WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 NALBRO HARTLEY
 
 MEN-TWISS LIMITED 
 
 UfcPARTMENT 
 SASKATOON,
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN
 
 " Come, Sally, I know how deadly marriage is. Take your own home 
 
 for example have your parents kept their romance ? " 
 
 (See page 184)
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 BY 
 
 NALBRO BARTLEY 
 
 Author of "Paradise Auction," "The 
 Bargain True," etc. 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY 
 
 HENRY RALEIGH 
 
 BOSTON 
 SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS
 
 Copyright, 1919 
 BY TH1 CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 Copyright, 1919 
 BY SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY 
 
 (INCORPORATED) 
 
 Third Printing, August, 1919 
 Fourth Printing, September, 1919
 
 Ob 
 JACK 
 
 2134302
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 " Come, Sally, I know how deadly marriage is. Take 
 your own home for example have your parents 
 kept their romance ?" See page 184 Frontispiece 
 
 PAGE 
 
 " You're deceitful and mean and selfish I'll wager 
 you fifteen years from now you'll be a wreck 
 a wreck a wreck " . . . . .65 
 
 " I want to paint pretty useless things and drum a 
 little on the piano, and make oodles of clothes 
 and hats and just stay at home." See page 94 . 154 
 
 " blow into town presumably walking the ties and 
 get a job at the factory, act as rough as I like 
 and lay in wait to see if they are employing child 
 labor." See page 12$ 256
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 i 
 
 It was during her elder daughter Harriet's high-school 
 graduation in 1901 that Densie Plummer determined 
 after nineteen years of unquestioned loyalty to break up 
 her home and start life anew in strange and contrasting 
 channels. 
 
 As she looked at her family beside her and thought of 
 the old friends sitting just behind, and at Harriet, presi- 
 dent of her class, she wondered if she betrayed her trea- 
 son. Her flushed cheeks were probably attributed to 
 pride Harriet winning the gold medal for first honors. 
 However she was not thinking about Harriet any more 
 than Harriet was included in the general retrospection 
 that seemed to demand all of Densie's attention. 
 
 She kne\y that if she remained in the Little House on 
 the Hill so she and John Plummer had named it when 
 they returned from their wedding journey she would 
 be subjected to the painful and never-ending process of 
 " educating mother " ; that Sally and Harriet and Ken- 
 neth, her one son, and John, her husband, would relent- 
 lessly proceed to assail her old-fashioned ideas and stand- 
 ards, though offering her no substitute in return. She 
 therefore determined to seek her own substitute. 
 
 She applauded for some inane recitation and assumed 
 a conventional smile of motherly pride as Harriet began 
 to read her essay. But she could not have repeated a 
 single word of it, though her dark blue eyes the sort 
 
 i
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 that turn purple in novels kept staring at seventeen- 
 year-old Harriet Plummer, tall and thin, a clever sallow- 
 faced girl with dark bright eyes and black hair combed 
 into a huge knot regardless of fashion. 
 
 Densie was promising herself that as soon as she was 
 alone in her home to-morrow afternoon very likely 
 she would indulge in a retrospection of her life, in which 
 she would review all that had happened, good or bad, as 
 a retiring general does his army. She wanted to be sure 
 of herself before she made this drastic change. If after 
 the retrospection was fully accomplished she was still of 
 the same mind she would become a flat dweller. 
 
 Sally, sitting at her right hand, began to fidget with her 
 pink feather fan. Sally was fifteen and inclined to pret- 
 ties even as Harriet was to books. But Densie did not 
 turn in reproval; she stared ahead wondering why this 
 strange yet fascinating resolution had come to her, and 
 what would be its results. 
 
 Sally dropped her fan and Dean Laddbarry, Sally's 
 cavalier from kindergarten days, bent to pick it up. Den- 
 sie did not notice, though at that moment she was thinking 
 about Sally and Dean, and that Sally was too handsome 
 to be true. As some of the old friends had said when she 
 was a baby, " She will either break hearts or have her own 
 broken, since she is destined for romance." 
 
 At fifteen Sally was beginning to fulfill the prophecy 
 she had been born " cuddled," as she said; made for love 
 and kisses and endless admiration, which she grew to ac- 
 cept as Harriet did her pieces of bread and butter or 
 Kenneth his occasional pats on the shoulder. Her chest- 
 nut-red hair curled irresistibly and was combed a different 
 way every day in the week, adorned with a different col- 
 ored bow. Harriet never bothered about her hair it 
 was worn in a straight braid with a black bow carelessly 
 
 2
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 hitched on at the end until she turned it up into a bun and 
 said she wished she were a boy short hair was so jolly 
 much easier! 
 
 At fifteen Sally painted menu cards and dabbled with 
 water colors, neglecting to dust or sew her seam as her 
 mother had been taught to do. She also danced and de- 
 manded an evening coat and French perfumes and said 
 she would like to stop school and take painting lessons; 
 anyway, she meant to marry very young and have every- 
 thing she wanted, so what was the use of mummy's mak- 
 ing her learn how to bake things or render down suetl 
 Sally had the best room in the house; she naturally gravi- 
 tated to it and stayed there, regardless of company's 
 arrival. She had more possessions than Harriet and 
 Kenneth put together people always gave Sally things, 
 she did not even have to ask for them. But the things 
 Harriet had, she earned. With her earnings she bought 
 queer books, so her mother thought, and went to lectures 
 instead of matinees with Sally. 
 
 Sitting beside Sally in a state of modified rapture Dean 
 Laddbarry glanced sideways to watch Sally's adorable 
 tilted nose and curved scarlet mouth, and remarked to 
 himself that the ruffles on Sally's dress were crisper and 
 more ruffly than anyone else's in the room. To Dean, 
 Sally was nothing less than an angel, a divine being who 
 occasionally bestowed a smile on him and kept him trot- 
 ting the rest of the time to do her bidding. 
 
 Dean's relatives, who lived near the Little House, had 
 long ago said Sally was all that sa;ved Dean's running off 
 to sea. Sally wanted him about, and so, braving the title 
 of mollycoddle, he stayed. He was a nondescript frec- 
 kled-faced lad of seventeen, with honest gray eyes and a 
 long thin face just a good-looking thing, as Sally said. 
 As he timidly put out the tip of his little finger to see if it 
 
 3
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 could touch Sally's she gave it a sharp rap with her fan. 
 Dean had given her the fan as a valentine. 
 
 Next to Dean sat the only one really intent on Harriet's 
 essay on Hannibal Kenneth, the youngest, boasting six 
 years, with gentle brown eyes and a thatch of flaxen hair 
 that made him a sissy, so Sally declared when she wished 
 to tease. His flaring red tie and white collar betokened 
 approaching manhood, he flattered himself, and he was 
 trying to live up to their requirements and not become 
 sleepy or fidgety even though it was way past bedtime 
 past ten o'clock, he hopefully imagined. 
 
 Even Kenneth was outgrowing Densie's limitations; he 
 no longer wished to be caressed if he had a bad bump or 
 someone hurt his feelings; he despised the titles "our 
 baby " and " my little one," and had told his mother he 
 wanted to go to a boys' camp the next summer. 
 
 On Densie's other side was her husband. He did not 
 look his thirty-nine years; on the contrary he had a boyish 
 face contrasting with Densie's settled countenance, though 
 she was two years his junior. He was a well-built, kindly 
 featured man, a tinge of gray in his chestnut hair, and 
 humorous dark eyes, with a well-modeled mouth by way 
 of contrast. He was dressed according to the fashion of 
 a clean-cut American business man, and as he glanced at 
 Densie his brows drew together in annoyance. 
 
 " John's one fault," his Aunt Sally used to say, " is that 
 he shows everything he thinks he cannot control that 
 face of his, more's the pity." 
 
 He was thinking, as he looked at Densie and remem- 
 bered their nineteenth wedding anniversary was not far 
 off, that Densie actually seemed old! He hated himself 
 for the thought, yet it was emphatic in its constant repeti- 
 tion. She seemed, very properly, the mother of Harriet, 
 Sally and Kenneth, maid of all work in the Little House, 
 
 4
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 stay-at-home, conventionally religious person who could 
 make frocks though her last ones had not sufficient 
 style to please Sally clean house, and entertain the La- 
 dies' Guild of Saint Martha, having sat up half the night 
 to finish her poundcake and sandwiches! Densie be- 
 longed to the old school, her husband realized, his brows 
 still knit in annoyance. " An old dear," he added quickly 
 as a sop to conscience; and of course the children's 
 mother. He must always look out for her and never let 
 her suspect his treasonous thoughts. At this identical 
 moment Densie was saying mentally, " I shall justify my 
 stand to-morrow and then begin again. I will not be 
 called out of date at thirty-seven. I will not have my 
 family ashamed of me and proud only of my cooking! " 
 
 John turned away before she should look at him. He 
 had never been able to conceal his thoughts from Densie ! 
 But he looked about the big school hall at the other moth- 
 ers and fathers, and made sharp and unkind contrasts. 
 " America is the land of progress," he told himself as 
 conscience salve, " and the old order of things must 
 change the younger generation come knocking at the 
 door." 
 
 It was picturesque and amusing to recall older times 
 and customs, the regularity and narrowness of the life in 
 which Densie had been raised; he forgot that it likewise 
 applied to himself. The women just ahead of him were 
 smartly gowned, their hair dressed fashionably, a sug- 
 gestion of perfume, kid-gloved or beringed hands, and 
 other little accessories that make or mar a toilet. They 
 seemed like girls American mothers were beginning to 
 rebel against age, the conventional sitting-by-the-fire atti- 
 tude. They were ysung as long as they could make the 
 world believe them young. Their husbands seemed 
 proud of them, and attentive as John had once been to 
 
 5
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Densie. To all outward appearances romance had not 
 deserted them. And if they borrowed a bit of rouge or a 
 false curl to complete the effect, what mattered it? 
 
 John knew he contrasted well with the men, that he was 
 almost as youthful looking as the day he married Densie; 
 and that he felt infinitely younger, strangely enough. It 
 seemed incredible that here was a serious-minded seven- 
 teen-year-old girl of his graduating! 
 
 He applauded as Harriet finished, and then listened to 
 someone sing. He supposed Harriet would stay at home 
 with her mother, as was proper, and well marry; 
 most women did. In fact, he had thought very little 
 about it. He took another glance at Densie, and found 
 himself frowning in open disapproval. 
 
 She wore an old-style hat fit for a grandmother, he 
 judged and a black-silk dress that was homemade and 
 fastened with an enormous cameo brooch. Her face was 
 an unbecoming red she ought to use powder with dis- 
 cretion and her white-silk gloves had been mended at 
 the tips while her boots were flat heeled and unbecoming. 
 She really could have been called fifty at a passing glance, 
 even if the dark-blue eyes had an undying girlishness and 
 her brown hair was untouched by gray. Still, Densie 
 would dress her hair in morose fashion, as Sally declared, 
 trying to correct the defect. It was drawn back from her 
 forehead and twisted into a hard knot with ugly hairpins 
 carelessly thrust in and about it. She was stooped be- 
 cause she had worked so hard so unnecessarily hard, 
 John Plummer thought with a shrug of his shoulders. 
 Why will women insist on being slaves to pots and pans, 
 this everlasting beating of rugs just so often and of never 
 being able to hire a washwoman that is satisfactory? It 
 was all a part of the foolishness of the past. If Densie 
 had only been sensible she would have spared herself half 
 
 6
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 her pains but he long ago stopped remonstrating. 
 
 " If you want to kill yourself, my dear, I am sorry; but 
 I refuse to perish with you," he had said one memorable 
 spring day, coming home in a new pearl-gray suit and 
 Panama hat, preparatory to attending some business 
 luncheon and finding Densie in forlorn calico, pathetically 
 wiping down ceilings and washing the tops of the tall old- 
 style windows. 
 
 She had begun to feel old then, as she paused to look 
 down at him from the top of her stepladder. 
 
 ' The woman was sick and couldn't come," she had 
 begun in self-defense. 
 
 "Let it go! Must it be done to-day?" he had in- 
 sisted. 
 
 " I hate to get behind with my work. Aunt Sally 
 taught me that way." She had been watching his debo- 
 nair self very closely. 
 
 " Have it your own way. I shall not be home until 
 late. Where are those handkerchiefs you made for me 
 the ones with a monogram? I found I had nothing 
 but a rag when I reached the office." He flourished it 
 before her. 
 
 11 In the lower right-hand drawer of your chiffonier," 
 she said, standing up to resume her work. " The laun- 
 dries make rags out of everything; that is why I wash 
 myself when the women don't come." 
 
 Without answering he had left her, telling himself that 
 after just so many years of married life women love to 
 become martyrs ! 
 
 Now, as the exercises neared the end, he felt the same 
 glow of impatience. He had always provided well for 
 his family. Left the heir to the house of Plummer & 
 Plummer, tea, coffee and spices, a substantial firm of in- 
 tegrity and prosperous business, he had managed to carry 
 
 7
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 on the trade fairly well. Of late the profits were not so 
 large, and living expenses much higher. But Densie 
 knew how to save in the home it was her world, that 
 house on the hill crowded with old-time furniture. John 
 had not stinted himself for clubs or vacation jaunts; he 
 needed the change, he told Densie, who had always 
 agreed with him. 
 
 They were rising to sing America. It seemed to him 
 it took Densie longer to rise than the others; the other 
 women were graceful, they probably danced and played 
 golf, and had breakfast in bed. 
 
 Sam Hippler, his Uncle Herbert's confidential clerk, 
 touched him on the arm. 
 
 " She's a right smart girl, John," Sam Hippler whis- 
 pered loudly. 
 
 Some people smiled in amusement at the old man, 
 John nodded, and began singing the second stanza. Sam 
 Hippler belonged to Densie's world, too Sam with his 
 old-style black coat and striped trousers for business and 
 a choker tie fastened by a pearl pin, his gold-rimmed 
 glasses and his withered face, his fussy inefficient meth- 
 ods, though the result was usually all right. He still 
 insisted on having a high writing desk, at which he stood 
 to balance his books or write his letters. Of course, John 
 would always keep Sam Hippler, though a girl and a type- 
 writer would be more to the purpose; he had promised 
 his uncle he would do so, and Densie would make a tre- 
 mendous row if he broke his word. Densie had Sam 
 Hippler for Sunday-night tea, and made the children, 
 much against their will, be respectful as he stumbled 
 through the long table blessing or told some dull tale of 
 his early days in Lancashire, England. 
 
 There were also Maude Hatton and Lucy Parks, the 
 two other relics, now. 
 
 8
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 But everyone was beginning to crowd about the gradu- 
 ates, and Sally and Dean began to find their way toward 
 the door, while Kenneth snuggled up to Densie's skirts. 
 Kenneth was beginning to be sleepy and his mother would 
 see to it that he reached home. Kenneth never asked his 
 father for anything but money. Neither did he confide 
 in or appeal to him for sympathy. Sally was her father's 
 favorite, partly because she was beautiful and partly be- 
 cause she knew how " to manage daddy." Harriet was 
 too brainy and too sallow, and the boy only a girlish sort 
 of youngster whom his mother was fast spoiling. 
 
 Densie put her hand on Kenneth's head. " Yes, sonny, 
 you've been very good. We'll hurry home. Come, 
 John, this child is half-asleep. Oh, Aunt Maude, I'm so 
 much obliged to you for the beautiful pin; Harriet will 
 thank you herself." 
 
 Which was a white lie and she wondered if Miss Hat- 
 ton realized it, for the beautiful pin had been an old-style 
 twisted brooch, which she had given Harriet in lieu of 
 money to buy something new. Maude Hatton had sewed 
 for Densie and for Densie's aunt when the latter was a 
 little girl. She was an eccentric kind-hearted spinster 
 whom everyone considered a trifle mad, living in one room 
 of a forlorn boarding house, sewing by the day for those 
 " who don't want style but strength," she said herself, and 
 with the sole companionship of a canary bird to round out 
 her existence. Densie had Maude Hatton to Sunday tea 
 also; she would have had her more often only the family 
 were too obviously bored. So she sent her baskets of 
 food or pieces of cloth for a waist or skirt and often put a 
 bouquet of flowers and a magazine in her room to greet 
 her in surprise. Miss Hatton understood the situation 
 better than Densie, but out of loyalty she remained silent 
 except to Lucy Parks, Densie's other old friend, also 
 
 9 4
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 belonging to Aunt Sally's day, as the school-teacher who 
 had taught both John and Densie their tables and had 
 read Peter Parley's History of the Animal Kingdom to 
 them on Sunday afternoons. 
 
 Miss Parks was pensioned now, rooming near Miss 
 Hatton in similar isolation, and she came once a week to 
 the Plummers', only to be mimicked afterward by Sally 
 and criticized by Harriet. W T hen Miss Parks was sched- 
 uled to appear at the Plummer dinner table John always 
 found a downtown engagement to keep him from the 
 pleasure. 
 
 " Mother's old seamstress and teacher," Sally had said 
 with the insolence of fifteen years. " Oh, dear, I wonder 
 if we can ever get a new sort of friends and house and 
 start in again just as if the others never did exist." 
 
 Lucy Parks patted Densie on her unfashionable shoul- 
 der; Densie still seemed a little girl in her faded eyes. 
 " Your girl Harriet is bound to be brilliant, Densie; your 
 aunt and I said so the first week she was born bound to 
 be brilliant, but see that she knows how to keep house as 
 well as to write essays on Hannibal. Howdy, John. 
 Well, does it seem strange to have a grown-up daugh- 
 ter?" 
 
 After which she gathered her bottle-green umbrella and 
 a beaded reticule, both of which had come out of the ark, 
 according to Sally, and departed in company with Maude 
 Hatton and Sam Hippler. 
 
 Neighbors began speaking to the Plummers, and then 
 the crowd dispersed, some to make ready for the dance 
 and refreshments, and some to go home. 
 
 " Sally wants to stay for dancing," Densie said as she 
 buttoned Kenneth's coat. " Dean is here with her, and I 
 hate to say no," 
 
 " Let her stay. Isn't Harriet going to? " 
 
 10
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " Yes; but I don't want them coming home alone." 
 
 " I'll stay," John suggested. " You go on with Ken- 
 neth and don't worry about us." 
 
 Densie nodded. " I'll leave the key in the box of gera- 
 nium plants; and don't let it be any later than eleven, will 
 you?" 
 
 " All right, lady," he said in amusement. 
 
 Densie and Kenneth passed ahead, first to find Harriet 
 and congratulate her, and then to warn Sally about not 
 being too giddy. It was on the tip of Densie's gentle 
 tongue to say, " When I was a girl we never had such 
 graduating exercises, with engraved invitations and jew- 
 eled class pins, expensive dresses and a string orchestra 
 to play for dancing." But she kept her thoughts to her- 
 selif as she piloted a rather tumbly, sleepy son in a rum- 
 pled sailor suit through the crowd. 
 
 Harriet was standing with a group of teachers. She 
 had never mingled with her classmates and had been 
 elected president from standing rather than popularity. 
 She gave her mother a superior smile, her black brows 
 drawing together in slight displeasure. Harriet was not 
 chagrined, as were John and Sally, that Densie was not 
 in fashionable semi-evening dress, but that her mother was 
 so old-fashioned and " uneducated," as Harriet was be- 
 ginning to call it " a queer little thing who likes Annie 
 Laurie and has her parlor curtains looped back with huge 
 satin bows and who cries when someone recites Casabi- 
 anca, and has her few books arranged in veritable tiers 
 on the drawing-room table, with an illustrated edition of 
 Meredith's The Earl's Return topping the pile! " 
 
 She was afraid her mother would make some break in 
 speaking to the adored and revered teachers who had 
 interested themselves in Harriet's brain progress. 
 
 1 You did nicely, dear," Densie began timidly, actually 
 
 1 1
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 in awe of this seventeen-year-old girl. ' Your father 
 has gone after Sally; she wants to stay for dancing." 
 Then she nodded at the teachers. 
 
 One of them said to her, " We are so proud of Har- 
 riet, but we expect to be much prouder of her before very 
 long. We hope that you and Mr. Plummer will not in- 
 terfere with what she wishes to do. This is the age for 
 women, and Harriet is one of the pioneer vanguard. 
 Have you told your mother about it, Harriet? " 
 
 " I did not think she would want to be bothered," Har- 
 riet said with reserve. 
 
 " Oh, do tell her ! " urged another teacher, looking at 
 Densie with quizzical eyes. 
 
 " I want to go to the social-service school in New York 
 for five years, and I've I've been working for a schol- 
 arship " 
 
 " And she has won it! " supplemented the first teacher. 
 ' You surely cannot say no, can you, Mrs. Plummer ? " 
 
 Kenneth tugged at his mother's skirt. Densie felt 
 bewildered. 
 
 " I shall talk it over with my husband," she said with 
 old-time reserve, it being the first proper answer coming 
 to her mind. 
 
 Harriet smiled again. " I must go, mother ! I want 
 to devote my life to educating my own sex." 
 
 At seventeen it sounded rather amusing, but Densie 
 concealed her sense of humor with a smile, and after a 
 few more words most unappreciative of her efforts, 
 Harriet thought she found her way to where Sally, 
 flushed and giggling, was surrounded by boys, Dean non- 
 chalantly standing guard behind her chair. 
 
 " Oh, mummy dear, I haven't dared tell Sis how splen- 
 did she was; I can't remember what she did say about 
 Hannibal. I'll wait until daddy makes us come home, 
 
 12
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 and then I'll have all sorts of nice things made up to say." 
 
 She tilted her beautiful willful little face up to Densie 
 for a good-night kiss. Sally was in truth born cuddled; 
 love to her was the same as bread to the working man. 
 She must love someone and be loved in return. She drew 
 Kenneth up to her and hugged him prettily. 
 
 " Don't be late, will you, Sally dear? To-morrow is 
 Saturday, and we've lots to do." 
 
 Densie admired her daughter in spite of herself. 
 
 " I'll see that she's home all right," Dean promised. 
 " Can I get your cab for you? " 
 
 ' Thank you, but we'll walk; it is only a stone's throw." 
 
 Densie unfashionably left the schoolhouse on foot, with 
 Kenneth half-asleep yet bewailing the fact of no ice cream 
 and cake as a reward for listening to Harriet's essay on 
 Hannibal ! She caught a glimpse of her husband as she 
 left. He was talking to Harriet and some of the teach- 
 ers; the teachers were smiling and animated; and Har- 
 riet, like a proud dark-woodsy creature, aloof from the 
 others, stood and gazed out the window, seeing only her 
 girlish visions of conquering and reforming the universe. 
 Harriet was like a sexless sprite with the mind of a rusty 
 old savant and the unfolded heart of a girl! 
 
 Some children leaving the hall jostled against Densie. 
 A woman said sharply: "Be careful! Don't crowd 
 that old lady!" 
 
 Densie gave a choked laugh Kenneth was too small 
 to notice but either Sally or Harriet would have seized 
 upon it as a reproach to her old-fashioned self. At 
 thirty-seven an old lady ! It was really too ridiculous. 
 Her kindly little face was crimson. She was glad John 
 had not heard her so specified. It must have been her 
 black dress and hat, for she still wore mourning for Uncle 
 Herbert Plummer, who died the past winter. She began 
 
 13
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 to wonder if it was too late to break up her home and 
 begin anew. Was the time past for her to catch up with 
 this younger generation? 
 
 Then she began thinking of Harriet five years at a 
 social-service school Harriet would be twenty-two, 
 Densie forty-two, and John forty-four. Sally would be 
 twenty, and Kenneth, eleven; Maude Hatton and Lucy 
 Parks and Sam Hippler very old indeed perhaps dead. 
 She considered these things in a ponderous fashion. 
 
 Reaching the old-fashioned gate she stooped down and 
 carried Kenneth up the winding path to balance him skill- 
 fully over one hip as she unlocked the door. She put him 
 to bed with unusual swiftness Densie never did any- 
 thing very quickly because she always took infinite pains 
 and came back to leave the key in the box of gerani- 
 ums. She did the little chores about the house which she 
 could not have enumerated if anyone had asked her, 
 " Why don't you go right to bed? " The drip pan under 
 the ice box, the clocks to be wound, the shades drawn 
 just so, the waste cans set out for collection then up- 
 stairs into the bedrooms to turn back the spreads with a 
 loving hand. 
 
 She came into her and John's room an old-time enor- 
 mous place with high gilded ceilings, windows with walnut 
 cornices, and the furniture that Aunt Sally and Uncle Her- 
 bert had given them on their wedding day. She sat be- 
 side the window and looked out at the soft June night. 
 She wondered if she would better begin her retrospection 
 now or wait until to-morrow. She could not refrain from 
 wondering how it would seem to break up this home of 
 nineteen years she was impatient to get at the actual 
 destruction. 
 
 Then she glanced at the clock. No, she would best go 
 to bed, for to-morrow had an unusual burden of cares 
 
 H
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 brought about by the graduation, and when she was alone 
 to-morrow afternoon she would begin systematically, 
 after the fashion of a prosecuting attorney, to review her 
 own and John's lives and decide on what was best. 
 
 After which she undressed and knelt beside her bed to 
 say the same timeworn prayer Aunt Sally had taught her 
 to lisp. No one else in the family prayed. It was like n 
 multitude of things her family had ceased doing, and 
 other equally strange ones they had begun to do, without 
 her consent or her knowledge. Just the old lady of 
 thirty-seven came humbly night and morning to ask for 
 everyone's well-being but her own. 
 
 She was awakened when her husband returned at nearly 
 one o'clock. 
 
 " They had a remarkably pretty dance," he said as he 
 lit the gas. " By Jove, I never light this stuff but what I 
 wish we had electricity. Beastly ! " 
 
 He threw the match aside. 
 
 " Isn't it very late? " Densie asked. 
 
 " Well, a girl doesn't graduate every day. Too bad 
 you didn't arrange for someone to stay with Kenneth." 
 
 " Oh, I wanted to come home. I saw Harriet receive 
 her diploma." 
 
 " Quite an essay, the teachers say. Did she tell you 
 about the scholarship? Remarkably quiet about it, 
 wasn't she? " 
 
 " I did not know there was such a school." 
 
 " Nor I. What a lot of new things there are eh, 
 Densie? Even in our day it was different from Aunt 
 Sally's. Well, shall we let her go? " 
 
 Densie smiled. " I'm afraid she will go with or with- 
 out anyone's letting her." 
 
 At which John bridled. 
 
 " Nonsense ! A girl's place is home unless her par- 
 
 15
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 ents see fit to let her go away. I've no objection to hav- 
 ing her try it. She will be glad to come back inside of six 
 months and be well be be at home," he ended in 
 helpless masculine confusion. 
 
 Densie did not contradict; she was thinking of to- 
 morrow and her own personally conducted tour into the 
 past and future. 
 
 " Don't forget to look in at Kenneth," she said politely, 
 " and see if he is covered. He coughed all morning, I 
 noticed." 
 
 16
 
 II 
 
 After Saturday luncheon Densie drew the front shades 
 and departed for the attic. After all, the attic is the 
 proper place to become retrospective. What else can so 
 inspire and remind one of the past? 
 
 She had done her Sunday baking and her Sunday mar- 
 keting while the girls had supposedly cleaned the front 
 parlors and set the library in order. Their own rooms 
 they insisted were superfluously clean, and as there was a 
 class picnic for Harriet to attend and a sewing club for 
 Sally, while Kenneth went to play at a neighbor's, and 
 John was out of town on business until Monday, Densie 
 was unmolested in her planning of the revolution. 
 
 She ran up the attic steps eagerly, closing the door with 
 a careless bang. It seemed good to be alone, to be able 
 to sit and think first of herself and then of others as 
 affecting her not of others first and of herself as help- 
 ing them. As she glanced about the roomy old place 
 heaped with conglomerate trash and treasures it occurred 
 to her there must be many other women in America in the 
 year of 1901 who would be glad to come to such an attic, 
 and leaning on the crutch of the past find themselves! 
 The first thing Densie decided upon, with a bit of a smile 
 on her firm little mouth, was that the only place for the 
 new woman to plan her revolt was in a stereotyped Vic- 
 torian attic bespeaking the old-school wife, mother, house- 
 keeper all combining into the phrase of " unthanked 
 drudge." In an attic one gathers irrevocable evidence of 
 past wrongs or misunderstood deeds, munitions for the 
 coming fight of reform and reconstruction. 
 
 17
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 She drew up a rocking-chair, an old-style black-walnut 
 monstrosity that had belonged to Aunt Sally's mother, 
 and sitting in the middle of the floor, the June air making 
 her slightly languid even as to thoughts, she began to 
 re-live the past. 
 
 She was a pretty thing in her quaint way as she sat there 
 rocking to and fro, nodding or shaking her head, smiling 
 or wiping away a tear with her reddened little hand deco- 
 rated only by a plain gold wedding band. The dark blue 
 eyes had turned purple just as if she were in a novel and 
 were half-closed, their thick lashes shading the exact 
 expression. Her house frock of crisp blue was without 
 style, but it made a pretty splotch of color, and who ever 
 heard of modishness prevailing in an attic? Besides, the 
 long skirt hid her ungainly house boots, which her daugh- 
 ters laughed at and urged her to discard. 
 
 The entire memory was like a delicate painting on yel- 
 lowed ivory ! She began with the consistency with which 
 she had been both endowed and taught from the very 
 beginning. It was a rare sad pleasure to remember it all 
 again; she wondered if many women did so, especially 
 after they had been called old ladies. 
 
 To begin, then: There had been two of the most 
 delightful persons in the world Sally and Herbert 
 Plummer " just as if they had stepped out of a story- 
 book," Maude Hatton used to say; and though they had 
 everything else in the world they could desire, after wait- 
 ing many years they realized that no child was to come 
 to take their name and prove worthy of their love. So it 
 happened that when Sally Plummer's widowed younger 
 sister Densie died, leaving a little daughter, also Densie, 
 Sally and her husband adopted her, giving her their name 
 and loving her as if she had been their own. 
 
 From the earliest of earlies Densie remembered Aunt 
 
 18
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Sally's charming self bustling about in order to make 
 everyone a little happier if she could, and Uncle Herbert, 
 poet-dreamer and owner of a great and mysterious ware- 
 house, to which she was taken on rare occasions. She 
 recalled some of the thousand and one beautiful happen- 
 ings and possessions, but she restrained the actual memo- 
 ries until John Plummer came into Aunt Sally and Uncle 
 Herbert's keeping in 1870; a handsome lad of eight, 
 Uncle Herbert's nephew, whose parents were lost in a 
 shipwreck off the Bermuda coast and who was welcomed 
 by Aunt Sally as little Densie had been welcomed. 
 
 She remembered hearing her aunt say the evening the 
 news reached them of the wreck and little John's survival : 
 " Herbert, God has given us a son ! " 
 
 And her uncle had taken Aunt Sally in his arms and 
 told her that even in his grief he was happy. 
 
 There was one old chair why, it was the identical one 
 in which she was rocking! that had always held a vital 
 memory for Densie Plummer. She had been doing spool 
 crochet a lamp mat for Ellen Porch, the hired girl. 
 There were hired girls in those days. She had been sit- 
 ting in this big chair, her copper-toed, red-leather boots 
 in a horizontal line with her chunky little self, rocking 
 serenely and knitting industriously, wondering if Ellen 
 Porch so much as suspected that a lamp mat was being 
 made for her benefit. Aunt Sally came bustling in she 
 never walked and stood before her, her pretty face all 
 smiles, and tears in her big bright eyes. 
 
 " Densie-daughter, if you could have your choice of 
 anything in the world what would it be? " 
 
 Densie had drawn a deep breath she had been a 
 deliberate little creature even then and had shut her 
 eyes tight until they crinkled in order to concentrate prop- 
 erly. After wavering a long time between black-lace 
 
 19
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 mitts like Aunt Sally's best and a baby doll and a pink 
 cradle such as Uncle Herbert said he had once seen in 
 Paris, she finally let mercenary desires die away and the 
 big wish of her heart be voiced : 
 " A brother." 
 
 Then she opened her eyes to see if Aunt Sally was con- 
 cealing such a personage in the voluminous folds of her 
 peachblow silk. 
 
 Aunt Sally laughed, striking her little hands together 
 and almost jumping up and down. 
 
 " You shall have your wish," she said like the veritable 
 fairy godmother; " a real big brother, named John a 
 handsome lad, they say two years older than you ; so 
 you'll have someone to fight your battles. Come, let's 
 go upstairs and see to his room, for Uncle Herbert has 
 gone to New York to fetch him." 
 
 Ellen Porch's mat forgotten, Densie had scrambled to 
 the floor and dashed upstairs planning to place her 
 worldly treasures as a welcome to the new brother. 
 
 As she had heard thirty-one years ago of her new 
 " brother " while rocking in the old walnut chair, so she 
 sat rocking planning her revolution ! 
 
 Then came the happiest day of her life the very hap- 
 piest. It so often ocucrs when one is no older than six or 
 seven ! Never again could that first fine careless ecstasy 
 return nor would she want it. She would not have the 
 child's innocent faith with which to enjoy it. 
 
 It was on just such a warm June day a few weeks 
 after John had come to them and Ellen Porch was 
 doing her Saturday-morning baking while Aunt Sally pre- 
 pared to drive to market with Uncle Herbert. Their 
 red-wheeled cart with its two fat ponies, Shag and Baba, 
 waited impatiently at the curb. Aunt Sally wore a wood- 
 brown wool dress with regiments of funny shiny buttons 
 
 20
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 and a bonnet with plump little roses flopping all about. 
 On one arm was a huge basket and a beaded purse was on 
 the other, and she was warning Ellen Porch about enough 
 sweetening in the pies. Ellen Porch, tall, gaunt and cal- 
 ico clad, was arguing a trifle Densie could not remem- 
 ber it connectedly; then Ellen Porch began to declaim 
 about face powder and cold creams and said that the 
 young misses were greasing themselves like sausages and 
 what sort of skins would they have when it came time to 
 wear caps, she'd like to know. 
 
 And then Aunt Sally had looked down and spied Den- 
 sie, and said with one of her quick lovely smiles : " Ellen, 
 I believe you are ready for an assistant. If John can 
 have a pony Densie ought to help bake." 
 
 At which Ellen Porch grinned and agreed. Then she 
 lifted Densie on to a chair and gave her a bit of dough 
 and an imitation rolling pin, some cinnamon for ornamen- 
 tation and a few raisins; and Aunt Sally left, promising 
 to taste the concoction she should make. As she sat in 
 the chair demurely patting the dough and feeling the 
 world was really the heaven of which Aunt Sally and 
 Uncle Herbert talked so often though she would never 
 dare mention their error she looked out the window 
 into the kitchen garden and saw her new and worshiped 
 brother John astride his pony, old Barney leading him up 
 and down, John in a brave plaid suit, a wooden sword at 
 his belt, killing vicious lions, which he declared skulked 
 about the lettuce bed. There was a smell of roses and 
 honeysuckle; and the hot sweet odor of Ellen's cake just 
 turned out to " sweat," and the pungent fragrance of 
 baking bread. There was the clean old-time kitchen with 
 its rows of pots and pans; and Ellen, kindly genius, help- 
 ing Densie make a star out of her dough. 
 
 Well, she did not know just wherein lay the great joy 
 
 21
 
 was it John keeping guard over the garden, or the gar- 
 den itself, or the little pat of fast blackening dough? It 
 was all of it or perhaps none of it. She knew Ellen Porch 
 told Aunt Sally, " That child's eyes were stars and her 
 cheeks as red as roses just over a mite of dough." 
 She had thought she would like to stop living, to have her- 
 self and John and Ellen and the dough all step into 
 a picture frame and stay just so; and have Aunt Sally and 
 Uncle Herbert come and coax them to step out; and per- 
 haps, if they felt very badly about the matter, they might 
 do so after they had become too happy to be able to stand 
 still in the frame ! 
 
 That day of all days her very wedding day even, 
 and the birth of the children stood out in Densie's 
 memory. She had known the joy of the very heights. 
 Scattered like raisins through a pudding, as she whim- 
 sically fancied were other momentous occasions. 
 Ranking in sharp contrast with the supreme joy was the 
 time John confided that he was about to die it must 
 have been a year or so later; he knew he was going to 
 die, and he left her his sword, his love and his speckled 
 hen ! At which Densie tore into the house to upset Aunt 
 Sally's sacred whist club with the news " John is a-dyin' 
 in the shed ! " Followed by a stampede of rustling silk 
 petticoats and tapping feet to where John lay in state, 
 groaning in agony. 
 
 After he had been brought, muddy boots and all, into 
 the drawing-room and lay on Aunt Sally's lap Ellen Porch 
 stalked in to dispel the threatened tragedy. In one hand 
 was that dread and familiar bottle ; in the other the pew- 
 ter medicine spoon. 
 
 ' Mis' Plummer," she said briefly, " don't get upset. 
 That child has been stuffing himself at the Wild West 
 Show. Densie, hain't he told you all he had? Tell the 
 
 22
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 truth ! He's just brim full o' bile. Set up, John ! Open 
 your mouth quick or it'll spill on the carpet ! " 
 
 " Isn't there any cake to take the taste away? " he had 
 wailed as he prepared for the castor oil. 
 
 " Quite enough cake," Aunt Sally answered, laughing 
 in spite of herself and ordering him off to bed. " Den- 
 sie, I believe you've lost a whole year's growth you 
 look frightened to death. Go lie down, dear; and the 
 next time your Uncle Herbert takes John to a Wild West 
 show I shall have a word beforehand." 
 
 Then there were the wonderful summer evenings when 
 Uncle Herbert hitched up the ponies and took the old 
 family carriage holding a quiver full for a drive, everyone 
 singing hymn tunes or Willie, We Shall Miss You, and 
 upon their return lining up in the kitchen for milk and 
 drop cookies. 
 
 So much had changed so subtly where had vanished 
 the old-time habit of blowing tobacco smoke in ears to 
 cure an ache? It had been almost a treat to have an ear- 
 ache if one had that method of treatment. Densie re- 
 membered sitting on Uncle Herbert's knee of a Sunday 
 afternoon while he diligently puffed into her pink ear and 
 said, " Better, daughter? " turning to Sam Hippler, then 
 a dashing beau, to continue: 
 
 " I can't agree, Sam, that there aren't useless miracles 
 of our Lord. Take the walking on the water what 
 can that teach or inspire ? Call me heathen if you like 
 I er would not mention this to Sally but I can- 
 not grasp the intent of the miracle. . . Now, daughter, 
 is that better? Lay your head down " 
 
 And Aunt Sally bustled in with a little silk pillow for 
 Densie's brown head, pausing to say, " Herbert, were you 
 mentioning useless miracles of our Lord? Out with it, 
 Sam you two boys caught talking heresy I " 
 
 23
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " At least admit it is a proper topic for Sunday after- 
 noon," Uncle Herbert would protest, while Sam, whose 
 whole soul was concentrated on his yellow flowered waist- 
 coat, would give Densie a rakish wink; and that made the 
 ear stop aching altogether. 
 
 " I'll take to the Pale Jade Mountains, Sally, dashed if 
 I won't," Uncle Herbert would tease, while Aunt Sally 
 in her summer Sunday frock of pale yellow would admon- 
 ish soberly: 
 
 " There are no useless miracles of our Lord, Herbert 
 and Sam. It is a sign to us that it is good to attempt the 
 impossible just as he walked upon the water." 
 
 Then she remembered Aunt Sally's saying, just before 
 her death, that this was coming to be the age of purple 
 plush and white poodles instead of lavender lawn and 
 little children. For some reason the two sayings struck 
 her forcibly just now. Aunt Sally's spirit seemed to 
 hover over the attic helping her to remember so vividly 
 that it almost seemed reality. She could even recall the 
 smell of the eau de cologne that Aunt Sally used on Sun- 
 days or for parties perfumes were not considered 
 proper for every day. But then there had been gen- 
 tlewomen then, and not genteel ! 
 
 Uncle Herbert seemed standing in the doorway saying, 
 ' Well, children, shall I tell you all about the broom- 
 squires? Sure you won't be afraiJ when you go to sleep ? 
 Your aunt said I must not tell you about them any more." 
 
 At which they would fling themselves at him, demand- 
 ing the tales of English broomsquires and their mysterious 
 thatched huts on lonely moors no matter if they shud- 
 dered themselves to sleep in stoical silence. 
 
 Or Uncle Herbert's Latin phrases when he wished to 
 be impressive Aunt Sally was quite proud of them 
 his de giistibus non est disputandum when something with 
 
 24
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 which he disagreed came to his notice; or semper paratus 
 when Aunt Sally met some emergency; or humanum est 
 errare when a fellow brother fell by the wayside. He 
 was also given to the language of flowers and gems, the 
 names and origins of states and territories, and was even 
 guilty of trying to conduct the postage-stamp flirtation 
 with Aunt Sally when away on a business trip ! 
 
 His favorite way of teasing Aunt Sally was in answer- 
 ing her questions as to the prospect of to-morrow's 
 weather, for he would invariably begin Doctor Jenner's: 
 
 The hollow winds begin to blow, 
 The clouds look black, the glass is low. 
 And soot falls down, the spaniels sleep, 
 And spiders from their cobwebs peep. 
 Last night the sun went pale to bed, 
 The moon in halos hid her head, 
 The boding shepherd heaves a sigh, 
 For see, a rainbow spans the sky. 
 The walls are damp, the ditches smell, 
 Closed is the pink-eyed pimpernel. 
 Hark! How the chairs and tables crack. 
 Old Betty's bones are on the rack. 
 
 And so on to : 
 
 My dog's so altered in his taste 
 Quits mutton bones on grass to feast. 
 And see, yon rocks how odd their flight! 
 And see, precipitate the fall 
 As if they felt the piercing ball! 
 'Twill surely rain, I see with sorrow! 
 Our jaunt must be put off to-morrow! 
 
 " I take it," Aunt Sally would say, her mouth twitching 
 with amused impatience, " you think we ought not to go 1 " 
 
 25
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Yet Herbert and Sally Plummer had been Darby and 
 Joan to the end, Sally a keen-minded woman of charm 
 and brains, a housewife first and last, but with rare under- 
 standing of the world and its ways the world of her 
 time, however. In the two children, John and Densie, 
 utterly different yet equally interesting, she had found her 
 greatest joy. 
 
 Their house, The Evergreens, had been a square red- 
 brick affair with numerous green shutters, pine trees clos- 
 ing in on four sides, leaving only a narrow flagstone walk 
 by way of entrance. It had been a wedding gift to Aunt 
 Sally from her parents, and was situated in what was then 
 a remote part of a growing Eastern city, and safe from 
 encroaching commerce, they estimated. 
 
 Their ideas in house furnishings resolved into a gen- 
 erous compromise, for in those days homes were large 
 enough to permit freedom of ideas as well as large fami- 
 lies. To please Aunt Sally there were long mirrors in 
 black-and-gold frames, Dolly Varden lounges with plum- 
 colored damask curtains, endless whatnots and china shep- 
 herdesses on the tall mantles; while Uncle Herbert 
 boasted of his Persian vases, a rare edition of Moliere, 
 white-marble bowls in which he kept his sentimental bou- 
 quets of pansies offerings to the gods, he called them; 
 at which Aunt Sally retorted they reminded her of 
 smacked cats' faces. 
 
 There were old satinwood, mellowed furniture, carved 
 sandalwood boxes, embroidered fire screens and crotch 
 mahogany. It was the day and age when accumulating 
 both the trash and treasure of past generations was the 
 proper caper. Crowding into steam-heated apartments 
 with a small packing box in a janitor's locker was an un- 
 known blight on civilization. Densie could visualize the 
 long entrance hall with its Adam console table, Heppel- 
 
 26
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 white chairs and a seventeenth-century clock. Black 
 Wedgewood urns were Aunt Sally's pride, while Uncle 
 Herbert comforted himself with Whieldon ware, agate 
 and tortoise-shell teapots brought him from the Orient, 
 and which he kept in a green-lacquer cabinet with ormolu 
 mounts. 
 
 Three things about The Evergreens impressed one: 
 First, that, though it was spick and span through the ef- 
 forts of Aunt Sally and Ellen Porch, it was neither stiff 
 nor formidable; second, that a generous air of plenty per- 
 vaded even the four stately guest chambers with their 
 cross-stitched towels and towering wooden beds; last, that 
 no pains were ever spared to make this so no hurried 
 modern methods of cleaning and cooking were ever tol- 
 erated; that here was all of Aunt Sally's life and career, 
 to make and keep a home, just as Uncle Herbert, lovable 
 dreamer that he was, looked to his warehouse as his sole 
 raison d'etre. 
 
 From Uncle Herbert's collection of white-jade animals, 
 which he gathered on his wedding journey through the 
 Orient, to Aunt Sally's dining room glistening with old 
 plate, Jacobean pewter, blue-and-white china, luster ware, 
 and the cupboards bursting with their fat jam and con- 
 serve pots the house was a home. Outside there had 
 been a gleaming white pergola surrounded by splashes of 
 brilliant color and clipped bay trees at either side; here 
 blue, pink and yellow snapdragons and the gayest phlox 
 in the world were made to bloom for little Densie's pleas- 
 ure. There was a lily pool aglow with loveliness and 
 glimmering with dragon flies, while soft yellow roses 
 twined a latticework, with the sun shining down in ap- 
 proval. Over the flower garden and croquet court Den- 
 sie and Uncle Herbert ruled supreme, while Aunt Sally 
 and John commanded the kitchen and vegetable garden, 
 
 27
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 the dovecot, the stable with its fat ponies, and a certain 
 antique washtub, where John's turtle swam at leisure. 
 
 Just as Aunt Sally looked out for colds and hurts, over- 
 ruled Ellen Porch in matters of housekeeping, bought or 
 made the clothing for her family and had Sam Hippler, 
 Uncle Herbert's confidential clerk, tell her as to the real 
 status of the business so Uncle Herbert had seen to it 
 that John and Densie knew the proper fairy tales and took 
 them on woodsy expeditions and to the pantomime; in 
 general serving as a court of appeal when Aunt Sally's 
 discipline threatened. 
 
 In the drawing-room of The Evergreens was every- 
 thing imaginable, from Uncle Herbert's flute with his old 
 music rack and its tattered Italian serenade and opera 
 scores he was one of a quartet meeting during the win- 
 ter season to Aunt Sally's square piano with its em- 
 broidered cover and stool and the Snowdrop Waltz or 
 Ever of Thee in prim invitation on the rack. There were 
 a chessboard and backgammon set, an open fireplace with 
 a pile of fagots and great brass firedogs everything at 
 once homey and delightful yet properly in order through 
 the magic of housewifely fingers. 
 
 There was everything in the way of art, from still-life 
 paintings by Dutch artists, family portraits, war engrav- 
 ings of enormous size framed in walnut, to useless fancy 
 heads, bronze plaques and dried flowers under glass! 
 There was no definite, maddening scheme of things to 
 crowd out personality and swell the interior decorator's 
 bill. There were horsehair chairs and tapestry chairs 
 and the huge leather one where Uncle Herbert napped on 
 a Sunday when both sermon and dinner had been a trifle 
 ponderous. In the tall bookcases were volumes of his- 
 tory offset by frivolous novels concerning wasp-waisted 
 heroines who fainted conscientiously on each page; the 
 
 28
 
 latter Aunt Sally read the year she graduated from the 
 Young Ladies' Seminary at Athol Springs, Virginia. 
 There were poetry books, Shakspere, the Bible in various 
 editions; Densie's special shelf with her Dotty Dimples 
 and Little Colonial stories all the absurdly virtuous 
 infantry for her rather skeptical blue eyes to read; and 
 John's special shelf containing Rollo, Sea Fights, Life of 
 General Washington, Tales from the Alhambra, Tom 
 Jones, Robinson Crusoe, and so on. Everything had its 
 fair chance at representation. 
 
 Massive curtains and drapes adorned the drawing- 
 room windows, awesome and much admired when Aunt 
 Sally's afternoon clubs met. There were dotted, frilly, 
 ball-trimmed things in Densie's room and lacy affairs in 
 the guest chambers, while in the apartments of Aunt Sally 
 and John were amusing crisscrossed panels, so starched 
 as to make one waken with energy at the mere glancing 
 at their rigor. 
 
 The day of the woodshed and the fence was rampant. 
 The woodshed was where John had his trapeze and end- 
 less flutter-budges, as Aunt Sally indulgently called them; 
 where the neighborhood boys met for secret pirate clubs 
 at which Densie was a despised and rejected member, and 
 where the (Id-style appliances for the garden found a dig- 
 nified resting place, where Ellen Porch and Barney found 
 time to exchange the gossip of the day, and where the 
 trapdoor opened into the vegetable pit through which 
 John, playing kidnapper, had thrust Densie too roughly for 
 her peace of mind and her white apron. Here was where 
 John carved a cradle as a peace offering and presented it 
 to Densie's youngest " child "; and where he likewise kept 
 her sitting on the top of the coal bin while he teasingly 
 demanded : " Would you rather be a bigger fool than 
 you look or look a bigger fool than you are? " 
 
 29
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 In this atmosphere of home with its slowness of ac- 
 tion resulting in a sureness of result the two children 
 had grown up, with Aunt Sally's delightful practicability 
 and wit and tender heart besides her wonderful cook- 
 ing ! and Uncle Herbert's poetical scholarly self as ex- 
 cellent guides. 
 
 After the conventional education of a girl of her time, 
 so carefully shielded from the world, Aunt Sally took Den- 
 sie just before her sixteenth birthday to the Young Ladies' 
 Seminary at Athol Springs where Aunt Sally had at- 
 tended, and at eighteen John was sent to Europe to see 
 the world, as befitted a young man about to take up part- 
 nership in the house of Plummer & Plummer. 
 
 When Densie said good-by to this brother-boy he had 
 whispered, contrary to the years of teasing, careless play: 
 " Don't forget me, Densie. I'll have something to tell 
 you when I come home if you'll let me." 
 
 She must have been rather pretty, she thought as she 
 recalled the incident for she had worn a creamy flow- 
 ered challis and a broad leghorn hat loaded with violets, 
 and John had taken her in his arms and kissed her gently, 
 as he had never done before. 
 
 She was only sixteen a year younger than Harriet, 
 who seemed a child in all save her books; a year older 
 than Sally, who was as precocious as a girl of twenty. It 
 seemed a lifetime past instead of a matter of years ! 
 
 With John's words in her heart and the memory of 
 his strange kiss on her lips she had gone dutifully to the 
 seminary and had done her aunt credit, with John writing 
 from Paris and Berlin, now Florence, where he waxed 
 sentimental and proposed way ahead of time " the 
 young scamp ! " Uncle Herbert tried to scold and from 
 London just before he was sailing home, after he had 
 Densie's little note saying, u I love you, John." 
 
 30
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 To their uncle and aunt's delight they decided to wait 
 until Densie was eighteen and John was twenty not 
 unusual ages then to be married. Young again in 
 their romance Aunt Sally began the usual preparations 
 for a wedding while the usual romantic courtship took 
 place, Densie being somewhat of her aunt's make-up and 
 John a trifle of his uncle's, tinged, however, with a more 
 forceful and magnetic personality and a rare personal 
 beauty, much to his annoyance. Densie was not beautiful 
 a small apple-dumpling sort of girl with her dark blue 
 eyes and thick brown braids, tilted delightful features that 
 were made to be kissed, John assured her. 
 
 Aunt Sally and Ellen Porch took Densie in hand -to 
 teach her housekeeping, housekeeping from the front 
 porch to the woodshed, from the fruit cellar to the attic 
 cupola and all that goes therein. 
 
 " I want you to be able to stuff raw cabbage with coun- 
 try sausage and have it taste as mine does," Aunt Sally 
 warned her, " and cook a piece of brisket until it tastes 
 like the finest cut, and make bread like Ellen Porch, and 
 do up your winter preserves and dry your corn and ap- 
 ples those things are tests of a good housekeeper. 
 Never mind showing me a woman's parlor let me see 
 her kitchen waste pail and I can tell you whether or not 
 her husband has made a mistake." 
 
 After Densie had accomplished this and more 
 Aunt Sally and Uncle Herbert confessed that their wed- 
 ding present would be the " Little House on the Hill " 
 just as Aunt Sally's parents had given her The Ever- 
 greens. It seemed to be a little house in comparison, and 
 The Evergreens would seem twice as large, now that both 
 the children would be gone. But then, as Aunt Sally in- 
 sisted, her eyes kindly yet misty, they would be back at 
 the old house probably more than was good for them, and
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 no one would realize they had really set up an establish- 
 ment all their own. 
 
 So they named it the Little House whereas it was a 
 good-sized brick dwelling, also square and practical, and 
 built on the hill so Densie could look down at the roof 
 of The Evergreens whenever she grew lonesome. Al- 
 ready business was beginning to creep about The Ever- 
 green and Uncle Herbert looked aghast at the incoming 
 shops, which sold hides and harnesses or made cheap 
 clothing, their owners living in rooms at the rear. 
 
 Aunt Sally had declared she would do nothing toward 
 settling Densie's house, while all the time her basket of 
 mop cloths together with Ellen Porch's awaited her pleas- 
 ure in the woodshed. From the time of Densie's formal 
 announcement at seventeen she actually neglected 
 The Evergreens for the settling of the Little House. 
 
 Outside the Little House Uncle Herbert planted a 
 magnolia tree for good fortune, and a garden something 
 like the one at The Evergreens. Inside Aunt Sally did 
 not allow him to be admitted. Every room in the house 
 had an open fireplace and a cupboard, and the walls were 
 tinted instead of papered. The living room was in 
 bronze and gold and tawny shades with stone-colored cur- 
 tains attractively stenciled, and soft carpets, armchairs 
 and many cushions, samplers framed in rosewood to- 
 gether with family portraits. 
 
 An upright piano of carved ebonized wood with candle 
 brackets came for Densie and a mahogany secretary 
 " for John to figure up Densie's extravagances," Sam Hip- 
 pier declared while odd pieces of curly maple with a 
 hint of French blue in their upholstering found their way 
 quite naturally about. They named their rooms it 
 was only decent, according to Aunt Sally, as any respect- 
 able woman names her child before it is twenty-four hours 
 
 32
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 old Jungle and Peep o' Day and Moonshine, in accord- 
 ance with the romantic tendency; a step in advance from 
 North Chamber and South Chamber but, as Aunt Sally 
 further said, " I suppose in keeping with the age ! " 
 
 Lavender bags found their way between the piles of 
 snowy linens, the shelves were filled with preserves and 
 there was a good-sized woodshed in the Little House and 
 a white fence about the generous yard. 
 
 Then 
 
 " Mother! Where in this world are you? " 
 
 It was Sally rushing up the attic stairs ! 
 
 33
 
 Ill 
 
 Densie jumped up from the chair and pretended to 
 busy herself over a packing box. ' Yes, my dear. Did 
 you want anything? " 
 
 Smiles and frowns all in one Sally bounded into the 
 attic. 
 
 "What are you doing here? I've shouted my head 
 off for you. Ken is home and hungry as a bear, and so 
 am I. Harriet is going to stay at Miss Blake's for sup- 
 per." Miss Blake was her favorite teacher. " I came 
 up here " Sally looked her most bewitching " to ask 
 about the dance at Nelly Morgan's on Monday. Dean 
 wants to take me." 
 
 Densie pushed a wisp of hair back and wondered if 
 Sally knew how her hand trembled. It is hard to be 
 called suddenly out of the past without warning and to 
 have to conceal the fact. 
 
 ' Why I don't know, Sally, you've been to so many 
 parties lately, and you really are a little girl " 
 
 " But everyone goes, and school is out, and it is only 
 Dean you know you trust me with Dean. I promise 
 not to stay late." 
 
 ' You stayed late at Harriet's graduation. I told you 
 not later than eleven o'clock." 
 
 " But that was father's fault; he was having such a 
 good time he wouldn't come away," Sally dimpled. 
 ' You ought to have stayed, too, mummy; you're such a 
 quiet dear." She came and slipped her arms round her 
 waist. "Please say yes; I'll be terribly good, and go 
 to church to-morrow." 
 
 ' You ought not to be bribed to go to church, Sally," 
 
 34
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Densie told her gravely. " I went to church because I 
 loved it and it was part of my life. I have tried to make 
 it part of you children's lives, but I seem to have failed." 
 
 The curly chestnut head was laid lovingly on Densie's 
 shoulder. After all, no one could refuse Sally. She had 
 a way with her, as her father said. 
 
 " I know, mummy darling, but that was long, long ago 
 'before de wah ' now wasn't it? We can't always 
 go on doing just the same. If no one did differently we'd 
 be cannibals just as we used to be wouldn't we ? " She 
 raised her head audaciously and laughed. " Your eyes 
 say yes there's an old trump ! Harriet is smart 
 enough for the family. I'm just silly Sally, and I have 
 to dance I have to ! My feet can't keep from tapping 
 whenever I hear music. I dance in my dreams, mummy. 
 Didn't you ever? " 
 
 "Why, no, not that I remember." 
 
 " Then I can go? And you'll be a perfectly adorable 
 angel-duck and finish my cherry-silk frock? " 
 
 Densie frowned. " What is the matter with the one 
 you wore last night? " 
 
 " It is so old-fashioned, mummy. I do wish you'd buy 
 better patterns ! " 
 
 " It is beautiful material and the lace is real. My 
 Aunt Sally had that lace when she was a bride." 
 
 " But Aunt Sally is dead and gone," Sally insisted flip- 
 pantly. u I'd rather have my cherry silk even if it is 
 cheaper and have it made like other girls' dresses. 
 Please, mumsey, I'll do the dishes so you can have time 
 to sew. Oh, I'd like a different dress for every party! " 
 
 She began dancing round the attic, her head nodding 
 joyously. 
 
 ' Will you ever simmer down, Sally, and apply yourself 
 at school? " 
 
 35
 
 "Tra-la-la, I don't know nor care tra-la Oh, 
 mummy, I hate attics ! Old, musty things ! Why don't 
 you have a bonfire? " 
 
 Densie smiled. " Perhaps I will. Now we'll go 
 downstairs. I did not realize how late it was getting." 
 
 " But you will finish the dress? " Sally was not going 
 to descend the stairs until she had a promise. 
 
 " Yes," Densie said briefly, but she was not thinking 
 of the dress but of her interrupted retrospection; she 
 would wait and finish it that night as she sat up to sew 
 and wait for Harriet. Densie never went to bed until 
 the girls were home unless they were with their father. 
 She used to sit up for John until he began being away so 
 often and until so late. She had forced herself to grow 
 used to his absence. 
 
 After supper, Sally having made Kenneth trot to and 
 fro with the dishes and then rewarded him by cutting out 
 soldiers and mounting them on cardboard, Densie took 
 her sewing up to her room and prepared to finish her 
 retrospection. 
 
 She fitted the dress on Sally first, Sally standing impa- 
 tiently first on one leg and then on the other and twitching 
 nervously as her mother dallied in the adjustment of the 
 flounces. 
 
 ' There that looks better," she said with uncon- 
 scious patronage. " The silver sash just makes it 
 
 Oh, mother, I can't wait until I'm twenty! Twenty must 
 be a wonderful time! What were you doing then? " 
 
 " Harriet came to me at twenty, so I was very busy 
 with my housekeeping and my new daughter." 
 
 "But you had a maid, didn't you that Renie 
 Smith ? " Sally smiled at her pretty self in the glass. 
 
 ' Yes, but there is a great deal of work in a house this 
 size, and Harriet was colicky." 
 
 36
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 u Oh." Sally began to plume her skirt and try a dif- 
 ferent angle of adjustment regarding the sash. " I want 
 to be married when I'm twenty, but I want to travel and 
 wear beautiful clothes and just be admired. Harrie 
 doesn't; she is terribly queer, mummy; she wants to do 
 funny things. I can't understand I wish we didn't 
 have this big house with such old-fashioned things in it, 
 don't you? " 
 
 " It was my home, Sally; I cannot help but love it." 
 
 " I know, but we haven't hardwood floors or electric 
 lights or a telephone like other people have; and it is 
 so far away from downtown. I should think you would 
 have died of loneliness." 
 
 " I was happy." Densie unpinned the dress and took 
 it off. 
 
 " Thanks, mummy." 
 
 Sally carelessly kissed the tip of Densie's ear for a good 
 night and pirouetted to her room to try, in deadly secret, 
 the effect of some new rouge. When she was twenty she 
 would rouge all she wished; one commands the world at 
 twenty except funny, old-fashioned mummies saddled 
 by housework and babies and who seem terribly ancient 
 though they are not yet forty! 
 
 Sitting beside her oil lamp Densie took up the threads 
 of memory just where she had dropped them. She had 
 been thinking of the wedding at The Evergreens at which 
 Aunt Sally had distinguished herself in a darling com- 
 bination of black satin and white velvet and Uncle Her- 
 bert, due to his emotion, had knocked over two vases filled 
 with flowers, which stood at the head of the bridal aisle! 
 
 They had gone on a genuine wedding tour New 
 York, Philadelphia, Washington and Niagara Falls 
 Densie in her going-away gown of dove-colored broad- 
 cloth quite hopelessly labeled bride. She made a quaint 
 
 37
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 1882 profile, all pouts and tilts, curves and fussy little 
 rosettes, a small flyaway love of a bonnet with an abrupt 
 slant and a discreet high coiffure, a white mesh veil dotted 
 with black chenille, and high-heele'd bronze boots, Size 
 Two A! Her trousseau had been in keeping with this 
 bridal frock even as John had been the properly 
 sophisticated young husband returned from seeing the 
 world, and boasting of a high silk hat, a double-breasted 
 green paddock coat and a budding mustache all proof 
 of his worldly experiences ! 
 
 Returning, the Little House was the scene of a proper 
 housewarming, after which John and Densie settled down 
 according to custom as married members of the commu- 
 nity and followed their elders in the matters of orthodox 
 church-going, a Dickens supper club, occasional formal 
 dances, sailing and picnics in the summer, afternoon calls, 
 painstaking housekeeping and sewing and charities 
 with Aunt Sally dressed in her characteristic black satin 
 and ermine tippet driving up the hill to call for Densie to 
 go a-marketing. Cakes were still made with the whites 
 of twelve eggs and three-quarters of a pound of butter, 
 and one washed one's oilcloth with sour milk so as to 
 preserve it properly while the rest of the home and 
 cuisine was conducted on an equally slow lavish scale. 
 
 John had been a devoted lover-husband then, doing 
 well in the business and affording his uncle leisure for flute 
 practice, garden, surreptitious candy making during Aunt 
 Sally's absence, his harmless hobby of postage-stamp col- 
 lecting. Uncle Herbert spent more and more time in his 
 study, clad in a scarlet quilted dressing robe and balancing 
 Southey's Common-Place Book on his knee. Sam Hip- 
 pier piloted the youthful and daring John and kept busi- 
 ness afloat, and Aunt Sally had superintended Densie and 
 her little world, her one possession being a pessimistic 
 
 38
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 x 
 
 faith in the devil, a personal devil at that, who was men- 
 acing civilization with his modern and tempting ideas. 
 
 Then on a memorable June night in 1884, Aunt Sally 
 had returned from the Little House at midnight, surpris- 
 ing her husband in an arrangement for which he had 
 fought for many months half a mince pie, an ash tray 
 and a tattered copy of Don Quixote on her best tea table 
 while she told him that John and Densie had been 
 given a little daughter, " bound to be clever long black 
 hair and well-defined eyebrows. They are to call her 
 Harriet, after John's mother, which is quite right, though 
 Densie did want a Sally in her family." 
 
 Harriet's advent brought even a deeper joy to the fam- 
 ily circle than had been before, and two years later came 
 another daughter Sally this time round and dimpled 
 and given to much excessive laughter for apparently no 
 reason at all, while Harriet was still a pale quiet baby 
 with dark glowing eyes and " bound to be clever " her 
 great-aunt declared. 
 
 There was no denying but what the babies narrowed 
 Densie's life ! She dropped the cherry-silk frock to recall 
 just how it had started, just when John's loverliness had 
 not been so marked business engrossed him, men's club 
 meetings, he was becoming well known and respected, and 
 his interests took him outside of his home. Besides, 
 Densie was always too busy to go places with him or to 
 sit and talk since she would trust no nursemaid. She 
 would make a slave of herself, John declared, and then 
 finding it of no use to protest he joined a card club that 
 met downtown, and became president of the retail mer- 
 chants' association. 
 
 It was then that Densie realized that the romance of 
 marriage depends upon small attentions; whereas court- 
 ship is such a stupendous and breath-taking affair that it 
 
 39
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 holds nothing but prophecies for a rosy and unreal future. 
 The small attentions were not discontinued all at once 
 
 not for years, to be fair there were certain pleasant 
 
 customs that were continued. The good-by kiss, the wel- 
 come, the bit of a nosegay on Sundays, the not forgetting 
 anniversaries bane of any man's existence, no matter 
 how dearly he may love ! 
 
 But married life became a shade monotonous to John, 
 and to Densie it seemed a never-ending task of teething 
 babies and cooking meals and of having no time to herself 
 in which to sew or read or dream. John was far from 
 rich Uncle Herbert was spoken of as being " just com- 
 fortable " but he was too much of a dreamer to stay so. 
 And Densie had been taught always to live well within 
 one's income rather than beyond it. So she managed 
 with turned silks and made dishes, which take time rather 
 than expense, and when the carpets were turning shabby 
 she hooked rugs to cover the thin places. 
 
 It was in 1893 that the house of Plummer & Plummer 
 suffered a temporary failure; it had been an old house 
 with honorable methods, and tea, coffee and spices its line. 
 Uncle Herbert refused to include anything else; he said 
 he did not feel competent to do so, though John had seen 
 the mistake of this attitude and argued hotly against it. 
 After a very uncomfortable period Uncle Herbert found 
 himself gently slipped out of harness, so to speak, free to 
 wander in the study and garden at will or go to play with 
 Densie's daughters. Sam Hippler remained in charge 
 because Aunt Sally wished it, but it was John who plunged 
 into the business in a new and forceful fashion, finding 
 himself engrossed in the game of commerce and really irri- 
 tated by petty household details. He had an opportunity 
 to enter politics how well Densie remembered the 
 night he had come home and told her ! and how glad 
 
 40
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 she was when the successful campaign had ended and 
 John was elected assemblyman. Ethics had become a tri- 
 fle dulled in so doing; Densie discovered this as she ran- 
 sacked the old secretary looking for a bill and had found 
 others that quite surprised her. 
 
 Politics absorbed John; it was the way to keep his busi- 
 ness afloat, he said, and he began to blame his uncle for 
 not teaching him some profession save selling tea, coffee 
 and spices wholesale and being too highminded to " cheat 
 fairly " as he insisted. 
 
 Harriet and Sally had started school as different as 
 day from night, even then. Harriet all for books and 
 theories, a veritable interrogation point; while Sally stood 
 for beauty, the mere joy of living without questioning the 
 ifs and whys of existence. 
 
 John dropped out of church work, he was never free 
 to attend or else he was too tired, and Densie shouldered 
 the double burden because of the girls. She joined a 
 modest sentimental mothers' club and substituted sewing 
 a fine seam for crochet doilies and crape tissue-paper 
 work. 
 
 In 1895 Kenneth was born named Kenneth for Den- 
 sie's father and that same year, while Kenneth grew 
 plump and rosy and his mother hardly acknowledged to 
 herself that this third child was closer to her than her 
 girls, Aunt Sally failed. She was more timid and slow 
 of manner, and in 1896 she went to sleep as it seemed 
 leaving The Evergreens a lonely house wedged between 
 foreign rooming establishments, and Uncle Herbert a 
 mourning child. 
 
 Densie knew that she must take Aunt Sally's place as 
 well. She bravely dismantled The Evergreens, with 
 twinges of memory and sentiment, transferring all she 
 could of it to the Little House, fitting up Uncle Herbert's 
 
 41
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 two rooms as duplicates of his old study and bedchamber 
 so he might feel more content to stay. She remembered 
 she had had a dim wondering as to the wisdom of this 
 passing of fashions and customs, and as to whether she 
 belonged with the old regime or was she destined to hurry 
 until she became one of the new? John had shaved off 
 his mustache he looked a boy, he was told at the club 
 he was drinking a trifle. " Just enough to be sociable, 
 my dear," he had told Densie; " you've got to come to it 
 if you're to stay in the game." 
 
 They had sold The Evergreens to a clothing manufac- 
 turer, who gutted the inside and rebuilt according to busi- 
 ness plans. Densie never passed the house if she could 
 avoid it; John said she was supersensitive, and the chil- 
 dren wondered why she never talked about when she was 
 a little girl at Aunt Sally's without crying. 
 
 The three children had developed along individual 
 lines, Harriet a strange scholarly girl, cold of heart, 
 clever of head, but without interest or aptitude for do- 
 mestic interests. Sally was eternally bubbling over with 
 the joy of existence unless her will was crossed too 
 generous, too intense and really too beautiful, even then. 
 To John's annoyance Kenneth proved a gentle girlish 
 nature, which was Densie's secret solace and delight. 
 
 And then here Densie forced herself to pick up the 
 cherry-colored frock and begin work Uncle Herbert 
 became a burden ! There was no denying it saddest of 
 age's punishments for he began to dodder about ask- 
 ing inane and inappropriate questions, meddling, inquisi- 
 tive, sensitive, sulky. Neither Densie nor Kenneth found 
 him a trial, but the girls and John said it was awkward to 
 have him about and it would be a blessing were he taken. 
 Only Densie really bore with the old gentleman, humor- 
 ing his whims and treating him as gently as he had once 
 
 42
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 treated her, shielding him from impatience. But it tied 
 Densie in her home, since paid service will not do such 
 things for feeble old strangers. 
 
 To a great extent Densie withdrew from the church 
 and social interests and John began to gamble in stocks; 
 there was a good chance of becoming really wealthy he 
 assured her. He drank rather to excess now in a dan- 
 gerous, steady sort of way, and was actively interested in 
 all things outside his home. He said it was too bad Den- 
 sie did not have a half dozen maids " but you will when 
 I make my ten-strike." And he thought no more of the 
 matter. 
 
 Eight months before Harriet's graduation Uncle Her- 
 bert had died, thinking that Densie was his wife, Sally, 
 and telling her that " white pink, canary grass and laurel 
 mean your talent and perseverance will win you glory, my 
 dear," gallantly trying to kiss her hand. 
 
 It was a relief more of a relief for Densie than the 
 others, though she missed Uncle Herbert as time went on, 
 for there was no one to whom she could go and still be 
 petted even if feebly petted. 
 
 Now Harriet had won, unbeknown or confided to her 
 mother, a scholarship for a New York social-service 
 school at seventeen her daughter was convinced she 
 had a mission in life and was planning on a career a 
 trained statistician, aloof from contact with the poor, but 
 with a cold-blooded theorist's ability for endless figures 
 and undeniable deductions ! 
 
 Harriet regarded her mother as a nice little thing who 
 said grace before meals and prayers night and morning, 
 keeping Sunday as a day of rest and worship, and who 
 would stir her lady cake a hundred times just as Aunt 
 Sally had taught her. The Little House was an eyesore 
 to Harriet; it was too large, too absurd. She longed to 
 
 43
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 be alone; her secret plan was for the life of a bachelor 
 girl, a pioneer feminist and to Densie she was a clever 
 but cruel stranger who had strayed far from her tender 
 heart. 
 
 Densie had finished the little dancing frock and hung it 
 on her wardrobe door. She looked at it a moment - 
 since it brought to mind at the close of this long retrospec- 
 tion the fact that Sally at fifteen was an equally distress- 
 ing problem, always in disgrace at school, where she could 
 not or would not apply herself, besieged with boy admir- 
 ers, wheedling whatever she liked from her father and 
 spending her time in flippant dressing or reading highly 
 colored romances and running off to matinees with her 
 hair dressed like a woman's. 
 
 There was Dean Laddbarry. "Bless Dean!" mur- 
 mured Densie, for she saw in him the elements of a valua- 
 ble man, and used to the old-time fashion of casting ahead 
 for young people she wished they might marry as she and 
 John had married, when each was young and fired by 
 ideals. 
 
 She must take herself to task for the general condition 
 of unrest and estrangement; she must change with the 
 times as John had changed. To do this she must break 
 up the home! She had finished her thought cycle since 
 she had justified her resolve. It was very clear to Den- 
 sie just what had brought this all about. John had the 
 responsibility of his family, but Densie had the cares! 
 Responsibilities deadened one to cares and cares made one 
 noncomprehensive of responsibilities! 
 
 Therefore it was high time to shake off cares. Har- 
 riet had come in and was standing in the doorway 
 smiling superciliously. She was contrasting Densie's 
 weary-looking self in a house dress to Miss Blake's well- 
 groomed, athletic person in a rose-silk dress and a rope 
 
 44
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 of seed pearls. Miss Blake was forty-five, yet she 
 seemed a girl. She had a pink-and-white complexion and 
 hands as white as any debutante's, and her gray hair was 
 always marcelled and faintly scented with violet. Har- 
 riet adored Miss Blake it had been she who had urged 
 Harriet's aiming for a career, impressing on her that she 
 was meant for something above a house drudge. Miss 
 Blake laughingly admitted that she never darned her 
 stockings or made a cup of coffee. " I'm a bachelor girl, 
 Harriet dear," she had said; " so I'm excused! " 
 
 " Mother, I want to ask about New York. Miss 
 Blake is going there the first of August, and she wants me 
 to come with her so she can introduce me to her friends. 
 Do you think daddy will let me?" 
 
 " Have you thought well about it? " Densie turned to 
 look at her eldest rebel-daughter. " It is a grave deci- 
 sion; it means five years away from home. We thought 
 you would stay with us and take up something like kin- 
 dergartening." 
 
 Harriet smiled. "As if I could! But you don't un- 
 derstand, mother; it is all so changed since you were a 
 girl. I must go, even if you say no. I've worked alone 
 to win the scholarship and there were many who tried 
 for it." 
 
 " I know, dear, you were very brilliant. Only I'm not 
 reconciled to your leaving us " 
 
 " There are vacations," she urged. 
 
 " But daddy isn't rich, and things cost so much more; 
 and business has changed too." 
 
 Densie loyally forgot the club bills and the fiascoes on 
 the stock market. 
 
 ' Well, I can coach someone perhaps and earn my va- 
 cation money. I don't want clothes like Sally just 
 plain things." 
 
 45
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " I must talk it over with your father Monday." 
 
 " But if he says no? " Harriet's eyes narrowed dan- 
 gerously. 
 
 " Would you disobey him? " 
 
 The old-school beliefs flared up in Densie's bewildered 
 heart. 
 
 " Certainly! First of all I am a human being. That 
 is what Ibsen's Nora said." 
 
 " I have never read Ibsen." 
 
 " I understand that you haven't; but I have and do, and 
 I've the right to my own life." 
 
 There was a pause, after which Densie said, " When 
 would you want to go? " 
 
 " The first of August," Harriet repeated sharply. 
 
 " I see. Would my trunk do? " 
 
 " Splendidly. Mummy, can I have all new underwear 
 to start with? I've grown so much taller, and Sally 
 can use the old. She likes to patch things with lace and 
 embroidery. I want plain things and new; because I 
 won't have time to mend." 
 
 " When I went to boarding school we had to account 
 for every missing hook and eye ! " 
 
 " Boarding school ! Mummy, this is a social-service 
 course. It is utterly different." Harriet laughed indul- 
 gently. " Miss Blake has told me how wonderful it will 
 be. She took a summer course there and won a fellow- 
 ship so she traveled in England doing research work." 
 Harriet's eyes glowed. 
 
 " Yes, you may have new underwear," was all Densie 
 answered, turning away. After all, the cares will not 
 take themselves off one's shoulder without a deal of hard 
 pushing. No one will voluntarily stand ready to assume 
 them. 
 
 46
 
 IV 
 
 Densie and Kenneth practically spent Sunday with each 
 other, the girls going to some friends for the day and 
 John not returning until Monday. It was with a sad sort 
 of pleasure that Densie ordered her son's actions, know- 
 ing that he too would presently turn to demand his own 
 rights of speech and action. Even now as she showed 
 him the colored Bible plates his eyes wandered in the 
 direction of the forbidden pea shooter and cardboard sol- 
 diers, and his answers were monosyllabic and lackluster. 
 
 When John came home for luncheon the next day 
 he had gone directly to the office on his return Harriet 
 confronted him with the news that Densie had agreed to 
 her going to New York in August. 
 
 " Well, my dear," John began, hardly knowing what 
 to say and being engrossed with a new gambling tangle 
 which promised either success in a large measure or dis- 
 aster, " I suppose your mother understands what is best 
 for you. We thought you would stay at home with us, 
 Harriet. It is such a big old house it needs a crowd.' 1 
 He was sitting on the porch smoking, Harriet perched 
 on the rail. Sally and Dean and Kenneth were quarrel- 
 ing good-naturedly over croquet on the lawn, and Densie 
 was within clearing off the luncheon debris. 
 
 " It is too big a house; mummy has to slave too much. 
 You cannot get help as you once could. This is a new 
 order of things." 
 
 Harriet's patronizing manner was most amusing. 
 
 " No, but your mother will not stop slaving. I've tried 
 to tell her." 
 
 47
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 John felt irritated, yet he did not want to woo a do- 
 mestic harangue. He paid the bills and that ended his 
 part in the home. He was always courteous to his wife 
 and the children and seldom questioned anything trny did 
 or said, yet he was becoming a stranger to them though 
 he did not intend it to be that way. 
 
 " You're so young looking, daddy," said Harriet 
 thoughtfully, " and Miss Blake is so young looking, and 
 mummy seems old. Yet she isn't old she was married 
 young, wasn't she? And she has never read." Harriet 
 was thinking out loud. 
 
 " Come, come ! We mustn't criticize our betters." 
 Her father dropped his cigar into an ash tray and stood 
 up hastily. " I'm going downtown now. Was there 
 anything else you wanted to ask? I'll be seeing you in 
 New York next, I suppose, when I'm there on business." 
 
 " It will be heavenly ! " Harriet answered with unusual 
 enthusiasm for her. " Think of not having to bother 
 with housework, but study all I want." 
 
 " And what will you do when you marry? Feed your 
 husband with Latin verbs and French history? " He 
 smiled down at her. 
 
 " I shall never marry," she told him seriously. " Some 
 women are meant for homebodies and some are not. If 
 I were not interested in social service I should read law." 
 
 Holding up his hands in mock despair her father went 
 in to find Densie. Harriet dropped into the hammock 
 and began a delightful vision of her future, her freedom 
 as a superwoman, her intended reforms yet her aloofness 
 from humanity as a mass. She would always be kind to 
 her parents, oh, very kind and to pretty, silly Sally 
 who was going to be foolish enough to marry and become 
 a work slave unless she happened upon a millionaire. In 
 fact, Harriet planned to take care of her family in a sense, 
 
 48
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 and send Kenneth to an English school so as to make a 
 man of him. She felt he would never be a man so long 
 as his mother was about. She would also read every 
 novel she wished, revolutionary or otherwise; she would 
 join the suffrage movement; she would not go to church, 
 she would deny the absurd old teachings and adopt the 
 new ethical religion with which Miss Blake had allied 
 herself. Musty Bible logic was only for past generations 
 and helpless orphans shut up within four walls. She 
 would dress like Miss Blake as soon as it was possible, 
 in severe yet expensive things made by good tailors, and 
 small untrimmed hats which cost fabulous sums; and she 
 would have an arts-and-crafts ring, massive and mascu- 
 line, and would wear no other ornament save a watch. 
 She would rent bachelor rooms and furnish them as Miss 
 Blake had furnished hers with eccentric colors and fur- 
 niture, limp-leather-bound books and Jap prints. She 
 would always, always live in New York. After the five 
 years at school she could easily see her way to never com- 
 ing home. She could never stand it; she must have free- 
 dom to cut away from her family and to live unhampered 
 by a home ! 
 
 Meantime, John had surprised Densie in the act of 
 washing dishes. She wore a blue work dress and her hair 
 was a trifle awry. 
 
 "Can't the girls do this for you?" he asked gently, 
 an almost dangerous gentleness which betokened a guilty 
 lack of interest. 
 
 ' They won't do it my way," she explained. " I've 
 tried showing them, but they rattle through without rins- 
 ing and use my glass cloth for the pots and vice versa, and 
 Sally has nicked every china dish I have. I would rather 
 do it alone and have it as I wish." 
 
 " It seems too bad women get so set on methods." 
 
 49
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 He sat down at the kitchen table to watch her painstak- 
 ingly make a soap suds. 
 
 " It is the only way to do if you are going to have 
 system. I haven't had time to speak to you alone. Did 
 Harriet tell you her plans? " 
 
 " Urn. Funny youngster. I suppose we may as well 
 let her try it. She will be so homesick before Christmas 
 she will never mention it again. Fancy, Densie, telling 
 me she never intended to marry. At seventeen you and 
 I were engaged, weren't we ? " 
 
 He leaned his elbows on the table and smiled at her. 
 He seemed a boy quite out of place in the kitchen with 
 this slightly faded woman. 
 
 " Yes, but everything seems changing. I presume 
 Harriet knows her mind. It would do no good to con- 
 tradict her. Only I'd rather she did not stay away for 
 five whole years " 
 
 " She won't stay a year," her father declared. " She'll 
 come back and fall in love and make a bigger goose of 
 herself than our Sally wait and see." 
 
 Densie shook her head. " Not Harriet you re- 
 member what Aunt Sally said, ' bound to be clever,' and " 
 she drew a deep breath as if forcing herself to repress 
 emotion " you can't be very clever, John, when you 
 have babies and have to stand over a cookstove and hag- 
 gle with shopkeepers. It wears away the fine edge of 
 keenness." 
 
 " Perhaps women will come to be more sensible and 
 stop working so hard and so endlessly. In your day 
 or Aunt Sally's, rather there was nothing else expected 
 of them. It was their world. And it is the same in busi- 
 ness it has changed. Sam Hippler would not counte- 
 nance an adding machine if I did not throttle him into 
 accepting it, and he dislikes the modern stenographer, and 
 
 50
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 automobiles are to his mind odious evidences of the 
 younger generation. You cannot make him see light. 
 All my life I've been hampered by an old-fashioned set- 
 ting. I would sell anything from canary birds to shot- 
 guns if I had my way; and if we had done so we might 
 have been rich to-day. But Uncle Herbert had a ridicu- 
 lous notion that books should be sold in a book store and 
 shoes in a shoe store and so on " 
 
 " Still, he never gambled in stocks," said Densie quietly 
 as she began to wipe the glasses. 
 
 " Better men than I gamble in stocks." His face 
 flushed and he looked at her defiantly. 
 
 " It is not honestly earned money ' 
 
 " Don't, Densie. You sound like a motto calendar." 
 He rose abruptly. " I'm off now. I don't mind how 
 you run your house and children, but business is my do- 
 main." 
 
 " Aren't they your house and your children? " 
 
 " Of course only you've always taken to yourself the 
 authority." 
 
 " And the labor." 
 
 " And the labor," he conceded ungraciously. " But 
 for my business and myself I must ask for freedom. I'm 
 like Harriet. I must do things my own way. If I 
 choose to drink a cocktail and plunge on the curb it is no 
 evidence of degeneracy. Come, be fair! Be as old-time 
 as you like in your heart, but let us outwardly keep pace 
 with the present-day pulse." 
 
 'Will you be home for dinner?" she asked awk- 
 wardly, really for the lack of something more appropriate 
 to say. 
 
 John took it as a rebuff. " No," he answered shortly; 
 " I'm staying downtown to see the end of a three-cushion 
 tournament." 
 
 51
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Barely brushing his lips against her cheek he left her, 
 stopping in the hall to gather a light modish overcoat and 
 a Panama hat, which he rakishly tilted over his grizzled 
 head. 
 
 Sally came running toward him and hung on his arm. 
 
 " Daddy darling," she began, " what are you going to 
 do for me since you've said Harriet could go to New 
 York? Don't you think I ought to have a whole scad of 
 new dresses? " 
 
 " Scad? Is that another of Dean's slang words? " 
 
 John looked at her admiringly. If Harriet was clever, 
 Sally was beautiful, and John, like most of mankind, pre- 
 ferred to look at Sally. 
 
 ' Yes scad means six, I think. A white organdie, 
 a pink poplin, a yellow silk, a " 
 
 Sally kept on hugging his arm and laying her curly head 
 on his coat sleeve. 
 
 ' Why don't you help your mother more? " 
 
 " She says we can't suit her. Mummy would let me 
 have the dresses if you would. You know I'm going to 
 be your home girl, and I think you might." 
 
 4 You're only a little girl, Sally. You better finish 
 school and not think of dresses " 
 
 " I shan't let you go unless you promise me two 
 the pink one and the white one, please daddy, you're 
 such a dear." Sally knew how to tease. 
 
 " If your mother says so," John finally conceded, bend- 
 ing ^to kiss her, " and now please take yourself off before 
 you've borrowed my watch and chain." 
 
 He did not go near Kenneth. A barrier which John 
 could not explain existed between the two. The boy's 
 gentle nature irritated him; he claimed that Densie spoiled 
 and mollycoddled him and he would turn out an inefficient 
 dreamer unable to make his way in the world. It dis- 
 
 5*
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 pleased him really, because Kenneth went to his mother 
 with his woes and avoided his father as much as possible, 
 thinking in his childish way that he was a handsome brave 
 person who despised him because he could not fight the 
 Kelly gang on the corner! 
 
 He left the gateway, forgetting, as was usual, to latch 
 it, and left cares behind, after the way of men. Just as 
 when the panic came it was necessary for John to go into 
 politics to retrieve himself, and Densie to do without a 
 maid. 
 
 That night, having finished her tasks, Densie sat up 
 for Sally according to custom and glanced through some 
 Sunday papers that John had happened to bring home. 
 She came across a section entitled Woman's Realm, and 
 this she selected for careful consideration. Buried in the 
 accounts of beauty culture and wardrobe secrets she found 
 the report of an address that was delivered by some emi- 
 nent man before a federation of women's clubs. In part 
 he had said to them: 
 
 " For the past few years some of you have been fever- 
 ishly active in two directions: With the mechanism of 
 living and getting a living, this from physical necessity 
 and with a counterbalancing mental and spiritual antidote 
 to the other. The habit is more or less fixed, and I be- 
 lieve you should all relax for a time, take things as un- 
 seriously as possible and get all the joy you can from 
 merely being alive, seeing, breathing, smelling, feeling in 
 a physical sense. If you could accomplish this you would 
 recreate within yourselves the power to do, which has been 
 rather used up in these other directions. No one realizes 
 to-day the drudgery that falls to the lot of conscientious 
 middle-class American women yet no other class pro- 
 duces such wonderful men and women as a result of this 
 condition, truly the backbone of the nation! But is it 
 
 53
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 fair to these homemakers ? Are time and tide going to 
 allow this condition of drudgery and care to continue 
 unaided or are we approaching a new era? I believe in 
 the latter and advocate it. 
 
 " The sense life has a biologic origin, but I believe it 
 also takes on a spiritual significance and function, and there 
 is a profound truth in the old Greek myth about the hero 
 who drew fresh strength and power from the very contact 
 with the mother earth. When physical conditions of liv- 
 ing are not to one's liking there is a great temptation to 
 say, ' Life is not worth living ! ' But the very fact that 
 we are alive proves to me we must make life worth living. 
 Asceticism is essentially wrong, and just as a tree must 
 have deep roots in the ground so our spiritual growth 
 must be firmly based on the beauties of the sense life. 
 Air plants, orchids, they are rarely beautiful but fragile 
 parasites after all. Remember that there are three great 
 imperatives self-preservation, self-perpetuation, and 
 finally self-justification, or the raison d'etre. To achieve 
 these three successfully one must be honestly friends with 
 oneself " 
 
 Densie dropped the paper. She had added the final 
 plank in her platform ! 
 
 54
 
 The family accepted the rental of a new home an 
 upper flat and extremely modern for 1901 with ap- 
 plause. 
 
 " Sensible little woman," John said, delighted at the 
 prospect of electric lights, hardwood floors and the near- 
 ness to downtown. For sometime he had rebelled at 
 having to work in the garden, though it used to be his 
 greatest joy. He would now be able to sit comfortably 
 on an upper veranda and view the passing throng 
 serene in his lack of duties! 
 
 Harriet and Sally also rejoiced, but for diverse rea- 
 sons; Harriet because she had determined to leave her 
 family except for compulsory vacations, and she had a 
 Puritanical conscience which rebuked her and made her 
 hasten to add to herself that she intended doing very nice 
 things for everyone at home. She could now go away 
 feeling more foot-loose if mummy was in a cosy flat with 
 hardly any work at all. Why, she would be in the way, 
 for there were only three bedrooms ! 
 
 To Sally the flat meant less work and a more preten- 
 tious place to entertain her friends particularly her boy 
 friends. She planned to rig up the attic room as a studio 
 for her art, and it would be very glorious to be able to run 
 downtown every day inside of a half hour. She planned 
 also on waxing the floors so she could have a small dance, 
 and she would make her mother throw away all the old 
 junk and coax her father to buy modern furnishings. 
 
 55
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Only Kenneth did not enthuse. It meant a strip of 
 yard shared with the people downstairs, and his pigeons 
 must be sold and the croquet set given away. There 
 would be no place to establish an Indian camp or a Kit 
 Carson lodge. Though, boylike, all he said when they 
 told him of the change was, " We won't have a wood- 
 shed." 
 
 The old friends, Maude Hatton and Lucy Parks, came 
 to help Densie pack. 
 
 " Are you sure you won't feel sorry? " Maude Hatton 
 demanded. 
 
 * Yes; I'm getting too tired to do the work here." 
 
 Lucy Parks cleared her throat meaningly, at which 
 Densie hastened to add, " Of course, Harriet is going 
 away, and Sally is a trifle young. Besides, she seems to 
 dislike housework. Then John travels so much, and 
 Kenneth and I are left here alone." 
 
 " But it's breaking up a home," Lucy Parks said 
 gravely as she looked at the piles of things awaiting ver- 
 dict from the secondhand man. " Densie Plummer, you 
 aren't going to sell your Aunt Sally's old warming pan? 
 I remember when she nursed your uncle through pneu- 
 monia and I used to heat the iron for her. Maude, will 
 you see this extravagance all these dresses? There's 
 enough to make Sally a dozen frocks." 
 
 " But Sally won't wear the old things," Densie de- 
 fended. ' Take them for yourself if you like." 
 
 " And hats ! " Another pile was pointed out. 
 
 "And books!" 
 ' Sally says you aren't going to take a carpet! " 
 
 ; ' We shall have hardwood floors." 
 
 " And those dishes they were Sally Plummer's wed- 
 ding set." Maude Hatton held up the cover of a soup 
 tureen in accusation. 
 
 56
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Densie felt as if she had riHed a shrine. 
 
 " I know, but the children want something new Jap- 
 anese blue-and-white things." 
 
 The old friends exchanged glances. 
 
 " I live in one room," Maude Hatton said to Lucy 
 Parks that night as they walked home. " So do you. 
 But our hearts don't live in that room. Tell me the 
 truth, don't you spend your happiest times dreaming 
 about the farm or Sally Plummer's house or your moth- 
 er's?" 
 
 Lucy Parks nervously assented. 
 
 " If Sally had lived Densie would never have done this. 
 I'm afraid she's going to regret it." 
 
 " Who ever heard of a Plummer living in a flat in a 
 crowded part of town! Densie who was brought up 
 at The Evergreens, and who went from there as a bride 
 to her own blessed home ! " 
 
 " There's nothing we can do to stop it," Maude Hat- 
 ton decided philosophically; " this day and age is not one 
 to ask advice of elders. I'm saying that Densie is giving 
 up her home, but it is neither her own inclination nor her 
 fault. She looks like a grandmother, and she's a young 
 woman. And John, bless his heart anyway, is like her 
 son! Does John spend his time with Densie? No in- 
 deed; I hear of him he has Densie saddled down with 
 the house and children and off he goes skylarking. Oh, 
 nothing wrong, but he doesn't seem to care for her as 
 Herbert did for Sally, in that steady, settled way." 
 
 " They've lost money, so Sam Hippler said." 
 
 " Then it is John's gambling." Maude Hatton shook 
 her head. " It hurt to see the old things laid out for 
 sale it was the children \vho did it. They are all for 
 the new. Poor Densie, she's her hands full with that 
 family particularly Sally." 
 
 57
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " Harriet is quite as much of a problem. Kenjieth U 
 her only joy." 
 
 Maude Hatton, who Sally said spent the best part of 
 her life sniffing and wearing huge black bonnets, sniffed in 
 disdain. "A lot a boy cares when he gets him a wife; 
 and a lot a husband cares when his wife skimps to save 
 in order that he may spend. I'm telling you this present 
 way of living in flats and hotels and such places with 
 the mothers younger looking than the children, and the 
 grandmothers younger looking than the mothers it is 
 neither fish nor flesh, nor good red herring! " 
 
 Sally did persuade her father to buy new things to some 
 extent followed by a terrific battle with her mother be- 
 cause the mission furniture sneered at the black walnut, 
 the new rugs were disdainful of the hooked ones, which 
 Densie stoically placed in the bedrooms, deaf to the tor- 
 rent of complaints. The steel engravings of Lord Nel- 
 son and General Washington were quite out of harmony 
 with red passe partouts of bulldogs and Gibson girls, and 
 when Densie would not sell the piano or trade it in for a 
 player or a talking machine Sally pouted for a day, and 
 declined to take any interest in anything but her meals. 
 
 When she saw how white her mother looked and how 
 little energy she seemed to have left she repented in her 
 quick storm-sunshine fashion and tried to do her part. 
 
 " It isn't as if we wanted to be known as the ark, 
 mummy," she reproached late the first night they were in 
 the flat. " You'll come to see the difference." 
 
 " I suppose so. But after all, do things mean so much 
 just things? " asked Densie wearily. 
 
 She had been preparing temporary beds for her family 
 and was partly relieved, partly disappointed when she had 
 a wire from John saying he would not be home for a 
 
 58
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 week ! It was so much easier to return, smiling and com- 
 plimentary, to a new and settled household than to endure 
 the discomforts of sleeping on the floor and eating off a 
 corner of the sink! 
 
 Sally sat up in her cot bed, her red-gold hair hanging 
 round her face in artistic confusion. 
 
 ' Yes, mummy dear, things mean everything to me 
 just as ideas mean everything to Harriet. Everyone has 
 to have something that means a great deal to them 
 don't they? What means the most to you? " 
 
 Her gold eyes were wide open and curious; it had oc- 
 curred to Sally that underneath this upheaval and removal 
 from the old home her mother must have some definite 
 motive. 
 
 Densie smiled. " I don't know, Sally. I've just given 
 up the things that used to mean a great deal and now 
 I'm going to find something else." 
 
 Harriet worked more conscientiously than Sally in the 
 settling; it mattered nothing to her whether a picture was 
 hung here or there, a certain ancient vase placed on the 
 mantel or an old-fashioned book on the table. If Densie 
 still wished the curtains looped back with bows despite 
 Sally's outburst of temper Harriet calmly and unfeel- 
 ingly looped them back. She was going away very soon 
 
 there was no point to be gained by arguing. So she 
 was a temporary comfort to Densie even though she 
 smiled to herself at the rather conglomerate result of the 
 moving. 
 
 After all, one cannot stop being of the past era and 
 become one of the new without a reconstruction period, 
 and Densie, after the flat was settled and John had re- 
 turned with bad business news and rather bloodshot eyes 
 
 Densie found that the people eternally tramping down- 
 stairs or playing on a talking machine or having late card 
 
 59
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 parties annoyed her beyond measure. She felt as if she 
 were only temporarily located, that she must take Kenneth 
 
 she always thought first of Kenneth and return to 
 the Little House, opening the old doors of the big front 
 hall and breathing in its heavenly peace and cleanli- 
 ness ! She never felt the flat was properly clean. This 
 new way of mops and dust rags saturated in oil bewil- 
 dered her. Reaction had set in. The sight of the old 
 belongings jostled together with the new made her home- 
 sick. She had to admit, as she sewed on Harriet's under- 
 wear between her other duties, that she was still too emo- 
 tional to be really efficient in the carrying out of her orig- 
 inal intention. 
 
 The old home had lent a certain poise and dignity 
 which soothed her. Here she was continually contrasted 
 with the woman downstairs a bride, though nearly 
 Densie's age. John and Sally both liked Mrs. Sullivan. 
 She knew how to make the most of herself with her 
 clothes and looks ; she was always pleasant and ready for 
 a jolly afternoon; she cooked carelessly but lavishly; her 
 waste can made Densie long to take her to task even as 
 Aunt Sally would have done. It was nothing for her to 
 throw away half of a loaf of bread or half of a stale cake 
 or the remains of a good roast. She was fond of tele- 
 phoning a hotel to send up sandwiches and salad, and then 
 she would make coffee and thus round out a meal. Her 
 husband adored her they had been married only a year 
 
 and life seemed cast in pleasant channels for Densie's 
 neighbor. 
 
 Of course, there was nothing to worry or annoy Mrs. 
 Sullivan. She went out a great deal, very fashionably 
 dressed, and wa* even talking of buying an automobile as 
 soon as they became a little cheaper. 
 
 John used to talk about her to Densie. " She's such a 
 
 60
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 good fellow," he would say. " I can't see why you don't 
 like her. Sally does. And did you know she gave Ken- 
 neth a plate of ice cream? " 
 
 "Yes," Densie would concede; "she is a kind neigh- 
 bor, I suppose." 
 
 " She isn't much younger than you," he would begin. 
 
 " She has never had a family. She has never worked 
 in her life except in an office. Her house is always un- 
 clean " 
 
 " Well, it's livable, and Sullivan looks well fed. Some- 
 times I think housework spoils a woman's ability to enjoy 
 life. We're asked down there for a game of cards to- 
 night. Will you go? " 
 
 And rather than seem ungracious and refuse Densie 
 would go, wearing an old-style dress, her hair combed 
 tightly back, while Mrs. Sullivan in frilly white, her pretty 
 hands just manicured, a suggestion of Parma violets about 
 her hair and skin, would play partners with John and 
 make great eyes at him, enjoying the discomfiture of her 
 husband and of John's wife. 
 
 After they would come upstairs John would say, " Why 
 don't you get a dress like hers and let her fix up your 
 hair?" 
 
 " If I fit Harriet out and let Sally take painting lessons 
 and you get the fall clothes you say you must have 
 where can I afford such a dress? I will make my old 
 things do a little longer." 
 
 During the summer the women's clubs were suspended 
 from meeting save for a basket picnic, so Densie was 
 stopped from her intentions of joining, but she modestly 
 selected the Progressive Thought Club, the Opera Read- 
 ing Club and a course in punctured brasswork, then the 
 fad, as her winter's program. She was quite shy about it 
 even to herself, but she used to lie awake nights planning 
 
 61
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 how she could attend the meetings and not neglect her 
 housework, and how, after a little, John's business would 
 be better and she would buy some new clothes, and then 
 he would be proud of her. 
 
 It cost a great deal more to live in the flat than at the 
 Little House, which was another disappointment. The 
 Little House had been sold for a sacrifice; it was already 
 mortgaged. Somehow Sally had more friends in for 
 small parties, and John felt they must entertain the Sul- 
 livans and like people, and their requirements of food and 
 ice and help all seemed to multiply in mysterious fashion. 
 Whenever Maude Hatton or Sam Hippler or Lucy Parks 
 came to supper the children would fidget rudely, and even 
 John was a trifle curt. Twice he made Densie telephone 
 them that they had another engagement. 
 
 "It means so much to them," Densie had protested; 
 " they never have a home supper except when they come 
 here." 
 
 " Then send up some stuff. Maude Hatton gets on my 
 nerves. She's always quoting Scripture," he answered 
 lightly. " If it wasn't for my uncle's wishes I'd have dis- 
 charged Sam a year ago." 
 
 Meantime the piles of underwear for Harriet mounted 
 high and snowy, with Harriet marking the tapes H. Plum- 
 mer, in her firm, cramped little writing. She sewed as 
 many dreams and visions into the fastening on of the 
 tapes as does a bride embroidering her wedding gown. 
 Densie suspected that Harriet's extreme obedience and 
 affability came from the fact that she had not much longer 
 to stay at home. She made several futile attempts to 
 win her daughter's confidence, but they were all of no 
 purpose. Harriet was polite and gentle, even very ten- 
 der with her mother the mother who could not under- 
 stand; but she had a way of shutting outsiders from her 
 
 62
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 heart as if she actually closed a well-barred door in the 
 face of a would-be visitor in her home. 
 
 With her father she was remarkably polite and aloof. 
 John rejoiced in the fact that Harriet never bothered any- 
 one. Manlike, he saw no more of what was taking place 
 in his elder daughter's heart. He was proud of her 
 brain, proud of the scholarship, and he thought very little 
 of the years ahead. Of course, she would marry; and 
 that was all there was to it. 
 
 Sally was a more direct problem, though he loved Sally 
 in a different fashion. But she annoyed him. He had 
 watched her unawares when she was downtown, walking 
 with boys, her head coquettishly tilted, her eyes spark- 
 ling, the finesse of a famous coquette. 
 
 When he remonstrated with Densie about it of 
 course he came to Densie she told him : " Why don't 
 you talk to Sally?" 
 
 " She'd bankrupt me for a frock before we were 
 through," he admitted. 
 
 " She is only a little girl, and she ought to mind. But 
 since I've moved so near to downtown she cannot be kept 
 from going there, I suppose." 
 
 " If she only marries the right man early enough," John 
 said soberly. " Now Dean Laddbarry would never do. 
 He's a plodder." 
 
 Densie lent herself to Dean's defense. " He's Sally's 
 exact opposite," she insisted; " just the sort she ought to 
 marry. He'd be her ballast. Why, I would take Dean's 
 word before I would Sally's and Sally treats him 
 shamefully." 
 
 " Don't go match-making, mother," he teased. " And 
 for heaven's sake make Kenneth stop being a mollycod- 
 dle ! I won't have it ! " 
 
 " How does Kenneth displease you? " 
 
 63
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Densie used to feel as if he were striking her inside 
 on her heart she had so many of these complaints. 
 John reasoned that Densie having brought them up she 
 was the one who should take the blame for displeasing 
 results. He paid the bills and that was sufficient. 
 
 " Too much like a girl," John declared. " When he 
 gets into school he'll have it taken out of him." 
 
 " If you were with him more he might improve." 
 Densie was partly Scotch; she had that dry humor which 
 makes even the gayest temporarily ill at ease. " I'm 
 afraid he is hardly acquainted with his father." 
 
 The day before Harriet left for New York she and 
 Sally came to a noteworthy battle of words which Densie 
 overheard as she packed Harriet's trunk. 
 
 " I'm glad you are going, Harriet Plummer," Sally 
 declared, her tempestuous self flouncing about the room 
 in a great pretense at dusting, " for you think yourself 
 too good to live with us. Well, when you get to New 
 York you'll be sorry and miss mummy and the 
 home. You don't think so; you're always talking of 
 Miss Blake Miss Blake Miss Blake ! Who wants 
 to be a Miss Blake? She looks a fright; everyone laughs 
 at her." 
 
 "Indeed?" said Harriet with cold insolence, trying 
 to contain her rage. " You ignorant little thing, I really 
 am sorry for you, Sally, for I don't know whatever will 
 become of you if mummy should die." 
 
 " Don't you? I would never bother to write and tell 
 you." 
 
 Sally's face was crimson and she brandished the dust 
 cloth viciously in the air. 
 
 ' You seem to have no brains," Harriet further an- 
 
 64
 
 " You're deceitful and mean and selfish 1 '11 wager you fifteen years 
 from now you'll be a wreck a wreck a wreck "
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 alyzed; " or else the brains you have are all used for vain 
 purposes." There is nothing like youth for final deci- 
 sions. " At least I can never remember your ever doing 
 anything that was at all worth while." 
 
 "Perhaps not but I'm not sneering at my mother 
 and father and going to New York to turn into a fossil. 
 You think I don't see through you well, I do. You 
 want to get away without any trouble and have your de- 
 lightful career. I'm the one to stay home. Well, if I 
 don't like what my mummy and my daddy do, I out and 
 tell them so and we have a big row but I love them 
 hard afterward and we always kiss and make up. You 
 hate kissing your family you don't even like to have 
 mummy's fingers in your neck when she fits your dresses. 
 You're deceitful and mean and selfish, and you needn't 
 worry as to what will become of me. I'm going to paint 
 pictures and be a human being with with a different 
 dress for every dance and lots of kisses for everyone. 
 I'll wager you fifteen years from now you'll be a wreck a 
 wreck a wreck " 
 
 Littly Sally completed her intentions by knocking over 
 a pile of Harriet's books accidentally, at which primitive 
 instincts were stirred in Harriet to the extent of for- 
 getting her scholarship and the purchased railway ticket, 
 and the two sisters became on the verge of actual combat 
 when Densie appeared in the doorway to act as mediator. 
 
 It was a relief when Harriet left them. Densie felt 
 more at home with Sally, selfish and unreliable though 
 she was; she did have plenty of kisses, and in her warm- 
 hearted way she tried to make her mother less trouble. 
 Harriet never spared her mother. She would do a share 
 of the work but no more, no matter what extenuating 
 circumstances might arise. After she had done her tasks 
 
 65
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 she retired into her own world of books and thoughts and 
 cared not what happened elsewhere. Emergencies were 
 no concern of hers. Sally stood ready to prop up the 
 house should it begin to fall down ! 
 
 Densie never could understand Harriet's logic which 
 prompted the actual blackening of Miss Blake's boots and 
 the leaving of her own for Densie to blacken! 
 
 September brought the clubs into session and Densie, 
 unbeknown to anyone, joined the Opera Reading Club, 
 the Progressive Thought Club, and prepared to puncture 
 a set of brass candle shades. Sally was clamoring for 
 candlelight at dinner. " It is quite the thing," she had 
 said more than once. 
 
 The first clubwoman of prominence with whom Densie 
 came into contact was Mrs. Naomi Winters, a pygmy sat- 
 ellite who was guilty of thin crinkly paper lined with tar- 
 tan plaid and scented with lily of the valley, and who 
 always signed herself, except to her sister-in-law, " Yours 
 with a heart full of love." 
 
 She pounced upon Densie as a new and innocent 
 booster for herself, and flattered her by giving her pen- 
 cils to sharpen before the ballot was cast as to whether 
 Rigoletto or II Trovatore should be the first opera to 
 be studied. 
 
 Densie looked at the room filled with women with a 
 sort of awe. They were so totally different from any- 
 thing she had expected; some were dowdy, some amus- 
 ingly dressed, one or two quite smart these were the 
 leaders. Each talked of her own self and ideas, and 
 everyone stared at her or smiled patronizingly, and it 
 was not until the club came to a deadlock as to who 
 should make ten dozen light tea biscuit for the first " eat- 
 ing meeting " of the season that Densie became an im- 
 
 66
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 portant member ! Everyone crowded to lend silver can- 
 delabra or silk prayer rugs, and Mrs. Naomi Winters 
 panted to be asked to read a paper on Sea Shells but 
 the biscuit ah, that was a different matter 1 
 
 Here Densie found herself timidly rising a shabby 
 little person with serious purplish eyes and an old-time 
 hat hiding her pretty hair and saying: " Madam Presi- 
 dent, I I will make the ten dozen biscuit! " 
 
 There followed a soft pat-patting of hands, and Den- 
 sie was immediately appointed chairman of the refresh- 
 ment committee ! 
 
 At the close of the meeting Mrs. Winters, who seemed 
 to know everyone and everything about everyone, good 
 or bad, condescended to walk a ways with Densie and 
 initiate her into the mysteries of women's clubs. 
 
 Mrs. Winters had taught school before her marriage 
 and was now a widow. She had aspirations to becom- 
 ing vice-regent of the Daughters of the American Revo- 
 lution, and was using the clubs as stepping stones to that 
 end. She discreetly hinted this, saying that when the 
 day came that she was elected to the desired post she 
 was not going to forget the friends who had helped her 
 
 dear, no ! 
 
 Then she proposed that Densie join The Forum, a 
 very intellectual affair, meeting Saturday mornings to 
 discuss current topics. It was only five dollars a year 
 luncheons and banquets extra and she knew Densie 
 would enjoy it. 
 
 " But I bake on Saturdays." Densie clung to the old 
 schedule. 
 
 " You poor lamb you must come out of the kitchen 
 
 after you've done our tea biscuit," she finished with a 
 playful poke of the ribs. They were walking arm in 
 arm, a customary procedure with Mrs. Winters. " You 
 
 6?
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 can buy your baked goods try the Homestead won- 
 derful pineapple pies. My dear, don't drudge any more. 
 I want to see that face of yours without a single worry 
 line." 
 
 Then they stood on the street corner half an hour 
 while Mrs. Winters, delighted to find a new and gullible 
 subject, told of her excursion to the Italian lakes and of 
 how a count kissed her hand, and when she was in Lon- 
 don her being asked to read a most masterful paper on 
 Women's Wrongs ! 
 
 She bade Densie good-by, convinced that here was a 
 worker, and took a passing car. Densie had to walk 
 eight blocks, having gone out of her way, as entranced 
 as a victim of the Pied Piper himself. She found a very 
 hungry Sally and Kenneth and John John who was 
 home early for the first time in weeks and they all 
 demanded querulously where she had been ! 
 
 When she confessed she had joined the Opera Reading 
 Club there was a diversion of opinion. Still, it is never 
 fair to take down a binding statement when the witness is 
 hungry! Hurrying about to get her supper on the table 
 Densie became confused and her head ached was it 
 neglecting her home? Most of the members had maids 
 or boarded where had she put the cold potato? and 
 of course she had talked a long time to Mrs. Winters. 
 John would never have grumbled before Mrs. Winters, 
 Liie could picture him bowing and smiling politely and 
 agreeing to everything she must make him a cup of 
 tea. There now things were ready! But she was 
 not hungry and her head throbbed. 
 
 She sat at the table forgetful of her apron until unani- 
 mously reminded, and tried to make them appreciate that 
 this was her peculiar form of recreation, as billiards and 
 cocktails were John's, picture painting and dancing Sal- 
 
 68
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 ly's and social-service school Harriet's. Only Ken- 
 neth said solemnly, his brown eyes very loving: "Are 
 you tired, mummy or did you have such a good time 
 you don't mind? " 
 
 She turned to him with almost passionate longing to 
 carry him off, some place where they could be together 
 in a bit of a house with a woodshed, and where she could 
 bake biscuits for the Opera Reading Club without ridi- 
 cule or protest!
 
 VI 
 
 Mrs. Naomi Winters called on Densie Plummer 
 shortly, to interest her in the Poets' Club, of which she 
 was the president. Before she left, Densie had given 
 her the membership fee and agreed to do the correspond- 
 ence work for the coming month several sets of postals 
 and one or two letters that Mrs. Winters graciously dic- 
 tated. 
 
 The family rather frowned on Mrs. Winters; it was 
 evident that Densie was beginning to look outside her four 
 walls, and she left a cold supper and instructions for tea 
 making with Sally whenever the clubs met. John was 
 rather amused, almost pleased save as it affected his com- 
 fort for he had a sense of justice no matter if it had 
 been strangled of late, and he felt that Densie needed 
 recreation. 
 
 He was so used to having Densie adore him that he 
 was blind to anything save her direct relationship as it 
 concerned him. She was " mother " he never inter- 
 fered with her discipline; she was just as all women 
 should be chiefly concerned with her home and his 
 favorite cooking recipes. Densie adored John as moth- 
 ers sometimes do their eldest sons. The relationship 
 had gradually drifted into this. At first it had been John 
 who adored Densie before he was sure of her; then 
 they ardently loved each other and supposed they would 
 always so do. After which Densie's life narrowed be- 
 cause of her family and straitened circumstances, so that 
 romance left the Little House. Unselfish ambition con- 
 
 70
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 sumed Densie, she must do everything for her family, 
 there would be time enough for this or that after the chil- 
 dren were grown or John had made his fortune. Her 
 share of the hill climbing was to be housekeeper and 
 home maker, never to bother John by nagging or com- 
 plaining or intimating a lack of confidence in what he 
 should ultimately do. John Plummer was John Plum- 
 mer and the argument was closed. Even her friends, 
 quiet home bodies like herself, marveled at the growing 
 contrast between them John's youthful buoyancy and 
 Densie's tired young self. 
 
 " What do you women do at these clubs? " John asked 
 her one of the few evenings he happened to stay at home. 
 
 " We have papers read and we hear about things 
 and eat and look at each other's hats," Densie ad- 
 mitted, laughing. 
 
 She laid aside her pile of darning and came over to 
 John's chair. For many years Densie had balanced her- 
 self on the chair arm while she told John or John told 
 Densie the happenings of the day Aunt Sally and 
 Uncle Herbert had done likewise. 
 
 " I think it does me good, John. I know I'm not clever 
 and that I could never read a paper on anything except 
 cooking. But I enjoy listening and being with women 
 who use their brains and let their hands grow white." 
 Unconsciously she hid her small reddish ones under her 
 apron. 
 
 "What part do you take just audience?" John 
 smiled up at her. 
 
 " I make the biscuit and the whipped-cream cake and 
 the salad dressing." Densie's eyes twinkled. " By and 
 by some newer member will heave into sight and I'll 
 wrap her in my mantle. Then I'll be allowed to watch 
 the umbrellas or tag round to the newspaper offices with 
 
 71
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 the notices for meetings. It has its humorous side, 1 
 admit, but so has everything else that is worth while. 
 There are so many tired, lonesome faces, John, as if the 
 women were not happy or felt cheated of the really big 
 things for which they were intended. I have often 
 watched them and forgotten the club paper big stories 
 lurk behind wrinkled foreheads and sunken eyes ! " 
 
 " Do you never admit mere man? " 
 
 " Mere man never wishes to be admitted. Besides, 
 we have the clubs as a revenge on mere man's bowling 
 night and gymnasium practice, billiards and pool, cards 
 all sorts of nice masculine recreations. Of course, I 
 couldn't belong to clubs and do my share if we were back 
 in the old home but the flat makes it easier." 
 
 "Good! I'm glad you're sensible. With Harriet 
 away and Kenneth such a lamb, Sally is your only real 
 problem, isn't she? We'll always stay in a flat, Densie. 
 It is the sensible thing for families these days." 
 
 Densie slipped from the chair arm and returned to her 
 mending. Something stirred deep within her at the men- 
 tion of the other home; its very name recalled a thousand 
 tender memories, whereas the flat brought to her mind 
 nothing but the tumity-tum of the Sullivans' mechanical 
 piano and the array of empty cans in the back yard. 
 ' Yes, we must change with the times," she admitted. 
 
 Following the joining of the Poets' Club Densie affili- 
 ated herself with the Forum, also introduced by Mrs. 
 Winters, and placed her baking order with the Home- 
 stead! But by this time Densie saw that club politics 
 played a huge part in the club movement, and she flatly 
 refused to make biscuit for the Forum luncheon, thereby 
 bringing an avalanche of reproach upon her head, but 
 winning a certain respect, which she had not done in the 
 other clubs. The Forum was a rather advanced club, 
 
 72
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 they brought a second-rate metropolitan lecturer at a 
 fabulous sum, according to Densie's ideas to read a 
 paper on Superwomen and then be gorged with whipped 
 cream and fruit cake at the conclusion of the general dis- 
 cussion. It was all crude and extremely humorous, to 
 the lecturer; but it meant that Ibsen, Hauptmann, Pater 
 were no longer names to Densie, that she knew of 
 women who triumphed over men, and that if a woman 
 chose to start in using her brains for something else save 
 making mince-meat or taking stains from the carpets there 
 was no telling where she might end. 
 
 After all, the surest way to have a women's revolution 
 is to present them with limitations; they are certain to 
 become outraged and victorious and to return said limita- 
 tions in shattered atoms with their compliments. 
 
 " Look, mummy," Kenneth said one day it was 
 after a hasty luncheon, because Densie wished to attend 
 a special executive meeting of the Forum " can I please 
 keep him? " 
 
 Densie turned round to look. " Him " was a tawny 
 ball of fluff, cuddled in her boy's arms; two very bright 
 eyes looked at her in friendly fashion. 
 
 "What dog is that?" she said, unable to be stern. 
 
 " Oh, he's nobody, mother; he was just born in Skin- 
 ner's back yard. But if we don't keep him they'll drown 
 him. I want to call him Socks, because he has four 
 white feet." 
 
 " Kenneth, dear, we can't in a flat! " 
 
 The brown eyes darkened. " If we were at home," 
 he protested, " he could live in the woodshed." 
 
 Densie fumbled with her veil. "Yes; but not here. 
 Mrs. Sullivan has her Angora kitty, and they are older 
 tenants. I'm afraid it would never do. Never mind, 
 dear; some day you can have a dog." 
 
 73
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " He's so little," began Kenneth, tears welling in the 
 brown eyes. 
 
 " I know but he wouldn't be happy cooped up in a 
 flat; he needs a fenced-in yard for play. Take him back, 
 Ken. I'll let you go to the next circus. You'll like that, 
 won't you? " 
 
 The brown eyes stared in reproach. " A circus ain't 
 but a day," he began. 
 
 " Isn't but a day, you mean." 
 
 " I can't speak nice when I'm hurt," he ended defiantly, 
 leaving the room. 
 
 That night he said he wanted no supper, and rather 
 silently he went to his little room. 
 
 "What's the matter with Ken?" asked Sally. 
 Though she battled with him upon the slightest provoca- 
 tion, whenever he so much as shed a tear she was up in 
 arms for his defense. 
 
 " It was a puppy I could not let him keep," Densie an- 
 swered absent-mindedly. " They drowned him, I think. 
 I'm sorry, but we never could have an animal in an 
 upper flat." 
 
 " He might have had just one little puppy," Sally com- 
 bated. " Poor Ken is cooped up, and no one seems .to 
 mind. He can't have a tent in the back yard because 
 Mrs. Sullivan is always having her washing done; and 
 he can't have one on the upper veranda because we all 
 want to sit there; and he can't have one in his bedroom 
 because it isn't big enough to change his mind; and the 
 attic is too dirty; no matter how many times you clean 
 your half of it, Mrs. Sullivan's half is eternally dirty and 
 it blows over so Ken has to fold up like a tent instead 
 of having one." 
 
 " And what would you suggest? " said Densie a trifle 
 irritably. She had returned from a satisfactory execu- 
 
 74
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 tive meeting, at which she was nominated for delegate to 
 the city federation and was to wear a white ribbon badge 
 and a pink rose on her left shoulder. " I cannot murder 
 the lower-flat tenants." 
 
 " I just said it was a shame." Sally walked away. 
 
 " Please help me carry out the things." 
 
 Densie frowned; she hated above all things to have to 
 insist on Sally's doing what was really her daily task. 
 It seemed as if she had to tell her a dozen times a day 
 to do what she was expected to do without being told. 
 
 " I want to read your letter from Harriet. If daddy 
 isn't coming home, what's the hurry? " 
 
 Sally nonchalantly lounged into the front room. She 
 found Harriet's letter and opened it. But before she 
 began to read she looked at herself in the glass. This 
 was a favorite trick. Mrs. Sullivan had asked her down- 
 stairs for cards that evening; Densie was not to know, 
 but there was to be a young chap of twenty-four to meet 
 Sally, and Mrs. Sullivan was to help Sally fix up, once she 
 was safely below. Sally tossed her pretty head. Dean 
 Laddbarry would be wild! She would have great fun 
 telling him about it, exaggerating the young man's sudden 
 ardor and attentions. She liked to keep Dean stepping 
 she said; besides he was goody-good and always going to 
 church with his grandmother or trying to earn money 
 for something or other. Sally preferred one who went 
 to dances with her and who spent money. 
 
 She came back to read the letter to Densie, but her 
 mother said sharply, " Dinner is ready, Sally." 
 
 At which she flung her strong young arms about her 
 and kissed her impetuously on the cheek. " Mummy's 
 cross just because I wouldn't carry in the dishes. I'll 
 wash 'em honestly, I will; and while you serve, I'll 
 read this dear old prig's letter." 
 
 75
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Smiling in spite of herself Densie began to slice the 
 meat. 
 
 Dear People: There is really nothing to write, and yet I 
 know you expect to hear. I have addressed this letter to Sally 
 because it is her turn, but it is for you all. I am well and very 
 busy. I have received 99 in psychology and 100 for my original 
 theme on " The Causes of Infidelity Among the Italians in the 
 United States." Miss Blake is coming down for Christmas vaca- 
 tion and I wish to stay here; it would save daddy some money 
 and be an excellent thing for me. Miss Blake wants to take me 
 to see some Ibsen plays, and I also v/ant to meet some more peo- 
 ple. I hope you are all well. Excuse this brief letter, but really 
 there is nothing more to say. Lovingly, 
 
 HARRIET. 
 
 P. S. Tell mummy not to make me any more blouses ; I am 
 going to wear pongee smocks; and if she will send me a box of 
 Christmas goodies I shall be ever so much obliged especially a 
 cake! 
 
 "Well," decided Sally, folding up the letter with a 
 flourish, " I am sure that is a very thrilling bunch of 
 news. However, even a warm-hearted hen cannot lay a 
 hard-boiled egg and I suppose we ought not to expect 
 very much from Miss Iceberg." 
 
 ' Don't use slang." Densie shook her head. 
 
 'Won't we have a Christmas tree?" asked Kenneth. 
 
 1 Not up here," Sally answered. " I'd be hunting pine 
 needles the rest of my life. Let's get an artificial tree, 
 mummy; may we? " 
 
 " If you like." 
 
 Densie was thinking of Harriet's essay on the causes 
 of infidelity; it seemed to her a ghastly topic; Aunt Sally 
 had educated her to believe there were certain things 
 about which one never talked. If, unfortunately, there 
 came an imperative and personal problem, then one's 
 
 76
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 mother and father and the minister were the proper tri- 
 bunal. Harriet not eighteen, and in New York to 
 be refusing to come home for Christmas, though she de- 
 manded a cake, and winning an honor mark for an essay 
 on such a subject! x 
 
 " I don't want an artificial tree," protested Kenneth. 
 " I like to smell the real one and then burn it as we used 
 to do." 
 
 " We have no fireplace, goose-goose. Where would 
 we burn it in the gas range? " Sally giggled. 
 
 "Ain't we got anything real?" Kenneth savagely 
 lapsed into ungrammatical language. 
 
 " Sh-h-h ! Pass your plate, Ken. Try these " 
 
 " Canned stuff," he remarked cynically. " I don't 
 want any of it." 
 
 " Mummy, I want to go downstairs to Mrs. Sullivan's; 
 she is going to have a table of cards. Please, angel- 
 mummy you know you want to be at peace with the world, 
 and I'd get you all upset with my nonsense. Say yes, 
 and I'll be home by eleven." 
 
 " School to-morrow, Sally ! " 
 
 " Bother school ! Say yes, and I'll even write Harriet 
 a jolly note. If daddy was here he'd say yes." 
 
 " Yes," said Densie quietly. 
 
 She had club work to do; in secret she was actually 
 attempting a club paper it was as sacred and stupen- 
 dous an undertaking as if she had been appointed to 
 survey Gibraltar! Furthermore, she did not wish Sally 
 to suspect what she was doing, she felt that the child 
 would ridicule her. 
 
 So Densie washed the dishes herself, despite Sally's 
 promise; and Kenneth went to bed with a book; and 
 Sally, dressed in a crisp blue silk, tripped below to be 
 received by Mrs. Sullivan with enthusiastic praise. Mrs. 
 
 77
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Sullivan thought Sally had possibilities in becoming an 
 actress, as well as great talent in her painting Sally 
 having painted menu cards for Mrs. Sullivan's wedding 
 anniversary! She also considered Mrs. Plummer a little 
 dowd who would never " hold her husband." 
 
 She helped Sally dress her lovely hair in extreme fash- 
 ion and wind a black velvet band about it; she also loaned 
 her two rings and a string of near coral and powdered 
 her little face until she looked a veritable fashion plate. 
 
 Sally was happy. She met the young chap, a very gay 
 dog with a sophisticated air, and quite captivated him 
 in the way she dimpled and smiled and talked about the 
 world and its ways in a blase manner. 
 
 Later they had a Dutch lunch consisting of beer and 
 salad and rye bread, and Sally drank her beer because she 
 would not " give away her age," and tried to fight off 
 the consequent sleepiness. Altogether it was a wonder- 
 ful evening. She came upstairs to find the lights ex- 
 tinguished save in the hall. Densie had pinned a note to 
 her nightgown she no longer waited up for her f am- 
 ily. 
 
 It read: " Dean came to see you. He wants to take 
 you out to his grandfather's farm on Sunday. Good 
 night and God bless Sally! " 
 
 Sally crumpled the note. After all, there was no one 
 quite like mummy and Dean. But then, mummy and 
 Dean were always there, waiting, whenever she was fin- 
 ished with other people; she would never have to worry 
 about that ! And it was larky to be able to meet young 
 men who said nice things and never dreamed that she was 
 only a little schoolgirl. 
 
 Densie was awake but she did not get up to see Sally. 
 She had done her mending, though not so carefully as 
 usual, and then had written Harriet briefly to say she 
 
 78
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 might stay in New York and that she would send her 
 some goodies and she was a little surprised to learn 
 the topics upon which young students were asked to write. 
 At the Young Ladies' Seminary at Athol Springs one 
 wrote her essays on such themes as The Happiest Day 
 of My Life, Our Minister, or How to Overcome One's 
 Faults! 
 
 Then she took a look at Kenneth to see if all was well 
 and came to her old-fashioned desk to begin writing. As 
 she wrote she heard the voices below, laughing over their 
 card game, and she paused to wonder whether it had been 
 right to allow Sally to go alone. But had she dared sug- 
 gest a chaperon she would have been laughed at and de- 
 fied things were all so different ! 
 
 She dismissed her fears and continued writing. Dean 
 Laddbarry had come in to see Sally, and at first Densie 
 suggested he go downstairs and see her, but he said he 
 would not bother, it would upset the " party." He did 
 not add he had caught a glimpse of Sally before he came 
 upstairs, and heartily disapproved. 
 
 "What are your hopes and fears, Dean?" Densie 
 asked, drawing a paper over her writing. 
 
 " I'm bound for the West as soon as I'm through 
 school. I want to do something that's outdoors." He 
 laughed at his restless energy. " I don't believe I could 
 stand too much civilization. I'm not like Sally." 
 
 His face sobered. Young as he was, Dean had given 
 away his heart for all time. 
 
 ' Why not a ranch? " Densie began to feel enthusi- 
 astic; she liked having Dean's coming to talk things over 
 with her. " You're so young and filled with promise, 
 you're bound to do something worth while." 
 
 " I won't stay here, that's a certainty. Everything is 
 getting a mad scramble. Why, it won't be long, Mrs. 
 
 79
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Plummer, before the old firms will be crowded to the 
 wall." 
 
 He paused, realizing he had spoken rashly. 
 
 " I suppose they have suffered now because they will 
 not change their methods." 
 
 " You go into a modern drug store and you see every- 
 thing but drugs artificial corsages, dolls, candy, maga- 
 zines, tennis rackets, goldfish; and way, way back is a 
 little spot labeled ' Prescriptions.' It's the same with a 
 book store. Department stores gobble them up. The 
 old-time boot stores have gone as well " 
 
 " And tea-and-coffee stores," Densie laughed. 
 
 Dean flushed. "I hope not if Plummer & Plum- 
 mer stopped business we'd all take milk to drink! That 
 old house stands for everything that is square. My 
 grandfather remembers when Mr. Herbert Plummer's 
 father founded it, how he went to the Orient and it took 
 him months to complete arrangements. He says there 
 isn't a finer firm in the world." 
 
 " Yet they don't seem to prosper any more. Why, 
 Dean! Here I am telling you my troubles. Don't 
 worry, dear boy; we're all right for a while. I'm not a 
 good substitute for Sally, but I can appeal to your stomach 
 if not your heart. How about cake? " 
 
 " That special cake the sort you made back at the 
 old house? " 
 
 ' The same, the first we've had in weeks. I'm grow- 
 ing lazy." 
 
 She rose and he followed her into the kitchen. It 
 seemed so natural to have Dean " just a good-looking 
 thing," as Sally said sitting at the table to munch his 
 cake and confide his plans, asking about Harriet and 
 shaking his head over the description of the way Sally 
 was painting her hats to match her dresses until every- 
 
 80
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 one thought she possessed at least a dozen and saying 
 that his family wanted to take Kenneth out on the farm 
 for a holiday next summer. 
 
 After he left, kissing her unashamedly, according to 
 custom, the club paper seemed flat and rather stale, and 
 she felt she would better not attempt it. She was angry 
 at herself for the change in attitude, and as she tried to 
 whip back the zest for it she kept recalling the two un- 
 mended holes in Kenneth's play suit and the fact that 
 she had yielded to an oiled mop for cleaning instead of 
 getting right down on her hands and knees and giving 
 the floor a " good wash." 
 
 So she went to bed, divided between loyalty to the old 
 and seeking her salvation in the new; and long after 
 Sally was asleep John came home with the news that he 
 had decided to buy some more mining stock he must 
 do something or else the firm would fail. 
 
 " By the way, Densie, my clothes are in tatters," he 
 complained. u Don't you ever get the time to mend 
 any more? " 
 
 " I will to-morrow," she promised. 
 
 After all, it takes a great deal of dodging to evade 
 cares successfully. 
 
 81
 
 iVII 
 
 Harriet's summer vacation was spent, perforce, with 
 her family. Everyone dreaded it except Kenneth and 
 John. John really welcomed his oldest child, and he 
 kept thinking that Harriet should have been the boy, 
 she had such a dignified way with her that could manage 
 anyone or anything. It was a shame her name was not 
 authentically Harry. 
 
 Kenneth welcomed her because it meant that Harriet 
 refused to share Sally's room, and as they had only three 
 bedrooms it would be Kenneth's joyful lot to accept 
 Dean's invitation for the country. For eight weeks he 
 would revel in green .fields, with everything in the living 
 beastie line for which he had craved during the past 
 year. 
 
 " He's only askin' me because he likes Sally," he told 
 his mother with a flash of wisdom; " but I don't care 
 I'm gettin' there I I won't have to hear Sally and Harriet 
 fight and have to stay off the street because of the big 
 boys." 
 
 So they packed his small trunk and sent him on his way 
 rejoicing, with Dean trying to coax Sally into joining 
 them for a week. 
 
 ' You know I hate the country," she said pettishly. 
 " I'm just getting acquainted with nice people." There 
 had been several little parties at Mrs. Sullivan's at which 
 Sally had been a guest. 
 
 * There are roses and buggy rides and picnics in the 
 woods," he said wistfully. " You know you'd like it after 
 you got there." 
 
 She shook her head. "No, thank you. Take Ken; 
 
 82
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 he's sure to java-and-mocha better than I would. I can't 
 bear to be sunburnt, and I loathe pigs ! " 
 
 " You needn't look at 'em, Sally, dear." 
 
 " You'd be in horrid working things, and there's the 
 smell of the barns ugh, I wouldn't stand it ! " 
 
 So she sent him away with her brother, a grain of conso- 
 lation in the fact that at least he was making inroads into 
 his beloved's family. 
 
 Harriet arrived, very pale and thin and reserved to- 
 ward everyone and everything. She considered the Sul- 
 livans a vulgar sort, and her mother was amusing in 
 her abortive attempts at club life; "mental pap" she 
 called their courses of study. Her father looked splen- 
 did and she did not blame him for staying away a good 
 share of the time. It was impossible to be composed 
 in a crowded upper flat in which a hair wreath and a 
 Gibson girl glared at each other, and Sally's popular songs 
 and Densie's hymnal sat side by side on the piano rack. 
 When Sally pertinently made a little footstool out of an 
 old shoulder organ which one of Densie's great uncles, a 
 circuit rider, used to carry on his back from town to 
 town, and Densie said it was a sacrilege, Harriet ridi- 
 culed both of them alike. 
 
 It was impossible to know Harriet; Densie made sev- 
 eral attempts. She took her to a basket picnic of the 
 Forum, but was sorry she had done so, for the girl was 
 patronizing to her mother's friends and stated radical 
 views in startling fashion; even Mrs. Naomi Winters ad- 
 mitted that here was a young person who might be clever, 
 but was decidedly unconventional. 
 
 Then Densie tried to win her by old-time cooking 
 the fussy expensive dishes she had not made in more than 
 a year, but Harriet waved them aside. She ate no meat, 
 she loathed a gourmand this with a little smile di- 
 
 83
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 rected in Sally's pathway, Sally returning it with a hope- 
 to-die face and she followed the example of some of 
 her beloved teachers a biscuit-and-lettuce-and-prune 
 sort of dietary. Even Miss Blake had become a bit ultra, 
 according to Harriet, though she still valued her opinion. 
 But Miss Blake was provincial! Harriet had created an 
 entirely new set of values, she explained. 
 
 When Densie timidly mentioned the essay on the causes 
 of infidelity Harriet without a blush, and without any real 
 understanding, answered in such concise and startling 
 terms that Densie felt the Forum, the Poets' Club and 
 the rest were naught but mental kindergartens. 
 
 Harriet and Sally did not openly disagree Sally 
 would have been delighted, but Harriet refused. They 
 were " estranged," each with her own interests Sally 
 her friends and pretty frocks, her daubs of paintings, her 
 lovable nonsense; whereas Harriet, shabby but content 
 in a crumpled linen frock, would steal to her room and 
 spend the day poring over some revolutionary handbook 
 or making notations for future reference about a moth- 
 eaten and long-ago-forgotten civilization of which she 
 had just read. 
 
 She chose a fair portion of the work never in the 
 kitchen, but a scornful arranging of the rooms; and this 
 she did regardless of the day. One day Sally would 
 attempt cooking dinner, washing dishes and cleaning the 
 floors, and for a week afterward refuse even to dust her 
 own dressing table. 
 
 Harriet would not meet Sally's friends. " I don't say 
 but what Sally has a right to develop in her own way; 
 she is beautiful but quite a fool, mother, and I can never 
 be intimate with her." 
 
 "Don't grow away from us altogether, will you?" 
 Densie had urged. ' You seem so grown up and such a 
 
 84
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 stranger I dread to think of what four more years 
 will bring." 
 
 Harriet smiled. 
 
 " I don't quite understand what you intend doing," 
 Densie added. " Of course, I believe in and urge charity 
 work your Aunt Sally was the soul of charity. Many's 
 the time she has rescued some poor waif or abused ani- 
 mal or set a family on its feet but it doesn't seem as if 
 you were going to be like her." 
 
 44 I never expect to have personal contact with the 
 poor," Harriet explained; " that is apart from my work. 
 Statistics are what I am studying, tabulating the various 
 things. I really can't explain it, mother, but when I go 
 back I'll send you reading matter, and then perhaps you 
 can see. I hope to write original essays after a few 
 years. As soon as I am through school I shall be ap- 
 pointed to some bureau in New York. If I can I shall 
 spend all my vacations abroad I can earn extra money 
 coaching because I must study penal institutions. The 
 Swiss homes for women criminals are vastly superior to 
 ours. Some of the murderesses, particularly those who 
 killed from a jealous motive, are most interesting. And 
 the drunkards and prostitutes are entirely apart " 
 
 44 My dear little child " Densie was aghast u you 
 must not hear of such things or see such people! I shall 
 talk with your father to-night! " 
 
 44 It is merely analyzing them," the girl persisted. 
 44 Don't worry, mother, I'm not at all contaminated. 
 Besides, I intend to do such work always. And now I 
 want to tell you about clothes. I need so very few and 
 of such a different sort from Sally that I prefer tc take 
 my money and buy them in New York. Then I can rjet 
 just what I want a mannish tweed suit and starched 
 waists and smocks for Sundav high teas." 
 
 ,85
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " Have you been going to church? " 
 
 "Have you?" 
 
 Densie flushed. "I'm ashamed to say not regularly; 
 Sunday seems to be the one day in which to get caught up 
 with odds and ends not right, I know, and I intend it 
 shall be different. But you, dearie, ought to go why, 
 even Sally does." 
 
 " Because she has good hats and decent-looking feet," 
 Harriet retorted; " but for myself, I shall never go." 
 
 " You mean you do not believe in God ! " 
 
 Densie stood up in her excitement. 
 
 " I believe in a Force but not the cut-and-dried 
 theology that you taught me. I believe the Deity is 
 kindly, but not omnipotent and I am not interested in 
 religion half so much as in other things. If I were I 
 dare say I might formulate a certain creed or set of 
 ethics the pagan philosophies interest me far more." 
 
 Densie was silent from horrified disapproval. Finally 
 she said, " And how are you to reach the poor unless 
 you tell them of the Greatest Poor Man of all, born in a 
 manger? " 
 
 ' There are plenty who will do that and be very 
 happy the sort who nag the Deity for pleasant weather 
 on the day of church lawn fetes and fuss over the souls 
 of the unwashed, tying blue ribbons on them, I dare 
 say." 
 
 ' Your flippancy is not pleasing, Harriet." 
 
 " It is honesty. We must be honest, mother. I can- 
 not tell some pleasing little untruth just because it would 
 make you happy." 
 
 ' What sort of women teach you and men and 
 what sort of girls do you know? " 
 
 " A very decent sort," she answered in clipped modern 
 
 86
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 fashion; "nice old things and they've been bully to 
 me." 
 
 " And in this great charity work of yours, who is to 
 give old men and old women hot soups and flannels, and 
 comfort children and take care of foundlings? Someone 
 has to do that, Harriet, and we were always taught that 
 to give of oneself was the greatest charity of all." 
 
 " I don't know about that side of the work. We 
 were talking of clothes and I was saying that one good 
 suit was all I needed " 
 
 "But these high teas?" Densie was not to be put 
 off. " Where are they and what do you do at them? " 
 
 " A lot of us get together and talk over knotty prob- 
 lems; we row a good deal, I admit, but it's corking fun. 
 We don't have much tea because nearly everyone smokes 
 and drinks black coffee tea is rather in the discard." 
 
 " Smoke ! Do you know what your father would say 
 to this?" 
 
 " Daddy won't say anything he's no right. He 
 smokes. Besides, everyone has the right to develop along 
 her own peculiar bent." 
 
 " Charity workers smoking! Is that a good example 
 to set a street child? " 
 
 Harriet laughed. " They don't go about coloring a 
 meerschaum, mummy. You see you can't understand. 
 These women are advanced, liberated women, and they 
 are true to themselves, scorning any conventions. Is 
 smoking any worse than eating too much candy, the way 
 Sally does?" 
 
 Densie came very close to her oldest child as she 
 asked fearfully, "Have have you ever smoked?" 
 
 "A little. Don't like it that's the only reason I 
 don't. Did you say the underwear I brought home was 
 
 87
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 on its last round? Well, I'll buy new in New York. 
 You can give it to Sally." 
 
 Densie felt as if the door had been pushed shut and 
 locked and she stood without, unwelcomed. For the 
 remainder of the vacation she did not try to approach her 
 daughter with any save trivial detail. Nor did she tell 
 her husband about the high teas. Something about Har- 
 riet warned her that interference would breed open and 
 lasting rebellion.
 
 VIII 
 
 With Harriet's departure for her second year in New 
 York and Kenneth's joyous return from his holiday, 
 Densie took up her club work for the winter, only to be 
 halted by a new and perplexing problem. 
 
 The opening of the high school was on a Tuesday. 
 Arrayed in some fluffy dress Sally had pranced out of the 
 house in high spirit. She had just passed her seventeenth 
 birthday and Harriet her nineteenth and she had 
 but one more year before graduation. 
 
 "How was school?" Densie had asked at the din- 
 ner table. 
 
 "All right," Sally said vaguely; then she began to 
 ask her father nonsensical questions. 
 
 " And what studies will you have? " Densie continued 
 patiently. 
 
 " Oh awful old stuff ! Don't remind me of it. 
 Daddy, may I go to the billiard tournament with you? 
 Lots of girls go with their fathers." 
 
 " But I shall play in it how can I take you? " 
 
 Sally looked at her mother. She was thinking how 
 shabby Densie would seem in the fashionable hotel parlor. 
 So she said, " I could be with Mrs. Sullivan, for she is 
 going too." 
 
 " John," Densie protested. 
 
 "Well, mummy, what's the harm if she likes? I 
 guess I can keep an eye on Sally and win the cup be- 
 sides," he answered indulgently, because he liked to have 
 Sally about; she was so attractive that in a certain sense 
 she took the place of having an attractive wife. 
 
 89
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Densie dropped the subject. And after the tourna- 
 ment at which John did win the cup and Sally carried 
 it about in high glee, every member of the club telling 
 John that his daughter was a winner as well the secret 
 about high school was disclosed. Sally had not even 
 registered at high school. One of her former teachers 
 had asked Maude Hatton and Lucy Parks about her, and 
 the spinsters coming over for their Sunday night supper 
 were all anxiety lest Sally was ill and they had not been 
 told. 
 
 Densie was nonplused. Sally had gone out for the 
 evening. She disliked the old friends, they gave her the 
 fidgets, so she would not be back in time to make any 
 explanation in their presence. John worried down his 
 supper, the news alarming him. It was unlike Sally, 
 and he resented the fact of her deception's coming through 
 the " old girls " who so utterly bored him. It seemed 
 to John that Densie could have found a way of dropping 
 them, as she had many of the old things. 
 
 He took them home, a tedious bit of chivalry which 
 he was still " led into," as he used to declare, and listened 
 to their ladylike chirpings about Sally's " naughtiness " 
 and " what could the child be doing? " They had been 
 chirping unpleasant little things all evening. Even Den- 
 sie admitted that as east is east and west is west, so old 
 is old and new is new; and when they stared in horror at 
 a ballet-girl calendar Sally was making for her father's 
 office, and said that the black-walnut chairs in the kitchen 
 were better than the reed ones on the porch, and that 
 being on the farm had saved Kenneth's health he was 
 growing like a potato sprout in the flat; and they won- 
 wered if Densie wanted any pieces for a quilt; they would 
 not only give her some, but come over to help make it 
 Densie felt as if one half of her was living among ghosts 
 
 90
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 and the other half among flesh-and-blood persons who 
 disagreed with everything she did or said. 
 
 The only modern thing they told her was when ( Lucy 
 Parks was helping Maude Hatton readjust her rusty 
 black cape Densie remembered that cape from the days 
 of Kenneth's babyhood. 
 
 " I don't believe you've had a new dress in an age, 
 Densie," she said, looking over her spectacles. " Come, 
 come, that won't do! Don't let Miss Harriet run off 
 with all your books and Miss Sally with all your finery. 
 You're young too." 
 
 After they left and Densie was waiting for John's re- 
 turn so they could discuss Sally's strange action, she be- 
 gan to think of the trim fall suits the club members had 
 displayed and lovely felt hats with white wings or shin- 
 ing buckles. She had been unconscious of her own ap- 
 pearance. It had never seemed to matter. She had been 
 so busy with her home and with trying to understand her 
 family and provide for their needs and to become intel- 
 lectually rejuvenated herself that the mere need of clothes 
 had not entered her bewildered little brain. 
 
 She rose and opened the wardrobe door to look at her 
 gowns. They were all of excellent material, but home- 
 made and remade and dyed and cut over and her hat 
 was bought the year Kenneth started kindergarten, and 
 then at a cheap store because John had had a bad loss. 
 She had one pair of white-kid gloves, but her others were 
 silk and mended and yellowed. She had not become 
 initiated into the mysteries of smart corseting her stays 
 were lax, old-style things, explanation of her aging figure; 
 and she wore shoes built for comfort and not style, Sally 
 said. In fact, Densie was hopelessly shabby. She won- 
 dered how much clothes made the woman, if they made 
 the man, as John had declared. She wondered how she 
 
 91
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 would look dressed as the president of the Forum was at 
 a previous reception in a rosy lilac silk like a wild 
 dove's breast, caught here and there with silvery lace 
 and a collar of pearls and a hat aigretted to the last inch 
 of the brim. She had worn her old black silk with a 
 tatting collar, but it had not mattered, since she had 
 washed the silverware and had been busy serving out 
 portions of salad and ice cream. She wore a big apron, 
 she remembered, so that no one had seen her gown. 
 
 Then she reproached herself for wandering from the 
 important topic of Sally's truancy. She was not yet 
 poised her mind was still a single-compartment affair 
 in which she jumbled up everything regardless of coher- 
 ence or imperativeness. 
 
 John returned, walking in with a gloomy air and say- 
 ing sharply: " So you've brought your daughter up to 
 lie?" 
 
 He really did not mean the words just as they sounded, 
 but Densie's chin quivered. 
 
 "How have you brought your daughter up?" she 
 demanded. 
 
 " I haven't had time it has been your job. It's a 
 fine thing if a man has to hear through two tattling old 
 women that his daughter has been skipping school and 
 never saying why. I would not have believed it of 
 Sally." 
 
 " Nor I." 
 
 " It might as well be in the newspaper that pair 
 will chortle over it the rest of their days. They don't 
 like me, Densie, because I haven't flowing mudguard 
 whiskers and a waistcoat like Sam Hippler's and I don't 
 sit and bewail the automobile menace, and so on, and so 
 forth. Well, I suppose Sally has some sort of a story 
 cooked up for us. The little idiot she must have 
 
 92
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 known it could not go on very long before it would be 
 found out! " 
 
 " Let us wait and see what she has to say," pleaded 
 Densie. 
 
 " If you hadn't been so occupied with clubs all last 
 year " John tossed off his coat and picked up a house 
 jacket "you might have seen what was happening to 
 Sally." 
 
 " I did not neglect my house," she began. " I must 
 have some outside interest. Your interests are outside 
 your home. You belong to clubs drinking clubs," she 
 added. 
 
 ' That is for business. It is expected of me." 
 
 " It is for business with me too. My housework de- 
 mands an antidote; I am shabby and a drudge even now 
 but I'm doing my best to rise above it." 
 
 "Oh, are you discontented?" he asked sharply. 
 
 " Only with myself. I feel I have not made a suc- 
 cess of marriage. I seem to have lost the closeness 
 with all of you " 
 
 John looked at her intently. Something cast a blur 
 over the tired little woman, and in her place he saw the 
 old lovely Densie in her going-away gown of dove-col- 
 ored broadcloth, the fussy hat, the white chenille face 
 veil. He was a young bridegroom again flushed with 
 rosy dreams ! 
 
 He put his arms round her. " Never mind, Densie, I 
 love you," he told her, to her amazement; " but nowadays 
 we don't have time for lovemaking like Aunt Sally and 
 Uncle Herbert used to have." He kissed her more ten- 
 derly than he had for months. 
 
 " John, growing old together ought to be the best of 
 all. Let us find time for it," she begged. 
 
 He was about to answer when Sally bounded in the 
 
 93
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 door, her party cape slipping'off her plump pink shoulders 
 and her white-lace frock making her seem like a figurine 
 escape from a drawing-room cabinet. 
 
 " Why, daddy kissing mummy you old barbari- 
 ans! Well? What have you to say for yourselves 
 eh? " She shook a finger at them. 
 
 John spoke first. " Why have you not told us you 
 were not going to school? " His voice was excited and 
 overloud. 
 
 Densie tried to be more gentle. " If you were ill, 
 Sally, you should have told me." 
 
 " She has not been ill look at her I " Her father 
 pointed an accusing finger. 
 
 " I was going to tell you," answered Sally easily, not 
 at all alarmed, " but I hadn't found an opportune time 
 when you were both home and both in a good humor ! 
 Ho-hum, what's to pay whether I go to high school or 
 not? " She swung airily into the bedroom to throw off 
 her wraps and return. " All it means, father, is that I 
 want to take painting lessons and devote my whole time 
 to it. I can't go to school and paint too can I?" She 
 smiled her prettiest. 
 
 ' Why did you deceive us? " 
 
 " I didn't exactly. I've been going to a studio on 
 Elm Street. I'm competing for a prize. The prize is 
 ten free lessons from Miss Boechat. I had to work very 
 hard too. I just wanted to wait to tell you until I had 
 won the prize. Is that so terrible? You let Harriet 
 go to New York to study what she wished I'm sure I 
 ought to have the same right." 
 
 " Harriet graduated with the highest honors " 
 
 " I haven't that sort of brains. I want to paint pretty 
 useless things," Sally said honestly, " and drum a little 
 on the piano and make oodles of clothes and hats and 
 
 94
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 just stay at home. Daddy, say I don't have to go back 
 to school I just can't! I'm almost sure to win the 
 prize; and if I do I think I have the right to stop school 
 and study art." 
 
 John hesitated, looking sideways at Densie. 
 
 " But Sally, dear, an artist has a very hard life unless 
 he has great commercial ability as well. Even geniuses 
 starve " 
 
 " Oh, this is just until I am married." Sally dimpled 
 prettily. " I shan't be on your hands long. I want to 
 have something to do between now and twenty. At 
 twenty I'm sure to have a lovely, lovely husband ! " 
 
 John smiled in spite of himself. " Have you any idea 
 who he is to be, my dear? " 
 
 " Oh, no, that's the fun I want to be surprised." 
 
 Densie shook her head. " I think someone named 
 Sally Plummer ought to make herself go back to school, 
 graduate properly and then we shall see." 
 
 " Come, Sally, a new bonnet if you do," offered her 
 father. 
 
 Sally shook her head. " No, no, no! " she said with 
 a flash of temper. " I tell you I will not study books any 
 more ! I cannot sit still and listen to homely old teachers 
 tell about things dead and gone for years. I can't sing 
 the silly little songs like a child, and drill like a fireman, 
 and then debate on some awful subject that you have to 
 learn how to pronounce. I'm growing up I'm older 
 than Harriet was in my thoughts. I won't be a child 
 at school. I want to learn how to earn my own living 
 * just until I'm twenty." 
 
 Without any warning she threw herself across the divan 
 and began to sob. 
 
 " You tend to her." 
 
 John disappeared through the first doorway. 
 
 95
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Densie knelt beside Sally, to catch murmurs about no 
 school married at twenty hate books love art 
 won't won't run away be chorus girl yes, she 
 could someone told her so oh, someone must she 
 publish a list of her friends ? won't won't won't ! 
 
 After the hysteria was expended Densie helped her 
 to bed. Then the tragic side of neurotic youth was up- 
 permost. It should have caused Densie to smile, but she 
 took it seriously. She had never been a victim to such 
 nerves as Sally's. 
 
 For Sally in her little white gown, the red-gold hair in 
 thick plaits, stood dramatically in the doorway and said 
 that she would take her life if they forced her to go back 
 to school ; they would find her dead the day they tried to 
 send her, and if they sent her to a convent she would 
 starve herself to death, ending with an altogether un- 
 heard-of and unnecessary oath to the effect that she would 
 keep this pledge. 
 
 Densie was horrified. She thought with quick relief 
 of steady, sane Harriet, as cold as a snow-capped moun- 
 tain, but as reliable. This tempestuous, beautiful child, 
 slightly mad because her own will was crossed, was far 
 more baffling than her sister. 
 
 " Sally darling, are you ill? Come here, let me feel 
 your forehead." 
 
 'Will you promise?" demanded Sally sullenly. 
 
 " Don't make me promise now wait until to-mor- 
 row." 
 
 At which Sally began the crying all over again, and 
 after another nerve-racking hour Densie had weakly 
 promised that Sally need not go back to school, but might 
 continue her painting until she married the " lovely hus- 
 band " at twenty. 
 
 96
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 When she told John he seemed relieved it was no 
 worse. 
 
 " You didn't use to have such scenes. What ailed the 
 child? " he asked Densie. 
 
 " No, children are different nowadays. They must 
 do what they want to do. I am disappointed at her not 
 finishing school; it isn't proper. I should not have forced 
 her beyond that, but high school was to be expected of 
 all our children." 
 
 " Well, we've Harriet for a bluestocking and Sally 
 for a butterfly so we must be satisfied. With Sally's 
 face she'll have plenty of chances to marry, and I've no 
 doubt the little villain will win the painting prize." 
 
 " What do you think Kenneth will be? " 
 
 " I couldn't say. A ladies' hatter from the way he 
 seems afraid to fight the boys," John answered shortly. 
 
 He had never become friends with his son. Instinc- 
 tively the boy stayed away from him. If his father 
 found him absorbed with a story or fondling some stray 
 dog or trying to cut fanciful patterns from colored papers 
 he sent him roughly outdoors to " find out how to be 
 a boy," he would insist. He wanted him to be manly, 
 as he called it. He disliked the bookish habit, the hours 
 spent by himself in some queer play. He even disliked 
 his physical appearance, though he would hardly admit 
 this to himself. " A pretty young lady," he called him 
 to Densie, who winced under the criticism. 
 
 Only Densie and her son knew the happiness they found 
 in each other. She even took him to club meetings, 
 where he would sit, grave as an owl, watching his moth- 
 er's slightest gesture or listening eagerly when her sweet 
 little voice answered " Present " at roll call. Evenings 
 when they were alone they read stories or made up even 
 
 97
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 better stories which ended entirely to their peace of 
 mind; they indulged in simple games or drew cartoons, 
 and Densie would play on the piano something she 
 never dared do before the others. When she had, Har- 
 riet would leave the room, John would demand some- 
 thing lively, and Sally openly ridicule until she could gain 
 possession of the pianoforte and dash off into ragtime. 
 But Kenneth loved hymn tunes and the old melodies, and 
 they would sing, these two, when their spirits were com- 
 pletely restored from family pressure, and then Densie 
 would be prevailed upon to make taffy or white-honey 
 candy, and the evening would end in riotous dissipation. 
 But this was never told the others; they understood that 
 it was wiser not, since nothing blights pleasure so much as 
 ridicule.
 
 IX 
 
 The next morning Sally, rather white-faced and hol- 
 low-eyed after her brainstorm, listened to Densie's gentle 
 admonition about her studying art; and also to the fact 
 that her mother would not be home at noon and she 
 must get a cold lunch for Kenneth and herself one of 
 the clubs was having a luncheon. 
 
 " I am glad you and father appreciate my viewpoint," 
 Sally said stiffly as Densie finished. " When I am mar- 
 ried I shall repay you for all my expenses ! " 
 
 Densie repressed a smile. 
 
 Sally set about the morning's work, with the result that 
 Kenneth came home to an empty house at noon, foraged 
 bravely for his lunch, leaving a sticky trail of maple sirup 
 across the kitchen floor. It was not Sally's intention to 
 slack. But she had had a fascinating morning at the 
 studio. Miss Boechat liked Sally because she was bright 
 and pretty, and she had told the girl untruths as to her 
 possibilities. She knew Sally's father was a reliable busi- 
 ness man, and steady pupils were scarce. So at the con- 
 clusion of the morning she announced that Sally Plummer 
 had won the prize of ten painting lessons, and Sally, gaz- 
 ing fondly at her foolish little picture of two miniature 
 deer in a huge park overhung with fat green trees, told 
 herself with a solemn seriousness that art was to be her 
 lifework as statistics were Harriet's, and that the future 
 bridegroom must be a world-famous artist who would 
 bow before her superior talent and beg her hand in wed- 
 lock. 
 
 She told Miss Boechat her father would allow her to 
 
 99
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 study regularly, at which Miss Boechat kissed her raptur- 
 ously and said she was going to make her father prouder 
 than he ever imagined. By this time it was noon and 
 Sally regretfully tore herself away from the fascinating 
 semi-Bohemian studio where Miss Boechat worked and 
 lived. She was a mysterious Miss Boechat, who had 
 seen much sadness, she told Sally. She was addicted to 
 perfumes and cosmetics, and dressed in an old-rose man- 
 darin coat that made Sally's eyes sparkle with approval. 
 There were seven men who wished to marry her, she also 
 confided to her prize pupil; and Sally had listened eagerly 
 to the stories concerning each and Miss Boechat's stern 
 refusal to give up her art. It was a wonderful way to 
 live, Sally believed, in a big studio with a fireplace and 
 tapestries and rugs and all manner of pictures, busts and 
 modeling clay. Behind a gorgeous green-silk screen was 
 an eternally unmade cot bed, some disreputable cooking 
 materials and a line of Miss Boechat's washing. This 
 was her " home " but no one ever saw that or the 
 piles of dust that she methodically swept under the cot 
 bed and left there until she had a general cleaning. Sally 
 planned to have a similar studio and live like Miss 
 Boechat and wear just such a rose mandarin coat and 
 black-satin skirt and have her hair piled high on her head 
 and crowned by a carved comb. Life would be very 
 beautiful then with studio teas for admiring patrons 
 and her pupils adoring her and bringing her flowers and 
 candy and trinkets, and seven strong serious-minded men 
 of fame and wealth all begging for her hand. 
 
 She wandered along in this reverie until she unex- 
 pectedly met Dean Laddbarry, who was taking a post- 
 graduate course at the high school. 
 
 'Why, Sally," he said happily; "if this isn't luck! 
 For heaven's sake, where have you been? If you hadn't 
 
 100
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 told me I must not come I'd have been over ages ago. 
 Where are you bound for?" He tucked her arm 
 through his with a possessive air. 
 
 Sally demurred. " Take me to luncheon, Dean," she 
 said with the air of a woman of the world. " I've some- 
 thing important to tell you." 
 
 Dean halted. " Wait till I see how much I've got on 
 me. You know I'm saving up, Sally, and those last flow- 
 ers you wanted came pretty high " 
 
 "How horrid to stand and count money!" Sally 
 stamped her foot. " Most of the men I know " she 
 had in imagination adopted the seven suitors of Miss 
 Boechat u have rolls of money, just rolls of it! And 
 they never consider the price of anything if I wish it." 
 
 " Maybe they don't, but I have to," he answered with 
 the curtness of nineteen years. " Here's a dollar and a 
 half can you eat on that? " 
 
 " In some tea room; I wanted to do one of the hotels." 
 
 Sally tossed her head and walked on, Dean following. 
 
 "With whom did you ever go to a hotel?" he de- 
 manded. " I bet your mother didn't know. Sally Plum- 
 mer, you're only a kid, and you better stay away from 
 them. I know what I'm talking about too." 
 
 " I go to hotels with my friends," Sally insisted, im- 
 agination becoming reality. " Here is this Sisters Three 
 place shall we try it? " 
 
 ' Will your mother mind shall we phone? " 
 
 " She isn't home and Ken can get something for him- 
 self." 
 
 So they turned into a tea room and sought a secluded 
 table. Sally was really ashamed of Dean's clothes, the 
 everyday blue-serge clothes of a nineteen-year-old boy 
 who was going to amount to something. The careless 
 wav that the blue tie was worn, the soft gray shirt, the 
 
 101
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 dusty felt hat, the lack of gloves and the tramping boots 
 all told their story. Dean's ambition was to own 
 something big and out of doors where he could expend 
 his endless energy yet use his brains as well. He was 
 planning to go to the oil country in Wyoming as soon as 
 it was possible. 
 
 "Well, what about it, Sally?" He smiled at her, 
 thinking she was the most beautiful girl that had ever 
 existed. 
 
 " I'm going to study art, Dean. I've won a prize at 
 Miss Boechat's school and father says I needn't go back 
 to high school. Isn't that wonderful? I shall study 
 abroad and live there for some time," she supplemented. 
 
 " Aren't you going to graduate? " 
 
 " How silly to waste the time. You see I have a 
 great deal of talent and I simply have to paint. Miss 
 Boechat said it was born in me." 
 
 " Oh, well, when are you figuring on going abroad? " 
 
 " In a year or so." Sally was delighted with Dean's 
 discomfiture. 
 
 ' You couldn't go alone, Sally, you're so young." 
 
 " But an art student is different. I may marry a for- 
 eigner and never return. I think it might be more con- 
 genial. American women have to do such a lot of house- 
 work even nice men like father don't spare their wives. 
 Look at poor mummy; she used to be beautiful and have 
 pretty clothes and everything when she was at The 
 Evergreensi Then she married father and she has 
 worked ever since. I don't want to be like mummy." 
 1 Your mother has done her part," said Dean soberly 
 before attacking a sandwich. 
 
 " I'm going to choose a different part. Of course, 
 if I marry a foreigner, I'll never see you again but I 
 wish you all the success in the world." 
 
 102
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " You better make that good-by a little later." 
 
 " Fate is a queer force we may not see each other 
 much longer! " 
 
 Dean's eyebrows drew together in a straight line. 
 " If you knew how much I liked you," he said forcibly; 
 " but I think you do and when I make my share of 
 money you're going to marry me." 
 
 Sally giggled excitedly. " Silly boy as if I would 1 
 Why, Dean dear, I want an artist for a husband; some- 
 one who understands." 
 
 Dean's common sense came to the rescue. ' We 
 neither one ought to be talking about such things. I want 
 to tell you that you are making a whale of a mistake by 
 stopping school and letting that woman get you all ex- 
 cited about art. It may be so and it may not be so. I 
 know you're bright, Sally, and all that but you can't 
 tell yet. If you were to stay with your mother and learn 
 the things she knows it might be a lot bettef later on." 
 
 " Don't you speak to me for a week! " Sally retorted. 
 " Why, I never heard of any gentleman's telling a lady 
 any such things ! " 
 
 " I'm not a gentleman and you are not a lady." He 
 reached his tanned hand across the table. " I always 
 liked you and you liked me way deep but you just 
 won't admit it. Come on, 'fess up you do like me? " 
 
 " I did until you insulted me," she said icily, and 
 despite his protests she refused to relent and let him 
 escort her home. He left her on the corner and went 
 his way, minus his money and his peace of mind. It 
 seemed to him that her plans must all be checked, and he 
 wondered if Densie Plummer would not take a firm hand 
 in the so doing. 
 
 Returning from the club luncheon Densie met Dean, 
 so he walked home with Sally's mother if not with Sally. 
 
 103
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Densie was tired and she had a large bundle; she had 
 loaned half her silverware to adorn the table and had 
 washed all of the dishes. It occurred to her that some of 
 the women with machines might have offered to take her 
 home; it was the least they coald do after devouring her 
 salad dressing and eating her cake! It was slowly im- 
 pressing itself on Densie that even nice people will use 
 you if they can, and that she had not emancipated herself 
 from the drudgery. She smiled with relief as Dean 
 shouldered the bundle. 
 
 He told her about meeting Sally and what she had 
 said. Densie frowned. 
 
 " I should have been there to get Kenneth's lunch 
 but I thought Sally would go home, as she was told. 
 Don't pay any attention to her, Dean. She is just living 
 in a fairy tale all her own. I cannot force her to go to 
 school; her father says she was born to be a butterfly. 
 I was engaged when I was seventeen." 
 
 " She says she wants to marry a foreigner," grieved 
 Dean in boy fashion. It was a. strange relief to tell his 
 sorrows to the mother of the girl he adored. 
 
 " Little goose ! Wait a few years. Don't give up 
 hope ! Get your ranch or your gold mine and plug away. 
 You'll win Sally over the crowned heads of Europe." 
 Densie laughed up at the tall boy, who was staring mood 
 ily into the distance. 
 
 ' Won't you come in? " she asked as they reached the 
 flat. 
 
 "Sally said I couldn't for a week," he answered 
 stoically. 
 
 " Oh, these children ! " Densie patted him on the 
 shoulder and came up the steps, noticing that Mrs. Sulli- 
 van had not cleaned as was her turn to do, and that she, 
 
 104
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Densie, must do so before the place was an utter dis- 
 grace. This turn and turn about arrangement in flats 
 is not always satisfactory. It had been Densie who had 
 mopped the porch faithfully and seen to the lawn and 
 various other details while Mrs. Sullivan had seen to 
 her summer wardrobe and the whiteness of her hands. 
 
 That winter and spring Sally's lessons with Miss 
 Boechat were far-reaching in their effects. It was not 
 long before she was taking design and modeling work as 
 well. This meant she must be away all day and that she 
 lunched downtown. Sometimes it was with her father or 
 with Miss Boechat, and other times, unbeknownst to 
 Densie, it was with art students, older men and women, 
 sophisticated idlers, who told her many new and startling 
 things. Sally changed during the spring of 1903 into a 
 more beautiful Sally than before, but utterly useless save 
 for her " art " coming home unwillingly at night to 
 dawdle about, making a pretense of doing housework, but 
 flying in relief to her room to rig up some irresistible 
 costume out of odds and ends. 
 
 There was no denying her knack for so doing or in 
 dressing her hair a dozen different ways or dreaming wild 
 possibilities those unhealthy dreams of adolescent girl- 
 hood always concerning impossible triumphs and 
 achievements, in which she was the adored heroine and 
 victor of all the world; married happily and adored; and 
 then having unhappiness steal in, some interesting tragedy 
 in which she played a noble and spectacular part; then a 
 period of renunciation, during which she should paint 
 some great masterpiece a Madonna, very likely, and 
 it would be purchased by a nobleman. He would seek out 
 the artist, woo her ardently, marry her, take her off 
 
 in a whirl of excitement to his castle And on and 
 
 105
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 on these day dreams would extend, with Sally always 
 playing the talented, beautiful, flawless woman who ruled 
 by a smile or a nod of her red-gold head. 
 
 In her imagination she clothed herself in ermine, sables, 
 velvet, brocaded satins, jewels worth a king's ransom; 
 she drove imported French motors, she became a racing 
 champion, a champion mountain climber, a champion 
 swimmer everything that the world did Sally did and 
 excelled in doing, according to her dreams. She even 
 evolved a set of fictitious characters with whom she lived 
 and who dulled the realities of the crowded modern little 
 flat, the silent brother-child, the tired mother trying to be- 
 come free of care, and a handsome father who was seldom 
 home! As Harriet put her soul into her work so Sally 
 put hers into dreams. It was not an uncommon experi- 
 ence, youth must always pass through a period of exag- 
 geration in some form, and better that it was in dreams 
 safe within her home than in the world without. 
 
 These imaginary characters were interesting. They 
 consisted of an extremely rich old grandfather who adored 
 her and showered her with luxury; a young handsome 
 man, Jack, who wished to marry her but he was poor! 
 Then there was a wealthy elderly gentleman, Mr. Bryan 
 Montague, a despised suitor but a persistent one, who 
 sent her ten pounds of chocolates and a few dozen orchids, 
 in which black-pearl trifles were concealed, two or three 
 times each week! Besides these Sally had conceived of 
 a haughty duchess spending the winter on the Riviera 
 they were all on the Riviera in fact and her son, Duke 
 de Chaumont, an artistic genius, cousin to all the royal 
 families in Europe! After very thrilling escapades with 
 each, and her tender heart pitying poor Jack and being 
 gentle but firm with Mr. Montague, her duke says he will 
 play pirate and capture her, and so they are married 
 
 106
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 only to fall into the hands of real pirates while on their 
 wedding journey, and Sally, the fair young duchess now, 
 being dragged off to a Turkish harem and besieged by 
 the young handsome sultan to rule over the land her 
 wonderful poise and bravery her outwitting him, her 
 escape and so on. 
 
 It was little wonder Sally refused to darn her stockings 
 or to eat enough breakfast and would not wear proper 
 winter clothing, to Densie's anxiety, but went forth clad 
 in shimmery chiffon waists showing her full white neck, 
 and dancing pumps with white spats to attract attention, 
 a gold-lace hat, suitable for best, Densie considered, and 
 white chamois gloves scented with triple wild rose. 
 
 Densie did not suspect this day dreaming, but she 
 disapproved of Sally's frittering away time and strength, 
 her endless beaus older men than Densie liked, who 
 seemed ill at ease in the flat, but who Sally declared were 
 perfectly ripping at the various studio dances. 
 
 Once Densie plucked up courage to go to Miss Boechat 
 and ask if she did not think Sally merely had a great lik- 
 ing for art and the rather indolent life it incurred rather 
 than sufficient talent to persevere unto the heights. She 
 disapproved of Miss Boechat, whom she found in a 
 bizarre, sophisticated negligee the sort that is not quite 
 nice for an unmarried woman to possess and smoking 
 a cigarette. 
 
 Scenting the loss of a pupil Miss Boechat was vehement 
 in superlative praise. Sally was a budding genius, a beau- 
 tiful creature; kindly allow her to develop as she would. 
 Miss Boechat adored her as her own child and she felt 
 that Sally was not quite happy in her home; too conven- 
 tional, perhaps? 
 
 All the time her hard bright eyes stared at Densie's 
 shabby bonnet and mended glove tips; and Densie, dis- 
 
 107
 
 A WOMAN'S WOiMAN 
 
 comfited by the arrival of some pupils, went away real- 
 izing that she could not interfere with Sally's life any 
 more than she could with Harriet's career. 
 
 She spent a happy evening with Kenneth Sally was 
 at a dance playing dominoes and popping corn and 
 talking about " when mummy is old and Kenneth is grown 
 up and he buys her a little country house and comes to 
 see her! " They, too, were day dreaming. 
 
 Harriet's letters grew more brief and her printed ac- 
 counts of her work more numerous. She was doing re- 
 markably well, and when the vacation came she stayed 
 on in New York as assistant secretary to one of the prin- 
 cipals, thereby earning her way and saving her father, 
 who rejoiced at the good fortune. 
 
 Densie did not miss Harriet it was a numbed emo- 
 tion she had for her. Besides, she was so sure of Har- 
 riet in certain ways. She was not sure about Sally; she 
 heard rumors that Sally went to hotels with men, and 
 to dances where she had strange partners; and she 
 shielded these rumors from her husband because she knew 
 he would only splutter and blame her, naturally; and it 
 would increase Sally's obstinacy. 
 
 She had never become neighborly with the Sullivans, 
 and the old friends had stopped coming to see her. She 
 lived so far away from them, and besides, when they 
 came it was often evident they were not wanted. Lucy 
 Parks and Maude Hatton still came Sundays, but Sam 
 Hippler waited for a special invitation, which was as 
 seldom as was decent, John declared. 
 
 If she had not had club interests she would have been 
 very lonely; even being fag for the clubs was a change, 
 though it was far from what she had anticipated. She 
 joined an English Reading Club because they served no 
 refreshments and she saw a loophole from cooking and 
 
 1 08
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 washing dishes. But the reading class devoted half their 
 time to current topics, and Densie was detailed with 
 scissors and paste pot to cut out the things of interest 
 and get them in shape for discussion, and she also was 
 elected corresponding secretary, because she wrote such 
 a " dear little hand," and because no one else wanted 
 the task of addressing numerous envelopes and licking 
 the postage stamps. Kenneth sealed and stamped the 
 envelopes. He was quite happy when Densie would 
 clear off a corner of the old secretary and let him work 
 with her. 
 
 And Densie, industriously going through the mem- 
 bership list, would be thinking: " I'll surely be entitled 
 to just study the topics next year and what was it we 
 were to learn some anecdote about Queen Anne?" 
 quite oblivious of John's unmended house coat and Sally's 
 disorderly room and the fact that Kenneth must take an 
 iron tonic and then all of these things would descend 
 upon her suddenly and destroy any intellectual aspira- 
 tions. 
 
 It was in the spring of 1904 that Densie realized the 
 extent of politics in women's clubs; the fact that when 
 she was sent as delegate to the city federation and en- 
 titled to a vote she was suddenly wooed as ardently as if 
 she were Sally. 
 
 A woman unknown to her save through her name, a 
 shining star in the club world, drove up to the flat and 
 insisted on taking her through the parks. Densie h^si- 
 tated, dismayed at her shabbiness, but the woman, Mrs. 
 Worthington Prescott, insisted, paying her several flow- 
 ery compliments mostly about her cooking and se- 
 curing Densie's promise to vote for her as vice-president. 
 
 Mrs. Prescott never recognized her after the meeting 
 and her successful election. Another woman sent her 
 
 109
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 violets and a pretty little note stating her hope of being 
 treasurer and urging her great influence to help matters 
 along; and still another came to call and purred graciously 
 about everything in the flat and said Kenneth had a re- 
 markably well-shaped head and that she hoped he would 
 prove as brilliant as his little mother. 
 
 Densie smiled at this last. It seemed to her she would 
 either have to stop housework or else her attempts at club 
 life. 
 
 "Have I a soul above a frying pan? " she demanded 
 of herself as she stood over the stove that night. 
 
 She began again to debate the unfair division of labor 
 between the middle-class man and woman. She con- 
 trasted John's spick-and-span grooming each morning, his 
 leaving the house not to return until night, confident of 
 a good dinner, his splendid free day in the world, meeting 
 new people, minds sharpening minds, ideas arguing with 
 ideas, each gaining a fresh viewpoint, a firmer convic- 
 tion, a new perspective she envied him. And if he 
 did not feel inclined to return he need not he was head 
 of the family, and business was a vast and expansive ex- 
 cuse. 
 
 He needed clubs for his business and banquets for his 
 political aims and good clothes and vacations for ap- 
 pearance and mental relaxation, and Densie had always 
 adoringly agreed. 
 
 After three years of flat life she began to rebel anew 
 just as she had done back at the Little House. She 
 saw no goal ahead. Her daughters were both engrossed 
 in their own interests; her husband more and more care- 
 less of her, less the husband and more the man of the 
 world. She realized that it took money, position and 
 personality to be a successful club or society woman. 
 Women campaigned as men did these clubs that Densie 
 
 1 10
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 had joined were not of good standing; they were called 
 " the pussy-willow variety." They had seemed elegant 
 to Densie she was fond of old-fashioned adjectives, 
 such as elegant and grand, and she used them, though her 
 family promptly informed her that only shop-girls in- 
 cluded them in their vocabularies. 
 
 The clubs that would really give Densie mental stimulus 
 and soul massage were far beyond her as yet. She had 
 only burnt up the chops by ruminating at length over the 
 situation. 
 
 in
 
 X 
 
 The Sullivans moved in the spring, and a distressing 
 crew, the Hendersons, came in their stead three chil- 
 dren, the father, mother and an aunt; and they took upon 
 themselves the liberty of running up to Densie to bor- 
 row everything that they needed to make life livable! 
 
 " They've got the lend-me's," Kenneth said. " Lend 
 me this and lend me that; and by heck, mummy, they've 
 bought the place the littlest boy told me so ! So 
 there's no chance for them to move in a year." 
 
 And he sat down rather pensively, though an hour 
 later Densie saw him playing with the children, and she 
 consoled herself by the thought that it might be a good 
 thing for Kenneth. 
 
 The noise they made was intolerable, but their in- 
 fluence worse. Kenneth soon learned to swear in a fin- 
 ished fashion and he defied his mother the boys down- 
 stairs did and " got by with it," and he mocked Sally and 
 became an unmanageable sort of young person. 
 
 John was traveling most of the time, so he escaped 
 the discomfort. He thought the newcomers all right and 
 told Densie to pay no attention. If they wanted some 
 eggs why, give them some eggs, and when she saw the 
 grocery man coming in with eggs for the Hendersons 
 well, go right downstairs and borrow some eggs in the 
 name of Plummer ! That was the man's solution. The 
 woman's was different. If one did not return eggs volun- 
 tarily why, there would never be anything said, but 
 it would rankle; and when one's garden hose, rake, mops, 
 baking powder, butter, gravy ladle and bowl, soup plates, 
 
 112
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Castile soap and best table cloth were In turn trotted down- 
 stairs and not trotted back without a great deal of dip- 
 lomatic hinting, things became strained and Densie 
 learned what it means to live in a flat with someone who 
 is not affable and who is addicted to the loan-me's. 
 
 Mr. Henderson's being the landlord added an extra 
 gloom. The boys pummeled Kenneth and played sneak 
 tricks on him, chawing beef with his white blouse and 
 throwing his hat up on a roof; they deliberately tracked 
 in mud on Densie's side of the vestibule, and called names 
 after Sally when she trotted out to art school dressed in 
 all her finery. 
 
 However, Mr. Plummer paid his rent and the Hender- 
 sons appreciated the fact, so they managed to agree to 
 disagree, Kenneth bearing the brunt of the enmity. It 
 was not pleasant. They felt as if they had taken rooms 
 temporarily, Densie was unsettled and ill at ease, and 
 when her clubs met for the fall she was lackluster, almost 
 afraid to take part in them. She had a premonition that 
 the Henderson boys would set fire to the house if she 
 left it too much alone. 
 
 Sally laughed at her fears. Like her father Sally 
 was seldom home. She had quarreled with Dean; he 
 said she rouged like an actress and men turned to look 
 after her on the street, while Sally, angered to the ut- 
 most, told him not to speak to her until she saw fit. Dean 
 was two years older and two years wiser than Sally, and 
 he took her at her word. She missed Dean he had 
 always been about, no matter what she wanted or when 
 or where. But Dean had made up his mind to show 
 Sally that he could exist without her. 
 
 " Of course, he is only Dean," she wrote Harriet, feel- 
 ing she must have a confidante; the dreams and the dream 
 characters had become a trifle shopworn and monotonous, 
 
 "3
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 and she had reached that ridiculous stage wherein chil- 
 dren feel that their mothers cannot understand them. 
 Harriet was her only available outlet, and Harriet having 
 been away so long had assumed kindly and unreal memo- 
 ries and possibilities. " Still, I do miss him, he was so 
 obliging; and I suppose he is very wonderful to study 
 the way he does and work at the same time. But I am 
 no child, sister dear, and I cannot let my personality be 
 submerged. How I envy you in New York, free to do 
 as you like and study as you wish. I could never study 
 as you do because I'm only Sally and cannot understand 
 those awful problems you say you adore to understand 
 but some day I am coming to New York as an artist 
 and have a studio and live in smocks and sandals if I like, 
 and poor mummy won't have to fuss about me." 
 
 Here Sally inclosed a drawing of her Bohemian future 
 with the sink used as a writing desk and her folding bed 
 supposedly a luxurious bit of paneled woodwork to the 
 outside. " I have done well with my work, but I have 
 no encouragement or sympathy at home. Harriet, I 
 feel we are women now and can talk frankly about our 
 parents. Poor daddy! Mummy is so quiet and tired 
 he finds her a bore and so he stays away. Daddy has 
 quite a time keeping things afloat, and whenever he 
 wishes to discharge Sam Hippler mummy cries and gets 
 out all her old photograph albums. Harry, dear, isn't 
 she too absurd? 
 
 ' Then, I'm sorry for mummy, because she does want 
 to stop housekeeping, and read things and go to her 
 funny little clubs. Kenneth is positively a hoodlum these 
 days; the Henderson boys have taught him terrible things, 
 but maybe it is good for him. I'm sure I don't know. 
 I feel I have my own self to develop properly so as to 
 give the best of myself to the world through the medium- 
 
 114
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 ^hip of my art and I cannot decide the destinies of oth- 
 ers." 
 
 Reading this over Sally decided it sounded very well, 
 so she closed the letter abruptly lest she make a mistake 
 and enrage her learned sister. She inclosed some sample 
 menu cards which she had made for her father's club, 
 and added naively: "These are just 'spot knockers' 
 I am going in for portrait painting." 
 
 Harriet being equally unfamiliar with Sally responded 
 cordially, saying she understood the situation and that 
 Sally must remember, first of all, she was a human being, 
 and she must not stunt her mental growth or her natural 
 abilities. She hoped Sally would come to New York as 
 an artist and thus find herself, and she thought it lament- 
 able that mummy was so helpless. 
 
 By the time the letter reached Sally a frivolous mood 
 had overtaken her and she was intent on new frocks and 
 the art of making gold-tinsel slippers by giving white 
 ones several coats of luster paint. Harriet's letter 
 sounded prosy and old-maidish and she crinkled up her 
 little forehead thoughtfully as she debated which she 
 would rather be a famous artist or the leader of New 
 York society, the latter winning without much of an 
 effort. She called up Dean Laddbarry and told him to 
 come and see her that evening, and when he did she 
 even made candy for him and said she had only been 
 fooling about being mad, thereby readjusting the rose- 
 colored spectacles before his honest gray eyes and making 
 Densie delighted at the prospect of Sally's becoming like 
 other girls. 
 
 New Year's, 1905, brought an important event into 
 Densie's life. As usual Harriet had avoided a home 
 vacation. Through quiet ingenuity on her part Densie 
 had been made delegate to a midwinter New York con-
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 vention of clubs. She mentioned this to John with the 
 added wish that he attend. 
 
 " You always say you ought to go to New York 
 more, and you have not been there once since Harriet 
 went to school. Let us combine interests and go for a 
 week. It is not right to have Harriet a stranger, and 
 Sally is old enough to run the house and look after 
 Kenneth. I was married when I was nineteen." 
 
 John debated the matter; it did not altogether suit 
 him. He would want to do things Densie would dis- 
 approve of doing, and though Harriet was an inducement 
 he began to think up excuses why he should remain home. 
 
 " But we haven't been on a trip together since Aunt 
 Sally died. Before that I could leave the children with 
 her. We went to Washington and to Pittsburgh and that 
 fishing trip up in Canada don't you remember? I'd 
 like to see how it feels to go traveling with my husband." 
 
 She spoke lightly, but her lips trembled. 
 
 " Oh, if that's the case" John good-naturedly laid 
 aside his paper "I suppose it's all settled. That's a 
 fact, Densie, we haven't been anywhere together, have 
 we?" 
 
 " And I haven't been to church in four months," she 
 finished her confession. " We are getting to be back- 
 sliders." 
 
 " Let's turn over a new leaf, join some social clubs, do 
 good theaters this winter. Hang it all, we're not old! 
 I'm sure I'm not. And with the children nearly grown 
 and Kenneth such a lamb there's no reason to be tied 
 down." 
 
 I haven't noticed that you were," she said demurely. 
 
 " Business would have gone to the wall if I had stayed 
 by the fire like an old man," he objected testily. " I've 
 
 tried to make you understand " 
 
 116
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " Oh, I did, John, truly. It is just that all at once 
 I wanted to go away some place else besides this city and 
 this flat, to have someone else cook my meals and think 
 about locking the door at night. It has been a long time 
 since I have had a vacation. You see, the delegate's ex- 
 penses are paid, and that makes it quite easy for you." 
 
 "What does this fearless delegate have to do? 
 Stand on a soap box on the corner of Broadway and 
 Forty-second Street and exhort wives to leave home and 
 husband and study the nature of the heathen? " 
 
 He was laughing at her seriousness. 
 
 " No, it isn't religious you never seemed interested 
 before, so I never explained it. This one club is organ- 
 ized to keep abreast with the times, study current topics. 
 You men don't realize how tied we American women are 
 who do housework and bear and rear the family, at the 
 same time being expected to be comrades to their hus- 
 bands and intelligent hostesses for their husbands' friends ! 
 Take myself for example I'm as hungry as a beggar to 
 learn about the world outside my four walls." 
 
 " Urn do you go in for suffrage and that sort of 
 thing? " He was a trifle disapproving. 
 
 " I have never joined the suffrage club, but I shall 
 when I have some more money. Clubs are not joined 
 so easily as you think. You have the old-time notion of 
 missionary sewing circles, where everyone came to gossip 
 and eat doughnuts md drink coffee, and that was all there 
 was to it. Some of the richest women in the city are club 
 women, they fight for office as you have fought. Clothes, 
 position, money, brains are all valuable assets, but I 
 think brains win out ultimately. We bring lecturers and 
 singers from New York to brush us up, and we study as 
 advanced things as we can find." Her face was flushed 
 with eagerness. 
 
 117
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " I don't know whether it's a good thing," John debated 
 masterfully. " It takes up time and you can't seem con- 
 tent with anything else. I don't mean you, Densie, but 
 I've heard husbands talk about it. If you had a great 
 deal of money would you bother with it? " 
 
 " If I had a great deal of money," said this small rebel, 
 " I would never wash another dish or darn a pair of 
 stockings, cook another dinner or mop another floor. I 
 would be as idle as the rose-leaf princess that I used 
 to tell the children about for a bedtime story. I hate 
 it! " 
 
 She stood up before her husband and crossed her 
 arms defiantly. 
 
 ; ' Why Densie!" His world tottered about his 
 ears. 
 
 "Why John," she retorted, "you don't suppose I 
 want to stay a little nobody, do you? I've tried to put 
 all of you first and I shall keep on trying, only deep in- 
 side something says to me as it is saying to thousands 
 of American women, ' Be yourself first of all ! ' And I 
 have to keep that very carefully stifled." 
 
 "What has made you feel this way? Women never 
 used to." He leaned forward anxiously, and as she 
 looked at him her little face melted into a motherly 
 smile. 
 
 " I don't know, John, dear. Don't worry I shan't 
 elope and be found disguised in men's clothes." 
 
 " I thought your clubs were only a pastime. You 
 really take them seriously, Densie. Tell me why do 
 women take them so seriously? " 
 
 " Because you and I were born at the end of a cer- 
 tain era American Victorian call it what you like 
 but it was a distinct era with certain beliefs and 
 limitations and admirable qualities; and it has ended. 
 
 118
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Therefore, you and I, as many, many people of to-day, 
 are dragged into the new era. I have no name for it 
 as yet, but it ought to be a stimulating, splendid name, 
 and it must be a more permanent era than the one just 
 past. We of the old regime must either be labeled hope- 
 less by the younger generation and be passed by, left 
 to live with memories; or else we must forge ahead 
 despite the handicaps of our early environment and be 
 one with this new generation and its platform. You 
 have done so, in a sense, because you are a man and 
 have a man's rights the rights that this past era un- 
 fairly gave to man and not to woman. You have stayed 
 in the world and caught up with the march, you have not 
 had the petty, humiliating, endless tasks that fall to no 
 one else but a woman a woman with a family. Oh, 
 I don't mind the doing them, for I was taught it was a 
 sacred mission but they leave their mark when you try 
 to keep step with the present-day trend of affairs. John, 
 it is so much harder to be born at the end of one era than 
 at the beginning of another as our children were. 
 Sometime this era will change too in a hundred years 
 or so and with it will Come another epoch. This 
 strange frankness about all matters; this analytical, scien- 
 tific, cynical viewpoint toward the old matters of faith 
 and religion; this blunt, impolite method of brooking no 
 interference with one's wishes and breaking away from 
 home ties as our daughter has done; this curious, ir- 
 reverent method of hasty living from day to day in 
 the easiest, the most showy, the most extravagant fash< 
 ion it, too, will pass. 
 
 44 And yet we must be fair we of the older regime 
 see only the faults of the new, even as they do ours; 
 and there were strong virtues and benefits in each! I 
 wonder if these modernists have not flattered them- 
 
 119
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 selves that they are progressive when they are really 
 destructive. Has that ever occurred to you? John, 
 sometime something will teach America to pray again 
 with a child's faith and to conserve her resources and 
 her energies, and if we of the older period are left that 
 long on earth we may help her in her task. For with all 
 the excess of sentimentality and slowness of action and 
 narrowness of viewpoint of our era, we did learn to pray 
 and to work and to save ! " 
 
 She paused, embarrassed at her outburst. John was 
 looking at her almost awesomely. But it is true that no 
 man ever really loves a clever woman, he admires her 
 and likes to take her in to dinner and declare she is the 
 ideal girl for his chum to marry but for himself some 
 stupidly sweet little thing who can make flaky pie crust 
 and wear ruffled white-muslin dresses is more to his 
 heart's delight. Such a woman had Densie been, and 
 now in her quiet, kindly manner she had told him a 
 great truth. One always knows when a truth has been 
 voiced even though he struggle to deny it. Densie had 
 been born at the end of an era and thrust into a strange 
 and confusing period of which she disapproved yet tried 
 to imitate and follow. It echoed again to his ears that 
 something might come to sweep aside America's gigantic 
 cobwebs of extravagance and useless spending, fill her 
 churches and crush her youthful conceit. It seemed 
 prophetic. The thought annoyed him. It reminded 
 him he was getting along. Densie was forty-one. He 
 was forty-three. Br-r-r ! 
 
 ' You've been reading too much stuff," he said 
 brusquely. u I think you better go buy a pretty dress and 
 we'll do New York." 
 
 He tried to feel enthusiastic about it, but it was a 
 
 T20
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 failure. He wondered if she would go to endless club 
 meetings and drag him to lukewarm banquets and he 
 would have to be surrounded by strong-minded women 
 who were marching on to freedom wherever that might 
 be! 
 
 " I will buy a new dress; my things are too ancient 
 to be seen. Sally has always had the right of way 
 when it comes to clothes." 
 
 And he was thankful that she had sidetracked the more 
 serious question. When Sally learned of the trip she 
 was aggrieved that she was not to go. It was so un- 
 heard of for mummy to have a holiday; but after a little 
 she had coaxed her parents to let her have a party and 
 to buy a new muff.' She was quite resigned by the time 
 they were ready to go; after all, mummy would want 
 her to be in bed by nine and daddy would be cross be- 
 cause mummy fussed, and she would not have had a 
 good time. She would wait and save the money to go 
 alone to visit Harriet. Who knew if unhampered by 
 an anxious mummy and a handsome daddy she might meet 
 the great love of her life ! 
 
 Densie bought smoky pearl-gray satin to make the 
 dress herself, which she did and robbed it of any style, 
 though the material was excellent. It looked a trifle 
 queer she admitted as she tried it on. Still it was a new 
 dress and she was an old married woman at whom no 
 one would be apt to look. She got new boots and a 
 black hat which Sally selected. Her old things must 
 do for traveling. She found time to make Harriet some 
 goodies and to cook and bake for Sally and Kenneth so 
 as to last them well into the week. 
 
 They went down to the metropolis by night, arriving 
 in the morning. John insisted on driving to the best 
 hotel of which he knew though Densie timidly protested 
 
 X2I
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 it seemed a rather huge price to pay for a room and bath, 
 and then all their meals extra. But John paid no atten- 
 tion to her murmurings. 
 
 She looked awesomely at the uniformed maids and 
 liveried, patronizing bell boys, who viewed her supercili- 
 ously. She felt strangely out of place in the modern 
 bedroom, the carionlike streets yawning below, and the 
 rush and roar of the city in her ears. 
 
 After breakfast they started out to find Harriet it 
 was to be a complete surprise. It was Saturday morn- 
 ing, and according to Harriet's schedule she had no 
 classes. They took a cab because John did not want to 
 bother to find the way, and it was such fun to lean back 
 and watch the city swirl about them. 
 
 122
 
 XI . 
 
 Harriet Plummer's boarding house was an old-time 
 brown-stone-front affair. Yes, she was in, the woman 
 said who opened the door. 
 
 Tiptoeing up the stairs Mr. and Mrs. Plummer knocked 
 at her door. A small fair-haired girl with childish blue 
 eyes and a pinched selfish mouth came in answer. She 
 wore an elaborate smock, knickers of 'corduroy and was 
 smoking a cigarette. 
 
 " I think we have made a mistake," John said briefly; 
 " I was looking for Harriet Plummer." 
 
 " Oh, yes ! Harry dear, someone for you," the small 
 girl answered easily. 
 
 Then Harriet emerged in a severe brown-linen smock 
 and knickers. She was not smoking, but a cigarette butt 
 indicated that she had been. Her hair was cut short 
 like a boy's and she was thinner and paler than ever be- 
 fore. 
 
 " Well," she began in her clipped fashion, " why didn't 
 you let me know? Glad to see you. Hully, daddy! 
 Here are my people, Leila." She waved an introduc- 
 tion with one of her slim hands. 
 
 John and Densie came in rather timidly and sat down. 
 The room was in keeping with the two rising young 
 feminists severe and scant furnishings, some foreign 
 prints on the wall, smoking stands, a great writing desk 
 heaped with books and papers, golf sticks, a tennis racket 
 and books piled in untidy stacks on the floor. The bed- 
 room was a nondescript affair tossed together any old 
 way it was evident that the feminists merely slept 
 
 123
 
 A -WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 here and forgot its very existence the moment their eyes 
 opened. A brass samovar, teacups and saucers showed 
 the only signs of domesticity. 
 
 "How long are you going to stay?" Harriet asked 
 after the first shock had subsided. " How's Sally and 
 the boy? I've a lecture at eleven. Leila has to clear 
 now, poor old thing! She's behind in two of her sub- 
 jects; had to go home because of her mother's illness." 
 
 " Harriet helps me," Leila confessed. " Don't you 
 think we've a nice place, Mrs. Plummer? " 
 
 " Very," Densie fibbed. She was still staring at the 
 knickerbockers and cigarettes and shorn hair! "Har- 
 riet, you didn't say you had cut your hair." 
 
 " Oh, didn't I? It was such a bother to comb. Leila 
 here keeps hers because hers is pretty. I'm afraid I 
 never want to be bothered with combs and hairpins again. 
 I'll leave my share to Sally." 
 
 " It doesn't look right," her father commented grimly. 
 
 Then he felt the situation was entirely too much for 
 him. He would decamp and leave Densie to ferret out 
 the new scheme of things and deal with it as she wished. 
 So, after a few more commonplaces and Harriet's modest 
 announcement that she was coaching three people a day 
 in math and Latin and doing quite well in school and some 
 simpering remarks from Leila, John departed, telling 
 Harriet to get her mother back to the hotel safely and 
 to come and take dinner with them that night. 
 
 ' Your mother is here as delegate to a club federa- 
 tion," he ended formally. 
 
 " Oh, those women's clubs youVe been joining. Is 
 that it, mummy? " Harriet's eyebrows arched in amuse- 
 ment. " I am not interested in club movements. Here, 
 daddy, here is the last thing I wrote that they thought 
 good enough to make into a pamphlet Study of 
 
 124
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Women's Reformatories in New York and Connecticut. 
 And next summer I'm appointed to a bully good thing; 
 dress as a tough girl and go to the small New York 
 towns that have canning factories, blow into the town 
 presumably walking the ties and get a job at the factory, 
 act as rough as I like and lay in wait to see if they are 
 employing child labor. It may mean a great deal to me; 
 we believe that most canneries keep two sets of books, 
 one for the inspectors and one for their own use; and 
 most factories are so situated to the railroad that an ap- 
 proaching stranger gives the warning himself, and into 
 the vault goes the one set of books! I am positive of 
 this you remember when we first talked it over, 
 Leila?" 
 
 Leila remembered. That was the best thing Leila 
 ever did to remember what Harriet said, and use it as 
 her own original thought. 
 
 " You cannot go to strange towns dressed as a rough 
 woman," began her father testily. " Great heavens ! 
 Is charity conducted on this scale?" 
 
 ' You do not understand, daddy but after you see 
 the work I'll do, tracing child labor to its source and 
 stopping it, you're bound to approve. Some of the can- 
 neries in the grape belt have had children of eight and 
 nine helping pick, and some foreigners let their four and 
 five year old babies shell peas or string beans and hold 
 down a regular job! " 
 
 " Well, the poor souls know where their children are 
 better than letting them be run over by an automo- 
 bile," murmured Densie. " I remember when such 
 things existed and no one seemed to think them terrible." 
 
 "Mummy!" Harriet's dark eyes glowered with 
 anger. " Please don't say that in front of my friends 
 you don't realize how you hnve committed yourself." 
 
 125
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 She exchanged compassionate glances with Leila. 
 Leila's family were impossible too ! 
 
 After John had left and Leila exchanged her knickers 
 for a brief skirt and a tartan-plaid coat and mannish hat, 
 saying a glib and affected good-by to " dear Mrs. Plum- 
 mer," Densie took off her black cape and began to un- 
 pack the basket of goodies she had made. 
 
 " Really, mother," Harriet explained ever so kindly, 
 "we diet. No meat no tea or coffee no sweets; 
 cereals, vegetables, eggs three times a week, cheese and 
 buttermilk. I cannot study when I stuff myself as I did 
 at home." She looked with scorn at the sausage loaf, 
 the cake, the jar of mayonnaise. " Thanks just the 
 same! " 
 
 "You mean you don't want any of it?" Densie 
 asked slowly. 
 
 " We couldn't use it. Once in a while we have a tea 
 here for some of the students and we have jam and wa- 
 fers, but we'd all rather smoke." 
 
 " So you do smoke, Harriet! " 
 
 Harriet flushed. She did not enjoy meeting her moth- 
 er's steady disapproving gaze. 
 
 ' You cannot keep me a baby all my days, mummy. 
 You do a great many things I don't do, and I never com- 
 plain. Well, grant me the same right." 
 
 'Why do you wear these things?" Densie pointed 
 to the knickers. 
 
 " Convenience. Skirts are clumsy. Here, wrap these 
 up and eat them yourself. They'll probably taste better 
 to you than hotel fare." She began replacing the articles 
 in their basket. 
 
 Without speaking Densie did so. 
 
 Presently Harriet ventured more cordially: " I hope 
 you have some spare time when I have some spare time, 
 
 126
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 mummy. We are both busy, aren't we? What would 
 you like to see? " 
 
 " I must attend the club meetings and I shall go home 
 as soon as they have finished. Your father has no busi- 
 ness here. He came to please me," she admitted lamely. 
 
 " How nice ! You must go to the Metropolitan with 
 me." Harriet assumed a martyred air. " And we'll 
 do a theater, I suppose." 
 
 " No, dear; I only came to see my daughter." Densie 
 laid the rejected basket beside her cape. " I felt you 
 were growing to be a stranger to us, and I see that I was 
 right. Tell me, who is this Leila? " 
 
 " Her name is Leila Cochrane, and she comes from 
 Bangor, Maine. She is a darling girl," Harriet spoke 
 with more enthusiasm than Densie could remember in 
 years. " She is studying to be a librarian. We met each 
 other last year and we've been rooming together since 
 this fall; she means everything to me, mummy." 
 
 ' Why did you never write about her? " 
 
 Harriet frowned. " I didn't think it was necessary. 
 I'm old enough to room with whom I choose." She 
 glanced at the mantel clock. 
 
 '' When you have finished school next year do you in- 
 tend coming home? " Densie's eyes were dark and anx- 
 ious. 
 
 " No." Harriet looked at her directly. " I could 
 never come home and be satisfactory to any of you, and 
 least of all to myself. I expected an appointment and I 
 think I shall take it. After a little I'll go abroad. I'd 
 like to be statistician for the Whitechapel district in Lon- 
 don." 
 
 '* Then we've lost our oldest girl ? " A tear showed on 
 Densie's flushed cheek. 
 
 " Please, mummy, don't go into agonies. You are 
 
 127
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 too emotional to understand, I do believe." Harriet's 
 irritation would not stay in check. ' You don't want me 
 to be a burden, a wastling? This is my work. I must do 
 it my way. I haven't been any expense to you this last 
 year have I? Sally has I know that without the 
 asking. I never intend to be an expense; in fact as soon 
 as I get a position I shall send you an allowance. I 
 want to repay all you have done for me. Yes, I do ; then 
 you cannot say I have shirked in my part. It would be 
 an economic crime not to do so considering your and 
 daddy's circumstances. But you must not delude your- 
 self with thinking I'm coming home because I shall live 
 in my own way." 
 
 " I only want you to love me, Harriet. I don't really 
 care about the rest. Only I cannot understand why 
 young women smoke and cut their hair short and wear 
 knickers when they are learning to help the poor and 
 stop crime. And why they don't want to come home. It 
 is a home, after all, Harriet; and these rooms are not. 
 There is nothing here that suggests comfort or care or 
 anyone's taking any particular pains." 
 
 " I cannot endure the smugness of a home," flashed 
 back her child. " Homes are too often stagnant places, 
 retarding progress. I shall never have a home. I am 
 not a home woman some are, I presume but homes 
 in the old sense are bound to pass away, just as you left 
 the Little House and took a flat. We cannot always go 
 on having ponderous drawing-rooms and steel engravings 
 of Nelson and silver water pitchers in the dining room 
 that sort of thing. Where would we end if we were 
 satisfied with that goal? " 
 
 ' Where do you wish us all to end and where do 
 you intend ending? " 
 
 ' With a great world-wide reform, cooperative house- 
 
 128
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 keeping, learn to be impersonal. I have tabulated some 
 experiments made by a professor I'll show them to you. 
 This is the day and age of the specialist, mummy, that 
 is the great barrier between you and me. The old-time 
 school-teacher could make her clothes and help with the 
 housework and teach her musty methods, as well as go 
 buggy riding with her young man and sing alto in the 
 choir! Well, that may have been well enough, but to- 
 day the teacher must consecrate herself to her career. 
 That career must come before all else. If a man is to 
 be a doctor he must learn to be a specialist. If a woman 
 is to be a lawyer she must be nothing but a lawyer 
 that is the reform which is approaching. Do the one 
 thing you are meant to do and do it with all your heart. 
 Let the other people do the mechanics of mere living if 
 they wish." 
 
 Harriet paused, her cheeks slightly crimson from ex- 
 citement. 
 
 " I see. And as to religion, Harriet? " 
 
 " I am not interested in theology," her child answered 
 calmly. " I prefer Egyptology as a recreation. . . . 
 Of course, systems of philosophy are interesting. I find 
 the Chaldeans entertained the same belief as to morals 
 and a code of honor that I do myself. Now Leila ad- 
 mires the vikings. But beyond a fragmentary analysis 
 I have never had the time to bother and I don't see much 
 chance that I shall." 
 
 " Have you never met a man you fancied?" Densie 
 asked in despair. 
 
 " I shall never love romantically," was the forcible 
 answer. "What time have I for love?" 
 
 "You don't sew?" 
 
 " A woman makes this stuff for all of us. It saves the 
 time and eyesight that we need for our work." 
 
 129
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Densie rose. The older era had suffered a temporary 
 defeat ! 
 
 "I suppose you must go to your lecture just start 
 me toward my hotel. I won't afford another cab. I 
 must be at the opening meeting this afternoon. You'll 
 come to dinner with us, Harriet? " 
 
 " Thanks. May I bring Leila? " 
 
 Densie hesitated. " We wanted you to ourselves." 
 
 " Leila shares everything with me," Harriet protested. 
 
 " Then bring Leila," her mother said, turning away. 
 
 Harriet took her over half the way and left her, to 
 scurry back to her lecture, telling herself that perhaps it 
 was just as well they had come there would have had to 
 be a definite understanding sooner or later. It was an- 
 noying but then, it never could have been anything 
 but annoying, and once over it was a good task accom- 
 plished. Dear little mummy, she would send her as gen- 
 erous an allowance as she could afford. Harriet was 
 naturally just and generous and she was fearless. 
 What she believed she lived, and her Uncle Herbert used 
 to say that her word was as good as a Chinaman's. She 
 hated to hurt her mother it was like tearing old lace, 
 she admitted to herself. But it was inevitable. As for 
 her father, Harriet's sense of humor came to the rescue 
 her father looked quite gay and well cared for she 
 had no fears for him. He too had broken away from 
 the old ties and was probably living his own life in his 
 own way. 
 
 In a bewildered state of mind Densie answered the con- 
 vention roll call, but she was distinctly sorry she had come 
 to New York. Her dress proved to be a fright, as she 
 heard someone murmur when she passed; the others were 
 beautifully gowned and jeweled creatures or else very 
 trig tailored affairs that made one address them with 
 
 130
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 respect. Everyone seemed to know everyone else, and 
 Densie alone was strange. She did not know what to do. 
 She knew her club expected some sort of glowing report; 
 they would have liked some evidence that their delegate 
 had been a success and deserving of notice but beyond 
 the roll call and consenting to have a window just back 
 of her opened for more air Densie Plummer played no 
 part in the convention. 
 
 She did not catch the full meaning of the addresses, 
 because she was thinking of Harriet, with her shorn head, 
 her cigarettes, her heartless plan of life, her refusal to stay 
 at home or return to it, her argument that so much money 
 a month would be a worthy substitute and heart balm. 
 Densie's little mouth set in a firm line as she experienced 
 a quiet sort of desperation. She was losing out. Four 
 years ago she tried to make a great advance and overtake 
 this younger generation swinging by her so carelessly. 
 But she had not overtaken them; they were passing her 
 more rapidly than ever before ! 
 
 She knew they rose for a benediction and a buzz of 
 small talk filled the parlors. Someone handed her a 
 program on which were scheduled the meetings and com- 
 mittee meetings, and that was all. 
 
 She returned to her hotel, to find John waiting with 
 the announcement that after they had Harriet for din- 
 ner they would go to the theater with the Fergusons, 
 friends of his. He had met Ferguson accidentally and 
 they had made the date. After the theater they would 
 go to supper at a famous cafe. Densie must see the 
 place; it was worth the price of their codfish alias crab 
 meat. 
 
 'What about Harriet?" John concluded irritably. 
 " I can't make the girl out what does she say? " 
 
 Briefly Densie told him.
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 He shook his head. " You should have brought her 
 up differently, Densie; that is not the way for her to 
 be." 
 
 Densie gave a choked laugh. "I brought her up 
 differently? That is funny! Suppose you talk with 
 her!" 
 
 " It is not my place. I want to stay friends with her 
 or she'll go putting me in her statistics." John really 
 took a humorous view of the matter. ' The girl is on 
 the way to success in her line, and I suppose it's this mod- 
 ern era, little woman; the one you were telling me about 
 remember? " 
 
 "I suppose but shall we try to make her change 
 her mind? " 
 
 "Heavens, no! In captivity Harriet would be worse 
 than a Bengal tiger. She's sound at heart merely 
 odd. It's a poor family that can't afford one genius 
 and a rubber plant, y'know." 
 
 Humming a popular air John went below to wait for 
 his modern daughter. 
 
 Densie remonstrated once that the girls were not eat- 
 ing enough nutritious food, only to be properly repri- 
 manded by a shower of statistics and tables of food 
 values; after which she let John and Leila do the talking 
 while Harriet cynically viewed the gay dining room and 
 Densie thought with rebellion of her good food upstairs, 
 which was wasted while they paid absurd prices for in- 
 ferior messed up concoctions. 
 
 Harriet and Leila had donned severe silk frocks out of 
 respect to John and Densie, and Harriet's felt hat hid 
 the short hair. Leila and John carried on a banter- 
 ing conversation of nonsense at which Harriet seemed 
 amused. It struck Densie it was silly and useless, and her 
 
 132
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 head ached as she tried to remember all that had hap- 
 pened at the federation meeting. 
 
 But if the dinner was bad the evening was far worse. 
 From the first sight of Mrs. Ferguson, in a rich green 
 satin with sealskin bands and a cloudy hat of black tulle 
 and with an evening coat thrown over her arm, Densie 
 felt a greater despair than before. She saw John's eyes 
 smile admiringly at her and then give a quick side glance 
 at his own wife. 
 
 Mrs. Ferguson was kind to Densie, but she sat beside 
 John and kept asking him little questions the answers to 
 which conspired to show how very stupidly innocent she 
 was and how extremely wise he must be ! She thought 
 him handsome and attractive, and said afterward it was 
 a shame he was tied to a dowdy mouse. 
 
 The musical comedy shocked Densie; to her mind it 
 was immodest. She recalled going to good Shaksperean 
 plays as a girl, but this hodgepodge of legs and flirtatious 
 eyes, claptrap comedy and suggestive humor, loud un- 
 trained voices shouting some lusty u I am surprised at 
 you " sort of song wearied and confused her; and she 
 longed for the Little House, where at least she could be 
 at peace. 
 
 After the theater came the cabaret with its singers and 
 confetti and paper festoons to entangle one's old-style 
 bonnet. The others had champagne and some chafing- 
 dish dainty not fit to eat but Densie sat nibbling her 
 plate of rolls and trying to keep up a conversation with 
 Mrs. Ferguson, who looked at her in open amusement. 
 
 " I'm more tired than if I had washed," she told John 
 when they went to their room. " How can people do this 
 sort of thing all along? " 
 
 ' This is play. You ought not be tired." The cham- 
 
 133
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 pagne had made him good-natured. " By the way, isn't 
 Ferguson's wife a winner? Jove, she looks well in that 
 dress. A lot of women wouldn't have carried it off." 
 
 He did not add anything else, but Densie knew his 
 thoughts. 
 
 " How long have they been married? " 
 
 " About ten years, I guess " 
 
 "Any children?" 
 
 " No." 
 
 " So I thought." Densie brushed her hair methodic- 
 ally and kept her own counsel. 
 
 " People marry later than they used to," John rumi- 
 nated; " and I don't know but what these early marriages 
 are a mistake. Children shoved into a life contract 
 they don't know their own minds. By George, they 
 don't!" 
 
 Densie did not answer. Tears came to hide the dark 
 blue eyes. She wondered if she could pretend she was 
 suddenly ill and go home. She could not stand any more 
 of this. 
 
 But she did after six days of routine convention 
 meetings at which she was duly snubbed and ignored, and 
 glimpses of Harriet in between times, Densie realized a 
 new vital thing. It was not pleasant to realize it 
 never is but with such a woman as Densie and such a 
 man as John and such a everything as surrounded 
 them, it was imperative she should realize and accom- 
 plish it. She must begin to earn her own money. That 
 alone would win her respect and self-confidence ! 
 
 John had deserted her the morning after the theater 
 party. He wanted to look up some business men who 
 would be likely to be home on a Sunday. He had lunch- 
 eon at the Fergusons' on Monday, telling Densie that they 
 had a gem of an apartment and Mrs. Ferguson was the 
 
 134
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 best hostess in the world, she knew how to make folks 
 feel at home and yet entertain them. Lucky Ferguson! 
 And he went with Harriet into the slums and returned to 
 tell Densie that Harriet had a brain in ten thousand and 
 though he would rather she would not stay away from 
 home they might as well try to persuade the Rock of 
 Gibraltar to toddle across to New York Harbor. 
 
 So Densie boarded the train with this new duty im- 
 pressing itself upon her. If she was to catch up with 
 the younger generation she must earn her own money and 
 her own economic and social independence ! 
 
 135
 
 XII 
 
 Sally and Kenneth met them at the train, Kenneth 
 jumping up and down with joy at the sight of his mother 
 Densie looked at Sally with relief with all her fussy 
 clothes and dreams. Sally was Sally, who really wanted 
 to kiss her mother a dozen times and put her arms round 
 her father unashamedly. Harriet loathed embracing; 
 it was a relic of barbarism, she said she had come to be- 
 lieve. 
 
 " And how have you kept house, Sally? " her father 
 asked as they made for a cab. 
 
 "Very well; haven't I, Ken? We did not brush the 
 dust behind the doors or eat a can of lobster every day 
 for lunch." Both of which things Sally had threatened 
 to do when she was displeased at their going. " Doesn't 
 Kenneth look well fed, mummy? Feel his arm; I haven't 
 starved him." 
 
 " Sally has a new beau," Kenneth announced. " A 
 real old man too ! " 
 
 Sally gave him a little shake. " How dare you tell a 
 fib? Don't believe him, mummy. I've met someone 
 very wonderful, that's all." 
 
 " And he gave me a dollar." Kenneth felt it his duty 
 to make a complete report. " And Henderson's goldfish 
 have all died, and Mr. Henderson was drunk Thursday 
 night." 
 
 " Proceed," urged his father. " Let us know the rest 
 about this new cavalier." 
 
 " Daddy as if he was " 
 
 136
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " Well, when Aunt Maude Hatton and Aunt Lucy 
 Parks were coming for supper and Mr. Humberstone 
 wanted to come Sally sent the aunts word not to come ! " 
 
 Sally gave him a little pinch. ' You mean little 
 thing! " she said sharply. " Don't look horrified, 
 mummy. It was just that I knew they would never be 
 congenial nothing else." 
 
 " Why didn't you send Mr. Humberstone word not to 
 come? " asked Densie. 
 
 " Oh, because she likes him. M-m-m." 
 
 Kenneth kissed the air loudly several times. 
 
 "Sally!" 
 
 Sally r s face crimsoned. " It isn't so at all. That 
 isn't very nice, Ken, after all I've done for you this 
 week!" 
 
 " Let's see the young man," suggested her father. 
 " Gad, it's a relief to find a young woman that has a 
 beau. Your sister Harriet flees at the sight of a male 
 
 long haired socialists are her speed." 
 "What is he like, Kenneth?" Densie asked. 
 
 She had been looking closely at her daughter and 
 marveling at the change a week could make. For some 
 reason she took the mention of this new cavalier seriously 
 
 unpleasantly so. 
 
 Sally's eyes were more intense, there was an air of 
 importance and sophistication about her. 
 
 ' Well, there is a big black dog that lives up on the 
 avenue," began Kenneth deliberately; "he is a very 
 wealthy dog, I guess and he has a jeweled collar and a 
 sweater, but he won't let anyone pet him. He'll stand off 
 and go ' Woof, woof! ' and show his teeth, and his eyes 
 are real mean but he is scared to ever bite anyone 
 or lick any other dog, even a cur and that is like Mr. 
 Humberstone. Oh, Sally!" 
 
 137
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 He burst into tears as Sally's hand descended across his 
 mouth before Densie could interfere. 
 
 Fortunately, they had reached home, and Kenneth was 
 taken upstairs to be consoled, while Sally followed in ag- 
 grieved silence and John paid off the teamster. Sally 
 had a breakfast ready for them. It touched Densie to 
 think she would do this, after Harriet's brusque method 
 of entertainment. After all, Sally was bound to meet 
 strangers and strangers were bound to love Sally so 
 perhaps Mr. Humberstone was inevitable. 
 
 Peace restored, they sat down to eat. It was with 
 relief that Densie returned to her flat. The New York 
 experience had exhausted her physically and mentally. 
 Besides, she had lost caste in her husband's eyes, and the 
 federation of clubs was none the wiser that she had come 
 and gone. 
 
 She noted a handsome centerpiece of roses and lilies 
 of the valley on the table. 
 
 " How extravagant, Sally dear ! " she said fondly. 
 "But how lovely!" 
 
 " Mr. Humberstone sent them to me," Sally an- 
 nounced proudly. 
 
 ' Those cost a good deal. What business is he in? " 
 mused her father. 
 
 " A stock broker," Sally answered with equal pride. 
 " His name is Rex Humberstone and he lives at the Cen- 
 tury Club. He is a little older than I I don't just 
 know how much but you'll like him." 
 
 " Oh, yes ; I know who he is Humberstone tall, 
 thin, copper-colored face and wears gold pince-nez. 
 Well, well, he is a good bit older than you, young lady. 
 We must see about this." 
 
 " How did you come to meet him? " added Densie anx- 
 iously. 
 
 138
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " Mrs. Sullivan had a little party. I went and took 
 Kenneth." 
 
 " Yes, and she made me go to sleep in the back bed- 
 room, and she came home with Mr. Humberstone and 
 left me there, and I woke up in the dark and didn't know 
 where I was and I hollered," supplemented Kenneth con- 
 scientiously. 
 
 Densie shook her head. 
 
 " We met there, daddy " Sally devoted herself to 
 her father " and he asked to call and I said he might. 
 I'm not a child; and don't believe this horrid little boy. 
 He sent me the flowers yesterday." 
 
 " Oh, he's a real, true beau." Kenneth slipped out of 
 his chair. 
 
 " Humberstone ! I've heard something about him." 
 John drew out a cigar and clipped the end. " Can't 
 think just now. By the way, Sally, your sister has short 
 hair and smokes she is all aflame to reform the world. 
 Poor mother, between Harriet and the traffic squad she 
 did not know which way to turn." 
 
 " Her hair short how silly! " Sally glanced in the 
 mirror at herself. " What did you say to her, mummy? " 
 
 " Not much. She said everything to me." 
 
 " Is she coming home next year? " 
 
 "No; Harriet wants to stay in New York; the op- 
 portunities are better for her work." 
 
 " Oh," Sally paused thoughtfully. " Well, I can see 
 her viewpoint! After all, Harriet has a right to do as 
 she wishes." 
 
 That night Rex Humberstone was to call on Sally and 
 meet her mother. So far so good, Densie decided, 
 though when she asked Sally about Dean Laddbarry she 
 was disappointed to hear Sally say they had quarreled 
 again and that she loathed boys. 
 
 139
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " Oh, mummy dear, Mr. Humberstone is so wonder- 
 ful! I have never met anyone in the world that was 
 quite such a prince ! " All of Sally's dream people had 
 vanished now that reality had won her heart. " I feel 
 it is fun just to be alive so as to see what will happen 
 next!" 
 
 She dressed herself in a blue frock shirred in interest- 
 ing places, and combed her hair high like a dowager's, 
 awaiting Mr. Humberstone's pleasure. John was out 
 for the evening, and Kenneth was hustled to bed; he was 
 in deep disgrace in Sally's eyes. 
 
 She went about rearranging the parlor and living room 
 and complaining that this or that was out of place and 
 old-fashioned. 
 
 " He's so cultured, mother, you've no idea, and has 
 such exquisite manners ! Oh, mummy, you are not going 
 to stay in the room with us all evening, are you? " 
 
 " Don't you want me?" Densie asked simply. Dean 
 always demanded where she was and insisted on her join- 
 ing them. 
 
 " Well, we can't talk as well you know how it is, 
 mother," Sally argued. 
 
 " I'm quite tired so I won't want to stay long any- 
 way." 
 
 Densie made herself dismiss her fears. 
 
 " Do change your dress. Put on the gray-satin one." 
 
 " Nonsense ! This isn't anything but someone's call- 
 ing on you. How are the art lessons?" 
 
 " I haven't had time to do anything this week. Do 
 change your dress. Mr. Humberstone is used to seeing 
 people beautifully gowned; he has lived in Paris and 
 London." 
 
 So Densie, tired as she was, put on the little gray 
 dress and let Sally curl her hair, and after a while 
 
 140
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 at a very late hour, so Densie thought the bell rang 
 and Mr. Humberstone awaited an introduction. 
 
 He was just as John had said, tall and thin, with in- 
 scrutable mocking eyes which showed the whites all round 
 them, his pince-nez giving him a distinguished air. He 
 wore striped lavender trousers and a black cutaway coat, 
 an exquisite white-silk shirt and tie and a scarfpin, a first- 
 water diamond. He had soft white hands, the nails 
 highly polished, and his patent-leather boots were as good 
 as mirrors in regard to their finish. His mouth was thin 
 and cruel and had queer little dents at the end. Densie 
 could not fathom him; he was utterly baffling, since no 
 one could really look at his eyes and read their mean- 
 ing. 
 
 He met Densie with a bored, slightly amused air, 
 though painfully deferential, but his mocking, dancing 
 eyes kept looking at Sally, who fluttered about him in all 
 her helpless prettiness. 
 
 After a very little Densie found herself dismissed; 
 she did not just know how it was done, but she had said 
 good night like a submissive child and was on her way 
 to bed. Sally was going to show Mr. Humberstone her 
 book of sketches. 
 
 As Densie passed down the hall Kenneth hailed her, 
 beckoning from the darkness to come into his room. 
 
 "Sh-h, Kenneth! What is it?" 
 
 " You remember what I said he was like the wealthy 
 dog?" 
 
 Densie smiled in spite of herself. 
 
 "Remember?" he persisited. 
 
 ' Yes." She caught the sound of Sally's high-pitched, 
 nervous laugh and the bass rumble of Humberstone's 
 voice. It frightened her! 
 
 "Weil ain't he?" 
 
 141
 
 XIII 
 
 Rex Humberstone knew how to charm a young girl. 
 He had had much experience with both men and women, 
 and he seldom made a mistake in his method. With 
 Sally he used the never-failing advice, " If you would 
 win the girl woo the woman in her." He saw the things 
 that grated in her home, the rather unassthetic surround- 
 ings, he had known her father outside somewhat, and he 
 looked upon Densie with the contempt with which such 
 men do upon a simple home body. 
 
 Kenneth's silver dollar was followed by as many more 
 as he was allowed to take. Sally, whose whole heart 
 and mind were given over to this newcomer, seemed 
 merely to float in space and be oblivious of everyday du- 
 ties or happenings. 
 
 At first Densie protested about Sally's going to a hotel 
 dinner alone, it did not seem to her the proper thing, but 
 Sally had turned on her in angry defiance and said that 
 if she did not go to-night she would run away from home 
 to-morrow; Mr. Humberstone loved her, she was sure 
 of it, and he had the right to ask her to accompany him 
 in public. 
 
 " But, Sally dear," her mother argued, " don't you 
 think he would better wait until you are engaged then 
 it would be his right. But not now; you have only known 
 him three months." 
 
 " My dear mummy, we cannot all make love as you and 
 father did. Everyone goes to hotel dinners now it is 
 quite the thing. And oh, the way he spends his money! 
 
 142
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Why, he spares no pains to give me everything I want." 
 
 She was dressing herself in a silver-gauze frock she had 
 concocted from remnants; it had the style of a Fifth 
 Avenue garment and it became her well. A black feath- 
 ered hat was on her dressing table, and long white gloves 
 suitable for a ballroom. Densie shook her head. 
 
 " At the afternoon party at the Century Club he had 
 a wonderful corsage waiting for me when I came in. All 
 the women envied me; older, married women, too. No 
 one was quite so handsome or witty, and everyone was 
 surprised that he had singled me out for his companion. 
 You see he is a modern man of the world so you must 
 not judge him by your old standards." 
 
 " He drinks, Sally. His face shows that plainly." 
 
 " So does father," she flashed back. It was the first 
 time the subject had ever been mentioned between them. 
 
 " Not with my consent or in my house. Besides, that 
 does not excuse Mr. Humberstone." 
 
 " All men drink a little and women too. It is very 
 antique not to see the reason in it." 
 
 " Have you taken things to drink when you were with 
 him? " Densie clutched her daughter's arm. 
 
 " Yes." Sally tilted her reddish-gold head in defiance. 
 " Goodness, don't look as if I had committed murder ! A 
 glass of champagne with dinner is only the proper thing." 
 
 Densie was silent. Sally readjusted the hat a half 
 dozen times. 
 
 " Do I please you? " she demanded, whirling round. 
 
 " No, it does not please me at all. I cannot like Rex 
 Humberstone." 
 
 Sally's face went white with sudden anger. ' Then 
 we must agree to disagree. What will you say when we 
 are married? " 
 
 " I will wait until he conies to ask us for you ! " 
 
 143
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " Rex is romantic; he is liable to kidnap me and ask no 
 one." 
 
 ' That is not the way. There is only one way to do 
 such things, Sally the dignified way. Don't make a 
 mistake that will shadow your life. I do not like this 
 man. What do you know of his past? He may have 
 been married before for all you know." 
 
 " Am I to send a detective about after him? " 
 
 " I would rather see you do that than marry a stranger. 
 A good man never resents investigation only a rogue 
 does that. I do not like the superlative way he does 
 things the excessive attentions are neither normal nor 
 sensible, nor do they augur for being permanent. You 
 could not go on having such attentions after marriage 
 you would have no time for duties. These flowers, these 
 boxes of candy, these beautiful things he has given you on 
 so slight an acquaintance! More than that, Sally, the 
 fact that he does not find congenial surroundings in your 
 own home Dean Laddbarry would rather come to see 
 you in your own home than any other place. And so it 
 should be!" 
 
 ' That boy " Sally began impatiently. 
 
 ' That boy bless him! " repeated her mother. 
 
 11 Don't begin praising Dean. All very well in his way, 
 but it is not my way. Rex is my ideal why, everyone 
 is mad about him the way he dresses, the way he 
 talks " 
 
 "And his character?" 
 
 " I'm sure I have never seer any glaring vice. I do 
 hope you won't go about asking people as to his charac- 
 ter I'm old enough to take care of myself." 
 
 " He does not like me." Densie picked up some trifles 
 after Sally. " He is never comfortable in my presence 
 have you noticed? " 
 
 144
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " You are both from and in different worlds." Sally 
 was weary of the debate. " I'm sure he is always polite." 
 
 " That is the least of it. Sally, I am afraid that Rex 
 only loves your beautiful unlived youth don't let him 
 rob you of it. Think well." She peered anxiously at 
 Sally's beautiful little face. 
 
 Sally shrugged her shoulders. " If he loves my youth 
 I adore his wicked middle age," she said flippantly. 
 " We are like Jack Sprat and his wife." 
 
 " You think he will marry you? " 
 
 " Of course as soon as he thinks it's time to speak! " 
 
 " He is not the marrying kind." Deasie's lips closed 
 in a firm line. 
 
 " What do you mean? " 
 
 " I mean he is the sort that plays ' pal ' long-drawn- 
 out affairs that end nowhere for the woman ! The kind 
 that takes your youth as his shield against age, that de- 
 lights in ' playing.' But marriage, a house, a family, a 
 tired wife instead of a pretty unhampered girl always con- 
 cert pitch for him no, that is not his wish or intention. 
 Old-fashioned as I am I have seen such men before. I 
 warn you. He wants to be a playmate, Sally, not a hus- 
 band there is a rare satisfaction in having such an ex- 
 quisite young girl as his prize, keeping her away from her 
 own kind. Youth should be with youth, my child. You 
 will find your friends will drop away; you will have to 
 meet and know his friends equally bizarre, battered 
 men and knowing women of the world. They delight in 
 stealing youth whenever they can." 
 
 Sally wrapped her cloak round herself carefully. 
 
 " To-morrow night Rex is going to take me to his club 
 dance. I shall not be home until late and we are going 
 to the theater Friday. Is there anything you wish to 
 
 say? 
 
 145
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Her voice was as impersonal as Harriet's had been. 
 Densie felt stabbed. Kenneth was all that was left to 
 her and even Kenneth would soon be grown up. 
 
 " No," she said, making no further advance; " I wish 
 you would take a key. I am tired and shall go to bed 
 very early." 
 
 She stood at the window with Kenneth and watched 
 Sally step into the machine that Humberstone had sent 
 for her. That was another point of variance between 
 Sally and her mother. Why did Humberstone send a 
 cab or an auto for her? Why could he not have come 
 personally, as Dean always did, and chatted with her 
 mother in friendly fashion while Sally gave herself a last 
 prink? 
 
 Densie did not approve of this any more than of the 
 public hotel dinner, unchaperoned. She wondered what 
 her Aunt Sally would have said she could almost hear 
 her stinging reproof. 
 
 ' Well, mummy, shall we have games to-night? " asked 
 Kenneth as the machine whirred away. 
 
 " If you like." Densie stroked his flaxen head. 
 " Kenneth, when you grow up and have someone as pretty 
 as Sally who likes you, always go get her, son, and be nice 
 to her mother." 
 
 " I don't want any dames," said Kenneth, to his moth- 
 er's surprise. 
 
 ' Who told you to say dames instead of women? " 
 
 '' The kids. By heck, you ought to hear the new way 
 to swear shall I show you ? " 
 
 ' No, never swear not even in your thoughts? " 
 
 " If you don't do your share of it the kids make you 
 put your tongue on a frosted iron post you know what 
 that does," he protested. 
 
 ' Well, let's make taffy," Densie proposed vaguely. 
 
 146
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 She was trying mentally to juggle the destinies and 
 problems of her family and herself and remember at the 
 same time how much sugar to how much molasses. 
 
 Sally was having one of her wonder times. Seated 
 across the rosy shaded table in a discreet corner of a palm 
 room, a string orchestra playing light catchy things that 
 make one's feet tap and one's heartbeat a trifle faster, she 
 looked at Rex Humberstone with unconcealed adoration. 
 His mocking eyes stared at her with a pleasant and rather 
 triumphant expression, which Sally did not perceive. She 
 was telling him some girlish experience with all the added 
 zest of having a beloved audience, her imagination height- 
 ening some of the details and beautifying some of the set- 
 ting. 
 
 ' You like me a little, don't you, Sally? " Humberstone 
 asked as she finished. 
 
 " Of course ! " Sally could not pretend with Humber- 
 stone, she was too much infatuated not to throw down all 
 armaments. 
 
 " I'm older than you," he bantered. 
 
 " I hate boys," she insisted. 
 
 " Do you know how pretty you are? I've seen the 
 most beautiful women in Europe and I'd rather know 
 Sally Plummer than any of them." 
 
 " Really? " She laid down her knife and fork. 
 
 " Really! You don't know your charm yet. I sup- 
 pose I'll have to sit by and be a mere onlooker in a little 
 while, won't I?" 
 
 " Not unless you want to." She smiled childishly at 
 him. 
 
 '* Does your mother mind your coming to dinner ? " 
 
 " Mother's old-fashioned," was all she told him. 
 1 You're not you're the newest, loveliest fashion 
 I've ever had the good fortune to meet. I never liked 
 
 147
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 anyone half so much as you let us have some cham- 
 pagne and pledge eternal friendship will you, Sally? " 
 
 " I'd be happy to," she said demurely. 
 
 The champagne was very sparkling and bitter sweet, 
 and it made her feel delightfully relaxed and willing to 
 agree with the world at large; it made the music gayer 
 and the food far better tasting, the dining room more 
 attractive and Humberstone more to be adored. 
 
 He knew how to entertain her, to tell her this and that 
 incident of his life, to flatter her subtly and praise her, 
 making her feel that all other men were boorish and un- 
 interesting and that no one but Rex Humberstone, wisest 
 of men, really understood her complex nature. 
 
 So they pledged their friendship with the wine and then 
 went off to a vaudeville bill, with Humberstone tenderly 
 folding her cloak about her and half lifting her into the 
 cab. 
 
 Sally had thought during the dinner to ask him with 
 childish bluntness why he had never married to which 
 he had glibly made reply : " Because I made myself wait 
 for you." 
 
 And Sally thought of that as they whirled off to the vau- 
 deville with Humberstone dangerously close beside her. 
 She dismissed any scruples about being unchaperoned be- 
 cause of what he had said. She was going to marry him 
 and have nothing but love, romance, luxury, adoration 
 in truth, it was fun to be alive and see what would happen 
 next! 
 
 She came home after the vaudeville, to be left at her 
 doorstep, because Humberstone said he must not keep her 
 up any later. But the next morning he sent her a fas- 
 cinating blue-leather engagement book with a little gold 
 pencil, the card accompanying it saying: 
 
 " For Sally to keep her Rex engagements in line no 
 
 148
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 others will remain legible if she tries to write them down ! 
 This is a magic book." 
 
 She showed it to her mother delightedly. She had not 
 got up until late and was having a ten-o'clock cup of coffee. 
 
 " It is lovely, dear but he ought to wait until he has 
 spoken," was all Densie could be prevailed upon to say. 
 " Don't let him be a time waster so many men like him 
 merely want the fun of a young girl's companionship, and 
 when they do marry it is cold-bloodedly to gain money 
 or position." 
 
 Sally set her coffee cup down with a little clatter. 
 " You are impossible," she began, " and I shall not tell 
 you anything more. I was going to tell you," she added 
 with unconscious humor, " about the beautiful time we 
 had an eight-dollar dinner and champagne yes, 
 champagne to pledge our friendship with, and it was quite 
 proper, I'm sure. I saw two of daddy's friends eating 
 there and they bowed to me quite respectfully. I was as 
 well dressed as anyone in the dining room, and Rex said I 
 looked the prettiest of all. We had alligator-pear salad 
 did you ever eat it? And peach Melba for dessert, 
 and a special sort of coffee made by a little black boy in a 
 Turkish costume with rum burning on top! I adore 
 such ways of living. When I'm married I want to live 
 at hotels and never, never have to bother about anything 
 but clothes ! " She yawned wearily. 
 
 "What lesson is it to-day?" Densie had finished 
 crumbing the table. 
 
 " I can't take any lesson to-day I want to think about 
 last night. Besides, there's the dance to-night and I must 
 lie down this afternoon. Make Ken play outside." 
 
 Densie stood in the doorway between the dining room 
 and the kitchen. 
 
 " Your father would not like you to do this, Sally. 
 
 149
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 You look tired to death this morning, and if you're ever 
 going to do anything with your art you'll have to keep 
 on applying yourself. Mr. Humberstone doesn't seem to 
 think of anything but what he wishes. Though if he is 
 a business man I should think he would have to get up 
 early too." 
 
 "Rex has money he's a stock broker and it isn't 
 like having daddy's warehouse. You don't seem able to 
 understand that there can be different different stratas 
 of society." 
 
 With which Sally flounced out of the room leaving 
 Densie to do the dishes and wonder, first about Rex Hum- 
 berstone, then about Harriet, next John, and lastly her 
 neglected little interests, which had been, perforce, shoved 
 aside since she returned from New York in January.
 
 John laughed at Densie's worries regarding Sally. 
 When Rex took her to the country club, and she returned, 
 her dress torn from a too rough cotillion and her cheeks 
 flushed with wine, a fool's cap and a few trifles as a re- 
 ward for the evening's exertion, Densie used to plead 
 with her to stop this nonsense or at least wait until she was 
 Rex's wife. 
 
 But John was rather pleased with her " success," as he 
 named it. He, too, believed in the " different stratas of 
 society." Moreover, Humberstone had a certain fast 
 rich following; they made money quickly and lost it at an 
 equal speed. One never knew how they were progress- 
 ing. They lived at a consistently fast gait, however, with 
 sometimes the other fellow's I O U's in their pockets and 
 sometimes theirs in the other fellow's. Humberstone 
 was more or less of an enigma. He had come from 
 New York a short time previous to his meeting Sally, a 
 middle-aged man who could drink everyone under the 
 table, who understood the gentle art of poker, who owned 
 a good race horse, had a smart roadster, played three- 
 cushion billiards and had trophy cups from London to 
 prove his record, who dressed in the latest fashion with 
 silk shirts heavily monogramed and weird expensive suits 
 that no one else " could have gotten away with," as Sally's 
 father rather enviously admitted. John was tiring of the 
 standardized tweed for business and black serge for Sun- 
 day. 
 
 Humberstone dabbled in stocks, was interested in cop-
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 per mines and played cards altogether too well for a gen- 
 tleman. He never pressed his business interests on any- 
 one, they had to come to him, wherein lay the secret of his 
 success. He knew how to attract attention without seem- 
 ing to do so. He read French novels in conspicuous 
 places so that no one could help noticing, and had auto- 
 graphed photographs of prominent persons. No one 
 knew how he obtained them, but he would casually refer 
 to the time he had visited the Prince of Monaco and had a 
 bully run on the Monte Carlo bank, or the coaching trip 
 the Duchess of Lansdowne gave, during which he w r as 
 expected to pay attention to an extremely ugly Russian 
 princess. It was well done and not overdone. But if 
 anyone looked closely at him his face had that soft, flabby 
 look which tells of the lack of real living and doing; he 
 was " soft all over," as Kenneth put it and a coward in 
 everything except conversation. 
 
 He had always been popular with married women until 
 he met Sally he was a most obliging bachelor, eternally 
 making a complete table for bridge or the needed person 
 at an informal dinner, ready to turn the pages of music 
 for some dizzy soprano or to have a shot at pool with 
 cloth-cutting nuisances, yet retaining his interest to all ap- 
 pearances. He understood the way married women felt 
 neglected when romance flew out the window and nothing 
 flew in. He knew how to be a gallant escort even um- 
 brellas were gracefully handled in his long white hands, 
 and he used to describe his duels when a student at Heidel- 
 berg in a nonchalant fashion that made the average blue- 
 serge-suited American who had never done anything more 
 thrilling than have a finger tip cut off in a mowing ma- 
 chine writhe in envy. 
 
 He invested a " trifle " for John Plummer and doubled 
 it. This made John lenient toward him, and when he 
 
 152
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 had told Densie and she had expressed no approval he 
 said she was in danger of becoming narrow-minded; these 
 clubs seemed to make manhaters out of the women. 
 Sally was having her fling, he declared, and if she chose 
 to marry Rex well, the child could do a great deal 
 worse. 
 
 " No mere boy could supply Sally's wants or her crav- 
 ing for excitement she is really adapted to an older 
 man," he insisted. " As for Humberstone's not spending 
 his evenings here well, I don't blame him. He is not 
 used to a conservative home with a family Bible to stare 
 him out of countenance." 
 
 So with John as an aid and abetter Sally went her own 
 way to dance and theater and dinner, motoring or driv- 
 ing or sailing nothing very strenuous, such as Dean's 
 old-time hikes or fishing trips or five sets of tennis in an 
 afternoon nothing of that sort. She read all the nov- 
 els Rex bought for her, and allowed them to change her 
 views and color her notions. He gave her many beauti- 
 ful things ribbons and lace handkerchiefs and boxes of 
 beautiful gloves and a charming little rope of pearls. 
 Densie said an engagement ring would be more to the 
 purpose! He also lavished money on Kenneth and in- 
 sisted on buying him a bicycle; and when he met John he 
 took him over to the club and treated him royally. But 
 Densie remained a stranger. 
 
 She wrote Harriet she was worried about the affair and 
 that if Sally did marry him she was bound to be unhappy. 
 To which Harriet replied in a sincere and characteristic 
 fashion that polarities were bound to marry and that from 
 all her mother said she judged Sally and Mr. Humber- 
 stone were polarities, and if so the union might easily be 
 an agreeable surprise statistics proved that when for- 
 eigners married each other without acquaintanceship be- 
 
 153
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 forehand the resulting estrangements often came from the 
 fact of the husband and wife being entirely alike as to 
 views and tastes and therefore no contrasting current of 
 ideas to stimulate felicity! 
 
 That was all Harriet had to say on the subject. Mar- 
 riage never appealed to her personally and she was too 
 intent on winning a five-hundred-dollar prize for an essay 
 half of which she was to loan Leila so Leila need not 
 go home for her vacation, but stay on in the city for the 
 summer courses. It did not occur to Harriet, despite her 
 promises, to send the possible prize money home to her 
 mother or to come home herself. Harriet was to take a 
 summer course also, and to make her trip to the canning 
 factories to unearth the child-labor conditions and flaunt 
 them before an uninterested Washington Congress. 
 
 Sally grew very slender and older looking; circles were 
 under her eyes and she had an actual need of rouge. She 
 spent nearly all her time on clothes for like all jaded 
 men Humberstone depended on novelty to. sustain his in- 
 terest. Had Sally appeared in calico he would not have 
 seen her beauty so vividly. But because she lent all her 
 ability to making new creations and because she had the 
 skin, eyes and hair that could wear what few others could, 
 he never found himself bored with her. He liked the 
 facts that people turned to watch them as they passed and 
 that men said to him in private: " Who's the bonny in- 
 fant you old rascal? " 
 
 At which he would preen himself and offer to treat to a 
 drink. 
 
 "Has he never talked about his own home?" de- 
 manded Densie one morning when Sally was entirely too 
 listless and headachy to allow her mother's heart to beat 
 normally. " If he does not tell you about his family I 
 shall ask him ! " 
 
 154
 
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 rt 
 
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 G
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " If you insult him I'll never let him come to the 
 house," Sally defied her. "If daddy is satisfied and 
 daddy is round town and knows what have you to 
 say?" 
 
 " You have not answered my question." 
 
 " Yes, of course he has but his family are all dead 
 years and years ago. He has a sister in Australia 
 that's all I know or care. I'm not going to marry his 
 family." 
 
 " Has he asked you to marry him? " 
 
 " Not yet." Sally was on the verge of tears. She 
 was beginning to wonder about her engagement herself, 
 but she would not admit it now. 
 
 " And where was he educated? " 
 
 " I don't know nor care ! I love him. When we are 
 married I'll know all about his past, I suppose." 
 
 " A woman who marries a man without knowing about 
 his past beforehand is a foolish virgin," her mother said 
 solemnly. " I don't suppose you are going to art school 
 to-day. You don't seem to ever want to go. But I shall 
 not be home for luncheon, so please see to Kenneth, will 
 you?" 
 
 " Club meeting? " asked Sally insolently. " The Psy- 
 chology of a Daffodil, I presume ! " 
 
 " What would you do if I decided t become a real 
 club woman ? " Densie asked sharply. " Would you miss 
 the home ! " 
 
 " We would all rejoice; it is a bit hard to forge ahead 
 and have someone eternally drag you back." 
 
 Tears came into Densie's eyes. Without speaking she 
 left the room and, presently, the house. The moment she 
 had gone Sally telephoned to Rex. 
 
 " I'm blue to-day," she eoaxed. " Can't we do some- 
 thing this afternoon? " 
 
 " Of course we can say what! " Humberstone was 
 
 155
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 blue, too bored to extinction with himself, and relying 
 on Sally's vivacious spirits. 
 
 " Let's take a long drive and dinner at the Turnback 
 Inn." 
 
 " I'll call for you at two, lady," he ended the conversa- 
 tion. 
 
 Sally rushed Kenneth through his lunch and proceeded 
 to dress herself with care. The day suddenly became 
 rosy and worth while. She did not realize what was hap- 
 pening that she was fast becoming dependent on Rex 
 Humberstone for her joy of living, that he was a stimu- 
 lus which, when wanting, made everything seem stale and 
 unbearable. It was like living in a play to be his pal 
 he never seemed to consider money or time, and he was 
 the most distinguished, unusual person in the world. No 
 wonder the married women called her a doll and bowed 
 coldly to her. Indeed they began to say, " If that was 
 my daughter," and to murmur awful things about Hum- 
 berstone and say that Sally was certainly older than 
 twenty years and a designing little minx. 
 
 So goes the see-saw. 
 
 Sally put on a creamy linen dress with a soft little blue- 
 silk coat and a motor bonnet. She wore blue-suede shoes 
 and stockings to match, as well as a pair of fresh gloves. 
 She was a pretty picture as he drew up before her door 
 the Hendersons all lined up to watch the procedure ! 
 
 Sally had left a note for her mother. She danced into 
 the roadster to look up adoringly at Hu:nberstone. Au- 
 tomobiles were still rather scarce and Humberstone's was 
 an attractive black-and-white affair with side curtains and 
 limousine trappings. 
 
 It was a warm June day with the country that light 
 tender green, and with blossoms perfuming the dusty 
 roads. Sally and early summer were synonymous. Hum- 
 
 156
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 berstone felt again that exhilarated thrill of youth that 
 he had fancied was forever lost as they darted in and 
 out the country roads, over hills, beside streams, with 
 Sally, veritable spirit of the season, at his side. 
 
 They had dinner at the Turnback Inn, a semifashion- 
 able sort of place, where they found a private dining room 
 and proceeded to order an elaborate menu. They took 
 a quick trip in a motor launch on the near-by creek, while 
 Humberstone tord Sally of Italian skies and how well she 
 would compare with the women in Paris, and Sally sal 
 listening to him, her gold eyes like great suns in happy 
 innocence. 
 
 Humberstone always messed his food, as Densie would 
 have called it. She had taught her children the doctrine 
 of the clean plate as she had been taught, and to eat what- 
 ever was set before them unless it was alcohol! Hum- 
 berstone liked half a dozen dishes and a taste of each, 
 and he had made Sally feel it was rather like a peasant 
 not to do likewise. So she was beginning deliberately to 
 waste half her food and drink a glass of wine with her 
 entree. 
 
 " You know, Rex," she said as they came to their des- 
 sert, " I'm terribly behind with my art work I'm afraid 
 I don't do anything but think about you." Despite her 
 brave protests Sally did have twinges of conscience. 
 
 " Hurrah for Rex ! I didn't think I could amount to 
 that much," he saluted her gracefully. " Don't be a grub 
 your sister is grub enough from what you tell me. 
 Just be your lovely self you were born for pleasure." 
 
 " Yes, only " she began. 
 
 "Only? Your father's business wobbly? Never 
 mind. I order eight dozen menu cards at eight dollars a 
 dozen. I'm going to send them to the Old Ladies' 
 
 Home " 
 
 157
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " No, that isn't fair ! " Sally blushed. " I didn't mean 
 to have you say that only I must do my part." 
 
 " Perhaps you'll have some orders for light stuff that 
 won't take much time." 
 
 Humberstone frowned; he was always bored when any- 
 one began to face realities and discuss them or try to live 
 up to them. He did not want Sally to work merely to 
 play for his amusement and at his bidding." 
 
 "Do you really think my work is good?" she said 
 anxiously. " You have seen so much work that is splen- 
 did." 
 
 " How can I tell when I like Sally better than all the 
 paintings in Europe? Of course it is good but don't 
 strain your eyes. A woman who wears glasses is unen- 
 durable." 
 
 Sally was silent. At rock bottom Sally had both loy- 
 alty and common sense, occasionally these asserted them- 
 selves, only to be pushed aside by this new hypnotic per- 
 son who seemed to make her an abject slave wishing 
 to do only his will. She was wondering what he 
 would say if he knew she did wear glasses when she 
 worked her mother had wisely seen to that and that 
 she felt it was only fair she must earn her way, particu- 
 larly when she was of so little help to her mother, and her 
 father looked more worried each evening. 
 
 " Don't have blue butterflies," Humberstone urged. 
 ' Tell me something funny." 
 
 Inspired by the request Sally obeyed. 
 
 Humberstone would not come in when he brought her 
 back; he never came into the flat except for a scant mo- 
 ment when he waited for Sally to take her away, but more 
 often he sent a cab. 
 
 They made an agreement about to-morrow's engage- 
 
 158
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 ment, and then Sally went wearily up the stairs. She felt 
 a strange sense of fatigue after she had been in his com- 
 pany, he seemed unconsciously to draw on her reserve 
 supply of energy. 
 
 She found her mother and Dean Laddbarry and Ken- 
 neth playing a game for the latter's benefit. Her mother 
 merely glanced at her, but Sally read her disapproval. 
 
 Dean jumped up and held out his hand. u You can't 
 say I'm not to see your mother and Ken," he laughed 
 good-naturedly. " Besides, I've some news I'm ex- 
 pecting really to go West soon. Isn't that good? " 
 
 " Very," she answered coolly. " I had a wonderful 
 drive with Mr. Humberstone oh, don't stop the game, 
 please we went fifty miles and had dinner at an inn. 
 Did you get my note, mother? " 
 
 " Yes." Densie did not look at her again. " Come, 
 Ken, it's bedtime. Before you go, Dean, I'll give you 
 those clippings." 
 
 There was a sympathy and comradeship between the 
 two which even Sally in her present state of distraction 
 admired. She wondered with a sudden little fury if they 
 had dared to talk about her. Dean seemed uncouth and 
 idiotic with his rough clothes and everlastingly goody- 
 goody chatter. 
 
 When she was alone with him she said, " I don't want 
 you to come to see me any more. I am practically 
 engaged." 
 
 " To that cad? " asked the boy roughly. " Well, I'm 
 mighty sorry." 
 
 ;< Why, how dare you ! " Sally stamped her little foot. 
 " How dare you ! " 
 
 " Because I love you and always will. Because he's 
 not the sort for you. Your mother thinks so too." 
 
 159
 
 " You've talked about me two intruders ! " Her 
 anger was almost amusing. " Dean, take your hat and 
 go out of this house and never speak to me again ! " 
 
 " Don't send me off like that," he begged. " Listen, 
 Sally; you're on the wrong track. If he was the right 
 sort I'd never say anything, no matter how hard it was to 
 give you up. But he's not. You'll see it some day. 
 Sally, darling, he's an old man and he's flattered you into 
 believing him a half-god." 
 
 " I told you to go." She pointed to the door. 
 
 " I'll ask you this are you really engaged? " he in- 
 sisted. 
 
 " I said almost." 
 
 " At his time of life there's no reason for him to lose 
 another twenty-four hours. He's old enough to know 
 his mind. If he hasn't asked you to marry him clean cut, 
 you ought not to go out with him as you do. Nice girls 
 don't!" 
 
 " So I'm not a nice girl? " 
 
 ' You are, Sally, but you won't stay so you'll be like 
 all those painted-up dolls at the hotels just tagging 
 along. I'm not altogether an idiot." 
 
 " Because of our very old friendship, I do forgive you," 
 she said presently; " and if you love me so much I sup- 
 pose it hurts to know I shall belong to someone else," she 
 finally conceded; " but I'd rather you never talked to me 
 again." 
 
 He looked at her for a long hard moment. Then he 
 said: '' Is there no use waiting, Sally sure you won't 
 change? " 
 
 " Positive and I am quite sure Mr. Humberstone is 
 not what you and mother would like to infer. Daddy 
 doesn't think so." 
 
 Dean started to reply, then he thought better of it. 
 
 1 60
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " If you ever do change, Sally I'm about as usual," was 
 all he told her. 
 
 The next morning Sally informed her mother that she 
 had dismissed Dean, and refused to hear anything in his 
 defense. The same day she received an order for three 
 dozen menu cards for a Mrs. Hester Smith alias Rex 
 Humberstone which perked up her spirits considerably. 
 On the strength of this she bought a new hat. Humber- 
 stone had felt it was the way to prevent Sally's becoming 
 serious. He loathed anything serious. Growing old 
 was serious his forty-five years seemed goblins that 
 came and sat all about his bed nights and haunted him. 
 Some of the goblins were wicked and undesirable; others, 
 far back in the calendar, the mediocre sort; and the pres- 
 ent goblins, the last five years, faded neurotic sort of 
 things, hinting of future desolateness unless he wooed and 
 won youth. Sally was youth ! 
 
 But as to marrying Sally that would be too grave 
 an undertaking. He did not fancy Densie as a mother- 
 in-law. Marriage was for the young and palship for the 
 old. Things were quite comfortable as they were. Sally 
 was beautiful and had plenty of leisure time. Her friend- 
 ship with him would teach her how to pick a rich hus- 
 band at thirty. By the time Sally was thirty Humber- 
 stone felt with a gruesome shiver that he could no longer 
 keep up the pace, he would turn to sanitariums and break- 
 fast gruels as his final setting. 
 
 But for the present he must have Sally and keep 
 sending orders for menu cards from this rich and ever- 
 entertaining Hester Smith and her friends, because that 
 would keep Sally under the belief that the world clamored 
 for her work and she, too, would be contented as she 
 was! 
 
 161
 
 XV 
 
 One fall night John came home with disturbing news. 
 The house of Plummer & Plummer was sold or rather 
 absorbed by a grocery syndicate that operated from coast 
 to coast and north to south on very different lines. John 
 had been negotiating for the deal for sometime, he ad- 
 mitted. It was the only way he could save himself. 
 This new syndicate, The Golden Rule Tea Store, op- 
 erated on the plan that if they sold sugar and coffee and 
 tea at reduced prices and of inferior quality they could 
 sell staples and canned goods at advanced prices and give 
 those abominable prize coupons with each purchase, en- 
 abling the owner of a hundred dollars' worth to possess 
 a large beflowered lamp or a cracker jar with German- 
 silver handles. 
 
 Plummer & Plummer had long been a goal in their 
 minds the syndicate foresaw its ruin in the present- 
 day system of commerce, and after John had delayed 
 several weeks, due to Sam Hippler's urging, he surren- 
 dered unconditionally. 
 
 John received a lump sum for his stock and good will ; 
 this went to pay debts. They bought the warehouse and 
 were to remodel it rapidly into a shiny red-and-gold- 
 fronted place with a few bushels of dried apricots in the 
 window and a sign: "Win ten dollars! Count these 
 and guess the number ! " They would sell oleomarga- 
 rine and substitutes for coffee, diluted extracts, all man- 
 ner of semi-prepared foods. John was to manage the 
 store at a fair salary. 
 
 " At least I'll know where I'm at," he declared. 
 
 162
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Densie felt stunned. " And Sam Hippler? " 
 
 " Sorry, but he's out of it a tottering old chap, not 
 available for even a clerk. You know, Densie, a man 
 has his day, and that is all there is to it." 
 
 " I can't feel right about it Plummer & Plummer 
 failed." 
 
 " Not failed sold absorbed by this Golden 
 Rule corporation. I shall have a chance to buy stock in 
 it and we can finally get ahead of the game." 
 
 " I suppose it had to come," she admitted. 
 
 " I'm going on the road to study the other stores and 
 buy for them they wanted someone with experience. 
 I think we've hit on a big thing and I'm going to give up 
 politics and clubs and devote myself to the syndicate." 
 
 " It seems too bad, doesn't it? " 
 
 u You sentimental goose ! " John was in high spirits. 
 He came over to kiss her. " Now, Densie, have all the 
 clubs you like, and new clothes, and stop worrying about 
 Sally the child is all right. Rex isn't a half-bad sort." 
 
 " John, I can't help but worry everyone tells me it 
 is not right. As her father you ought to talk to him 
 ask him his intentions." 
 
 John frowned. " We don't do that sort of thing now- 
 adays and Sally seems able to forge for herself. 
 She's so pretty no one can resist her. Besides," he added 
 sincerely, " she is your daughter and she could not go far 
 wrong." 
 
 Densie blushed. " Thank you, dear, but I want to see 
 her settled. I'm resigned to Harriet I dare say in 
 modern fashion she will be most useful. But if Sally 
 does not decide about marriage or a career she will be 
 marking time." 
 
 " She is a mere infant. Girls stay girls nowadays as 
 long as they like," John protested. 
 
 163
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " You feel I'm too narrow." Densie was very ear- 
 nest. " I want to be fair but I would have been glad 
 to have Sally and Dean tell us what we told our uncle 
 and aunt." 
 
 " Dean is a good lad, but Sally was never meant for a 
 poor man's wife ! " 
 
 " Do you know anything about Humberstone? " Den- 
 sie was loath to give up her first impressions. 
 
 " Everyone speaks well of him," was all John could 
 say. " I suppose we shall know about him by and by." 
 
 He fell to talking about the businesss change and Sam 
 Hippler's little tragedy of no longer being useful. 
 
 " But it's the new order," he told Densie that night. 
 They seemed to grow close again as they talked. " The 
 new era you called it. Come, Densie, let us hurry and 
 be one with it." He spoke lightly but he meant the 
 words. 
 
 Sam Hippler came to see Densie before he went to a 
 great-niece in New England who offered him a home. 
 He was far from penniless, that was not his sorrow it 
 was the facts that he was out of the running and that 
 Plummer & Plummer was no more. 
 
 " I'm so sorry," Densie said tenderly; " if we were in 
 the old home you should never go away. Uncle Herbert 
 and Aunt Sally would have wanted you to stay with us." 
 
 " Ah, but I'd be in the way." He blew his nose forci- 
 bly with the old-style red-bordered handkerchief. " John 
 has had hard work to put up with me for years I can't 
 change, Densie; I'm too old to learn how to do things 
 the new way. It was hard on John too. John knows 
 how to do things the new way." 
 
 ''Don't you approve of the new way?" said John's 
 wife. 
 
 ' Well, this eternal efficiency is deadly if you carry it 
 
 164
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 too far. It destroys spontaneity," the old man said with 
 surprising clearness of mind. " And these modern chil- 
 dren ! " He held his gnarled old hands up in horror, 
 an antique cameo ring almost slipping from one of his 
 fingers he had grown so thin. " I give you my word I 
 can't understand things. I finish reading the ads in a 
 woman's magazine with the morals of a bushman. 
 Where's the old Godey's and Harpers' wasn't that 
 enough to satisfy? " 
 
 " They don't want that sort of thing now, Uncle Sam." 
 
 " These these steel-colored boots and dresses with- 
 out waists bah, I've no patience with the young 
 women ! And the young men weaklings ! " He 
 dropped his gray head. 
 
 ; ' It was not I who wanted the firm to go under," Den- 
 sie said presently. 
 
 " No; you're your aunt over again. It was never you, 
 but John; he is mad with the spirit of the age! " He 
 glanced up at Densie between his shaggy brows. " It's 
 no longer ' how much can we all save, but how much 
 can we all spend ! ' My girl, unless you catch up with 
 him your heart is going to ache ! " 
 
 " I know, Uncle Sam I'm trying. But it is always 
 household cares cares cares and the children. And 
 now the children seem farther away than ever. I was 
 trying to be modern when I left the Little House and 
 it has only resulted in my being old-fashioned in a new- 
 fashioned setting, which is worse than ever. I'm going 
 to try again." She was thinking of a way to earn some 
 money, a drastic way that would bring the desired result. 
 
 " After you catch the spirit of the age," the old man 
 dreamed, " you'll long for the past. . . . The day the 
 firm was sold was your uncle's wedding day. I remem- 
 ber when he and Sally went away a stagecoach then, 
 
 165
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 and she wore a pink striped silk and a bonnet with white 
 ties. They went to the Orient and left me in charge 
 I was quite modern then ! The day they came home 
 eight months later, we planted a rosebush before the front 
 door of The Evergreens for good fortune. I can see 
 Sally now as she scolded me for bending the trowel " 
 
 Densie rose abruptly. Something sobbed way inside 
 of her; she wanted to take this old man into her keeping 
 and reverence him, not for what he could do according to 
 modern calculation, but for what he had done ! 
 
 " Do you remember how you used to sit on your uncle's 
 lap when you had the earache? " he asked with a childish 
 veering of topics. 
 
 " And how John used to skip school and you forged 
 his excuses? " 
 
 So they talked half the afternoon all in the past 
 tense until Kenneth came in to bring them into the pres- 
 ent. 
 
 Densie gave Sam Hippler his choice of the old books 
 and pictures and an armchair Uncle Herbert had par- 
 ticularly named as his own. 
 
 " My room at Nancy's will seem like home," the old 
 chap said cheerfully. " I'm robbing you, though." 
 
 " No, no ! The family always call them eyesores. 
 Only I could not set them out for a secondhand man. 
 Take all you want I like to think of you as having 
 them." 
 
 When the family discovered what she had done they 
 applauded the act and said it was too bad she had not 
 sold off everything else that was an antique. 
 
 The parting between John and Sam Hippler was a 
 trifle strained for the former. He had been impatient 
 with the old man's domineering persistency and high 
 ideals for a long time, and doubly impatient with the 
 
 166
 
 . 
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 fact that he had to take the trouble and time to deceive 
 him whereas he, proprietor, should have merely given 
 orders and had them obeyed without questioning. 
 
 " Good-by, my boy. You've a good wife that is 
 better than a good business," was all Sam Hippler said, 
 to his relief. 
 
 After Sam Hippler's departure John prepared for his 
 first long trip on the road. He had a word with Sally 
 to ease his conscience concerning Rex Humberstone, but 
 as usual Sally ended the victor. 
 
 " Daddy, how can you say I'm flirting! When I adore 
 Rex and he does me he merely wants me to be sure of 
 my own mind. Besides, look at the money I earned last 
 month you can't scold me you with a brand-new 
 business and the prospect of being dreadfully rich." 
 
 She kissed him on the forehead and rumpled up his 
 hair, and he ended weakly by promising to bring her 
 skates from New York! 
 
 167
 
 XVI 
 
 It was after Harriet graduated and decided to live 
 with Leila in New York, Leila being a minor librarian 
 somewhere in the Harlem district, that Densie began to 
 earn her own money. 
 
 She had not gone to see her daughter graduate because 
 of preparing for this new and very satisfying interest. 
 John had run down, combining it with business as well, 
 and reported that there had been no exercises to speak of 
 and that Harriet was just the same, a trifle more reserved 
 if anything. Everyone spoke of her in the highest terms 
 and she was exceptionally advanced to have so excellent 
 an appointment. 
 
 The chance to earn the money had come to Densie 
 rather unexpectedly. One of the clubs of which she had 
 been a struggling member regretted the fact that no wom- 
 an's exchange was established in the city, that if there 
 were they would be able to place the members' handiwork 
 for sale and secure funds for a permanent library and 
 other things. 
 
 It gave Densie the idea. Why not start a woman's 
 exchange? Why not do some useful thing? If she was 
 no longer essential to her family she would make herself 
 essential to something the maternal in her demanded 
 such a vent. 
 
 She did not confide in anyone, but went quietly to work 
 to select a small front-windowed shop in a fair section 
 of the city and figure on the estimates for fitting it up 
 correctly. She had fair He-"? regarding this a sooth- 
 
 168
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 ing gray-green effect. She put a gold-lettered sign in the 
 window: Woman's Exchange Tea Room. 
 
 She was amazed at her own boldness. Instinctively 
 she hesitated before she plunged any further, so she con- 
 fessed to Sally, who regarded the idea as utterly impossi- 
 ble. It was unlike mummy to have ideas outside of her 
 home. 
 
 "How can you run an exchange?" she demanded. 
 " You don't know anything about business." 
 
 " Then I can learn," her mother answered, to her 
 amazement. 
 
 ' It does not look very well for father to have you with 
 a tea room." But Sally really meant Rex Humberstone. 
 She dreaded telling him he was so extremely aristo- 
 cratic in his views. 
 
 When John returned from his trip Densie's little ex- 
 change had made its initial bow to the world. She had a 
 few wicker tables for the light refreshments; she had 
 hunted out some faded women in need of pin money, but 
 trained for nothing but their home, and engaged them 
 to make cakes and jams and sandwiches; she accepted 
 crochet work from the inmates of the wheel-chair guilds 
 and old people's homes; she had beautifully knitted af- 
 ghans and sweaters made by various grandmas and great- 
 grandmas who spent most of their time in their rooms; 
 she had slippers, shoe bags, baby-carriage sets, perfumes 
 and sachets all manner of dainty homemade things. 
 She took orders for cakes and preserves, she had maple- 
 sugar patties and an odd sort of pottery. It was really 
 quite a little shop. 
 
 She had Sally's hand-painted favors and menu cards 
 in the front case and told her to make Christmas and 
 Easter greetings, and she pressed Kenneth into service 
 as an errand boy and sweeper up. 
 
 169
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Kenneth enjoyed the exchange, since he ate up all the 
 left-over sandwiches and ice creams and had the rare joy 
 of being with his mother more than ever before. 
 
 Densie secured help so she could be away some of the 
 time; her affiliations with her clubs were to help her. 
 Densie, too, was learning how to use people in a quiet, 
 refined way! But Densie herself remained unchanged, 
 in a demure gray dress and frilly white apron and her hair 
 combed back unfashionably, no hint of powder on her 
 flushed little face. 
 
 Sprays of artificial wistaria and cherry blossoms deco- 
 rated the shop and a gong of temple bells rang as one 
 entered. Handmade toys sat in a row as the receiving 
 line dolls made from Turkish towels and dogs from 
 stockings and funny gray kitties cut from outing flannel 
 and fantastically cross-stitched. 
 
 At first John had nothing to say it so astonished him 
 that Densie would dare do such a thing, particularly with- 
 out consulting him. He did not know whether or not 
 to be pleased. It evidently meant that she would need 
 less of his money, which was an excellent happening, be- 
 cause he had more wildcat schemes to make money from 
 mines or fly-by-night ventures. It did not look quite 
 well, which annoyed him and yet many modern women 
 were beginning to earn money, and as Densie had no spe- 
 cial talent it was only natural that she turn to the aiding 
 and abetting of other people's talents homekeeper to 
 the woman's exchange as it were. 
 
 So he said, "Well, well, I've a rival! You are quite 
 a surprise box. How long has this been back in your 
 head?" 
 
 " For months I've wanted to do something it 
 seemed to me we had nothing that took up our time to- 
 gether as we used to have, and a woman grows tired of 
 
 170
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 going out alone. Sally is absorbed with Rex, and Ken- 
 neth a youngster. I thought it was really a needed thing 
 and that it was a duty as well as a pleasure." 
 
 "Do you like it?" 
 
 " Ever so much. I enjoy meeting the different people 
 and to help all the queer old dears who could not possi- 
 bly earn new boots unless I managed to sell their knick- 
 knacks. It is a great pleasure, John." 
 
 " I suppose you'll not be home very much," he rumi- 
 nated. Somehow the venture in other lights was not so 
 favorable. 
 
 ' Not as much, of course I leave early in the morn- 
 ing, but I plan to have the girl close the store for me. I 
 must be here to cook dinner." 
 
 " Um if it's too much for you let me know," he said 
 magnanimously, nonplused by the procedure, and the 
 motive behind it! 
 
 He wondered if anyone would speak to him about it, 
 ask if he had had losses and say it was too bad Mrs. 
 Plummer had opened an exchange. But no one men- 
 tioned it what people thought was their own concern. 
 The exchange flourished surprisingly well. Partly be- 
 cause it was conscientiously managed and partly because 
 Densie unearthed things that customers said they were 
 longing and looking for but could never find. 
 
 Women exclaimed with tears and laughs over certain 
 old patterns in cross-stitch and crewelwork, and when 
 Densie had fat little pots of rose-leaf jam for sale she 
 could not supply the demand. There was an air of sin- 
 cerity about the shop everything was homemade and 
 no pains were spared to keep it spotlessly spick-and- 
 span, a scent of lavender and lemon verbena pervading 
 it. 
 
 Densie disposed of everything quickly except Sally's 
 
 171
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 hand-painted trifles. They seemed out of place beside 
 the homey, almost wudgy articles. Her tea room be- 
 came a rendezvous for shoppers. Even business men 
 dropped in for an " honest-to-goodness brownbread sand- 
 wich and a cup of real coffee," and Densie found after 
 three months that she had cleared her initial expenses 
 and had a hundred and fifty dollars of her own money 
 her own money! which she had earned. 
 
 It seemed to her on the day she counted it over and 
 realized what she had done that she began to catch up 
 with the younger generation. She advertised the shop 
 and invited a mail-order business for a few odd novelties. 
 A woman in Louisiana asked if she would handle paper- 
 shelled almonds, which she did; while someone else sent 
 praline patties, and a third, from Canada, contributed 
 birch-bark baskets and sweetgrass work. Two Califor- 
 nia girls ventured to send her Indian dolls, canoes and 
 abalone jewelry. 
 
 Densie was not happy except as she made herself be 
 happy from the fact of success with its inevitable stimulus 
 and excitement and the thought that she was essential 
 once more. She ceased being a type and became an in- 
 dividual. But she used to wish for the old days when 
 she rose to start the fire in the Little House, to find John 
 had started it and put the kettle on, and she would make 
 hot cakes and bring out maple syrup as a reward ! And 
 there had been more reward breakfasts than any other 
 kind as she recalled it. She liked the nice, even, middle- 
 class way in which they had lived and mingled with their 
 neighbors, that feeling of security when the Baxters 
 wanted to borrow anything, from the flatirons to the 
 baby; or the right to run into Grandma McDermott's on 
 the corner when anything went wrong or if she wanted a 
 new pudding recipe. 
 
 172
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 John used to know his men neighbors as well; they used 
 to water their lawns summer evenings while the children 
 tumbled about and the women called to each other from 
 the verandas about the price of calico, and the men 
 would compare lawns and gardens, confide fishing secrets 
 and exchange opinions on the topics of the day. And it 
 was all a restful sane sort of existence. But this was no 
 more. The flat dwellers tried to hoist the burden of 
 caring for lawns on each other, and the women knew 
 their neighbors only to gossip about them and nod very 
 formally. The other scheme of life where irregularly 
 planted fragrant gardens and real dogs and old-time 
 hired girls and orthodox churchgoing and Saturday baths 
 had vanished. 
 
 Densie had the rarest joy in the world when she came 
 across women similarly circumstanced as she was born 
 at the closing of one era and trying desperately to under- 
 stand and heed the dictates of the new. She used to buy 
 their work and encourage them to join clubs and to relax 
 in matters of orthodox religion to do as that old arti- 
 cle had told her, the one she had read many years ago 
 which urged the middle-aged American woman to become 
 acquainted with the joy of living! Densie, too, was be- 
 ginning to say with her daughters, " First of all I am a 
 human being and must live my own life." 
 
 She found it impossible to tend to the exchange and 
 her clubs and her flat. Kenneth was with her much of 
 the time, but to provide for Sally and John was impossi- 
 ble. So she hired a maid, a careless, inefficient Scandi- 
 navian, who did as she liked pretty much, and occasion- 
 ally took week-ends off to become hilariously intoxicated. 
 
 " It is the best I can do," Densie told John when he 
 began to complain about the food. " Either I must stay 
 at home or else I must have help. Sally will not do the
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 work she ought to, because she does nothing else 
 but she won't. Perhaps you can talk to her I have 
 tried and despaired." 
 
 " We want to know, your mother and I," said John, 
 accosting Sally a few days later, " whether you are going 
 to marry Humberstone or do your part here as you 
 should? Your mother cannot sacrifice a good business 
 and you don't seem inclined to help. It is time he spoke 
 about his intentions." 
 
 Sally, quite as beautiful as before, but older and more 
 cynical of expression, thrummed idly at the bass notes 
 of the old piano. " Well, father, I claim the same rights 
 as Harriet. You never ask her things." 
 
 " Because she does them. You don't." 
 
 Sally pouted. " Why do you think Rex is or is not 
 going to marry me? " 
 
 " I don't know a year or so ago I thought he would 
 marry you as fast as you would have him, but he is tak- 
 ing his time about it. Men didn't in my day; they never 
 4 waited ' on a young woman unless they had declared 
 themselves." 
 
 John began to feel abused after all it was not his 
 place to be staying home in the morning to lecture his 
 daughter and try to regulate the household. It was 
 Densie's and he had an aversion to going into her 
 exchange for luncheon because of being called " only her 
 husband!" 
 
 Densie was quite a stranger to him except for the brief 
 time in the evening. But he noticed she seemed happier 
 and more enthusiastic about things generally, and when 
 he had asked almost shyly what she intended doing with 
 her profit, she said she was going to bank it and not risk 
 speculation. John disapproved of this; he felt no money 
 should lie idle in a bank. Uncle Herbert's dreaminess
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 had resolved itself into a desire to gamble in John's dis- 
 position. 
 
 " I can't walk up to Rex Humberstone and ask him if 
 he is going to marry me," Sally said angrily. " I'm tired 
 of everyone I wish I were in New York with Harriet." 
 She put her head down and began to cry. 
 
 John stood back utterly nonplused. " I say, Sally, 
 don't be a goose what's the matter anyway? " 
 
 He stared about the living room in dismay; there was 
 dust on every article of furniture, and the things did not 
 fit into the room, the new-fashioned things were too ex- 
 pensive and the old-fashioned ones too laughable. The 
 dining room was disorderly and the breakfast dishes still 
 about. 
 
 He thought of the contrast with Densie's exchange, 
 spick-and-span, with Densie in her Quakerish costume 
 moving deftly about, knowing just where to put this or 
 how to fix that and where to put a stitch in an article to 
 safeguard its durability, and that a fat bow of ribbon 
 about the bunny's neck would make him twice as attract- 
 ive ! He felt neglected as he glanced over at himself 
 in the mantel. 
 
 ' What a funny fellow I am," he murmured half out 
 loud. " I feel like twenty-five and I'm nearly forty-five. 
 I don't want Densie in her shop, and I'm dashed if she 
 didn't make me nervous when she stayed home to drudge 
 
 I don't believe I was meant to be head of a family." 
 Curiously he almost envied Rex Humberstone and 
 
 Harriet, two of the freest individuals he knew. 
 
 Sally stopped crying and raised her head to catch her 
 father's expression. 
 
 " I'll go away if you like, but I won't stay home and 
 do housework. Mother could sell my things if she tried 
 
 other things have sold." 
 
 175
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 And she began wondering why there were no more or- 
 ders from the mysterious Mrs. Hester Smith. " Mother 
 ought to stay home she has had her day." 
 
 John shrugged his shoulders. " Squabble all you like, 
 my dears. I declare myself out of it." 
 
 And putting on his hat he made for downtown. Be- 
 fore he reached his store he saw Kenneth loaded with 
 boxes, all labeled Woman's Exchange and Tea Room, 
 Mrs. Densie Plummer, Proprietor. Kenneth was very 
 dignified and filled with his own importance. 
 
 " Where are you off to? " John halted him with a flour- 
 ishing salute. 
 
 " Mother's got a lot of orders. Somebody's getting 
 married, and there is a new baby at Alice Palmer's. 
 Gee, you ought to see the pink bows ! And there is a 
 party cake for somebody else." 
 
 Kenneth was happy. Densie paid him a percentage 
 of each article's value which he delivered. He too was 
 saving his pennies. 
 
 'When is mother coming home?" John asked, sur- 
 prised to find himself more and more indignant at being 
 neglected. 
 
 " Oh, she's going to a banquet to-night a club ban- 
 quet; and I'm going to eat up all the things at the tea 
 room and she'll call for me at half-past nine." 
 
 " I don't want you hanging round the store until then. 
 You come home and eat your supper." John was 
 ashamed of himself as he spoke. 
 
 'There won't be any supper, will there? Sally's 
 never home." Kenneth was gaining in independence. 
 " Anyway, I'll do what mummy said." 
 
 Which ended the argument. 
 
 Aghast even at Kenneth, John let him pass on. 
 
 176
 
 XVII 
 
 On the night of Mrs. Plummer's club banquet John 
 went home for supper, partly because he really enjoyed 
 being a martyr, as he had once accused Densie of being, 
 for he knew there would be none. He waited patiently 
 while the Scandinavian handmaiden laid some weird con- 
 coction at his plate. 
 
 Miss Sally was out with her friend, he was told upon 
 inquiry. And gulping down boiled green tea and a little 
 dish of sauce John rummaged in the living room to find 
 something to read, something to make him forget every- 
 thing Sally and her mysterious Rex, the shop, Ken- 
 neth, Harriet, and the Golden Rule Syndicate, whose 
 methods jarred and irritated him, though he felt he must 
 stay at the post now that the die was cast. 
 
 Densie came home with Kenneth in a cab another 
 step in advance. She wore a gray silk dress and real 
 violets, and she looked quite pretty as she stood pulling 
 off her gloves and saying: "Well, John, did you get 
 enough to eat? Kenneth gorged on chocolate cake and 
 mayonnaise and I must not let it happen again. Do you 
 remember the time you were ' dying ' in the woodshed 
 and we interrupted Aunt Sally's whist club? " 
 
 ' Yes, I remember; and those were pretty good times 
 too.'' He was a bit sulky, for he was mentally adding, 
 " Aunt Sally had no shop." 
 
 ' We had a pleasant time to-night." She tossed him a 
 program. " I heard nice things said about the ex- 
 change." 
 
 177
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " Do you think you ought to keep it? " He did not 
 glance at the program. " Don't I provide for you? " 
 
 "With food and fuel and a roof yes." She had 
 prepared for this moment long ago. " But your life lies 
 away from mine, and so of necessity mine must lie away 
 from yours or else I should become a burden. I am 
 necessary only to my boy, and I have him with me. I 
 don't mean, my dear, that you have stopped caring," she 
 added impulsively, " only that you care in a modern fash- 
 ion. That is the best way to express it. I know you 
 wonder why I fuss and work so hard in the shop it is 
 because someone appreciates it. I've been so weary of 
 having meal after meal stand untouched or tasted or 
 hastily gobbled without comment. So tired of staying 
 home night after night, and when you returned of not 
 daring to ask you questions. Isn't it strange, John, how 
 we are always courteous to the passer-by and rude to the 
 ones of our household? If the children wanted me here 
 to keep the home as I was taught, I should never have 
 looked further. But I never really pleased you so I 
 set to work to please someone else. Not a bad arrange- 
 ment, is it? " 
 
 " I did not say you did not please us," he retorted. 
 
 " Ah, but you acted it." 
 
 She left him abruptly, without their customary good- 
 night kiss. 
 
 Meanwhile Sally and Rex had come to a distinct rift 
 in their affair. Sally was beginning to understand the 
 awful terror of doubts for the first time in the two 
 years of knowing Rex she was learning that it was selfish- 
 ness which made him anxious to have her happy, it dis- 
 turbed him if she was not in high feather and he there- 
 fore saw to it that she was. 
 
 She was beginning to see, dimly as yet, the truth of the 
 
 178
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 prophecy, " a time waster " and when she met Dean 
 Laddbarry and he begged to come to see her or go with 
 him to some jolly informal place, she refused from a stub- 
 born sense of pride. The glitter and sparkle of hotels 
 and expensive restaurants, motors, roadside inns, theater 
 after theater and dances palled on her. She felt as if 
 she had long had a diet of bonbons and cream puffs and 
 wished for some sweet crust of bread. 
 
 Sally was only surface shallow; underneath was of the 
 same quality and loyalty of heart as Densie. But Rex 
 saw only this shallowness, or rather he preferred to see 
 no further. By staying light-hearted and frivolous one 
 remained young, he had made himself believe. Besides, 
 if he ever went to imagining the past in all its realities 
 he would become a wreck, so he trespassed on only the 
 lightest layers of his scarred self and influenced Sally to 
 do likewise. 
 
 Sometimes Sally became a bit of a bore; her extreme 
 youth, which was her great asset, was also tactless and 
 too frank. Her moods were like an April day, and even 
 though she cried prettily and did not sniffle he felt as if 
 he had undertaken the direction of a day nursery rather 
 than a stimulating young fay ! 
 
 At first Densie had protested against his beautiful gifts 
 to Sally, but it did no good. So she bided her time and 
 said nothing. Indeed she rarely saw the man unless for 
 a curt good evening; he regarded her as someone with 
 impossible ideas and manners and treated her accord- 
 ingly. Rex despised manual work of any sort; it was 
 he who had made Sally lazy; originally Sally was not at 
 fault, but Rex knew how to ridicule in a peculiar stinging 
 fashion whenever she suggested that she really work, and 
 when she told him of some very idle, useless day spent in 
 prinking or buying nonsense or reading an entertaining 
 
 179
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 story which she would retell to him, he would always give 
 her the impression that she was the very acme of common 
 sense, and gradually this latter way of spending her 
 days became a fixed habit. 
 
 But the greatest harm Rex had done Sally was to teach 
 her to be untruthful ! It often so happens. He had 
 caused her to magnify her wrongs and her abilities un- 
 consciously. His life, highly colored from fast living, 
 made her own seem drab and colorless. To keep his in- 
 terest top hole, as well as to satisfy her romantic little 
 self, Sally began to magnify certain happenings. Dean 
 became a jealous monster who had almost kidnapped her, 
 and other young men whom she casually met and enjoyed 
 herself with for an evening suddenly assumed the pro- 
 portions of terrifying and frantic rivals who badgered 
 her with mysterious letters and telephones, and sent her 
 expensive presents which she promptly returned. 
 
 Sally knew this was wrong, but no one but herself was 
 held accountable for it, she argued, and it amused Rex! 
 She loved this older man with a terrible sort of infatua- 
 tion. He could not do wrong. He was absolute in all 
 he said or told her to say or do. There was no one else 
 in the world but Rex Humberstone. She used to lie 
 awake consumed with jealousy because of other women 
 he had casually mentipned as having been in his life, and 
 terrifying doubts as to her ability to hold him. Very 
 skillfully had Rex made the shadow seem the substance! 
 
 This was the main reason why Sally deliberately fabri- 
 cated about her charms a strained ruse and eventually 
 a useless one; but all women try it at some time or 
 other in some way. Little Sally, who had never had so 
 much as a proposal from anyone save Dean and then 
 in boy-and-girl fashion began to invent romances con- 
 cerning herself, to pretend to be almost swayed toward 
 
 180
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 this onej and that one, and would end by graciously tell- 
 ing Rex she really liked him best of all! Rex saw 
 through the game, but it amused him and told him how 
 much the girl had come to care for him, so he listened 
 politely and let her believe he trembled lest she turn from 
 him to accept one of these out-of-town Chesterfields who 
 seemed to spend their days and nights writing Sally Plum- 
 mer threatening love letters and tragic appeals. 
 
 Nor was this untruth confined to the romantic side 
 alone, it crept like an ugly little thread into the beautiful 
 pattern of Sally's soul and showed unexpectedly in all 
 she did. Sally could not be accurate about anything, she 
 was not truthful with herself, she could not look things 
 in the face and acknowledge facts. She rouged and 
 used an eyebrow pencil and let Rex buy her a handsome 
 fur coat, which she told her mother glibly she had 
 earned. Densie knew it was not true, but she could 
 not have made Sally give it back so she let it pass as 
 if she credited the story. 
 
 Her boy-and-girl friends dropped away. Sally was 
 never home, Mrs. Plummer was never home, and besides, 
 Sally knew that funny man, lots older "he takes her 
 to hotels like an actress " and that funny man would 
 never have gone for a hayrack ride or a simple dance or 
 a ghost party. They knew better than to ask him, so 
 Sally went no place except with that funny man, and Dean 
 concluded that she really was engaged and let the matter 
 rest. 
 
 Several months after Densie's shop was acknowledged 
 to be successful Sally had her first quarrel with Rex, in 
 which she lost far more than the issue involved. It was 
 Thanksgiving week and Densie was unusually rushed 
 with orders for homemade pumpkin pies. She and Ken- 
 neth scarcely came home at all. John wandered between 
 
 181
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 the club and the house in an undignified state of mind, 
 and Sally, who was supposed to be housekeeper, let the 
 Scandinavian handmaiden have her own way while she 
 finished a turquoise satin dancing frock and a black velvet 
 cape which had ermine for a collar. She was going with 
 Rex to a fashionable concert and supper party afterward, 
 and she wanted to look unusually enticing. She was con- 
 cocting another dream romance to make him more than 
 ardent and was just completing the details to her satisfac- 
 tion when the bell rang and she answered it, to find him, 
 to her great surprise, standing there dressed in his usual 
 exquisite fashion. 
 
 Sally crimsoned with mortification. She wore a pink 
 lawn dress, pretty enough in its way but a trifle rumpled, 
 and her hair was carelessly tossed on top of her head. 
 Rex had never seen her this way; she would have given 
 worlds to have not had it come about. 
 
 ' What brings you here? " she began gayly, attempting 
 to carry off the situation. " I'm just finishing my frock 
 want to see it? Everything is very dusty, I'm afraid. 
 You don't mind, do you? You see, mummy is rushed to 
 death and I'd rather sew than sweep. Sit down here." 
 She was quite ill at ease. 
 
 Somehow the moment Rex entered her home the place 
 became dwarfed and shabby in appearance; he had that 
 power of making Sally see it through his eyes. 
 
 " I just ran up to beg someone's pardon." He 
 dropped a corsage of violets in her lap. " Sally, I'm go- 
 ing away over Thanksgiving a business deal in New 
 York; and so we'll have to postpone our engagement. 
 We'll have 'a carnival to make up for it as soon as I'm 
 back." 
 
 Sally's lips quivered. " I won't have any Thanksgiv- 
 ing without you," she said slowly. A ponderous family 
 
 182
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 dinner would be a bore, and she would have no excuse to 
 go away. Densie had said she would have Maude Hat- 
 ton and Lucy Parks over and that she was going to 
 cook the turkey her own self. 
 
 " I know, my dear, but if it is business " 
 
 Sally began to cry. 
 
 " Come, come, don't be childish ! " he urged, at a loss 
 for words. " I've not been out of town since we first 
 knew each other. I should think you would be tired of 
 me." 
 
 Her temper rose to the surface. " I want to know 
 what you are going to do about me," she cried; " we've 
 known each other quite long enough, haven't we? " 
 
 "Do about you?" The mocking eyes seemed to 
 dance, the mouth took on an ugly twist. 
 
 " You know what I mean what are you going to 
 to- 
 
 " Well ? " He was not going to help her. 
 
 " Oh, Rex, don't make it so hard. Everyone is be- 
 ginning to wonder about it, we've known each other so 
 long, and " 
 
 It was difficult for Sally, and yet her 5 childish jealous 
 heart seemed stabbed at the mere thought of his leaving 
 town for the holiday on which she had set such store for 
 weeks. 
 
 " Say it all, Sally, and don't be too long about it. I 
 haven't time to waste on weeps " 
 
 " Are you going to marry me? " Sally's eyes flashed 
 with a spark of her great-aunt's determined spirit. 
 
 ' What an idea ! Must I ask you that, Sally, in order 
 to know you at all? " 
 
 " Girls are not supposed to know men so much older 
 than themselves unless they are engaged," Sally answered 
 weakly. She wished for her mother very much.
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " In this day and age we don't have to be engaged to 
 every woman we know, do we? " 
 
 He came to sit on the arm of her chair. Sally noticed 
 how many small lines were in his face. The afternoon 
 sunlight was quite merciless. She began to feel ashamed 
 and bewildered. 
 
 " Where is the harm," he was saying, " of being pals 
 
 comrades? Come, Sally, I know how deadly mar- 
 riage is. Take your own home for example have 
 your parents kept their romance? You have told me not 
 yourself. Look about you what married people have ? 
 I could never see marriage as the goal for happiness! 
 Besides, you are only a child " 
 
 Tears rolled down her cheeks. " Ah, but I love you," 
 she said simply. 
 
 He looked at her critically. She was so young and 
 lovely and it would be rather strenuous to have to find 
 someone else equally young and lovely who would please 
 and adore him as Sally did. 
 
 " Listen, my child " he stroked her hand gently 
 " you are too young to marry. To-day women marry at 
 thirty-five far more than at twenty. And a jolly good 
 thing too. You don't know whether you would want to 
 marry me you can't be sure yet. You've ability in 
 many lines, and I would not feel right to gobble you up 
 without your first having a chance to mature properly." 
 
 " I'd rather belong to you," said Sally miserably. 
 Once in the situation she was determined to see it through. 
 
 " I'd be proud and happy to have you, but I'm not a 
 domestic sort," he assured her. " I love you, Sally. 
 There stop crying! You're a darling infant and I 
 want you for my pal as long as you want me. But I don't 
 
 flatter myself," he added cleverly, " that I could hope 
 
 184
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 really to win you. Just let me stay pal as long as there is 
 no one else, will you, dear? " 
 
 She kept on sobbing. Then Rex bent and kissed her. 
 He had never taken liberties with Sally before. His at- 
 titude toward the girl was a cold-blooded one of personal 
 delight in her society. Besides, no one else would believe 
 in him as Sally did he had not the same influence over 
 older, more sophisticated women. 
 
 She sprang up. 
 
 " You must not kiss me unless we are to be married, 
 please please." She went to the mantel and put her 
 head down as she cried. 
 
 Rex frowned. " I've pulled a hornets' nest about my 
 ears," he said half jokingly. ( " Come, Sally, don't cry! 
 Buck up and have a good time Thanksgiving. Give an 
 absent chap a thought there's the girl. I love you for 
 my pal and I will never have another." 
 
 " But it isn't right; I want to be right or not at all." 
 She began to be hysterical. 
 
 " It is a man's place to ask a woman if he wishes her to 
 share his name," Rex said rather sardonically. " Don't 
 lose your dignity; for so young a girl it was one of your 
 chief charms." 
 
 She stood facing him, flushed and unlovely. " I will 
 not be your pal, Rex, I love you too much it will have 
 to be a proper engagement or we cannot know each 
 other." 
 
 " Then it is my dismissal? " His copper-colored face 
 was a trifle more copper-colored, the nearest he ever came 
 to a blush. 
 
 Sally hesitated. If he went away angry at her, never 
 to see her again, the joy of existence would be gone; it 
 would no longer be fun just to be alive and see what would 
 
 185
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 happen next! She could not bear it. He had so mes- 
 merized her, distorted her viewpoint and given her a 
 false standard of values that she would be unable to find 
 the way back alone. She could not bear the thought; 
 unconsciously she held out her hands to him. 
 
 " No no," was all she said, drawing in her breath 
 like a frightened child. 
 
 An ugly expression had crossed the copper-colored face. 
 ' You've no claim on me, Sally," he said a trifle roughly. 
 " A man cannot be humbugged into marrying anyone." 
 
 She beat the palms of her hands together sharply. 
 "Is that the way you think of me humbugging you? 
 Rex, Rex!" 
 
 " No, but you don't seem to understand the way of the 
 world. It is not the way of your father and mother, 
 thank fortune, but the modern, independent way, that 
 gives the individual time and circumstance to his own lik- 
 ing. If you insist on my engaging myself to you, Sally 
 well, I can do only one thing tell you I am sorry to 
 lose a splendid comrade. But marriage and domesticity 
 are impossible as far as I am concerned." 
 
 Sally walked up close to him, her soft red-gold hair 
 standing out like a halo with the afternoon sunlight on 
 it. " If you love someone, you want to belong to them; 
 but if you do not want me there is nothing more to say. 
 You see, I thought all along that you did; you used to 
 joke about it and say things things like Dean said, only 
 in a nicer way; and I know Dean meant them." 
 
 Rex shrugged his shoulders with impatience. He was 
 getting into reality, a thing he pledged himself never to 
 do. 
 
 ' Think it over, Sally, and when I come back tell me if 
 you want to be my pal. I'll never have another one. 
 Some day, perhaps, I might come to feel different, but for 
 
 .186
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 now I'm honest, and you know that is always best." 
 His eyes fairly danced as he said this last. 
 
 " Are you going away right away? " 
 
 " To-night." He picked up his coat. 
 
 Sally bit her under lip. " Very well," she said dully. 
 
 She felt humiliated. She had asked someone to marry 
 her ! Modern though it was it made her ashamed and 
 she did not want to look at Rex again. 
 
 " Good-by, little girl." He held out his hand. 
 
 But she shook her head. " I must think about it," was 
 all she would let herself say. An amused look showed in 
 the dancing eyes, but he outwardly accepted his dismis- 
 sal as if it were from his monarch. 
 
 After he left she threw herself across her bed and 
 sobbed, the despairing sobs of a woman but no one but 
 the Scandinavian handmaiden knew anything about it 1 
 
 187
 
 XVIII 
 
 Thanksgiving was a wretched affair all the way 
 through. Sally was lackluster and wan, scarcely notic- 
 ing anyone or answering questions save by a monosylla- 
 ble, eating but little and moping most of the time in her 
 room. 
 
 Densie knew there had been some quarrel with Rex 
 since nothing else would have seriously disturbed Sally. 
 She hoped it might be a permanent disagreement and set 
 to work to clean the flat thoroughly and cook the very 
 best dinner of which she was capable. 
 
 Harriet came from New York as a surprise she felt 
 it her duty and made the family circle complete. 
 Lucy Parks and Maude Hatton dressed in their rusty 
 best tottered in early in the afternoon to hear all about 
 New York to Harriet's horror. Harriet had im- 
 proved rather than not; the period since she had last 
 been at home had been a successful and happy one ac- 
 cording to her views, and she had gained in tolerance 
 and poise from contact with different and invigorating 
 minds. But she was even more self-centered than 
 formerly, and was imbued with a quiet egotism 
 not apparent to a casual observer. She wore 
 extreme mannish tailored suits and beautifully made 
 waists to go with them; her hair was allowed to 
 grow again and rather prettily tucked into a knot 
 low on her neck. Densie rejoiced to see the evidences 
 of femininity make their appearance. Harriet had no 
 value of money, though she could tabulate sums for dis- 
 
 188
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 tributing among the poor and her chart had been used 
 to relieve earthquake sufferers, thereby winning her no 
 small praise. 
 
 She brought everyone a handsome present things 
 of no practical use but in excellent taste. Sally's was a 
 quaint sandalwood box with a key of hammered silver, 
 Kenneth's a set of Chinese stories. Her father was pre- 
 sented with an impossible but artistic shaving mirror, and 
 Densie found some sort of rare green-china plates 
 marked with her monogram. Harriet told her she in- 
 tended to give her the entire set by degrees. 
 
 " It is the best way, mummy," she said gently, " when 
 one has nothing in the way of good china to get a little 
 each time and have it of the best." 
 
 Densie meekly accepted the gift. She was pleased 
 with Harriet's change in manner and appearance 
 though she maintained a formal politeness indicative that 
 she considered herself a guest, first and last, and 
 would conduct herself accordingly. 
 
 The difference between the two girls was an interesting 
 one upon which to reflect. Sally stayed at home and 
 made, according to herself, the greater sacrifice. But in 
 a thousand and one small ways she was unbearably trying 
 and nerve-racking. Nevertheless, Sally stayed at home. 
 Harriet had refused to stay home but once away she 
 was graciousness itself in her small pleasing attentions. 
 Densie wondered which she preferred ; she could not have 
 honestly told herself. 
 
 As for Sally's moping over her quarrel with Rex, Har- 
 riet took a " polite " view of the matter. She ignored 
 it; and generously praised Sally's little daubs of paint- 
 ings and said she must visit New York and see the galler- 
 ies. Sally responded to the politeness; she, too, became 
 a polite artificial manikin. Every one kept " bucked 
 
 189
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 up," as Kenneth said, in front of Harriet she had a 
 way with her, there was no denying. One could not go 
 into hysterics before her or lose one's temper without a 
 great deal of provocation. 
 
 " The Woman's Exchange is very nice, mummy," she 
 told her mother. " Of course, I don't particularly care 
 for that sort of thing hammered brass stores and Jap- 
 anese print and old book shops are more to my liking. 
 But I can see that you have made use of being so old- 
 fashioned." 
 
 " Sometimes I wonder if I ought to go back to staying 
 at home but it did not seem as if it mattered, and your 
 father has had such a hard time of it." 
 
 " I shall add my bit presently," Harriet offered. 
 "Oh, yes; I can afford to." She relinquished the last 
 hope of possessing a real Japanese print, which she had 
 adored from without the showcase for many moons. '* It 
 makes me feel better if I do. You can give it to Sally 
 for pin money." 
 
 Harriet returned to New York the day after Thanks- 
 giving. She was sweetly smiling and formally polite until 
 the train pulled out of the shed and she had waved to 
 the group on the platform. Then she gave a sigh of 
 relief. That was done it would not be necessary for 
 another two years and two years is a long time in 
 which to be alone and at peace with the world. She took 
 out a notebook and fell to studying and the home peo- 
 ple were erased from her memory as much as the menu 
 for the Thanksgiving dinner! Such was Harriet. 
 
 Densie tried to ask Sally about Rex the night after 
 Harriet had left. She felt it was her duty, though Den- 
 sie had become like a swift lovely river coated over with 
 ice, the real current flowing deeply and in secret. 
 
 " I am sorry if you are going to let this man upset you, 
 
 190
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Sally. I assure you he is not worth it, " she told her 
 younger daughter. " It is not the right way for affairs 
 to progress, and if you have quarreled do make it a defi- 
 nite one and begin again be mummy's old Sally ! " 
 She held out her arms. 
 
 Sally shook her head. She was standing looking out at 
 the cold fall night. 
 
 " You don't understand," she said slowly. " I made 
 an awful mistake I said something I never should have 
 said." 
 
 And she could not be prevailed upon to say more. 
 Over and over Sally had re-lived that brief good-by be- 
 tween herself and Rex. She felt humiliated and morti- 
 fied, realizing she had acted in his eyes like a poorly man- 
 nered child. She wondered if he would call her up or 
 write her; she wondered how it would seem to have to go 
 on living without Rex Humberstone. How terribly, hor- 
 ribly monotonous life would be everything would pall 
 and grate on her. She would never be able to pass by 
 the Century Club where he lived without feeling dizzy 
 and faint; she would scream if she ever met him face to 
 face and the thought of his paying anyone else the 
 same wonderful attentions that had once been hers 
 Sally's eyes grew black and her nails cut into her rosy 
 little palms. 
 
 She lay awake, tossing restlessly and wondering what 
 was best to do whether or not she should make an 
 advance to him. She knew it was wrong, she ought to 
 wait and let him speak. Had he returned? Was he 
 utterly disgusted with her childish lack of self-control? 
 Men did not like to have women throw themselves at 
 their heads and she had thrown herself at Rex in un- 
 deniable fashion. She could not take back those words. 
 She hated herself. Then she began to analyze how it 
 
 191
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 had come about, just what had made her love him so 
 dearly? Why did she feel dependent on him for the 
 joy of existence? Why did she feel ashamed of her 
 mother even of her father and her home when Rex 
 was about? What baffling, uncanny power did he pos- 
 sess? She sat up in bed; finally she rose and walked up 
 and down the floor of her room, her hands clenched to- 
 gether. Moonlight stole in, to show her the edge of the 
 unworn turquoise dancing frock which hung in the press; 
 it maddened her. She felt a rejected, despised spinster 
 whose few pretty possessions were only wasted ammuni- 
 tion! She shut the door of the press abruptly and con- 
 tinued her walk. 
 
 Why not telephone the Century Club and ask if he had 
 returned? She paused, horrified at the thought. It was 
 half past twelve. Would her mother and father hear 
 her? She could not sleep unless she knew whether he 
 was back or not and she must sleep. She could call 
 up quietly and just be sure. Supposing he was back and 
 had not telephoned her! Well, better she knew the 
 worst. She slipped into the living room and closed the 
 door; the ticking of the old-fashioned clock seemed to 
 reprove her action. Almost in a whisper she called the 
 Century Club and after a long wait the night man an- 
 swered. 
 
 " Is Mr. Humberstone in town? " Her hands trem- 
 bled so she could hardly hold the receiver. 
 
 ' Yes, ma'am just a minute," the porter answered, 
 and before Sally could stop him someone had lifted the 
 receiver hook and was saying in the familiar drawl: 
 ''Well what's wanted?" 
 
 It was Rex. 
 
 Sally's voice deserted her; every drop of blood in her 
 
 192
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 body seemed to rush to her forehead and cause trip- 
 hammer pulses to beat rhythmically. 
 
 " Hello hello there," he kept saying. 
 
 u Rex!" she finally answered. 
 
 " Who is it? It isn't not not Sally? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Well, what do you think you're doing up at this 
 hour? " He was pleased she had called him. 
 
 " I wanted to know if you were home." She was too 
 wretched to pretend. " It worried me that is all." 
 
 " I came in to-night, but I did not phone you because I 
 thought you might be having guests or be out. How 
 have you been? " 
 
 He was enjoying the victory, and he proposed to make 
 Sally surrender unconditionally. 
 
 " I had a miserable holiday. I wasn't well. My sis- 
 ter came from New York and we had a sort of family 
 dinner I guess you would call it that, but I wasn't very 
 keen about it." She tried to laugh. 
 
 " I'm glad you didn't like it as well as if you and I had 
 our dinner," he assured tenderly. 
 
 Sally's heart beat happily once more. 
 
 " Are you? " was all she said. 
 
 " When can I see you? Let's have dinner to-morrow 
 night at the Raleigh then do something afterward. I 
 want to give you something pretty." 
 
 " All right," she said meekly. " What time? " 
 
 " I'll send for you at seven. Now scamper to bed. 
 I'm quite set up to think you called me. But it's two to 
 one you just tumbled in from a party and your conscience 
 rebuked you ! " He was the old bantering Rex again. 
 
 " No, no ! Truly, I haven't done anything to-day ex- 
 cept wish for you and wish I had not been so silly." 
 
 193
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " You're never silly, dear just an intense little girl. 
 Good night, until to-morrow." 
 
 Sally turned away from the phone. Her mother was 
 standing in the doorway. 
 
 " My dear, what was the matter? " 
 
 Sally burst into tears the tension had snapped. 
 
 " I had been rude to Rex; he went away and I was 
 afraid he was angry and would never want to see me 
 again. I love him. I cannot help it. It is more to me 
 to have his friendship than anything in this world or the 
 next. I know it was not proper to call him, but I couldn't 
 sleep. Mother, don't be cross. You know what it 
 means to love someone else better than yourself, don't 
 you? " She clung to her mother piteously. 
 
 Densie shook her head. " Poor Sally," was all she 
 said; " I'm afraid it is going to be very hard ! " 
 
 The next night at dinner Rex gave Sally a jeweler's 
 ring box, which she opened with tremulous delight. A 
 beautiful two-carat diamond was inside, set in platinum. 
 Sally's eyes matched it for brightness. 
 
 " Is it for for me? " she whispered. 
 
 Rex looked at her carefully. Sally had seldom looked 
 more beautiful. She wore the turquoise satin frock and 
 her black cape was draped on her chair. She was a trifle 
 pale interestingly so her gold hair was in curly con- 
 fusion peeping from under her hat. She was staring at 
 him as if he were a saint aloof on his pedestal. It stirred 
 even Humberstone. 
 
 " For you, my dear a pal peace offering. Come, 
 we shan't waste any more time having bad scenes, Sally. 
 You know me and I know you, and this is the twentieth 
 century. Call that ring our pal-engagement ring. You 
 wear it and let people think what they like. When some- 
 one comes along for whom you care more than you do for 
 
 194
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 me give it back or toss it aside and marry him and 
 people will know you would not marry me. Isn't that 
 a fair arrangement? " 
 
 Sally slipped it on the third finger of her left hand, 
 holding it up to watch the sparkle. " It is wonderful 
 a pal-engagement ring! " She seemed a trifle doubtful. 
 
 " Doesn't that muzzle Madam Grundy? " he insisted. 
 He wanted to drive home his point. " I missed you, too, 
 Sally dear; your loneliness wasn't a one-sided affair. I 
 thought over all you said and decided this was the best 
 way out, for I'm not the marrying kind and yet I cannot 
 bear to lose you. I know people chatter like old women 
 if a man does take the most beautiful girl in the world 
 about; and the ring protects you, Sally yet you can feel 
 free to marry anyone else you like at any time. Isn't 
 that fair?" 
 
 " I shall never want to marry anyone else," she whis- 
 pered softly. 
 
 " Well " Rex shrugged his shoulders " then if you 
 hedge me into a corner I suppose I'll be quite at your 
 beck and call, won't I? " 
 
 " Don't you think that after a little while a year 
 even two years you would want to marry me ? How 
 splendid to really belong to you 1 " She was so serious 
 she did not realize her abandon. 
 
 " We'll see. There will never be anyone else for me 
 not as long as you choose to have it so. Just take pity 
 on an old bachelor and let him live in peace at the club. 
 Meantime, here's to my pal the prettiest, wittiest, love- 
 liest girl a man could ever love! " 
 
 Sally raised her glass in answer to the pledge, the dia- 
 mond flashing as she did so. It almost satisfied her, for 
 he had given her a bona fide engagement ring, even if 
 there was a string to it. Surely, if she chose to develop 
 
 195
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 and improve Rex would come to want her for his wife, 
 and then heaven would be hers ahead of time. Mean- 
 while she must be content with his palship, and the world 
 could think what it liked. 
 
 She did not realize the grave ethical wrong it never 
 occurred to her that the wearing of Rex Humberstone's 
 ring was like the closing of a prison door upon herself 
 as regards other men's attentions. That few men are 
 prone to infringe upon another man's fiancee, and that a 
 two-carat diamond and five engagements a week with 
 the same person tell the world but the one story that 
 she is his fiancee. So Sally shut herself away from the 
 world of romance, and the ugly strand of untruth grew 
 larger by necessity for the acceptance of the ring in- 
 volved the telling of many falsehoods and the allowing of 
 many more to be told about her. 
 
 She showed her parents the ring, and in answer to 
 their half pleased, half anxious comments she said, 
 " Please don't say anything to Rex or anyone else. It 
 is just between ourselves; and I I am not quite sure 
 of myself yet. I want lots of time." 
 
 Which was Falsehood Number One. 
 
 " Suppose you don't wear the ring until you are sure," 
 suggested her mother. " It seems like an outward 
 pledge." 
 
 " It used to be, but people have changed. It is a 
 pledge in a way; Rex and I will never marry anyone else. 
 But we must be positive we want to marry each other. 
 I'm very happy but I'm very young and there is lots 
 of time." 
 
 Which was all she could be persuaded to say about the 
 matter. 
 
 Christmas afternoon Dean Laddbarry came to say 
 good-by. He was leaving the next morning for his 
 
 196
 
 long-awaited West. He had heard about Sally Plum- 
 mer's beautiful engagement ring and had forced himself 
 to watch the society columns to see if the engagement 
 was announced. When it had not appeared he won- 
 dered if they considered it bad form, and finally plucked 
 up courage to go and ask Sally. 
 
 He found her resting because of a last night's dancing 
 party and in anticipation of the evening's frolic. The 
 flat was rather forlorn with its artificial tree and a few 
 careless-looking Christmas packages. The spirit of the 
 day was not to be found. Densie had worked until mid- 
 night sending off packages, and she had ordered a roasted 
 turkey from a restaurant, the Scandinavian handmaiden 
 having unexpectedly taken a few days off. John was rest- 
 less; something seemed to annoy and tempt him. He 
 kept tramping round the rooms, protesting about useless 
 gifts and telling Kenneth to stop beating his drum. He 
 missed something it was not just clear to him what it 
 was, but he kept recalling the Christmases when he and 
 Densie were children, when the day started with family 
 prayer, and the mammoth, real pine tree, aglitter with 
 candles and tinsel and heaped with cotton snow, was hid- 
 den behind screens in the dining room. Then Uncle Her- 
 bert, dressed as Santa Claus, would hand out the presents 
 after breakfast, not even forgetting a new harness for 
 the ponies. After this came church, driving there in the 
 sleigh, and they had half a dozen lonesome folks in for 
 the one o'clock dinner and such a dinner! Man alive, 
 the women had worked two weeks to prepare it end- 
 less courses and endless laughing and jokes and kindly, 
 family memories recalled, and Uncle Herbert always 
 stood up, wine glass in hand, to sing Believe Me, If All 
 Those Enduring Young Charms, to Aunt Sally, who, 
 after being coaxed and pretending to be annoyed, would 
 
 197
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 respond by singing Dear, Dear, What Can the Matter 
 Be! This was her Christmas annual; no one knew why, 
 but it was the song with which she responded to Uncle 
 Herbert's serenade. 
 
 In the afternoon the neighborhood children came to 
 compare new possessions or John and Densie went to the 
 neighborhood children's trees while Aunt Sally and Ellen 
 Porch packed baskets of food to send by Barney to fami- 
 lies who would have had no Christmas otherwise. And 
 the evening passed with a delicious cold supper and more 
 toasts and singing and the children being playfully told 
 to go to bed as was customary on usual nights and their 
 finally being allowed the " extreme unction of the law," 
 as Uncle Herbert declared. There were the string quar- 
 tet to play delicate little tunes and Aunt Sally to accom- 
 pany them, and usually the minister recited The Cataract 
 of Lodore, and charades or guessing games followed. 
 At eleven o'clock they would all bundle up to their chins 
 in Aunt Sally's stately guest room and begin to say an 
 old-time cordial good-night, while John and Densie would 
 be found half asleep in the recesses of chairs. 
 
 That was a real Christmas with no annoying phono- 
 graph downstairs and this pretense at a holiday, a tired 
 preoccupied wife and a silly little daughter running about 
 with someone old enough to be her father, his other child 
 in New York having a high tea and delicatessen food! 
 It irritated John just as the Golden Rule Syndicate irri- 
 tated him; he was worried about his own position with 
 them now that they had taken over his store. The firm 
 was undeniably cheap and " legally " dishonest always 
 staying within the law. He sat down to watch Kenneth 
 with his construction set. 
 
 " What are you doing, pop? " Kenneth demanded pres- 
 ently. 
 
 198
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " Wondering where we're going to fetch up," he said 
 wearily. " Go into the next room now I want to nap." 
 
 John had not seen Dean; he had made but a brief stay. 
 
 " I want to ask if you are engaged," he said to Sally, 
 " before you call the family. Just tell me that." 
 
 His honest gray eyes looked at her left hand. 
 
 'What about it?" she bantered, really annoyed that 
 she could not name her wedding date and thoroughly 
 shock him. 
 
 " Are you engaged to Humberstone? " 
 
 She held out her hand. " Yes," she said with bravado. 
 " Now do you believe me? " 
 
 He turned away. " Best wishes," he mumbled. 
 " I'm off to-morrow." 
 
 " Good luck, Dean. You're a cheerful sort, I must 
 say." Sally was loath to have him go. 
 
 " I can't say any more when I know what kind he is." 
 
 ; ' What do you mean? " 
 
 " I suppose it's the new sort of romance but it would 
 never be the way I'd do " 
 
 ' You've said quite enough." Sally's head tossed 
 haughtily. " Good-by, Dean Laddbarry." 
 
 'There isn't any use, is there? I mean to keep on 
 loving you." 
 
 He spoke so simply that it made her eyes glow ten- 
 derly. After all, Dean was Dean, there was no one 
 quite like his rude precious self. 
 
 "There isn't," she said honestly; "you'll find some- 
 one lots nicer. Then you'll forget all about me." 
 
 ' You don't know how much I care," he answered 
 hoarsely, and before she could speak again he had left the 
 room and she invented polite good-bys to the family from 
 Dean. 
 
 She had forced herself to make capital of the incident 
 
 199
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 to amuse Rex. It served to please him Christmas night, 
 a highly colored version of how Dean had gone away 
 and had wanted her to come with him and ho\v she had 
 shown him her ring and he knew then she was engaged 
 to Rex Humberstone. 
 
 " I'm really quite important in your scheme of things, 
 I can see that; but I say, Sally, don't pass up any young 
 millionaires or captains of the Coldstream Guards 
 you know they're not to be had twice running. I'm 
 sure to surrender to rheumatism or something like that 
 that will shove me on the shelf. Look out for yourself 
 first, y'know, just as we agreed." 
 
 Sally laughed gayly, determined not to let him see 
 how much she cared. As yet the intense selfishness of 
 his attitude had not dawned on her. 
 
 200
 
 XIX 
 
 With the further success of Densie's exchange a new 
 element came into John Plummer's life something 
 which as a young man he had never fancied could be 
 so. It was during the summer when Densie boldly 
 rented the adjoining store to her own and started a quilt- 
 ing department, with white-haired women working in 
 the windows to attract passers-by. 
 
 John Plummer met another woman ! At first it horri- 
 fied him, but the years of small selfishness and neglect, 
 the continual contrast between his wife and other wives 
 had weakened moral perceptions and the stamina with 
 which he had been endowed. 
 
 First of all, he told himself rapidly, he still loved 
 Densie of course he did. But he had come to see 
 that there are different ways of caring for different 
 people, and that his way of loving Densie was a passive, 
 obligatory affection. At least, so he analyzed it. 
 What had really happened was that now that Densie 
 was economically independent and of no further use to 
 him in small coddling attentions he regarded her in the 
 past tense rather than the present. 
 
 This new woman was a " comrade," he very bravely 
 named her, blind to her sensational and cheap tactics. 
 She had been a second-rate actress, and failing in a ca- 
 reer she had married and divorced her husband, and 
 had a fruity bundle of domestic wrongs to tell anyone 
 who cared to listen. Long, long ago, she had a baby 
 and it died. She had also written. " Just the little 
 
 201
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 things that breathed of my very heart, and of course no 
 editor would publish them. The real things never are 
 published, you know," she told John, who agreed with 
 her. 
 
 At the present time she was giving dramatic recitals 
 of plays and readings and private elocution lessons. 
 John met her accidentally through The Golden Rule 
 Tea Store. She bought some things and there was a 
 mistake in the order. She came down to rectify it and 
 was referred to John. He had asked her to sit down 
 and explain it, and as she talked to him about the 
 " sugah " and the unfair measure of cereals he began 
 to feel fascinated. She told him her name was Mrs. 
 Iris Starr and she lived at Morningside Courts " a 
 wee box of a place." She had large, pale-blue eyes and 
 flaxen hair, noticeably flaxen; and she was tall and thin, 
 her white organdie cross-stitched with black emphasizing 
 this appearance. Her hat was a floppy leghorn with 
 plump little roses punctuating the brim, and she wore 
 strings of coral which hung below her waist and had 
 bangles on the end, and numerous rings on all her fin- 
 gers. 
 
 But she knew how to look at one appealingly and pre- 
 tend she was going to cry, and she had a faculty of mak- 
 ing a throaty quiver come into her voice as, for instance, 
 when she spoke of her " broken life " or her " brave 
 little attempts at keeping a home." 
 
 John felt very sorry for her. She seemed so graceful, 
 like a girl, and her voice was vibrant and pleasing. She 
 had a humorous side to her, which developed at a spank- 
 ing pace directly on the heels of tears. She told him 
 she could cook a dinner or go hunting, make a dress or 
 play poker equally well. " And of course my work 
 
 202
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 that comes first of all ! " Which led up to his asking 
 when the next recital would be. She gave him the name 
 of the hall and the date, two days away, and he made a 
 note of it and took a dollar ticket. 
 
 He kept thinking of Iris Starr the rest of the day 
 what a splendid sort she was, game yet beautiful, efficient 
 yet attractive. Densie lost a great deal of caste after 
 the advent of Iris Starr, and Mrs. Starr received the 
 most generous order of groceries the Golden Rule had 
 ever been known to send forth. She wrote John a tiny 
 pink note scented with lilac, thanking him and saying 
 she would look for him at the recital. 
 
 The evening of the recital John industriously got into 
 his tuxedo and groomed himself diligently. No one 
 was at home, so no one paid any attention to his actions. 
 He arrived rather early at a mediocre side hall, the re- 
 cital being given under the auspices of some church so- 
 ciety. 
 
 He was impatient with the preliminaries home-tal- 
 ent orchestra, and so forth until Mrs. Starr made her 
 appearance in a black chiffon frock embroidered with 
 gold lilies and a great deal of sparkling jet jewelry. 
 
 She did the conventional numbers scenes from 
 Shakespere, with Riley's There, Little Girl, Don't Cry 
 as an encore, and a little of Stephen Phillips, topped off 
 by Paul Dunbar's Adam Never Had No Mammy, and 
 finally the old stand-by, which proved very popular with 
 the audience The Lady of Shalott! 
 
 After the recital John found himself lingering in 
 hopes of congratulating Mrs. Starr. He supposed she 
 would go home in a cab with a bevy of admiring friends 
 and he felt he would be out of place. But the hall 
 cleared quickly and only the treasurer was left, count- 
 
 203
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 ing the money. In a street dress and hat Mrs. Starr 
 came into view, carrying a bag. She hailed him with a 
 delighted smile. 
 
 " How awfully good of you," she began, holding out 
 her hand. 
 
 " I think I'm the lucky chap," John responded. 
 
 Mrs. Starr cast an anxious eye toward the treasurer. 
 
 " Do wait a moment, I must settle this I want to 
 ask your opinion if you have time." She fluttered 
 across the room and returned presently with a rather 
 rueful expression. 
 
 'This is barnstorming!" she declared vehemently. 
 
 ' Think my night's work nets me twelve dollars and 
 
 sixty cents! You see I was on a percentage. It doesn't 
 
 seem very much when you give your whole self to it, 
 
 does it?" 
 
 She had put her hand on John's arm in a sort of shy 
 fashion and they were walking downstairs. 
 
 "I should think not!" John championed ardently. 
 " What a shame ! You deserve ten times as much it 
 must be a terrible strain on you, and you did magnifi- 
 cently." 
 
 They had reached the foot of the stairs and he looked 
 about for her cab. 
 
 " I have no coach and four," she remarked wistfully. 
 " I'll tell you a secret elocutionists have to walk these 
 days! But then, I make the best of my poor little life." 
 She paused as if to bid him good night. 
 
 " You must not go home alone," he urged. " I'd 
 be happy to see you to your door." 
 
 " You're so good," she accepted the offer hastily, and 
 John found himself more amused and interested than he 
 had been in years during the too brief walk to Mrs. 
 Starr's apartment. She did not ask him to come in, 
 
 204
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 but he learned the date of her next recital and promised 
 to come. Each understood that he was to see her home 
 as well. 
 
 He walked back jauntily. What a woman she was! 
 Clever, simple, beautiful, and a good fellow she had 
 been very wise in all she had told him ! 
 
 When Iris Starr undressed that night she looked anx- 
 iously at herself in the glass. She was growing old. 
 It was a weary age of the heart as well as the body. 
 Without her make-up and skilful hairdressing her face 
 was haggard. She counted over the money again. 
 Then she thought of John Plummer. She knew as 
 little of the business world as John did of the artistic. 
 She supposed he must be a rich man, and she knew his 
 wife kept the Woman's Exchange on Dundas Street. 
 Indeed, she had often gone in to lunch there. She could 
 see he was lonely and handsome and gullible. 
 And that he had always been loyal to his wife except 
 in vague thoughts. 
 
 "I wonder," she mused, turning off the light "I 
 wonder if I've enough ambkion left in me to amuse 
 anyone again." Then in the darkness she smiled at the 
 thought, " It wouldn't take very much brains to amuse 
 him he's quite lambish!" 
 
 John attended the next recital, and the next, and every 
 recital thereafter, accompanying Mrs. Starr home each 
 time. He procured an engagement for her through 
 one of his clubs, and she appeared at a downtown hotel, 
 creating quite a little success. By this time John went 
 in to visit with her at her apartment and was thoroughly 
 conversant with her bruised little life and planned to 
 make her a Shaksperean actress, which she certainly 
 was destined to be. The Sothern-Marlowe revival had 
 stirred her with envy, she confessed, and John gallantly 
 
 205
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 assured her that she could not only do as well but better. 
 
 The whole secret of Iris Starr's fascination for him 
 was her undiluted flattery of him. Densie never flat- 
 tered. She adored one, but when that adoration was 
 rejected or ignored she turned to other things. To flat- 
 ter was not in her make-up. Iris Starr had always 
 made her living by flattering both men and women. 
 And she was spending her last years looking for a hus- 
 band who could not control his generosity. John was an 
 easy victim. He was always kept in a standoffish 
 position she always impressed on him the fact 
 she was jeopardizing her reputation by being friends 
 with him because he was married, yet she could 
 not help it, he was so wonderful ! That in itself was 
 a ten-strike with John, and she knew it. Then she 
 had wonderful little suppers which she cooked herself, 
 and sometimes she asked in an unattractive woman 
 friend she always saw to the fact of her being unat- 
 tractive. She allowed John to send her flowers and 
 sometimes groceries, humorous as it seems and gradu- 
 ally she won from him the fact that he felt his wife and 
 himself had married too young, they had not known 
 their minds. She learned about Harriet and Sally and 
 Rex she had seen Rex and admired him from afar 
 and that his wife was making a mollycoddle out of Ken- 
 neth. Diplomatically Iris Starr laid the wires for John's 
 open rebellion against his wife. 
 
 Densie did not hear of the affair until the following 
 year, because it was the very last thing that she would 
 have believed. But Sally came home from a hotel din- 
 ner with the news that father had that elocutionist there 
 and had tried to hide behind a palm lest she see 
 him. It disturbed Sally far more than it had John. 
 Rex had laughed at it it made him rather secure with 
 
 206
 
 John Plummer, and he told Sally th?t she could not 
 expect a young, handsome daddy to stay home reading 
 Fox's Book of Martyrs until the exch.mge closed! 
 
 With customary reserve Densie made light of the mat- 
 ter before Sally. She waited until she was alone with 
 John to ask as to the truth of it. 
 
 " I've nothing to say," was his answer. 
 
 " You were there Sally saw you," she remon- 
 strated. 
 
 " Yes, I was and I've been to see her. You don't 
 care what I do, Densie, and there is nothing wrong about 
 the thing. There isn't a finer, nobler woman than Iris 
 Starr. Talk about a hard life that woman's experi- 
 ences would fill any two books! I met her acci- 
 dentally fate, she calls it and I'm sure there's no 
 harm in knowing her. I'll ask her up here if you like." 
 
 Which was a bluff, and Densie knew it. 
 
 " Don't bother. I'm content if you are. Only how 
 would you like to see me taking dinner with a strange 
 man?" 
 
 John laughed. It was so impossible to think of Den- 
 sie's so doing. " Come, dear, maybe I shouldn't have 
 taken her to dinner. It was the first time, on my honor. 
 But she has a rocky time of it to make her way, and a 
 little cheer helps her out. She interests me because she 
 is different from anyone I know. We are merely good 
 friends. You and I are man and wife," he added bru- 
 tally, " but, by Jove, I've come to see that we are not 
 friends." 
 
 "Have you?" she said sadly. u I'm so sorry." 
 ' You wouldn't give an inch in your ideas which 
 never does in any partnership." 
 
 Densie did not answer. 
 
 Presently John burst out: "What about Sally and 
 
 207
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Rex and their engagement? Is that any worse than my 
 taking Mrs. Starr to dinner? " 
 
 " Don't you know only guilty people try defending 
 themselves by comparison? " she asked soberly. 
 
 " I'm not defending myself, but if you have a business 
 of your own and run it to suit yourself I have a right 
 to run my business and my affairs " 
 
 " Do you want to marry her? " she said in the same 
 sober manner. 
 
 " Great heavens, no ! " Though he began wondering 
 at that very instant whether or not he did want to marry 
 Iris Starr. "What are you driving at?" 
 
 " Because if you do you can," she informed him. 
 ' We don't seem to make each other any the more happy 
 by being together." 
 
 " I've no idea of upsetting everyone at this stage of 
 the game. I just said early marriages are a mistake." 
 
 " I see." 
 
 And Densie refused to speak of the matter again. 
 Whatever came to her ears she kept her own counsel 
 concerning; she did not even discuss it with Sally, who 
 made indignant protests. It was John's problem, let 
 him deal with it as he would. Densie had seen Mrs. 
 Starr once, and she smiled in amusement at the disillu- 
 sionment that was waiting for John should his good for- 
 tune ever fail him. But to all appearances she remained 
 the childlike wife of a man who did no wrong in her eyes, 
 and she devoted herself to the exchange so that at the 
 end of the year she figured up she had made as much 
 money as John and had paid her fair share of the ex- 
 penses besides buying her own and Kenneth's clothes. 
 Iris Starr comrades are expensive trifles. 
 
 Lucy Parks died at the holiday season; she had been 
 ailing a long time, only Densie had seen to it that she 
 
 208
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 had care. There was enough money to bury her de- 
 cently, and the Plummer family and Miss Hatton, more 
 eccentric than ever these days, were the sole mourners. 
 
 The little old lady's death sobered them for an instant; 
 she recalled memories, and again reminded them that 
 there must come an end to all things even Rex Hum- 
 berstone and Iris Starr and the Woman's Exchange. 
 Kenneth took her death the most to heart. 
 
 " Why didn't she marry and have lots of children 
 to bury her?" he demanded several days afterward. 
 
 " Because her lover v/as killed at Gettysburg, and she 
 was loyal." 
 
 "Couldn't she love someone else?" 
 
 " People didn't as much as they do now." 
 
 " Isn't it right to love someone else? " 
 
 " I guess so, Kenneth why? " 
 
 " I was thinking how nice it would be if you loved 
 someone else, and daddy loved someone else, and Sally 
 loved Dean instead of Rex, and Harry would love some- 
 one and we'd all start in again." 
 
 ' Why don't you want us to stay the way we are? " 
 his mother asked thoughtfully. 
 
 " I don't know all the old love seems to have worn 
 out." Then he added, " I guess I'll have to get a girl 
 myself. All the boys have one. Cy has a girl, and 
 Mark has a girl, and so has Tommy Kane. I'd like 
 Cy's girl, but Cy wouldn't stand for it. I could have a 
 girl, but I don't want her; she's an Eyetalian and when 
 she hands out the papers in school she whispers, ' I love 
 you,' when she passes me. That don't go I'd rather 
 be the one to whisper it." 
 
 'Thank heaven!" murmured Densie between a tear 
 and a laugh. "An old-fashioned son!" 
 
 The next week a great honor befell Densie, as un- 
 
 209
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 expected as had been the success of her exchange. She 
 was elected state president of the federation of clubs, 
 because of her unusual achievement in the matter of 
 the exchange. She had not realized how victorious she 
 had been. This meant she must give less of her time 
 to the exchange and more to club life. She recalled the 
 shabby little delegate to New York some years before, 
 and how she would now wield the gavel and greet other 
 shabby delegates. 
 
 When she told John the news he went out and bought 
 Iris Starr a gold watch and chain. After a soulful talk, 
 inspired by said watch and chain, Iris said diplomatically : 
 " It seems to me divorce is quite as ethical as marriage. 
 You must remember we are living in a new age and 
 people are being divorced for many reasons. They sel- 
 dom wait for horrid, sordid happenings. The main rea- 
 son and the most ethical one is that they are true to their 
 own selves." 
 
 John had listened spellbound as she concluded : " The 
 only real sin about caring for someone is the hiding it. 
 When a woman fails to grow and develop with her hus- 
 band she should renounce him without question when he 
 has found a true love. That is only justice." 
 
 With a whirling head John agreed and felt strangely 
 elated. 
 
 210
 
 XX 
 
 During the close of the year Maude Hatton became 
 a princess, with a different frock for each hour of the 
 day, and she called Densie her lady-in-waiting and re- 
 buked her when she failed to carry her pink satin train 
 as she wished! The old lady's mind had failed sadly 
 since Lucy Park's death, but she stayed on in her soli- 
 tary room, too feeble to work except odds and ends for 
 Densie's exchange, and protesting vigorously if anyone 
 attempted to do anything for her. 
 
 They finally sent for Densie, and after a little man- 
 agement Densie took the princess to her palace for 
 to the faded old eyes the asylum was a veritable mansion 
 of red brick with lawns and gardens and many courtiers 
 waiting for their queen! She was quite happy, for she 
 felt she had come into her own, she told Densie, and she 
 was willing to say good-by and be left in state, her gray 
 head nodding and bobbing royal greetings to all who 
 passed. 
 
 Densie left her with a greater feeling of regret than 
 when she had driven home from Lucy Parks' funeral. 
 With tender pity she looked through the insane woman's 
 possessions such a stunted, meager little life as it 
 had been, after all. In the brass-bound trunk, which 
 had been Maude Hatton's father's, was the history of 
 her life the scraps of her first party dress, yellowed 
 old letters, and in a faded plush box lay the evidences of 
 her one great romance, the little bangle bracelet, the pic- 
 ture of a soldier lad taken in Sixty-One, a few letters, 
 
 211
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 some poems he had copied for her in a flowing beflour- 
 ished hand they were clear and legible even yet 
 Who is Sylvia; and one of her favorite hymns. 
 
 Densie burned everything; she felt no one else had 
 the right to pry into the spinster's withered dreams. 
 Had she been at the Little House they would have been 
 put in the attic, but in her present circumstances the fur- 
 nace was the kindly alternative. 
 
 No one missed Maude Hatton. It was a relief to 
 Sally and Kenneth, for they had long been messengers 
 up to the old lady's rooms. When Densie told John 
 what had happened he said he wished she might not last 
 long, that growing old was a mighty monster after every 
 
 last one of us He merely thought of the incident 
 
 as applying to his possible future. 
 
 For John Plummer and Iris Starr were at that de- 
 lightful stage of a mild, middle-aged intrigue wherein 
 they were longing to begin all over again, " knowing 
 what we do now " and planning to remodel the universe 
 on original lines. 
 
 Densie knew something of what was transpiring, but 
 she paid little attention to it. Pride caused her to seem 
 indifferent, and whenever she saw Iris Starr her sense 
 of humor got the better of her and she could have scolded 
 John as she scolded Kenneth. She was amused at the 
 pensive attitude John assumed when she was at home 
 with him, the bored way in which he sat at the table 
 and kept up a desultory conversation and how he rushed 
 away to go to Iris Starr's apartment and be properly ap- 
 preciated by having a " soul massage," as Densie named 
 her treatment of him. 
 
 Once when she had asked John about the ending of 
 the affair he vigorously protested against the thought of 
 a divorce : that held a certain old-time horror for him. 
 
 212
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 There were the children to consider, though many of 
 his friends were divorced, even after their own children 
 had married men who married " too young to know 
 their minds," he told Densie. 
 
 " It is not fair to Mrs. Starr, John, to take up her 
 time," Densie had argued; " and it is not pleasant for 
 Sally to keep meeting you like an eloping couple at 
 every secluded dining room in town." She did not men- 
 tion herself. 
 
 " I wish you'd understand the thing fairly. Why are 
 women narrow-minded?" he fumed. 
 
 " It seems to me I understand it very well; ordinarily 
 I should have been lost in tears and reproaches." 
 
 He looked at her a moment without speaking. Then 
 he said: " I don't think the less of you, Densie; you're 
 the children's mother. Only we have different ideas, 
 and nowadays one is not expected to coop himself up 
 in a two-by-four run and not be permitted any frankness 
 of opinions." 
 
 " Don't apologize ! " 
 
 " By the way. I've had a squeeze for money this 
 month: could you manage with half the allowance?" 
 
 John was thinking and had been thinking that if a 
 woman earned as much money as Densie did it was only 
 fair that she use some of it for expenses in the house. 
 Ten years ago he would have protested against such an 
 idea. But it was in keeping with the rest of his mod- 
 ernism. 
 
 " Certainly," she said. " I've expected this for a long 
 while." 
 
 Despite his splutterings she would not argue the mat- 
 ter. 
 
 John's affair with Iris Starr was as laughable as a 
 grown dog's trying to chew up cook's rubbers and a little 
 
 213
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 soap. It was a puppy-dog sort of escapade which should 
 have taken place twenty years before and, like all 
 grown-up dogs who attempt chewing up rubbers or soap, 
 everyone called him mad and gave him a prompt court- 
 martial. John was really misjudged. 
 
 Iris Starr did not misjudge him, for she was clever in 
 her shallow way and could understand the exact circum- 
 stances. She knew she had a difficult hand to play, and 
 unless she played it skillfully she would lose the chance 
 to marry him. She wanted to marry John he was 
 attractive personally, she could domineer over him, and 
 to her way of thinking he held a " wonderful position." 
 His wife did not understand or appreciate him; now- 
 adays to get a divorce round forty-five or fifty and marry 
 someone else was quite a common occurrence. Iris had 
 known the seamy side of romance far more than John 
 suspected. She saw to it that he looked upon her as a 
 helpless, injured woman with unappreciated genius, due 
 to her timid ladylike ability not to make herself heard; 
 and with all this was the longing to be his home keeper, 
 his mental inspiration, his romantic ideal! 
 
 Iris had managed to convey this impression gradually, 
 she could see that John had been the father of a family 
 for so long that it would require clever handling to lead 
 him bodily into the divorce court. She also made him 
 feel that her present position in the matter was almost 
 tragic unless it was short-lived; that to acknowledge 
 John Plummer, a married man, as her great friend was 
 damning to her work and her conscience, and yet 
 here the pale blue eyes looked like stars with a hint of 
 tears to veil them prettily she cared so much for him 
 that she was willing to brave social ostracism and to wait 
 until he could divorce his wife or vice versa and they 
 
 214
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 be married. Iris had been divorced a pitiful tale as 
 she told it. She said the judge was very tender with 
 her and had denounced her husband bitterly from the 
 bench. 
 
 This propaganda was accompanied with a good steak 
 nicely broiled and swimming in butter sauce or some 
 other delicacy John liked and did not have at the flat 
 since the advent of the Scandinavian handmaiden; or 
 else it was told him when they were sitting on the roof 
 of the apartment house, which she had converted into a 
 little box garden, John swinging in the hammock and 
 smoking in contentment and Iris in a lavendery silk with 
 fluttering silver ribbons sitting opposite in a steamer 
 chair, her pale yellow hair in thick braids round her oval 
 head. 
 
 She used to send John home at half past nine very 
 punctiliously, and whenever he came home with her from 
 a recital she always had Katiebel Drummond, a cross- 
 eyed spinister with the additional charm of a goiter 
 waiting to be a proper chaperone, and contrast. 
 
 In very short time John adored Iris; he looked upon 
 her as a " pale blossom which must be tenderly cher- 
 ished " and so forth, and told himself to be careful never 
 to shock or startle her in any way. One could have 
 smiled at John's careful toilet, the slicking-back of his 
 hair and flaunting of new ties. At John's age it was 
 pitiful to behold. 
 
 " We can't drift, Iris," he said one winter evening 
 when they were having one of their feasts. " I wonder 
 if I have the right to to ask my wife for freedom." 
 
 He winced as he spoke of Densie before her; strangely 
 enough it seemed a sacrilege. 
 
 " I don't see why you can't," Iris said almost too ea- 
 gerly. " She doesn't want you no woman wants a 
 
 215
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 man if she goes into clubs and keeps a shop. I'm so 
 lonesome ! " She held out her slender white hands 
 dramatically. 
 
 " It is a little hard after all our lives together " 
 
 " Habit," she answered harshly. " Besides, I've no 
 doubt she'd rather have her freedom. Your children 
 are growing up. Let her take your boy, and let the girls 
 look out for themselves." 
 
 Then she realized she had spoken a little too honestly 
 and she became noncommittal and shy during the rest 
 of the evening. But before John left she had his prom- 
 ise for a talk with Densie and the loan of a hundred dol- 
 lars. 
 
 " Just consider it business, Iris, and think of me as if 
 I were a bank and you borrowed it at six per cent," John 
 had argued. 
 
 She had had several of these " loans from a bank." 
 After he left she went about the house humming. It 
 seemed that here was a haven at last. She was weary 
 of hand-to-mouth existence and she would not do any 
 regular work. John was going to marry and take care 
 of her as long as she had brains enough to make him 
 want to marry her! She smiled triumphantly and 
 nodded to herself as she passed a mirror. 
 
 " I think you'll be wise enough this time," she told 
 herself. 
 
 While John Plummer and Iris were planning to re- 
 build their world to their liking Sally Plummer was 
 learning that a dishonest, unreal love breeds ugliness in 
 one's soul, and that she was at a standstill with Rex 
 Humberstone though caring for him in the same infatu- 
 ated manner. 
 
 With her impetuous nature Sally was becoming tragic 
 and unreasonable, perverted in her viewpoint and addled 
 
 216
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 as to a proper sense of values. She told herself she had 
 a hold on Rex, blushing as she did so. He would not 
 dare cast her off like a worn-out glove. She could re- 
 main his financee to everyone's opinion if she chose to do 
 so. She had lied so much for and about him and to 
 herself that she felt a determined recklessness. She had 
 cast her lot with Rex. Other girls had done the same 
 with other men, she discovered, as she went round with 
 him month after month other pale young girls, over- 
 dressed, accompanying cynical men of the world who 
 merely rejoiced in surrounding themselves with youth 
 and who had no intention of marrying them and assum- 
 ing the cares and obligations of such a relationship ! 
 These cynical men of the world would have gallantly 
 argued that there was no harm in what they 
 did, they did not force these young persons to 
 become their companions neither were they harming 
 them in any way. Well, it is an old beau's art to be 
 evasive, yet to gain his own selfish end'! 
 
 Sally herself could not explain the exact wrong in the 
 condition. It usually began, as her own affair had, 
 with a young girl's being discontented at home and flat- 
 tered by someone like Rex, with the young girl's fall- 
 ing a prey to his charms, which the man displayed 'as 
 wisely as a jeweler does his wares, making boys seem 
 penurious, immature boors by contrast, and gradually 
 the young girl becomes so fascinated with the older 
 man, so changed in her views of life, her standards for 
 pleasure, her belittling of worth and saving that the 
 boys regard her as " different " and pass her by. Not 
 until years elapse, as with Sally, does that normal, 
 hungry longing to be someone's wife and home maker 
 come to her, the pang of envy when she passes 
 by new babies in white prams with huge bows on 
 
 217
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 the snowy afghans, which are proudly wheeled by 
 the young girl mothers who have married the boys 
 and dispensed with a few eight-dollar dinners or fif- 
 teen-dollar auto drives. It seemed to Sally when she 
 met some of her former friends as if she were peering 
 through the outer bars to a lost paradise. 
 
 This was what was slowly happening. It would have 
 crushed some girls, but with Sally it developed defiance. 
 At twenty-four she was as sophisticated as a woman of 
 forty in some ways the disillusionment of romance, 
 for example. She had gone her way, disregarding her 
 mother, and now a fierce pride would not let her admit 
 to either her mother or her friends that she was any- 
 thing but content. She said Rex did not want to marry 
 her because he wanted to build just such a style house 
 men have such set ideas, you know, not like a boy, con- 
 tent with love in a cottage ! After this excuse wore out 
 she said she did not want to give up her freedom, there 
 was plenty of time and she was having too good a time; 
 she made her foolish little painting daubs a shield but 
 everyone saw through and over and round the shield, 
 and only smiled in pity. Sally wanted to do her own 
 work in her own way, she would insist, and when one 
 married well one could not do as he wished, and 
 so she thought she would wait a little longer! All the 
 time the brilliant ring haunted her with its useless bind- 
 ing beauty. It was a far handsomer ring than any of 
 her girl friends had had but they had added a wed- 
 ding band long ago ! 
 
 Sally used to argue with herself to become convinced 
 this was the true state of affairs and she was happy. 
 She forced herself to be content; then by force of con- 
 trast she would become savage toward Rex and indulge 
 
 218
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 in wild moods, during which she upbraided him and he 
 sat frowning and sipping a cordial, saying: 
 
 " Come, Sally, wrinkles don't become that pretty fore- 
 head. You know I've always been frank with you 
 there isn't anyone I like half so much. Do be your jolly 
 self and let's shoo the worries off! " 
 
 After brief periods of rebelling and resolving to go 
 away and make Rex realize that if he really cared enough 
 for her to marry her he must do so, Sally would try to 
 school herself not to see him for a week. To this he 
 would laughingly agree, but within a few days Sally 
 would have called him up and meekly asked him to come 
 and take her driving! 
 
 " It isn't real love, Rex; I do know that much," she 
 said one day during the January of 1910. " It is some- 
 thing terribly like it the same as a reconstructed jewel 
 can almost fool an expert. It is a ghastly sort of emo- 
 tion that can engulf you and yet even while it does 
 so you realize it is not real! " 
 
 They had driven to the country club and were loung- 
 ing before an open fire. 
 
 " Ah, Sally, you're going to have me on the rack 
 again, aren't you? How pretty you look," he kissed his 
 finger tips to her but she shook her head. 
 
 There had been a time when a compliment would have 
 swayed her from earnest discussion, but that was past 
 it was more often the signal for a battle. She had 
 learned to know the seductive influence of such compli- 
 ments. In reality Sally was suffering from cabin fever, 
 as her mother had suffered from it years before. One 
 can have cabin fever in a white-marble palace as well as a 
 desert lean-to. Rex was the cause of Sally's cabin fever. 
 
 " Don't drag in those things when I try to be serious," 
 
 219
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 she pouted, standing up to throw off her coat, unaided, 
 and settle herself before the fire. 
 
 Rex looked at her critically. With all her tantrums 
 Sally had not begun to fade. She looked older than her 
 twenty-four years, but a beautiful sort of woman of 
 whom he could not help being proud. 
 
 " If you will be serious I shall stand it, because I can 
 look at you and think how lovely you are." He put the 
 tips of his white fingers together. 
 
 " You don't seem to realize that I cannot give up my 
 girlhood and my womanhood to you just trot round 
 half engaged and half not engaged, wearing your ring 
 and never being able to say when I'm to be married. I 
 should think you would want to be married," she added 
 rather rudely. " What will you be twenty years from 
 now? A lonely old man in a lonely old hotel " 
 
 "No; a mummy," he corrected, chuckling. 
 
 " Your humor is out of place. The whole thing is 
 this I shall not keep on knowing you unless we are 
 engaged." 
 
 She bit her under lip as she spoke, for she hated these 
 scenes as much as Rex did; they always seemed to Sally 
 " so unfair to have to have " she could not see why 
 he did not settle the question properly, as Dean Ladd- 
 barry would have done. 
 
 "No, I suppose not," he answered, to her surprise; 
 " but I could never make you happy I'm beastly set 
 in my ways, and you'd better wait. At thirty you will 
 pick out a duke and then give an old pal a thought, 
 won't you? " 
 
 " What duke will pick me out at thirty? With every- 
 one saying, ' She has loved Rex Humberstone for over 
 ten years, and he never wanted to marry her just mo- 
 nopolize her I ' Sally turned her face away from him. 
 
 220
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " Ahem ! Stormy weather, mates ; very stormy 
 weather ! Here, Sally, all the time you've been rag- 
 ging me I had this in my pocket." He drew out a 
 white kid case in which was a handsome sapphire pin. 
 
 Sally's eyes sparkled as she spied it. " What is this 
 for?" She could not refrain from adding: " Breach- 
 of-promise present? " 
 
 " A splendid way to thank a chap," he drawled, laugh- 
 ing at her impertinence. "No; just a reminder that 
 nothing is too good for you, and therefore I am not good 
 enough! Come on, pal, put it on your lace collar and 
 give us a smile. Haven't I earned it? " 
 
 " I'd rather be engaged," she protested. Then she 
 gave a sharp exclamation. " It is hideous to have to 
 talk this way to a man! My mother never mentioned 
 such things first." 
 
 " I can quite believe it," he sneered. 
 
 Sally turned on him in indignation. " You don't like 
 mummy because she is old-fashioned and has ideals. 
 But she is worth ten of you or I. Only I have disap- 
 pointed her, and now it is too late. We all disappointed 
 her, so she went to find her own salvation. For one, I 
 say she was right. She has made a success in spite of 
 us, Rex; not because of us." 
 
 " She's a clever woman," he applauded sardonically. 
 " I'm sure I never said otherwise." 
 
 " She is more than clever she is good." Sally was 
 thoughtful, her great gold eyes watching the fire crackle. 
 " But everything seems changing. Here is father mak- 
 ing an idiot of himself over Iris Starr, and mummy 
 knows it. Fancy preferring that inane old doll with a 
 professional smile and a flock of bangle bracelets to 
 mummy. And there's Harriet growing more like a ma- 
 chine and less like a human being. Sometime she'll 
 
 221
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 wake up and find herself turned into a typewriter or a 
 filing cabinet!" Sally laughed at her own nonsense. 
 Her sense of humor invariably tripped in to rescue her 
 from the depths. " And Ken has downy lips, and his 
 voice is a soprano one moment and a basso profundo the 
 next. .Poor old Ken, he's going to have a chance to 
 benefit from our mistakes. He says he is going to be 
 a soldier a captain, if you please. I think he wants 
 to wage war on all flat dwellers! '" 
 
 " Aha, we're ourselves again." 
 
 Rex was delighted. His nerves gave warning when- 
 ever Sally had a scene. He might have called it 
 conscience but he had long preferred the other name. 
 
 "How do you really make all your money?" she 
 asked abruptly. 
 
 " Gambling with someone's else money," he an- 
 swered lazily. He usually told her the truth about 
 business because he knew he could trust her. 
 
 " That isn't right." 
 
 " Right things never interested me." 
 
 Sally was silent. She was also admitting another hu- 
 miliating thing that she was consumed with strange 
 jealousy concerning his past life, she wanted to know 
 everything that had transpired; she felt herself on a 
 level with the woman who goes through her husband's 
 pockets while he sleeps. Yet the thwarted heart of her 
 was bound to have an outlet, and since she had made 
 Rex the sum total of her existence she was forced to 
 expend her energy upon him in some direction. Jeal- 
 ousy at best is a humiliating trait and to Sally, 
 naturally without it, it was an acquired one and there- 
 fore twice as vivid in its effects. She was jealous of 
 this blase man of the world who had psychically stolen 
 her youth and held her apart from her own kind. 
 
 222
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Presently she gave up trying to pin Rex down to any- 
 thing definite, and in abandonment became unnaturally 
 hilarious, thereby making Rex feel that Sally's gay mo- 
 ments were worth having to stand for the rough ones, 
 for she was the best tonic of which he knew, and she 
 was as pretty as the day he had first met her. 
 
 223
 
 XXI 
 
 When Sally Plummer returned from the country-club 
 trip the afternoon Rex Humberstone gave her the sap- 
 phire pin she found her mother and a secondhand man 
 going over the flat and making notations of articles and 
 prices. 
 
 After the man left, Densie said briefly, " I've decided 
 to move into the King's Court Apartments; I cannot neg- 
 lect the flat and I have no time to take care of it." 
 
 "Those are horribly expensive places!" Sally's eyes 
 were wide open. 
 
 " I know, but I've been appointed district suffrage 
 leader and it pay^a fair wage. With my exchange I 
 can manage the rent myself." 
 
 " How in the world will you have time for the ex- 
 change? " 
 
 " I've a manager, a woman who needed the work." 
 Densie could have added : " A woman such as I was a 
 few years ago with cabin fever." But she only ex- 
 plained: " She will take complete charge. I've come to 
 see that I cannot have a flat and a business too. Har- 
 riet is never with us, and you and daddy are away much 
 of the time." 
 
 " Will you sell everything? " 
 
 " Yes, I want something modern. I've a decorator in 
 mind who can do the apartment for me; he did my 
 exchange. I shall be entertaining a little, you see." 
 
 Sally was rather amazed. This seemed a new and 
 strange mummy. She did not know that Densie ex- 
 
 224
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 pectecf John to ask for a divorce, and she planned on 
 the apartment as her permanent home. 
 
 " How many rooms are there? " 
 
 " Five and a kitchenette. We can get our dinners 
 where we like; I shall have a light breakfast in the living 
 
 room." 
 
 Densie was businesslike as she spoke. She did not 
 ask Sally if she approved or as to her views. Sally 
 could not but recall the day they moved into the flat and 
 Densie had been so eager to please everyone else first 
 and herself last of all. 
 
 " I'm sure it will be very nice," she mentioned meekly. 
 She lingered about as her mother looked through a pile 
 of books. " I'm I'm very tired of not doing some- 
 thing," she said wistfully; she was regretting the breach 
 that had come between them. 
 
 " Why don't you do something? " Densie asked hope- 
 fully. " It is not too late to forget Hfex. I had a letter 
 from Dean this morning; he sent you his love and he is 
 doing very well." 
 
 Sally shook her head. " I can't forget Rex. He 
 isn't the sort that lets himself be forgotten. Mummy, 
 what got into me four years ago?" 
 
 " I don't know, dear; I tried to find out, but your 
 heart seemed to just lock itself up and we were stran- 
 gers." 
 
 Sally came and laid her head on her mother's shoulder. 
 "Do you think Rex will ever marry me?" She was 
 like a disconsolate child. 
 
 To her horrified surprise Densie felt a bewildered 
 impatience as John used to feel when some of these 
 " woman " things strayed into his path. Like John she 
 wanted to take her hat and go downtown! 
 
 " I don't know," she repeated; " I have hardly seen 
 
 225
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Rex, and I have steeled myself to indifference." 
 Vaguely she patted Sally's hair. " Why don't you go 
 away go visit Harriet? She might be good for you 
 at this time. Harriet has the poise and power you need, 
 and she needs your sweetness and gayety. Stay with her 
 a few weeks and find yourself." 
 
 It seemed to Densie this was the best way out of the 
 matter. Yet underneath the coating of ice flowed the 
 swift warm current of her heart only she had kept 
 the ice as a shield against any further assaults! 
 
 " Perhaps I will I do need someone. Would you 
 mind if I went now, mummy? There's the mov- 
 ing " 
 
 " Go to-night," said Densie as unconcernedly as John 
 might have been. " I shan't do any work about the 
 moving, it is being done for me." 
 
 Sally hesitated still further. " Of course, I haven't 
 been doing much work lately not as much as I ought 
 to have done, and " 
 
 "Is it money?" Densie smiled. She had learned 
 that money was the easiest thing in the world both to 
 earn and to give. She went to her desk and wrote a 
 check. " Now, run along and get your ticket and 
 don't come home until you have found how wrong it is 
 to waste yourself on a man who neither wants nor de- 
 serves you." 
 
 The sensible advice might have been snapped out by a 
 bank president to his erring cashier. They seemed for- 
 eign words coming from Densie's small, gentle self. 
 
 Inspired by the idea, Sally obeyed, and after a little 
 more sorting out of things Densie went down to the 
 decorator's establishment. 
 
 Before Sally left for New York she did not go 
 for three days because she could not resist telling Rex 
 
 226
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 that it was to be a farewell and then accepting his good- 
 by dinner the flat had been rented and the decorators 
 were busy at the new apartment. It was known as Mrs. 
 Densie Plummer's apartment, which John noted in grim 
 but helpless disapproval. Iris Starr also noted it and 
 took pains to impress on him his extreme manliness and 
 her extreme dependency. 
 
 While Sally was away the Pkimmers moved into the 
 smart, expensive apartment one of the best in the 
 city, and renting for a hundred a month. It consisted 
 of a living room in old rose and gray with French prints 
 and silvered firedogs and floor cushions of black velvet. 
 It was not at all homelike but distinctly clever, there was 
 no denying that. A baby-grand player replaced the old 
 ebonized upright, and Densie's desk, a curlicue-legged, 
 rosewood affair, was the busiest-looking spot in the room, 
 heaped with correspondence and all manner of memoran- 
 dums, while a rose-shaded reading lamp stood close at 
 hand. The only live thing in the room was a globe of 
 goldfish, so Kenneth mournfully remarked. 
 
 The bedrooms were equally clever Sally's in pink, 
 and John's and Kenneth's in severe arts and crafts, while 
 Densie blossomed forth in French blue and gold with 
 Empire furniture finished in dull ivory. The arrange- 
 ments for breakfast were smothered in the kitchenette 
 and allowed to come forth only during the brief respite 
 of coffee and toast making, and a vacuum cleaner was 
 hastily rolled over stray crumbs, the janitor's wife doing 
 the dishes. 
 
 Nor did Densie's moving end with a change of house 
 and furnishings. Smart wearing apparel was her next 
 step in advance. She saw that as president of the feder- 
 ation and suffrage leader she must be properly gowned. 
 As owner of the exchange a quaint dress was quite the 
 
 227
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 thing, but that would no longer do. Sally's wardrobe 
 fell behind in comparison with her mother's. Trim rows 
 of boots and slippers, silk stockings and underwear, very 
 short and fluffy gowns, hats with French labels, and a 
 good brooch and a string of white coral, with the con- 
 stant aid of curling irons and Madame Somebody's 
 astringent cream and vanishing power soon transformed 
 John Plummer's wife into Mrs. Densie Plummer, one 
 of our most prominent clubwomen, as the papers gra- 
 ciously began to call her. 
 
 When Kenneth came into the apartment from skating, 
 one day after the removal, and saw his mother dressed 
 for some evening affair, in a Chinese blue-satin creation 
 with a petunia-colored cape for contrast and gold-tinsel 
 slippers, the pretty brown hair properly fluffed and her 
 newly manicured hands buttoning long white gloves, he 
 fell into a chair and let his skates drop recklessly on the 
 new rose rug. 
 
 " All you need is a new husband," he said in irrever- 
 ent praise. 
 
 At which Densie laughed and thought with a quick 
 pain that the leaven had been willing, but the lump was 
 heavy! She kissed him good-by and gave him a dollar 
 for his dinner, leaving a memorandum for John that she 
 would not be home until late. As she was about to turn 
 off the lights of the modern salon she saw her charm- 
 ing reflection in a mirror and felt the goodness of having 
 silken hose and undergarments, a properly modern 
 frock, the strange joy of having earned it herself she 
 began to feel young, as young as John Plummer felt when 
 Iris Starr called him her misunderstood boy, and far 
 younger than Sally, who was trying to find herself with 
 the aid of Harriet's statistical self. 
 
 " A new husband " she laughed out loud as she 
 
 228
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 passed down the hall. What ideas youngsters of to-day 
 had! Then she dismissed her family as John used to dis- 
 miss it as he went out of the gate each morning for 
 the evening affair was one of importance and she ex- 
 pected to accomplish a great deal more than was sus- 
 pected for the time being. Densie was the politician of 
 the family these days! 
 
 229
 
 XXII 
 
 Sally at twenty-five, dispirited and sad of heart, and 
 Harriet at twenty-seven, successful and impersonal to- 
 ward all mankind were a strange contrast. Sally 
 looked forward to seeing Harriet; she hoped the latter's 
 common sense would help her through the period of 
 anguish resulting from giving up Rex. Like most of her 
 fellow creatures Sally was in search of a crutch upon 
 which to limp out of a bad situation. She did not yet 
 realize that other people cannot act as crutches in serious 
 matters, and she would have to stand on her own small 
 feet and walk out quite unhampered by someone else's 
 moral suasion. 
 
 Harriet was as kind to Sally as she knew how to be. 
 She had so lived apart from love affairs that to go to 
 her for their solution was like asking her to decide the 
 advisability of the south of China's compelling the north 
 of China to become a republic and to have all their 
 males' cues cut off instanter ! It was interestisng and 
 different, and she took an impersonal pleasure in hear- 
 ing Sally's jumbled little story. 
 
 Leila Cochrane had been Harriet's only human ele- 
 ment; and Leila, who was nothing but an inane cling- 
 ing vine " with a baby-blue smile," as Sally told her 
 mother, had never had an original idea in her life. Sally 
 had also described the situation as: "Harriet foots the 
 bills and lets Leila do as she likes. Harriet says Leila 
 mends her stockings and makes nice cinnamon toast 
 that is as far as their attraction goes. And Leila pre- 
 230
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 tends to understand all Harriet's big ideas and to copy 
 her in her clothes but underneath it all she is a little 
 freckle-faced fraud ! " Needless to say, Leila and Sally 
 did not grow fond of each other, hence Sally's uncom- 
 plimentary but truthful analysis. 
 
 Sally found Harriet had a streak of gray in her black 
 hair, premature gray from excessive study and lack of 
 nourishment. She wore an attractive sort of clothes, 
 the exclusive, severe, simple sort made "for people 
 who appreciate the Satires of Horace," was Sally's way 
 of describing her sister's wardrobe. To Sally's surprise 
 her sister owned a showy little-finger ring, a great fire 
 opal set in dull gold. Harriet's vanity was asserting 
 itself in spite of her. 
 
 " How in the world did you come to buy it? " Sally 
 demanded. 
 
 Harriet almost blushed. " Extra money I earned 
 from committee work it appealed to me. I don't 
 know why." 
 
 Sally shook her finger at her. " You will be frivolous 
 in spite of yourself; I remember when you wouldn't have 
 worn a gold safety pin." 
 
 " We change you've changed. You're not as gay 
 and shallow something has happened to your eyes. 
 Let me see," Harriet's sober black ones studied her sis- 
 ter's face for a long time. Then all she said was a 
 brutal, " They look stabbed." 
 
 Sally's chin quivered. " I want to ask you all about 
 it; mummy is so busy and different I can't ask her as I 
 would have once." 
 
 ' Tell me after supper." 
 
 Harriet frowned. She had not learned to give of 
 herself. To look at some incident or happening or re- 
 sult of a happening was interesting, she immediately 
 
 231
 
 analyzed it and made a definite deduction as to its effects 
 being good or bad. But to be a sympathizing, consoling 
 element was not within her possibilities. However, 
 Sally was her sister and it was her duty, so she steeled 
 herself for the ordeal. 
 
 Harriet and Leila had an attractive apartment in its 
 way, strewn with articles of good taste and quality. 
 Harriet had decidedly patrician ideas as to her surround- 
 ings. She spent her large salary as fast as she earned 
 it, and out of all her earnings she had saved but a paltry 
 five hundred dollars. She paid more for her clothes 
 than Sally did. Sally would go to a remnant sale, select 
 odds and ends, clean, repaint even, or twist and turn 
 and lo, she had a creation. Harriet could not wield a 
 needle, her fingers were always clasped about a book or 
 a pen, and she bought lavshiiy of what she wished and 
 took no heed for the morrow. She knew she had un- 
 usual ability in the direction of her work and her advance- 
 ment would be steady. Saving was something that had 
 never interested her. 
 
 After a formal supper, with Leila doing the dishes 
 and trying to catch a whisper as she passed in and out, 
 Harriet and Sally sat down to talk, Harriet like a judge 
 impartially awaiting the evidence ! It did not take Sally 
 long to tell Harriet one of Harriet's charms was her 
 keen way of grasping a situation; it was like Aunt Sally. 
 
 Briefly Sally confessed the whole wretched affair, end- 
 ing with the craving for a home and children, to be like 
 other girls, stretching out her little fingers, the diamond 
 ring sparkling away in triumph. 
 
 " He is too old for you," began Harriet shrewdly. 
 
 At which Sally interrupted to say that she did not 
 care about age, she loved him, he made her love him, 
 
 232
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 but he had stolen her girlhood and caused her to become 
 old before her time. No boy would ever love her now, 
 nor could she love any boy. 
 
 " And you don't think you've enough talent to come 
 to New York as an artist?" Harriet said unwillingly, 
 thinking that if Sally should come it would be her 
 Harriet's duty to say to Leila that her sister must be 
 her comrade instead of Leila. This Harriet did not 
 want to do. 
 
 Sally shook her head. " I've lost my chance at ever 
 working. I've wasted my time trying to tempt and 
 please Rex. He's a way of making you stay concert 
 pitch when he is about. I can't do anything but love 
 someone, Harriet." 
 
 Harriet frowned. " You are weak." She looked at 
 her sister with characteristic disapproval. " If your en- 
 vironment had been different you could have been a 
 model Victorian wife like mummy, all bows and 
 ruffles, and singing hymns in a meek little voice. Or 
 else you could have been quite impossible, what we call 
 a ' borderland ' girl, lacking in moral perceptions." 
 
 She spoke so calmly that Sally felt as a butterfly on a 
 pin, having some scientist clumsily point out the spots 
 on the wings. 
 
 She did not answer. 
 
 " I'm sure I don't know what to say I'm not up on 
 romance. It seems to me you are to blame and you 
 ought to buck up and never see or think of him any 
 more." 
 
 " That would be easy for you to do," ventured Sally, 
 quite discouraged. 
 
 ' Why marry, anyway? An inane maze in which you 
 have an awful time wandering about! " 
 
 233
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " Because it was what I was meant for," said little 
 Sally simply. " I had my foolish ideas when I was 
 
 twenty, but I know myself now 
 
 She was thinking of Dean Laddbarry and the time he 
 asked her to marry him; not that she loved him, but she 
 wished she had never known this sinister, fascinating Rex. 
 Perhaps she might have cared for Dean instead, and 
 everyone been happy. She saw that Harriet could not 
 understand, just as Sally could not understand why 
 Harriet wanted to write an economic history of the 
 United States. 
 
 " Anyway, Sally, you ought to do something you 
 must not be dependent on father." 
 
 Sally laughed. " My dear Hariet, father and mother 
 are changing places. Mummy is the man of the family, 
 she tends to paying the bills and father spends his money 
 on himself." 
 
 " That's an inducement to come home," Harriet said 
 crisply. 
 
 ' We've a swagger apartment, and mummy has or- 
 dered enough clothes to go round the world in." 
 
 Harriet folded her arms across her chest in an approv- 
 ing, judicial manner. 
 
 "Good work! So poor old father goes his own 
 way eh? " 
 
 " He is rather gone on Iris Starr. An amusing per- 
 son we call her mutton dressed as spring lamb; she 
 is an elocutionist who would like to marry father only 
 father shies at a divorce." 
 
 The two modern daughters giggled wickedly over the 
 situation. 
 
 "Won't mummy say the word release?" 
 
 "I think so; it is father. After all, they're of the 
 
 234
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 old regime. They can go just so far and that is all 
 but mummy has come on considerably." 
 
 " Why not a divorce?" 
 
 " Harriet, it wouldn't seem right." Sally was un- 
 decided as to just why it would not. 
 
 " Nonsense ! Everyone would be better off. I be- 
 lieve in marriage contracts." 
 
 " How far we've gotten from the old ways of the 
 Little House," said Sally pensively. " It is an odd 
 thing, but whenever I've been unhappy about Rex I've 
 always thought back to those days. Do you remember 
 the library with hundreds of books no one read, the 
 piano, the picture that little one of the Christ Child 
 that we had to stand underneath while we said our Bible 
 verses every Sunday morning? " 
 
 "No, I don't." 
 
 Harriet was beginning to be bored, was Sally going 
 to develop a sentimental strain? 
 
 Sally saw her change in attitude. She rose, saying, 
 " Poor Leila has been scullery maid all alone." 
 
 " I hope you find plenty to do and see here and 
 just don't think of him is the best advice I know," Har- 
 riet concluded. "If you can't paint good pictures learn 
 to trim hats or do something so as to make a living and 
 be independent of every one and everybody. By the 
 way, how is young Ken? " 
 
 " Smokes openly, and still plans to be Captain Jinks 
 of the Horse Marines Ken is a side issue nowadays, 
 with the folks." 
 
 " Don't think about him," ended any counsel and ad- 
 vice from Harriet. She had a scorn for Sally's weak- 
 ness in the matter, because she could not understand it. 
 She took her diligently to the theater and dinner, with 
 Leila tagging enviously along; she tried to interest her 
 
 235
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 in her work and introduced her to some co-workers. But 
 Sally was too pretty and frivolous to suit them or be 
 suited by them. All the time was the intense longing 
 for Rex, the fear that he would be angry at her for hav- 
 ing gone away and saying she would not write, the same 
 servile adoration for him; which was neither healthy 
 nor normal. That fear of all beautiful women born 
 to love and be loved had gripped Sally's heart an 
 old maid! An unwanted or, worse still, rejected spin- 
 ster! She fought the phantom nightly when she tried 
 to sleep in Harriet's cot-bed arrangement, which was 
 placed halfway into the kitchenette and halfway into the 
 hall such was New York Bohemian existence ! 
 
 After all, finally argued Sally with her usual sophistry, 
 was it not better to have Rex's love cruelly repressed and 
 incomplete as it was, than to have nothing, as Harriet's 
 life seemed to be flat and devoid of interest? Every- 
 one coupled their names together; no one else dreamed 
 of Sally Plummer's looking at another man nor could 
 she. There was only Rex, no matter how much older 
 he was or how lacking in fulfilling his obligations. At 
 least everyone thought she was engaged she could say 
 it was this or that which prevented marriage, and try, 
 try harder than ever to make Rex want to marry her, 
 and at the same time try to find some satisfying work. 
 So the old strand of deceit, of which Rex was sponsor, 
 came unworthily to her rescue. 
 
 She wrote Rex a contrite and appealing letter with a 
 few smart sayings purporting to be original but which 
 she had copied from a short story. Rex liked her to 
 say clever things. He despised the old homely method 
 of bromidic conversation such as " I love you " or " I 
 miss you." It must be dished up like a sweetheart 
 a la brochette to suit his jaded humor. 
 
 236
 
 To her great joy Rex wired he was coming to New 
 York on business and he was making the business en- 
 gagement suit her visit there; he would arrive the next 
 morning. She told Harriet with. as much gladness as 
 if she were going to be married. The effect of the old 
 stimulus was surprising. Harriet's thin scarlet mouth 
 curved in scorn. 
 
 " You are as weak as a child! It is just as well you 
 don't marry and have children, for you could not give 
 them any proper mental or moral inheritance. I be- 
 lieve you planned this visit all along. Now didn't 
 you?" 
 
 Which so angered Sally that she scarcely spoke to Har- 
 riet during the remainder of her stay. Rex arrived as 
 debonair and attentive as ever. He said New York 
 suited Sally, she needed a city with its purportedly beau- 
 tiful women to prove how wonderful she was. He met 
 Harriet with overpowering politeness and veiled con- 
 tempt. Harriet regarded him as " a strong charac- 
 ter no wonder a jellyfish like Sally can't have her 
 way with him." That ended Harriet's interest in the 
 affair. In her quiet fashion Leila Cochrane thought 
 enviously of Sally, that she was a lucky girl to be engaged 
 to such a generous handsome man of the world, even if 
 she had been engaged a long time and was likely to 
 continue in the same state. 
 
 Sally and Rex did theaters and cafes and had a general 
 good time, in which Harriet did not offer to participate. 
 Harriet did not care for anything except Ibsen or an 
 occasional symphony concert. After a week of riotous 
 times Sally went home ahead of Rex, knowing that she 
 had defeated the very purpose of the vacation her 
 mother had given her that she was even more depend- 
 ent on Rex than before. 
 
 237
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Densie saw the truth of this at once she had heard 
 Rex Humberstone had gone to New York. Whereas a 
 few years ago she would have packed her bag and fol- 
 lowed to argue with Sally, now she only smiled bitterly 
 and reminded herself that modern children permit no 
 interference in their affairs, one must let them alone and 
 watch them grapple unaided with the brambles. 
 
 "Oh, so Rex came, did he?" was all she said. 
 
 " Yes, he had business and I wanted him," Sally 
 told her honestly. " How lovely this room is, mummy, 
 and what a charming negligee! You seem a girl in it. 
 How in the world did you hit on this scheme doesn't 
 daddy approve? " 
 
 " He is fairly comfortable. Tell me about Harriet." 
 
 " She is coming up to see you. She thinks you're a 
 wonder." Sally was watching her mother discreetly 
 powder her nose and slip on some rings. " You have 
 been successful, haven't you?" 
 
 " A little. There is a letter from Dean. He sent 
 you a message." 
 
 Densie pointed out the envelope. Underneath the 
 ice coating the warm current of her mother heart was 
 fairly rushing out to Sally! 
 
 Sally picked it up unwillingly, she dreaded reading the 
 frank, earnest sentences. She was beginning to shrink 
 from contrasts. 
 
 " Odd that he writes to you, isn't it? " 
 
 " I'm next best to Sally, is Dean's logic. Here is my 
 gown for the luncheon like it? Help me fasten the 
 side." 
 
 Densie had slipped on something that was like a gray 
 cloud with sunset showing underneath. Obediently Sally 
 laid the letter aside and hooked the frock. 
 
 " It is lovely," was all she said. 
 
 238
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Densie found her outer wraps. " I shan't be in all 
 afternoon and I'm having my committee on the penny- 
 luncheon fund in for coffee this evening. Your father 
 will not be at home." She smiled faintly. " I've a 
 theater ticket for Kenneth. If you would like to help 
 serve I'll be glad to have you." She spoke easily, as if 
 it mattered very little whether or not Sally stayed. 
 
 " I think, I'll go to my room, mummy; I'm tired." 
 
 " All right as you wish. Now I'm off." She took 
 up her silver purse. " So you've not decided anything 
 new as to Rex," she could not keep from adding. 
 " Sally, you've the lines about your eyes that belong to 
 my age not yours ! " 
 
 " I've decided to make the best of it. I'd rather be 
 unhappy loving Rex than to be unhappy not loving 
 him and he has his good qualities. I can't seem to 
 say what they are, but he has. It's a modern sort of 
 arrangement; perhaps it isn't so wicked, after all. Any- 
 way, I cannot give him up and I tried." 
 
 " For three weeks," Densie supplemented. 
 
 "I tried!" Sally cried out shrilly. "It is just my 
 form of a cross, perhaps, to love the wrong man; and I 
 won't hear another word about it." 
 
 " Very well." Densie was the impersonal, successful 
 business and club woman. It was she who closed a door 
 in one's face. " As for your expenses, I'll pay them un- 
 til you decide what you want to do. But you shall not 
 be a slug, even if you do love the wrong man." 
 
 " I'll earn my living! " her child told her, white with 
 anger not at her mother, though it seemed so, but at 
 her own wayward self. " I'll earn it by doing some- 
 thing that won't disgrace Mrs. Densie Plummer, presi- 
 dent of the state federation ! " 
 
 Left to herself Sally c*M read Dean's jolly whole- 
 
 239
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 souled letter breathing of activity and success and end- 
 ing with: " Tell Sally I've no other girl's picture in my 
 watch, but when she decides the date of her wedding 
 I'll send her the best set of baskets the Washoe tribe can 
 make. I won't promise to take the picture out of my 
 watch unless she says I must. She's a good-hearted 
 little tyrant and will allow me that much even if I did 
 lose the original! " 
 
 She crumpled up the letter, wishing she had not read 
 it. She hated herself the new artificial way of living; 
 the apartment seemed stuffy and inadequate. She felt 
 if she were a little girl in proper white aprons over 
 tartan-plaid wool frocks, saying her Bible verses un- 
 derneath the picture of the Child, if she could turn back 
 the hourglass until then that she would grow up lov- 
 ing Dean. Men like Rex never find the way to Little 
 Houses; their feet choose other trails. 
 
 240
 
 During the next year John and Densie came to the 
 understanding that when Kenneth was twenty-one they 
 would get a divorce so John could marry Iris. Each 
 felt a reticency to do so beforehand. When the boy 
 was of age their joint responsibility as parents would be 
 ended, according to law. That would be five more 
 years. And though John thought of Iris and waxed 
 impatient as he did so, and Densie thought of her own 
 plan to live abroad each found a certain relief in de- 
 laying the evil day. 
 
 '' When people marry in love and harmony in the 
 sight of God and man, and that harmony disappears," 
 John had argued, " the marriage has disappeared, and 
 the legal contract alone remains in the sight of man." 
 
 Densie had agreed. She was sitting in the living 
 room waiting for a cab to take her to a meeting. " I 
 appreciate your viewpoint; we are no longer essential 
 to each other or the children. Our lives are in different 
 channels. I have no quarrel with you " here the un- 
 dercurrent flowed very swiftly, so much so that it caused 
 a flush to show in her face; " I could never bear to have 
 an ugly, inharmonious ending." 
 
 " Densie," he said softly, " that could never be. I 
 shall always respect you always. You are the chil- 
 dren's mother. And you were my little sister before 
 you were my wife. I could never think of you with 
 anything but the same love I had for you when we 
 were children. I don't understand how it has all come 
 
 241
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 about; I truly wish it had not. But I am no longer the 
 man for you " 
 
 " Which always means ' I am not the woman for 
 you ! ' Well, perhaps it is better as it is. I could never 
 return to the old drudgery of a home. You were im- 
 patient of it long before I was. And so we have out- 
 lived our usefulness to each other." 
 
 ' You have been generous about expenses," he said 
 almost shamedly. 
 
 " And so I should be. I wished for certain things 
 clothes, furniture, club positions; I made my own money 
 my own way and you never questioned my right to do 
 so. I could not think of asking you to bear my expenses 
 from now on. Use your salary as it pleases you." 
 
 " Mighty decent," he mumbled, the old method of 
 one purse in the household occurring to him for some 
 damnable reason. " What do you think will become 
 of our children? We shall always have that common 
 interest." 
 
 " Harriet will never marry. She is not the problem. 
 It is Sally who has given her heart to a worthless man. 
 Unless she reclaims it she is doomed." 
 
 "And Kenneth?" he asked. "I've never grown 
 close enough to him to read the handwriting on the wall." 
 
 " I want Kenneth to be in the Army," she said proudly. 
 " He must make up for his sisters' lacks." 
 
 " Captain Jinks is that the idea?" 
 
 The bell rang and John answered. 
 
 " It is your cab," he said politely. 
 
 " Oh, thank you." She put on her coat. 
 
 " Have you ever thought," he asked gently, " what 
 Aunt Sally and Uncle Herbert would say if they had 
 been here just now as eavesdroppers? " 
 
 Densie's face dimpled. " I know what they would 
 
 242
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 do the old remedy they used when you copied Bar- 
 ney's swearing and I contradicted Ellen Porch a good 
 mouth wash of quinine ! " 
 
 John chuckled. " About right," he answered, open- 
 ing the door politely. After she had gone, never asking 
 as to his plans, he sat for a long time and wondered 
 whether people these days were " bigger fools than they 
 looked or looked bigger fools than they were! " 
 
 Iris was enraged over the delay, but too clever to be 
 anything but purportedly shy and grieved about it and 
 to make John regard her as a sprite which would vanish 
 if anything was said or done to hurt her feelings. Be- 
 sides, John could loan her money particularly now 
 that his wife had agreed to free him after Kenneth was 
 of age. And money was Mrs. Starr's large idea of 
 happiness. After a few pensive tears and sighs upon 
 hearing the news, and the mournfully counting off the 
 years, she borrowed another hundred and made John a 
 club sandwich while they talked about their future like 
 two eloping school children. 
 
 At the club meeting that evening Densie read two brief 
 but clever little papers. One was called The Passing of 
 the Woodshed and the Fence, a slightly satirical skit on 
 changing conditions with a sting of truthful reproach in 
 it. The other she named Cabin Fever, after the Wes- 
 terners' method of expressing mental malady resulting 
 from continued isolation. Housewives, she explained, 
 all had spells of cabin fever, clubs were an antidote, the 
 women of America had long been a prey to cabin fever, 
 and she ended with an appeal for women to step outside 
 their thresholds and become attuned with the present 
 generation. 
 
 At the conclusion of the meeting someone touched her 
 on the arm. 
 
 243
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " Senator James Gleason wishes to meet you. He 
 was our honor guest to-night, but he came late, so you 
 did not notice him." 
 
 Densie crossed the room to the small boyish-looking 
 man in immaculate evening dress. He had wavy white 
 hair, combed pompadour fashion, and dark eyes with 
 a keen expression. Altogether he was a refined little 
 person, his head two sizes too big for his body. He 
 held out his hand cordially as she came near. 
 
 " I want to tell you that cabin fever happens to sena- 
 tors, as well," he began simply; " but I think you ought 
 to have another paper on cures for it, don't you? " 
 
 He just naturally led the way to an isolated corner; 
 and being Madame President and the senator the oth- 
 ers respectfully let them alone. 
 
 His keen eyes kept studying her face. She liked 
 him he had a gentle, firm voice and his movements 
 indicated deliberation and poise. He made her feel at 
 ease instantly and the only thing that puzzled her was 
 how with his endowment of qualities and his rather 
 visionary ideas he had ever fought his way up in politics. 
 She had heard of him before as being interested in 
 women's clubs and philanthropic reforms, and she re- 
 called a rumor that he was a very rich widower. As 
 he talked she began to feel a direct interest in him, and 
 she found herself telling him informal ideas that she 
 had evolved during her presidency. 
 
 'You own the Woman's Exchange, don't you?" he 
 asked; " where you can buy homemade things? " 
 
 ' Yes, but I have it managed for me I haven't the 
 time. The homemade things are the work of cabin- 
 fever victims! " 
 
 " I'm going to lunch there to-morrow," he continued 
 eagerly. " I wonder if you couldn't manage to drop 
 
 244
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 in at the exchange toward one o'clock? I want to talk 
 to you about some matters first, business matters; 
 and then I'd like to talk to you." 
 
 This would have sounded rather irrypudent in anyone 
 else. Densie had been so unused to the society of men 
 that she did not realize its personal significance. She 
 merely thought him a friendly little man, who had great 
 influence with the President, so everyone said. 
 
 " I can try," she promised. 
 
 " Then we'll see each other there. Good night, Mrs. 
 Densie Plummer you've a homemade name, too!" 
 
 Bowing gracefully the great-little man left her. 
 
 Densie could not think of anyone else the rest of the 
 evening. She wondered what he wanted to talk to her 
 about at luncheon. 
 
 245
 
 XXIV 
 
 Another world opened for Densie after her luncheon 
 at the exchange. At first it bewildered her, for there 
 was still the old reticence about meeting some stranger 
 without her husband by her side. She had not known 
 how very different men can be when she had been 
 married, and a mother at twenty! She had heard of 
 other men only through John's lips or seen them with 
 his eyes. Life was ended for her as regarded romance. 
 In that respect Densie had long since considered herself 
 an old woman. The pleasure that business and social 
 success had given her had been largely a solitary sort 
 of national importance. 
 
 The senator had been at the exchange ahead of time, 
 and when Densie came in dressed in her gray gown he 
 smiled in approval and said some pretty, easy thing, 
 which both confused and delighted her. Densie had 
 had an idea of telling John about the invitation and in- 
 cluding him in it. But she reconsidered that. John 
 had been brutally frank concerning Iris Starr why 
 should she refuse a diplomatic invitation to meet a man 
 of national importance? She did not tell either of the 
 children Sally was too preoccupied with her own 
 tangles, and she felt that Kenneth would have wanted 
 to come along. 
 
 " You don't know how good it was to hear you say 
 those quaint things last night," the senator began as 
 they sat down at their table. 
 
 246
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 The manager of the exchange, recovering from cabin 
 fever, thanks to Densie, smiled approvingly as she 
 looked at them. They were a well-matched couple 
 the senator's boyish figure, his white hair, his immacu- 
 late suit, and Densie's trig good-appearing self in gray 
 tulle. 
 
 " I was almost afraid to say what I thought," she 
 admitted. " It is the first time I have ever strayed 
 into original lines. Why did you like it?" 
 
 " Because it was sincere. And if a person is sincere 
 everything about her her life, her associates, her 
 achievements must of necessity be the same. That 
 was why I wanted to know you. I've been tremen- 
 dously interested in club work for years, and theoretically 
 I am heart and soul with the movement. I see the jus- 
 tice and need for it. But when I descend from the 
 clouds of theories and walk on earth and really see 
 things as they are done I lose my ideals for I find 
 very few sincere persons." 
 
 " I wonder if that is always so! " 
 
 " You probably do not discern the fact, due to your 
 own worth. I wish you'd tell me of yourself and your 
 family. I like to know about the people I like." He 
 spoke so naturally that she felt as if she wanted to 
 oblige him. 
 
 " Perhaps I ought first to tell you of myself," he 
 added, u for if you have read all that is printed about 
 me you have a strangely wrong idea." 
 
 He .briefly outlined his life, a dreamer yet endowed 
 with common sense, a man with independent means, 
 thus saved from the necessity of grappling with the 
 world to gain from it bare necessities and to win luxu- 
 ries only by cheating or cleverly laid and not too ethical 
 plans. He described his school life, his trips abroad, 
 
 247
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 he mentioned his ideal marriage with a sentiment pleas- 
 ing to Densie, for it was as Uncle Herbert would have 
 spoken. He told of his entrance into politics, the help 
 his wife had been, the grief at the loss of their only 
 child, a daughter, his wife's death a year later, the re- 
 solve always to help women in whatsoever manner he 
 could, because of her blessed memory. 
 
 As Densie listened she felt she knew him as she knew 
 Dean Laddbarry. He seemed to her old-fashioned 
 yet strangely new-fashioned, to have combined the vir- 
 tues of both the eras and discarded the vices of each. 
 
 She must have shown her admiration, for he paused 
 to say: "Quite enough about myself. Your turn, 
 please." 
 
 Densie faltered. " There is so little to tell a mid- 
 dle-aged woman with a grown-up family. I own the 
 exchange. I am president of the federation. When 
 I married I never dreamed this would be so; circum- 
 stances brought it about." 
 
 At which the senator read between her words and ad- 
 mired the modesty which refused to repeat details. All 
 he said was, " Your husband is John Plummer, used 
 to be Plummer & Plummer, Warehouse, didn't it?" 
 
 " Yes one of the oldest firms. But my husband 
 felt he could not battle alone with new methods. The 
 firm was absorbed by this new corporation. Since then 
 I have known nothing of the business. I could never 
 bear to see the old place torn inside out and painted 
 like a caravan to attract passers-by. I do not think 
 my husband is happy to have it so, either; but he had 
 no choice." 
 
 " You have a daughter Harriet," he remarked 
 quickly. 
 
 " How do you know? " 
 
 248
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " I remember the young woman. She was investi- 
 gating child labor in the canneries, wasn't she? I was 
 the chairman of the committee that listened to her re- 
 port." 
 
 His dark eyes twinkled with amusement, and Densie 
 found herself laughing. 
 
 " She would do it -I was utterly shocked at the 
 time. But she assured me it was part of her mission 
 in life. I was taking my family seriously at that time. 
 Now I am a mere spectator and I can see the humor- 
 ous lining to all the serious clouds." 
 
 " Excellent ! We all need your spectacles. These 
 youngsters play a fine bag of tricks on us. I have never 
 been able to forget her a clever girl but a trifle in- 
 human. I think she would like the world to run on 
 a time clock, an institutional system for families. I 
 warrant she never quilted a bedspread." 
 
 Densie shook her head. " No; and my other girl 
 never did anything but be a pretty, sentimental 
 goose." Her voice gravened. 
 
 " I must know said goose. And have you any 
 sons? " 
 
 " One." Her face lighted with pride. " He is my 
 great comfort. Ken and I have weathered the chang- 
 ing of fashions together, neither of us finding the other 
 impossible in so doing. Daughters do find you impos- 
 sible, you know if your bonnets are not correct or you 
 want to chaperone them! " 
 
 " How old are you, Densie Plummer? " he demanded. 
 " Just now you seem twenty-one. You've never lost 
 youth, have you? " 
 
 " Why, I'm positively ancient! " Densie was amused 
 at the reticence she found herself experiencing, now that 
 her age was demanded. 
 
 249
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " Fifty," said the senator brutally. " I'm fifty- 
 four so there ! " 
 
 Densie pouted; she did it quite as well as Sally might 
 have done. 
 
 " I've two more years before I reach the great di- 
 vide forty-eight." 
 
 "Isn't it splendid to be done with middle age?" he 
 demanded boyishly. " Youth and old age are really the 
 only times in the world. Middle age finds you taking 
 yourself and everyone connected with you with utmost 
 seriousness. You are bent on reforming the universe, 
 achieving the height of perfection. You scold the 
 young, pity the aged; you are narrow, orthodox in your 
 conceit. Romance has no place in your scheme of 
 things that belongs to youth ; youth and senile old 
 chaps," he chuckled mischievously. " But after you 
 blossom into Indian summer you learn that the sunset 
 is more glowing and beautiful than the sunrise. Who 
 can really enjoy life in a glaring noonday? I'm glad to 
 be fifty- four; from now on I expect to be the gladdest, 
 most sentimental old idiot who ever ate Densie Plum- 
 mer's brown bread." 
 
 He saluted her across the table. 
 
 " Do say some more it is just like a play! " she ap- 
 plauded. 
 
 " I'm beginning to recall the things of youth now 
 that the awful stress and battle of noonday are done! 
 Why, I shouldn't be surprised if I just naturally hunted 
 up my guitar and went serenading! My white hair ex- 
 cuses me anything, you see; and I've done some things 
 in Washington that make the people call me their 
 friend and so I could go a long way before I was 
 censored. Do enjoy sunset, Densie Plummer. You've 
 
 250
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 a tired look in your eyes that telb me the noonday must 
 have been quite glaring and unromantic!" 
 
 At which he deftly changed the subject so as not to 
 embarrass her. Before he left the exchange, loaded 
 with purchases which he declared were just the sort of 
 thing for which he had been looking, he asked Densie 
 if she would care to be one of a national committee to 
 inspect certain institutions. It paid a stipend, he ex- 
 plained Densie thought it a generous wage and 
 she would have to travel. She said she hardly felt fitted 
 for the post, at which he assured her that she was more 
 fitted than any of the present committee, since she had 
 the intuition of a homemaker and could spy out defects 
 which no set of well-written reports could hide. 
 
 251
 
 XXV 
 
 The senator left town the next day, but he sent Densie 
 a farewell note renewing his promise to come to her tea 
 room and that he would see she was appointed on the 
 committee. And a week later the appointment came. 
 It was quite impressive to receive the envelope without 
 a stamp on it and read in formal terms the fact that she 
 was a national committee woman and her district was 
 such and such a place. She told John the news and 
 asked him if he knew Senator Gleason and what was 
 his opinion of him. 
 
 " He's the idealistic chap, I guess," John told her. 
 " I never heard anything but good of him only if 
 he hadn't a fortune he could never have made his mark. 
 That doesn't go in politics I mean ideals. I can re- 
 member." 
 
 Densie was shocked at herself, for as John brought 
 himself into the conversation she felt it was distinctly 
 bad taste, and she was not interested in the subject. She 
 also recalled finding several peculiar bills in the old 
 secretary, bills payable to men of questionable occupa- 
 tion and character. But she did not mention it. 
 
 '' We had lunch together at the exchange," she con- 
 tinued. " I never saw anyone like brown bread any 
 better than he did. It was then he offered me the posi- 
 tion. I found him delightful with a boy's heart and 
 the mind of a mellowed, wise man. He told me of his 
 wife," she added quickly she did not know just why. 
 u His heart broke when she died." 
 
 2C2
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " Ah," commented John, " but his appetite stayed in- 
 tact is that it?" 
 
 Densie flushed. She was going to ask John if he did 
 not want to reduce his share of expenses still further, 
 now that she had this extra income. She wanted to be 
 fair to him, as fair as an ice-coated river with a deep 
 current of love and loyalty can be. But she refrained. 
 
 She studied him as he sat uncomfortably in his chair. 
 It was not a particularly comfortable chair but for 
 that matter none of the chairs had been designed for 
 lounging or comfort. John's face had changed, he was 
 too fat to be good looking almost sleek. The red- 
 dish hair was sprinkled with gray; his smooth-shaven 
 face had a wasted, lazy expression, she could not have 
 told just what designated it, but it was paramount 
 perhaps it was the absence of any lines round his eyes 
 or on his forehead. When he was a young man he had 
 every indication of being one of those splendid, lean, 
 elderly men who bespeak muscle and achievement, who 
 have neither spared nor wasted their energies. He 
 would have had well-defined lines across his forehead, 
 telling of battles for the right, his eyes would have been 
 slightly crisscrossed, as eyes should be at fifty, and he 
 would have been someone whom a portrait painter would 
 have taken a delight to have as a subject. 
 
 But the lines were not there instead was a discon- 
 tented expression about his mouth. Novelists always at- 
 tribute to women these discontented mouths, but men 
 have them quite as frequently only they can be wise 
 and grow a mustache to cover up what has happened. 
 
 His hands were not firm like the senator's, but flabby, 
 and manicured, to please Iris; and he wore a showy ring. 
 He was really aping Rex Humberstone. This man in 
 his ultra-modish suit of check was not her John. She 
 
 253
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 tried to convince herself that the coating of ice was really 
 all the river possessed but she could not quite still the 
 flowing current. 
 
 " I suppose you'll go on in public life until women get 
 the vote; then you'll be chief of police." He spoke in 
 that lackadaisical manner to hide ever-present masculine 
 jealousy at his woman's doing anything outside her 
 hearth. 
 
 Densie laughed off the joke but the sting of his re- 
 mark remained. 
 
 " Well, think how secure you could then feel," she 
 answered quickly. 
 
 Senator Gleason happened to be in Densie's district 
 when she was on her first inspection tour. She was in- 
 specting orphanages, bringing to light neglected homey 
 trifles and ferreting out unjust punishment or suggesting 
 a more wholesome menu. She had such a gentle way 
 of stating her complaint, of reading in the harsh faces 
 of attendants their own tragedies and dissatisfactions 
 and saying something appropriately soothing that they 
 held no umbrage toward her when she took them to 
 task. The former inspectors had been political graft- 
 ers who just naturally " got " the appointment or single 
 women with a mission in life, after Harriet's fashion. 
 With her motherly easy way Densie seemed to gain 
 results without inciting displeasure or causing rebellion. 
 She could see the arguments on the side of the attended 
 and the attendants she would grow misty eyed when 
 the orphan sang Jesus, Tender Shepherd, Lead Me; 
 and when she listened to the matron's budget of woes 
 that " nobuddy cares nuthin' about," the same mistiness 
 would appear in her purplish eyes for the matron's 
 satisfaction. 
 
 Altogether the senator had acted wisely by placing 
 
 254
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Densie as he had, and if he chanced to be lingering about 
 in his new touring car the modern method of sere- 
 nading, as he boldly declared and took her across the 
 country, talking to her eagerly, asking endless personal 
 questions about herself, while Densie planned great im- 
 personal things in institutional reform no one seemed 
 to think anything about it except Densie and the senator. 
 
 What the senator thought showed in his face as he 
 looked at Densie, and what Densie thought was a hope- 
 less jumble of ideas first a "wicked delight," as she 
 named it, in knowing him; of having someone who really 
 cared what you thought about the morning's editorials 
 and wanted to be sure whether you took one or two 
 lumps of sugar in your coffee, if you ever had headaches 
 and if you did not think the exchange was too much for 
 one small old-fashioned fairy his name for Densie 
 and that you ought to sell it. 
 
 u I'm a boy and you're a girl," he said one day, " and 
 we can play all we like. Isn't that ripping? Being a 
 senator you being Mrs. Densie Plummer hides us 
 from ruthless ridicule of the younger generation. They 
 think we are planning a cheaper kind of Sunday pudding 
 or lobster-colored shirts for the epileptic colony! But 
 we're not, are we? We are boy and girl, fifty-four and 
 forty-eight, finished with noonday and watching the sun- 
 set together ! " 
 
 He would have said more if Densie had not forced 
 him to discuss some practical topic. 
 
 He had asked her to bring her son and daughter and 
 visit him at his winter home in Virginia, but she refused; 
 and the subject of John was never mentioned. Densie 
 felt she could not do so, just as John had once felt that 
 Iris Starr had no right even to speak Densie's name. 
 They always feel this way at the beginning these 
 
 255
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 forty-eight-year-old girls and fifty-four-year-old boys 
 prattling away of sunsets and Indian summer ! But it 
 soon evaporates and leaves them as thoughtlessly selfish 
 as the younger generation who begrudge their elders hav- 
 ing a wise and restraining finger in their romance. 
 
 Another time the senator had said abruptly, " Are you 
 happy? " 
 
 Before she thought she answered, " I try to be I 
 try," and was immediately sorry that she had spoken. 
 She wondered if he knew about Iris Starr and the rift 
 between John and herself, but if he did he kept his 
 own counsel like the gentleman he was. He sent Densie 
 books and wrote her letters illustrated by his own pen- 
 and-ink sketches and sometimes old-fashioned bouquets 
 fit for only an old-fashioned fairy, but no one in the 
 family noticed, because Densie had so many club women 
 seeking her patronage that she was being deluged with 
 offerings. 
 
 Returning from her second successful inspection trip 
 her exchange business all to be attended to, her club 
 work behind, a hundred duties before her, as well as re- 
 plenishing her wardrobe and visiting with her son while 
 she pretended not to see the trapped look in Sally's 
 eyes Densie met John coming into the apartment with 
 a peculiarly terrifying expression. He was white and 
 shiny looking, as if he had been ill a long time, and he 
 shuffled instead of properly lifting his feet. 
 
 " Oh, you're back," was all he said as he saw her. 
 " Well it's come. I've been expecting it." 
 
 "What?" 
 
 She started to kiss him, as was her custom. She felt 
 an infinite tenderness for this wasted husband of hers, 
 a pity which was impersonal and vast enough to extend 
 even to the foolish woman who had entangled him. 
 
 256
 
 ; blow into town presumably walking the ties and get a job at the 
 
 factory, act as rough as I like and lay in wait to see if they are 
 
 employing child labor." (See page 12$)
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " I'm discharged," he said thickly, shuffling over to 
 the mantel. " I'm not young and quick enough. I 
 haven't money to keep buying their damned stock. 
 Most of the young clerks turn back some of their salary 
 each week. I hate the cursed store the cheats ! I 
 don't care. I can get another job, but of course it won't 
 be a manager's job Well, do you understand?" 
 
 " I am so sorry." 
 
 She spoke as gently as if he were a child. She was 
 thinking with humorous dismay that she could have given 
 John a position almost as good as the one he had held 
 he could have managed her exchange but she would 
 not offend his dignity, crippled though it was. 
 
 " Of course, I'd rather you did not work for them 
 I never wanted it, and it was never right." 
 
 " What else was there to do? " he said savagely. " I 
 did all I could." He almost hated her for her success 
 and his failure. " If I hadn't been saddled with a family 
 ever since I was a stripling this would never have come. 
 By the looks of things, Densie, our children will profit 
 by our mistake. Sally and Harriet will not be drudges 
 as you say you were and the boy is all for himself, 
 I've noticed." 
 
 " Ah, was it such a mistake? " she asked suddenly, the 
 old deep current flowing very fast. 
 
 " I'm down and out." He did not notice the re- 
 mark. " I've lost everything I have. I've a little stock 
 in the place and they said " his teeth bit his under lip 
 until it was white " they said, ' If you can't find an- 
 other job we'll take you on as clerk in the spice depart- 
 ment.' By God, they don't care how they grind a man 
 down! I kept Hippler after he was deaf and half blind 
 and insolent! " 
 
 "Why, you're young at your prime!" Densie 
 
 257
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 spoke more to herself, because she was thinking of the 
 senator. "What an insult that was to you!" 
 
 " I'll go out to-morrow and get a real job," he asserted 
 proudly. " Watch me." 
 
 " You are welcome to anything I have " 
 
 "I'd starve first!" He almost snarled his refusal. 
 He went away to seek out Iris Starr and be properly un- 
 derstood and comforted. 
 
 Late that night Densie returning from a theater party, 
 inwardly disturbed by what had happened, found her 
 husband huddled before the gas grate, looking even 
 older and more decided. He did not say what was 
 wrong but she knew. Iris Starr had refused to com- 
 fort anyone who did not own sufficient stock in the 
 Golden Rule to keep his position. Of course, she was 
 sorry and so fond of him but she had to look 
 out for herself first of all. He had better not come any 
 more it was just as well things had never been forced 
 with his wife to the point of obtaining a divorce, for 
 here she had laughed gratingly while she could sup- 
 port herself she could not support a husband, and from 
 all reports his wife was capable of supplying him with all 
 the comforts of home! 
 
 His world in wreckage about him John retraced his 
 footsteps to his wife's apartment, gray and old of heart. 
 Pride would not let him confess his own undoing. Cer- 
 tainly not to Densie, of whom he had demanded his free- 
 dom that he marry someone who understood him! 
 
 Two months later after an endless search for work 
 John Plummer donned a white apron and stood behind 
 a counter at The Golden Rule Tea Store, but his face 
 grew thinner, lines timidly made their appearance across 
 his forehead. He had really promoted himself in the 
 biggest sense, only he did not yet realize what was hap- 
 
 258
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 pening. Densie's friends pitied her " a grocer clerk 
 for a husband, she's such a brilliant dear! " 
 
 And Densie accepted the situation with numbed indif- 
 ference; pride held John from telling her half that was 
 beginning to whisper itself to his starved, lonesome heart. 
 
 John's becoming a grocer clerk was a blow to Sally. 
 It weakened her hold on Rex, she thought, just as 
 Densie's prestige had undeniably strengthened it. Rex 
 could no longer regard Densie as a little slug and pass 
 her with a patronizing nod. He found Densie a modern 
 woman with every whit as much ingenuity as he pos- 
 sessed, besides a courtesy and sincerity which had never 
 been part of his make-up. 
 
 Rex accepted the transformation laughingly and told 
 Sally it was a shame, and as soon as he found something 
 really safe to play in stocks he was going to see that John 
 Plummer made his pile. Rex had grown older looking 
 in the last couple of years, he was more secretive as to 
 his business, but his money had seemed to increase magi- 
 cally and he gave Sally very gorgeous trappings, things 
 way beyond even a well-to-do man's means. 
 
 They had come to an understanding a sort of 
 " youVe-got-me-ithere-is-no-use-trying-to-get-away " feel- 
 ing. But Rex was no longer the adoring cavalier re- 
 joicing in Sally's youth and beauty. He told her bluntly 
 when her face was badly powdered or when she should 
 have used rouge; he criticized her clothes and made fun 
 of her painting. He delighted to point out various 
 couples who had married at the time he had first known 
 Sally and were burdened with youngsters and the cares of 
 a home, and ask Sally if she would like to push a pram 
 and have to buy liver and bacon to cook the next morning 
 at six a. m. 
 
 Sometimes Sally would tell him very sharply that she 
 
 259
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 would, she hated suave, tip-seeking menials, richly spiced 
 unwise food, endless extravagance and needless luxury, 
 a veritable storybook way of living. Again she would 
 realize that she had grown accustomed to ease, to living 
 this sort of life, that she preferred to have no work to 
 do, to eat- and drink what she wished, wear what she 
 liked, to have a sort of domineering influence over Rex 
 and be pointed out as Rex Humberstone's fiancee wher- 
 ever she went. 
 
 Sally thought that was all that was whispered about 
 her, but the remarks were no longer as kind as they had 
 once been. They ran: "Engaged for years, has no 
 intention of marrying anyone, just likes to show her off." 
 " She is pretty but hasn't she faded? Five years ago she 
 was a beauty." "Watch and see; he'll grow tired of 
 her if she nags at him, and I've heard that she did." 
 " No, her mother can't do a thing; she is crazy-mad over 
 him. Odd devil at that ! " 
 
 During the latter part of 1913 Densie found herself 
 taking a still further step in public work. She became 
 interested in mysticism, unorthodox cults; she attended 
 their meetings and went to mediums and investigated 
 their methods. She did not become a follower of them, 
 but they held her attention and she was amused at their 
 claims. A New York paper in which the senator was 
 interested asked her to write her opinions of the various 
 cults which had gained a foothold in America, and she 
 began her series with a daring title: America's Menace, 
 which created quite a bit of excitement and approval. 
 
 The paper paid her well and gave her untold promi- 
 nence. She enjoyed both she was beginning to be 
 proud of being known as Mrs. Densie Plummer, fame 
 was very sweet to possess, and she caught herself at- 
 tempting the doing of artificial tricks to foster it. And 
 
 260
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 though she was somewhat ashamed she did not stop the 
 doing of them. 
 
 All the while John Plummer's face grew thin and 
 lined, but he stoically wore his white apron and meas- 
 ured out spices with an unsteady hand for he found 
 his panacea in drink; and Densie, who was hardly aware 
 of the change in him, only thought of him when it was 
 necessary, which John took pains was as seldom as pos- 
 sible. 
 
 Once he laid a clipping on her desk which began, " Join 
 the Only Her Husband's Club " ; and when she returned 
 it to him she said gravely, u I wish you would take 
 charge of the exchange. It has grown to such an extent 
 it really needs a man." 
 
 " Oh, then women can't do everything? " he retorted. 
 ' We never claimed we could; we claimed we can do 
 things as well. Why won't you, John ?" And she men- 
 tioned an ample salary. 
 
 " I'd starve before I'd go to work for my wife." He 
 rose abruptly, kicking away a footstool. " And don't 
 begin the old harangue " he lifted his unsteady 
 hand "I'm damned if I'll listen to any more of 
 women's wrongs." 
 
 "You've been drinking!" 
 
 "Who wouldn't?" 
 
 Densie shrugged her shoulders. The coating of ice 
 came to the rescue of the deep current. She turned to 
 Kenneth for consolation. Kenneth regarded his mother 
 as the only person who could do no wrong, partly be- 
 cause he saw the same idea reflected in Densie's dark blue 
 eyes whenever she looked at him. 
 
 Just after this incident another honor came to Densie; 
 she was named chairman of the National Eugenics Com- 
 mittee and asked to write her experiences as a state in- 
 
 261
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 spector. Even Harriet was stirred by this, and advised 
 her mother not to be a sob sister and have anything sen- 
 timental embodied with her arguments. Oddly enough, 
 Harriet was to be one of the critics of the report. 
 
 " Well, it's getting too much for me," Sally told her 
 father that night, " I've a limited brain and just now 
 I feel as if I ought to go out and have a sensible talk 
 with the horse." 
 
 The two disgruntled ones spent a wretched evening in- 
 dulging in semi-treasonous remarks and dire prophecies. 
 
 262
 
 XXVI 
 
 Shunted into a backwater of life John turned to his 
 health as the most interesting topic and recreation. He 
 was annoyed when Sally joked about his leakage of the 
 heart and when Kenneth left samples of patent medicine 
 on his dresser he felt as aggrieved and misunderstood as 
 any woman invalid trying to convince her doctor as to 
 the state of her nerves. Densie ignored the thing, which 
 was the most cutting of all. 
 
 She saw her husband only a few moments each day 
 and she had unconsciously become like Harriet, sweetly 
 courteous and blandly impersonal whenever she met him. 
 Things did not affect her the coating of ice over the 
 deep current was thicker and more permanent. As Den- 
 sie had one time ardently desired nothing but benefits 
 for her family, labored with her hands, prayed with her 
 soul and loved with all her heart, she now diverted the 
 same amount of material and spiritual energy toward her 
 own advancement and the affairs of persons outside her 
 house. She worked for her orphans and her blind and 
 tubercular victims zealously, she pointed out faults and 
 praised virtues with an equal evenness of temper, she 
 conducted the presidency of clubs with admirable execu- 
 tive ability, stumped for suffrage throughout the state 
 and made an unprecedented record, for she was neither 
 assertive, masculine nor sentimentally emotional just 
 an old-fashioned fairy, as the senator said and who 
 could resist her? 
 
 Mrs. Densie Plummer became known as the exception 
 to the rule, no one minded when she asked for favors, 
 
 263
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 because she always asked with a " please " and received 
 with a " thank you." 
 
 The senator was proud of Densie; he boasted she was 
 his champion find. Densie used to try to persuade her- 
 self this meant nothing out of the ordinary to have him 
 say it, but she had to admit to her truthful self that this 
 boyish white-haired man of fifty-four had come to mean 
 a great deal. She thought of him before she thought of 
 anyone else except Kenneth. And when she thought of 
 Kenneth she always thought of James Gleason, because 
 he had promised Densie to see that Kenneth had the 
 West Point appointment and could begin to be a captain, 
 his fondly cherished dream. She also thought that the 
 senator's influence would be good for Kenneth, he needed 
 such an idealistic yet strong man to copy. Then she 
 would reprove herself and remember John Plummer. 
 Poor John was engrossed by a new eye trouble, grum- 
 bling over the white linen apron he donned every morn- 
 ing at eight-fifteen ! When she came to this point she 
 would try to stop her reflections about Kenneth and think 
 of someone else say, Harriet. 
 
 She could understand Harriet's viewpoint now, and 
 she was proud of the girl though anxious as to her health. 
 In another two years the senator said he would have her 
 appointed for the study of eugenics and sent abroad 
 the senator was so kind, he knew not only what to say 
 but what to do. He had told her of his old home, hint- 
 ing it was very lonesome these days and that the big 
 rooms were waiting with their priceless antiques for a 
 mistress, that the garden was a mass of roses and an old 
 sunken fountain bubbled away in the sunlight while 
 
 dragon flies glittered about a little statue of Pan 
 
 Here Densie would try to collect herself again, for she 
 was still thinking of the senator. 
 
 264
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 She would turn her thoughts to Sally, and the deep 
 mother current of anxiety and resentment would begin to 
 stir beautiful wasted Sally going her foolish squirrel- 
 cage way over and over, the eternal round of useless 
 drives and dinners and forced places. Densie's face 
 would grow stern as she visualized Rex a sneaking 
 coward, she called him who had hypnotized her child 
 and shut her away from everything normal, the things 
 for which Sally had been destined. Well, the senator 
 had guessed this worry and promised if the time came 
 when he could be of use in handling Mr. Humberstone 
 he was sure not to fail. The senator had a cure for 
 every ill, a smile to erase every frown 
 
 Densie would stop again. Then she would fall to 
 planning her new clothes, but unconsciously they would 
 comply with the style and color the senator had said he 
 liked best. It was impossible to stop thinking of him 
 as the central figure in her life. She could not help but 
 contrast him with Iris Starr for the senator had done 
 everything for Densie with no hope of reward, while Iris 
 Starr flattered John and then discarded him like a worn- 
 out glove the instant reverses were his lot. 
 
 Could she have done any differently? The vista of 
 years would stretch before her and she would often pass 
 down them figuratively, recalling memories and events 
 of each one, ending way, way back at the happiest day 
 of her life, when she made a bit of a biscuit under 
 Ellen Porch's kindly guidance, and looked out the win- 
 dow to see John astride his pony, killing lions and tigers 
 in the kitchen garden. 
 
 It bothered Densie most of the time that John held 
 a clerk's position. Her false sense of pride, created 
 since her own honors and position had become of im- 
 portance, chafed at the thought of her husband's answer- 
 
 265
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 ing flat voices as to the price of paprika and cinnamon. 
 Yet, if she suggested that he retire or try again to find 
 something more congenial, she saw that he had become 
 a self-inflicted martyr his heart condition and his 
 white linen apron were to him as a monk's horsehair 
 shirt. He rather gloried in his downfall. Had Iris 
 Starr stayed in his life all might have been different, but 
 left to himself while Densie forged ahead John's 
 afflictions became his friends, and Densie saw that he 
 would wear his white apron and take heart medicine 
 until he, per se, saw fit to do otherwise. 
 
 " It is just that you would be happier, John," she had 
 urged. 
 
 ' You're ashamed of me," he snarled. 
 
 Densie smiled, remembering the years John had been 
 ashamed of her that fatal New York trip, for ex- 
 ample. 
 
 " It doesn't look dignified," she assured him. 
 
 " The senator or your friends don't trade at the 
 Golden Rule," he answered with martyred satisfaction; 
 " and Sally and Ken never pass by on that side of the 
 street." 
 
 Densie hesitated. " John, suppose we try really to 
 talk it over? " 
 
 " I'm all out of heart drops," he would answer, con- 
 sulting a medicine stand. " I'll have to go to the drug 
 store right away." 
 
 And with relief Densie would allow the conversation 
 to end. 
 
 Densie earned even more money that year by doing 
 special investigating work for the consumers' league 
 she became quite intimate with Harriet via letter, and 
 Harriet found that her mother was mentioned in the 
 
 266
 
 circles which she respected as a woman of authority and 
 influence. 
 
 Another peculiar incident happened just at this time. 
 Instead of writing to Densie, Dean Laddbarry began 
 writing to John, or rather John answered one of Densie's 
 letters as she requested, and a correspondence sprang up 
 between the older man and Dean, with John telling all 
 the news, after the fashion of a woman, and hinting of 
 his wrongs in clumsy masculine fashion. He grew de- 
 pendent on Dean's cheer-o letters written about his busi- 
 ness in the West and his liking for the life and the coun- 
 try. Occasionally, not so frequently as before, he would 
 ask about Sally; to which John would reply briefly: 
 "Sally's fine; some day or other I suppose she'll get 
 married." 
 
 Sally never knew this. She knew Dean wrote her 
 father, but pride refused to let her read the letters or 
 answer them. She had developed pride as her horse- 
 hair shirt, just as John had the heart leakage and the 
 white apron. Kenneth and Densie were free from 
 horsehair shirts, each busy living in the world and happy 
 with each other. But to Sally she was twenty-eight 
 now had come a peculiar vanity and reticence about 
 herself and Rex Humberstone. She was neither proud 
 nor reserved with Rex, she had bad scenes in which she 
 stormed or upbraided him for being engaged and never 
 intending marriage and threatened him that he dare not 
 break off the affair loving him all the while with that 
 wild, starved infatuation which no one has ever been 
 able to understand or justify ! 
 
 The truth was that Rex Humberstone was not afraid 
 of Sally, but of Densie Plummer; he realized her influ- 
 ence. He had seen her with Senator Gleason, whom he 
 
 267
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 always avoided, and he felt it was better to weather 
 Sally's storms than to tell her he did not love her and 
 let her go weeping to her modern mother's arms. He 
 had the uncomfortable feeling that his years of belittling 
 Sally's mother might play boomerang. 
 
 Besides, some of the time Sally was fair company and 
 she was still beautiful, and he was altogether too old and 
 too engrossed on a new and lucrative mission to take 
 time for younger women he had trained Sally and was 
 content to let it so stay. 
 
 For a long time the conversation between Sally and 
 her mother had been confined to " when I will be home " 
 and " when I won't be home " and arguments over the 
 honesty of a cleaning woman. Sally had become a semi- 
 secretary-housekeeper, such as she was, with Densie pay- 
 ing her fifty dollars a month and allowing her that for 
 clothes and incidentals. Sally had long ago given up 
 trying to paint for a living; she admitted now with a bit- 
 ter laugh that it was a girlish notion and amounted to 
 nothing. She told her mother's friends and her own, 
 what few she still had, that she preferred staying home 
 and looking after things, and she accepted Densie's al- 
 lowance without a qualm, telling herself that the few 
 notes she wrote or bills she paid deserved her wage. 
 
 Kenneth, who was finishing school, was engaged by 
 the senator at sixty dollars a month to do some sort of 
 clerical work, no one really knew just what; but he went 
 to the senator's office every day after school hours and 
 busied himself with various matters, chiefly answering 
 the phone and reading the latest magazines while en- 
 sconced in a comfortable leather chair. 
 
 John had said, " I worked for my uncle for a dollar a 
 week when I was a boy," when Kenneth told him of the 
 position. 
 
 268
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 ' You're growing old, daddy," his son informed him. 
 " You're beginning to talk about the past that's what 
 you said about Uncle Sam Hippler." 
 
 " Senators didn't hire sixty-dollar-a-month office boys 
 then." 
 
 " Didn't they? If they knew the office boys' bully 
 mummies? " Kenneth finished in innocent triumph. 
 
 At which John's face turned a mottled color and he 
 took an extra dose of heart drops. 
 
 John's salary was twenty dollars a week. Out of this 
 he paid ten toward the apartment expenses, a drop in 
 the bucket in reality. The rest was used for medicines 
 and his clothes. He wore rather goodlooking clothes 
 and took a melancholy pride in his appearance. 
 
 " The really sick people never show how ill they are," 
 he was wont to remark. 
 
 But Densie paid all the rest of the bills, which she 
 was glad to do under the circumstances. 
 
 269
 
 XXVII 
 
 Mrs. Plummer was surprised to have Sally accost her 
 one morning to ask, " Do you know any regular position 
 I could take? I'm tired of licking postage stamps and 
 seeing that the cleaning woman doesn't rob our silver 
 chest. I want to try to really do something." 
 
 Though the coating of ice was solid and of long stand- 
 ing the warm current underneath prompted Densie to 
 say with unusual tenderness, " What would you like to 
 do? You are not the sort to pin down to routine. As 
 long as you stay at home it does not matter, but stran- 
 gers insist on regularity." 
 
 Sally began fidgeting among the papers on her moth- 
 er's desk. " I would be regular," she promised, 
 strangely chagrined at asking this favor. " Oh, 
 mummy, I'm weary of being called Rex's fiancee and 
 knowing we will never marry! There is a lot of that 
 sort of tragedy going on these days. It's worse than if 
 you married someone that was horrid or that died 
 you'd have the legal right to show emotion. But I'm 
 supposed to be ' lucky Sally Plummer ' and I hate my- 
 self and my wasted years and this ring." 
 
 Tears came into her eyes. 
 
 Densie reflected a moment. " It is too late to bother 
 over what is done." She forced herself to speak 
 sharply. " I'll see about a position. You are not 
 equipped for anything. If you could typewrite or sew 
 or had ever developed any one talent or ability." 
 
 " I've spent my best years trimming hats with which 
 
 270
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 to charm a roue," the girl said honestly. " I can't re- 
 fuse to speak the truth any longer." 
 
 "Why not stay here then? You are useful, Sally. 
 It would never do for me to get a position for you and 
 have you fail to make good or leave it." Densie was 
 thinking of her own reputation. 
 
 " I'd not be a credit to you, would I? " Sally's black 
 brows drew together in a straight line. She picked up 
 a letter and glanced curiously at it. " You have come 
 on, mummy this chummy sort of thing from the vice 
 regent of the D. A. R., and your two personal letters 
 from the President you have come on." She rose 
 wearily, as Densie used to after a long day in the 
 household. " I suppose it is too late to start again, 
 isn't it?" 
 
 " If you'd give up Rex," her mother said, halfway 
 hoping; "couldn't you, Sally? Now that you realize 
 the truth ? " 
 
 Sally dropped her head. " He's a habit now a 
 dreary, deadly habit, a veritable gray wolf! I'd be lost 
 without him, I'm afraid. I'm not blaming anyone but 
 myself only I was very young and I cared so hard." 
 
 Densie was going to add, " And you would not let 
 your mummy find out about him " ; but she refrained. 
 What was done was done, and what is is. She had 
 ceased believing in the old orthodox religions. She had 
 stopped praying; she held the thought instead. She had 
 broken away from the faith of her fathers and the duties 
 of her birthright. After many years of struggle she 
 had succeeded in making the old club speech come true 
 as concerned herself " to enjoy life and therefore jus- 
 tify her own existence." In the sense life she had con- 
 vinced herself lay life's greatest and deepest meaning 
 and she lived accordingly. The optimistic anaesthesia 
 
 271
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 with which these modern shallow cults inspire their fol- 
 lowers and urge them to adopt had become Densie's as 
 well: Everything is all right, there is nothing but good 
 in the world, and infinite plenty, there is no need to take 
 heed for the morrow do not admit the possibility of 
 any catastrophe or lack of worldly goods and gains! 
 
 And Densie lived accordingly. 
 
 Sally moved away. A sudden impulse made Densie 
 add : " Sally, if Rex were to ask you to marry him now 
 knowing all you do, would you say yes? " 
 
 And she was terrified at the wild joy that came into 
 the tired, lovely face. 
 
 " Oh, mummy, that would be a miracle ! " Sally said 
 softly. 
 
 So Densie straightway began to hold the thought to 
 force the marriage to take place. She met the senator 
 that afternoon at a reception. He had planned his ar- 
 rival to coincide with hers, and after formal greetings 
 to a few satellites and polite bows to the unwashed 
 those still suffering from cabin fever and at the stage 
 where Densie had been when she volunteered to make the 
 biscuit for the Opera Reading Club they found them- 
 selves outdoors in their hostess's charming garden, the 
 warm May day making summer seem close at hand. 
 
 " By Georgia, you are lovely! " the senator began ar- 
 dently. He was looking at Densie's eyes, as violety as 
 any heroine's this day. Her frock was a short-skirted 
 old rose satin and she wore pearls for contrast. A 
 floppy lace hat completed the creation. 
 
 ' You look just twenty-one," he insisted chivalrously. 
 
 " Sh-h, and you know my age," she warned. 
 
 " I thought we could pick our own ages when we 
 played like children do when they say, ' I am the king 
 and you are the queen' isn't that the idea?" 
 
 272
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 ;< What a boy you are ! I don't believe you'll ever 
 stop playing. It is very enticing, but it makes me want 
 to play always as well, and " 
 
 She paused, at once conscious that she had betrayed 
 herself. 
 
 " Don't you know how lonesome I am? " he began, 
 putting his hand on hers. 
 
 " Please, please, my dear we are staid, middle-aged 
 persons I with grown children and you with blessed 
 memories." 
 
 She stood up and began to point out the sky line. 
 ' Then tell me what I can do for you. I'm never 
 happy these last two years unless I'm doing something 
 for Densie Plummer," he begged. 
 
 " Jim, if we could get Sally straightened out," she 
 said, sitting down again. She had called him by his first 
 name for more than a year. 
 
 " Is it that cad of a Humberstone she still wants? " 
 
 Densie nodded. " It is the one great love of her 
 heart she is like myself. Torn and tattered as it may 
 be, disgraced and irregular, it is there way deep!" 
 
 The senator's eyes flashed dangerously. " Is it right 
 to cling to these torn and tattered loves, my dear? " 
 
 " It may not be right, but it is not in our hands not 
 for such women as Sally and me." 
 
 " How does she know she cares for him that she 
 could not come to see the contrast? " 
 
 " I used to hope for it, but the boy who loved her 
 enough to understand and overlook her foolishness with 
 Rex has gone away and has made a place for himself. 
 Men don't remember for years particularly when a 
 girl has laughed at their love and then sent them away. 
 That is what my Sally did." 
 
 " Suppose," said the senator thoughtfully, " I find ou* 
 
 273
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 more about Rex; perhaps we can convince Sally that she 
 is safer with her mother." 
 
 " Jim, you'd try to capture the moon for me, if I 
 asked you; I never used to dream of being such a cap- 
 tivating old lady! " 
 
 " If I do capture the moon, let us say what is 
 my reward? Will you let me speak? You know I have 
 wanted to for a long time." 
 
 " Oh, no!" She stood up abruptly. "I cannot lis- 
 ten any more." 
 
 " You mean you don't dare," he corrected, catching up 
 to her. " Well, I can wait. I've waited two years 
 now." 
 
 Something in the way he spoke reminded her of Dean 
 Laddbarry's patient whole-souled manner, and for the 
 first time she understood Sally's tragedy, the impossi- 
 bility of loving someone ever and ever so much worthier, 
 perhaps, than the one to whom your heart is given. Yet 
 such is the way of women ! 
 
 274
 
 XXVIII 
 
 In July Harriet came up for a vacation. It was the 
 first satisfactory vacation she had ever spent with her 
 family. The apartment being too small to accommo- 
 date a guest shades of those stately guest rooms at 
 The Evergreens which always welcomed everyone ! so 
 she took a room at a near-by hotel and visited with her 
 family at her own convenience. 
 
 Densie and her elder daughter had much in common, 
 though Harriet disliked her mother's display of clothes 
 and her pink-tea side of life. Densie liked the clothes 
 and the pink teas; she deliberately planned for them. 
 She enjoyed coming fashionably late into a warm can- 
 dle-lighted, flower-scented room with every prominent 
 woman in the city waiting to exclaim over her, and the 
 flock of cabin-fever victims to gaze with awe and admira- 
 tion. She liked taking an eggshell cup of tea and half a 
 macaroon and standing in the center of the floor to tell 
 easily yet forcibly of the President's last letter, and Jane 
 Addams' invitation to visit Hull House, and the work she 
 had just completed along the fines of eugenics. Densie 
 used almost to laugh at herself while she was doing 
 this but it never stopped her from continuing. 
 
 And at the proper moment Senator James Gleason 
 was announced, only to hurry by the receiving line to 
 j-each Densie and say tenderly: " Thank goodness you've 
 come! Where can we have a talk? I'm hungry to see 
 you." 
 
 275
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 She liked it when the hostess would say, " Thank you 
 so much for coming, Mrs. Plummer. You made my 
 little affair a success." Which was, in a large measure, 
 the truth. She knew how to meet and analyze people, 
 to make them like her without winning the description 
 of being ostentatious or self-pushing. Former satellites 
 like Mrs. Worthington Prescott and Mrs. Naomi Win- 
 ters were given but a brief nod, which was all their posi- 
 tion in clubdom entitled them to have. She knew people 
 said that her husband was beneath her and never men- 
 tioned him in her presence, but laid special stress on Har- 
 riet's brilliancy and Kenneth's promise of success just 
 like his dear little mother. 
 
 Whenever Densie entertained she did it at the best 
 hotel in some white-and-gold parlor with an array of 
 white-capped maids and uniformed bell hops to do her 
 bidding. She enjoyed the frothy side of her life. 
 
 Harriet smiled at it indulgently and consented to 
 have a luncheon given for her, at which she heard noth- 
 ing but her mother's praises sung between bites of salad 
 and sips of fruit punch. 
 
 Sally and Harriet stayed away from each other as 
 much as it was possible. Sally realized that in Harriet's 
 eyes she was still the jellyfish, and Harriet looked at 
 Sally as an economic waste and devoted her energies to 
 inspiring Kenneth with socialistic ideas. For the first 
 time Harriet took an interest in Kenneth. For her fa- 
 ther she bought cigars and slippers and kissed him gin- 
 gerly on his cheek at parting. " Poor daddy," she 
 said as she had once said, " Poor mummy! " 
 
 She told Leila upon her return, " Daddy is a sort of 
 high-class low-brow if you know what I'm driving 
 at. His tastes and ideas run to cribbage, pedro, detec- 
 tive stories, poems that rhyme, thick steaks, musical come- 
 
 276
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 dies and good ready-made suits and a vacation spent at 
 a sanitarium ! Now mummy has become a low-class 
 high-brow smart frocks, the latest popular essays, 
 golf, formal hotel affairs, social dramas and national 
 committees, tours of the Yellowstone." 
 
 And though she did not add anything more she was 
 thinking that she herself was a high-class highbrow, given 
 over to crumpled linen smocks, diet sheets, Egyptology, 
 prison reform, monotone song cycles and walking trips 
 through Norway! She was not at all sure as to Sally 
 and Kenneth. 
 
 Leila agreed with her, as usual; and having unpacked 
 her trunk and her mind at the same time Harriet took up 
 her round of duties. 
 
 War broke out the week following her return. After 
 the first horror, yet approval, Densie found added ac- 
 tivities given into her keeping. She was made chair- 
 man of the National Relief Work, and before three 
 months elapsed she decided to make the third drastic 
 move. She sold the exchange outright for a very fair 
 sum, and they adjourned to a hotel without a pretense of 
 a home such as the flimsy little kitchenette. They had 
 their own rooms, disconnected, and a living room for 
 Densie's special use. Every old thing was thrown away 
 that had strayed into the apartment-house locker. The 
 furniture was taken to a hotel because the rooms had 
 looked shabby to Densie's mind. But at last they were 
 on a final basis of living, she told everyone. She did 
 not have to wonder who cleaned the windows or if the 
 electric toaster was in working order. From being the 
 mainstay of a house-and-garden existence Densie Plum- 
 mer had finally re-ordered her life so that the only do- 
 mestic duty confronting her was to lock away her per- 
 fumes from beauty-loving chambermaids. 
 
 277
 
 Maude Hatton died in the asylum the day after they 
 moved, and Sally was commissioned to take flowers and 
 act as chief mourner. She delegated someone else in her 
 place; funerals made her creepy, she explained to her 
 mother. With slight regret Densie dismissed the mat- 
 ter from her mind. The war promised to crowd her 
 days and nights to overflowing, and she had no time to 
 become maudlinly sentimental. She was almost amused 
 at John's grave face when he heard the news about the 
 old lady. She did not know until long afterward that 
 he had been Sally's understudy at the funeral. 
 
 278
 
 XXIX 
 
 The first year of the war brought Densie nothing but 
 success and honors, for she showed her capability under 
 the great stress and turmoil. She became indifferent to 
 the social side of her club life, it was all relief work, 
 which she organized and conducted on astoundingly gi- 
 gantic lines. She wrote stirring appeals to the people, 
 directed a campaign by which she raised enormous funds, 
 and was given a letter of warmest appreciation by the 
 French President. 
 
 Other interests were secondary and faint. She 
 scarcely thought of her clothes or her former pleasures. 
 While France ran scarlet she could do nothing but aid 
 the suffering. The senator was no whit behind her in 
 his efforts. He had helped Densie somewhat into her 
 positions, but she merited his so doing. She was 
 looked upon as the leader in war-relief work as well 
 as having the courage to predict and hope for America's 
 entrance into the strife, to declare herself with the Allies 
 and to prepare people for sacrifice and thrift. 
 
 " I cannot be neutral," she was quoted as saying. " I 
 see but the one position for America hide-and-go-seek- 
 a-Hun! As soon as the national pulse permits, the lead- 
 ers will see that this position is assumed." 
 
 Which attitude lost her many followers and gained her 
 many staunch friends. John and Densie came to open 
 argument concerning this issue. John took the attitude, 
 " It is their war over there let them settle it. Don't 
 go sending our boys to be killed for them." To which 
 
 279
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Densie with unprecedented fury told him he was a 
 coward and asked if he would not fight for civilization 
 if he could be convinced that civilization and ideals were 
 the issues at stake? 
 
 " Yes, if I could be convinced," he said, " but I'm not." 
 And he went over his straw arguments, which Densie 
 swept aside by forceful statements of the truth. 
 
 " We'll not mention the war, then," John ended hotly. 
 " I've got a right to my opinion, even if I am Mrs. Den- 
 sie Plummer's husband! " 
 
 So Densie agreed. She saw no economically useful 
 thing John could do, so there was no purpose in trying 
 to convert him. He was so personal about this war, 
 whereas the great thing was to be impersonal and think 
 of oneself last. 
 
 Besides, something happened in the family which com- 
 pletely distracted Densie for the time being. Rex Hum- 
 berstone and Sally were married. 
 
 Sally had come to her mother as soon as she returned 
 from a busy afternoon of appointments. As soon as 
 Densie saw her she was startled there was an almost 
 girlish look of happiness on Sally's face, and the cynicism 
 had faded from the eyes. 
 
 " You must take time to listen to me," she begged as 
 if she were a child again. 
 
 " What has happened you seem so happy? Come 
 in my room while I slip on a negligee and lie down 
 for forty winks I've a dinner on to-night." 
 
 " No, you cannot go to the dinner. You have some- 
 thing more important close at hand," Sally almost sang 
 the words, she fairly danced into her mother's room, 
 shutting the door and standing with her back against 
 it. "Guess can't you? Like you used to when we 
 were little? " 
 
 280
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " This must be some extraordinary happening. I 
 haven't seen you like this for years," Densie laid her 
 wraps aside. " Do tell me instanter." 
 
 " Rex wants to marry me as soon as I will." There 
 was a quiver in Sally's voice. She was all Sally Plum- 
 mer again, the Sally who was born cuddled and who 
 loved to be alive to just see what would happen next. 
 
 " Rex Humberstone ! " Densie spoke his name in- 
 credulously; she did not understand his sudden romantic 
 spurt. It had been so long since she had actually 
 worried about it or spent sleepless nights in prayer that 
 it was like turning back the calendar. She did not like 
 the sensation. 
 
 " You see, mummy, he was away on business." Sally 
 awkwardly picked up her mother's beringed hand, highly 
 manicured and even whiter than Sally's, and tried to 
 fondle it. But she did not come to nestle in Densie's 
 arms as she had been taught to do. No one nestled in 
 Densie's arms, not even the orphans for whom she val- 
 iantly fought for proper living conditions. " He was 
 ill while he was at a hotel and he said he suddenly felt 
 that he had been wasting time and he loved me more 
 than he ever realized and he wondered very humbly, he 
 said" the gold eyes were pitiful in their proud de- 
 light "if it was too late to ask me to be his wife. 
 And mummy darling, you must know how happy I am 
 right here in the heart of me. I wouldn't care if 
 Rex were a hundred years old, he would still be Rex 
 Humberstone, and he wants me for his wife ! " 
 
 She closed her eyes to hide tears; but Densie saw them. 
 
 Undecided as to her attitude Densie said quickly, 
 " So he has taken eleven years to be sure he loves you 
 eleven years and an attack of grippe, I presume, in a 
 hotel with a bell hop as his only solace." 
 
 281
 
 She shrugged her trim little shoulders in as superior 
 fashion as Harriet herself could have done. 
 
 Sally opened her eyes to stare at her. " Mummy, 
 how can you how dare you? You've no right to 
 speak of my husband in that way." 
 
 " I cannot help speaking the truth. I cannot approve 
 of such a marriage. I thought you were disillusioned 
 yourself, merely keeping up appearances. If you 
 wanted to be a trained nurse for the aged I could have 
 secured you a much better position in a state institution." 
 
 Densie regretted the words as soon as they were 
 spoken. But it was too late. It was really the con- 
 flict between her warm mother's heart protesting at her 
 child's degrading herself by such an alliance and Densie's 
 newly acquired personality a showy, clever, hard per- 
 sonality, excellent armor for these warm, mother hearts, 
 it is true. So often an acquired personality is at con- 
 stant war with one's own self! 
 
 " I shall not bother you again." The cynical look re- 
 turned to Sally's eyes. 
 
 "When will you be married?" Densie asked 
 quickly. 
 
 " As soon as I can be ready," was the retort. 
 
 " I will buy your clothes " 
 
 " I wish none of your money. My husband can pro- 
 vide properly for me." Sally hesitated, then all the 
 faded-young in her shamed and injured self rose to the 
 surface. " And if we have taken eleven years to know 
 our own minds " already she had generously substi- 
 tuted the pronoun we for I " we shan't be as liable to 
 come a cropper as you seem to have done. After all, 
 mummy," she ended with a mocking little laugh, " it is 
 a bit thick, at your age, to be tied to a grocer clerk while 
 
 282
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 a perfectly good United States senator is ready to lay 
 down and die for you." 
 
 After which she flounced out of the room, banging the 
 door. 
 
 Densie tried to control her temper. This was mod- 
 ern respect for parents; this clear-sighted, brutal, slang- 
 ish analysis of things of one's heart. For a long time 
 the warm flowing current struggled to conquer the coat- 
 ing of ice, but the ice won. Densie's new personality 
 was paramount. She lay down to rest and try to sleep, 
 but she kept thinking that she must buy Sally proper 
 clothes and give her a proper wedding. She supposed 
 they would live at a hotel, which would be the best thing 
 as Sally did not know how to keep house. Densie must 
 have a new gown for the wedding, and John new clothes. 
 It would be satisfactory in a certain measure to be able 
 to refer to, " My daughter, Mrs. Humberstone." Den- 
 sie had learned how to say such things within earshot of 
 the proper persons and at the proper time. If Sally 
 so loved this man that she was willing to wait in wretched 
 loneliness all her days rather than marry anyone else 
 perhaps it was better that she be unhappily married. It 
 was better for Densie because it took Sally completely off 
 her hands. Harriet would never be married that was 
 to be expected, and Densie approved of Harriet's career. 
 But Sally, who had given her heart too generously and 
 had done nothing of account, it was better to have Sally 
 off her hands. 
 
 She wondered what John would say about it. Very 
 likely indifferent, since he had begun to pity himself with 
 such gusto and also to locate new and complicated com- 
 plaints. A liver trouble furnished him with food for 
 speculation Saturday half holidays. Besides, nothing he 
 
 283
 
 might say would matter which he knew, and which 
 might partially explain his indifference. Densie smiled 
 as she thought of John, for she recalled the report of 
 Iris Starr's recent marriage to a successful merchant, and 
 John's discomfiture when the news had reached him. 
 Densie had seen that the paper was hanging over his 
 chair arm! 
 
 With Sally married here Densie began to plan for 
 Sally's wedding dress and her own costume and for 
 Sally's rooms and to think of all the good things she 
 could about Rex and try to soften and excuse the bad 
 there was really only her beloved boy and herself to 
 consider in the future. Life was rather satisfactory, 
 take it all in all if one learned how to play the game. 
 
 Densie glanced about her room, contrasting it with 
 the Peep o' Day Room at the Little House, with the 
 carved black-walnut set and the marble-topped dresser, 
 the family portraits, the framed wedding certificate and 
 sampler, the old round table with the double-burner 
 lamp, the plate of knives and apples for John's repast; 
 how he would sit in a big chair beside the table, peeling 
 his bedtime apple and saying, " Well, mother, I met a 
 man to-day that we both know." And Densie on the 
 opposite side of the table would stop her sewing to 
 answer, " Tell me who he was, dear! " 
 
 She shook her head. The contrast was indeed a vivid 
 one. The bedroom had just been done over to suit 
 Densie's latest notion the chairs were Chinese blue 
 with silver-thread embroidery and the dressing table and 
 bed of gilt with handsome tapestry drapes and coverings. 
 Her dressing table sparkled with silver-backed brushes 
 and silver-topped bottles as gayly as any actress' in- 
 deed, her make-uo box quite resembled a Broadway 
 
 284
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 star's. She had artificial roses in a handsome vase, and 
 fresh cut flowers which the senator had sent her. Her 
 costumer showed elaborate, daintily made garments. 
 The pictures on the walls were artistically framed prints 
 and a photograph of the senator and one of Kenneth. 
 The rugs were small affairs, like velvet and of Persian 
 pattern, and there was an elaborate hammered-copper 
 chafing dish and vacuum bottle on a stand. This was 
 all that remained of Densie's one-time well-ordered and 
 hospitable kitchen ! Bookcases were piled with reading 
 matter and a dainty lamp was beside her bed. Her 
 negligee was a creamy, silky thing with old-gold tassels 
 and slippers to match, and she smiled with contented 
 pride as she looked across into the pier glass, where she 
 could see herself reflected. 
 
 " Oh, mum, are you in? " Kenneth's newly acquired 
 lusty bass roared the words from without. 
 
 Densie's face brightened. " Oh, son, I am," she an- 
 swered gayly. 
 
 He burst into the room. " I didn't mean to disturb 
 you," he began he was in the toils of getting dressed 
 for the evening and was wrestling with that blight on 
 masculine civilization, the refractory collar button 
 " only Sally is in one of her high-steppers and won't 
 speak to me and I'm late now. Can you fix it? Ah, 
 thanks, mummy." He sat on the edge of the bed while 
 Densie rose and stood before him to fasten the collar 
 deftly into place. 
 
 " There, my dear you look very nice. By the way, 
 did Sally tell you any news? " 
 
 She gazed at him fondly. Kenneth at twenty had the 
 poised appearance of twenty-five. Contrary to his fa- 
 ther's pessimistic belief that he was to be a man milliner 
 
 285
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 or a tenor he had developed into a tall athletic person 
 with very golden hair, much to his horror, deeply set 
 dark eyes and a square, blue-black chin. 
 
 " No; she just remarked I was naught but a low order 
 of animal life or words to that effect, so I beat it I 
 suppose she's rowed with Rex again." 
 
 " No with mother," said Densie mischievously. 
 These two were always a trifle closer than any other two 
 persons, since they could discuss anything and be sure 
 to remain friends. 
 
 41 What was up wanted another hat?" 
 
 "No; she's to marry Rex soon." Densie waited for 
 his verdict. 
 
 He whistled softly. " If she's going to marry him 
 it's good-by, Sally. I can see it all now. Six months 
 of Rex and Sally will hate him." Kenneth frowned. 
 "Didn't you tell her that?" 
 
 " I suggested that eleven years is ample time for a 
 middle-aged man to make up his mind to marry a girl 
 but it seems that it was all brought about by his being 
 ill in a hotel and he felt he was getting old and it would 
 be rather convenient to have Sally about. Ken, I wish 
 you were older than your sister; you might have influ- 
 enced her long ago." 
 
 " No one can influence anyone that's in love," Kenneth 
 told her patronizingly. " It is Sally's problem and 
 a pretty dance she's led us all for a long time. Do you 
 remember," he chuckled, " the day you came home from 
 New York and Sally had just met him and I told you he 
 reminded me of the wealthy black dog? I've never 
 changed my idea, even if he is my future brother-in-law." 
 ' We must make the best of it and don't try to 
 argue with her." 
 
 ; ' Who ever argues with old maids?" Kenneth 
 
 286
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 boldly helped himself to a little of his mother's best co- 
 logne. " Poor old Sally, that's what she is I cannot 
 see the fun of loving someone like Rex." Kenneth grew 
 strangely dreamy. 
 
 Densie was quick to catch the expression. " Are you 
 in love, dear?" And despite this new and shielding 
 personality of hers and this wonderful ice coating as ar- 
 mor for her own warm heart and flowing current she 
 felt strangely pained and jealous of the girl whom 
 Kenneth should love. 
 
 " I'm halfway in love " he came to put his arms 
 round her " but I've watched Sally for a long time, 
 and I made up my mind, mummy, not to go falling in 
 love like she did unless the other chap is going to care 
 just a little too. It is too tough on on everybody." 
 He beamed down at his mother from his six-foot su- 
 premacy. " You've changed lots, mummy, because of 
 Sally more than you know; and because of father and 
 that fool of an Iris Starr. I can understand now." 
 
 "Who is she?" 
 
 Densie's past problems and present readjusted condi- 
 tions seemed like tissue paper against an iron wall as 
 compared to Kenneth's loving someone more dearly than 
 herself. 
 
 " She's a little blonde girl Geraldine Poole very, 
 very beautiful but she's not given me much encourage- 
 ment. She is twenty too. I can't seem to find out how 
 I stand. I'm not going to make her love me unless she 
 wants to it does not pay for anyone to do that in the 
 long run. I'm going right ahead and get my appoint- 
 ment through the senator and learn to be the best officer 
 in the world, because I've the best mummy to be proud 
 of me haven't I? And I'm proud of you, mummy 
 
 and all you've done " 
 
 287
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " You're only twenty, darling, and that is so young." 
 
 " Dad was married then," the boy reminded. 
 
 " But it was different " 
 
 " Well, is the new sort of different about such things 
 better than the old? " 
 
 " I stopped wondering about it, my boy; it was ruining 
 my complexion," she forced herself to say lightly; " and 
 with a new romance in the making and Sally's wedding 
 at hand I've a lot to do and think about." 
 
 " I wonder if you'll ever marry again? " he asked sud- 
 denly. 
 
 " Kenneth ! " 
 
 " You know I mean the senator he loves you very 
 much," he told her in a confidential, modern fashion, as 
 if he were telling a classmate, " but I don't believe 
 somehow that you will. I don't know why. You've 
 every reason in the world I know dad hasn't made 
 good but " 
 
 Densie was silent. When a child and a parent begin 
 to criticize and openly discuss the other parent the dignity 
 of the relationship is shattered. So Densie was silent, 
 standing tiptoe to kiss her tall young son. 
 
 " My day is over," she said softly; " I've other things 
 I must satisfy myself with ! " 
 
 " But if he asks you, mummy," the boy ended impul- 
 sively, " be good to him, because he cares so hard. It 
 must be rough to let yourself care hard and have it end 
 in defeat." 
 
 " It is," his mother supplemented quietly. 
 
 288
 
 XXX 
 
 That night Densie found John sitting alone in the 
 little salon it was no longer disgraced by the title of 
 living room reading papers and tossing them rest- 
 lessly on the floor. He wore a frayed dressing gown; 
 he had others, but he clung without rhyme or reason as 
 men do to one certain dressing gown or one particularly 
 distressing necktie, refusing to abandon them until they 
 are taken unawares by a scheming wife and a willing 
 clothes peddler. His grizzled hair had turned quite 
 white and there were more harsh new lines across his 
 forehead. John had become gruff in manner, brief, al- 
 most sullen and seldom given to expressing an opinion. 
 
 " Oh, hello," he said tersely as she came in. " Sam 
 Hippler is dead 1 got a letter to-day." 
 
 " Really? " Densie sat in a chair opposite him, 
 throwing back her evening cloak and showing a silver- 
 brocaded geranium satin gown which suited her well. 
 " I'm so glad he's been childish a long time, his niece 
 has written. What a wonderful constitution he must 
 have had!" 
 
 " Poor old Sam, he tried hard to keep me in the old 
 ways." John gave an unpleasant laugh. " I suppose 
 you had a good time," he added lamely. 
 
 "No; a very serious time. The governor was there 
 and I had a personal audience with him about pardoning 
 the two boys sentenced to the chair. I think I shall win 
 my point, but not without effort 
 
 " I suppose the senator will help." John's lips folded 
 
 289
 
 into a thin line; it robbed his face of the last glimmer of 
 pleasantness left to it. 
 
 "He will do everything he can; still, he is not the 
 governor. I am particularly anxious to gain my point, 
 because I firmly believe that one boy is a mental defec- 
 tive and that the other was intoxicated at the time of the 
 shooting." Densie became lost in reflection. 
 
 " I had a good time to-day, too I got a cut in sal- 
 ary. I can't tote barrels into the cellar if a delivery man 
 has suddenly left or attract the younger women's patron- 
 age ! They'd like to get rid of me so they're trying 
 the best they can. Rotten, cheating firm and methods! 
 Why, the stuff they sell people, Densie, is ridiculous to 
 call by any dignified name such as tea and coffee, and 
 Uncle Herbert would have considered their extracts 
 poison. I don't see how they can get it across." 
 
 " Of course," Densie said in a very preoccupied man- 
 ner. Any mention of the store or John's affairs irritated 
 her; she had once longed to be told any details, but the 
 pendulum had swung to the other extreme. " How 
 much did they cut you?" 
 
 'To fifteen a week and in these times! Jolly, 
 isn't it? " He threw the newspapers off his lap. " By 
 God, this is no age for an old man or woman ! " he 
 said forcibly. " I wish I had Sam Hippler's wooden 
 overcoat." 
 
 " Don't speak in such a fashion," Densie told him 
 sharply. 
 
 Coming from a perfectly appointed public banquet at 
 which she sat next the governor and had been toast- 
 mistress, with the senator at her side to whisper the 
 right thing at the right moment and to drive her home 
 to come into her own box of a place, supported by her- 
 self, and find as a welcome this disgruntled, unlovely hus- 
 
 290
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 hand, sullen and weary and jealous through no fault of 
 hers, it seemed was it quite fair? Ought she to con- 
 tinue conditions? 
 
 " I never speak in a way to please you, do I? " He 
 turned to look at her directly. She had not really looked 
 at John for a long time, and she saw that his eyes were 
 dead looking it rather startled her. 
 
 ' We no longer agree, that is all. I speak to please 
 other people, but never you and it is the same with 
 yourself." 
 
 " I'm in the way," he said coarsely, standing up before 
 the mantel. " A shabby old clerk and a brilliant club- 
 woman were never meant to use the same latchkey. 
 Once " his face grew flushed and she knew what it 
 cost him to say the words " once I was a fool about a 
 woman; a second-rate, cowardly adventuress that's 
 all she was. I asked you to divorce me when the boy 
 was of age, and then I lost out in the firm and she 
 promptly sent me packing. Gad, I went to her expecting 
 sympathy and help, and she turned away as if I were a 
 leper! Well, I don't say but what you've the right to 
 ask for your freedom do you want it? " 
 
 Densie hesitated. She was thinking of the senator's 
 tender, fine face, the gentle voice with its latent power 
 and understanding, the lonely mansion where he never 
 lived because it had no mistress, as he had explained 
 meaningly, the yacht, the motors, the hundred and one 
 fleshpots after which Densie had come to hanker. 
 
 " I would rather not say to-night," she answered 
 presently. 
 
 " You don't say, though, that you don't want your 
 freedom! " 
 
 "No; I could not say I refused your offer. Let us 
 wait a little." 
 
 291
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " I'll clear off if you like. It's no pleasure to be the 
 4 old man ' in the eyes of the hotel, to sneak to my rooms 
 and eat at side lunch shops rather than in the dining 
 room. Everyone knows I can't pay the bills, that you're 
 the head of the family. I'm an old clerk, way out of 
 step with the times. They pity you I've heard what 
 they say. The children don't want to go out with me, 
 and Harriet sends me a postal signed by an initial! O 
 my God, I've made a mess of it! " 
 
 Without warning he turned and buried his head on 
 the mantel, sobbing hoarsely. 
 
 The warm flowing current fairly beat against the ice- 
 coated covering in battle but the ice coating was the 
 victor. 
 
 u I wish you would not speak like that; it is unneces- 
 sary. I choose to live in my own way and I am perfectly 
 content to pay for it. I am happy. I have no wish to 
 make you otherwise. As for the children " she 
 shrugged her shoulders " they are beyond either of us. 
 If you wish to go away say what you want to do, I will 
 help you. I also wanted to tell you some news if you 
 are in a mood to listen." 
 
 He raised his haggard, wistful face. 
 
 ' You're as human as a marble saint"; then said more 
 to himself: " Little Densie Plummer ! " He whis- 
 pered this last but she knew as she winced within of 
 what he was thinking the days at The Evergreens, the 
 first rosy romance days at the Little House, the night 
 that Harriet, new and very wee, lay in her tired happy 
 arms and John knelt beside her in adoration. 
 
 " Sally is to marry Rex Humberstone very soon," she 
 made herself finish without weakening. " She told me 
 to-day." She did not add that Sally had fled from her 
 also. " I shall be glad if it makes her happy. I 
 
 292
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 thought you ought to know. You might want to talk to 
 her or to Rex or something," she concluded 
 vaguely. 
 
 " I'm damned sorry," was all he would say, turning 
 back to his pile of rumpled papers and refusing to dis- 
 cuss the subject. 
 
 The senator took the news in like fashion. It an- 
 noyed Densie that the two men, so unlike, so different in 
 her own estimate of their worth, should agree on such 
 a vital issue. When a woman begins to disapprove her 
 husband, to turn her rejected love into critical blame and 
 gradual disinterest she takes occasion at every oppor- 
 tunity to drive home the truth to l\er own rather loyal 
 but helpless heart that " here is another proof of his 
 stupidity, his injustice, his idiocy," and so on, and ends 
 a staunch convert to the line of argument that she 
 originally set out to prove. 
 
 She was surprised when she went to the senator's office 
 the next morning to learn further details as to pardoning 
 the boys that the senator took the news of the pardoning 
 lightly, but of Sally's intended marriage with serious- 
 ness. 
 
 " My dear girl," he began, " don't let her marry that 
 old rascal. He is crawling to cover for some reason, 
 for he would never marry anyone unless it was ad- 
 vantageous. Sad as little Sally's love has been it is a 
 far saner sort of ' sad ' than if she becomes his wife." 
 
 Densie demurred. " I've made myself think it the 
 proper thing," she insisted. " We won't talk it over any 
 more, only did you ever find out anything about 
 him?" 
 
 The senator shook his head. " A downy bird 
 nearly my age if he is a day! Oh, I'm forgetting 
 he's only a boy, then, isn't he? And other people I 
 
 293
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 could mention are only girls ! " Densie felt herself 
 flushing as she laughed. 
 
 " What's on your calendar? " he asked as she pre- 
 pared to go. " Tell us what your day with Mrs. Densie 
 Plummer is going to be." 
 
 " My days are all so crowded I haven't time to 
 breathe." She was glancing in the mirror at her trim 
 little self in a smart braided serge with a befeathered 
 black hat. " First, I must drop in to order our wedding 
 finery. Then I've a committee meeting at ten-thirty, at 
 half after eleven I'm due at the school board, for we've 
 tiresome detail to get out of the way. There is a suff- 
 rage luncheon to-day, and the afternoon is all eaten up 
 by a greedy person known as James Gleason who wants 
 to take me out for a long drive. I must be back by five; 
 the golf tournament finishes at the Park Club, and I'm 
 one of the tea hostesses. The dinner to-night is at the 
 hotel; I'm entertaining federation officers. They won't 
 leave until late, and then, joy of joys, I've about fifty 
 high-school essays to read, being a judge for the Humane 
 Society's Prize Contest! That means midnight some 
 letters that must get off, and a glance through the New 
 York papers. Heigh-ho, it's a gay life." 
 
 And waving a gay good-by she vanished through the 
 doorway. 
 
 The senator ran into the corridor quite after the 
 fashion of Dean and Sally in the old days. 
 
 " One moment," he called; " I have an amendment 
 to offer." 
 
 "Oh, do!" 
 
 Densie was in a reckless mood. In the old days such 
 a reckless mood would have meant that she would coax 
 John not to work in the afternoon, and packing a huge 
 lunch, together with hammocks and endless wraps, the 
 
 294
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Plummer family would have adjourned to a near-by fish- 
 ing grounds. To-day she lingered in the corridor to 
 listen to the senator's amendment. 
 
 " When a certain mansion captures its mistress that 
 mistress will not be permitted to peek her nose outside 
 the door for any committees; she is sentenced to the 
 rose garden or to glide about the big rooms dressed in 
 proper pretties " 
 
 Pretending horrified disapproval Densie fled. But 
 when she was picking out her own and Sally's clothes 
 with a generous hand it occurred to her with a feeling of 
 defeat and disillusionment that men were all alike, after 
 all was said and done ! Only one had wooed years ago 
 by means of violets, poems and shy whispers, and an- 
 other with appointments on committees, honor banquets 
 and national fame simply wrapped up and parcel-posted 
 her. But after the wooing the same drastic rule for 
 women remained in both their blessed, domineering old 
 hearts ! And she was ashamed to say she forgot modern 
 doctrines and felt delightfully comforted and protected. 
 
 295
 
 XXXI 
 
 Relenting enough to accept the trousseau and to bring 
 Rex to see her mother, Sally decided on an early mar- 
 riage date. As they would go to New York for their 
 honeymoon it was not necessary for Harriet to come on. 
 Rex told Densie with a too suave reverence and humble 
 manner that he wanted to take Sally to the Bermudas, 
 but the war made it unsafe so New York and Wash- 
 ington would complete their modest trip. 
 
 With the magic of black imps, so Densie thought, Rex 
 remained the same copper-faced, mocking-eyed person 
 that had looked down scornfully at her years before. 
 He was one of those persons who are born middle aged 
 and stay so. He might grow more withered and copper 
 colored, the mocking eyes a trifle blurred but to the 
 end he would be the blase dandy, the man of the world 
 who spoke with a drawl and walked with an air and suc- 
 ceeded in making everyone feel that everything which 
 was useful was not beautiful and anything which was 
 not beautiful was not to be considered the second time. 
 
 After a discussion as to the detail no two women 
 with the prospect of a wedding can possibly refrain from 
 a little heated argument as to where they shall stand 
 and white or black fruit cake it is to be expected of 
 even a modern police woman or a Hottentot belle the 
 wedding was solemnized in Densie's salon with only the 
 family and a few friends, the senator among them, 
 present. 
 
 296
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 It was not a solemn wedding, as weddings should be, 
 but somewhat sinister. It was too perfect like a 
 stage wedding, with everyone wearing a professional 
 smile and a most gorgeous gown, and the little room 
 overtrimmed with expensive flowers. Sally in her ivory 
 satin with a rare Honiton lace veil and orchids in her 
 happy trembling hands was really the most natural thing 
 connected with it. 
 
 Even the minister was entirely too professional as 
 he rushed through the old ring service, being in haste to 
 catch a New York train, where he was to speak for some 
 relief committee. The words sounded disconnected and 
 rather uninteresting to Densie. Densie in apple-green 
 velvet and silver lace looked like Sally's sister. 
 ' Younger sister, at that," the senator declared as he 
 deliberately congratulated Densie before he did Sally. 
 John in his new suit, which Densie had sent up without 
 asking permission, seemed out of place, a cat in a strange 
 garret, as he told Densie afterward. 
 
 Kenneth was the best man, silent and disapproving, 
 but handsomer than anyone in the world, his mother 
 thought as her eyes kept straying in his direction. Out 
 of courtesy to Kenneth, and because Sally did not care 
 who was asked and who wasn't, she was so happy, 
 Geraldine Poole, Kenneth's object of adoration, was 
 maid of honor. 
 
 Geraldine was a tiny, ineffectual person with bright 
 blue eyes set too closely together for character or intelli- 
 gence and a mass of fluffy yellow hair combed according 
 to the latest dictates. She wore lemon-colored satin 
 with rhinestone trimming and ate a prodigious amount of 
 salad during the breakfast that was all Densie seemed 
 to make out of her, she confided to the senator. 
 
 " Oh, no, there is a great deal more," he promptly 
 
 297
 
 supplemented. " She flirted with Rex right under 
 Sally's nose and called your husband an old dear and 
 managed to get away with the largest piece of cake and 
 to be the center of attention. She is quite a young wo- 
 man and I think rather mashed on your son. She would 
 like to be known as Densie Plummer's daughter-in-law. 
 Don't worry, the young dog has to have his day. He'll 
 never marry her. She's the sort that uses tears as 
 weapons, and he'll balk at that." 
 
 So Densie had tried to make her welcome and forget 
 about her. Rex was the person who radiated the sinister 
 atmosphere; he spoke his responses in quick, sharp 
 fashion, as if eager to have done with it all, and he ac- 
 cepted the good wishes with a bored, patronizing air, 
 calling Sally " Mrs. Humberstone " even to her own 
 mother. 
 
 The wedding breakfast was also the sort belonging on 
 the stage of a society drama. After they left in Rex's 
 car Densie philosophically went to work on a Red Cross 
 report, the waiters being the ones to whom fell the task 
 of cleaning away the debris and talking it over. John 
 returned to his linen apron for the afternoon, Kenneth 
 and Geraldine were left to bill and coo among the 
 trampled flowers, and the senator sentimentally to fore- 
 cast his own and Densie's future. 
 
 Thinking it over afterward Densie recalled one inci- 
 dent that had been natural. That was the senator's 
 and John Plummer's greeting and treatment of each 
 other. It was as if two rivals had been forced to leave 
 their weapons outside the castle and sit in helpless agony 
 during some long-drawn-out" ceremonial. The only 
 words they had exchanged, accompanying a curt nod, 
 were, " A fine day! " 
 
 Harriet wrote that Sally was evidently a happy woman 
 
 298
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 and she did not feel at ease with Mr. Humberstone, but 
 perhaps he might come to know her better. She had 
 dined with them twice and gone to the theater once and 
 then she left Sally to her husband's friends, of which 
 there seemed a great many. She felt he had the first 
 claim now. 
 
 Sally was rather older looking than she ought to be, 
 but it was probably for the best, considering Mr. Hum- 
 berstone's age, and she, Harriet, had given them a ham- 
 mered silver tea service. The rest of her letter was 
 devoted to the prospect of her mother's visit to New 
 York during the conference of federated charities, in 
 which both Harriet and Densie, from different angles, 
 were to take important parts. 
 
 Preparing for her New York triumphal march, as the 
 senator teased, Densie found her days filled with obli- 
 gations and engagements; and when a few weeks later 
 Sally and Rex returned and took an apartment at an 
 equally fashionable hotel as Densie's, but some ways 
 distant, Densie said to the senator that she must be 
 getting old; time no longer flew it fairly cheated her! 
 
 Sally came alone to see her mother. Rex was very 
 busy, she explained rather wistfully, and would be over 
 Sunday. " Father will be home then," she added, " and 
 you may have a few moments for us." 
 
 " I shall be in New York," Densie said impersonally. 
 " The convention opens Monday. Come here, Sally 
 dear, give me a kiss and tell me how happy you are." 
 
 The old warm current would assert itself at times. 
 
 Slowly Sally obeyed. " Are you glad I'm married, 
 mummy? " 
 
 " Of course, we must all be glad. It is quite your 
 affair. Ken is the only one who has had a distinctly 
 bad effect from it. He has been making himself a slave 
 
 299
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 to Geraldine. I cannot abide the girl, as shallow as a 
 brook, a pretty, ruffly thing who pretends to adore him. 
 The marriage completely upset any sane ideas Ken 
 had you know orange blossoms, harp playing be- 
 hind potted plants, endless wedding cake and kisses con- 
 sidered good form." Densie laughed. 
 
 Sally did not laugh. She sat down at the window 
 seat and pretended to study the landscape. She wore 
 one of her trousseau gowns black velvet with white 
 satin applique and a great drooping hat. Round her 
 shoulders was a shining seal scarf which Rex had bought 
 her in New York, and she had a new platinum wrist 
 watch sparkling with diamonds. The drooping hat 
 kindly hid the expression of her eyes. 
 
 " Oh, these weddings ! " she murmured wearily. " I 
 hope Ken is sensible and goes to West Point and then 
 loves someone and marries her right away." 
 
 " He will." Densie purposely did not notice Sally's 
 weary manner. " Geraldine will never wait four years 
 for anyone four months is her limit." 
 
 " Some women wait," began Sally. Then she gave 
 a little laugh and changed the subject. " Who are the 
 Pooles?" 
 
 "I don't know. Nothing very much; they have a 
 flat somewhere. I never called. Her mother plays 
 bridge and her father sings tenor." She shrugged her 
 shoulders. 
 
 " Poor Ken is on the rocks if he doesn't watch sharp. 
 I suppose I ought not to keep you from work. You're 
 a mountain of energy, mummy; how do you do it? 
 Remember hundreds of names and thousands of faces 
 and always be well dressed and gracious at all those 
 awful Prison-Gate Mission teas and things I should 
 think you'd go mad. I have nothing to do but dress 
 
 300
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 myself and order my meals and Rex wanted me to bring 
 a maid back from New York to do even that. Yet I 
 am perpetually tired if I have to write a note I have 
 a headache, and if anyone calls on me I want to cry, cry, 
 cry as soon as they are gone ! " 
 
 Densie looked at her shrewdly. " My aunt showed 
 me how to work," she said; " that is the difference." 
 
 " You tried to show me," Sally corrected honestly. 
 
 Densie invited her to some meetings for the next day, 
 which she refused listlessly. She started asking about 
 her father, but they became engrossed as to the style of 
 fur boas to be worn next winter so he was forgotten ex- 
 cept for Sally's leaving him a little gift. 
 
 " Tell me about Harriet," Densie had asked. 
 
 " Same old Harriet thinner, paler, blacker eyes, 
 keener mind and colder heart more devoted to that 
 idiot Leila, who is deceitful, I'm sure and more care- 
 less of everyone else. She bored Rex, so we saw little 
 of her." 
 
 " And Rex?" Densie's voice was very earnest. 
 
 Sally's face went white. " He is well," was all she 
 answered, " and very good to me." 
 
 But after she had left, fairly dragging her tired, beau- 
 tiful self down the stairs and into her cab, Densie sat, 
 forgetful of duties and honors and engagements. She 
 was wondering no bride has that dead look in her 
 eyes without some cause. John had somewhat the same 
 look. Could Densie explain the cause? 
 
 301
 
 XXXII 
 
 The war definitely crowded all of Densie's other ac- 
 tivities aside. She was officially given the responsibility 
 to organize societies and handle funds, and when she 
 left for the New York convention she took with her a 
 secretary and traveled in a drawing-room, that she might 
 dictate letters on the journey. Once, during a lull, she 
 recalled that other trip to New York, when she had 
 timidly obeyed her husband's dictates and become dis- 
 illusioned as to Harriet's education, besides being 
 snubbed conscientiously by the entire convention. 
 
 This time she had said good-by to John in her matter- 
 of-fact way, not noticing whether or not he responded. 
 The senator was to be in New York also; he had made 
 Densie promise she would step down from her pedestal 
 and play with him some of the time. Harriet also ex- 
 pected to be with her mother; altogether Densie's days 
 would be crowded to overflowing, and she decided she 
 would not wire Kenneth to join her as she had halfway 
 promised. Some other time she would give up a week 
 and take Kenneth to New York, at which time she would 
 not speak before a single club or meet anyone who would 
 ask her to sign a petition or use her influence with such 
 and such a personage. 
 
 One other time during the journey she recalled her 
 family. A bride had entered the car at some small 
 station, rice and roses dripping from her in profusion and 
 a nice-faced young husband solicitously trying to carry all 
 the bags and the bride as well. Something about the 
 
 302
 
 A WOiMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 bridegroom reminded her of Dean Laddbarry. Woman 
 fashion she could not resist taking a look at the bride, 
 a pretty country girl, ill at ease in her new gown, 
 but as Densie passed down the aisle she smiled at her, 
 a clear lovely smile of pure happiness. Densie felt a 
 pang of mother envy that this girl's eyes were such joy- 
 ous things to look upon while Sally's had been tired and 
 haggard and her smile nothing but a clumsy mask for 
 overwrought nerves and bewildered heart. 
 
 Densie would have been surprised had she known what 
 was happening at Sally's apartment at this identical mo- 
 ment. Dressed for a country-club tea, at which Rex 
 had ordered her to appear, Sally had been putting on 
 her gloves when a bell boy brought up a card. For 
 a moment she read it without allowing herself to believe 
 the name she saw engraved: Dean Laddbarry. 
 
 She read it again, wondering if the boy saw how she 
 trembled; then she said she would see him. Dropping 
 her gloves on the table she stood with her hands out- 
 stretched waiting for the door to open. 
 
 A tall lantern-jawed man came into the fussy little 
 room and seemed to overcrowd it just by his presence. 
 If Sally Plummer had changed, so had Dean Laddbarry. 
 The boy was gone; he was a strong, sober man, the hon- 
 est eyes were keen and piercing, and his body had de- 
 veloped from muscular work until he seemed a stranger 
 giant rather than the former slender Dean. He wore 
 the unconventional dress of a man who is making good 
 and has no time to bother with flubdubs. His boots 
 were not highly polished and the suit was of gray and 
 speckled red, undeniably store bought, while his tie 
 was a bit rumpled and its style and color nondescript. 
 
 He looked at Sally without speaking. As Sally was 
 thinking of the change she <nw in her old boy friend so 
 
 303
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Dean was thinking that he had left Sally Plummer a 
 beautiful frivolous girl and he found her a tired yet 
 beautiful woman. Her gown of pink satin with bands 
 of black fox and the French hat of jet emphasized the 
 impression. It seemed as if she were " too tired way 
 inside " to bother wearing such gowns and hats and do- 
 ing them justice, as if she would rather be in some simple 
 white thing, free to wander off to a garden nook and 
 sit watching growing, quiet things, and rest. He noted 
 the rings, the bracelet watch, the collar of pearls, the 
 corsage of orchids. 
 
 Then he said slowly: "Well, Sally, has it made you 
 happy? " 
 
 She did not answer. It seemed as if she were momen- 
 tarily hypnotized and could not stop staring at this 
 rugged out-of-door man who had looked deep into her 
 heart and read its secret. 
 
 " Won't you sit down? " she asked presently. 
 
 He straddled a frivolous gold chair, leaning his arm 
 across the back of it and watching her carefully. " I 
 came East on business; I'm only here two days. I went 
 to your father's store." He paused to think of the great 
 change he had found in The Golden Rule Tea Store with 
 the beaproned clerk. " He said you were married to 
 Rex. I would not have hunted you up only your mother 
 was out of town and Ken not to be found. I couldn't 
 go away without seeing some of you, so here I am; and 
 how are my chances for a real welcome?" 
 
 " I see," Sally answered dully. " You look well 
 and happy," she added-timidly. 
 
 Dean's eyes kept staring at her without mercy. 
 "What a ghastly change! " he murmured. 
 
 " Stop ! " She tilted her head in characteristic de- 
 fiance. ' What right have you to come and tell me 
 
 304
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 any such thing? If my my husband " She 
 
 tried to say the words with joyous assurance of her hus- 
 band, but it was a miserable failure. Her head drooped. 
 
 " I have the right of someone who has loved you a 
 good many years; and that's a right no one can take 
 away from me. How you have changed; you seem to 
 me just to be making yourself keep up the game. It 
 isn't the real you, Sally. Pal, don't you remember how 
 you used to tell me everything good or bad can't you 
 tell me again? Can't you trust me? Tell me what is 
 bothering. I'll be three thousand miles away from you 
 within a few days I'll never come back, it is likely. 
 Sometimes it's a relief to talk; want to? " 
 
 Her lips quivered. " Don't make me hate myself any 
 more," she begged. " There is nothing to tell noth- 
 ing that is anyone's concern but mine. Please let us talk 
 about the West and your work, anything but my own 
 wretched self. Oh, I cannot bear it! " She struck the 
 palms of her hands together sharply. 
 
 "Have you told your mother?" he insisted. 
 
 Sally smiled. " You have not seen mummy, so 
 you can't understand. Only standing committees tell 
 mummy things; or the senator, or the President, or I 
 can't make you realize how changed it all is. Mummy 
 lives for herself, Dean, not for her family. She isn't 
 a woman's woman any more." 
 
 "So I surmised. And the home?" 
 
 " We have no home. We lived at the hotel until I 
 married and came here. Rex hates a home. I would 
 not know how to manage one if I had it. A home is 
 quite impossible for any of us." And she laughed so 
 shrilly that Dean's nerves began to assert themselves. 
 
 " What made him finally marry you? " he asked bru- 
 tally. 
 
 305
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Sally started to her feet. " I will not listen to you 
 an intruding stranger ! " 
 
 Dean rose and grasped her hands in his strong kindly 
 ones. " I always loved you, Sally Plummer, and I al- 
 ways will. I'd fight your husband for you now if he 
 would fight but he's a coward. I've had to stand 
 by and see you pass me up and let yourself be a slave to 
 that cad. I had to go away with no promise of you, 
 no incentive to make me make good and yet I made 
 good anyway, because I stole you in my thoughts and 
 had you for my incentive. Yes, I did just that. I 
 couldn't have stood it if I hadn't let myself pretend that 
 you cared, that some day I could come back and listen 
 to you say ' Yes.' It wasn't such a bad thing to do, was 
 it, Sally darling? Look at me not away from me. 
 There, don't cry. Sally, it could be worse. If you had 
 forgotten how to cry that would be a degree more 
 hopeless. Let me hold your hands another minute while 
 I finish. Shall we sit here together? " 
 
 Like a child she let him lead her to a little tete-a-tete, 
 her hands clinging to his. 
 
 " I wanted to come back, Sally, and see if you would 
 still say ' No.' I hadn't heard of the marriage, for I'm 
 rather out of the way of civilization and your mother 
 doesn't write me any more. I came here hoping dreams 
 might come true. I found out the worst before I'd been 
 in town an hour. I who really know you both, ask you 
 to tell me why you married him you wretched, lovely 
 woman." 
 
 The grip on her hands tightened. 
 
 " If I could tell anyone, Dean, it would be you," she 
 answered. " I married him because all my starved 
 woman's heart wanted the revenge, the satisfaction of 
 marrying him after the wasted years and I loved him. 
 
 306
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Not as I once loved him, but with the same infatuated 
 blindness by which he won me. I was happy to marry 
 him. But I thought of you, Dean, many times. Odd, 
 wasn't it? And so and now oh, I cannot go on ! " 
 Such a look of terror came into her face that Dean 
 dropped her hands as he bent closer to peer into her 
 eyes. 
 
 ' Tell me, Sally. I'll do anything you say. I'll 
 forget the word discretion; or remember it just as you 
 like. Tell me shall I carry you off like a bandit - 
 will you come tell me? I'll fight him like a man - 
 I'll " He had forgotten himself, for he was hold- 
 ing her in his strong tender arms. 
 
 She let her cheek rest on his shoulder while she sobbed, 
 " Dean oh, mummy ! " in some unexplained 
 anguish of the soul. u Let me alone; it is too late too 
 late; but I did not know. I did not dream." 
 
 Then she broke away from him and walked to the 
 window, trying to compose herself. Dean stood back, 
 abashed, remembering that after all Sally was another 
 man's wife. After years of loyal and unreturned love, 
 tempered only by his stolen dreams, the truth had crashed 
 in relentlessly and for all time. Whatever the secret it 
 was Sally's Sally Humberstone's, to be exact. 
 
 " I'm sorry I've stirred all this up," he said gently. 
 " I didn't mean to when I came in. Only I've loved you 
 so hard, Sally, I always hoped you'd care some day." 
 
 " I know." Sally was her old tired but poised self. 
 " I understand." She turned and faced him. " But we 
 must not forget that it is too late." A tender expression 
 crossed her face. " Have you never met anyone you 
 could love ? " 
 
 " No one, Sally for you see I loved you in dreams." 
 He picked up his hat and fumbled with it boyishly. 
 
 307
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " You'd make some woman so happy," she added wist- 
 fully. " You must try to love someone and forget me. 
 I've been my own worst enemy, Dean, as well as disap- 
 pointing you." 
 
 " I'm afraid it will always be Sally. But that's neither 
 here nor there." He straightened up with an effort. 
 " I'm sorry to have made a scene. Remember me to 
 Ken, won't you? Your father is changed he's an old 
 man, and yet he really isn't old, is he? Tell your mother 
 I still remember her cake and pie." 
 
 Sally shook her head. " If you do, mummy doesn't. 
 We're all changed now, Dean. Only you seem to be 
 the same. Now tell me about your work." 
 
 Dean outlined his enterprises. There was such a 
 vigor, such a clean-cut honest way about him and about 
 his plans that Sally listened with eager admiration. 
 Finally he glanced at the ornate room with its smart 
 furnishings and artificial setting, a painted parrot on a 
 white-and-red stand being the only attempt at a com- 
 panion. 
 
 " So this is Sally Plummer's home," he said soberly. 
 " Oh, I can't remember you here but as you were back 
 at the Little House where we had such good times. 
 Good-by, dear. Promise that if you ever want or need 
 me you will send." He laid an address on the table. 
 
 " Good-by, Dean. Good luck and may love come to 
 you," she answered unsteadily, holding out her hand. 
 
 He took it with a disinterested gesture, and then with- 
 out warning drew her to him and kissed her fiercely, whis- 
 pering, " I'm not stealing this it is my right to kiss you 
 once. I've kissed you so many times in dreams. Tell 
 him if you wish. I'd like the whole world to know." 
 
 Before she could answer he had left the room and 
 
 308
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Sally was alone the painted parrot looking over with 
 a mocking jeer. She took off her hat and went into her 
 bedroom. It was impossible to go to the club tea, even 
 though it would anger Rex. There are limits to en- 
 durance. She picked up Dean's card and address and 
 put them carefully away. Then she tried to read some 
 frivolous story, tossing it aside in despair. She went to 
 her desk to answer notes, but she misspelled words and 
 blotted the paper. She began walking up and down 
 the room, the parrot jeering at her every time she made 
 a turn. 
 
 Finally Rex came in. His copper-colored face was a 
 trifle flushed and his eyes had a look of keen displeasure. 
 
 " I waited an hour for you," he began without any 
 other greeting. " Eunice Hunt took your place at the 
 tea table. Why didn't you have the grace to let people 
 know if you were not going to honor them with your 
 presence? " 
 
 " I meant to come," she said dully. " I am dressed 
 for the thing, as you can see. I had a headache. I did 
 not think it necessary to telephone." 
 
 " I explained to you why it was necessary." He hissed 
 the words a trifle; Sally had learned this was a forerunner 
 of rage. He threw down his coat and hat and came 
 toward her, pointing his finger at her with meaning. 
 " See here, young woman, the next time I arrange to meet 
 you any place and you don't want to come because you're 
 in one of your moods or sulks you come or you let me 
 know ! I'm not to be made a fool of not at this stage 
 of the game." 
 
 "Are we always to go on like this?" asked Sally 
 wearily. " You are no more like the man I first loved 
 than I am like the child I once was. I'm tired of it; it is 
 
 309
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 like painted films, flat, monotonous. I almost get to hate 
 myself," she was about to finish the sentence, but she 
 controlled herself. 
 
 " It makes no difference what you think just now," 
 he reminded in a peculiarly soft voice. " There is every 
 reason in the world to make us work together." He 
 hissed the words more loudly. " See here! " 
 
 He drew something from his pocket and made her 
 read it. 
 
 She gave a cry of protest. " Stop it stop it be- 
 fore it is too late! No, I'll have none of it " 
 
 His thin cruel hand took her wrist, the nails deliber- 
 ately cutting into her flesh. 
 
 " If you turn on me," he said with deliberation, the 
 whites of his eyes emphasizing their maliciousness, " I 
 will kill you." Then he dropped her wrist and gave a 
 little laugh as he pushed her away. " Come, let us be 
 normal, my dear," he finished sardonically. " I'm sure 
 you'd rather have a box coat of sables than a bullet 
 eh?" 
 
 Sally fled from the room, locking her bedroom door 
 and refusing to answer. All through the night she 
 sobbed in helpless surrender and thought of Dean 
 Laddbarry's kiss! 
 
 310
 
 XXXIII 
 
 Densie's New York trip was a distinct success. She 
 rode in a motor with prominent statesmen in the patriotic 
 parade and was given every possible attention, her pic- 
 ture was printed in all the papers with complimentary 
 headings. 
 
 Harriet marveled at her mother's success, at her way 
 of dressing, the girlish fashion in which she received her 
 attentions and compliments. Densie found a greater 
 change in her daughter than she had fancied could occur. 
 She had rather settled in her own mind that Harriet was 
 always to stay dark haired and pale, clever and satisfied 
 with impersonal views of life and impersonal work. 
 
 But she noted a strange restlessness beneath the ve- 
 neer of content, a nervous irritability when work pressed 
 too hard. When she ventured to ask the reason for 
 this Harriet answered almost rudely that it was 
 nothing, and never to bother her with such ques- 
 tions again. But after four very b isy days with the 
 senator coaxing her to play and herself trying to attend 
 to her duties and not succumb to temptation Densie 
 understood the reason for Harriet's new manner. 
 
 She was to take dinner with the girls, as she called 
 Leila and Harriet, and then go on to her evening affairs. 
 It was to be the one informal dinner she had found time 
 to have even the senator was banished to drives and 
 brief cups of afternoon tea. 
 
 Coming up the apartment-house stairs Densie began 
 to reorder her mind. She found it necessary to have 
 several mental compartments into which certain sets of 
 
 3"
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 persons and circumstances were placed and definitely 
 made to remain. It was the only way in which she 
 could successfully carry on her various lines of work 
 and her family. The family mental compartment cor- 
 responded to that one corner of the old-style attic that 
 was house-cleaned once a year and called " where all the 
 things we don't use are kept." 
 
 So Densie began to think of Harriet's nervous man- 
 ner, the almost bitter way in which she spoke of even 
 trivial affairs. She rang several times before Harriet 
 in an unheard-of frousled state answered, her face so 
 white that Densie wondered if Harriet might not have 
 weathered through some hard illness without writing 
 home. 
 
 " My child " she put her hand on her shoulder 
 " what in the world is wrong with you ? I shan't stay 
 for dinner you must go to bed." 
 
 Harriet jerked away. Now it would be hard for a 
 manikin to come to life suddenly and show emotion nat- 
 urally, as flesh-and-blood persons have long been accus- 
 tomed to do. The manikin would have to strut about, 
 bend awkwardly, speak absurdly and have peculiar ex- 
 pressions. So it was with Harriet. From the long 
 period of repression and impersonal living it was not 
 possible for her to express any real sorrow in natural 
 fashion. 
 
 " Come in, please," she said sharply; " I've something 
 to say." 
 
 Wondering, Densie followed her down the hall and 
 into the living room. x " What in the world is it, Har- 
 riet? I don't like the way you look and act." 
 
 Harriet gave a shrill laugh. " Don't you? Neither 
 do I." Her thin pale fingers began smoothing her hair. 
 11 I'm sorry not to be dressed rather upset." She 
 
 312
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 spoke the words begrudgingly, as if she hated herself 
 for showing how she felt and hated her mother for being 
 present to see it. " Leila married she eloped with 
 some silly idiot of a student ten years younger than 
 herself never liked him told her so tried to 
 break it up she lied to me said she never would 
 marry." Her fingers kept twisting and untwisting a 
 loose strand of hair. " Said she was wedded to work 
 never hinted of what she was going to do worried me 
 a long time ran off like a servant girl noon to-day. 
 Oh!" 
 
 She gave a strangled cry of grief and left the room. 
 
 Densie followed. ' There is nothing to go to pieces 
 about," she said sensibly. " If Leila wished to marry 
 someone it is her affair. There are plenty of other girls 
 to room with or keep house I'd be glad for her if she 
 was glad." 
 
 Harriet turned to glare at her mother. " Knew you'd 
 not understand," she said sharply. " Wouldn't you feel 
 the least bit knocked if she had been your chum all 
 
 along? She " Then she stopped and refrained 
 
 from the rest of the truth, being too much of a thorough- 
 bred. For Leila had steadily and deliberately borrowed 
 Harriet's money with no intention of repaying, and she 
 had eloped not only with a boy student but with the 
 greater share of Harriet's earnings. 
 
 " Now, Harriet, please wash your face and comb your 
 hair and get some tea." Densie was annoyed this should 
 have happened when she was so busy and needed all 
 her strength. " I'm sure I cannot see what a terrible 
 tragedy it is. You have lived so long alone that you are 
 not used to having anyone do anything except just as you 
 say " 
 
 Harriet interrupted her mother with an ugly little 
 
 313
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 laugh, merely indicative of her nerves, but to Densie it 
 seemed insolence. 
 
 " I want you to let me alone! " she declared, beside 
 herself with anger and grief. " I'll live by myself and 
 never have another friend don't worry ! I'm through 
 trusting people. I'm no child to be ordered about I'm 
 tired." 
 
 And on the verge of hysterics she left her mother 
 standing in the bedroom doorway while she vanished into 
 her little dressing room. 
 
 " You need a vacation and new clothes," Densie in- 
 sisted. " When America enters the war, Harriet, you 
 are certain to go to France, and you must be fit." 
 
 Harriet began whistling loudly, her manikin fashion 
 of showing emotion. She did not know how really to 
 cry. 
 
 " I wish you'd stop whistling while I am trying to 
 talk." Densie's temper asserted itself. " You ought to 
 live in a hotel like any sensible woman and for good- 
 ness sakes, send Leila word that you congratulate her! 
 How very silly you are about some things ! " 
 
 " Only kept the place up for Leila she didn't have 
 money enough for a hotel." Harriet reappeared in the 
 doorway. " I'll never keep house again or try to save 
 a cent never ! Please go, mummy; I can't talk to any- 
 one who doesn't understand." 
 
 Densie gave a sigh of relief at her dismisssal. " I'm 
 sure you are as great a problem as your sister once was. 
 I've only Kenneth to rely on." And turning, she deserted 
 the apartment and its v forlorn mistress with alacrity. 
 
 If she could have seen Kenneth at that moment she 
 might not have felt she could rely on him to the extent 
 she had permitted herself to believe. He was to take 
 dinner with the Poole family. He was so busy turning 
 
 3*4
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 the pages of Geraldine's asinine father's asinine tenor 
 solos, pretending to be in ecstasy at the reedy voice in- 
 forming one that the birds would come north again, that 
 Densie would scarcely have known him for her sensible 
 son. He had bought Mrs. Poole and Gerry handsome 
 corsages and was going to take them all to the theater 
 the following night. 
 
 Gerry and her mother evidently satisfied with the way 
 things were turning out waited impatiently until Pater 
 Poole delivered himself of the last tip-top note. 
 
 Then Mrs. Poole said complacently, " Kenneth dear, 
 I'm afraid we must talk very plainly to you about our 
 little girl." 
 
 At which Mr. Poole whirled round on the piano stool 
 and pretended to be startled, while Gerry, a swirl of 
 white lace and ribbons, blushed and said: " Oh, mamma, 
 don't scold Ken. He wanted to tell you. We we're 
 engaged! " And then she ran to her father to hide her 
 head on his shoulder. 
 
 Trembling with terror lest the verdict be unfavorable, 
 Kenneth tried to say all in a moment, that he had brilliant 
 prospects and he certainly loved Gerry as no one had 
 ever loved before and always would and he was not one- 
 tenth good enough for her and he hoped they would not 
 think him too young and if they would only let him try 
 to prove worthy he would be too happy for words or 
 dinner! 
 
 " Our little girl is very young herself," began Mrs. 
 Poole in proper fashion, concealing her inward delight; 
 " yet she seems to care very deeply I have always 
 dreaded the day when she would choose a stranger before 
 her papa and mamma." 
 
 Kenneth gave way to another profusion of promises. 
 
 " I shall not stop true love no matter how this old 
 
 315
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 heart of mine bleeds, Kenneth," Mrs. Poole asserted 
 nobly. " Harold, what have you to say? " 
 
 Mr. Poole turned to the piano after disengaging Ger- 
 aldine and played a bar of How Can I Leave Thee 
 Geraldine looking coyly at Kenneth and smiling her 
 encouragement. Then her father added with character- 
 istic dramatic pathos, having once been a trouper, " I've 
 nothing against you, my boy only that you have taken 
 our prize. Cherish her tenderly. Ah, me, the nest is 
 empty." 
 
 Geraldine sidled across the room to put her hand in 
 Kenneth's while they received a prolonged and admoni- 
 tory blessing. Later in the evening the Pooles left the 
 young things alone while they departed to tell their best 
 friends that Gerry was engaged to Kenneth Plummer and 
 wasn't she lucky? Everyone knew that Mrs. Densie 
 Plummer had more prestige than the mayor's wife ! 
 
 In unrestrained rapture Kenneth signed his very soul 
 away in answer to Geraldine's demands that she never 
 keep house but live like his mother, have lovely clothes to 
 wear, and that if America went to war he would try to 
 get something to do in the censor's office, that he would 
 always love her and tell her so once a day, and he would 
 raise a mustache and begin to wear cloth-top shoes. 
 
 Densie left New York a few days later than she had 
 planned, due to extra work. She had lost time trying to 
 deal with Harriet, only finding herself set aside as com- 
 pletely as when years ago she had tried to convince Har- 
 riet of the folly of leading her own life. 
 
 Harriet refused any sympathy and was irritated by 
 the mere mention of Leila's name. She began to dis- 
 mantle the apartment and planned to move to a good 
 and expensive hotel. It did not matter, Harriet argued, 
 whether or not she lived up to her income or a tiny ways
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 beyond it what was the use in ever saving? She also, 
 to Densie's disappointment, refused to have the senator 
 help her to a better position that was Harriet's form 
 of a horsehair shirt and she told her mother good-by 
 in very formal fashion, talking glibly of the book she was 
 to write on The History of Philanthropy. 
 
 Densie looked forward to seeing her boy; she could 
 make herself numb regarding Sally's listless self, John's 
 sullen person with his inevitable query, " I suppose you've 
 had a good time you look it." But her boy he 
 could never fail her. 
 
 Even the senator was jealous of Kenneth he had de- 
 clared. " Wait until some girl makes Kenneth part his 
 hair in the middle and dress like an actor," he had 
 warned; " then you'll be glad enough to have me about." 
 
 Blushing, Densie had denied the prophecy, but the 
 senator had persisted. 
 
 " I can tell by your eyes when that has happened," he 
 said; " and then I shall make the most important speech 
 of my whole life." 
 
 In her heart Densie knew she would be glad to listen. 
 She wondered, just at the time the senator was telling 
 her this, and much against her inclination to wonder, as 
 to what John had been doing during her absence. Her 
 mental compartments did not always work according to 
 her desire! 
 
 317
 
 XXXIV 
 
 Kenneth met his mother at the train ; he could scarcely 
 wait until the greetings were over and they were in a 
 whirling taxi to confide: "Mummy, Gerry Poole has 
 promised to marry me and I'm the happiest chap alive ! " 
 
 Densie looked at him in humorous dismay. The news 
 did not impress her as serious. 
 
 u My dear boy, when your mother was gone did you 
 have to get into mischief? You babes in the woods." 
 She put her hand on his affectionately. 
 
 " I've spoken to her father and mother," Kenneth in- 
 sisted, " and they are willing to give Gerry to me. It 
 rather knocks the West Point plan, because four-year en- 
 gagements are not the thing. I knew you'd understand. 
 Gerry wants to be married soon. You tell the senator. 
 I'm' going into business as soon as I find an opening." 
 He did not add the rest of the truth that Geraldine 
 dreaded America's advent into the war and Kenneth's 
 possible enlistment. 
 
 Densie frowned. " I don't want to be the proverbial 
 ogre in fairy tales, but I cannot approve this. All very 
 well for you to be engaged but I want my boy to go 
 to West Point as we planned. It is a greater opportun- 
 ity than to marry Geraldine Poole," she said rather has- 
 tily. 
 
 At this Kenneth took exception. " I'm afraid you 
 think of love last, mummy. You forget I love Gerald- 
 ine and she loves me. We are not going to let any stupid 
 career break through to spoil happiness. I can be just 
 as much use in the world in business as in the Army."
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 "But when we enter this war?" Densie suggested 
 gravely. 
 
 ' Then I'll talk to Gerry and make her see that I must 
 go. Of course, I'd go ! " he added almost angrily. 
 ' You didn't think I'd try to hide behind your and 
 Gerry's skirts, did you?" 
 
 " No, Kenneth." She patted his hand gently. " I 
 know you would never shrink from duty. Only it hurts 
 to see the West Point commission so lightly given up. 
 Think well before you do so. Such chances come but 
 seldom." 
 
 "Does a great love come but once?" He was so 
 serious and so boyish with the threadbare little mustache 
 and pink-and-white complexion that Densie longed to 
 draw him over to her and kiss him regardless of his 
 twenty-one years and the newly found love of a lifetime I 
 
 " Darling, you are so young," she murmured evasively. 
 " I cannot take it quite seriously. Do look about a bit 
 both you and Gerry." 
 
 " Well, were you any older ? " he retorted. 
 
 Then he paused for they had just passed the Golden 
 Rule store and the driver had not been given notice to 
 stop. 
 
 " We'll talk about it later. Bring Gerry to me this 
 afternoon. She's a pretty little thing, but has she any 
 brains?" 
 
 Densie took the affair as a joke. She could not con- 
 vince herself otherwise. She did not intend Kenneth 
 should marry Geraldine Poole, but she was wise enough 
 not to forbid his engagement; there were far better, more 
 gradual methods, she fancied. 
 
 "Oh, she's a wonderful mind!" Kenneth cham- 
 pioned. " She can why, she can well, she's the 
 dearest girl in town," he ended in self-defense.
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 They had reached the hotel and he helped his mother 
 out and carried in her bags. When they were in their 
 rooms Kenneth lingered about. 
 
 " Was there anything else, dear? " Densie was look- 
 ing at her accumulation of mail. 
 
 " Did you have a perfect blaze of glory? I read the 
 
 accounts." 
 
 "Rather! Everything successful save Harriet. 
 She's a nervous wreck, but she's moved to a hotel and 
 I think it will work out splendidly. Harriet never should 
 have kept house. Have you seen Sally? " 
 
 " I took dinner with them last night," he grumbled. 
 " I can't go Rex. Awful pill ! Beastly to Sally that 
 quiet cold sarcasm handed to you on a silver platter." 
 
 Densie dropped her letters. " You don't think she is 
 happy?" 
 
 Kenneth looked very grave, as a newly engaged young 
 man should look when questioned on matters of the 
 heart. 
 
 " I'm afraid not; she bucks up pretty well. Now I 
 wouldn't want Gerry to suspect they were unhappy be- 
 cause she er well she might think it sort of runs 
 in the family, you know " he avoided Densie's eyes 
 " and she would not marry me." 
 
 Densie coughed discreetly. 
 
 Then Kenneth added, " I'm off to the office now, 
 mummy, and it's jolly you're back. I missed you worlds; 
 and don't worry about my not doing my bit over there 
 when the time conies. You know my old dream of being 
 a captain! " 
 
 Densie smiled. " My boy, after all." She blew him 
 a kiss. " Bring Gerry for tea good luck, dear." 
 
 At the four o'clock tea with her future daughter-in-law 
 Densie felt she was wasting a precious hour with this 
 
 320
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 frizzled haired girl in her saintly frock lavishly embroid- 
 ered with gold. Kenneth was the only happy person of 
 the trio; with blind masculine conceit he now felt his 
 women were united, and he looked first at Gerry with 
 blindly adoring eyes and then with proud admiration at 
 his mother, and then fell to demolishing the sandwiches 
 with a perfectly normal appetite. 
 
 Geraldine regarded Densie as her natural foe, though 
 she simpered pretty nothings and agreed to everything. 
 She was afraid of Mrs. Densie Plummer just as she 
 rather envied Mrs. Rex Humberstone and had a con- 
 tempt for Mr. John Plummer. There was something 
 about Densie that inspired her awe her dignity, her 
 gowns, her clever fashion of finding out what one really 
 thought no matter what one said. As for Densie, she 
 regarded Geraldine as an overdressed, wild little Ameri- 
 can and regretted that calf love was necessary in this 
 day and age. How much better if Kenneth could have 
 fallen prey to some other person any other person, in 
 fact, than this affected creature with no ability for real 
 emotion. However, with the approaching war and Ken- 
 neth's absence it would all blow over, for he would re- 
 turn to find Geraldine some other man's prize, and in 
 youthful disillusionment he would seek out his mother 
 and be set right again. As Densie planned it it promised 
 well! 
 
 Geraldine told Kenneth that she was afraid of his 
 mother, she was such a stupid little thing, and his mother 
 did not want him to marry her making great tearful 
 eyes all the while. They were in Geraldine's home and 
 she felt more at ease than in Densie's little salon. 
 
 "She's so clever and I'm not; and neither is my 
 mamma. But then, my mamma loves my papa," she 
 ended with an ugly little laugh. 
 
 321
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 At which Kenneth took on his own shoulders the entire 
 blame for it all and said that Densie loved Geraldine and 
 he worshiped her, nothing short of that, and that he 
 loved her father and mother, and his own father and 
 mother were happy oh, quite happy, only in a differ- 
 ent sort of way he could not just explain it. 
 
 Appeased somewhat Geraldine secured the promise of 
 a silver chain purse like Sally's and then she added coyly, 
 " You won't enlist when we go to war, will you, Ken- 
 neth? Wait until they make you go. You know I'm al- 
 most your wife, and that makes a difference." 
 
 "You'd want me to go, wouldn't you?" he begged. 
 " You'd wait for me if I was over in France fighting? " 
 
 Geraldine burst into tears. " I'd lose my mind, I'd 
 worry so! I'd be afraid you'd lose an arm or leg. I'd 
 die if you came back with one arm! Don't leave me, 
 Ken! Why, you'd get no pay at all if you went and 
 enlisted ! " 
 
 " But it's duty," he corrected with a graveness worthy 
 of older years; " and even you, Gerry, could not make 
 me forget that." 
 
 Something in his manner warned her she had tres- 
 passed a bit too far. She had only entered the first 
 romance zone, and her claims on the lad were fragile and 
 easily shattered. It would be time enough when war 
 was a reality. Maybe the old war would be over by 
 Valentine's Day! It did seem as if one poor little girl 
 who had never harmed anyone might claim the diamond 
 ring which was promised her for a valentine! Even if 
 the whole affair with Densie Plummer's son came to 
 naught else that ring would have made it worth while. 
 
 Densie did not go out in the evening, so she met her 
 husband as he came into their rooms. He had a way 
 of walking in swiftly as if he would prefer not to be seen. 
 
 322
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 There was an eternal shame in his mind in being known 
 as Mrs. Densie Plummer's husband and having to take 
 his wife's checks down to the desk in payment. He 
 longed to change to some obscure room such as Sam 
 Hippler and Maude Hatton had once had, and there be 
 free to lead his own life in his own way. 
 
 " Oh," he said in customary fashion, "did you have 
 a good time? " 
 
 ' Yes, did you get the newspapers? " 
 
 Densie made no pretense of kissing him. She was 
 contrasting him with the senator as she looked at him. 
 
 " The boy got them, I saw him reading. I didn't 
 bother. I dare say I wouldn't have understood what it 
 was all about. Were you going down to dinner? " 
 
 " I thought we might have it up here for a change; 
 I'm rather fagged." 
 
 " Surely not en famille? " he said, smiling. " What 
 an event! " 
 
 Densie telephoned her order without comment. " I 
 am sorry we cannot eat together more often." She 
 pushed out a card table to act as the festive board. 
 " But we never seem to be interested in the same things. 
 Harriet is very run down; she is moving to a hotel. This 
 Leila married suddenly, and it completely upset her. 
 Harriet ought never to have any bosom friend, she ought 
 to give her whole self to her work." 
 
 "Human beings are a nuisance, aren't they when 
 one wants a career? " 
 
 John was standing with his back to her, watching the 
 gas logs burn dismally. 
 
 " Oh, not that only certain persons are meant for 
 certain things and others change after a time and the 
 old regime does not appeal to them." Densie felt con- 
 fused annoyance. She wished she had not suggested the 
 
 323
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 little dinner. "Has Ken told you his great secret?" 
 She was anxious to change the subject. 
 
 " I've guessed it," John said quietly. " No one ever 
 tells me anything. We've changed places, you and I, 
 Densie. I understand how you felt." 
 
 Densie was silent. 
 
 " It is Geraldine Poole, isn't it that flaxen haired 
 sylph? I've seen the handwriting on the wall for some 
 time. Are they engaged? " 
 
 " So Ken says she is a brainless atom and it will 
 never last. This war will make a man of him." 
 
 " Oh, is there going to be a war? " 
 
 " Certainly and our boy must go." 
 
 John drummed on the chair arm. " She won't want 
 him to." This by way of making a remark. 
 
 " That is where the breach will come. I'm not worry- 
 ing. I know him too well. It is a trifle annoying, that's 
 all. Young marriages are mistakes." 
 
 And she watched John open the door to the waiter 
 and help him place the dishes on the table. 
 
 When they were alone she asked, " What do you hear 
 from Sally and Rex? They have quite a self-centered 
 life, never taking part in anything save senseless society 
 nonsense. And do you know how Rex gets his money? 
 Their hotel is twice as expensive as ours and they've 
 a beautiful new car." 
 
 John leaned back in his chair, memories of the fifteen 
 per week and the white linen apron making his voice 
 a bit caustic. " I'm too busy getting rich myself to 
 bother about the other fellow," was all he would say. 
 
 Having exhausted their family as a topic there came a 
 great lull. Densie was planning to-morrow's schedule, 
 wedging in a visit to Sally and one to the exchange out of 
 courtesy, and John was lost in his own thoughtr, 
 
 324
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 After dinner she excused herself and said she would 
 finish her letters, -she knew he wished to read. 
 
 " Oh, certainly," John answered formally; " I do." 
 And there was an unusual emphasis on the last two words. 
 
 Returning to the salon for an address book Densie 
 saw that he was lost in the study of some red-cloth book. 
 She wondered what it was since he did not even glance 
 up as she passed through the room. The next morning 
 she deliberately hunted for it. After a search through 
 his meager possessions she came upon it, massed about 
 by a lot of magazines. The book was Practical Farm- 
 ing for Beginners, and the magazines were all farm and 
 poultry journals. 
 
 325
 
 XXXV 
 
 Densie Plummer found her daughter having an in- 
 excusably late breakfast in her room. She was pretend- 
 ing to eat, merely wasting her food and glancing at the 
 morning paper propped beside her. 
 
 " Good morning, mother dear," Sally said easily as 
 Densie entered, " I was going to phone yesterday, for I 
 supposed you were back from New York. But I had a 
 wretched headache and didn't feel able. Better, thank 
 you; just that lazy feeling that seems to have become at- 
 tached to me. Have some coffee? Then sit over there 
 and let me gaze upon my famous mummy." 
 
 Sally was gentle in her manner; the former spirit and 
 impulsiveness had vanished. She was like an old woman 
 in a young, weary body. Unconsciously Densie shook 
 her head as she looked at her. The red-gold hair was 
 carelessly combed and the cheeks 'pale and sunken, with- 
 out their customary rouge. Her morning gown of flame- 
 colored silk accentuated the pallor. Her dead eyes 
 seemed not to look at her mother, but above, beyond, 
 away it was hard to describe their evasive method of 
 glancing round one. 
 
 " What is the matter, Sally dear? Have the burdens 
 of the world fallen upon you? " 
 
 " Don't pry, mummy. It is nothing just awful en- 
 nui of the soul, I guess. I want to go away if Rex will 
 let me. I want the sea did you ever feel that you 
 must go away, miles and miles away, where no one knows 
 you and where you can sit on the beach and listen to thq 
 
 326
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 boom-boom of the sea and forget everything that is hap- 
 pening in the world of men? " 
 
 " Where could you go in midwinter? " 
 
 " Florida, California Bermuda - - anywhere I 
 don't care. I'm stifled in this place with its glaring gilt 
 decorations. I hate the gossiping hotel people, I can't 
 gamble well enough to be engrossed in cards, cigarettes 
 hurt my throat and cocktails give me these heads. I 
 don't even care enough to get up an affair with someone. 
 I'm just a foolish sort of person, one who cried for what 
 she should not have all her young best days and when 
 she finally got it didn't want it ! " 
 
 " Why not take an interest in something worth while? 
 Come down to the Red Cross every morning, I need an- 
 other clerical worker. Do sewing for the Belgian chil- 
 dren. There's the Armenian and Syrian relief that 
 fairly haunts me make a life for yourself outside of 
 everyone else and independent of them." 
 
 Sally shook her head. " I am only a slug." 
 
 " Why are you? " demanded her mother. 
 
 Sally shrugged her shoulders; her face had a grayish 
 look that was alarming. 
 
 "Won't Rex let you?" The old warm current 
 stirred beneath the coating of ice. 
 
 " Don't talk about it, mummy. Tell me of New York 
 and your success." 
 
 " Tell me about your husband, this man you so blindly 
 adored, who seemed to mean life to you if he married 
 you and death if he did not. Why is it all so hard, my 
 dear? Tell mummy." 
 
 Densie leaned forward sympathetically, but she did not 
 hold out her hands. 
 
 " I cannot," was all Sally answered. " If you love 
 me, mummy, never ask me again." 
 
 3 2 7
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 At which interesting juncture Rex made his appear- 
 ance, spick-and-span as a bridegroom, his wizened, cop- 
 per-colored face newly shaven and powdered, the mock- 
 ing eyes encased in their too vast whites a trifle blood- 
 shot. 
 
 " My dear Mother Plummer," he said suavely, going 
 over to her with utmost deference, " and how are we 
 with all our honors and patriotic enterprises? What a 
 little woman it is eh, Sally?" He looked at the girl 
 sharply. 
 
 " So I've been saying." She spoke with almost nerv- 
 ous fear. 
 
 ' Well, we have to have someone in the family with 
 brains," he added with the suggestion of a sneer. " I 
 suppose New York is all agog with war agitation the 
 news is ominous, isn't it?" He picked up Sally's news- 
 paper and pretended to study it. " Afraid we'll have to 
 jump in and whip 'em a-plenty! " he added forcibly. " I 
 hope you'll use your influence all you can, Mother Plum- 
 mer." 
 
 " I am working night and day for it we must do 
 our part. Surely the nation will see its duty in time to 
 help." 
 
 " I am positive of it pray God," he said earnestly. 
 
 Sally let a cup crash on to the floor. " So sorry," she 
 said, her lips quivering. 
 
 " Don't mention it," Rex answered, as one speaks with 
 veiled warning to a child before company. 
 
 Though Densie approved Rex's attitude she wondered 
 all that day as to the meaning of the little happening. 
 
 328
 
 XXXVI 
 
 Valentine's Day brought Geraldine the coveted ring! 
 " I'm so happy, Ken dear, that I'm afraid I shall die be- 
 fore I've the chance to wear it! " she said honestly. 
 " Isn't it a beauty? And a carat and a half. Your sis- 
 ter's is two carats, isn't it? And your mother has sev- 
 eral." 
 
 " It isn't half good enough for you," he assured her, 
 " but it means I love you and you are to be my wife." 
 All the trust of youth was in his dark eyes as he spoke. 
 " When we are married you shall have all the rings I can 
 buy if you still want them." 
 
 Geraldine showed the ring to Densie and Sally with 
 coy shyness. Both praised it and kissed her in preoccu- 
 pied, rather indifferent fashion, while John Plummer 
 looked at her a long time without speaking, causing her 
 to blush and vow an everlasting hatred for the old 
 grocery clerk. 
 
 Her mother and father called Kenneth " our boy," and 
 after the advent of the ring they explained how necessary 
 it was for Geraldine's happiness that they all live to- 
 gether. To which plan he assented, smothering a trifle 
 of disappointment. 
 
 " The war clouds are ominous," Mrs. Poole had ex- 
 pounded, " and if you must go, Ken, our little girl had 
 better stay with us." 
 
 The day after Valentine's Day Densie had the greatest 
 honor of all conferred upon her. The President wished 
 to see her; he wished her cooperation in a campaign for 
 
 329
 
 war relief. It was not generally announced that Mrs. 
 Densie Plummer was to confer with the Chief Executive 
 at Washington and his assistants, but everyone became 
 aware of the matter whom Densie wished to become 
 aware of it, and when asked by the newspapers as to the 
 truth of the report she said that she neither affirmed nor 
 denied it. The society column of the same issue had 
 the leading notice to the effect that Mrs. Densie Plum- 
 mer had left for Washington. 
 
 But a still greater joy came to her, though she tried 
 not to admit it even greater than that never-to-be- 
 forgotten morning conference spent in the White House 
 hearing naught but praises and being asked for sugges- 
 tions. Densie thought as she stood on the steps of the 
 White House after the session was ended that she must 
 have reached the zenith of her career. She recalled 
 briefly, as drowning men review their lives in swift, furi- 
 ous panorama, the various ways in which she had 
 ascended the ladder. 
 
 But the greater, more personal joy and satisfaction 
 came when Senator Gleason kidnapped her, as he ex- 
 plained to her secretary, and made her go with him into 
 Virginia to his winter home, the home that had been for 
 many years without a proper mistress. 
 
 " I must catch the night train," Densie said in con- 
 fusion. 
 
 1 You may but first you shall give me the after- 
 noon! " 
 
 So they drove through the country roads to the es- 
 tate Glen Laurie where the old servants welcomed 
 their master with enthusiasm, and one, older than the 
 others, added feebly, " Mass'r and Missis," pretending 
 ignorance as to the falseness of the statement. 
 
 The house was a rambling white affair with well- 
 
 330
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 planned grounds and diamond-paned windows, jutting 
 balconies at unexpected places, servants' quarters, stables, 
 gardens everything which went to comprise a South- 
 ern estate. With an old mammy as guide the senator 
 and Densie went through the partially dismantled rooms. 
 He showed her the portrait of his wife over the fire- 
 place in the entrance hall a gentle-faced girl with 
 glowing, happy eyes. Something in the expression re- 
 called Sally as she had been at twenty. 
 
 When they finished the tour of inspection, Densie hav- 
 ing been for the most part silent, the senator made her 
 linger in the hallway while he said: " I've waited as long 
 as I intend to wait, Densie. The boy has given his 
 heart away, and you're lonesome. I'm lonesome. I 
 want a home. I cannot have a home alone I want 
 you. Don't you think I've been patient long enough? " 
 
 Densie did not answer at first. She looked up at the 
 portrait of the young wife. The senator thought she 
 was thinking of his first and deeper love and strove to 
 argue with her that this was not so. But it was not 
 the case, for the portrait had blurred into many and com- 
 posite portraits Aunt Sally and Uncle Herbert, Densie 
 herself as a child, sitting in the walnut rocker to do her 
 spool crochet and learning that she was to have a brother; 
 John astride his pony in the kitchen garden, the Little 
 House as 1 they had come to it after their wedding journey, 
 the first day Harriet walked and John and Densie cele- 
 brated it as a general does a victory, Kenneth as a baby, 
 Sally as a girl, Densie in her old-style clothes, her 
 martyred outlook upon life; and finally, after this bewil- 
 dering sort of experience, the portrait persisted in becom- 
 ing that of a tired man with kindly eyes and grizzled 
 hair with a linen apron tied about him and toil-worn, 
 degraded hands. 
 
 331
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Then she said, " I cannot. I am an old woman and 
 I cannot play as you would have me." 
 
 " You are not old; you are young. I am not old, nor 
 shall we let ourselves grow old in spirit. Look at me, 
 Densie say you don't care. Ah, you cannot, can 
 you?" 
 
 ' We could never find happiness by riding roughshod 
 over someone else's unhappiness." 
 
 "Who would be unhappy? Who cares? Who has 
 cared? Tell me." 
 
 Despite her logical self trying to dominate and accept 
 this crowning glory, Densie found that blurred psychic 
 portrait of the tired man would not vanish. 
 
 " Oh, not now, my dear," she begged; " not now, any- 
 way." 
 
 " But you do care? " he urged. 
 
 " I care," she admitted slowly. " I wish I were free 
 to say ' yes.' ' 
 
 "Then you shall be free that is enough of an 
 answer." 
 
 Stooping swiftly he kissed her. 
 
 All the way home Densie kept thinking of the portrait 
 of the girl bride which seemed so lonely and deserted, 
 and of the psychic blur which made the tired-faced man 
 come into the frame, and of the boyish, gentle little sena- 
 tor good as only few men are good, this Densie knew, 
 and his joy at her halfway answer. Before morning she 
 found herself beginning to plan, half shamedly, half 
 gladly, about the future. Strangely the President's 
 praise and requests melted like mist from her horizon. 
 Only the future with James Gleason occupied her atten- 
 tion. John had asked for his freedom once it had 
 not been Densie's fault that he had not had it. And 
 
 332
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Kenneth had given his heart away as the senator 
 prophesied. How very wonderful it would be to enjoy 
 an Indian summer! 
 
 Then followed the deluge of love letters, love letters 
 as amusing as were Kenneth's, even more so since these 
 two had the added wisdom of years to make them im- 
 pressive. The senator was detained in Washington, 
 fretting under the delay. But he would join Densie 
 as soon as he possibly could and they would make definite 
 arrangements as to the future " the immediate future, 
 dearest," he added, underlining the words. 
 
 As rosy cheeked as a schoolgirl Densie hid the letters 
 in her secret drawer and spent half the day reading a 
 book of love poems he had sent her. Her secretary 
 suddenly discovered that the work for Mrs. Plummer 
 was double what had been represented to her. But 
 Densie good-naturedly engaged an assistant; she did not 
 quibble over anything these days. She even smiled ten- 
 derly upon Geraldine and gave John a handsome scarfpin 
 for his birthday, refusing his thanks almost brusquely; 
 and she told Sally that love was the most wonderful 
 thing in the world and she ought to keep romance alive. 
 Just then Densie saw the world through rose-colored 
 spectacles. No pair of lovers could be counted foolish. 
 Her mission in life, as all normal women's when the 
 heart is wooed and won, became microscopic in impor- 
 tance. Careers she admitted were naught but sedatives 
 with which the loverless and unwanted drug themselves 
 to still the ache of loneliness. The President would 
 have been surprised if he could have seen the way in 
 which Mrs. Plummer disposed of her affairs in the twink- 
 ling of an eye and devoted the best part of her day read- 
 ing and answering letters from James Gleason. 
 
 333
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 The senator's friends had a brief but forcible way of 
 summing up the situation. ' Jim's a good fellow," they 
 would concede, " a mighty good fellow but there's no 
 fool like an old fool! " 
 
 334
 
 XXXVII 
 
 War broke over America to sober Eastertide, and 
 Densie, jarred from selfish reverie, plunged again into 
 the activities of her nation. Likewise the senator was 
 preoccupied and overburdened with detail; director of 
 energies, they soon learned to call him. 
 
 " We must not think of ourselves just now," Densie 
 wrote Easter Sunday; "not for a little time at least. 
 We must do what is needed without flinching, for who 
 can say what will be needed of any one of us? I am so 
 proud of you and your speech I wanted to come and 
 tell you so. That speech inspired me, and I shall take 
 up the torch. If we get the ballot in my state this year 
 I shall resign from all active suffrage work and give my 
 time to war work and organizations. I am at your dis- 
 posal in any such matters, and want suggestions. My 
 dear, my dear, how wonderful it is to be both a boy and 
 a strong statesman ! " 
 
 As she sealed the letter she thought with scorn of her 
 husband's attitude toward the war, and his commonplace 
 comments. 
 
 " We're in it now and we'll have to go through," he 
 had declared, " but we never need have gotten into 
 it never. Profiteers that did it, that's what it was. 
 Watch the bank accounts of impecunious dealers grow 
 watch 'em and watch the middleman's shrink watch 
 the game, that's all I have to say." 
 
 Densie had indignantly refuted the facts, stating the 
 principles of idealistic democracy which the younger na- 
 tion had chosen to champion. She quoted several of 
 
 335
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 James Gleason's sentiments, but John only shook his 
 head and declined to argue. 
 
 " This is a free country up to now," he declared, 
 " and I've the right to say it was never necessary to enter 
 this war." 
 
 "Are you disloyal?" Densie's eyes were dangerous. 
 
 " No, I'll do whatever is asked. I stand by America 
 and you know it. But I've my opinion, just the same." 
 
 So they dropped the subject and retired with their per- 
 sonal ideas regarding each other. 
 
 Densie posted the senator's letters herself; there was 
 all the charm of a girl's stealing to the old oak tree at 
 dusk to find the rustic letter box about mailing the sen- 
 ator's letters and marking them " Personal " in her prim 
 firm hand. Returning from mailing one at the corner 
 she never posted them in the hotel she heard a fa- 
 miliar whistle and turned to see Kenneth hurrying after 
 her, his face white with excitement. 
 
 " I'm going to enlist," he said breathlessly. " I'm 
 not going to wait to be called. I want to work my own 
 way up and stand on my own merits. I don't want you 
 to use your influence, mummy." 
 
 Densie felt a trifle faint. The great impersonal view- 
 point of the war, the speech-making and relief organiza- 
 tion, the directing of committees was one thing, which 
 required ability and special qualities of perseverance and 
 aggressiveness, but these small silent sacrifices of one's 
 son, just a common private, one's only son were things 
 which only the boy's mother and God would remember 
 and understand. 
 
 " Ken, right away? " she said, ashamed as she spoke, 
 for it might have been the way Geraldine Poole would 
 have answered his heroism. 
 
 He had taken her arm and he bent over her anxiously. 
 
 336
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " You sound like I know Gerry will sound," he said in 
 surprise. ' I thought you'd sing out for joy and make 
 me feel all set up. You must; I cannot stand two weep- 
 ers. Dad will growl, and Sally doesn't care. I thought 
 you'd be proud that you would want me to go before 
 I was ordered. I want to begin like any other boy and 
 make my own way." 
 
 "Oh, I do of course." 
 
 But the words lacked the emphasis of her usual decla- 
 rations. They went up to their rooms and found John 
 reading the papers. 
 
 " Kenneth is going to enlist," Densie said as she stood 
 beside her tall son and tried not to tremble. " He wants 
 to go before he must. I am glad." 
 
 She knew her voice broke. The relief work, the com- 
 mittees, the speeches were like phantoms beside a real 
 flesh-and-blood sacrifice. 
 
 John dropped his paper, his rather dead eyes looked up 
 at the boy and a glow of understanding came into them. 
 
 "You young rascal," he said slowly, trying to 
 make himself appear indifferent, even humorous, but the 
 timbre of his voice told Kenneth that at last his father 
 thought him a man. 
 
 " I want to tell Gerry," he added. " She'll feel it 
 most of all." This with unconscious selfishness. " So 
 I'll dig out. I'm going in the Army, mummy; you better 
 start knitting me a whole trousseau. I want to be very 
 spoiled and babied and have a box every week I'm in 
 camp. But I guess we won't linger in camp any too 
 long it's France for ours! " he finished joyously. 
 
 " Why don't you let me try and see if we cannot use 
 you in some other place to more advantage?" Densie 
 urged in spite of herself. " There are numbers of strong 
 men with no brains an officer supplies the brains 
 
 337
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 and when a boy has both a strong body and brains he 
 he ought to think well before he casts his lot with com- 
 mon soldiers." 
 
 She took hold of his arm. She had pictured for so 
 long the battlefields with their dead and dying, in order to 
 rouse public generosity, that it all rushed over her now 
 with a new, personal meaning. Supposing this boy, flesh 
 of her flesh, idol of her heart, should lie dying some 
 hideous winter's night 
 
 " Let him alone," John was saying. " If he wants to 
 start at the beginning, let him start." He held out his 
 hand to Kenneth in silent understanding. 
 
 Kenneth grasped it eagerly. They seemed to come 
 close in spirit these two of such long-standing es- 
 trangement. And they both pitied the weakness of a 
 woman perhaps that was what drew them together. 
 
 After Kenneth had rushed off to Geraldine, John and 
 Densie sat before the fireplace and waited for the other 
 to speak. 
 
 The senator's love letters seemed trivial and absurd. 
 Densie's work took the form of drudgery. She thought 
 with dismay of the list of engagements on to-morrow's 
 calendar. Her boy was going to enlist. She remembered 
 Aunt Sally's Civil-War stories the spirited, brave boys 
 who marched jauntily away and who sent back those 
 funny little knapsacks containing their trinkets. It was 
 always some grizzled old man who came to tell of their 
 death. Oh, how old everything could become all in an 
 instant! She was old, old to her very heart; and, bitter- 
 est sting of all, Kenneth had told her hurriedly that he 
 might spend hours consoling a flaxen-haired little doll 
 who cared no more for him than she did for any stranger 
 who could give her an equally handsome diamond ring. 
 How little Gerry would care should he return maimed 
 
 338
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 maimed. Her heart thumped so loudly she wondered if 
 John could hear it. She glanced at him, but he was no 
 longer sitting in a dejected, careless fashion; he was 
 leaning over toward the little fire, his hands up to his 
 cheeks, and his face was smiling, triumphant. 
 
 " John," she said suddenly, " our boy is going," and 
 she smothered a sob. ' This war this awful, cruel 
 war was it necessary?" 
 
 He turned in surprise to look at her. 
 
 " Impersonal speeches don't hold when freedom asks 
 for your youngest born, do they?" he said gently. 
 " I'm proud of him. He's the stuff to win the damned 
 thing. Why, we had to get into this scrap, Densie, even 
 if we didn't want to because " 
 
 He began a quick, rather superficial but sincere sum- 
 mary of the situation, leading up to his argument that it 
 was America's job to finish the fight and that his son 
 was about to enlist no slacker no, sir no waiting 
 for a cotton-wool commission or a wheel-chair officer's 
 job no, by God, a soldier, a man with a gun! And 
 he was proud of him. Most boys would have hidden 
 behind their mothers' skirts and had them wield their 
 influence, but not Kenneth Plummer. 
 
 Then as he saw tears on her cheeks and the expression 
 of the dark blue eyes he added kindly: " But he's your 
 son, Densie, so he would not have done differently." 
 
 " Thank you." Something about the compliment, as 
 delicately formal as a sonnet to a French marquise, 
 touched her. It was generous of John ! " I must learn 
 to knit everything he must go well equipped as 
 well equipped as his mother and and his father can 
 send him." 
 
 John thanked her vaguely, but he knew that Densie was 
 thinking of the senator as the co-equipper. 
 
 339
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Geraldine took the news just as everyone expected 
 she would do. After several long reels of tears and 
 protests she finally managed not to faint by dint of Ken- 
 neth's protecting arm, and proceeded to ask him if there 
 would be any nice military hops held at camp and if 
 there was any chance of her visiting him and meeting 
 all the officers. 
 
 " Darling, this is war it isn't military school. But 
 I guess my mother will come to see me, and you can come 
 with her." 
 
 " Your mother wouldn't want to take me; I know she 
 wouldn't." Here she dissolved in fresh tears, " Oh, 
 Ken, if you die I shall become a cloistered nun." 
 
 At that identical moment she was recalling a certain 
 traveling man with whom she still corresponded. 
 
 "No, you must not" youth does love to play at 
 tragedy "you must be very brave and live your life 
 just as I would have had you do." This with an attempt 
 at being masterful and protecting. " I shall leave a 
 a letter, you know, with my lawyer." The letter and - 
 lawyer were both new inspirations, and Kenneth decided 
 to engage such a person and write such an epistle in the 
 morning. 
 
 "What will be in the letter?" she asked rather co- 
 herently for such a weeping young person. 
 
 " I could not tell you now," he answered truthfully. 
 
 A trifle appeased Geraldine began other tactics. 
 
 " I want a lot of souvenirs from France, Ken. Do you 
 think you could get me any gloves in Paris? I thought 
 I remembered someone's saying how cheap they were, 
 no one wants any white kid gloves over there now." 
 
 "I'll try but I won't be thinking much of gloves. 
 You see my theory is this," he said, dashing off into out- 
 lining an American campaign warranted to wreck the 
 
 340
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 stoutest of Teuton defenses. He even sketched some- 
 thing on the corner of an envelope, which Geraldine pre- 
 tended to inspect, yawning as she did so. 
 
 Later she suggested, " Darling, let's be married be- 
 fore you go. I'd rather be a widow than an old maid." 
 She looked at him in appeal. 
 
 ' What would you live on? " the boy asked anxiously. 
 " You know I've got to get my start by myself. I don't 
 think we will, Gerry; not right away. Let's wait until I 
 know I'm going over, then maybe it will be the best 
 thing. I don't believe I could bear to leave you unless I 
 knew you were all mine," he added softly. Kenneth was 
 like Densie during the impersonal side of the war propa- 
 ganda, the reality of it had not yet made itself felt. 
 " Maybe I'll have won a commission then; you'd rather 
 marry a d-dashing lieutenant than a common Sammy, 
 now wouldn't you? " He kissed her hair. 
 
 " I want to marry you," she insisted. " I shall not let 
 you go unless we are married oh, how terrible war 
 is! " she added pettishly. 
 
 After more comforting Kenneth suggested, " Can't 
 you chirk me up; I need a few kind words as the old song 
 goes. Don't go into more weeps ! Why, even mummy 
 wasn't up to the trick. It was father who said he was 
 proud." 
 
 " I'm proud of you," wailed Geraldine, " but I love 
 you so much ! Ken, if we had a military wedding just 
 think what a sensation if would be and one of the 
 first. If we wait much longer they'll be very common. 
 We could have The Star-Spangled Banner played instead 
 of Lohengrin, and you'd wear your uniform and I'd 
 wear red, white and blue, and we'd have the wedding 
 cake decorated with flags and I'd cut it with your 
 sword! "
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 She was quite animated over the prospect. 
 
 " But I won't have any sword, maybe," Kenneth tried 
 to explain. 
 
 After all, women were distressing when it came to the 
 really big things of life, he thought. A man's quick 
 handshake and a " you-old-rascal " were much more soul 
 satisfying. 
 
 ' Then you can rent one," she retorted. 
 
 At which Kenneth's sense of humor got the better 
 of him and he laughed, thereby offending her mightily. 
 After another hour of argument and protest and love 
 avowals he left, frazzled to the last ounce and feeling as 
 if he had done trench duty for a fortnight. Geraldine 
 was left with her own thoughts which no one but 
 herself suspected. 
 
 Things might be worse, Kenneth was certain to be 
 made an officer because of his mother. Then he would 
 have a midsummer furlough and he could spend every 
 hour of it with herself and they would plan for the wed- 
 ding. She would also visit him at camp, there would 
 be endless goodlooking men about, and before he sailed 
 they would be married. As a young officer's widow 
 what worlds do lie before one ! 
 
 Smiling discreetly she dashed off a coquettish note to 
 the traveling man in Kankakee ! 
 
 342
 
 XXXVIII 
 
 Sally's conduct upon hearing the news was the most 
 disquieting of all and equally unexpected. Kenneth de- 
 spaired of understanding his womenfolks. He told his 
 father about it. 
 
 " She just gave a scream you could hear two blocks 
 and went into her bedroom and bang down she 
 went, and there she lay across the bed sobbing and moan- 
 ing like a regular leading lady. Now can you get it? " 
 
 " I suppose she meant to say she regretted your going," 
 his father said rather sarcastically. 
 
 Kenneth had dropped into The Golden Rule Tea Store 
 to impart this information. It was the first time he had 
 come in to see his father in years, and the clerks looked 
 at him curiously. John Plummer, forgetful of his apron, 
 stood in the aisle talking to his son. Kenneth also 
 seemed oblivious of the white apron and the gaping 
 clerks. He had realized in the last twenty-four hours 
 that even the most brilliant mummy in the world cannot 
 be both father and mother, that there are certain 
 father things that are distinctly out of her realm. 
 This quiet encouraging camaraderie at such a time 
 was one of them. It seemed good to be friends 
 with his father, the shabby dad who lived like 
 an unbidden shadow in his mother's apartment. 
 
 " That's a cheerful way to tell a chap mummy turns 
 white whenever she sees me, and can't talk about it. 
 Geraldine was prostrated poor little girl and Sally 
 
 343
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 faints right off the bat. I suppose Harriet will write me 
 one of her notes of evaporated affection and send me a 
 pair of ear laps," he concluded cynically. 
 
 " You wanted to have a bit of a fuss made over you 
 that it? " asked his father. " Never mind, Ken, women 
 are queer, they always do the thing you least expect and 
 then are furious if you accuse them of having been any- 
 thing but logical and consistent. I guess it will work out 
 all right. Sally is all nerves anyway, and your mother 
 will be brave at the finish. As for this Geraldine, I can't 
 pretend to say." 
 
 " Rex came in before I left. I never liked him, but I 
 must say that he acted white; wanted to get me a good 
 set of field glasses. Decent, wasn't it?" 
 
 " Oh, yes; Rex is decent in those ways." 
 
 And his father obeying a warning nod from the man- 
 ager went back to dishing out spices and thinking with 
 strange pride that his boy was one of the first to go. 
 Hang it all, why wasn't it America's fight as much as any- 
 one else's? Only he had failed to read the handwriting 
 on the wall. Well, it was America's fight, and his boy 
 was one of the first to go. No need urging it no red 
 tape, no exemption no waiting for the draft. John 
 Plummer absentmindedly weighed out overgenerous 
 quantities of spice before he became conscious of his 
 errors. He was heart and soul a patriot through the 
 magic of personal sacrifice, ready to join the Knights of 
 Liberty or to tar and feather the first pacifist caught 
 skulking about his hearth. 
 
 Harriet did send a letter of evaporated affection and a 
 gift. But Sally did not come out of it, as Kenneth and 
 his father hoped. Even Densie, recovered from the 
 shock, was amazed at her daughter's attitude. Rex 
 gave the boy a handsome present and delivered it with a 
 
 344
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 speech of well wishing and congratulation. But Sally 
 did nothing, refusing to see him or talk about it, and 
 when her mother upbraided her in the matter her face 
 turned that warning gray color that preceded a faint. 
 
 " What is it, Sally? This boy of ours needs all our 
 sympathy," her father said one evening. He rarely saw 
 Sally and he was shocked at the change he found. " It 
 seems as if the lad's sister should stand by him do 
 some little thing." 
 
 He was looking at her magnificent costume of green 
 net with mother-of-pearl trimming and a flat white-satin 
 hat. She had dropped in to see her people on the way 
 to a theater, but Densie was not home. 
 
 " Rex gave him something," she said bitterly. 
 
 " I know, but it's the things women make that the 
 boys like. He's our only boy, Sally; all we have to 
 offer." 
 
 John laid his hand on her shoulder and drew her to 
 him. There had come a great change in John Plummer 
 since the night before Kenneth's enlistment a regain- 
 ing of his dignity. He was self-possessed and kindly, 
 and the harsh discontent somewhat faded from his face. 
 
 " My girl, what bothers? I don't like the look in 
 your eyes." 
 
 " Father," she answered with a great effort, " do not 
 ask me about Ken. I tell you I cannot bear to make 
 anything for him or talk to him or see him go. If 
 he wants money all he has to do is tell me for there 
 is plenty of money. But let me alone; I have nothing 
 to say. I hate the war! I won't think of it! And that 
 is all." 
 
 " But is it quite all? " he persisted. 
 
 "Oh, quite." She forced a smile. "Tell Ken I 
 love him, but I'm not myself I'll do better writing let- 
 
 345
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 ters to him. Besides he has mummy and Gerry and 
 Harriet." 
 
 " But he wants Sally, too. He needs us all." 
 
 She broke away. " I'm so tired to-night, father ; 
 don't ask me anything more." 
 
 " But you are always tired, Sally, and yet you never do 
 anything," he could not refrain from adding. 
 
 " Yes, isn't it funny? " 
 
 She almost screamed in a nervous frenzy, and before 
 he could stop her she had gone. 
 
 The day Kenneth left, Densie had word from the sena- 
 tor that he would be in the city that evening. It gave 
 her a false stimulus. She began telling herself sharply 
 that her son was a minute sacrifice and much work must 
 be done to keep the camp fires burning after he had gone. 
 She had devoted as much time to Kenneth, per se, as was 
 fair to her other duties; she resolved that after her 
 visit with the senator she would begin again to do all 
 that was expected of her. 
 
 Sally did not say good-by to the boy; she feigned a 
 headache and sent him an incoherent note. Rex de- 
 livered it with apologies and profuse well wishes, but 
 Kenneth was aggrieved at the neglect. 
 
 " I might have gone in to see her," he complained to 
 his mother. " It isn't the way Sally used to be why 
 can't she bear the war? It is her war as much as mine. 
 Gerry is coming to the station," he supplemented 
 proudly. 
 
 And Gerry did, only to burden him with fudge and 
 photographs and to be the last to touch his hand and 
 kiss his ilps, turning with supercilious scorn to say to 
 John Plummer, " I suppose you wish you were young 
 again! " 
 
 At which John thought of the worse fates awaiting a 
 
 346
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 man than a bullet, and Densie turned away to hide a 
 smile. 
 
 That night John Plummer went walking, tramping up 
 and down lonely, poorly lighted streets so that only his 
 thoughts might keep him company. He wanted to re- 
 joice in his son, in the new meaning of fatherhood, in 
 his pride. He wanted to wonder leisurely why Sally 
 would not bid her brother good-by; to fancy what Sam 
 Hippler would have said, and Uncle Herbert and Aunt 
 Sally; to picture how, if they were still at the Little 
 House, they would have given the boy a joyous send 
 off, a real old-time party with two kinds of cake and 
 homemade ice cream, the piano jingling tempting dance 
 music and the older folk sitting back to smile approval 
 on the young; and of how the minister would have come 
 in to say a simple prayer of godspeed and the boys and 
 girls would have gathered round the young soldier to 
 pledge their friendship anew and how very good it 
 would have been to have had all this happen ! 
 
 At the same time Densie and the senator were talking 
 somewhat of Kenneth, but more of themselves and a 
 little of the war situation and new duties confronting 
 each. 
 
 " I'm glad he went as he did," the senator told Densie. 
 " However, we will keep an eye on him; there will be the 
 right moment for helping him on a bit." 
 
 "It makes romance seem very thin, doesn't it?" 
 Densie asked presently. " We haven't the right to our 
 Indian summer yet. Suppose if the boy were decorated 
 or killed and his father and I divorced! It would 
 rob either the honor or the sorrow of its dignity. Not 
 yet, dear," she ended wistfully. 
 
 "But some day?" he urged. Just then the cares of 
 state lay lightly on them both. 
 
 347
 
 " Some day," she assented, but in her heart it did not 
 thrill her as formerly. 
 
 Kenneth's camp letters were amusing and wholesome; 
 they robbed war of its sinister meaning. After a little 
 Densie was accustomed to his absence, she knew he was 
 doing the thing which was his duty and it satisfied her. 
 She was too busy with impersonal things to miss him 
 personally. For she was seldom at home and out of 
 the city the greater part of the time. She was in de- 
 mand for campaign work throughout her state. Her 
 secretary demanded still another assistant, which was 
 forthcoming; and even the senator grumbled that she 
 cheated him of his rights, she ought to give him one hour 
 on Sundays which was not punctuated heartlessly with 
 telephones and calling patriots who all thought that Mrs. 
 Densie Plummer would know just the right thing to do. 
 
 Once, from a sense of duty, Densie asked Geraldine to 
 luncheon, but she was so bored with the girl's senseless 
 drivel that she was thankful her son was at camp, since 
 he would surely see Geraldine as she really was upon 
 his return. She had intended taking Geraldine when she 
 visited the camp, but she so irritated her that Densie 
 canceled her resolve. 
 
 When she visited Kenneth and explained that Ger- 
 aldine was too impossible to bring along, that she, 
 Densie, was too occupied with duties to bear with a 
 giggling flapper, Kenneth said very little. But Densie 
 saw her error. She realized he would have rather seen 
 the giggling flapper than his mother, and he asked more 
 questions about his father than about anyone else. 
 
 " I expect a summer furlough," he said when Densie 
 was leaving, " and I'll make it up to Gerry then. Poor 
 little girl, it is hard on her, mummy; you should have 
 thought of that." 
 
 348
 
 Which gave Densie food for reflection on her journey 
 back, though when she phoned Geraldine the next after- 
 noon her mother said she was motoring with an out-of- 
 town friend who had just happened in and demanded 
 to be entertained. This gave Densie still further re- 
 flective food. Wisely, she did not write Kenneth the 
 news. 
 
 Densie Plummer forgot her thirty-fifth wedding an- 
 niversary until Sally sent over some handsome flowers. 
 AH at once she recalled the day, and wondered if John 
 remembered. She decided to thank Sally personally and 
 stem any hint of sentimental memories which might try 
 to sweep over her. This was no time for emotion. She 
 scribbled a few hasty lines to Kenneth, fondly locked 
 away the senator's latest letter and took a taxi to Sally's 
 hotel. 
 
 Rex was leaving as she came in. 
 
 " Good morning, Mother Plummer," he began 
 graciously. "Many happy returns of the day Sally 
 never remembers our anniversary, isn't she the wretch? 
 But she had your florist's order placed a week ago. 
 Well, what of the boy?" He was laughing down at 
 her, mocking her, it seemed. 
 
 Densie stared rudely at him, she was thinking that he 
 seemed to be younger in some ways than her own 
 daughter. 
 
 " Very well, I brought his last letter. He'll be home 
 shortly; then you can see for yourselves. Harriet is as 
 well as she ever seems to be; she has had another ad- 
 vance in her work." 
 
 Rex left them, bowing respectfully to his mother-in- 
 law and kissing Sally on her cheek, during which Sally 
 sat as unmoved as an Elgin marble. 
 
 "Don't you want to read Ken's letter?" Densie 
 
 349
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 asked. " You usually have hysterics if I try to read 
 them to you." 
 
 " If he's well that is enough I'll send him a hamper 
 of things." 
 
 " Don't; they have good fare and this Geraldine per- 
 son makes fudge daily, I believe. Save your money, 
 Sally. Uncle Sam is going to need it." 
 
 " I had a letter from Dean Laddbarry," Sally said un- 
 expectedly. " He has just formed a company, an alfalfa 
 industry of some kind. At this time it may be expedi- 
 ent a food substitute he is to make tea, flour, ex- 
 tract, Heavens a complete larder, for all I know. 
 He has had chemists analyze the stuff and pronounce it 
 fit, and he wrote to say he had heard that Ken was in 
 training and he would like his address. His company 
 is being operated with government sanction, which is his 
 way of doing his bit. It was a nice letter. Dean never 
 changes! " 
 
 Densie was silent; that warm flowing current under 
 the ice coating would stir at most inopportune times. 
 
 " I sent the flowers because I knew father would never 
 think of the day and the senator would hate it, be- 
 cause it was not his anniversary too." She smiled at 
 her demure mother. " I wonder what you will do with 
 the senator. Come, fess up to your weary old married 
 child. You're only fifty-three, and you look thirty-five 
 and you know the senator cares very hard." 
 
 " Sally," Densie protested, " with your brother in 
 training and father " 
 
 "In a linen apron! Mummy! Why not be truth- 
 ful as you used to suggest to me what's the harm? 
 I'd like to see you mistress of Glen Laurie." 
 
 "What would you do with your father?" Densie 
 could not refrain from adding. 
 
 350
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 War or no war, what woman can resist the prospect 
 of a wedding? 
 
 " Oh, we'd find another Mrs. Starr," Sally answered 
 flippantly. " Please don't leave Ken's letter send it 
 to Harriet. You know I've no brains these days. I 
 couldn't read it with any understanding." 
 
 * You read Dean's," suggested her mother. 
 
 "Tit for tat eh?" Sally laughed at the turned 
 tables. 
 
 John did remember the anniversary. All day the 
 panorama of the past unrolled itself before him the 
 wedding, Densie in her going-away dress of dove-colored 
 broadcloth, tilts and curves and fussy rosettes, the dotted 
 chenille veil to hide her blushes, the love of a bonnet 
 his own tall self, top hatted, with a brave mustache and 
 a paddock, bottle-green coat! The wedding journey, 
 the blessed, glorious young time of their romance and, 
 sweetest of all, the return home! 
 
 " God bless our home," Densie had said reverently at 
 the first meal together. 
 
 And they had wandered through the rooms like de- 
 lighted children to exclaim over everyone's kindness and 
 their good fortune finally, they stood under the ma- 
 hogany framed picture of the Child, which Aunt Sally 
 had given them from The Evergreens, a rare print that 
 had been her mother's, the same picture under which the 
 three children had later stood when they recited their 
 Bible verses on a Sunday morning and as they 
 paused, John remembered Densie's saying: " I feel He 
 does bless us, John! " 
 
 Well, that was thirty-five years ago, and it was all 
 ended. So he hurried about the store taking off canvas 
 covers and unnailing boxes and trying to stop remember- 
 
 351
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 ing, wondering in between customers as to his boy and 
 why Sally could not bear to talk of the war. 
 
 That night Densie waited for him; she was sorry she 
 had not remembered the day ahead of time so she could 
 dine with him, irksome though it might be. But it was 
 too late to readjust her schedule. So she waited to ex- 
 plain and say some polite thing of scant meaning. 
 
 When she saw him she knew what had happened. 
 The warm flowing current rose in rebellion against the 
 ice coating. As she had once been able to read his 
 thoughts and those of her children so she reclaimed 
 temporarily her ability. 
 
 He did not hesitate to confirm her fears. " I'm dis- 
 charged, Densie," he said quietly. " I'm too old to be 
 working for someone else, they said like Sam Hip- 
 pier. They say I am set in my ways and irritable. 
 F- funny, isn't it to be called old at fifty-five?" He 
 almost shuffled across the room to find his pipe. " I 
 shan't stay about here. It isn't fair to you. I want 
 to see the boy first, and then I'm off to begin 'again 
 farm, I think. I'd like to get back to where things grow. 
 Perhaps it isn't as rough luck as it sounds." 
 
 He sank into his chair and puffed moodily away. 
 
 " I am sorry," she said politely but she knew it 
 was not true. She was not sorry. Her shame at hav- 
 ing a clerk for a husband would be ended. She would 
 help him start a farm and regain his grip on things 
 that was only fair if she was to marry James Gleason. 
 
 " I'll advance whatever you need," she offered. It 
 was impossible to mention a wedding anniversary at this 
 juncture. 
 
 He started up angrily, his face flushed, his voice 
 broken. 
 
 352
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 u I'll take no more of a woman's money no matter 
 how things have changed about ! " 
 
 Late that night Densie wrote the senator what had 
 happened. 
 
 " It will work out for the best, I am sure, but we must 
 be patient. My husband must get a fresh start for 
 he is still in his prime. It was a severe and undeserved 
 blow as nearly as I can tell. . . . Do you understand 
 why I have written as I have?" 
 
 To which the senator promptly replied : " Nothing 
 terrifies me, dearie-dear, I shall brook every obstacle. 
 Start the whole world again if you like. But you must 
 belong to me. Be brave, we shall make trials vanish as 
 if we waved a fairy wand instead of mortal fingers! " 
 
 This comforted Densie. She even decided to broach 
 the subject of financing John's farm plan again. He 
 was penniless and he must do something. His pride 
 would soon retire in favor of common sense. She so 
 honestly wished him well that she would make him agree 
 to her ideas. She had cured herself of cabin fever and 
 she had been as penniless as John. It was John's turn 
 this time! 
 
 353
 
 XXXIX 
 
 Kenneth's furlough came in August. The senator had 
 seen to that, for Densie still had hopes that her boy 
 might be given a commission or some sort of ordnance 
 work. With all her bravery for other mothers and 
 wives her boy seemed set apart, that he must not march 
 to the trenches with the other shuffling, obedient feet. 
 
 Geraldine had decided that this furlough would be 
 the time for her marriage. To allow Kenneth to go to 
 France without making her his wife was quite unfair. 
 She wanted to be known as " young Lieutenant Plum- 
 mer's girl bride " or " Mrs. Rex Humberstone's sister- 
 in-law." 
 
 To this plan her parents agreed. After the first ef- 
 fusive greeting Geraldine broached the subject. But 
 Kenneth laughed at her. 
 
 " Gerry, we'd be as poor as church mice. What 
 would you live on? " 
 
 u Oh, but you'll be an officer and have a lot of field 
 decorations. You are bound to; your mother won't let 
 you stay a common soldier. And I love you so much 
 and you may never come back." 
 
 " All the more reason we ought not marry." Ken- 
 neth was serious; he did not see she was play-acting and 
 underneath her heartbroken, affectionate attitude was 
 shrewd calculation, and that her tears were forced and 
 sparse of quantity. 
 
 "But we love each other war is such a monster! 
 Ken, I can't be happy unless I belong to you." 
 
 Kenneth disengaged himself and paced up and down 
 
 354
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 the room. He looked well in his uniform, Gerry was 
 not the only one who admitted it. Sally and his mother 
 had been superlative in their praises, while his father 
 had gazed at him with proud reserve as if the matter 
 were something which men never mentioned, but took for 
 granted. 
 
 " Geraldine," he said slowly, " I don't believe we un- 
 derstand what marriage means or war. And when 
 marriage and war coincide as they do in our case I 
 think we ought to be awfully sure of ourselves. We've 
 got to go over there and fight our blooming heads off 
 to whip these beggars, and you people have got to stay 
 home and save your money and do your part. You've 
 no idea of what there is ahead and of what we want to 
 do and are going to. The end is clear, but the way 
 is not yet." Then he laughed boyishly. " I don't mean 
 to play the terrifying ogre, dear. Don't cry please." 
 He came and sat beside her. 
 
 " It does frighten me cannons and being shot at 
 sunrise and those pretty Red Cross nurses English 
 girls they say you are bound to fall in love with 
 them ! " Which was the only honest fear Geraldine 
 had so far expressed. " I know papa and mamma 
 wouldn't want me to be engaged to a soldier it's too 
 uncertain." 
 
 " Then why marry one? " 
 
 " Oh, that's different it is all settled then," she said 
 in a clear and emotionless voice. She saw her opportun- 
 ity, and before her real meaning could appeal to the 
 boy she added, " Ken, are you tired of me? Oh, yes I 
 Yes, you are you don't want to be tied to poor little 
 stay-at-home me ! " 
 
 " Nonsense ! " He gathered her roughly in his arms. 
 " You think I don't love you, Gerry? Why, I'll do any- 
 
 355
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 thing in the world you say I've written you every night 
 of my life, haven't I? I've dreamed of you " 
 
 " Your mother wouldn't take me with her to camp," 
 she sulked. 
 
 " Mummy had to have so many people talk to her 
 that she couldn't put herself in your place, she didn't 
 realize how you felt. I'd have rather seen you, darling. 
 And I want to protect you and do what is right. You un- 
 derstand don't you? Only, everything has changed 
 since I've been in camp. I stopped being just an atom 
 and living an atom's existence, and I'm on the brink of 
 helping do something big, coming face to face with real- 
 ity. And no one can ever be quite the same afterward 
 the fellows all agree on that. You cannot go over there 
 to fight, to offer your life for the great cause, and then 
 come back the same old two-by-four petty person. Just 
 because I feel I'm going to change I want to be really 
 myself before we marry no transitional, nerve-shat- 
 tered person that is liable to disappoint you or make you 
 unhappy. It wouldn't be fair. Suppose I'm gassed, or 
 maimed, captured how can you tell what difference 
 it might make to you? That's the danger of marrying 
 a soldier before he sees service you never know how 
 he is going to be afterward. But I love you love 
 you love you ! " he punctuated the words with kisses. 
 
 Geraldine was . quietly furious. If she could not 
 marry this soldier she would take steps to have him be- 
 come the old plastic Kenneth who would do her bidding 
 unquestioned. But she was wise enough merely to pout 
 and look unusually pretty. 
 
 " I may change, too," she objected. " How about 
 that? All the good-looking men won't be in France. 
 Suppose I change?" 
 
 Kenneth only laughed. " Why, here we are fighting 
 
 356
 
 phantoms. And when we know we really care and will 
 be married as soon as it is right, why do we waste 
 precious hours of my stay in town? I won't be serious 
 again or let you be not another tear we are going 
 to have the time of our lives! Promise me!" He 
 kissed her cheek. 
 
 Geraldine brightened. "I want you for the Fassett 
 dance next Friday," she said cleverly, " I've said you 
 could stay until then." 
 
 Kenneth frowned. " Don't it beat all? I'm due at 
 camp Thursday morning; that would make me two days 
 late. I can't, darling; honestly, I can't." 
 
 " But you are not fighting battles and what does 
 two days' difference make? Please, Ken! You can ex- 
 plain it to your senior officer your mother can write 
 a note." She was unconscious of the grim humor of 
 the last. 
 
 Kenneth was perplexed. " We won't fuss about the 
 Fassett dance now; we'll crowd in all the good times we 
 can and never mind if we miss one dance. You know 
 a soldier's first duty is obedience, Gerry, and I cannot 
 say I stayed two days overtme for a dance ! " 
 
 " Get extra leave," she suggested promptly, her eyes 
 narrowing. 
 
 If she was defeated in being a war bride she was not 
 going to be defeated in having Kenneth as a partner for 
 the Fassett dance. She was determined to disgrace him 
 in some way. 
 
 "Gerry, you don't understand if you'd been at 
 camp you would have known. We're an Army in the 
 making and raw as raw can be. Why, I could tell you 
 stories of the mother-boys and homesick duds and mere 
 flukers that would make you feel apprehensive v;hen you 
 thought of facing the Hun fighting machine. We have 
 
 357
 
 got to be whipped into shape and dig in and make good. 
 And that's just what they are doing to us too." 
 
 But Geraldine was not stirred from her own resolve. 
 She put her arms about his neck and whispered, " But, 
 Ken, there's a terrible man staying at the Fassetts', he 
 wants to marry me. Oh, it has been very hard to avoid 
 him and not let the Fassetts know what a persistent 
 suitor he is. I told him my fiance would be here and 
 take me to the dance; he said he bet he would not, and 
 I said I would wager everything in the world that he 
 would. Ken, darling, please stay over won't you? 
 If you love me ; if you love me." 
 
 She kissed him with a quick, rapturous little way, all 
 her own! 
 
 Kenneth did not answer. Finally he said, " Do you 
 love this man?" His face was white with jealous ap- 
 prehension. 
 
 "No yet he fascinates me, he has a sort of influ- 
 ence over me I cannot bear to be with him alone. 
 I'm such a silly little creature. You must go with me 
 and let me keep my promise. You see I told him you 
 would come." 
 
 " Couldn't you give up the dance? " 
 
 "Oh, no! That would be an admission of defeat; 
 and you ought to see my new dress! Why, Ken, boys 
 stay overtime, don't they?" 
 
 " We haven't had furloughs yet it's all so devilish 
 new for everyone we don't know yet what we can 
 do and what we can't we only know we ought to obey. 
 I don't like to, Gerry; please don't ask it. Let me 
 write this man and tell him we are engaged, 
 please " 
 
 She shook her frizzled, brainless head. 
 
 358
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " No ! Either go to that dance or never speak to me 
 again! " She drew off her engagement ring. 
 
 Kenneth stopped her. " I'll I'll stay over," he 
 said thickly. 
 
 She flung her arms about him. " You're a dear," 
 she whispered, " and I adore you I " 
 
 " I wish you might have understood the situation and 
 let me off," he pleaded, " I ought not, Gerry, really, I 
 ought not. It may be serious." 
 
 She shook her head again and told him he had pledged 
 his word and what did two little days amount to 
 think of the food they would save! If Geraldine had 
 had her way the most active part she would have allowed 
 Kenneth to take in the war would be to collect used 
 phonograph needles and send them to the Government 
 as a steel donation. 
 
 Densie and her son had each tried to fit into the oth- 
 er's spare moments. Densie was crowded with her 
 work, and yet she longed to be with her boy. She felt 
 a certain jealousy when she would have to hurry off in 
 the morning and leave him talking happily with his 
 father. She often wondered what these two talked 
 about; they never said. It would be too early an hour 
 for Geraldine to be up or for Sally to have had her coffee 
 and Rex cleared out of the way, so Kenneth and his 
 father would walk in the park if the day was fair and 
 talk as two newly found and cherished friends would do. 
 
 John had not told of his discharge. He felt a keen 
 shame in confessing it to this soldier son. It would be 
 time enough to let him know when he was on his farm 
 and out of Densie's way. No one would miss him but 
 Kenneth, and after the boy was married he too would 
 feel it was a sensible arrangement. So he told Kenneth 
 
 359
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 he was taking his vacation because he did not feel well, 
 and the boy, too occupied with his own projects and 
 worries, did not doubt the statement. 
 
 Again, Densie returning for luncheon would find Ken- 
 neth engaged at the telephone making violent love to 
 Geraldine. Sometimes she would stand aside and smile 
 at the terms of endearment that flew over the wire. 
 
 " Ken, dear, don't you think central might hear you? " 
 she urged. 
 
 " Bother central! The more I see of Gerry the more 
 I love her. She is the dearest girl in the world and 
 you're the most clever," he would add. 
 
 " Thanks, dearie. What's on the programme for to- 
 day? " 
 
 Kenneth would tell her it was mostly Geraldine, 
 with a faint smattering of calls or talking to his father. 
 
 "Why didn't you take Gerry to camp?" he asked 
 again, the day before the Fassett dance. 
 
 " Oh, she really isn't my sort. I couldn't. All she 
 knows is clothes and how to make those great baby eyes 
 at strangers. Of course, she is a dear," she hastened to 
 add, " but she is not all I would wish for you." 
 
 Kenneth's face was flushed. " A man doesn't marry 
 to please his mother." 
 
 " I will make her welcome, but I feel she is not the 
 woman you will love when you are forty." 
 
 Kenneth was silent. 
 
 " You have until Saturday morning? " Densie asked. 
 " Rather decent ! " 
 
 He looked away. " Yes, it is," he said shortly. 
 
 " You won't be back until Christmas, will you? " 
 
 " Not then, maybe." 
 
 " Look at me, Ken. What are you hiding? " Den- 
 sie tried to understand the expression in the dark 
 
 360
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 eyes. ' You acted sheepish ashamed. What is it? " 
 ' You imagine it, mummy." He began fussing with 
 some papers on the table. 
 
 " Saturday morning I must be at the train." She 
 made a note of it. 
 
 " Oh, do I " he said aimlessly. 
 
 After he had left for the Fassett dance Densie won- 
 dered again as to his manner. She too halfway antici- 
 pated a foolish marriage, and she wondered if this had 
 been the reason for his confusion. But surely her boy 
 would not have barred her from his confidence not 
 Kenneth! She dismissed the matter because of other 
 duties and went to sleep only to dream of him as a small 
 clear-eyed boy saying, " I am going to be a captain," and 
 of a grim voice from out of nowhere answering, " What 
 a pity what a grave pity! " 
 
 Geraldine and Kenneth were counted the most hand- 
 some couple at the Fassett dance. And to her delight 
 Geraldine flaunted her soldier in the face of the pre- 
 suming Fassett guest, while all the girls looked at her 
 with envy and whispered that she was more lucky than 
 she deserved. 
 
 Geraldine declined to get up early enough to see him 
 off Saturday morning; it always gave her a dreadful 
 headache if she did not have enough sleep, she explained. 
 Besides, his family would be at the train and she did not 
 think she would be missed. The strain of saying good- 
 by in public would be entirely too much. She would say 
 good-by in her own home after the dance in her own 
 way. 
 
 " I don't know my own mind yet," Geraldine told 
 him the very last thing. " Sometimes I think it would be 
 a mistake to marry you. I better marry an older man, 
 
 361
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 like your sister Sally did. It is terribly romantic!" 
 
 Kenneth wondered if he heard correctly. " Is this 
 a joke, Gerry? Don't, darling, when I have to leave 
 you " 
 
 Geraldine giggled foolishly. " You don't think I'm 
 going to bow down and adore you because you wear a uni- 
 form, do you? I won't be anyone's slave. I do like 
 you, Ken, and you are fascinating " this with an artful 
 smile " or else I would not have asked you to go to 
 the dance and monopolize me like a cave man. You 
 don't seem to realize that this other man is a millionaire 
 and very clever in his own line of work. Because if I 
 should marry him he would plan a home for me equal 
 to any European castle. I forgot to tell you he was a 
 wonderful architect." 
 
 Kenneth looked at her like a forlorn and suddenly 
 deserted child. 
 
 " I say, Gerry, this is a bit thick." 
 
 Geraldine shrugged her useless pretty shoulders as if 
 she were bored with the entire world, particularly the 
 corner of the world occupied by Kenneth Plummer. 
 
 " I can't help it, Ken, I must be honest you know 
 I'm always that and you said you wanted me to be 
 sure of myself. You made quite a point of it. I really 
 had to have you go to the dance, because I wanted the 
 contrast between you and Nat; it was the only way for 
 me to make sure which of you won. Even yet I'm un- 
 decided. Too bad, isn't it, when you have to rush away 
 to-morrow? Well, maybe you'll have a surprise 
 maybe you'll see me again before you think." 
 
 " But you said why, you wanted me to marry you." 
 He was floundering about in a bewildered state of mind. 
 " Gerry, what has come over you? You must be joking, 
 but it hurts can't you understand ? It means so much, 
 
 362
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 and it's war, Gerry, not a game we're playing down 
 there " 
 
 She drew out a note from the bosom of her dress. 
 " Oh, I'm joking, am I ? " she asked, holding it out for 
 him to read. 
 
 In a man's writing was the message: 
 
 " Do I win or lose? Let me know soon or I'll leave town at 
 once. NAT." 
 
 Kenneth crumpled the note and tossed it on the floor. 
 ' Well, he shall not have you ! " he said harshly. 
 " I'll tell you that much ! You are mine. I overstayed 
 my leave for you, and I wouldn't have done that for 
 anyone else in this world not even for my own mother. 
 You said you wanted me at the dance for protection 
 not contrast; that this man frightened and fascinated 
 you; you were quite clear in your own mind whom you 
 wanted to marry when you coaxed me into overstaying 
 my leave ! Tell me the truth, Geraldine, are you just 
 playing with me ? " 
 
 Something in the set of his mouth and a glint in his 
 tired eyes warned Geraldine she had overstayed her own 
 power and she had better hasten to take refuge in the 
 eternal tears and tremblings. 
 
 " Oh, you're cross all cross ! He was cross too. 
 I won't love either of you ! " She began to sob. 
 
 Kenneth's head was addled and he was physically ex- 
 hausted. He sat dejectedly in a near-by chair. 
 
 " I'm all in," he said disconsolately. " I ought to 
 have gone back on time. If you didn't care enough for 
 me to see me do my duty I guess I ought not to have 
 cared enough for you to have forgotten itl That's 
 about all there is to it." 
 
 Geraldine peeked from a corner of her handkerchief. 
 
 363
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " Don't you want me to be sure of myself," she reiter- 
 ated, " and be honest? You talked about being changed 
 gassed and losing your nerve and everything horrid 
 you could say. And I just want to be alone and think it 
 all out I shan't sleep a wink to-night. I'll be too 
 busy deciding whether it is to be you or Nat. Then I'll 
 tell you maybe I'll come down to camp and see you. 
 Your mother did." She pouted slightly as she spoke. 
 " I want to come to camp terribly they say you have 
 a wonderful time and everyone makes a lot of fuss over 
 you is that true? " 
 
 " Well, don't come rushing down without letting me 
 know first and without bringing your mother. Now, re- 
 member, Gerry, that holds. You can't play off any im- 
 pulsive stuff at camp. Great Scott, it's war ! " Ken- 
 neth felt tense and irritable, as if he never wanted to 
 hear this girl's thin sweet voice or see her baby-doll face 
 with the great staring eyes as cold as pale-green water 
 flowing under ice. " Write and tell me your decision 
 and let it go at that it's pretty late and I've got to 
 pack. I shan't sleep, either. If you decide you want 
 to wait for me and be my wife I'll try to make you happy, 
 and if you want to marry this other fellow well, I'm 
 going to try not to be too unhappy." 
 
 And despite her protests and veiled apologies and 
 kisses, for she saw her error too late to retract it, Ken- 
 neth left her to walk home in the early sultry morning, 
 entirely conscience-stricken at what he had done, yet 
 fairly sick with longing to have Gerry love him and be 
 sure of herself! He still took her seriously! 
 
 His father and mother wondered at his white set face 
 as he bade them good-by, and at the grouchy manner in 
 which he answered Sally's questions. Something had 
 gone wrong between himself and Geraldine they all knew. 
 
 364
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " I feel as if I had said good-by to him," Densie told 
 Sally as they drove home, John sitting in the front of the 
 car busy with his own thoughts. " Did you notice how 
 unnatural he seemed? He scarcely smiled, and his kisses 
 were a pretense." 
 
 " Some quarrel with that girl," Sally said slowly, her 
 lips curving in scorn. " We eat our hearts out at Ken's 
 age over a lovers' quarrel. Never mind, mummy, camp 
 will set him right and if it is a lasting quarrel, let us 
 all give thanks." 
 
 " Indeed we will," Densie agreed. " Just drop me 
 off here, Sally, that is a dear. I'll run in to headquar- 
 ters to see how the world is prospering." 
 
 John tipped his hat to her as she did so. They had 
 not spoken alone since Kenneth had been at home. Sally 
 sank back in relief at having no one to whom she had to 
 talk, and she said good-by to her father almost brusquely 
 when he reached the hotel. She was afraid, since he was 
 idle, that he would come inside to visit her. She wanted 
 to go to her room and sob for sheer relief her nerves 
 had grown to demand it these daysl 
 
 365
 
 XL 
 
 Sunday Dcnsie received a wire. She was expecting 
 her usual day letter from the senator. So she did not 
 open it before John, but waited until she went to her 
 room. 
 
 A moment later John, who was figuring up the cost 
 of farm implements and planting, heard a stifled cry. 
 
 He wondered if it was imagination ; Densie never suc- 
 cumbed to emotion, her tears had been spirited away as 
 had been her cabin fever. Nevertheless, he went to her 
 door and rapped. 
 
 "John! " he heard her call as she had not called in 
 years. 
 
 Opening the door he found her half lying, half kneel- 
 ing beside her bed, the yellow paper drifting maliciously 
 toward the carpet. 
 
 She pointed to it with a trembling inefficient hand. As 
 he picked it up the printed words flared up at him as if 
 imps lighted them from some magical apparatus to make 
 each letter seem framed in fire. The message read: 
 
 " Your son Kenneth Plummer fatally wounded this morning. 
 Was escaping guardhouse. Overstayed furlough." 
 
 John folded it methodically. Then he went to his 
 wife and took her in his arms. Grief had released the 
 pent-up emotion so long held in check and she clung to 
 him helplessly. 
 
 " Dearest," he said gently, " shall we go? " 
 " Wire that I will come wire we will come," she 
 
 366
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 corrected. Then she sank down on the bed, her face 
 buried in the pillows. 
 
 Shot while escaping the guardhouse overstayed 
 furlough the words came and sat about her pillows, 
 they were formed of jagged cruel letters, the words 
 danced together sometimes in an incoherent mass and 
 then danced back and separated into words or strung 
 themselves out in a scraggly line or circled about in a 
 whirl of tragic confusion. 
 
 She wondered if John would make all arrangements 
 for them to go, she would rather remain here with these 
 word phantoms to keep impressing on her what had 
 happened she would rather John went he was the 
 boy's father. How odd that she should suddenly think 
 of him as being strong and capable; he had called her 
 " dearest " like a faint rose-scented echo of the past 
 and had asked her if they would go. The words were 
 banding about her like mocking little devils, they fairly 
 hissed their message. Her boy was dead. Murdered! 
 She sat upright and beat her hands together senselessly, 
 escaping the guardhouse her boy to escape punish- 
 ment no, worse than that her boy to deserve pun- 
 ishment! There crept into her consciousness the mem- 
 ory of Geraldine Poole's selfish little face with the too 
 closely set blue eyes and the heavy scarlet mouth. Over- 
 stayed his time. And he had barely said good-by to 
 them. So that was the trouble why, the escaping? 
 even if he had deserved punishment, to try to evade it. 
 There must be a mistake; surely there was some mis- 
 take. 
 
 John returned, he tiptoed clumsily as men do about 
 a sick room. 
 
 " I have phoned for reservations but I I have 
 no money." 
 
 36?
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 He did not look at her. 
 
 She pointed to her purse. 
 
 "Will you go alone, John? I do not think I could 
 bear it. I want to be here when he comes home for the 
 last time." 
 
 Later in the afternoon she knew John set some tea 
 beside her and asked if he should bathe her forehead 
 with cologne as he had done years and years ago. She 
 said " Yes," and so he sat dabbling the handkerchief 
 over the pitiful, quivering features and whispering to be 
 brave it was God's will. Poor John! That old, 
 time-worn phrase of Aunt Sally's was all he could find 
 in his own agony of mind and soul to offer by way of 
 comfort God's will! 
 
 " Have you told Sally? " she asked. 
 
 He nodded. 
 
 "And wired Harriet? " 
 
 " Yes. Lie still, dearest unless you drink some 
 tea." 
 
 " I wonder," she murmured, her eyes glazed and 
 ominous, " I wonder if he suffered. Do you think he 
 suffered, John?" She grasped his hand until it left a 
 reddish mark. 
 
 " We will soon know, my dear. Lie down and rest 
 lie down." 
 
 " It was that girl that girl who killed him." She 
 kept repeating this in a shrill tone. " She has murdered 
 him." 
 
 Then she began to laugh and say it was all for the 
 best, the trenches were so much worse, the letters and 
 diaries which had come overseas told of such horrors 
 perhaps it was for the best. Did John understand what 
 she was telling him? The agony of the trenches was 
 spared their boy but he had been murdered by a para- 
 
 368 
 \
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 site a rebel doll! She had made him overstay his 
 time. Well, it was for the best hadn't John told her 
 it was God's will how comforting that was, after all! 
 God's will! Was it not queer that she seemed to see 
 her boy as a little fellow in kilts plaid kilts and a 
 ruffled white blouse and a black velvet cap as he used 
 to be when he tagged after her or tried to play with the 
 girls and they complained of his being too much of a 
 baby. It was very queer that Sally did not come to her 
 mother; did she not realize that her only brother was 
 murdered? But he was spared the agony of the 
 trenches ! And she wanted John to write Dean Ladd- 
 barry, because Dean had always loved Kenneth, everyone 
 was fond of him and so everyone would be glad he was 
 spared the trenches. He had said, so long ago, " I 
 am going to be a captain, mummy." And now he was 
 dead! He was standing close beside her -surely John 
 could see in that funny boy sweater of green and a 
 bean button made from cigarette flags, and he was asking 
 in his changing soprano-bass voice about a baseball game 
 and what were the chances for a blueberry pie! Oh, 
 yes, it was for the best she wanted Geraldine to know, 
 she wanted to see if she had really cared but she 
 would skulk like a guilty coward. And yet, her boy was 
 spared the trenches. 
 
 After a long time she said more rationally, " If he had 
 died a hero, had done what he longed to do it 
 would not be so hard. But to be shot escaping the 
 guardhouse my boy. John, something tells me I 
 must learn a great lesson from this death. That if he 
 did not die for his country he shall not die in vain. I 
 shall take to myself the lesson, whatever it may be." 
 
 After John left for the night train Densie lay alone, 
 staring into the darkness and seeing the words of the 
 
 369
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 telegram dancing about in irregular confusion. She 
 wondered why her daughter did not come to share her 
 grief. Then she was roused by a ring of the doorbell. 
 
 She managed to answer it, thinking it was Sally. But 
 it was a bell boy, agog with curiosity, holding out a silly 
 little tray with a silly little note. 
 
 Densie took it mechanically. She supposed the boy 
 must be normal, but he seemed to her to have a dozen 
 grinning mouths and a dozen pairs of coarse black eyes 
 peering rudely. She closed the door and went back to 
 her room to read the message. It was from Traynor, 
 the hotel manager a suave note which expressed all 
 manner of sympathy and condolence to Mrs. Plummer, 
 but he hoped that she understood the rules of the hotel 
 and that she would not ask that they be broken, there 
 were no funerals permitted. 
 
 No funerals from the hotel! Of course not, now 
 that she thought of it. Hotels were places for transients 
 persons who desired no home. Her boy could not 
 even come home for his last silent farewell. They had 
 no home. She had, step by step, destroyed it. Was that 
 the great lesson she must learn? 
 
 Later Densie received word from Harriet's hotel that 
 Miss Plummer had suffered a nervous breakdown and 
 was under a doctor's care; she could not bear the journey. 
 
 But it made little impression on Densie, though she 
 began to realize that hotels are not for sick persons 
 either. Only homes shelter the maimed, the young, the 
 helpless, the failures and welcome their own dead! 
 And she had destroyed her home. She looked about 
 in slow, bewildered fashion as if she were a stranger 
 suddenly ensconced in the smart hotel rooms. She had 
 no home. It was far better Harriet did not come. 
 And Kenneth, her only son, must lie in some sleek chapel
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 of an undertaker as do the unidentified dead to whom 
 the papers devote an obscure paragraph. No home 
 no home ! But he was spared the agony of the trenches. 
 Those two phrases ran a race in her tortured mind, first 
 the home was winning, then the agony of the trenches 
 ran beyond, threatening to win; then no home dashed up 
 in triumph; then the other and so on. 
 
 She tried to go to bed and rest and wonder vaguely 
 what she would have done without John Plummer. 
 John had no home either. Oh, they had strayed far, 
 far from the cradle of civilization the home. As she 
 lay, dry-eyed and wide awake she thought, " Is the agony 
 of the trenches worse than this?" She fancied the 
 newspaper headlines: " Densie Plummer's Son Shot - 
 Deserting Guardhouse." The reporters crowding in on 
 her; how she had grown to want them to crowd about 
 and ask for interviews! What a bomerang! She 
 could see the flowers, the senseless, overfragrant blos- 
 soms in fantastic shapes of pillows and stars 
 and anchors and what not that would smother her 
 boy's casket the telegrams and telephones and 
 messages of condolence from the world at large - 
 they rose like mere phantoms and joined the 
 mocking words of the telegram. She would have 
 to pay dearly for her fame! She could not grieve 
 alone in her own home with the common, sacred 
 friends of her common sacred life to help her through 
 the trial. There were no common sacred friends. 
 They, too, had left her. But she had John. No 
 thought of the senator so much as crossed her mind. 
 
 Not until morning, which brought with it a graver, 
 saner grief, did Densie remember the senator and wire 
 him. She added, " Do not come wait until you hear 
 from me." She felt it sacrilege to have this strange 
 
 371
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 man of romance so much as touch her hand while her 
 dead boy, John Plummer s son, lay above the ground 
 even though it be in some public chapel! 
 
 She gave a statement to the reporters in a stilted, con- 
 trolled fashion. They referred to it as " Mrs. Plum- 
 mer's wonderful self-control already demonstrated in 
 her battle for civic rights," and so on. 
 
 Then she sent for Geraldine Poole. She waited for 
 her coming as a monarch does an arch traitor. She 
 wanted to hear from the girl's lips the forced confession 
 of her own perfidy and to call her the name she deserved. 
 She had cast Sally from her thoughts; she seemed unim- 
 portant, as did Harriet. Only that long telltale box 
 coming in the baggage car and Geraldine Poole's story 
 mattered. Oh yes, John mattered; she wanted him to 
 bathe her head with cologne and call her " dearest " 
 again. And she could cry like a woman when John was 
 near her. With the rest of the world she was the for- 
 mal person of affairs, dry eyes and strained of expres- 
 sion. 
 
 John would have reached there by now, he would have 
 heard details, be preparing to bring his son not home, 
 but " back " that was the best they could say. 
 
 But only Mrs. Poole appeared to face Densie's storm 
 of anger and reproach. She was red-eyed and tremu- 
 lous, very, very afraid that her little girl had run off to 
 camp and some unexplainable tragedy had happened. 
 Oh, did Mrs. Plummer think that Geraldine was safe 
 and unharmed? 
 
 Without warning Geraldine had taken a train Satur- 
 day night and left a note saying she would spend Sunday 
 and Monday with Kenneth at camp, that she must ex- 
 plain something to him, something that worried her. 
 Didn't Mrs. Plummer realize that she was only an 
 
 372
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 impulsive baby thing and that she loved Kenneth better 
 than anyone else in the world? Oh, Mr. Poole was 
 very angry to think Kenneth had so great an influence 
 over his only child that she would run away like a 
 servant; he was certain Kenneth had arranged the trip 
 and had coaxed her into agreeing. It had been a shame- 
 ful thing to do, as if he just hadn't had a furlough and 
 monopolized Geraldine entirely! At any rate Ger- 
 aldine had gone to Kenneth's camp, and now she was 
 beside herself with anxiety as to Geraldine's safety. 
 
 What a dreadful thing it was Geraldine would 
 never recover from the shock! She had no idea it was 
 naughty to make him overstay his time dear, no, Ger- 
 aldine was the most patriotic little person in the world, 
 always begging for the Red Cross and crying over the 
 war films in the movies she never realized that it 
 was wrong to coax her fiance to stay over a day or so 
 military life was terribly strict, wasn't it? 
 
 After which Mrs. Poole collapsed and thus extricated 
 herself from further conversation. It was all a trick 
 and cleverly done, because she did not dare to stand up 
 beside this injured mother and try her feeble arguments 
 and explanations. 
 
 " My son never asked her to visit him at camp. He 
 would have insisted on a chaperone. If there was a mis- 
 understanding it was of Geraldine's deliberate making; 
 and in some fit of remorse for Kenneth had promised 
 her gold beads," she added with a little catch in her 
 voice " she simply lost her head and rushed down 
 there. My son was pledged to serve his country first, 
 not your daughter. No girl who has a man overstay 
 his time is worthy of his attention or respect. It is 
 feminine treason." 
 
 But Mrs. Poole was in the throes of fainting and say- 
 
 373
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 ing very weakly, " He was of age and had a mind of 
 his own " 
 
 To which Densie paid no attention. 
 
 " She coaxed him to overstay his time and he was put 
 in the guardhouse. Undoubtedly he escaped to see this 
 mad little creature, who ran down there to bring him 
 to his death he was infatuated and she knew it. She 
 took advantage of his sincerity." 
 
 By this time Mrs. Poole had fainted in entirety, and 
 there was nothing but a foolish contemptible little bundle 
 to be carried out of Densie's apartment. 
 
 The truth would be told her by John; he alone knew 
 why Kenneth had escaped the guardhouse. 
 
 The afternoon papers printed everyone's picture who 
 was associated with the family. Geraldine's was in a 
 wreath of ivy and entitled " Grief-stricken Little Sweet- 
 heart Who Thoughtlessly Caused Kenneth Plummer's 
 Death." And Densie was represented in one of her 
 evening creations as " Well-Known and Brilliant Mother 
 of Slain Youth." 
 
 Sally's picture was with Rex, taken on their honey- 
 moon, and a long account of Harriet's brilliant statistical 
 work took the place of her photograph. At the end of 
 the story was the line, " John Plummer has gone to 
 bring back the body." 
 
 Early that evening Sally came to her mother. She 
 carried heavily packed traveling bags. 
 
 " I could not come before," she said briefly, by way of 
 explanation. " I had to be brave enough to come for 
 all time. Now I have decided. Rex is away; he would 
 have been with you at the outset with all the professional 
 sympathy in the world." Her lips trembled with anger. 
 "Mother when is the funeral? And where is it? 
 May I come home to stay? " 
 
 174
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Densie felt as if she were being flayed. 
 
 " Oh, my little girl! " she said, holding out her arms. 
 " Mummy will try to make a home for you all but it 
 will be too late for Kenneth I " 
 
 375
 
 XLI 
 
 During the night of Sally's return Densie and she 
 talked, not as mother and daughter, but as two grief- 
 stricken women. It was then Sally told the long re- 
 pressed truth, the reason for listlessness and hysteria 
 and oldness of face. For three years Rex Humberstone 
 had found a quicker way of making a fortune than play- 
 ing stocks or gambling with someone else's money. He 
 was in the employ of the German Government. He had 
 been organizing, investigating, spying, reporting pre- 
 paratory to America's entrance into the war. Was it 
 any wonder she was old of heart and bitter of speech? 
 
 She had schooled herself to remain silent until 
 America's entrance into the strife; then she had pro- 
 tested, only to be silenced in a well-defined, threatening 
 manner. She had understood the reason for the sud- 
 den marriage, Rex's romantic wish to have her for his 
 wife, his affected tenderness. A German spy is safer 
 with an American wife, and a thousand times safer when 
 his mother-in-law is of national importance and her name 
 is on everyone's lips as being loyal and eager for America 
 to win. Nothing could have suited him more ! Densie, 
 the shabby drudge, the slug had become his shield and 
 his salvation. So he had promptly married Sally, and 
 disillusioned her as to his motive without delay. He 
 had counted, and rightly, on her infatuation for him to 
 keep his secret. 
 
 So she kept silence. As Sally came to this part of the 
 story she put her head down on her mother's lap as she 
 used to when she was a little girl. 
 
 376
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 ' Tell me everything." Densie's hand stroked the 
 red-gold curls. 
 
 " I begged him to stop ; it seemed I should go out in 
 the street and cry out the news that my husband was in 
 the pay of the German Government that he was help- 
 ing them with plans to .burn munition factories and 
 schoolhouses and public buildings, wreck food plants, 
 destroy farm implements, breed cattle epidemics, poison 
 horse feed oh, I cannot enumerate all they planned. 
 And in case of America's entrance into this war they 
 would rise up and do the bidding of the Hun. And Rex 
 was one of them, working without a breath of suspicion. 
 
 " Oh, he gave so liberally to the Red Cross, and pre- 
 tended to be horrified at tales of Belgium and France 
 and these easy-going, good-natured people of ours be- 
 lieved no ill of him; nor do they of countless others 
 within their gates. Mummy, the Americans do not 
 realize that all about them are spies, spies, spies! Be- 
 ware of every gentleman who is making his money with- 
 out admitting how he does so. The shame of it the 
 horror the the living death of it I " 
 
 "Yes, Sally yes." 
 
 " When Kenneth came to say he had enlisted I thought 
 I should go mad unless I could tell the truth. I hardly 
 dared look at him lest I scream out the thought that has 
 crucified me since the day I married. Those presents 
 Rex gave him, bought with German money; these clothes 
 I have on, the food I eat, the roof that shelters me! 
 I feel like a leper crying out, * Unclean, unclean ! ' And 
 he married me only to hide behind our skirts our 
 loyal American selves, who would never be questioned. 
 Did the senator never suspect?" 
 
 " No, Sally; for he would have acted if he had." 
 
 " No one suspects yet no one suspects half enough 
 
 377
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 in this country. But I shall tell them all I know. Do 
 you wonder I screamed at Kenneth and begged him to 
 go away don't you understand? I saw him drown- 
 ing in midocean, his transport in ruins about him and his 
 regiment, my husband having known of the event, per- 
 haps, in advance! Do you understand now? And 
 when you made your patriotic speeches they only shielded 
 a knave. For he gloried in them oh, it's such a 
 tangle, such a terrible tangle! And Ken is dead; but 
 he is really dead, and living deaths are worse. Mummy, 
 I want to see the senator and tell him the truth. It is 
 not too late to stop the worst of what Rex could do. 
 Then let me come home to you and be a little girl 
 after after Ken comes home." 
 
 That undertaker's chapel, the formal unfeeling ap- 
 pointments, the atmosphere of hurried death after hur- 
 ried death of him or her who had no home only 
 enough money to escape the potter's field. Could she 
 bear it? 
 
 " Yes, Sally, you shall come home," she knew she 
 said. 
 
 " I want to keep on talking, telling it over and over, of 
 how he threatened me and laughed at me and said you 
 were the best bodyguard in the world. He had 
 thousands and thousands of dollars and plans of 
 bridges and water fronts of Canadian bridges 
 
 and Mummy, don't let me go mad before I have 
 
 a chance to tell ! " 
 
 In the morning John came to his wife and told her 
 their boy was back. Densie had been right in her sur- 
 mise. Kenneth had been sent to the guardhouse for 
 over Sunday. Geraldine Poole had arrived Sunday 
 morning and demanded to see him. She sent in a note 
 begging him to " come outside just for a few moments! " 
 
 378
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 In a mad, infatuated second the boy tried to make an 
 escape for just a few moments and the guard had 
 shot at him, not intending to hit. But the bullet pierced 
 his back and he died ten minutes later. 
 
 Geraldine, running true to form, collapsed. John had 
 paid no further attention to her or to what she would 
 do. By collapsing the Pooles had at least provided an 
 escape from being present at the funeral ! 
 
 Densie listened with a quiet sadness that alarmed him. 
 She was noticing how old he looked in the morning light 
 and how many lines had grown across his forehead and 
 about his eyes. A new light of understanding had come 
 to Densie. Had her son perished heroically in battle 
 she could have borne it with a less keen anguish and a 
 lesser degree of understanding. But this accidental, 
 almost ignominious death, unnecessary, comically tragic, 
 drove home the great lesson. Through Sally's con- 
 fession Densie was made to see that the glory of the 
 war was not for her, but rather the common lot. Her 
 campaigns and speeches seemed too highly keyed and 
 emotional beside the realities of life. Figuratively, her 
 family turned to Densie small and yet efficient woman 
 of the old school, driven by modern ridicule and hastiness 
 of censure into foreign channels and said, "Mother, 
 what shall we do? " 
 
 The unemployed husband, Sally, the nerve-racked 
 feminist, the unburied boy who mutely pleaded to lie in 
 his own home! And there was no home. Densie 
 realized that once more she must provide a home, that a 
 home is the veritable joy of creation. No matter what 
 else may change or be counted out the home must be 
 kept if wars are to be won. Without homes there can 
 be no sustained achievement or ultimate progress. Den- 
 sie had been tempted by the modern enemy of women 
 
 379
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 the home-destroying spirit and she had yielded. She 
 should have withstood the enemy, weathered the diffi- 
 culties, the stings of ridicule, the pricks of neglect but 
 kept the home. It was a sacred duty in which she had 
 temporarily failed. 
 
 She understood now why her husband had ceased to 
 be the buoyant handsome man and become discontented, 
 sullen, morose. She had trespassed on his territory, 
 driven him from it into nowhere. That man 
 and woman can never be equal in their abilities 
 and duties only love acts as the great leveler, 
 causing them to merge into one viewpoint, a 
 partnership of the man's and the woman's quali- 
 fications and activities. Such a wonderful thing 
 is true marriage. That to the man is given the 
 power of intellect and the talent of logic, and to the 
 woman is awarded the emotional power and the duty of 
 spiritual influence over her home and all therein. To- 
 gether these grow into ideals, ideals which can best be 
 cherished and preserved in the home. That one must 
 be careful in this new era that destruction is not mis- 
 named progression. To take from the old what is good, 
 and profit by the new but to keep the home intact 
 through all the ages, since nothing in the divine plan 
 has been more essential or beautiful or holy. 
 
 She also thought there should be a book written about 
 the wives and mothers and sometimes maiden sisters 
 and aunts of all successful persons; it should be on 
 vellum and hand illumined, as enduring as the sculptor's 
 deathless bronze. That the only art which has been 
 denied the laurel wreath is the art of the home maker. 
 Was it for the home maker that this verse was written: 
 " They also serve who only stand and wait " ? 
 
 That many is the denied or strangled talent quietly re- 
 
 380
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 nounced in order that the home maker's family may 
 live according to the best in themselves. What multi- 
 tudes of women whose lives have been spent in being 
 " just mother," who have longed to express in shining 
 glorious fashion the talent latent within themselves 
 and yet a good dinner and a basket of mended clothes 
 have been their only rightful medium! Poet, painter, 
 statesman, actor, artist lie dormant in the hearts of 
 these prosaic and often underestimated home makers. 
 Yet it must be so. Civilization is not preserved by 
 scholars' archives or senators' laws or crimson wars or 
 even religious revivals but by the home ! In the 
 home the scholar, statesman, soldier, ecclesiastic learn 
 from some woman's lips the golden rules of the world 
 and the principles of life eternal. Except as the world 
 can rely on the home to rejoice over their achievements, 
 set in action their theories, celebrate their victories and 
 weep over their sorrows there would be no scholars or 
 statesmen or warriors or priests. As the financial mag- 
 nate of a metropolis sits alone, often unknown by name 
 to the multitude, in some dim sound-proof office of his 
 own, while on the street men rush in mad frenzy to 
 win or retrieve a fortune, people mob a small broker's 
 office to demand the truth or cry or laugh as the case 
 may warrant so does this heart of finance, this un- 
 ostentatious man, stay apart yet in direct and vital con- 
 tact with the hum and happenings of commerce. Such 
 is the relationship of the home to the activities of the 
 world. It is far more than an emotional, sentimental 
 place where one's weaknesses are condoned and one's 
 virtues magnified it is the soul of civilization. And 
 few men have the ability to be home makers. 
 
 As Densie talked to her husband about necessary de- 
 tail she felt as if she were a stranger, intruding almost,
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 at a time of grave personal sorrow. He answered her 
 gently, making no moan or complaint, and tried to plan 
 ahead so she need not be disturbed. 
 
 She knew that she told him about Sally and his face 
 distorted into an expression of hate which she had never 
 seen, but all he said was : " We will be glad to have our 
 girl again, won't we, Densie? " 
 
 And then people kept trying to crowd in on her, and 
 reporters would not be satisfied until they had peered at 
 her, and endless sickishly scented flowers kept coming 
 by mistake to the hotel where they did not allow fu- 
 nerals. 
 
 Finally John took her to see her boy. He was 
 ready hateful word ! She walked like an old, old 
 woman, clinging to John's steady arm. John was of 
 use again for a little moment; it lent him a dignity. 
 
 She knew the undertakers murmured the proper thing 
 and that they cleared the chapel of the curious, that she 
 might be alone. If it had been her own home she would 
 have been alone for hours with her boy. Not all her 
 success or cleverness or all her patriotic rallying for her 
 country spared her the loss of her only son. 
 
 She looked down at his white handsome face, so very 
 white and handsome at the hands forever folded and 
 the flag thrust through the unwilling fingers. But she 
 did not cry. In the agony of the moment she began to 
 plan again, plan as Kenneth would have helped her 
 plan. 
 
 " ' Out of the wreck rise I,' " Densie whispered in- 
 audibly. She must recreate a home. It was the 
 younger generation who clamored for the market place, 
 and those of the past era for a home. 
 
 She realized that this anaesthesia of bland optimism 
 must cease in America, the attitude that things are all 
 
 382
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 all right was stifling one's ears against groans or clos- 
 ing one's eyes to avoid sights of helpless abuse. Some 
 things were and always have been all wrong, and others 
 have had the record of all right down the ages, and it 
 has seemed to the wisest of men as if the old battle be- 
 tween right and wrong must ever be waged. That the 
 generation from which Densie came took the humbler at- 
 titude of Thomas a Kempis when he said, " All our 
 knowledge is with a little darkness," and lived accord- 
 ingly, whereas the present-day generation asserted, " I 
 am the master of my fate," and proceeded to destroy, 
 deny or defy as seemed most expedient for their aims. 
 Who shall say which is right and which is wrong? 
 
 That the older era learned to save, to work, to endure 
 and to pray, and the time had come when they must 
 teach the younger generation these virtues as their share 
 in winning the war of wars; while the younger era had 
 learned to invent, achieve, combat, analyze and they 
 must share with the older generation the virtue and the 
 glory of these things. That this war of wars called for 
 the best of the old and the new, and the rejection of all 
 else. 
 
 The time had come when to deny the power and men- 
 ace of evil and glibly assert, " All's well with the world " 
 was as thin and unreal as to assert there was but one 
 dimension. That there was and is a real power of evil 
 inasmuch as there is a power of good else the Deity 
 would never have permitted this war of wars. The 
 world must align itself on the side of good, or God, or 
 whatever name pleased, pledging to aid the Deity in- 
 stead of uttering beggars' prayers for personal blessings 
 and indulgences. The orthodox have too long treated 
 their prayers as a series of letters to Santa Claus, over- 
 flowing with petty demands and appeals. In practical 
 
 383
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 and in spiritual ways must those who are for the cause 
 of right sacrifice for their Creator. America's spoils in 
 the war must be finer spoils than colonies or trade rights 
 or indemnities she must win the attributes for all time 
 of justice and idealism justice as the highest fulfill- 
 ment of love, since only love can be just, and idealism, 
 a practical demonstration of mysticism. 
 
 Then normal grief came to soften the agony of self- 
 reproach. She clung to John as she might have done 
 during their first married years had one of their children 
 been taken. She seemed oblivious of all else Sally 
 was like a ghost slipping about. 
 
 Densie returned from the chapel and went to her 
 room. She took the picture of Kenneth from the wall 
 and sat dry eyed staring at it until John came and gently 
 took it away. 
 
 The next day was the funeral, a private funeral by 
 Densie's request, but the curious lined the way to the 
 chapel and many cars followed without invitation to the 
 cemetery. Densie could not remember the service, she 
 knew someone sang and someone said the usual things, 
 and that the casket was closed and she was told by John 
 to stay close beside him and he would help her walk 
 steadily. She did not even think of the senator. As 
 she passed out she wondered for the first time if he had 
 been there. 
 
 Returning from the burying ground Densie leaned 
 heavily against her husband. He thought she had 
 fainted and beckoned to Sally to come to his assistance. 
 But she only laid her head on his shoulder to say, 
 " You've been very brave, John." 
 
 Somehow all her thought was for John.
 
 XLII 
 
 That same night John left to bring Harriet from 
 New York. Densie had said he ought to rest she 
 or Sally would try to go. 
 
 But he insisted : " I'll go. I want to, Densie. It's 
 my right, you know." 
 
 They were sitting in Densie's room trying not to give 
 way to grief. Sally was beside her mother, her hands 
 clasped tensely in her lap. Densie's black dress made 
 her seem even more slender, and her eyes were so clear 
 and bright that they gave warning there was to be a let 
 up of the tension. John paced up and down listening to 
 Densie's instructions. 
 
 "If you find Harriet too ill to travel do not leave her 
 alone," she was saying; " stay with her at the hospital. 
 I shall have moved from here somewhere I can't 
 say now, of course. Sally and I will go together. And 
 we must see about Rex," she added almost in an under- 
 tone. " Besides, there are other things to see to." 
 
 She meant the resignation from clubs and organiza- 
 tions. 
 
 " Even if she has to stay weeks in the hospital it is 
 not right she should be without her own people." 
 Densie rose and went to her desk to write a check. 
 "Take this, John. It is the very least I can do for 
 her." 
 
 Densie's secretary was moving noisily about outside. 
 Telegrams and letters of sympathy and endless callers 
 were still arriving in confusion. The secretary tapped 
 at the door. John answered it. 
 
 385
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " It is Senator Gleason," she said timidly, wondering 
 if she had made an error in calling Densie. 
 
 John turned interrogatively to his wife. 
 
 " We will see him," she said in answer. 
 
 The senator was disappointed when John led Densie 
 into the room. 
 
 " I am more shocked and grieved than I can express," 
 he began simply. " The injustice, the horror of it 
 my poor friends ! " 
 
 He, too, included John without being cognizant of the 
 fact. 
 
 Densie sat facing him. She did not speak. John an- 
 swered for her. 
 
 "Is there nothing I can do nothing?" he urged, 
 his gentle face lined with anxiety. 
 
 " Sally must tell you her story," Densie forced herself 
 to say. " We must go on living, even if we long to tarry 
 with our dead. Sally has something to ask of you." 
 
 She glanced at John and he went to call her. 
 
 The senator leaned forward eagerly. " Densie, dear- 
 est, poor little mother ! How very hard for you how 
 cruelly unfair ! " 
 
 Densie raised her hand in protest. 
 
 " I want to tell you good-by," she said mechanically. 
 " I cannot keep our friendship oh, I am quite my- 
 self it is something else, something very different, that 
 has made me change. I have let my home vanish. Do 
 you realize my boy lay in a public chapel; my girl comes 
 back to a hotel; Harriet is in another hotel in New York? 
 What am I to do with these helpless ones of my own 
 flesh and blood? I must make a home for them 
 just be Densie Plummer until the end of the chapter." 
 
 He started to speak but she stopped him. 
 
 " I cannot share your dreams of sunset or Indian sum- 
 
 386
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 mer or boy and girl playing; that is not for me. I have 
 my children and my dead boy as a reminder of my duty. 
 And my boy loved his father. No, I shall not listen 
 any more. Find some lonely woman who has no one of 
 her own to claim the first rights." 
 
 Tears came to her relief. It was good to cry, to have 
 John and Sally coming slowly down the hall. She did 
 not want the senator to soothe her tears, to prattle of 
 romance; she could not have borne it. Let Sally tell 
 him about Rex, let the statesman and patriot of him, 
 the stranger, better side, rise to deal out justice and 
 punishment. Densie wanted to be alone with her hus- 
 band so they could mourn together over their youngest 
 born. 
 
 After John left on the night train for New York a 
 note came to each of the bereaved women. Densie's 
 was from the senator. It said with characteristic senti- 
 ment: 
 
 My Dearest: You have chosen bravely, nobly. I shall never 
 intrude again. Count me as your greatest friend; think of me if 
 you will. 
 
 My mind is still in a daze with all Sally has told me, with the 
 memory of your dear face, the thought of what has happened. I 
 shall always love you, Densie Plummer there, have I made you 
 very angry? JIM. 
 
 Sally's was a night message from Rex. The news- 
 papers had spread the reports of Kenneth's death as 
 a warning to other young and unrealizing volunteers 
 and he had read it in the morning paper. It was a 
 hypocritical message of sympathy and directions to order 
 a handsome floral piece. He would be home Tuesday. 
 
 Sally turned to her mother with outstretched arms. 
 
 " I'm afraid of him," she whispered. " Will they 
 treat him as he deserves? Will they, mummy? " 
 
 387.
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 "Of course!" 
 
 Densie banished her own thoughts the cry of her 
 child had come to mean more to her than the call of the 
 people. 
 
 " There is someone who could deal with him as he 
 deserves but he is a long, long ways off," she sobbed. 
 
 " Is it Dean? " Densie asked tenderly. 
 
 The red-gold head nodded. 
 
 " Write Dean what has happened Dean loved our 
 boy. I asked your father to write him, but he has 
 forgotten." 
 
 388
 
 XLIII 
 
 The first truth that occurred to Densie when she cast 
 about to reconstruct a home was that a home can be 
 nothing but sincere as the human eye unconsciously 
 sees its best without being goaded to do so and that 
 the sincerity of the home was the hidden influence per- 
 vading it and making it so precious. Apartments and 
 hotels are not dominated by similar influences. She 
 smiled as she recalled the days when she so envied the 
 purported life of ease. 
 
 She had set to work as bravely to rebuild as she had 
 to destroy. For there was Harriet to be brought back; 
 and Sally, who was liable to collapse after Rex's arrest; 
 and her own tired, faithful John, who must find his grip 
 again. It was no time to waste in selfish indolence or 
 retrospection. She grieved as she worked with bleeding 
 memories of the boy Kenneth as he had trotted after her 
 during that first moving, the disappointment when he 
 could not keep the forlorn puppy, the evenings they had 
 spent together. Oh, she had had many wonderful years 
 of her boy's life, she must try to think only of that. 
 
 Not even when word came that the Pooles were leav- 
 ing town, a hasty retreat from Mrs. Densie Plummer's 
 territory, because of the guilt and shame which their 
 addlebrained daughter had brought upon them, did 
 Densie halt in her plans to brood over the past. 
 
 Sally stayed in seclusion in the hotel waiting for word 
 from the senator as to what had happened. That some- 
 thing was happening was evident from the silence; so 
 Sally waited, wondering as to the outcome. Rex had so 
 
 389
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 impregnated her with a sense of his power and ability 
 that she sometimes wondered if he would not conquer 
 his enemies as he had conquered her. 
 
 Only it was a relief to have told mummy and to have 
 her be kindly and gentle instead of rushing off here and 
 there, preoccupied and irritated if aught crossed her 
 pathway. It was a relief to let grief run its course and 
 not to plan for the future to know that mummy was 
 taking care of that. 
 
 She did not know Densie had resigned from her public 
 interests and to a delegation of protesting citizens she 
 had said quietly: " My family needs a home, and a home 
 must have a home maker and keeper, one whose first 
 and last interests and devotions are given to its welfare. 
 There can be no halfway. As the stone-age man left 
 his woman beside the cave to keep the fires aglow and 
 thus ward off wild beasts, so the man of to-day and the 
 woman of business for there must be women solely 
 of careers and business in to-day's scheme of things 
 must leave in their dwelling some woman's woman who 
 will keep the fires aglow and ward off modern but equally 
 wild beasts! " 
 
 To which she would hear no argument. Puzzled yet 
 admiring they went away wondering if grief had driven 
 her to this extreme stand and if after a little she would 
 not relent and prepare again to enter public life. 
 
 But Densie dismissed them from her mind as she 
 used to dismiss her family, once outside their doorway. 
 She had a great and wonderful task, mellowed by mem- 
 ory, inspired by grief and rejuvenated by love. She set 
 about to find a home, for she wanted Sally to leave the 
 hotel as soon as possible. Densie was not hypnotized by 
 Rex Humberstone; she knew the fate awaiting him. 
 And she could not bear another hotel tragedy. She 
 
 390
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 must have a place for Harriet, a quiet, lovely old place 
 instead of a hospital with its buzz of bells and odor of 
 anaesthetics. 
 
 And John Densie smiled like a girl. John must 
 come into his own. 
 
 So Densie hunted for a house outside the city limits, 
 for the Little House on the Hill was infested by foreign- 
 ers who believed in a generous allowance of boarders. 
 She declined modern bungalows, hastily constructed 
 Queen Anne cottages with scraps of lawns and back 
 yards only adequate for the washerwoman. Besides, 
 the income of the Plummer family had temporarily 
 halted. But Densie did not let herself consider this. 
 First let her find a house and move her family into it 
 then the income would take care of itself. 
 
 The fourth day of hunting brought her to a shabby 
 white house with possibilities. It had large high-ceil- 
 inged rooms with fireplaces in most of them, and a 
 square entrance hall the sort that needed a fur rug 
 and a painting of an ancestor, a carved walnut table 
 with an old blue bowl crowded with pink roses and white 
 lilacs, and where, upon entering, one would smell the 
 baking of fresh bread such as Ellen Porch's had been 
 or of roasting meat, and where one would see hats and 
 coats and sweaters in profusion on the clothes tree. 
 Densie foresaw all this in her imagination as she stood 
 in the empty, dirty doorway and listened to the agent's 
 glib protestations as to its merits. 
 
 The bedrooms were deserving of their name north 
 and south chambers would suit them well and if the 
 walls were tinted with glowing shades and rosy chintz- 
 covered chairs and tables were put in, Densie could see 
 Harriet, tired of mind and starved of heart, lie in a 
 comfortable bed, no lumpy hotel affair, and watch the
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 logs crackle in her fireplace, and look outside to the 
 sky for fresh inspiration. She would have Sally's room 
 opposite her sister's; these two must come together in 
 spirit as they had never done before. She would tint 
 Sally's a tender blue shade with turquoise hangings of 
 cretonne and old-fashioned pictures hung about Sally 
 liked pictures but they would have disturbed Harriet. 
 She would place a workstand in Sally's room and relent- 
 lessly pile it with unmended stockings. She must teach 
 her big-little girls to do their proper tasks. It was 
 like making grown ups play properly in a nursery. 
 Densie passed out of Sally's intended room to view the 
 large front room with its old-style alcove which should 
 be hers and John's. She would make this room yellow, 
 the color John had long ago preferred with blackeyed 
 Susans in the pattern of the hangings if possible, and 
 sunshiny braided rugs on the floors. In the alcove 
 should be the table with its plate of apples and knife, 
 the books he loved best, his slippers and dressing jacket; 
 and Densie would sit across from him after " the chil- 
 dren " were in bed, to say, " Well, John, what is the 
 news to-day? " 
 
 How good it seemed how worth while. The same 
 glow of proud determination which she experienced when 
 she was about to campaign the state for a gigantic enter- 
 prise was hers as she signed the lease for the old white 
 house. She lingered downstairs to view the front and 
 back parlors and a long side room a " study," the 
 agent said it was designated. Densie did not assign any 
 use to this room. It was quite enough to furnish the 
 parlors mentally, into one vast yet cosy living room, 
 booky and just disorderly enough to make one feel the 
 right to use every sofa pillow or to sit in every chair. 
 The dining room and kitchen were dreary and cob- 
 
 392
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 webby from their long idleness. But Densie scarcely 
 noticed that. She realized the defects of the place, the 
 broken window panes, the loose shutters, the unattended 
 lawn, the dislodged chimney bricks. The agent would 
 have been surprised could he have seen the house as 
 Densie visualized it a lovely old home, newly painted, 
 with smoke curling in hospitable invitation from the 
 tall chimneys, the lawn as velvety as The Evergreens' 
 had once been, and a war garden planted on the uncared- 
 for land. There was a dismal chicken house, and a tiny 
 stable but that would be John's domain. She must 
 leave something for him to do. 
 
 She went back to the hotel to tell Sally. 
 
 " It's going to be our home. Aren't you glad? 
 Don't you feel stifled in here? I want to pack our bags 
 and leave at once." 
 
 Sally shook her head. " I suppose I ought to. Only 
 I don't feel, mummy that's the trouble. I'm just a 
 person who eats and sleeps and breathes at proper in- 
 tervals all the brain and heart of me is afraid to feel. 
 It's Rex it's what is going to happen! " 
 
 Densie took off her hat and coat. 
 
 " We cannot foresee what will happen, only that he 
 shall never bother you again ! " 
 
 She picked up a letter, which was waiting for her 
 from John. It was brief and she was disappointed to 
 find no tender message for herself, though she had no 
 ' right to expect one. 
 
 Dear Densie: Harriet is in a sanitarium on Street. She 
 
 seems in bad condition. We hope to come home in three weeks or 
 a month. Love, JOHN. 
 
 Three weeks or a month! She must work wonders 
 in that time but what a glorious task she had set 
 
 393
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 herself. She began planning how much the sale of the 
 present furniture would bring, for she would have none 
 of it in the new house. She wanted sensible modern 
 things Densie was not so visionary that she could 
 not see the value of a vacuum cleaner and electricity^ 
 plain furniture with none of the dust-catching carvings 
 of the old style, wicker things of simple line and comfort 
 
 Coming in that same night, after long sessions with 
 painters, electricians, furniture men and scrubwomen, 
 Densie found Sally waiting for her eagerly. 
 
 " It is ended," she said, coming to lay her head on 
 Densie's shoulder. " It was done quietly. They took 
 Rex, but he killed himself rather than face the conse- 
 quences. I might have known that he would." 
 
 She held out the senator's letter corroborating what 
 she had said. They were holding the body until Sally 
 gave instructions. 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 Densie wondered if the old infatuation would demand 
 a sentimental mourning over a traitor's body as its last 
 toll. 
 
 " I never wish to hear his name again," she answered 
 without hesitation. " I ha^ve wired them to that effect." 
 
 Densie kissed her. 
 
 " Come, you and father and Harriet and I shall be 
 brave and work and drive away neurotic grief and memo- 
 ries. You and I must settle our new home, Sally. 
 Won't that be wonderful? And then we must work and 
 we must save. Our country has never needed men and 
 women, individually and collectively, to save and con- 
 serve without hesitation and without constant urging, as 
 much as it does now. No one of us but what can do his 
 part." 
 
 Sally drew away. It was a shock, this brisk, practical 
 
 394
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 manner of speaking, following on the heels of Rex's sui- 
 cide. Sally had become used to lying in bed and making 
 a feeble little wail to her feeble little conception of God 
 that her life was wrecked she wanted to remain pas- 
 sive and injured, hiding indefinitely from the sunlight 
 and her fellow creatures. But Densie would not have 
 it so. She would force her into the sunlight to bring her 
 to her senses. 
 
 395
 
 XLIV 
 
 A month later, while the state still talked of Mrs. 
 Densie Plummer's remarkable change of residence and 
 withdrawal from public affairs, Sally and her mother 
 sat, one at the bottom of the broad front stairs and one 
 at the top, both engulfed in checked-gingham aprons. 
 
 " I think I shall sleep to-night," Sally said, glancing 
 up to the top of the stairs at her small but imperious 
 mummy. " Every bone of me aches and look at all 
 there is to be done I " 
 
 " But it's fine that there are things to be done and that 
 we can do them." 
 
 Densie's voice quivered; all during the day's tasks of 
 superintending, planning, working she had been think- 
 ing of where she had best hang Kenneth's picture. 
 Should she selfishly keep it for her own room or place it 
 between the windows of the living room where all could 
 share alike? 
 
 " Well, if I do say so we've done a jolly lot." 
 
 Sally looked about in pleased contemplation. 
 
 " Sh-h, don't waste another daylight moment. We 
 only have two more days to finish it up." 
 
 Densie sprang up briskly and ran down the stairs. 
 
 " How can you ? Why, mummy, an hour's work tires 
 me all out." 
 
 " Because you've never gotten into the way of doing 
 things," her mother told her. " At my age I'm able to 
 do twice as much as you." 
 
 " What in the world is the matter with this modern 
 
 396
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 way of living? We're not taught rightly or else we won't 
 be taught or something tangles us up." 
 
 " I think " Densie gravely pointed the tack ham- 
 mer at her daughter " that the great error in this age 
 is to have us learn the exceptions first and the rules after- 
 ward. That is why, at thirty-one, Sally, you cannot mop 
 a floor without having a backache; and why the prepa- 
 ration of a simple meal covers you with confusion 
 and the house with burning and strange odors ! " 
 
 Two days later a cab stopped before the new-old 
 house, still glistening with fresh paint, with a repaired 
 pathway in winding invitation to come up the steps and 
 find the polished brass knocker. The knocker had been 
 almost the last thing Densie had done, the house needed 
 just such a lion's head with the heavy ring between its 
 jaws. 
 
 Crisp dotted curtains were at the shining window panes 
 and smoke curled from the chimney just as she had 
 planned. Outside an old man raked up the leaves and 
 sticks, mowing the tall grass with a huge cutter. John 
 found himself so interested in the procedure that he 
 forgot to gather all the cushions until Harriet feebly 
 reminded him of it. 
 
 They came up the walk slowly, the oldish woman, so 
 thin and unsteady, and the tired-faced man. Densie and 
 Sally flung open the door in welcome. The odor of 
 fresh bread and tea roses saintly combination per- 
 vaded the hall. The sunset cast a kindly glow on their 
 faces, but it did not deceive Densie. 
 
 " Oh, my dears ! " she said, holding out her arms while 
 Sally bustled about with the wraps. 
 
 Harriet sank down on the nearest chair. 
 
 "Please let me go to bed. But isn't it nice here? 
 So very homey." 
 
 397
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 At which Densie was satisfied. 
 
 " I leave Sally to take charge of you, Harriet. We'll 
 send supper up presently. I must see to things below. 
 John, will you look at the Little House or will you go 
 upstairs first? " 
 
 She was as nervous as a bride as she waited for his 
 answer, fingering the bows of her white apron and try- 
 ing not to laugh and cry all at once. 
 
 " I'll see the Little House. You don't mean to say 
 you've been baking? Well, well! " His voice was 
 fairly eager. 
 
 She nodded and led the way while Sally and Harriet 
 slowly toiled up the stairs. It was all simple Densie's 
 purse did not allow of extravagances as it once had. 
 Plain harmonious rugs and hangings of wood brown 
 and dull green, sturdy furniture and vases of flowers 
 here and there, a little piano with song books once more 
 astride the rack. Between the windows of the living 
 room Densie paused, slipping her arm through John's. 
 In understanding silence they looked up at the picture of 
 their boy as they had last known him, in his uniform, 
 young and very, very much in earnest and filled with 
 promise. The eyes were not looking down at them, 
 but out at the worlds he was prepared to conquer. 
 
 Finally John said, " Did he make you do all this 
 this miracle? " 
 
 She nodded. " We've a home again. It may help 
 just a little." 
 
 Then she led him all about the rooms. There were 
 touches here and there of the sacred past which made 
 his fingers press her tenderly or made him give some 
 brief, deeply felt comment which more than rewarded 
 her efforts. 
 
 ' You've not lost the art not after all these years." 
 
 398
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 He put his arms round her. She was hungry to have 
 him draw her close and kiss her again. 
 
 " I thought I wanted to lose the art, but now I see the 
 mistake of such a wish, the gradual growth of a mis- 
 understanding. We were all to blame. Only I as the 
 mother had no right to destroy something unless I had 
 something of equal merit to take its place. There is 
 nothing which takes the place of a home, is there, John ? 
 At this time of stress our country needs to guard the 
 home even as it guards the coast line. Without our 
 homes our nation has no foundation, nothing for which 
 to fight. We modern women have tried to make the 
 world institutional, that we be relieved of the pettiness 
 of detail, the blessedness of drudgery but it must not 
 be done. Look at our girls upstairs! Our boy, per- 
 haps, had he had a home well, things might not have 
 happened as they did." 
 
 It was Densie's turn to break down and John's to 
 comfort. 
 
 " Ah, but it was I who was wrong," he admitted. " I 
 shirked first of all I did not appreciate, I became so 
 accustomed to comfort and sacrifice. I see the thing 
 now as if it had happened to some other couple besides 
 you and me. I think it often does happen, don't you? 
 But I was wrong " 
 
 " It often takes courage to say * 1 am right,' " she 
 said, looking up with very violety eyes, " but it requires 
 divine humility to say ' I was wrong.' Kiss me, John, 
 and bless our home we will keep it now until we arc 
 too old to know the difference between our home and 
 someone else's. I feel as if I had built a fortress about 
 our grown-up children as if I could fight all the world 
 before they would be perverted in their viewpoints 
 again." 
 
 399
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " Harriet is quite ill," John said gently as they went 
 into the kitchen. " The doctor says it is brain fag a 
 new interest or set of interests might cure her. I won- 
 dered all the way on the train what sort of new house 
 you would have for us, Densie some awful, modern 
 establishment where one's only intimate friend is the 
 dumb-waiter. I did not speak of this to Harriet; in 
 fact I scarcely spoke to her at all. She wants to be let 
 alone and she cries if you ask her questions." 
 
 Densie nodded wisely. 
 
 " I'll make broths that will give her spirit and cus- 
 tards that will make her talk in order to beg for more 
 and she shall have new interests. John Plummer, I, 
 Densie, do solemnly vow that my daughters shall learn 
 to keep house until they are self-sufficient. They are 
 both within our power again." She laughed a little 
 sadly. " Three grown women and one small house 
 no need of taking a girl from a munitions factory to come 
 and half cook our meals. You shall be Lord Mayor of 
 the Barnyard that I leave in your hands." 
 
 "What a jolly old kitchen! It reminds me of Aunt 
 Sally's very own. Remember how we had cocoa and 
 toast Sunday nights for tea? The greatest treat of the 
 week was to eat in the kitchen ! What an oven ! " 
 
 " What a turkey it can roast we're going to have a 
 real home Christmas," Densie said gaily as she went 
 about preparing Harriet's tray. 
 
 She remembered the last few Christmases, with Sally 
 and Rex exchanging loveless handsome gifts for show, 
 Kenneth off for a dance, Harriet writing home briefly, 
 and John aimlessly wandering into a movie for the even- 
 ing. As for herself, her day had been crowded with 
 floral offerings and visits to orphanages to distribute 
 
 400
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 mittens and a pygmy orange apiece, and end by a club 
 banquet at which she was called upon for the most im- 
 portant speech. No, there should never again be such 
 holidays. 
 
 '' Why, Densie," John was calling to her, " here's a 
 woodshed! " 
 
 " Certainly! Where would our logs be kept?" 
 
 She added a spotless napkin for the tray, and then 
 rang the bell, signal for Sally. 
 
 Sally came rushing down. " Harriet doesn't want 
 any supper. She is crying, and I can't get her to do 
 anything." 
 
 Sally had forgotten her own woes. 
 
 Densie shouldered the tray. 
 
 " See that the meat doesn't burn," she warned as she 
 marched out of the door. 
 
 She found Harriet in a disconsolate little heap, weep- 
 ing silently and refusing to answer. 
 
 " I know you are weak and tired and confused," 
 Densie said patiently, " but so could we all be. Rex has 
 committed suicide he was a German spy and yet 
 Sally has managed to keep about and be brave." 
 
 Harriet started up. " Mummy, how terrible ! Why 
 didn't you tell me? Oh, poor Sally? What a dis- 
 grace ! " 
 
 " No; a merciful removal. Rex had been in the em- 
 ploy of the Huns for three years. Can you fancy that? 
 All his money came from our enemy. Sally knew it, 
 was afraid to speak out fears and infatuation kept 
 her silent. There, sit here, Harriet. Here's a nice pillow 
 for your back and as you drink your broth I'll tell you 
 just how Sally came to tell me." 
 
 Deftly Densie managed the change. Harriet, her 
 
 401
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 dark eyes twice their natural size, obeyed like a child, 
 eager for the news. It had given her something else to 
 think about. 
 
 ;< Why, I didn't know Sally could be so game. She 
 was as cheerful as a bird it made me terribly 
 nervous but I can't help but admire the way she 
 acted." 
 
 " Well, Sally has washed all the woodwork in this 
 house and helped me buy and put away every pan and 
 dish, and she settled your room and her own and did 
 any number of odd jobs, such as persuading the painter 
 that speed was advisable and flattering the electrician 
 into finishing his contract. Sally hasn't had any time 
 to favor her nerves." 
 
 Harriet drained her cup. " How good that is ! It is 
 like the barley broth you made for us when we had 
 sore throats and it hurt to swallow. It hurts to swallow 
 now but the lump is from unshed tears, I think." 
 
 She was surprised and ashamed at herself for the con- 
 fession. 
 
 Densie passed her the custard. 
 
 " Then, too, we have much to plan ahead. Your 
 father has no work; neither have you. You cannot go 
 back to New York for a year, as you well know. Don't 
 worry, Harriet, it will be all right only we must plan. 
 Here is Sally to consider too. And so we have done a 
 lot of thinking while we scrubbed and dusted and bought 
 and arranged and that is the finest, most efficient way 
 in the world to think and plan to work as you do 
 so." 
 
 " But what will you do, mummy? About your work 
 and your clubs? " 
 
 " I have resigned. I must look after my family again. 
 Now finish that up like a good child and go to sleep. 
 
 402
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 I'll tuck you into bed. Isn't the fire pretty? It is good 
 to have a wood fire again, isn't it? " 
 
 "Is there a furnace?" Harriet asked rather unap- 
 preciatively. 
 
 ' Yes, but logs give a special joy all their own. Now 
 then into bed you go, just as if I were a trained 
 nurse. I warrant you never gave them battle. I must 
 go below and see to our dinner. Are you all right? 
 Good night, my dear." 
 
 And without asking she stooped to kiss the pale tired 
 forehead. 
 
 She hurried off lest Harriet catch sight of her own 
 tears. It seemed so cruel and so unreal that this was 
 Harriet this wreck of nerves and mass of phobias and 
 indifference to everything save her own morbid fears. 
 
 Below, Sally and her father were conducting the 
 ceremonies. as best they could, but making clumsy work 
 of it. Densie set them to rights. It was easy to re- 
 member Aunt Sally's teachings, to step back so many 
 years to when she was fresh from her training as to how 
 to get a meal the quickest and daintiest way. 
 
 When they sat at the table Densie lifted her small 
 hand in interruption of the carving. She bowed her 
 head and said swiftly: "We thank Thee, O Lord, for 
 this food. Praise and bless it to our use." 
 
 Late that night with Sally fast asleep dreaming of 
 Jishwashing and the strange new home, her own blue 
 room, and Harriet across the way, and of Dean Ladd- 
 barry's coming to her and saying, " Sally, he is dead, he 
 is dead." Densie lingered downstairs after John had 
 gone to his room. 
 
 There were a few of the little fussy things to do, the 
 same indefinable tasks that had once irritated everyone. 
 She did them gladly now, thinking because John had 
 
 403
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 suggested it by saying his glasses needed changing 
 that as old age was far-sighted in the physical sense it was 
 because old age was one of retrospection and summariz- 
 ing, away from the thick of things, whereas youth was 
 near-sighted, in the heat of the fray and undependable as 
 to its deduction. Hence the old and much protested 
 against advice, "Heed your elders!" 
 
 The autumn wind had risen to howl about the house 
 and impress those within with a sense of warmth and 
 security. Densie listened to it with a defiant joy. She 
 did not care how loud it whistled, how cold the night 
 once more she had her family underneath her own roof. 
 
 John had properly banked the furnace. She looked 
 about to see if there were any other odd chores. She 
 was quite tired but with a blessed tiredness of both 
 body and mind, which made her sleep without dreams 
 and waken refreshed. 
 
 She fancied she heard a scratching at the door it 
 might have been the wind. But she opened it to verify 
 her idea. On the doorstep crouched a half-grown non- 
 descript dog mostly just dog, as Kenneth used to 
 say his eyes peering eagerly into the warm lighted 
 hall. 
 
 Unconsciously Densie opened the door wider that he 
 might creep in. He lay submissively on the hall mat, 
 not knowing whether a blow was to be his reward. He 
 had come a long ways and was unwelcomed, judging 
 from the gaunt ribs and quivering body, the muddied 
 paws, one of which was wounded, and the bedraggled 
 coat of black. He looked at Densie in mute supplica- 
 tion. 
 
 "Don't you need me?" he seemed to ask. "You 
 can't have a home without a real dog like your boy 
 used to tell you! I'm nobody, but I've possibilities too. 
 
 404
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Try me for his sake. I'll frighten off tramps and 
 I'll not chew up master's gloves or bark when Miss 
 Harriet is napping. I'll amuse Miss Sally if she were 
 awake she'd speak a good word for me. I'm nobody, 
 but like the rest of us forlornities I'd be quite a person 
 if I only had a home ! " 
 
 He whined, dragging himself over to her feet. 
 
 Densie was thinking of the day Kenneth brought in 
 the puppy and begged, " He's nobody, he was just born 
 in Skinner's back yard but if I don't keep him he'll be 
 drowned! " 
 
 He seemed to say, " I escaped drowning twice I've 
 been stoned and chased and beaten I've better blood 
 in me than you think. Let me prove it. I ran away 
 from the crowded streets to find a home." 
 
 Densie knelt and patted the black head. " We'll call 
 you Captain," she said. " Come get your supper 1 " 
 
 405
 
 XLV 
 
 Harriet followed her mother about the house as if 
 she were a guest who was trying to be polite in not in- 
 terfering with routine duties and yet not lose a moment's 
 opportunity to visit. She watched the brisk methods of 
 cleaning this or that with admiring eyes. 
 
 "You have not lost the art, have you?" she asked 
 when they finally rested in the living room, Densie knit- 
 ting a huge gray soldier sock. 
 
 Outside, the clear November sun Indian summer, 
 Densie remembered with a twinge of regret shone 
 on Sally's bare head as she and her father walked about 
 the place pointing out where next summer's garden would 
 be planted and where was the best spot for flowers. 
 Captain tagged after them, his stump of a tail wag- 
 ging whenever they paused and his muzzle pushing itself 
 into Sally's hand to remind her of his presence. 
 
 u I presume one never loses anything that has been 
 really learned." 
 
 Densie beheld proudly the change the few weeks had 
 wrought in her eldest child. The face had softened; it 
 was not robust as yet, but the eyes really smiled as well 
 as the lips, and there was a gentle note in Harriet's 
 abrupt voice. The wrapper of lavender wool suited her 
 well, she did not seem the former Harriet Plummer, 
 chief statistician of a social-service bureau. 
 
 " Yes, I'm afraid you do," she told her mother. 
 " I'm afraid I've lost the good of everything I ever 
 learned or investigated. I can never go back to doing 
 the same sort of work. When I try to school myself to 
 
 406
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 the idea I begin to feel weak and trembly and I want to 
 cry. What a waste it has been, mummy, hasn't it? 
 All the years of being away from home ! " 
 
 "Perhaps it has not been wasted; reserve your de- 
 cision. The same ability may not appear in the same 
 form, but it has not vanished forever. There is other 
 work besides the work of a machine. You kept that 
 brain of yours overworked and you starved your 
 heart the combination can never be successful. Your 
 nerves were called upon to pay the price." 
 
 Harriet looked about the living room. 
 
 " It's so good to have a home. I thought once I 
 despised a home that was when I was so young that 
 I must have been impossible. But now I never want to 
 leave one. It is the mutton barley broth, perhaps " 
 she tried to speak lightly "and the custards and 
 the seeing you renounce everything for which you had 
 worked, and just become our mother." 
 
 Densie glanced up at Kenneth's picture. Harriet did 
 not notice. 
 
 " Tell me, mummy, was it hard to do? " 
 
 " Hard things are good for us," Densie evaded, drop- 
 ping her knitting. " If I had not had the experience of 
 home making I could never have had the success of a 
 career. It was the rugged, endless tasks confronting me 
 in my home that made me able to cope with outside 
 duties. But I was wrong, quite wrong." 
 
 " It seems wonderful to waken in the morning " 
 Harriet was too preoccupied with her own transforma- 
 tion to notice minutely what had been her mother's 
 " to watch the trees sway outside not the courtyard 
 of a hotel with lonesome gray flakes of soot drifting 
 down; to have a log fire all one's own. Is there any- 
 thing more heavenly than the smell of burning pine 
 
 407
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 boughs? And to have one's own blankets and furni- 
 ture and everything." 
 
 She laughed at her own incoherence. " To have one's 
 house and no one come within it save those asked; to 
 watch Sally be as gay at heart as she ever was; and 
 father " 
 
 She hesitated, but Densie helped her on. " Father 
 must find his grip again; we shall not worry about that." 
 
 " He's like the father of long ago of croquet and 
 fishing-party days. He's young again." 
 
 " It's the cooking," Densie laughed. 
 
 " But what am I to do? I'm a sort of educated drift- 
 wood person. I can't do anything but the work for 
 which I've been trained. I can't seem to think of any- 
 thing I can do. I'm not domestic, mummy. Sally is; 
 but I want to do something that is going to help." 
 
 Densie was silent; she was studying Harriet's face, but 
 whatever she thought she kept to herself. 
 
 " I was thinking this morning," Harriet finished with 
 characteristic honesty, u that Saint Theresa was quite 
 right when she said, ' Nervousness is largely selfish- 
 ness.' ' 
 
 The postman interrupted their conversation. Densie 
 came back from the rustic letter box with a confused 
 expression. She sent Harriet out in the back yard to 
 find her father and sister and tell them to plan for twice 
 as large an asparagus bed as they had said they intended. 
 
 Left alone she opened the letter addressed to her and 
 laid Sally's mail aside without glancing at it. It was 
 Indian summer and the senator had dared to write 
 once more. It was hard to believe that Densie had so 
 valiantly relinquished the worlds she had conquered, had 
 returned to her own hearth and her three broken reeds. 
 Wonderful and praiseworthy as it was did she feel 
 
 408
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 content? Was she quite sure she was happy? It was 
 Indian summer and he was very lonesome. There 
 could never be any other old-fashioned fairy save Densie 
 Plummer. 
 
 Densie hurriedly drew out some notepaper, and re- 
 gardless of her approaching family and her various stew- 
 pans bubbling away at a warning gait she answered: 
 
 " Harriet has just now told me that she believes with Saint 
 Theresa that nervousness is very largely selfishness. I cannot 
 help but wonder, my dear, if loneliness is not synonymous, too? 
 Forgive me if that hurts. But your life is so unhampered by ties, 
 free to attempt the idealistic reforms of which we talked was 
 it a hundred years ago ? that you have no right to go seeking 
 maudlin schoolboy happiness. It is not meant to be. Such men 
 and women as yourself, who hare no ties, no material want, a 
 mind and heart attune with God such as you are those who are 
 meant to have careers. Who was it said, ' He who climbs high 
 must climb alone ' ? 
 
 " If you could see us in the new home the change in Harriet 
 since she has learned that each task is everyone's task in a measure 
 and that the world cannot be institutional ; Sally learning to cook 
 and bake and laugh at the same time ; and John his old self again ; 
 our boy's picture like a guardian angel in our living room oh, 
 James Gleason, you would be ashamed to think you have dared 
 tempt me ! 
 
 " I expect great things of you during your Indian summer 
 not a time of romance and personal solace, but of great tasks ac- 
 complished for our nation. Do not fail me. Take the love you 
 offered me and give it to our cause and you will find that In- 
 dian summer will be everlasting. DENSIE PLUMMER." 
 
 She had scarcely sealed the note when the family 
 descended upon her, Captain coming to lie at her feet 
 in abject worship. 
 
 " Well, girls," John had said as they were about to 
 
 409
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 come into the house, " shall we go in to mother? " 
 
 To which they agreed as they used to in the years 
 when Densie was still a personage and had not become 
 the faulty individual her family tried to convince her 
 that she was. John had taken their arms and they 
 had strolled in together, chatting about next year's war 
 garden and the fact that Captain certainly had good 
 blood in him or he would not have heeled John without 
 teaching, and a root of honeysuckle could become a thing 
 of joy and beauty if planted near the front doorway, and 
 if they had an ice-cream freezer they could give a party. 
 " Like we used to have, daddy," Sally said, squeezing his 
 arm in affection. 
 
 4 Well, my young Americans," Densie questioned as 
 they came in, "what ahoy?" 
 
 " We've planned the garden. Come and see." 
 
 u Here's a letter, Sally." She handed over the enve- 
 lope. " I'll take a turn about the ' estate,' and then I 
 must see to dinner." 
 
 " I'll run upstairs to tidy my room," Sally excused her- 
 self. 
 
 She bounded up the stairs and reached her room, care- 
 fully closing the door. The letter was from Dean Ladd- 
 barry. Her heart beat quickly as it one time used to 
 beat for Rex Humberstone in those first mad days. 
 
 It was a long jolly letter, with only a brief paragraph 
 to sympathize with her for what had happened, but that 
 better things must be in store. He was head over heels 
 into work with the alfalfa crop, hardly knew which way 
 to turn. The business was doubling itself in no time 
 and they wanted to start an Eastern branch. He might 
 drop round at Christmas time if Sally didn't mind. 
 He had sent the letter in care of Densie's former hotel 
 address and if she was not there he was sure it would 
 
 410
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 be forwarded. Everyone knew Mrs. Densie Plummer! 
 He felt a lot of things he could not write about Ken, 
 about everything. Would she drop a line and say if she 
 would be at home round Christmas time? 
 
 Harriet found her sister sitting in the dusk, the letter 
 in her lap, looking out at the tossing tree limbs and listen- 
 ing to the wind play weird melodies. 
 
 " What in the world, Sally " she began with a 
 
 trace of the old irritable non-understanding. 
 
 Sally started up. " I'm sorry. I meant to come 
 down long ago." 
 
 " We thought you must be housecleaning." Harriet 
 turned on the light. "Why you've been crying." 
 Her voice softened. "What was it, Sally?" 
 
 She stood away from her sister, as awkward as a man 
 who has no right to caress. 
 
 " Only my silliness as usual. I've been thinking what 
 a lot of years I've wasted and now it is too late." 
 
 "What is too late?" Harriet glanced shrewdly at 
 the letter. "Oh is that from Dean Laddbarry? " 
 
 "How did you know?" Sally retorted sharply. 
 
 " Oh, I'm not all sticks and stones, even if I cannot 
 be a rosy creature of romance. Perhaps I've wasted 
 years too." 
 
 It was the first admission Harriet had ever made to 
 her sister. Sally rose and came to kiss her impulsively. 
 
 " Harriet, we'll never desert mummy again, will 
 we?" 
 
 " Never nor worry her." 
 
 " What a long time it has taken to realize values ! 1 
 
 " But what a long time we still have to realize them," 
 Harriet comforted. 
 
 " What will you do with yourself, Harriet, after you 
 are quite strong? Go back to New York?" 
 
 411
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 " I don't know, Sally; I want to be useful and be at 
 home that's about all." 
 
 " Which is enough." 
 'What will you do?" Harriet retaliated. 
 
 Sally blushed. "I don't know," she hesitated. 
 
 Harriet gave her a little shake. " I don't believe 
 you," she said. 
 
 The next morning John and Harriet went to the city 
 with a shopping list and Sally and Densie were left to put 
 the house to rights. 
 
 "Was your letter from Dean?" asked Densie when 
 she felt the opportune moment had approached. 
 
 Sally nodded and fell to redusting the shiny table top. 
 
 "What did he say?" 
 
 " Sent his love and he might be in town Christmas 
 time on business. He sent the letter to your hotel so it 
 was delayed. He had heard about Rex." 
 
 Sally stopped dusting and stared down at the floor. 
 
 " Look up at me so." Densie tilted her daugh- 
 ter's chin between her small fingers. " Ah I think 
 I understand. Please tell Dean to take Christmas din- 
 ner with us. It is to be a family dinner and he is 
 welcome." 
 
 Sally caught her mother in her arms. " Waltz with 
 me, waltz with me! " she cried, dragging the small re- 
 joicing mummy about the room until they stood before 
 Kenneth's picture. Then Sally released her hold. 
 
 " If Ken were only here," she said softly. 
 
 " Who can say he is not? " Densie answered slowly. 
 
 A week later Harriet came into her mother's room 
 with a strangely sheepish expression. She had returned 
 from walking, her hands filled with glowing ivy leaves 
 and a spray of late fall blossoms. 
 
 412
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 "What now, my dear?" Densie asked. "You 
 look very radiant. I'm quite proud of my sanitarium." 
 
 Harriet bowed her thanks. There was something of 
 the boy about Harriet or rather a sexless elfish sprite 
 even though the gray did creep noticeably into her black 
 hair. She threw off her wraps and came over to Densie, 
 looking at her mother in approval. Densie no longer 
 used an eye pencil or rouge and her face had the pink- 
 ish blush of middle age, middle age which has not spared 
 itself. The brown-gray hair was gathered in a simple 
 knot and her eyes were so violety that no novelist could 
 have resisted them. They deepened as she watched her 
 daughter. Her frock, a gray mull with black velvet 
 bows, completed the picture. 
 
 " What a dear you are I " she said impulsively. 
 
 Densie was so pleased that she blushed as much of a 
 blush as if the senator had spoken. 
 
 "Well what now?" 
 
 " I've come to believe that often the individual can 
 accomplish more than the organization. Mummy, have 
 you any particular use for the long room, the erstwhile 
 study, you said it was? There's nothing but packing 
 boxes in it now, is there? " 
 
 " Yes what are you going to start? A woman's re- 
 formatory? " 
 
 Harriet stammered in her confession. 
 
 " It it sounds stupid perhaps it would have 
 sounded stupid to my nervous, selfish old self but I've 
 been walking a good deal near the railroad dis 
 tricts " 
 
 "And I pictured you in the woods! Why the rail 
 road?" 
 
 " There are so many children," she continued soberly. 
 " I don't know just how it started some of them were
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 fighting one day and I waited to see how it would end. 
 Then I talked to them and they listened. And I gave 
 the one with a bleeding nose my handkerchief. I have 
 never been friends with children but all at once I began 
 to want to be. Then Captain helped; he made friends 
 with them and the youngsters used to beg to see him do 
 his tricks. And they would ask me questions about 
 everything under the sun and I'd have to hurry to think 
 up the right answers. And as I talked to them I saw 
 how thin and malnourished of mind and body they 
 were and how helpless ! It was their helplessness that 
 made me want to aid them. Unless someone would 
 stretch out a hand they would never have anything in 
 their child lives but blows for kisses and curses for kind 
 words. And so I began telling stories. I was as shy 
 about it as any bride cooking her first meal. But they 
 liked it and I told myself that all my training must 
 not be wasted. Everyone must love someone, mummy 
 isn't that right? " 
 
 Densie nodded. 
 
 " The next day after I began stories I taught them a 
 song, their poor harsh little voices tried hard to carry the 
 tune. So they began to watch for me every day, and I've 
 never disappointed them even when it rained. And they 
 came in the rain and I thought of how happy they would 
 be safe inside some warm house and of the side room and 
 what a splendid little place it would be for them. I would 
 have little lectures and teach the girls to sew and the 
 boys to knit and carve wood. Only on Saturdays and 
 Sundays, mummy and there's a separate entrance so 
 they would not bother you. I do want the children 
 would you mind? " 
 
 " Mind? Go downstairs and see how much work must 
 be done to get the room ready. It is furnace heated," 
 
 414
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 Densie added with her ever-ready practicality. " Har- 
 riet, you're cruel." 
 
 " It was deciding to be a very pale blue-stocking," 
 Harriet laughed, " that did it. And you've no idea how 
 interesting children are! " She was unconscious of her 
 own enthusiasm. " There is one little girl as beautiful 
 as a Madonna, and a boy who wants to go to college, 
 and a lame child who needs a crutch, and two others with 
 crossed eyes that could easily be cured. Mummy, do you 
 remember when Sally said it was fun just to be alive? 
 Well, she was right 1 " 
 
 415
 
 XLVI 
 
 Dean Laddbarry waited for Densie to break the silence 
 and Densie waited for Dean Laddbarry to express his 
 opinion. They looked at each other like mischievous 
 children who had somehow evolved a sudden and rather 
 unexpected success. 
 
 "Tired, Madame Plummer?" Dean asked as he 
 watched the flush in her cheeks deepen. 
 
 "Nice sort of tired. How are you?" Densie was 
 knitting swiftly on her war sock. ' What makes you 
 idle on a Wednesday morning? I didn't think you'd 
 want to stay in to talk to an old lady! " 
 
 " Don't you know that the day after Christmas is al- 
 ways nicer than the holiday itself? The warmed-up tur- 
 key dinner is always more delectable, the Christmas tree 
 a trifle more familiar it has lost that first impressive 
 stateliness and you don't mind attacking the centerpiece 
 of fruit and raisins, which on Christmas Day you felt 
 bound to regard with awe and lack of desire. Besides, 
 it's snowing, and I've a hope-to-die living room and open 
 fire and the nicest young-old person to talk to and ask 
 advice. It's jolly to loll back among cushions and watch 
 the snow crowd in vain against the windows and look at 
 oh, see for yourself." 
 
 He waved his hand vaguely. 
 
 Densie looked. She saw the Christmas tree, so tall 
 that John had had to cut off the top branches in order 
 to get it in the standard, white with cotton-wool snow and 
 glistening with tinsel with a young and laughing Santa 
 Claus perched on the top, and foolish inexpensive trifles 
 
 416
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 for this was a war Christmas scattered beneath the 
 boughs. 
 
 Harriet's children had come yesterday afternoon after 
 dinner to rifle the tree of goodies and mittens and mufflers 
 and an absolutely unessential bit of foolishness for each 
 which was contributed by Dean Laddbarry, the Santa 
 Claus Lochinvar out of the West, who had dropped in 
 two days before Christmas expecting to find a preoccupied 
 and socially rushed Plummer family and who had been 
 led into Densie's kitchen, which was fairly bursting with 
 the forthcoming menu, and had been set to stoning raisins 
 and picking out walnut meats. 
 
 Dean had scarcely had time to collect himself and re- 
 arrange his mental picture of the Plummers. Having 
 left them a la carte, so to speak, it was rather a stunner 
 to return and find them in a rejuvenated Little House 
 conducted on the good old American plan. 
 
 Bits of red ribbon, stumps of bayberry candles, boxes 
 with holly wreaths and tissue paper were still piled in dis- 
 order on the chairs and tables. A book of carols was 
 on the piano rack. Harriet had taught her ragged ur- 
 chins to gather about while Sally played the old Mahogany 
 Tree and they sang it shrilly. 
 
 Kenneth's picture was framed in evergreen and a vase 
 of white flowers placed underneath and his baby picture 
 was twined with holly and placed on the desk. 
 
 She saw Captain sleeping happily before the wood fire, 
 dreaming of the flock of turkey bones flying in his direc- 
 tion. The clock ticked peaceably and the sun shone 
 through the fluted white curtains and made known to this 
 erstwhile boy of Densie's that Sally's hands had dusted 
 the rooms as carefully as her great-aunt would have 
 done. 
 
 Without, John Plummer was cutting wood it was his 
 
 417
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 delight, he protested, to chop the logs as he had done 
 when a boy. It limbered him, he insisted, when Densie 
 would have interfered. Harriet and Sally had gone with 
 baskets to various mothers and grandmothers of Harriet's 
 children who had been without Christmas cheer. 
 
 They had asked Dean to squire them about, but with 
 unusual lack of interest he declined, saying he wanted to 
 talk to Densie and his time was limited. 
 
 "What made you?" the big honest-eyed man de- 
 manded suddenly. " Whatever in the world caused such 
 a miracle ? " 
 
 Densie dropped her knitting. " Does it seem so to 
 you? I thought I was the only one who overestimated 
 what has happened." 
 
 " A miracle ! " he repeated stanchly. 
 
 " Why, when I saw you last " 
 
 He paused, bringing to mind the fashionably dressed, 
 hurried woman, preoccupied with the world's needs and 
 her own advancement; the eccentric, impersonal Harriet; 
 John mistaking the shadow for the substance; and Sally 
 with her tired dead eyes. 
 
 Densie pointed to the picture of her son. 
 
 u His death. I had no home to bring him to that 
 taught me, Dean. I saw it then as I could never have 
 seen it otherwise. I l9st no time in trying to right the 
 wrong. Dean, if American women of to-day who feel 
 that homes are irksome and duties are nightmares, if they 
 could know the agony that destroying a home will bring 
 them! Nothing takes the place of home nothing! " 
 
 He nodded. 
 
 " And we go to church. Not that we only believe all 
 we hear from the pulpit, for most of us believe far more. 
 So does he who stands in the pulpit if he could speak with- 
 out censure. We go because church attendance is a thing 
 
 418
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 interwoven with home, because every right thinking and 
 living person, particularly at this time, should lend his 
 presence to some spiritual creed and give tangible proof 
 thereof that this is so. We have no right to call our- 
 selves ' above ' going to church or ' too far advanced ' 
 or ' It is not necessary; I say my own prayers in my own 
 way.' It is as much of a duty as to rise when our national 
 hymn is played or to salute the flag physically, evidence 
 of the mental feeling the sight of it inspires. It has done 
 us good to come once more into a family pew and listen 
 reverently to the words of a man of God." 
 
 " You are right if more persons went to church and 
 fewer spent their time explaining why they did not need 
 to go, this world would be a saner place." 
 
 " It is like those who explain why homes are not neces- 
 sary what do they give us, these reformers, after they 
 have shattered our faith and blotted out our customs? 
 Nothing ! And that is not even an attempted honest ex- 
 change." 
 
 " You have gathered them back safely," he said. 
 
 "All but my boy 1" 
 
 After another silence Dean rose and tiptoed over to 
 her, putting his great tanned hand on her shoulder. 
 
 "Let me be your boy," he begged. "I've always 
 wanted to call you mother. I lost mine before I could 
 remember her; and a chap never has but one. You've 
 lost your boy. I love your Sally. Won't you let me call 
 you mother? " 
 
 Densie's hand reached up to pat his. 
 
 " You still love her? " she asked. 
 
 " I shall always love her. Do you think it is too 
 late?" 
 
 " Have you told her?" 
 
 " She knows without my telling; she has always known. 
 
 419
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 
 I did not speak of it openly before the holiday for fear 
 I might have marred it." 
 
 " Then ask her, Dean " 
 
 " And if she is willing? " 
 
 "My son!" 
 
 Densie turned to kiss the broad, lined forehead. After 
 which she gave way to a very feminine and proper little 
 cry with Dean holding her tenderly and imagining it 
 was Sally. 
 
 " This will never do," Densie admitted as Captain, 
 roused by the commotion, came wagging over, bent on in- 
 vestigation. " Suppose John found me crying! He 
 would think I was longing for the old sort of living 
 I'd never be able to convince him. Dean, go sit there and 
 tell me about Indians or tarantulas or something quite 
 outside my realm." 
 
 " I want to tell you about business," he added quickly; 
 " and if Father Plummer comes in I'll know he's been 
 eavesdropping and waiting for the right moment. I've 
 a new partner for my firm who will represent the Eastern 
 branch. The name of the firm is Laddbarry & Plummer. 
 How does that sound? " 
 
 "Dean!" 
 
 " We did manage to put one over on you, in spite of 
 your second sight. You didn't know your husband was 
 my partner in the Alfalfa Food Company and that he 
 takes the East and I the West. I leave you Harriet for 
 a bookkeeper and head clerk if she likes but I say I 
 must have Sally to darn my socks and boss my Chinaman 
 as she wishes. Mother, you don't think we've slighted 
 you because while all this rush of commerce has been 
 taking place you've been keeping the house. And I'll 
 bring Sally back to you for every Christmas and let her 
 stay until she wants to come out to me I promise." 
 
 420
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 John was fumbling at the latch just then, staggering 
 under a pile of wood. Densie rose to help him. The 
 three of them piled the logs in the wicker basket, Densie 
 talking in a rather incoherent fashion. 
 
 "And you never told me, John; nor Harriet. Dean, 
 you might have just hinted. Sally and I are certainly 
 intelligent enough to have understood. Well, when does 
 this start this new firm? " 
 
 Finished with the logs John caught her in his arms. 
 
 " It has started, brave heart," he said. " We signed 
 partnership the day Dean landed here. It was why he 
 came." 
 
 " Partly why I came," Dean supplemented. 
 
 " The girls will be coming home along the track. Do 
 go meet them, Dean, there's a dear." 
 
 Obediently Dean vanished. 
 
 Left alone Densie faced her husband almost shyly, an 
 expression of guilt on her small face and her eyes that 
 tantalizing novelist's shade freshly picked violets with 
 the sun streaming in on them. 
 
 " My John, we've not lost each other or life or 
 work or God, have we? " She held out her hands. 
 
 " You saved all of them for us, Densie." 
 
 She looked at the picture of that sunny faced, dark eyed 
 boy whose lips were mute to say what he had overheard 
 and approved. 
 
 Not quite all," she faltered. 
 
 John stroked her hair with a tender lover's hand. 
 
 " If it were all, Densie, it would be too much to ask 
 at this time of stress. Something had to be sacrificed, 
 something always does have to be sacrificed to attain 
 victory. I have thought about it a great deal since our 
 boy was killed. But what right have we to cry out in pro- 
 test when we have found our home, and our girls their bet- 
 
 421
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 ter selves, and you and I our love ? Do you remember the 
 story Uncle Herbert used to tell us of a Sunday after- 
 noon about the one shining angel who was flung out of 
 heaven into the black pit because he looked with envy 
 upon the brighter gold of the celestial streets than was 
 the color of his halo? " 
 
 " I remember," she said solemnly; " I understand." 
 But she almost whispered: "Still you are not his 
 mother." 
 
 Harriet burst in on them later. John was explaining 
 in detail to Densie the possibilities of the new firm and 
 of his new duties. He was talking in the old animated 
 fashion that Densie had admired without profit so long 
 ago, making computations on the corner of her house- 
 keeping pad and proving conclusively that by the end of 
 the next year they could have a modest car to whisk about 
 in and that he could do most of the garden work be- 
 sides as his war contribution. The company would 
 deal with such matters as he was familiar with and he 
 had been trained by the old school of honor; that this was 
 what American food dealers needed at the present time 
 not profiteering. Men who were willing to think first of 
 their nation and secondly of themselves and to wait until 
 the day of peace before they hoarded wealth rather than 
 investing in national needs and securities. 
 
 " I left Dean and Sally wandering sentimentally along 
 the track," Harriet announced. " Let us hope the fast 
 express does not try to chaperone them. Everyone was 
 delighted with the things, and poor old Granny Leighton 
 cried. She hadn't tasted turkey in years. And the men's 
 tobacco caused ecstasy. Well," she asked her father, 
 " have you fessed up ? " 
 
 He nodded, holding up his hands in surrender. 
 
 " Didn't know your roof harbored conspirators, did 
 
 422
 
 you? " She sat by the fire petting Captain and warming 
 her hands. ' You see, it was this way father and 
 I had to pay you back for all you've done. If you got 
 the home we must get the business. Fifty-fifty," Harriet 
 said joyously. " And I've found someone who wants to 
 come over to help you all you wish a good old soul, 
 but too shy to ask for help. So you'll be able to dis- 
 pense with me for I've never done anything of special 
 value except ask for a second helping of everything." 
 
 Harriet's eyes glowed with happiness. There was a 
 robust color in her face and her hands did not twitch and 
 tremble, but lay passively in her lap save when they patted 
 Captain. She wore her frock of " spinster green," as 
 she called it, with a feminine grace. No one else could 
 have worn such a frock and seemed properly dressed. 
 Harriet was well content with her station in life she had 
 declared her children, her new work with her father, 
 her home. What more could one demand? As well 
 imagine Harriet with a romance as to picture Oliver 
 Cromwell at the opera ! 
 
 "What do you think about Dean and your sister?" 
 began John. 
 
 " I don't think I know," Harriet answered. 
 
 Late that night Sally tapped at her mother's door. 
 
 " You know, of course," she said, laughing, having 
 looked about to be sure Densie was alone. ' You shan't 
 have the pleasure of extorting a confession. Mummy, 
 I'm happy; not madly, wildly happy, the sort of joy that 
 is so terrible to have come to one but just happy, every- 
 day happy. And now I want to learn everything from 
 you that I can. Dean won't wait past June." 
 
 " I am glad to have it so! " 
 
 " And you think it is right and not too late? " 
 
 " I think it is life, Sally; and life very often does not 
 
 423
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 stop to think, it punishes and rewards us all in a moment." 
 " How unprepared I've been to marry to really 
 
 marry and make a home. Mummy, teach me, won't you? 
 
 I want to be just like you if I can." 
 
 John had been right. Densie must not ask for more 
 
 reward than was being given her, lest she too, like the 
 
 shining angel of old, be dethroned because of greed. 
 
 424
 
 XLVII 
 
 The garden of the Little House had been properly 
 coaxed and prevailed upon to look its best for Sally's wed- 
 ding. Harriet and her children spent the better part of 
 their time making vines climb artistically, persuading 
 roses to blossom as soon as possible and placing the sun- 
 dial clock in the center of the old-fashioned bed of ver- 
 benas and carnation pinks an oak pedestal with this 
 verse cut deeply on one side: 
 
 Hours fly; flowers die; 
 New days; new ways 
 Pass by Love stays ! 
 
 John and Densie had helped with the beautification as 
 well, though business kept John downtown until distress- 
 ingly late hours as late as Densie had once been wont 
 to stay, and he had been bullied into resting and forbidden 
 to sit up to read when he did come home. Sally had been 
 occupied within doors. She would have all the time to 
 romp outside when she went to her new home, and she 
 chose this time, wisely, to become skilled in everything 
 her mother could teach her, a trifle later than was best 
 to learn but not too late. 
 
 She made her rather simple clothes herself, sewing a 
 woman's resurrected dreams and hopes into their fine 
 seams or clever embroidery. She thought, as she would 
 lay away some white dainty garment in the lavender- 
 scented shelves, of how the other trousseau had been 
 bought for her by a preoccupied, ambitious mother and 
 accepted by a preoccuped, infatuated girl showy, fash- 
 
 425
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 ionable things, turned out from unsanitary shops, very 
 likely, poorly made, but with style and warranted only for 
 a season's wearing. 
 
 Sally even made her wedding cake herself; she had 
 written Dean that she would. It was as fruity a cake as 
 wartimes would allow, and it stood in state on the dining- 
 room serving table waiting for its final icing. 
 
 It was to be as simple a wedding as any real garden 
 wedding could be they twined Kenneth's picture with 
 roses; and unbeknownst to the children, John and Densie 
 stood beneath it to say a little prayer and cry a tear. 
 
 Sally was all pink roses and cream lace and a leghorn 
 hat with bows under the chin, as Dean requested. She 
 made Harriet be her only attendant, though Harriet pro- 
 tested and helped her select her frock, a dainty or- 
 gandie with a silver sash. 
 
 " You must wear gray silk, mummy, and comb your 
 hair the old-fashioned way that you used to I want to 
 go away remembering you so and daddy, who has 
 grown handsome again, being entirely too well fed, will 
 rival Dean." 
 
 No one argued with Sally she was too happy to have 
 listened if they had for she turned protests into kisses 
 and refusals into hugs, and there was an end of it. 
 
 There was little time for the wedding, business calling 
 Dean home as soon as he could come and bring Sally. 
 So he slipped into town one night in time to see the wed- 
 ding cake before it was iced and to have a satisfactory talk 
 with his new business partner, and then in the early morn- 
 ing he married Sally the birds singing their wedding 
 march and the breeze sweeping through the roses as a 
 benediction. 
 
 It was so simple and so joyous that no one thought of 
 being pensive for an instant except Captain when he was 
 
 426
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 driven from a position of attack upon the sliced tongue. 
 In a going-away dress of blue serge, her hands crowded 
 with roses, Sally told her family good-by. 
 
 " I want to be called a bride," she insisted. " I am 
 so happy I want everyone who sees me have to take time 
 to stop and smile. And I want to leave the best share 
 of my happiness behind with mummy and daddy and 
 Harriet and particularly mummy, for she taught me 
 how to be happy. So I've no right to take it all away." 
 
 " I'll bring her back every Christmas," Dean promised, 
 " to stay as long as she wishes. It isn't that you've lost 
 Sally but have gained a son." 
 
 He stooped and kissed Densie, his hand outstretched 
 toward John. 
 
 " Good-by, Harriet dear, I love you," was all Sally 
 said to her sister, but it was the first time she had ever told 
 her those words and the first time that Harriet, splendid 
 spinster of the modern business world, invaluable in her 
 work and attitude toward life, took Sally in her arms and 
 held her close. 
 
 The three, with Captain wagging his tail faster and 
 faster, stood at the gate to wave good-by as the machine 
 drove down the pathway. 
 
 There was silence when only the brown road showed 
 itself. Then Harriet said, " Let's sit on the porch and 
 plan our first visit to Sally." 
 
 At which John and Densie looked at her in gratitude. 
 
 John and Harriet took twin rockers and began a stimu- 
 lating chat as to travel and business for Harriet was 
 his " confidential man," as John loved to call her. Densie 
 stole inside for a moment. They hardly noticed she had 
 left. 
 
 She went to the picture of her boy, the roses about the 
 frame fading a trifle. She stood on tiptoe to rearrange 
 
 427
 
 A WOMAN'S WOMAN 
 
 the wreath, and as she did so tears came to blur his loved 
 features. But she paused before she wiped them away. 
 It may have been an illusion scientists could have ex- 
 plained it so clearly that faith and miracles would have 
 seemed bone-dry things of some defective imagination 
 but the dark eyes in the picture suddenly smiled at her. 
 They were living things telling her to be at peace, that he 
 was still with her. They were smiling at her as they had 
 smiled so many, many times. 
 
 Presently the eyes grew into the silent dead things of 
 a photographer's film. But Densie had seen and would 
 always understand and be comforted. Nor would she 
 share her secret even with John. After all, she was his 
 mother and mothers are a little different from the rest 
 of the world, and they are not, like shining angels of old, 
 flung into black pits when they grieve for their youngest 
 born. 
 
 THE ENJJ 
 
 428
 
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