Joan Thursday

ce-stricken sensation of secret guilt inseparable from a return to neglected work, but also by a less reasonable, in fact i

never more ill at ease in the homely

ed back to the first page, and read what had been written with such high and eager hope; and looked his dashed bewilderment. Knitting portentous brows, sedulously he reconsidered the manuscript at length

d, what he had written owned heart-re

ound to. It wasn't the first time this sort of thing had happened to him, nor ye

t for work as a schoolboy for a holiday, and hardly less for the well-worn comforts of his abode. And, lo

f back-yards, grim and unlovely in the happiest weather, cat-haunted and melancholy in all its phases.... But today he essayed vainly to distil from contemplation of it any o

ch, whither she was bound for a fortnight's visit. But now-he could think of nothing but Venetia: Venetia's eyes, her scarlet lips, her exquisite hands, her hair of bronze; her moods and whims, her laughter and her pensiveness, alike adorable; Venetia in evening dress on the moon-drenched terrace of Tanglewoo

wledged lover is a person vastly different from a diffident and distant worshipper; that, in short, the muse of the creative fancy i

ilures in his efforts to produce something to satisfy himself. And he had only six months to prove his worth. The date of their marriage had been fixed for February; every deta

in and out, beside his typewriter, with idle hands, or, with a vacant mind, to pace his trail of torment from door

For all his knowledge of the stage, for all that a long career of failures and half-hearted successes had taught him, the play that slowly took shape under his modelling

ff of dreams could dull the clear perc

and out of the house several times each day. Inevitably, then, he encountered fellow lodgers, either on the stoop or in the hallway; among them, and perhaps more often and less adventitiously than in other instances, one wistful young woman, shabbily dressed, in whose brown eyes lurked a hesitant appeal for recognition. He grew acquainted

row: a meeting arranged for the purpose of discussing the forthcoming production of "The Jade God." The day was seasonably insufferable with heat, but there was here a grateful drift of air through open

rted as she looked up, faintly smiling, to the face of her companion. Marbridge, on his part, was attending her with that slightly exaggerated attitude of solicitude and devotion which was peculiarly his with all women.

Matthias saw the carriage-porter, at a

d away i

ind Marbridge standing over him and gr

you do, Matth

d, echoed through the lobby a

nd, lifted one of his own

gged. "Somebody

into the chair beside him. "H

ke of inferring that I lik

instant his hands twitched nervously and his full lips tightened on a retort which he presumably deemed inadvisable;

ass to your work, my boy!" To which, Matthias making no comment, he added with at lea

unately

on your suggestion abo

mstances which moved

prefaced Marbrid

would've made talk if I'd pul

talk whatever if you'd known how to compo

idge husbanded

e said, aggr

y his cigarette an

of you.... Of course, you're right; I am a bad actor, and all th

suggested with

sat up eagerly. "I think y

ank

about that busi

ell-could I?-with

ing that. But what I'm worried about now is

ani

k, where he had put his late companion into the c

ou're so solicitous of the woman's good name, why th

, keeping himself well in hand. "Aft

el

upposed to be at Newport

tongue before you named a name in a public place like this." He rose, meeting with steady eyes the vicious glare of the other.

your insolence, and I'm certainly not going to forget myself here. But if you want to make a book on it, I'll lay you any

uietly, swung on his heel, and moved acro

l was helped out by a conference which outlasted luncheon, involved dinner with the two

on, who very nearly monopolize the intelligence concerned with the American stage today-Wilbrow had uncovered a slight, by no means damning, flaw in the construction of the third act, and had a remedy to suggest. This, adopted without opposition

uprat to furnish all his meals until his task was finished. These matters settled, and his telephone temporarily silenced, he began work and, forgetful of the world, plodded faithfully on by day and night until late Thursday afternoon, when

wakened and sat up, dazed and blin

g dust of dreams, he stared, incredulous

place, friendly countenance. Wearing a dinner jacket together with linen motor-cap and duster, oil-stained gauntlets on his hands, with an implacable impatience betrayed in his very pose, he cut a figure sufficiently striking instantly to engage

nd a sour smile he deprecated his clothing, which consisted solely of a shirt, linen trousers, and a pair of an

and on Matthias's shoulder and swung him round to the lig

e to the other, deeply perplexed. "W

into a chair. Tankerville removed his hand an

the telephone all afternoon, failed, were afraid you'd done

t off the other day because I was working and didn't want to be interrupted. I d

pale smile; "We're sane enough-and

ias cried. "What

volved upon Helena to respond to Ma

ng to do some shopping, met him and was married to him at the City Hall. They sailed on the Mauretania yesterday. The pape

oice

opened correspondence on a side table and ran r

n a level tone: "no-she di