His Second Wife

e her confession of failure over and done with. As she waited restlessly, she envied him his business life. How much simpler everything was for a man! Her n

d; but a moment later when he came in, it was with his usual friendly

oner this was over the better. But when she had finished and looked up

to be sorry, I suppose-but

sharp challenge

f puts us-in the sam

" she demanded. And then wi

't able to get away with it. You're a fool-because you missed out. I'm a fool-because I missed out. We both of us took chances. And I got very badly stung. We've got to be poor for a little while.

ighed. "Go on and tell me. What w

me make my little speech. I've m

poor dear, just

the stiff upper lip was all on your side. I don't want to talk about it, but-when Amy died the life went out-of my business too. Later I got back my nerve, and because my job was all I had left I tried to make it more worth while. I've got a few old d

e quickly rose, went to hi

r now-and later we'll get a pencil and paper,

for Ethel

m sorry," she added and then stopped short, startled by the woman's face. The way her

's the matter with me?"

n nothing at all." Ethe

derful with Susette. T

und he must c

gid, but her thought struck into Ethel's mind: "Why am

eated. "I wish I could

ake care of Su

ou

'll have to t

won

and help me, and meanwhile I'll do all I can to find you a good position. I only hope I can get you back again in the autumn. You se

f I'll ever feel like that about a child?" She stared a moment and added, "That was real enough, poor thing." S

r Emily Giles, who for over five years had helped her keep house for her father at home. Of medium height, spare, thin chested and thin lipped, her hair al

ught Ethel, "unless sh

mily

I am," she said on her

, although she had alw

und like, "Well, kid, h

it is you want me

"How To Live Well On Little," tog

closets, now at the many unpaid bills. "When that cook of yours wasn't grafting she must have been getting drunk on your wine." As the record wa

scale, dividing the work between them. All this was rather pleasant. The trouble came in the nursery, where more than once the face of the stricken woman there made it hard to k

low, sweet chirrup of Susette, who was peering over the edge of the crib. And her day from that time on was filled with a succession of little tasks, which at first puzzled and wearied her, made her often anxious and cross, but then attracted her more and more. What a change from the month before, from Mr.

ere little distractions; for Susette was a sociable creature, and the small friends she discovered brought Ethel into conversation with the women who had them in charge. Several of the mothers were F

hetic!" And often, sitting in the Park and watching on the road nearby the endless procession of automobiles and the women like Amy so daintily clad, and puzzling and remembering innumerable little things from her first gay month in town-in Ethel's mind the picture of th

as a wife. It may be I'm a mother." And little by little, in spite of herself, her worship of her sister changed to a pitying tolerance. The question, "Shall I

again within her. For long periods she forgot the child and sat frowning into space, her mind groping restlessly for ways and means to find

e, you poor little dear? And if you don't worry, why should I!" And

ed her feeling toward Amy, whose picture had begun to blur. But that queer sensation of intimacy, of being in h