. My husband works in
the same office with Mr. Mott and they are
close friends. I-i-I am anxious to get a
divorce because I know" my husband has
deceived me, but the lawyer told me'l must ,
have evidence to prove it. Mr. Mott could
give me the evidence, because he has been
helping my husband out. I know that for '
a fact. I went to him yesterday In his office,
but he refused to discuss the matter with
me at all. Couldn't you help me out?"
" But what can I do?" asked Mi s. Mott. In
bewilderment. "Are you sure you are not
making a mistake? I really know nothing
about the matter."
" No, I am making no mistake," said the
woman, bitterly. " My husband had an affair
with some woman named Alice, and they
bad some kind of trouble In which your hus
band tried to help him out. I am living with,
my mother now, and I want a divorce. Iff
your husband knew how terribly unhappy ij
was, I am sure he would help me. But he
would not listen to me. If you would only
speak to him."
The woman began to cry, and Mrs. Mott
greatly agitated, promised to speak to her
husband about the matter. After her vis
itor had gone she sat with hands clasped,
gazing blankly before her. Her husband
had not deceived her at all. It was another
man's affair, which probably he had had no
right to discuss with her. The last vestige
of excuse for her terrible conduct had van
ished, and she now realized that she had only
her own impulsive temper and her stupidity
to blame.
And while she sat there, panic stricken, as
if an abyss had opened before her feet, her
husband came home. With a wild cry Bhe
threw her arms around his neck. ,
" O, Andrew! Andrew!" she cried. I
can't stand itl I'm going mad! It's terrible,
terrible! I've got to tell you. But I'm so
ashamed! So ashamed."
He patted "her hair, soothingly. He saw
that she was unstrung, but attributed It to
some trivial household matter. He drew ,
her to a couch and sat beside her, holding
her head upon his shoulder.
" Surest thing you know," he said. " Tell.
Ing me all about it is the best cure. Now,
Just take your time, dearie, and then fire
ahead. And don't worry. Life's too short
to worry."
With her face burled upon her husband's
shoulder, Mrs. Mott, falteringly, told her ,
story. '
" I was simply crazy. I hardly remember
how I felt or what I thought I was llke
another creature, but I thought I was Justi
fied at the time. I wanted to punish you.
I didn't even know that I was so terribly '
Jealous."
She made no attempt to explain why she
had gone to Elder rather than to any other
man she knew. There are thoughts and im
pressions which no daughter of Eve has
ever brought herself to divulge. With her
face 'averted,' Mrs.- Mott could not see the
frown that gathered upon her husband's
forehead or the tense drawing together of
his Hps. , , ,
"Did Elder ever say anything do any-
"thing ?"
"O, no! No. Never! Not a single word.
But everybody can see the kind of man he
Is I would have gone to anybody. I was
desperate insane. I'm the only one to
; blame." ,
And at that moment the maid announced
. that Otaml, the Japanese servant, was at the
door. Mott sprang to his feet
" Don't move! " he said, sharply. When he
returned, a few minutes later, his wife saw
that there was blood 'upon his hand. Shs
uttered a faint scream. '
" Nothing to bother about," said Mott, now
thoroughly calm. " It's merely from his nose.
He won't bother us any more." -
He stood for a while, gazing at his wife
and scratching his head.
"Armstrong is rid of his Alice," said he,
' "and if you will be so good as to leave the .
matter alone and not pass Judgment on it
I'm sure everything will he patched up In
a few days."
" Yes, dear," said Mrs. Mott meekly.
"As to the other matter, I guess point
number one Is that we had better cut out
Elder."
" I was thinking" began Mrs. Mott
" Yes," said her husband. " That's point -number
two. I wish you would cut out a
lot of that thinking and let me do it 'for:
you."
Then Mrs. Mott began to cry not wildiy
or hysterically but in an orderly, feminine
fashion, which Immediately made her huv
band feel he was ' entirely In the 'wrong.
But when he had kissed her tears away and
had told her that she could do all the think
ing she wanted, shs threw her arms about
him.
"No, dear." she said, "you're perfectly
right As long as you love me I want you to
think for me." , -
" I always said you were a thoroughbred "
said he. And he was right Only, he never
will know how right he was.
CopjTlthtt 1(31: By Kudolph BleekJ
